Author Archives: Michelle Diener

Mistress of the Wind Virtual Book Tour Starts December 29th, 2013

We’re Launching…

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

The Tour!

Mistress of the Wind
by Michelle Diener
New Adult/Sci-Fi Fantasy
Paperback, 342 pages
Expected publication: December 19th 2013

Bjorn needs to find a very special woman . . .

The fate of his people, and his own life, depends on it. But when he does find her, she is nothing like he imagined, and may just harbor more secrets than he does himself.

Astrid has never taken well to commands. No matter who issues them . . .

She’s clashed her whole life with her father, and now her lover, the mysterious man who comes to her bedroom in darkness and disappears to guard his mountain by day as a bear, is finding it out the hard way. And when he’s taken by his enemies, no one is prepared for Astrid’s response.

It is never wise to anger the mistress of the wind . . .

A captivating and magical adult retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

Praise for Mistress of the Wind:

“Diener’s adaptation retains the familiar elements of the original, echoing both the structure and spirit of the classic, but true to form, she puts her own spin both the plot and the narrative, crafting an intricately alluring tale of self-sacrifice, steadfast devotion and enduring love.“ Flashlight Commentary

“The story is fast-paced and never boring, the world a beauty and Michelle’s writing so wonderfully detailed that I felt I was with Bjorn and Astrid on their journey.“ Book Bird Reviews

Author Michelle Diener takes this re-telling to another level. She doesn’t restrict herself to an East of the Sun, West of the moon retelling. Instead we are also given parts reminiscent of Psyche’s quest. Which just allowed for a much more richer story. Paperback Wonderland

Check out each stop on the tour!

12/29: Launch
12/30: My Seryniti
+ Tome Tender
12/31: Kelly P’s Blog
+ Giveaway Breaking News for Indonesia
1/1: Mel’s Shelves
1/2: Mythical Books
+ Tressa’s Wishful Endings
1/3: Brooke Blogs
1/5: Leeanna.me
1/6: The Book Landers
+ Deal Sharing Aunt
1/7: So Many Reads
1/8: My Devotional Thoughts
1/10: saeit yahalomi
+ Colorimetry
1/12: The Reading Diaries
+ Bookish Outsider
1/13: The Wonderings of One Person
1/14: Dalene’s Book Reviews
+ A Greater Yes
1/15: A Backwards Story
1/16: Addicted Readers
1/17: Grand Finale

Michelle Diener writes historical fiction. Her Susanna Horenbout & John Parker series, set in the court of Henry VIII, includes In a Treacherous Court, Keeper of the King’s Secrets and In Defense of the Queen.

Michelle’s other historical novels include Daughter of the Sky, The Emperor’s Conspiracy and Banquet of Lies (loosely connected to The Emperor’s Conspiracy).

Michelle’s first fantasy novel, Mistress of the Wind, is set for a December 23, 2013, release.

Michelle was born in London, grew up in South Africa and currently lives in Australia with her husband and two children.

Goodreads * Amazon * Website * Twitter * Facebook

International Giveaway:

10 copies of Mistress of the Wind, Kindle or print, winner’s choice.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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The Inspiration for Mistress of the Wind

I’ve always loved fairy tales and when I was at university, doing research for a history paper on the witch hunts of the 17th Century, I came across a really interesting (but totally unrelated :)) journal full of articles on the meanings of fairy tales. It was fantastic, and mind-blowing.

I suddenly saw the subversion in the tales. Even with the whitewashing that went on in the Victorian era to make fairy tales moral tales and warnings, especially to girls, to be good, and obedient and incurious, I realized one could read a subtext to the tale.

I then went on to read books on the interpretation of fairy tales by Jungian psychologist Marie-Louise Van Franz and others, and books like Clarissa Estes’s Women Who Run With the Wolves, and I found an even deeper love for the tales. Or rather, I finally understood why I loved them so much. I think I’d subconsciously understood the deeper layers, but now I could trace those layers better.

