A Nature God's Guide to Changing Seasons

Art by Ginger Hoesly from Owl's Flower Book 2: Ghost Fall.

When we first designed Herne, we pulled from a variety of sources —not just in terms of his general appearance, but also when it came to how he "dresses." He had to wear something when he was gallivanting around in the forest because we wanted to, you know, depict him. We knew it would likely be very leafy, whatever it was... one of Kara's early suggestions resembled the Night Elf Druid starter outfit from World of Warcraft (fortunately for us all it didn't remain that way):

Readers will know that Herne ended up with a leafy green toga-style deal that grows up around him as necessary. But the leaves change. So what happens when the leaves aren't green?

Simple: autumn toga.

If you've read Ghost Fall (and if you haven't, you can pay what you want for a digital copy or pick it up in print!), you'll have seen the first example of Herne's look changing with the seasons. When the leaves turn, so does his getup. But that's not where it stops.

Our upcoming third book takes place in winter — right around Valentine's Day to be exact. Iris learns, as do we all, that even Herne's day-to-day look is affected by changes in season. Well, it makes sense; nature is his domain, so he'll reflect it and vice-versa. How exactly that manifests, you'll get to see when book 3 comes out. We're both pretty fond of it.

For now, get caught up on our first two books so you'll be ready when the third lands! And enjoy the changing leaves!

It's almost Halloween -- have you tried GHOST FALL?

Pardon us for, you know, talking up our own books on our book website -- but really, have you read Ghost Fall yet? Because it's almost Halloween and, well, it's a Halloween book.

While the series-titled first book will always stay free, we do ask for at least a small donation in order to download the second book. But we like to think it packs a punch, especially at this time of year. What can readers expect from Ghost Fall?

A Ghost Story. And it's super spooky. What happens when a demigod is scared out of his own home? And what's scary enough to do that?

Owls in hats. See above. Also super spooky.

Stormy as a zombie barista. Yeah, that's a late-book spoiler, but it's not going to wreck the plot at all. She makes an awesome zombie barista.

The arrival of a new deity. Of course Herne isn't the only non-human you'll see. Not by a long shot. This is just the first of a growing pantheon. But you'll have to read and discover who it is.

Coffee and cookies. Naturally.

For all of the above and more, including tons of full-color art, grab Ghost Fall now, either digital or in print.

CREATOR UPDATE: The Beauty of the "Ghost Fall" Books!

As some of you may be gathering as you open your mail over the next week or so, the print edition of Ghost Fall is here and ready to roll out! (And, in some cases, already rolling out.) We were fortunate to find an amazing publisher who gave us the quality we wanted at a price we could handle for our first run... meaning you guys get beautiful print copies in your hot little hands.

So if you saw the ebook up for sale and decided to wait for print -- wait no longer. Hop over to our Storenvy and pick it up for $12! A shiny, happy deal for all. The best part... Ginger doesn't have to hand-assemble and toast our books anymore, which means more time making awesome things for you.

Don't forget, you can still get the ebook edition for the price of a coffee (or more, if you're feeling generous) -- as well as the first ebook free -- here on the website. And don't forget to spread the word to book-loving friends!

BOOK 2: "Ghost Fall" Now in Print!

So if you were reading closely in our last post, you may have noticed some big news: that is, Ghost Fall is now available to preorder in print! Ginger found an amazing printer, and thanks to the enthusiastic response to the new book and merch, we're able to move toward funding our first print run!

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER GHOST FALL.

Books are expected to be posted out in mid-July. So get a jump on the crowd and grab yours now!

Meanwhile, we're back to work on Book 3 (as yet untitled), and we're working with an event for a potential surprise to correspond with its release. What is it?... ah, we'll let you know when we're sure ourselves. For now, look forward to it!

BOOK 2: From Screen to Print!

So first off, before anything else -- thank you so much for your purchases and your positive reaction to Ghost Fall! You have genuinely exceeded our expectations, and thanks to your enthusiasm and support we are on our way to bringing you more Owl's Flower just as we've been hoping to. Keep on spreading the word!

