Helen B. Henderson's Blog, page 58

B is for Broch

B is for Broch.

Yesterday’s post ended with a mention of Lady Broch of Ky’port. We first see her through the eyes of the dragon lord, Branin Llewlyn in Dragon Destiny. 



Until his true mate appeared, he resigned himself to lesser relationships with the opposite sex. Over the years, many women had tried to seduce him in order to claim they’d bedded a dragon shifter or to garner the power a dragshi-wielded. At their first contact, he always made it clear no dragshi could have a permanent liaison with a true human, and that his favors could not be bought with money or wiles. Most women took his word and remained satisfied with the companionship. If they pursued their relationship to a physical level, it was done with no expectations beyond mutual pleasure.

He pictured the red-haired beauty he just left. Broch went beyond the usual flattery and flirtations. Sharp words always seemed to lie just beneath her light tone and apparent sincerity. Despite her physical beauty, he sensed a ruthlessness within her. No matter how hard she tried to throw herself at him, the fire never kindled.

Next, a snippit of her plans. She has just received a note from her father recalling her back to her family’s hold. Once the anger at having her plans to wed Branin ruined because she needed more time, she came up with a Plan B.

If Branin were my escort, accompanied me back to Ky’Port, we would be alone on the trail. With time and privacy, no man with blood in his veins has ever been able to refuse me. Branin will beg me to marry him.

More on Broch in:
Dragon Destiny - universal buy link
Hatchlings Curse - universal buy link

Tomorrow’s post stays with the dragshi, from First Change – “C is for Cailin.” If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

A is for Anastasia

Ais for Anastasia

The first “A” that came to mind was antipathy. But then I evaluated Lady Broch’s true emotions and it was closer to hatred. So I decided to select as the “A” for the challenge, Anastasia, who started off the Dragshi Chronicles.


The hardest part of writing Dragon Destiny , Book 1 of the chronicles, was the aging of Anastasia. I first met her when I wrote a short story for a writing course. She was a teenager who had lost her mother. The inspiration was a younger girl whose mother was serving overseas. In Dragon Destiny, Anastasia is older than when I first met her and she ages from a young woman to a vibrant adult. The transition finalized in my mind when I received the cover for Dragon Destiny by Fantasia Frog Designs and saw her portrait. The real Anastasia’s great-grandmother looked at the pose and attitude and stated, “That’s Anastasia.”

More on the fictional Anastasia and Dragon Destiny. The awakening of his dragon soul twin, Llewlyn, brought Dragshi Lord Branin near-eternal life, but not happiness. As a dragshi, he can take on dragon form and know the freedom of flight, however, both are the last of their kind and have waited millennia for their mates. The firebrand raider, Lady Broch is more than willing to fulfill that position -- with or without Branin's willing cooperation.

When a faint thought impinged on Branin's mind, hope for an ending to eons of loneliness soared. Plagued by doubts because no signs of a dragon shifter's birth have been seen, he searches the world for the mysterious girl he only knows by the name, Anastasia.

All that stands between happiness and a lifetime alone is destiny—and Broch.

Dragon Destiny - universal buy link

Tomorrow's post – “B is for Broch.”  If you're interested in following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~till next time, Helen

Hooked on Windmaster Legend, Rebuffed, #mfrwhook

A forbidden love. An impossible quest.
The accusation of witchcraft. Can love survive?
As a final excerpt as part of the celebration of the release of Windmaster Legend, more of the initial meeting between  Sub-Commander Pelra and Eirik, the future ruler of Clan Daimh.

To set the stage, in the previous excerpt, Pelra met Eirik, and she acknowledges the attraction... until he goes too far.

The arrival of two saddled horses followed by four more bearing their packages tied to their pack saddles brought Eirik, Conall, and Pelra to their feet. “It looks like your clan wants us underway as much as I want to get there,” Eirik said to Pelra. Bowing, he held open the second coat. “M’lady, if I may assist you.” He tilted his head at the darkening sky. “I fear the clouds are not waiting. We’ll be deluged within two candlemarks.”

Pelra gave a formal curtsy. “Thank you, kind sir.” Swift movements shrugged the coat onto her shoulders, and she tied the belt around her waist.

“May I assist you to the saddle, m’lady?” Eirik bent down, his fingers interlaced to form a cup.

Where before his attention attracted her, Pelra decided his solicitousness needed to be reined in. “I can mount quite well myself. If we need to make time, I suggest you get into your own saddle.”

Eirik accepted the rebuff with a smile and a wink.