I started thinking about writing a book based on one of my favorite fairy tales, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and ended up weaving some other myths through the tale, to have the story that is Mistress of the Wind. But I really enjoyed the fact that at its heart, I’ve kept it as a story on a number of levels, just like the original.

It can be about a woman who meets an enchanted prince, falls in love with him and then, when a combination of the circumstances of his enchantment and her actions cause him to be taken from her, she goes on a long search to find and rescue him, getting help from people along the way. Or it could be about a woman coming into her power, and mastering the facets of her personality and understanding her faults and her strengths so that she is able to take on anything that is thrown at her with a clear idea of her worth, and it could be both those things at once. And I don’t push the second interpretation on the reader. Some readers have ‘got’ it straight away, and I totally, totally love that.

The challenge with Mistress of the Wind, given I wanted to remain true to the original fairy tale, was to give Astrid a good reason to go against Bjorn’s request to see him as a man, which is the catalyst for her having to go on her quest.

The consequences of her doing so are huge, to both her and Bjorn, and I really had to create a compelling situation for her to act against his wishes. If she doesn’t do it, however, the story is over, they win and everyone lives happily ever after.

Unfortunately for them, they have to work a little harder for their happy ending than that.

I used a number of motivations.

The first was genuine curiosity. Astrid wants to see Bjorn as a man. Of course she does. He is her lover and which of us wouldn’t want to know what the person we love looks like? Her mother’s fear of what he is also spurs that. She wants to be able to reassure her mother that the man she has chosen is not a monster.

Bjorn himself has some responsibility. He could have taken Astrid to his palace and left her alone. But by involving her, drawing her into the complexities of the curse and forming the strong bond that he does with her, he blunts the importance of her never seeing him as a man to her. Of course, the loneliness and waste it would be to not spend time together would be acute, which is why he does as he does, but it is one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t things.

Astrid’s personality plays a roles as well. She knows she is worthy of respect, if not love, just for being who she is, and so she has fought against her father’s attempts to beat her down and break her. That makes it extremely hard for her to accept some of the conditions that are set on her behaviour by her lover.

While she fights against the literal, and figurative, burying of her personality and her need to be free, by her imprisonment in the heart of a mountain, she tries to accommodate his need for her to never see him as a man, to stay inside, to stay in the dark, but it is eating away at her.

Even though Bjorn, her lover, tells her that the conditions of his enchantment are the only things making him hold her back, she sees what he cannot, that his enchanter is merely delaying the end. That the evil queen has no intention of letting him win, and if he does, she will have nothing to lose by reneging on their agreement.

Astrid only breaks the enchantment conditions out of concern for his life – what do the rules mean if he is dead, after all? – but she has also seen it for the slow death it is. She is proactive, and she wants to do. To fight rather than wait at someone else’s pleasure, for something she is sure will not be granted, no matter if she and Bjorn follow the conditions or not. The consequences of that act drive the second part of the book, where Astrid has to confront her faults and her power, and decide how to control them.

Writing Mistress of the Wind was both a joy and a challenge, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Mistress of the Wind Publication Date Moved Forward

Mistress of the Wind 300I was informed today that due to the Apple and Kobo technical departments shutting down for the holidays, Mistress of the Wind won’t publish on December 23, even though it is already good to go on that date. I’ve had to reset the publication date to December 19th in order for the book to go live, otherwise I have to wait until December 29th. So everyone can now get their hands on it four days earlier! 🙂

Cover Reveal: Mistress of the Wind

Mistress of the Wind 300I am so thrilled with the cover of my upcoming release, Mistress of the Wind. So beautiful!

Mistress of the Wind is my first fantasy novel, and is based on the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

About Mistress of the Wind:

Bjorn needs to find a very special woman . . .

The fate of his people, and his own life, depends on it. But when he does find her, she is nothing like he imagined, and may just harbor more secrets than he does himself.

