Open me to read about The Starriest Night cover reveal, pre-order incentives, and more!✨
Greetings Gentle Reader from the Land of Whimsical!
This newsletter is packed full of excitement! 🎉 Scroll on to read all about it:
- Nov. 14th: Whimsical Will Be At Creston Farmers’ Market!
- Nov. 17th: Hayley Reese Chow’s Fangs, Fate, and Mondays Audiobook Release. 🥳
- From Now Til Sold Out: Overstock Clearance Sale. 📚
🌌The Starriest Night!!🌌
Today’s the dayyy!! Are you ready to see the cover reveal for The Starriest Night by McKenzie Catron-Pichan?! Here we goooo!!
🥁…🥁…🥁…
EEKKKK!! Isn’t she BEAUTIFUL?! 😍✨ This secret has been a hard one to keep, but now you guys are finally able to see it! Yay, yay, yay!!🥳
PREORDER NOW!
Will this be your new favorite book? Check out the blurb for The Starriest Night:
Inspired by the life of Vincent van Gogh, including his famous works and quotes from letters to his brother Theo.
Paris is teeming with Shee, fairies sustained by the creations that bleed from an artist’s veins. Vesper swore never to succumb to the temptation of having a fairy Muse, she’d personally seen enough to know better. But after a failed art exhibition leaves her and her pregnant little sister, Thea, on the verge of homelessness, a sudden offer from a nameless, yellow-eyed Shee is too good to refuse. It’s a bargain for three trips to the realm of the fairies; three trips that could Inspire her work and bring the success she needs. Though all magic has a price…
Without telling her sister, Vesper traverses to The Underground in hopes of creating a worthy painting, one that might save them from immediate destitution. When some success is found, Vesper decides that Thea and her unborn child need to be set up for life. So, with desperation clouding her better judgement, she commits herself to another deal with the mysterious Shee, intertwining their fates when she makes him her Muse.The cost? Every single painting the fairy magically Inspires, drains fragments of Vesper’s life.
Despite this monstrous bargain, Vesper’s bond with her adoring Muse deepens, and she soon discovers that he is not as he seems. He has secrets; about himself, about the Shee, and perhaps even about why he chose Vesper. Yet, secrets and all, she’s falling for the handsome creature that’s slowly killing her. And as her life wanes, Vesper must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice for her art, her sister, and the love that may cost her everything.
From the award-winning author of the Numina Parable series, McKenzie Catron brings you a new star-dusted, whimsical romance filled with fairy bargains and magical artwork. Fall into The Underground and discover a world teeming with Own Voice autism and mental health representation, sisterly love, and otherworldly creatures all wrapped up in a reimagining of Vincent van Gogh’s creations and life. With a mix of Irish folklore, this tale is reminiscent of Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince, Margaret Rogerson’s An Enchantment of Ravens, and Jim Henson’s The Labyrinth.
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If you loved the dust jacket, just wait for what else we have in store for you! 👀
TA-DA!! 🎊🎉 It’s almost like Christmas came early. 🤭 We are still freaking out about this design! The hard case art was actually done by the author herself, McKenzie Catron-Pichan!
Now let’s get into the book details:
- Dustjacket art by marblenxxart
- Hardcover art by McKenzie Catron-Pichan
- A letter from the author
- Metallic golden sprayed edges
- Full colour interior illustrations by Micheline Ryckman
- 2 character art postcards by Micheline Ryckman
- Signed bookplate from the author
- Van Gogh Starriest Night sticker
- 1 bonus surprise gift
The Starriest Night will be releasing on April 13th so it’s never a bad idea to get those pre-orders in early! As always, the exclusive editions are limited-time only so make sure you’ve got your copy secured!! 🛍️
Trust us, you don’t want to miss out on this star-dusted whimsical romance!! 💫
PREORDER NOW!
And to add even more whimsy to this magical release, McKenzie will have a new author photo for The Starriest Night!! 🧜♀️
Isn’t she just the cutest? You guys didn’t know she was an author AND a mermaid did you? 😉
PREORDER NOW!
✨Get To Know The Author✨
In anticipation of the cover reveal for The Starriest Night by McKenzie Catron-Pichan, we did a Q&A with her to get more insight on the world of Starriest!
Q: “What was the inspiration behind The Starriest Night?”
A: “Growing up, I loved art. I would get my hands on any medium, but I have always taken more to painting, whether it was with acrylics, watercolor, or even bodypaint. Creation has always been a passion, but it became even stronger into my adulthood…as did other things. In 2022 I noticed I was having a harder time than usual when it came to functioning everyday and could hardly do the things I loved anymore. I have never known a life without my “quirks”, anxiety disorders, depression, social troubles, finding flaws in societal rules, the need for rigid plans and known expectations. Yet it was all getting so much stronger, so much worse and I finally decided it was time to see a doctor to figure out what was happening. Turns out, this was not some sudden development, I am autistic and have ADHD, and I’ve been living a forced neurotypical life that was finally making me beyond overstimulated to the point of collapse. Knowing this, my entire life and being finally made sense.”
