The Awakening: Three Sources. Two Worlds. One Connection

 

by Dana Claire

 

 

Awakening

 

The government called her a weapon. Her mother called her a gift. She called it a forced fate. Beatrice Walker is no stranger to surprises and after the year she’s had, finding out she is responsible for billions of lives is a drop in the bucket. Until she learns there may be more to the prophetic plan to prevent the extinction of two planets—both Earth and Ferro, and that she isn’t the only Blood-Light they will need to fight the imminent threat of an asteroid hurtling toward the planets.

He grew up a loyal heir. He trained to be a soldier. He found purpose with the Rebellion. Cash Kingston didn’t think falling for a Blood-Light—part human, part Ferroean—was possible. But when he met Beatrice Walker, all of that changed. What didn’t waver was his quest to save his beloved planet Ferro and his new home, Earth. Not only from the oncoming asteroid but from leaders of both planets with more sinister agendas.

Together, Beatrice and Cash, plus their team, must uncover who they can trust, how they can stop their enemies, and what superpower matters most, or they will lose everything they are fighting for.

 

 

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Praise

 

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, I was absolutely sure I was going to love this one as well and boy, I wasn’t wrong. This is the second book in this stellar series and it’s even more action-packed than the first. It starts off with a bang and doesn’t let up the entire time. It also introduces more fun and quirky characters that I immediately fell in love with. And what an ending! It was done so uniquely and kept the momentum going until the very last page, during which we’re also treated to some astounding revelations that just make me that much more anxious for the next book to get here already. If you like young adult scifi action adventure, you’ll love this author and this series. They’re both outstanding.” -5 Stars DTChantel

“I’m so in love with this series!! This is the second book, which you expect for it to be not quite as good as the first, NOPE!!! This was just as great as the first, if not a little better!!!
The growth we see of the characters and not just the main characters, is so well done. We have a few new side characters that brought a lot to the story. But my favorite are Cash, Beatrice and Ashton. But I totally ship Cash & Beatrice!!!
I can’t stress this enough… if you like Romance with SciFi (like The Lux series by JLA, The Kricket series, The Saven series) you will LOVE this series!!!! It’s definitely it’s own series, not a copycat, but just to give you an idea of the kind of Romance with SciFi story it is. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SERIES!!! And I can’t wait for the next book!!!” -5 Stars Donna (Book Dragon Girl)

“I was so excited to read book two in this series! There was just enough backstory sprinkled in so that you could still follow the story if you hadn’t read book one (and enough to remind the reader if they read book one a while ago). I was pulled right back into Bea and Cash’s story, and I could barely put the book down until I reached the end. From rescuing Ashton, to Cash being captured, to Bea’s first experience of Ferro, to the surprising “reward” for saving the world, I had to keep turning the pages. We’re left with a cliffhanger at the end, though, so I hope Ms. Claire is industriously writing volume three!” -5 Stars Cyndi

“This book is beyond amazing. It keeps you so hooked at all times. You cannot go wrong with this read.” -5 Stars Amazon Customer

 

 

Guest Review from Gud Reader

 

Dana Clare does it again this time with her hard-hitting science fiction ‘The Awakening’. Having read her first book in the Blood-Light trilogy I am just amazed at how she is able to come up with such a mind-blowing and thought-provoking plot.

In this book, we encounter Beatrice ‘Bea’ Walker a character not new to surprises. This time her forced fate as she is about to find out, is to save both Ferro and earth from an imminent threat of an asteroid that is about to strike both the planets. On her side is Cash Kingston the gorgeous but arrogant character from Ferro. The twist depends upon finding Cash’s half-brother, Ashton who, in this case, is the ‘opposing source’, if their mission is at all to be successful. Now, Bea, Cash, and Ashton are on a mission to save planet Ferro and planet Earth from destruction. Will they succeed in this and who can they trust to ensure that their mission is not foiled?

For any science fiction lover, an exquisitely fabulous blast of science fiction with a dash of romance awaits you in this book. Dana does a marvelous job as she writes with an elegant and beautiful flowing style that carries the reader with her as she blends scientific fact and some supernatural lore to create that outstanding plotline that feels both authentic and believable. Her world-building and character-building are pitch-perfect!

 

 

About the Author

 

When author Dana Claire had several poems published as an elementary school student, she was hooked and writing became her passion. A shared dream of hers and her mother’s, she promised her dying mother that she would become a published author and that dream has been realized with The Connection.

Dana believes that a good story is made through strong character development; when readers become attached to the characters’ emotional state and are invested in their objectives. She believes that the beauty of reading is that one can live a hundred lives within the stories of books. Her own stories come to her in her dreams, and she wakes up with book ideas.

Dana’s family is very supportive of her writing and the creativity and sentiment driving it. Enjoying bicoastal living between Los Angeles and New York, Dana says she “lives the best romance in the world being married to the most amazing man she could ever ask for.” The Connection was her debut YA novel, the first volume in a planned trilogy. The Awakening is the second volume.  She is also the author of The Reclaimed Kingdom, a YA fantasy romance novel.

 

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Giveaway

 

3 print copies and 3 matching eye masks, 1 each per winner.

It is open to Canada and the U.S. only and ends on September 17, 2021, at midnight pacific time

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Synopsis

 

How do you win a game that’s trying to kill you?

A twenty-nine year-old clerk at a games store in the Appalachian hamlet of Jett Creek, Tennessee, Callie Myles lives for the weekly RPG sessions run by her beloved brother and gamesmaster, LB. Under his watchful eye, she and her friends wage war, harness magic, and battle evil. When the dice are rolling, they are heroes, and all of Callie’s anxieties slip away. The fun stops the night LB burns to death in a bizarre fire.

Asked by her friends to keep the weekly game alive, Callie does her best to set her grief aside. She puts on the monocle LB wore during sessions and finds herself sucked into a life-sized recreation of her brother’s game. Inhabiting the body of her beloved character, the legendary Arabeth, she thinks she has found the ultimate escape. Her paradise is spoiled when she discovers that something inside the game killed LB—and one of her fellow players was in on it.

To save herself, to avenge her brother, Callie Myles must pull on her armor and beat LB’s game from the inside out. If she gets killed along the way, well, at least she’s having a great time.

A fast-paced hybrid of mystery and adventure, CRITICAL HIT captures the breakneck joy of tabletop gaming, where life and death depend on the whims of a plastic die.

 

 

Amazon

 

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited – Releases August 2nd, 2021

 

 

Review

 

I always enjoy a book that teaches me something new or opens me up to a world that I might have heard of but know very little about. In this case, it is the world of RPG – Role Playing Games. You might be familiar with the term Dungeons and Dragons. My only experience with this game is on an episode of The IT Crowd. It is a short clip but gives you some basics.

Callie is a young woman that is very involved with this world thanks to her brother. He has drawn her into this game since she was young and it is only fitting that she works at a game store where they use the back room to hold their game sessions. Her brother, LB, is the game master and runs the game for this diverse group of characters. The story starts out as they are playing a game and things aren’t going well and then all of a sudden, Callie pulls out some tricks with her character, and perhaps not all is lost. It is just a game after all….or is it? After the session that evening, LB ends up dead from an explosion and Callie goes down a rabbit hole to figure out what happened to him. What she doesn’t expect is to be pulled in and tries to solve LB’s murder. This is where the story takes a crazy twist and everything you might have believed is now flipped upside down.

The author really knows how to engage the reader. I was invested from the first page trying to figure out who killed LB, and then when Callie goes deep into the RPG world. I don’t want to give anything away but I found it very informative and fascinating how the RGP world might look or be played. There is a cast of supporting characters that help to mold Callie and her adventures. When the killer is revealed at the end it was a surprise but at the same time, it wasn’t. There aren’t any obvious clues that pointed to this character, there was just something in the back of mind that wondered if this character was more involved than they portrayed.

The book is filled with action, adventure, mystery, and humor. It is a well written novel and one that anyone could enjoy whether they are familiar with this world or not.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

W.M. Akers is a novelist, playwright, and game designer. He is the author of the mystery novels WESTSIDE and WESTSIDE SAINTS; the creator of the bestselling games DEADBALL: BASEBALL WITH DICE and COMRADES: A REVOLUTIONARY RPG; and the curator of the history newsletter STRANGE TIMES. He lives in Philadelphia but hasn’t traded in his Mets cap yet.

Akers believes tabletop gaming is the greatest hobby in the universe. CRITICAL HIT is a tribute to every brave soul who has ever played a game.

 

Website * Twitter * Facebook

 

 

Synopsis

 

2020 Maxy Awards Finalist – SciFi/Fantasy

The contest between men and women escalates to a new battlefield—genetics. Legislators mandate a testosterone-lowering food supplement to reduce violence and make gun control unnecessary. The blowback assumes epic proportions. Nadia Holkam—a pawn in the battle—desperately seeks her true identity.

Diana Holkam discovers companies are using her twin sister as a template for the perfect subordinate female in an experiment aimed at turning all women into pets. With help from a one-eyed Muslim Bible salesman, an African American woman promoting a testosterone-reducing food supplement, and an Indian geneticist fleeing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, they fight against a misogynistic CEO, a would-be prophet of male supremacy, and the mob. Neither side realizes the AI system developing the genetic “cure” has a different plan for human evolution—a plan that has something to do with fish.

 

 

Amazon * B&N * IndieBound

 

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

Review

 

Sci-Fi/fantasy books are not usually a genre I read, or at least not often. However, I was intrigued by the description of this book and decided to give it a whirl. What I found was a very bizarre book that featured gender wars, talking fish and multi-faceted characters.

There is a battle between the sexes and women currently hold the upper hand and food is doused with Testrial that seems to calm men down and they act more like servants than men. Not all men are like this, there are those that avoid any food that contains this ingredient and several are on course to create the “perfect” woman and return things to a time of the past where women were more like “pets” for the men. Obviously, most women (and some men) don’t want to see that happen. So a small band of protestors seeks to shut down Berky and Candor’s quest for this new lifestyle.

I found the characters to be quite interesting and the interactions between all kept the story flowing. There is some scientific discussion but nothing to drawn out to lose a reader. There is humor that I didn’t expect and was darker than you might expect. I was surprised by a few twists at the end regarding the twins, Nadia and Diana. There was also some graphic violence that was unexpected and it made me uncomfortable considering the level.

This book is definitely a journey for the reader and while sometimes it felt like I was trudging through, other sections were brilliant. Overall, we give this 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

J.S. Morrison is the author of “The Perfection of Fish” (Speculative Fiction, Satire, Black Rose Writing, 2020). He was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1947, had a career in Air Force Intelligence (1970-1991), followed by a career in the Tech industry (1991-2016). He has lived in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, and visited Asia, Africa, South America, and Antarctica. He optioned two original screenplays before deciding to write a near-future satire on gender wars. He currently lives near Annapolis, MD, where he is working on his second speculative fiction novel. He is a member of the Maryland Writers’ Association, the Columbia Writers’ Group, the DC Speculative Fiction Group, and the Black Writers Collective. When he is not writing or traveling, he dabbles in astrophysics as a member of a local scientific society.

 

Website * Twitter

 

 

Synopsis

 

The Sheehy witches are the most feared and detested family on the island of Inisliath, and none more so than Rowan.

As a deathwalker, Rowan ferries island souls to the Otherworld, experiencing their deaths and carrying their memories like ghosts within him. It’s a fated role he accepts even as it inexorably destroys him.

When the magic on the island starts to seep away from the other founding families, everyone blames the Sheehys—especially when islanders start dying.

Ash is sick of their father’s fists and constantly having to apologize for who they are. Life on Inisliath might be the fresh start Ash and their mum need, and meeting soft-spoken, curly-haired Rowan feels like the ray of sunshine Ash has desperately needed—but everything goes sideways when Ash’s mum becomes lead detective on a series of ritualistic murders allegedly tied to island magic, and Ash’s family history.

The islanders are convinced Rowan is guilty, but Ash refuses to believe it. When Ash does some investigating of their own, they discover Rowan is far more likely to be the next victim. With time running out to save Rowan, Ash will have to choose between a life free of their father or the boy they’re starting to love. Meanwhile, Rowan will have to decide just how much he’s willing to sacrifice to save his family from the darkness about to be unleashed on the island.

 

 

 

This book will be released in September 2021 – Add the book to your TBR pile!

 

 

Excerpt

 

Rowan

 

My sisters danced in the waves as I bled on the shore.

Their hair unspooled in the wind; their hands lifted toward the moon hanging like a scythe above the black ocean. They raised their voices, the spell harmonized in four parts, and I felt its pull.

The ghosts within me joined in the chorus, every soul shard ululating to the bruised night and fading stars. I let them sing; I was powerless to stop them. Instead, I closed my eyes, feeling the familiar thrum of the departed within my bones as my sisters chanted in the old tongue, the language of the tamed gods from whom we claimed our power.

Salt stung the wounds cut across my forearms by each of my sisters’ blades. Four fresh lines gouged between old scars. I knelt on the sand turning red beneath my knees and let the water take what it would of me.

My sisters’ song rose in pitch and volume, their voices straining, beseeching the waves to accept this offering from my veins. Ribbons of light rippled through the foam, darting toward their naked bodies as they spun and splashed.

The waves lapped hungrily at my blood, soaking my jeans, icy fingers in my skin. A final pull, as if I were being dragged below by a rip current, swallowed by the sea, and my sisters gasped as one.

My ghosts fell silent, spent.

Dawn slashed its talons across the horizon sending gold and vermilion bleeding through the shredded clouds, and in the light, my sisters’ hair turned to flames, each an inferno circling a delicate face.

The spell complete, they dragged their limbs made heavy with renewed power from the waves and pulled clothes over sticky skin.

“Thank you,” Iona said as she removed bandages from her satchel. She bound my arms as the others toweled their hair and gathered their blades. “See you back at the house?”

I nodded.

“You’ll be all right?” She cast a glance toward the cliffs at my back, their shadow receding from the sand but never from my heart, or what was left of it.

“Aye, I’ll be fine. Just need a minute.”

Iona patted my shoulder as I gingerly rolled down my sleeves.

