Once Upon a Midnight Drow

This is going to be one super fantastic week of new releases!!!!

I have something super special for you to check out today! I can’t even tell you how excited I am about this completely new book coming out later this week. For those Oriceran fans, sorry, this isn’t part of the Oriceran Universe. It’s a totally new series not connected to anything else, yet!

Chapter 1

It was time to do the impossible.

L’zar Verdys felt it coursing through him—the rightness of the moment, the tug pulling at his core to rise to the call and finally put into motion everything the soothsayer had predicted. For two hundred years, he’d waited for this night.

“Lights out in five.” The night guard stalked down the walkway of cell block Alpha, his boots clicking on the metal mesh.

“Not even gonna give us a pass for the new year, huh?” L’zar’s neighbor Relaude let out a low whistle.

The guard’s rhythmic footsteps stopped at the cell on L’zar’s right, and the metallic ping of the man’s cattle prod for magicals echoed through the block. Just a light tap-tap tap against the bars. “You don’t get a pass for another fifty years, Relaude.”

“Forty-nine, actually—”

The weapon cracked against the cell bars, throwing up a sizzling flash of purple sparks when the buzzing, electrically charged nightstick struck the cell’s magic-dampening wards. “We can double that if you want, inmate. Or you can keep your fat Orc mouth shut.”

Relaude let out a low, rumbling chuckle but didn’t say another word.

L’zar stretched out on the thin mattress of his single bunk, slate-gray arms folded behind his head of white hair as the guard picked up his slow, rhythmic march down the cells lining Alpha block. It sounded like Richardson, and sure enough, there was Richardson’s bulbous nose lit up in perfect profile as the man passed L’zar’s cell. The guard didn’t pause as he swept a quick gaze over the Drow prisoner’s bare, tidy box of a room. Just one eyebrow lifted in contempt, then he continued down the row. read more…

Warmage Snippet #2

Okay, are you ready for the next chapter in Warmage? I know I was! This is going to be one fantastic new series. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this one!!!!

Chapter 2

Deacon lay outstretched on his bed, resting his long, weary legs from another day of hard work. He waved his calloused hand dramatically at the window. “You have to be crazy! Look out the window. The sun is setting, man. There is no way you’re going back out there.” A look of dread came over his face.

Isaac pulled back the curtain covering the small window of their two-person, one-room wooden cabin that sat toward the middle of the Alby Ranch. A bright orange sliver peeked out over the horizon. “Not if I move quickly enough. I’m not afraid. Besides, those are just old stories about monsters told to scare children.” He punched his fist into his hand. “I have to get that harvester back.”

Deacon sat up on his bed, massaging his sore calves. “Do you even know where you left it?”

Isaac closed one eye and looked up at the thatched roof, biting his lip. His thick brown moustache curled into his mouth. “It couldn’t be more than a few dozen yards from the wall. We didn’t go out that far today, did we?”

“Nope. The polly grass was great. More than we even needed for the goats. I bet we get two… maybe three days of feed for them out of that once we grind it up.” He tilted his head back and forth, stretching out the muscles in his neck. “Makes for a good day at the office. Hell, if I’m going outside the wall for longer than I need to be. Even in the daylight, it gives me the creeps.”

Isaac marched over to the door and began shoving his feet into his work boots. Dried, caked-on mud crumbled off the edges and piled up on the woven rug. “It’s not a good day at the shop if I don’t get that harvester back.”

“What is the big deal? We probably got others out in the shed. And if not, old man Alby’s making good money right now. Ask him to buy you another one.”

“No, he won’t.” Isaac slipped on his olive canvas work coat. “The old wizard doesn’t want to foot the bill for another one. I know, because I lost one a couple months ago and he pissed and moaned about it so much, you woulda thought I lost his granddaughter or something. I could lose this job if he wakes up in the morning and that harvester isn’t here.” read more…

Warmage: Unexpected Snippet #1

With the new Warmage series coming on February 26, I had to share this fantastic snippet with you! This is chapter 1 and you are going to love it!

Chapter 1:

The screen door creaked loudly, slamming shut behind Raven Alby as she jumped off the porch and ran toward the gate of the Alby Ranch. A silver dragon passed overhead with a rider from the Dragon Rangers returning from patrol over the kingdom. They were flying back toward the center of Brighton.

“Right on time,” said the teenager, breathlessly. She waved her arms overhead at the rider as she ran, and he ducked the dragon’s head. The long tail sailed out behind, the pearly scales twinkling in the morning light. In the distance she could see the mountains that marked the edge of one side of the kingdom, the clouds hanging low near the peaks.

She passed by grassy fields and barns, and a pen of dwarf goats being fed their breakfast while two ranch hands leaned up against the fence.

“Morning Miss Alby.” Isaac Irving lifted his hat and gave the girl a nod.

“Where you off to in such a hurry?” Deacon Smith knocked his boot against a fence post, raising a cloud of dust.

“First day of school,” shouted Raven, running the last stretch toward the gate.

“That’s right, Fowler Academy! That’s a big deal.”

“Learn a spell for me that can herd a lot of tiny goats,” said Deacon. read more…