Are you ready for another spotlight post about a fellow author included in the SFWA Fantastic Beasts Bundle? This week, it’s my pleasure to turn the spotlight on H.L. Macfarlane!
Hayley Louise Macfarlane, who publishes under the name H.L. Macfarlane, is a prolific author who’s stories branch a host of genres, including fairy tales, apocalyptic science fiction, and paranormal and urban fantasy. In addition to being an author, she’s also a designer and illustrator who makes all of her own book covers (which are gorgeous). Oh yeah, she’s also an actual, real-life doctor of genetics, so it’s safe to say H.L. is a woman of many talents and abilities.
Prince of Foxes, book 1 in the Bright Spear trilogy, is included in the SFWA Fantastic Beasts Bundle. It’s perhaps best described as a gothic Scottish fairy tale and is loosely based on the Celtic fairy tale of Gold-tree and Silver-tree. It’s also based on the area around Loch Lomond, which is where H.L. grew up–and she assures it’s every bit as magical as one would hope. (Having 2 Scottish authors in a row–Tameri Etherton last week and now H.L.–describe the magical, fairy tale like nature of their home country makes me want to visit Scotland!)
The story world H.L. has built in the Bright Spear trilogy is rich and lush, inviting you to dive in and get lost for hours. And it isn’t contained to merely this trilogy. H.L. has a second fairy tale trilogy, Chronicles of Curses, set in the same world. Some of the characters from the Chronicles of Curses trilogy appear in Prince of Foxes, creating the kind of richly interconnected world I know my readers love.
What is Prince of Foxes about?
Sometimes a fox is not a fox, and a man is not what he seems.
When Lachlan, the golden Prince of Faeries, is transformed into a fox and banished from the forest on the eve of his mother’s funeral, the last creature he expects to seek help from is a human.
But Sorcha Darrow is not so easily enchanted by the wily faerie. Only after discovering her father means to marry her to a wealthy Londoner does she decide to help him, seeking the power of a being even Lachlan is wary of: a kelpie. In finding one Sorcha hopes that she may just avoid her own dire fate in the process.
With Sorcha’s dreams being their only true form of communication, Lachlan has to race against time to break his curse and take his place as king before he’s doomed to live as a fox forever.
But someone else is after the throne, and may just use Sorcha’s growing connection to Lachlan to reach it.
Prince of Foxes is available as part of the SFWA Fantastic Beasts bundle. This bundle is available only from May 27, 2020 until June 18, 2020 via Story Bundle. For more information on how this works, please click here. To purchase some or all of the fantastic books in this bundle, please click here.
And make sure you check out all of H.L.’s books, including Lord of Horses and King of Forever (books 2 and 3 in the Bright Spear trilogy) and Big, Bad Mister Wolfe (book 1 in the Chronicles of Curses).
