Submersibles, Zombie Knights, and Free Reads

Today I am over at Pamela Thibodeaux's Wild Rose blog to talk about the third book in my steampunk thriller series, The Blackburn Chronicles.

Chasm Walkers is the culmination of a series that spans nations, seas, and the sky. Long brewing wars and unexpected betrayals drive Charlotte's story towards an excited finale!

From strange submersible machines to unexplained mechanica controlling the heroin, there are plot twists and harrowing adventures that bring this series to an explosive end. 

I hope you check out Charlottes journey from debutante to dissenter to the most dangerous woman in a war for survival.

The Chasm Walkers will definitely satisfy your fix for thrills.

To celebrate the release of the series, I have three #FreeReads available to download. Have a taste of the strange and chaotic world of The Blackburn Chronicles with these novellas...

Click to Download Free Novellas

Lady Villains Need Love Too

Available Now

Lady villains sometimes get the fuzzy end of the lollipop in terms of motivation. Jealousy over a lost love or anger at being rejected are all fine reasons to go to crazy town, but there are so many other more compelling reasons that are so much more interesting.

Fury at your family's mistreatment for one, is a pretty driving reason and it is one I tried to explore in writing my female characters in the second book of my series. 

In the Wind Reapers, Ajala is an incredibly strong, loving, and therefore shockingly ruthless character. Some might argue that she is the villain of the book, but I disagree. I think that her goals just happen to be diametrically opposed to the protagonists (Charlotte Blackburn's) but that they are not, in their purest form...diabolical or bad.

She is a woman fighting for the survival of her family and extended clan. Those vicious Reapers everyone fears came from somewhere. They weren't born on those massive walking machines that troll the Wasteland. And now, as conditions get worse and her people start dying, she has to act in the only way she knows how.

Ajala is a leader, a mother, a warrior, and a formidable negotiator. She is valiant for her own cause and it is why she was one of the most interesting characters to write...

Now, as I headed to speak with Ajala, the clank and clatter of the Wind Reaper’s legs kept time with the sway of the vast vessel. With the sun going down and hiding our location, we moved using the thermal winds to fill the craft’s massive sails. Most of the debris cleared, the fire scorched deck still showed the scars of our battle. 

Yet as I peered at the patchwork material mounted on the reconstructed masts I couldn’t help but be impressed by the speed with which the people recovered from the sky marauder attack.  Ascending the ladder to the outlook tower, I pushed through the heavy hatch.

Ajala started speaking before I pulled off my gas mask. “Beautiful, this horrible place, is it not?” She leaned, arms crossed, looking out of the cracked windows. The gold discs woven to the ends of her scarf reflected the dimming light. “All angry and red and steaming.”

“It is the stuff of nightmares.” I walked over, leaned on the opposite side. My hand twitched, wanting to scratch at the slice in my neck, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. “But then again…”

“Yes, I know, you aren’t a Reaper.  We find beauty in this wasteland.”

A jagged seam glowed in the dark landscape and then flared with ignited gas that burned a dozen stories high.

Ajala’s eyes narrowed with the flash of brilliant orange and blue fire. “Myself, my people, we all were chambermaids, plantation slaves, and factory workers.”

“Before the quakes.”

She nodded. “Scratching for our piece of freedom before the hand of God smote us all.”

“And so you forged a life out here in damnation.” I let my gaze travel the ink swirls at the corners of her eyes and thought them strangely beautiful. Like the henna designs on the hands of women in India from my books. “Why…why did you leave the Texas-Louisiana Dome?”

“Texiana,” she snorted, a derisive sound that flashed heat into her eyes. “An atrocity for both states. And I did not leave voluntarily, in any case.”

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Find out how Ajala's story turns out and what part she plays in the thrilling steampunk series, The Blackburn Chronicles. And don't forget to check out the #FreeReads as well!

Running Toward Illumia - YA Fantasy

Hi, I’m Angel Leya, and I write clean young adult stories with (at least) a touch of magic and romance. My latest story is Running Toward Illumia, Astrea’s tale of finding herself while running from the one thing she wants most: To find her sense of belonging.

Astrea’s lived in the Mist all her life, and she loves it there. In fact, she’d do just about anything to feel like she fits in with her Rudan people, even hunt a unicorn to feed her starving tribe.

Illumia is the first city beyond the Mist, just past the Dragon Range. Astrea’s come up with 10 reasons to never go to Illumia. I’ll let her tell you more.

