Tag: fantasy

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available now!

The first three books of the Blood Witch Saga are all available now, before Christmas! Do you have a reader on your list? Know someone who loves strong women, and urban fantasy, and wants to go on an adventure?

These are the books you’re looking for!

Follow Thána Alizon as she discovers that she is not the orphaned, mediocre middle-management corporate lackey she has believed herself to be and sets off on an adventure to find the family she never knew she had, traipsing through portals into other worlds, encountering mythical beings, dangerous cults, an ideological war, and a medieval plague.

Each portal takes her further from who she was and brings her closer to who she was meant to be.

Get yours now by clicking on the image above or this link.

Happy Holidays, Readers!!

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Mörderin: The Blood Witch Saga Book 2

Seeking to reunite her family, Thána and her mother Alaina head back to the world where Daria lives with her husband and son.

The once vibrant city where people traveled freely through a collection of portals has been reduced to rubble, and Daria is now a prisoner of the invading army. With her magic still in nascent stages, Thána agrees to a daring and dangerous rescue mission with Daria’s husband and friends, once again putting her life on the line for a family she barely knows.

To make it work she has to push her magical skills to their very limit and rely on those she’s only just met, not to mention breaking into a prison camp and getting out again in one piece. How hard could it be?

Mörderin: The Blood Witch Saga Book 2

I’m excited to share this with you, Readers! Now available in ebook and paperback on Amazon.com and in ebook from Google Books. I’ll be sure to update y’all when other marketplaces come online.

I also currently have two hardcover and six paperback copies of Thanátou available for purchase. Hit me up if you want a signed copy!

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meet Xen

In Mörderin we meet a number of new races, including the Pixin who are agender. Xen is a Pixin who is friends with Thána’s sister Daria. Pixin are long-lived and they reproduce through a process they call the joining.

Pixin are good with languages, but not at magic. They each choose several areas to study over the course of their long childhood. Xen chose Pixila, which is a form of martial arts, cooking, painting, and sculpture.

While the Pixin have called Vaneesh home for a number of generations, they originally came through a portal from their homeworld when a volcanic eruption caused widespread destruction. They prefer tropical climates such as the one on their homeworld and the place where they go to reproduce is in such a climate in Vaneesh.

We meet Xen shortly after arriving in Vaneesh, and they are intriguing to Thána from the start. Xen’s eyes are black and so is their hair, which they wear shaved on the sides, but longer on top. Xen is also the mastermind of the plan to rescue Daria.

Xen is not expressive, but is a deep well of emotion nonetheless. They are drawn to Thána first by her relation to Daria, then by her willingness to go into danger for her sister. When that danger threatens to get them all killed, it is Xen who finds a way to break them out.

The only question is, will it be enough?

Mörderin: The Blood Witch Saga Book 2 is coming soon, Readers!

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meet Daria Alizon Delnar

Today, I want to introduce you to Daria, Thána’s younger sister.

Despite the fact that they were not raised together, Daria has always lived in Thána’s shadow in one way or another. When they were young, Daria’s life revolved around keeping Thána out of the hands of the Brotherhood. Later, it was about keeping their secret safe.

Daria is a talented potion maker and garden witch, with a gift of prophecy that is equal parts helpful and frustrating. In Vaneesh, where she and her mother settle after secreting Thána away, Daria comes into her own, growing into her gifts and experimenting with new magic whenever she has time.

Daria married a native Vaneesh man named Habros Delnar and has one son, a sensitive young man named Kota. When we meet Daria, she’s been taken by an invading army, forcing Thána once more into the role of family savior.

It’s been nearly twenty-three years since the girls were together and circumstances with push them to overcome the distance to survive.

Mörderin: The Blood Witch Saga Book 2 is coming your way, Readers!

Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

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meet Alaina Alizon

I woke up to find my edits for book 2, so it’s time to start introducing you to a few new characters!

We’ll start with Thána’s mother, Alaina. We first meet Alaina in book 1, but we don’t really get to know her. In Mörderin we get more time with her.

Alaina and her husband moved from Spítia to an ancestral home in California before Thána was born, certain that her child would be born a blood witch. The activity of the Brotherhood convinced her they’d be safer there, and for a while they were.

