Guest Post by Author Naomi P. Cohen

• The Wild Hunt started with a violinist inspired by the idea of the Italian courtesan: a woman who wanted to get an education and learn music so went down that road. After losing her patron on the voyage to the young United States, she finds herself alone in New York. I played with that idea some but never did anything with it. Some months later, a Cait Sidhe fleeing the Wild Hunt crashed through my imagination one early, foggy morning. When it occurred to me to combine the two ideas, this story happened. Cats and music are always a delightful combination!
  

• I’ve owned two cats for over 10 years: a huge portion of my life! They couldn’t be more different than each other. Brother has quite the origin story. My family had a litter of kittens and a local teenage boy took him. A few months passed, and that boy left home without the cat, so we took him back and called him Ebony’s Brother, shortened to Brother when he outlived Ebony. He is a huge black cat who loves everyone, but food is his biggest priority. Winnie is Brother’s niece and literally his opposite. She is a petite calico who has been with me since she was born. She’s shy and hides from anyone but me. She loves to be pet, or just to curl up at my side purring, while Brother is at the food bowl. My cats’ unique quirks balance each other out perfectly. 
  

Guest Post by Author A. J. Bakke!

* What was your inspiration for your story in the anthology?
My cats already think catnip is magical. :)
* Tell us about the cat(s) in your life.
I currently live with five cats. Ginger the calico queen, Pumpkin the orange cat celebrity wannabe, Breve the spazzfluff, Molasses the fluffy clutz, and Tapioca the quietly adorable. 

Guest post by Paws, Claws, and Magic Tales author:
Jenelle Leanne Schmidt


What was your inspiration for your story in the anthology?
Back in January of 2017, I participated in a writing contest for Speculative Faith. The challenge was to write a piece of flash fiction between 100-300 words that started from the prompt: “Kendall didn’t care if the other candidates thought he was power hungry — nothing could stop him from going after his destiny.” “Destined for Greatness” started its life as my entry for that contest. When the fairy tale and cat anthologies were announced, I had a burst of inspiration for how I could make Kendall’s life even more miserable than I already had and potentially tie it in to the fairy-tale series I’m planning to write after I finish my fantasy/gaslamp series. Thus, the story expanded slightly and became a strange blend of humorous cat story and original fairy tale.

Tell us about the cat(s) in your life.
There are no cats in my life currently. Unless you count my brother’s cats, which I enjoy petting when we visit them. I had a cat when I was younger, an enormous gray-striped cat I named “Tigger.” He was the epitome of an independent cat with a mind of his own. He was the sort of cat who would meow to go out, then change his mind halfway across the threshold. If I really wanted him to make up his mind, I’d have to hold the door open and stand there as though I really didn’t care what he did.
My 4-year old son is quite allergic to cats, so it doesn’t look like there will be any cats in my future… which honestly only bothers me because cats are a great marketing tool for authors. I like cats okay, but I’ve always been more of a dog-person… which is probably why my cat story has a bit of a strange/somewhat dark sense of humor to it!

If I had to pick - Beauty and the Beast. It's one of the few original fairy tales where the woman actually controls her fate. No one beats Belle! 
Lacy Andersen 

My favorite fairy tale is, and will always be, The Little Mermaid. I love mermaids and am obsessed with them. As someone who has been a competitive swimmer since middle school, I've always wanted to be a mermaid. And though I don't understand the mermaid's desire to join the human world when she could live underwater forever, if I was given the chance to become a mermaid, I would totally do it. 
Corinne Morier 

I'm personally a huge fan of Rapunzel - even more so, what happens AFTER her story. There's something about exploring the world through the eyes of a girl who's only ever lived in a tower. 
Rebekah DeVall 
​

Heroes!
What would stories be without them? The Fellowship of Fantasy has put together an Incredible prize pack featuring fictional Marvels. If you have a Vision, you’ll want to get your hand on this Wonder of a collection, including a Woman Woman Journal, a Paperback copy of Hall of Heroes, and a ten ebook mini-library of Fellowship of Fantasy titles.
It’s Super--
What?
Oh …
Apparently I’ve used up my bad pun allowance for the week.
​

