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The country of Alcabast is not ravaged by war, all of its neighbors get along rather well. Magic is neither deep nor mysterious, in fact it’s quite useful for daily life. Fierce creatures do roam the forests, but a sharp blade and a well-aimed musket will keep them at bay. Steam-powered conveyances transport people and goods, as long as they’ve been maintained well enough. People live in harmony with the Seasons and with each other. Well, mostly…
Ahlden Creiori is employed by the Stellaire Library to uphold the ideals of truth and knowledge, wisdom and beauty. He enjoys a fulfilling career, a high degree of prestige, and looks forward to marrying the lady he’s courted for many Seasons now. His comfortable routine is disrupted when he’s sent away from the city to a bucolic little town, to authenticate a mysterious book that no one will tell him anything about. The journey there takes him to the brink of an entirely new outlook on life, and a chance encounter on the way home pushes him off the edge entirely. He gains a new perspective, but what must he lose to maintain the balance?
Cover art by Michelle Thomas
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“The writing is exquisite. The language used, the word-building, it’s all intensely beautiful. My brain was filled with rich colors
while I was reading. It was a joy to experience and imagine the different places and people who populated them.” –Ginny Kochis
“I found the book to be delightful – the world was strange but beautiful, and the characters were convincing and compelling. The story had strong symbolism – elements reminded me of Flannery O’Connor and Edith Wharton, and it is clearly a work of literature. The story, in a sense, almost plays with the reader – most readers will be accustomed to fantasy stories of the adventure or mystery genre, and this book acknowledges that potential expectation by setting up problems and mysteries, only to draw the reader more truly into the life and spirit of the characters. The events in the characters’ lives are truly only the setting, and the characters’ internal struggles are the plot.” – Jared Guertin
“I was continually struck by the world-building, which was done masterfully. There was a beauty and quiet deepness to the
story… like a still pool with shafts of sunlight lazily penetrating deeper and deeper… yet not reaching the bottom. I will be
thinking about this for a long time.” –Todd Foxwood
“This story doesn’t involve life-or-death stakes, but that didn’t make me care any less for the characters and their problems
and challenges. I felt immersed in this book’s unique world and setting almost from the very beginning. The main characters were so charming and realistically created… The beginning of the story was
altogether magical, and the themes built very well on each other, leading to a satisfying conclusion.” –Mary Rose Kreger
“[The main character] was spectacular, the world was beautiful, and the themes were deep and touching…The writing style is comforting and lovely.” –@zoiya_morell
“First and foremost, it is very unique. The world…especially with its various peoples, is unlike anything I’ve read.” -Alcuin Fromm
"Enter a rich, vibrant world where technology and nature are integrated, benevolent spirits walk among mortals, and all life is important."
— LibraryThing (@LibraryThing) November 15, 2023
Win a copy of Zephyr Thomas' Paper & Feathers from @zmt_bookshttps://t.co/BOqxiW58Du
Paper & Feathers is the first book in Euphony of Seasons, a series of low-stakes, slice-of-life casual fantasy stories.
We have plenty of epic tales about the struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, and those are all fine. These books aim to describe a different part of the fantasy world altogether: normal, everyday life. You won’t find epic tales of war and chaos, death and valor. You’ll see how people live in a world where technology and nature are integrated, benevolent spirits walk among mortals, and all life is sacred.
If magical realism is a story in the normal world with some fantastic elements, then the opposite would be a story in a fantasy world with some normal elements. We call this everyday fantasy.
All artwork by Michelle Thomas
All artwork by Michelle Thomas
