Today I'm featuring a new release from one of my favourite publishers, Kristell Ink, an imprint of Grimbold Books. The theme is... well, the clue is in the title. It's choc-a-bloc with stories and artwork from some really terrific authors.

Here's the blurb - Felinity, noun, plural fel-in-ities. 1. The quality of being cat-like. 2. A divine being, a cat.

Grimbold Books is proud to present our first Kristell Inkling, a collection of feline inspired flash fiction stories written by authors from all around the world.
This collection celebrates what we regard as the most important factor when writing: write foremost for pleasure. The stories showcased in this book are full of laughter, grit, odd contraptions and a lot of fur, with a loud purring nod to our beloved genres of science fiction and fantasy.
From A.F.E Smith’s unique twist on Schrödinger’s cat, to Joel Cornah’s world-jumping old queen, from Clare Neilson’s steampunk creation to Tina Closser’s dragon fighting dreaming kitty, these alternate feline worlds are bound to delight sci fi/fantasy readers and cat lovers alike.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

A.F.E SMITH is an academic editor who lives in the south east of England with her husband, her young son, and thousands of books. When she’s not writing speculative fiction of various kinds, she enjoys the usual things: watching films, eating snacks, solving complex mathematical equations. She has never owned a cat, mainly because she knows she’d end up a pawn in its bid for world domination.

C.N LESLEY lives in Alberta with her husband and cats. Her three daughters live close by. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth likes to read and to paint watercolors. She is also a keen gardener, despite the very short summers and now has a mature shade garden. Once a worker in the communications sector, mostly concentrating on local news and events, she now writes full time.

RACHAEL BROWN is a fourteen-year-old student from Norfolk. Her interests include art, animation, gaming, history, reading, seventies rock music, drama, and of course writing. She is intensely passionate about English and writing, and thinks it is a real pleasure to be included in this anthology, especially since her stories (whether short or long) tend to be rather bizarre and odd with a zany feel.

PAIGE CLOSSER attends school in small town in the American Midwest. She loves to read Percy Jackson novels and make loom band charms. When she’s not busy with those pursuits, or practicing violin, she likes to think of stories. The story in this book may or may not be based on her two cats.

CHRISTIE RAMPERSAD is a medical student who began her writing in poetry, with selected works appearing in Danse Macabre and Pens on Fire. Now, as she transitions to fiction, she is thrilled that Nine Lives Later has placed joint- third in the Kristell Ink Feline Flash Fiction Competition and found a home in this anthology.

DAVE CROSBY is an affable gentleman, as much as any American can be “affable” (or “gentle”, for that matter), living in a Heaven-forsaken area of California known as Fresno. He has a humanities heart and mind, living in an ex-banker’s body, so he has made a living with bankerly number-crunching all his life, but has lived with reading, writing and music. He published a short story in 2013, Rain Over Ghaidhealtachd, set in Ancient Scotland, in the anthology Magic Creatures from Celtic Mists, has written another tale set within a moonlit night in Jamaica, Last Touch, and hopes to publish his first novel next year, an exciting thriller set in San Francisco, called Bringing Home the Good War. He thinks kindly of his two sons, Glen and Ted, who have given him much inspiration in his work, especially the novel.

JESSICA FROST is a medical student with a love for literature. For her, writing is a much-needed break away from science and studying! She can be found on Twitter: @ MissInkweaver

CLAIRE NEILSON was always very good at stories in school, but her spelling was awful. She thanks the gods and goddesses of word processors for the little red lines of spelling correction. Now age 30 she lives in Manchester and spends her days baking for a living and reading for leisure.

BRIAN TALGO was born in the Deep South of the US in 1954, and later spent his formative years in Westchester County, a northern suburb of New York City. As a young man he wandered restlessly about the US for several years, working mainly as a carpenter and stonemason, until he eventually got in touch with his inner Viking and relocated to Norway in 1981. After many years abroad he has grown comfortable with his expat status.

