The Wolf and the Girl

[osprey_archer]

I've finished the copyedits of The Wolf and the Girl! It will be published as soon as my cover artist finishes the cover and I've knocked the blurb into a shape that I like.

The blurb so far:

A Little Red Riding Hood retelling set in pre-Revolutionary Russia.

When a wounded wolf collapses on Masha's doorstep, only her grandmother's insistence that this wolf is a transformed human prevents Masha from killing it with an ax. Masha helps the wolf change back, and discovers that the wolf is her old friend Raisa, a village girl who was sent to Siberia after attempting to assassinate a tsarist official. While she was in Siberia, Raisa fell under the sway of a sorceress who swore she could use dark magic to bring the revolution to Russia - but when Raisa began to question her methods, the sorceress transformed Raisa into a wolf.

After a brutal confrontation with the sorceress, Masha and Raisa flee to France. They develop an act that catches the eye of a French film director, who casts them in a silent film adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood... which alerts the sorceress to their whereabouts in France.

Now that sorceress and her pack are coming for Raisa and Masha again. How can Raisa and Masha defeat this dark magic?

Comments

[rachelmanija]

Congratulations! It sounds wonderful. Is it F/F?

[osprey_archer]

It was going to be, but then Raisa spent most of the second half of the book as a wolf, and the whiplash from "beloved pet" to "let's bang" was just too strong.

[rachelmanija]

Hahahahaha.

This is the first novel I've ever read in which the romantic quadrangle consists of two humans and two transformed dogs.

https://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/tag/bestiality:+carnal+carnivores

[osprey_archer]

I've read those books! Those are super weird books! As far as I know Carmody still hasn't written the third book in the trilogy, and it's probably because she's HORRIBLE about ending series (she keeps starting new ones without ending any of the old ones WHY), but also possibly because she wrote herself into a corner with "But can Rage REALLY have a romantic relationship with her transformed pet dog Billy Thunder who she raised from a puppy??" (I guess Rage/Logan might offer a get out of jail free card on that one, but it feels like a cop-out.)

Raisa at least started out human before becoming a wolf, so I feel like the set-up as a whole is less creepy... but still, Masha and Raisa would need at least a few months and probably a whole novel to evolve their relationship from "human and pet wolf who is actually a human transformed into wolf form" to "two humans who are in love."

[evelyn_b]

Oh, so it's not anymore? I would have been ok with the whiplash! (easier read than written, I'm sure).

(Still excited to read it).

[osprey_archer]

I tried! But Raisa's transformation back into a human is such a big change to their relationship already that I couldn't manage the romantic aspect at the same time.

Maybe I'll write a sequel. But the sequel would be such a different genre from the first book (the second book wouldn't really be a fairytale retelling) that I'm not sure it would be a good idea.

[evelyn_b]

No, don't worry about it! The best thing for any book is not to force it. I just had a picture in my mind about where this book was going, which is easy enough for someone who doesn't have to write it. It still sounds great!