Saturday, December 16, 2023

ROSS COULTHART talks with PROF. GARRY NOLAN about UFO/UAPs


 

Interesting interview by Ross Coulthart with Prof. Garry Nolan (Stanford, Nobel nominee) about UFOs of all things. 

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Thursday, December 14, 2023

RELEASE DAY BLITZ: SLITHER by NIKKI RAE

 



Slither
The Shadow and Ink Series 
Book Two
Nikki Rae

Genre: Dark Paranormal Monster Romance
Publisher: Nikki Rae
Date of Publication: December 14, 2023
ASIN:  B0CNSFBY1V
Number of pages: 340
Word Count: 98,921
Cover Artist: Nikki Rae

Tagline: Some cycles repeat for a reason, but is this one worth fulfilling?

Book Description: 

Plunged into darkness after an eerie ritual, Corbin finds herself torn between the reality of her life with her mother and the nights she spends with Six. Even though she wakes alone every morning, the nights they spend together are worth it. Suspicion and unease surround her, drawing Jordan closer and closer while Six disappears deeper into the shadows.

Obsessed, Corbin sketches only him. As his monstrous image becomes clearer, etched in ink and gold, the pair and Jordan are enticed into a sensual world meant to feed him.

Six is reluctantly forthcoming with information about his origins and the mystical connection between the three of them. He has no control and little concern for the human world he affects with his mere presence—even when no one can stop the consequences.


Excerpt 

“You’re here.” I wasn’t sure whether it was for my comfort or his, but I was relieved nonetheless.

Yesss. I heard it directly in my ear. I smelled fire on him. Leaves, earth, and flames. Alwaysss.

A breeze wafted through my hair, tickling my shoulder. His presence calmed me, and I felt like for the first time all day, I wasn’t holding my breath. I wasn’t waiting to hear or see him. I wasn’t constantly anticipating when and in what way Six would appear because he didn’t need to. He was with me as much as any other vital organ.

In the span of one summer, I had gone from hearing his disembodied voice and believing I had lost my mind to accepting that all of it was true. Now when I thought of us together, it made no sense how we had ever been apart. Why I would try to push him away, defy some ancient law of nature?

“Can you come closer?” I whispered, staring straight ahead, out the window. “I won’t look.”

I sat on the edge of my bed and it wasn’t long before I felt the mattress sink in on either side of me.

A soft breeze moved the curtain. A car drove down the street.

I kept my promise and didn’t direct my gaze anywhere but the sky outside my window. I could feel him parting my hair, strands swaying on their own until I felt his mouth against the back of my neck again. From the corner of my eye, I watched the shadows grow into lengths of multiple arms that pulled me toward him, completely supporting my weight.

I am right here, my love.

Bands of scales wrapped around my middle, draped themselves over each thigh. Little by little, my head inched upward so all I could see was the pink canopy above my bed. I felt the trace of claw marks just beneath my chin, the strong hand around my throat.

Are you pleased with your gifts, little one?

I nodded against him, surprised even now at how solid he felt behind me. “Thank you, Six.”

I have so much more to give you, he cooed.

Before I could stop anything, I fell backwards, into a stain shaped like him. Legs splayed open, my arms were also restrained above my head, but he surrounded me at the same time. The darkness was weighted, warm. I wasn’t afraid to let it creep across my field of vision and obscure everything in sight.

So many ways I could please you, my flower. My lace of light.

Warmth traveled up my back, throughout my chest and down into my belly. His tone left no question as to what he might mean, so I decided to feed into it.

“Show me, then.”

It came out more of a challenge than I’d intended, but I liked how it sounded.

An echo of whispers met me and I realized it was laughter. Always demanding your proof.



About the Author:


Nikki Rae is the head editor of Metamorphosis Editing Services and a writer who lives in New Jersey. She is an independent author and has appeared numerously on Amazon Best Seller lists. She is the author of The Sunshine Series and concentrates on making her imaginary characters as real as possible. She writes mainly dark, scary, romantic tales, but she'll try anything once. When she is not writing, reading, or thinking, you can find her spending time with animals, drawing in a quiet corner, or studying people. Closely.










