I’m delighted that Jen over on the Goodreads M/M group has decided to put my fantasy novel Nor Iron Bars a Cage up today on the Love Has No Boundaries free story event, as the group’s June first release.
You can find the read-online version on the group if you are a member on this thread – Nor Iron Bars a Cage. A downloadable version is available now, at the M/M group’s new story hosting site. The link for that is at the end of the first post, which has the picture prompt and letter for you to see. Right now you can download my story, as well as the first five stories already released from that location. The others from the group event will follow on the group threads, and some as downloads, through the next two months or more – lots of good reading ahead.
STORY INFO:
Genre: fantasy
Tags: mage/sorcerer, first time, hurt/comfort, friends to lovers, magic users, PTSD
Content Warnings: history of past abuse, self-harm
Word Count: 103,780
So yeah, it’s long – feel free to go for the download. Right now you’ll have to get the link from the group thread, so it’s members only. I will be posting it on Smashwords later, and giving you the direct link, but since it was written for the M/M group, I want it to remain in their hands exclusively for a while. I hope you enjoy it – I had fun writing it.
I did more than “enjoy” it. I loved, loved, loved it. I loved how Lyon was able to tear off the bars, both physically and mentally, of his prison, I loved how Tobin was strong and supportive for Lyon but never controlling, I loved the slowly developing relationship between them and knew at the end that this was a hard fought and ultimately enduring one because of the last line “Perhaps a large kitchen window, with no bars, just glass, so I can look out and see our kitchen garden in the moonlight.” (Cried happy tears here.)
I loved it so much that I had to go back and reread “Gift of the Goddess” when I finished as I love all your stories, especially your fantasy worlds. Thank you Kaje, so much.
Thanks for the great response to my guys 🙂 – I enjoy writing fantasy, and I’ve been very happy with the reaction this story is getting.
Kaje; I have read all of your work and when you stated the work is available below I was overjoyed. However I hit a snag. When I downloaded the epub version of the book it downloaded as a html file which I can not read. Can you help me out? Thanks! Donna J.
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I haven’t heard any other comments about problems with the epub. Did you go here? http://www.mmromancegroup.com/?p=2644?age-verified=c226a2c3e9 I can email you another copy, if you like. PM me on Goodreads or leave me an email here.
I just finished it…I’d like to write a well thought-out review for it, but I couldn’t wait to say thank you! I read most of your contemporary novels, and you’re one of my favorite m/m authors, so I was ready to buy this one when I read of it. I was shocked that you were just giving it away. And surprised it was fantasy, which happens to be my favorite genre. I just fell in love with that book. Everything is perfect and flows so effortlessly, from the setting to the magic and its logic, to the characters. I identified with Lyon’s physical and mental struggles. The way Tobin helped him fight his troubles and Lyon only slowly and step by step improving was well done, and more realistic than how fast characters in most novels overcome past traumas. The writing here was beautiful as well, a bit more poetic than in your contemporary stories. All in all I loved it very much, and put it down several times for the sole reason of making it last longer. Thank you again for writing this lovely book, and please write more fantasy!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I love writing fantasy, and have a couple of short stories out, but this was the first novel I actually published. Undoubtedly not the last though. I’ve been very pleased by the reception it’s getting.
I just wanted to say, I read ‘Nor Iron Bars a Cage’ this week and utterly adored it – not just the romance (which was beautiful, particularly how respectful Tobin was) and Lyon’s slow struggle back into the world (which was also beautifully done, and paced wonderfully and refreshing both in its realism and how it was both non-glossed but not at all gratuitous), but also the fantasy world and the non-romantic arc of the plot (which really could have stood on its own with a bit of fleshing out). Also, the concept of sorcerers as some kind of super-librarian/archivist. Wow! Original AND awesome (particularly for geeky book-lovers…).
Anyway… I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you for an exceptional read and some unforgettable characters. I’ve been recommending it to others, and I hope you’ll write some more fantasy sometime.
From another geeky book-lover, thank you 🙂 I’m glad you liked it, and I no doubt will do more fantasy down the road. I like the freedom of the genre.
For 8 years, I’ve reread this ebook countless times. I’ve read all your stuff, and enjoyed the ebooks, but this one is something unique in my collection. I own literally thousands of titles in my Kindle collection alone. Several times annually, I read this one again. Most are ephemeral, yet “Nor Iron Bars a Cage” is immortal, a treasure I appreciate.
What a lovely thing for an author to hear. I’m so glad that my story connected with you, and continues to give you pleasure. That story was fun to write, and the guys made themselves clearly heard. I’m always pleased when folks enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by to say so.