Of Sand and Storm
By law, any child born in Idara is free, even if that child is born in a slave brothel. But as Cinder grows into a beauty that surpasses even that of her mother and grandmother, she realizes that freedom is only a word. There are other words too, stronger words. Words like betrayal and prison and death. And there are words even stronger than those. Words like courage and family and love.
In the end, if Cinder is to escape the fate of her matriarchs, she'll have to fight for her freedom. Because true freedom is never free.
Daughter of Winter
Bargains. Only the truly desperate make them. Only the truly desperate need them. And always, the desperate pay.
The silence and never-ending dark of winter are all Elice has ever known, for she is the daughter of the Winter Queen. Isolated in a northern queendom with only the seals for company, she dreams of color and music and life. So when a whaling ship crashes just offshore, she doesn't hesitate to rescue the lone survivor, Adar, who quickly becomes her friend. She must keep him hidden from her mother at all costs, for if the Winter Queen discovers him trespassing, she'll kill him.
When her mother reveals just how dark her soul has become, Elice realizes she is as much a prisoner as Adar. To ever know true freedom—to ever become the woman she was meant to be—she must flee with him. But in their flight, she begins to see hints of something more nefarious. The darkness that has taken hold of her mother is spreading, staining the world with its influence.
Unbeknownst to Elice, a bargain was made long ago. A bargain she was born to fulfill.
Winter's Heir
A price must be paid.
Elice has left behind the ice and isolation of winter. Before her is the warmth and wonder of summer with all its color and life. Adar, the young man she saved from the sea, is by her side, and his touch sends tendrils of heat where before there was only cold.
But all is not as it seems. There are secrets hidden in the heart of summer. Secrets that could burn Elice to the ground and take the whole world with her. The decades-long war between the fairies of winter and summer has thrown off the balance of nature, leaving the world in its death throes.
Adar believes Elice can stop the destruction—if only she will listen to him. But like the fairies’ bargains, that trust comes with a cost. And the price Elice will pay will tear asunder the boundaries between dreams and family, loyalty and betrayal. Views: 28
Lulu Bell is about to make a new friend! It's Harmony Day at Shelley Beach School, and Lulu's class are going to be the stars of the school play. What will be the special theme this year? Lulu is sure that the new girl in her class will have good ideas. How can she make Amira feel welcome? The answer is a happy surprise for everyone! Views: 28
Science Fiction/Fantasy. 73044 words long. Views: 28
The aliens crash-landed on Earth eleven years ago. And now, sixteen-year-old Victoria Hale feeds them. With her emotions. Victoria is an EVE - an Emotion Vesicle Engraft - and one of few humans who are genetically capable of producing emotions for the Gutters to feed on. She's doing it for the money - her sister Alisa needs a good doctor, and fast. But what she didn't count on was being sent to the world's first desegregated high school for Gutters and humans. She didn't count on the paparazzi, the protestors, or the insane Gutter politics and government secrets. She didn't count on the crimson-eyed Gutter prince with an intriguing heart of cold iron, either. She especially didn't count on murder. But it's counting on her. Views: 28
Save money by grabbing all three Swords & Salt tales in one collection. Tale 1: A Question of Honor With less than six months until his entrance exams for the famed Nurian warrior-mage academy, Yanko is sent to his uncle's salt mine for "hardening," as his father calls it. He expects endless days of physical labor; what he doesn't expect is to have to choose one of the mine's prisoners as a sparring partner. Not wanting his uncle to think him a coward, Yanko picks a big scarred man from Turgonia, a land known for its ruthless warriors. Only after his selection does he learn that he'll be expected to kill his opponent... before his opponent kills him. A Question of Honor is a 19,000-word novella. Tale 2: Labyrinths of the Heart After months of working in his uncle's mine, Yanko longs to see his family and friends again, especially Arayevo, the woman he has adored from afar since he was a boy. When she travels two days and asks to see him, his mind dances at the possibilities. But the mines are busy: there's a political delegate to humor, a maiden in distress to help, and a wedding that must go perfectly - or else. Yanko will be lucky if he finds a chance to talk to Arayevo before she disappears from his life forever. Labyrinths of the Heart is a 21,000-word novella. Tale 3: Death from Below A visit from Yanko's older brother is interrupted when an alarm blasts through the mine. Mutilated workers have been found dead in a newly opened tunnel. Yanko has been studying to become a mage, and his brother is a soldier, so they believe they are prepared to deal with this unknown threat, but what awaits them in the subterranean depths is nothing the mine has seen in its hundreds of years of operation. Death from Below is a 13,000-word novella. Total word count for all three adventures: 53,000 words. Views: 28
