Leah R. Cutter's Blog, page 5

This and that

I have been trying to post more regularly. Some weeks I manage it. Other weeks I’m not as successful.

This week, I don’t have as much news. Just bits and pieces, really.

Point #1: the 2016 Write Stuff bundle is ending this week.

If you haven’t picked up your copy of this great collection of writing books, you need to act quickly. It’s going away.

https://storybundle.com/writing

Point #2: The Not Only Humans bundle is also ending this week.

This is a fun bundle with lots of really different, fun stories in it.

https://bundlerabbit.com/not-only-humans

Point #3: In July, I’m starting a new workshop for cover design. I’ll be posting more about that every week for the next few weeks. Let’s just say I’m really excited about this new workshop!

http://www.KRPWorkshops.com

Point #4: I’ve been writing. A lot.

“The Princess Troll”, which is the sequel to “The Changeling Troll” will be out in August.

“Spoiled Harvest”, the third of the Cassie stories and sequel to “Poisoned Pearls” and “Tainted Waters” will be out in October.

This month, I’m finishing up Tong Yi’s story, writing the rest of the novel started with his stories (“Dancing with Tong Yi”, “War on all Fronts”, and “The Sweet Shop”).

This novel is different than others I’ve written. It started out as stories, and has continued as such. At this point I think there are only three more “stories” to finish out the entire novel. They’re titles currently are: “The Immortals’ War”, “Girls’ Night Out”, and “Kiss. And Make Up.”

I hope to finish the Tong Yi stories by the end of June. If I can make that deadline, this novel may be available before the end of the year.

Point #5: The Island Sampler is just about finished!

As I’ve said before, I write all over the map.

So I created a map, trying to figure out just what I wrote, as well as to help readers find what they want to read.

Then I created a “sampler” of all the different types of thing I wrote, and am compiling it into a single entity.

Once the sampler is finished, I’ll be sending it out to everyone who has signed up for my newsletter, and as a free gift for anyone who signs up for my newsletter.

Receive Newsletter

Point #6: Not sure there is a point #6. So have a picture of a kitty instead.

 

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

New Non-Fiction Book! AND BOGO!!!

WOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I have a new Business For Breakfast book! It’s an actual craft book. It’s the follow-on to Business for Breakfast, Volume 3: The Beginning Professional Storyteller by Blaze Ward.

But this? Is the intermediate professional storyteller.

I know. I know. I’m not much past being a beginning writer myself.

However.

While there’s always another mountain range to climb, more to learn about the craft of writing, I’m no longer strictly in the beginning foothills.  I feel as though I’m firmly in the intermediate hills, and sometimes doing advanced stuff.

So I actually think I’m the perfect person to write this. Because I’m looking at the craft from the perspective of having written 20 novels. (That’s not a typo. I’m just about to start novel #21.) Not 200 novels. Not merely 1-2. (Seriously. Those people who are selling writing/craft workshops who have written only 2 novels? Yeah. No.)

Does this set of books, the beginning and intermediate professional storyteller, interest you?

Then read on! I have SUCH A DEAL for you.

For the next 24 hours, if you purchase the entire 2016 Write Stuff story bundle, and email me your proof of purchase, I’ll email you a zip file containing the epub and mobi of BOTH Business for Breakfast Volume 3 AND Volume 4. (Email to Leah @ leahcutter.com.)

Seriously. That gives you 12 books for a minimum of $15.

SUCH A DEAL.

So go! Now! Buy books! Contribute to a marvelous charity!

But again, my BOGO only lasts for 24 hours.

 

 

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

The 2016 Write Stuff Bundle!

YOU GUYS! HEY! YOU GUYS!

Yup. I’m in another bundle. SO EXCITED about this one.

I mean, look at that line up! LAWRENCE BLOCK. CAT RAMBO. JOANNA PENN.

And, well, me. Plus some other big names who you may have heard of. Like Mindy Klasky, and Kris Rusch, and Dean Smith, and Gerald Weinberg. And Tonya Price.

Seriously. I feel so honored to be invited to participate in this.

Wow.

Here’s some of the official write up about the bundle, from the curator, Kristine Kathryn Rusch:

Hundreds of writing books get published every year, and most of those books are written by people who have written…a book on writing. I kid you not. These people have a method or a scheme or they teach a writing class—even though I have no idea how they get those gigs. (Okay, I do. They get an MFA, which universities seem to think is more important than actual writing experience.)

