Cover Reveal: Accidental Trilogy by J.M. Frey

Last night Space Channel’s Innerspace revealed the cover of a new epic fantasy meta-narrative “The Untold Tale: The Garrulous Ghost of Gwillfifeshire, an Accidental novella” by friend of the site, J. M. Frey. The book is the story of a megafan, Pip, who wakes up in the novel series that she’s adored and studied since she was a teen, only to find it darker and more dangerous than she imagined.

This is the first of The Accidental Trilogy and the book will be available this December (pre-orders can be done on Amazon). It explores the contrast of a modern reader’s reactions to common tropes of the sword and sorcery fantasy genre.

“I love to tell stories from a perspective that is just on the rim of the action,” Frey admits. “History is written by the victors, they say, which has always made me wonder how the losers would tell it. Or the victor’s personal assistant or dog-walker. How is the same tale told when it’s being related by someone who isn’t in the center of it? Someone who isn’t the hero?”

After tackling science fiction with her award nominated Tryptich, and rhyming children’s stories in The Dark Lord and the Seamstress, Frey has turned her loving yet critical attention to the high fantasy genre. Her heroine, Pip, ends up going on an adventure not with the hero she’s loved, but with his younger brother, Forsyth, who embodies the geeky every man in this world. As an avid reader, Pip is familiar with the tropes, clichés, pitfalls, and loopholes of the world, which means she can predict and circumnavigate some of them. But knowing how to solve some problems always creates others.

So if you’re looking for a great story which examines many of the default tropes of the genre — well you’ll still have to wait until December — but now you’ll know what you’re looking for!