The Ebook Prize Pack Features:
(the following are affiliate links)
To Save a Race by Kandi J. Wyatt 
My Alien Boyfriend by Janeen Ippolito 
Nyssa Glass and the House of Mirrors by H. L. Burke
Mercy’s Prince by Katy Huth Jones
The Shaman’s Apprentice by B. Muze
Aerisia: Gateway to the Underworld by Sarah Ashwood
Imani Earns her Cape by Bokerah Brumley 
After by Savannah Jezowski
Between Heroes and Villains by Various
Toonopolis: Anchihiiroo by Jeremy Rodden

About Mythical Doorways:

Welcome to Mythical Doorways, the third anthology from the Fellowship of Fantasy. We present to you our tales of gateways to marvelous places. These doorways open into adventure, wonder, and even danger.

Within, you will accompany heroes on their way to fairy worlds. Brave the dangers of the past through a portal in time. Eavesdrop at the door of a forbidden workshop. Follow a girl on a search for a better life in her choice between three tempting magical doors. Help a sorcerer close a gateway before an unspeakable horror escapes, and slip through a portal on a quest for delicious chocolate!
There are many perilous journeys ahead of you, but no graphic content. All the stories here fall below a PG-13 rating.
The Fellowship of Fantasy is an online group of writers dedicated to presenting the best in clean fantasy stories of any stripe. Some tackle epic quests to save the world, while others prefer more urban settings. Whether you enjoy contemporary tales, romantic re-tellings, or something else entirely, you're sure to find stories that speak to you.
Thank you for joining us on our trip through these doorways, and may you find adventure and entertainment on the other side!

Click here for your ebook (free to download starting March 27th): https://www.books2read.com/u/bxq70e

About Deep Magic E-Zine

The name Deep Magic pays homage to C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. Deep Magic is a quarterly e-zine dedicated to creating a safe place for minds to wander in the worlds and universe of SFF. We want all who visit to feel welcome and confident that they will encounter professionally written fiction of the highest quality that is safe for all to read. 

Click here for more information: https://deepmagic.co/

“The door creaked open ...”
And then what? Well, that's up to you!

In honor of the launch of the Mythical Doorways Anthology the Fellowship of Fantasy is hosting a story snack writing contest. Starting March 5th readers can submit their 500 word or less bite sized fiction. 
To enter use the form at the bottom of this post or click here.
​
Submission Requirements

• Every story must begin with the prompt “The door creaked open ...”
• The submissions can be up to 500 words and may be either a complete flash fiction or an excerpt suggesting a larger story.
• Content level must be appropriate for publication on our site and not violate our content standards (not requiring a squeaky clean G rating, but please familiarize yourself with our “content guidelines.”). . http://www.fellowshipoffantasy.com/submission-guidelines.html#submission
• Winners grant the Fellowship of Fantasy the right to publish the submitted work on their website and social media.

Deadlines and Voting Period

• Submissions begin March 5th and run through the 26th.
• Winner will be chosen by popular vote.
• Voting rounds will begin on the 27th of March and run through April 3rd.

Winners and Prizes

• Winners chosen in two age categories: 16+ and 15 and Under
• Writers under the age of 18 must receive permission from a parent or guardian before entering the contest.
• Winner of the 15 and Under Category will receive a mini-paperback library of Fellowship of Fantasy.
• Winner of the 16+ Category will receive an ebook library of Fellowship of Fantasy titles.
• We reserve the right to substitute ebooks for paperbacks if the winner is outside of the US, due to shipping expenses/restrictions.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing:
I'm a dragon-keeper, cat-servant, Marine Corp Wife, and mother to two Super-Hero Princesses. While I started writing before I could write (dictating short stories to my mom), I've been seriously writing for public consumption as an indie author for about five years now. Recurring themes in my story include dragons, snark, and exploring fantastic worlds. I move around a lot (military spouse, as mentioned), but currently reside in southern California (my profile pic is me on a family outing to Legoland. They have dragons!). 