Those writing books have nothing in common with the writing books in this bundle. Together, the authors of the books in The Write Stuff Bundle 2016 have more than two-hundred years of writing experience, and have contributed more than five hundred award-winning and bestselling books (fiction and nonfiction) to the world of literature.

We know writing, the writing life, and what makes a writing career. And we want to share it all with you.

These are some amazing books. From some amazing people.

If you’re unfamiliar with bundles, they go like this:

If you spend $5, you can get these books:

The Fieldstone Method: Weinberg on Writing, Stages of a Fiction Writer, The Rational Writer, Business For Breakfast, and How To Negotiate Anything.

HOWEVER. If you spend $15, you can get the entire bundle, which includes:

Writing The Novel From Plot To Print To Pixel, Heinlein’s Rules, Creating an Online Presence, The Writer’s Business Plan, and How To Make a Living From Your Writing.

You can also specify that a portion of your purchase goes to a charity. This bundle supports The Pearl Foundation, promotes education by endowing scholarships. The scholarships focus on returning students, who have been away from school for more than five years. Those students need a lot of financial assistance because they often have families, mortgages, and all those other expenses of adulthood.

So…get an education while giving an education. Pick up The Write Stuff 2016—and have fun!

But remember, this deal only lasts for a limited time.

https://storybundle.com/writing

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

FINISHED and Cat Sitting

This morning, finished the first draft of Spoiled Harvest!!!!! This is the third book in The Cassie Stories. I’m going to give it a month’s rest, look it over one last time, then send it to first readers.

Currently, I’m planning on an October publishing date.

I’m currently cat sitting in Lincoln City. Here’s a shot of the view from my writing computer this morning:

 

Rough life, I know.

The plan is for me to “clear the decks” as it were. I have a short story I must write, several others I have to clean up.

Then next week, I start the next novel! I wrote three stories about the Immortals’ War for the Uncollected Anthology. (Dancing With Tong Yi, War On All Fronts, and The Sweet Shop.) Now it’s time to finish the full story with a novel. Well, kind of. Writer brain thinks there are three more “episodes” to the story, already named and some idea of what happens. We’ll see when I actually start writing.

 

There will be other NEWS later this week!

In the meanwhile, have a kitty picture. Because. Kitty.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

My LGBTBBQWTF Tree

Let me show it to you!

WARNING: Picture heavy post ahead.

It’s spring in Seattle, and my lovely golden-and-pink-chain tree out front is blooming.

Here’s a close up of some of the pink blossoms.

Now, I had believed that perhaps this tree was a normal conglomeration of some sort. That the golden-chain had been grafted onto the pink chain, or vice versa.

Except…

I’m not sure how much you can tell from this picture. If it looks as though there are BOTH yellow-chain as well as pink blossoms coming from a single branch, you would be correct.

This is not a graft. I’ve seen pictures on the internet with these kinds of tress where the yellow chain takes up about half and the pink takes up the other half.

Nope. This is some sort of LGBTBBQWTF tree. Not gay, not straight, but a little of this mixed in with a little of that.

Kind of appropriate for Capitol Hill in Seattle, wouldn’t you say?

Along with my LGBT tree, there are lots of other plants blooming in my yard currently as well. The azaleas have started their run.

Whoever planned my front yard did a really nice job with the azaleas. One is an early bloomer (the pink one), then the red one blooms, then the last one, the white one, blooms. It means that I’ll have constant flowers in my front yard for most of the spring.

In the backyard, I’ve planted some lettuce, along with herbs.

In the other planter, no current picture available, I have more herbs and some garlic.

Out at the farm, Blaze wants to grow more Oregon grape. It’s a native plant out here. It isn’t actually a grape, but a variety of holly. The leaves are serrated and sharp, like a holly. The grapes grow kind of like regular grapes, starting with bright yellow flowers that turn into deep purple grapes. They can be used (with enough sugar) to make jam.

There are three varieties—some are creepers, some are bushes that only get 2-3′ tall, and others are really tall trees, 6-8′ tall.

There are many spots on Capitol Hill that have Oregon Grape growing as ornamentals. By that, I mean that they aren’t being grown for their grape harvest. Only the critters were eating the grapes.

So last summer, Blaze and I “harvested” some of the grapes, from three different plants on the hill. Then we planted all the grapes.

