There Is Majesty…

(Happy Easter!!! Also, I moved and I’ve got a bonus story!)

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​​We live in a world that is becoming increasingly informal. In some ways, this is good. The death of pantyhose, for example. (Nasty, filthy things, Precious.) 

But I think we’ve also begun to lose our sense of majesty. Nothing and everything can be sacred according to our whims, but it’s all relative. Especially when we’re operating as a society under the general worldview of relative morality. (See my post on Maundy Thursday and Objective Truth) When we label ourselves and everything else we find pleasure in as sacred and cast aside every sacred thing from our fathers, I believe we lose something tragic.

We lose majesty when we become gods unto ourselves.

We lose our sense of awe and wonder and the gravity of holiness. 

But just because we decide to spurn something doesn’t mean it actually changes. And a great day to remember that is on Easter Sunday. 

We read fantasy because we want something more. The mundane isn’t enough. We want to feel and see beauty and power and otherness. But in a world of the here and now. As George Orwell so eloquently put it, 

“And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present…” -1984, George Orwell

But on Easter…​

During Holy Week, or the week that encompasses Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, we remember. We remember the God of the Universe coming down to mankind which hated and reviled Him. Man who mocked and scorned and tortured and killed him. 

Random fact: Did you know the word “Excruciating” came from the Romans’ practice of crucifixion? It was so utterly painful there wasn’t a word to describe it.

​We see the Lord of the Universe offer Himself up on a cross and bear the weight of sin until the Heavenly Father turned His Face away from Him. And yet, Jesus was obedient, We see Him die quickly. We see him buried by strangers because His friends fled and were too cowardly to bury Him themselves.

But on Easter…

On Easter, we see the Son of God raised from death to life. We see Him victorious over Satan and the forces of evil. We see the fainting guards who have fallen down as though dead at the sight of God’s messenger coming to herald Christ’s resurrection. We see Jesus tenderly reuniting with those who loved him and betrayed Him. 

We witness majesty. We taste otherness. We find mercy. We meet God.

I will read fantasy until I die. I’ll never tire of that first feeling of magic or the final battle between good and evil. But as a fantasy author and reader, I can promise you that you’ll never find a story more fantastical than the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ. That God would come down and take the form of man, live, die, and rise again for us even while we hated Him is the truest form of happily ever after you’ll ever read. And the best part of it all?

It’s real.

Read the Story for yourself!

Matthew 28

Mark 16

Luke 24

John 20

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Personal Updates

​I have a possibly unhealthy love for succulents. But it’s okay. Mine are magical. You can see this one opening a portal into another realm.

By God’s grace, we made it through car issues, the four-year-old getting food poisoning/stomach flu the day the movers came, twelve states, a massive wind storm, two water leaks in the new rental home in one week, and I’m nearly halfway done with The Dragon’s Seer. And I am more grateful than I can tell. Our house still looks like it threw up on itself, but at least 75% of our stuff is out of boxes.

But the crazy pressure isn’t off yet. I have to take two more online classes with 15 hours of work for each by the middle of June. Aaaaaand I have to finish about another 75K by the middle of May so my editors can take it off my hands.

No pressure, right?

But what I really want to do is thank you. Thank you SO much to everyone who has purchased or borrowed one of my books recently or shared them with others. This move has felt like we’re bleeding money, and because of you guys, I’ve been able to supplement the family needs until the military gets us reimbursed.

I really am more grateful than I can say that I’m able to help take care of the family when situations like this arise. (Fun situations like finding that we have a gas hook-up for the dryer instead of the electric dryer we own and paying to get our car’s suspension system nearly completely replaced, or having to buy a new vacuum-mop combo because the new house has all hard floors. Those kinds of situations.)

Anywho, again, I just really want to thank you all for your kind words, patients, and prayers. They’ve meant so much to me, and to thank you all I’m really trying to make this next story fun. (For those of you who are wondering, Eirin’s been more than a little peeved with Drystan. But don’t worry. She likes him too much to hold the grudge forever.)

And on that note (in case you were wondering…)

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The Seer’s Dragon Updates

​A Seer explores her Sight.
A Dragon comes into his power.
New friends and enemies push and pull them apart.
But none of that will matter if they can’t cross Solevar.

Coming this July…

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Realize

I apologize for taking so long to get this up. I usually thank everyone for their reviews when we hit 25 reviews, and now we’re at 35. Unfortunately, we hit that number when I (I think) somewhere in western Texas being attacked by a wind that must have originated in Murkwood. Then once we got to Vegas, I had to wait until we got internet. But it’s here now, and I hope you enjoy it!

For those of you who are new, for every book I publish, I write short bonus stories (exclusively for you all) to accompany that book. I always release the first one along with the launch. Then I release another one as a celebration when we hit 25 reviews. When we hit 50, I’ll release the third. This story accompanies my latest book, The Seven Years Princess, and it’s a scene we see in the book but told from an alternate point of view. And today’s point of view belongs to Queen Isa from Before Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

If you can’t remember how to get your bonus stories, go to your welcome email (or this week’s email) and scroll down to the Exclusive Content Tab link and your password. If you’re not on my email list yet, you should be! You’ll get all of my Exclusive Bonus Content as well as updates about sales, new books, and often story sneak peeks.

You can join here.

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The Next Bonus Story…

So what comes next? When we hit 50 reviews, we’ll celebrate by releasing yet another bonus story!

And if you’re not sure if you need it or not, I’ll give you a hint: Rob’s father said and did things during Maleen’s imprisonment that he wasn’t proud of, and trying to force Rob into an unwilling marriage to a witch was one of them.

Rob may be happily married now, but that doesn’t mean he and his father have made things as they ought to be. Make sure you’ve reviewed the book to get this final bonus story sooner! (If you aren’t sure, you can read and/or review it here:

Read / Review The Seven Years Princess

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Where is Brittany?

We moved!!! Praise God! Now we’re getting all set in our new home, and can I just say how INCREDIBLE it feels to have my parents (a.k.a., babysitters) just down the road? (Note: I have to write 80Kish words in the next five weeks, which means I shall need people to wrangle my children.) Please pray I can get it done. Lol. These next five weeks are going to be interesting to say the least.

As always, thank you SO much for your time and your care. Your kind words and encouragements are such a blessing, and I’m so grateful to have you as my people!