Through 5 January 2025, every book in the Waterspell fantasy series is on sale. The audiobooks are on sale, too! $14.95 for the four-book boxed set; $11.95 for The Karenina Chronicles. That’s $10 off the list price for each.
Available a la carte (without a subscription) at Chirp, Apple Audio, Spotify, and Nook Audiobooks. If you have an Audible membership, each book is 1 credit.
Filed under Audiobooks, Books and Readers
My Black Friday sale was encouragingly successful, so I’m repeating it. Through 5 January 2025, every book in the Waterspell fantasy series is on sale. Book 1: The Warlock is free, and the five subsequent ebooks are $1.99 each, which means you get the entire six-book series for only $9.95.
But wait! There’s more! Save $1 if you purchase the boxed set for $4.99 and add the two linked sequels for $1.99 each.
Available for all ebook devices: Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple, Google Play, etc.
Universal Book Links:
“A must-read for fantasy enthusiasts who enjoy immersive world-building, well-developed characters, and a storyline that seamlessly blends magic and human emotion.” NetGalley
“In this saga, the author has created an epic fantasy world full of magic, danger, romance, and travel through time and space. The characters are vivid and complex, including a young woman on a hero’s quest, and a powerful warlock who isn’t sure whether to kill her or embrace her. This is a most enjoyable read for fans of fantasy and fine writing.” NetGalley
My first-ever Black Friday Sale! Now through December 4, 2024.
Get the four-book Waterspell bundle plus the two linked sequels for only $8.97. That’s a savings of $7 off the regular list price of the ebook editions.
“A must-read for fantasy enthusiasts who enjoy immersive world-building, well-developed characters, and a storyline that seamlessly blends magic and human emotion.” NetGalley
“In this saga, the author has created an epic fantasy world full of magic, danger, romance, and travel through time and space. The characters are vivid and complex, including a young woman on a hero’s quest, and a powerful warlock who isn’t sure whether to kill her or embrace her. This is a most enjoyable read for fans of fantasy and fine writing.” NetGalley
It’s finished! 🎉 With the November 2024 release of The Fires of Farsinchia, the Waterspell series is complete.
Fires (published 19 November 2024) picks up where The Karenina Chronicles left off. Nina doesn’t get to spend much time in her island world. She’s barely landed on those tropical shores before she’s called back to fight new fires in her native realm. Because let’s face it: For a storyteller, Ladrehdin is a more interesting place. Particularly down in the South Country, where magic is returning, but only in fits and starts, and with unpredictable results.
I’m grateful to every reader who has followed the Waterspell story since the first book came out in 2011. I’ve obsessed over these characters since about 1996. They’re completely real to me, they’re alive, and so is their world. I’ve loved tagging along on their adventures, but the time has come to let them go on about their lives without me looking over their shoulders.
What’s next? An old manuscript has been sitting in my files for about 20 years. Long dormant, it’s finally stirring, calling to me to pull it out of the dark drawer and let sunlight fall upon it. What I read in its pages may make me cringe. I’m a better writer now than I was 20 years ago. But then again, those mostly forgotten pages might hold pleasant surprises. Time will tell.
If you’ve got time for a six-book, 680,000-word fantasy series that reviewers say is “nearly impossible to put down” (bless you, Dear Readers 💙), then by all means, begin at the beginning with Waterspell Book 1: The Warlock. But if you’re not looking for a commitment of that size, might I recommend that you start with The Karenina Chronicles? It’s a linked sequel, but it IS a standalone. It’s fully accessible to readers who have no knowledge of the previous four books.
And when you’ve finished The Karenina Chronicles, you’ll be ready for The Fires of Farsinchia, the book that answers burning questions, including: Will Nina find love again after the death of her Earthly husband? Will she figure out where she belongs? Or is she doomed to remain a restless wanderer who finds no peace on either side of the Void?
Filed under Books and Readers, Discoverability, Waterspell fantasy trilogy
Regularly updating one’s author bio is an entirely tedious but necessary part of the interconnected online world. Every time I have a new book coming out (and I do! November 19!) I chase down all of the sites where my little biography appears. I’ve now spent the better part of a week doing this mind-numbing task.
In hopes of simplifying the process for any necessary future updates, I’ve created a list. Google finds most of these, but not all. Some of the more obscure locations were sporting badly outdated info. With this list to remind me, perhaps I’ll more easily catch them all, the next time I must refresh my online presences. (“What has it got in its presences?”)