This year, well, this happened.

I spent last weekend separating out all the seedlings, putting them into their own pots. I believe I ended up with 19 plants. This will make a great hedge out at the farm!

I will leave you with one last picture of the kitty, doing Cat Yoga in the sunshine. Because your day needed it.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

New short story available: Paulaleena!

Pauli, the most recent of the Paulaleena fairies, must creep out of the woods and renew the pact with the human mayor of the nearby city.

The pact that keeps the world safe from the Dark Ones.

The pact forged by blood.

When this human mayor insists on seeing the Dark Ones herself, they both get more than they bargained for.

Available at your favorite retailers!

This novella is ALSO part of the Uncollected Anthology series! Issue #8: Out of the Woods.

Go check out the other fabulous writers and their stories!

First, from our special guest author, Ron Collins!

THE BRIDGE TO FAE REALM

Jonathan Hale is a delivery guy by day, and an underground music critic by night. He‘s on his own and just getting his life back together when he runs across Micaela Alandari. She‘s a kick–ass fae woman with an interesting bloodline that includes a half–brother mired in a losing war effort on the fae side of the tracks.

While Jon‘s worried about keeping his job, Micaela‘s got bigger problems for him to deal with. If he can‘t get his act together, it could mean the end of civilization on both sides of the Bridge to Fae Realm.

Tendrils, Twining by Dayle A. Dermatis

Widowed Penny ponders selling the beautiful Victorian home she and her late husband shared. After all, the yardwork is more than she can handle…this spring, it looks as though the forest is encroaching.

Surely it‘s an illusion.

But what if it isn‘t?

And when myth and magic collide with urban development, who will win and who will lose…and who will get caught in the crossfire?

”…One of the best writers working today.“

—USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith

Primitive Area by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

By the time Sara finds herself in the middle of the Idaho Primitive Area, she knows she made a huge mistake. Her decision clouded by the blush of new love, she agrees to accompany Travis on a weeklong hike. Sara, the city girl, in the woods, camping. And just when she thinks things can’t possibly get worse, she discovers just how wrong they can turn—but in ways she never expected. Magical ways…

“Rusch‘s short fiction is golden.”

—Kansas City Star

Lights! Camera! Action? by Annie Reed

Private detectives Diz and Dee have worked for some pretty odd clients. Leprechauns. Fairies. The occasional Greek God.

Even Dee’s mother.

But their newest client could be the oddest yet.

Horror movie director Morte (as in death; he had it legally changed) can’t find the star of his latest B–movie flick, currently filming in the woods outside Moretown Bay. The guy’s a method actor who needs to “live the part,” and he occasionally takes off to do a little research. Only this time he’s playing a werewolf, and the full moon is right around the corner.

Hollywood invades the offices of D & D Investigations in this latest addition to the Diz & Dee mystery series.

Peculiar Magic by Leslie Claire Walker

Death. Resurrection. Hope.

Beth died at seventeen, helping to save the world. Her boss, Malek—the serpent from the Garden of Eden in human form—brought her back.

She hasn’t been the same since. She can’t recall the details of her death. The missing memory haunts her.

When the supernatural creature who killed her hunts her down once again, Beth must face the mystery of her death head–on. If she can’t solve the puzzle of her hidden memory, she may lose something infinitely more valuable than her life.

If you enjoy mystical YA urban fantasy with an apocalyptic twist, you’ll love Peculiar Magic.

Peculiar Magic is a stand–alone story set in THE FAERY CHRONICLES series. For more FAERY CHRONICLES magic, visit leslieclairewalker.com.

The Reveal Within by Rebecca M. Senese

Marnie waited too long to sign up for a painting course and ends up in a wood carving class. What the heck does she know about carving wood? She manages to make it through the first session without gouging her arm but has to drop the class. Her learning to carve? No way. But something in the wood calls to her, urging her to reveal…what? Marnie wants nothing to do with the class but the wood has ideas of its own.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

And about that charity…

One of the really, really cool things about ebook bundles is that they let you support a charity.

The following is a guest post by my friend Melissa, about her adventures volunteering for the charity supported by The Middlings Bundle: Washington Talking Book and Braille Library.

Let me tell you a little about the Talking Book programs. It’s one of those “all nice stuff” charities, run by the National Library Service, and its premise is that everyone should be able to read.

