Tracy Cooper-Posey's Blog, page 9

KISS ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is out, everywhere!

Just a quick post today to let you know that Kiss Across the Universe, book 11 in the Kiss Across Time series, is now available everywhere.

Tip: While you’re checking out the book, don’t forget to re-download all the previous books in the series to your ebook reader — so that you get all the new covers and updated interiors.

A new, dark and ruthless enemy emerges to vex the time travelers…

Alannah’s family has always lurched from crisis to crisis, every time their secret life as time travelers and vampires clashes with the normal, human world. But Alannah has managed to stay unnoticed, living her uneventful and very human life to the hilt. Trouble doesn’t visit her for she has no extraordinary time traveling talents the way her siblings do. She is utterly average.

Kit McDonald thinks otherwise. He has been drawn to Alannah from the moment he met her, but the woman seems to barely recognize him. Given her unusual and highly interesting family, he can understand that. He’s just a park warden, with a checkered history and a remote and disinterested family of his own.

But when Alannah is confronted by a deadly, ruthless new enemy, it is Kit who steps in to help. As neither a time traveler, nor a vampire, his help is unique and oddly effective and the two find themselves on the run in the Canadian wilderness, with only each other for company….

This book is part of the paranormal time travel Kiss Across Time series:
1.0: Kiss Across Time
2.0: Kiss Across Swords
2.5: Time Kissed Moments*
3.0: Kiss Across Chains
3.5: Kiss Across Time Box One
4.0: Kiss Across Deserts
5.0: Kiss Across Kingdoms
5.1: Time And Tyra Again*
6.0: Kiss Across Seas
6.5: Kiss Across Time Box Two
7.0: Kiss Across Worlds
7.1: Time And Remembrance*
8.0: Kiss Across Tomorrow
8.1: More Time Kissed Moments*
9.0: Kiss Across Blades
10.0: Kiss Across Chaos
11.0: Kiss Across the Universe
11.1: Even More Time Kissed Moments*
12.0: Kiss Across Forever

[*Time Kissed Moments are short stories, novellas and collections featuring the characters and situations featured in the Kiss Across Time series.]

The series has ongoing storylines and characters. Reading the books in order is recommended.

You can buy Kiss Across the Universe from me at Stories Rule press, or from a retail store.

Buy Kiss Across the Universe from Me @ SRP!Buy Kiss Across the Universe from your favourite retailer!

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on September 07, 2023 11:12

The 20% Off Absolutely Everything Sale Has Started

The end of the month Stories Rule Press 20% off Sale started this morning and goes through to midnight MDT on September 2nd.

Absolutely everything available for sale on Stories Rule Press can be included.That includes books already on sale.And boxed sets — even the whole-series boxed sets.And pre-orders, too.Plus, SRP are steadily adding print books to the store, and these, too, are discounted.The coupon will only work for Stories Rule Press.And it expires at midnight MDT on September 2, 2023You can use the coupon as often as you want.And you can pass the coupon on to other readers.There’s no limit on what you can buy and have discounted.

Every purchase you make adds to your reward points, too.

To get started you can browse the store here,

Or check out the latest releases here,

Or browse the pre-orders here.

Enjoy!

Tracy

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on August 30, 2023 05:06

The next time travel vampire romance is out in two weeks’ time!

The next time travel vampire romance
is out in two weeks’ time!

Kiss Across the Universe, which is book 11 of the vampire time travel romance series, Kiss Across Time, will be released on my bookstore, and all retailers on September 7. That’s only two weeks from now.

At the same time, the entire series has received a spring clean. All the covers have been updated and look spectacular! You can see them all arrayed here.

As we’re only two weeks away from the release, it’s time for an excerpt.

Chapter One

Alannah hadn’t realized how noisy a Hollywood party could get, not until now, when she needed peace and quiet.

“What did you say?” Alannah repeated into her phone, bringing her other hand up to cover her other ear. She moved around to the other side of the pool cabana, and tucked herself up against the siding to eliminate some of the volume, but it didn’t seem to do any good. The splash of people doing cannonballs into the pool, most of them either fully clothed or completely naked, along with their raucous laughter and shouting, was drowning out her mother’s voice.

“Say that again, Mom.” Alannah spoke forcefully into the phone. If Alannah couldn’t hear her mother, it was a good bet that her mother couldn’t hear Alannah over the noise, either.

Taylor spoke just as loudly. “I said, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving next Sunday. Turkey and all the fixings. You should come. We haven’t seen you for weeks and weeks.”

A shriek accompanied her mother’s pronouncement, making Alannah start. Then a loud splash, followed by clapping and laughter. Someone had just gone swimming who hadn’t wanted to.

“Thanksgiving, Mom?” Alannah repeated, bewildered. “It’s barely October!”

“That’s when Canadians have Thanksgiving,” Taylor replied smoothly. “The second Monday in October. But most people have their dinners on the Sunday.”

Alannah shook her head. “I’ll be there for our Thanksgiving.” It was way too early in the year to be thinking about shopping and Christmas gifts, which was what Thanksgiving always triggered for her.

For a moment, her mother didn’t respond.

“Mom?” Alannah nudged, wondering if she’d missed her mother’s response, as the noise from around the corner of the cabana seemed to be getting louder.

“We won’t be doing Thanksgiving in November,” Taylor said.

Alannah wasn’t certain, but she thought there was a note of apology in her mother’s voice.

“Not doing Thanksgiving? Mom…!”

“We don’t live in the United States,” Taylor said. “We live in Canada. And Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October.”

“But you’re American!”

“I was,” Taylor agreed. “And we kept our identities when we moved here, but that’s not always going to be the case, Alannah. Soon or later, we’ll have to move onto the next life, and that will mean becoming whatever nationality and race the new identities give us. And if that new identity dictates Thanksgiving in April, then that’s when we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving.”

