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Musings From An Addicted Reader

Musings From An Addicted Reader

Monthly Archives: May 2021

Review: Shaker by Teagan Brooks

30 Sunday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in 5 stars, Review

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Shaker (Blackwings MC, #5)Shaker by Teagan Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jacob “Shaker” Marks thought he had met the girl for him only to be betrayed and deciding he would never put him in that position again. When he meets Keegan his interest is peaked but he keeps it as friends. What he doesn’t know about Keegan though is that her Stepfather, Senator Lawrence Hastings, is holding her young little sister against her. Keegan’s mother passed and she is dedicated to her little sister, so when Lawrence demands she marry a man she has never met, she refuses and gets beaten badly. Shaker finds her and steps up to protect her. There is a lot about Shaker that Keegan has no idea about and the closer they get the more Shaker decides maybe Keegan is what he has been looking for.

Amazing, this was so different then what I thought. Loved every moment of this one. Shaker was a huge surprise with his story. Another terrific read from this author.

View all my reviews

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Book Tour & Giveaway: Persephone Pls by Stevie Rae Causey

28 Friday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Book Tour

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Persephone Plus
by Stevie Rae Causey
Genre: LGBTQ Romantic Fantasy Retelling
After a year of banishment in the modern world Persephone must convince Olympus that love comes in many forms.
Persephone and Aphrodite must settle an old rivalry regarding their shared lover, or forfeit them to the mortal realm forever in this LGBTQ+ Romantic Fantasy with a HEA.
As their time runs out and the Goddess of Love shows no sign of wavering, it is up to Persephone to find a way to save the mortal she loves, without hurting the Immortal she married.
If you like old myths with modern twists and complicated romance, you’ll love ♥Persephone Plus♥.
**Only .99 cents!!**
Add to Goodreads
Amazon * Books2Read
I write MG and YA Epic Fantasy that explore real-life themes. I believe that fantasy and fiction create a safe space for young people to explore the ins and outs of the world we live in and I aim to write the kind of stuff that entertains as well as fosters introspection.
When I’m not writing or speaking to teens, I’m usually chasing my kids, going on wilderness adventures, and posting pictures of my pets on Instagram.
Website * Podcast * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Signed Print copy of Persephone Plus – 1 winner,
Audiobook of Persephone Plus – 5 winners
$15 Amazon giftcard – 1 winner
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Book Tour: Company Assassin by Claudia Blood

27 Thursday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Book Tour

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Company Assassin

by Claudia Blood

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Fantasy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

It’s Duff Roman’s eighteenth birthday, but no one is lighting candles.

Turning eighteen in the orphanage on Kalecca means starvation for those who aren’t hired into a Family. Outside the Family compounds lies the jungle. And in the jungle lies death. And Relics—the only real currency on Planet Kalecca.

The orphans are Duff’s family, and he’s sacrificed everything to keep the orphanage running, even his chance to move on. Now, at eighteen, he has no choice but to leave. Without him to bring in extra money, the orphans will starve under the Company’s control. Duff’s only chance to save them is to find a spot on an independent crew and hopefully find a Relic to sell.

A seemingly chance encounter with Z, leader of the most feared independent crew, offers Duff his opportunity to score a Relic. And offers Z a chance to relieve the guilt he feels over his past.

But a company assassin has plans to lay waste to Duff’s future, and the orphanage as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt

Matilda from Chapter 4

Matilda sat at the table and threaded the needle. The demon alarm still buzzed in the background. She’d given the kids their assignments and tried to act as normal as possible. She didn’t want them worried about Duff or the demons since even the orphanage had company supplied protections. As long as they stayed in the orphanage, they should be fine.

Miss CuddleBug, Sheila’s doll, needed some surgery. Usually this sort of activity would calm Matilda. She checked her nails and saw the distinctive purple at the base that meant her nanites were activated. She took a deep breath and used the mantras her father had taught her.

Peace is within my reach.

Breathe and breathe again.

“Will Miss CuddleBug be well?” Sheila stood on her tip-toes to see her dolly on the table.

