With three books out in the Daughter of the Wildings series, I figure it's time for a couple interview with Silas and Lainie. This is about book 3-ish, and virtually spoiler-free (except that they're together, which I don't consider a spoiler because the books are partly romance and because if you know any of my work, you know the hero and heroine always end up together): 1. How did you meet? Silas: I had just arrived in Bitterbush Springs and found myself in the middle of a shootout. During the shootout I sensed a burst of magic close by. At the time, I was on the hunt for the source of some magical power I'd been sensing, so when the gunfight was over I went looking for the person the magic had come from. Lainie: When the shooting started, I got scared and hid behind a barrel, and put up a magical shield. My brother Blake got killed in a shootout just a few months before, so it really scares me when the bullets start flying. When the shootout was over, Silas came over to where I was and asked me if I was okay, and escorted me on my errands in town in case there was any more trouble. 2. What was the first thing you noticed about the other person? S: The first thing I noticed about Lainie, of course, was her power. Bright and strong and clean, with a feel or flavor to it that was different from the Granadaian power I was familiar with. When I first saw her, hunkered down behind that barrel, I took her for a boy, because of her slim build and the men's clothes she was wearing. As soon as I got a closer look at her pretty face and her figure, though, it was clear she was all woman. L: He was tall, and so handsome, and looked just a little bit dangerous, but he was so kind and polite to me. 3. Did you know when you met that you would end up together? S: No idea at all. I was just passing through on the hunt for a renegade mage. Since she was an untrained mage, my legal duty was to either send her back to Granadaia for training or Strip her of her power. I knew that neither of those options would endear me to her. And anyhow, marriages between mages have to be approved by the Mage Council, and I knew that a Wildings-born mage from a mostly Plain family would not be considered an appropriate match for me. L: I had no idea, either. I was smitten with him almost right away, but he was just passing through town on business of his own; there was no reason for him to hang around and no reason why he should be especially interested in me. 4. What do you like best about the other person? S: Well, she's smart, strong, brave, pretty, an amazing cook, an even more amazing lover -- L: (blushing) Silas! S: But more than any of that, she's just.. her. She's Lainie. That's what I like best about her. L: (still blushing) Silas is all those things - except handsome, not pretty, and not that much of a cook except for critter on a stick, as he calls it. But he's so kind to me, and so patient while he teaches me to use my power, and he sacrificed a lot to keep me safe. And also, I'm not sure how to say this, but he lives, you know what I mean? I mean, he'll think about things before he acts -- usually -- and see what the lay of the land is, but when he's ready he jumps right in and does it. He doesn't spend his life hemming and hawing off to the side. But yeah, mostly, he's him. And that's what I like about him. 5. What is something you enjoy doing together? (Besides the obvious!) S: What else is there? L: (blushing even harder) Silas, really! S: We like doing pretty much everything together. Training in magic, traveling, hunting - we've taken a few jobs to track down missing family members and the like, shooting practice, bathing -- L: Oh gods, I'm so embarrassed. S: Sorry, darlin'. *smooch* L: But you get the idea. We're a team. We're partners. I can't think of anything we don't like to do together. Even lately, when money's been tight and we have to be on the lookout for other mages who might know about us and the laws we've broken and such, we'd rather be in it together than out of trouble and not together. You know what I mean? 6. How has the other person changed you? S: Before I met Lainie, I was already committed to protecting the Plain settlers of the Wildings. But since I met her, it's become much more personal. Lainie isn't Plain, of course, but her Pa is, and the people she grew up among, and she's definitely of the Wildings, not of Granadaia. On the other hand, since the people in her own hometown tried to hang her for being a mage, I'm a little less patient with the Plain settlers' hatred of mages. I don't know if that's affected my commitment to protecting them, but I see them less as the victims in the struggle between mages and Plains than I used to. Mages have done a lot of wicked things, but Plains aren't entirely innocent, either. The other way she's changed me is that I used to not be afraid of much of anything. But now the thought of her being hurt or killed or captured scares me to death. I wouldn't want to live in a world without her. L: Silas showed me that not all mages are inhuman monsters with no heart and no soul, which is what I'd always been taught, and he helped me to accept my own power and be proud of who and what I am. He's teaching me to use my power to help people, not hurt them. My life has changed a lot, living on the run with him, on the wrong side of the