Unafraid

It is with great joy that I welcome you today to my home city, Ban Rona. We'll visit the Great Library in a few weeks—the very best place in Aerwiar! I can't wait!—but first, glory in the great peace of the city itself.

It took Janner a while to realize what was so strange about Ban Rona.As they walked the clean streets of the city, they passed wagons and clusters of people walking in conversation. Many of the houses boasted gardens in the front so that one had to pass between bright flowers and totatoes on the vine to reach the front steps. Men and women sat outside on benches, puffing pipes or munching on grapes, laughing in the cool of the night.And every house, Janner noticed, had a dog. Not just a dog, but a big dog. He could see their tails waving like flags in the windows. He saw them curled up on the landings and chasing sticks, dogs of different colors and breeds, but all of them at least twice as big as Nugget had been— before the water from the First Well, anyway. More than once, one of the dogs padded out to greet Leeli as she passed, as if they sensed in her a great store of affection with nowhere else to go.“The people aren’t afraid,” Janner said, finally realizing what was so different. “It’s after dark, the streets are full, and there are no Fangs slithering about. Everyone’s happy. I’ve never seen that before.”“It’s the way it was and the way it should be,” Artham said. “All the work has been done, dinner is on the table, and the children are alight with a final burst of energy before bed. That’s when stories get told. Look.”They passed a lawn where a fire crackled in a stone ring. A grandmother sat on a bench with a book in her lap, reading to a circle of children gathered at her feet. Whistleharp music drifted to their ears, and with it the sound of singing. Janner caught the scent of something delicious as they passed a window where a family sat around a table. It reminded Janner of the Dragon Day festival in Glipwood, where he’d seen Armulyn the Bard singing by the fire. But here, no one was afraid.—From chapter 8, "The Orchard Inn and Cookery."
What was your favorite snippet from this week's reading? Or, if you're currently reading elsewhere in the books, from whatever you read this week? Share it in the comments!This week's forum discussion includes Kalmar and the Hollowsfolk, homesickness, favorite characters, and movie casting. Come on in and enjoy the conversation. :-)

Two beasts and a birdman

Nathan, then 7, drew these pictures when he and his mom were just starting to read The Monster in the Hollows. Thanks very much for sending these in, Nathan! They're great. I love the background details, and the smile on that birdman's face. :-)If you want to zoom in on those details, just click the photos!Quill Diggle by NathanPSnickbuzzard by NathanPPeet the Sockman by NathanP

This week, Madame Sidler will be reading chapters 7-11 in The Monster in the Hollows. Check back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share what you've been reading!Meanwhile, come hang out with us in the forum. This week's new topics include movie casting the Wingfeathers! And here's some news from Andrew.

Janner and The Dark Sea of Darkness

Monster in the HollowsWelcome to the Great Library of Ban Rona! I'm Madame Sidler, the librarian, and I'm so glad to have you join us. We're just starting the third book in The Wingfeather Saga. We read chapters 1-6 this week, and it took me all of four pages to decide on an excerpt. :-)

Janner took his old friend’s arm and eased his way up the steps into the sunlight. When his eyes had adjusted, he saw the open sea for the first time since they’d set sail. He had seen the ocean from the cliffs back home, stretching out forever east, and he had seen it when they escaped the Ice Prairies, with the frozen crags at his back. But now it surrounded him. The effect was dizzying. The Dark Sea of Darkness was vast and terrible to behold; it quickened his pulse and took his breath— and he knew in an instant that he loved it.—From chapter 1, "A Smoldering Silence."
What was the best little bit of your Wingfeather reading this week? Post it in the comments!If you're new to the Ban Rona Book Club, here's an introduction to how this works—and we're happy to meet you! Please join us in the forum for hot tea, biscuits and ermentine jam, and some great discussions.

Clive Staples Award finalist!

Clive Staples 2015 sealUpdate: The votes are in, and The Warden and the Wolf King is one of three finalists for this year's Clive Staples Award! Now a panel of judges will spend the next several weeks reading each book, and the winner will be announced on August 7.Thanks again to the readers who supported The Warden and the Wolf King by nominating it and voting in the semifinals. We're so glad you love the book.

This week, Madame Sidler will be reading chapters 1-6 of The Monster in the Hollows. Check back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own!

