A tale wherein our Heroine, Merilance of the brave heart and stout hands, is spirited away to Fairyland and must there conquer many a great and perilous evil in order to save it.
Everyone in the sleepy town of Champcoeur knows that the Corbin twins are inseparable. Merilance and Valerie are on top of the world, the dynamic-duo queens of high school—until they're spirited into Fairyland, a strange and dreamy place full of strange and dreamy magic. With no way home, they find themselves at the mercy of a member of the Court of the Quagmire's Gentry, the kindly and enigmatic Braughen Ferriador.
Ten years later, Merilance—now a ward to the wizard Carrier—wants nothing more than to earn her place in Quagmire and to prove herself before its ruler, the Rosenthral. Her plans are dashed when Braughen is murdered. Sifting through the mysteries he left behind, the twins find themselves embroiled deeper into Fairyland intrigues and deceptions than they'd ever thought possible, all while discovering their own capacities for trickery, violence, and betrayal. At the heart of the matter lies Quagmire's annexation of a place known as Boisvert.
As the annexation draws nigh and Fairyland veers on the verge of catastrophe, the twins must, alongside irritable Sir Flerimand and secretive Roscobell Ferriador, uncover what, exactly, is so important about Boisvert that not only was Braughen killed in its name, but a whole world is in jeopardy as a result of its peril.
Endosomatic: The variance of death; Drawn nine, falter twlve; None may escape it.
Dramatis Personae
Merilance Corbin, our brave heroine, and a Changeling
Merilance is brash, bold, and brave—but she often lets her hot-headedness get the better of her. She has a strong sense of justice and will not hesitate to do what she believes is right.
Valerie Corbin, our brave heroine, and a Stolen Child
Valerie is bright, ambitious, and soft-spoken. Where her sister is all bluster, she is analytical and observant.
Braughen Ferriador, a father and member of Quagmire's Gentry
Braughen is jovial, thoughtful, and an utter mystery to the Corbins. They are both indebted to his kindness, but this fondness has made them no less wary.
Roscobell Ferriador, Braughen's eldest daughter and a courtier
Roscobell is graceful and sharp. She keeps many secrets, and all close to her chest—but her pragmatism often gets in the way of her empathy. Her temper is only quick around Merilance.
Andrias Ferriador, Braughen's eldest son and a revolutionary
Andrias is cunning and quick. He is fiercely protective of his own, but is too quick to martyr himself.
Sir Flerimand, a gloomy human knight of the Quagmire
Flerimand is introspective, snippy, and recites far too much poetry for anyone's good. He'd never admit it but he has a soft spot for his partner, Merilance.
The Rosenthral, the inscrutable ruler of the Court of the Quagmire
Where then hangs the fair ruler of Fairy?
Carrier Erring-Hook, an academic and a wizard of renown
Carrier is a researcher before all else. He enlists Merilance to help with his studies of transference theory.
Evalarre, the timid ambassador from Boisvert
Eva is regal and reserved. Some consider her a coward; others are convinced she knows more than she lets on.
Adilene Kingslayer, the Rosenthral's seneschal
Adilene is the Rosenthral's cruel and calculating right-hand-man. Who, exactly, did she slay to get that name?
Parsifal Priorhark, where is he where has he gone?
He is deep underground, there where no true sunshine can reach him.
What is this, exactly?
If it wasn't obvious, this is "Ceux qui domptent le Boisvert", the literal translation of which is "Those Who Tame the Green-Wood". In order to capture the same feeling as the French title, I've translated it to "The Taming of Boisvert".
Boisvert has been in the works for many years, but in truth, I thought it up well before even that. I've always loved and been fascinated by fairy tales and read them obsessively as a child. Boisvert was born of that interest and that deep love!
To be specific, Boisvert is a series of novels in the works by yours truly. As you can probably tell, they chronicle the adventures of one Merilance Corbin as she navigates Fairyland with her twin sister, Valerie, and how she must one day come to save it alongside a whole host of magical revolutionaries, knights, and beasts.
Writing this story is one of my favourite things to do. It frustrates me to no end and I very often feel as if it will never be finished, but at the end of the day, I am so happy to get to write it and it has taught me so much about the artform! I cannot wait to share it with the world—and that sharing starts here!
Snippets
It's just me again, she would whisper quietly into the dark. Just me, and the mountain, and the black, black light. Oh, how I wish I had my friends! I have not forgotten you, I promise; it is just that I am stuck in this dismal place and must find my way back to you.
This was what she might have said in a recount of her misadventure. In truth, no such thing happened. What happened was Merilance said a lot of cuss words very loudly and in rapid succession, and then she kicked the wall and hurt her foot something awful, which made her angrier still.
What a dreadful mess they’d found themselves in. She felt a terrible longing for the older days, where she’d been able to work on her theses as Merilance merrily sharpened her sword perched on the couch across from her, or even the elder ones still; coming awake in the deep night and hearing Braughen meander down the hall, singing softly to himself in his own tongue, the tongue of strange things dwelling in high places, and as he would sing, the stars would quietly unfold in the sky outside the window.
This is a tale about the sisters Corbin, and so by necessity it will feature a great many adventures, and much grief and many tears shed; but so, too, will it be full of wonderful things and noble things and things that are strange and beautiful. Fairies as a rule are more susceptible to children predisposed to lives full of adventures, same as you or I are susceptible to sunny days. Both of the sisters Corbin had been reared on a healthy diet of fairy’s tales and wilderness expeditions therefore they knew, when the time came, that they had been chosen because of a certain propensity for purloining peaches and being feckless with schoolwork.
We have special privileges, for we are not the sisters Corbin, and so we know that there will come a time when they will both be spirited away into this life of grand old adventures. But all of this is some ways ahead, and so we mustn’t cut forwards. That would be like having dessert before dinner, which spoils all of dessert’s fun, and dinner’s, too. No, let’s all sit at the table and turn our faces for a while to what, in later years, the sisters would refer to as the Before.
“Happenstance,” the Lady said. “You, too, will learn, little Corbin. These lands have a way of making their customs known to every foreigner. I’ve seen it happen, many a time; they come like you, with their round ears and their lack of claw and fang and hook, wide eyed, turning twice and again in moor and meadow and field and forest, their day minds seeing such strange, strange things lurking at the edges of their sunlight sights. Untold. Unreal. All is white and good. And just as you know it, the sunlight lifts from the eyes, and the twilight hours set calmly in.” All of this went so far over Merilance’s head, it might as well have been rocket science. Lady Mayfly smiled again. “So long as you don’t get eaten before that all can happen,” she added.