~ * ~
BUY LINKS: 
Ebook: Amazon / Kobo  / Smashwords / Amazon UK / Amazon CA  / More ebook stores      Paperback: Amazon / Amazon UK 
Mobile Devices: Ios and Android


An Announcement: 

There won't be any book hooks next month as I'll be participating in the A-Z in April challenge. Using the theme, "Fantasy from Land to Sea," each post will will focus on the characters and settings of the Dragshi Chronicles and the Windmaster Novels with a touch of the writing life tossed in. So although there won't be any specific excerpts, some snuck their way into by using a letter between A-Z so you will still be able to hang out with wizards and fly with dragons (if you dare.)

Tuesday's Title, The Criminal Streak, A First Contact/Science Fiction novel

The overwhelming crime of one planet leads to a penal colony being started on another planet and results in huge changes taking place in the lives of the innocent inhabitants.

Title: The Criminal Streak (Silence of the Innocent/Cry of the Guilty Book 1)

Author: Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

Genre: Science Fiction, First Contact

Publisher: Books We Love, Ltd
Buy Links:   Amazon / More Stores

Blurb:

After two pieces of an asteroid hit their planet and knocked it off its axis, the surviving beings have spent centuries rebuilding their society on the edge of disaster. The Leaders made Great Changes and Purges constructing twenty huge cities, called megalopolises, to house their population, cultivating large farms, and purging most of the technology so everyone had a job.

The one problem the Leaders can’t control is crime. They have banished first time criminals to the destroyed former cities, now called Fringes, beside the Megalopolises. The murderers and drug and tobacco sellers are being sent to Orbital Prisons. These are set inside former spaceships orbiting above the planet. But those prisons are being overwhelmed and there is now a quest to find another planet that would support their type of species.

Jawn has just been sent to the Fringe of Megalopolises One for theft. He is lost, scared, and easily robbed of his few belongings. He finds his brother, Georg, who has been in the Fringe for years and is given a quick lesson on the rules of living in the Fringe.

Gwin is an Exploratory Officer who is part of the mission that finds the planet suitable to be used for a penal colony. She is framed for murder and Gwin, Jawn and Georg are among the prisoners on the space ships when they land on that planet. Along with them are a governor, judge, police officers, cooks, and other people who have been sent along to make this colony a success. Some of them made the trip to avoid prosecution at home.

Behind the Scene:

This series began with a sentence in my mind. When I started to flesh it out, I was writing a chapter a week. It eventually ran into about 110,000 words so I broke it into the two novels: The Criminal Streak and Betrayed. I named the series Silence of the Innocent/Cry of the Guilty which will only be understood at the end of Betrayed.

Author Bio:

I was born in New Westminster, B.C. Canada, and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. Over the years I worked as a bartender, hotel maid, cashier, bank teller, bookkeeper, printing press operator, meat wrapper, gold prospector, warehouse shipper, house renovator, and nursing attendant.

Since I love change, I have moved over thirty times in my life, living on acreages and farms and in small towns and cities throughout Alberta and B.C. I now live on an acreage on Vancouver Island with my husband and three female cats.

I began my writing career with a short story, progressed to travel and historical articles, and then on to travel books. I called these books my Backroads series and in the seven of them I described what there is to see and do along the back roads of British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon, and Alaska. They were published by Lone Pine Publishing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I then switched to fiction, writing three mystery novels, Illegally Dead , The Only Shadow in the House , and Whistler's Murder. The main character is a travel writer who gets involved in murders every time she heads out to work on an article for a travel magazine. In my stand-alone mystery novel, Gold Fever , I combine mystery with a little romance.

I have also written three Canadian historical novels: West to the Bay , and West to Grande Portage, and Romancing the Klondike.

I write in different genres mainly because I get an idea and write the book and then decide where it fits in the writing world. That is the way I wrote The Criminal Streak and Betrayed. They were my first science fiction novels.

All my fiction is published by Books We Love, Ltd. (BWL Ltd) in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada.

For more on Joan and her works, find her on the web at:

Publisher's Website / Goodreads  

Hooked on Windmaster Legend, Eye #bookqw #mfrwhook

A forbidden love. An impossible quest. The accusation of witchcraft.
Can love survive?
From Windmaster Legend. Meeting a Suitor? A snippit using the book quote word, "Eye."

Dark hair and piercing green eyes were the first things Pelra noticed. Eirik sat comfortably in the saddle, a man at ease on horseback and the trail. Swinging a leg over, he dropped to the ground. Swift movements untied a bundle he tossed over his shoulder. “As long as it’s ready, a plate sounds good. It’s been a cold ride.”

