Wilde's Fire

The exciting first book of the Darkness Falls series!

Wilde's Army

The second installment of Darkness Falls.

Wilde's Meadow

The conclusion of Katriona and Arland's story.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

#DEFY

For those of you who've read my blog for a while, you know I'm a fan of Raine Thomas. She's friendly, supportive, fun, and a great writer--she also thanked me in the credits of her novel, so let's show her a warm welcome!

To celebrate her recent release of Defy, we're posting a nice teaser for everyone here to read!

Enjoy!

~

The pain was unimaginable. She dragged herself along the ground with her one working arm, at turns scrabbling at tree roots or shrubs and at others digging her hand as deep into the earth as she could manage before hauling her broken body as far as possible. In the past hour, she had moved approximately fifteen feet.

She knew she was going to die. The horrors that had been visited upon her were so atrocious that she couldn’t even think of them now. It was as though a black haze coated her memory.

But her attackers had left her in sight of a platform that could get her to Central. They had no way of knowing it because, being Mercesti, they were unable to see the heavily enchanted travel system. The platform glimmered to her like a taunting beacon, however, bouncing lightly on the waves. If she’d had the required energy left, she would have extended her wings and flown to it.

Animal-like sounds left her throat as she struggled for the strength to move. If she could somehow get to the platform, perhaps someone at Central could help her. And if she was very fortunate, kyria Amber or archigos Gabriel might even be in attendance. They could heal her.

Once more, she stretched her right arm in front of her. The ground onto which she was emerging from the forest was sandy and open. If any of her attackers remained nearby, they would see her. While that thought terrified her, she couldn’t fight the instinct to survive. She knew she had to try. So she pressed her hand into the blazing hot sand until she had enough of a grip to pull herself. Then she strained her already aching bicep and heaved herself forward as much as she could.

She didn’t even move a foot.

Although she thought her attackers had wrought all of the tears from her, she realized now that wasn’t the case. They tracked down her bruised and broken face, joining with her sweat and plopping into the sand beneath her head. Heat radiated from the unforgiving surface beneath her, burning her already punished skin.

A sound to her right had her stiffening in fear. She made a whimpering sound as distinct footfalls grew nearer.

Her enemies must have returned to finish what they started. The tears continued unchecked as she carefully removed her hand from the sand in hopes she could do at least a little damage to the next male who hurt her. She would fight until she couldn’t.

But the being approaching her stopped on her left side. She tried to move her head toward her left and couldn’t. Another pained sound escaped her.

The presence knelt. He said, “Ah, Luvania. What have you gotten yourself into?”

She couldn’t turn her head and her vision was blurred by tears and exhaustion, but recognition was immediate. Although she hadn’t heard that voice in over fifty years, she could identify it. He still managed to sound both impatient with the world and infinitely bored by it. And at the moment, there was a gentleness beneath his tone she would never have expected.

“I am afraid your injuries are beyond my ability to repair,” he said. “I have seen others emerge from the water where you appear to be trying to reach. I can get you to the platform with your assistance.”
She couldn’t find the energy to speak, so made another sound in her throat and moved her head in a form of a nod.

“This will hurt.”

He lifted her. Pain screamed through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut against it. When she again opened her eyes, she realized they were in the water. She must have passed out.

“Thought I might have lost you there,” he said. “Are you ready for placement on the platform?”

Why would he not get on it with her? The thought floated through her head and then faded as insignificant. They had only a couple feet more to go. Extending her right arm toward the platform, she indicated she was ready. He obligingly moved forward. When her hand came into contact with the platform, more tears welled in her eyes. He settled her on it and stepped away.

“Good fortune to you, Luvania,” he said.

She once again thought to ask why he wasn’t accompanying her, but by then she was lifting into the sky.

The trip took an eternity. She lost consciousness more than once. Each time, she saw her rescuer’s face in her mind, though she hadn’t actually glimpsed him during their encounter. Thoughts of him from the past as well as what he had just done for her kept her focused, overriding the brutality she had endured.
She wanted to thank him. Wanted to praise him for giving her hope merely moments after she had given up and decided she was going to die. She wanted to help him as he had helped her. Surely he needed her help if he was living on the mainland and had removed himself from existence for over five decades.

Her delirium grew. Thinking became difficult. But at long last, through vision that was slowly fading to gray, she saw the outline of Central approaching.

She had made it.

The platform eased its way into Central’s loading bay. The darkness of the underground cavern had her blinking to try and focus. It did her no good.

Her brain registered the sounds around her, but couldn’t interpret them. The pain had leeched from her body. She understood then that it had all been for nothing. Her efforts. His efforts. For nothing.

“Holy light!” she heard.

