Tag: Contemporary Fantasy

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start your engines

We’re getting closer to the release date of February 1st, and you can pre-order your Kindle version of Through Shade and Shadow right now.  You can also get a paperback from Amazon right now. If you have Amazon Prime, you could be reading it this weekend!

I find it a little amusing that I don’t even have my first copy of it (I should have it soon) and there are people who have purchased it and are reading it.

I wanted to do a local book launch party in February, but haven’t been able to secure a location yet.  I will, however, have a table at the Bay Area Book Fair in June in Berkeley.  For my Pagan fans, I will be at Pantheacon in San Jose February 17-20 and I’ll likely have copies on me, so if you see me and want one, please ask.

If you want a signed copy and aren’t local, I am working on getting a system set up to order directly from this site.  I hope to have it up and functional by the time I get my box of books.

I also have a giveaway set up on Goodreads.  It will open on the first of February.

And if you want to chat, come by my facebook page or hit up my Goodreads inbox.

 

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introducing Sahara Katan

Sahara is the first female character I’m introducing, she is also the first Shifter.  Sahara is a woman in her thirties, with mixed heritage that is Indian and Mexican. She is also a Shifter, and her animal form is a large lioness.

We meet Sahara when Alaric and his friends attempt to liberate her, and two younger women, from Omega Labs, an organization with close ties to the 8th Battalion.  While she accepts the hospitality offered, she is wary of the people extending it. Before her capture by the Lab group, she lived a solitary sort of existence for years after the deaths of her immediate family, her mother to cancer, her father to a heart attack.

Sahara is a strong woman, used to doing things her own way, used to letting the cat inside do what it wanted.  In fact, during the rescue, Sahara kills a guard, a fact that puts her at odds with at least one of Alaric’s men.

She becomes a reluctant guardian to the teenage sisters that were rescued with her.  But once accepting the role, she is a fierce and loyal protector, a role that eventually extends to the people around her, including Alaric and his family.

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The women really come to the fore in book 2, where we will learn more about Sahara, and meet Raven, Zero and others who will play important parts in what is to come.

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BUT, I also have news.  The paperback edition of Through Shade and Shadow is available now and the Kindle version is available for preorder.

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a new look for a new book

You may have noticed some redecorating has happened!

The new book has a cover, as you can see.  Right now everything is getting set up for pre-orders and I’ll post to let you know when that happens.

In the meantime, let me know what you think of the cover and if you are a book reviewer and want to get a digit ARC to review prior to the release, hit me up and I’ll get you the file.

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introducing Bryan Wagner

Bryan Wagner is a part of Alaric’s clan, a close friend of Alaric’s father.  He has been a part of Alaric’s life for a long time.  As the story opens, Bryan is in his late thirties and with Alaric serves as one of Anson Lambrecht’s Keepers.

Bryan was raised with more formal training than many in the clan and he has good control of his gifts.  He’s a strong reader, is good with projecting glamors to make things and people appear to different and he can project ideas/thoughts into unprotected minds.  These things come in handy when you’re running from someone.

Physically, Bryan is tall, with broad shoulders and big hands.  His skin is tan from hours in the sun, all but a long white scar that runs from his hair line, down over his left eye and onto his cheek.  That eye is blind and white.

Bryan sometimes comes across as a bit crass because he doesn’t waste time with niceties he doesn’t mean.  He’s bold and he is unafraid to voice the unpopular positions.  He is, however, fiercely loyal, first to his clan, then to the clan’s leader, even when he disagrees with a decision that leader has made.

He is not a fan of getting involved in the strife tearing the country apart and he holds very little love for the other tribes, Shades in particular. Bryan was an integral part of the work to bring the scattered clan back together and institute training regimens to strengthen the tribe, though he himself doesn’t really have the patience to be a teacher.

 

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the five tribes of man

Underlying a lot of the story in the Shades and Shadows universe, is the history of the tribes, most of which has been lost or diluted or re-written.  Each tribe has an inherent “gift” that sets them apart, which is ultimately the cause for the division among them.

Human beings, as a rule, are wary of things that are different, and we can turn on those who seem to have something “more” than we have, those with power we can not understand or control.  So it comes as no surprise that the tribes turned on one another, sometimes banding together to take on one tribe, sometimes all of them killing each other.

In the fallout, one tribe grew in number faster and spread further. Unlike the other four tribes, their gift wasn’t one of healing or magic or other things we would consider paranormal. Their gift, rather, was to be free of the trappings of those things; free to pursue the life they chose.

Unfortunately, they did not see that as a gift, and over time, persecuted the other tribes into hiding. Thus was the history lost, unless the tribe itself kept their own.  With the tribes scattered, even to the point of losing track of their own clans, no one really knows the truth.

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Introducing the 8th Battalion

Okay, the 8th battalion isn’t an individual character, but throughout Through Shade and Shadow, it acts as one.  It isn’t clear from the start if it is merely a name latched onto by disjointed groups that makes it seem like a huge, nationwide organization, or if all of those groups are actually one.

The 8th Battalion is born in the idea of idealized militia rising up to defend what they think is right, their way of life.  When Shades are discovered to be real, the 8th Battalion paints them into their canvas of people who are responsible for their pain, alongside people of color, people of other faiths, etc.

There is a certain religiosity involved here.  The 8th Battalion hangs their hatred and bigotry on a tree of religion and sets the whole thing on fire.This, of course, buys them support from certain types of people across the country.  When their first acts of violence aren’t widely condemned, and in some cases, actively cheered on, they take this as approval for their agenda and their attacks escalate to include murder and bombings.

But, it should be noted that not everyone involved in the 8th Battalion are religious zealots.  There is a shadowy leadership behind the whole thing that has only interest in one thing, and they will use this group to gain it.

 

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Introducing Mason Jerah

When we first meet Mason Jerah, he is just turning eighteen and watching his grandmother die.  He has lived his entire life separate from modern society, but for what he can see on television.

His interaction with the outside world has mostly been with the people in the nearest town.  He has been alone with just his grandmother for many years.  As a result, he’s hesitant and comes across as shy upon first meeting.  It isn’t so much that he is shy, but he’s thinking through everything he says.

Mason belongs to a tribe of people called Shades, one of five tribes that once upon a time coexisted peacefully.  Shades are gifted healers who can use energy to help not only themselves, but others heal.  It takes a lifetime of learning and practice, which Mason hasn’t had because his grandmother was too afraid to teach him.

Shades require large quantities of fluid, usually water to be able to do their work and to keep their own bodies functioning.  They are also vulnerable to the affects of the sun, burning quickly and well beyond the average sunburn.  The sun can kill a Shade.

With his grandmother’s death, Mason decides to embark on a traditional journey that will take him down off his mountain and out into a world that has started to fall apart.