Tag Archives: fantasy

Guest Post – Fantasy author interview @Libraryoferana #Fantasyauthor #darkfantasy #Fantasy #Meetanauthor

Name: A.L. Butcher

Location: Bristol, Southwestern UK.

How do YOU define fantasy?

Fantasy – a genre where anything and everything is possible; be it magic, mythological beastie, impossible heroes, the folklore and legend that underpins our society and our storytelling.

From the earliest storytellers trying to make sense of a frightening, confusing and dangerous world, to the supreme world-builders such as Tolkien, to the escapism and humour of Terry Pratchett we’ve loved fairytales, magic, lore and legend for thousands of years.

It’s everywhere – from our national legendary heroes such as Robin Hood, King Arthur and St George to the names of our pubs, our libraries, our children’s education, to our language.

Kids read (or are read) fairy-tales, we have Santa Claus, the toothfairy, black dog myths, headless horsemen, the Loch Ness Monster, ghosts aplenty, Green Men, more saints than you can imagine – most of whom did something fantastical – witches, fairies, pixies, dragons, giants, pirates (including Blackbeard who it’s said drank at the Hatchet Inn) and much more. There are two giants that ‘lived’ locally to where I’m based (Goram and Vincent/Ghyston).

I grew up on fairytales, flower fairies, fantasy tales made up by my father, and later Greek and Roman myth, Tolkien and dragons.

Are these genres seen in a more acceptable light than they used to be?

Well fantasy/folklore is hardly new. But I think with the popularity of certain franchises such as Marvel and Harry Potter, fantasy and sci-fi has become more ‘acceptable’ – in that a wider audience has found enjoyment in these. Games, movies, books in the fantasy/sci-fi genre are big business.

What makes a ‘hero’? Would you say this definition is different within literature to real life?

A hero is someone who does what needs to be done to help/save others despite the risk to themselves, or at personal cost, or do something outstanding for the good of others. They don’t need special powers – despite what the books and films might say.

The doctors and nurses who risked their lives in the pandemic to care for others, a man who risked his life getting abandoned animals out of Afghanistan, a humble old man who walked 100 laps of his garden with his walking frame to raise £1000 for the NHS charity and ended up raising £30 million, the explorers who found new lands, and walked on the moon, the scientists who discovered things for the betterment of life – such as penicillin, aspirin, and chemotherapy, the authors, artists and musicians that defied convention to bring new work to us, to those who fought for equality and freedom.

Literary heroes are often (but not always) special – the son/daughter of a god, imbued with magic or superpowers, vastly wealthy, princes (or princesses).

How do you portray heroism in your books?

My heroes are very much anti-heroes – they kill, they steal, they commit crimes in order to help people who can’t help themselves.

Archos and Olek know full well they are not ‘good’ people by the standards of their society, and they do and have done unpleasant things. Yet they stand up for those with no rights and no voice – and try to help where they can and great personal risk.

Dii – I think she’s a hero – despite what has happened to her, and the way she’s been treated she is still kind, selfless and helps those who aren’t really worth her kindness.

How important are ‘facts’ in fantasy – does something need to be plausible to be believable?

It has to be reasonably plausible in the world in which it takes place – although not necessarily deeply explained. If there’s magic then it has to have limits, or at least be hard to use and dangerous. It doesn’t need to be explained WHY there’s magic – but it needs to be consistent and fit the world. If it doesn’t then I think it needs an explanation to the reader.

So, for example in my world of Erana magic exists – I suppose you could say it’s alive or at least has some sentience – people, animals and objects can be magical and exhibit powers or attributes that the mundane don’t possess. However, due to wars and a plague that mostly affected the magical use of magic is outlawed. Magic is dangerous, and tends to do what it wants if given free range. It exacts a price. A mage can’t indefinitely keep using it – the more powerful the more the mage has to pay – with blood, pain, even life. And, of course, if the Order of Witch-Hunters find out then the mage is in big trouble. Magic demands a price. The greater the magic, the greater the price.