mages' law, instead of still being at home, working on the ranch and marrying the man my Pa meant for me to marry. But I don't regret any of it. 7. What are the biggest differences between you? How important are these differences? L: Well, he's from an elite family of Island mages, and I was born to Plain parents who don't have a lot -- I mean, for folks in the Wildings, my Pa does all right with his ranch, but he worked his way up from nothing and compared to a rich mage family in Granadaia, I guess we're still pretty poor. And Silas is thirteen years older than me and knows way more than me about a lot of things. S: None of that seems very important, though. The biggest difference that matters is that she always wins at Dragon's Threes and I never do. She had to ban me from playing for money. Oh, and she can control powers found in the Wildings that I can't. That doesn't bother me; I think it's mighty impressive, and it's come in handy a time or two. 8. What do the two of you have in common? S: Magic. A love for the Wildings, for the beautiful country out here and the freedom. A commitment to protecting Plain folks from mages who want to take away their rights and freedoms. A hope that one day, mages and Plain folk can live peacefully side-by-side in the Wildings. And our love for each other. L: That pretty much covers it. Well, and we both like horses, and think the same things are funny. 9. What are the greatest challenges you have faced in your relationship? S: Well, besides the fact that our marriage is illegal under Granadaian mage law, and I also broke the law by not making her go to school in Granadaia or Stripping her, and she can do a few things with magic that are supposed to be impossible and just in case they aren't they're also illegal, and we've got renegade mages and Plain folks trying to kill us and mage hunters hunting us, and we've spent a good amount of time homeless and broke... nothing, really. L: I've almost lost him a few times, and I've almost died a time or two. It's scary, knowing how much danger we're in, but it also makes us appreciate each other more. No matter how bad things are, we're just glad to be together. And there was a time when I was afraid he didn't really want to be with me, he just got himself stuck with me because my Pa made him marry me. But he's showed me pretty well that isn't true and he does want to be with me. 10. What does your family think of your partner, and what do you think of your partner's family? S: My family has not met Lainie, and likely never will, since I've pretty much cut myself off from all relations with them. I doubt they would approve of her, a Wildings girl born of Plain parents; her power came from her grandmother, the illegitimate daughter of a married mage and a Plain servant. As for her family, her Pa is a good man. I have a lot of respect for him, and I mean to keep the promise I made him to take good care of his daughter. Her mother and brother are both dead, but I'm sure I would have liked them as well. L: My Pa didn't like Silas at first, because he's a mage. But after he rescued me from Carden and saved my life and put himself on the wrong side of the mages' law to do what was best for me, I think Pa started to respect him. If they had time to get to know each other better, I think they'd get on pretty well. Silas's family... I know he don't think much of them, and from what he's told me, they sound like the kind of mages I was taught to hate and be afraid of. But if they raised a son like him, I have to think they can't be all bad. 11. What role does magic play in your relationship? L: Magic's what brought us together. Mages is what we are. S: I would love her even if she wasn't a mage -- L: And I would love him if he wasn't a mage, too. S: But working together so closely, and both of us knowing what it's like to have power and use it, I think that brings us closer together than we would be, otherwise. 12. What are your plans for the future? S: Keep our freedom and stay alive. L: Well, that, and it would be nice if we could find a place to settle down and live in peace, get some land of our own, raise some cattle. And if we could get the fertility block removed from Silas -- the Mage Council puts it on all mage children, and it can't be removed until the Mage Council approves their marriage -- if we could find a way to get the block removed and have some kids together, I'd really like that. I've always wanted to have children. But even if we can't, maybe we can find an orphan to adopt -- there aren't many, folks in the Wildings take care of their own, and if a child loses their parents, their other kin or friends and neighbors will step in and care for them. But if we could find one, we could have a family that way. S: I'd like that, too, but first we have to stay out of the Mage Council's hands and not get ourselves hanged by any Plain folks. 13. "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." How is this true for the two of you? L: Working together, we've helped some people, and stopped some powerful and dangerous renegade mages. We've done some good. S: Working together, teaching each other, loving each other, we make each other stronger. Like Lainie said, we're a team. We're partners. And together, we can do great things. Have other questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments!
