Quiver
Page 30
“It’s done. I can never come back, never see her again, or he’ll kill her. It’s over.” As I said the last word, I almost lost it.
“What?” Lucien was surprised.
“I could’ve had one year with her, and he’d kill her. Or I could give her up completely, and she’d live. Lucien, take care of her.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Tell Callie…tell her…no, tell her I’m dead. Tell her Zeus executed me. Make her realize there is no possible hope of ever seeing me again.”
“Are you sure? Are you positive?” he pressed.
“Yes. I am. And Lucien, she can’t tell anyone about us. Make sure she keeps the secret, or he’ll kill her. I guess I’ll see you in the next century.”
“Okay, all right. Bye.” I could tell from his tone that he was upset as well that it had gone so badly.
I hung up, lamenting over losing my friend as well. I didn’t know when I’d see him next.
He most likely was with Callie right now, or he would be in a moment. She would not be alone, but always have a friend in him. I lied to help her move on, but I felt as if I were truly dead. I was, in a way, my own executioner; I made the decision to save her by sacrificing myself, my heart, the essence of who I am. For without love, I could hardly exist.
I had to resign myself to my fate and pray to Anteros that Callie wouldn’t suffer from heartache too long. I would suffer from it for all eternity. The only consolation I had was the fact I would get to see her one more time and fulfill my promise. Somehow, deep down, I believed I’d see her again much sooner than that. Part of my devious mind was already trying to hatch possible plans to work around Zeus’s decree. I wanted that part of me to win, damn it. I would see her again. I just needed time to figure out a loophole. It was a good thing I had plenty of that: time. With time, Love will always find a way.
Coming February 2021
The Immortal Transcripts #2
Fever
Olympian Pantheon
Pantheon Alias Powers
Aglaea Belle Beauty, splendor
Anteros Antony Unrequited or thwarted love, “magnetism”
Aphrodite Aroha Ambrose Love and beauty
Ares Chase Gideon War, strength, and speed
Artemis Moon, hunting, and childbirth
Asclepius Medicine, healing
Athena Wisdom, justice, warfare, courage, inventions, arts, and crafts
Demeter Agriculture, harvest
Dionysus Uncle D Wine, madness, and theater
Eros Archer Ambrose Love, “flying”
Euphrosyne Ada Mirth, bliss
Euterpe Music, lyric poetry
Hades Underworld, scotopia, and invisibility
Hebe Youth
Hedone Joy, pleasure, and "flying"
Hephaestus Heph(ie) Fire, forging
Hera Marriage
Hermes Messenger, teleporting
Himerus Russ Lust, strength, and speed
Hymenaios Aios Marriage ceremony
Hypnos Sleep
Iris Rainbow, teleporting
Mnemosyne Memory
Moirae The Fates Birth, destiny, and death
Muses 9 sisters of the arts
Persephone Spring, plant life, and death
Phoebus Apollo Lucien Veras Sun, light, truth, prophecy, music, poetry, medicine, and healing
Poseidon Sea, earthquakes
Prometheus Foresight, prophecies
Psyche Soulmates, mindreading, and "flying"
Thalia Thalia Delight, charisma
Thanatos Death, soul bearer
Zelus Zeal, ice, and "flying"
Zeus God of gods, lightning, thunder, sky, and omniscience
Acknowledgments
Usually, I’ll acknowledge a lot of people at the end of my book, but this novel has a tricky, long past. Quiver was my first finished novel; I’d begun it in 2006 and finished my first full draft by 2008. This was the same time I was in graduate school and job hunting, so it was a miracle I finished at all. It had started as a writing prompt and a desire to write something that wasn’t an academic analysis or dissertation. I picked up my Greek mythology book to reread the tales of lovers for inspiration.
Why Greek? My great-grandfather had been from Greece and passed away long before I was born, but the stories my grandmother would tell about him were fascinating. Combined with learning mythology in school, Greek myths always stuck with me. It was that elusive part of my family’s history that I couldn’t fully grasp. This series is a way of me connecting to those lost roots.
