Stephanie Cranford

“A Gift of Honor” is out!

It’s August 3rd, or close enough, and Tales of Timeless Romance, the collection that contains my novella, has been released!

My heart has been in my throat since about Monday, but now everyone, including some of my family members, will be able to read my work. (Does that ever stop getting weird?) I hope y’all enjoy it! I loved writing about Honoria and Leandra.

I didn’t get to do acknowledgments or a bibliography/afterword for the published version, so instead, I’m going to do it here. It’s my first published work of fiction, so there’s probably a lot to mention.

Acknowledgments

Thanks so much to everyone at Dragonblade Publishing, specifically Shawn, who coordinated everything, and Audrey, my editor. Thanks also to Ms. Robie (her memory for a blessing), Mr. Marshall, Mrs. Thayer (her memory also for a blessing), and Mrs. Segur, who taught me how to write, and also a bunch of history teachers in there, although I couldn’t exactly say this was how they expected me to use that knowledge. Thanks to all the friends who encouraged me to write over the years, including (but not limited to) the OhNos; Jill, Sarah, Seana, and Kayla; Becky and the GOATs; the Five-Book Trilogy bunch; AJ and the GSD Discord; and of course the Possums. Special thanks to Lailah for reading it and, frankly, teaching me how to edit by editing my stuff so well. Thanks to my parents and aunts and uncles for being encouraging, albeit bewildered. Thanks also to my dog, Freddy, for being cute, and last but never least, thanks to Ben, for being the best, always.

And, of course, thanks to all of you who bought it and are going to read it! Please leave a review!

Works Cited

This is not an exhaustive list of what I consulted when trying to figure out what the state of rowing and what Cumbria was in 1818, but it’s what I managed to copy down.)

“A Brief History.” Brasenose College Boat Club, www.bncbc.co.uk/history/. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

Britannica. “Rowing | History, Equipment, & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/rowing-boat-propulsion-and-sport.

Gibson, Alexander Craig. “The Folk-Speech of Cumberland.” Project Gutenberg, 1869, www.gutenberg.org/files/62370/62370-h/62370-h.htm#Page_157. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

Marlowe, Christopher. “Hero and Leander, Part 1.” Tufts University, www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.03.0012%3Apart%3D1%3Asubpart%3Dsestyad%201. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

Porter, PEB. “Ann Glanville.” Saltash.org, 1905, saltash.org/saltash-people/ann-glanville.html.

Roper, Simon. “Cumbria & Yorkshire – an Older Dialect Comparison.” YouTube, 6 Feb. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov0OEAF5Fv8. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

—. “Cumbrian Language in Its Cultural Context.” Issuu.com, 5 Feb. 2021, issuu.com/simonroperr/docs/cumbrian_new. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

—. “Keàty Curbison Cat – a Little Cumbrian Poem.” YouTube, 24 July 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzUHWrWH8WU. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

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Let me tell you about my dog

So, I have a dog. His name is Freddy, and he’s about ten and a half years old, as of writing this. His mom was a Great Pyrenees (we met her), and his dad was, well, pretty clearly a black Labrador retriever. You’d think that he’d be huge and super furry, but in fact, he’s about 70 pounds and shorter than some full Labs I’ve met. (He does shed constantly, though.) He has both webbed feet and double dewclaws, and he loves to bark and keep our yard squirrel-free.

A black Lab mix with white feet, sitting on a light brown overstuffed chair, looking off to the viewer's right
Yes, he has cute white socks. Picture from the doggy boarding place.

He loves people a lot more than other dogs, and unfortunately, he informs you that he wants to love you by yelling at you at the top of his lungs. The neighbors put up with it. Mostly. Well, none of them have told us our dog is the worst. Yet. We got him as a puppy, so maybe they’re just used to him.

Freddy is very good at sit, stay, shake, touch, and down. He is not very good at come or off, the term we use to make him stop jumping. It’s the problem with smart dogs: they do a cost-benefits analysis, and they decide that under no circumstances are they going to do what you’re telling them to do, because they’d rather stay out in the yard, actually.

He is the most majestic of dogs sometimes.

Anyway, he’s great, and now, if I’m referring to my excellent, loud doggo, you now know more about him!

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