Alannah squeezed the phone, her heart thudding. Words eluded her.

Not that she was surprised. This facet of her parents’ existence had been discussed many times, behind carefully closed doors. She had been aware of the differences between her family and normal people all her life.

But this was the first time those differences had impacted her in a way that marked an ugly fact: Sooner or later, her parents would move onto a life that didn’t include her.

It was already happening. Thanksgiving in October instead of November wasn’t earth shattering, but it was different. It was an unsettling change. It upset traditions and customs she hadn’t realized she liked as much as she did, until now.

“So, you’ll come next Sunday, Alannah?” her mother added, her voice light, as if Alannah’s agreement was already in the bag.

Which it was. How could she say no? If she couldn’t have the Thanksgiving she wanted, she’d take the one offered. Besides, there were always orphans and loners in Hollywood, who either got together for their own Thanksgiving in November, or were invited to others’. She might yet have her Turkey Thursday. Only it wouldn’t be the same….

Alannah choked off that unpleasant thought. “I’ll be there,” she told her mother woodenly.

“What was that? The noise…!”

“I’ll come for Thanksgiving on Sunday,” Alannah said, raising her voice.

“Good. Great. Bring a pie, ‘lannah. Love you!”

“Bye,” Alannah got out. Then her mother was gone. She put her phone back in the pocket of the light jacket she was wearing. It was October, after all. In Canada, they probably had snow already, while it was sixty degrees here. But after years of living in L.A., Alannah found even sixty degrees cold. No wonder the swimmers in the pool kept moving about. They were staying warm.

She moved out around the cabana and the noise leapt in volume. Most of the lounges were occupied, many of them with two people. A dozen or more people were moving about the edge of the big lagoon-like pool clutching blankets around their shoulders.

Whose idea had it been to jump into the water in the first place and had started the lemming-like migration into the water? Whoever it was, they must surely have been drunk or high. Or both.

Alannah skirted around the loungers, her heart still working way too hard. A tight mass was sitting in her chest.

Then she remembered that she had abruptly left an unofficial meeting happening in the upstairs relaxation area of the big house. She didn’t know whose house this was. She had just been told to turn up to this address by her boss, Dale Alyard. Dale ran Luxe Productions and might even have an interest in the company. Alannah didn’t know because he wasn’t the sort of boss to share anything significant. But he didn’t mind her carting his dirty laundry to the cleaners.

Alannah realized she had come to a halt where the path moved up a set of brick steps to a patio beside the wide wall of glass doors into the house. The doors all stood open, light blazed from the rooms beyond. The inside of the house was as busy as the area around the pool and she would have to squeeze through and around groups to get to the stairs up to the area where her meeting was taking place.

She made herself trudge up the steps. Whatever was eating the back of her brain about Thanksgiving she would have to deal with later. She pulled the sleeves of her jacket down, and brushed at the back of it in case it had picked up any dirt from the wall of the cabana.

She moved into the house and wondered if even more people had squeezed in here since she had moved outside to take her call. The noise of dozens—perhaps hundreds—of conversations was almost deafening. She winced at the sound and began working her way through the room to the foyer beyond, where the stairs were located. The room was a large one with a vaulted ceiling and faux medieval beams “supporting” it. Ceiling fans, incongruous against the olde worlde décor, were trying to move the air around but there were too many people and too much smoke—no one was giving up their prime networking opportunities to poison the air outside.

Alannah’s eyes began to water. She hadn’t noticed the smoke levels before moving outside and breathing fresh air. More than a little of the smoke was from marijuana, too. Staying sober in here would be impossible. She would have to escape as soon as she could. Not that she minded being either drunk or stoned, but tonight she was working.

Finally, she made it to the front foyer, a cavernous rounded area where the stairs swept grandly in a sinuous curve up to the second and then the third floor.

Dale Alyard stood next to the newel post of the stairs. He gripped his big whisky glass, which rested on the flat top of the post, seeping condensation onto the curled banister end.

“Dale!” Alannah said, surprised. “Did the meeting end?”

He glared at her. His eyes were red-rimmed and the whites were pink, showing he was even more sensitive to the smoke levels than she. “He left,” he said flatly.

“Who? Adán?” Her surprised gave way to shock. “He left? What happened? I was only gone a few minutes!”

Dale’s scowl deepened. “And what the fuck were you thinking, leaving like that?” he demanded. “You left, then Caballero left. Thirty seconds, and he was gone like a breeze. I didn’t even talk to him about the film.” He sucked back a good inch of the two inches of dark whisky in the glass and hissed in reaction to the liquor. “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to talk to him?”

Weeks. Alannah didn’t voice the thought aloud, because Dale would get pissed. More pissed. She had thought all along that Dale’s plan to sign Adán Caballero to star in his little suspense movie was way too ambitious. Caballero was an action star and at the very top of the A-List, now he had two Oscars on his mantle shelf.

“You fucking abandoned me, right when it was critical,” Dale added, his voice rising.

“Adán Caballero left because of me? Because I left?” Alannah was beyond shocked, now. She was just an assistant. Stars didn’t talk to assistants. They barely nodded at them.

“He said it was the smoke, that he was training for the next Smoky Silva movie and didn’t want toxins in his lungs,” Dale shot back.

That actually sounded pretty reasonable to Alannah. But she kept her face immobile, for Dale wasn’t in a reasonable mood.

“But he really left because you signaled that you couldn’t give a fuck about him by walking out as soon as he got there,” Dale snarled.

“I took a call!” Alannah protested. “You both heard my phone ringing.”

Dale’s expression grew thunderous. “What fucking call could be more important than Adán Caballero standing right in front of you?”

It was my mother calling. Alannah held her teeth together, though. Telling him she valued her family over talking to someone like Adán Caballero would be the equivalent of putting a flame to tinder.

“Yeah, thought so,” Dale said, even though she hadn’t spoken. “You know what? You’re fired.”