Currently working with international admissions at the University of Oslo, Brian writes and indulges in other creative endeavors in his spare time. He presently lives on the outskirts of Oslo, together with his wife, son, two insubordinate cats, and a miniature forest of plants. A daughter has wisely flown the coop.

Website: sonsrevenge.blogspot.no

IAN RICHARDSON lives by the sea, on the East Coast of Scotland, with his cat, Purry Murray.

The first story Ian ever wrote was published, but he hasn’t been able to keep up that 100% record. However, several short stories, articles and micro fictions have escaped the red pen recently and his steampunk serial was e-published in 2013.

ROB BAYLISS lives with his wife, two children and dog in Somerset. A keen scholar of history and lover of fantasy, only recently has he discovered the joyful escapism of sitting down to write a story.

LANCE CROSS writes short stories when he gets stuck writing his novel, so he writes more short stories than he should.

When he’s not writing, he spends too much time telling his cat he’s “sooooo cute”, and trying to keep him away from the computer keyboard, as he knows what buttons to push to delete stuff. Lance really shouldn’t let him jump on the desk in the first place, but as mentioned, he’s sooooo cute.

JOSHUA CORNAH is a 22 year old café assistant at a local coffee shop who loves to draw, for himself and others. In his free time, he’s an illustrator and cartoonist, and the influences for his drawings come from Japanese anime, manga, and Nintendo video games. He is also very polite.

STEVEN J GUSCOTT or Steven, Steve, Steve-o, Stevie, Stevie Gee, Moral Steve, Uncle Steven...the list goes on . . . but the name he has chosen for writing is Steven J. Guscott. Like some of the other names, there’s a random story behind it, and obviously his middle name starts with a J, but he’s not going to bore you with that story just now. What he will bore you with is telling you how much he loves creating fantasy/sci fi stories. He’s twenty six and lives in Scotland, and nearly three years ago he discovered an unhealthy obsession with writing. He’s written a few stories in this time, and has quite a number still to write. If you want to learn more about Steven and his writing journey, he’s kept a record in the form of a blog that can be found at:

www.stevenjguscott.co.uk

VICTORIA ROBINSON lives a safe and comfortable existence in home county suburbia, where shadows lurk not in dark, smoking alleys but behind neatly trimmed hedges and carefully erected fences.

DAVID COHEN lives in the university town of Dunedin, a gateway to New Zealand’s Lord-of-the-Rings-set Southern landscapes. His background is in the high-technology electronic industries, but considers writing the most fun you can have sitting down with a pen and paper, so is pursuing that – as well as other interests such as photography, object- making and volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity. He cites Annie Proulx, Spike Milligan, Arthur C. Clarke, Patrick Süskind, and Terry Pratchett as current influences, but that will almost certainly change.

 

HONOR THOMPSON spends most of her time with her head in a book and a pen in her hand. She looks to her friends and family for inspiration, and as such all her writing characters hold a special place in her heart. Without her grandparents, she wouldn’t be where she is today, for they taught her that nothing is impossible; you just have to believe.

SOPHIE TALLIS is a Bristol born gal who grew up in a sleepy village dreaming of dragons and wild adventures. She hasn’t grown up much, and sincerely hopes she never does. She lives in the Cotswolds with her family, two enormous white wolves, and a load of wild ducks that basically run the place; she has just added two Alaskan Malamutes into the mix! Sophie is a full-time teacher and has been dulling young minds . . . ahem . . . inspiring young minds for the past fifteen years. She is a painter, artist and illustrator, and has a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art, photography and sculpture. But her first passion has always been writing stories and poetry. Her first novel, an epic fantasy for children and adults, was published in September 2012 to great reviews and high sales, and she’s currently working on the sequels, due out later in 2014 and 2015, as well as a host of other projects.

WILL MACMILLAN-JONES is a fifty-something lover of blues, rock and jazz. He presently lives in Wales, a beautiful verdant land of myth with a rich cultural heritage. He does his best to support this heritage by drinking local beers and shouting loud encouragement at the TV whenever Wales is playing international rugby.

