I had a completely different update in mind for this morning. However, last night, I received this letter from a 12 year-old girl in New Zealand, who picked up a copy of A TALE OF TRUTHS from me while on vacation here in DC. I simply had to share it. It's why we do what we do.
Though full of spoilers, you've got to read this. If you'd like to pick up A TALE OF TRUTHS from Berit Ellingsen, the book is part of the WOMEN'S SCIENCE FICTION levels or you can add it on as part of your normal pledge.
Have a great weekend, Bill
Hi
My name is E--- and I am 12 years old. I visited your stall at the Eastern Market when I was in Washington DC with my mum and sister for the Seaperch International Aquabots Challenge. I was the tall girl from New Zealand with blonde hair.
We bought a book called A Tale of Truths by Berit Ellingsen. I've just finished it and it was amazing! I love the concept of an elf who created himself from thought. It seems so strange and otherworldly, however the way it was written makes it seem natural and my mind didn't really come to realise that it wasn't a natural phenomenon until after I'd finished the book.
The concept of Spiral is an interesting one. At first I found it rather strange that the city would be built inside of a massive conch shell, but as the plot built I realised that the author had used this conch shell concept to literalise the social and monetary hierarchies that are built in real life. In the book there is a concept that when you die you go to 'heaven' which is the catacombs under the castle where you are turned into wall ornaments. The people in the castle were weakened by the illness and forced in the end to form an alliance with the other tiers. This was because they had to leave their windows open to account for the stink of the rotting bodies. This was a good and unexpected way to resolve a multitude of problems.
The magic in the book is still magic yet it feels natural because there are limits. The elf can't just turn trees purple or make a castle spring from the ground. He can't levitate or use mind control. The elf turned the cat into a horse that was grey (the same colour as the cat), he couldn't have turned it purple with yellow spots because that isn't the colour of the cat. The leaves were the colour and likeness of gold, so they could be turned into gold.
In the book, there is a part where the main characters get trapped in the forest and they keep coming to this clearing that has a pool of water and a stone wall with a skeleton leaning on it. The elf says something along the lines of "This is my burial site and I shall do what I like with it." I was wondering about that after I'd finished the book and I thought if they'd just kept going the elf would have become the skeleton leaning against the wall because that is where he would have died and when another person comes along, the skeleton will be in a different place in the clearing because that is where they are going to die.
Anyway, I am glad that you chose this book to publish because otherwise, how would I have had this amazing experience? I really appreciate what you do and by all means you should keep going. This book was basically a representation of what goes on in my head all day long. Thank you for helping me find a physical representation of that.
