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Author of speculative fiction

Author of speculative fiction

Tag Archives: Urban Fantasy

Hidden Magic Is Out!!

12 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by amidtheimaginary in Blog, Messages

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Anthology, Fantasy, New Releases, Urban Fantasy

3dscattered-books

I’m super excited to announce that my newest fantasy story, along with the works of 19 other amazing authors, is now available on Amazon for 99¢ & Kindle Unlimited!

Hidden Magic released on March 10th and is already #1 in one of its Amazon categories and hit #1 in Hot New Releases.

** Read Chapter One from my novella below **

What makes this anthology special?

This is the start of a trilogy of fantasy anthologies unlike anything you’ve seen before. The project required each author to write 3 interconnected novellas, like installments in a TV show, that make a complete story by the end – That’s 20 complete stories!

These are set to rapid release (March, April, May), so you won’t have to wait long for the next installments.

As promised, below is all of Chapter One from my novella: A Veil Is Parted – available exclusively in Hidden Magic

HM

The synopsis:

Simith of Drifthorn is tired of war. After years of battle between the Thistle court and the troll kingdom, even a pixie knight known for his bloodlust longs for peace. Meeting with the troll king in secret is the only hope for a ceasefire. When the trolls ambush him instead, Simith flees through a doorway hidden by magic into another world. Wounded, he’ll need to defeat his pursuers and get home before anyone realizes he’s gone. If his commanders find out what he’s been up to, the trolls will be the least of his worries.

In Skylark, Michigan, Jessa leaves a party after some devastating news. Cutting through her neighbor’s sunflower farm, she runs into a fight between creatures straight out of a fantasy novel – only the blood is very real. When one of them falls to his attackers, Jessa decides to intervene. She’s known too much death to stand idly by, but what does a poet like her know about fighting? As their weapons turn against her, Jessa realizes how much she stands to lose, even for someone who’s already lost everything.

***

CHAPTER ONE

The arrow took Simith in the back.

It punched through his left wing and lodged itself below his shoulder blade. Flitting between the trees on his way to the meeting place, he almost lost his hold on the next branch as pain exploded across his body. He scrambled for cover amid the foliage, swallowing his pained gasps, but leaves were sparse at this spot in the Jaded Grove. He didn’t find it in time.

The second arrow drove through his right wing, ripping the aft membrane, but he was fortunate. The arrowhead only split the leathers by his ribs. He found a nest of twisted branches and crouched behind them, trying to quiet his ragged breath—trying to think. He’d made certain he wasn’t followed when he left camp. No one saw him depart and he hadn’t dared tell anyone his plans, not his fellow knights and certainly not the Helms. Who was attacking him?

The arrowhead burned in his back. With sinking dread, he noted the numbness in his left arm. Iron. It was made of iron, which meant his magic was inhibited and he couldn’t heal the wound. Simith pressed his brow to the black bark. Only one creature could wield iron without poisoning themselves. He clunked his head against the wood, cursing himself. Of course, the trolls would ambush him. They had no reason to believe his appeal for a truce was in earnest, not from a knight who’d butchered more of their kind than any other. What better way to kill him off than when he was alone, on a mission no one knew about?

Hollow disappointment blended with his fury. He wasn’t sure whether it came by their blatant betrayal, or that he’d failed to make Rim’s dream come true. What did it matter? He’d been a fool. He was a fighter, not a peacemaker, and the dead buried their dreams in the ground along with their broken flesh.

Maybe soon, he’d be buried along with them.

Simith’s keen ears picked up on the whisper of footfalls over the mossy earth below. He could no longer fly and he couldn’t outrun them. He had his knives though, and his crystal blade. If he could wield it. He folded his limbs closer, shielding as much of his body as possible behind the wood. The muted green of his leathers should’ve camouflaged him, though night had fallen hours ago. The shadows were more friend to trolls than pixies. Their arrows couldn’t pierce these enchanted trees at least. Simith might have been a fool to trust them, but he hadn’t chosen the Jaded Grove as the meeting place by happenstance.

“Little Moth,” a gravelly voice called from below. “Your flight is done.”

“You’re not that precise with your bow,” he called back. “A sprite has better aim than your kind.”

“The scent of your blood is as sweet as sugar, pixie,” came another’s eager chortle. “Come down and tarry with us a while.”

“Join me up here and I’ll tarry all you want.”

