Pitch
Two men in love, an idealistic botanist and a restless scribe, forge different paths to bring magic back to the world. Garris blazes a trail of enchanted flowers across the continent, while Eran uncovers ancient knowledge in the ruins of the greatest library ever built: Eventide. (Cozy adult fantasy, 80,000 words).
Read If You Like…
- “Let’s get together and rebuild the library!”
- Backpack fantasy
- Floral magic
- Chronic illness rep
- Gay MCs
- A non-binary pirate
- Hurt/comfort
- Cooking and meals
- Celebrations
- Card games
- Nature
- Happy endings
Plot Summary
Botanist Eran Gartner dreams of bringing magic back to the world. The greatstones that once powered everyday spells are nearly exhausted. Following in the footsteps of his brilliant mother, Eran is planting a network of whispertongue flowers that will reestablish enchantment everywhere.
His next stop is Eventide, once the home of the greatest library in the world. The villagers of Eventide care little for reading or the mysterious unreadable scrolls in the library ruins…except for Garris Heller, a restless scribe who dreams of seeing the world. Eran’s stories and a mutual love of adventure spark an attraction that turns to romance.
When a mysterious illness strands Eran in Eventide, Garris offers to go out into the world and continue his lover’s work. Coming to terms with his new chronic limitations, Eran turns his attention to the abandoned ruins, whose scrolls might hold a cure.
As he works to revive the library, Eran struggles to retrieve sunken secrets, decode the mystifying scrolls and find a way to make paper. The quirky villagers of Eventide could help, if they weren’t so dysfunctional and isolated. With time, patience, and his theory about ‘healing of the mind,’ he knits the community back together, one person at a time.
As his illness continues to progress, Eran feels trapped in Eventide. Garris is off planting whispertongue, adventuring, living the life Eran once dreamed of. But maybe, by rebuilding the village’s fractured relationships and restoring its magnificent library, he just might work some magic of his own.
Publishing Links
- Publisher: TBA!
- Publication Date: TBA!
- Buy: TBA!
- Goodreads: TBA!
Content Warnings
- Angst (intense emotional scenes)
- Death of a family pet (gentle euthanasia, ‘offscreen’)
- Learning disability
- Physical illness/disability (a major part of the story, but not a grim downer)
- Self-harm ideation (very brief)
- Substance use (a secondary character starts the story as an alcoholic)
Excerpt
Around midday, Eran arrived on the outskirts of Eventide.
He’d been following the remains of the broken stone road that still lay between most of the towns he’d visited. The long, open plain of quiet rustling grasses gave way to a forest that smelled of pines and loam. The change in scent was the first thing he’d noticed.
Eran was hunched down, planting the whispertongue methodically, two paces between each seedling. Eran had planted in a haphazard line at first, but he’d come to realize that it made sense to plant the whispertongue in the lee of the broken road. The large, angled stones would protect it from the wind, at least. There were no predators. Only the usual Skerricks.
He stood at the edge of the forest and massaged his aching back. He wanted to stop and take a break, to eat some lunch. A single blue Skerrick hovered overhead. The spiky floating ball had followed Eran from the plain, and he glanced at it with some annoyance. Eran continued along the road until he came to a granite sign marking the library: EVENTIDE. After all these centuries, the stone was broken in half and the edges covered in vines and moss.
He brushed off one end of the fallen sign and sat atop it. Unslinging his pack, Eran took out some hardtack and jerky and ate amidst the soughing pine trees.
Footsteps. A young man came down a worn dirt path, carrying a sack. He was built broad and wide like a peasant, tall with a hint of a beard. His hair was brown and shaggy, his eyes deep blue and intelligent. “Are you a pirate?” he asked.
“Not that I know of,” Eran replied.