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Top 10 Reasons NOT to Travel to Illumia

10. They don’t have fog.

Who needs sunshine? I’m a Mist girl. Great for concealing movement, comfortable like an old blanket, and you never have to worry about dry skin. 

9. They don’t all have red hair.

That’s why this tribe is here, despite being sent to the fog to die. And why we call ourselves the Rudan, rather than the Banned.

Wish my hair was redder. And I could use a few more freckles. But I’m one of the Rudan, I swear. I’d be dead if I wasn’t.

8. They’re weak.

Fog weeds out the weak. And if the fog doesn’t, the Lynx, ogres, or Rudan will. Illumians live the easy life. They have no reason to be strong.

7. They’re not very welcoming.

The Rudan take in anyone who can survive the fog. Illumians kicked us out (or at least my parents, but children of the Banned are no less welcome).

6. Illumians are idiots.

Everyone says so.

5. Big government.

I know all five of my council members, and they earned their spot. Like Seneca, first huntress—my mentor. Illumians probably have no idea who runs their council.

4. The journey’s dangerous.

Even if you can navigate the fog, streams filled with flesh-eating fish, and ogre-infested swamps, there’s the dragon range. There’s one pass, guarded by Illumians. The rest is mountain. Treacherous, dragon-housing mountains. No other way around it. Going to Illumia is a fool’s errand.

3. My family’s not there.

If you think getting one person into Illumia is hard, try five. Two brothers, plus Mamaa and Pawpaw.

Course, the whole tribe’s basically family. I’d want to take them all.

Except maybe Mavin. He’s a jerk. (Kidding. Sort of.)

2. I can never come back.

Going to Illumia is a one-way trip. Illumians and dragons ensure that.

1. I don’t want to.

Do I need any other reason?

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Thanks for reading! If you’d like more, click for an excerpt from Banned, Part 1 of Running Toward Illumia.

Get all 4 parts of Running Toward Illumia today:

1.       Banned (free!)

2.       Lost (On Sale for 99¢ through 2/15/18)

3.       Drenched (On Sale for 99¢ through 2/15/18)

4.       Marked (On Sale for 99¢ through 2/15/18)

Writing Helps Series: Podcasts

WELCOME the 2ND installment of a series I'm doing on different types of tools that authors can use to hone their craft, better their writing, ease their frustrations, or are just cool.

The first in the series covered books and you can find it here, Writing Helps: BOOKS. 

This time I want to highlight podcasts. Not just ones by authors, either.

I have recently really gotten into listening to podcast on my phone while cooking, cleaning, etc. I find the discussions extremely helpful especially since I have been unable to attend a writer's group.

Starting with my favorite, Mythcreants, has an awesome podcast that tackles everything from Best and Worst Endings to Crafting a Climax. Great insight from the participants who are game masters, authors, and roleplay creators. Rife with witty banter and plenty of sci-fi and fantasy movie and television references, this is entertaining as well as informative.

Writing Excuses is a great podcast for the time impaired. At 15 minutes per episode, authors, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler  go in depth on technical issues such as Controlling a Reader's Sense of Progress, Can You TELL Me How To SHOW, as well as listener Q&A's and scholarships to writer's retreats. Short, informative, and often quite funny, I encourage you to check it out.


The Nerdist Writers Panel is also in the chat format, HOWEVER, the site boasts videos, written posts, and links as well. Topics covered are not only books, but television, movies, comics...pretty much any sort of writing you could think of. Check out the episode with author Brad Meltzer. Bonus that the moderator writes for one of my favorite shows, Supernatural!

Finally, for a podcast that is dramatized and voice acted, the offerings of the dubiously named, Damn Interesting, are a gold mine for research. I personally found the Absolute Zero Is OK episode on criogenic research in the Victorian age to be so helpful. I loved the English accents and laboratory explosion sound effects.

If you have any favorite podcasts or suggestions for my list, please drop a comment and let us all know. 

Until next time...Go Write!
By +Raquel Byrnes

All 4 Steampunk Fantasy serials in 1!

Raven (Chronicles of Steele #1)

by Pauline Creeden 

Released Date: 10/2014

Summary from Goodreads:

This is the complete Steampunk Fantasy novel - all four parts of the serial in one volume!

Human life has value.
The poor living in the gutter is as valuable as the rich living in a manor.
The scoundrel is no less valuable than the saint.
Because of this, every life a reaper takes must be redeemed.

Raven has lived by this first tenet since she was trained by her father to become a reaper. But since his death, she’s been spending years redeeming the lives she’s taken. By her count, she’s even and it’s time for that life to end. If she settles down and becomes a wife, she might just feel human again. But on the way to the life she thinks she wants, the baron of New Haven asks her to complete a task which she cannot ignore… Just when Raven decides to give up on her life as an assassin, she’s pulled right back in.

Buy Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble

Read an Excerpt....

Two sets of footsteps clipped across on the cobblestone. Before they rounded the bend to the stable door, Raven’s fingers twitched over her knife. When she saw Gorman and the younger baron, she relaxed and continued attaching her weapons. 

“Can I trust you?” Baron Darius’s voice rose hesitantly as he approached.

She smiled. “I’ve saved your life once and promise to do it as many times as necessary.”

“Why?”

“It’s the reaper’s way. A life for a life.”

“How many have you killed?”

Raven clinched her jaw. “Too many.” Her gaze met the butler’s. “Will he have his own horse?”

“No. The young master’s condition makes him subject to untimely fits. He would be in danger of falling.” His ice blue eyes held a fire unmatched by his frozen features.

“Right. I expected as much.” She placed her boot in the stirrup and mounted. “Hand him to me then. 

The butler lifted him to the front of her saddle. She knew it would be an uncomfortable place to ride for a long period of time, but he’d only have to make it to Gregory’s house. On a horse, it should only be about four hours if they took it slow, less than three if needed.

A horn sounded, and the butler paled. “It’s him. The duke approaches.”

“Father is early.” The boy sounded happy but tentative.

Gorman gripped the horse’s rein and turned it toward the other stable exit. “We must leave by the north gate. The duke approaches from the south. You may have as much as an hour’s head start before he commands a pursuit.”

Raven swallowed hard. “That’s not enough time.”

“Follow me.” He released the rein and jogged forward. 

The horse trotted in response. Even in the jarring up and down motion of the trot, the young baron remained silent. He gripped the chestnut mare’s mane with both hands. His knuckles glowed white under the lamps. Raven pulled gently on the reins to slow the horse to a more tolerable speed but followed the butler closely.

“Guards!” Gorman reached the gates, speaking in breathless tones. “Baron Solomon orders passage for this woman and the young baron.”

Raven recognized Grant’s red band before he turned around. He narrowed his eyes at her and barked the order to open the gate. Before she could urge her horse forward, Grant gripped the bridle by the cheek piece. He called back toward the butler, “Will she need guard?”

“That will not be necessary. She is capable of caring for the young baron on his errand.”

Even in the half-light, Raven could see the guard’s jaw tighten and nostrils flare in indecision. “Baron Solomon trusts this woman?”

The butler frowned and stiffened in disapproval. Still he answered softly, “Yes, with his brother’s life.”

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About the Author

In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long.

Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy.

Armored Hearts, her joint effort with author Melissa Turner Lee, has been a #1 Bestseller in Christian Fantasy and been awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence by InDtale Magazine. Her debut novel, Sanctuary is scheduled for release September 30, 2013, and has already been nominated for two awards in YA Science Fiction.

One of Pauline's short stories has won the CCW Short Story contest. Other short stories have been published in Fear & Trembling Magazine, Obsidian River and Avenir Eclectia. An urban fantasy short will appear in The Book of Sylvari: An Anthology of Elves from Port Yonder Press, and a vampire short will appear in Monsters! from Diminished Media Group. 

Author Links:

   

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Prophecy Book Blitz!

Prophecy (Calypso, #1)

by Julie Anne Lindsey 

Release Date: 10/06/14

Kensington Books

Summary from Goodreads:

On the other side of death, is destiny.

Callie Ingram is spending her senior year focused on one thing: swimming. Her skill as a competitive swimmer is going to secure a scholarship and her future, or so she hopes. She has big plans, and Liam Hale, her gorgeous new neighbor, isn’t going to affect them. But when Callie sees Liam beheading someone, she learns his family has a secret that will change everything. The Hales are Vikings, demi-gods who’ve been charged by The Fates to find their new destined leader.