I think with fantasy willing suspension of disbelief is needed. Sometimes things happen because they do….

It’s fiction – it doesn’t have to be true or real in our own world.

Science is magic – just magic we understand or accept. Religion is fantasy, just a truth to some people. Truth can be relative.

What science fiction/fantasy has influenced you most?

JRR Tolkien, Homer, Mary Shelley, Janet Morris, Terry Pratchett, ancient myth, the tales my late father used to make up.…

Excerpt 1 –from The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book I

The Archmage rested: dozing, replenishing, and dreaming. Archos had spent an active day and night studying and trying to finish the spell he was creating. Even with his Power, something had unsettled him, so he had given up and gone to rest. As he dozed in a chair in what he called his “workshop,” the Mirror he owned began to sing. Pulled from his sleep, he rose and walked to it. “What is it that you disturb me at such an hour?” he murmured. The Mirror’s song began to wail the strange, haunting song of the Arcane Realms. Touching the edges of the Enchanted Silver frame, he watched as the Mirror shimmered, and the mists cleared.

Archos watched as the view of the chamber in the ruins flickered into view. The image was weak, so he channelled some magic into the Mirror, and Archos saw the other Mirror in the tower and a glimpse of something red as the image flickered out. “Damn you,” he muttered, “must be a weak one.”

Concentrating, he channelled another small bolt of magic into his own Mirror. These artefacts had many uses, if a mage knew the correct spell, one of which included finding other such Mirrors. It was almost as though they spoke to one another, communicated in the Arcane Realm. They fed on magic, although Archos was not sure if “fed” was the correct term. Demanded, needed, or desired were perhaps more accurate. His Mirror could be fickle, but it was old. It had cost him a good deal some years ago, but he smiled as he caressed the silver. He saw the image flicker back up and as it did so, a bolt of magic, of pain, of Power, and of the most intense desire shot down his arm and right across him. Suddenly his head spun, for just a moment, and the Power made him drop gasping to his knees.

“Gods, what was that? Such Power! That cannot have been from the other Mirror!”

He had never felt such intensity as the Power of the woman who called to him across the vast Magical Realms. Breathlessly, he gripped the edges, surprised and deeply intrigued. As he pulled himself back to his feet, Archos saw her: the flame-haired elf woman touching the Mirror in the ruins. He watched as she ran her fingers down the glass and murmured something. Again, he cursed that he had never been able to get the thing to transmit sound. Archos gazed, transfixed, at the beautiful young mage. She could not be more than twenty-five summers, although with elves, it was hard to tell. It had taken him years to learn Mirror magic, yet before him stood this young mage activating an old, dying Mirror.

The image faded, and he snapped at the Mirror, “Show me. Do not play games.”

The mists swirled, and he tried to reach through the unyielding magical fog. “Damn you, so be it!” Archos continued, glaring at the Mirror.

Excerpt 2 – from The Stolen Tower – the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book III

Kherak Var knew her days were numbered. As a Shaman of the Trollkind, she was granted an inkling of when she would go to serve at the feet of the goddess she favoured. To say she was unafraid would not be the truth, for only a fool does not fear death, and Kherak was not a fool. The visions, which were also a gift of her magic and her kind, had become more intense and more disturbing of late, and these played upon her mind more than the matter of joining her forebears. All paths lead to war. That was what she had told the Magelord Archos, Lord of the Storm, who also had the favour of the Goddess Ethnii’a, Lady of the Sky. It was true, or at least that is what the visions and her scrying Arcane Opal informed the old Shaman, and she was rarely mistaken in her interpretations. All paths lead to war, but the paths themselves could be shortened. Those paths more suited to the skills of her more nefarious allies would remain in shadow until such times as those who controlled the shadows brought them to bear on the greater darkness which held the land of Erana beneath a fist of iron. Could shadow and light working together dispel such an entrenched regime as the Order of Witch-Hunters and their divisive laws? Kherak truly did not know. Magic was not yet gone from a land in which it was forbidden, despite the best efforts of the Order to make it so. This would be an unequal war, and the victor was far from certain, but there was hope, and wars had been fought with less.

