Books for kids, teens, & those who are young at heart

Tag: Fantasy books

The Inspiration Behind the Award-Winning YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND

ELIXIR BOUND is the book that made me an author, but it’s so much more than that. This book and its sequel, ELIXIR SAVED, are memorials to my sister Kylene. In ELIXIR BOUND, Katora, who has a sister named Kylene, goes on a quest to become the guardian of a secret healing Elixir. The Elixir Chronicles are like a wish in book form. A wish for more for my sister.

I’ve written about Kylene a bunch of times here on the blog (see “Still Mourning Kylene 20 Years Later”), and her too-short life continues to be a large influence on my writing. One of my works-in-progress is a picture book about a girl who loses her sister.

Mourning is a life-long process. Writing is one of the ways I try and make sense of this wonderfully complex thing we call life. Naturally, my feelings about Kylene come up a lot in my writing.

Yet, the Elixir Chronicles are fantasy quests with magic, whimsy, and adventure. There are deaths — particularly one in ELIXIR SAVED that is a bit devastating — but death and mourning aren’t main themes. The books are more about living. The characters are figuring out what kind of life they want to live and trying to put that into action.

In that way, it’s like giving Kylene — albeit a fictional one — a second chance at life. Second chances are a main theme of ELIXIR SAVED. Yup, these books are big wishes that I know won’t come true. But it still felt good to write them, even when the writing was incredibly hard at times.

The ebook of ELIXIR BOUND is currently on sale for $1.99. It’s part of the Narratess Indie Sale, which officially kicks off tomorrow. There are over 370 fantasy, sci-fi, and horror book by indie authors and publishers on sale or even free.

Celebrating the Release of COURT OF THE UNDYING SEASONS by A.M. Strickland

Happy release day to A.M. Strickland and Court of the Undying Seasons. I feel very lucky to have received an early copy of this. You can check out my full 5-star review on Goodreads, but the short version is that I loved it and couldn’t put the book down. If you like vampires, dark romance, and immersive fantasy, it’s definitely worth checking out. You can see the book’s content warnings on the author’s website.

Court of Undying Seasons blurb:

In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more.
Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside.
A blade.

When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love’s place in their village’s Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls…or they don’t survive long enough to become either.

Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants – particularly Gavron, her handsome and hostile vampire maker, whose blood is nothing short of intoxicating. As Fin begins to discover new aspects of her own identity and test her newfound powers, she stumbles across a string of murders that may be connected to a larger ritual – one with potentially lethal consequences for vampires and humans alike. Fin must uncover the truth and find the killer before she loses her life…or betrays her own heart.

Court of the Undying Seasons is a deliciously dark romantic novel and a pitch perfect modern take on classic vampire tropes.

Upcoming Events: River Bend Bookshop Panel & Renaissance Faire

I still have a few more posts on space exploration coming (see my posts on billionaires in space and why space exploration is important), but I wanted to take today to announce a couple of outdoor, in-person events I have coming up this month.

The first is a picture book author panel with the River Bend Bookshop at the Glastonbury Arts’ on the Green Art Show this coming weekend. I’ll be reading from THE BEDTIME KNIGHT on Sunday, September 12 around 11:00 a.m. There is an amazing line up of authors for the two days, so if you’re local to Connecticut, it’s definitely worth checking out. Find directions and parking options here.

Next up, I’m the featured author at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire on Saturday, September 25 for Wizard Weekend! I’ll be in the old-world marketplace most of the day, though my official signing time is from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. I’ll have copies of all four of my books for sale with a special price on the Elixir Chronicles bundle. I’ll probably even be doing a little cosplaying as one of my own book characters, so stop by and show off your costume (if that’s your thing!).

The faire is on the Lebanon County Fairgrounds, 122 Mack Road in Lebanon, CT, and there is an admission fee, which I’m sure will be worth it given how many amazing things there are to check out there.

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