Callie’s caught in the middle of a budding Norse apocalypse, in love with Liam Hale and desperate to protect her best friend…who the Hales believe is marked for transformation. Putting the clues together as fast as she can, can discovers she has the power to rewrite destiny, for herself and all humankind.

Teaser excerpt: Runes

Coach blew his whistle and the swimmer stopped stroking ten feet from the pool’s edge nearest our feet. The swimmer was far too long and broad to be a girl. Also, no shirt. So, who was this guy? Lean arms stretched toward the wall. His fingertips latched onto the shelf below my toes. Liam’s face broke the water’s surface. Blue goggles masked his eyes as he climbed from the pool and ran huge hands over dripping hair.
“Hale.” Coach looked from Liam to me. “Callie Ingram. Callie, Liam Hale.”
“Hello.” Liam spoke. No nod. No pretending I didn’t exist.
“Hey,” I answered lamely.
His accent was fabulous. I smiled, pleased with the idea of having him to myself
for an hour a day. My theory about everything being better at the pool might hold water
after all.
Liam pulled off his goggles, revealing those unspeakably beautiful eyes. His
frown returned and my smile fell. So much for my pool theory.
Coach turned his back on me. “Your times are remarkable, Hale. Our season
begins November first. We practice Monday through Thursday immediately after school.
Swim meets begin the first of December. Miss a practice, you miss the meet. Miss a
meet, you’re off the team. You swim unless you’re hospitalized, comatose, or dead. Same
goes for practice. Think it over before you sign on. This is a solid five month
commitment, longer if we get to Nationals.”
“Thank you, sir.” Liam extended a hand to Coach and they shook on it.
Coach ambled to his office, reviewing whatever he’d marked on his clipboard and
shaking his head. He stopped at the threshold and turned back to Liam and me, still
frozen where he left us.
“You’re free to go, Hale.” He pointed his whistle necklace at me next. “Don’t
wait for her. This one never leaves.”
I shot Coach a sarcastic look before he fell into his chair and put his feet on the
desk, watching us through his office window. Liam looked at me, an odd expression on
his face. I averted my eyes, avoiding his super intense soul searching stare. It wasn’t my
best idea. As my gaze fell on his broad shoulders, I sucked air. “You’re not bad.” I lifted
a limp hand toward the pool. “In the water, I mean.”
“No?”
I shook my head, visually tracing the path of water droplets over the planes and
angles of his chest, following patterns down a well-sculpted six-pack. Two rough scars
caught my gaze, pulling my interest back up a few inches. Ragged white lines swelled
over his chest and rib cage on one side. The marks looked like the result of an awful
accident at first, ragged at the edges, imperfect, but I recognized the symbol they made.
I’d seen it a thousand times in the Hale Cemetery. Like a letter z, tipped on a diagonal
and elongated in an ancient hieroglyphic way. The symbol repeated in varied sizes down his left side. I searched his body again, closer this time, seeking anything else I missed.
Water continued to fall from his hair to his torso. I tracked the drops over his skin until
they disappeared into the fabric of his waistband.
“And outside the water?”
I jerked my focus back to his face, heat creeping up my neck. We were basically
in our underwear and I’d examined him like a shameless creeper. “Fine.” Fine? What was
wrong with me? I didn’t ogle guys, stumble over words, or crush on my best friend.
Whatever was happening to my brain, I didn’t approve.


I hope you enjoyed the teaser.  If you want to know more about Liam and Callie or those strange marking on his hot Viking chest (hint – they’re runes), you can find Prophecy where digital books are sold.

Buy Links:
Amazon│B&N│Kensington│iTunes

About the Author

I tell stories, mostly to my children, sometimes to strangers. I'm YA obsessed, addicted to social media, caffeine and Poptarts. You can find me anytime lurking around the Internet, amped up on sugar and wielding a book.

I'm thrilled to announce the Fall 2013 release of My YA suspense, Deceived, from Merit Press and my debut cozy mystery series from Carina Press. 2013 is shaping up to be an amazing year.

I also write sweet romance stories for Honey Creek Books.

Find Julie online:

Julieannelindsey.com

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"Waiting On" Wednesday, TALON

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. 

This weeks WOW is:

Talon by  Julie Kagawa

I have been breathlessly awaiting Talon and now it is almost here! Set to release on October 28th, this YA Fantasy put out by Harlequin Teen sounds so tasty...I'm sure I'll devour it in one sitting...

Some GOODREADS info:

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. 

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