Rosi S. Phillips's Blog, page 10

Finally

The book is live on amazon! After promising, and then not delivering, and then promising again--I need to stop making promises--it's up! I'm so, so, so excited! Here's the link! Please buy, recommend, rate, everything you can if you like the book. I can honestly say that no character is as they seem, and the plot only thickens and expands as you get deeper into the story. Once you've read it, shot me an email and tell me about it. I love getting feedback, and since I'm still wet-behind-the-years, I always use the feedback to better myself. Thanks for the support everyone! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I4F4KN6

Excerpt from A Grim Love: Can't Fight Time

“Damnit!” Nina cursed softly as she turned and looked at Grim, relaxed and sleeping peacefully.

Why can’t I be like that? Nina wondered, feeling a bit jealous of her lover--correction, fiancée. Reapers didn’t really need to sleep, but some enjoyed the act. Grim said that reapers who were born from a human enjoyed the act because they dreamed, and they could escape into another place.

Sighing softly, Nina slipped out from underneath Grim’s body and swung her feet over the side of the bed. The carpet was soft beneath her feet as she wrapped a nightgown and robe around her body.

There was no point staying in bed if she wasn’t going to sleep, and she refused to stare at Grim like some freaky stalker. So she left, closing the door softly behind her, and nodded to the guards stationed outside of their room as she began her walk.

As always the hulking trees ignored her, and only the angry curl of their lips reminded her that they still saw her. But Nina couldn’t care about them at the moment, her mind too consumed with Grim.

She’d said yes. Against all of her better intentions, she’d said yes. But did that really change anything? For her, it didn’t.

“Hello!” A cheery voice that reminded her of a jovial Santa Claus called out from the darkness, making Nina jump.

Hand pressed against her chest, Nina whipped her head around and saw an older man with wavy black hair and olive toned skin wiggling his fingers at her in welcome.

“Who are--”

“Touni Bloospurn, King of this fair land.” the man spread his arms wide and turned in a slow circle, eyes closed with a bright smile on his face.

Nina frowned as she remembered the crazy man from the throne room. And with him so close, she couldn't mistake the resemblance to Grim. Blue-diamond eyes met hers, and aside from a thin scar just underneath his five o’clock shadow, his slightly shorter height, and his pale skin he could have been Grim’s twin.

Just as quickly as he began spinning he stopped, whipped his head to Nina and in half a second was nose to nose with her, his breath hot on her cheek. A scream jumped to her throat but she refused to let it out. It didn’t seem like this man would hurt her, but there was definitely something off. But then again, there was something off with everyone in the castle, a sort of detached coldness that permeated the halls.

“Would you care to take a walk?” the king asked suddenly, as he took a step back and gave her some space.

“Um…” She didn’t know if she could refuse a king, but she really didn’t want to spend more time than she had to with the man.

His smile softened as if he could sense her distress. “I’m going insane, my dear,” the king said quietly as he looked at a point just behind Nina, maybe a place in the past. “I've lost myself. I'm out of my mind. I've lost myself. I'm out of time.”

Nina listened as he muttered to himself, seemingly trapped somewhere else. It almost seemed to fit that the Bloodspurn king would be going mad. They were born from Death, and so Death couldn’t steal them.

It sort of explained why Grim was becoming the king now. His father wasn’t able to rule because he was losing himself. “Your Highness?”

The man blinked and seemed to come back from whatever ledge he’d been on. “Touni, please, my dear. After all you’re going to be my daughter soon.”

The warmth in his tone surprised Nina. “How do you--?”

“The walls have ears, my dear. Never forget that,” Tuoni said as he held his arm out for her in the way a knight might for his lady. “Shall we take that walk now?”

For a second Nina assessed the situation rationally. Grim didn’t know where she was, and the castle was big enough that the mad king in front of her could take her to the BDSM room she’d seen. It was all so strange, that Nina felt she couldn’t do anything else but go along with it. What did she have to lose, anyway?

“Alright, Tuoni,” Nina replied as took his arm and they began to stroll down the hall.

Nina could feel the barely leashed power under his skin, moving faster than the blood in her veins. “Are you really okay with me marrying Grim?” she asked, curious about his position on the issue.

Tuoni patted her hand and turned a corner. A sudden burst of wind sent them flying down the corridor, like they took one large step, the transition was seamless. Then they were turning another corner.

“My mind flickers like a flame on a wick. Answers come to questions unasked. And I am nearly dead,” Tuoni said in a voice that sounded far away, in another world. Nina tugged at his sleeve until he turned and smiled down at her, showing that he was still with her.

“Do you know what makes a truly good story, Nina?” he asked suddenly.

Nina could tell that he was in another place. She decided to treat him like she treated her father, with the sort of patience and softness a parent has for a child. Smiling gently, she shook her head and waited for him to continue.