“I’ll get her fixed up.” Matilda stroked Sheila’s hair. Sheila’s complexion grayed. Matilda snatched her hand back. She had to be careful with the little ones when she was this worked up.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Claudia Blood’s early introduction to Dungeons and Dragons, combined with her training as a scientist and a side trip into the world of IT set her up to become an award-winning author of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

For her latest release, visit her at http://www.ClaudiaBlood.com

LINKS:

http://www.ClaudiaBlood.com

facebook.com/AuthorClaudiaBlood

http://bit.ly/ClaudiasAdventurersFB

twitter.com/AuthorClauBlood

instagram.com/authorclaudiablood

Short Story give away for newsletter sign up

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/knyz61msub

BUY links for Trilogy

https://books2read.com/CompanyAssassin

https://books2read.com/HorizonFound

https://books2read.com/TimeRift

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

<a href=”http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3646“>Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>

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Release Blitz and Giveaway: The Fourniers by Vera Jane Cook

26 Wednesday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Release Event

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Women’s Fiction

Date Published: 5/26/2021

Publisher: Indies United



When Hannah Reilly steps off the ship on the shores of Ellis Island in 1912 she has no idea that it is not a convent that awaits her. It is a man who finds her far too beautiful to marry God.

Hannah turns her back on the church and she and Wade settle in Jacksonville, Florida, where the world holds the promise of sunshine. They have two wonderful children before life changes and Wade insists that Hannah abort her third child. When Hannah refuses, light turns to darkness and fate unfolds before Hannah with the cruel consequences of her choices.

A story told against the backdrop of the Depression, Hannah struggles with anguish and despair highlighted by brief moments of triumph, lost love returned, deep friendship and the cruelty of laws so unfavorable to women.


About the Author


Vera Jane Cook enjoys writing in a variety of genres. As Olivia Hardy Ray, Jane is author of the dark, suspenseful scifi novel, Pharaoh’s Star. In the fantasy genre she is the author of Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem, Annabel Horton and the Black Witch of Pau. She has numerous forthcoming titles in this genre which include Annabel Horton and the Demon of Lodun, Fox Hollow and Nobody’s Road.

As Vera Jane Cook, she often explores her southern roots and complex family dynamics in her women’s fiction. Her novel Dancing Backward in Paradise won the Indie Excellence Award for notable new fiction when it was first released in 2007 and an Eric Hoffer Award for publishing excellence that same year. Dancing Backward in Paradise received a five-star review from ForeWord Clarion. The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, first released in 2012, was a finalist for the ForeWord Clarion Book of the Year Award. Additionally, Jane has published the southern fiction novels Where the Wildflowers Grow and Pleasant Day. Her newest women’s fiction novel, When Hannah Played Ragtime, Book One in a family trilogy will be published this year.

Jane lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her spouse, her Dachshund, Karly, her Chihuahua, Peanut, and her two pussycats, Sassy and Sweetie Pie.


Contact Links

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Facebook

Twitter @verajanecook

Blog

Goodreads

Pinterest

Instagram


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Teaser Tuesday and Giveaway: The Jesus Nut by John Prather

25 Tuesday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Teaser

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Contemporary Adult Fiction/Satire

Date Published: June 1, 2021

Publisher: Atmosphere Press



The Jesus Nut tells the parallel stories of three unlikely pilgrims—a reviled professor, a delusional homeless veteran, and a priest who loves strip clubs—searching for the greatest religious relic of the 21st century. Thrown together after a raucous showdown with evangelists, they decide to ignore their differences and work as a team in pursuit of their holy purpose. Their journey to New York City leads to a fateful encounter with a former advertising executive, whose mad ramblings suggest he might be the very oracle to help them fulfill their destiny.

A quirky, subversive novel that addresses timely issues and lampoons evangelical hypocrisy, The Jesus Nut ultimately reveals itself to be a story of second chances and agape love. Along the way, you’ll meet self-righteous academics, a curious and ambitious stripper, a farmer with a remarkable peanut, a trucker fascinated by the constellations, a profane church maintenance crew, and more. Prepare for an irreverent journey which will remind you of the value of friends and the miraculous power of faith.