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BAH HUMBUG MATE - MYSTIC RIVER SHIFTERS Book 7 by DELTA JAMES bonus Pecan Shortbreak Cookie Recipe

 




Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Heat Oven to 325 degrees F 

Ingredients:

2 cups butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla (I use a skoosh more)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1-1/2 cups chopped pecans (closer to 1-3/4 cups)

4 cups flour

 

Directions:

·       Cream butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy

·       Beat in eggs

·       Set aside

·       Combine remaining ingredients and add to butter mixture

·       Mix well

·       Roll into 1 inch balls OR use cookie scoop to place on cookie sheet

·       Flatten with a glass or cookie press, dipped in sugar

·       Bake 8-15 minutes depending on your oven and desired texture—chewy or crisp

·       Place on cooling rack

·       Cookies are fragile; store in air-tight containers

Bah Humbug Mate
Mystic River Shifters 
Book  Seven
Delta James

Genre:  Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication:  11/22/23:
ASIN:  B0CGY63Z4K
Cover Artist: Wicked Smart Designs

Book Description: 

Will a charade under the mistletoe lead to a real love story?

Dash Samuels, a grumpy reindeer shifter, is faced with an ultimatum: marry by Christmas Day or lose his cherished family inheritance. The holidays are his least favorite time of the year and now he needs to find a mate? Panicked, he devises a plan to hire a woman to play his fake fiancée, until the inheritance is secured. But what he never anticipated was the whirlwind of emotions that would follow.

Noel Brooks, a spirited dreamer struggling to make ends meet, agrees to Dash's unconventional proposition out of necessity. The holidays are her favorite time of the year. As they embark on a charade filled with misunderstandings, holiday traditions, and undeniable chemistry, their carefully constructed façade begins to crumble, revealing the cracks in their hearts.

Dash needs to get from a grumpy humbug to a believer if he is going to catch his fated mate before it is too late.

Bah Humbug Mate is an enchanting story that reminds us that sometimes, the greatest gifts come wrapped in unexpected packages – and that true love is the ultimate holiday miracle.


Bah Humbug Mate Excerpt
A Mystic River Shifters Holiday Novella

“What do you mean I need to be mated by the winter holiday? Are you kidding me?” Dash said as he paced back and forth in the attorney’s office.

“Look, Dash, I didn’t write the damn will. Well, I guess technically I did, but your grandmother was very particular. She was very angry you left the herd. So, if you want to inherit what I agree is rightfully yours, you need to be married by the holiday deadline.”

“Which is?”

“December 24.”

“You aren’t serious.”

“I’m afraid I am. Your grandmother took these kinds of things seriously.”

“For heaven’s sake, Blitz, where the hell am I supposed to find a comely, female reindeer-shifter in the next…” he glanced at the calendar on the wall “twenty-three days?”

“Honestly, I don’t know, and there are provisions that will have you tied to this girl for at least ten years.”

Dash plopped down in the chair. “A decade? I have to spend a decade with some girl I don’t even know?”

“You know lots of girls,” said Blitzen.

“And none of them I’d want to marry.”

“Dude, for that kind of fortune, I’d marry Godzilla.”

“Do you have her number?”


About the Author:

Delta James is a USA Today bestselling paranormal and contemporary romantic suspense author, whose goal is to captivate readers with stories about complex, curvy heroines and the dominant alpha males who adore them. For Delta, romance is more than just a love story; it’s a journey with challenges and thrills along the way. 

After creating a second chapter for herself that was dramatically different than the first, Delta now resides in Florida where she relaxes on warm summer evenings with her loveable pack of basset hounds as they watch the birds, squirrels and lizards. When not crafting fast-paced tales, she enjoys horseback riding, walks on the beach, and white-water rafting. 

Her readers mean the world to her, and Delta tries to interact personally to as many messages as she can. If you’d like to chat or discuss books, you can find Delta on Instagram, Facebook, and in her private reader group 
















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A Mate to Remember

A Mystic River Shifters Flash Fiction

By USA Today Bestselling Author DELTA JAMES

Christmas Day

Seattle, Washington

There were times being the leader of the Shadow Sisters, righting wrongs, protecting innocents and just generally being a badass for good wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Today was one of those times. The man she knew to be her fated mate slept in the large Victorian brass bed, completely sated, supremely confident, and about to be utterly destroyed.

That she was the architect of that destruction was something she had accepted a long time ago. It wasn’t that she had set out to destroy him; it was just that she couldn’t indulge her deepest romantic fantasies until her work was done—and she was a long way from being done. Colby would survive, but he was not going to be happy to find her gone.