There were other sounds. Other exclamations. People touching her. But she no longer felt anything. She registered only one lingering image.

“Luvania, can you hear me?”

Something flickered in her mind at the echoing voice. Caoilinn.

“Luvania, can you tell us who did this to you?” the Lekwuesti commander asked, her words filled with urgency.

She wanted to tell them. They needed to know. Others would be at risk as she had been. There were dangers beyond any Estilorian’s knowledge lurking on the mainland.

So she struggled to work her strained vocal chords as darkness clouded her mind. There was something important she had to tell them. Wasn’t there?

Then she remembered. The image she had carried with her on the ride to Central. Someone she needed to help.

And with her last breath, she told them.

Zachariah.”~


Awesome, right? Now get out there and pick up your copy of this amazing book!
Amazon - B&N - Smashwords

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Birthday parties are difficult to plan. Couple that with a spur of the moment surprise birthday party an hour and a half away from home for Kid #1, and you can imagine the stress.

My husband—and the initiator of all things spur of the moment—grabbed our son then left the house Sunday morning with an excuse: present shopping. (Kid #1 recently got into trouble—big time—so his planned present changed dramatically, but he still deserved something, right?)

Johanna Pitcairn was in town, so while we waited for my wonderful MIL to show up with her minivan, we played Twister with Kid #2 and Kid #3. Abby thought it would be hysterical to ensure her mother's doom in the game, all while being super sweet to our visitor.

Harumph!

When my MIL and SIL walked through the front door, I'm pretty sure one of my arms was threaded around my ankles, while the other sweat profusely because ninety-percent of my body weight was on it. Yeah, Johanna was sipping cocktails the whole time.

I'm getting way off topic here . . . .

Okay, so we piled in the minivan, and after an annoyingly long stop at the gas station, we were off. I drove, my MIL texted with my hubs, my SIL sat pensively in the middle while Kid #3 slept, and Johanna and Kid #2 played I Spy . . . a lot. Who knew a cloud could truly look like an alligator?!

As we neared the exit for Dave and Busters, I realized I had no idea where this place was located. Thank God I'd loaded my map first, but as usual with all things Google Maps (sorry, Google), the stupid thing was wrong and led us to an abandoned lot. We eventually found D&B, across the street, using our EYES. Can you believe that?

Guess we can find things without technology!

Then came parking. Oh brother. I'm not sure I want to share this with you. But, the husband saw us, texted and told us to turn left and then park near Mimi's.

"Umm. That's great, but where the heck is Mimi's?" Annoyance rippled through me. I hate driving. Really. Is over one-hundred miles a day not enough?

The husband called. "Hey, so Ethan is hungry. He wanted to go to Dave & Busters, but I told him you'd kill us if we went there without you. So we're just going to eat at Mimi's and then head home. Okay?"
"Mimi's sounds good," I said, keeping up the pretense of the surprise. Oh, God, if I only knew where that place was!

Someone in the backseat may or may not have added to my annoyance when she thought we were actually going to Mimi's.

Facepalm!

We circled around the quaint little urban-development area that I wanted to scream at, eventually parking wherever-the-hell-we-could, then tried not to melt away in the out-of-nowhere heat and humidity on our walk to Dave & Busters.

When Kid #1's saw us his face was priceless! He laughed hysterically and then jumped up and down when he realized we were finally taking him to the restaurant where you play games. It's like a grown up Chuck-E-Cheese.

We breezed through dinner then set out—all three kids, the husband, Johanna, MIL, SIL, and me—to take over D&B. And boy, did we?

Ethan hit the 500 and 1000 ticket jackpots—as did many of the rest of us—and we had multiple cups overflowing with tickets. We were bound to get the biggest and best prize in the whole place!

Well, that's what we though until it was finally time to cash out and go home. For 4000 tickets, you could either get coasters or a giant banana.

Yep, you guessed it, folks. Kid #1 chose a giant banana for his gift.

I'm sad to report that I don't have a picture of this ridiculous gift that took up the entire backseat of my Jetta, but I think you get the idea.

In the end, we had a great time, Ethan was genuinely surprised, and we spent the whole evening singing, "Peanut butter, jelly time. Peanut butter, jelly time."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't forget, Wilde's Fire is available on B&N, Amazon, Kobo, & iTunes. Get your copy today!

Want to win Wilde's Fire gear? Check out the Who Said It contest!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Battling for Power #wildesarmy #sixsunday

Hey everyone. Hope you're all enjoying the long weekend--assuming you have one--and that you're staying safe.

I have a special visitor from NY (Hi, Johanna!), and it's Kid #1's 12th birthday. It's been a beautiful, action-packed weekend, and I doubt I'll be around much. I LOVE THE SUMMER!