Excerpt

“In the great metropolis of the modern world,” recited Jesse from memory, “a place both west and east, in a gathering place used by many.”

“New York City,” said O’Shea.

“Central Park,” added Berkshire.

“Look to the strategizers, who tarry at games but know much more,” Jesse continued.

“Chess and Checkers House?” proposed O’Shea.

“I agree,” replied Berkshire.

“Me, too,” added Jesse, smiling.

Berkshire turned to Jesse. “Chapter thirteen, verses five and six, word for word,” she said. “I’m impressed.”

“We share the same goal,” O’Shea said, “even though we have different reasons. I’m on a spiritual pilgrimage. “You,” he added, nodding at Berkshire, “are on an academic one. And Jesse’s quest is—”

“Anatomical?” Berkshire interjected.

O’Shea chuckled. “I was going to say epistemological, but yes, that too.”


About the Author


John Prather is a baseball fan, satire aficionado, mustard enthusiast, and film noir devotee. Now retired from teaching and coaching, he lives in Carlsbad, California with his long-suffering wife, extraordinary teenage son, and neurotic Bichon/Poodle mix. He once ran, a lot. His favorite color is orange. He has broken his nose 15 times. Visit him at JohnPratherWriter.com.


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Facebook: John Prather, Writer

Twitter: @JohnPrather3

LinkedIn


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Teaser Tuesday and Giveaway: Duty Bound by Jessica James

25 Tuesday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Uncategorized

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Volume I


Historical Fiction

Date Published: 6-1-21

Publisher: Patriot Press



Readers will discover the fine line between friends and enemies when a Confederate cavalry officer finds out that the woman he promised his dying brother he would defend, is the spy he swore to his men he would destroy. This epic Southern fiction novel chronicles the journeys of these two tenacious foes as their lives cross by the fates of war and their destinies become entwined forever.

Author Jessica James uniquely blends elements of romantic and historical fiction in this deeply personal and poignant tale that, according to one reviewer, “transcends the pages to settle in the very marrow of the reader’s bones.”


Excerpt

Duty Bound Prologue

From out of a mist-filled meadow the horse and rider appeared, looking more like shadowy figures of the spectral world than anything of flesh and blood. Indeed the vision they created looked like one from hell, as lightning flashed in brilliant bolts of blazing fury, illuminating the mist around them in an eerie shroud of light.

The charger, black as night and massive in size, could well have been from Satan’s own stable, so swiftly and silently did he move through the swirling vapor. Galloping with neck outstretched and tail sailing behind like a banner, the daunting steed flew across the field like a soaring dragon, steam bursting from his nostrils at every stride. The mystifying appearance he projected was matched only by the unearthly image upon his back, who appeared to relish the cross-country race with the wind and the challenge of outrunning the pelting rain sweeping up the valley behind them.

Reaching a canopy of trees just as the first drops of rain began to fall, the horse slowed to a walk by some unseen command, then stopped completely and reared as the rider gave a long, sweeping wave to an unseen foe.

Within the span of a heartbeat they both vanished from sight, the fog and falling rain masking the direction of their escape.


About the Author


Jessica James is an award-winning author of patriotic suspense, historical fiction, and heartwarming Southern small town fiction. She is a four-time winner of the John Esten Cooke Award for Fiction, and has won more than a dozen other literary awards including a Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. James’ novels have been used in schools and are available in hundreds of libraries including Harvard and the U.S. Naval Academy. She resides in Gettysburg, Pa., and has a passion for old dwellings and first edition books.


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Facebook

Blog

Instagram


Purchase Links

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Other


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Teaser Tuesday: The Diversity Playbook by Hephzi Pemberton

25 Tuesday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Teaser

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Transforming Business with Inclusion and Innovation

Non-fiction / Business / Leadership / Diversity and Inclusion

Date Published: 25th May 2021


Hephzi Pemberton’s first nonfiction, business book The Diversity Playbook provides an empowering and uplifting experience. It contains proven expertise, factual examples and practical tools to transform your business and leadership approach with inclusion and innovation as a central shared goal and priority.