Silence followed. Only stone welcomed the touch of a troll. No tree would abide them. He’d witnessed it before, the way the bark groaned in warning and the branches trembled with outrage before the wood shook them off like a tick. The roots would draw themselves from the soil to squeeze throats and ribcages. The Fae of the former Seelie and Unseelie courts had made sentinels of the forests that ringed their respective domains. Even a century after the destruction of their race, the Fae’s powerful influence lingered in the green world.

It might’ve been the certainty of this power that slowed Simith’s reaction to the snapping of twigs and the scrape of boots against the tree trunk. They couldn’t be climbing up, he assured himself. He’d have felt the rising ire through the bark. A trick, then, to lure him from cover.

Simith risked a glance. Eyes glowed up from the lower branches, yellow witchlights in the gloom moving steadily closer. He gaped down at them in astonishment.

“Impossible,” he whispered.

The brush of air whizzed by his face before he felt the skin split high on his cheekbone. Simith reacted on instinct, hurling a silver blade at the encroaching eye shine. One winked out. A scream rent the quiet grove and a body crashed to the ground. He counted four more pairs of eyes, their stout forms a shadowed outline in the darkness. None of them watched their comrade’s demise, gazes fixed upward on him. They continued to climb.

Simith did the same. Magic, he decided, gritting his teeth as he clambered toward higher branches, the iron arrowhead scraping against his shoulder blade. They must have procured a conduit through which to funnel their magic in a way that the trees didn’t recognize them as trolls. He didn’t know that was possible. Every conduit had a particular signature that marked its user. Sprites typically used a crown of roan berries, the hobgoblins steel piercings they wore on their skin, the boggarts the bones of their first kill. A conduit could not simply be swapped for another. They became as near and familiar as a limb.

Could they be using power without a conduit? Simith dismissed the notion out of hand. To draw raw magic into oneself was as lethal as swallowing flames. Only the immortal Fae had been capable of wielding it, their very blood fabled to be made of the same elements. Even the fairies, their cousin race, had to use conduits.

Yet, he couldn’t refute the quick sounds of pursuit behind him. None of this made sense. For now, it didn’t have to. For now, he simply had to escape, get back to the Thistle Court and confess to his commanders his foolhardy attempt to forge an accord with the trolls—and hope the fairies wouldn’t see it as treason.

Escape first, he ordered himself, noting with some worry that his mind was growing unorganized. It had to be the iron still lodged in his body. He didn’t have time to stop and remove the arrows. He wasn’t moving fast enough either; they were closing in on him. If he could leap to another tree, it might impede their chase. They’d managed to climb this one, but the ground-loving trolls weren’t as experienced moving between tree tops as he.

Simith found his chance in a tangle of branches that led away from the trunk he climbed. He followed them, barely as wide as his calf, but sturdy enough to bear his weight. With any luck, it would snap under the much heavier trolls should they dare to follow.

Working his way across in a crouch, he was halfway to the neighboring tree when a third arrow struck him. It plunged through his sword arm, just above the elbow. Simith couldn’t silence the hoarse cry. His foot slipped, slamming him chest-first into the solid wood. He threw another knife, a mere guess at the direction the arrow had come, barely clinging on with his legs. He heard a troll curse, but knew he’d hit nothing vital. The distraction bought him enough time to struggle the rest of the distance and put the trunk between them.

“Where is your famed battle lust now, Sun Fury?” one of them mocked. “We thought there’d be a better fight than this.”

Hazy with pain, Simith hadn’t the breath to pretend at bravado, his hands shaking, his skin soaked in blood.

The branches he’d used to cross trembled with the weight of another crossing. His heart sank. How were they doing this?

Simith dragged himself up and climbed anew. Slower than before. They must’ve heard his graceless movements. Triumphant snickers filled the night air.

“Why do this?” he called down, grasping at the frail hope of parlay. “My intention to discuss peace was in earnest.”

“Safer to trust a boggart with a newborn babe than to allow you near our king.”

He gritted his teeth. “Your army is on the brink of collapse. The fairies will send their legions to rout what’s left of it and march toward your homes.”

No reply.

“You’re making a mistake,” he shouted.

“It’s too late for peace.”

He said no more, cold despair settling on his feverish skin. Rim’s last words to him sounded in his head.

Don’t let the blade wield you, Sim. It’s your hand on the hilt. Your choice. Your will.

