JAS: Strange Things Await has two main characters, Natalie “Nat” King and Alexandra “Alex” Aurelius. Both are African American witches who attend Virtus Academy a magical boarding school. Nat is bisexual and Alex is a lesbian. Nat and Alex used to be best friends but do to a past incident they are now at odds. Their friendship from the start was doomed one might say because they are from two completely different covens. Nat is part of the King coven which is seen as good while Alex is part of the Aurelius coven which is seen as evil. They made an unlikely pair as children and now as teens they have been even more influenced by their own covens and clash violently as enemies.
SC: Do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?
JAS: I do believe in God, angles, the devil, demons etc so yes, I believe in the supernatural. God is not earthly/human. The supernatural/paranormal that many think of from fiction novels I don’t believe in lol no vampires or werewolves etc.
SC: What titles are you working on now that you can tell us about?
JAS:I am working on a few titles. I am working on the third and last book of the Virtus Academy series called Sacrifices Await. This novel won’t probably be released until 2023 but I always have my books available for pre order months ahead. Depending on how the series does I might write more. I am writing the sequel to Gates’ Bookstore. I’m a few chapters in that one so hopefully it’ll be ready Dec 2022, but I won’t reveal the title just yet. I also am focusing on finishing She Sees Glory a Historical Fantasy novel set in 17th century Africa. I will finish that book this year.
SC: Thanks for stopping by, let's take a look at your novel now.
Book Description:
At Virtus Academy a boarding school for the supernatural, the students are not your average High Schoolers. They might go through some of the same social problems, these students are powerful and many dangerous. From vampires, witches, werewolves, and werecats these youngsters must learn how to navigate classes and other species who might on the outside of campus be a natural enemy.
Virtus Academy’s walls are going to be shaken up this year as they never have before. Not only do the walls have to contend with two young Sophomore witches (Natalie King and Alexandra Aurelius) who despise each other so much so they constantly wage war against the infrastructure, there’s a monster on the loose killing students.
Will these two witches who once were best friends rekindle that friendship in time to help each other through all that’s about to hit them this year? Or will they fail to unite even after a mutual friend of theirs get captured by the same monster killing students?
CHAPTER FOUR
The night had
felt better and it came from that one kiss she had shared with the dashingly
handsome vampire who fought hard for her. For Nat, it capped off the beautiful
night even with Hamilton humiliated and leaving with promises of getting her,
she couldn’t help but feel somewhat proud of herself.
Doing her bid to
avoid more drama from the other kids, she had chosen the alternate route
leading to her dorm room, cutting through the almost worn off pathway just
behind the rave house, heading north with the dorm house not yet in sight. It
was going to be within her reach as long as she continued on her path for
another ten minutes.
It was at that
moment everything slowly began to feel odd. The air changed, followed by an
uneasy feeling growing down her spine in form of tingling sensation which she
had come to trust to mean that trouble was heading her way. It was something
her mother had always asked her to watch out for; the sixth sense embedded into
witches right from their time of birth.
“What now?” a
rather embattled and worried Nat asked herself. She wished she had taken the
normal quick route.
“Is anyone
there?” Nat asked turning to her left, nothing. She clung unto her purse
tightly.
The air grew
colder, and fog soon began to fill her surrounding oddly.
She began to
quicken her steps and managed her breathing so her hearing could remain focused
and sharp enough to pick up any odd sounds. The sounds came in plenty; from
leaves being rustled aggressively, to twigs being stepped on and snapped. Yet,
Nat choose not to look back; she couldn’t deal with the thought of having a
bunch of vampires hunting her down on Hamilton’s behest.
“Russel!” she
called out softly, wondering if she should have taken his advice and allowed
him to walk her to her dorm before heading to his.
All she could do
was to keep her unsteady breathing pattern steady as possible, while her feet
walked as fast as they could carry her.
Yet, the dorm
room seemed further away the more she attempted to get closer. In fact, for the
past five minutes, she had managed to walk on the same spot without realizing
it until she stepped on a large trunk of wood which had almost tripped her and
then she first realized she was being tailed by someone.
