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Book three of The Triune Stones

Ilythra the Wanderer has escaped brainwashing by the merciless sorcerer Bredych, but she's far from safe. As Bredych seizes power in the kingdom of Greton, Ilythra staggers north with a magic stone he covets, fleeing his murderous trackers. There in the mist, she finds the Siobani and the final Triune Stone.

Ilythra's quest won't be complete until she recovers the stone still in Bredych's possession and uses it to mend the wounds of the world. Though the Siobani are reluctant to leave their long seclusion, Ilythra convinces them that the time to reunite the stones has come.

With Ilythra wielding the power of her stone, the Siobani have a fighting chance. But Greton's walls are thick. Bredych's spells are insidious. His army is well trained. And even with new magic she's learned from the Siobani to help her, pulling down the puppeteer of Greton will be Ilythra's hardest battle yet.

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Janus, January and New Year's Resolutions

January is named for the Roman god Janus (said yon-us). My introdution to Janus came from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when the evil Ethan Rayne called on him as a god of chaos and magically turned all the protagonists into their Halloween costumes. It was a hilarious episode, and Janus' appearance as a god with two faces pointing opposite directions was a perfet metaphor for Ethan's two-faced nature and the chicanery in the episode.

Turns out that *gasp* the Janus of Buffy has practically nothing in common with the god worshipped by the Romans. The Janus of ancient Rome indeed has two faces, but that's due to his nature as a god of transitions--one face looks back at where you've been, and the other forward toward where you are going. He was placed in doorways and on bridges as a god of the portal, a reminder that every exit is also an entrance. Every ending is also a beginning. In this role he is also the god of the New Year.

Personally, I'm a happy camper about transitioning to 2014. In 2013, my husband and I had to return our foster daughters to their bio mother, a medical condition has caused me to reinvent the way I eat and my publisher and I have parted ways for my current series. It's been a rough year. Next year will see us rebuilding from the destruction of 2013. Instead of Janus' calm moving forward while reflecting back, I feel like Kali's wild destruction and creation might be more symbolic of this year.

People have started asking me about New Year's Resolutions, but I mostly don't feel ready to do that yet. One thing that I've been kicking about is starting a "Happy, Healthy Writer" website as a 100% judgment free zone for writers (and other desk-jobbers) to support each other in our health goals--whatever they happen to be. I think too often places set a standard for what health looks like, and for many of us these ideals created by people whose lives revolve around diet and exercise can seem unrealistic or simply don't fit in with our own goals. For example, I don't care how much I can deadlift or how many miles I can run (and I don't even want to know what my body fat percentage is, much less get/keep it in a certain range), but I'd like to be able to do two pullups in a row, and I could sure use some moral support staying on my hellacious new low histamine diet! But right now that website's an idea, not a goal.

What's your Janus-uary status? What are you reflecting back on or looking forward to as we transition from 2013 to 2014? And is anybody else interested in an HHW social forum?

Holiday Hangover and 2014 Plans

Ever feel like you have a holiday hangover and not from the eggnog? I had a December deadline and moved one of my parents into my house this month. So despite having a very low key Christmas here I feel a little wrung out lol! And I'm really looking forward to settling back into a normal routine. Or what passes for one at my house. ;)

So today I'm turning in a book and thinking about what I want to do in 2014. I don't really do resolutions, but I do like to make a list of major goals for the year. Usually that's just the books I intend to write. This year there are some house projects, too, because we're hoping to sell and move into something bigger. I'm also launching a new pen name (more on that later). So 2014 is shaping up to be a year of big changes. I'm really looking forward to diving in!

What about y'all? Anyone making plans for 2014 yet? Any major changes on the horizon?

Win-A-Book Wednesday with...

JANE KINDRED

Jane Kindred is the author of The House of Arkhangel’sk trilogy, the Demons of Elysium series, and The Devil’s Garden. Born in Billings, Montana, she spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. She now writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while two cats slowly but surely edge her off the side of the bed.

You can find Jane on her Twitter account and Facebook page—both of which are aptly named “janekindred"—and on her website, www.janekindred.com.

When desire rises, angels will fall. One, by one, by one…

Over the past century, Belphagor has made a name for himself in Heaven’s Demon District as a cardsharp, thief, and charming rogue.

Though the airspirit is content with his own company, he enjoys applying the sweet sting of discipline to a willing backside. Angel, demon, even the occasional human. He’s not particular. Until a hotheaded young firespirit steals his purse—and his heart. Now he’s not sure who owns whom.

A former rent boy and cutpurse from the streets of Raqia, Vasily has never felt safer than in the arms—and at the feet—of the Prince of Tricks. He’s just not sure if Belphagor returns those feelings. There’s only one way to find out, but using a handsome, angelic duke to stir Belphagor’s jealousy backfires on them both.

When the duke frames Vasily for an attempted assassination as part of a revolutionary conspiracy, Belphagor will do whatever it takes to clear his boy’s name and expose the real traitor. Because for the first time in his life, the Prince of Tricks has something to lose.

Warning: Contains erotic sex: m/m, m/m/m, m/m/m/m…oh hell. Let’s just say “mmmmmm!” and be done with it. Also one m/f scene. Smart discipline meted out with a great deal of love and charm. Erotic sex acts requiring copious amounts of elbow grease.

---

Prince of Tricks is the first book in my new m/m erotica series, Demons of Elysium, coming January 7 from Samhain Publishing. If you've read my companion series, The House of Arkhangel'sk, and fantasized about something a little—er, a LOT racier—this series is for you. ;)

Belphagor, Vasily, and I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a marvelous New Year!

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Here Be News

No new releases today but we do have new covers to share!

Abby is a Ranger, part of an elite group who defend the border against Reapers—humans infected with a parasite that turns them into mindless cannibals. Rangers are immune to Reaper infection, and as one of the only female Rangers, Abby is expected to settle down and breed more Rangers—a fate she’s keen to avoid. When she’s ambushed on the plains, she’s ready to go out with guns blazing—until a mysterious, handsome cowboy rides to her rescue.

Jake has his own motives for helping Abby, beyond aiding a damsel in distress. He’s a Reaper, and while he’s learned to wrest control of his mind from the parasite, the effects won’t last without a permanent cure. And he needs Abby to get it.

Abby and Jake are natural enemies and unlikely partners. But when their search reveals a conspiracy between Reapers and the rich industrialists who own the mountain cities, they must work together to find the cure—or lose the border, and each other, forever.

Coming February 10, 2014! More info here: http://eleristone.com/coming-soon-2/

Queen Of The Unknown
The tales tell of three sisters, daughters of the high king. The eldest, a valiant warrior-woman, heir to the kingdom. The youngest, the sweet beauty with her Prince Charming. No one says much about the middle princess, Andromeda. Andi, the other one.

Andi doesn't mind being invisible. She enjoys the company of her horse more than court, and she has a way of blending into the shadows. Until the day she meets a strange man riding, who keeps company with wolves and ravens, who rules a land of shapeshifters and demons. A country she'd thought was no more than legend--until he claims her as its queen.

In a moment everything changes: Her father, the wise king, becomes a warlord, suspicious and strategic. Whispers call her dead mother a traitor and a witch. Andi doesn't know if her own instincts can be trusted, as visions appear to her and her body begins to rebel.

For Andi, the time to learn her true nature has come. . .

Coming May 27, 2014! More info here: http://www.jeffekennedy.com/the-mark-of-the-tala/

Here Be Magic Group Announcements

Reminder: We've moved the link list updates to our Facebook feed. If you don't already like us on Facebook, you can find us here: https://www.facebook.com/HereBeMagic

Happy Holidays everyone!

Do You Believe in Santa?

I’m forty-five years old, and I still believe in Santa Claus.

When I was a little girl, I stayed up listening for him on the roof. I marveled the next morning at the empty milk glass and the last remaining cookie with a bite out of it. I squealed with happiness each year at the one perfect gift waiting for me under the tree.

I never forced my parents to have “the talk” as I got older. My brother is eight years younger than I am, so eventually I was enlisted in covert Santa operations, hiding gifts in my own closet on Santa’s behalf. I didn’t mind helping him.

It never occurred to me to stop believing in Santa. Of course he was real. But parents often stopped believing, so they did Santa’s job for him. Considering how many children there are in the world, I figured he was probably grateful for the assist.

I still believed Santa could give non-material gifts. He was listening, right? As my teen years approached, my faith in him never wavered, and I’d write him a letter with whatever teen-angsty thing I wanted the most, then burned the letter in the fireplace. Santa would get it that way. He would know. Did he deliver on my request? I honestly couldn’t say. If he didn’t, I obviously wasn’t devastated, since I don’t remember.

I grew up and had kids of my own, which meant I had to decide whether to let Santa do his job, or help him out. I opted to help, of course. Santa had done a lot for me over the years. It was the least I could do. And my kids, when the time came, never cornered me for “the talk.” Possibly because they knew I would never, ever say that Santa wasn’t real. Or maybe because they didn’t want to upset me, since I was obviously unbalanced.

I could spout a bunch of feel-good business here about how Santa lives within each of us, in the spirit of Christmas and the brotherhood of man. But really, I simply want to believe in something magical and beautiful that we, as a species, have created together through the stories we’ve told each other over time, repeating those stories and adding to them. Santa’s reality grows stronger with each stocking stuffed, every bike put together at 2 A.M. on Christmas Eve, and all the white beards and red velvet suits worn by mall Santas around the world.

Santa is real. Maybe he doesn’t live at the North Pole and spend the rest of the year with elves and making toys. Maybe he doesn’t have flying reindeer, and maybe his belly doesn’t shake when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly.

But maybe, just maybe, he is real.

My kids are grown, but Santa is still visiting them this year, though he had to send a box to Florida to get everything to my youngest.

I’m sure Santa appreciates my help. I don’t mind. He’s done a lot for me over the years. It’s the least I can do.

I hope your holidays are filled with magic, love, and laughter. And trust me—if there’s something special you really want, maybe all you need is to believe.

Rachel's head is packed with an outrageous amount of useless Disney trivia. She is terrified of thunder, but not of lightning, and sometimes recites the Disneyland dedication speech during storms to keep herself calm. She finds it appalling that nobody from Disney has called yet with her castle move-in date.

Originally from Northern California, she has a tendency to move every few years, resulting in a total of seven different states and a six-year stint in England. Currently, she's planning her next grand adventure. Rachel has one heroic husband, two genius kids, a crazy-catlady starter kit, and an imaginary dog named Waffles.

She doesn't have time for a real dog.


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Buy her books here:  Amazon B&N Carina Press

Best of 2013

I love reading all the "Best Of" lists this time of year. Not that my to-be-read pile needs help, but I'm nosy. I like to look at trends and I like to know if I've missed anything mind-blowing. So I decided to ask my fellow Here Be Magic authors about their favorite speculative fiction reads of 2013 and here's what they said...


Shona Husk: "I read a lot of great spec fic books this year, but I’m going to skip the big ones that you all

know of. Hoodwink by Rhonda Roberts is book 2 in the Kannon Dupree series. Kannon is a timestalker which means she goes back in time to solve crime. Part historical, part crime and part alternate future this series is great. Despite the size of the book they never take me long to read."


Veronica Scott: "South of Surrender by Laura Kaye – I really enjoyed her idea of making the minor Greek gods who were the Winds (the Anemoi) into main characters in their own novels. She did a terrific job of imagining how they each did their job, I felt,  as well as how they related to the humans who are really no longer aware of them. This book featured Chrysander, god of the South Wind.

Archangel’s Legion by Nalini Singh – the further development of her Guild Hunter series. I really love the way the Archangel Raphael and  GuildHunter Elena are growing into their relationship and all the backstory of the other angels and vampires as well."


Regan Summers: "Winterblaze, from Kristen Callihan's Darkest London series. This is a superbly-written historical (Victorian era) paranormal romance series. The characters are vivid and well-rendered, the world unique and intriguing, and the plot twists...wow. Let's just say that the overblown misunderstanding tropes so prevalent in romance are nowhere to be found here.

Winterblaze was especially captivating to me because it's written with parallel narratives, of a married couple when they first come together - in happiness and passion - and their journey to reestablish trust following a catastrophe that's thrown them apart. It's heart-wrenching and lovely, dynamic and fun."


David Bridger: "My choice is Emma Shortt's zombie road chase horror/love story, Waking Up Dead.
This is the best book I've read in years. It's stupendous. An unstoppable read. Edge of the seat tension and a relentless heart-pounding drive from start to finish."


Jeffe Kennedy: When I asked Jeffe, she had a whole list. You can check it out here!

Jax Garren: "I had two favorite speculative books this year...First is an older book that I finally read, Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane (book 4 in the Downside Series). I adore this series, but had stopped after book 3 for fear of the happiest ending ever getting ruined by the main character's horrible decision making skills. I was so happy with the next couple of books, though, and can't wait to read more! But I also started the amazing Darkest London series by Kristen Callihan. Book 3, Winterblaze was amazing. I don't read a lot of reconciliation stories--I've never before thought of it as a trope I'm particularly drawn to--but, dang, Callihan does it sexy-right in this one!"


Eleri Stone: I second (third!) the recommendation for Callihan's Darkest London

series. It's wonderful and you should go read it.

Bec McMaster's London Steampunk is another historical paranormal series that I burned through. This one is a steampunk paranormal cross. McMaster pairs roguish heroes with strong heroines and then lets the sparks fly. It's a glorious thing.

Anne Bishop's Written in Red goes on my list too. It's the first book in a new urban fantasy series. I love that the monsters view humans as prey and are actually scary. It's dark, but with a subtle humor that keeps it from being grim.

What were your favorite books this year?