“One that is both fantasy and reality. One in a world that mirrors ours, so we can understand it, see it, but never go there. But you have gone to that world, Nina.” He turned and smiled widely at her, like she’d just told a very funny joke. “I’m not sure if you’re human.”

Nina felt her spine stiffen. She had zero clue what he was talking about. His answer had nothing to do with her marrying Grim. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

He turned away and looked straight ahead, repeating the chant: “My mind flickers like a flame on a wick. Answers come to questions unasked. And I am nearly dead.”

The king paused, almost like he had no choice, like an invisible tether had cut him short. “You are nearly dead, Nina, and yet you know so much more than you should.

“My opinion is irrelevant. It is like a mouse having an opinion about a lion--” he turned and bared his teeth in what only a fool would call a smile. “You could crush all of us under your paws.”

Nina studied his profile, wondering if he was absolutely brilliant or completely bonkers. She decided on the latter. “Touni, I--”

“We’re here,” he interrupted, letting go of her hand to push open a set of double doors.

Nina hadn’t even realized they’d still been walking until he stopped. The doors spread wide and lead out to a balcony the size of a small room, shaped in a half circle. “Come,” Tuoni beckoned.

Nina hadn’t even realized she’d moved until her hands closed around the railing of the balcony, her eyes stretched wide to see the town, quiet and dark, then further to a forest so thick, that light couldn’t penetrate its canopy.

“It’s beautiful!” Nina gasped, her eyes skating over the land.

Tuoni chuckled softly as he came to rest beside her, elbows on the railing. “It is, isn’t it?” His voice held a note of longing.

“Tuoni...” Nina paused, not sure what she was asking for, not sure if she had the right to ask it. “What’s happening?” Nina asked carefully, wondering if some of his craziness has rubbed off on her.

There was something mysterious, yet comforting about the crazy king. Nina had a niggling feeling that he wasn’t really crazy, but rather trapped in a place where time blurred together and spun out until it eclipsed everything--consumed as it destroyed.

“We’re a dying people, Nina.” The king blew out a tired breath he hadn’t needed to take and gave her a waning smile. “Our blood has been left too long, never leaving, always the same. Humans were our only ties to keep us from the past, and without them we are slipping, falling back.”

“What?” Nina asked softly when he didn't continue after a few moments.

The king’s blue-diamond eyes flashed with something like loathing, but Nina didn't feel like it was directed at her. Still, the intensity behind it made her shiver and draw back. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The man spoke in riddles, and it was driving Nina up the wall. One minute she’d think he was sane, and the next they’d be back to square one. She didn't even know why she bothered. Nothing she learned now would help her anyway. Reapers, crazy kings, and mad scientist gods. None of it really mattered. Sure it made for a great story, and a pretty cool autobiography, but that was for people who had time.

People who had a life. Why bother with it all? Why bother with anything that wasn’t Grim?

Shaking her head, Nina returned her gaze to the softly glowing city. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

Tuoni’s voice seemed far away, once again in another time and place. “We are dying because we have nothing to bind us. Our humanity was stolen through time, because we stole humanity’s time. Circles.” the king’s voice began almost lyrical, his eyes glazed over. “We crave nothing, but there can never be nothing. The void is filled with power, absolute and corrupting, destroying everything like it used to. We slip back into the past and we die.”

Nina felt a shiver of apprehension slide up through her spine. Again, she couldn’t determine if he was crazy or Mensa smart. For some reason his lunacy reminded her of Uri. The way he spoke reminded her of the way Uri sometimes spoke one word but it sounded like he was talking about something completely different. It was funny how much Uri and Grim were like their father.

“You’re laughing.” The king ran a hand through his thick black hair and smiled wide.

Nina shook her head, crossed her arms on the railing, and sat her chin on top of her arms. “You remind me of your sons.”

“Ah,” he said, like he knew exactly what she was talking about.

For a few minutes they leaned against the railing, a companionable silence stealing over both of them. Nina was still trying to decipher what the king had said, not because she thought it meant anything, but because she liked a good puzzle and perhaps he wasn’t crazy but, as he’d said: lost in time.
Time. Nina knew the word well, had been playing it over again in her head until it became the background of her thoughts. A self-deprecating laugh escaped her as she stared at the crazy king and saw herself reflected in his eyes. They were both out of time.

Cover Wars

The last mile. Covers!

So I'm working with my publisher to find a cover, but we're coming up short. I'm really digging Mario Wibisono's work, but I haven't been able to get in contact with him.

If anyone has suggestions, or thoughts on the cover, please let me know! I'm trying my hardest to get this story out! I really, really can't wait to see the reviews. But I'm also super nervous!

But good or bad, I set my mind to something and I completed it! I couldn't be happier. I hope you all are happy for me too! And I'm so sorry it's taken so long! It's my first time with this all and I definitely jumped the gun! But I still hope everyone is excited; I know I am! :)