Lissa Dobbs's Blog: Shadow Walkers of Grevared, page 14

Happy Easter

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Author Spotlight – Olivia Savage

[image error]Olivia’s stories follow their own path and are filled with real characters, extremely hot men (of course), addicting storylines, and vivid sex scenes. Olivia has been an avid reader since she was knee-high to a grasshopper and writes the kind of books she likes to read.  She has a degree in Fine Art and spent her early years with a paintbrush in her hand more often than a pen. After graduating college and getting a “real job,” Olivia spent ten years in the business world before realizing that she wasn’t happy. She and her husband fired their jobs, sold their house, and bought a travel trailer to wander around the USA in search of a life they wanted to live. On a dusty back road, in the middle of nowhere, she started writing her first story… and hasn’t stopped.  She loves backpacking, SCUBA diving, hanging out in backyards with friends (preferably with a glass of red wine) and dancing like a maniac in the privacy of her bedroom. Most days she runs on caffeine and inappropriate thoughts. She does not like: underwire, people who tear you down, bad coffee (blah!), or raisins in her cookies.

To grab a copy of her FREE Adult-only coloring book made for the saucy romance reader, go to http://oliviasavage.com/free/

The Art of Hanky Panky by Olivia Savage

What would you do if a hot, rich, famous artist asked you to pose for one of his painting? 

… And, by the way, did I mention you’d have to be naked?   Completely, 100%, nothing to hide those love handles, nude.

Honestly, it’s mortifying enough to stand naked in front of my own mirror, but to do it in the same room with my mind-blowingly hot, totally off-limits art instructor?  This is so not something that I, June Cooper, had planned for this college semester. What I should be focusing on is working my butt off to pull in awesome grades and get into my choice of law schools.

No distractions allowed.

Especially if they come with male parts attached. Not when things are finally starting to come together. Aside from just being dumped, a waistline that inexplicably keeps growing (damn you, chocolate cake!), and a highly developed caffeine addiction, my life is pretty much on track. Just how I like it.  Then, he showed up.

Ryan Carter.

Famous painter. Artist. And one giant, smoldering, red-hot distraction.

Available on Kindle and in Paperback on Amazon.com

 

 

 

The Art of Seduction by Olivia Savage

In your wildest dreams, have you ever imagined you’d end up flying to Paris to break into an expensive, swanky, uber-exclusive sex club because, inside those doors, you might have a second chance with the lost love of your life?

Me either.  If you told me last semester that I would be standing here, trying to convince my shaky foot to take that step across the threshold, I would have thought you were a few fries short of a happy meal.  But a lot can change in six months. And in that time, my life has been tipped haphazardly on-end. Despite all that, there is one thing I’m almost positive about… Love isn’t supposed to go this way.

Available on Kindle and in Paperback on Amazon.com

 

Book Review – The End of the Game

[image error]Book Reviews contain spoilers!

The End of the Game is actually a trilogy by Sherri S. Tepper. It tells the story of Jinian from the time she is nine until she is in her late teens or early twenties.

The land of the True Game is a place of loose government and changing alliances where people have Talents.  Some can fly, some can move objects, some can see the future. Many of the people use these talents for Games, which are nothing more than battles of some kind perpetuated for the sake of gaining power and prestige.

We begin with Jinian as an unloved child of Stoneflight Demesne. She is tortured by her older brother until she decides she’s no longer going to allow herself to be afraid. It is then that one of the Pawns realizes Jinian is a Wize-ard, someone who can learn magic. Thus begins Jinian’s initiation into the world of the True Game.


Jinian’s adventures don’t end there. Her brother betroths her to a man she’s never met, one who has a living wife, to form an alliance. However, Jinian uses her age to bargain for schooling in the distant town of Xammer. On the way, she is kidnapped and held as part of Game, but she escapes and makes her way to Chimmerdong Forest. She befriends the forest, and it asks for her help. It is while helping the forest that Jinian learns her first real lesson – there are tasks for each of us, and no one is going to do them for us. We can’t sit around whining and crying and waiting for someone to come along and rescue us from life. We have to live it.