Her book demonstrates with clarity, relevant case studies and the latest research, as well as an applicable exercise in each chapter, to show how leaders and firms who embrace and embed inclusion and diversity into their business will benefit. They will be the businesses that innovate and adapt more rapidly. They will have a workplace culture that the latest talent seeks out and stays with. They will reach a wider set of customers and clients who feel valued and understood. They know that to achieve these benefits and many others besides, leaders and businesses now and in the future will have to take inclusion and diversity seriously.


Excerpt


Inclusion and Long Term Value – Chapter One Blog:


The leaders and firms that embrace and embed inclusion, diversity and equity into their business will increase their long-term value. They will innovate and adapt more rapidly. They will have a workplace culture that talent seeks out and stays with. They will reach a wider set of stakeholders, who will feel valued and understood. They  know that to achieve all these benefits you have to take inclusion and diversity seriously. 


There is substantial research to show that diversity brings many advantages to an organisation, including: stronger governance; better problem-solving abilities; and increased creativity and profitability. Employees with diverse backgrounds bring a wider range of perspectives, ideas and experiences. They help to create organisations that are resilient and effective, and which outperform organisations that do not invest in diversity. 


McKinsey’s global study of more than 1,000 large companies found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile. For ethnic and cultural diversity, top-quartile companies outperformed those in the fourth by 36 percent.


A Boston Consulting Group study found that companies with more diverse management teams have 19 percent higher revenues due to innovation. This finding is significant for tech companies, start-ups and industries where innovation is the key to growth. It shows that diversity is not only a metric to be strived for, it is actually an integral part of a successful revenue-generating business.


About the Author


Hephzi Pemberton is a UK business founder and advisor, who believes in the power of good business to transform society. After completing an undergraduate degree at Oxford University, Hephzi began her career in Investment Banking at Lehman Brothers. In 2009, she co-founded Kea Consultants, a financial headhunting firm that specialises in investment and high-growth organisations, which she quickly grew into a profitable and sustainable business.

In 2018, Hephzi founded Equality Group, an Inclusion and Diversity specialist business focused on the Finance and Technology industry. Equality Group helps companies to diversify their teams, using their executive search service, and creates a more inclusive cultures with their consulting and education services. Equality Group has partnered with many leaders in sustainable investing, such as Generation Investment Management, and Private Equity and Venture Capital firms who are committed to being leaders in inclusion and diversity.

Hephzi has been angel investing since 2010 and has invested in technology start-ups across AI, Logistics, Health and Beauty, E-Commerce and Education. She has also advised a number of businesses on their hiring practices, board composition, compensation structure, strategic and fundraising plans.

Alongside her commercial experience, Hephzi has founded a social enterprise called Kiteka, empowering female micro entrepreneurs in Uganda to access digital opportunities through mobile technology. Hephzi has sat on the board of trustees for three other charities focused on youth employment, homelessness and community development.


Contact Links

Website

http://www.hephzipemberton.com

http://www.equality.group


LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hephzi-pemberton/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/equalitygroupglobal


Twitter

https://twitter.com/hephzipemberton

https://twitter.com/equalitygroupgl


Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/hephzipemberton/

https://www.instagram.com/equalitygroupglobal/


Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/hephzi.pemberton

https://www.facebook.com/equalitygroupglobal


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Week Blast: Razor Wire Wilderness by Stephanie Dickinson

24 Monday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Uncategorized

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True crime/memoir

Date Published: June 1, 2021

Publisher: Kallisto Gaia Press



Perpetrator. Bystander. Victim. Krystal Riordan watched as her boyfriend beat a drunk teenager to death in a vermin-infested hotel room. Could she have stopped it? Could she be his next victim? She is serving the maximum 30-year sentence while the man who beat the young woman to death is about to be released. This is no anomaly. Studies show over 80% of women who fail to stop their partner from committing a violent crime serve more prison time than the perpetrator. What does it take to survive in a maximum-security lockdown for 30 years? Is it possible to thrive? The answers only lead to more questions.


Excerpt

Somehow, the angels’ wings kept me alive long enough

to find out I wasn’t doing 30 years, but sentenced to nine years.

—Lucy Weems, Inmate #781192


Her father, alarmed by the Public Defender’s 30 years, manages to hire a real attorney, and then everything changes. The facts of the case become distortions. He examines the evidence and gets much of it thrown out—blurry video footage, tainted DNA exhibits. The plea deal’s 30 years gets dropped to 15 and then to 9. Lucy accepts the 9 years and will be transported to Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women to begin serving her time. Ramón, the hard-core dealer who bullied his customers and sold tainted dope, shows up at the sentencing and claims he’ll be traumatized for life.

&

In the doggie wagon van the sun has gone out, and Lucy sits with her head bowed. There’s no room to straighten up without hitting the van’s roof. Better to contemplate the shackles around her ankles and the handcuffs encircling her wrists. Soon she’ll add inmate to her list—a college graduate, a flutist, an artist, a mother, a wife, an accountant, a heroin addict, a prostitute, and an armed robber and kidnapper.

Maybe it rains only inside her or the doggie wagon. The same kind of van that Animal Control transports stray dogs in. All afternoon it’s been the gray overcast that makes you feel like you’re floating inside the steam that rises off a kettle. Yet she’s high on being out of Cell 1313. She’s interested in her neighbors, her fellow prisoners, and the noises of the interstate. Instead of how the jailed world sounded—the outside muffled and half drowned. After being in solitary confinement for a year, the breathing and shuffling of her neighbors being transported to prison is music.

&

You can feel the highway but not see it. One of the other prisoners says she’s from Newark and the other from Camden. The Newark girl violated her parole and she’s on her way back to EMCF. This is her return trip past the cliffs of Weehawken, past the sea-oats sloughs that once flourished and now are a toxic nothingness that ducks putter through.

So long, Newark, all dying cathedrals and abandoned factories. So long, tall clusters of trees, poplar and hickory. The Ironbound section—foreclosure storefronts, mosques, flu shots advertised $24.99. All the doggie wagon ladies have tasted the dark matter bubbling at the universe’s core, the trapdoor that leads to the street, the homeless shelter, or prison. Like Lucy, the other shackled women bow their heads and to God, glancing down from the clouds, it looks like they’re praying.


About the Author


Stephanie Dickinson, raised on an Iowa farm, now lives in New York City with the poet Rob Cook and their senior citizen feline, Vallejo. Her novels “Half Girl” and “Lust Series” are published by Spuyten Duyvil, as is her feminist noir “Love Highway.” Other books include “Heat: An Interview with Jean Seberg” (New Michigan Press); “Flashlight Girls Run” (New Meridian Arts Press); “The Emily Fables” (ELJ Press); and “Big-Headed Anna Imagines Herself” (Alien Buddha). She has published poetry and prose in literary journals including Cherry Tree, The Bitter Oleander, Mudfish, Another Chicago Magazine, Lit, The Chattahoochee Review, The Columbia Review, Orca and Gargoyle, among others. Her stories have been reprinted in New Stories from the South, New Stories from the Midwest, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. She received distinguished story citations in Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays and numerous Pushcart anthology citations. In 2020, she won the Bitter Oleander Poetry Book Prize with her “Blue Swan/Black Swan: The Trakl Diaries.” To support the holy flow, she has long labored as a word processor for a Fifth Avenue accounting firm.


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Release Blitz and Giveaway: Good Lookin’ by T.L. Bequette

24 Monday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Uncategorized

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Mystery, Legal Thriller

Date Published: May 24, 2021

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press



From the gang-ravaged streets of inner-city Oakland to the rolling hills of Berkeley, California, attorney Joe Turner defends the most hardened criminals. Confronted with an unlikely murderer in a modern-day whodunnit, Turner’s latest case seems impossible to unravel. At its heart is a decade-old murder and a tangled web of family, loyalty, and devotion that has the trial hanging in the balance. Viewed through the prism of the unique bond of twins, Good Lookin’ asks how far each of us will go to protect the ones we love.