Anyway, picking up slightly where we left off, Perth's just told Kate that she should use her connection with her sister in order to learn more about where the daemons are keeping the others.

Enjoy!

~"Is this going to be like the chatter box? Do I have to figure everything out on my own?" [Kate asks]

Perth stops drawing in the dirt like a two-year-old and locks his cold gaze on me. "You seem to have quite a bit figured out already. Why do you doubt yourself so much?"

I ignore him and close my eyes.~

Ahh. These two are really struggling to learn about one another.

To read other Six Sunday greatness, visit the official site. *DISCLAIMER: Not all sites are appropriate for children under 18!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget, Wilde's Fire is available on B&N, Amazon, Kobo, & iTunes. Get your copy today!

Want to win Wilde's Fire gear? Check out the Who Said It contest!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Who Said It? #wildesfire #contest

Some of you may or may not have seen my post on my Wilde's Fire facebook fan page, so I'm reposting here to include everyone in my super easy, really fun contest.

The rules are on the "Contest" page here on my blog, but you have one week to guess who said the line from Wilde's Fire (listed below). If you guess correctly--and no, I will not tell you whether you are right or wrong until after the contest is over--then you will be entered into a monthly drawing for Wilde's Fire gear.

Tell me you don't want a poster of Kate running into those dark woods!?! (Or a magnet, keychain, signed cover card, etc.)

Okay, now onto the Who Said It?!

~"That's easy for you to say, with tall, dark, and handsome gushing over you."~

You have one week to make your guesses in the comments section below.  :-)

Have fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you still haven't purchased a copy of Wilde's Fire, you can get yours today: B&N, Amazon, Kobo, & iTunes.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Song of the Day

Pandora played some absolutely amazing music this morning on my ride into work. The best song, the one that had me moving in my captain's chair--err, I mean the driver's seat--was Superman by Goldfinger.

What was on your radio this morning?



Don't forget, Wilde's Fire is available on B&N, Amazon, Kobo, & iTunes. Get your copy today!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Who's In Charge? #wildesarmy #sixsunday

Today I'm flying back from my mini-vacation in Florida. Once I land, I'll be heading over to Nationals Stadium to meet my family for our first baseball game of 2012.

It's going to be a busy summer. I just know it!

Okay, now that you know I'm not actually around, here's today's set up. Kate is annoyed with Perth because he wants them to sit in the open (and if you've read Wilde's Fire, you know how dangerous being in the open is) and wait for the "right" time to head out to rescue the others.

She's basically just said, let's go now, and he abruptly changes the subject.

Enjoy!

~Perth draws circles in the dirt with his finger. "When you were in your sister's mind, what did you see?"

"Why?" Propping my hands on my hips, I stare down at him the way my mom always did when she was punishing me.

He doesn't meet my eyes. "I want to see if you were given clues about the trap you want to run into."~

Yeah, trust is a BIG issue with these two. Do you think they'll ever get along?

To read other Six Sunday greatness, visit the official site. *DISCLAIMER: Not all sites are appropriate for children under 18!*

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Hey, Where is Everyone?!

I love my husband and children. They are the most special people in my world, but when my sister called and invited me to my nephew's graduation, I had no issues saying, "Sure, I'll come to your tropical island off the Gulf Coast of Florida without my husband and kids!"

Haha.

So, if you don't hear from me much, don't worry. I'm just relaxing here:


I'll miss you guys. Maybe.

Don't forget! Print and e-Book versions of Wilde's Fire are out with Amazon, B&N, and Kobo

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Editor Judged Contest

Sharon Bayliss--a very AWESOME person and soon-to-be-published author--has been graciously promoting the release of Wilde's Fire.

Part of her brilliant idea was to host an editor judged contest for a potential publishing deal with Curiosity Quills Press. As some of you may or may not know, I'm the Acquisitions Editor for the YA/NA line at CQ. (And it's an amazing job!)

To enter, you need to visit Sharon's blog then follow all the rules. For those of you too lazy to click then read the rules, I give you the following:

~ This contest is open only to unpublished manuscripts in the categories of New Adult / Upper YA (protags in late teens, early 20′s) and Young Adult (protags in mid-to-late teens). If you have an adult manuscript you'd like Curiosity Quills to consider, just follow our standard submission guidelines.

Under the YA and NA umbrella, Curiosity Quills is most interested in the following genres:

Fantasy
Speculative Fiction / Dark Sci-Fi / Traditional Sci-Fi
Paranormal and Urban Fantasy
Steampunk / NeoVictorian
Mystery / Crime Thrillers
Quirky/Humorous Fiction (in any of the above genres)

Here's how it will go down....