In a world where humans reigned supreme, it was tough enough being a female Canadian lynx shifter. The rejuvenation of the Shadow League, a group of assassins controlled by the Ruling Council and used for their own nefarious purposes, meant that their counterpart, the Shadow Sisters, had been restored as well. Aubry Hawthorne, or Brie as she was known to those closest to her, had been chosen to lead the group of female shifters who were often referred to as ‘rogue.’

Right now, Brie’s most vexing problem was her belief—which grew stronger each day—that the League had a far darker purpose than anyone imagined and answered to a master no one even knew existed for sure. That wasn’t true. There were those who knew; they just couldn’t prove it yet.

One of those people was Colby Reynolds, the alpha of the Windsong clowder, her fated mate, and the man that she would never see again.

***

Christmas Eve

Seattle, Washington

Brie stood at the edge of the Olympic National Park where the tree line met the sea. Her home, if one could call it that, was a primitive cave deep within the Olympic Mountains themselves. Right now, she doubted anyone could make out that she was there watching. The spotted pattern of her coat ensured she was well-camouflaged in this environment. She still wasn’t convinced this was a good idea, but she was certain it needed to be done. Meeting in person with the enigmatic alpha of the Windsong Clowder might be necessary in order to have his continued support, but she had long ago decided a meeting would be problematic to say the least.

Brie turned away from the stunning view and began to make her way through the forest to the place she’d hidden her clothes so she could shift into her human form, board the ferry to Seattle, and meet this evening with Colby. Somehow, he had managed to secure an entire boutique hotel for their clandestine meeting. The hotel would be closed, and they would be alone. Anyone trying to secretly observe them or overhear their conversation would have a degree of difficulty that would prove insurmountable.

Reaching her hidden stash of clothes, Brie bade her lynx to retreat as the whirling mist of color, lightning, and thunder swirled all around her until the only thing left was Brie, standing naked in the cold Pacific Northwest winter, pulling on her clothing and boots in order to take the ferry to Seattle.

Sunset and the following darkness came early in the Pacific Northwest. By the time she reached the small, elegant hotel in the heart of the city, it would be full-on dark. How Colby had arranged for them to meet there was beyond her knowing, but she didn’t doubt his ability to do anything he wanted to do past him. The tentacles of his power seemed to have an endless and infinite reach.

Brie knew that many people, if not most, preferred daylight to darkness. She was not among them. She had always found the night to be the most comforting of shrouds. There were things she could accomplish between dusk and dawn that would have been far more difficult if not downright impossible.

As she reached her destination, a liveried doorman rushed down the steps to open the door to the limo that had been waiting for her at the dock. The man had style; she had to give him that.

“Ms. Hawthorne, the alpha is waiting for you in the dining room. Dinner has been laid out and no one will disturb you. We have a small, but more than adequate security team to ensure your safety and privacy.”

Brie shook her head. “You do know this is a bit much, right? We could easily have met somewhere close to the dock or even at the Space Needle.”

“The alpha wanted to ensure you had the privacy and safety he felt a lady of your importance to the cause deserved.”

Brie snorted a very unladylike laugh. “No. Your boss is trying to impress me with his wealth and power. I could care less about either. What I do care about are his intentions and that he understands the Shadow Sisters will not become one more asset in his criminal and espionage circles.”

“I can assure you the alpha…”

“Save it. I’m going to go in, meet with the man and leave. Any deviation or hindrance to my plan will be met with deadly force. Got it? You might want to let the rest of your team know that.”

Brie pushed past him and entered the lobby of the beautiful and sophisticated hotel. The overwhelming bout of dizziness and nausea felt like a blow to the gut and made her falter. She might actually have been driven to her knees had it not been for the strong, steadying hand of the man into whose eyes she looked up and found herself mesmerized.

“I wondered if that might not be the case,” Colby Reynolds purred. “I’ve felt your presence off and on since you left the ferry. You should know you’ll never be able to completely shut down the link.”

“You don’t know that for a fact,” she said, withdrawing her hand from his.

“I do, but I sense a strong streak of willfulness in you. Not to worry. I like a good challenge.”

Choosing to ignore what they both knew to be true; Brie chose to get their discussion steered back to the reason for this meeting. “I rarely worry about things that don’t matter to me. What does matter to me is your increasing presence in the work of the Shadow Sisters.”