“Witches!” Nat
sounded in fear and mumbled underneath her warm breath.
Her lungs stung
and her eyes burned as the fog slowly began to clear and grant her vision of
her surroundings.
“One…” Nat
counted the incoming figure from her left before looking around. “No… two…
three… four!”
“I don’t know
what you want but I’m not going down easily!” she declared with her fists
raised barely keeping them up. School grounds were supposed to be safe.
One to her left
cackled in a dark laughter, while the others simply closed in without giving
off any sound asides the crunching sound from the snapping twigs and dried
grasses beneath their feet.
“This should be
fun,” one of them mumbled.
Another cut
right in, “She seemed to have a lot of spark in her earlier.”
Nat’s mind raced
wildly with thoughts and her entire body grew numb as the four finally came to
full view. She stared at them one at a time and felt her inside walls collapse
as she struggled to figure out what exactly it was that she was dealing with.
“What are… what
are you?” she stuttered, noticing the same faces staring right back at her.
The four figures
were impossible to tell apart and they donned nothing different as regards to
their clothes nor their faces. She had never come across such an anomaly in her
life and it threatened to topple her to the ground just by the eeriness of
things.
Boxing her in,
one stepped closer and smiled right into her face. “What’s the matter little
witch? You never seen perfect shape shifting before?”
Nat had never
come across their kind before. She had indeed heard of them, but they never
showed themselves out in the open a lot.
“But… but…” she
stuttered.
“News flash!”
another replied. “We aren’t as hidden as many would believe.”
Feeling the one
to her left shove her hard to the ground, the four slowly transformed into
girls of the same liking before turning into elderly men as they morphed their
skin and facial features impressively, before finally settling to their initial
look. It sickened her stomach and she was about to feel even more nauseated as
they drew closer.
“We won’t hurt
you,” one promised.
“We just want
some sugar,” another joked.
Nat struggled to
fight them off with punches, but they succeeded in pinning her down regardless.
With her hands pinned on either side by two of the shape shifters, one stood
watch and the fourth slowly began slipping his pants down, Nat forced her hands
free and ripped her nails into the fourth’s face, causing him to shriek in pain
as he struggled with his already fallen pants.
“You bitch!” he
cried, yanked at his belt and began to wrap it around his knuckle.
Yet, she wasn’t
done and upon sighting a large branch in the nearby bush, she waved her hand at
it and watched it levitate but not convincing enough in the air, while her
captors laughed and made a mock of her. Feeling her anger fueled, she swung
hard with every intent possible within her bones and the branch struck one of
them in the face immediately.
It would be the
act that got them even more enraged, and most notably, the one she had struck.
Nat watched his
fast swinging hand reach her face, and suddenly knock her into a barely
conscious state. He still wasn’t done. He came swinging hard for the second
time, but his fist didn’t connect as something seemed to hold him back against
his will. A glowing light, burning brightly in the distance approached and
seemed to startle the shape shifters who turned their attention to the person.
“Leave the girl
alone!” a feminine voice warned.
“This isn’t any
of your business bi…” one of the shape shifters had barely spoken when he
started to clutch his throat with both hands.
Nat watches her
assaulter choke and her savior approach in a steady walk, Nat managed to make
out fuzzy images from her somewhat swollen eye from where she had been punched.
They weren’t having a good time with whoever had come to her rescue. The girl
bore what appeared to be fire in both hands, before ramming it hard into one
which caused the others to slowly crumble to the ground in agony.
“Show your real
self you coward!” the girl demanded.
The four bodies slowly
began to merge into one, while the single figure coughed and slowly got to his
feet with a rather enraged look on his face.
“Who do you
think you are?” he asked.
Lunging forward
and hammering down Nat’s savior, Nat could only attempt to crawl towards the
fight to try and assist but it proved more difficult than she had imagined it
would. Her spine felt stiff and her joints were unresponsive. Her rescuer
seemed to be in trouble as the huge framed attacker now in his true form
reached for a rock to his right and threatened to hammer it down on the girl he
had pinned to the ground.