Alannah’s jaw dropped. “What? For taking a phone call? You’re kidding me.”

“You’re fucking fired!” Dale shouted, his face turning red. “Get out of my fucking face, you moronic bitch!”

Alannah couldn’t help but look around to see who had heard Dale shouting, her cheeks burning. No one was standing about the foyer, but several people were passing through for there was a visitor bathroom tucked under the stairs. Even more people stood right next to the elegant arches leading into the big vaulted room.

Lots of heads had turned at the shouting, but no one looked particularly shocked and they all turned back to their own conversations.

Alannah’s middle was shaking. Soon it would reach out to her extremities. She felt cold, except for her face. Shock, her mind clinically catalogued.

Dale was busy ignoring her and draining the rest of his whisky. The creases around his mouth were white, while the rest of his face was flushed a deep, angry red.

She couldn’t argue him out of firing her. Not now. She couldn’t predict what his reaction would be. Not when he was this upset. He could possibly become violent. And again, her glance took in the whitish-grey flesh around his mouth.

So Alannah turned and headed back to the vaulted room. She would find a dark corner outside where no one could observe her, then jump back to her apartment in Brentwood. Screw behaving like a proper human, tonight. She wanted to be out of this noise, and somewhere where she could think.

Her trembling increased as she pushed and side stepped through the big room, making her want to hurry.

A hand caught at her elbow, anchoring her.

“Hey, ‘lannah, honey, you look sick. Bad joint?”

Alannah looked over her shoulder at the gorgeous blonde. Danya…Prince? Prinsen. Danya was some sort of assistant in a different production company, which made them colleagues of a sort, Alannah supposed. She often saw Danya at events and gatherings. Danya was always networking and making useful connections.

“You’re working?” Alannah asked Danya. Her voice came out strained and wobbly.

“Sorta. You know how it is.” Danya shrugged and smiled at the handsome man who she had clearly been talking to before hooking Alannah’s elbow as she went by. The man gave both of them a perfunctory smile of his own.

Danya looked back at Alannah. “You okay?”

Alannah could feel the trembling trying to take over her body. “I just got fired,” she confessed, her voice even more strained.

“Oh. ‘kay. Gotcha,” Danya said. “Well, have a good night!” She turned back to the actor.

Alannah stared at Danya for a moment, astonishment tangling with upset.

Then she got it. People got fired all the time in Hollywood. They were rejected, fell out of favor, were no longer the golden adored. They were the nominated, not the winners. They were the scapegoats, not the achievers. What was one more firing, among all that rejection?

Alannah turned and headed for the big wall of glass doors, her head down, thinking hard.

Yeah, so people got fired all the time, only this time it was she who had been fired, and for no reason except that she valued her family. Which was grossly unfair. Normal people valued their family, didn’t they?

When possibly the most luminous A-lister in Hollywood deigned to speak to you? Is that really the time to cut out and take a call from your mom? The voice in her head was cool, assessing.

Maybe she really didn’t have what it took to succeed in Hollywood. It was a cut-throat town. She’d known that going in. But she hadn’t really understood just how fickle Tinsel Town was. How much maneuvering and manipulation it took to get a deal done.

The Dale Alyards of the world would have ignored all calls, especially those from their family.

So what did that make Alannah? Stupid? Or too normal?

Alannah moved around the brickwork to the west side of the house. There was nothing to see on that side of the house but the dark silhouettes of Beverley Hills and the night sky beyond. No one would be on that side of the house. If they wanted a view, they would be on the deck attached to the east side of the house, which overlooked the bright lights of L.A.

When had she started to question whether she fit in here? True, she’d lost her job. But this was her fifth job since she’d moved to L.A. With her building connections she could find another job tomorrow. A few calls, a bit of waiting, and something would emerge. She could casually drop the fact that she had been chatting with Adán Caballero last night, and the calls would be returned, she knew it.

Only…did she want to?

Alannah looked around for observers, for anyone who might see what she did next.

There was no one in sight, but she caught a whiff of hashish. Someone was having their own private party nearby. They were carefully tucked out of sight.

Alannah took a last look around, gathered herself up and jumped. When her small living room coalesced around her, her relief was vast, for there was no need to pretend to be a normal human anymore tonight.

A new, dark and ruthless enemy emerges to vex the time travelers…

Alannah’s family has always lurched from crisis to crisis, every time their secret life as time travelers and vampires clashes with the normal, human world. But Alannah has managed to stay unnoticed, living her uneventful and very human life to the hilt. Trouble doesn’t visit her for she has no extraordinary time traveling talents the way her siblings do. She is utterly average.

Kit McDonald thinks otherwise. He has been drawn to Alannah from the moment he met her, but the woman seems to barely recognize him. Given her unusual and highly interesting family, he can understand that. He’s just a park warden, with a checkered history and a remote and disinterested family of his own.

But when Alannah is confronted by a deadly, ruthless new enemy, it is Kit who steps in to help. As neither a time traveler, nor a vampire, his help is unique and oddly effective and the two find themselves on the run in the Canadian wilderness, with only each other for company….

This book is part of the paranormal time travel Kiss Across Time series:
1.0: Kiss Across Time
2.0: Kiss Across Swords
2.5: Time Kissed Moments*
3.0: Kiss Across Chains
3.5: Kiss Across Time Box One
4.0: Kiss Across Deserts
5.0: Kiss Across Kingdoms
5.1: Time And Tyra Again*
6.0: Kiss Across Seas
6.5: Kiss Across Time Box Two
7.0: Kiss Across Worlds
7.1: Time And Remembrance*
8.0: Kiss Across Tomorrow
8.1: More Time Kissed Moments*
9.0: Kiss Across Blades
10.0: Kiss Across Chaos
11.0: Kiss Across the Universe
11.1: Even More Time Kissed Moments*
12.0: Kiss Across Forever

[*Time Kissed Moments are short stories, novellas and collections featuring the characters and situations featured in the Kiss Across Time series.]