Also my distributors, Draft2Digital and Lightning Source, so that booksellers who use their databases will pick up the most recent author info.
Also Google Play Books (the catalog of which, like Lightning Source, must be updated individually <sigh> since the Google Partner Center does not have one universal Author Profile option that applies to every book in an author’s catalog):
With this many individual places to update, you would think that I’d be absolutely certain of the wording I want in my “official author bio.” But after a week of updating myself everywhere, I’m already wondering if I’ve included too many details, and will the info be stale before my coffee gets cold? <sigh>
Castles in the cornfield provided the setting for Deborah J. Lightfoot’s earliest flights of fancy. On her father’s farm in Texas, she grew up reading tales of adventure and reenacting them behind ramparts of sun-drenched grain. She left the farm to earn a degree in journalism and write award-winning books of history and biography. High on her bucket list was the desire to try her hand at the genre she most admired. The result is Waterspell, a complex, intricately detailed fantasy comprising the original four-book series (Warlock, Wysard, Wisewoman, Witch). In the “Nina sequels” to that earlier quartet — The Karenina Chronicles and The Fires of Farsinchia — new generations of powerful wysards carry the saga into the magical future of an ancient world. Having discovered the Waterspell universe, the author finds it difficult to leave.
Lightfoot is a professional member of the Authors Guild. She still lives in rural Texas. Find her on Instagram @booksofwaterspell and explore her overflowing, catch-all website at waterspell.net.
Filed under Discoverability, On Writing, Writers
Such a busy week! And a busy month of August, from Day 1. The Karenina Chronicles (the newest book in the Waterspell series) is featured at Kobo all month in the category of “Science Fiction & Fantasy Under $5.99.”
Plus, The Karenina Chronicles audiobook is now available at Audible as well as all other major retailers.
🎉 I’m breathless with the speed of events. 🥳 If you’re looking for a good read for your August vacation, please check out The Karenina Chronicles: A Waterspell Novel in any format you like: print, ebook, or audiobook. Discover why readers call it “exceptionally vividly realized” and “engaging from page one.”
Filed under Audiobooks, Books and Readers, Waterspell fantasy trilogy
Already! It’s live!
The brand-new audiobook of The Karenina Chronicles is now available at several retailers including Chirp, Kobo, Apple, and Nook; and at Spotify it’s a STEAL for only $11.49! 
Audiobook retailers set their own prices, and this must be a new-release special price that won’t last long.
Please help me introduce Hannah Eggleton to audiobook listeners who will love to hear her work. This is Hannah’s VERY FIRST audiobook narration, and she has done a beautiful job. Wherever you get audiobooks, you can find it at Books2Read. Thank you for your support! 
Filed under Audiobooks, Books and Readers, Discoverability
As I work back through my old notes for my novel-in-progress—notes scribbled on scraps of paper, some dating back a year—I find bits that I’m not sure can be incorporated sensibly into the Fires manuscript, but I’m reluctant to trash these bits. Therefore, I’m saving them here, just in case I’m inspired to use them in my final editing passes. “Kill your darlings,” they say. Eliminate any part of your writing—scenes, sentences, descriptions—that you love, but which don’t serve your story. I’m not ready to decapitate the following, so they’ll stay here for now, awaiting their fate.
In reality, all of her siblings were now older than Nina. She had lived most of her life in a world where time passed far more slowly than on Ladrehdin. She was now, practically speaking, the baby of the family. But she’d never admit that, for Nina would never cease to take pride in being the eldest daughter of House Verek.
… what Willow had said about Legary’s children from his first marriages to mortal women, how his offspring had grown to resent him for never growing old or leaving them an inheritance. Nina’s own descendants on the island world were now many generations removed from their matriarch. They had the family house on the bay and the magian vigor of their inheritance, and they needed her no longer.
Nina’s rapier figured prominently in The Karenina Chronicles (Waterspell Book 5). But in The Fires of Farsinchia (Book 6), it’s nowhere to be seen. That’s because, at the end of KC, Nina had left it at home in Ruain. Thus, she doesn’t have it with her when she makes the leap back through the void to the Ore Hills, at the beginning of Fires.