Now, on the subject of doing more. We've had a few people say they're waiting for the print edition. It's true that the first book has a print edition -- but, as you may have seen, Ginger literally assembled them herself in her living room. It makes for a great blog piece, but it's not really the sort of thing she can do every time we want to do a book.

So we've been looking into ways to bring you print books that are the quality we want to bring our readers without actually destroying ourselves in the process. This is actually a multi-step job. But since it is kind of crazy, and since you are kind of supporting a brand new franchise from the ground up, we thought it would be fair to bring you in on what we're doing.

Owl's Flower is a light novel, yes, but unlike most light novels on store shelves, its drawings are full-color illustrations. Color and lighting are important when it comes to the tone and impact of Owl's Flower's drawings, and to truly get that out there, we absolutely needed our drawings to remain in color.

If you've ever researched print-your-own books or similar projects, you will know that there are typically two, and only two, options for your color choices: all black and white, or all color. This mainly has to do with how most printers have their machines and presses set up and ultimately, what is cost effective for that printer. But for us, it made no sense to bite the bullet and just print our book in all color -- financially, it made no sense, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There had to be another way.

After months of research and sending out quote requests, we finally landed on our printer: someone who would do black and white printing, with color inserts, for a fair price and reasonable minimum quantities.

Just because we found our printer that didn't mean we were home free. This stage of the game mainly involves researching different interior paper, cover stocks, and asking as many questions as possible to be sure all bases are covered. Our printer was so kind as to send a sample book so that Ginger could see, feel, and scrutinize the different papers and the actual print quality.

If you (like Kara) don't know that difference is between 50# and 70# or what “C2S” stands for, this may have little interest to you, but it's an extremely important step to be sure that Owl's Flower is going to be printed with the same amount of quality – or more – as the kind you see on store shelves. Everything is researched to be sure the book looks good while still remaining well priced. 

Once the quote for the books is set, it comes down to getting everything put together in a print-ready file and triple-checking everything that has been triple-checked to make super-duper-uber sure that the book will print properly. Making sure the illustrations are in the layout properly, that page numbers are correct, that the proper phrases are italicized, things like that.

That might seem like extra work when we already have an ebook version, but the formatting between ebook and print is very different. When Kara assembles the ebooks, she runs the PDF file straight out of Word (after tweaking and making sure no words have magically disappeared under images). Then she has to go back to the Word file, reformat it, and run it through an ebook program to make sure the text shows up properly across a variety of ereaders.

All in all, getting a book formatted for PDF, Mobi, ePub, and print involves two people altering five or six different iterations of one file!

Once everything is set, it's off to the printers and out of our hands so that professionals can take care of it. Isn't it great to know people who know what they're doing?

Meanwhile, we're ticking away at book 3, so that eventually you'll have more fantastic stories to read.

So what happens then? Well, we have books! They're sent to Ginger, and she ships them out to you. Then you can read them, put them on your bookshelf next to your Tokyopop manga, take photos of them with your cat and a cup of coffee, or whatever the heck you kids do with print books these days.


Basically, this is all our very long-winded way of telling you that book 2 preorders are now open, and if you want yours you should head over to our Storenvy shop. We'll be doing a bigger post about this later, but the sooner you get in, the sooner you get yours!

Again, thanks for all your support!

GHOST FALL COUNTDOWN: Interview with Herne and Iris

Tomorrow's the big day! Ghost Fall, the second book in the Owl's Flower light novel series, goes on sale tomorrow for pay-what-you-want. If you're new to the series, you can grab the first book free right here.

We were struggling to decide what we should do for the final day of our countdown. Kara's talked about her experiences writing spooky stories, Ginger's talked about the "before and after" of her life during her time on this book, so what's left? Well, there are two people who haven't had their say yet... our stars, Herne and Iris!

So, to lead in to the new book tomorrow, we had a chat with the couple at the center of it all. Read on to find out more about Ghost Fall and the future of the series!