He has just fulfilled a lifetime ambition by filling an entire wall of his study with bookcases, and then (over)filling the bookcases. When not drinking beer and watching rugby, he remembers to write the occasional horror book or to add to his comic fantasy series, The Banned Underground. Links to all his work can be found on his website:

www.willmacmillanjones.com

JANE DOUGHTERY is a product of the Irish diaspora. She was brought up in Yorkshire, educated at Manchester and London, then moved to Paris to work in the wine trade. She now lives in Bordeaux with her family, a Spanish greyhound, and a posse of cats. Her first published work is a YA fantasy series, The Green Woman. She also writes poetry and has been published in Poetry Nook Magazine and The Bamboo Hut.

As a Role Player, MIKE HARGREAVES’ main outlet for creative writing is in the plotting out of tabletop gaming scenarios for the RPG players in his social circle. The rest of the time he’s fighting to keep a healthy ratio between idea and completed projects. It’s a fight he keeps losing.

When she isn’t busy with her nine-to-five job as an electrical engineer, TINA CLOSSER helps her husband with a small hobby farm, complete with a mini horse, donkey, cows, and sheep. In between farm duties and running the kids to gymnastics, she likes to write.

KIERAN MATHERS is a freelance writer based in Sheffield, UK, and is very much inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, The Farseer Trilogy and other great works of fantasy. While not hunched over a keyboard creating worlds in his head, he goes cycling in the Yorkshire Dales and writes poetry.

EVELINN ENOKSEN lives in Norway with her husband and children. She finds inspiration in everything, and has always been interested in art and writing. She says there are few things more fun in life than being able to create.

SELINA CARR is a writer, collector and lover of folk and fairy tales. She is inspired by, and drawn to, the deceptive simplicity of these sometimes poignant—and often gruesome—stories. Much of her writing is heavily influenced by her life-long relationship with the tales penned by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault and Oscar Wilde.

JOEL CORNAH hailing from a small isolated village in Lancashire, is the author responsible for The Sea-Stone Sword. He was awarded a degree in Creative Writing from Liverpool John Moors University and spent seven years writing a comical newspaper for The Barrow Downs Tolkien discussion forum. Accompanying this paper was a comic strip series called The Phantom and Alien, a bizarre story of bus drivers, dead people, and a slime child bent on inconveniencing everyone around him.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoelKCornah

Sample Story. Previously published on the KI website and opening story of the collection. Winner of the Flash Fiction competition

Nein Lives
A.F.E. Smith

My name is Nein. I have had other names, but Nein will do for now.

I sit with my attendant whilst he wrestles with the nature of reality. He thinks he owns me. I let him keep thinking that.

“Nein, Nein,” he mutters, taking his glasses off and polishing them with vigour. “I am convinced they are looking at this in the wrong way. How can this superposition represent what truly happens in the world?”

He is talking to me. I get up and stretch, then step delicately onto the desk. To start with his touch is absent-minded, but my claws kneading his sleeve recall him to a full sense of his obligations.

I knew a man like you once before, I tell him as he runs his fingers down my spine in the way I like. He longed to know how birds and trees and tortoises came to be. How they could change to fit their surroundings. I showed him a mouse, and then he understood. The mouse was uniquely adapted to run away, and I was uniquely adapted to catch it.

He frowns at me. He often frowns when I speak. All my attendants have been the same: so focused on the weighty questions in their minds that they fail to understand what is before their eyes. Perhaps that is what it means to be human.

Did I ever tell you about the man with the apple tree? I ask, butting my head into the palm of his hand. He used to sit in its dappled shade every day, thinking about the laws that keep all of us moving along our preordained paths. I would stretch out on the branch above him and enjoy the heat of summer. But when he started forgetting to provide me with fish scraps, I decided enough was enough. I knocked an apple down onto his head, and understanding with it.

He is looking blank. I will try once more.

A long time ago, in China, an alchemist was seeking immortality. He mixed this ingredient and that, to no avail. Just as he was about to give up, I knocked a candle into his mixing dish. The explosion took off his eyebrows, but he was ecstatic. He had sought to live forever, but instead he had found a way to bring others death.

