Fantasy

We learned something new

Hi Readers,

We hope you had a happy New Year and are enjoying His Angelic Keeper Tempted. The scribe enjoyed writing it until we got in the way and wouldn’t let her end it.

We were only thinking of you and how much you’ll enjoy that extra chapter or two we sneaked in. 😆 If you’re on the fence about it, don’t worry. We’ve got another preview later in this email.

But first, we need to talk about magic because we learned something today. Maybe you already knew this, which is awesome, but it was new to us.

What did we learn?

There are two kinds of magic in fantasy books, soft and hard.

But wait! Soft magic doesn’t mean it’s warm and snuggly. I thought that at first too, so don’t worry if the was your first impression.

Apparently, “soft magic” refers to magic systems that either don’t have clearly defined rules, OR there are rules, but the book doesn’t ask the reader to learn the rules or keep track of them, and the rules may not be mentioned or shown.

And that’s how the magic is in our books!

It has rules, but the Scribe keeps track of them and doesn’t let us do things that are against them. We never ask you to remember the rules.

You can enjoy our magical mayhem secure in the knowledge that you don’t need to keep score. The Scribe does. That’s her job. She keeps things consistent.

Books that have hard magic may have complicated magical systems that are explained in the book, and they expect the reader to understand them.

We don’t ask that of you. We want you to sit back, relax, and let us take you on an adventure.

Who taught us this lesson?

A reader on social media! She listed what she wanted in a book, and she described our Curse Breaker books. But she also mentioned this soft magic thing.

So I, the best fantasy character ever (Ran, Sarn’s son), pointed this post out to our shy Scribe and recommended that she mention our books since we tick all the boxes.

I’ll skip to the part where I impersonated her because we all know that’s how it went down. The Scribe mumbled something about how self recommendations aren’t allowed, and I took control of the keyboard because no one else had recommended us either and our Curse Breaker books have:

  • a male mc who’s not a womanizer. (I don’t know what that means, but I’m sure Papa isn’t a womanizer.)
  • We’ve got otherworldly settings and dragons, and
  • we’re somewhere in between epic fantasy and sword and sorcery.

But the Scribe still held back, so I stepped in. I’ve gotten good at impersonating her. 😉

If I, a fictional character, comment, then it’s not a self recommendation, right?

I didn’t write the book; Melinda did. I just costar in it. But I digress.

I recommended us, and the world didn’t end like the Scribe had thought it would. (She overanalyzes everything like a certain character I know. I’m looking at you, Papa. 😉)

Do you know what happened next?

The original poster replied to my question about soft magic. I wanted to know what it was because if there’s cuddly magic out there, I want it.

The Scribe came out of her shell enough to reply, and they had a nice conversation about it, and everything just confirmed my belief that we had this soft magic from a reader’s point of view.

If you want to learn the rules, you can do that too. We crash head-first into them every so often, (and they are mentioned then), but that’s all part of the fun.

And now it’s time to continue our preview of:


His Angelic Keeper Tempted

by Melinda Kucsera

Now that he was in the Nexus, Fedre couldn’t remember why he’d fought it for so long. Power coursed through him as he stood at the crossroads of the future, where all things were possible.

It was a vast, dark plain, dotted with fires. Some were roaring blazes, while others were just tongues of flame. All the fires represented a possible future. Some fires connected into webs, and elsewhere, sparks extinguished before ever catching fire. The future was fickle, and so was its ever-changing Nexus.

Behind him lay the present, but it wouldn’t be when or where he’d parted ways with it because time moved ever onward, and the present moved with it. Hopefully, he could still find a way back to the Gray Between, close to when he’d left it. I’ll worry about that later when it’s time to leave the Nexus.

Right now, Fedre needed to find the future that contained his mother. There were many fires, but only one represented her future. He didn’t know if he could even find it. She might have closed off her future, so none of her children would see when she’d pass away or how. She was thoughtful like that.

Where are you, Mom? Fedre checked the fires closest to where he’d arrived, but none held any images of his mother or his family. He moved out from there to the next semicircle of fires and almost stumbled upon a thin spot in the fabric of reality where the future and the present touched.

Fedre backed away from that thin spot slowly and carefully while checking to make sure there wasn’t another one behind him or on either side. He didn’t want to fall into the present somewhere other than where he’d left it, which was a possibility.

Where are you, Mom? I know you’re still alive. I feel it here. Fedre pounded a fist against his chest. Nor could he linger here for long. He didn’t trust his sister, Faylon, to stay out of trouble. Two fires raced toward each other, and he jumped out of the way. Somehow, he’d ended up in between them.

“You need to pay more attention. The future is a dangerous place for the unwary,” a woman said from somewhere behind him.

“Who said that?” Fedre glanced around. Two fires slammed into each other just a few feet away from him, and an explosion rocked the ground, staggering him.

“You know who I am. Every place has its guardian, even the Nexus of the Future.”

Well, that guardian wasn’t his mother. This woman didn’t sound like her, and Mom couldn’t make herself invisible. “Are you an angel or a god from one of the fallen pantheons?”

One fire nearby swelled up to his height and divided into a head, a torso, and limbs. The fire creature glared at him with red glowing eyes. They’d have been more impressive if he hadn’t spent his entire life looking at those same eyes in the mirror.

Fedre folded his arms. “Well? Are you an angel or something else?”

“Something else,” said another woman, and she sounded a lot like Rachielle. She was probably an angel, but she didn’t reveal herself, so he couldn’t tell for sure.

***

Find out what happens in His Angelic Keeper Tempted. Get it today. Tempted will be 99 cents for a limited time, so don’t wait!


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