I’ve volunteered for Talking Books for coming on 20 years, in two states, and it’s always just delightful … staffed by pleasant and interesting people, providing a service that spreads pleasure. It’s available to anyone who has difficulties reading, whether because they’re blind or have physical difficulties reading print. It’s one of the few volunteer opportunities that has very little downside: it’s fun to do, in a comfortable environment, and doesn’t eat up most (or any!) of my beloved weekends. And I know it’s making people happy all across the country!

My volunteerism takes two forms, narration and review. I’ve always enjoyed reading outloud to my friends and family, so the opportunity to narrate entire books makes me eager to head out to the Talking Books recording studio. I’ve narrated all manner of books. I’ve read history, engineering, romance, poetry, mysteries, magazines, a variety of young adult novels, and even the Washington Driver’s Manual (think about that one for a moment!). I’ve reviewed an equal range of topics. One of the best things about narrating for Talking Books is that you get to experience so many subjects that you might not encounter otherwise … review in particular is like a tasting bonanza. I’ve learned learned that I enjoy whole genres I’d never have looked into.

Narration is essentially what it sounds like. You read a book out load, aiming to sound interested and fully engaged while pronouncing the sentences clearly. It took me a little while to become good at it. Part of the process is to make a note of the inevitable errors, and go back and edit them out of the audio file. That’s also fun, whether it sounds fun or not. (It was NOT fun back when we recorded directly to tape, but in the shiny new digital age, it’s easy to fix.)

Review is similarly self-explanatory. After the narrator records a book, someone follows and listens to the recording while following along in the book, noting any errors … and those get sent back to the narrator to fix! It’s a great opportunity for people who enjoy books but don’t feel comfortable with the sound of their own voices.

All in all, it’s just a wonderful thing, no matter what side of the microphone you’re on!

The Middlings Bundle will only be available for about seven hours at this point. Then this wonderful deal will go away. If you want great stories, the ability to support some marvelous authors, as well as to give to a fabulous charity, go and pick yourself up a copy of The Middlings Bundle soon! Before it all goes away…

https://bundlerabbit.com/the-middling...

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

Story Excerpt: Collateral Damage

I am SO EXCITED.

This story excerpt is from one of the SPECIAL books. That you get from Kobo Books, after you buy the bundle.

Is that sweet, or what?

I’ve known Mark Leslie for a few years, primarily as an editor and as someone in the publishing business. I’ve always been impressed with his savy. He knows that there isn’t just a single path to publishing. He’s invented and continues to champion many ways to the mountain.

I’ve gone out to different meals with Mark. In addition to being incredibly generous with his time and his ideas, he’s also very funny.

If you ever get the chance to work with Mark, do.

In the meanwhile, you get to enjoy just a taste of him with this excerpt.

Enjoy!

Collateral Damage

 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is a stand-alone story which, if one is interested in timelines, takes place between Chapters 6 and 7 of Part III of the novel I, DEATH)

1

“I’m not a scavenger,” Peter mumbled as he rifled through the jacket pockets of the dead man who lay crumpled against the alley wall. “I’m a sin-eater.”

He had to keep telling himself this.

After all, scavengers feed on the dead. Peter fed on the living, was the force that took those lives. With each victim he could feel their life-force draining from them and channeling through his entire being, kick-starting orgasmic ripples of uncontrollable laughter that shot up and out from some dark core.

Peter was the harbinger of death.

He had been for years; and though he had suspected he was to blame for so very many deaths – his mother, during childbirth, his father just a few years later, his first best friend Donnie, then a dozen more friends, colleagues and teachers at school – it had just been in the past six months that it had become undeniable. His stare killed people – it sucked the life-force right out of them. He had spent several frustrated years trying to deny it and wailing in the pain of being at the center of so much loss and tragic death; loved ones whose lives were cut short simply for their proximity to Peter O’Mallick.

He had tried to put an end to it.

Several times.

But for some reason, perhaps a side-effect of the curse that coursed through his veins, every single suicide attempt had proven fruitless; simply, he could not die by his own hand.

It was only recently that Peter realized this power, this inexplicable curse he had been born with, could be put to good use.

In an alley, one not unlike the one he was in now, he had accidentally killed a man; watched the side of his head explode when making eye contact with him. But, while standing over the dead body, again frustrated with his curse, he had discovered the man he had just killed had himself been a killer.

