NEW COVER TO BE REVEALED SOON!

Estelan has a brand new cover and it is AMAZING!!  I cannot wait to see this one in paperback because the AMAZING Barbara Ivie Green did such a beautiful job!  Come back on Monday 7/15/13 for the big reveal!!

Sample Saturday!

ESTELAN is getting a facelift but the story will remain essentially the same and naturally the character of Shai, depicted here, is one of my favorite parts!

Shai awoke in a cold sweat, fear caught in her throat like the silent scream she could not sound.  Standing on shaky legs she wobbled over to the small porcelain wash basin in the corner of her tiny room.  The cool water still smelled fresh enough to use. Shai’s sleeves fell into the bowl as she splashed her face.  Sighing, she methodically re-rolled them and wiped the water from her face with a worn, fraying towel.  Shai shivered, goosepimples spread across her skin.  The thin, woven rug beneath her bare feet did little to block the chill of the stone floor beneath.  She leapt onto the thick bearskin beside her bed, catapulted into the pile of heavy quilts and burrowed into their warmth, careful to hold her damp sleeves away from her body.

 Small, even among the priestesses, Shai’s robes had to be shortened, bound, or rolled in every capacity.  Utility pins dug into her shoulders but did their part to compensate the wide neckline. A seamstress in town donated the white cotton A-line shifts in lieu of her yearly tithe and she only made one size for them.  In truth, the garments were only ill-fitted for Shai who aspired to be waifish in build who could easily pass for a young child. No matter how heartily she ate and in spite of the extra vitamins after prayer, Shai could not make gains in height or breadth, just one of many oddities setting her apart from the others. Blowing a tuft of unruly silver hair from her face, Shai hugged her knees in tight.  She would give almost anything to be just a little less skeletal and a few inches taller.  Asa and Kriya constantly reprimanded her vanity but that was not quite right, she simply wanted to be an equal instead of an oddity.  Too small to draw water from the well or work the laundry press, Shai even struggled to clear dishes at meal time.

Pulling the blankets even tighter the tiny priestess wondered how much time had passed.  Reflection time in Moon Temple tended to drive Shai to the brink of madness so she often napped to pass the two hour block of solitude. Without a timepiece in her room, Shai relied on the other priestesses or the great timepiece to notify her of the end of Reflection.  Unfortunately, the great timepiece only chimed on the hour and she did not hear the soft tinkling radiating through the winding corridors from the Temple’s center.  Shai frowned and stretched her mind to the Priestesses rooming around her but found them happily occupied, their minds locked in meditation. 

Shai looked around her room, bare even by the Moon Temple’s standards.  Her three-shelved, borrowed bookcase stood nearly empty.  She knew most priestesses had pictures of their families, reminders of who they were before they entered the Temple in service of Moon Mother.  Not Shai, her semi-warped and faded shelves held a few shabby prayer books and a small etched map of Isthile, all gifts from her surrogate sisters.  Shai had no family, no past, no memories of a time before.  Nobody could tell how old she was, how many annuals had passed since her transition, or if she had transitioned at all.  Even Elder Priestess Kriya with her exceptional gift of Sight remained flummoxed. 

Shaking her head clear, Shai began wording her prayers for the evening session, hopeful as ever that the right phrasing would catch Moon Mother’s ear.  Shai always prayed for the same two things, her transition and her past, though the words did not come as readily when requesting the return of her memories.    This often struck her as odd but a small voice in the back of her mind suggested there could be a reason she forgot in the first place. To not know where one comes from is a greater burden than to be uneasy in one’s own skin.  Shai found herself afflicted in both matters.  Still, she counted herself lucky because of Kriya’s kindness. The Elder Priestess saved her from being shunned and cast into the Fog.  A shiver ran down Shai’s spine.  The Fog.  Everything about it screamed danger, or so the other priestesses told her.  They explained it as a vast mystical entity encircling all of Isthile.  The memories they flashed in Shai’s mind were frightening and captivating.  The Fog appeared to be a dense mist as high as the eye could see and filled with crackling blue lights. Some of the priestesses swore they could hear voices of the lost if you wandered too close.  Only Shai wondered what lay beyond the Fog and the thought nagged at her often. 

Shai’s mind wandered back to the dream, grasping at the threads she could recall, pushing the edges of her mind, trying to see something new in it. She stared at the tile work around her altar, purples of every shade, some bearing the mark of Moon Mother, and surrounding the small statuette she offered thrice daily prayers to.   Shai marveled at the beauty of the Moon Mother’s visage in the flickering firelight from her jasmine candles.  The small idol’s porcelain eyes frozen in an upward fashion, her delicate lips curved in a knowing smile, warm and soft as a mother’s should be.  And then it came, hard and fast, Shai tried to react to the aura, to control the vision, but then she was falling – again.  

Happy Mother's Day!!

Picture courtesy of http://wallpaperhdfree.com/

Happy Mother's Day to those women doing the toughest, most rewarding job in the world!  

Balancing act - and why I'm failing at it...

You know that saying about biting off more than you can chew?  I get it.  I understand completely.  It is my curse.  I cannot help myself.  I get all of these grand ideas and try to put them all in motion at once because I know they will all take time to develop.  Plus, I have to be busy all the time.  I am always doing something.  Sitting around is not really an option for me anymore, sad but true.  Of course, I appreciate the rare times when I CAN sit and do nothing so maybe it is better that way.  Anyway, I digress, as is often my problem.  I've spent the last several months finishing my adult series (the Emerald Seer Series) and it has consumed a good portion of my time not spent at work or with my kids.  Of course, I've also started a business out of my home that involves a blog and a new Etsy shop.  *sigh*  See what I mean?  Yet Estelan is always in the back of my mind, always nagging at my thoughts.  And now my daughter is reading it.  She says I need to get to work on the next book because she hates waiting.  The trouble is, I've started the next book but in reading Estelan with her I see little things that I could tweak to make it better.  Again, bad form on my part.  *sigh again*  However, part of my tweak is a new cover.  I've talked with my cover artist and we are looking at a new approach that excites me greatly but guess what?  It makes another project.  My plate is full and by full I mean it is one of those big plastic dinner plates (I know, not environmentally friendly) that is bowing because there is so much piled on it.  Things are falling off the sides of the plate and I am trying to catch them all but, well, yeah, the balance thing comes into play again.  I've neglected this blog, have neglected these characters and at times have neglected my household (not the kids - of course! - but the cleaning and such).  *hangs head in shame* Someday soon I hope to get back on top of my game.  I think I can but it seems to me that something new is always popping up and begging for my attention.  I do so hope that some of these things will pan out sooner or later!

Until then, all roads lead to Estelan no matter how rocky and winding they may be.

Book Launch!!

Jade Kerrion's two newest novels, Earth-Sim and When the Silence Ends, are pulling in fantastic reviews. Please take a moment to check them out and take advantage of the book launch sale. Keep reading to find the coupon code!

EARTH-SIM

Amazon Rating: 4.8 Stars (13 reviews)

"Earth-Sim starts off awesome and just keeps getting even better...Ms. Kerrion has done an amazing job with her world-building...This is one book that I will find myself rereading over and over - and one that I will encourage all of my friends to read."—Cara Drake, Amazon reviewer

Was the super-continent of Pangaea split because of a management dispute? Is the biblical flood the earliest evidence of why "technology and water don't mix"? If you always suspected that mass extinctions, such as the Black Death, had an otherworldly reason, you just might be right. Is there a real message hidden in the mysterious manuscripts that human sages and savants have created through the generations? Is there life out there, beyond our planet, and why has none of it shown up on Earth yet? Earth-Sim is a unique spin on the history of Earth and the history of mankind. What if Earth and the entire universe were actually part of a simulation program? What if the most iconic and memorable events in Earth's history were decisions (or more frequently accidents) triggered by two college students, Jem Moran and Kir Davos, who are still sorting out the finer points of working together and more importantly, still arguing over the finer points of planetary management? Bring your sense of humor. Earth-Sim is frequently whimsical and often irreverent. Either way, you finally have someone to blame for the state the world is in. E-books available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords Paperbacks available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository BOOK LAUNCH SALE (50% DISCOUNT): Grab a copy of Earth-Sim for only $1.50 at Smashwords with coupon code MS68F. Valid until April 15.  

When the Silence Ends

Amazon Ratings: 4.6 Stars (9 reviews)

“Wow! When the Silence Ends is captivating! I laughed, I cried, I could not put it down. Forget Harry Potter and Twilight…every young adult should read this book!”—KatRomeo, Amazon reviewer

When you choose your friends, you also choose your enemies.

