Carolyn leans her shoulder against Kit’s. She closes her eyes, but she knows that it’s Delilah who sits on her other side, takes her hand, and twines their fingers together.
“It’s going to be okay,” Kit murmurs.
People move, and there are quiet conversations as Alaric leaves, and Shawn and Dax step outside. Carolyn doesn’t want to think about any of what’s happening around her. Instead— “What’s happening to me?” she asks, and Kit takes her other hand, squeezing tightly.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s bad,” he says softly.
We’re getting close! The campaign runs through the 28th, and we are currently at 86% funded. A few folks picking up the full package (both paperbacks and ebooks) would get us there. Several folks coming in for the ebooks… or one paperback… or a paperback and ebook combo… you get the idea.
And if you can’t support or aren’t interested, signal boosts are wonderful things, too!
Spoiler: I love Mac’s under-the-eaves room, too.
Carolyn pushes to her feet, reaches up to touch the low ceiling of Mac’s room, and drops back into the chair. “I hate your room, Mac.”
“I love it.” Mac pats the bed next to her. “Come lie down. Stare at the ceiling and tell it the rest of your story.”
“How do you know I’m not done?” Carolyn does as she says anyway, stretching out along Mac’s bed, arms behind her head, staring up at the sloped ceiling. At the lowest point, it’s almost close enough to touch.
“You don’t feel done, and I don’t even have to be Heather to know that.” Mac rubs her shoulder. “Tell the ceiling.”
Missed Fortunes is the second book in the Twinned trilogy, part of the Welcome to PHU series. Pre-order it now, and while you’re at it, you can pick up the first book, Commit to the Kick, as well (or instead! both count toward the goal).
We’re now in the final 48 hours of our crowdfunding campaign for Missed Fortunesby Tris Lawrence, and we’re still 17% from our goal – only $300 to see us hit our pre-order goal! We’d love your help to get there and help us bring this awesome, plotty book (it’s over 400 pages long!) featuring a sapphic queerplatonic relationship between the asexual main character Carolyn and her girlfriend Serina, with a whole lot of “trying to college and also trying to save the world.” Check out our campaign page!
The spice of cinnamon explodes on Carolyn’s tongue, enhanced by vanilla and cream. She licks the whipped cream from Serina’s finger, savoring it as Serina withdraws, her cheek flushed.
Carolyn’s tongue tingles. “It’s good.”
“It’s the best,” Serina corrects her softly, licking the last of the cream from her fingertip before she picks up her spoon and digs in. Pre-order now through February 28th!
You can also (or instead!) order the first book of this trilogy, Commit to the Kick, which introduces the setting of Pine Hills University and many of the characters – and stars an aromantic gay man! Purchases of book 1 of the Twinned trilogy also count toward our goal, so even if you’re not ready to buy a book 2 our of the blue, it’s a great time to buy book 1!
Meet Tris Lawrence! Tris has been with Duck Prints Press since our very first anthology, Add Magic to Taste, and is the author of multiple novels, including seven books of the Welcome to Pine Hills University series. We’re currently crowdfunding the second book of that series, Missed Fortunes, so what better time is there to get to know this awesome author?
About Tris Lawrence
Tris Lawrence has been writing since she was a child, filling notebooks with the worlds, dreams, and voices from inside her head. She declared in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer, promptly started drafting her first novel in seventh grade, and never looked back.
Tris has always been fascinated by the way people work: how their relationships fit together, how they interact socially, how they learn and discover. She has read avidly her entire life, devouring mysteries, romances, science fiction, and fantasy novels, and as an adult still loves all of these genres. Her favorite stories center on people who are learning or discovering new things, and coming-of-age stories top that list, which is how Pine Hills University came to be. She wants to share stories of people who are learning how to relate to each other, how to adult, how to college, and how to just be. She hopes to share stories about diverse characters with representation of everything she wishes she could have read growing up, and she hopes that these stories will touch the lives and hearts of those who read them.
When not writing, Tris is a wife, a mother (to two children, two cats, and a dog), a knitter, a system administrator, a black belt in taekwondo, an avid reader, and a music aficionado. Sleep, she claims, is optional.
Meet Tris Lawrence! Tris has been with Duck Prints Press since our very first anthology, Add Magic to Taste, and is the author of multiple novels, including seven books of the Welcome to Pine Hills University series. We’re currently crowdfunding the second book of that series, Missed Fortunes, so what better time is there to get to know this awesome author?
About Tris Lawrence
Tris Lawrence has been writing since she was a child, filling notebooks with the worlds, dreams, and voices from inside her head. She declared in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer, promptly started drafting her first novel in seventh grade, and never looked back.
Tris has always been fascinated by the way people work: how their relationships fit together, how they interact socially, how they learn and discover. She has read avidly her entire life, devouring mysteries, romances, science fiction, and fantasy novels, and as an adult still loves all of these genres. Her favorite stories center on people who are learning or discovering new things, and coming-of-age stories top that list, which is how Pine Hills University came to be. She wants to share stories of people who are learning how to relate to each other, how to adult, how to college, and how to just be. She hopes to share stories about diverse characters with representation of everything she wishes she could have read growing up, and she hopes that these stories will touch the lives and hearts of those who read them.