“During this time, I had started my career as a writer that specializes in Own Voices stories and realized that among the deficiency of mental health representation, there was also a huge lack of autism representation. So, I took that need and all the “new” things I learned to myself and dove into my never-ending list of ideas and inspirations. I landed on two other topics I’ve always wanted to write about: Van Gogh and the Leanńan Sídhe (Shee) from Irish folklore. They were the perfect combination of my artistic special interests, and the best vessels to shine a light on the realities of mental illness and neurodivergence through beautiful words and imagery.”
Q: “How different was your writing process for this book compared to the Numina Parables?”
A: “Fun fact: A Daughter of the Trolls was supposed to be a standalone. So I can’t say that I found the process to be too different! Though, the Numina Parables aren’t the most conventional examples of a series since each book takes place ten years apart and each has a different main character. They are a continuation of each other, creating a large connecting story, however they aren’t really the typical “back-to-back/pick up where you left off” type of sequels. And because I went into Daughter thinking it was a standalone, I didn’t have the experience of pre-plotting all the twists, turns, and reveals that I would want to have in the future. This turned A Goblin of the Glade and A Child of the Changeling into almost nature story stepping stones when it came time to develop them.”
“Which I think that made writing The Starriest Night more familiar to me. I was starting from scratch in a new world, but I had already grown used to introducing new characters, new magic, and impossibilities. Every book I write, whether it’s a standalone or series, brings its only challenges and new experiences, sure, but somehow I feel lucky that I have the style of storytelling that I do!”
Q: “What’s one song that you would say fits the vibe of The Starriest Night?”
A: “Let me do you one better! Here is an entire playlist”:
Q: “What’s one message you want people to take away from this story?”
A: “I find this hard to have one answer for! There are so many little lessons and running themes from, practice makes progress to findings about self-expectance, siblings, and love. But as is the goal with each of my books, I hope that there are people out there who are like me and they finally get to have a character that they see themselves in, that they feel heard and represented. And if not, I hope that I get to show and educate others what it is like to have illnesses and differences in a creative, beautiful way. Both hopes are equal parts of slowly making a difference and breaking stigmas!”
We would like to thank McKenzie for taking the time to do this interview and sharing with us. We are so lucky to have her be a part of the Whimsical family! We can’t wait to get this story in your hands April 13th! 💖
If you would like to read more interviews like this, make sure to check out our Substack HERE!
💲Clearance Sale!💲
Have you heard about our clearance sale yet? 🤩
We have some extra stock left over with our admin assistant Christina and need to help clear off some space on her shelves!! While there is limited stock, you can purchase them for 30% OFF til they are sold out! Just head over to our website and go to the “clearance” listing or save time and just press this button HERE! 🤪
Plus, you can get an extra 10% OFF when you use one of our rep codes. Make sure to head over to Instagram and give them a follow! ☺️🫶
Our reps:
If you can’t wait to read McKenzie’s newest book, then you should try the Numina Parables trilogy!
These books are full of love, courage, and bonds that are not easily broken. There is disability rep, adventure, and fae creatures! 🧌🧚♂️
Want a look into the world of the Numina Parables? Check out the blurb for A Daughter of the Trolls:
Are you afraid of the bogeyman? Eighteen-year-old Sparrow can’t remember a time when she wasn’t. And neither can her mother—or the trolls, imps, gnomes, and faeries who all live in the Glade and call it home. Though Sparrow’s weak heart keeps her wheelchair bound, she and her mother have dedicated their lives to protecting the Glade, especially from the worst bogeyman of them all: the skin-stealing, poison-ingesting witch called Black Annis.
But one night, Sparrow makes a terrible mistake, and everything she once held dear is taken from her. The Glade is no longer a sanctuary, and the only way Sparrow can save her mother and her friends is to journey out into a monster-ridden world that wasn’t made for her or her wheelchair. Joined by her half-goblin friend, Rush, Sparrow will have to confront her fears before the ones they love are lost forever.
A Daughter of the Trolls will appeal to fans of European folklore and the darker Grimm Brothers’ fairytales. This is a spine-tingling young adult fantasy adventure about evil witches, monsters, and the imperfect heroes who face them all. You’ll join Sparrow and her faerie friends on a life-changing journey where they face not only their outer demons, but their inner ones as well.
If this sounds like something you would love and you happen to be at the Creston Farmers’ Market on November 14th (this weekend!!) then you should stop by and say hello! 👋 Both McKenzie and Micheline will be there and will be signing books so come get a new book with an autograph attached! 🥳
Don’t forget all of this fun!
Alright, all that being said, here’s the summary of dates… don’t forget! 🥰
- Nov. 14th: Whimsical Will Be At Creston Farmers’ Market!
- Nov. 17th: Hayley Reese Chow’s Fangs, Fate, and Mondays Audiobook Release. 🥳
- From Now Til Sold Out: Overstock Clearance Sale. 📚
As always, thank you all so much for supporting our journey thus far. We’re a small team and we appreciate and see all your comments, messages, and orders. As a family run press, it means the world!
Until next time,
Whimsical Publishing 🩷🦩