Jinian’s adventures continue through three short books. She is the only one who understands the significance of the yellow death crystals, and she’s the first to convince others to help her save their world. She is taught by Ganver, one of the old ones, and learns the meaning of the Star-Eye, a lesson that most never learn.

My Thoughts

I first read Dervish Daughter, the middle book of the trilogy, as a teenager. I loved the story, but it was several years before I was able to get the complete set. I wasn’t disappointed.

Even as a young adult, the lessons of Ganver spoke to me, particularly his repetition of ‘watch and learn’. I won’t go into detail here because I think knowing what the lessons are in advance would take away any meaning a new reader would draw from them. I will say, however, that what Ganver taught Jinian makes a lot of sense.

Overall, I love the trilogy. Some of the names are a bit weird, and this has thrown off some I’ve recommended the books to, but they fit the world, one of magic with odd bits of technology thrown in here and there. The characters are loveable, and the story moves along at a decent pace.

 
My Rating

SMXLL

Moving

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Since my website blog proved to be such a pain to use, everything from it will be moving to this one. Some of the book releases have been out for a while, but they’re still good books to check out. I’m hoping to add more book reviews and author spotlights to this one soon. 

Best wishes!

Lissa Dobbs

http://www.lissadobbs.com

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Writing Update

[image error]Now that Aradia’s Secret has released, I’m going to take some time and work on world-building. I want to get the history straight in my head so I know where I’m going and why. I also want to actually make some progress on ‘the story that never ends’.

I wrote a Prologue this week that I’m not sure will make it into the final books, but it was a way to get the story straight in my head. It’s below, but it hasn’t been edited. Even so, I would welcome comments and suggestions.

Best wishes!

Lissa Dobbs

http://www.lissadobbs.com

 

 

 

 

Prologue

 

Sister Gabrielle Corcoran awoke with a start. She had been dozing in the straight-backed chair that was one of the few pieces of furniture her cell at the Arcana Maximus contained. She stretched, her body aching, and trembled with a chill she couldn’t explain. She moved to the door on tiptoes and cracked it just enough to see if any of the other Sisters, or, worse, the Ibunana, were walking the halls.

The stone corridor was empty. Gabby waited for a moment, just to be sure, for if she was caught sneaking out of the Arcana in the middle of the night, she would be beaten and imprisoned.

With the way clear, Gabby took several deep breaths to steady herself, the she slipped from her cell and out into the night.

 

Detective Timothy Hawkins trudged through the Warren in the city of Freywater. All around him rose buildings of several stories, made of wood and metal, that, though tall, managed to look squat. His feet missed holes in the cobblestones streets out of habits, for the Warren had been his beat for more than twenty-five years. Though he had risen through the ranks of the Enforcers, he had never been able to secure one of the coveted positions outside of the Warren.

“Once a Warren rat, always a Warren rat,” Timothy muttered as he shivered in a sudden icy breeze, one that cut through his cloak and pierced his bones.

Though Timothy had been with the Enforcers for more than twenty years, his role as a Shadow Walker, one of the champions of the gods, had taken him away from his post too many times for true advancement. He cursed to himself again as he realized just how much he had lost by being a Shadow Walker. It wasn’t a secret; the Shadow Walkers were a recognized force in Grevared, but it wasn’t something he flaunted. And his captain took a dim view of those who had commitments outside the Enforcers.

 

Northward, in Sangeron, the capital city of the Xaggarene Empire, Daniel Klesko, too, shivered in a breeze that threated to freeze him where he stood. He trembled, his mind desperately trying to grasp what his instinct already knew.

The city was quiet, at least as quiet as Sangeron ever got, for Sangeron was a city that never truly slept. Ladies of the evening plied their trade in corsets laced far too tightly, while others stumbled from opium dens, taverns, and dark alleys to make their way home with unsteady steps.

Daniel, too, was a Shadow Walker, though he had lost the Stone of Destiny five years before. Now he did nothing but wander the streets of Sangeron, getting food and shelter where he could, his mind nothing more than a kaleidoscope of past and present that swirled in un-graspable images that defied comprehension.

 

In the forests of E’ma Thalas, north of the Xaggarene Empire, Illythor, captain of Oberon’s guard, paced back and forth. His elven ears strained for any sound that would explain the disquiet that seeped through his blood, but the only sounds were those of the night creatures moving about the forest. He knew the rumors as well as the next elf; more and more elves were succumbing to the gealtachta na déithe, the madness of the gods. Oberon, himself, had mentioned the rise, and it had devastated Titania to send away their only child.

