An Excerpt!

Update: Now with a longer excerpt!

As anyone who's ever even queried knows, the publishing process is S.L.O.W.  And sometimes that can be frustrating. But sometimes, it's kind of delightful because there are so many little things to get excited about along the way.

For example, I saw the genre my book will be placed in for the first time last week when I saw my catalog copy. It is: Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic.

Which is, obviously, awesome.

And although I had already seen the layout of the pages, I hadn't seen that the very first page would contain an excerpt--an excerpt that actually happens to be from one of my favorite scenes.

And one I will share with you now:

When Goldenrod was certain that there really was no one else there besides herself, she put her foot one step in the direction she was going.

"Well, really. You are going the wrong way, you know," a polite voice said.

Standing there was a tall, elegant man. He was dressed in very old-fashioned clothing: a maroon coat with tails, a beige scarf around his neck, tan pants, and high brown boots, and he leaned on a thin, elegant cane. But perhaps the most extraordinary thing about him was that he was rather transparent.

To her surprise, and probably the man's, Goldenrod actually found herself quite calm. In fact, the first words out of her mouth were, "Wrong way for what?"

"Your quest, of course," the tall, transparent man said with a smile.

The two stared at each other. Finally, after another few moments of study, Goldenrod spoke again. “Do I know you?”

“You might. Or you might not. It’s hard for me to keep up with the state of the education system these days,” the man said.

Goldenrod continued to stare. She was certain that the man’s face was familiar.

"I must say," he continued, "I am rather impressed with how splendidly you are handling my appearance. Then again, I suppose you would handle it that way if you were the right man--excuse me, the right girl--for the job."

"Are you--"

In a flash, the man was gone.

Does it pique your interest at all?

If so, you may be interested to know that although I have received only one ARC (currently going back and forth between sitting in a place of honor on my bookshelf and being ogled at by me), my editor let me know that there are a few more coming my way. Which means that I do plan on running a giveaway or two in the future. So stay tuned!