Big weekend for Estelan!

After a weekend in the free kindle store I am pleased to say ESTELAN spent the majority of the weekend in the top ten for Children's Action/Adventure. I am hoping this translates. It really is more of a fantasy with heavy mythological influences but there is plenty of action and what is a quest if not an adventure? I truly believe in Estelan and hope that more people will take the time to venture there. It's available as an ebook and in paperback, already has garnered a four star review and looks awfully pretty (thanks Barbara Ivie - you did my world proud with your cover!)....pick up a copy today and see what Estelan has to offer!!

Estelan is live!

My new YA epic fantasy, ESTELAN, is now live as an eBook on amazon.com.  The paperback will be released shortly.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Editing STILL

I never have enough time in a day. It never fails. I swore I would get to bed early - as in obscenely early - tonight so I would be coherent to rock a late night tomorrow and Friday. That did not happen. I am proud of doing my own edits and I believe rightly so. However, it is tedious and time consuming. This is my 6th time through Estelan. It is always different in paperback form when I read it aloud. But it works. I catch a lot of things I missed before or realize wording could be a wee bit crisper. Yes, I could pay somebody to edit my books but it us expensive to have it done "right" and I am no slouch. Most importantly, this is my baby. It is a piece of me and I do not readily share such tasks with others. It all works out in the end and I feel good about what I am putting out.

I truly hope you all enjoy the final product. Estelan's release is approaching quickly indeed!!

Teaser - Estelan

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 2.

“Let’s get you cleaned up properly M’lady.  Old Pia has the room settled with jasmine and lavender burning and fresh cloths for your wounds.  Kester’s daughter, Thia will sit with you while I run fresh waters for a bath.  Lady Kitin, please stand guard at her door, Master Kriton is working his magics around the boundaries.”

The small child, Thia, was seated on a tiny bench with a small rag doll.  Pallia studied her - thin, gaunt, somehow worn and weary, unlike any child she’d seen before.  Ah, the girl whose picture she saw on the altar downstairs.  Pallia wondered what ailed the child. Thia approached her, silent and graceful as the catlings that lived at Temple.  The child pressed her small hand ever so lightly on Pallia’s shoulder and shook her head sadly.  Thia’s gaze was piercing, full of sorrow as she shook her head again her hand firm on Pallia’s shoulder.

You are quite stronger than you appear child, be calm, I am a priestess of Muna.

The child raised an eyebrow and a chilling grin crept across her face, taking with it all innocence.  A few wild hairs fell into her face, Thia shook them away and looked into Pallia’s eyes.

I do not fear you, Prietess.  The voice in Pallia’s head was older than Thia’s should have been, wise but edged with bitterness that only a grown woman should know.

You can hear me?

The odd child nodded.

Yet you did not sip the tonic did you?

No, I have been like this always. The small creature looked at her with wide, sad, gray eyes and shook her head again, loosing more hairs in the process.  The snow white locks framed her face in a wild fray, her skin grayish and drawn over high cheekbones.  Are you brave, Lady Pallia? Do you fear what grows in the Darkness?

Pallia looked kindly at the little one and offered a weak smile.  The child simply stared back in silence.  There is nothing to fear in the dark, I have lived in it all the annuals of my life.  Do you fear the dark, Thia?

I do not speak of the dark of night, I want to know if you fear Darkness.

Pallia stared at the child, oddly unable to break eye contact.  I do not understand you, Thia.  Why do you speak in riddles?

I will show you, Lady Pallia, if you can bear it.  Look closer, my eyes are peculiar, no?

There was something odd about her eyes, gray at first look but on closer inspection they began to swirl like clouds during a storm, and then Pallia was falling….

she landed in the middle of a snow drift.  Pallia stood and brushed herself off.  She turned round and looked in every direction for some indication of where she stood.  The only light came from the moon above and it was scattered by the blowing snow, little more than an eerie glow in the blizzard.  She heard a sound and walked toward it, moving through the snow as it bit her cheeks and eyelids, the cold numbing her feet and legs.  A flicker of light became visible on the horizon, then another, and Pallia realized it was a group of torches.  Her pace increased as dreams of fire and food gave life to her near-frozen limbs.  The scene before Pallia came into focus, several strange creatures, each smaller than a child but stout and strangely dressed with some type of armor over their breasts.  She realized they were guiding people who were bound by the hands and chained at the feet.  Leading the entire procession was an enormous beast.   Pallia stopped and clasped a frozen hand over her mouth to choke back a scream.   It was larger than anything Pallia had ever seen, covered in a coarse black hair and clothed in a long robe under a metallic vest.  Upon the Beast’s head was a crown of sorts, horned and covered in black ooze that dripped into the snow with each step.  The Beast turned and shouted in a foreign tongue the people clearly did not understand; they cowered and clung to each other, near naked and emaciated.  Pallia looked over the captives for faces she might know, but none stood out.  They were all shaved bald and it was difficult to discern men from women.   Then, one person near the front turned toward her.  Pallia inhaled sharply, backpedaled in the snow and stifled another scream.  The hostage’s sunken eyes bored into hers and she knew the face - her own.  The doppelganger recognized her in turn, smiled in the most gruesome manner and yelled at Pallia “See what you have done?  This is your future now, look what you become!”

The Beast snarled at Bald Pallia, reached within his robes and withdrew a weapon – a long rope with several small silver orbs on the ends of a dozen or so tendrils.  Pallia watched in horror as the Beast raised his whip and brought it down; the tendrils ensnared her ankle and sent droplets of blood into the snow around her doppelganger.  

She screamed - it died in her throat as a door flew open and the scene vanished.  Cold sweat beads formed along her browline as Pallia took in her surroundings.  Pallid violet flicker of candlelight against caryn wood paneling, comfortable warm bed, and Thia back on her bench in the corner, playing with her doll.

Estelan has a cover!

Thanks to the fabulously talented Barbara Ivie has created the most splendid cover that portrays the spirit of Estelan perfectly.  I want to shoot out MANY thanks to my fabulous writing friends at the Writer's Pad.  Hope you all enjoy the cover, my goal is to have Estelan released in time for St. Patty's!

Weekend breaks are refreshing!

I am so excited to have my wonderful Dad in town this weekend.  We have had a great time and have some more fun planned so I am just stopping in real quick to lay down some lines and get some writing in since I have otherwise taken a break from all of my projects since Friday night.  It feels strange to not be doing much by way of writing but I feel refreshed.  Yesterday we went to see the Lorax (my daughter ADORED it and I have to say it was really good) and had a fabulous dinner at The Rock (pizza with spinach, sauteed garlic cloves, bleu cheese, and sauteed mushrooms with a fabulous chocolate porter beer!) and then relaxed at home for the rest of the evening.  It was delightful and what my "cold" needed apparently.  I am still feeling under the weather (yes, for those of you counting it has been six weeks but my doc apparently believes I am med-seeking - don't get me started - or full of it) but a little better.  Right now my daughter is sitting next to me playing Angry Birds on my Dad's iPad and Dad is getting ready for a foray into Fremont for the Sunday market.  I am rather excited for this and perhaps a side trip to the Fremont Troll.  It should be a fun outing as the sun is making its way out and the temp is rising (to a "balmy" 52 degrees).  Well, I am off again.  Back to work on Estelan tonight!

PS Dad has a rental car and it is a CHARGER.....sweet ride!