Colby smiled and gestured to a darkened dining room lit only by candles, stepping back so she could precede him. Brie had to hand it to him; he was smooth, polished, had impeccable manners, and was sexy as hell. She’d never been as instantly and wildly attracted to a man as she was to Colby Reynolds.

But she guessed that’s what happened with fated mates.

They spent the next several hours discussing the Shadow League and their mutual belief that neither the Council nor the League itself was the ultimate power behind what was happening within the shifter community at large. Well, at least that was what Brie was discussing. What Colby was discussing was on a whole other level, and Brie did her best to avoid it.

When she felt she’d gotten out of him all that she could, Brie stood, looking down for the brief moment before he too got to his feet. “This has been enlightening. It’s good to know we have your support—financial and otherwise—if we need it. But for now, the Shadow Sisters will continue as we are.”

Colby shook his head. “That makes no sense, Brie. Your network has grown large and unwieldy. You need a centralized headquarters where you can set up an intelligence gathering and analyzing group. You need far better weapons, computers, and networking than you currently have. All of that exists at Windsong and your operatives, as well as those women needing sanctuary until you can find them a permanent place, could have a safe home from where they could come and go as they please.”

“Here’s the thing, Reynolds, the one question you never answered regardless of how many times or ways I asked it. What’s in it for you?”

“We have the same goals. We want the same things. We both hide in different ways, but I am not the enemy of the Shadow Sisters. It’s time we banded together to bring down the Shadow League and whoever is truly behind them.” He reached up to tuck a stray lock of her copper-colored hair behind her ear. “I am not your enemy, either. In fact, we both know we are so much more to each other.”

“I know no such thing.”

Colby chuckled. All evening, he’d made it clear that he knew why she’d stumbled. He purred to her, found ways to touch her, and she’d been unwilling to put him off. The arousal that had started swirling in her nether region from the moment she had entered the hotel had been steadily increasing. It now surged through her blood like a wildfire out of control—heat, passion, and need churning together into an intoxicating cocktail.

“But you do. It may not be what you think you want, but we both know need is riding you hard. The scent of your arousal calls to me as does everything about you. Would it be so wrong for you to find peace and some kind of solace in this world while you fight the good fight? Would not we both be stronger if we had the other to lean on?”

Brie thought about going for her knife. She told herself she didn’t as it would mean fighting her way out of the hotel, but she knew that wasn’t the real reason she didn’t jerk her hand away or offer him any resistance as he led her toward the vintage, two-person elevator and drew her inside, inserting a special key card that would take them to the top floor. She’d seen similar security features in other exclusive hotels.

“Colby,” she said as the doors opened into a gorgeous room that seemed to take up the entire top floor. A top floor that had a commanding view of the Seattle skyline and the water below.

She gasped as she walked toward the windows. “It’s beautiful. It almost feels like we’re hanging in the air with the stars.”

“I agree. I bought this hotel, refurbished it and created this sanctuary for myself for when I need to be in Seattle. Mystic River is a quiet place of refuge, but my work often requires me to be here. If I cannot persuade you to return to Windsong at my side, perhaps we could find a way to use this hotel to suit our needs.”

She turned, leaning back against the window, and smiled at him. She hadn’t realized he’d followed so closely behind her, but she found his stealth oddly comforting. “Look, Colby, I’m going to be honest with you. I accepted a long time ago that I was destined to live my life alone.”

“We both know that destiny has brought you to your fated mate.”

Brie nodded. “That might be true, but I chose a different path early on. There will be no happily ever after for me. I will not rest until I see my sisters free.”

“What makes you think I would try and keep you from your goal, as it is the same one I seek?”

Brie snorted.

“How can you doubt me? Until recently my second-in-command was a female snow leopard-shifter. Time and again, I have lent my support to the Shadow Sisters, asking nothing in return. I don’t doubt your strength, courage, or tenacity, but I sense the part of you that you keep hidden from the world, maybe even from yourself. You need a mate who can offer you his loving support and passion.”

“And what do you need, Colby?”

“In a word, you. I need to be needed—not by my clowder or the world at large, but by one woman who wants me for myself and not for the wealth and power I bring to the table. I long for someone with whom I can share all my secrets.”

She got the feeling that there was so much more to what he was saying than just the words themselves. She knew it couldn’t work, but would it be so wrong just to indulge herself in his passionate embrace? To know for once and all time what it felt to be loved by her fated mate?

