The Vengeful Goddess
Demands Her Tithe
When a stowaway is discovered aboard the merchant ship Kulap Kanya, Munny, a cabin boy on his first voyage, knows what must be done. All stowaways are sacrificed to Risafeth, the evil goddess of the sea. Such is her right, and the Kulap Kanya's only hope to return safely home.
Yet, to the horror of his crew, Captain Sunan vows to protect the stowaway, a foreigner in clown's garb. A curse falls upon the ship and all who sail with her, for Risafeth will stop at nothing to claim her tithe.
Will Munny find the courage to trust his captain and to protect the strange clown who has become his friend?
Cover Design Intro:
I had the fun of designing this
cover—finding reference photos, inventing the composition, applying
the text, etc.—but the actual artistic work was done by talented
cover artist Phatpuppy (www.phatpuppyart.com), whose work I have
admired for many years. It was such a thrill for me to contact and
commission this artist to create a look for Goddess Tithe that
is reminiscent of the original novels but has a style and drama all
its own.
The boy on the front was quite a
find. I hunted high and low for an image of a boy the right age, the
right look, with the right expression on his face. Phatpuppy and I
worked with a different model through most of the cover development
stage. But then I happened upon this image, and both she and I were
delighted with his blend of youth, stubbornness, and strength of
character! It wasn’t difficult to switch the original boy for this
young man. He simply is Munny, and this cover is a perfect
window into the world of my story.
You can’t see it here, but the
wrap-around back cover for the print copy contains some of the
prettiest work . . . including quite a scary sea monster! Possibly my
favorite detail is the inclusion of the ghostly white flowers framing
the outer edge. These are an important symbol in the story itself,
and when Phatpuppy sent me the first mock-up cover with these
included, I nearly jumped out of my skin with excitement!
Elisabeth on the Illustrations in the book.
Intro to Illustration:
There are eight full-page
illustrations in Goddess Tithe featuring various characters
and events from the story. This is the first one in the book. I
decided to share it with all of you since it depicts my young hero,
Munny the cabin boy, under the watchful eye of his mentor, the old
sailor Tu Pich. Munny is on his first voyage, and he is determined to
learn all there is to know about a life at sea as quickly as
possible. Thus we see him utterly intent upon the knot he is learning
to tie. Tu Pich is old enough to know that no sailor will ever learn
all there is to know about the sea. Thus he looks on, grave,
caring, and perhaps a little sad. He might be looking upon his own
younger self of many years ago, fumbling through the hundreds of
difficult knots his fingers must learn to tie with unconscious ease.
I enjoyed creating all the
illustrations for Goddess Tithe, but this one was my favorite.
I love the contrasts of light and dark, the contrasts of young and
old . . . youthful intensity versus the perspective of age.
Now here is an excerpt from the story.
Excerpt from the Story:
Here is an excerpt from the
middle of the story. In this scene, Munny has been ordered to Captain
Sunan’s cabin to clear away his breakfast . . . an unexpected task,
for a lowly cabin boy would not ordinarily dare enter his captain’s
private quarters! Munny hopes to slip in and out quietly without
attracting the captain’s notice. But his hopes are dashed when
Sunan addresses him, asking how their strange, foreign stowaway is
faring:
__________
“And
what do you make of him yourself?”
Munny
dared glance his captain’s way and was relieved when his eyes met
only a stern and rigid back. “I’m not sure, Captain,” he said.
“I think he’s afraid. But not of . . .”
“Not
of the goddess?” the Captain finished for him. And with these words
he turned upon Munny, his eyes so full of secrets it was nearly
overwhelming. Munny froze, his fingers just touching but not daring
to take up a small teapot of fragile work.
The
Captain looked at him, studying his small frame up and down. “No,”
he said, “I believe you are right. Leonard the Clown does not fear
Risafeth. I believe he is unaware of his near peril at her will,
suffering as he does under a peril nearer still.”
Munny
made neither answer nor any move.
“We
will bring him safely to Lunthea Maly, won’t we, Munny?” the
Captain said. But he did not speak as though he expected an answer,
so again Munny offered none. “We will bring him safely to Lunthea
Maly and there let him choose his own dark future.”
“I
hope—” Munny began.
But
he was interrupted by a sudden commotion on deck. First a rising
murmur of voices, then many shouts, inarticulate in cacophony. But a
pounding at the cabin door accompanied Sur Agung’s voice bellowing,
“Captain, you’d best come see this!”
The
Captain’s eyes widened a moment and still did not break gaze with
Munny’s. “We’ll keep him safe,” he repeated. Then he turned
and was gone, leaving the door open.
Munny
put down the pot he held and scurried after. The deck was alive with
hands, even those who were off watch, crawling up from the hatches
and crowding the rails on the port side. They parted way for the
Captain to pass through, but when Munny tried to follow, they closed
in again, blocking him as solidly as a brick wall.
“Look!
Look!” Munny heard voices crying.
“It’s
a sign!”
“She’s
warning us!”
“It’s
a sign, I tell you!”
Fearing
he knew not what, Munny ran for the center mast and climbed partway
up, using the handholds and footholds with unconscious confidence.
Soon he was high enough to see over the heads of the gathered crew,
out into the blue waters of the ocean. And he saw them.
They
were water birds. Big white albatrosses, smaller seagulls, heavy
cormorants, even deep-throated pelicans and sleek, black-faced terns.
These and many more, hundreds of them, none of which should be seen
this far out to sea.
They
were all dead. Floating in a great mass.
Munny
clung to the mast, pressing his cheek against its wood. The shouts of
the frightened sailors below faded away, drowned out by the
desolation of that sight. Death, reeking death, a sad flotilla upon
the waves.
“I’ve
never seen anything like that.”
Munny
looked down to where Leonard clung to the mast just beneath him,
staring wide-eyed out at the waves. “How could this have happened?
Were they sick? Caught in a sudden gale? Are they tangled in fishing
nets?”
There
was no fear in his voice. Not like in the voices of the sailors. He
did not understand. He did not realize. It wasn’t his fault, Munny
told himself.
But
it was.
____________
Author Bio:
Anne
Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she
lives with her husband, Rohan, a kindle of kitties, and one
long-suffering dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys Shakespeare,
opera, and tea, and practices piano, painting, and pastry baking. She
studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at
Campbell University. She is the author of the Tales of Goldstone
Wood, including Heartless, Veiled Rose, Moonblood, Starflower,
and Dragonwitch. Heartless and Veiled Rose have each
been honored with a Christy Award, and Starflower was voted
winner of the 2013 Clive Staples Award.
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