I wait for any sign of comprehension, but my attendant’s mind is still off in its narrow little orbit. Disgruntled, I turn to groom myself. Of course, that is one discovery I would not choose to make again. My fur was singed just here, above the tail, and it has never been the same since.

“Down, now,” he says, with fine disregard for the sorrow of that memory, and I allow him to lower me to the floor. “I must make sense of this tonight.”

Ah, poor Schrödinger. Just like the others, he needs my help. One day, soon, I will walk into a box and really make him think.

 

Buy the book HERE

 

 

 

Bandit Book Bloggers tour: Shadow over Avalon.

Today I am featuring Shadow over Avalon by C.N. Lesley

Beyond the mists of time, a dying warrior binds his soul to his sword with an oath to protect his people. His shade rides with the Wild Hunt while he waits for the call of greatest need, but when it comes, he doesn't know it is a lie.
In the undersea city of Avalon, Arthur nears the end of his acolyte training. But he doesn't want to spend his life serving the Archive, he wants to fight side by side with the air-breathing people to defeat the predators who are determined to ensure their own survival no matter the cost.
Ashira, War Maid princess of the surface-world, is ready to sacrifice her life to defend her kin, but when she is betrayed she must choose whether to die with honor or become one of the creatures her kinsmen fear and loathe.
Fortune twists in the strongest hands. This is no repeat; this is what happens next.

Following two threads of time, CN Lesley's fresh take on the Arthurian tales of old delivers the perfect blend of science fiction and fantasy.

RELEASED 31^ST OCTOBER, 2013 BY KRISTELL INK


About the author:

Elizabeth Hull, writing under the by line of C.N.Lesley, lives in Alberta with her husband and cats. Her three daughters live close by. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth likes to read and to paint watercolors. She is also a keen gardener (despite the very short summers) and now has a mature shade garden. Once a worker in the communications sector, mostly concentrating on local news and events, she now writes full time, and fusses over her cats. She was senior managing editor of FlashMe Magazine and now is assistant flash fiction editor for Abyss and Apex.

Links:

http://cnlesley.com/

http://www.abyssapexzine.com/

 

Purchase info:

Paperback  ISBN  978-1-1909845

USA $16.99                         UK £9.99

 

Kindle        ISBN  978-1-909845-25-1

UA $4.99                       UK £2.99

 

ePub           ISBN  978-1-909845-26-8

USA $4.99                           UK £2.99

Bandit Book Bloggers Tour - The Art Of Forgetting (Rider - Book 1)

Gifted and cursed with a unique memory, the foundling son of a notorious traitor, Rhodri joins an elite cavalry unit. There, struggling with his own memories of his father, he begins to discover a sense of belonging. That is, until a face from the past reveals a secret that will change not only Rhodri’s life but the fate of a nation.

 

 

 

Buy it on Amazon US

                              UK

 

 

About the author:

 

Joanne Hall lives in Bristol, England with her partner.  She enjoys reading, writing, listening to music, gaming, watching movies, eating cake and failing to exercise.

A full-time author since 2003, Joanne’s “New Kingdom” fantasy trilogy was published by Epress Online, and was a finalist in both the PLUTO and EPPIE awards. Her short stories have appeared in many publications, both print and online, including Afterburn SF, Quantum Muse, and The Harrow.

She has had short stories published in several anthologies, including “Pirates of the Cumberland Basin” in Future Bristol, and “Corpse Flight” in Dark Spires.  Her short story collection, “The Feline Queen” was published in March 2011 by Wolfsinger Publications.

For the last four years, Joanne has been the Chair of BristolCon, Bristol’s thriving science fiction and fantasy convention.  She also runs the Bristol Fantasy and SF Society Facebook group, and occasionally works in an editing position for Dark Ocean Studios, a small comics company based in San Jose, as well as taking on freelance editing projects.

She is the co-editor with Roz Clarke of “Colinthology”, a tribute anthology to their friend Colin Harvey, which also includes her short story “Lukewarm in Lynhelm.”  “Colinthology” was published as an ebook in October 2012 by Wizards Tower, and a print edition may be forthcoming.

 

Author Links:

 

Blog.

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

 

 

Joanne is also the chair of BristolCon an annual science fiction and fantasy convention. It kicks off in two weeks. Here's some info.

 

Small but almost perfectly formed – BristolCon 2013...

The fifth instance of the south-west's own speculative fiction convention is almost upon us. With just a few weeks to go before the doors open on the fifth annual BristolCon, the convention team are kicking into overdrive. The venue and the guests of honour are long-since booked, but preparations are now frantic, as the spaces for dealers and artists are finalised and the intricate work of assembling the discussion panels is underway.

This years' VIPs are Philip Reeve, Storm Constantine, and Mark Buckingham. Philip Reeve started writing science fiction as soon as he could hold a pencil, and now writes steampunk and historical fiction for children and young adults. Even you haven't heard of Mortal Engines or the Larklight series, a child near you will be impressed by his comic work on Horrible Histories and Murderous Maths.

Storm has had a long and shimmering career writing distinctive SF and fantasy such as the Wraeththu novels. She challenges the boundaries of science, sexuality, myth and magic. She is also the founder of Immanion Press, which publishes books that would otherwise be out of print.

Mark Buckingham is a comic book artist with a CV to die for – he's worked for both Marvel and DC, on the kind of comics that get taken seriously – Hellblazer, Marvelman, Fables and the Death miniseries, amongst others.

Other guests include writers Paul Cornell, Juliet E. McKenna, Anne Lyle, Gareth L Powell, and artist Jim Burns. The team are building a programme that aims to cover some of the hottest topics in speculative fiction. BristolCon has a reputation as a relaxed and informative convention for professionals, but also a safe and welcoming space for fans and first-time con goers. If panels aren't your thing, you can enjoy the art show, and books, comics and merchandise will be available in the dealers・ room and authors will be available for book signings. There will also be our now-infamous pub quiz and live music in the evening.

MEG, chief programmer, is currently neck-deep in panelist response forms. She says:

的'm thoroughly enjoying all the enthusiasm that's coming through on the participation forms. The volume of so many volunteers can cause a bit of a headache in trying to provide something for everyone but the sense of fun and family render it less stressful and more of a community gathering. It makes me feel I'm appreciated and that it's all worthwhile.”

Tickets are available in advance from www.bristolcon.org at £20 and on the door for £25. The event takes place in the newly refurbished and rebranded DoubleTree Hotel (formerly the Ramada) on Redcliffe Way.

 

 

 

 

 

The Reluctant Prophet

by

Gillian O’Rourke

 

The Reluctant Prophet by Gillian O'Rourke is due to be published on September 1st by Kristell Ink. Here's the blurb -

There’s none so blind as she who can see . . .

 Esther is blessed, and cursed, with a rare gift: the ability to see the fates of those around her. But when she escapes her peasant upbringing to become a priestess of the Order, she begins to realise how valuable her ability is among the power-hungry nobility, and what they are willing to do to possess it.

Haunted by the dark man of her father's warnings, and unable to see her own destiny, Esther is betrayed by those sworn to protect her. With eyes newly open to the harsh realities of her world, she embarks on a path that diverges from the plan the Gods have laid out. Now she must choose between sacrificing her own heart’s blood, and risking a future that will turn the lands against each other in bloody war.

The Reluctant Prophet is the story of one woman who holds the fate of the world in her hands, when all she wishes for is a glimpse of her own happiness.

 

About the author -

 

Before settling down in the Emerald Isle with her husband and three dogs, Gillian O’Rourke lived in Melbourne, Australia.   She received her first fantasy book from an English teacher at the age of fourteen and has loved the genre ever since.  Although she writes fantasy, she occasionally dabbles in the paranormal.  Gillian currently works in the healthcare sector, helping adults with disabilities live as independently as possible.