The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book I

In a dark world where magic is illegal, and elves are enslaved a young elven sorceress runs for her life from the house of her evil Keeper. Pursued by his men and the corrupt Order of Witch-Hunters she must find sanctuary. As the slavers roll across the lands stealing elves from what remains of their ancestral home the Witch-Hunters turn a blind eye to the tragedy and a story of power, love and a terrible revenge unfolds.

18 rated.

Universal link https://www.books2read.com/Lightbeyondstorm1

The Shining Citadel – The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book II

Who rules in this game of intrigue where magic is forbidden, and elves enslaved? Journey where beliefs shatter like glass, truth is unwelcome, and monsters from ancient times abound: share the romance and revenge, magic and passion, and the wages of greed in a world of darkest fantasy.

(18 rated)

Universal Link https://www.books2read.com/ShiningCitadel

The Stolen Tower – The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book III

What stalks the land cannot be, but is.

Where magic is outlawed a troll Shaman calls from her deathbed to her heiress, Mirandra Var, daughter of the storm. Mirandra vows to find her missing kin, sort friend from foe, and claim the dangerous secrets guarded by unthinkable creatures. If she succeeds, she will become the leader of her tribe. If she fails, there will be no tribe to lead.

(18 rated)

Universal Link https://www.books2read.com/StolenTower

*****

Author Bio:

British-born A. L. Butcher is an avid reader and creator of worlds, a poet, and a dreamer, a lover of science, natural history, history, and monkeys. Her prose has been described as ‘dark and gritty’ and her poetry as ‘evocative’. She writes with a sure and sometimes erotic sensibility of things that might have been, never were, but could be.

Alex is the author of the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles and the Tales of Erana lyrical fantasy series. She also has several short stories in the fantasy, fantasy romance genres with occasional forays into gothic style horror, including the Legacy of the Mask series. With a background in politics, classical studies, ancient history and myth, her affinities bring an eclectic and unique flavour in her work, mixing reality and dream in alchemical proportions that bring her characters and worlds to life.

She also curates speculative fiction themed book bundles on Pubshare – for the most part – the Here Be Series

Alex is also proud to be a writer for Perseid Press where her work features in Heroika: Dragon Eaters, Heroika Skirmishers – where she was editor and cover designer as well as writer – as well as Lovers in Hell and Mystics in Hell – part of the acclaimed Heroes in Hell series. http://www.theperseidpress.com/

Awards:

Outside the Walls, co-written with Diana L. Wicker received a Chill with a Book Reader’s Award in 2017.

NN Light Book Heaven awards:

The Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales won the best fantasy for 2018

Echoes of a Song – one of her Phantom tales – won the best fantasy in 2019

Tears and Crimson Velvet won the best Short Story category in 2020

Dark Tales and Twisted Verses – won the best Short Story Category in 2021

Blog https://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/about-a-l-butcher-fantasy-author-poet-author-promotion/

Blog tour organised by Writer Marketing Services.

Cover Reveal for Diantha Jones’ Oracle of Delphi Prophecy of Solstice’s End

 

 

Prophecy of Solstice’s End

Oracle of Delphi #3

By Diantha Jones

 

 

 

 

BLURB:

Summer Solstice is here. Let the games begin.

Nothing but lies (some of them her own) and deceit have brought Chloe to Olympus for the Solstice Olympic Games. As the Oracle and the special guest of the King of Myth, Chloe becomes immersed in a life of unfathomable luxury, taunting history, and overwhelming excitement. Though scheming and untrustworthy, the gods remain on their best behavior as the tension and anticipation builds around the outcome of the Quest of the Twelve Labors, the deadliest competition of the Games. All seems well on the celestial front…until athletes start turning up dead and a philosopher missing for months returns with a most terrifying story…

But that’s not all.