When the Brotherhood finds them and kills her husband, her magic can no longer hide them, Alaina flees with her two daughters, trying to stay one step ahead of the men sent to kill Thána. When that gets too hard, she tries something desperate.

Using complicated magic, Alaina blocks Thána’s magic and her memory before leaving the ten-year-old where she would be found and cared for before fleeing once more with her younger daughter, Daria, leaving a trail of Thána’s blood for the Brotherhood to follow.

Still, Alaina doesn’t stay in one place long and eventually goes back to Spítia before finding a portal to someplace new where the Brotherhood has never been seen. Alaina and Daria settle into a quiet life in Vaneesh. As much as she misses her daughter, she knows Thána is safer where she is.

One day, Alaina decides it is time to find Thána, and despite Daria warning her of some dire visions of a disaster to come if Alaina leaves, she does exactly that. Stepping through the portal, Alaina envisions traveling back to California and from there to embark on a search for her eldest child.

That didn’t happen, however, as the Brotherhood picked up her trail as soon as she was on the soil of her homeworld, capturing her and imprisoning her at the Mano Kourt, where they tried to get her to tell them where Thána was hidden.

Alaina held her silence though, determined to protect Thána even if it cost her her life. When Thána and Cambious show up to rescue her, Alaina doesn’t believe it at first. She’s frail from starvation and torture, but still alive as they make their escape.

Reunited with her daughter, Alaina slips easily back into mothering mode and joyously introduces Thána to their extended family, something Thána has never really known. All that’s left then is to go to Vaneesh and introduce the two sisters, which is where we pick up the story in book two of The Blood Witch Saga.

I can’t wait to share this book with you, Readers. Now I’m off to the day job.

Photo by Jennifer Marquez on Unsplash

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book euphoria and book drop

There really isn’t anything quite like a new book release for the endorphins, other than that first review. On the flip side, there isn’t anything quite like the drop after the release is done and you need to move on to the next.

It’s been a ride getting Thanátou out into the world. I love the characters so much and I’m thrilled that they now live somewhere other than my head.

But then comes book two. Mörderin was close to ready to go when I got my final edits for Thanátou and has been submitted to my publisher. The third book, Hêalic, is ready for editing. Book four, title undecided, is in its infancy and I really need to refocus efforts on that this weekend.

The problem? Well, my head is still really wrapped up in book one and promo work. Writing and editing a book is only one step in the process. The real work, at least for me, is what comes after. I’m not great at self-promotion and have to overcome some crippling imposter syndrome to thrust myself and my book into the public eye.

Not helping matters in the slightest is the need to continue working the day job, which is calling my name right now with a need to get busy. I guess it’s time to finish this cup of coffee and get on with it. With any luck, I’ll be able to shake off the book drop feeling and get some writing and/or editing done this weekend.

Happy Friday, Readers!

Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

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meet Thána Augusta Celene Alizon

Thána is our main character and narrator. Her story opens shortly after her thirty-second birthday in El Paso, Texas where she is working as a midlevel manager at a manufacturing facility. She grew up in foster care after she was found sitting on a bench outside a police station in Rochester, NY with no memory of who she was and a backpack containing a note that gave her name as Thána Augusta Celene Alizon Archer and her age as ten.

With no idea who she was or where she came from Thána had to build her life on nothing while cycling through several foster homes. In high school she developed a love of language, and in particular Old English, which she continued to pursue in college, although she recognized the limited career potential there, she majored in business.

From college she joined the corporate world, working her way up in a company that built electronics, eventually getting transferred to a plant in El Paso which is where we meet her.

She’s a pretty practical person, not given to fantasy or fairy tales. She believes in what she can see. Uncomfortable in large groups, Thána is a bit of a homebody, if you can call the tiny apartment she is occupying a home.

That is until a strange man appears telling her that she is in danger and after several unsuccessful attacks, she’s starting to believe him when she is transferred to a San Francisco plant.

Adventure she could never imagine awaits her in San Francisco.

Thanátou: The Blood Witch Saga Book 1 is available now!

Smashwords (ebook)

Googlebooks (ebook)

Amazon (ebook and paperback)

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meet Cambious

Our second character introduction is for Cambious, our transgender incubus. The guardian of the portal between our world and another, Cambious was born Cambia and transitioned with a magically enhanced surgery.