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Here's an interview with Orl Fazar, the drifter and renegade mage from Bad Hunting (Daughter of the Wildings Book 2): 1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name? I'm known as Orl Fazar. Maybe it bears a resemblance to my real name, maybe it doesn't. 2. How old are you? I'm 33 years old. 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? They're mages. More powerful than some, maybe not as powerful as others. You might have heard of them. Or maybe not. My parents had ambitions for me, which I like to think I'm carrying out in my own way. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? It's been so long, and there's been so many women since then, I don't remember. It was probably a girl at school, but I was taken out of school when I was twelve or so, so I was pretty young. 5. What is your occupation? I'm just a simple, peace-loving mage, looking to make a better life for myself out in the Wildings away from the Mage Council. They call me a rogue mage, but just because I don't care for authority doesn't make me a renegade. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? Like I said, I'm just a simple mage, minding my own business, don't mean harm to no one. I'm pretty smart; you've got to be, living by your wits out here in the Wildings. I've beat some of the best gamblers in the Wildings at Dragon's Threes, using some, let's say, little tricks of my own. And no filthy blueskin's been able to get the better of me yet. My worst qualities? Well, I reckon I've got my weaknesses like any man, but I don't think they do any harm. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? I'm on the lookout for a nice Wildings gal with mage power. Keep the gift in the family, so to speak. I do like a woman who's feisty. The harder they fight, the better I like it. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? Well, heh heh, see my answer to your last question. Other than that, I just enjoy being a peaceful fellow, not bothering anyone and not having anyone bother me. 9. What is your greatest fear? I don't really think I've got anything to be afraid of, except getting hauled before the Mage Council. I'll give up everything else before I let some damned hunter take me in. 10. What is your most treasured possession? My freedom and my power. Material possessions just don't mean much to a fellow like me, so long as I have those other things. Have other questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments! Now this is really cool: the awesome Camille Laguire reads an excerpt from Beneath the Canyons on her fiction podcast, Reading in the Attic. I've known for a while she was going to do this and I've been so excited to hear it, and it turned out AMAZING! She has a fantastic voice, and did a great job with the accents - perfect for the characters. Go check it out, at iTunes or the Reading in the Attic blog. Time for another character interview! Here's Arbrey Carden, the man of mystery from Beneath the Canyons, Book 1 of Daughter of the Wildings. I don't have a picture of Carden to display, so here's his first appearance in the book, as a bit of introduction: All at once the shooting stopped. “What’s all this, boys?” a deep, resonant voice called out from nearby. And now here's Carden to tell us a little about himself:
1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name? My name is Arbrey Carden. It's a highly respected name among those who are privy to such knowledge. 2. How old are you? I am 34, in the very prime of my life. I enjoy both the wisdom, experience, and sophistication of years, and the good looks and vigor of youth. 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? They're quite prominent, of course, and quite respected among certain exclusive circles. I'm sure you probably wouldn't have heard of them. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? I believe it was Lorinda... Something. Her family had a townhouse and a seaside estate next to ours while I was growing up. She's long been married to someone else, but she did give me quite the taste for feminine companionship. 5. What is your occupation? At present I am involved in overseeing the acquisition of a certain ore of unusual and interesting properties. I'm sure you'll understand if I say that my employers require the greatest discretion and I am not presently at liberty to reveal their identities. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? Among other talents, I am a bold and savvy businessman, skilled in the management of money and labor. The fruits of my labors are of great benefit to whatever locale I'm presently working in. I'm also quite good at persuading people to do things that are in their best interests though they may not realize it at the time. My worst qualities, well *fake self-deprecating laughter* I'm afraid I'm an adamantly confirmed bachelor. Although I suppose it's arguable as to whether that's bad or good. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? I like a woman who is elegant in appearance and manners and can pass as well-bred (though she might not be in reality), but who is also free of silly, over-nice inhibitions in matters of pleasure. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? Well, aside from keeping company with the sort of women I described above, I enjoy making money, whether it's through an exciting new business venture or a well-played game of Dragon's Threes. 9. What is your greatest fear? What could someone in my position, with my abilities and resources, possibly have to be afraid of? 10. What is your most treasured possession? I value having the money, freedom, and position to make my way in the world independently, as well as belonging to that elevated circle of people who have the means and intelligence to enjoy the more refined and sophisticated pleasures of life. Have other questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments! Beneath the Canyons is available in ebook and paperback at: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | OmniLit | Smashwords | CreateSpace | DriveThruFiction Read the first chapter here. Meet Lainie Banfrey from Beneath the Canyons (Daughter of the Wildings Book 1):
1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name? My name's Lainie Banfrey. There's nothing significant about it; it's just a plain old name. But it's my name, and I like it. 2. How old are you? I'm 19 years old. 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? It's just me and my Pa, Burrett. He owns a big ranch in the Bitterbush Valley. My mama, Vera, died of a fever when I was six, and my older brother Blake got killed in a shootout just a few months ago. It didn't have nothin' to do with him, he was just minding his own business and some miners just started shooting things up, pissed off at a ranch hand who said something they didn't like. I really miss both of them a lot. Blake and I were real close, and it's hard to believe he's gone. I love my Pa and we get along pretty well, running the ranch together, but we don't agree on everything. He's real picky about what men I'm allowed to talk to - he's got his own idea about who I should marry, and that's just how it's going to be. And he don't want me using my magic power. Most Plain folks hate wizards, and he's no exception, but with him it's personal, you know? But he won't tell me why he hates them so much. And I want to be able to use my magic, but I know it's wrong, and I don't want to be someone my Pa will hate. So it makes me feel all torn up inside sometimes. I've also got my mare, Mala, and two cattlehounds, Bunky and Snoozer, and then there's Rat, he's a fat old orange-striped tabby tom with one ear. The other ear got chewed off by a rat, his first big catch when he was about five ninedays old. We've got a whole bunch of barn cats, but Rat's the one who decided I'd be his special person. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? I've never kissed anyone. My Pa is really protective and don't like me being alone with a man, and I think every man in the Valley knows if they try anything my Pa'll come after them with a shotgun. 5. What is your occupation? I've been working on our family's ranch almost since I could walk. I take care of the house and the cooking and cleaning, and also do a lot of the ranch work, mend fences, herd cattle, stuff like that. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? I'm a hard worker, and I always try to do the very best I can at whatever I do. I'm a good cook, and everyone says I ride herd on the cattle as good as any man. I also love my Pa and do my best to honor him and be a dutiful, obedient daughter, even when we don't agree on things. I guess I'm kind of stubborn sometimes, and sometimes I want to see things the way I want them to be instead of the way they really are. And sometimes I'm not very honest with my Pa. I don't lie to him outright, but sometimes I don't tell him everything because I also don't like arguing with him. I don't know if my magic power's a bad quality. I don't think it should be, but everyone says magic is wicked and evil, and I don't know, maybe it would make me bad whether I want it to or not. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? I want a man who's honest and a hard worker and who treats me good and with respect. If he wants to protect me, that's good, but I don't want to be treated like I'm stupid or fragile. It would be nice if he's nice-looking, though I'm not real picky about that, and if he's smart and fun to be with and talk to. And... I guess this is silly, but I'd like a man who makes me feel all tingly and glowy inside, a man like the heroes in the penny-thriller novels. None of the men around here are like that, especially the man my Pa has his eye on for me. He's a good man, just not very romantic and exciting. So I guess all that's okay for stories, but real life don't work that way. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? I love riding my horse Mala out on the range, and I like to cook, and read the penny-thrillers. Most of all, I like playing Dragon's Threes. I always win, too. :-D Men who've never played with me before can't believe it when they get beat by a girl! 9. What is your greatest fear? I'm afraid that because I've got magic power, that means I'll turn into a monster with no heart and no soul, like everyone says wizards are. I don't feel like a heartless monster, and I don't want to do no one any harm, but maybe using magic just makes you that way whether you want to be or not. 10. What is your most treasured possession? My horse Mala, and my certificate from the Bitterbush Springs town school - I went for the whole six years, starting when I was 9, and passed all the examinations - and the bird-in-a-cage quilt my mama made for me before she died. Have other questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments! Beneath the Canyons is available at Amazon. Introducing Silas Vendine from Daughter of the Wildings: 1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name? The name I go by, the name I chose for myself, is Silas Vendine. My birth name is Siyavas Venedias. It's an Islander name, signifying that I'm descended from one of the powerful mage families that immigrated from the Islands to Granadaia a couple of centuries ago. 2. How old are you? I'm 32 years old. But I've done some pretty hard living the last five years or so and sometimes I feel a lot older! 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? My family and I parted ways years ago, before I came out to the Wildings. They disapprove of pretty much everything I believe in and stand for, and I feel the same way about them. If you want facts, the Venedias family is of pureblood Island descent, and is considered one of the elite of the elite mage families in Granadaia. My parents are both powerful mages, of course. My father retired from his seat on the Mage Council several years before I left Granadaia and was replaced by his younger brother. I'm the youngest of nine children, which is unusually large for mage families, and which probably explains a few things about me. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? I... don't remember. I was pretty young - 14? And I must have liked it because there've been a lot of kisses - and a lot more than that - since then. 5. What is your occupation? I'm a mage hunter, licensed by the ruling Mage Council in Granadaia to hunt for renegade mages in the Wildings. Since settlers began moving to the Wildings about forty years ago, there have also been mages coming out here in search of riches and power. There are even some who intend to establish their own kingdoms out here to try to rival Granadaia. The Mage Council considers these renegades a threat to their authority; I'm more concerned about the fact that their lawless schemes and ambitions threaten the freedom the Plain settlers have found here. It's an exciting job, and I'm pretty good at it - I've made a good living from bounties the last five years, and I'm still alive, so you can't ask for more than that. I like it out here in the Wildings. I've got no use for mage society in Granadaia and I prefer the wide-open land and freedom of the Wildings. And I feel like I'm making a difference and living up to my beliefs by protecting the Plain settlers here, even though they hate wizards. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? Not to sound boastful, but just stating facts, I'm a powerful mage, a good tracker and shooter, and I'm not afraid of dangerous people and situations. I also care about Plain (non-magical) people and I'm willing to fight to protect them even though they hate mages and would kill me if they could. My worst qualities? I said I'm not afraid; sometimes I'm a little too unafraid for my own good. Some people would describe me as cocky and arrogant. I love women, but I'm not especially good at relationships, which is okay because I don't have room in my life for that sort of thing anyway. And I always lose at cards. I don't know why. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? I like a woman who is smart and spirited - who can keep up with me. I don't mind some back talk or if she's the one who takes the lead in bed. If she's a good cook, that's a plus, as well. Physically, I like a woman with curves that give me something to hang on to, but the size of the curves is less important than if they're in the right places. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? I like traveling through the Wildings and seeing all the amazing landscapes out here - everything from deserts to pine-covered mountains. I like riding my horse, Abenar. I like a good fight against a renegade. I like a good tussle in bed with a spirited woman. I like playing Dragon's Threes, even though I always lose. 9. What is your greatest fear? Losing my freedom and my ability to use magic. 10. What is your most treasured possession? My freedom, my magical power, my horse, my gun, and my hat. A man can't concentrate properly without his hat. Have other questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments! Introducing Haveshi Yellowcrow and Latan the Clerk: I've been wanting a better cover for The Warrior and The Holy Man ever since I released it, so I put Mominur Rahman, the artist who did the Daughter of the Wildings and new Urdaisunia covers, on the job, and I love what he came up with. Above is the ebook version; below is the full wrap-around: Since Warrior and Holy Man is short fiction, at the moment I'm not planning to release a paperback edition. Eventually I'll put together a collection of all my Estelend short fiction (Haveshi and Latan's stories, A Cure for Nel, Tales of Azara, and whatever else I might write) and use this as the cover for the paperback of that.