So, how is the big life change going?

Iris: You mean us dating in general, or Herne moving in specifically?

Herne: What do you mean by that? I'm perfect.

Iris: ... yes, of course you are. So are the feathers I keep finding between the sofa cushions. And in the dishwasher.

Herne: They're perfect, yes.

Iris: So, does that answer your question?


What are the special challenges you encounter sharing a living space with someone so unlike you?

Herne: Well, she sleeps a lot and she's always doing laundry-

Iris: I think they were talking to me.

Herne: How dare.



Do you sleep a lot?

Iris: If I'm lucky, I sleep six hours.


Herne, what is "a lot" to you?

Herne: SIX HOURS!!!


Is it tough for you to be living in a house instead of a tree?

Herne: I thought it might be, but I have constant access to coffee and snacks, so it's great.

Iris: And girlfriend.

Herne: What?

Iris: And constant access to girlfriend.

Herne: Oh, right.


Is he cuddly?

Herne: That's a very personal question!

Iris: Yes, he's very cuddly.


So, moving on... what can you tell us about the events of the second book?

Herne: They happened.

Iris: ... I think they know that. I think they want, like... a teaser or something.

Herne: Oh... I learn to make coffee.

Iris: And there's a lot of spooky stuff, too. Like ghosts. Since it's Halloween.

Herne: And I wear a hat.

Iris: And he wears a hat.


And Herne, we get to meet some of your old friends.

Herne: Yes, we do.

Iris: We do??

Herne: You remember Frank.

Iris: ... oh. Right. Frank.

Herne: And there's someone else, too.

Iris: Wait, there is?

Herne: Well, we don't technically meet him, but he does show up.

Iris: Oh. Nice. Building up a little mystery.


Anything else to say to your readers?

Herne: Come back tomorrow to download Ghost Fall to see what we're talking about.

Iris: It's pay-what-you-want for the ebook, which means you could totally get it for a penny if you want... but you don't want to be that guy, right?

Herne: Uh... she means pay what you think it's worth.

Iris: I know exactly what I mean.

Herne: And if you're new to the series and not sure, then check out the first ebook. It's free.

Iris: And don't forget to stop by my shop for a pick-me-up!

Herne: A pick... up?

Iris: A coffee!

Herne: Oh, yes, please. Two sugar.

Iris: ... *sigh*

GHOST FALL COUNTDOWN: Ginger Looks Forward and Back

As I was leaving my neighborhood the other day, I saw a yard sign posted for the annual community garage sale. Oh right I thought, That was the thing I was going to do and then realized I have nothing to actually sell. The most obvious tell of this is that my single-stall garage stores my car, not random junk.

What this means is that a year ago this weekend, I looked at the condo I'm writing this up in right now and put an offer in for. This was my summer of two moves, where my parents and I just so happened to buy places to live at the same time, but my closing was a month after theirs. The first Owl's Flower was drawn partly at my old house, partly in an extended-stay hotel, partly at my parents' new place, and partly at my first “own” place. There was so much going on in my life that I can't believe I actually was able to get drawings done for the first of this new adventure of making a light novel series.

Herne's design comes from an established place (drawings circa 2012/2013).

I've wanted to make a book series for a very, very long time. Along with that elusive illustration degree I have, I also studied and have a minor in English. My graduation portfolio for my BFA featured all sorts of characters I had created, both on the spot for pieces and who had been sitting in my brain for years. The toner-ink warriors, the desert pirate, the space farmers, the emperor mangoat – they all had a story to them (which my class was often subject to hearing) and were ready to go. But, as many will tell you, making stories happen is hard, especially when you want to write and draw it. Owl's Flower is kind of a relief in the sense that it's a story I'm passionate about, and get to work with someone who is just as passionate as I am. It's satisfying to say that the hurdle isn't getting the first story out, it's doing the second, the third, the seventh. That's an exciting place to be.