“Watch out!” Nat
felt herself scream and try to warn the other girl.
Thankfully, the
girl had managed to draw out a silver knife from within her boot, rammed it
hard into the shape shifters’ chest which sent it squabbling backwards in a
painful roar. It struggled to hold the knife as he felt it burn his hands as he
continued to growl then began to burn violently from the magical knife jammed
into his heart.
Nat felt her
heart threaten to give way. Sweat rolled down her face immediately as she came
to the realization that someone had just killed for her. Her hands trembled
while her weakened frame struggled to get back into a sitting position but
found it to be almost impossible. The blow to her head not only left her with
impaired vision but some way left her struggling for balance.
“You shouldn’t
try to overly exert yourself,” the feminine voice said before laying her hand
to rest on Nat’s forehead. The voice is familiar.
Nat could hear
the girl mumble words she recognized to be mild healing spells. Warmth quickly
spread through her face and around the wound, causing it to close back up.
“You’re good as
new,” she said, gently backing away while she held her hand out for Nat to grab
hold of.
Nat opened her
eyes and looked up at her savior, Alexandra, who slowly began stepping away.
“Alexandra!”
another girl in a low-cut top came rushing through. “Oh my god, what happened?”
“Alexandra? Why
the hell would she come to save me, she hates me,” Nat thought with a soft
gasp.
Alex motioned
for her friend to remain where she was, before leading Nat out from the dark
woods and turning around upon getting to a more lightened clearing leading
towards the dorm. Nat motioned to speak with her, but Alex obviously wasn’t
interested in having a conversation. It was typical of Alex after all and after
all those years, she still seemed to have a chip on her shoulder.
Nat felt rather
happy to have been saved by her, though somewhat sad by the situation of things
between her and the girl she used to call her best friend.
Jamila A Stone lives in Washington, D.C with her two dogs. Jamila is driven to tell stories without censorship and for the continued creativity in the world of literature. As an African American woman, she understands the lack of opportunity persons of color have to let their artistic creativity be seen on equal platforms, so she created her own publishing company called Black Glory Publishing House. She thinks not just of herself but of the current and future of literature namely increasing the diversity and inclusion within the literary community.
https://twitter.com/AuthorJStone
https://www.facebook.com/JamilaAshaStone
Thank you Janine McCaw for hosting my book. I do not see the interview I did posted. I can email it, let me know.
ReplyDeleteAudience my book is $3.99 on Kindle and free on Netgalley. I'll check in to answer any questions
Below is the interview I was asked to do.
ReplyDeleteSupernatural Central Short and Quick Interview
1.Tell me a little bit about your main character of this book.
Strange Things Await has two main characters, Natalie “Nat” King and Alexandra “Alex” Aurelius. Both are African American witches who attend Virtus Academy a magical boarding school. Nat is bisexual and Alex is a lesbian. Nat and Alex used to be best friends but do to a past incident they are now at odds. Their friendship from the start was doomed one might say because they are from two completely different covens. Nat is part of the King coven which is seen as good while Alex is part of the Aurelius coven which is seen as evil. They made an unlikely pair as children and now as teens they have been even more influenced by their own covens and clash violently as enemies.
2.Do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?
I do believe in God, angles, the devil, demons etc so yes, I believe in the supernatural. God is not earthly/human. The supernatural/paranormal that many think of from fiction novels I don’t believe in lol no vampires or werewolves etc.
3.What titles are you working on now that you can tell us about?
I am working on a few titles. I am working on the third and last book of the Virtus Academy series called Sacrifices Await. This novel won’t probably be released until 2023 but I always have my books available for pre order months ahead. Depending on how the series does I might write more. I am writing the sequel to Gates’ Bookstore. I’m a few chapters in that one so hopefully it’ll be ready Dec 2022, but I won’t reveal the title just yet. I also am focusing on finishing She Sees Glory a Historical Fantasy novel set in 17th century Africa. I will finish that book this year.