A Fable of Wood and String : Young Adult High Fantasy by L.T. Getty ➱ Book Tour with Guest Post & Giveaway

 A FABLE OF WOOD AND STRING

L.T. Getty

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GENRE:  Young Adult High Fantasy

 

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BLURB:

 

Would it hurt you to just do as you're told?

 

The O'Connell siblings live in the shadow of their parent's past, held back by obligation to keep the people of Stagmil safe when their father has to lead the non-hunters of their village to drive off a wyvern.

 

Lily doesn't trust the stranger who calls herself Madeline when she staggers into the pastoral lands. The puppeteer seems to take an interest in Lily's talent with the family mandoline, and she teaches Lily new music. Lily's had songs stuck in her head before, but nothing like this.

 

Twins Seth and Tiffany however can't wait for their father to return so they can get on with the shearing. Seth should at least be helping hunt the wyvern, and Tiffany wants to take her best friend Molly and head to the nearest city and see the world.

 

The twins and several other villagers are lured by song into the woods and transformed into marionettes: Seth breaking free before he can be strung, and Lily tainted in a way she doesn't understand. They have the skills to track the woman down, but to restore Seth to his body, and rescue Tiffany and the others?

 

Tracking the woman takes them far from the familiar woodlands they know, across the sea to an enchanted castle, where in an effort to rescue their sister they'll learn something much more sinister than turning folk into puppets is going on. They'll get help, of course, but not from who they expected.

 

After all, last Seth checked, foxes are only supposed to have the one tail.

 

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EXCERPT 

“Got any more kitsunes or other surprises?” Caleb asked, squatting down without spilling his buckets. “I’d like to hear the story you were trying to tell me in the castle a little later. Right now it seems like you need help. I’ll take my sword back.”

 

Lily unbelted it, but Boscoe out of nowhere nabbed it from Lily, ran towards the lake, and pitched it in. Then he sat down, never breaking the squire’s gaze, and scratched behind his ears.

 

“Why did you do that?” Caleb demanded. “That was my father’s!” He tried to take his boots off, the lacing slowed him down.

 

“You’re cold, let me do it,” Lily said, sliding off her overdress. She shot Boscoe a sour look, who simply beamed at her. Caleb on the other hand turned around and shielded his eyes.

 

“Could you not?” he asked.

 

“I know you can see me, stop pretending like you can’t or I’m indecent.” Her chemise and trousers were dark, chosen for adventuring thank you very much; she’d learned what to wear to repel after a wayward ewe long ago. She hung her overdress on a low branch and waded into the cold water.

 

“Do you have any idea how long it took me to get these on?” Caleb asked the kitsune, who went, Yip yip! “Fine. To your left,” he offered. Part of her spitefully wanted to disobey him, but figured his father’s sword was important. “How’s the water?”

 

“Refreshing,” she called back, but paused when she got to about her navel. She didn’t think it was that deep. “Tell me this lake doesn’t have an overabundance of leeches.”

 

“I’ll help you pick them off,” Caleb offered.

 

“You’re very kind,” she told him. The water was murky and dark, she couldn’t see his sword so she felt around with her feet and finding it, resigned herself to the dive. Thankfully, she got the sword on her first attempt, and she brought it backup tip first.

 

Caleb had waded out anyway, but really had only gotten to his knees. He also looked at her with wide eyes, kind of like an idiot for a half-second. “What?” she asked, wading towards him, offering him the sword. “Go on, take it—make sure I didn’t find someone else’s sword.”

 

Caleb hesitated, but upon grasping the handle unsheathed it, then cast a glare back at the kitsune, who put a paw to his nose and stuck out his tongue. “You’re not a kitsune or a mermaid, are you?” he asked eventually.

 

Lily couldn’t stifle a guffaw. “You see a tail or scales?” she asked, brushing her hair behind her ears.

 

“Sounds like something a lake monster would say,” he said with just a hint of teasing.

 

She flicked water at him, but the way the way the water and sunlight reflected off the blade, she noticed engraving. “It’s got an inscription?”

 

He held it so she could read it. “Old language. Means ‘Do not unsheathe me without reason, do not wield me without valour.’ Hey, you got a little leech, right—” Caleb gestured to his own neck.

 

“Waaah!” Lily panicked and fell backwards, and upon getting up, seeing him chuckling and realizing it was a ruse, reached for the sword. “Give me that! Boscoe didn’t get it in far enough.” He had longer strides so she had to settle for splashing him.

 

 

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Guest Post:

The Pros and Cons of Writing Fantasy

 

                When I first started writing fantasy I loved the possibility when picking up a new book. Fantasy could be once upon a time or in a galaxy far far away, or it could be spliced with science fiction in a dystopian setting eerily similar to our own. Magic could be out in the open or hidden behind the thin veneer of a masquerade. I could pick up ten different books that each contained dragons, and every portrayal could be different.