Fast forward to 2006, when I met Katie Grant, who became a great friend. She was an avid reader, so one day when she was around, she insisted on reading my handwritten six-page writing prompt result. From the bat, she loved it, which meant a lot because she’s brutally honest. She demanded more, critiqued it, edited it, and typed it up for me. She was essential in pushing me to finish and in finding the confidence to attempt to publish it.
Next came Cameron Scott Wright. I’m privileged to work at a university where I can submit a manuscript to a grad school editing course and have students perform developmental and copy edits. Sometimes this is only mildly helpful, but with Cameron, it went well. He was a returning student, so he already had knowledge about writing, grammar, and publishing. I was expecting a brutal assessment, but his enthusiasm was staggering, and his belief in my novel was genuine. After so many drafts, I forget which suggestions I took that were his, but the one that stands out the most was my change of series’s title. It had been called The Amores, and Cameron had suggested a title with “Transcripts” in it. He also had the idea that because I wrote four different first-person points-of-view, I should make a beginning page that introduces it as an actual transcript allowing mortals into their world. These two key elements shifted the story for me. Unfortunately, after he graduated, we lost touch.
I queried with some success in 2012, but the agents who contacted me wanted me to revise so much that I passed on representation rather than completely alter my vision. This shook my faith in my novel, and I listen to too much conflicting advice on how to improve it; I ended up killing my novel, inflating it to a 120,000 word mess. The lack of responses from further queries confirmed this. So Quiver sat shelved for years, and I worked on other novels. After I published other novels, I pulled Quiver off the shelf and blew off the dust. After rereading the early versions and the newest, I realized Katie and Cameron proved to be my best critics, that my third draft was the best. After one quick revision, I submitted it, and was accepted.
After I told family and friends, someone was missing. I reconnected with Cameron to tell him the news via Facebook. After all these years, he remembered my novel and was overjoyed for me. That was when I found out he was dying of cancer, and although not stated aloud, we both realized he would never get to read the book in print. Cameron passed away the summer of 2019, but he knew that his editing had assisted in the novel being published and of my appreciation. I recognized he cared more about my novel than a simple school assignment. Looking back, I regret not continuing contact with Cameron after he left school. I imagine he would’ve wanted to help me with every manuscript. That’s the type of kind man he was.
As always, Authors 4 Authors Publishing has taken Quiver and teased out every little nuance of my writing to make it its best and shined it up pretty through such a collaborative and personal process.
Almost fourteen years after the first words were written, with the help of those whom the book is dedicated to and Authors 4 Authors Publishing, Quiver has launched The Immortal Transcripts series. Thank you for reading it.
About the Author
Lisa Borne Graves is a YA author, English Lecturer, wife, and supermom of one wild child. Originally from the Philadelphia area, she relocated to the Deep South and found her true place of inspiration. Her love for all literature led her to branch out from the academic arena to spin her own tales. Lisa has a voracious appetite for books, British television, and pizza. Her inability to sit still makes
her enjoy life to its fullest, and she can be found at the beach, pool, or on some crazy adventure.
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Did you love Quiver? Then you should read Fyr by Lisa Borne Graves!
At seventeen, Toury arrives in Fyr, where magic is power, a prince's love is deadly, and female autonomy is a dream. Formerly a loner and burden to her adoptive parents, she ruins her chances of a fresh start by offending an ogler who just happens to be the prince.
Alex, the Prince of Fyr, is no novice when it comes to pressure. He has to face his father's ailing health, the expectation to marry soon, and the hidden necromancers trying to take over the realm by exploiting his dark curse. At least there's hope in a cheeky savior, but Earth girls aren't so easy.
Toury and Alex learn that the strongest magic cannot be conjured but must be earned. They must risk their lives, hearts, and futures to save the land from a darkness of apocalyptic proportions. But can they trust each other enough to save Fyr? Or will everything they hold dear turn to ash?
Authors 4 Authors Content Rating:
This title has been rated 17+, appropriate for older teens and adults, and contains:-frequent intense kissing-moderate implied sex-intense violence-domestic violence-moderate positive and negative alcohol use-moderate languageFor more information on our rating system, please, visit the Authors 4 Authors Publishing website.
Also by Lisa Borne Graves
Celestial Spheres
Fyr
The Immortal Transcripts
Quiver