Azalea Dabill's Blog, page 10

10 epic fantasy quotes for young adults

Click on any of these books for their descriptions or sales page on Amazon.

  The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler

“Courage isn’t the absence of fear, Owen. Courage is moving forward even when you’re afraid.” (Check out Jeff’s article on Virtue. A great read! So encouraging.)

 Reflection: The Stranger in the Mirror by Rachel B. Smith

“Remember that Chio may be in ashes, but the phoenix will rise again.” (I’m looking forward to diving into this series.)

 The Door by Lorilyn Roberts

“Use your gifts wisely. If you do, the king will increase them. If you don’t, your gifts will decrease and be given to another, though they will never be completely taken away. There’s always hope even when you go astray.” (Beginning of a family-friendly series!)

 Rae of Hope by W. J. May

“The first kiss is something a girl never forgets. This feeling, at this very moment, could carry me through a hundred summers.”

  Dauntless by Dina L. Sleiman

“The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. Oft as not, he is just another enemy waiting to be discovered.” (On my want to read list.)

  Shadowland by C.M. Gray

‘I have lived more years than I can remember.’ He leaned forward to better study a few of his nearest listeners. ‘Probably more than the sum of all your years combined. Kings have called me friend and heathen warriors have sworn to burn the flesh from my bones, vowing to search all seven halls of Hell to find me.’ (This looks interesting too. Half the fun of finding good books for others are the ones you fall in love with yourself.)

  Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina

“If there’s anything I hate, it’s someone telling me ‘don’t’ without saying why.” (A great read. I’ll be picking up more of these.)

 The Traitor’s Heir by Anna Thayer

He gripped his dagger hard. “He needed me. He wanted me to learn his trade. And we got by without dreams.” (This Knight of Eldaran series is not a bestseller – yet. But it ought to be. The best epic fantasy I’ve read in a year. Wonderful! Reminds me of great fantasy classics.)

 Under the Trees by Ashley Maker

“Teach me how to survive on my own.” Her voice was so strong and so broken at the same time. … With such courage before me, how could I deny her anything? (A nice clean read that reminds me of Princess Bride, and Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl.)

 The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

“Some things exist in our lives for but a brief moment. And we must let them go on to light another sky.” (This is one I want to read. ) 

 River of Time by Lisa T. Bergren

“Nay, this is not wise at all. But sometimes the heart tells us to venture where the mind fears to tread.” (Her whole series is great! Option for a movie is on the table and under consideration. Yay! We need more movies like this.)

 Falcon Heart by Azalea Dabill

The thin blade held sun and shadow and burning-cold crystals that crept toward her heart. Kyrin willed her gaze past the edge to his contempt. “I am not afraid, but a trial of skill lies between the strong!” 

Two of the above books are extras. 10 + 2. I had to throw in a couple more. Mine you can figure out easily. But just for fun – can you figure out which one is my friend’s? Click on any of these books for their descriptions on Amazon. For more epic fantasy reads, see my website resources page and my books.

And a family-friendly epic fantasy giveaway is coming soon!

The YA Fantasy Reader’s Oath

Adventure into new worlds . . .
Steal this graphic I made with a free photo from Unsplash–just link back–thanks!

Or a Manifesto of Ten Things YA Fantasy Readers Do Know

We will never give up our loyalty to a good story well told
We will not agree Fantasy is evil. A good fantasy is a breath of life. (In it I see things I see nowhere else. Not that facet of truth, that piercing beauty that tells me there is more beyond)
We affirm that reading a good fantasy stretches us
Exploring fantasy will affect us in all aspects
We will grow in heart, mind, and spirit
Reading fantasy is a gift—we will develop it. (It will take up a proper lot of my life. LOL)
We will encourage writers of great books by telling them and others what enthralls us about their adventurous worlds and peoples
Fantasy adventure meets the real world inside our hearts and teaches us to live with greater courage, honor, strength, and hope. (Hope is opposite despair, when I know the Creator of all good will triumph)
More fantasy books will flood our hands and shelves and we will keep a record of the great stories for those to come. (I’m always on the lookout for great fantasy in all genres so I can tell you about it . . .)
We will overcome. Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure

“Like” and “share” with your friends on your favorite media, FB, Pinterest, or Twitter if you enjoyed with the YA Fantasy Reader’s Oath! On to adventure!

Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure

YA fantasy books giveaway!

I’m giving away some of my favorite fantasy books to help build my platform! All you need to do to win is follow me, you can enter down below. My books will be free on 3/13, so you can see if you like my writing. If you do, please leave a review!

YA Fantasy Books Giveaway

 

 

More about Falcon Heart

 

“Falcon Heart by Azalea Dabill stands unique as a mix of medieval, romance, history, fantasy, and mystery with a strong Christian undercurrent. Written in flowing, fast-paced, poetic prose, it transports the reader to another place and time, rich in description and visual images. While very much a new genre to me, Ms. Dabill has done an amazing job of creating a story world that wraps the reader in its spell. For young adult readers on up, if you are intrigued by the timely themes of Christian vs. Arab culture as well as those already mentioned, you will not be disappointed.” -Norma Gail

Falcon Heart, the first book in an epic young adult fantasy series, is a historical adventure where Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel meets Stephen Lawhead’s King Raven trilogy.

A band of slavers murder stronghold daughter Kyrin Cieri’s mother. Forced to sail for Araby with an exiled warrior from the East and a peasant girl closer than blood, she learns Subak from her husband-in-name to protect herfrom the raiders of the sands and the secrets of the caliph’s court.

A strange dagger pursues her through tiger-haunted dreams.

Will she live until she faces the sword that killed her mother and find justice for her blood? For she must return to her father’s side and take up the keys of her stronghold.

To keep her friends from a lingering death, Kyrin Cieri, keeper of the keys, takes up justice against hate, and a dagger against her master’s sword. If she can pay the price the falcon dagger demands . . . and forfeit ever returning to her people.

Discover the legend of Kyrin Cieri, who adventures with her mother’s strange falcon dagger from Britain to Arabia and back.

Excerpt:

Seliam ran in, swinging. His blade would cut her in half. She evaded the edge by a hair, screaming defiance in his ear, and struck.

The falcon slid clean from his stomach to his back. She followed the blade and slid her other arm about his neck from behind. Her dagger tip pricked his spine.

With bated breath, the crowd waited for his belly to spill. His body arched back, Seliam wavered, his blade loose in his hand, his breath wrenching hollow through him.

Ali leaned back in his chair, and Sirius struck his knee with a curse. Shema put her hand over her eyes.

Kyrin shouted, “Yield!”

Seliam fell limp. She staggered, unable to hold him with one arm, but unwilling to slide the falcon in her sash. Her hand quivered at his back.

She had reversed the blade. If she killed him, she broke Ali’s wager. Her falcon’s blunt haft sped toward his temple.

Sliding to drop onto his knees, Seliam unfolded with a snap. His oiled skin defeated her wild swipe. He whipped around and his blade tip raked her ankle as she sprang back.

Kyrin shook her leg; it burned, but he had not cut the tendon. He crouched, wary, his sword guarding.

Ali yelled, “Bring him down!”

It should have been finished; she could have killed Seliam. All knew it.

The white receded from his face, his burned-corn hair lank with sweat. He feinted, and studied her sideslip with passionless eyes, every sense focused. His eyes were slits, his mouth tight and bloodless. He meant to kill her.

And their masters meant to let him try.

“Never take your eyes off your enemy.” I won’t, my father. Kyrin slid into Seliam’s reach, and retreated. He followed with a cross-body slash, a moth to the flame of her body. He missed, then thrust one-handed for her stomach.

She side stepped and sprang. They thudded together. She aimed a stroke under his arm.

His elbow slammed into her dagger hand as he desperately pulled back to shield his ribs. The falcon dropped from her fingers, her fumbling hands captured his wrist. She kicked at his front leg; it gave. She spun him about, his sword falling free. She took him to the stones with the dull smack of flesh on rock. And landed with her knees in his back. This Arab would learn the cost of treachery.

Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure

Get it on Amazon here.

2016 March YA Fantasy Blog Letter

Well, I’m getting on to adventure.

Journey beginning . . .

First, a bit of news:

I’m excited and just wanted to encourage you all that our fans really appreciate us taking time to talk to them.