Bah Humbug Mate
Mystic River Shifters 
Book  Seven
Delta James

Genre:  Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication:  11/22/23:
ASIN:  B0CGY63Z4K
Cover Artist: Wicked Smart Designs

Book Description: 

Will a charade under the mistletoe lead to a real love story?

Dash Samuels, a grumpy reindeer shifter, is faced with an ultimatum: marry by Christmas Day or lose his cherished family inheritance. The holidays are his least favorite time of the year and now he needs to find a mate? Panicked, he devises a plan to hire a woman to play his fake fiancée, until the inheritance is secured. But what he never anticipated was the whirlwind of emotions that would follow.

Noel Brooks, a spirited dreamer struggling to make ends meet, agrees to Dash's unconventional proposition out of necessity. The holidays are her favorite time of the year. As they embark on a charade filled with misunderstandings, holiday traditions, and undeniable chemistry, their carefully constructed façade begins to crumble, revealing the cracks in their hearts.

Dash needs to get from a grumpy humbug to a believer if he is going to catch his fated mate before it is too late.

Bah Humbug Mate is an enchanting story that reminds us that sometimes, the greatest gifts come wrapped in unexpected packages – and that true love is the ultimate holiday miracle.


Bah Humbug Mate Excerpt
A Mystic River Shifters Holiday Novella

“What do you mean I need to be mated by the winter holiday? Are you kidding me?” Dash said as he paced back and forth in the attorney’s office.

“Look, Dash, I didn’t write the damn will. Well, I guess technically I did, but your grandmother was very particular. She was very angry you left the herd. So, if you want to inherit what I agree is rightfully yours, you need to be married by the holiday deadline.”

“Which is?”

“December 24.”

“You aren’t serious.”

“I’m afraid I am. Your grandmother took these kinds of things seriously.”

“For heaven’s sake, Blitz, where the hell am I supposed to find a comely, female reindeer-shifter in the next…” he glanced at the calendar on the wall “twenty-three days?”

“Honestly, I don’t know, and there are provisions that will have you tied to this girl for at least ten years.”

Dash plopped down in the chair. “A decade? I have to spend a decade with some girl I don’t even know?”

“You know lots of girls,” said Blitzen.

“And none of them I’d want to marry.”

“Dude, for that kind of fortune, I’d marry Godzilla.”

“Do you have her number?”


About the Author:

Delta James is a USA Today bestselling paranormal and contemporary romantic suspense author, whose goal is to captivate readers with stories about complex, curvy heroines and the dominant alpha males who adore them. For Delta, romance is more than just a love story; it’s a journey with challenges and thrills along the way. 

After creating a second chapter for herself that was dramatically different than the first, Delta now resides in Florida where she relaxes on warm summer evenings with her loveable pack of basset hounds as they watch the birds, squirrels and lizards. When not crafting fast-paced tales, she enjoys horseback riding, walks on the beach, and white-water rafting. 

Her readers mean the world to her, and Delta tries to interact personally to as many messages as she can. If you’d like to chat or discuss books, you can find Delta on Instagram, Facebook, and in her private reader group 
















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Wednesday, December 13, 2023

COVER REVEAL: ABANDON STATION - THE DYSON BRIDGE SERIES Book One (V.G. HARRISON)

 


Abandon Station
The Dyson Bridge Series, 
Book One
V. G. Harrison

Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Mocha Memoirs Press
Date of Publication: 1/31/2024
Number of pages: 84
Word Count: 22,000
Cover Artist: Maya Preisler
Tagline: Some planets just aren't worth saving.

Book Description:

An explosion rocks the Bridgeway Space Station. Mechanical Engineer Meridia Vail and her crew wake to find themselves on an alternate Earth where the technology is decades behind theirs, and so are the politics. 

When she realizes their space station survived the interdimensional transport to an alternate space and time, she and her crew have only one mission. Get back to the Bridgeway so they can return to their real home.

Time is running out. If the metabolic changes that come with their teleported space station don’t kill them, the politics and secret agendas will. 

Returning home makes sense, but that’s assuming there’s a home to return to. When Meridia learns the Bridgeway’s decaying orbit threatens to annihilate the planet, the Earthers will be more than happy to take their chances by destroying the greatest technological marvel of all time.