What inspired Jericho and the Magicians' Daughter?
I really wanted an excuse to write a cat-dragon (or a dracoline, as they are called) into a story. Cat-dragons are an awesome combination of cat and dragon, and I like to bring them into my world whenever possible. Freckles, the cat-dragon, is the mascot of the Indie Book Magic Podcast I do with my friend and publisher Janeen Ippolito. He's just adorable. The one in Jericho and the Magician's Daughter is slightly more fearsome than Freckles, but still just as awesome.  Also (as I'll go into a bit in the next question), I had a lot of back story for Jericho and Rill in my brain and I wanted to explore them a little. 

Does this story connect in any way to your other works, either stylistically or by being in a shared universe? If so, how? If not, why did you choose this departure from the norm?
Jericho Carver, Hedward Spellsmith, and Rill Spellsmith are all major characters in my Spellsmith & Carver gaslamp fantasy trilogy (for those who don't want to Google that, gaslamp fantasy is essentially fantasy set in a period with a basis in the Victorian period, sort of Fantastical Steampunk). I finished writing the trilogy, but had so much unused backstory (for Jericho and Rill especially) that I thought up this prequel. This takes place about five years before the events of the first Spellsmith & Carver book and features a young Jericho and Rill figuring out how to make their friendship work. It does not have the other main character from the trilogy, Auric Spellsmith, Rill's big brother, because it takes place while he's away at the Magicians Academy. 

Because the theme of this anthology is doorways, we really need to know how you would handle this hypothetical scenario:
You approach a wooden door at the end of a long, dark passage. It is big and heavy. Warmth radiates from the wrought-iron handle. You hear a strange noise rising through it. What's on the other side and what do you do?
The sound sends vibrations through my hand as I touch the warm wood. I immediately recognize it as purring. Thankfully, I brought along my trusty companion, Bruce, my big orange tabby cat. We exchange a meaningful glance. With a confident nod and a jaunty tail twitch, Bruce lowers himself into a crouch. I open the door. Bruce bursts through it like a streak of ginger lightning. 
He lands on the back of the cat-dragon. The beast meows shrilly, but it cannot escape the deft paws of my Bruce. Bruce perches on its head and begins to groom the cat-dragon's pointy ears. Pleased with the attention, the cat-dragon settles down and purrs like a kitten. I now have my own cat-dragon. I win. 

Where can we connect with you and find out more about your writing? 
My Website: www.hlburkeauthor.com
My Facebook: www.facebook.com/hlburkewriter
My Podcast: https://indiebookmagic.wordpress.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/burkesdragons
Amazon: ​https://www.amazon.com/H.-L.-Burke/e/B00EYQ1HLW/

Click HERE to sign up for anthology email alerts. 

​Over the next several weeks we'll be spotlighting some of the authors who will be appearing in our Mythical Doorways anthology. Our next author is Laurie Lucking, here to talk about her story,  Threshold, appearing in our soon to be released anthology and how it connects to a well-known tale ... can you guess which?

Read on to find out more!

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing:
I’m a lawyer turned stay-at-home mom turned author. It’s a long story… I write young adult fantasy, always with a central romance and a happily-ever-after kind of ending. My debut novel, Common, is set to release on Valentine’s Day! It starts with a Cinderella premise but takes the story in a different direction, including a plot against the throne, an unusual group of nuns, and the servant girl saving the day :) I grew up in Wisconsin but now live in Minnesota with my husband and two young sons.

What inspired Threshold?
When I first saw the topic for the anthology, my oldest son was starting kindergarten so I had the theme of growing up on my mind. I immediately thought of Peter Pan, with the twist that the fantasy land could be accessed from a closet trapdoor. The major conflict of the story fell into place when my husband and I watched the episode of Doctor Who called “Amy’s Choice” (Season 5). What if the Wendy character had been visiting the alternate reality since childhood, but then had to choose one world in which to spend the rest of her life?