But she was wrong. Violence had wrung all choice from him. Even under a banner of peace, his enemies saw him as only a weapon.

Those same enemies crossed from the first tree to this one more expertly than he would’ve expected of a troll. The branches somehow held their substantial weight. Simith drew a steadying breath and prepared himself. Though he likely deserved it, he refused to be felled like an injured bird. He gripped his crystal blade, not yet drawing it. His magic would light the darkness like a blinding ray of dawn. They might know his position and scent his blood on the air, but he doubted they expected him to turn and fight, not after he’d already fled so far.

A tremor beneath his feet pulled his attention to the branch on which he knelt. He frowned at it, wondering if he’d imagined the wood had stirred. He bit back a sound of surprise when the bark under his palm did the same. It rippled, a vibration that travelled up his fingers and down the bones of his hand. As if it beckoned him. He put his cheek to its rough skin, and listened.

Climb, it murmured into his ear. Up. Now.

Simith released his sword, summoned what strength he had, and obeyed. The Fae had taught their trees to speak, though they rarely did. Until this moment which he’d thought his last, he’d never experienced it before. And he didn’t believe in serendipity. With clumsy arms and shaking legs, he pulled himself slowly and unsteadily upward, knowing all the while that he likely climbed toward a dead end. Toward death. The sentinels of the Jaded Grove were known to be tall enough their branches could block the midday sun in some areas, but once he arrived at the top, it was over.

Still, he continued without hesitation, the tree murmuring at him all the while; Higher. Higher. Go. Sounds of pursuit came from below, though blessedly, no more arrows. The branches grew dense here, weaving between each other in the complicated patterns of the green world. Perhaps they didn’t think they could aim for him clearly. Perhaps they needed to concentrate on their hand and footholds this high up. Or—the more likely reason—they saw no need to put in the extra effort when eventually they’d catch up to—

His head collided with something solid. Startled, he jerked down a pace, staring upward in confusion. He could see nothing. That, in itself seemed odd. No sky, no stars. Not even the shadowy outline of branches leading on. He lifted a hand, wincing with the movement, and his fingers brushed against a wide, smooth surface. Pressing the whole of his palm against it, he swept outward, trying to locate the edge. Could it be a knotty shelf grown out of the tree?

It didn’t feel like wood. It was soft, and gave when he pressed in, bits of it breaking off to scatter over his face in a gritty rainfall. Dirt? He rubbed it between his fingers. The texture held that of soil. How could that be?

Up, up, up, the tree chanted again.

Branches creaked somewhere farther down. His pursuers approached. Simith skimmed his hands across the silty surface, but he found nothing. No edge. No hole. Nothing to get him past this barrier.

Higher. Climb. Climb!

Not knowing what else to do, Simith burrowed his fingers into the cool surface and gouged out a palm-full of…yes, it was dirt. He tossed it away, delving back in again and again as a hole formed above him. His arm and shoulder became a thundering agony greying his vision, but he could’ve sworn light came through the thinning layers. If he could just get to the top of them—

His hands broke through. An avalanche of dirt fell with it and he turned his head to the side just before he caught a face full of it. Irritated grunts came from below. The trolls had come close enough to be hit by some of that. Hopefully, it gave them pause while Simith frantically dug along the sides to widen the hole enough for his lithe frame. A dim glow filtered its way to him, a breeze whispering past the opening with unfamiliar scents. It didn’t matter where this led. The priority was escape and this was the only one.

He reached for it. His hands found purchase on either side. With fresh blood pulsing from his wounds, he hoisted himself through.

And found himself on the ground.

He gawked at the grass under him, at the solid weight of the green floor. His thoughts couldn’t cobble any sort of logic together to explain it. Simith got his knees under him, trying to gain his bearings. Above him, he glimpsed the stars, a sliver of moon suspended in the sky like a ready scythe. He was no longer in the forest. What magic brought him here? Had he, in his desperation, unwittingly used his own? He touched his chest, his conduit hidden beneath the leathers he wore, but felt no tell-tale heat. If magic had done this, it hadn’t come from him.

He looked behind him and stared at the hole in the ground. A hole he’d carved with his own hands at the top of a tree in the Jaded Grove, a hole that led to…Where? Even the air smelled different.

He glanced around him, but what he saw only disoriented him further. Rows and rows of sunflowers, planted in organized lines like crops. A warm breeze moved between them, shifting them so their round heads waved in greeting. In the distance he heard something. Music. Drums, but unlike any he’d known before. A battle nearby? In a field of sunflowers?

