Authors Aquila & Lannon

Dedicated to the stories co-authored by Aquila & Lannon, primarily the YA fantasy series Winter's Blight about a faery who befriends the sons of an extreme anti-faery general in the UK.

[mcaquila]

✨ The final version of the art I did for the Co-Writing a YA Fantasy series videos! ✨

[mcaquila]

Winter’s Blight – the YA fantasy series @spookyscribe & I co-write – is going to be concluded on August 31st!

To celebrate this, my Youtube channel next month will have a series of videos that are all about the ups and downs of creating & publishing this series over the past 4 years. It’s been a lot of fun making some extra book cover-related designs like the two above!

The videos will also show a speedpaint of the middle image, which is currently still a WIP. It should be done before August… hopefully ^^;

[vilyaluna]

In honor of the last book in the “Winter’s Blight” YA series, I’ve done my best to recreate all our heroes in DnD mini form! I had done this back when I was reading “The Stolen Vow,” but I wanted to wait until now to unveil them as a “thank you” to the authors for all the great adventures so far.

Check the books out on @mcaquila and @spookyscribe‘s blogs. And be sure not to miss the completed series on August 31st!

(The HeroForge website is so great for this, but they seriously need to add more curly hair options!)

[spookyscribe]

AHHHH!!!

All of these are perfect. It is seriously such a treat to see how you would design them, and you nailed it. I can’t stop looking at them! 😍 Thank you!

[magicandmonstersfiction]

Reblogging here for the Winter’s Blight page. 

[spookyscribe]

🎁 What kind of gift givers are your characters? 🎁

Winter’s Blight universe: 

James: always wants to get something unique and special but can never decide on anything. Ends up buying something random last minute because he procrastinated. 

Iain: bakes cookies, bread, and cake for everyone’s Christmas presents. Spends lots of time on decorating. 

Kallista: handmade, personalized gifts only. 

Alan: buys something pricy and flashy that no one asked for. Will be offended if it’s not received well. Worse, if the person is grateful, he will hold that over their heads later. 

Cecil: usually buys something he would personally like. Spends way too much money (he’s so deep in debt). Includes a bottle of wine with every present. 

Vera: will only buy gag gifts. Innocent but comes across as mean-spirited and passive aggressive. 

Tempest Cursed: 

Pearl: buys everyone a practical but personal gift. Something small but appreciated. Takes time to make the wrapping neat. 

Hake: will make a horrific necklace of fish bones and seaweed. Will not understand why it isn’t well received. 

[mcaquila]

Ahhhh I have to do this!

🎁 What kind of gift givers are your characters? 🎁

Winter’s Blight universe:

Deirdre: buys very impulsively, based on a gut feeling of “oh X will like this!” Whether or not she’s on the mark is entirely up to chance.

Alvey: sees gift-giving as a competition and tries to be the one who always gets the best gift. Is very smug when she succeeds.

Cai: likes surprising people with gifts. If one expects a practical gift, then it’ll be something very sentimental & ornamental. If one (somehow) expects something sweet, it’ll be very practical. 

The Clifford Spock Incident:

Clifford: gives exactly what the person always wanted, but always does a terrible wrapping job. He tries hard though.

Marisol: gives excruciatingly practical gifts, what she thinks the person should want. Her wrapping job is always immaculate.

Wilhelmina: always gives something related to UFOs. Always.

Nigel: has good taste for gifts – from a Martian perspective. His gifts would repulse and baffle human beings.

Phil: would give things that are “cool,” which can range from something objectively awesome to a uniquely scented laundry detergent.

Menhit: is a cat. She does not give. She only receives.

[magicandmonstersfiction]

The Stolen Vow is live!

Deirdre and Iain are trapped in the Winter Court after the young faery was lured there by the Winter King. He assigns an unwilling Raisa, the Winter Queen, to train Deirdre to control her wild, unstable magic, a task that is fraught with peril for both women. Iain is isolated, encased by protective magic – but it may not be enough to keep him safe from all the dangers and schemes of the Unseelies. As the Unseelies embark on their Wild Hunt and pave the way for an invasion, the Iron Guard moves to recall their people from the area of the Summer Court, led by Edgar Windsor, the heir to the throne and Alvey’s uncle. He and his men are on a collision course with both the Seelies and their captive, General Alan Callaghan, who is guilty of high treason. With his fate uncertain, Alan dreams of reconciliation and forgiveness from his family. But he must first grapple with his crimes against the Seelie faeries and the human army. 

This 6th installment in the 7-book Winter’s Blight YA fantasy series can be read HERE. Happy reading!

[magicandmonstersfiction]

Happy release day to The Stolen Vow (Winter’s Blight Book 6)! It’s our darkest and most magical book yet. If you want to catch up, book 1 is FREE!

[magicandmonstersfiction]

“There are many rooms in the Winter Court, but none shall take you out of it.”

@spookyscribe made this beautiful aesthetic for our upcoming novel, The Stolen Vow, which is releasing tomorrow! I can’t say much (except that this is perfect) without giving away some pretty hefty spoilers~

[magicandmonstersfiction]

Only six days remain until the release of The Stolen Vow, the 6th book in the Winter’s Blight YA fantasy series!

Shuddering, Deirdre followed the king down a winding, narrow corridor. [...] Eventually... the ceiling above arched high and was hidden by fog. It was exactly like being underneath a winter sky of grey clouds pregnant with freezing rain. But the cold breeze that slithered through the area was not fresh. It was stale air that had been trapped underground for too long and pined for the sky and the wild wind.

Preorder the Kindle version on Amazon HERE

[spookyscribe]

The Fallen Champion 

I’ve had this image in my head forever of my OC Iain from our Winter’s Blight series @magicandmonstersfiction, and I decided to draw it for fun. It was a blast going crazy with the brushes and affects in Clip Studio paint. Lol. 