                Fantasy includes but is not limited to: Cozy, Epic, Dark, Historical, Romantasy, Urban, and Slipstream. Fantasy also has the propensity to wander into other genres, as we can easily add in a fantastical element to a historical piece, such as The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

                What was more was as a young reader, I realized that using fantasy or science fiction I could alter the world so we could discuss complicated issues. That isn’t to say that I wanted every tome I picked up to contain life lessons or lecture me, in fact I preferred when the story was making me think as opposed to telling me what to think. A Fable of Wood and String has themes on family and hope, duty vs obligation, but it touches on the very real issues of mental abuse and trauma, as well as human trafficking. My aim was to open the potential for conversation without taking the reader out of the immersive story experience.

                There’s just so much variety and only so much shelf space at the library or book store, and as said before, it can seem daunting when the subgenre you like isn’t popular, especially when it seems like the local fad you dislike is everywhere. Other genres have a propensity to wander as well, with romantasy in particular getting a lot of flack for promising an adventure but really focusing on relationships. I have no problem with this so long as the book is advertised properly.

                Certain subgenres were born because fantasy stories often had elements of darkness or horror, and eventually they became sanitized to a certain extent. For instance, Sword and Sorcery gave rise to Heroic Fantasy, where the heroes were generally good people fighting for heroic ends as opposed to the old school, raider in the wrong place in the wrong time but he’s not as bad as the evil cultists. Unfortunately, the sanitized version of the stories could be viewed as childish and infantile.

                The knee-jerk reaction to treating fantasy as for children was to make the fantasy gritty, perhaps to make it ‘real and believable’. Grimdark is niche of dark fantasy that is brutal and absolutely inappropriate for children. Of course, this subgenre has in response gave birth to its opposite: Noblebright, which is meant to be an answer to the more nihilistic worldview, but when asked for an example, the most common example I hear is The Lord of the Rings which, is not exactly a new tale but one that has stood the test of time. Stories can run dark and miserable or bright and hopeful, with both books containing an evil army threatening mankind.

                It’s possible to be a fan of one author who specializes in dark military fantasy, and another with a strikingly similar world and cast but a brighter outlook. Many authors and creators get inspired by previous stories, and want to explore a similar world through a different lens, hence the recent rise in popularity on ‘cozy fantasy’ – the stakes are low and stories tend to be character driven.

                We as authors need to be honest about what we’re doing so we can ensure that the right product gets to the right people. I don’t think of other authors as my competition, so much as we’re helping cultivate a potential group of readers and reading culture.

                Another con of writing fantasy is those unfamiliar with the genre think it’s a wide open sandbox and fantasy can do whatever. They don’t need to read the source material and be familiar with the lore, because it’s FANTASY and you know, magic. This leads to a lot of issues with new writers trying to handle an Intellectual Property they are not familiar with and disrespecting it, and ultimately the fans. There are many fan works dedicated to lore of video games and conventions where fans get together to discuss theories on favourite movies. I don’t think there’s necessarily pleasing everyone – even the original creators of an IP get flack for new instalments, but if you are given the opportunity to play in someone else’s sandbox, I would be nervous about tearing down any previously established castles.

                In general I do feel like fantasy is looked down upon as a genre, especially when I was in University jus starting out. Many times fantasy was seen as trashy pulp or wish fulfillment. In short, there’s going to be no pleasing people who don’t want to enjoy a story of orcs versus dwarves, and they are entitled to their opinion, and I try not to take them too seriously. There’s certain types of stories I would say I have no interest in based on the description, but upon reading them, I thought were very well done or even excellent.

                What’s your favourite subgenre or, is there a creature feature that makes you more likely to check out a story? Is there anything in a story that makes it an instant deal breaker? Comment below!

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

L.T. Getty is a Manitoba Paramedic. She received her degree in English in 2006 from the University of Winnipeg, and has gone on to write several novels. Her latest title, Titan’s Ascent, is a sword and sorcery forthcoming from Champagne Books for 2025.

 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6479207.L_T_Getty

Twitter/X: http://www.twitter.com/getty_lt

Blog: http://www.ltgetty.ca

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/leiagetty

 

Buy Links:

Amazon (US): https://www.amazon.com/Fable-Wood-String-Getty-ebook/dp/B0DDDQZ2LF?ref_=ast_author_dp

Amazon (Canada): https://www.amazon.ca/Fable-Wood-String-L-Getty/dp/1777698073

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/it/it/ebook/a-fable-of-wood-and-string

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-fable-of-wood-and-string

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-fable-of-wood-and-string-l-t-getty/1145983492

 

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GIVEAWAY  

 

L.T. Getty will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 

 

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