Yesterday I emailed Rachel Neumeier of the Griffin Mage trilogy, The Floating Islands, etc., asking to order a signed copy of her new book Keeper of the Mist that is coming out for my book giveaway that Derek is helping me set up. *Giveaway coming soon.*

(I’m not advertising the giveaway as being signed copies, since I’m not sure all of them will make it, but I did email every author in my giveaway about whether they’d like to share/link back to help their readers also. Derek’s good tip. :))

And Rachel emailed me back this morning! I’ve been a big fan of her books. It meant so much that she talked to me. She also offered Keeper of the Mist for free, and wants to link back to the giveaway.

So take time with people–that’s what we’re about anyway–or should be, right?  This all goes to show that, dear YA fantasy Readers, we need your encouragement, and you need ours too. Commit to encouraging each other. With a smile, a share, a kind word. Whatever fits the moment.

 


Keep on keeping on!
 
Secondly:

I wrote a review of CJ Redwine’s new release, The Shadow Queen. No, I won’t tell you what I thought of it here–you just have to check out this YA site–you won’t regret it.

Thirdly:

I’m currently working toward releasing Falcon Heart and Falcon Flight in May. Stay tuned for updates!

And I’m not a blogger, so I can promise I won’t overwhelm you with more than a few emails a month. LOL

Thank you for reading! If you like this post please share it with your friends–or comment below
 
with questions or your opinion. I’ll do my best to answer in a timely way.
 
Until next month, or there is urgent news to share,
 
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Azalea Dabill





Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure

5 Signs of a Great Fight Scene in the River of Time Series and Movies

Hand made mock-up Tentative Book Cover–which never materialized

Five Great Fight Scene Signs:

 The fight scene is believable—in the context of the portrayed world
 The fight and the scene are logically carried out
 The fight scene has a good story supporting it
 The fight, conflict, or battle is driven by meaning 
 Scene and fight are created by someone with some knowledge of writing and fighting

As a past practicing martial artist and a fellow human who loves a good adventure, I admire great fight scenes.

Some of the best books I’ve read and movies I’ve seen include: R. A. Salvatore’s The Dark Elf trilogy for sword work; Lisa Tawn Bergrin’s The River of Time series for staff-wielding females; the Bourne movies for sniper action, martial art applicability, and prowess; LOTR for sword work and medieval type warfare; and The Last Samurai for martial art applicability, prowess, and a glimpse of another world; with the language, costumes, and characters true to itself. And these touch but the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, all of these, especially the movies, are more or less realistic as far as a real fight with various weapons goes. Much depends on the actor or character and the right build of tension and credibility throughout the story around the fight scene. I should add that in my experience the quality of the surrounding story highly impacts the fight scene.

In a story, book or film, there’s a fine ratio between exhibitionism and realism. In books, I especially lean toward realism—in the context of the portrayed world, as I say above. For instance, there’s a large difference between an elf’s swordsmanship abilities and a man’s.

I dislike blatant impossibilities such as the river scene and some of the others in the last segment of The Hobbit. They do not strike me as quite true to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. On top of that, impossibilities of real bodies in motion yank me out of the story.

Practicing martial art has given me insights into how to make a fight scene believable. Full contact Tae Kwon Do gives you some idea of guarding, striking, balance, action and reaction: the give and take of forces. It also gives you the experience of falling and how you feel when hit, how it feels to take down and hit someone else, and gives a multitude of techniques for excellent martial art scenes in fantasy adventure stories.

For a fight scene in any medium to be anything more than a brawl, it must have meaning behind it, within it, and ahead of it: a goal achieved by it. The goal “achieved” can be success or failure, depending on how it serves the story. The stakes must also be logically solid, which leads to emotional meaning and characters basing their actions or desired outcomes on the stakes and their meaning.

And someone may know how to fight, but not how to write, or script, or film. I imagine that’s why there are instructors and editors involved in both movies and books. So if you’re trying to write a great fight scene for script or book, take a few martial arts lessons or talk to someone who knows. Study the scenes you love and the ones that fit the five signs of a great fight scene.

So if you’re a writer or reader and you have a favorite fight scene or movie, leave a comment below and let me know. Please share this article with your friends on your favorite social media if you’ve found it helpful.

Thank you!

Azalea Dabill

2016 YA Fantasy Alliance and Blog List from creativindie

These look like some wonderful resources if you love to write and read YA! Dive in!