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Book Blitz and Giveaway: Semper Indomitus by Robert W. Brady Jr

22 Saturday May 2021

Posted by ehmusings in Uncategorized

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The Fovean Chronicles, Book 5

Epic Fantasy



The surprising conclusion to the Fovean Chronicles – Randy Morden has taken on the world, and now the world is fighting back! Enemies must now become allies, and friends enemies, as Randy fights not just to appease the god War, but to keep his family intact and, no matter what direction he turns, it looks like he must lose it all.


Other Books in The Fovean Chronicles:


Indomitus Est

The Fovean Chronicles, Book One

I’m Randy Morden – welcome to my world. A world named ‘Fovea,’ where magic is real, technology the stuff of fantasy, and warriors with swords ride horses into battle, trying to stay one step ahead of their gods’ will. I didn’t ask for this life, but I promise you: before anyone ever knocks me down again, I’m going to have their blood on my knuckles, because a man can only be pushed so far!


Indomitus Vivat

The Fovean Chronicles, Book Two

I was brought to Fovea, a land where magic is real and justice is found at the point of a sword, with a mission from the god, War: Live a successful life.


Indomitus Oriens

The Fovean Chronicles, Book Three

To say that Randy Morden had an effect on Fovea is an understatement. More than ten years after his arrival, the Fovean High Council is in a shambles, the supremacy of the Uman-Chi is a memory, and Eldador is an Empire, not a kingdom.


Indomitus Sum

The Fovean Chronicles, Book Four

The battle for Fovea is on, and a girl named Raven and a man named Jack aren’t even sure of which side they should be on.

Amazon


EXCERPT

I tugged on Blizzard’s reins and we turned east toward the trail that would lead to the road. It was approaching noon, and we wouldn’t be moving at Blizzard’s speed any more. We’d be lucky to make camp before dark.

I expected my son, Eric to ride up next to me, but he hung back with Nina of the Aschire. It turned out that my daughter, Dagi, was the one who rode up next to me, that shield of hers over her back and her sword in a scabbard attached to her saddle. She looked for all the world like an Andaron warrior in Volkhydran clothes.

We stayed silent for a while. I think she might have been waiting either for Shela, my wife, to replace her or for me to send her back, but neither happened and Shela was actually pretty deep in discussion with our daughter, Lee.

“My mother married a Long Manes warrior,” Dagi said, finally. “She has two sons.”

I nodded. “Have you thought of adult names for them?”

She looked at me. “So you know our traditions?”

“Hard not to,” I said.

She nodded and was quiet for a while. We were coming up on the main road.

“Did she stay with Chesswaya’s mother after her tribe dissolved?” I asked. Chesswaya was my daughter as well, by another Andaron woman.

“After you destroyed it, and formed your Wolf Riders, you mean?” Dagi accused me.

“Yes,” I said, looking straight at her.

She met my eyes. Hers were every bit as cold as I knew mine could be. She was going to feel me out and decide if I was worth staying with. That’s what I would have done as a kid, too.

“No,” Dagi said. “Chesswaya’s mother went to the Sure Foot, then the Hunters when they had no women. I met Chesswaya at the Long Manes’ tribe last year, when she came to learn her craft. We didn’t know that we were sisters until the demigod Steel told us.

Whoa – didn’t see that one coming.

“Steel?” I asked. “The Savior. Steel came to you?”

Dagi nodded.

“In a dream?”

She shook her head. “While we were playing chunkee with Nanette and Thorna,” she said.

I looked back at Nantar’s daughters, riding side-by-side with spears in their hands, just ahead of Eric. If there were a fight, they were positioned to come charging into it.

We turned onto the road. The sun overhead gave me a little warmth, but not much. I was going to need to go somewhere and buy furs.

“What did Steel have to say to you?” I asked. “Can you tell me?”