The series has ongoing storylines and characters. Reading the books in order is recommended.

The book will be released on Stories Rule Press (my bookstore) and all retailers in two weeks’ time on September 7.

You can pre-order it right now.

Buy Kiss Across the Universe from Me @ SRP!Buy from your preferred retailer.

The link to SRP will also give you links to the other retail stores.

Cheers,

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on August 24, 2023 11:12

Fantasy Romance excerpt

We’re two weeks away from the release of the third boxed set in the Once and Future Hearts fantasy romance series. Which means it’s time for an excerpt. In this case, the entire first chapter from the first book in the set, Abduction of Guenivere.

Chapter One

Camelot. Ostara (early Spring). 500 C.E.

Later, Tegan would tell herself she should have been seated at her family’s table, that perhaps the tragedy might have been averted if she had.

Instead, Tegan had murmured to Elaine, her stepmother, that she would sit at the high table for the feast, for she was concerned about Guenivere. Elaine patted Tegan’s hand where she had rested against Elaine’s shoulder. “You are a good friend to the Queen. Go and care for the poor girl.”

Tegan hurried through the guests assembling in the big hall. The guests stood in clumps between the tables set for the feast. Tegan was careful not to step upon hems or jostle shoulders which might dislodge headpieces. She kept her own hems firmly in hand, so that no one snagged her gown. The gown had only just been completed by the seamstresses in time for the feast. It was one of the new style gowns, which clung to breast and hip, with sleeves that dipped and threatened to sweep the floor alongside her hems. There was an excess of fabric in the gown from hip to hem. Tegan was not certain how the gown could be so restricted about the hips yet manage to fold and drape around her ankles the way it did, but she liked the effect and didn’t want her gown ruined the moment she first appeared in it.

She reached the high table just as the King and Queen were announced with a three-note call upon a horn, and took her place beside Guenivere’s high chair. Directly in front of the King’s table were the family tables of his companions. It was an unfortunate fact that the Lothian table was directly in front of Tegan.

As everyone moved to their tables and stood waiting for the King and Queen to seat themselves, Tegan’s gaze shifted to the Lothian table. As it was the Feast of Ostara, many of the petty kings had travelled to Camelot to celebrate with Arthur and the court. This year, they included King Gaheris of Lothian. He sat at the head of the table, facing toward Arthur’s chair. It meant that Gawain, the second oldest of the fiery red-headed family, sat at the other end of the table, for Gaheris had no queen yet.

It meant that Gawain’s gaze, if he peered directly ahead, would be upon her. Right now, he watched Arthur help Guenivere to the table. As usual, Gawain wore a richly embroidered tunic. The fibula in his mantle shone golden and glinted with gems but did nothing to hide the warrior’s shoulders beneath.

Vexed that she was staring at the man, Tegan looked away even as his gaze flickered in her direction. Had he sensed she was watching him? She would not look back to check.

Instead, Tegan got to her feet and took Guenivere’s other elbow. Cara pulled out the Queen’s chair, even though Cara was heavy with child. Then Cara settled carefully upon her own well-cushioned seat.

Tegan and Arthur helped Guenivere onto the big chair while the hall politely waited.

Then Arthur returned to his chair and took the mug Merlin offered him and held it up to the people watching him. “I call good fortune upon the land. May the planting of this year’s crops go smoothly and bear fruit.” He did not look at his queen as he spoke the traditional words and no one shifted their gaze from the king, but Tegan suspected that everyone had focused upon Guenivere at that moment.

Guenivere kept her gaze upon her lap, but Tegan saw her cheeks redden.

“The gods bless the land,” Merlin added, in a firm voice.

“Amen,” some of the Christians in the room added.

Everyone drank.

Then the servants hurried in with their trays and kettles and platters. The feast began.

Conversation immediately began at all the tables. The pleasant noise of companionship rose up toward the high ceiling, where doves roosted.

While the head man served Arthur, Tegan leaned toward Guenivere. “Are you well enough, Jenny? It is far too soon to rise from your bed—”

Guenivere shot Tegan a glance, one filled with both frustration and amusement. “And miss this feast?” she breathed. “The court already disapproves of me. That would merely add to their complaints.”

“That is not true,” Cara said just as quietly, from the other side of Tegan. “You overestimate their ire, my lady.”

Only Tegan dared called Guenivere “Jenny”. The practice had started as a joke. The silly form of teasing had made Guenivere laugh at the common, unadorned simplicity of the name and desist with whatever pretentious and overly grand scheme she was building at that moment.

The name had remained, just as Guenivere’s ambitious plans for Camelot had remained…and grown.

Guenivere gave Cara a fond look. “You underestimate the will of the people, Cara. You always have. I have lost a third child…” She hesitated, her slender throat working, then she continued. “People already speak too much of portents and signs and look for bad luck where there is none. I will not give them further reason to point at me.” She lifted her chin and smiled beautifully at the kitchenhand as he laid slices of venison upon her platter and thanked him, her voice even and musical.

Once the servants had finished serving everyone at the King’s table and had placed dishes in the middle from which they could take additional portions, Guenivere bent her head and spoke so Tegan alone could hear it. “In truth, I am not sure I should have attempted to rise tonight.”

“I suspected so,” Tegan replied just as quietly. “Is Arthur…is he very upset?”

Guenivere did not look at her husband. “I do not know. He is so very hard to understand, at times.”

All the time, more likely, Tegan amended in her mind. Arthur was a distant man even to those counted close to him, including Guenivere. He shared more of his true nature with his companions, those who had been his senior officers when war had gripped the land.

One of those companions was Gawain. Tegan resisted the need to look at him. It had become a habit to let her gaze drift to any areas of a room Gawain did not occupy. “Eat a little,” she told the Queen. “If you cut the meat up and push it around, it will appear you have eaten much more than you have.”

Guenivere gave a small nod. “Thank you.” The appearance of a healthy appetite would not go unobserved by the court.

Tegan turned to her own meal. She had little appetite for the rich meat, the herbed vegetables and sauces which accompanied every meal. The near-burnt slice off a haunch hanging over an open flame would suit her better. Although a lady did not profess such preferences aloud.

So she ate daintily, drank rather more of the strong wine and let her gaze move around the hall.

Her family’s table was farther down the room, yet she was still able to see everyone there clearly enough, for it was in the middle of the room and in direct view of the King’s chair, and not off to one side or up against the wall, as some of the lesser families and houses were.

Tegan saw that Bricius, her father, watched her. As she looked at him, Bricius lifted his goblet toward her. He winked, his dark eyes merry. While his beard and hair had developed alarming streaks of grey lately, his eyes never seemed to change.

Tegan smiled and lifted her own cup and sipped from it. Her father was immensely proud of her high position at court, even though Tegan had protested more than once that it had not been skill and diplomacy which had placed her there. “I like Guenivere, father. She likes me. All I did was be a good friend to her.”

“The gods know she has few enough of those,” her father replied. “It is an honorable thing to be a friend a man can count upon.”

As Tegan watched, her father leaned and murmured something to Elaine, his wife. Elaine was older than her father, although Tegan was not certain exactly how old the great lady was, for she would not speak of such things. Despite her age, Elaine’s hair was still mostly pitch black, her brows still firmly arched and her chin firm. Only about her eyes did her flesh show any sign of the years she owned, for Elaine laughed often.

Tegan liked Elaine immensely. It was from studying Elaine—and Guenivere, too—that Tegan had learned the ways of a lady. Elaine had never attempted to become the mother Tegan had lost when she was quite small. Instead, Elaine had been supportive and kind, encouraging Tegan and Cadoc to depend upon her.

Elaine was laughing now, although Tegan could not hear her musical laugh over the buzz of conversations and the clatter of plates and cups and knives. Cadoc, Tegan’s brother, also began to laugh, while Bricius smiled. A family joke—one they would share with her later, Tegan was certain.

The meal went on. As bellies filled and cups emptied, people moved from table to table to pour wine and knock cups together and drink to each other’s health. Women, too, moved about the tables to drink with friends, steal morsels from each other’s’ plates and laugh together…and perhaps glance coquettishly at the men.

Tegan said to Guenivere, “Have you noticed how many ladies are wearing the same style of gown as you, now?”

“Yes, I saw that, too,” Cara added. “Surely, that is a mark of their respect, my lady?”

Guenivere gave a small smile. “It is a simple enough style. The younger men, though…my goodness!” She rolled her eyes.

Both Cara and Tegan laughed softly. Lately, it seemed, the garments and outfits the younger men of the court wore had become more elaborate and embellished, as they tried to out-do each other in brilliant plumage. Cara had dubbed them “bullfinches” for the dazzling arrays of color.

Tegan privately thought such displays were ridiculous but as the practice was essentially harmless, she said nothing. Instead, she rolled her eyes when she spotted the more excessive outfits.

Gawain and the older officers, including Cara’s husband, Bedivere, did not bother with the excessive fripperies, which Tegan approved of. Even Arthur, who had the greatest right to excessive display, did nothing more than wear rich fabrics and well-made garments, and for high feasts such as tonight, a golden torc to indicate his rank.

Excalibur strapped to his hip was embellishment enough, Tegan thought.

“Is that…Constantine?” Tegan asked, when she spotted a tall young man with a square chin and thick neck, standing by the Cornwall table. “Cador’s heir?”

“I believe so, yes,” Guenivere said, assessing the youth. “He is sixteen now…old enough to attend court.”

“He will break hearts,” Cara judged. “A fine pair of shoulders.”

“He is a strong fighter, Arthur says,” Guenivere replied. “So are Martyn and Trevor.” She glanced at the curly-haired Calleva twins who, as usual, were on opposite sides of the hall from each other. She looked at Cara, amusement showing in her eyes. “We should encourage your two younger sisters to take an interest in them, yes?”

Cara laughed. “Nareen and Isolde are too interested in themselves yet, my lady, but it would be an interesting match, would it not?”

The practice of devising suitable matches among those at court was a very private game the three of them enjoyed and that Guenivere encouraged. “We are fostering the longevity of the court,” she had pointed out. “A subtle word here and there does no harm and might bring joy to a pair who overlooked each other previously.”

As Guenivere had just lost her second unborn child when she had first suggested this, Tegan thought she understood why the Queen was so interested in the pair bonding of others.

Cara nudged Tegan’s side. “There goes the Maiden’s Champion, again.” She nodded.

Tegan scowled as she followed the direction of Cara’s gaze. Gawain was just settling at King Bevan’s table. He had not taken the bench directly beside Branwen, which would be too obvious, but was sitting beside Bevan, as the King filled Gawain’s cup.

Branwen was a beautiful, ethereal woman, with pale, wavy hair that swung about her hips and framed her delicate, pointed face.

“Branwen is hardly in need of rescue,” Tegan said and reached for her own wine.

“Or ruin,” Cara added.

Guenivere smothered her laugh, for when men invoked Gawain’s title as a defender of women, they most often added the qualification that he rescued them in order to ruin them. As Gawain rarely left the hall alone in an evening, the ribald statement was true enough.

Tegan drank deeply.

Cara nudged her once more and Tegan looked up. King Melwaes approached the King’s table. His direction said he did not intend to speak to the King as most men did. His gaze was upon Guenivere, as he minced and hedged toward the ladies’ end of the table.

Cara rolled her eyes.

Tegan hid her smile and tapped Guenivere’s arm in warning.

Guenivere looked up with a polite smile as Melwaes stopped before her and washed his hands together nervously. He gave a hesitant smile, as he gazed upon her with adoration in his eyes. “My lady, may I bid you felicitations for the season?”

“You are too kind, King Melwaes,” Guenivere replied. She did not move to lift the wine jug and offer him wine from her table.

“It is my fervent hope that you have fully recovered, my lady. I cannot express how overjoyed I am that you have appeared among us tonight.” His smile displayed large teeth.

“As she is among us, one presumes she has recovered,” Cara said flatly.

Tegan glanced at her and shook her head. Cara always tended toward direct speech, especially when she was irritated.

Cara pressed her lips together, holding in any other response she might make.

It was as if Melwaes could hear no one but Guenivere. He stared at her, his gaze roaming over her, waiting for her response.

“I am well, thank you,” Guenivere said, her tone still perfectly polite and gentle. “I will not keep you from the company tonight, Melwaes. Please…mingle as you may.”

Tegan admired Guenivere’s diplomacy. She had clothed a direct order to go away and made it sound magnanimous.

Melwaes washed his hands some more. “Yes, of course. Thank you, my lady.” He bowed and dithered, before forcing himself to turn and move away.

Cara blew out her breath. “Really, you should not be so polite, Guenivere.”

“He is harmless,” Guenivere replied. “And it is nice that someone approves of me, at least.”

Tegan bumped her shoulder against Guenivere’s. “You know perfectly well that I approve of you and everything you do. So does Cara.”

“And I, too,” said a voice from behind them, speaking as softly as they.

Tegan looked over her shoulder. Vivian, Lady of the Lake, stood behind them, clothed in deep, dark green and looked more regal than anyone wearing golden torcs. Her very long straight hair fell in an ebony curtain down one shoulder and gleamed in the lamplight. So did her flesh.

“Thank you, Lady Vivian,” Guenivere murmured.

“You are pale, Guenivere,” Vivian said. “You should not strain yourself tonight.”

“I am not yet challenged,” Guenivere assured her. “You know my reasons for attending, tonight of all nights.”

Vivian nodded. “And I agree with them or I would not have permitted you to come.”

No one disputed that Vivian had the power to make a Queen stay in her chamber should she deem it necessary.

“Oh, and look at that little man…what is his name again?” Cara said.

“Dilwyn,” Vivian supplied. “He is an odd duck, isn’t he?” She didn’t laugh, but her amusement was plain. “I do believe he stands half-a-head shorter than any woman I know.”

“What is he doing against the wall, like that?” Cara asked. “He looks as though he is holding the wall up.”

“Or the wall is holding him up, perhaps?” Guenivere suggested.

“He looks ill,” Tegan said, studying the working of Dilwyn’s small features. His forehead gleamed with sweat, as he stared into the middle of the room.

A woman screamed.

Tegan jumped. So did Guenivere. Cara drew in a startled breath.

“Merlin! Vivian! Help me!”

Tegan jumped to her feet, for that was her father’s voice. She could no longer see the family table, for people crowded around it.

Arthur rose to his feet, as Merlin stood and vaulted over the table with the vigor of a much younger man and flung himself into the crowd about the Dunoding table.

“Tegan,” Vivian murmured. “Come with me.” She moved around the table, trailing green folds.

Cold fingers walked up Tegan’s spine. Had Vivian arrived behind Guenivere when she did because she had seen this moment approaching?

Tegan followed the Lady of the Lake into the middle of the hall. Vivian did not need to push her way through the crowded backs. People parted on either side, as she lifted the front of her dress and sailed between them.

Cadoc stood between Tegan’s family table and the next one, staring down at the floor, his expression stricken.

Tegan’s heart thudded as she and Vivian rounded the table, people stepping back to give them room. Then she came to a horrified halt at the corner of the table.

Her father knelt on the floor, Elaine in his arms. Elaine writhed, her face wracked in pain, her breath squeezing from her in quick, harsh pants.

Merlin had his hand against her forehead, as if his touch would allow him to see inside her. His expression was grave.

“She was fine,” Bricius told the druid. “Drinking with everyone…then she gripped her throat and screamed, only no sound came out…” He looked as though he would weep. “Heal her, Merlin.”

Merlin glanced over his shoulder at Vivian.

Vivian reached over to the table and picked up Elaine’s jeweled cup, which lay on its side, the contents spilled across the wood. She sniffed at the cup, wrinkled her nose and pulled the cup away from her face quickly. “Poison,” she said softly. “One I have never come across before.”

Merlin reached into the pouch at his hip and withdrew a small vial and plucked the stopper from it with fast movements. “Help me make her drink this,” he told Bricius.

Cadoc whirled on his feet and thrust his way through the crowd. “You! Dilwyn!”

Everyone shifted out of Cadoc’s way as Tegan’s brother leapt at the little man and gripped his tunic and pushed him up against the wall. “What did you give my mother when you sat at our table?” Cadoc growled at the man, his jaw harder than Tegan had ever seen it.

Gawain moved swiftly around the table. “Give me the cup,” he told Vivian urgently, as Merlin and Tegan’s father fought to bring Merlin’s vial to her lips.

Vivian raised her brow at Gawain.

“Remember who my mother is,” Gawain said heavily, and held out his hand. “I understand poisons.”

Vivian put the cup in his hand. He sniffed carefully. Then a second time. “…gods above!” he breathed and whirled to face Merlin and Bricius. “Don’t give her that!” he cried.

Merlin looked up, frowning. “Too late,” he said, lifting the empty vial.

“Merlin!” Tegan’s father cried hoarsely, as Elaine struggled, moaning.

“Turn her on her side,” Merlin said, dropping the vial and reaching to help.

A light arm came around Tegan’s shoulders. “It will be all right,” Guenivere whispered.

Gawain watched Tegan. Pity showed in his expression.