Her rapier was at home in Ruain. Nina had not worn the blade when she crossed from Weyrrock to the islands beyond the void. Her other weapons—bow, sling, and throwing knife—had had their uses in that distant world, but her rapier would always have been out of place, too different from any weaponry that was commonly known in the archipelago. But here in the desert of Ladrehdin, she missed it. Perhaps Dalton could eventually collect the weapon from Weyrrock, bring it to the port city of Seawood, and send it by messenger to Legary at Granger. Nina could then retrieve it from Legary, the next time she visited her brother at his home in the southern grasslands.
Wolfe is only the second courier ever admitted into Ruain on behalf of Galen. Remember that Galen sent a messenger many years ago, bearing a bracelet for Carin and a cloak pin for Verek. That rider (in Book 4) had been a wandering wysard from the mountains, known to Galen’s master, Orton the Smith.
Filed under Books and Readers, On Writing, Writers
I haven’t blogged in months because I’ve been traveling the world. The world of Waterspell, that is. The place keeps me busy. Here’s some of what’s happening:
The Karenina Chronicles
A Waterspell Novel
by
Deborah J. Lightfoot
Audiobook narrated by
Hannah Eggleton
Fall 2024
The Karenina Chronicles audiobook is nearly finished! Narrator Hannah Eggleton has done a beautiful job. Hannah has captured Nina’s voice, attitudes, and personality so perfectly that I must keep reminding myself that Hannah is Hannah, not Nina. 😁 We’re aiming for a Fall 2024 release. The audiobook will be available everywhere: Audible, Chirp, Hoopla, Barnes & Noble, Spotify, etc.
Here’s a 2-minute sample to whet your appetite. I love the strong self-confidence of Hannah’s voice.
Yes, there’s a sequel in the works. The Karenina Chronicles is itself a stand-alone sequel to the original Waterspell quartet. To follow Nina’s story, you don’t need to have read the first four books. KC takes the saga into a new generation with new characters and conflicts.
But just as Nina demanded that I tell her full story in a chronicle of her very own, several characters from KC have also clamored for more time on the page. The result is turning into yet another Waterspell novel, to be called The Fires of Farsinchia. I’ve been handing out business cards with Fires listed alongside KC, which is putting the cart before the horse since Fires is still months away from publication. It won’t be listed yet by any bookseller.
To give googlers a search result, however, in case any recipient of my card googles the title, here’s the blurb, along with a sneak peek at the cover:
The Fires of Farsinchia
A Waterspell Novel
by
Deborah J. Lightfoot
With the revival of magic in the world of Ladrehdin, an ancient foe reawakens. Lady Karenina is called home to wield her wizardry against a power far older and deadlier. Will she survive? Who will hear her call for help?
Will It All End in Flames?
In this second sequel to the original Waterspell quartet, Nina returns to the Ore Hills, summoned from across the void to face peril alongside her brother Galen and niece Jacca. This time, the threat is existential. Nina will discover that her great Gift of water-magic does, in fact, have its limits. Love, however, is eternal, and true friendship is boundless.
The Fires of Farsinchia concludes the further adventures of Lady Karenina of Ruain, eldest daughter of House Verek. It's a tale of loyalty, humility, and selflessness in the face of overwhelming odds. Who can you count on to always be there to save you from drowning when you're in over your head?
You map lovers out there will be happy to know that Fires includes a map, this one drawn professionally by Tiffany Munro, cartographer for Feed the Multiverse Studio. This lovely and detailed map will be a great help to readers in following the new story through a complex landscape. I’m thrilled with it! 💙
Possibly. I’m making notes for a book that could take the saga into the third generation. Two young adepts from The Fires of Farsinchia got married, and I’m sure their children will be unusually magically gifted. I may have to tag along on their further adventures, for I’m sure they’ll have many.
I need a break from this world, however. Since 2020, I’ve lived in the Waterspell universe. It has dominated my life. Which isn’t a bad thing at all, except I’m at the stage of life where I really should devote time to clearing out the clutter. My writing room is bursting with old projects, old notes, and files that need to be tossed. My late husband left a garage full of tools and bolts and fasteners of all kinds. It needs going through and boxing up for donation to Habitat for Humanity. Maybe I’ll take a year to declutter before tackling the story of the third generation in this fantasy family saga. Stay tuned!
Filed under Audiobooks, Books and Readers, Magic, On Writing
