Friday Feature Sloan McBride Time Walker Series
Visit by
Sloan McBride
Author of the
Time Walker Series
Hi, I’m Sloan McBride and would like to thank you for stopping by to hear my ramblings. Believe me, I can talk forever about my stories to the point of people’s eyes rolling back in their head and them passing out on the floor. Luckily, you guys are all sitting down. 
Anyway, I’m a romance author who dabbles in fantasy and suspense, but I’m always deep in the paranormal. Today I thought I’d touch on some of the research I’ve done and how it helped me build the Time Walker World.
I write the Time Walker Series, based “loosely” off of Sumerian Mythology.
My Story: The Goddess Inanna calls for the time walker army to be formed after hearing Ninmah, the Earth-Mother Goddess, tell the tale of how Kur, the creature, killed all in the village where he was being cared for. Kur went on a rampage and killed many across the land before disappearing. The gods didn’t know at the time that he had gone to the Underworld. They only knew Kur was a problem that needed to be dealt with.
Mythology: Inanna is the Sumerian Queen of Heaven, sometimes associated with the planet Venus and sometimes with the Moon. Her symbol is an 8-pointed star. She travels to the Underworld to see her sister, Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld, and dies when sentenced to death by the 7 Anuna.
My Story: The star is the symbol tattooed on the forearm of all time walkers when they agree to serve in the army of warriors and battle Kur and the minions of the Underworld. Ereshkigal was kidnapped by Kur when he went to the Underworld. He keeps her hidden and prisoner for centuries torturing her in the name of love. In his own way he does love her and he wants her to be Queen at his side to rule the Underworld, but she refuses. Her will is strong. The Anuna are fallen gods who tried to overthrow the king and were banished along with all demonkind to the Underworld. The Anuna are masters of strategy and warfare.
I am doing a 4-part blog hop discussing research and the Time Walker World. This is part 1. Please keep an eye out on my website http://www.sloanmcbride.com/ for information of where the other blogs will be held.
Let’s play Guess Who to win Book 1 – “The Fury.” I will give you a clue. Email your answers to sloanmcbride@gmail.com. I will assign each person who gets the answer right a number and will draw the winner with Random.org number generator.
Here’s the clue:
“He’s not much of a talker, but when he swings by, you’ll go on a wild ride. He’s a simple dresser who likes to monkey around.”
BLURB FOR THE FURY:
~~From the Heavens comes a hero who will take your breath away.~~
Reese Whittaker dreams of falling for a man who shares her love of archeology and ancient civilizations. But being attacked by a horde of demons and rescued by a Sumerian God—a well-armed, gorgeous Sumerian God—opens up a world she never knew existed, attracting all kinds of supernatural attention.
Dagan, son of the Air God and a Time Walker, is sworn to protect the human race in general, and one young woman in particular—Reese. He’s not the only one mysteriously attracted to her powerful life force. Underworld leader Kur craves it for the untold power it will give him to strike a blow at the deities of Dilmun.
Dagan is forbidden by law to interact with Reese, but from the moment he sees her, the fury—an intense sexual need for bonding—blinds him to all the rules. Should the pantheon discover he has fallen for a human, the punishment could mean death for him and Reese.
EXCERPT FROM THE FURY:
While Dagan’s superhero act had been impressive, she didn’t know him and this whole scenario had become absurd. When he’d gone into the building, he’d taken the car keys with him, which had nixed Reese’s chance for a fast escape. The temperature and the fact that she saw nothing else around kept her from trying to escape on foot. Pushing severe tiredness aside, she’d opened the glove compartment to search for a weapon of some sort. She found Kleenex, the car registration and a road map, but nothing viable for protection. She needed warmth and a grande-size cup of hot chocolate. Her feet were numb and her hands hurt.
It felt warmer when she entered the place. The antiquated heat register hissed and coughed.
“I’m going to put the car on the backside of the building out of sight. When I leave, lock the door and don’t let anyone else in except me,” Dagan instructed her. He tossed the key on the table.
The numbness had now spread to her entire body. It took great effort to turn and lock the door, certain she wouldn’t let him back in. The phone, she’d decided, but couldn’t keep a coherent thought. Her feet felt like anvils and dragged as she wandered to the double bed in the musty smelling dime-sized room.
A wave of exhaustion went through her. Her legs collapsed and she dropped to the edge of the bed.
She wanted to sleep.
She had to concentrate hard to stay awake so she focused on what looked like a palm tree on the filthy wallpaper. She didn’t know how long she’d sat there until she heard someone calling her name.
“Reese. Reese. Come on, honey, look at me.”
When she tilted her head, she saw Dagan bent over her, a worried expression on his face. How did he get back inside the room? He lifted her up, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled off her coat. Next, he sat her down and removed her shoes. He turned her, placed his hands on either side of her face, and using his thumbs, pulled down her lower eyelids to stare into her eyes.
“Dammit.”
Dagan grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it over her head. Gentle fingers caressed her neck, shoulders and arms.
“Your arm was nicked by the melari dart when the galla fell. They are coated with a potent sleeping drug. That’s why you’re so sluggish.”
Sliding his hand under her knees Dagan picked her up and placed her head on a pillow. In a haze, she watched him go into the bathroom, come back to check the lone window then bolt the door.
In murmurs so rhythmic they sounded like song, he repeated a chant several times. His sultry voice made her want to curl herself around his body and purr.
She felt him slide the cover and bedspread over her before climbing into the squeaky bed and spooning up against her spine.
“What are you doing?” she managed through numb lips.
“Your body is like ice. My body heat will warm you and we both need rest. Go to sleep, Reese.”
A thought that she should be outraged and embarrassed came to mind, but passed as she closed her eyes and got lost in the cocoon of warmth and sleep.
When he’d knocked on the door and Reese hadn’t responded, a trickle of fear had clutched his throat. He used his powers to open the door and found her sitting on the bed in a kind of trance. Luckily, only some of the melari had gotten into her system. If more of the drug had been injected into her bloodstream, she would have become comatose. She should be fine in the morning.
It had been a while since he’d lain with a woman. Her even breaths told him she slept. She still had an occasional shiver, but the chill had at last left her body. The soft fragrance of the woman tempted him with a delicate aroma, but this was no fragile female.
Contact: sloanmcbride@gmail.com
Website: http://www.sloanmcbride.com/
Buy Links: Amazon
Print Book: Amazon
Audiobook: Audible
BIO:
Sloan McBride is a multi-published romance author who tends to lean more toward paranormal. Her current fascination is the Time Walkers and she plans to spend many hours and devote numerous books to this army of warriors. Book 2 coming in 2016.
Another series follows the lives of smokejumpers—Men of Fire—if you’ve never heard about them check out “Dangerous Heat.” These heroes are sexy, daredevils, who will steal your heart and leave you breathless.
Her debut novel, “Highland Stone,” is a time travel romance mixing her love of Scottish Highlanders and the idea that a person can travel to another time and place, love and be happy. A sequel to this novel is planned and plotted, and coming.
Sloan has five books crashing around in her head at any given time, making sleep and concentrating on anything else difficult.
She lives in Illinois with her husband of 34 years, her daughter, her son, and Oakley, the princess girly dog. Her life is chaotic most times and she has to fight for writing time, but she manages.
You never know what will come out of her dizzy brain, but you can be sure it will delight readers in one way or another.