“Where am I?” Simith whispered, just as a hand grabbed his leg.

***

What other stories will you find in the anthology?

HM_3D

No matter the world, life can be dangerous. Be they wizards and shamans, assassins, or everyday people, Hidden Magic tells their stories about escape, consequences, and most of all, magic. From Earth cities and fantastical new worlds comes a collection of stories where heroes grapple with the seen and unseen in order to save themselves, their families, and often the world. This collection features:

  • Elderly antiques experts interacting with souls
  • Shamans growing outlawed magic
  • Baby chimeras battling for their lives
  • Children sprouting fluffy tails
  • A king’s boat thrown off-course
  • A perfect life coming at a not-so-perfect cost
  • Vikings defending a village against the unseen
  • A lone shifter atoning for his past mistakes
  • Trolls and pixies tumbling through the doorway to another world
  • And more!

The book will only be 99¢ on Amazon for a little while longer, so grab your copy quick!! – Or download via Kindle Unlimited!

Night Latch – Chapter One

01 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by amidtheimaginary in Blog, Messages

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Giveaway, Indie Author, New Adult, New Releases, Urban Fantasy

It’s launch day for NIGHT LATCH, a new adult urban fantasy full of dangerous quests, supernatural dangers, and loads of good-natured snark. I had loads of fun writing this one and can’t wait to share it with you!

REMINDER: There’s a giveaway contest running through Oct. 8th for those who order the book. More info on that after the excerpt – otherwise go HERE.

Sam Alvarez doesn’t just open locks. He’s the key.

Living in Bellemer, Iowa, Sam leads a typical small-town life. When he’s not looking after his Nana or dealing with his mother’s expectations, he runs a one-man locksmith company. Unlike regular locksmiths, he can open anything with a touch and a wish, but Sam keeps that secret to himself. No reason to alarm the neighbors, after all. And if he sometimes feels an indefinable pull to do more with his life, well, that’s probably just indigestion.

Then one day, an unsettlingly beautiful out-of-towner asks for Sam’s help to open a door. Only one problem: The job’s in a graveyard. And the client? Turns out she’s Death.

Maybe that’s two problems.

When Sam unlocks more than he intended and demons come out to play, he discovers he’s far more than a locksmith with a hidden quirk. Now, he needs to figure out who he is and what he’s been called to do before darker forces close the door on him for good.

***

CHAPTER ONE:

IT WOULD happen any minute now.

The clock on my phone wouldn’t rewind or fast forward no matter how much I stared at it. I would just have to endure what came next.

The walls of Clover Mall echoed with its standard orchestra of early evening shoppers and the intermittent screech of hungry toddler. Almost five-o’clock on a Friday afternoon and time, once again, to steel myself for the inevitable encounter. There was always a chance I’d get lucky this go around. Maybe a massive sink hole would suddenly swallow the town of Bellemer, Iowa and spare me from this weekly ritual. Was it selfish to wish myself and 2,500 innocent bystanders out of existence to avoid an awkward situation?

I shook my head at myself, slouching a bit on the stool propping me up behind the counters of the kiosk. My contract with Clover Mall stipulated someone had to man the center lane space I rented for at least ten hours during the business week. A chronic procrastinator, I wound up doing all of them on the last possible day. Which Mr. Upland knew. Ah, the land mines of owning a small business no one tells you about.

And there he was now. Right on schedule and headed this way. The man had punctuality even German transit operators would admire. He waved cheerfully to shoppers and store owners, exchanging pleasantries with a few. A man in his late-fifties, he became the town celebrity when he won the national lottery jackpot five years ago. Two hundred million. He spent some time in New York but came back home and poured money into Bellemer’s failing economy. He fixed up the schools, the roads, built a museum, a new movie theater with awesome stadium seating, and yes, constructed this fabulous strip mall just off the main highway. He was a great guy. We all loved him.

And he wanted me to date his daughter.

I slouched a bit more and tried to appear engrossed in the ninety-nine-cent comic book I’d rummaged out of the bins at the dollar store. There was no escaping this though.

“Sam, my boy!” Mr. Upland boomed as he leaned his forearms against the counter and gave me an earnest smile. “Big plans for the weekend?”

I lowered the comic and smiled back. “Not really. Work, the usual. What about you?”