That changed everything.

It meant, after all those years of suffering the slings and arrows of his outrageous fortune, Peter could finally attempt to take arms against his sea of troubles, apply his curse to a good cause, and prove to Hamlet that it didn’t have to always end in tragedy.

If he was cursed with causing death, the very least he could do was focus his time and energy on ridding the world of the low-lives, the carrion who fed off of the havoc, pain and loss of others.

That moment, the Peter O’Mallick who had railed against his curse took a back-seat to the new Peter who had embraced the power flowing within him as a force of good.

Yes! You can get this sweet story as part of the Middlings Bundle. 12 great stories for only $12!

But this deal won’t last forever. Get yours now, before the bundle goes away forever.

http://www.BundleRabbit.com

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

Story Excerpt: “Heaven Painted as a Cop Car”

In my continuing series of highlighting the most excellent writers who have graciously contributed to the Middlings Bundle (http://www.bundlerabbit.com) I was particularly excited about the excerpt for Dean.

You see, Dean saved my life.

Not in some sort of dramatic pull-me-from-a-smoking-vehicle rescue, although he’d be perfectly capable of doing that. (Have him tell you the cow story sometime.)

Back in 2009, I was…not burned out on writing. I was re-writing the epic fantasy trilogy that I’d finished and hating my life. I was completely ensconced in the myths about writing. They were making me miserable.

Dean was publishing his, “Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing” at that time. (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/killin...)

Someone pointed me to one of his blogs, making fun of what Dean had said.

However, what Dean had said kind of made sense to me. So I went to his site to read his original post. (When possible, I always try to go back to the original source material.)

What he said made me so angry.

Because he was right.

It took me about a week to get over myself. To finally pull on my big-girl panties and open my mind and start to learn.

Without Dean (and his cohort Kris) I wouldn’t be here. I’d quite possibly be miserably mired in the myths still, and not writing.

They gave me this second career, this second chance at a life and happiness. I cannot thank them enough. (They’ll say that I did the work, which is true. But they showed me that the path was possible.)

So thank you Dean.

Heaven Painted as a Cop Car

EVE BRYSON DIED so fast, she didn’t even realize she was dead for

a few minutes.

The rain was pounding down hard, one of those storms that

felt more like standing under a cold shower. She had on only a light

cotton summer dress, sandals, and panties. No bra, so this rain was

sticking her dress to her like a second skin. Not pleasant in the slightest.

Around her the heavy pine forest seemed frighteningly dark,

even though the sun was hours from setting. She could hear nothing

but the pounding rain against her head, matting her long brown hair

into a mess down her back.

She wasn’t even sure how she had ended up in the rain. A moment

before she had been driving toward a dinner date at a local

brewpub in downtown Portland with three friends from college.

In the years since college, the four of them had managed to get

together every month or so and she loved those evenings. It took her

mind off her worthless husband and even more worthless job she

couldn’t figure out how to get out of.

She had thought she would love high-tech work after coming out

of college with her masters in engineering. But she hated it, hated

the people more than anything else. Their goal wasn’t to create new

things, use their brains for good. All they did was try to figure out

how to get ahead in the corporate game.

And just like her job, she thought marrying Simpson Jones right out

of college was a good idea as well. It didn’t matter that he was taking a

break from finishing his degree. They had had great sex, lots of fun traveling,

and planning for a future. She thought she had found a soul mate.

Maybe a soul mate for her single lost sock. But that might be giving

Simpson more credit than he deserved.

It seemed good ol’ Simp to his friends never understood that

working was required to get ahead. She had no idea what he did all

day while she was working, but it certainly wasn’t anything to bring

in money. She had a hunch he just looked at porn and played online

games. She had gotten tired of asking about six months ago.

The marriage was that dead.

So for two years now she had supported him and that was going

to end very, very soon. All of the rebel things she had found charming

with him in college now just annoyed her beyond belief.

And all of her friends didn’t like him either right from the start.

That should have been a clue to her, but when a girl was in the first

blush of love and sexual satisfaction, thinking with the logical brain

wasn’t that possible.

So she had made two mistakes right out of college. In six months,

she would be out of both mistakes.

She shivered from the pounding cold rain and looked around.

What had happened?

The two-lane winding road through the trees was empty. Water

ran down one side, it was raining so hard.

