The Order of Winter

Hi all! I haven’t posted on here in long enough that there was an entire update in the time it took me to post again next. But if you haven’t heard already, I have some new writing about to be released for the first time in…well, you can probably tell because it was the last time I posted about such on here. As it’s part of an anthology – this one in fact:

And so, without further ado, I shall get straight into it with my first guest! Take it away, Timber…

Tell us about yourself!

Hi, I’m Timber Philips, and I write romance rooted in fable and fantasy. I was born in the magical land of the Pacific Northwest, and I’ve lived here all of my life. I’m especially drawn to writing new twists on rarer or little-known Welsh and Irish myths as that’s the majority of my genetic makeup. I’m also trying to branch out into other fables, but try to stay away from the more popular and well known fairy tales as I don’t find them challenging enough.

This anthology is all about elements. Which element or elements are dominant in your story?

For my story, I focused on the element of water. I have a tough, bounty hunting water witch with the ability to scry out her quarry at will. She has a bevy of other water related powers, but you’re just going to have to read Like Water to Stone to find out what they are.

Author! What’s YOUR element of choice?

Technically I am an air sign by birth, but I have always had a major affinity for water. In fact, according to my mother, it was my first word!

How did you find your way to this anthology?

I’ve written for Knox Publishing at least twice before. The first piece was for last year’s Halloween time anthology, Immortal Lust, which happened to be about Vampires. Then again for this Halloween time’s anthology, Romanticizing the Gods, where I focused on the little-known Irish God of the Sea, Manannán mac Lir in my story The Lightkeeper’s Daughter. In fact, that anthology is still available right now. You should check it out in addition to The Elementals. Come to think of it, both of the anthologies I’ve written for for Knox Publishing this year have been water-centric in their own ways. I really do have an affinity for water!

Author! You have just been imbued with the power of your choice of ONE of our anthology elements. Which do you go for and why? What might you enjoy do with your powers?

That’s a tough one, it really is. In my world of elemental witchcraft, each element has their own micro-chasm or niche of latent ability. Earth witches are healers by nature, able to sense out what is wrong with a person just by being near them or with a simple touch. They use plants and herbs as medicine and imbue their healing magic into tinctures and teas. Being a sort of healer has always appealed to me, though. So, I think Earth might be the way to go. You can read more about it in the first Witches of Loving book that’s been out for a while now. It’s called Love Springs Eternal.

Then there are the Air witches. They have the power to see what is and what was. Meaning they can glimpse things going on in the present and with a simple touch of an object, gain impressions as insubstantial as air from them. Seeing where they have been and into the hearts and minds of those who have come in contact with them. It makes my air witch Blyn in the upcoming second book in my Witches of Loving series invaluable to the police and the FBI. With a simple touch of the evidence, she can lay out precisely what happened – see the whole crime. A very useful skill to have.

Fire witches have the ability to see what is, what was, and what could be… they can also communicate beyond the veil to those that have gone before meaning they can be strong and powerful mediums. My fire witch is actually male and a blacksmith, bending the fire to his very will. he is incredibly powerful, frightening, and dangerous to the point his government of origin are very hands-off and want nothing to do with him, declaring him America’s problem now.

Finally, Water has the ability to scry out what is and what could be. A few drops of consecrated oil in a puddle, they can share their visions with those around them making them very effective bounty hunters and skip tracers. Which you will definitely get more about in my story Like Water to Stone in The Elementals anthology!

Finally, a question for one of your characters. What’s going on in this story?

Ha, ha, ha! According to Ashlyn, “A lot of s^#!” She’s trying to make it through the untimely death of her twin sister and prove to her boss, Hatchet, that she has what it takes to go solo on a fugitive recovery operation. Unfortunately, what she does off the clock is casting her abilities in serious doubt with her boss and so, he’s saddled her with a partner for this latest recover mission and Ash? She doesn’t like it one bit.

Thank you, Timber! And if you want to get in early, you can pre-order here; https://amzn.eu/9knN0jM , with an official release on November 28th! Stay tuned for more guests very soon!