Mr. Upland shook his head in exasperation. “You work too much, kid. Business going okay? I could make some inquiries for you with a few companies.”

With a town our size, hardly anyone locked their doors even at night, but there were only three certified locksmiths in operation within thirty miles. Supply and demand, baby. Sam Alvarez, Locksmith Co., LLC was doing fine. Or fine enough for my ambitions.

Better to not say that out loud. He’d only insist on helping me then—which was kind, but wrong knowing the motivation. Not to mention, I didn’t like drawing too much attention to myself. Most locksmiths needed their tools to open locks. Unlike me.

“I appreciate that, sir, but I prefer to make my own way.”

“You’re a stand-up guy, Sam. Hard worker.” His gaze took on a proud twinkle and I tried to avoid direct eye contact. Here it came. “Why don’t you come have dinner with Anna and me at the house tomorrow night? Heidi’s home from college.”

Heidi was a great girl. We went to high school together. She was fun, kind, and had a pair of brown eyes that warmed your soul like hot cocoa in December. She was also a lot smarter than me and her vision for the future after Cornell University didn’t include living out her life in Bellemer, no matter how many improvements her dad made to it. I had no plans to go anywhere. Mr. Upland’s strategy to dangle me as a love interest who’d convince her to move back home for good—probably within a few miles of her parents—wasn’t going to work out.

But she was their only daughter and try as I might each week, I just couldn’t bring myself to fully crush the man’s dream.

“Maybe next week, Mr. Upland. I’m pretty busy this weekend.”

Disappointment dimmed the smile in his eyes. He tapped the counter top and shrugged good naturedly. “All right then. Have a good weekend, Sam. Don’t overwork yourself, hear?”

“You too, sir.”

He turned away, which would’ve been a great moment to shove my face back into the comic book and keep my mouth shut. He moved off, a slight slump to his shoulders.

And it got to me.

“Tell Heidi I said hello, will you?”

He looked back, the twinkle returning. “Absolutely, Sam. Hey, you know she has the Skype on her laptop. Maybe you two could catch up on there.”

“Uh, definitely. Next time I’m online, I’ll send her a message.”

“Good man.” He shot a pair of finger-pistols at me and sauntered off with a lighter step.

I was almost never online. Heidi knew that and would get the message. Besides, from what I’d heard, she was dating a guy on the university football team, a Rhodes scholar and a native New Yorker.

Me? Well, I was hardly the stuff of romance novels. Thanks to my free weights and my evening runs I hadn’t gone into complete Cheeto decline in the three years since graduation. The combined heritage of my parents had given me the height of a Scandinavian with the dark hair and burnished skin of a Colombian mestizo. But girls were looking for someone with ambition, someone who wanted to get out of this town and make something of themselves. One look and it was obvious that wasn’t me.

I lacked inspiration and they all knew it.

Staring blankly at my comic book and mulling over this cheerful thought, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I glanced up to find a young woman standing at the counter. Watching me.

I didn’t hear or see her walk up. She’d simply materialized.

“Sorry, I hadn’t, uh—” I bent down to pick up my fallen book and convince my fists to unclench. Jeez, it was just a customer. Pull it together. I stood and made another try for professionalism. “How can I…?”

Of course, professionalism became more difficult when I focused enough to look at her. Long hair fell in a sheet of black silk down her shoulders with eyes like blue ice set into pale gold skin. She was not from Bellemer. I’d have remembered her. She was beautiful and unsettling at the same time, like watching the skies go dark as a storm rolled in from the east.

I cleared my throat. “How can I help you?”

“You open doors.”

As was my custom around stunning women, my fumbled response was peppered with undeserving bravado.

“Mm-hmm, that’s me. Sam the door opening man.” Dear God, no wonder I hadn’t been on a date in months.

She did not react with the typical pity laugh to which I’d grown unwillingly accustomed. In fact, she didn’t react at all. She did not blink, lean, tap, or shuffle her feet. She didn’t even lay her hands on the counter the way everyone did.

She was just…still.

“I need you to open a door,” she said finally.

“Definitely. Sure. I can do that. I’m available.” Ugh, no. Somebody hit me.

“Not now. Tonight.”

“Okay.” No, it wasn’t. I didn’t do calls at night. “What time?”

“When the moon is high.”

“So, what is that, like, eight o’clock?”

She gave a nod. “That is acceptable. You will find me again at Sunny Oak Hills.”