With members of Meridia’s international crew scattered across the planet and being detained, she must escape her “caretakers”, if she and her people ever have a chance at saving the one thing that might be able to save everyone.


Excerpt

The door opened.

I sat up and reached for the light.

“Don’t,” a familiar voice said. “They don’t know I’m here and I want to keep it that way.”

“Who doesn’t know you’re here?” I asked as panic swept across me. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“It’s me, Meridia. It’s Julio.” The older man appeared in the light reflecting from the TV. He looked every gray-hair of his age, but there was something about his eyes that weren’t right. His entire visage seemed worn and weathered beyond his fifty-nine years. He continued toward my bed with sweat dripping from his short, gray curls. “We have to get out of here. They want to use us.”

“Use us for what?” I asked.

“Don’t you hear them talking? They want to suck the information out of our brains. They’re going to attach us to machines that will take the wormhole knowledge out of us, then use that information to build bigger weapons. They won’t rest until they’ve brought the rest of the world to their knees.”

Oh boy. I jumped out of bed and hurried toward him to grab his arms. “Calm down, Julio. These people don’t want to hurt us. They want our knowledge, so it would hurt them to hurt us.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. His gaze pleading. “You’re wrong. I’ve seen the machines. They do it round after round after round. You had your first tests today, didn’t you?”

“Julio it was just—”

He tore away from me. “Don’t you get it? The wormhole is ours. We created it. It belongs to us. Not them.”

This wasn’t the same Julio Ferrera I knew. A fusion physicist who was already on his way to greatness even before he joined the astronaut program, he was our Chief of Scientific Research and an accomplished Air Force Major. This guy in front of me was a lunatic who needed more care than they could ever hope to give him here. Seeing my friend and colleague like this wrenched my heart. I wanted to hug the fear out of him but knew it wouldn’t make any difference. He needed more help than I could give him.

“Relax, okay?” I started toward the small desk where there was a phone. “I’m going to call someone to help you. Maybe they can give you something to help you sleep.”

Julio tackled me to the floor. “You have to listen to me, damn it! Listen! They’ve hidden away more Americans than just us, so they can experiment on them more. Some of them are still up there on the Bridgeway just waiting at the beck and call. Leave them frozen until they’re needed.”

I squirmed away from him enough to grab the leg of a small side table. I smashed it across his upper back and head. Dazed, his grip loosened. I wiggled my legs out from underneath him, but he charged again, grabbing the back of my nightshirt. Threads tore as he dragged me down again. This time, he clawed his way on top of me and got his hands around my throat. He squeezed hard like he wanted to snap my neck in half, yelling for me to listen to him. I punched and clawed at his arms, fighting and kicking. Anything to free myself as a burning sensation heated up my lungs.

“You’re one of them!” He shouted, his eyes crazed. “They got to you. You can’t tell them anything—I won’t let you!”

My bedroom door slammed open. Several people ran into my bedroom and wrestled him off me. I rolled onto my side and grabbed my neck, struggling to suck air into my writhing lungs.

The orderlies threw Julio on my bed where a man wearing a pair of black slacks sedated him. Dr. Tommen knelt on the floor next to me, but I waved him away. I didn’t want anyone touching me. For all I knew, they did this to him.



About the Author:

Amazon best-selling author, V.G. Harrison, enjoys creating smart heroines who are more comfortable dealing with things like Fine-structure constant and quantum entanglement than the fallout from their conflict. She loves to write stories that leave her audience so engaged they can't sleep at night, thinking about the possibilities.  

V.G. holds a Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering and a Masters in Information Technology. When she's not writing, she's an IT manager for a healthcare information systems company. 

Her ever-growing list of hobbies include astronomy, attending comic cons, keeping an eye on the cryptocurrency and stock markets, hydroponics gardening, hiking, and connecting with her daughter, A.J., on a cool level. Building Lego sets at night with milk and cookies on the side come in handy for that. 






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Tuesday, December 12, 2023

INTERVIEW WITH ALEX THORNBURY (The Rogue Mage: The Sundered Web Book 2)

 



Supernatural Central Short and Quick Interview


  1. Tell me a little bit about your main character of this book.

The Rogue Mage, the story follows Elika Spider, who was raised on the streets in a dying realm. She has recently discovered that there is magic inside her which she can tap into. But at a price. Through the series, she is a dark, antihero-type character, and grows darker as she comes into her power. She is unfalteringly loyal and very protective of those she cares about. And though she hates magic, she will use it to protect mankind against the mages and other powers threatening them. Even if it means doing the darkest deeds and sacrificing herself.

