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Daily Archives: December 20, 2012

Cover Reveal – The Unfinished Song: Blood (Book 6)

The Unfinished Song: Blood, Book 6 is coming soon!

Here’s a peek at the cover and an except.

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Back Cover

Dindi and Umbral have an uneasy truce, forced to work together to defeat a greater enemy: the Bone Whistler. The Bone Whistler’s scheme to sacrifice humanity and resurrect the Aelfae will culminate during an eclipse on the spring equinox…in three days.

Their fragile alliance may not withstand the terrors they face. Dindi hides as a clown, but even disguised, her dancing draws the eye of the Bone Whistler himself. She will have to defy him alone, for Umbral has  his own troubles.

Finnadro, who has hunted Umbral for a year, finally catches up with him… determined to punish Umbral for all his black deeds.

Life and death, spring and autumn, human and faery, are all reeling out of balance, and the next three days will determine the fate of all Faearth.

Excerpt

Umbral

Aelfae!

Umbral’s nerves hissed danger.  At the same time, so much power, so close, tempted him almost impossibly. Fighting the urge to rush forward, start drinking in all that power, was like trying to brace himself against an avalanche. He had to pull away and physically anchor himself on a stalagmite—literally wrap his hands around the cone of rock—to stop himself from revealing himself as Deathsworn by trying to steal the Aelfae’s light.

A groan rose deep in his chest and he muffled it against the rock. He let himself siphon just a little of the Aelfae’s power, just a trickle, just enough to dull his hunger and allow him to suppress his need for more. Even that tiny amount felt like a huge cascade of power. The Obsidian Mask felt heavier than it usually did, but his Penumbra throbbed with strength, and he bore the extra weight easily.

Would the Obsidian Mask deceive the Aelfae? If it did not and he showed himself to them, they would fall upon him and slay him where he stood. He didn’t delude himself that he could defeat six Aelfae warriors at the height of their power, flush with new life from their resurrection.

Waiting for them to discover him was no better. He must know if he would need to flight or flee or if he could trick them. Only when he was sure he could control himself did he look again at the Aelfae. He stepped out from behind the stalagmite.

Dindi glowed just like one of them. Seemed to merge with them almost.

What had he expected? She was one of them—as close to Aelfae as still lived in Faearth.

What if she allied herself with them against him? What would it avail him for the Obsidian Mask to deceive the Aelfae if Dindi denounced him?

No one had noticed him. If he fled the cave now, though they would surely chase him, he might still have a chance of escaping. He would warn Obsidian Mountain. They would have time to prepare for this new threat. But in the meantime, the Aelfae would meet up with their old comrade, the Bone Whistler, and their power would only grow. Umbral had no idea how the Bone Whistler planned to destroy humanity or how close he was to achieving his goal.

Dindi fell to the floor, gasping. She wasn’t melding with the Aelfae at all. They were smothering her.
Umbral stepped forward, prepared to fight all six immortals, if he had to. If those fae muckers planned to hurt Dindi, they’d have to go through him first.

Penguin Group Makes Separate Peace on Ebook Lawsuit

(Huffington Post) WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced Tuesday it has reached a settlement with Penguin Group (USA) Inc. in its lawsuit accusing the nation’s largest book publishers of colluding with Apple Inc. to raise e-book prices on customers.
The settlement, if approved by a federal judge, leaves Apple and Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, which does business as Macmillan, as the only defendants standing against the federal government’s charges that Apple, the multimedia and computer giant, conspired with several publishers in the fall of 2009 to force e-book prices several dollars above the $9.99 charged by Amazon.com on its popular Kindle device.
The Justice Department, which sued in April, settled with Hachette Book Group, Inc., HarperCollins Publishers LLC and Simon & Schuster Inc. earlier this year. The trial is scheduled to begin in June.
“The proposed settlement with Penguin will be an important step toward undoing the harm caused by the publishers’ anticompetitive conduct and restoring retail price competition so consumers can pay lower prices for Penguin’s e-books,” said Jamillia Ferris, chief of staff and counsel at the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
Apple Inc. has said the government’s accusation that it conspired with major book publishers to raise the price of e-books is untrue.

http://siraudio.deviantart.com/art/Shoppy-celebrates-Christmas-272981982?q=gallery%3Asiraudio%2F26186427&qo=24

Excerpt – A Vampire Carol, Part 2

FREE right now on Amazon and Kobo.

A Vampire Carol

The last thing Alex wanted was to become a vampire for Christmas…

Excerpt:

Alex stayed in the dumpster until nightfall. He crept out and stood in the alley, trying to understand, trying to believe, and failing. He recognized the back of his office building.
His car was still parked in the parking garage, on the fifth floor. The keys were in his jacket pocket. Dazed, he opened the car, but for a long while, he sat in the driver’s seat, with his key in the ignition and his foot on the pedal, without turning on the engine. His mind refused to work.
He knew he should go home because Lynn would be worried, alone with baby Bradley. Lynn would have questions though and a long list of ways this was his fault. He couldn’t fight with her right now. He needed support. He needed a friend.
Justin lived with his brother, two years younger, who attended school part-time and worked part time, in a pale blue house at the end of a cul-de-sac. Justin had his degree and was a sys admin, like Alex, at a different company. Alex and Justin had been buddies since college, although since Alex married and had a baby, and Justin stayed single, they had found themselves divided by the secret segregation that keeps Married Couples apart from Single Guys.
Alex knocked at the door. No answer. He pounded.
Gary, Justin’s brother answered the door.
“Hey, Alex.” Gary took a swig of a beer. “Justin’s out.”
He was the first person Alex had seen since waking up in the dumpster. Gary looked…strange. A faint but hot mist steamed from his skin, creating a ruddy glow around his body. The aroma was savory.
Gary turned and padded down the hall, leaving the door opened. Alex tried to follow, but when he tried to cross the threshold, it was as if he were trying to walk through invisible taffy. It wasn’t like walking into a wall, but it repelled him all the same. He couldn’t follow Gary.
And he wanted to, very, very badly.
Gary looked back at him. “You okay?”
“I….” Alex licked his lips. He clenched and unclenched his hands. His stomach hurt, and his throat felt as though he had swallowed broken glass.
“I’m thirsty,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Come on in,” said Gary.
The invisible taffy dissolved so abruptly that Alex, who had been leaning into the force, stumbled forward. He caught himself against the wall, panting. His vision narrowed to a tunnel, focused on the red mist around Gary. Alex could hear Gary’s heart beating, and the gurgle of his blood pumping in and out. The delicious smell, the throbbing sound as loud as music at a rave, the hot, red mist…
Gary rummaged around in the fridge and pulled out another beer, which he held out to Alex.
“Would you like a drink?”


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