I had posted this when I was supposed to...but on the wrong blog!! So sorry, Ponderers!
Enjoy!!
Author Bio:
Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh,
North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Rohan, a kindle of
kitties, and one long-suffering dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys
Shakespeare, opera, and tea, and practices piano, painting, and pastry
baking. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature
at Campbell University. She is the author of the Tales of Goldstone
Wood, including Heartless, Veiled Rose, Moonblood, Starflower, and
Dragonwitch. Heartless and Veiled Rose have each been honored with a
Christy Award, and Starflower was voted winner of the 2013 Clive Staples
Award.
Back Cover Copy:
The Vengeful Goddess
Demands Her Tithe
When
a stowaway is discovered aboard the merchant ship Kulap Kanya, Munny, a
cabin boy on his first voyage, knows what must be done. All stowaways
are sacrificed to Risafeth, the evil goddess of the sea. Such is her
right, and the Kulap Kanya's only hope to return safely home.
Yet,
to the horror of his crew, Captain Sunan vows to protect the stowaway, a
foreigner in clown's garb. A curse falls upon the ship and all who sail
with her, for Risafeth will stop at nothing to claim her tithe.
Will Munny find the courage to trust his captain and to protect the strange clown who has become his friend?
Cover Design Intro:
I
had the fun of designing this cover—finding reference photos, inventing
the composition, applying the text, etc.—but the actual artistic work
was done by talented cover artist Phatpuppy (www.phatpuppyart.com),
whose work I have admired for many years. It was such a thrill for me to
contact and commission this artist to create a look for Goddess Tithe
that is reminiscent of the original novels but has a style and drama all
its own.
The boy on the front was quite a find. I
hunted high and low for an image of a boy the right age, the right look,
with the right expression on his face. Phatpuppy and I worked with a
different model through most of the cover development stage. But then I
happened upon this image, and both she and I were delighted with his
blend of youth, stubbornness, and strength of character! It wasn’t
difficult to switch the original boy for this young man. He simply is
Munny, and this cover is a perfect window into the world of my story.
You
can’t see it here, but the wrap-around back cover for the print copy
contains some of the prettiest work . . . including quite a scary sea
monster! Possibly my favorite detail is the inclusion of the ghostly
white flowers framing the outer edge. These are an important symbol in
the story itself, and when Phatpuppy sent me the first mock-up cover
with these included, I nearly jumped out of my skin with excitement!
Intro to Illustration:
There
are eight full-page illustrations in Goddess Tithe featuring various
characters and events from the story. This is the first one in the book.
I decided to share it with all of you since it depicts my young hero,
Munny the cabin boy, under the watchful eye of his mentor, the old
sailor Tu Pich. Munny is on his first voyage, and he is determined to
learn all there is to know about a life at sea as quickly as possible.
Thus we see him utterly intent upon the knot he is learning to tie. Tu
Pich is old enough to know that no sailor will ever learn all there is
to know about the sea. Thus he looks on, grave, caring, and perhaps a
little sad. He might be looking upon his own younger self of many years
ago, fumbling through the hundreds of difficult knots his fingers must
learn to tie with unconscious ease.
I enjoyed creating all the
illustrations for Goddess Tithe, but this one was my favorite. I love
the contrasts of light and dark, the contrasts of young and old . . .
youthful intensity versus the perspective of age.
Excerpt from the Story:
Here
is an excerpt from the middle of the story. In this scene, Munny has
been ordered to Captain Sunan’s cabin to clear away his breakfast . . .
an unexpected task, for a lowly cabin boy would not ordinarily dare
enter his captain’s private quarters! Munny hopes to slip in and out
quietly without attracting the captain’s notice. But his hopes are
dashed when Sunan addresses him, asking how their strange, foreign
stowaway is faring:
__________
“And what do you make of him yourself?”
Munny
dared glance his captain’s way and was relieved when his eyes met only a
stern and rigid back. “I’m not sure, Captain,” he said. “I think he’s
afraid. But not of . . .”
“Not of the goddess?” the Captain
finished for him. And with these words he turned upon Munny, his eyes so
full of secrets it was nearly overwhelming. Munny froze, his fingers
just touching but not daring to take up a small teapot of fragile work.
The
Captain looked at him, studying his small frame up and down. “No,” he
said, “I believe you are right. Leonard the Clown does not fear
Risafeth. I believe he is unaware of his near peril at her will,
suffering as he does under a peril nearer still.”
Munny made neither answer nor any move.
“We
will bring him safely to Lunthea Maly, won’t we, Munny?” the Captain
said. But he did not speak as though he expected an answer, so again
Munny offered none. “We will bring him safely to Lunthea Maly and there
let him choose his own dark future.”
“I hope—” Munny began.
But
he was interrupted by a sudden commotion on deck. First a rising murmur
of voices, then many shouts, inarticulate in cacophony. But a pounding
at the cabin door accompanied Sur Agung’s voice bellowing, “Captain,
you’d best come see this!”
The Captain’s eyes widened a moment and
still did not break gaze with Munny’s. “We’ll keep him safe,” he
repeated. Then he turned and was gone, leaving the door open.
Munny
put down the pot he held and scurried after. The deck was alive with
hands, even those who were off watch, crawling up from the hatches and
crowding the rails on the port side. They parted way for the Captain to
pass through, but when Munny tried to follow, they closed in again,
blocking him as solidly as a brick wall.
“Look! Look!” Munny heard voices crying.
“It’s a sign!”
“She’s warning us!”
“It’s a sign, I tell you!”
Fearing
he knew not what, Munny ran for the center mast and climbed partway up,
using the handholds and footholds with unconscious confidence. Soon he
was high enough to see over the heads of the gathered crew, out into the
blue waters of the ocean. And he saw them.
They were water
birds. Big white albatrosses, smaller seagulls, heavy cormorants, even
deep-throated pelicans and sleek, black-faced terns. These and many
more, hundreds of them, none of which should be seen this far out to
sea.
They were all dead. Floating in a great mass.
Munny
clung to the mast, pressing his cheek against its wood. The shouts of
the frightened sailors below faded away, drowned out by the desolation
of that sight. Death, reeking death, a sad flotilla upon the waves.
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Munny
looked down to where Leonard clung to the mast just beneath him,
staring wide-eyed out at the waves. “How could this have happened? Were
they sick? Caught in a sudden gale? Are they tangled in fishing nets?”
There
was no fear in his voice. Not like in the voices of the sailors. He did
not understand. He did not realize. It wasn’t his fault, Munny told
himself.
But it was.
____________
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-The Writer
