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By Jaclyn Dolamore
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

I've moved into indie publishing lately, where it is entirely my choice which books I release into the world. So, I've been thinking about branding.

One thing it has taken me a while to realize is that just because you don't write the most popular thing and you get some bad reviews because of it, doesn't mean you need to change anything.

My second novel, Between the Sea and Sky (Bloomsbury, 2001), is my favorite of my published books. Its review average on Amazon and Goodreads was never great, which initially made me feel like there was no place in the world for what I most love to write.

However, as the years have gone by, I've gotten many fan letters for that book from both kids and adult women who tell me it's one of their favorite books and they've read it many times. It took me all those years for the fan mail to trickle in before it finally dawned on me that it is the most beloved of all my books, as far as I can tell.

My brand is: cozy romantic fantasy about a couple in healthy relationship with lots of details about food, clothes, and domestic life, and bits of humor. The fantasy backdrop is more in the "courtly politics" vein rather than physical action, although there is a little of that.

The characters are always somewhat on the fringe of society, your lovable outcasts and weirdos, and if I've done my job, you keep reading because you find the characters delightful and you want to know what happens to them and see them find a place in the world.

Betsy the Cat

They are the kind of books you might read when you're sick or having a bad day; where the characters are friends, the world is home, and you can trust that your heart won't get ripped out of your chest.

A lot of readers like having their heart ripped out of their chest. They give me reviews that say they wanted more action, more magic, more highs and lows. It's always tempting to listen to the bad reviews instead of the good.

And sometimes I love reading stuff that is epic, sweeping, dark. But when I try to write it feels like when I wear my disco dress with the fluttery sleeves. I love that dress but it just isn't me the way my plain 1960s navy blue librarian dress is.

Other people might even like the disco dress better, but it doesn't matter, I still would be happier living in the librarian dress.

As a reader, too, the cozy reads are the ones that fall apart on my shelf, because I pick them up again and again. So I realize now that it is more important to keep writing books that are the most me, and retain those readers who appreciate them too, than it is to try and chase the next big fantasy bestseller.

Cynsational Notes

Jaclyn's books include:

• Magic Under Glass (Bloomsbury, 2009); 
• Between the Sea and Sky (Bloomsbury, 2011); 
• Magic Under Stone (Bloomsbury, 2012); 
• Dark Metropolis (Hyperion, 2014); 
• Glittering Shadows (Hyperion, 2015); 
• The Vengeful Half (Self-published, 2016); and 
• The Stolen Heart (Self-published, 2016).

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OK, how beautiful is that cover? I'm in love with it, it's so pretty! Look at the little tail coming off of the B in Between! Jaclyn has just revealed it! She's had to keep it a secret until now, and she's finally able to share it with us!
Here's what she said about the book:

I LOVED writing this book so much. As I've described before, I envisioned like Jane Austen meets Miyazaki movie (and had soundtracks to both in heavy rotation while writing it). It's about a mermaid named Esmerine who runs into her old childhood friend winged dude Alan, while looking for her sister Dosinia who ran away with a human man. There is flying, and humor, and a brassy old woman, and a bookstore, and lots of love to literature (of the 18th century variety, at least), and kissing in a vineyard, and relationships between sisters, and Alan is somewhat of an intellectual snot, which I always enjoy, personally. Not so much of an intellectual snot that I wouldn't date him. You know.

It's set in the same world as Magic Under Glass but instead of being Victorian England/America-ish, it's based on Italy around 1800. (And man, I did way too much research on actual Italy for it being a made up Italy...)

So, go ahead and add it to your ever-growing To Be Read pile, like I did, and enter in the contest Jaclyn's holding!
I just finished reading Delirium, by Lauren Oliver. Review's coming up!

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Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore. Bloomsbury USA Children's Books. 2010.

The Plot: Nimira, 17, has been a music hall "trouser girl" for three years, ever since her arrival in Lorinar from Tiansher (called Tassim in Lorinar). Nim gets an offer of a better job and a better life. All she has to do is sing while an automaton plays songs on a piano. Can it be so simple?

Of course not. The reason wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry has resorted to hiring a foreign trouser girl is because all the Lorinar singers he hired were convinced the automaton was haunted and ran screaming from the room.

One minute, Nim is dirt poor trouser girl; next, she's living at a fine estate, new clothes, servants, and Parry, young and handsome, is clearly smitten with her. It's a fairy tale. Until Nim's first day alone with the automaton: "'"Mmm." A grunt came from his throat .... His eyes followed me. He was haunted."

The Good: Nim arrived in Lorinar hoping to make her fortune as a trouser girl, singing and dancing. Turns out, that entertainment is no longer in fashion so she barely makes a living. Parry's offer is a chance to escape the dreariness and poverty of the dance hall. But just as her escape from the poverty of Lorinar didn't go as planned, so, too, does this escape go sideways on her.

Instead of running from the haunted automaton, Nim holds her ground. Part of it is, she knows she has no options. It's either this or back to the dance hall. Part of it is, this is a teenager who was strong enough and courageous enough to go to leave her homeland and go to a new country at age fourteen. That strength, courage, and wisdom helps her as she seeks to uncover the mystery of the automaton and figure out Parry's own secrets. Of course Parry has secrets! A single, wealthy gentleman, politically connected, is almost too good to be true.

Nim's world, in Lorinar, Tiansher, and other countries, is one with magic and Sorcerer's Councils, fairies and fairy wars, and oh yes -- automatons that may or may not be haunted. I wouldn't say its an alternate world, because there are no parallels to our Earth. That said, it's quasi Victorian in dress, manners, style, technology. Carriages and corsets.

The fairies. Dolamore gives hints of what a fairy is (and isn't), intriguing enough so that I want a companion book set in the fairy world. Basically, fairies look like humans; there was a fairy/human war; and now their is an uneasy truce with a wall built between the two peoples.

I loved the writing; my book has a ton of post-its, marking passages. Dolamore creates such a full world, with just a handful of words. Nim is at a party, both as guest and performer, for she is to sing with the automaton: "I didn't know where they'd lead, but I hardly cared. I needed air. I brushed past two men in a heated discussion, one of them gesturing with a closed lady's fan, as if he'd forgotten he was holding it. The dancers were lost in their own worlds. A little boy and a girl were hiding under a table, whispering to each other, pa

4 Comments on Magic Under Glass, last added: 3/4/2010

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Leila said, on 3/4/2010 7:23:00 AM

The new cover is LOVELY!

Angiegirl said, on 3/4/2010 8:39:00 AM

This is a very encouraging review, Liz. I'm looking forward to picking up the new cover and giving it a go. It is lovely and I'm happy to hear the story held up for you. It sounds delightful.

GreenBeanTeenQueen said, on 3/4/2010 9:16:00 AM

I really enjoyed this one! The writing is full of great passages and it was a short quick read-the author put in just enough detail to keep me interested without bogging me down and making it a 600 page book which I really enjoyed. I too want a novel with the fairy's and fairy world-I want to know more about them. This had a very gothic Victorian feel to it and I loved it!

The Critic said, on 3/4/2010 12:53:00 PM

Thanks for the review! I was going to say it would be a shame after all the controversy if it was bad. Thanks for reccomending it!

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