Book reviews and bloggers, Alliance group, and how-to-publish. All for us who love YA

http://urbanepics.com/best-ya-blogs-bookreviewers/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/925815260805671/

http://www.creativindie.com/how-to-self-publish-a-book/

 

 

Ranger’s Apprentice or Jedi Knight?

Contrasts

Who would you like to rescue you from a bad situation?

It depends on who is talking, and what is in their heart. Do their actions really add up to their words? The actions of the heroes of Star Wars were better than their beliefs. (Heroes includes heroines.)

Right now, I think I’d take Flanagan’s Halt, Apprentice Will, or any of his good characters over Luke or those who followed him. They have a clearer idea what they’re fighting for and they don’t lean on sex appeal, as the original Star Wars does with Leia. (But that’s another post. There’s good and bad sex appeal; it’s a wonderful part of life.) I can’t say if the new Star Wars does; I haven’t seen it yet. I mean to remedy that.  

Here’s some thoughts further along the same vein, from an email to a friend who had questions about story characters and whether suffering grows empathy or hardness in them.  

Be sure to give me your thoughts, too.

How we respond to suffering really depends on our hearts, our openness to God, and our openness to people. Often we all go through stages of learning through suffering, along the way to gaining empathy. We might have a pity party one day, feel angry and bitter the next, want to fix someone’s life the next . . .  

Sometimes we choose wrong, and sometimes we choose right. I’ve think you’ve done a good job portraying this in your books, Terri. (The Kayndo Series, by Terri Luckey.) Dayvee is the one I specifically remember going through these things. And people can also gain empathy (feeling with another person) and decide not to be compassionate. The moral war is big right here. Our innate selfishness warring with another’s need. Lots of food for thought and for stories.

 As Tim mentions, (another crit group friend) that’s one thing I dislike about some books now, they try to justify some of the villain’s actions or the villain himself, and often do not present truth. At any given moment we are either doing what is right or doing what is wrong. And some writers are trying to blur that distinction, to say there is excuse for wrongdoing, that it is not actually wrong. 

 I’m not saying there’s not a place for sympathy, like when a thief steals because he’s hungry, or someone turns bitter after someone kills their family or any other horrible, hard-to-get-through thing. I’d feel very much for them (and also for their bitterness and anger because it kills the heart) but it doesn’t let any of us off the hook. Humanizing a villain doesn’t mean we water down truth. The evil they did is still wrong and it still must be paid for.

Mercy does triumph over justice (if we accept it), but for that to happen, the wrong involved has to be acknowledged. If there isn’t wrong, there isn’t mercy or justice; those words mean nothing. We’re just trying to make someone feel better after something that hurts. (And there’s no real grounds for even that, since it’s not wrong, it’s not right, it’s just pain. Relativism even begins to take the meaning from the word “pain.”) Relativism kills truth, meaning, and purpose in your story. Don’t let it into your books! Not that I think you will. LOL

Who would you choose? Would you pick someone entirely different? Why? What do they mean to you? Please leave me your thoughts in the comments. Thanks.

Be sure and check out the below if you want more info to fuel your investigation. The blog post on this site is excellent about the Jedi, relativism, and story. It’s so good I printed and saved it. Moral Absolutes are Essential to Good Storytelling. 

http://mikeduran.com/2015/11/moral-absolutes-are-essential-to-good-storytelling/

Kiera Cass Signed YA book giveaway!

How often do you get a chance at 10 signed YA books? I enjoyed Kiera Cass’s books, and look forward to checking out more of these authors, whoever wins the giveaway. Give it a shot!

A Bit of Soul Baring: about Lance and Quill

Here’s the promised link to Kathrese McKee’s Newsletter and my author interview. She did a great job. Check out her website and books, too. You won’t regret it! 

Azalea’s Scop Talk: Lance and Quill

It’s here!

Lance and Quill is proofed and published in ebook and print. Thank you for your patience. You’re the best.

This medieval fantasy will romance your summer hours! I’ll be posting a link to friend and author, Kathrese McKee’s post tomorrow. Check back for my author interview. And don’t forget, there’s a special on! Share these with your friends who like books. Link: Lance and Quill.

And another! Check out Kathrese’s ebook special here: Turning Point.

Have a great summer!

Azalea Dabill

Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure