HERE BE NEWS for Monday October 31, 2022

 

Monday October 31, 2022 

Welcome to HERE BE NEWS, where each monday we bring you all the latest from the fantasy romance authors at Here Be Magic:

Tuesday, October 25, 2022: October Vignette - "Hunter’s Moon" by Linda Mooney

                      

 

Worlds of Fire: Metamorphosis a Romantic Fantasy novella by Deborah A. Bailey

Asira is a member of a high-ranking family of Alchemists who exert control over the libraries that store magical texts. She never believed her acceptance into the coveted position was in doubt. 

Yet, when she becomes the apprentice of a gargoyle shifter Alchemist who insists on keeping his pet bird with him, she has her doubts that he was the right choice for her final class. 

Jaydon is from a shifter group known as the Gigun. As an unconventional but powerful teacher of transmutation at the university, he could have his pick of mentees. It isn't hard to tell that the last thing he wants to do is mentor a student from a powerful family. 

Asira finds Jaydon frustrating but too fascinating for her own good. But she needs his knowledge and guidance when she becomes the target of a classmate’s deception. With Jaydon’s assistance, the two of them uncover a conspiracy that threatens the well-regulated order of the Floating World. 

As their feelings for each other intensify, Jaydon must make a life-altering decision which will either bind them together… or permanently force them apart.

$3.99 - Available on Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo and other booksellers.

Buy link: 

https://books2read.com/Metamorphosis-Worlds

Worlds of Fire Series:

https://authordebbailey.com/worlds-of-fire-series/

  

https://books2read.com/b/LetsGetNaughty

I'm taking part in a Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Paranormal Romance Book Fair this month:

It's Halloween Season. What better way to spend it than reading a Paranormal, Fantasy, Sci-fi or Spooky Romance?

https://books.bookfunnel.com/october-pnr-fantasy-sci-fi-romance/3qsh9u8tsb

My story, Going Back to Find You is one of the books featured in this event. Here's the blurb and a brief excerpt. Also, btw, one of the books I'm working on at the moment is a sequel to this book, so I'm feeling very into Jason right now...

Because even a vampire deserves a second chance.  

 When Jason Cook boarded the train to San Francisco, he didn't plan on coming back. He never really thought he'd see Nebraska or Lizbeth Petersen ever again. 

But when an unexpected turn of events threatens the woman he'd been forced to leave behind, he has no choice but to go back and try to make things right.  

 Warning: This is not a drill. Vampires are invading your favorite, small Nebraska town this Halloween. 

Does this mean Type-O flavored Booze will soon be the new rage in Sapphire Falls? Hopefully, it won't come to that. But you never can tell... 

Excerpt:  

San Francisco, California 

Three weeks before Halloween… 

 If there was one thing Jason Cook knew to be true, it was that he was no one’s idea of a hero. He was moderately big, moderately strong; he knew a thing or two about following directions and keeping his mouth shut—all good traits to possess if there was heavy lifting to be done or bodies to be disposed of. Not that there’d been all that many of the latter, but he was a vampire, so there’d definitely been a few. 

But other than those odd occasions when someone with his particular skillset was required, Jason was used to being…well, overlooked was not too strong a word for it. If he were honest, it was a state of affairs that suited him fine. 

It didn’t hurt his feelings one bit to be able to fly under everyone’s radar. In fact, he considered it a valuable survival technique. Experience had taught him to steer clear of stronger, meaner, or more short-tempered vampires. No good ever came from attracting their attention. As for purposely seeking one out or, worse yet, actively confronting one of them? That was a tactic he preferred to keep in reserve for instances in which his life, or someone else’s, might depend upon it. Which is why he was currently at risk of hyperventilating as he stood in the dimly lit upstairs hallway of the Quintano Mansion, trying to force himself to knock on the door to his sire’s private office. 

It had been a surprise to receive word that Conrad wished to speak with him. And by no means a happy one. It was the first such invitation Jason had received in the one hundred and sixty years he’d been part of the Quintano vampire family. He had no idea what it meant, but it was hard to believe it was anything good. 

“He’s not Floyd,” Jason whispered encouragement to himself. “He’s nothing like him.” Floyd, Jason’s original sire, had been a bully with a mean streak a mile wide. Conrad, for all that he was stronger and far more dangerous than Floyd, had never struck Jason as being a bully. Then again, how well did you ever really know anyone? 

“Enter!” A voice growled from within the room, pulling a defeated sigh from Jason’s lips. Not a bully, but as short tempered and prone to violence as the next vampire. Of course, Conrad would have heard him muttering to himself in the hallway just outside his office. Heard him, or scented him… Hell, for all Jason knew, Conrad might have looked through the wall and seen him. Jason had no idea what was possible when it came to the enhanced abilities most other vampires seemed to possess. 

Most other vampires. But not Jason. 

 Resigning himself to whatever fate awaited him, Jason pushed open the door and poked his head inside. “Good evening, sir. You wanted to see me?” 

“Yes, Jason, thank you. I appreciate your being so prompt.” 

“Oh…uh, certainly,” Jason replied, reluctant to leave the relative safety of the doorway. “You-you’re welcome.” 

Conrad looked as out of place in the elegant, paneled room as Jason felt. He was dressed casually enough. His shirt was open at the throat, the sleeves rolled up to reveal heavily muscled forearms, but they were the kind of muscles, or so Jason had long suspected, that one only developed over decades, possibly centuries, of repeatedly wielding heavy swords. There was nothing civilized about Conrad Quintano, a fact that struck Jason anew practically every time he saw him. 

If Jason was not mistaken, that desk Conrad was seated behind was the same desk Jason had been enlisted to help move into the room sometime in the mid-1800s. Perhaps that’s why he was here now? Perhaps Conrad had merely decided the office was overdue for an upgrade. It wasn’t impossible that was the case, and there was nothing lost in hoping for it.

Coming This Holiday Season

LIGHT UP THE NIGHT

Her love could light up his night...if they can both survive that long.

Heather is having the worst Christmas ever! Or, at least, the worst Christmas since she was forced to become a vampire. Her sire's distracted, her nestmates have forgotten her, weirdos have taken over the lair. The only bright spot in her life right now is Drew--who didn't even used to like her! She knows he's coming around, but that's not good enough. She wants more. She wants everything. She wants him. And she's not giving up. 

Drew Geiger gave up on love a long time ago. Such tender emotions have no place in a vampire's heart. But, somehow, the girl he once described as a "feral kitten" has got her claws in him, and she's not letting go. That would be fine, if only someone didn't want her dead--and if her sire didn't recall that it was Drew who once suggested that maybe she'd be better off that way.

​

Tentatively scheduled for a December 2022 Release

Releasing Next Year: 

CHASING DAYLIGHT

This story takes place at the same time as Light Up the Night, but the focus is on Jason and Liz (Going Back to Find You) rather than Drew and Heather.

​Scheduled to release on April 1, 2023 as part of the FREE antho, Shifter Fever

DANCING IN THE DARK

Sometimes living forever is not all it's cracked up to be. 

1956 Winnipeg, Canada. Once Armand Renaud realizes that eternal youth is a real possibility, nothing will deter him from achieving his goal. And after one hundred years of solitude, Conrad can’t bring himself to resist the handsome young dancer who’s hellbent on being turned. 

They both know they’re not destined to be the great loves of each other’s lives, but there are worse ways to pass a long and lonely decade or two than in the arms of a passionate stranger. 

Living forever might not be everything they’d hoped for. But, at least they can still get a few things right. Can't they?

​

Scheduled for release November, 2023 as part of the Vampire Rejected Mates anthology.