Astrid has never taken well to commands. No matter who issues them . . .

She’s clashed her whole life with her father, and now her lover, the mysterious man who comes to her bedroom in darkness and disappears to guard his mountain by day as a bear, is finding it out the hard way. And when he’s taken by his enemies, no one is prepared for Astrid’s response.

It is never wise to anger the mistress of the wind . . .

This novel is a retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

Release Day: Banquet of Lies

Banquet of LiesIt’s release day for Banquet of Lies. I thrilled that Banquet of Lies is out in the world from today. There is an interview about the book on Unabridged Chick today, and those in the US can enter to win a copy. I hope everyone enjoys reading Banquet of Lies as much as I enjoyed writing it.

About Banquet of Lies:

A SECRET TREATY AND A SECRET LIFE

REGENCY LONDON: Giselle Barrington is living a double life, juggling the duties of chef with those of spy-catcher. She must identify her father’s savage killer before the shadowy man finds her and uncovers the explosive political document her father entrusted to her safekeeping.

Posing as a French cook in the home of Lord Aldridge, Giselle is surrounded by unlikely allies and vicious enemies. In the London streets where she once walked freely among polite society, she now hides in plain sight, learning the hard lessons of class distinction and negotiating the delicate balance between servant and master.

Lord Aldridge’s insatiable curiosity about his mysterious new chef blurs the line between civic duty and outright desire. Carefully watching Giselle’s every move, he undertakes a mission to figure out who she really is—and in the process, plunges her straight into the heart of danger when her only hope for survival was to remain invisible.

If you enjoyed The Emperor’s Conspiracy, you’ll find a number of the characters from that book make an appearance as secondary characters in Banquet of Lies, including Charlotte and Lord Durnham, although you don’t by any means have had to have read The Emperor’s Conspiracy to read Banquet of Lies. It stands on its own.

Available for purchase from today!

amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookdepository | Books A Million | Indiebound | iTunes | KOBO | Simon & Schuster

Contest: Last Advance Reading Copy of Banquet of Lies Up For Grabs

Banquet of LiesI have one advance reading copy of Banquet of Lies left. To go into the draw to win the copy, either sign up for my newsletter by 30 September 2013, or, if you subscribe to my newsletter already, share the details of this contest on twitter (with the hashtag #BanquetofLies so I can track who enters) or share on Facebook (go here to share, so I can track your entry). If you tweet and share on FB, you get two entries. Good luck! This contest is international. Anyone can enter.

WINNER: Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest. Congratulations to Samatha Talarico. Random.org pulled your name out of the virtual hat and you win a copy of Banquet of Lies. I’ll be in touch to get your details.

Book signing event in Fremantle, Western Australia

For those of you who live within visiting distance of Fremantle in Western Australia, please come along on Saturday, 17 August, and say hello. I’ll be signing at a massive group signing event organized by the Australian Romance Readers Association. All the details of the event, including who else will be there and what I’ll be signing can be found here. My publisher has generously provided 50 advance reading copies of Banquet of Lies, my October 22nd release, to give away to readers at the event. I look forward to seeing those who live in my part of the world and who can make it there!

In Defense of the Queen Release Day

In Defense of the Queen 200In Defense of the Queen releases today! I’m so happy to have Susanna and Parker’s latest adventure out in the world.

There are a couple of great things happening to celebrate the release.

First up is a book blast with Prism Book Tours. There are some fantastic prizes to be won, including a $50 amazon gift gard, ten ebook copies of In Defense of the Queen and two print sets of all three books in the series. You can go here to enter the contest: In Defense of the Queen Book Blast

The second is that Daughter of the Sky is on special for the next two weeks, down to 99c. For everyone who hasn’t yet read it, now is your chance. You can find copies at all your favorite online bookstores. The sale ends on August 14th:

Amazon Kindle | Amazon paperback | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | iTunes | Kobo