I’m super excited to share today’s spotlight with you, but first, a massively cool update! It can be summed up as follows:

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!

*ahem*

That is, I finished the rewrite (and redraft) of my upper middle grade urban fantasy, Demon Gate, and turned it into my agent–and my edits met with his approval! He then requested a bio and outlines for any other books planned for this series (which thankfully I’d been working on for awhile, this not being my first dance in the rain), all of which I turned in to him this past week and–

I’m trying to pretend I’m very cool with this because, after all, I’ve had other MG books go on submission–heck, my second Lily Black Willowdale book will be coming out soon from Red Adept–but the truth is, I can barely breathe. From the beginning, Demon Gate has been special. Its origins stretch back more than ten years, and holding on to this book in my heart was a huge part of how I coped with the death of a sibling, parting ways with my first agent, and all my daughter’s health problems. It’s very much a heart song novel. So at this point I’m just extremely grateful to have *finally* fixed the bugs in this beloved book, and that it has this chance to earn its moment in the sun. I’m crossing everything I have and braiding my hair that the publishers fall in love, and hope whenever you have a spare moment, you’ll do the same! <3

Okay, now on to today’s spotlight! As I move forward from the high of turning in my book, Have Sword, Will Travel feels like an appropriate story to focus on. It’s not urban fantasy, but it’s got a lovely meta feeling to it because it doesn’t shy away from playing with the various fantasy tropes, while taking them out for a romp that’s uniquely its own.

The story begins with Odo and Eleanor catching eels in the nearly-gone creek. Eleanor is doing most of the catching, as she’s super fast and hopes to grow up to be a knight someday, like her mother was. Both of them are astonished when they discover an ancient sword deep in the river bed. They decide to retrieve it, and in the process Odo cuts his finger and his blood wakes the sword up. The sword–which is magic, and full of opinions–promptly knights Odo, proclaims Eleanor his squire, and drags them off to fight battles–even if initially that just means attacking the baker’s brats!

Unfortunately, Odo wasn’t the one who wanted adventure and is disinclined to leave his large family at the mill and go off into the scary world beyond. Besides, they live in times of peace (or so they believe) so the only problem he and Eleanor can see is the uncanny way the river is low despite sufficient rain. In the end, it takes Eleanor’s determined prodding combined with the sword’s meddling to get him out of town. But he does take reasonably well to adventure, and the two friends discover the world has greater need for valiant knights who are willing to right wrongs than they thought. Of course, the quest to reclaim the river turns out to be much more complex than any of them bargained for, and will take their preconceived notions about who the villains are and what makes a knight heroic and turn them on their heads.

Without giving away spoilers, I really enjoyed the world building and unexpected twists on the tropes of the fantasy genre. However, despite enjoying the two main characters and fun supporting cast, my favorite part of the entire book was without a doubt the main sword, Biter, and the second sword who enters the scene later in the book. Biter is ferocious and dedicated to training Odo in his knightly duties, but also has some odd holes in his memory and a past that gets explored slowly through the book. And the second sword makes Biter’s past seem like a romp in the sun. What’s more, the relationship between the two swords and the emotional overtones addressed there were truly delightful. An excellent example of how challenging moral ambiguities can be addressed on multiple layers, so readers can take away from the story whatever level is appropriate for them.

Now, let’s see what Apricot-kitty thought:

Hey, we got our first input from my new cats, who’ve been dubbed the Norse cats around here, since their names kinda led us there. And Valkyrie is absolutely right–though we don’t meet the dragon face-to-face until very late in the book, its presence has lots of impact and promises to be an interesting element in any future books. She was majestic and scary and magical in all the ways a dragon should be!

What are you reading? And if you’re writing, how is that going for you? Tell me in the comments, and don’t forget to hop around the various blogs participating in Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, starting with our host Greg Pattridge’s blog. Happy Monday and happy reading!