Linda Medley the talented creator of the independent book
Castle Waiting (
Vol. 1 and
Vol. 2) recently decided to sell her work by chapter at a most reasonable $100 per page per chapter. The purchase price includes all of her preliminary pages for the chapter bought. Wow! She may move the rest through a dealer, but you could drop her a line through
her Facebook page if you want.
A friend of mine and I decided to buy a chapter. I let him drive and he picked Chapter 8 from Volume 2. I chose the last three pages of the chapter which are seen in this post. I also received the roughs for the entire chapter which I find fascinating since I can see where the story started. One thing to note is that as published it's Chapter 8, but in her roughs it's Chapter 7.
Castle Waiting (as the links indicate above) grew from Linda's school initiated interest into what happened with the "background" characters in fairy tales once thing progressed "happily ever after." As such, there are a fair number of stories overlapping. The main one is - I suppose - the story of Lady Jain. She's a young, pregnant woman fleeing an abusive relationship with the father of her child. She seeks a quiet place to recover and raise her child to be.
In this part of the story, Lady Jain has - with help - discovered a new section of the castle where she hopes to setup living quarters for her child and herself. However, this section is unknown and Jain wants to explore, but doesn't want to take her child. Her friends rally and split up - child care and exploration.
Several things attracted me to these pages - chief among them is the expressions shown. Jain is thrilled to explore the new area knowing that her child will be safe with her friends. Linda captures the joy of this very young woman freed temporarily of the responsibility of caring for her child.
Iron Henry takes him into his very protective care. I can "grok" that. Look at the expression on the face of the
Hammerling as she runs down the hall instead of finishing their project. Good stuff.
I have a few other pages from Volume 2, Chapter 8 posted:
- Pages 188-189 featuring the cutest little goat ever
- Page 199 featuring the team breaking into the hidden hallway in the castle wall
Goodreads reviews on Volume 1Goodreads reviews on Volume 2
