Monsters! Thank You cards 3-4

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests is…gasp… a book with a wedding in it. At one point, they need to write thank you cards. Here is a sampling of them.

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

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Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

“Escaped” by Pegasus

A fairy tale, by Pegasus Desmarais

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a king with a daughter. She had lots of special powers, like healing, turning invisible, and being really good at hiding.

A witch heard about these special powers and wanted them for her own, so she snuck into the castle and stole the princess away! She turned the princess into a talking frog and put her in a tower, far away from the kingdom she had grown up in.

The witch told the princess that she had seven nights to figure out how to turn back into a human, or else she would remain a frog for all time, and her powers would belong to the witch.

The princess, on the first night, turned invisible and snuck out of the tower. She knew that if she made it back to her kingdom, she would return human.

Her journey home was fraught (my word lol) with danger.

She fought off a snake that wanted to eat her, but she escaped.

She was almost eaten by a crocodile, but she escaped.

She was almost eaten by a heron, but she escaped.

At long last, she made it to her kingdom.

The instant she crossed the border, she became human again, right before the clock struck midnight on the seventh night.

Her father was so happy to have her home once more.

The End

Monsters! Reviews 4-6

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests was sent out for reviews. Here’s the second batch!

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

49th Shelf Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Indigo Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Archambault Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Amazon Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Rakuten Kobo Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Apple Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

Our Tropes for Monsters!

The tropes we use in Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

49th Shelf Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Indigo Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Archambault Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Amazon Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
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Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

Monsters! Thank You cards 1-2

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests is…gasp… a book with a wedding in it. At one point, they need to write thank you cards. Here is a sampling of them.

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

49th Shelf Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Indigo Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Archambault Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Amazon Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Rakuten Kobo Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Apple Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

The Hidden Worlds

Hello Readers,

There are many ways to go about designing a Hidden World. In the case of the Aetherverse, it almost designed itself by accident.

It started with me reusing names and then purposely doing mini-crossovers. Soon (okay five books in) I realized the whole thing was connected. The Aetherverse currently spans ten published books and has a little of everything in it.

The Elizabeth Series introduced hidden magic, wizards, and a society of magical people called Aetherborn.

Parasomnia introduced the concept of Elmsley the paramilitary organization who hunt down monsters and all things weird.

Everdome introduces the other Realms, worlds that are parallel to our own and connected by magic (Aether).

Finally Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers and Crushing it expanded on the concept of Aetherborn and how they stay hidden. These two and their sequels also add another dimension that is rarely explored in Fantasy, that of space aliens.

Westmeath 2004

The city is the home to one of the largest populations of magical and mythological people in the world. It’s a city where aliens, Aetherborn, and superheroes co-exist and often come into conflict.

The veil of secrecy in Westmeath is kept up in part because of the technological companies that call it home. When a military tech contractor is working on projections and mechs, it’s easy to dismiss a few monsters. Even then, monsters makes sense with superheroes in residence.

The Balance

As an author, and a reader, you want big adventures. Those don’t always end up being subtle and it can be difficult to make sure the veil of secrecy isn’t destroyed. There’s only so much suspension of disbelief a reader is willing to do.

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Giant monsters are not subtle. When they disappear after being fought by a superhero, it gets easier for people to believe there’s something else going on. The normal citizens of Westmeath are used to gangs, superheroes, and weird things happening, so to them, this is more like a hazard to avoid.

For the outside world, it’s significantly easier for them to assume a marketing ploy or some sort of advanced tech gone wrong. It might seem hard to dismiss and move on, but how many of us remember the mysterious monoliths of 2020?

One of the bigger story points in the Gates of Westmeath series is secrecy and protecting the Aetherborn Community.

It’s not always easy keeping the secrets of magic when you have a wedding to plan and monsters to stop.

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

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Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

“The Hole in the Playground” by Dragon

A fairty tale, by Dragon Desmarais

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Suzy who was six years old and loved cats.