 

As Strafford confronts his troubled past and more is learned about the Great Unknown Prophecy, Chloe grows close to another, setting off a chain of events that will bring her face-to-face with a truth that will rock both of her worlds to their core.

 

And it’ll all happen before Solstice’s end…

 

 

 

 

Book Links:

Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

 

 

 

 

About Diantha Jones:

Diantha Jones loves writing fantasy books filled with adventure, romance, and magic. She’s the author of the Oracle of Delphi series, the Mythos series, and the Djinn Order series (as A. Star). When she isn’t writing or working, she is reading or being hypnotized by Netflix. She is a serious night-owl and while everyone else is grinning in the warmth and sunlight, she’s hoping for gloominess and rain. Yeah, she’s weird like that.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Goodreads (A. Star) | Amazon | Pinterest | DJ’s Book Corner

Erika Gardner On Sex And The Dragon in The Garden (@Erika_Gardner)

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I love, love, love this line from K.D. Grace’s Bio, “In the end, it really IS all about sex, well sex and love.” She’s right, of course. And I dig that she owns it and has built a career around it.

I get tired of the same old expectations being placed on women and their desires, life choices, and aspirations, even in books. Don’t get me wrong, I like a traditional happy ending as much as the next person, the blissful couple riding into the sunset, yadda, yadda, yadda. I just wonder, why does it always have to come back to marriage? Why is that the magical panacea? Does society truly believe that is the one thing that completes every woman? Because clearly it does not. There are plenty of examples of women who are married and miserable and lots of women who are single and loving it.

Women are sexual beings. In many ways we are even more sexual than men, though we are rarely portrayed that way unless it is in a negative way. Too often women and girls are made to feel ashamed of our sexuality, when we should embrace it. (Maybe someone’s jealous of the whole multiple orgasm thing? I mean, it is pretty awesome.)

One of the themes running through Dragon is choice. Who makes the choice, the choices that we make, and the reasons for these decisions. Choice is power and freedom. My main character, Siobhan, is an independent soul caught between destiny and free will. She’s like most of us, except battling the forces of evil and saving mankind.

Here’s an excerpt from the book featuring Turel, a fallen angel, and Siobhan, our protagonist. Hope you enjoy!

 

TheDragoninTheGardenbyErikaGardner-200I loved his hawk-like profile, his dark hair, and the distinctive Persian cheekbones. My gaze lingered on his short beard and mustache that did little to disguise the sensuality of his lips. The urge to run my fingers along his olive skin intoxicated me. I hesitated, trying to decipher from his words and actions over the last week what he wanted. A little voice inside of me took the reins and gave me a daring I would never have. What did I want?

Thought transformed to action as my other hand stroked his cheek. He turned at my touch, his dark eyes intent on me. I faltered for an instant; his presence overwhelmed me. “My desires?” I whispered. “Whatever I desire?”

He did not answer, but his breath quickened.

Before I lost my nerve, I leaned closer, to his neck. On the side, at the precise point where his pulse beat, I nuzzled a soft kiss.

“And if I desire to do this?”

He did not move as I withdrew my hand from his grasp and slid both of mine carefully over his chest, mindful of his bruises. His warmth and the clean, hard lines of his body made rational thought difficult.

I pressed closer. We faced one another, my lips close to his. “Or this?” I whispered. I leaned in and for the first time, I kissed Turel, instead of being kissed by him.

His lips parted for mine, and his hands slid around my waist to draw me closer. He made a sound in his throat somewhere between a strangled growl and a groan as our embrace intensified. For a moment the sheer pleasure of his kiss overwhelmed all other thoughts.

erikagardnerauthorpic

This post was written by Erika Gardner. She’s a native Californian, lifelong lover of fantastical adventures, and a dedicated Whovian.  If you enjoyed it, please sign up to receive updates on www.erikagardner.com   You can follow Erika on Twitter @Erika_Gardner, “Like” her Facebook page Erika Gardner- Writer and Storyteller. Or check out her contributions to the BBB Blog.