The landscape I used for the original cover is cool, but it really didn't work very well with the lettering, and it didn't convey anything about the story. For me, stories are mainly about characters, and so I like to see the characters on the cover. Stock art that's usable for fantasy characters can be hard to find (though I love the work that Design by Katt did for the Chosen of Azara and Sarya's Song covers), especially if you aren't using the standard fantasy-type characters, and especially especially if you tend to have a lot of mixed-ethnicity couples like I do, like Silas and Lainie (Daughter of the Wildings), Eruz and Rashali (Urdaisunia), and Haveshi and Latan. That's where having an illustrator who does amazing work, like Mominur Rahman, comes in handy! If you want to get to know Haveshi and Latan a little better, check out these previous blog posts: Character Interview with Haveshi Yellowcrow Character Interview with Latan the Clerk Sneak Peek: The Path of Haveshi Yellowcrow Sneak Peek: The Path of Latan the Clerk How Haveshi and Latan came to be Currently, The Warrior and the Holy Man is available exclusively at Amazon, $2.99 for the ebook or, if you have a Kindle Unlimited membership (U.S. only) or Amazon Prime, you can read it for free! Don't have a Kindle? Never fear! You can download the free Kindle reading app for PC, Mac, Android, and iPad/iPod/iPhone; read in the Amazon Cloud Reader, or, since all my ebooks are DRM-free, you can download free Calibre ebook management software to convert my Kindle books into epub format for your Nook, Kobo, Sony, or iDevice. Welcome to the Meet My Character Blog Hop! First I want to thank Maron Anrow and Shari Sakurai for inviting me to participate this week. Maron Anrow grew up in California, came of age in the Midwest, and is now passing time in New Jersey. She lives with her husband, stepdaughter, and three awesome cats. Maron has a Ph.D. in social psychology and has published (under her real name) over 20 scientific articles since 2008. Laika in Lisan is her first novel, and it details the journey of Laika, a private tutor who is invited to study in the mysterious country of Lisan. While in Lisan, Laika struggles with moral ambiguity and a life-changing ethical dilemma. Meet My Character Blog Hop post | Website | Facebook | Goodreads Shari Sakurai was born in Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom. After completing secondary school she moved away from further education to work in administration. She is very interested in other countries’ cultures and mythology; in particular Japan. Japanese themes and influences can often be found in her work. Her debut novel Demon's Blood was released in ebook format on 25th January 2014. She has participated and won the National Novel Writing Month challenge for the past seven years. Meet My Character Blog Hop post | Website | Facebook | Goodreads And now, let's meet Silas Vendine, the hero of my upcoming Daughter of the Wildings series: 1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person? The name he goes by is Silas Vendine. He was born Siyavas Venedias, a member of an elite mage family of Island heritage, but he is estranged from his family, and going by an Islander name in the Wildings is a sure way to get yourself hanged as a wizard. Don't tell him this, but he's fictional. He thinks he's real. 2) When and where is the story set? Daughter of the Wildings is mostly set in the Wildings, a vast, mostly unsettled region roughly modeled after the American Wild West of the 1880s. The Wildings is being settled by Plain (non-magical) people who have fled from the mage-dominated society of Granadaia, the civilized land along the eastern coast of the continent. 3) What should we know about him? He grew up in an elite mage family in Granadaia, but he never fit in. When he was very young, he came to realize that the way Plain (unmagical) people were treated in Granadaia was wrong. As he grew up, he had the chance to read some books, smuggled into Granadaia, by foreign philosophers talking about natural equality and rights of all people regardless of their birth or station in life, and he found he believed in this. Now he works as a bounty hunter tracking down and stopping renegade mages who have rebelled against the ruling Mage Council and come to the Wildings to get rich and/or set up their own independent domains. He doesn't really care about enforcing the Mage Council's authority, though; his main concern is protecting the Plain settlers of the Wildings against these ruthless, lawless mages. He does this even though the Plain settlers hate wizards with a passion. 