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New Release 6-20-24

I am so excited to announce the release of River in the Sand, Seven Rivers Book Two.

A murdered king. A cursed princess…

Hiding in a remote corner of the desert, Kyjia guards a precious tablet of gold granting the right to rule the kingdom of Tyar. Her enemies will stop at nothing to possess it and claim the throne. When her father is murdered, she realizes they will come after her next.

On a quest to protect Kyjia, Allenthal travels deep into the desert. He comes to the aid of her father as he falls victim to a deadly ambush. Too late to save him, Allenthal accepts his dying request to help his family. But instead of gratitude, Kyjia believes Allenthal murdered her father, and he finds himself condemned to die for the very crime he tried to prevent.

Kyjia flees from her enemies, taking refuge in an enormous network of caverns. Day by day, their hunt grows closer. Finally, she is cornered and they cast a deadly curse on her, offering her the cure in exchange for revealing the location of the tablet. When Kyjia refuses, they leave her injured, blind and alone.

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Re-release of War’s Ending

As an author, everyone always tells you that you must complete your work, send it out into the world, and move on. There are very good reasons for this! If you never do this one step, you can never go on and write more books. This advice is not wrong!

However, I broke the rule for a couple of reasons. My first book, War’s Ending came out in 2019. My first book! But the writing in it needed just a little touch up! I have always loved the story. I love the culture of horsemen who refuse to show their faces to outsiders, I love the tenacious heroine. Together the two of them attempt to stop a war.

I have had a sequel living in my files for at least four years, and I wanted the writing quality in the first book to match up to the new one. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Plus there were a couple of writing mistakes in the first book that were… (how can I say this nicely)? Embarrassing. So here is the brand new, Second Edition of War’s Ending! Learn more here…

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Interconnected Stories…

I am just about to send Seven Rivers Book Two back to the editor. She made great suggestions to strengthen the story as well as position myself well for a third book. Cause hey, why shouldn’t we right another one? This could be a trilogy or even a series of seven. Doesn’t that make sense for the Seven Rivers? My goal is to write a collection of separate but interconnected stories, that way it can be a series, but still give readers satisfaction as they read each one. I don’t know about you, but unsatisfying endings make me angry!!!

I’m going to be wrapping up the launch sale on The Ring Keeper very soon, so if you need something to read this week, get it now. Here is a snippet from the beginning.

From The Ring Keeper -Chapter One

The Shekkar cut across the distance, heading straight for them them, gaining fast. Ana could hear the demons clearly now, and their horrible voices sounded triumphant. They were about to claim their prize. She stopped on the brink of the cliff, frozen, the yawning space open below her. Zarek had placed himself between Ana and the Shekkar, his sword in one hand and his dagger in the other. But there were too many enemies to fight, and they charged toward him, black claws outstretched. The foremost of the creatures struck at him. He blocked the blow with his sword, but poisonous claws seized the weapon, twisting it out of his grip. A flash of moonlight lit the sword blade as it spun away, landing behind the demon. Zarek sheathed his knife and darted straight toward Ana. As his shoulder slammed into her, his arm seized her waist, and his momentum propelled them out into the black abyss. Ana screamed as they fell.

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How do you feel about really large spiders?

A really, really big spider!

One time when I was a kid, a spider fell out of the light fixture above me and landed right in my lap. It was so BIG it made a noticeable sound as it landed. I made a sound too. Please enjoy the mental picture of me screaming and dancing around like a crazy person. My brother sure did!

I’m sure that experience had nothing to do with adding spiders into The Ring Keeper! So please enjoy a snippet of the spider from The Ring Keeper Chapter 16…

Out of the corner of her eye, Allia spotted motion. Her head whipped around in time to see something scuttle out of sight between the boxes. Callonen had seen it too. “Let’s get out of here.” Allia dashed toward the door. But a dark brown spider blocked her path. It was at least as big as the one in the container, only this one roamed free. It raised its front legs, displaying black fangs, and skittered a few steps toward her.

Allia stood frozen, her teeth clenched, staring at the spider. Callonen stepped protectively in front of her. When the spider came nearer, he took a swing at it with the pry bar. It retreated out of reach.