Seventeen-year old Dee wants nothing more than to help her twin brother, Dum, break free from the trauma in their childhood and speak again, but the only person who can help Dum is the alpha empath, Danyael Sabre, whom the U.S. government considers a terrorist and traitor.

The search for Danyael will lead Dee and Dum from the sheltered protection of the Mutant Affairs Council and into the violent, gang-controlled heart of Anacostia. Ensnared by Danyael’s complicated network of friends and enemies, Dee makes her stand in a political and social war that she is ill equipped to fight. What can one human, armed only with her wits and pepper spray, do against the super-powered mutants who dominate the Genetic Revolution? America, nevertheless, is ripe for transformation. Exhausted by decades of belligerence between humans and their genetic derivatives--the clones, in vitros, and mutants--society is on the verge of falling apart or growing up. Dee, with her sassy attitude and smart mouth, is the unwitting pebble that starts the avalanche of change. In her quest to help her brother become normal, Dee will finally learn what it means to be extraordinary. When the Silence Ends is a Young Adult novel in the award-winning Double Helix series. E-books available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords Paperbacks available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository BOOK LAUNCH SALE (50% DISCOUNT): Grab a copy of When the Silence Ends for only $1.50 at Smashwords with coupon code FL93Y. Valid until April 15.  

Find Jade Kerrion at Website / Facebook / Twitter

Sneak Peek Sunday

A piece of ESTELAN

Roane turned to his right and regarded Kitin with a nod.  Tyla slept in the saddle in front of Kitin, her head lulling back and forth in rhythm with Dyna’s step.  Kitin held the reigns loosely in her right hand, her arm around the girl.  Roane noted the fingers of her left hand tapped nervously along the sheath of her favorite scabbard.  She looked tired though her violet eyes were alert, flicking about the landscape.   It would have been so easy to get lost in her eyes, his Kitin, whether she was willing to admit it or not.  She felt his gaze and met his eyes briefly, please do not do this now, Ro, I cannot discuss this with you again.

Roane nodded in deference, turning back to Dane who raised an eyebrow, very aware of the embarrassing exchange. Thankfully, Kitin interjected a proper scolding before Dane could unleash an insult.  I am not sure this is the time or place to be discussing our plots and plans. Even if it were I would expect to be included in the conversation.

Aye, I concur with Lady Kitin, brother.  I think it ‘tis quite wise for us to withhold our counsel for a time.  Dane turned to Kitin, seeking her praise even now.  See, I am not just a playmaker, I know reason as well. 

You will not get praise from me for behaving as an adult should.  Though I confess I like this side of you, Dane.  I find you far more tolerable. 

Not all of us can be born with a wit such as yours Lady Kitin. At least I was blessed with stunning looks.   Dane plastered a patronizing grin upon his face and Kitin scowled in response.  Roane sighed; he knew where this exchange was going and for some reason found it unsettling every time.

Oh, aye, Dane the beautiful, that is most certainly how they refer to you and all the women of Isthile just throw themselves at your filthy,hairy feet.

And you my dear Lady Kitin have ever so many suitors. Do you even know what a gown looks like?  Could you fill one if -

Enough!  Dane, lay off Lady Kitin.  We are all weary and it does no good to grow harsh with each other.  Roane nodded to the dozing Tyla meaningfully. The young woman seemed oddly still and he swore her eyes flickered once or twice.  He gave Dane a stern look and turned to Kitin, prepared to apologize but she already urged Dyna forward to catch up with Kriton.  

Sneak Peek Sunday - ESTELAN

ESTELAN snippet....

Shai’s mind wandered back to the dream, grasping at the threads she could recall, pushing the edges of her mind, trying to see something new in it. She stared at the tile work around her altar, purples of every shade, some bearing the mark of Moon Mother, and surrounding the small statuette she offered thrice daily prayers to.   Shai marveled at the beauty of the Moon Mother’s visage in the flickering firelight from her jasmine candles.  The small idol’s porcelain eyes frozen in an upward fashion, her delicate lips curved in a knowing smile, warm and soft as a mother’s should be.  And then it came, hard and fast, Shai tried to react to the aura, to control the vision, but then she was falling – again.