One day at recess, Suzy found a hole in the ground and fell in. When she got to the end, she was in another world! She knew it was another world because she could see the sky, and it was black, so she thought it was nighttime.

She walked over to a big glowing pink thing that looked like a tree. She sat down and started to think about how to get home.

Suddenly, a unicorn appeared. “Good morning,” they said. “What are you doing?”

Suzy was surprised that it was morning, considering it was dark. She replied, “I came from another world, and I don’t know how to get back.”

“Hmm,” said the unicorn. “How about you talk to the queen? She’s the most likely person to be able to help you.”

“Where can I find the queen?” Suzy asked.

“She’s normally in her garden. You just need to go straight until you see a fountain, and then turn left.”

“Thank you!”

The unicorn galloped off.

Suzy started in the direction the unicorn had pointed out. She walked for a long time before she saw the fountain. The garden was just beyond a hill to the left.

She was surprised that the garden was just like one on Earth, except for the pink trees. There was a figure that looked like a bee and had a crown on her head.

The unicorn was right that the queen would be in her garden! she thought.

Suzy greeted the queen with a curtsy. “Hello. Can you help me get back home? I’m from another world.”

The queen said, “Yes, I can help you, but first you must complete my three trials to show that you are worthy.”

“Anything to get back home.”

The garden seemed to shift, until it didn’t look like a garden anymore. It looked more like a training ground.

“For the first trial, you have to run around this bush until you catch yourself.”

Suzy wasn’t afraid, because she was really fast. But she was a little worried about out-running herself. She ran around for a while, and she couldn’t catch herself, but then she realized that she could outsmart it. She walked until the hologram of herself was right behind her, and then quickly turned around to touch it.

As that part of the training ground turned back into the garden, the queen said, “Good job. You completed the trial of cleverness. Next, you must cross a field of lava.” She gestured at a pit.

Suzy crept to the edge and saw the lava below. There were pillars of stone creating a path across the field, and they were slowly shrinking.

She had no time to lose!

Quickly but carefully, she anxiously jumped from pillar to pillar, until she suddenly remembered her age. She was only six! It was unlikely that the queen would put her in mortal danger, especially when holograms were available. The lava was fake. Hopefully.

This gave her confidence and courage to finish the trial.

As soon as she finished, the field of lava reverted to the garden.

“You have now completed the trial of courage,” the queen told her. “For your last trial, you must lift four weights: one on each shoulder and in each hand. This is the trial of strength.”

Suzy walked over to the weights that the queen had indicated. She had just shouldered two of the weights when she spotted a kitten in one of the pink trees. She couldn’t resist a cute kitten. Dropping the weights, she climbed the tree to rescue the animal.

When she got to the ground with the kitten, she heard the voice of the queen from behind her.

“Good job. You have completed the trial of kindness. I can now send you home. Close your eyes and turn in a circle three times.”

Suzy did what she was told, and when she opened her eyes, she was back in the playground at school. When she looked for the hole, it had disappeared!

After school, she told her parents all about the magical world she had discovered. Of course they didn’t believe her, but it was nice to tell them.

The End?

Monsters! Reviews 1-3

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests was sent out for reviews. Here’s the first batch!

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

49th Shelf Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Indigo Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Archambault Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Amazon Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Rakuten Kobo Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
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Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

Favourite Things: Jason

post on Instagram a while back detailing the author’s favourite things, and I thought it would be fun to do that, not only for ourselves, but for our characters too! Here’s Jason’s:

Read Jason’s latest story here:

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

49th Shelf Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Indigo Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Archambault Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Amazon Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Rakuten Kobo Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Apple Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

Favourite Things: Kennedy

I saw a post on Instagram a while back detailing the author’s favourite things, and I thought it would be fun to do that, not only for ourselves, but for our characters too! Here’s Kennedy’s:

Read Kennedy’s latest story here:

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

49th Shelf Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Indigo Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Archambault Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Amazon Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Rakuten Kobo Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Apple Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!