Then she saw her wonderful little classic blue Miata off the road

and down an embankment. Then she remembered. She had been

thinking about how Simpson had complained that she wouldn’t cook

his dinner before she left. She had gotten so angry, she had been driving

far too fast down the twisting area through the trees from their

house in the hills to the main street below.

Far too fast for a pounding June rain.

She had slid into one corner, managed to get straightened out,

and then didn’t make the next corner. The last thing she remembered

was the Miata heading over the bank and for a large pine tree.

She must have bumped her head. She didn’t remember climbing

up here to the road.

She quickly felt her forehead, looking for any sign of blood in the

rain pounding at her.

Nothing.

The Miata’s lights were still on and she went to the edge of the

road to look down at it. It was pretty smashed up, but it wasn’t that

far off the road and the next person to come by would certainly see

it and her.

She felt really sad she had totaled her Miata. She had bought

it right out of college as well and it was the only fun thing left in

her life after two years. Now it looked like she would be starting

over completely.

The rain kept pounding at her and she could feel she was starting

to really get chilled. It had been a seventy-degree day today. How

could she be this cold?

A blue pickup, brand new from the looks of it, came around the

corner, saw the lights from her car and quickly braked and pulled

over onto the gravel shoulder of the road, putting on its flashing red

warning lights.

The driver was a guy about forty. Maybe older. She could never

tell with men in that range.

He pulled on a rain jacket with a hood as he climbed out and

went to the edge of the road to look at her poor car.

She put one arm across her chest to cover what was showing

through her wet dress and said to the guy, “I sure made a mess of it,

didn’t I?”

He said nothing, but instead quickly scrambled down the

bank. When he got to the Miata, he looked inside, then shook

his head and at a fast climb came back up the bank and started

toward his truck.

“Why are you ignoring me?” Eve asked.

She reached for the guy as he went past and her hand went right

through his arm.

And as it did, she could feel and read his mind.

All he was thinking was to get help out here quickly. And that he

doubted the woman in the car was alive. Her neck was badly twisted

in a way that necks didn’t twist.

She watched him move to the truck and climb in and use his cell

phone to call for help.

Then in the pounding rain, she moved over to the edge of the

bank and once again looked at her car.

She could see now that she was still inside.

She was dead.

And she was just about as cold and wet as she could ever remember

being. And she was getting hungry.

She was dead.

She was a ghost.

How the hell could she be hungry?

Get this fantastic story and 12 others for just $12! But hurry, the Middlings Bundle will disappear soon.

http://www.BundleRabbit.com

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

Ready…Set…BOGO!

Woo AND hoo!

It’s time for a BOGO!

I’m kicking off the week with one. Stay tuned, some of the other FABULOUS authors in the bundle are also going to participate this week!

The deal is this:

Buy the full bundle. $12 for 12 books. SUCH A DEAL.

Email me (leah at leahcutter dot com) the receipt from Bundle Rabbit, showing that you’ve bought all the books.

I will email you a link and a password to a page on my website. From there, you can download a free copy of When The Moon Over Kualina Mountain Comes. This is a dark, epic fantasy novel, kind of in line with the story I have in the bundle.

This deal only lasts for the next 24 hours, so until 2:30 PST on Tuesday, April 19th.

Here’s the blurb of the novel:

When the red moon rises directly over Kualina Mountain, madness follows.

—Southern Islands proverb

Centuries ago, fate forced the witches to move from the mainland to the Southern Islands. The peace–loving people there accepted and welcomed them.

Now, centuries later, the gods begin to make their will known again.

Ephanie, a young northern witch, waits impatiently. The certainty of youth fills her, assures her that she will do important things in her life. Then her destiny finds her, but it isn’t what she thought it would be.

Jahaka also waits, but for a sign. As head priestess of the northern witches, she despises the changes she sees in the witches, the corruption of their magic. How can she lead her people back to purity?

Mahina lives in the jungle, unclear which dreams come from her and which belong to her sisters. Until the goddess gives her a sign and the southern witches come back into their power.

Each of them must follow her own destiny to the bitter end, despite the cost.

All the while, war surfs toward them, carried on western winds.

A name is just a vase for the girl until it overflows into the woman.

—Northern proverb

Sooooo…for a short time only. Twenty four hours. You’ll actually get THIRTEEN books for just $12.

Hurry and get yours!

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.