2. Do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?

In daylight hours, I tell myself that I do not. However, come nighttime, and the house starts to creak and groan, my mind starts to conjure specters. I sometimes think that there are daemons watching over us. They are not good or evil, but mildly mischievous and laugh at our expense. This largely comes from a large number of what I would call coincidences in my life where I say something with certainty, and it instantly proves to be false. Or they grant silly wishes, but never the good ones. Once, I grew frustrated with endless rejections for jobs I was applying for, and so I said out loud, ‘All I want for my birthday is a job.’ A week later, I was called in for an interview in London for an excellent position. I was asked to start on the following Monday, which just happened to be my birthday. I was not impressed. I knew it was my deamons having a laugh. I cursed myself, thinking that I should have asked for a jackpot-winning lottery ticket instead. But it was too late to change my wish. 

3. What titles are you working on now that you can tell us about?

I am currently working on Book 3 of the Sundered Web series. This will conclude Elika’s journey as she finally learns who and what she is. Worse still, she learns that she is at the heart of why the two realms of man and magic were merged, and why the Demigod Syn’Moreg had sundered their world. Haunted by this knowledge, she set out to undo the disaster, even if it means sacrificing herself to do so. Only one man now stands in her way, one who loves her too deeply to allow her to die.



The Rogue Mage
The Sundered Web 
Book Two
Alex Thornbury

Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Shadow Lore Publishing
Date of Publication: 5th December 2023
ISBN: 978-0-6454970-4-5
ASIN: B0BW35KXPZ
Number of pages: 550
Word Count: 190,000
Cover Artist: Alejandro Colucci

Tagline: For humankind, she would be the monsters’ monster. She would be their fear in the night. She would be the terror come for them. 

Book Description: 

Elika crosses the Bridge to Magic to find the world ruled by magic, where nothing is as it seems. Mages run the streets, whilst the tsaren, their masters, war with each other. Though it is men who pay the price with their lives.

Faced with the injustice of the mages and the new world order, Elika discovers her own untapped gifts that may yet shift the balance of power back into the hands of men. But her dabbling in the power she does not understand draws the attention of the dreaded demigod Syn’Moreg.

Elika must now outwit the shadow that hunts her, whilst seeking a way to free mankind from their oppressors. Yet dark grows her heart, and to darkness it reaches for that which the shadow denies.

As whispers of a newly found heir to the Sacred Crowns grow to cries of war, Elika comes to realize that she may not be the savior of mankind after all. Mite has proclaimed himself King Northwind, and marches on Terren to claim what is rightfully his. Elika is certain he will fail, unless she can vanquish the one power standing in his way. But to do that, she must convince the court and the archmage that she is the demigoddess Arala returned.


Excerpt:

Aeon-Greengrass’ house was easy to find, illuminated as it was with moonlight. The chimney was a weave of branches, and grass grew from the walls. She peered down from the edge of the roof to a small balcony, and silently lowered herself onto it. The tree branches stirred under her feet, then stilled. Instead of a window, an airy opening, with black webbing barred her way inside.

‘Open,’ she commanded in a whisper, pushing her will into the surrounding essence, and felt the answering quiver.

The black strands parted, and she strode inside into a darkened lounge. Had she come here to rob, she would have needed ten sacks for all the loot.

Every surface was crowded with silver ornaments in strange shapes and flowing forms that resembled nothing you’d find in nature. She was drawn to a figurine that resembled a twisting, spiralling shape of a man, as if his body was made from water. Another figurine was of a dog, his earthly form also looped and stretched around itself, a grotesque torment of the natural order.

There were trees and flowers and animals, all twisted and bent. Yet there was an odd beauty in the grotesqueness that tugged at her primal heart. Was this how they saw her world? Strange that these ugly beings searched for beauty and crafted it in their own appalling way.
What do you want from our world? she pondered. Surely your own is of much greater splendour, abound as it is with magic and wonder.

Dangerous musings, she thought, and abruptly turned away before her resolve wavered.