1) Sign up with the linky on Sharon's blog
2) By 5/25, post your query and first 500 words on your blog.
3) From 5/25-5/28, pop over to the other blogs and comment on entries. Contests like this are a great way to get useful feedback from a lot of people. So let's make it useful! Please post meaningful and helpful feedback that we can use to improve our work. Constructive criticism is encouraged but of course, unhelpful meanness will not be tolerated. If you're lucky, you may even find comments from Curiosity Quills editors themselves.
4) On 5/28 Sharon will post again asking you to email your revised, final entries for consideration by me. From these entries, I will choose winners (assuming entries are strong enough, I will choose more than one winner!). These winners will get a full request from Curiosity Quills.~
So what are you waiting for? Hop on over to Sharon's blog then enter this amazing contest!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Do Snakes Make You Shudder? #wildesarmy #sixsunday

First.... Happy Release Day to me. Happy Release Day to me. Happy Release Day to meee, -- Hey, did you catch that? It's Wilde's Fire's release day! I'll post some official links later, but for now, on with Six Sunday!

If you've followed my blog for a while, you know I don't like creepy crawlies. Snakes, spiders, scorpions--seems like anything with an 's' scares me--these are just a few of the creatures I've encountered. So, it only makes sense to share a scene between Kate and Perth where they encounter some creepy crawlies of their own . . . .

Enjoy!

~"While we would be guarded against anything getting in, we are not guarded if the animals get loose and run out. If that were to happen, our position could be compromised. If daemons discovered us here, we would be trapped . . . unless you wanted to use the river, but I do not believe either of us would enjoy swimming in that," he says, giving the river a fearful glance.

"What's in the river?" I follow his gaze to the water barely visible through the blanket of Darkness.

"Serpents."~

Can we all say shudder? That's what Perth did as he said that. He's not talking about little water snakes either! :-)

To read other Six Sunday greatness, visit the official site. *DISCLAIMER: Not all sites are appropriate for children under 18!*

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Surreal Moment

Hey Everyone!

I had this whole blog post planned for how excited I am to get home from work tomorrow so I could finally hold my book in my hands . . .

BUT

When I got home today, the book had already arrived!

After a good deal of feeling like this was all just a dream, I opened the box and found five beautiful copies of Wilde's Fire inside!

I'm going to re-read my book now, drool a bit, cry, laugh, smile 'til my jaw hurts, then head to bed.

Thank you all for your support!

<3 Krystal


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Sisterly Love #wildesarmy #teaser

A bunch of lines from Wilde's Army, because I'm feeling generous . . . .

I'm screaming. I have no control. Opening my eyes, I jump to my feet. Flames erupt from my chest and spread to my arms and legs like fire on dry straw. I run to the winding path leading down to the horses, without sparing a second to tell Perth what's going on.

He calls to me.

I'm vaguely aware of shrieks coming from the forest, but I don't care. That monster was about to kill my sister, and I couldn't do anything to stop him. My eyes don't fill with tears . . . I'm not going to cry. I refuse to let anything happen to Brit.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Firework!


My children love to sing. I'm not sure where they inherited this from *clears throat* but they certainly enjoy belting out lyrics to the same song every single day. Yes, currently Katy Perry's Firework loops on my iPod during our drive home from Hell . .  . I mean work.

Surprisingly, Kid #2 knows all the words. I've been meaning to record her while she sings, but something tells me she'd shut right up.

Anyway, because the meaning of the song is awesome, and because I've been a bad blogger—and I'm going to keep it up until the first draft of Wilde's Meadow is finished—I'll leave you with a song . . . .

Can you guess which one it will be??

Yep!

Do your kids have any songs they love listening to on repeat?

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Do You Trust Me?

Happy Sunday everyone!

In seven (7) days, Wilde's Fire will not only be on virtual stands, my baby will be on actual stands. Can you believe it?

Me either. :-)

I have stores who WANT to stock this book on their shelves. So amazing.

And for those who are dying to know, Wilde's Army should be out in a month or so. I'm hoping to have cover art soon.

SET UP: Perth and Kate have just left the forest and are now out in the open with nothing to use for cover. Perth's thinking the daemons won't expect them to hide on this rock ledge above the river . . . and Kate's not so sure she agrees.

Enjoy!

 ~"Do you trust me?" [Perth asks.]

"Not entirely."

He sucks in a sharp breath. "Have I done anything deserving of your distrust?"

"Not yet." I clamp my hand over my mouth.~

Kate and Perth are going to have a very rocky relationship if she keeps up this behavior!

To read other Six Sunday greatness, visit the official site! *DISCLAIMER: Not all sites are appropriate for children under 18!*

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