 

New Release: The Attack of the Woodwose by Selena Cooper

Attack of the WoodwoseBLURB

THE ATTACK OF THE WOODWOSE: LEGENDS OF MAGH MEALL, Book One

Two enemies must stand together to face a common foe!

Upon returning home with his human fiancé Berta, Reghan the Leprechaun learns that his brother is hiding the sister of Sloan, the Clurichaun who, along with his men, recently attacked Reghan. Reghan goes to tell Sloan that his sister is safe before the Clurichauns determine she’s been kidnapped.

At Sloan’s manor, the men are informed of an impending attack against both the Clurichauns and the Leprechauns by a vicious tribe known as the Woodwose. The only way they can win a battle against the woodwose is to stand together. Now they must convince their clans of that!

BUY LINKS
Bookstrand:  http://www.bookstrand.com/the-attack-of-the-woodwose
Our direct sales: https://ganxy.com/i/94059
All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theattackofthewoodwose-1532419-340.html

EXCERPT

Berta was nervous. She stood on the porch and stared out at the pitch dark night. Living in the farmhouse in the middle of nowhere with her Leprechaun lover had been pure bliss for the past three months.

The Clurichauns, who’d beaten Reghan and had abandoned their pursuit only when Berta’s dog and a team of coyotes had driven them away, had left Berta and Reghan in peace once their leader had realized Berta was carrying Reghan’s child. Every day the couple had grown more in love, and every day she’d learned something new and wonderful about her lover. But now Reghan’s father had sent word that a delegation was on its way to get them and bring them home.

The screen door creaked and then clicked shut as Reghan stepped onto the porch behind Berta. He slid his strong arms around her slightly bulging middle. He brushed aside her long blonde hair and kissed her neck. “My parents aren’t ogres, you know.” His voice was a low rumble vibrating against her skin.

“Are there such things as ogres?” “There are…but there aren’t many in these parts…not anymore,” he said.

“But there were?” Berta still couldn’t quite make herself believe that Reghan’s being a Leprechaun wasn’t just some elaborate hoax. When he spoke of other “mythical” beings so offhandedly, she didn’t know what to think.

Reghan didn’t look like she’d have imagined a Leprechaun to look. He wasn’t a tiny little man with a green top hat, buckles on his shoes, and a pot of gold in his hand. In fact, he was a rather large man with dark red hair, bright blue eyes, and a neatly-trimmed beard. His handsome face and chiseled body might’ve made some women think he was a demi-god, but Berta doubted anyone’s—at least, any human woman’s—first thought upon seeing Reghan would be, “Hey, look! A Leprechaun!”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” Reghan murmured against her neck. “You have nothing to fear from my parents.”

“What if they don’t like me?” she asked, for what had to be the hundredth time.

“They’ll love you.” He turned her to face him. “Now come back to bed and make love to me again before the delegation arrives.”

“A delegation,” Berta said. “The very fact that they’re sending a delegation to get us terrifies me.”

Reghan tilted her chin up. “You worry too much.”

 

AUTHOR BIO/LINKS

Selena Cooper lives in the Southern United States. She’d love to hear from you! Send her an email at selena@selenacooper.com and/or follow her tweets and posts on Facebook. She’d love for you to consider becoming a part of her street team, Les Chats Noire. To learn more about it, visit her website!

 

Author Website link: http://www.selenacooper.com
Author Social Media Site links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SelenaCooperBks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SelenaCooperAuthor
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/cooper2478/

Justine Elyot Returns to Her Fantasy Roots with Her Latest Novel, Princess in Chains

It’s a pleasure to welcome one of my very favourite writers and a good friend, Justine Elyot, back to my site, and this time writing in one of my very favourite genres! Welcome, Justine!

Guesting at K D’s blog always feel like an event and I’m delighted to be here under her glamorous spotlight. Thanks, K D!