I turned to my pad and pencil at the register behind me to jot down the information.

“Sunny Oak. That sounds familiar but I don’t think I know it. I’ll need your name and the address.”

But when I turned back, she was gone.

***

Available on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited

The Giveaway Contest

Goodreads

Cover Reveal & Giveaway Contest!!

25 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by amidtheimaginary in Blog, Messages

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Book Covers, Book Swag, Cover Reveal, Giveaway, Indie Author, Urban Fantasy

The cover reveal for my new urban fantasy novel, NIGHT LATCH is here!!!!!!

Check out the spectacular cover art Seedlings Design Studio created for the book, including an original illustration of the novel’s main character. I am out of my mind ecstatic about it!!

What’s the story between this gorgeous cover about? I’m glad you asked:

Sam Alvarez doesn’t just open locks. He’s the key.

Living in Bellemer, Iowa, Sam leads a typical small-town life. When he’s not looking after his Nana or dealing with his mother’s expectations, he runs a one-man locksmith company. Unlike regular locksmiths, he can open anything with a touch and a wish, but Sam keeps that secret to himself. No reason to alarm the neighbors, after all. And if he sometimes feels an indefinable pull to do more with his life, well, that’s probably just indigestion.

Then one day, an unsettlingly beautiful out-of-towner asks for Sam’s help to open a door. Only one problem: The job’s in a graveyard. And the client? Turns out she’s Death.

Maybe that’s two problems.

When Sam unlocks more than he intended and demons come out to play, he discovers he’s far more than a locksmith with a hidden quirk. Now, he needs to figure out who he is and what he’s been called to do before darker forces close the door on him for good. 

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 1st

***

Yes, you saw that release date correctly. NIGHT LATCH will be out in the world in no time at all and to celebrate I’ve set up an awesome giveaway contest. This is open internationally!

Preorder/order the book by October 8th for a chance to win…

– Fingerless Reading/Writing Gloves showcasing Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (From Storiarts)

– An adorable keychain with the words “Once Upon A Time…”

– A gorgeous writing journal from Barnes & Noble

– A postcard from the imagined city: Bellemer, Iowa – Sam’s hometown

P L U S

** A $25 Amazon Gift Card **

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Pre-order/Order the book on Amazon by October 8th (Tuesday)

2. Fill out the Google Form with your details*

And that’s it!!

*Hold on to your proof-of-purchase! The winner drawn will need to email a copy of their receipt to receive the prize (Can be a photo/scan/screenshot).

There’s no limit to how many times you can enter. If you buy three copies, make a note of that in the form and you’ll be entered three times. AND, I’ll send you big hugs for buying so many ♥♥♥

NOTE: I will accept entries until 11:59pm CST on October 8th, 2019. Again, this is open internationally.

Notification will be sent to the winner on Oct. 9, the day after the giveaway ends.

Norse Ocean Mythology & FREE Stuff

18 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by amidtheimaginary in Blog, Messages

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Fantasy, Fantasy Art, Free Books, Giveaway, Indie Author, Kindle Fire, Self Published Book, Swag, Urban Fantasy

We’re about a month away from the release date of Beneath Cruel Fathoms, the first book in The Bitter Sea Trilogy based on Norse ocean mythology.

What’s this book about?

BeneathCruelFathoms_LoRes

After a violent storm destroys her ship, Isaura Johansdottir knows better than to hope she’ll be rescued from Eisland’s vast Failock Sea. Adrift and alone, her plans to start over lost, it’s a tragic conclusion after the disastrous end of her marriage—until she’s saved by Leonel, one of the merfolk, a creature long believed extinct. In repayment for her life, Leonel enlists her help to investigate the Failock’s mysterious and deadly plague of squalls. When Isaura discovers Eisland’s ruthless new Lord commands the storms, her life will be in more danger on land than it ever was at sea.

As guardian of the Fathoms, Leonel must find the cause of unnatural storms ravaging the tidal currents and destroying the sea life. There are rumors of dark magic stirring in the Orom Abyss, the resting place of old, vanquished gods who tried to submerge the land millennia ago. Yet without proof, no one in King Ægir’s court will listen to him. And if it’s discovered he broke the Blue Laws to save a shipwrecked landweller, he might not survive the consequences.

As storms spread, Leonel and Isaura uncover secrets as forbidden as the bond that grows between them. Betrayal lurks in the restless sea, and when ancient powers lay siege to Eisland’s coast, the truth may be drowned along with everything else.