They paused, watching it warily. It rushed at them. Callonen waited until it nearly reached his boots, then struck it squarely with the metal bar. It twitched and struggled, but he kept it pinned to the door until it finally stopped moving, and its knobby legs curled up under its body.

Allia clamped her jaws firmly shut to keep from screaming. Her eyes searched every corner of the room. Were there more? When Callonen offered his hand, she clutched it. They edged past the dead spider to run for the door.

If you haven’t had a chance to read The Ring Keeper yet, now is the time! Click here to buy from my Shopify Store!

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A quick scene from my new book…

I’m guessing you’re as excited as I am, so here is a quick scene from the sequel to Forgotten Rebellion! Let me know what you think!

***

“Where have you hidden the tablet?”

Kyjia’s eyes darted between the two men and her fingers tightened into fists. She didn’t answer.

“Our people need you,” Zhandar pleaded. “They need your leadership and guidance. That tablet is a symbol of our connection with deity. We need it, and we need you with us. Please, Kyjia. You must see that it’s the right thing to do!” He took another step toward her.

She remained against the wall, refusing to come any nearer. “My family is sworn to protect the tablet. I cannot give its power into your hands. I won’t.”

“You will,” Jaro hissed. “You must. Don’t try to fight against us. I promise you’ll regret it.”

She darted toward the opening, moving suddenly to bolt between the men guarding the exit. But there were too many of them and they closed in. She jerked to a stop as one seized her cloak. Hands tightened around her arms, holding her immobile. She drove her elbow into the man’s gut and her boot down onto his foot, twisting out of his grip. She ran, but three more of them blocked the door.

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It’s only bad for 15 minutes…

Sometimes, the conditions are a little uncomfortable. Kind of like life.

Living in Utah means lots of dramatic changes in the weather. We’ve had some absolutely gorgeous sunny days, decadently warm for February, and some bitter cold snowy days with icy winter wind. The mountains still have a lot of snow. This hike was one of the warm days. Unlike the week before, when I got to the trailhead and mine was the only car in the parking lot.

The minute I opened the car door and a blast of artic wind hit me, I knew why. But I wasn’t going home without my hike, so I cinched my hood around my face, pulled my gloves up inside my jacket sleeves and started walking. My motto on days like that: “It’s only really bad for the first 15 minutes.” Well, that wind blasted at me nearly the whole way. Hopefully I was building character?

I’m busily editing away on Seven Rivers Book Two. I think you’re going to love it!

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Some species of authors hiberwrite over the winter…

It was wonderful to get out in the mountains this week. Sometimes when its cold, we get the urge to hibernate. I have been doing that or actually, hiberwriting. I have a meeting tomorrow to make a plan for the editing of two more books. I’m super excited to share them! In the meantime, some fresh air, exercise, and girl talk was just what I needed!   

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Choose D, All of the above

I have been writing like crazy on the sequel to Forgotten Rebellion, and I’m really liking the story! Here are a few rough draft descriptions. Which one most makes you want to read it? Feel free to answer, D – All of the above! More info soon!

A. A prince takes on a dangerous quest to find a lost king and his family in the barren desert. Their enemies are close behind them, and they will do anything to force them to give up the sacred tablet.

B. A sleeping god. A kingdom in danger. A quest to find a young woman protecting a secret heirloom. Attempting to force her to reveal its location, her enemies cast a deadly curse. Will she give up the hopes of restoring her nation in exchange for the cure, or face death?   

C. Accused of murdering the man he tried to help, a young man on a quest to find the lost royal family tries to discover the identity of the killers before they strike again.

D. All of the above

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One disgruntled owl…

I’ve never seen a bird with such a grumpy expression! This owl is definitely throwing out some serious skudgies. I feel like he is just… irritated. I guess I should confess, I have (hopefully rare) moments when I feel like this. You look out at the world and ask, “seriously?” When this picture came up as my desktop wallpaper today, it made me laugh.

As I always say, “Sometimes things go really well. But then, there are those OTHER times…” During this season of rushing, overscheduling and communing with loved ones who we hopefully get along with, I wish you the best! Just never let anyone start talking about politics during family events. Instead, enjoy the white elephants, ugly sweaters and wassail. p.s. If you’d like to offer your opinion on proper spelling of “skudgies”, I’m open. Somehow, it’s often heard verbally, but I’ve never seen it in print before.