Justine Elyot Princess in ChainsmedI’ve been writing and publishing erotica for five years now and I’ve tried my hand at a number of different styles and sub-genres. If I’m known for anything, it’s probably for contemporary erotica with a substantial dose of kink. But I enjoy reading and writing a diverse range of stories and all those kinky city women with their deliciously dominant lovers aren’t the only string to my bow.

I’ve written a speculative fiction novel (Under His Influence for Carina Press), a paranormal novel (Saxonhurst Secrets for Xcite) and an historical novel (Secrets And Lords for Mischief). And now I’m going back to my roots and experimenting with fantasy with Princess In Chains, the first in a trilogy for Xcite.

I say ‘going back to my roots’ because fantasy books were my absolute favourite as a child. We start with fairy tales, and I stuck with them, having a passion for the Narnia books that led to me borrowing them all from the library six times in a row. Quests, adventures, desperate escapes and rescues – these were rocket fuel to my developing imagination. And you will find all of that kind of thing in Princess In Chains.

You won’t find the controversial allegories of world faiths that you find in C S Lewis’s work though – my kingdoms have religions of their own, or they have no religions. Some of them are up to their ears in strange superstitions and some of them are solidly practical. Some are afraid of sex and some embrace sexuality in all its glorious forms and fluidity. None of them are exactly like a real place – at least, I hope not.

It’s a tiny little bit like Narnia, a little (but not much because everyone is human) like Middle Earth, a little more like Westeros. If that sounds like a place you could visit, perhaps you’d like an excerpt:

Asta was being borne away, aloft, by a trio of rough-looking men. They were some yardlings distant, but if she ran…

She put down her head and cannoned through the press, Taran hot at her heels, shouting imprecations behind her.

‘They have her,’ she explained, turning her head for a moment. ‘My…they have her.’

But the crowd was too thick and too unpredictable in its patterns of movement and she could not get close, no matter how she flailed and kicked. One man turned and grasped her arm, yelling at her for knocking down his small son. That was all the time Taran needed to catch up with her.

‘Mind your woman,’ growled the man, over Taran’s apologies. ‘If I were you I’d get her home and let her work out her passions on the washtub.’

‘Perhaps I will,’ said Taran. ‘Asta. Calm yourself. Are you saying that your mistress has been assaulted?’

‘They are taking her,’ said Leonore, waving in the direction of her last sighting.

‘What did you see?’

‘Three men, wild-looking fellows…oh, what do they mean by taking her?’

‘Let’s follow their direction. Perhaps we can find them.’

They crossed the square, past the swinging corpse in the gibbet, through more crazed dancing, which had started up again regardless of the pother.

Their wanderings led them to a side alley, but it was quiet. If the abductors had passed that way, they had moved quickly. Or perhaps they were inside one of these shuttered buildings.

Leonore stopped abruptly before one of them, seeing again the strange conglomeration of triangles on the doors and walls.

‘One of the men – his arm was tattooed with this sign. At least, I think it was.’ She turned to Taran. ‘What does it mean?’

‘Valish Liberation,’ said Taran. ‘An organisation that seeks to overthrow Corvin from the throne.’

She tugged at the voluminous material of his sleeve.

‘Then that is a clue as to her whereabouts. He must be one of these freedom fighters. They have perhaps kidnapped her – for a ransom? Or…she is a political prisoner of some kind.’

‘Or they are just ruffians who wanted a woman.’

‘There were whores a-plenty out in that square. Why take a noblewoman, except for the purposes I have named?’

***

What’s happened to her?

You can find out by reading the book!

It’s available from all good retailers, including Sainsbury’s Online: http://www.sainsburysebooks.co.uk/book/Princess-In-Chains-Justine-Elyot/7710174

Amazon UK:

eBook

Print

Amazon.com:

eBook

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Find Justine Here:

Website: http://justineelyot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JustineElyot

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justineelyot