He is large and very dark-skinned. Thána describes his physical appearance this way:

Through the door, I could see…well, I didn’t know what I was seeing. It couldn’t be real though, that much I was sure of. Because seven-foot-tall men with horns and black skin, dressed in leather and boots just were not a thing that was real. And, let me be clear: when I say black skin, I mean the kind of black that devours light, and when I say horns, I mean horns, thick, black horns rising up from his ample head of black hair somewhere above where I expected his ears were and curling back around and down around toward his face.

Despite his fearsome appearance, Cambious is a gentle sort of soul who loves baroque music and gardening. He and his family are sworn to protect the gate as repayment for a favor done by Thána’s grandfather. When the Brotherhood of God come calling, seeking Thána’s life, Cambious helps her flee through the gate and sets out with her to find her mother.

Cambious uses a complex glamor to get by in a world that isn’t always open to those of his kind, enabling him to seek out partners for his needs. He also has connections among the sort of non-human underground that includes incubi, succubi, dragons, phoenixes, and more.

Thanátou: The Blood Witch Saga Book 1 is out now!

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books!

I read a lot of books. Like, a lot. My bookshelves are always overflowing. I read a lot of different kinds of books: sci-fi, fantasy, biographies, classic literature, books about religion and history, books about current or recent events, true crime…with lots of stops along the way.

I have recently been dipping my toe into books about business and industry, largely due to my day job sponsoring a book a month, which we get together (virtually) to discuss. This is a genre I’ve always struggled with, largely due to my rebellious nature. I tend to buck the status quo and dislike the homogenization that industry seems to require.

In a normal time, I have two or three books that I’m in the midst of, usually one non-fiction, one fantasy or sci fi and possibly a book of poetry or an anthology of short stories. In the last year or so, however, I’ve had trouble focusing on much. I’m reading in an all or nothing sort of way. I’m either reading or I’m not and I can not seem to deal with more than one book at a time.

Considering the size of my TBR pile, this is problematic! I got a new bookshelf yesterday, so I can finally get those boxes out of the garage later today. The house is coming together. I have a table and chairs coming today, and a few other things as well.

I hope your Wednesday is filled with wonder, Readers, wonder and joy.

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

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books, reading and inspiration

A few years back, a friend who is also an author, turned me on to a conference that takes place in Colorado in October. It isn’t a writing convention, but a lot of the people there are authors.  It isn’t a readers convention, though everyone there are readers.

I couldn’t go last year because I chose Italy (and do not regret that decision), but I’m all signed up for this year.

One of the things I love about Sirens, is that on top of all of the conversations, panels, and learning experiences, they provide you a reading list, filled with books written by strong women authors in genres where women are often overlooked.  It is a huge list of speculative fiction that hits multiple genres and sometimes mixes them together.

This year’s theme is Heroes, and the guests of Honor, on top of being kickass authors with heroes in their books, they are diverse and the words they offer bring you to new places.  I started at the top of the list and bought the first three books from our Guests of Honor.

The first one I read was The Bloodprint.  Bloodprint

A fantasy set in a world where religious extremists have taken over and twisted their holy text to keep women out of sight, with no voice or presence, and keeping the men in line with fear.  It’s easy to see the parallels to our own world.  The hero, in this case, is a woman who knows how to use the scripture of that religion to perform magic.  Her journey takes her far from home in search of a legend in hopes of freeing her world.

I loved how different this world was from the familiar fantasy story.

 

 

Trail of Lightning

 

Trail of Lightning was the second book I read, and I devoured it in a single day.

This falls into post-apocalyptic and dystopian type categories, and our hero is a Diné, a monster-slayer with a dark past and powers that burst out of her, giving her speed and the ability to kill.  The world is filled with old gods and monsters, and she needs to come to terms with her past before she can survive to see the future.

This book sucked me in and held me through the end and at the end, I really, really wanted more.  I have already ordered the next book.

 

I love books like these, that fill my head with ideas, that make me think and rethink.  Inspiration struck me yesterday and I spilled over 2000 words on a short story before 5am yesterday after finishing this book the night before.

Want to join me on this reading challenge?  Grab some books and get reading!  Better yet, want to join me at Sirens?  Denver, October.  Dive in.  You won’t regret it.

Photo by iam Se7en on Unsplash