Michelle Erickson's Blog, page 7

Pic Jump: last book of goal to release 12 books in 12 months

Released June 2011

Blurb:

My happily ever after started with a coma

I didn't think things could get worse.

Then I was accidentally eye-napped.

It's complicated, but because of me, a four-year old is being hunted by a kidnapping-murderer and all she has is a Barbie head to help her out.

If I don't do something, she's going to disappear –permanently.
I have one question:  How can I save her when all I can do is jump from one set of printed eyes to another?

Book#1 Chest of Souls

Released September 2010
Illustration:  StravenLite

Blurb

When do you tell children they are destined to bring down the wickedest city in the world?

That they've been hunted their entire lives by the very evil they must destroy?

And when they finally meet that evil, they may not win?

You don't.

Brenna is safe because she's oblivious to everything but Talon. She doesn't know that her mother is Hi-Sha of Eyes, or that her father was an assassin and he's supposed to be dead. She doesn't even know her pet is the Queen of all Shee's.

Talon felt safe until he met Brenna.

Once he is ordered to protect her, he's had to fight monsters he never knew existed, run away from an assassin, and escape a forest full of carnivores. His father burned down their cottage and left him with people he just met and he isn't sure who to trust.

In the meantime the Chest of Souls waits to be powered and neither child can guess the price.

Book #2 Lend Me Your Mind

Released October 2010
Illustration: StravenLite


Blurb

Brenna assumed everyone could modify an entire species, raise the dead, and speak with Deity because she's done all of those things and more. Yet, even with all her power she can't make Talon love her.

Talon has questions no one will answer. Like why he has to keep moving when he'd rather stay with the Tybars, what his father does for a living, and what really happened to his mother. The answers he does receive aren't comforting.

Odd things have started to happen - the ship he is on sinks, a woman from legend rises from the sea, and he has to keep a secret he never wanted to know. Danger tracks him from the Ammon Islands to the far western shore of Utak. Through it all, he can feel where Brenna is and her most powerful emotions, but isn't sure what it means.

Book#3 Aftermath

Released Dec 2010
Illustration: StravenLite





Blurb

Brenna yearns for Talon's love, but knows he sees her as a child. She's determined to change that before her parents keep their word to take her away where Talon will never find her. No one seems to understand that Talon is the core of Brenna's existence, not even Talon – yet.

Brenna is unaware the evil that has been searching for her has found her and if it can't take her, it will take those she loves.

Talon has read the Book of Benamii and is beginning to understand that if Brenna dies, all hope perishes with her. He will not allow anyone or anything to hurt her. Not even Tasut. He is determined to stand between her and what is coming.

Book#4 Sacrifice of Souls

Released December 2010 (I released 2 books as an early Christmas present to my fans)
Illustration: StravenLite





Blurb:

Brenna is on the other side of time to be trained. It is a place she cannot reach or see Talon and others are there including her mysterious teacher - a woman known only as the Forest Wife. This woman is beautiful, strange, as hard as Tasut, and as intelligent as Brenna's mother. That combination doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room. Somehow, the Forest Wife knows Brenna will do whatever she has to do, pay whatever price must be paid, to save Talon and that guarantees her obedience – for now.


Talon is in Sogo – courtesy of his father's great fist. He is to be sold at auction and join those destined for the Barracks. He doesn't understand why. He can't see how he can protect Brenna from Sogo. His plan at the moment is to survive the training and the odds are stacked against him: 300-1

Book#5 Traps

Released  January 2011
Illustration: StravenLite





Blurb:

Talon was born of a woman without a heart and a man without a soul into a world without a conscience. Now he has to fix it.


Too bad he's in the Sogoian Barracks, where hope of escape is trapped in the jaws of the hounds, the horns of the stone bulls, and the look in his father's eyes.

The Book of Benamii claims there is a traitor among his men. He's determined to find out who it is and save as many of his men as he can while they all train for the blood sport known as Cubes.

Safe on the other side of time, Brenna is learning things she never wanted to know about the past, present, and future.
 
The past concerns the fact the Five Creators are not myths and they left a deadly surprise beneath the Phoenix House orphanage. The present concerns what the Forest Wife does to those who disobey, and the future has no guarantees.

Book#6 Stone Dreams

Released February 2011
Illustration: StravenLite





Blurb:

Talon and his men have been training for seven years, but there is one competition they can't train for. Stone Dreams is an invitation-only nightmare Nez will arrange with one goal in mind: death of all competitors. There's a good chance the traitor will make his move because Stone Dreams takes place at night and 'accidents' happen in the dark.

Brenna now understands what it's going to take to power the Chest of Souls. There's only one choice she can make that will save Talon and bring about the fall of Sogo. She'd rather repeat all the traps the Ancients made by herself than tell Talon what will make the constellation Three Sisters fall and what his part in powering the Chest will be.

Book #7 Division of Souls

Released March 2011
Illustration:  StravenLite

Blurb:

After powering the Chest of Souls, Brenna's severed from her ability to love and that isn't all that's missing. She has made her choice and it isn't Talon.

Her plan is to save as many lives as she can before Sogo falls.
Logic rules her days and remorse rules her nights.

Talon survived Day of Air and must survive the coming days of Water, Fire, and Earth – ending with the travesty of the blood sport called Cubes. He thought the greatest test was when the Chest of Souls was powered, but his greatest challenge lies ahead.

He has to find a way to heal the division between Brenna and himself and if he can't, he has to ask himself if he loves her enough to do what must be done, no matter what?

Book #8 Storm

Released April 2011
Illustration: StravenLite


Blurb:

Brenna's not herself.

In Sogo, she's discovered what she's capable of – the streets are littered with living proof. All that keeps her sane is when she can meet Talon in dreams and that becomes impossible when Nez infects her with a Suque. Brenna comes to realize the Suque wants Talon more than it wants Nez and will do anything it can to have him.

Talon's getting bad news on all sides – the Ammonites refuse allegiance until the storm of prophecy rages, he's uncovered old secrets that make him question Brenna's loyalty, and the traitor is one step ahead, leaving Talon and his army to face certain death.

In spite of outward appearances, Talon is sure that somewhere inside Brenna is the woman who loves him – the woman he will risk everything and everyone to free.

Book #9 Walking with Lightning (final in COS epic)

Released in May 2011.
Illustration: StravenLite



People have asked me what Sogo looks like.  Well, here it is - being destroyed (Hallelujah!) 

In this final installment of the series, everything has come to a head.  Talon is determined to fight for Brenna even though she may not choose him in the end.  Brenna is still fighting the Suque and the Temis Belt. 

The other characters (well...most of them) fulfill their callings doing something no one else can do and must be done in spite of personal desires.


Finally, we have resolution for the conflicts and plots that have twisted and turned throughout the epic - though there are still some major inner struggles that must be fought. 
 
This book was the hardest to finish because with the end, you also have to move on as an author.  The good thing is, I can go back anytime and revisit these, my children, and be proud of their courage under extreme fire.
 
There is a prequel planned (Tentatively Titled:  Five, the Power Rising) that my daughter intends to write and, if things in her life go as planned, she will continue with the story of the Five after Sogo falls.   I look forward to it with great anticipation.