Tegan shook her head, her eyes stinging. “No, it will not,” she told Guenivere, the truth making her heart hurt.

Elaine gave a great spasm, every muscle growing taut. Then she wretched hard, over and over. The contents she brought up were noxious with fumes. Not everything was normal food.

People moaned and shifted away. Tegan could hear sobbing, too. She closed her eyes and turned her head away. Keeping her eyes closed stopped her tears spilling but did not stop her shuddering.

In a little while, Elaine stopped making the agonized sounds.

Bricius drew in a hitching breath. “My sweet, sweet Elaine…” He whispered the words, his voice broken, but everyone heard them for the room was still and silent around them.

Tegan’s tears spilled then. Beside her, Vivian’s breath squeezed, and she sighed.

“Someone must tell Lancelot,” Merlin said, his voice heavy. “Let him know his mother is dead.”

Vivian cleared her throat. “I will send word.” Her voice was hoarse. “Although I suspect he already knows.”

Tracy Cooper-Posey once again found a way to drop you into history through her extraordinary storytelling
– Reader Review

The third set of three books of the series that will “keep you hooked until the end”, featuring the myths, legends and magic of the beloved King Arthur stories, surrounding heart-rending romances of the men and women who lived and loved in these perilous times.

7.0 Abduction of Guenivere

A politically expedient marriage, rife with bitter history. Gawain, one of Arthur’s greatest warriors and companions, seethes restlessly now war has ended. He brings himself to marry the politically suitable Tegan of Dunoding, who is far removed from the soft, gentle women he prefers, and irritates him more often than not. Tegan’s bitterness toward Gawain is driven by a history he doesn’t remember, and that she cannot forget, which dooms the marriage. When Tegan’s closest friend, Queen Guenivere, goes missing, sending Camelot into chaos, Arthur tasks Gawain and Lancelot with finding the Queen. Gawain shocks Tegan by seeking her unique talents to help with the quest. The two must find a way to work together, for the good of Camelot and Britain…

8.0 Downfall of Cornwall

Can Anwen help Sagramore find a way out of the darkness? Sagramore and Tristan are closer than brothers, sharing wine, women and an affinity for feral, furious fighting. As heir to both the King of the Magyars and the Eastern Roman throne, Sagramore is an outsider who has never been fully accepted by King Arthur’s court, or King Mark’s either. Calm, composed Anwen Idria, oldest daughter of the King of Strathclyde, is adored by all of Camelot the moment she arrives. She refuses the attention of the passionate, fiery Sagramore, for his wildness and blistering emotions remind her too much of her father, a former slave called Idris the Slayer, who terrifies her.

9.0 Vengeance of Arthur

The omens gather, while Camelot fractures… Saraid is an orphan, thanks to the Saxons, but has found a place as lady companion to Adrivete, the daughter of King Drust of Deira. She wants nothing more than to stay where she is and live a quiet, uneventful life. Her peace is shattered when Owain, the son of the dead King of Rheged, rides into Deira and demands they hand over Lamorak, the murderer of his aunt, Morguase of Lothian…before sliding from his horse in exhaustion. Then a message is received from Arthur, the High King of Britain, ordering Adrivete to travel to Camelot with Owain. Adrivete insists Saraid travel with her. When Owain unexpectedly helps her cope with the rigors of travel, Saraid learns he is not at all the gruff, infamous son of Rheged that rumour paints him to be. Neither of them wants to go to Camelot. Together, they might survive the politics, conspiracies and the storm that gathers over the city of miracles…

Included in this boxed set:

7.0 Abduction of Guenivere
8.0 Downfall of Cornwall
9.0 Vengeance of Arthur

This story is part of the historical fantasy romance series, Once and Future Hearts, set in Britain during the time of King Arthur.

1.0 Born of No Man
2.0 Dragon Kin
3.0 Pendragon Rises
3.5 Once and Future Hearts Box One
4.0 War Duke of Britain
5.0 High King of Britain
6.0 Battle of Mount Badon
6.5 Once and Future Hearts Box Two
7.0 Abduction of Guenivere
8.0 Downfall of Cornwall
8.1 Touch by Maen Llia
9.0 Vengeance of Arthur
9.5 Once and Future Hearts Box Three
10.0 Grace of Lancelot
11.0 The Grail and Glory
12.0 Camlann

A Historical Fantasy Romance/Ancient Historical Romance series

This boxed set will be released on Stories Rule Press on August 16th, and on all other retail stores on November 16th. It is currently available for pre-order everywhere.

If you haven’t yet bought a book directly from me, then you can grab the 10% Off coupon code on the front page of the SRP site.

If you have bought from me before (thank you!), then you will have reward points that you can use to earn a discount on the boxed set.

Buy Once and Future Hearts Box Three from Me @ SRP!

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on August 03, 2023 11:12

Romantic SF freebies from C. Gockel

C. Gockel has another book out in her Archangel Down series — Starship Waking.

And it’s free.
_______________________________

On an icy, barren world, a starship dreams of doom…

Throughout the galaxy, the reclusive alien race known as The One are incapacitated by terror.

On the planet Luddeccea, wolf-human hybrid Volka harbors a terrible secret…a secret that must explain her nightmares.

Trapped on a luxurious asteroid, pleasure ‘bot 6T9 struggles to find purpose—until he receives a message from an Unidentified Caller.

The worlds of The One, Volka, and 6T9 are about to collide.

The galaxy will be shaken to its core.

The starship is waking.
_______________________________

Head here to pick up your copy. Also, a bonus: Book 1 of the series is also free, the original Archangel Down.

Tracy

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 31, 2023 17:06

20% Off Everything 4-Days-Only Sale has started

The Stories Rule Press monthly 20% off sale started this morning.