***

I’m so excited to get this book into your hands that I wanted to do something fun for those who pre-order their copy.

This is open internationally.

EVERYONE who pre-orders the book before MAY 17th will receive…

1. A New Adult Urban Fantasy e-Novella

Sam Alvarez doesn’t just open locks. He’s the key.

Living in Bellemer, Iowa, Sam leads a typical small-town life. Along with looking after his Nana, and dealing with his mother’s expectations, he runs a one-man locksmith company. Unlike regular locksmiths, he can open anything with a touch and a wish, but Sam keeps that secret to himself. No reason to alarm the neighbors, after all. And if he sometimes feels an indefinable pull to do more with his life, well, that’s probably just indigestion.

Then one day, an unsettlingly beautiful out-of-towner asks for Sam’s help to open a door. Hey, who says good things can’t happen to nice guys from the Midwest? Only one problem: The job’s in a graveyard.

And the door she wants opened is far from typical.

**The novella is a complete story and a sneak peek to a new urban fantasy duology. Book one is planned to release this October. More details to come toward the end of summer.

 

2. An Ocean-Fantasy adult coloring book

This is a 12-page coloring book full of vintage illustrations from stories like “The Forsaken Merman” and “The Little Mermaid”. It’s formatted to print out from a home computer on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper. It also includes teaser quotes from Beneath Cruel Fathoms that aren’t released anywhere else.

Untitled design (2)

 

Once the campaign is over…

TEN randomly selected runner-up winners will also receive:

One exclusive 5″ x 7″ art print of Isaura and Leonel, the two main characters from the novel.

Untitled design

 

And ONE randomly drawn Grand-Prize winner will receive all of above prizes along with…

1. A Kindle Fire 7 Tablet (7″ Display, 8 GB, in Black)

2. A handmade glow-in-the-dark mermaid bookmark from Papillon

“The Mermaid Bookmark glows in the dark on both sides, the tail is a beautiful clear Indigo Blue and a little seashell is suspended at the bookmark that is glowing too!”

3. And a signed paperback copy of the book

How to enter:

1. Pre-order the book on Amazon before May 17, 2019

2. Email the proof-of-purchase to FineFablesPress@gmail.com, Subject: BCF Preorder Campaign (Can be a photo/scan/screenshot of your receipt)

3. Fill out the Google Form with your details

And that’s it!!

Note: The novella and the coloring book, both of which are digital and will be emailed, are guaranteed to everyone who submits a valid entry. These prizes are sent out every Monday to the email address you provide on the Google Form. Ten winners will be drawn for the exclusive book art and one winner will win the grand prize.

Notification will be sent to the winners on release day, 5/17/19.

I will accept entries until 11:59pm CST on 5/16/19. Again, this is open internationally.

Pre-Release Giveaway – Urban Fantasy!

13 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by amidtheimaginary in Blog, Messages

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Tags

Giveaway, New Releases, Urban Fantasy

Fellow author and good friend A. C. Spahn has an awesome new urban fantasy series coming out called Arcane Artisans. For the first book, Enchantress Undercover, she’s put together an amazing pre-order giveaway that you don’t want to miss!
Enchant
All you have to do is:
– Pre-Order the book before March 18th (it’s only 99¢ right now!)

– Send a quick e-mail with your details and a copy of your e-Receipt.

It’s as simple as that.

Everyone who pre-orders gets the Tier 3 prize and is in the running for the bigger prizes – just for pre-ordering the book!

I got my hands on an early ARC and really enjoyed it. Magic, mayhem, and crafts, it was awesome!

Head over to the giveaway page for a look at the prizes

Or just pre-order your copy right now!

Book Synopsis:

Adrienne Morales is a hunted woman.

Stalked by Voids—people immune to magic—and pursued by a deadly past, Adrienne wants nothing more than to avoid spells and sorcery. Her powers as an enchantress make that impossible. Every few days she must release the magic gathering around her, or it’ll steal her sanity. The only way to stay alive is to practice her magic in secret, hiding enchantments in works of art she sells in her craft store.

When a firebreathing psychopath controlled by enchantment tries to burn down her store, Adrienne unleashes her powers to stop him. Unfortunately her battle has a witness—Adrienne’s handsome business partner. Turns out he’s a Void, and sworn to a Union that executes rogue magic users. Worse, the firebreather isn’t the only victim to pop up around San Francisco. Someone is using magic to create monsters and destroy minds, and the Void Union wants them dead.