A rustle to his left brought Illythor’s sword to his hands.

“It’s only me.”

Illythor cursed and huffed out a relieved breath as Ivlisar, his boon companion, joined him on the wall of Oberon’s palace. “What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? Did you piss someone off?”

Ivlisar smiled and shook his head. “Couldn’t sleep.” He stared out over the tops of the trees, their purples, greens, and yellows hidden by darkness. “There’s a fell wind blowing, brother. One that bodes evil for all of us.”

Illythor returned his sword to his sheath and sighed. “Then we’d best be ready.”

 

Far to the south, across the void, on the edge of the Shizzuria Wasteland, Morgan Harper came awake with a cry. The mechanical owl that sometimes housed the spirit of Abraham chittered softly on her beside table. She cursed and climbed from the bed, her eyes gritty from lack of sleep.

She grabbed her coat from its place by the door and pulled it around her slight frame. With another curse, she opened the door to her small cottage and peered out into the night. Before her lay the streets of Grenvor and the edge of the ice sheets that marked the wasteland. Nothing moved. She searched with both her eyes and her mind for the cause of the disturbance, but she could find nothing.

“What the hell?”

Morgan returned to her home and returned her coat to its hook. She grabbed several lumps of coal from the bucket by the brazier and stoked the fire. She stood in her nightclothes and rubbed her arms to dispel the chill, while her heart ached and longed for something that would never be again. After several moments, she shook off her unease and returned to sleep.

 

In the untamed chaos of the void, Arianna Henderson leaned against the rail of the Greydawn Spirit. Her feet shifted, one to the other, with a restlessness she couldn’t quite put her finger on, while her eyes scanned the gray nothing before her. Something was coming, she was sure, and she knew she needed to be ready.

“What’s up?” asked Charity Chance, another of the Shadow Walkers aboard the ship.

“Don’t know.” Arianna raised herself and turned to face Charity. “Something’s in the air. I’m restless.”

Charity laughed, her voice deep and rich. “You’re always restless.”

Arianna bit the edge of her thumb and turned to face the void. “This is different.”

Charity shrugged. “I guess we’ll know when it gets here.” Charity motioned to the hatch behind her. “Get some sleep. It’s my watch.”

Arianna nodded and headed below decks to her cabin. Though she tried, she never did fall asleep.

 

On the other end of Grevared, across the void, in the land of Moirena, Justin Harper shifted in his sleep. He opened bleary eyes to the stone walls of his cell. The chain that bound him to the wall rattled in the quiet of the night, and it took him a moment to realize that he wasn’t in Lemoreal’s bed.

He’d been a slave to the demon Lemoreal for five years now, a slavery he’d entered willingly. Now, he would give his soul, what little was left of it, for his freedom, to regain what he’d thrown away.

He raised himself to a sitting position and reached for the small water skin that was his only sustenance. He took a tiny sip, for he would not be allowed more until Lemoreal chose to reclaim him, and leaned his head against the wall. Something prickled his skin, though he had no idea what it meant. He reached outward with his mind in an attempt to discover what had disturbed him, to sense Morgan and the children they had borne together, but all he could find was the demon.

 

 

Do One Thing

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Random Ramble

[image error]My son is an awesome person. He works at a thrift store while we’re waiting for his brother to graduate this May so we can move a bit northward for them to attend college. He found a trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman at the store and got them for me. It’s a Dragon Lance trilogy, something I haven’t seen in years, and the authors also wrote the Darksword Trilogy, one I loved in my childhood. So far, I’m hooked into the first one, Dragons of a Fallen Sun, and can’t wait to get to the other two. The stories are complex, and I have to pay attention to what’s going on to follow it. I’m hoping it’ll be just as rewarding as the Darksword books were.

I know I’ve mentioned before that it seems like our technological age has created a world where a story with a complex plot and many characters isn’t wanted. We seem to be too busy to curl up with a book and read, and we want something that states what’s happening and moves on, at least that’s how it seems to me sometimes. We want simplicity in our story-telling, something we can read without having to think. But does this do the story itself justice? Does it give us the same escape as the 500 page monstrosities that predate the present age? I wonder.