Dagi was silent for a moment. She looked up at me from her horse and she said, “He came to see the daughters of the Daff Kanaar. I thought that He meant Nanette and Thorna, and He said, “No, the other daughters. He meant Chesswaya and me.”

I nodded and stayed quiet.

“He told us that it was a new age, and that we needed to go north and to learn a song from a Druid in Volkhydro. He warned us that nothing would be the same.”

That was news.

“We waited for the men to come back from Toor, and most of them did. We went north on strong horses and we found our brother, Agtani Chewla, and then our other brother and his wife.

“We saw the war come to our land, and we heard Eric, whom we named Usdi Waya, tell us that if Chatoos fell, then our land would never be the same.”

Usdi Waya meant ‘Little Wolf’ in Andaron. Eric had a lot of foresight.

“Then we met you, our father,” she said. She was looking straight forward now. “We would have known you, if Steel had never met us.”

“Really?”

She nodded, still not looking at me. “Chesswaya has your eyes,” she said. “I have your lips and your nose. Mother had described you without naming you – and Chesswaya felt your presence before she met you.”

“Chesswaya has great power,” I commented.

That got a look from Dagi. “As does Lee,” she said. “Vulpe can sing, and singing is important. Lupennen speaks with animals – I can’t imagine a more powerful gift.”

“And Eric is Daff Kanaar,” I said, “and you wonder, ‘What of poor Waya Daganogeda? What does she inherit from the Emperor?”

She looked up at me again, and this time I thought I could see some hurt in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said. “What of Dagi, who has nothing but her mouth?”

An Andaron who ‘has nothing but her mouth,” is usually a woman who’s a gossip, or a complainer. It’s a derogatory term for a spinster, or one who is going to be a spinster if she doesn’t change her ways, because no one wants a woman who’s always giving her opinion.

“Maybe you’re more my child than any of them?” I told her.

She regarded me but said nothing.

“I can’t speak to animals,” I said. “I can’t cast spells. I can’t stun a crowd with my song, and I had to go to Conflu to get the mark of the Daff Kanaar – no one clashed swords with me and put it there.

“I’ve never had anything but my mouth,” I said. “It served me well.”

“You forget the horse you ride,” she said. “The sword you carry. You forget the stories about you, sung in every language.”

I nodded. “But I got them without magic,” I said. “Without song.”

She wasn’t looking at me, so I reached down and I stroked her long, brown hair. She looked back up at me and I asked, “Do you want to learn these things?”

She frowned and looked forward.

Finally, when I thought I wasn’t going to get an answer, she said, “Yes. I want to know everything.”

Good enough, then!


About the Author

Robert W. Brady, Jr. is the author of ‘The Fovean Chronicles.’

Born in Connecticut in 1964, he graduated from University of Connecticut in 1986.

He worked his way through college as a construction worker, an infant swimming instructor, a bartender, a waiter, a secretary, the manager of a dry cleaning store and a security guard.

While in college, he began the first version of the ‘The Fovean Chronicles.’

After college, he lasted exactly three months in the insurance industry as an Assistant Annuities Analyst, and then enlisted in the Naval Nuclear Power Program.

He served in the Navy from 1987 – 1994, receiving the Navy Achievement Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Southeast Asia Service Medal, and Good Conduct Medal during the Gulf War. He was certified as an Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist, a Reactor Operator, a Radiological Controls Shift Supervisor and achieved a rank of Petty Officer First Class while serving onboard the USS Truxtun, CGN-35 and the USS Cape Cod, AD-43.

He has two children, Billy and Jennifer. He and both of his children are born on the same day of different months. Billy enlisted in the US Navy, following in his father’s footsteps.

Since leaving the Navy, he’s been in sales, pest control, auto repair and .Net programming. He ran his own company specializing in add-on software and then sold it to focus more on his writing.

He’s very involved in animal rescue, and has two dogs, a cat and several horses which he’s rescued and rehabilitated.

Although born in Connecticut, he has lived in Orlando, FL; Bremerton, WA; San Diego, CA; and then for fourteen years back in Florida. He currently resides on a horse farm in Tennessee.


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