ellenmillion

X-posed from my author page on Facebook.

I didn’t have much of a plan when I sat down to write Dragon of Glass. I wanted to write something light and fun and silly because I had completely broken my brain writing Tropical Dragon’s Destiny and I was deep in the morbs over ending the Shifting Sands Resort series. I wanted to do something with goofy dogs and big, gorgeous, bewildered guys in a strange, alien world of toasters and televisions.

I certainly didn’t intend to write a social commentary.

But when I introduced the character of Robin, I knew I was heading somewhere new, for me. I had already written a bisexual character, with Breck, and an asexual character, Liam. I had even, cautiously, written a trangender character, in the short story Balance. And I knew how to refer to each of these characters.

But Robin...let me step back and introduce Robin.

Robin is from a world more magic than mundane, and they are made of a kind of energy that simply doesn’t exist in our understanding. I didn’t want them to be a ‘fairy’ the way that is so often depicted, a sexy, tiny flying woman, or the other direction a lot of people are writing these days, with the brave, manly fae fighter figure. It was important that this character not cling to those gender stereotypes. I wanted to emphasize that this was a creature who wasn’t binary, wasn’t constrained to our expectations, was not only not human, but not of flesh.

When I first started writing them, I referred to them as ‘he,’ trying to counter the impression of the sweet, winged fairy that comes with the diminutive size and ability to fly. It was about as successful as pinning a beard on Tinkerbell.

I could tell right away that was just wrong, and I moved to calling them ‘it,’ which was just as terrible. Robin wasn’t a thing, they were a rounded character, with a sense and depth of self. Referring to them as ‘it’ felt every bit as incorrect and disrespectful as ‘he.’

‘They’ as a singular pronoun was accepted into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary at right about the time I was writing Dragon of Glass, but I knew that it was already popular as a choice among agender people who preferred it to the other English pronoun options. It has, of course, been around for hundreds of years a singular reference for someone whose gender is unknown, and that is a big part of why it works for me.

Robin is a mystery. They are a puzzle. They defy our need to put things in tidy boxes. They are not real...and yet they are. They even look different to different people - Heather and Daniella see completely different wings when they compare notes! Heather picked up on their female characteristics first, Daniella on male features.

It was kind of a risk, putting a character like this in a romance book, even as a secondary character. Readers have certain expectations that authors have to be careful about violating, and I wasn’t surprised to receive a few low-star reviews complaining about they/their pronouns. But I received an equal number of delighted reviews and emails, and more people than I expected are hoping that Robin gets their own book. (I’m not saying either way, yet, but they definitely have a pivotal role to play…)

In other not-spoiler statements, I got to see preliminary photos of the gryphon ornament and it is looking amazing! Folks in my reader’s group get to see them first…

Just until May 6.

Well, maybe final. I may tweak it a little.



Click to embiggen!

I had moments of doubt, but I am so SO happy with the final product. :)

It doesn't quite capture the colors we have, but it dried considerably darker than we'd hoped. We have decided to paint a few areas over brighter tomorrow. Stars will be the day after.

Christmas magic...in July?

Heather’s life is not entirely normal. She dresses as a holiday elf for one job and a medieval peasant for the other. She has an Italian Greyhound that fits in her purse. But now there’s a beautiful, buck-naked man standing in her apartment explaining that he’s a unicorn who was trapped in a glass Christmas ornament. And things are just about to get a whole lot weirder.

Rez, fae unicorn knight and defender of the broken crown, isn’t sure how he got to this magic-starved world or why the beauty who freed him from his glass prison has cast an enchantment on him. He only knows he has to find his shieldmates and return to his fight with the darkness before he loses himself to her charms (and those of her tiny hound) forever.

Dark forces from his fallen world are tracking them down. But Rez has much harder tasks at hand: battling a rogue vacuum cleaner, braving buses and BigMart, defending a hound’s honor at a Ren Faire...and facing dinner with Heather’s mother.