Leeli and the dragon

Oy, readers. We have made it, together, through some very hard experiences, and now we stand, together, at the end of book two. Some of the chapters we've read recently have broken my heart. I know from some forum discussion that it's not been easy on you, either. But we've made it. Next week: The Monster in the Hollows!The excerpt I picked for this week gives me glad shivers. I can see it and feel it all as it happens. Find a quiet spot, read this slowly, and then close your eyes and breathe in.

Stop!” Leeli said, and the dragon did.It froze, so close to Leeli that she could have reached out and touched the tip of its nose.And she did.For the first time in an age, someone touched a living dragon.Seawater washed down the sides of the dragon’s slick face and puddled on the deck. Its mouth, full of teeth longer than Leeli was tall, was stretched open to eat Podo whole. The old pirate knelt with his eyes closed.Janner sensed the dragon in his mind, who was speechless with surprise that this wavy-haired little creature would have such courage. The tips of her delicate fingers rested on the dragon’s nose. She looked calmly into its eyes, though they were as big as wagon wheels and deep as the sea. A little burst of air from its nose blew back her hair.It was your song that fell from the cliffs.—From chapter 63, "Hulwen's Trophy."
Which scene did you love best? Post it below! And join us in the forum for further discussion. :-) This week, we've been talking about Zibzy and other local games, and gloaning together on how to read hard stories. Look for a brand-new B-sides thread, too. (I give up. I must post spoilery excerpts somewhere!)

Clive Staples Award semifinalist!

Clive Staples 2015 sealAnnouncement—The Warden and the Wolf King has been nominated for this year's Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction!For this award, readers nominate their favorite books and then vote them on to the final round, where a panel of judges selects a winner. The Warden and the Wolf King is one of twelve semifinalists, and voting is open until TONIGHT (Monday) at 11:45 Eastern time. If you've read at least two of the titles in the running, you're eligible to vote.Being nominated is an honor—it means that some of you wonderful readers were kind enough to let the good folks over at CSA and SpecFaith know that you loved the book, and for that we're grateful.If you'd care to vote, the list of titles, complete instructions, and ballot can be found here. We'll keep you updated. And thanks for the nomination!

This week, Madame Sidler will be reading chapters 59 through the end of North! Or Be Eaten! Check back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own! 

"Shh."

First, a bit of news: The Warden and the Wolf King is one of twelve semifinalists in this year's Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction! If you've read at least two titles on the list, you're eligible to vote, and Andrew would be honored if you chose to support his book. Semifinals close on Monday. We'll keep you updated!This week, we read chapters 53-58 of North! Or Be Eaten. There is a chapter in this section—55—which I love because it hurts. Next week (can you believe we have only one week left in this book?) begins with another chapter which I love for the same reason. While picking an excerpt this week, though, I couldn't get away from the beauty of the language in Andrew's description of the boggan ride.But if the Phoobs chapters hurt your heart, too, and you want to talk about them, meet me in the forum.

Janner and Maraly sheathed their blades and looked out at the Ice Prairies for the first time. Mog-Balgrik’s western slope was formidable, a steep sentinel warning travelers weak of spirit to keep their distance, but if the traveler braved her icy face, the reward was sweet. A long, smooth descent to the frozen desert of the Ice Prairies lay at her back, and to those like Gammon who knew where to find them, boggans hid in the snow to bear them home.Janner’s eyes watered, and the wind of their passage deafened him, but he smiled so wide that the muscles in his cheeks throbbed. The moon cooled to white as it climbed, and it lit the ice fields so that Janner could see as clearly as if it were day. For hours the three of them glided down from the mountains, faster than the fastest horse, with a plume of snow arcing behind them like a spray of water. Moonlight caught the flying snow, flashing prisms of color on the prairie surface as they passed. White mice and snow foxes, burrowed beneath the snow for the night, twitched their ears when the boggan zoomed by, thinking that perhaps the Maker had bent low to the earth and whispered, “Shh.”—From chapter 54, "The Ice Prairies."
Andrew's birthday was yesterday! We've eaten most of the cake already, but you can still sign his card. :-)And there's a brand-new feature in the forum: The "Community conversations" subforum, where you can go to talk to other Wingfeather readers about non-Wingfeather topics. Let's be friends. :-)

The stories are true.