Inside the house, there were no doors, only archways in the walls of branches with strange, whimsical fruit sprouting from their tips. No fruit was the same, and when she touched one, it felt hollow and light as if spun from dust and wishes. Under her foot, there was a carpet of grass. In it grew small flowers, akin to those a child might draw with a stick in the mud, both extravagant and clumsy in their form. The petals were of different sizes and irregular in shape.

Everything here gave an impression of simultaneous worship and corruption of nature, as if the Laifae did not understand how it all fitted together.

At the end of the hall, she came to a doorway. A black web barred her way. Beyond it, she felt his essence, the creature who gave this house its form. She focused on that essence, placed the hand on the webbing and whispered, ‘Do not resist me.’

Warm, slick strands trembled under her fingers and parted before her, allowing her entry into the majren’s bedchamber. A light glowed in a lantern beside his bed, illuminating the youthful face of the sleeping mage. He was a youth … no, the body he had stolen belonged to a youth whose limbs still had not developed the bulk of a full-grown man. It was an absurdly wrong body for the man who held such an important position in the archmage’s dominion. Curled on his side, he looked like a child in peaceful slumber.

The child is dead, she reminded herself, willing the anger to grow.

Still, she could not look at him and do what must be done. She sent a black tendril to extinguish the flame in his lantern, and the room was plunged into darkness.

Aeon-Greengrass startled awake and sat up.

‘Who’s there?’ He moved his face searchingly, back and forth, past where she stood.
She froze, realising that he was blind in the dark of night. His ears were sharp, however, and he must have heard her intake of breath, or perhaps the frantic beating of her heart.

‘Guards! Guards!’ He shouted from inside the dead man’s chest, a sound akin to a strangled roar.

Without further thought, she grasped the threads of his essence and pulled.

‘No! Spare me. I have gold and riches.’

‘Riches you earned by selling the lives of men.’

‘Who are you, mistress?’ he gasped.

In reply, she pulled harder upon the threads. He groaned and writhed and finally fell lifeless back onto his bed.

‘A life for a life.’ She uttered the mantra from long ago, which they had lived by on the streets.

And something inside her grew cold and dark.

A crack under her feet … she plunged through the floor and hit the lower level with a rough thud.

She groaned, rolled, noting that nothing was broken, and looked up. But of course, she thought, with the Laifae gone, so was his magic. The grass floor morphed to rotting wood, decayed and barely holding the house together. The walls of the house were wilting and vanishing, and the stones which had been held firm by black webbing began to crumble and crash around her.
Elika scrambled to her feet, raced to the window and jumped out. Behind her, the house fell to rubble and dust chased her down the street. Shouts and calls came from the folk as they emerged to gape at the rubble she had left behind. When she was out of their sight, she slowed to a walk.

A wind brushed her hood.

She stopped, and her heart raced with recognition and fear.

The wind blew again, stronger this time.

She knew that wind. Knew it as well as her own breath. She had lived beside the dark chasm most of her life, had listened to the shrill screams upon it. But she was far from the chasm, and the wind of the Abyss did not travel far past it. Yet here it was, filled with biting rage, swirling around her. And on it, she felt a dark presence. Something followed her that was not a man.

She spun around and probed the deep, lurking shadows of the night, straining her ears to listen to the silence hidden by the wailing wind. A terrible power drew near. She felt its approach in the depths of her bones. The very essence of the world bent and trembled beneath it. It charged the air with its rage. A pulse of that rage went past, and a tremor shook the ground beneath her feet. She staggered but managed not to fall, turned again, trying to see where the nearing storm was coming from.

It stilled, as if also listening. Then, as if it caught her scent, the terror charged towards her.

She darted for the closest rainwater pipe and, in an instant, scrambled up it to the roof, lay flat on her stomach and peered over the edge. No one was there. No sound, no movement in the faintly lit street. Still, the sense of danger prickling her skin was a physical sensation she could not ignore. Something was there, seeking her, scanning the roofs where she had climbed. Aye, there were eyes searching for her, brushing past her.

Darkness moved, and she saw it, a shadow darker than the night untouched by moonlight. It moved and vanished. And the winds of the Abyss grew still.

She rolled away from the edge and stared up at the moon, waiting until she was certain the shadow had left. Then she rose and ran home.


About the Author: 

Alex Thornbury is an award-winning author. She grew up in Cheshire UK, and developed deep love of history and fantasy thanks to the many castles she visited as a child. Though she grew up to be an Alchemist by trade, she never stopped fantasising about other worlds, dragons and epic battles.










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