The coupon code (below) is valid until midnight, August 2, MDT.It is only valid for the Stories Rule Press site (https://StoriesRulePress.com)You can use the coupon as often as you like until it expires.You can also pass the code along to other readers.Every book and story on Stories Rule Press is included.Boxed SetsBooks already on sale.Books and titles that are exclusive to SRPYou can also use the code in conjunction with other codesIf you’re new to SRP, then you can use the 10% off coupon code found on the front page of the site.You can use your reward points or other coupons you might have to build additional discounts.

To get started, first copy the coupon code: HW8T599H

Then head to the SRP store to start browsing: https://storiesrulepress.com/shop/

And enjoy!

Tracy

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 30, 2023 05:06

40% Off All Boxed Sets (Yes, everything!). One Week Only

For one week only, Stories Rule Press is offering all boxed sets at 40% off.

The deal starts today and ends at midnight MDT, Friday July 28th.

The coupon is only valid for boxed sets purchased at Stories Rule Press, but you can use the coupon as many times as you want until the expiry date.

You can also give the coupon code to other readers.

Now that we have a great new (and fast!) store, you should find your browsing and shopping much enhanced.

Give the new store a try: Copy this coupon code: V2FM732R, then head here to browse the boxed sets: https://storiesrulepress.com/product-category/story-length/boxed-sets/

Tracy

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 22, 2023 11:12

“Free” on Amazon Doesn’t Always Mean Free — and what to do about it.

Does this irk you as much as it does me? You’re browsing the free titles in your favourite category, spot a new cover, click on it to read the blurb, swing your fingertip or mouse over to click the Buy button…and learn it’s not free at all! There’s a price attached to the book, even though it’s in the free category!

Worse, you don’t notice the price until after you’ve hit the one-click button.

You might have assumed, as I did for the longest time, that certain countries don’t get the book free, that the author has dictated that only xxx countries get it free. Or that you in particular don’t qualify to get it free for some mysterious reason you’re afraid to ask about.

Actually the real reason is nothing close to either of those possible explanations.

Unlike every other bookstore in the world, Amazon does not allow authors to set the price of their book to free. It has to be set at 99c or higher…and there are penalties for setting a book’s price higher than $9.99 — but that’s a whole different story.

In order to have a book’s price set to free on Amazon, an author has to first set the price to zero everywhere else. Then they have to collect the URLs for the book on every retailer, and for every country where that retailer sells books, that Amazon also sells books to. All those URLs showing the free price in every country for every store have to be built into a PDF (as there isn’t room in the Amazon email box on the site that authors must use to communicate with Amazon). Then the PDF is attached to the email box.

Then Amazon get to decide if they want to price match the other stores, in all the countries.

Sometimes the answer is no. The book remains at 99c or whatever price the author has set it at before they asked for free listings. The book is not listed for free, is not added to the free categories. It remains a “pay for” book on Amazon alone.

I don’t hear of this happening very often, but it sometimes does.

But often (and always, in my case–I’ve never been turned down…yet), Amazon will price match and list the author’s book for free.

But here’s the tricky part.

Amazon can’t seem to keep the books listed for free. In my few conversations with real live people at Amazon, I’ve learned that there is some technical difficulty in listing free books that causes certain servers to glitch and revert back to the price set on the author’s dashboard.

It’s not even all the servers for that country. It’s just the server you happen to be using.

Eventually, like apples stored too close together, the rot spreads, and more and more servers in more and more countries will flip back to the paid price, even though the book is still showing in the Free categories.

An author, noticing this (or having received complaints from readers), can email Amazon and ask them to revert the price back to free (along with all the tedious URL listings for all the countries on all the retailers). Amazon will again decide if they want to do that, and if they do decide to price match again, will change whatever setting it is they change to make the price free.

But there’s no guarantees that this amendment will “take”. In my experience, the more often you ask for an adjustment back to zero, the shorter the time the free price will hold before it starts kicking back to paid.

What you can do about it.You can complain to Amazon. It’s possible they’ll look into it, but it’s also possible that they’ll just explain to you about the glitching servers and tell you to have a nice day — especially if you haven’t provided them with URLs from other stores showing the book free there.

And that doesn’t get you the book for free…at least, not right now.

If the book you want is not in Kindle Unlimited, then it will be on other bookstores (in 99.99% of cases — I can’t explain why the odd author or two only put their books up on Amazon, yet don’t use KU). The best and fastest option you have to acquire the book for free, in this case, is to head to one of your other favourite retail stores (you do have one or two, don’t you?), and download the book from there.

None of the other stores put such roadblocks in front of authors over making their books free. If an author wants to give away a book, they let them…and they don’t change the price back to something else because their algorithms can’t cope with free.

The book will be free on the other bookstores. It has to be, or Amazon would not have price-matched in the first place.

The third option, which takes longer, and may or may not get you a free copy, is to email the author and nicely let them know their book is no longer listed for free on Amazon. (If you let them know you understand about the difficulties of keeping a book free on Amazon, they’ll not get defensive.)

If you ask them where you can get the book free elsewhere, the author may give you a list of retailers, or may well give you a copy right there and then–or refer you to a BookFunnel page where you can download it. This last one is a nice option all around, because the book ends up in your BookFunnel library.

And thanks to you, the author has the option of contacting Amazon and trying to get the price reverted back to free. Staying on top of Amazon free pricing is a nearly full-time job, and having a reader point out a price has flipped back is a time saver.

My favourite option (ignore my personal bias), when the book in question is by one of our SRP authors, is to head to Stories Rule Press and get the book there. We don’t seem to have any issues with keeping a price at zero.

If you’re curious, we do list all the free books on SRP in one place. It’s here: https://storiesrulepress.com/free-library/. This will direct you to the free pages on each SRP authors’ site.

These free pages also include books currently taking part in BookFunnel giveaways, which aren’t permafree, but generally run for a calendar month each.

Tracy

View more on Tracy Cooper-Posey's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 18, 2023 11:12