I heard them leave, clambering along the pebble-strewn path that zig-zagged up the cliffs, but kept my gaze on the ocean. The tide was coming in, the waves thundering against the rocky arms extending in a deadly embrace from either side of the cove.

Cold and drained, I retreated from the waves racing higher along the beach and dusted the sand from my jeans, stiff with salt.

Having pulled on my boots, I started the steep climb, my legs weak, and my arms still numb from the spell. With my sisters gone and their magic dissipating, the birds returned, screeching their greetings to the dawn as they whirled above the black rock.

At the top of the cliff, I whistled for Auryn. She came at once, trotting through the meadow with a mouthful of dewy grass. She followed me as I traced a path along the edge of the cliff. I couldn’t help it, as if an invisible hook had caught within my sinews, reeling me back to this same spot every time I drew near.

Years of storms had washed the stone clean, but I didn’t need to see the stain to know the place my heart had beat its last. The breath caught in my lungs like wool tangled in a brier. Auryn nudged my shoulder, huffing sweet breath in my face.

Taking hold of her mane, I leapt onto her back, letting her carry me away from memories of death as it began to rain.

 

 

About the Author

 

Climber, tattoo-enthusiast, peanut-butter addict, and loyal shibe-minion, Xan van Rooyen is a genderqueer, non-binary storyteller from South Africa, currently living in Finland where the heavy metal is soothing and the cold, dark forests inspiring. Xan has a Master’s degree in music, and–when not teaching–enjoys conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. You can find Xan’s short stories in the likes of Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Daily Science Fiction, and The Colored Lens among others. Xan hangs out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook so feel free to say hi over there.

 

Twitter * Facebook * Instagram

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

How do you stop being a thief? Zizy assumed quitting her job, stealing from her boss, and flitting magically across the continent was one way to give it a go.

Getting in and out of sticky situations is typically Zizy’s specialty. A little spellwork here, a pinch of deception there, and she’s home free. Quick-fingered, fast-talking, and charming the gnome knows traveling across a shattered continent won’t be easy. Still, she has the skills to keep herself from getting killed.

Too bad she was followed on her one-way trip. Pressed into a mission she can’t say no to Zizy feels desperate, out of place, and as lonely as before. But when she meets a charming book hoarder with bold curiosity, Zizy can’t help but want to bring her along on this one last job. She’ll just hide her past, her present, and complicating info about herself. What could go wrong?

Either she finishes the job and protects those she loves, or it all falls apart. Is this journey the final key to unlock a new path or just another sticky situation she has to run from? She’ll use every tool she’s got to get what she wants.

 

 

Amazon

 

Interview with the Author

 

How did you come up with the idea for Tools of a Thief?

 

I started with the deities first. Beginning with them was not the easiest thing to have started with, but I love a good creation myth. Their personalities and desires shaped the world, the inhabitants, and conflicts. I drew on my inspiration from classic fantasy and Greek and Egyptian mythology.

I knew I wanted to do two things. I wanted to hang out at the beginning of this world with these deities as their powers grew and I wanted to hang out after everything went horribly wrong for them.  I outlined the first part, built the world, and set it aside to use as a campaign setting (for Dungeons and Dragons). Then I sketched what the world looked like after a massive upheaval. I asked myself who would be the most entertaining person to explore the “Oh shit” timeline of the world with. Anyone who asks that question and doesn’t pick a thief is really missing out.

Zizy and Laysa came to be because I wanted to explore the world and see what had happened to it after the “Oh shit” cataclysmic part. A gnome who has more wits than sense and really just wanted a break. A Brix (earthy creatures with a natural knack for agriculture) who just wanted to learn everything she could about the wonders of the world. They’re just both parts of me fleshed out as characters.

I wanted to explore what it was like to start something new mid-way through your life. When you’re on a path already, good or bad, and you really want to be doing something else. It mirrored where I was several years ago. I was over my perfectly lovely job in my perfectly fine life that was, in my mind, exactly where I should’ve been. And I hated it all. But I’ve always believed you can do anything, start anything new at any age. I have had some really great mentors in my life who have stoked that fire of thinking.

 

How did your personal experience as a dungeon master influence your novella?

 

Poorly. Haha, it’s nice to have characters who will take the bait you leave out because you’re literally writing them to. Ultimately though it kinda ends up the same way. They do stuff you didn’t think of at all, and it takes you in a new direction. Having played games like this for years with various people has helped me broaden my horizons, stretch my imagination, and try to think of new twists on things people expect.

ToaT is a pretty light-hearted novella. It’s not about killing things or gaining XP. I leave all that to the campaign setting for the pre-cataclysm portion of the world.

— The setting is open to Patreon subscribers

 

As an avid reader yourself, what types of books do you tend to read?

 

Currently,  it’s fantasy that satirizes like Orcanomics or character-focused works like Silver in the Wood. I love AU spec fic, sci-fi comedy, and of course, romance novels outside of fantasy. If I need something to read but just want a comfort book, I’ll re-read Jane Austen’s books for the 450th time. Now that I’m older Persuasion is my go-to.

 

Why is creating diverse characters important to you?

 

Creating characters who look like me or share my worldview is important because I grew up reading and watching characters who looked nothing like me. They had grand adventures while people like me were background characters. It took a few dozen years to even contemplate that I could change that by starring women or POC in the adventures that I always wanted to be on. So it’s literally a post-it on my monitor as a reminder that I can include all different types of people! And now I have these stories to share with people like my little sister, and she knows she’s in there and I’m in there and that really matters.

 

 

About the Author

 

D. Hale Rambo is an avid reader, Pathfinder/Dungeons & Dragons player, bubble bath connoisseur, and author. She has been writing and creating other worlds since she was old enough to mark them on her bedroom wall. As a dungeon master and in life, D. Hale Rambo believes in the fun of morale bonuses, inspiration, and always using cover. Get updates on the series, say hello, or debate with her about the versatility of gnomes on her Website.

 

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Synopsis

 

The rebels are losing the intergalactic war.

They need a prototype of the Deg’Nara’s latest weapon, a planet-killer, to survive. A covert operations team is tasked with finding and retrieving the weapon. Their mission is proceeding as planned when it goes horribly wrong.  Ashyr, a space pirate, swoops in and literally tears the weapon from the team’s hands.

Cam can’t let that happen. Impetuous, reckless, and determined to retrieve it at all costs, she throws herself onto Ashyr’s ship and the battle begins.

 

 

Amazon * BookBub * New Concepts Publishing

 

 

Excerpt

 

Thrall glanced over Ashyr’s shoulder, his eyes widened as he muttered an oath and then seemed to vanish into thin air.

A tall, beautiful female shoved her way through the crowd and threw herself on Ashyr. Long, slender arms draped his neck.

“Where have you been?” she gushed as she attempted to plant a kiss on his jawline.

Ashyr’s face flushed deep red. His lips pressed together in a tight line. None too gently, he grasped her arms and pushed her back.

“What do you want Leasara?”

The female affected a charming pout. “I’ve been waiting too many cycles for your return.” Her well-shaped head tilted and the long mane of auburn hair fell across her shoulder. “I’ve decided to forgive you and move back in.”

“I don’t want you back,” he muttered. From his tensing stance, Cam could tell he wasn’t too happy to see the new arrival.

Curled around Cam’s neck, Bella’s small body stiffened and then she hissed, showing a double line of needle-like teeth. Cam rubbed her chin against the little creature, unconsciously soothing her as she watched the interchange, noting with interest Ashyr’s sudden downward change of attitude. The tall female either seemed not to notice or didn’t care. She inched a few steps forward, narrowing the gap between them.

“I said I’ve decided to forgive you. We can pretend this silly separation never happened.”

“And I replied that I don’t want you back or did you miss that part of this conversation?”

Leasara’s painted lips pursed in a sexy moue. “I certainly understand that you might harbor some displeasure about our little…misunderstanding before you left, but I’m sure we can fix whatever the problem is and move forward. I’m certainly willing.”

“The problem is already fixed,” he growled. “You just don’t seem to realize it.”

The interlude was beginning to wear on Cam’s nerves. Tall and beautiful wasn’t backing down and he wasn’t making any progress in the battle of the sexes. It was time for the big guys to step in.

She clapped her hands together, feigning childish excitement. “Oh my God! It’s Alien Barbie doll—in the flesh.” She fingered a lock of Leasara’s auburn hair. “I always wanted one when I was young but,” she heaved a sad sigh, “we were too poor.”

 

 

About the Author

 

I write stories with alpha males and strong, determined women.

I am a dreamer, an avid reader of fiction, a sometimes gardener and an inept crafter. I live in Idaho. I have three sons, two daughters-in-law, a granddaughter and little grandson. Over the years, I taught and performed dance but as time passed, I decided to try my hand at a new endeavor – writing. I enjoy life and all its promises.

 

Website * Blogspot * Twitter * Facebook * BookBub * Goodreads

 

 

Synopsis

 

Once upon a time, inhabitants of another world tore a hole through the universe and came to Earth. They called themselves Suriias, and rivalled humans in knowledge and skill with one great exception: they had magic.

War followed. Humanity lost. And three hundred years later, humans are on the brink of extinction.

Orphans Thorn and Thistle live in hiding. They are the last of their families, the last of their friends. They scrape by, stealing to survive and living on the streets or hiding in sheds. But even under the brutal regime of the Suriias, there are places where humans can mingle in secret with magical sympathisers, and one night Thistle gets an unexpected offer of marriage from a Suriia with high standing and friends in all the right places. For Thistle, it’s a chance at safety and comfort; for Thorn, it’s a chance to find the ones who killed her parents.

And so the pair move into the capital city of Courtenz. An urban monstrosity of magic and might, false friends and flying cars, drones and death tolls, the new city promises a fresh start – and new love – for both.

But if there’s one thing Thorn knows for certain, it’s that dreams can swiftly turn into nightmares.

 

 

 

 

Amazon

 

 

Excerpt

 

Excerpt from These Violent Nights (2021) by Rebecca Crunden, p. 143

‘You can be whatever you want in whatever world you’re in.’

‘No,’ she retorted. ‘You really can’t.’

‘Maybe not easily. But you have to try.’

‘Does that argument work for the ones who died before they had a chance?’

He held her gaze openly, a dark eyebrow arched. ‘Arguments are arguments with or without luck,’ he replied. ‘Sometimes life is disgustingly unfair. It doesn’t change the fact that you have to keep trying to live life as you want it to be. If we let the pain cripple us, there’s no hope for anything.’

‘I don’t have any hope.’

‘Of course you do.’

Her scowl deepened. ‘You say that like you have the authority to say it.’

‘I know you hope for humans to return,’ he countered. ‘I know you hope for a future for you and Thistle. I know you hope that, despite everything, you’ll be proven wrong about us. And even if you don’t want to believe that they do, you hope that good things still exist. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t fight to stay alive. I’m not saying any of this to mock you, Rose. I’m saying what I know about you. What you’d admit to Thistle but won’t admit to me.’

Indeed, rather than admit he was entirely right about how much and how adamantly she hoped for all those things, she said instead, ‘If you know already, it would just be redundant.’

‘Yeah,’ he muttered, scratching at his beard. ‘But getting to know you would be nicer if it didn’t feel like you have no interest in getting to know me.’

 

 

About the Author

 

Rebecca Crunden is an indie author of fantasy, science fiction, and romance who lives in Cork, Ireland. To date, she has published one series, three standalone novels, a novella, and various short stories. Her most recent novel, These Violent Nights (2021) is set in a futuristic world that blends fantasy and sci-fi.

 

Website * Twitter

 

 

Synopsis

 

She is bound to serve. He is meant to kill. Survival is their prison. Choice is their weapon.

As the sacred slave of a goddess, Roma is of a lower caste that serves patrons to sustain the balance between gods and men. What she wants is her freedom, but deserters are hunted and hanged, and Roma only knows how to survive in her village where women are vessels without a voice. When her younger brother is condemned to the same wretched fate as hers, Roma must choose between silence and rebellion.

Leviathan is the bastard son of an immortal tyrant. Raised in a military city where everyone knows of his blood relation to the persecuted clans, Leviathan is considered casteless. Lowest of the low. Graduating as one of the deadliest soldiers, he executes in his father’s name, displaying his worth. When he faces judgement from his mother’s people—the clans—Leviathan must confront his demons and forge his own path, if he ever hopes to reclaim his soul.

But in the struggle to protect the people they love and rebuild their identities, Roma’s and Leviathan’s destinies interlock as the tyrant hunts an ancient treasure that will doom humankind should it come into his possession—a living treasure to which Roma and Leviathan are the ultimate key.

Set in a colonised Indo-Persian world and inspired by pre-Islamic Arabian mythology, The Descent of the Drowned is a tale about power, identity, and redemption, and what it takes to hold on to one’s humanity in the face of devastation.

 

 

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Book releases March 15, 2021 – preorder now!

 

 

Excerpt

 

Roma clutched the hairpin in her hand. The daunting frame of the Firawn’s son was shrouded in a black cloak, the curved-sword pendant tucked out of sight, but his hood was drawn back from his head. Shadows haunted the hollows of his face and obscured his emotions to anyone who might search beyond the surface. She met his unwavering stare with a cumulative numbness within her chest and the promise of blood in her eyes. She didn’t want to feel such despair, nor did she want darkness to swaddle her mind, but she had accepted that her auction would end with her death.

What did it matter if it were an executioner who took her life or if it were her?

When the Firawn’s son took a deliberate step toward her, the blood promise blazed like a fuelled torch, and she touched the tip of the blade to her throat.

“Don’t come near me,” she warned.

Every sound, smell, and taste overpowered her heightened senses. Her frantic pulse throbbed like drumbeats in her ears. She smelled the scattered rose petals and tasted the subtle vibration in the air at his slightest shift. It somehow reached her, pricking her sensitive nerves and exposing his invisible stealth. She shifted as he did. Her mirrored movement caught his attention, and he looked at her with a different awareness.

“You don’t want to do this, Roma.”

Tipping back her head, she pressed the point of the blade into her skin. A warm line of blood seeped down the side of her bared throat. His face hardened and his movement stilled.

“I don’t want you to touch me.”

“If I wanted to touch you,” he said, disturbingly calm, “you’d already be on the bed.”

Her knees trembled from exhaustion and her skin still burned from the fever. Fear had eroded her for hours, days, years. Now she came full circle. It would all end tonight. “Then why am I here?” she asked in no more than a whisper. He was silent. Because he didn’t have an answer that could convince her of his lies. “I’m not educated like you, Saheb, but I’m not stupid.”

“No, you’re not,” he murmured.

“I know what you want. You want power. And it makes you feel powerful when you subdue me.” The blade burrowed deeper and the blood trail thickened. A surreptitious shadow of emotion came and went in the nadirs of his eyes. She didn’t care to define it. “I won’t be broken by your kind again.”

“My kind?”

“Your kind, Saheb. Men.”

“You’re a survivor.”

“This is my survival,” she whispered.

Drawing back her hand to stab her throat, she saw him close the distance in mere heartbeats. She should have killed herself, but an instinctual part of her—a part far too strong that always sought life over death—overwhelmed her, and she switched to sink the blade into him in the very last second.

It was a mistake.

 

 

About the Author

 

Ana Lal Din is an #ownvoices author who was born in a Danish southwestern city and raised in a small town outside Copenhagen. Passionate about culture, language, religion and social justice issues, Ana’s story worlds are usually full of all four. What drives her as a writer is developing characters that are psychologically and emotionally complex, reflecting human nature at its darkest and brightest — and everything in between. Since Ana is a Danish-Pakistani Muslim with Indian heritage, she often explores the intricacies of a multicultural identity through her characters. “The Descent of the Drowned” is her debut novel.

 

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The Stormbringer

 

by Isabel Cooper

 

Publication Date: 12/29/2020

 

 

Synopsis

 

Sentinels spend their lives fighting the monsters that prey upon humanity.

 

Deep in the wilderness, a lone Sentinel discovers a handsome warrior in ancient clothing, held in an endless sleep—Amris, hero of the world’s last great battle. His discovery can only mean one thing: the Traitor God is gathering his armies again, and everyone they love is in terrible danger.

Amris has been trapped in dreamless sleep for centuries. Now he’s awake…and so, it seems, is humanity’s greatest threat. Determined to save the world from being swallowed by the Traitor God’s oncoming storm, Amris and his rescuer, the fiercely beautiful Darya, must learn to trust each other—and the powerful bond that’s formed between them—as they fight their way through a land swarming with danger to get word back to their allies before it’s too late…

 

Fans of The Witcher and Ilona Andrews will love this epic tale of adventure and romance.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

The world was silent, and that itself told Amris the spell had worked—not that he’d ever doubted Gerant’s skill, whether at magic or elsewhere. It was a different matter, though, to be transported, in the space of two breaths and two words, from the screams and crashes of a pitched battle to utter quiet, save for a single voice.

Because the voice wasn’t Gerant’s, nor any that he recognized, Amris’s reflexes carried him backward several steps and brought his sword up in front of him. He realized that the person who’d woken him was human and not Thyran, and hastily readied himself to defend rather than striking out, but it was a close thing.

The woman hissed and darted backward herself, moving with more than human speed or grace.

She was more than human. That became apparent as soon as Amris saw her eyes, unnaturally bright green and glowing in the dim light. Her skin was paper-white, her braided hair dark around it, and those could be human enough, but the eyes were a different matter.

“Easy, there,” she said. Her accent stretched the vowels out more than Amris was used to, and the words came more quickly, but he could understand her rightly enough, particularly when she held up her hands, palms out. “I’m on your side.”

Anyone could say so. “What side is that, pray?” Speaking felt odd. Gerant’s magic had kept his muscles from degeneration through however much time had passed, so he felt no worse than a little stiff, but just as sound had taken a moment to become words, Amris had to think at first: move the tongue this way for w, the lips and throat so for i.

The woman shrugged. “The side that doesn’t love the Traitor. The Order of the Dawn, the Sentinels… I think we were starting when you—” She waved a hand.

When he trapped himself in time in a desperate bid to stop the murderous warlord. “Yes. Only just.”

Still Amris didn’t lower his sword: the woman aside, there was no virtue in dropping his guard before he knew the situation. He did let the rose fall from his gauntleted fingers, and used that hand to pull off his helmet, a necessary compromise between defense and intelligible conversation.

The state of the hall became clearer to him as he did so—the years’ worth of dust and cobwebs, as well as the silence. The woman’s clothing—plain dark leather pants, jerkin, and gloves over a shirt of brown cloth—was plainer than he was used to, without even the embroidery that most peasants wore. Practicality, given where she was, or ascetism?

“I should tell you two things right off,” said the woman. “You might want to sit down first.”

Amris shook his head. “Best to face it on my feet.”

“All right,” she said. “First, you’ve been…” Another vague wave of her hand. “Stuck. For a hundred years or so.”

She’d spoken wisely when she’d advised him to sit. The knowledge traveled up through his feet as well as in through his ears, making the room spin around Amris, and yet it seemed not to reach his head or his heart. The sweat of battle was still wet in his hair, he still felt his cuts and bruises, and the rose on the floor was as fresh as it had been when he’d plucked it for Gerant.

That reached head and heart both. Gerant was as human as he. Had been as human, rather—in a hundred years, a babe in arms would grow, sire or bear their own children, see grandchildren, and die, and Gerant had been a man in his prime when they’d parted. He’d be long dead by now.

They’d both known that parting might be forever. Toward the end, any farewell might have been the last. Amris had never pictured it taking this form.

“Here.” The woman took a small metal flask out of her boot and brandished it in his direction.

The contents tasted roughly as they smelled. Amris had been a soldier long enough to swallow, nod his thanks, and trust that his throat wasn’t truly on fire. “Strong.”

“I keep it to clean out wounds.” One eyebrow quirked, and her mouth twisted in a wry smile. “I’d say this counts.”

“Truth.” A hundred years. A hundred years, and only now had somebody come to awaken him, but the hall was empty otherwise. “Before the second, lady,” he said, “was there another man nearby?

There, roughly speaking?” He gestured to the place where Thyran had been standing at the last.

“No,” said Darya, peering at it, and then frowned. “But…wait.”

***

A small, uneven mound of gray powder lay heaped on the stone. Darya knelt and touched it with the tip of a gloved finger, feeling the texture as much as she dared. “Ash,” she said, “and—yes, bone. Bits of it. Wait.” There was a larger shape within the ash, but that wasn’t entirely why she’d stopped. As many shocks as it had gone through, her mind was still capable of calculation. “You’re looking for Thyran, aren’t you?”

The question sounded completely absurd. Thyran had shaped, bred, or summoned an army of things, led them against humanity, and cursed the world to years of barren cold when he’d begun to lose. Thyran was the Father of Storms and Abominations. He wasn’t somebody people looked for.

“Then you know of him,” Amris said, utterly serious.

“Bad children and old wives everywhere know of him. The Order taught us a little more of the real histories.” Beneath the ash lay a long finger, five-jointed, with a black talon at the end rather than a nail. Burial in the ash had kept most of the insects away and held off some rot, but the finger was still fairly disgusting. She grimaced. “Was he human at the end?”

“Mostly, in appearance,” Amris said slowly. He knelt beside her, squinting in the dim light. “Far harder to kill than mortals, or even any of his creatures.” Slowly he breathed out, sending ashes scattering. “And one of his defenses was dark fire.”

***

Excerpted from Stormbringer by Isabel Cooper. © 2020 by Isabel Cooper. Used with permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

 

During the day, ISABEL COOPER maintains her guise as a mild-mannered project manager in legal publishing. In her spare time, she enjoys video games, ballroom dancing, various geeky hobbies, and figuring out what wine goes best with leftover egg rolls. Cooper lives with two thriving houseplants in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

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Giveaway

 

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Synopsis

 

 

Zakhi has known a tragedy in his life. A tragedy of the death of his mother. Her being killed in front his eyes for a reason he still does not understand.

***

Balz has known tragedies of his own. But that never stopped him from being mean and insulting to Zakhi…that all changes though all of his hatred becomes something else. Something he’s afraid of exploring.

 

 

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Review

 

This book was written by a South African author.

I’m not sure what category to put this book in. It is YA, there is romance, there is an exploration of new feelings (M/M), some adventure, and definitely some fantasy/sci-fi bits.

The story starts off with a young boy’s mother being killed and he goes to live with his aunt and uncle. He doesn’t understand that his mother is dead and runs out into the road and ends up being hit by a car and dying. Or does he?

The book fast forwards about 10 years and Zakhi is in his senior year and just wants to finish and leave. We are led to believe that he might be this young boy that possibly died all those years ago, but it is never really fully explained. Zakhi has a girlfriend, Zinzi, who happens to be the sister of Zakhi’s bully, Balz.

What follows is a journey between Zakhi and Balz and their feelings for each other. Balz is probably the most confused but Zakhi seems to take everything in stride.

Now the fantasy/sci-part has to do with two other characters that don’t seem to be of this world. Both are guys and one of them is pregnant, but they are there to make sure that Zakhi and Balz get together.

There is a twist near the end I didn’t expect but it made sense considering the above about characters possibly from another world.

This is definitely an interesting book, not one I would have picked up on my own. Because the author is from another country, I noticed some errors in grammar compared to what I would use in the US. The story can be confusing at times and I think if the author expanded the story it would help round out the characters and the storyline.