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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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a complete set

Looking for a gift for someone who loves to read?  The entire Shades and Shadows trilogy is available as a complete set for your loved one’s Kindle (or your own).  For the first time, you can own the complete story from the beginning before violence and xenophobia tear a country apart, through a sort of war that finds our heroes scattered and hurting, to the conclusion.

Come meet our heroes, Shades Mason and Raven, Shadows Alaric and Bryan, Shifters Sahara, Maddie and Evan, and young Zero who is both Sage and Shadow, and so much more, as they try to navigate a world, and a war, fighting for the survival of their tribes.

I am also holding a sale on paperbacks.  I currently have 10 copies of Forever and 11 copies of Through Shade and Shadow (with the original cover) available.  From now through December 24 they are $7 each, or both for $12 plus shipping cost.  Just reach out to me via email at natalie@nataliejcase.com and we’ll sort the details.

I hope to have a giveaway set up soon (amazon is giving me headaches over it). If you have already read any of these, I would appreciate it if you would leave a review on Amazon.  Every review helps us get the books in front of more readers.

It’s writing day, so I am off into a land of fantasy.  Happy Sunday, Readers!

 

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time to win some books!

Are you ready for two new giveaways?

I certainly am!  Opening for entry today are my two latest Goodreads Giveaways.  I have two copies of both of my books available to win.

To sign up to win a signed copy of Forever: Click Here

To sign up to win a signed copy of Through Shade and Shadow: Click Here

Are you excited?  I know I am!  I love the feeling that comes when I drop a book in the mail for someone.

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who wants a giveaway?

I have two giveaways getting ready to start next week over on Goodreads.  Two copies of Forever and Through Shade and Shadow will be available.

Click here for Forever

Click here for Through Shade and Shadow

Both giveaways open on the 18th of April and will be open through Aptil 26th.  Both are open to the US, Canada and the UK.

If you win, you will get a signed copy of the book with a note from me.

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let’s meet the women

The first book in the Shades & Shadows series, we only meet a few of the women who will become a big part of the series moving forward.  We met Emily Lambrecht, the mother to Alaric, and wife of the leader of their clan and Sahara Katan, a Shifter without a family who reluctantly takes on the responsibility of the two underage Shifters, Mila and Maddie.There are a few minor characters as well, Victoria, Cassandra, Raven and others.

In the second book, however, the women start to come to the fore. Raven Ivany steps up into a more prominent role, as a Shade who works for the same organization as Mason.  New to the story is Zero, who is a teenage Sage on the run from her father.  Keisha joins the cast, a Sage midwife and mother to two teenage boys.

I look forward to introducing all of you to these characters as we get closer to the book being finished.

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writing for tomorrow

I hope a bunch of you were able to get your hands on the free Kindle version of Through Shade and Shadow while it was on promotion!  If not, don’t worry, you can still get it for the low price of $2.99.

And for you who prefer the feel of a real book in your hands, you can get a paperback too.  If you want to order on from me, which I’m happy to sign before I send it your way, you can visit my facebook store.

Meanwhile, I’m hard at work on the sequel.  I can’t wait to introduce you to some new characters!

Today is the last day of February, and tomorrow we begin a new month.  Time flies faster all the time.  Grab ahold of something meaningful today and let kindness shine.

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you want a free book?

Did I say free?  Yes, in fact I did!

February 18-21 Through Shade and Shadow is FREE for Kindle!

Get your copy for free and if you feel so inclined, leave a review when you’ve finished reading it.  I love getting free stuff, don’t you?

How many more times can I say free? Probably lots, but I don’t want to bore you!

Come into my world and meet my characters!

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#readers favorite review

I was very fortunate to receive a FIVE STAR review from Reader’s Favorite this week!

Through Shade and Shadow was reviewed by Liz Konkel for Readers’ Favorite.

“A cautionary tale with a supernatural essence, Through Shade and Shadow tells the story of two people who are trying to make a difference, to do good and save people from hatred. So much truth is in this novel. There may be Shades, Shadows, and Shifters, but it’s so realistic that it’s eerie. All it took was a Shade being caught murdering people, and then everyone is afraid of Shades, not taking the time to see that at their core they’re healers.”

Read the full review!

Also, a little birdie told me a secret!  The Kindle version of Through Shade and Shadow will be FREE for four days, starting Saturday, February 18th.

I hope you’re all enjoying the book.  If you’ve read it, I hope you wouldn’t mind leaving a review on the Amazon store (US, UK, CA, AU, whichever) and/or Goodreads or other review friendly place.  If you’re a blogger and you post a review, I’d love to hear from you.  Or if you’re interested in an interview or other blogging fun with me, drop a line.

You can email me at natalie@nataliejcase.com.

Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!

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#amwriting and ask me anything

I have to admit that I love my weekends, especially weekends like this where I get to live in my pajamas and my big fluffy bathrobe and write without worrying about other commitments.

I’m working on the second book in the Shades and Shadows series at the moment.  I’m nearly through what is technically the first draft, in that large sections of this were written quite a while ago, but the plot has shifted and turned since then, so I’m working on stitching things together and cutting stuff out.

Of course, I will need to start at the beginning again and make sure I’ve weaved in all the ends and that the story is smooth, complete before I send it off to my editor who really does a good spit polish on the whole thing.

Oh, right.  In other news, I woke up yesterday morning to a coveted five star review from Reader’s Favorite, a web site that many Indie authors seek a good review from.  You can read that review on the Reader’s Favorite website.  I was fortunate enough to also get a five star review from them on Forever.

So, since I’m writing, I’ll be sitting at the computer for quite a bit of time today.  Have anything you want to ask me?  I can talk about my “process” such as it is, or answer any questions on Forever or Through Shades or Shadows, though I reserve the right to let you know the answer to your question will be found in the next book so as not to spoil folks.

The comments section is open, ask away!