Now Adrienne must capture the rogue enchanter before they ruin more innocent lives, and before the Voids punish her for the rogue’s crimes. But Voids aren’t the worst thing chasing her. Every enchantment she crafts makes it more likely her past will track her down. And if it does, madness will be the kindest fate awaiting her.

*** To read some fun excerpts from the book click HERE ***
ACA. C. Spahn is the author of the Endurance series and the Arcane Artisans series. Her shorter works have been published by Daily Science Fiction, Star*Line, Outposts of Beyond, Disturbed Digest, and others.

She wanted to be an interstellar starship captain when she grew up. Since nobody was hiring, she became a writer instead. She enjoys martial arts, vegetarian cooking, and debating the physics of fictional technologies. When not commanding imaginary starships, she lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, son, and feline overlord.

Connect with A. C. Spahn via:
Author website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

Movie Review: What We Do in the Shadows

18 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by amidtheimaginary in Blog, Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Movie Review, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Tired of all the Christmas movies and holiday specials blasted at us this time of year? Are you pleased for those who love this season’s happy-happy entertainment options but are kind of done with all the nog and jingles and required enthusiasm?

cheer

Check out Kate’s awesome book for more of her amazing art & adages

If you’re hankering for something a little darker, a little raunchier, and unexpectedly hilarious, then folks, look no further. This is the movie for you:

shadows

This one came out in 2014 so I’m a little late to the party, but wow did I enjoy it! Filmed as a mocumentary, the movie is about three vampire roommates living in the U.K.. They’re depicted with the traditional vampire strengths and weaknesses – sun burns them, they can turn into bats, they drink blood (obviously) – but it also shows the day-to-day issues that are all too human – arguing over the household chores, cleaning up the carnage from last night’s dinner, figuring out how to “blend in” with regular humans when they go out at night, etc. It’s all completely ridiculous and the movie plays off its own absurdity to perfection. Running time is just 1 hour 27 minutes, but it doesn’t seem too short. More importantly, it never seems too long, ending on just the right note. I can’t recommend it enough, especially if you need a good laugh!

Best of all, not a Christmas prince in sight:)

If you’d like a taste, here are the first six minutes:

An Urban Fantasy Series Coming Soon!

18 Sunday Nov 2018

Posted by amidtheimaginary in Blog, Messages

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cover Reveal, Indie Author, Urban Fantasy

Author and good friend A. C. Spahn has a new urban fantasy series coming March, 2019 that should immediately be added to your TBR list. I am one of a lucky handful of folks who got to read an advanced copy of book one and believe me when I tell you that you NEED this book! A unique magic system, an awesome group of characters, loads of action, conflicted heroes, frightening adversaries – It’s all here!

I give you the cover reveal and synopsis for Enchantress Undercover, Book One of the Arcane Artisans Series

Enchant

Adrienne Morales is a hunted woman.

Stalked by Voids—people immune to magic—and pursued by a deadly past, Adrienne wants nothing more than to avoid spells and sorcery. Her powers as an enchantress make that impossible. Every few days she must release the magic gathering around her, or it’ll steal her sanity. The only way to stay alive is to practice her magic in secret, hiding enchantments in works of art she sells in her craft store.

When a firebreathing psychopath controlled by enchantment tries to burn down her store, Adrienne unleashes her powers to stop him. Unfortunately her battle has a witness—Adrienne’s handsome business partner. Turns out he’s a Void, and sworn to a Union that executes rogue magic users. Worse, the firebreather isn’t the only victim to pop up around San Francisco. Someone is using magic to create monsters and destroy minds, and the Void Union wants them dead.

Now Adrienne must capture the rogue enchanter before they ruin more innocent lives—and before the Voids punish her for the rogue’s crimes. But Voids aren’t the worst thing chasing her. Every enchantment she crafts makes it more likely her past will track her down. And if it does, madness will be the kindest fate awaiting her.

***

I mean, LOOK AT THAT COVER, right?? And the story is as delicious as it sounds. Scheduled publication is March 18, 2019. Don’t wait – Add this one to your Want-To-Read shelf on Goodreads right away!

Amid the Imaginary

I'm a Hapa Haole Hawaiian girl living in chilly Minnesota, reading, writing and working full-time while raising my family.

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