Fiction

Awakening Strength

A new excerpt from Among the Shadows:

The wild men were too frenzied to notice or care that it was a woman who approached them at a steady pace. One, though, wondered why she didn’t look the least bit afraid, and why her eyes radiated in the fading light. Unfortunately, his fear didn’t overcome his momentum.

Kyra easily deflected the first blade and thrust the other katana into the man’s neck. She pulled it out and turned to block another. He at least made another swing before she wrestled the sword from him and slashed him with her second blade.

This all before the first attacker hit the ground.

Another ran at her, only to be pummeled into the ground by Scout. Two others were almost on him with their swords when they screamed in pain and hit the ground face first. Arrows stuck in their backs. Knights had chased the wildmen, wondering who fought them in the moonlight. A woman appeared out of the light.

“Are you another from the portal? Another Watcher?” They asked her, nervously eyeing the cat as it approached Kyra.

“I suppose I am.” She wiped the blades on the ground. “I came here looking for my mother. Saken took her, and I mean to take her back and show him my mother’s blades.”

“Saken is dead. Your mother saw to that. They left for the portal. That way, where the beast went. It is not far.”

“Come, Scout, this isn’t over.” Alice hadn’t strayed. Kyra mounted her and paused to catch her breath for but a moment. A terrible strength had been awakened in her.

She liked it and she didn’t.

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The war has begun.

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Kat Bloodmayne is Tainted

Kat Bloodmayne has a secret. She has the power within her to use nature as a weapon. Problem is that she doesn’t know where the power came from or how to control it all that well. People around her are getting hurt, and worse now that she is being hunted for her power.

Hunted by someone she knows well, protected by a man who may not be on her side and running in a world where the darkness is far more sinister than she she could have imagined.

This is Morgan L. Busse‘s new book Tainted. Set in a dystopian steampunk world — think Victorian with airships where science and the old world clash and converge.

Also think fantasy with a bit of Frankenstein simmering in the background.

I was very impressed with Morgan’s new page turner. There have many repetitive attempts at dystopia in book and film, and many failures or not-quite-there steampunk attempts. Morgan doesn’t succumb to these pitfalls and creates an original story in a well-realized world. I could see this story playing out on the big screen and Morgan has certainly established herself as a storyteller to pay attention to.

And Kat Bloodmayne is not a heroine to be trifled with.

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First-look: Among the Shadows

And now, a first-look excerpt from Among the Shadows:

The Righteous One unsheathed a blackened dagger that Solana swore had a subtle red glow. This wasn’t time to sit by like a distressed princess. These men had almost killed her and still intended to do so. No time like the present to stir things up a bit. Their drug had all but left her body as she drew the ripples of energy through her body to her fingertips. Dust began to spin on the floor beneath each hand, rising to them in a swirling column. Soon torrents of air tore through the doorway, forming a cyclone around her. Her hair whirled; her eyes burned green. One man tried to shoot as Solana approached them, but she sent the bullets back into his chest by blasts of air she commanded. Her opponents had never imagined such a terror as they shouted and cursed in their native tongue. They turned to run, but the vortexes of air she threw reached them first, lifting each off the ground and crushing them against the wall. Falling into a crumpled heap, they didn’t move.


Ethan attached an octagonal beacon to the wall and pressed a button on the device. A red light began to flash. He looked at the man on the floor. His breathing was labored. “A little something to hurry you on your way to the Dark One.”

The final moments of the Righteous One’s life were about to slip away. No inkling of remorse could be found in the dying man’s eyes, no longer veiled. In a final moment of clarity, he spoke carefully and slowly.

“The worst evil you can imagine is but a shadow of what lies conspiring, hidden and unseen, waiting patiently to emerge and spread its suffocating malice. I am nothing compared to what is to come.” His eyes froze, vacant and still, and the last breath left him

Darkness fled from the room.

“That was a bit disconcerting,” Solana said, with a shiver. The weight of oppression had vanished. A crossing through the veil.


Now Ethan was quiet; his gaze didn’t flinch from the vaguely outlined road. What he had done – what they had done – no doubt ran through his mind. In hers, it made her feel alive, but would it always? She could see that Ethan had been through so much more.

“Here it comes,” he said in a whisper.

Solana looked through the broken rear window of the truck. A streak of fire fell from above. An explosion reached into the sky and a rumble moved across the desert. Poetic justice it was.

No one could hide from the Light.

Among the Shadows breaks through the veil August 2016.

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Cover Re-release

Yesterday I announced the release date of Among the Shadows. Now I’ll re-release the covers for today’s reveal:

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These were first released quite awhile ago when I thought I was a lot closer to finishing book one than I really was. Well time flies and now the time has come…Update (7/11/16): In prep for final publication, we made a couple tweaks to cover including shorter backcover text, revised spine and some adjustments to front.

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New Press and AtS Release Date!

Introducing:

Sword and Shadow Press™

This will be the imprint for my Watchers of the Light and Servants of the Flame series of fantasy novels and possibly future books by myself or other authors.

And now for one other important bit of info. Release date for Book 1 of Watchers of the Light, Among the Shadows is finally here:

July 2016

Exclusive excerpts begin Friday…

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Lost in Muirwood

I downloaded a book over two years ago and never got around to reading it until recently. This is very unusual for me given the rate I read books. I now wish I would have read it sooner, because Jeff Wheeler‘s The Wretched of Muirwood is an immersive, medieval fantasy world easy to disappear into.

In this first volume of the Legends of Muirwood trilogy, we find the orphan Lia – the “wretched” – who is a servant in the Muirwood Abby. Then, on one stormy night, an injured squire shows up on her doorstep.

Needless to say, everything was about to change.

A classic fantasy tale of a young person coming of age and learning who she really is. It’s an oft-told tale, but it’s the new details, characters and obstacles that an author unveils that take the reader in. Wheeler’s world is atmospheric, the characters compelling and the story pulls you forward into a land of warring factions, hidden magic and discovered destinies. You can always tell if I have enjoyed an e-book when I have ordered a paper copy for my collection.

And the next two books along with it.

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Daring to Enter the Dreadlands

There are many fantasy stories that try too hard, or don’t try at all, in their storytelling. The best, as I wrote a few months ago, are reflective of the longings — both realized and not — inside us. Jaimie Engle‘s new Dreadlands is one of these stories.

Set in a lost Viking land in North America (you would know why this caught my attention quickly if you read this), we find Arud Bergson very quickly finding his world thrown into disarray. Shape-shifting ferine have begun attacking where none should be. His father is long overdue from a journey East and now his mother wants to send him off to a distant uncle with little explanation.

Leave. Take your sister Lykke. You must go now.

With this begins a journey where these young people learn who they are and about the world that they were shielded from. A classic coming of age tale, but also an engaging one (any book I read in one sitting certainly deserves some notice). Reminiscent of the detail, character development and the pacing of the Shannara stories — with a Middle Earth style epic battle to top it all off. A comparison of the story has been made to Twilight and this is unfair.

Dreadlands is better.

Admittedly, I haven’t read the Twilight books and my analysis is based on the films that focus on stretching out longing looks and angst between the leads at the expense of everything else. Jaimie’s approach to the history of the conflict between hybrids and humans, the creatures themselves, and planting the seeds of a romance is more mature and balanced. This is a fusion of epic and dark fantasy: Shannarra meets Underworld.

This genre is crowded, but put Dreadlands at the top of your list. The only disappointment you will encounter is finding out that part two has yet to be released.

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A Nonconformist? So was Tarzan.

We’ve often been told that adventure fiction is dead or not worthy of note other than a quick escape from reality. Apparently authors and film makers have not been made aware of this impending collapse of their world. In fact, they have been told for decades that there is no place for their fiction. Even over a century ago, when Edgar Rice Burroughs came on the scene, author Brian Stableford wrote in an introduction to a recent edition of Tarzan that, “…critics thought the Romantic tradition might be outdated and ripe for replacement.” What they called the “Romantic tradition” was embodied in the high adventures of H. Rider Haggard or Jules Verne. Burroughs added to the mix John Carter of Mars and Lord Greystroke — otherwise known as Tarzan. Stableford continues:

Burroughs demonstrated…that there is something in the Romantic tradition that offers a deep and fundamental appeal to the human imagination…[and] Tarzan does so by appealing to the frustrations of conformity that we all feel in living in a complex society…[but] Tarzan does not merely live an ideal existence in his symbolic jungle, but he also carries the skills learned there into his social intercourse with the damaged products of civilization.

Literary-level thought in Tarzan among the unrelenting action? Perhaps many have had their perception colored by the many bad films that stray from the source material. Even Burroughs considered the movie versions in his day “travesties.” A new film this summer may remedy that and provide a needed respite from superhero overload.

Ironically, Tarzan was one of the first modern superheros that inspired much of what followed. And he taught us a thing or two about society along the way.

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Done Writing? Now Sell it.

Bestselling thriller author Robert Bidinotto has posted a video of his presentation, Ten Most Important Ways to Market Your Ebooks. Watch as Robert explains writing your story, to who and how you should be marketing your book and much more.

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3 Whys

Why Does Every Story Have a Villain?

In Waking the Dead, John Eldredge writes:

Little Red Riding Hood is attacked by a wolf. Dorothy must face and bring down the Wicked Witch of the east…Frodo is hunted by the Black Riders…Beowulf kills the monster Grendel…Saint George kills the Dragon. The children who stumbled into Narnia are called upon by Aslan to battle the White Witch and her armies…

So why does every story have a villain?

“…Because yours does.”

What are the villains in your life, your Story? Addictions, vices, work, bad habits, crazy people… As Eldredge writes, we are “born into a world at war.” He is coming from the perspective of Evil that was long ago unleashed in the world and seeks to undermine all that is good.

Our stories have villains because our stories are inspired by life. Fiction is only fact in different clothes.

Why Fantasy Fiction?

Fantasy author R.A. Salvatore answers this in The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction:

Perhaps more than any other genre, fantasy is about the hero’s journey. In a world of seven billion people, with wars I can’t stop and legislation I can’t even read, the idea of one person being able to make a difference, the idea of one man or woman grabbing a sword and defeating the dragon and saving the village is quite appealing.

And perhaps it will inspire a hero or two in our own world to rise up.

Why Stories?

Why do people love fictional stories and adventures so much? Because they mirror what is inside us. A desire to do to great things and go beyond the horizon. Do what we were meant to be. There is destiny written on our souls for us to choose or ignore. Jason Clark writes in his book Surrendered and Untamed on this discovery:

I no longer desire to be on the fringe, yet neither will I try to fit the mold. I’ve come to see there’s swimming against the stream just to swim against the stream. And then there’s swimming against the stream like the salmon do — to give others life so others might live — and to get back home. You face predators along the way and the trip is exhausting and you die a thousand deaths, but you do it for the glory and the story.

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