S was going to be all about the stories I’ve written that were set in Aphanasia and started with the letter S (Shades of Green, Sister Margaret and Shadows) but I’m tired. This month of blogging thing is a lot of work, and combining it with the other two challenges I did was a mistake. So, I’m going to be lazy today. Today S is all about Shades of Green.
Available at Sam’s Dot Bookstore
Shades of Green was a breakthrough for me. It was the first time anything I’d written was published in a physical form where I was the sole author. My work had been included in a few anthologys or collections, but it’s not quite the same as being the only name on the cover. The only person with words on the pages. It’s not a novel though, so while it checked a lot of boxes on my Bucket List, that one is still empty.
The process of publishing this book was an eye-opening one and while the sales weren’t especially exciting, the education was very, very worthwhile 🙂
My back cover text and the endorsement Marge Simon gave the novella are below. If you’re intrigued at all you can click the cover image above and it will take you to a page where you can read the first chapter for free.
Enjoy!
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Z’thandra, the last swamp elf in Aphanasia, lives with the Reptar, a fierce race of lizard-people, most of whom resent her presence and want her gone from their village. When she discovers a human in the swamp and falls in love with him she must face the most difficult decision of her life. Will she pursue a life of happiness with the man she loves and in doing so condemn the Reptar to extinction, or will she chose to sacrifice her future to offer them hope? In the end the choice she makes will affect the Reptar for generations.
“Straight fantasy has to be really good to hold my interest. “Shades of Green” is absolutely excellent! Among the best fantasies I’ve read, a tale that unfolded smoothly and drew me in from the start. You’ll find yourself sincerely concerned for young Z’thandra and her plight. Parrish is one talented writer!”
-Marge Simon, Stoker winner, VECTORS: A Week in the Death of a Planet, 2008.
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This blog post is part of the Blogging from A to Z challenge over the month of April and was brought to you by the letter S. If you come by on Monday I’ll be talking about something that begins with the letter T… I have no idea what that will be, but it’ll be T-rific! :-p
Isn’t Reptar the name of the Godzilla-wannabe on Rugrats? 😉
Shh…
I can’t tell you how much I regret giving that race that particular name, but it kinda falls into the ‘too late now’ category LOL
I find it extremely difficult to create good, solid names for characters in both fantasy writing and in the role playing games I’ve run in the past for non-player characters.
Love the story description – sounds like a story you’d find amongst the ‘Dragonlance’ series of novellas.
PS: how does one actually sign up to follow your blog,Rhonda?
Oh man, I totally struggle with names — though I find them more difficult for non-fantasy writing, for some reason.
I made a sticky post to address your question of how to sign up to my blog *points to the top of the blog* but the short answer is Email subscription is probably the best way, but there’s an RSS feed too, if that helps.