The wagonmaster performed quick introductions. Eirik’s handshake was warm. To Pelra’s surprise he shifted from the trader greeting to a formal kiss worthy of the king’s court. Heat spread from her hand to her neck. She hoped that neither the wagonmaster nor Conall noticed.

“Eirik, while you eat, I’ll have the supplies for Clan Daimh, and Pelra’s and Conall’s personal belongings, packed on the spare horses.” He looked at Conall. “Don’t worry, Bard, Lady Pelra, I’ll make sure your instruments are secured.” A wave and several drivers took over the animals to carry the supplies and headed towards the end of the train.

Pelra resisted the urge to join them. She had protected the instruments through too much to entrust them to others. Yet duty—and Eirik’s green eyes—held her in place.

~ * ~
Paperback: Amazon / Amazon UK / Barnes&Noble 
Ebook: Amazon / Amazon UK / Amazon CA /  Barnes&Noble  / Smashwords  / Books2Read
Mobile Devices: IOS & Android

Tuesday's Title, Peculiar Country, Paranormal by Stuart West

Growing up in Peculiar County is hard enough; dying is even worse.

Title:  Peculiar Country

Author: Stuart West

Date of Release: 07 30 17
Genre: Paranormal, Ghosts

Publisher: BWL Publishing
Buy Links:   One click to Favorite E-bookstore

Blurb:

Growing up in Peculiar County, Kansas, is a mighty...well, peculiar experience. In 1965, things get even stranger for Dibby Caldwell, the mortician's fifteen year old daughter. A young boy's ghost haunts Dibby into unearthing the circumstances of his death. Nobody—living or dead—wants her to succeed. James, the new mop-topped, bad boy at school doesn’t help. Dibby can’t get him out of her head, even though she doesn’t trust him. No, sir, there's nothing much more peculiar than life in Peculiar County…except maybe death in Peculiar County.

Behind the Scene:

I'm a Kansas author, which I consider both a curse and a blessing. It's a curse because...well, it's Kansas. But it's great because...well, it's Kansas. Lots of cool, strange and creepy things happen in the Midwest, and I toss all of the tales into my books. Call it "Kansas Noir." Peculiar County has a lotta basis in fact, tales told to me by my parents, my in-laws, things garnered around the local grocery. It takes place in a very special October Country, right next door to Ray Bradbury and a scootch over from permanent Halloween. At least I hope I pulled it off. Welcome to Peculiar County, just a day trip away from suspense.

Author Bio:

Stuart writes thrillers tinged with horror and horror tinged with thriller, both for adult and young adult audiences. He is also the author of the A Zack and Zora Comic Mystery series which includes Bad Day in a Banana Hammock, Murder By Massage, and Nightmare of Nannies.

Vsit him on the web at Facebook or drop in on his blog, https://stuartrwest.blogspot.com/, where he rants about what's griping him or chat up his newest favorite author or filmmaker. It's like Forest's never-ending box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get.

A-Z - Fantasy From Land to Sea

 

Thirty posts is a lot. That is two-thirds of the posts I did in the Marketing for Romance Writers 2018 challenge. But I had an entire year to come up with those 52 posts. It was one a week not one a day.

This post is supposed to set the theme for the April A-Z challenge. The posts will focus on the characters and settings of the Windmaster Novels and the Dragshi Chronicles, with a touch of the writing life tossed in for variety.

The dragshi are more than just a man or woman. Each are two beings–one a dragon, the other a human–sharing one body in space in time and able to change forms with the other at will. Their world and the adventures of the dragon shifters are recorded in the Dragshi Chronicles.

Off to start singing the alphabet song. Hope you'll join me April 1st for "A is for Anastasia." Here is the master list of blogs joining me in signing the alphabet song. 

~till next time, Helen

Hooked on Windmaster Legend, Luck, #MFRWauthor #MFRWHook

A forbidden love. An impossible quest. The accusation of witchcraft.
Can love survive?

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the snippit uses the bookqw "Luck." From Windmaster Legend

“G’day sir, you must be from the House of Pirri. Your order is almost ready. It won’t be but a candlemark or two more. You’re welcome to wait in my office. Or the Hoof and Horn.” A gesture pointed to where a line of men stood in front of a door three buildings down. The top half of the door was open, a board placed across the bottom half formed a serving table. “This time of day they’ll be frying fish and potatoes in the shed in the back. You can also buy a mug of ale. If you’re LUCKY enough, you can get one chilled in the well.”