Find her -

Twitter

Web

 

AN EXCERPT FROM THE RELUCTANT PROPHET—

I had never been able to see my own future, not the way I could see it for others. Even now, on my unanticipated return to Rycroft, a part of me rebelled at the thought of facing a past I believed long behind me. If I had known then what a luxury it is to go home, I might not have dismissed it so.

As an initiate to the Order, I learned from women far wiser than I that the past was a wraith that could come back to haunt the future. I imagined it looming overhead like a hidden cloud, waiting, maybe over many years, to rain upon me when I least expected it, not a soft, white thing, but an angry, vengeful thundercloud. Perhaps I had lived too long in the calm now, because I once again began to feel the storm approaching. Entering the village, I steeled myself to face it, but despite the many prayers I had said for courage, that long-forgotten anxiety crept its cold tendrils into my soul.

I escaped the painful memories this place forged in my childhood, and had taken a chance to make my future a safer, happier one. But now I had come full circle, and it was the temple above Rycroft village that held the balance of my future within its cold, imposing walls.

I followed the path past the village with the other initiates, and climbed carved granite steps meticulously shaped by skilled stonemasons. Upon a stone archway were the effigies of the three Gods we Sinnotians worshipped. Lo, Creator and Destroyer, an armoured warrior with the head of a wolf, carried an array of weapons, but it was the large war-hammer in his hand my eyes gravitated to. Beside him stood Era, the graceful feline-faced goddess of emotions, and of life and death. Finally, at Era’s left hand, stood Tyrus, master of elements.  He was the God I most often found myself drawn to, his wise, owl-like features faced the valley directly upon Rycroft.

An expectant hush fell over the group, followed by soft murmurs from the young women. They praised the Gods in whispers, for this sight we beheld as we moved forward, heading for the path into the mountains, awed even the noble-born among us. Like a flock of white doves, innocently seeking an arbour to rest in, we wore the modest robes all initiates of the Order wore, to signify their intentions to serve the Gods. But only a select few would ever don the red robes of a fully-fledged priestess. The final testing awaited us. I already knew that most of the girls would return home dressed in the same clothes they had worn before their training began, and all I could do was to hope I would not be one of them.

I glanced over my shoulder, catching a final glimpse of my birthplace, and the anxiety melted away; it was behind me now. A veil of calmness enveloped me as I turned my gaze to the temple looming ahead. Its exterior was a thing of perfection, as if the Gods themselves had used a hot sword to cut through the stone. Barely a window could be seen from this low vantage point. A shiver ran across my skin. Like the tip of my tongue verging on speaking a forgotten word, an elusive vision teetered on the edge of my sight. The sensation faded away before fruition, however, and was replaced with awed anticipation for what I was soon to encounter.

It would take several days to test the initiates in their obedience, faith and humility. At the end of the ordeal, I hoped to find myself clad in the red robes of a Priestess of Oraccles.

Give me strength, I begged the Gods as we settled into the long climb. My legs began to burn and the summer sun was growing hot with the afternoon. The priestess ahead turned and eyed each one of us. Most of the initiates did not notice her quiet surveillance, but when my eyes met hers, her gaze narrowed before she looked away and sharply directed the girls to quicken their pace. Her scrutiny left me wondering whether the testing had already begun.

*

Days of inflicted pain, humiliation and cruelty brought me close to the brink of madness, closer to my gift, leaving me weary in body and spirit. I did not know which part of me hurt more, but when my eyes met those of the head priestess, the superior who would decide my fate, the keen pain of expected failure rose in my chest. Her dark eyes seemed to swallow me whole. I felt both hot and cold at once; days of obedience, suffering and fasting had blurred the days into one long torture. I longed to sit and weep, but my body was too sore to do anything but kneel slowly, stiffly into a submissive position. Many girls had failed, and now I was to learn my own fate. My ears were ringing and I almost cried out when my knee, cut open on a sharp stone during one of the tests, sent pain reverberating throughout my body. I kept my eyes upon the superior’s face. Lined and calm, her expression betrayed nothing.