4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life? When he comes to the town of Bitterbush Springs, he meets a young woman named Lainie Banfrey, who appears to be Plain but is actually developing very strong magical powers. She wants to learn how to use her power, but is terrified of being turned into a heartless, soulless monster like she believes all wizards are. Untrained mages can be extremely dangerous to themselves and others around them, and the Mage Council's law requires Silas to either send her back to Granadaia for training or to Strip her of her power, which will leave her mindless and helpless. Or there's a third option - he could take her with him and train her himself, which would make both of them outlaws and renegades. At the same time, dangerous plots are in motion among the mages back in Granadaia, plots that threaten him, Lainie, and the freedom of the Wildings. 5) What is the personal goal of the character? His main goal is to protect Lainie. He also wants to protect the Plain people of the Wildings against mages who threaten their freedom and rights. The problem is that sometimes these two goals conflict. 6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it? The series is called Daughter of the Wildings. Follow the link to read teasers about the individual books and find links to excerpts, cover art reveals, and a playlist. 7) When can we expect the book to be published? Good question! I'm aiming for book 1, Beneath the Canyons, to be released later this fall. To be notified when it's released, sign up for my email alerts. Be sure to check out next weeks' stops on the Meet My Character Blog Hop:
Kyoko M is an author, a fangirl, and an avid book reader. Her debut novel, The Black Parade, made it through the first round of Amazon's 2013 Breakthrough Novel Contest. She participated and completed the 2011 National Novel Writing Month competition. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Lit degree from the University of Georgia, which gave her every valid excuse to devour book after book with a concentration in Greek mythology and Christian mythology. When not working feverishly on a manuscript (or two), she can be found buried under her Dashboard on Tumblr, or chatting with fellow nerds on Twitter, or curled up with a good Harry Dresden novel on a warm central Florida night. Like any author, she wants nothing more than to contribute something great to the best profession in the world, no matter how small. Website | Facebook | Goodreads Zoe Dawson is the alter ego of Karen Anders, award winning, multi-published author. Her writing journey started with poetry and branched out into fiction. With a couple of college English courses under her belt, she penned a historical, then moved onto contemporary romance fiction. Today, she is happy producing romantic suspense, romantic mystery, new adult, urban fantasy and paranormal novels. The words feed her soul and the happily ever afters feed her heart. Website | Facebook | Goodreads Lyn Johanson: A computer science major, Lyn C. Johanson decided to leave the cold world of code lines and pursue her passion for writing romance stories. Now, she mostly lives in the world she dreams up. Except when her husband and sons drag her back to reality—where she enjoys photography, dancing, and spending time with her family. Website | Facebook | Goodreads So last night as I was procrastinating, er, taking a breather from revisions on The Rancher's Daughter, I decided to fool around with making a new cover for A Cure for Nel, and Other Stories. I've never been very happy with the old cover. The landscape art I used didn't say much about the stories in the collection, and the title was hard to read. I had a piece of stock art I'd thought about using for Sarya's Song but ended up with the great cover by Design by Katt instead, and it kind of made me think of Leya from "A Cure for Nel," so I put it through