Dowser 4: Sass in a Cup

Updated recipe: April 18, 2016

SassinaCup_postcardsize_recipe

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Original Post:

Sass in a CupPresenting Sass in a Cup – one of Kandy’s birthday cupcakes – from Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4). These blackberry chocolate cupcakes frosted with a generous swirl of blackberry chocolate buttercream happen to be my favourite of the four new cupcakes mentioned in Dowser 4. They’re insanely good, so moist! And the pairing of blackberry and chocolate so works (if I may say so myself).

blackberry chocolate cake

blackberry chocolate buttercreamTease in a Cup will be featured over at the Reader Cafe on March 14, 2015, then I will post the recipe here.

Dowser 4 – Happy Release Day!

Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4) is now officially available as an ebook on AMAZON,  KOBOiBOOKS, NOOKand SMASHWORDS.

ETA: The nook version was delayed by formatting issues, but it is now available! I’m terribly sorry about the delay, but it was out of my hands 🙁

The paperback is currently being formatted, and if all continues smoothly it should be ready by midMarch.

Shadows (etc) ebook cover

Here are my favourite quotes from the new book. Do you have any favourites yet?

“Are your fingernails green?” Branson asked now, completely bemused.
“Jade is the new black, baby,” I said. “You should see my toes.”
Then I kicked him in the head. – Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic, Dowser 4, Chapter 1

The healer wants to bed you,” Drake said. His tone suggested he was mystified by this discovery.
“Drake!”
“What? Did I use the expression incorrectly? The healer wants to take you to bed? To his bed?” the fourteen-year-old continued. “To have sex, you know.”
“Stop. Talking.” – Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic, Dowser 4, Chapter 1

We stared down at the black leather-swathed dragon at our feet. He was out cold. Everything about him was definitely broad — as in shoulders, chest, nose, cheekbones, and jaw.
“At least he’s damn cute,” Kandy said. “You know, if he’s here to eviscerate us.”
Kandy and I had very different opinions on what qualified as ‘cute.’ – Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic, Dowser 4, Chapter 2

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaways. You made the week leading up to the release super fun. There will be one more ebook giveaway on The Reader Cafe (along with a cupcake recipe) on March 14.

Now I’m back to writing Dowser 5!

Dowser 4 – giveaway #5 – three Dowser paperbacks and an eARC

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. WINNER TBA.

Welcome to the final day of giveaways leading up to the release of Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4).

Giveaway #5 – three autographed Dowser paperbacks and an eARC of Dowser 4

dowser_paperbacks_forblog

I’d be happy to personalize the inscriptions 🙂

ENTRY QUESTION: What is Jade’s favourite cupcake?

Comment on this blog post to be entered to win. Contest closes on Feb 26, 2015 7 a.m. PST

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General Notes: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. Each giveaway will be open for 24 hours. The winner will be selected by skill-testing question and random number generator. I will announce the correct answer and the winner after 8 a.m. PST.

To enter: comment on the giveaway post with the answer to the question. IMPORTANT: make sure to put your email address in the email section of the comment form.

Each comment will be assigned a number according to time of entry and the correct answer to the question. Hints will be provided if necessary. Each giveaway consists of a prize and an eARC of Dowser 4. The prize will be mailed to the winners, and a coupon code will be provided for the eARC. One entry per person. One prize per person.

Dowser 4 – excerpt

FIVE DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS START TOMORROW HERE AT 8 AM PST!!!!

Shadows (etc) ebook cover

How about an excerpt to tide us over until then?

*SPOILER ALERT for Dowser 1 – 3*

SHADOWS, MAPS, AND OTHER ANCIENT MAGIC

CHAPTER ONE

The blade was inches from my neck before I felt it. Thankfully, I had my blond curls clipped back today. Otherwise, I would have gotten an unwanted and unneeded haircut. I flung myself sideways, rolling over my shoulder and coming up on one knee to block the reverse strike with my jade knife.

The over-the-head blow glanced off my knife and was knocked to the side, but the force of it reverberated down my arm in a wash of pain. I slid back on the white stone floor even as I rolled forward onto the balls of my feet to step into my attacker. This close, his sword was all but useless.

Unfortunately, he was faster than me, or I would have managed to gut him.

Instead, he grabbed the wrist of my knife hand and twisted my arm up over my head, then around my back. This forced me to pivot away or have my shoulder dislocated. He pinned my knife hand, the wrist still painfully twisted between my shoulder blades. I had to rise up on my toes to lessen the pain of the hold.

“Branson!” I screeched, completely forgetting the formality with which I was to address the sword master of the dragons. “I was meditating.”

He brought his blade up to my neck. I managed to get my left hand around his wrist, but had to practically lay my head back against his shoulder to avoid having my throat slit.

“I don’t think you are capable of such, warrior’s daughter.” Branson’s voice was deep, his tone brusque. He was wearing traditional black training leathers, with a laced vest that left his well-muscled arms bare.

I twisted his wrist to try to get the blade away from my neck. His forearms were adorned with tattoos of water dragons, which I’d mistaken for snakes when I first met him.

I gained an inch.

The sword master hadn’t spoken directly to me for over a week after that display of ignorance. Drake — the fourteen-year-old apprentice to Chi Wen the far seer and adoptive son of Suanmi, the fire breather — had delighted in relaying Branson’s drills during my period of punishment.

“Are your fingernails green?” Branson asked now, completely bemused.

“Jade is the new black, baby,” I said. “You should see my toes.”

Then I kicked him in the head.

Well, first I twisted my own head quickly to the right, dropped underneath the blade at my neck, and spun away to face him again. Unfortunately, he was still holding on to my wrists, so my arms were now crossed in front of me. I threw all my weight backward. This off-balanced the sword master enough that he stumbled forward, letting me snap a kick between our crossed arms directly underneath his jaw. I had always loved having long legs.

Oh, yeah. Befuddlement of ancient beings was my new secret weapon.

Branson grunted, lost his hold on my wrists, and staggered back. My entire right leg went so numb that it wouldn’t actually take my full weight.

I’d been sitting cross-legged and eyes closed in the center of the dragon nexus when Branson attacked me. The circular room was supported by gilded columns, between which nine ornately carved doors were situated. Two archways stood across from each other, leading deeper into the nexus — to the residences of the guardian dragons, as well as the library and the training rooms.

Still listing to the left, I raised my knife before me as I faced off with the sword master.

I was wearing my standard uniform of printed T-shirt and jeans. And though my brand-new teal-with-white-piping Liz Fluevogs offset my black-and-white ‘UM — Element of Confusion’ top in an utterly cute way, I really needed to see about getting the shoes fitted with metal plates and toes. All the better to kick indestructible people in the head.

It was my day off from training and the bakery, so I really hadn’t expected to be attacked. But I was never without my jade knife, not since I’d found the large stone along the Fraser River outside Lillooet and hand carved it myself. I hadn’t even known I was an alchemist at the time, and therefore capable of creating magical objects. I’d just seen the stone and known it should be a knife — a knife imbued with so much of my magic now that no one could disarm me, not without knocking me out. Nor could anyone touch the knife without my permission without being burned by it.

Branson shook his dark head as if clearing it.

I smirked. I’d never managed to rattle him before.

He slowly raised his golden double-edged sword to answer my poised knife. His blade was a slimmer, longer version of the bejeweled broadsword that my father Yazi, the warrior of the guardians, wielded. Its pommel and hilt were utilitarian, though.

Branson had been in training for the mantel of the warrior before he’d been gravely wounded as a fledgling. No, dragons weren’t completely indestructible. Just don’t mention that to any of them. Occasionally, the sword master’s old wound showed up as a limp. Despite that, and the fact that he was at least a hundred years older than my three hundred and fifty year old father, I’d never knocked him off his feet.

“I’m not here for a lesson, sword master,” I said, struggling to remain polite — and to hide the fact that I still couldn’t feel my right leg. My wrist also felt severely sprained from being twisted harshly behind my back. “I await the treasure keeper.”

Branson grinned, but it did little to lighten his perpetually stern face. He had that same hint of Asian ancestry to his features that Drake did. I didn’t think he and the fledgling guardian were related, but I was far from an expert on dragon genealogy.

“Life is a lesson,” Branson said.

Ah, damn. Dragons only got all preachy right before they kicked my ass. Granted, I usually deserved an ass kicking — I attracted trouble almost as easily as I attracted or found magic. Except that dragon-inflicted bruises usually took a couple of days to heal, and I had a birthday party to go to tonight.

I narrowed my eyes at my trainer, causing all the overly golden hues of the room to blur together behind him. Dragons adored surrounding themselves with gold and jewels and art, and it was a little much sometimes. The heart of the dragon nexus was all gaudy Greek temple mixed with oriental motifs, though each door was carved in artwork that represented the specific territories of each guardian. The room was also saturated with guardian magic, hence me not tasting Branson’s magic as he approached.

The narrower my eyes got — I was working on my intimidation factor — the wider Branson’s grin grew. Indigo eyes, blond curls now falling out of my hair clip, and sun-kissed skin didn’t much help in that department. I was fairly certain it was my ample assets that made me less than imposing, though, since I was the spitting image of my father and he scared the crap out of everyone even while laughing. Actually, it was the absolute power that rolled off him when he laughed that was terrifying.

I’d narrowed my eyes too far. Now my eyelashes were making my vision fuzzy.

I sighed, opened my eyes, and gave my knife hand a roll. The overly stretched tendons and ligaments crunched, but then snapped back into their proper place.

That was better.

I smiled, extended my left hand forward to balance my right, and stepped sideways to circle Branson.

If he wanted a tussle, I was up for it. Bruises or no bruises.

The sword master lost his grin as he stepped opposite to me. He watched my every move, my every twitch, with deadly intent. I was never going to get the upper hand when he was focused like this.

I thought about flashing him to throw him off — and not just because I kept wondering how his sword-callused hands would feel sliding up my inner thighs. A totally inappropriate thought, yes. But then, I hadn’t had sex in way over a year. I hadn’t been kissed in ten months. Even my constant chocolate high couldn’t keep my serotonin levels up perpetually.

I decided against the flashing because I knew Branson would be utterly aghast — and might even refuse to be in the same room with me ever again. Plus, I wasn’t wearing my prettiest bra at the moment. It had been far too long since I’d had any reason to wear anything other than a serviceable sports bra.

Attempting to not massively broadcast my intent, I abruptly lunged forward, thrusting my knife for Branson’s heart.

Then, completely blindsided, I got shoulder checked by a small mountain.

This knocked me flying off my feet and cracked my head against one of the nine pillars that encircled the heart of the dragon nexus.

Remember the only way to reliably disarm me these days?

Yeah, knock me out.

So that happened.

Tasting: Ampamakia by Valrhona

I’ve been conducting an exceedingly scientific series of chocolate tastings for the next Dowser Series trilogy over on my Facebook page. However, I promised myself that I would blog more this year, so I will now be posting any tastings I do here – YAY FOR ME!!

Yes, this is my version of research.

To the tasting!

I loaded the latest version of Dowser 4 on my iPad yesterday afternoon in order to read it once more before I do final tweaks. Then, it will be off to the proof reader! It was a crazy rainy day – perfect for a book and a new chocolate bar. I dug around in my stash drawer and opted for a favourite maker but a new chocolate.

Ampamakia by Valrhona. Limited edition. 64% Madagascar single-origin cocoa.

Ampamakia by Valrhona

Tasting notes

  • According to the packaging: acid yellow fruit freshness and roasted notes.
  • My thoughts: smooth, creamy, with hints of citrus. Very balanced. All the quality I’ve come to expect from Valrhona, though slightly on the sweet side. Everything I love in a bean from Madagascar.

Very tasty. Definitely a keeper!!

Dowser Series – trilogy structure

Okay, I’m just dashing off this post because I’m supposed to be editing. 😀 So, if you have any questions, please comment below and I’ll add the answer to the post.

A few eagle-eyed readers have noted that the title of Dowser 4 does not follow the structure set up by the titles of Dowser 1, 2, and 3. And they are absolutely correct.

trilogy annoucementDowser 4 – 6 is a new trilogy. Brand-spanking-new characters will mingle with old favourites. What is set up in Dowser 4 will be concluded in Dowser 6, though I seriously doubt that will be the end of the series. I imagine there will be Dowser 7 – 9 … because I already know how Dowser 7 begins …

Okay, back to editing!

 

Dowser 4 – release date

Okay! If all goes as planned. If no one gets sick, no computers crash, and I work my ass off. I should be baking four new cupcakes and sending out an email to announce the release of Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic on:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY, 26 2015

Shadows (etc) ebook cover

I’m not going to bother with a preorder, because I don’t want to wait the extra ten days that takes. And the paperback might take a week or two longer.

That also means that from Feb. 19th to Feb 26th I will be running a series of giveaways with items I’ve been collecting for a couple of months now. And eARCS!!

Before that, I’ll share the synopsis and an excerpt (probably with a flash giveaway like I did for I See Me). And some new cupcake recipes!!

Want to know about the novel as soon as it’s available on all platforms? Make sure to sign up for my new release mailing list.

Want to know about all the giveaways? Make sure you’re signed up to follow this blog (via the link second to the top on the righthand side).

Reading order – the Dowser Series and beyond

I thought I better do some housekeeping before releasing Dowser 4, so this is the first in a couple of posts that will revolve around what is happening with the Dowser series and the universe at large.

I’m beginning to branch off from the Dowser series into other related series. The first of these branches is the Oracle series, which began in the already released I See Me and will span at least three books.

ISeeMe_catchaglimpse_promo

Every book I release in this (now) multi-series universe will continue the timeline of the universe as a whole. So, if you are the type of reader that likes to know every tiny tidbit about your favourite characters, I recommend you read all the books in order. I, of course, (read: the editor) will make sure that there are mini recaps of important events in the main Dowser Series novels, so you will not be completely lost if you prefer to only read Dowser books.

An example? Jade and Co do appear in I See Me, and Jade’s storyline does progress even though the book is about Rochelle. The events that occur in Oracle 1, set up some of the plot points of Dowser 4. The connection will be thinner in Oracle 2, but minor plot points will continue to inform the events of Dowser 5 and 6.

At the same time, the Oracle series (and the character of Rochelle) impacts the MAIN plot of Dowser 4 – 6. [I removed a spoiler here].

The recommended reading order is as follows:

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1)

Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (Dowser 2)

Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic (Dowser 3)

I See Me (Oracle 1)

Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4)

This summer, and through the fall, the reading order will expand with each book I release like so:

Maps, [spoiler], and Other [spoiler] Magic (Dowser 5)

I See You (Oracle 2)

[Spoiler], [Spoiler], and Other [Spoiler] Magic (Dowser 6)

[untiled] (Oracle 3)

Confused yet?

Then, depending on where the muse takes me later this year, my second branch from the Dowser Series will either be the Reconstructionist Series (with Wisteria and Kett), or a little something I have brewing for my favourite green-haired werewolf … or may be something else born out of Dowser 5.

This entire post was simply a long winded way of saying, if you want to know everything little thing about the Dowser universe, make sure you read I See Me (Oracle 1) before the about-to-be-released Dowser 4.

Cool. Next post I’ll talk about the trilogy structure of the Dowser series, which some eagle-eyed readers have already sussed out based on the title of Dowser 4.

Dowser 4 – Cover Reveal

I’m tidying up all the Dowser books in preparation for the release of Dowser 4, and I just uploaded this into the back of Treasures (Etc), so I thought I better share it here as well. 😀

I’ll have a synopsis and release date for you soon – the book is still with the editor – but for now, you (and I) will have to make do with a first glimpse of Dowser 4:

Shadows (etc) ebook cover

This tasty morsel is the work of the lovely and talented Elizabeth Mackey.

More treats to come … including blackberry cupcakes!

Shares, likes, and tweets are welcomed and appreciated. Make sure sign up for my new release mailing list to be the first to know when Dowser 4 is available.

What do you think?