Release date: June 14, 2020
Subgenre: Cozy Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy
About The Capramancer Next Door:
Down-to-earth mage Will Schafer has her hands full moving into a new house while keeping her mischievous herd of magical goats in line. Meeting handsome gardener Rickert Nash takes the sting out of moving...until his shadowy past comes roaring back to bite him in the butt.
Now Will and the herd must step in to save their neighbor from getting mulched—but can a girl and her goats defeat a formidable hunter...or are they all about to buy the farm?
Called “A wonderful read!” by the owner of GoatsLive.com, The Capramancer Next Door is an upbeat fantasy adventure sure to leave you smiling.
Excerpt:
She’d picked the land for its
weather—all four seasons, and plenty of falling leaves in autumn (the herd
loved crispy leaves, snarfed them down like potato chips)—and the village for
its lack of development, which meant plenty of browsing and wide-open blue
skies.
She was enjoying just such a sky
now on the front steps of her new brick home, which she had picked for the
acreage. (She’d thought it a little strange the land was all straight out
behind the house, like those small-until-you-realized-how-far-back-they-went
shops she’d visited in Europe on vacation, but since it wouldn’t bother the
herd any, she hadn’t spared another moment’s worry about it.)
The chipped mug of apple cider in
her hand steamed, warming her round chin. It was hard to stop smiling. Today
the boulders came in; with any luck, she could call the herd over before
sundown.
Her lips worked inward
momentarily. “Luck” and “contractors” did not go together in the same sentence,
let alone the same reality. And she hadn’t finished unpacking, so who knew
where her luck talisman was hiding. Probably in one of those Trader Joe’s paper
sacks she’d used to pack up her staff-care drawer. She’d thrown a lot of
sundries from around the house in that paper bag.
Pride in one’s mage staff was
emphasized at the University of Rivermoon (waxing), with staff inspections
carried out by the TA’s every week, and special staff inspections carried out
by the head mages of the department every month (and only once a month, if you’d chosen well; randomly two to three
times a month if you’d chosen the wrong major), and a final staff inspection
upon graduation by the dean.
But since she’d become a
practicing capramancer, she’d found she only brought the staff out twice a
year, max, at summer solstice and Easter. And even then, it was mostly for
show. She’d attempted to use her mage’s staff—which, of course, had a crook on
the end, like any self-respecting shepherd’s staff—to herd the goats only once,
because something about the blue glassy stone from which it was made enticed
Elvis (the herd’s voice) to try breaking it. Via ricocheting off it. Of course,
that had been when she’d first taken in the herd; she and Elvis were cool now,
so maybe it’d be different…but Wilhemendra didn’t want to risk it.
So for now her staff hung from a
hook on the inside door of the wardrobe with the winter coats and boots. Her
hand went to the wardrobe key around her neck, disguised as a dainty bronze
choker. Still, she was a mage, and it was her staff, and it did merit some protection.
So the wardrobe was kept locked year round.
Will heard the rumble of plastic
wheels on pavement. She looked next door to see a man walking his garbage out
to the curb. He wore a rugged hat with quite a brim (it reminded her, somehow,
of Australia), a long-sleeved shirt in a color she believed they were now
calling “greige”, and pants a shade darker. Coyote brown boots completed the
ensemble, or so Will thought, until the man turned around to return up the
driveway. Then she saw the sturdy yellow gloves tucked into the waistband of
his pants. Gardening gloves.
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About Danielle Williams:
Danielle Williams is the author of (so far) four novels and nearly
a dozen other tales of wonder, horror and humor, including Steel City, Veiled Kingdom; The Girlfriend Who Wasn’t from Delaware; and The Witching License. Explore her full collection of stories at www.PixelvaniaPublishing.com today.
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