Apparently, I have classically conditioned myself to only draw while listening to the Jekyll & Hyde musical soundtrack. 

[magicandmonstersfiction]

A Winter’s Blight Christmas Carol. 

I have been mulling over this concept in the back of my mind every holiday season for the past few years, and I’ve only just decided to make designs for it. 

Alan Callaghan, the book series’ first main antagonist (boy, there are a lot of villains running around in these books), is the perfect Scrooge candidate. Since he lost his entire family and home in the bombing of old London by Unseelie faeries when he was 8, Alan’s whole life has revolved around destroying the Fae. It has cost him his wife, his two sons, and everything he loves. He’s made himself in a cruel and heartless person in pursuit of revenge. 

Playing the role of Marley’s ghost is Cecil Morris, a male witch who has become corrupted by his own magic and desire for power. He’s snarky, insanely clever, and weirdly charming. He is the perfect person to warn Alan of his dark fate if he continues down this path! But, ah, he’s clearly enjoying himself a bit too much. He always does. 

The three ghosts, or in this case faeries, are all Fae Alan has encountered or impacted. The Faery of Christmas Past is a sassy, brilliant half-elf named Alvey. Christmas Present is the main female MC of the series, an optimistic faery named Deirdre who possesses powerful magic... magic that Alan wants to use for his own goals. Christmas Future is a faery named Lonan who was responsible in part for the bombing. 

Btw, you can read the first book in the series (five of seven books are currently out right now) absolutely FREE! Just search “The Changeling’s Fortune” by M.C. Aquila & K.C. Lannon on Amazon. 

[magicandmonstersfiction]

“Are you prepared to pay the price for power?”

After standing trial in the Summer Court, James is sent on a quest to kill the Cait Sidhe, the monstrous faery cat who manipulated him into betraying the Seelie faeries and destroying the magical barrier that protected them. When the time comes to kill the beast, James decides to trick him into helping undo his mistake. But the man beneath the beast, Cecil Morris, is just as dangerous, and his manor, Heatherfield, is full of wild and deadly magic. In trying to reach Cecil, James risks being pulled into the darkness with him.

The Thrall’s Gambit, the fifth book in the Winter’s Blight Urban Fantasy series, is released -- just in time for Halloween! It’s got witches, ghosts, dark magic, (giant) black cats, faeries, and more!

New to the series? The first book is free to read on Kindle!

[magicandmonstersfiction]

A male witch in training summons his magpie Familiar on the wild moor...  

Here’s a sketch of young Cecil Morris inspired by a flashback scene in Book 5! Oh, boy, I cannot wait for you guys to read this book and meet this cinnamon roll before he was a wicked villain!

If you haven’t caught up yet on the Winter’s Blight series by M.C. Aquila & K.C. Lannon, do so before the next release coming in October! 

[spookyscribe]

I drew my babies! Hake and Pearl are the protagonists of my novel Tempest Cursed: A Wuthering Heights Retelling. Hake is a Selkie-like creature called a Deep Dweller, and he’s a mix of Heathcliff and Harton. Pearl is a wild child who is a mix of Catherine and Cathy II. 

Short blurb:  

When Pearl searches for answers after her mother’s presumed drowning, she finds a boy with magic, Hake, instead. Their bond is tested when his monstrous nature is revealed and when the decaying sea-dwelling god who raised him seeks revenge on the island.

The book is out now if you want to read it! 

[mcaquila]

While this is firstly a book for Wuthering Heights fans, I’m not very keen on that book and still really enjoyed this story. if you want all the well-developed romance and spooky seaside vibes (perfect for autumn), I recommend checking it out!

[spookyscribe]

My novel Tempest Cursed: A Wuthering Heights Retelling is out!

It’s a novel in two parts. Part 1 covers Pearl and Hake's childhood, and I would describe it as a Secret Garden Middle-Grade Gothic mystery. Part 2 is an indulgent YA paranormal romance.

If you enjoy creepy merfolk lore, moor ponies, childhood friends to teen lovers, monster romance, mince pies, and swimming in a cursed sea, I think you’ll enjoy this novel. It’s my love letter to Gothic lit.

[magicandmonstersfiction]

“If you want power, pain is a natural part of it.” - The Thrall’s Gambit (Winter’s Blight Book 5) 

 I’m so excited for y’all to read this book later this fall. We are hard at work on the rewrites, but it’s been a challenging year. Thank you to everyone who has supported us.

[spookyscribe]

Never start a snowball fight with a faery. She will use magic, and she will win. 

Apparently I am only inspired to draw close to Christmas every year. Huh. You guys remember that photo of that guy about to wreck that other guy with a giant snowball? Well, since I saw that photo, I could not get this idea out of my head! That is the most Deirdre thing I’ve ever seen! 

These OCs, Deirdre and Iain, are from the YA fantasy book series @mcaquila and I co-author. Check it out if you’re interested here. 

[oldblogmcaquila]

Characters from The Changeling’s Fortune drawn in Disney style, surrounded by their favorite flowers!

It really tickled me when I realized one of Deirdre’s favorite flowers are “black” roses (aka various types of super dark purple or red roses). While her destructive and wild magic is edgy, she herself doesn’t fit the image of someone who prefers black over red roses. But night-blooming jasmine fits her quite easily.

James, a teenage bookworm who has studied many things, including flowers, would deny having favorite flowers, I think. Even though he wears that floral scarf all the time. Maybe it’s the rebellious side in him, I don’t know.

Iain, a solider and James’s brother, had the best flowers to color: yellow sunflowers and blue cornflowers. What else could an artist ask for? And compared to James, he definitely wouldn’t be so uptight about having favorite flowers, I reckon.