When Darkness Begins – Launch May 28, 2020 First reviews are in!
What a weird feeling to click the enter button on an email that says, “Dear publisher, Attached you will find the final manuscript for When Darkness Begins…”
[image error](Image from Pixabay)
May I always feel an awe for the task completed and feel so small in disbelief. I can’t tell you a time when I wasn’t working on a book. There has never been a time that a book wasn’t in the back of my head right next to some fabricated deadline that I had given myself. “Finish this chapter by February.” “Finish this edit by May.” “Finish—finish—finish.” Without those who support, encourage, and critique me along the way—I would probably never have finished any of these books. Well, I would have finished them then burned them as I have done with near 11 manuscripts. Thanks to everyone. Y’all are awesome.
I’m such a novice, I feel, still learning and studying. Grammar. Passive vs Active voice. Storylines. Characters that pop. Simplifying the things in my head so they can be understood. At the end, I write for me. I hope people like to read them too. It’s ok if you don’t. That’s why there are so many types of ice-cream.
Yes – there are caves. Yes – there is a complex time component with interweaved storylines. I am anything but linear.
This one is #YA. Something different for me and unexpected since I never read YA even when I was that age. This is written for 15-year-old me.
When Darkness Begins
Launching May 28, 2020
Watch for the cover reveal!
If you could change time to save your first love—even if it meant turning your back on the universe—would you?
It is time for the Vechey youth to earn their place as time-guardians. The near-immortal Vechey protect the universe from the devastating Manipulators—devourers of souls, mindless seekers of chaos. First, the youth must survive a mysterious and deadly ritual created by the all-powerful clan leader Eterili. Having regenerated thousands of times with the birth of each universe, Eterili is taking this one as hers and bending all in it to her grand designs.
Catha’s time-slipping skills are underdeveloped. She is time-blind—unable to see through time, unable to protect herself from the ritual. The Vechey shun her for being different. Her parents ignore her as if she were already dead.
Aithagg loves Catha unconditionally and will do anything to save her. He tries desperately to unlock the ritual’s mysteries and find a way to help Catha survive with him. Or will saving Catha enable the Maniplators to destroy the Universe?
Here’s what beta readers have said about it:
“When Darkness Begins is a fascinating story that is gorgeously told through the lens of eerie and ethereal characters, with a weaving and shifting of time and place that feels epic and biblical.” —Hannah R. Goodman, author of Till It Stops Beating
“If you loved ABSOLUTE DARKNESS by Tina O’Hailey, then its predecessor WHEN DARKNESS BEGINS is a must-read! This intricately detailed tale goes to the root of the story of Alexander and explains the beginnings of his vampire-like people, the Vechey, and the complexities of their way of life. I was enthralled with learning of Alexander’s background, including the stories of his creator, the fate of his sibling, the dark presence of the ever-present Manipulator, and especially his fiercely loyal spirit as he experienced his first love Catha despite the rejection and despair of her family and the tribe because she was ‘different’. Alexander doesn’t ask her to conform but accepts and loves her because of her uniqueness, something we should all learn to do. WHEN DARKNESS BEGINS is a quick read with an underlying theme of hope, love, and acceptance intermixed with a compelling dark passion of paranormal fantasy that captures you from the start. This is one to put on your to-read list!”—Kristen L. Jackson, Author of the KEEPER OF THE WATCH Series