Photoshop Elements and here's what I came up with: I think it came out kind of pretty :) The collection is only 99 cents at all the ebook outlets I sell through. If the cheap price and pretty new cover aren't enough to entice you to give it a try, here are some sneak peeks from each of the three stories in the collection. "The Peach Tree" The Wise Woman was silent. Her eyes were hidden by her hair, but Sula could feel her critical gaze as she judged Sula’s pain and longing. “What would you do to gain what you want?” the Wise Woman asked. "You Can't Take It With You" “Quiet, everyone!” Girda yelled. “You’re all being stupid. It wouldn’t bring very much money if we sold it, even on the black market.” She pinned Giorgi with a hard stare. “And none of us knows how to use it except Aric. If he can do with it what Uncle Morgi did, he’ll make us all as rich—as rich as we’ve ever dreamed of being!” "A Cure for Nel" Leya left the window and sat on the edge of the bed. “Maybe the wizards know a cure.” A Cure for Nel, and Other Stories is available at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo | OmniLit Smashwords | DriveThruFiction Last year for Father's Day, I wrote a tribute to my amazing dad. This year, since the role of fathers is so essential and yet so often undervalued and overlooked, I want to emphasize the importance of fathers in my own writing with this sneak peek look at one of my characters who is a father, Prince Eruz from Urdaisunia: A FEW DAYS after that, Eruz sent for Rashali to meet him in the gardens again. This time, the prince brought his young daughter, Mizalilu, with him; he explained that the child’s mother was awaiting the birth of a new baby and had little attention to spare for her. Rashali watched the little girl run along the garden paths, and pictured her own daughter in Mizalilu’s place. Fresh grief squeezed her heart. “My Lalana was the same age,” she said without thinking. The prince was silent for a moment, also watching Mizalilu. “How do you survive such a loss?” She shrugged, wishing she hadn’t said anything. “Along the rivers, so many children die, it’s only to be expected. Still, you hope that you’ll be the lucky one, that your child will be spared… And when she dies anyway, you either die too, or you live on. I chose to live on.” To destroy the Sazars who caused her death, she added in her mind, but didn’t say out loud. Mizalilu had brought a sack of raisins with her. She ran ahead, tossing raisins on the ground while Luzak the peacock trotted after her, gobbling the treats. Eruz and Rashali followed, keeping the little girl in sight. “I told my father that moving the Urdai away from the stretch of the Uz the Kai-Kalle want might be more complicated than we thought,” Eruz said. “I didn’t tell him that the Urdai would fight, only that there would be considerable difficulties involved in relocating such a large number of people.” “Did he decide against it?” “He only said that we may have no choice, but he’ll wait to take action until the Kai-Kalle’s and the Sanghs’ intentions become clearer. I did tell him that I hoped to persuade you to convince the villagers to cooperate.” “I suppose you can tell him that.” Not that she would ever agree to do such a thing, but letting him tell the king that she might seemed like a harmless concession. Mizalilu had run ahead and now came back to them. The bag of raisins had been discarded somewhere along the way, and the child’s small fists were now filled with flowers and pebbles. Rashali watched the little girl’s shining dark eyes and smooth, flushed amber cheeks as she showed her father her treasures. The prince’s worries and burdens seemed to fall away as he squatted in front of his daughter, admiring the things she had found and replying to her babble. This was yet another odd thing—that a Sazar nobleman who needed a son as an heir would love a daughter so openly and completely. They walked on in silence, along one of the ponds that dotted the Jewel. Mizalilu ran around to the other side of the pond, and stood there throwing her pebbles into the water and laughing at the splashes they made. |
AuthorI am Kyra Halland, author of tales of fantasy, heroism, and romance. Sign up for my email list
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