I’ll admit I’m not a television watcher. I mean, I’ll turn it on in the daytime, but it’s more to have the noise than because I’m watching it. I rarely, if ever, just sit back and watch TV, so I don’t think in hour long segments. I don’t know if this really impacts what I like in a book or not, but I’ve noticed that the people I know who do watch a lot of TV want shorter, simpler books.

For myself, I want a fantasy world that’s complex. I want to know about the cultures, the history, what kind of plants grow, what kind of animals roam around. I’ll admit to not caring too much about what the aristocracy and government are doing, but I want to know about the daily life of the people who live there. What does an average merchant do in a day? What challenges do the farmers face? Are there a lot of street urchins running around picking pockets?

Weis and Hickman do a good job of creating a world like this, as does Raymond E. Feist. I know there are newer authors and newer books that also do this, but there’s something about the fantasy literature of the 1980’s that’s in a class of its own. Maybe it’s just me getting older and feeling nostalgic, but it just seems like we’ve lost something, not just in our stories, but in our lives. It seems like we’ve lost the desire to sit by a fire and talk or to take a walk in the woods or to play a game with our family. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the ever-present cell phone (I know I’m guilty; mine never leaves my side). Maybe it’s the face-paced world of the internet, the idea of anything we need to know an ‘ok Google’ away. I know I could talk to World Book all day long, and the only way it was going to tell me what I wanted to know was for me to pick it up and turn the pages. Encyclopedia Britannica was the same way. And don’t even think that the card catalogue was giving up its information without flipping through a billion little cards.

So, which world is better? Is one better than the other? Have we lost substance to gain speed and ease? (If the chips in credit and debit cards are any indication, we certainly aren’t going faster. Sheesh! Those things take forever!) Have we truly lost anything? Have we really gained anything?

And the biggest question of all – what comes next? (I really hope it’s lightsabers.)

Thank You!

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Thanks to those who’ve purchased Aradia’s  Secret and downloaded Rise of the Mad Gods: The Slave’s Caress (free on Amazon through April 4).

Best wishes!

Lissa Dobbs 

http://www.lissadobbs.com

It’s Release Day!!!!

[image error]Well, today’s the day Aradia’s Secret releases on all channels. Fingers crossed.

This story was one that was originally a blog story. I wrote it a little at a time over several months when I first started this blog. I decided to pull it and do some reworking to make it more readable. I hope I’ve done well with it.

Gwennyth Grimsbane is the daughter of Ravyn Grimsbane, the leader of the witches and wizards of Crowrest in E’ma Thalas. When Ravyn transposes forms at nearly 900 years of age, Gwennyth finds a letter telling her to seek out the goddess Aradia. Gwennyth dismisses this as nothing more than her mother’s usual melodrama, for Ravyn was known to be cryptic, even when plain speaking would better serve. It is only when her best friend Vonner shows her their magic is failing that Gwennyth realizes she must do as her mother instructed. For the first time in more than 150 years, Gwennyth must leave the safety of Crowrest Keep and venture into the lands of Grevared.

I hope you enjoy it.

Lissa Dobbs

http://www.lissadobbs.com

Amazon

Smashwords

Random

[image error]So, I have this thing for documentaries. I love the historical ones and those about possible hidden codes in ancient monuments. I also enjoy nature documentaries and those about space and the evolution of life. There’s a really awesome one where scientists consider what life on other planets might look like, though I don’t remember what it’s called.

One of my favorites is Cosmos. It goes through the evolution of life and posits life on other planets. It talks about Titan having rain and lakes, and it mentions tiny creatures called tardigrades. I thought these were the coolest little critters, not because of what they are or where they live–inside the moisture of moss, lichen, etc.–but because they look a lot like I envision the spitmollers of Grevared. Granted, these little creatures have more legs, but their flat faces and wrinkled appearance are just perfect. I wonder if it would’ve been easier to picture the spitmollers if I’d seen the documentary first. It definitely would’ve made it easier to describe.

Where do you find inspiration for your writing?

Lissa Dobbs

http://www.lissadobbs.com