Month: May 2024

One Yr. Anniversary ~ “Purple Poison” / Short Story

Posted on by writer35_bg
cover by Deranged Doctor Design

“Purple Poison”

Another Short Story with the artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant

A flurry of poison pen letters unsettle the passengers on the ship Nomadic. Even Isabella is not immune from the vicious invective.

Will the culprit be discovered before dangerous secrets are revealed?

“Purple Poison” is the second short story in the collection Sailing with Mystery. The collection continues the mystery adventures of Isabella Tarrant, featured in the Into Death series. Her introduction is in the novel Digging into Death.

Link to Worldwide Distribution.

Link to Amazon (not yet available)

. ~ . ~ . ~ .

Sailing With Mystery ~ A Short Story Collection

Travel presents opportunities to meet new friends and see new places. Isabella also encounters puzzling crimes and dangerous intrigue as she sails from England to India.

The next short story is “Black Heart”.

In discussing  the covers with Kim, the design project manager at Deranged Doctor Design, we decided to avoid the problem with so few accurate images from 1921. Instead, we chose to emphasize the protagonist Isabella’s art with five watercolor images. Finding similar images became the next design challenge. We hope that the ones we have picked not only represent Isabella’s venture into watercolors but also the atmosphere and settings for the story.

The covers represent the coastlines that Isabella would have seen during her ocean voyage. “Amber Dreams” focuses on the French and Spanish coasts. “Purple Poison” would be anything she saw from Gibraltar to Rhodes.

The primary cover harks to Isabella standing to one side of the image. The ocean and the railing of the ship evoke where she is while the tumultuous sky echoes the mysteries she encounters while aboard the passenger ship.

Enjoy!

 

To Wield the Wind ~ glimpse of the first chapter

Posted on by writer35_bg

Here’s a W.Ink at the opening scene in To Wield the Wind

first novella in the Spells of Air trilogy, all set in the Fae Mark’d World.

Read a portion of the first chapter below.

Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

LINKS for Purchase ::

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RGMLH5Z

https://books2read.com/u/38QLz7

Box Set in ebook and paperback

https://www.amazon.com/Spells-Air-Fae-Markd-World/dp/1737422646/

Trailer https://youtu.be/PqjouEJtbjY

Chapter 1

Orielle guided the dapple-grey gelding along the narrow trail traversing the steep slope of the mountain.

Lights winked in the trees ahead, like the spectrum glints in her mother’s diamond pendant, a gift for the spell she’d worked for the king.

She reined in the horse to watch the dancing lights. On the trek to this height, she’d seen the rainbow-colored lights a few times. The old man who had warned her of the Wilding said that she would see strange things, but this strangeness was beautiful. The lights flitted among the autumn-changed leaves. A cluster darted in and out, winking in unison. Light reflected from sun-glinted water moved randomly. These lights had a fascinating pattern.

Continue reading “To Wield the Wind ~ glimpse of the first chapter” →

Dangers in *To Wield the Wind*

Posted on by writer35_bg

What is To Wield the Wind?

Here’s a teaser for the fantasy novella >

On a mission for the Wizard Enclave, Orielle ventures into the dangerous Wilding, a strange frontier filled with magical creatures. There she encounters sprites and wraiths, gobbers and wyre.

Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

All view her as prey.

Here are snippet quotations from the novella:

The Wyre

  • After peering around, Orielle lifted a hand. Golden magic limned her fingers, both warning and threat. “Come out and play.”
  • He stood on his toes. Yellow claws extended from his fingers. Wyre. Partially shifted. Real trouble, for wizardry had little defense against a fully shifted wyre.
  • The two wyre jumped. Even fearing them, Orielle admired their grace. They splashed into the water, knees bending to land lightly.
  • Two gobbers tumbled to a stop as the tall figure straightened. He wore hide breeches but no shirt. Golden hair straggled over his bare shoulders. A golden pelt covered his broad chest. Long claws revealed his partial shift. Wyre.

Gobbers, Wraiths and other Terrors

  • Shifting fog caught her eyes. She gasped as the fog lifted from the ground. Misty tendrils rose, a cloudy mass that shaped into a head and thin shoulders, a torso with separating arms, wisps of hands and elongated fingers. Wraith.
  • The silvery glow left the gobber’s round eyes. It yowled. Stubby claws jerked at her skirt. The shifting weight destroyed her balance. Orielle stumbled to her knees.
  • She tugged hard. The icy-fanged wind ripped at her exposed skin. Gritting her teeth, Orielle hauled back with her whole weight. “Let him go!” she flung at the fanged wind.

Dark Fae known as the Kyrgy

  • Bone-white horses threaded through the trees. Snow-white riders wore cloaks of ice blue and storm purple. In their frozen marble faces, black eyes spoke for them. ‘Who? From where? From when? Why?’
  • “Kyrgy deal in bargains, my offer matched to yours. Remember that. You have much to learn of the Wilding,” Lady Bone warned. “I hope you survive to complete our bargain.”

  • The rider swung her sword again, cleaving downward. Volk’s blow shattered Saircuista’s sword.

Her only Ally ~

  • The Rhoghieri had more weapons than the sword he hadn’t used. Knives, including a long belt knife as thin as a poniard. He looked like a man heading for trouble, not just happening upon it.
  • “That’s three questions,” Grim protested. “You could let me answer one question, Orielle, before you jump to the next.”

Buy it here.

View the trailer for the entire trilogy here: