Happy Release Day for Time Walker!! Here is a sneak peek at the first chapter. Want more? The ebook is currently available on kindle and kobo, with iTunes, B&N and others soon to follow.
Tag: fantasy
A review of Blackheath by Scott Fitzgerald Gray
Blackheath – An Elathien Solo Mystery by Scott Fitzgerald Gray & Quinn Hamilton
Synopsis (via Amazon): In the great Free City of Yewnyr, the Blackheath Refuge is home to the victims of the most powerful magic in the Elder Kingdoms — those wounded in body and mind by dark mana, ancient curses, and the hunger of the undead.
When an invisible killer is unleashed within the refuge, the brash investigator Elathien Solo must contend with indifferent authorities, a spurned lover, and a young patient’s terrible secret as she searches for the truth.
And even as a dark conspiracy of murder and madness unfolds around her, Elathien is forced to cope with the still-raw scars of the time she herself spent as a patient within Blackheath’s walls…
FOR MATURE READERS
My thoughts: I really liked this story. I find it has stuck with me the next day – this rarely happens for me – and I am looking forward to more instalments in the Elathien Solo Mystery series.
Caveats: I picked up this book on a day I was seriously under the weather. It took me about four chapters to get wrapped up in the story … I was struggling with vocabulary and the formal tone of the writing for a bit. The writers had me actually looking up words, including arcane, which I was pretty sure I knew the definition of (I did), and rereading bits of information at the beginning. But around chapter four I stopped doing so and just let the story unfold for me.
I came to really like the main character, Elathien — though I have no idea if I am pronouncing her name correctly in my head — she is brilliantly flawed (I love that in a character), fearless and fearful, powerful but restrained with that power (intriguingly so) with a dark, dark past.
I don’t think I have ever read this blend of genre before – a fantasy/mystery – but I quite enjoyed the meshing of the magical dark fantasy world with the more classic mysterious medical-facility plot structure.
The main mystery of the story was nicely interwoven with the mystery of Elathien’s past with just enough of an intersection between the two to keep it interesting but not overly contrived.
Also, I must say I did enjoy the extremely tasty (!!) SEX scenes, which are explicit, but not shockingly so.
I give it a solid 4 stars. You can currently find the ebook at Amazon for FREE, though I am not too sure for how long.
*Disclosure note: I know Scott Fitzgerald Gray. He edits my writing. I have no idea who Quinn Hamilton is, except he she (how about I do a little research before post, hey?) co-wrote this novel and I liked what I read.
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EXCERPT
Elathien was forced to take a step back as Nerani turned on her suddenly. A dark strength had worked its way through the girl, giving her the tone and disposition of a different person. The thought set Elathien on edge as she called up the cantrip of detection, the incantation barely a whisper.
“She knew all their names,” Nerani hissed, pushing closer. “She knew what they did, what they needed, how they lied. She wouldn’t have told, but their fear blinded them. Made them not believe her. So I felt how long it took her to fall. How her legs broke, her spine shattered when she struck the ground. I felt her bleed to death in the dark…”
There was no magic in her. No sign of the possession or enchantment that Elathien would have sworn she was seeing, no sign of Nerani’s thoughts or actions controlled by some outside force. With a sharp cry of pain, the girl pushed past her, stumbling toward the laboratory door.
Which was open now, Elathien saw.
The white light from the corridor beyond pushed up against the pale glow of Elathien’s spell-light, shimmering along a boundary like oil and water settling slowly against each other.
The door had been closed when Nerani stepped away from it. A thousand things could have explained it opening, from the most minor incantation to a loose latch and a breath of air from the corridor beyond. Elathien felt a chill twist through her all the same, rising from the base of her spine as Nerani turned to her.
“They killed Irandis,” the girl said. “You wanted to know.”
“What?” Elathien’s voice caught as she spoke. “I wanted to know what?”
“You wanted to know why I came here. To Blackheath.”
Nerani’s steps were steady as she made her way down the corridor, bare feet silent on the stone floor…
Spirit Binder – book cover reveal
Here is the cover for my next novel, Spirit Binder. I absolutely LOVE it. Irene Langholm, the artist, is currently working on a cover for the print version of After The Virus (hopefully available in July 2012).
Spirit Binder is a fantasy set a thousand years after spirit (aka magic) rises to take back the world in an apocalyptic event. It is book one of the Cascadian Chronicles. The second book, Time Walker, is a young adult novel and will be released in the fall of 2012.
Available as an ebook June 2012 and in print July 2012
Synopsis: Theo woke severely injured, covered in blood, and missing ten years of her life. Just to complicate matters further, Theo was born under a prophecy — one that has rabid followers with three different interpretations, all of whom are willing to sacrifice her in order to fulfill it. Not knowing if she can trust the stranger she’s betrothed to, the warrior visiting her dreams, or even her own mother, Theo tries to piece together her past only to find that her present is far more dangerous. It’s the power of her own blood that scares her most of all. This is a responsibility Theo never wanted, and a destiny she cannot deny, “all because of a prophecy she was trying not to believe in, but kept fulfilling.”
ARCs currently available for reviewers upon request
ETA: May 28, 2012 – we changed up the font treatment. Here is the updated version.
What I wrote today:
This is my favourite section – written today – from Chapter Two of my currently untitled fantasy novel. I love how it pretty much completely sets up the hook and contains so many little hints (for such a short passage). Disclaimer: this work is unedited and unproofed, but, as always feedback is welcomed and appreciated! – Meghan
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She broke the silence first; her voice husky from lack of use. “Do you know me?”
“Not how you mean,” he answered without prolonged thought. His tone was smooth, cultured.
“Do you know how old I am?” She turned so he could see her face in the moonlight.
He looked surprised by her question, and thought about his answer this time. “Some people … we celebrate your birth … on the summer solstice … next month.”
“Yes. I remember, and for how many years will these people have been celebrating my birth, next month?”
He hesitated again, like he sensed a trap. Like he sensed the panic and terrible lost lapping against the serene surface of her skin. “Twenty-six years,” he finally answered and chose in the same moment to step further forward, closer to the moonlight, so, as the realization of all the years she’d lost struggled to blow through the peaceful cocoon the evening sunset had provided, she also got her first look at him.
He, like everyone else, looked familiar, but more in a familial line sort or way … he looked a little like the Chancellor, except for the skin colouring. His son perhaps. Handsome, ruggedly refined.
Ten years.
She’d lost ten years.
1st pass of the 1st draft of the 2nd novel – DONE!
This is the – handwritten – 1st complete draft of my 2nd, currently untitled, novel.
Tomorrow I will commence my 2nd pass of the 1st draft via computer, but today – I cannot think of a better day – Valentine’s Day – to finish the 1st pass of my next love story, because, despite the fact that this is a fantasy novel full of magic and swords and lost memories, it is ultimately a love story… for that is what I write… that is what I believe in:
True Love Conquers All.
(Always & Forever After)