When not writing, Tris is a wife, a mother (to two children, two cats, and a dog), a knitter, a system administrator, a black belt in taekwondo, an avid reader, and a music aficionado. Sleep, she claims, is optional.
Del is… Del. She has a unique perspective on the world, particularly when she’s in the Dreamscape.
“You traveled through a Dream, and I travel into Dreams.” Delilah’s voice is soft, low… lazy. “Maybe I infected you, and it’s finally coming out now. Like a bug with a really long incubation period.”
“Talent isn’t the flu, Del,” Kit says dryly.
“Isn’t it? We Emerge. We change. We discover innate abilities we never knew we had. It could be an illness, Kit.” Delilah’s eyes are unfocused, her finger drawing patterns on the table.
“Don’t call Talent an illness,” Drea mutters, voice sharp. “There are enough people who think we’re a blight on humanity. Don’t help them.”
“I’m not trying to.”
Missed Fortunes is the second book in the Twinned trilogy, part of the Welcome to PHU series. Pre-order it now, and while you’re at it, you can pick up the first book, Commit to the Kick, as well.
We’re closing in on the end of the pre-order period for Missed Fortunes.
It’s the middle book of a trilogy, but you won’t have to wait long for book three; it’s coming end of summer!
This is so not a plot snippet, but I happen to love Trish and Del a lot for totally different reasons, and this meeting was fun to write.
“Hey, Carolyn?” Trish calls out, poking her head in. “Hi, Delilah. Do you prefer Delilah or Del? Also, how do you feel about being the subject of a song? Because honestly, I could write an ode to your eyes if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Are you flirting with me?” Delilah asks, and Trish grins.
“If you want me to be, then yes, I’m flirting. But I don’t have to be if it makes you uncomfortable. Up to you.” Trish turns her attention back to Carolyn. “Sera and I are going out to meet up with Pat, Jackson, and the rest of the guys. If you want anything from Teas Please, text me. If you need anything in general, let me know.”
“I’m good. I’m going to get Shawn and Del set up to crash here tonight. I’m bailing on class tomorrow morning, so don’t wake me up thinking I’m missing breakfast.”
“Got it.” Trish waves at Delilah. “Nice to meet you. Was that a yes or a no on the ode to your eyes?”
“Yes on the ode, no to the flirting, thanks,” Delilah says.
“Then in fourth grade, Samson came to town, and everything changed.” Carolyn twists her hands together. “Looking back on it, the timing was… is… Maybe it meant something. It didn’t feel like it then, just like everything became perfect. Kit met Samson and had a new best friend. Sam became a part of our group. And that spring—” She glances up at Mac. “Well, then the Emergence happened. Suddenly everyone knew we weren’t the weird kids, we were the magical kids. And it didn’t mean much—not right away. It stopped a lot of the bullshit; most groups didn’t want us to join them when we were in middle school, and that was okay with us. The Emergence gave us space to just be us. To figure out who we were.”
“I’m getting a vibe here,” Trish says idly. “Have you ever seen the movie The Craft?”
Carolyn ducks her head; she’s heard the comparison before. “Right vibe,” she says. “We weren’t that powerful, but we were us, and by the time high school came around, everyone knew who we were.
Check Out Chapter 1 Previews of Tris Lawrence’s Twinned Trilogy
ALT
There’s one week left in the pre-order campaign for Missed Fortunes by Tris Lawrence, and we’re slightly shy of 50% of the way to our goal. We could really use your help making this campaign a success – even just signal boosting our posts goes a long way toward assisting us, as often the difference between a failed campaign and a successful one is people knowing about it. And what’s there to know about?
Missed Fortunes is the middle book of the Twinned trilogy, a series set at the fictional college Pine Hills University in a world similar to our own – except there’s magic! It’s been 10 years since humanity learned that people with Talent have long lived among them, and everyone is still adapting to this new reality and the ways it has changed everything. Meanwhile, twin siblings Carolyn (cis woman! asexual! biromantic!) and Kit (trans man! bisexual and biromantic!) are just trying to get through their junior year. It’d be easier if not for the cracks spreading around them, threatening that this ~new reality~ could bring all of reality crashing down around them…
Have we got your attention yet? Want to read more? We’re offering free samples of Missed Fortunes and also of Commit to the Kick, book 1 in the trilogy, starring aromantic gay shapeshifter Alaric and his twin Drea!
Yes, I’m posting snippets daily (er, or mostly) as the pre-order period goes along. Remember, it’s only open until the end of the month. We’re ALMOST to 50% funded. Even if you aren’t interested in picking up a copy, a share would help a LOT. Signal boosts are wonderful things.
Welcome to PHU is a web serial about the students who attend Pine Hills University, a fictional liberal arts school, and the folks around them. It’s about magic, and love, and football, and music, and taekwondo, and just about anything else that college students might get involved in. And magic. Did we mention the magic? Because in this world, ten years ago, the public found out that magic is real, and ever since then, more and more Talents have become public in the world, and Pine Hills University happens to be one of the schools that welcomes these magical students with open arms.
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