~ * ~
Paperback Available at:

Amazon / Amazon UK 

Ebook Sails March 17th.
Pre-Order Now at Amazon / Smashwords / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

Tuesday's Title, Beyond the Fall, Time Travel, Historical Romance

Her present life a disaster, Tamara travels to England for research, falls into the past in a neglected cemetery, and meets a handsome, eighteenth century grain agitator who believes she's a spy.

Title: Beyond the Fall

Author: Diane Scott Lewis

Date of Release: 11/5/2018
Genre: Time Travel, Historical Romance

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Buy Links:   Amazon 

Blurb:

In 2018, Tamara is dumped by her arrogant husband, travels to Cornwall, England and researches her ancestors. In a neglected cemetery, she scrapes two fallen headstones together trying to read the one beneath, faints, and wakes up in 1789, the year of The French Revolution, and grain riots in England. Young Farmer Colum Polwhele comes to her aid. Can a sassy San Francisco gal survive in this primitive time and fall for Colum, a man active in underhanded dealings or will she struggle to return to her own time?

Behind the Scene:

I've always wondered how I'd react if I accidentally "fell" into the past. Here's an excerpt.

Transported to another century wasn’t possible. A fantasy! Tamara knuckled her chest to slow her breathing. “I might have fallen down the rabbit hole.”

“You injured yourself in a hole?” Colum shook his head slowly. “Where are you really from? You do speak an’ behave oddly. Lew thinks you’re a spy; an’ now I’m wonderin’ if you work for Mr. Arthur.” He scrutinized her closely.

“A spy?” She moaned at another layer of insanity. A thief, a spy, and what had Arthur called her, a Bedlamite? “A spy for what? I thought our countries were close allies?”

But not in the past! She almost tripped off the step.

“If you were a spy, you’d already know what for. But spies be good at pretendin’.” His eyes sparked, he leaned nearer. “Or lyin’ if it be needed.”

He didn’t trust her, and she couldn’t blame him.

Author Bio:

Diane Parkinson (Diane Scott Lewis) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, joined the Navy at nineteen, married in Greece and raised two sons all over the world, including Puerto Rico and Guam. A member of the Historical Novel Society, she wrote book reviews for the Historical Novels Review. Diane worked from 2007 to 2010 as an on-line historical editor. Writing since the age of five, she had her debut novel published in 2010, a story that takes place during the French Revolution. She’s had several historical and historical-romance novels published between 2010 and 2018. A fan of graphic arts, she’s designed brochures and book covers. She also enjoys traveling and camping.

Diane lives with her husband and dachshund in western Pennsylvania.

For more on her books visit her website: www.dianescottlewis.org.

Hooked on Windmaster Legend, No is Not Acceptable #mfrwauthor #mfrwhook

A forbidden love. An impossible quest. The accusation of witchcraft. Can love survive? 


The scene takes place the night of the captain's conclave just after Pelra refuses Leod's advances. This is what happens after her suggestion that he return to the party, that “There should be someone there suitable for you.”
 
Excerpt:

His slap rocked Pelra’s head back against the hedge. A hiss escaped her lips. Leod’s hard grip on her arm numbed her fingers, and the cases clattered to the ground. Instinctively, she shifted her feet to avoid stepping on the cases and damaging the precious instruments inside.

Leod’s yank hauled her to her feet. “We will dance, my lady. If not on your feet, then on your back.”

Shock and fear fought for control of Pelra’s legs. One emotion wanted to run, and the other held her in place. Anger that she would be attacked rose above the other emotions. I am at a party in the king’s garden. Even worse, her attacker was a member of her own trading house, in essence, kin. That slight reminder of who she was broke Pelra’s paralysis. A sharp twist of her wrist and she was free of Leod’s grasp. Two steps not only gave her room to maneuver, it drew her attacker away from the instruments.

Strategic options whirled in her mind. A glance revealed no weapons at hand. It’s up to me. As commander of a caravan, she’d been in plenty of fights. Just not, she admitted, hampered by a long gown. With one hand she gathered the skirt and hiked it a mere finger-length, so the hem rose to her ankle. The other hand reached as if to smooth an errant curl.

Leod’s eyes widened. His lips parted.

Pelra’s fingers tightened around the longest of the pins that held her hair in a crown around her head. That one will get a surprise. I am no tavern girl selling myself for a few coins. Instructions from the guild’s weaponsmasters solidified a strategy in her mind. Let him come to you—then strike.


~ * ~

~till next time, Helen