Heather and Rez will have to work together with old allies and new to find answers, discover the key to his magic, and unlock the power of his unicorn heart...before his enemies find a way to stop them forever.

UNICORN OF GLASS is a hot and hilarious standalone fae unicorn shifter adventure. For a side-splitting short paranormal romp, pick up a copy on Amazon today!

I had so much fun writing this one - it's heartwarming and funny and full of love.

 My newest book is out! 

I've been wanting to write this particular series for a few years now, but made myself finish Shifting Sands Resort (because I didn't need FOUR complicated ongoing series... even though that does seem to be where I am again, oh dear). I took copious notes and doodled in the margins of my other projects, and there were some major editing frustrations that were all completely worth it, and now Elva Birch has her first (serious) book!

It's still very much a paranormal romance, but it definitely tips out of the box in a few places, and it's got a lot of juicy fantasy worldbuilding and plotty adventure. Plus dogs and camping and magic and dragons. 



I hope you like it! <3

For 2019, I said:

I have NDA artwork to finish, and I am hopeful that the project will be completed and released in March. I want to do some artwork in color. I want to do #junicorn again, and #inktober, and #NaNoWriMo. I want to write 5 books. I want to publish 5 books and a collection of short stories. I want to put Shifting Sands out in hardcopy. I have amorphous ideas about a unicorn oracle deck collected from my #junicorns.

I want to blog more.

I want to be healthier and more fit.

I want to be brave and honest and kind and creative.

How'd I do? I did finish the NDA project and it was released. I did not do anything major in color. I did #junicorn, but not #inktober. I did write a book for #NaNoWriMo. I wrote SIX books. I published SIX books and a collection of short stories...plus I had stories in anthologies and wrote some short stories for this year's publication. I put Shifting Sands in hardcopy (and also DANCING BEARFOOT and also DRAGON OF GLASS). I did nothing with the oracle deck idea.

I blogged plenty, I was...maybe marginally more healthy? I could definitely do better.

I was so brave. Crazy brave. I think I was honest, I hope I was kind, and I was decidedly creative.

So... for 2020?

Creative Goals:

*Write six books

*Publish six books and two story collections (Is that crazy? Probably!)

*Submit to two anthologies

*30 pieces of cat art in one month. #junikitty? #janucat?

*Work on the sequel to the Alaska Animals Native Translation coloring book

Personal Goals:

*Work on my physical strength

*Avoid comparing myself with others and focus on self-confidence without outside validation

Aaaand... I think that's a pretty good list. A little hard to quantify the personal goals, but that's okay.

PROMPTED is available now!



Get it free with a subscription to my (pen name) mailing list: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/r764d3yysx
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082ZSRBD3
Other vendors: https://books2read.com/u/4ExVvM

Also available is a Shifting Sands Resorts short story, A RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS: https://www.zoechant.com/a-recipe-for-happiness/

It's short, sweet, slightly spicy, and works as a standalone if you've never read the series.

(Also, the first book in the series is free today! Just in case you know someone who is getting a Kindle for Christmas...)

Merry Christmas!

From Treasure Sense, for the Shifting Sands Shorts collection (coming spring 2020)

# # #

The interface between sky and sea had always fascinated Bastian.

Some days, the ocean was a faintly rolling bolt of silk, and some days it was a roiling cauldron, with foaming peaks and churning valleys.

Mostly, when the sky was stormy, the ocean was wild, but some days, like this one, it was still and blue above, but some distant weather system was causing deep currents and tall, curving mountains of waves.

Bastian swam near the surface, letting the agitated water wash over his scales.

It had been years since he first slipped into the ocean, unable to resist its siren call as a child. His younger brother, Keylor, had flown down and scooped him out, sent by his parents, who were sure that his presence in the water was some kind of childish mistake, or a clumsy misstep.

Bastian tried to explain to his frowning father and his worried mother and his scornful brother that it wasn’t an accident. He had wanted to be in the ocean, had deliberately gone out in it, swimming cautiously with limbs made for fighting and flying.