One of the things Kara brought up in her post, which apparently I brought up, is that the first book of the series is kind of...slow. And I don't say that to complain, I say it as an observation when I was looking at things to draw. Let's not use the word “slow” and instead say that was it pretty mellow. Something that I was looking forward to with book 2 and beyond was that things would become more weird and mystical and open for possibilities. I'm not calling for action scenes all the time, necessarily, but I'm excited to bring this world of ours to life as we keep going. More supernatural stuff, more new characters to meet, and more of Herne's wings and antlers.

Book 3 was discussed the Monday after we had launched book 1 and I had gone to a wedding. I can remember chugging a latte before taking off for the airport and Kara and I were gabbing about the plot of book 3, making jokes while also going “no wait that's a great idea”. Ghost Fall is the start of something really exciting and really fun, and I' m excited to get this all out there for you guys to enjoy.

GHOST FALL COUNTDOWN: Kara on Book 2

Kara Dennison and Rob Shearman, two extremely dark and terrifying writers.

When we were wrapping up the first Owl's Flower book, Ginger pointed out to me -- not wrongly -- that it was a bit slow. I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing for a romance series origin story, nor do I think she was putting it forward as a bad thing. It's important the we know from Day One that the drama in Herne and Iris's life doesn't come from a turbulent relationship haunted by uncertainty and unstable emotions. That's not who they are.

Going forward, however, we knew we could go bigger and badder and weirder with the books. Ginger has a very kinetic style, and I love writing action sequences. I also love writing dark and weird -- and creating a pantheon whose deities can be from any era, any beliefs system, and any tier of reality means we can really go to town with our creations.

When I was younger, I was inspired by a sort of odd blend of Douglas Adams, Brian Jacques, and C.S. Lewis. Now, as a published writer, I find myself retaining a bit of that, but with a healthy helping of influence from Junji Ito and the more fantasy-skewed works of Richard Matheson and Stephen King. Published I've turned out lately include medieval knights having existential crises in Heaven, giant petrified elder gods in space, haunted video games, and a retelling of an old Poe story that ends with someone getting stabbed with shards of mirror.

So a Halloween story with ghosts sounded right up my street.

I don't think Ghost Fall is grim per se. Overall, Owl's Flower isn't grim. It's sweet, it's sad sometimes, it's funny quite a bit (I hope), and it's got some mystery and some scares and some intrigue. But despite my love of the macabre and Ginger's willingness to run with it, it's never going to become one of those stories completely. Not with a core made up of a barista and an owl-shifter with anxiety.

That said, I hope this story gives you some scares. I hope it makes you think. I hope it gets you even more interested in the characters. And I hope it makes you excited for the third book, which is underway and will be a Valentine's Day story.

See you Tuesday -- don't forget to get Ghost!

BIG NEWS: "Ghost Fall" Goes on Sale THIS TUESDAY!

Well, between day jobs, convention work, health crises, and every other potential thing that can happen, we finally got there... Book 2 of the series, Ghost Fall, goes on sale this Tuesday, June 20!

This second ebook, and all ebooks going forward, will be pay-what-you-want. So if cash flow is low but you still want to read, you can set your own price! Conversely, you can use this as a way to make donations, too. Any future print books will have a set price, of course -- but this is up to you.

Stay tuned over the next few days, since we're going to have some cool stuff leading up to the release. And be sure to come see Kara at Anime Mid-Atlantic this weekend if you're in the Hampton Roads area!

BOOK TRAILER: Ghost Fall

The finishing touches are being put on the illustrations, and it's almost here! Ghost Fall, the second book in the Owl's Flower light novel series, is coming soon to ebook and print.

It's almost Halloween, and William's Grove is haunted... by something that seems to have it out specifically for Herne. What are the ghosts calling to him from the ravine? What can Iris do to help? And what happens when he leaves his home in the forest to move in and live among humans for the first time?

Check out the new book trailer below:

Book 2 will be available as an ebook at pay-what-you-want pricing. Print books will be available at a later date for a set price.

Stay tuned for more information!