I flinched when an unexpected vision assaulted my senses, propelling me from the room and into a place I barely caught a glance of. A trace of darkness; a laugh, a dark green eye. Each small glimpse offered me no more than a confusing jumble of images I could not piece together to make a whole picture. Swaying, I wondered if I was ill. My body throbbed and the days of fasting, beatings and silence became as fractured and unreal as my visions. The testing had taken its toll, but I needed only make it through this last moment. As I fought to return to myself, I worried again that I would make it this far, only to be rejected because of what I was: a peasant.

The superior rose. My awareness had been completely focused on her and I had not noticed an inch of the marble-columned room I had been brought to. The distracting sparkle of candlelight danced on a pool of water and I looked away quickly, not wishing to see the future reflected in those waters. The superior’s thin lips moved, but I heard no sound. The ringing in my ears worsened and my heart rate trebled. When she stood before me, she lifted her hand and smeared something powdery against my forehead. Her touch sent waves of premonition into my mind, making my skin shiver and creep. Fighting the urge to succumb to the sight left me weak and trembling.

I was not altogether myself when I managed to overcome the visions. My chest constricted when a distant voice – certainly not the superior’s worn croak – spoke to me, gently whispering, ‘Esther . . . Esther,’ over and over.

All the while the superior’s mouth moved, but I knew nothing of her words. The room tilted and the first spark of emotion lifted the older woman’s eyes from blankness. For a moment I believed I was succumbing to the visions her touch was invoking, but I slipped instead into waiting darkness.

 

Here's the purchasing info -

 

 

Paperback  ISBN  978-1-909845-18-3

USA $16.99                         UK £9.99

 

Kindle        ISBN  978-1-909845-19-0

USA $4.99                           UK £2.99

 

ePub           ISBN  978-1-909845-20-6

USA $4.99                           UK £2.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Healer's Touch Blog Tour.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm taking part in the blog tour for Healer's Touch, a Bandit Book Blogger's tour.

 

Healer's Touch, is a fantasy story in a Wild West setting, a nice change from the norm. Llew is an orphan living alone in a mining town, a girl disguised as a boy, for obvious reasons. She posesses a powerful gift/curse, she is capable of healing herself by absorbing the life and vitality of anything living she touches. You can see how this could get her into trouble. A wonderfully creative fantasy, full of adventure, magic and a little romance, from Deb E. Howell. Healer's Touch is published by Kristell Ink

 

Here's the blurb -

 

Llew, a young pickpocket who lives as a boy on the streets of a wild-west mining town, finds her real problems begin when she survives the gallows. Forced to run, she persuades a group of fighters escorting a young girl to her wedding to let her travel with them across the badlands. On the journey Llew faces hostile tribesmen, desperate bandits and, the enmity of her own companions should they find out who and what she is: a girl, a fugitive, and a feared Healer. One of the fighters, Jonas, possesses superhuman prowess as a warrior, and carries the knife able to ‘kill the unkillable’; the knife that can kill Llew. Despite being of races at war for centuries, they are drawn to one another.

During the journey, they encounter Braph the magician, Jonas’ half-brother and potential nemesis. He pursues them as they journey across the sea to the continent of Phyos and at the moment Llew finally feels safe, he abducts her. He begins to take what is most precious to him: her blood.

Healer’s Touch is a mesmerising mix of fantasy, steampunk and Wild West adventure – and even a dash of romance!

 

About the author -

 

Deb E was born in New Zealand’s North Island, but her parents corrected that within months, moving south to Dunedin and staying there. Childhood nights were spent falling asleep to cover versions of Cliff Richard and the Shadows and other Rock ’n Roll classics played by her father’s band, and days were spent dancing to 45 LPs. Many of her first writing experiences were copying down song lyrics. She graduated to scientific reports when she studied a fungus in the Zoology department of the University of Otago, trading all traces of popularity for usefulness... then traded both for fiction.

Deb lives in Dunedin, New Zealand with her family and a menagerie of pets.

 

Check her out here - Blog

                               - Facebook

                               - Twitter

 

Buy links               - Amazon US

                              - Amazon UK

                              - Smashwords