by Sam Hall
“It’s not Mikey,” Ash said, walking in with her sleeping son lying with his head on her shoulder. He had Gabe’s blond hair but Ash’s stubborn set to his lips.
“Right, well, I can make it disappear—” I said.
“Good, do that,” she replied.
“But I can’t cancel out his magic. He’s stronger than me. It’ll just reappear again when he wishes for it. Why is it here in the first place?”
“Mikey hates school. Every morning we find something else lurking in the bedroom to try and stop us from making him. We’ve used a lot of those potions you gave us, but he seems to be working out a way around them. He’s only five, Tess. I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”
I can hear the desperation in my sister’s voice, knowing there’s an answer, but not wanting to go there. Divorcing me from my power was something Nan was asked to do, but it left me without anyone to teach me how to manage it. Nan had thought that she’d get a chance to, but she’d died before that could happen. “I’m going to get Jez,” I said.
“Jez? What the hell is she going to do?” Gabe said, his face drawn with exhaustion.
“Nothing like a monster to deal with a monster,” I said and twisted my hand.
Acknowledgments
As always, love and appreciation to my partner, Matt. While this book was not so much his bag, working out a world where dragons were systematically oppressed had his world building juices going. He is the bedrock on which our family rests, without him we would absolutely sink.
Editing was done by the lovely Chanderella’s Editing Services. She was able to whip the draft into shape while also shooting me lots of encouraging feedback.
https://chanderellaediting.wordpress.com/fiction-editing/
Cover was created by the amazing Nichole Witholder of Rainy Day Artwork. She managed to create the perfect Tess and Miazydar :)
http://www.rainydayartwork.com/
Thanks to Amanda, Alison, Jacqui, Teresa and Bekah for doing the beta reads. I was very unsure of how Tess’s story would go over and you were fantastic reassurance.
About the Author
I grew up in that bit of Australia you saw in Crocodile Dundee. Yup, I have seen saltwater crocs in the wild, have held a koala (the 70s, when stressing wildlife for the kiddies was still cool) and have swatted an insane number of hand sized spiders (they think I am their queen and are always wherever I am!). I have a gorgeous child with ASD, a super supportive, truly awesome partner and so, so many animals. Seriously, there are double the pets to people.
Being a little baby writer, trying to make her way in the big, crowded, world of self-publishing, reviews are our lifeblood. Seriously, we’re sitting in isolated rooms wondering what the hell we are doing with our lives, so chuck a review on Amazon or Goodreads and I will loooove you!
Stalk me!
Facebook author group: Sam’s Hall of Heroines
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2356697491274667/
Come and see teasers and me explain what the hell was going on in my head when I was writing that.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/samhallauthor/
Teasers, WIPs and pictures of my animals here!
Current releases
Book Lover 1: Not My Fantasy
Amazon link
When Ash and her sister inherited their grandmother’s magic shop, they figured they’d be selling crystals and smudge sticks to ageing hippies. Instead, they find themselves dealing with a failing business and a revolving door of tinsel-haired elves and fairy-tale princes.
And that’s not even the weird part.
Cursed in some sort of freakish loop, Ash wakes up every morning next to her sister’s latest book boyfriend, or fangirl crush. Frazzled by her unwanted nocturnal visitors, Ash fights for the focus needed to save the shop from bankruptcy. Then, in walks Gabe. Looking like a biker wet dream, Ash immediately dismisses him as another of her sister’s lusty manifestations. But this hottie is real and may hold the key to saving their business.
Things appear to be looking up, until an inter-dimensional gateway is discovered in the store that allows characters from every multiverse imaginable to cross over. Can the sisters learn how to control the portal before it destroys the line between fact and fiction?
If you love paranormal romance and urban fantasy tropes, but want to have a bit of fun with them sometimes, this is your book. If you watched a lot of bad 80s fantasy with papier-mâché props, noticed all romance guys have massive wangs or checked the back of a wardrobe to see if there was a portal to another realm, this is your book. If you like snarky, sex-positive female characters, this is your book. If you still have a total soft spot for talking animals and really wish you could have one of your own, this is your book.
In the Lap of the Gods 1: The Bottom Rung
Amazon link
I may have been born in the Quarter, but I refuse to die here.
I live in the Quarter, the societal cage where all of Cremorne’s paranormals have been locked up, but I’m neither vampire, werewolf nor witch. I’m the lowest of the low, doomed to be one of two things: junkie or vampire’s pet.
Desperate to escape, I’ll do whatever it takes to get out, to get all of us out, even if that means shaking my country and the gods themselves to the core to restore the balance. I’m collecting allies so I can start a revolution and finding power my kind would never dream of, but this game has been in play for a lot longer than I’ve been breathing and there’s a chance I’m just another pawn.
That’s OK, because I am determined to win.
Author’s note: This book is an RH tale, so the MC does not choose one partner, but the romance angle is definitely pretty low key in some instances and is a bit more complex than girl meets multiple boys and falls in love. It takes a lot of its inspiration from 80s urban decay films like The Warriors and Blade Runner, so is kind of dystopian in tone. Politics and how power is used to control is a big theme, though hopefully the reader isn’t bashed over the head by it!
Upcoming releases:
In the Lap of the Gods 2: Rise to the Bait
Amazon link
I’ve got the powers of a goddess and I’m not afraid to use them.
Being the avatar of Lyra should have made my life easier. Instead, it painted a target on my back. Thrust into a werewolf camp, I was forced to run in a brutal ritual, for the gods themselves to decide who my mate should be. Never one to take things lying down, I refused to let that decision be made for me.
But my troubles didn’t end there.
Hesse has set aside his casual brutalisation of the captive anomalous population. His focus has become far more personal when he realised exactly who has been stripping him of his assets. It wasn’t blood banks or wolves he wanted. It was me.
Now, to stay out of his clutches, I must face my greatest fear and learn... to trust. Only with the help of allies do I hold any hope of defeating Hesse. Will it be enough to free our people? Or are we doomed to crumble beneath his tyrannical reign?
Book Lover prequel: Read You Like a Book
Soon to be released FREE novella. Check my Facebook group, page or Instagram feed for more details when released.
Everyone wants to wake up next to a hot book boyfriend, right? Well, not Ash.
Her grandmother has just died and she knows the service tomorrow is going to be a hard one. She has to say goodbye to the one member of her family who always had her back and her mother’s perfumed steamroller tendencies seem to get out of control each time there’s some kind of family emergency.
The last thing she expected was to wake her was the Big Bad Wolf, particularly one as hot as Fenrir Vanguard. Big, muscular and ready to eat her all up, it becomes very difficult for Ash to focus on the fact he thinks she’s his fated mate and a woman called Red. Oh, and the fact he’s the lead character in her sister’s favourite paranormal romance.
What will Ash do with a sexy beast who’s ready to bond with her, promis
ing an eternity of hot paranormal sex and his whole heart? How will Ash break it to those she loves that she has a fictional character who can’t bear to be more then two feet away from her in her life? How will she deal with her own fear of being hurt, by him and by the passing of someone she loved?
