Nine Months Later Spirit Warrior is Born
The first two books, Spirit Hunger and Spirit Elfen, took roughly two months each to write. The third book Spirit Warrior, for some reason, felt like being pregnant. NINE MONTHS, people, NINE MONTHS!!!
But I got it done. Finally. And according to my intrepid beta readers, it’s not bad at all. In fact, they loved it. Phew. When you’re that close to something for such a length of time, it’s hard to judge if it’s any good. But yeah, it worked out.
So What is it About?
Adi and Honi journey to Southern Oklahoma to meet Honi’s Mekui’te tribe at the reservation where he grew up. Honi’s
infectious excitement almost erases Adi’s apprehension at meeting his family, and she’s desperate to make a good impression.
When Adi is met with silent hostility that gets worse rather than better, she realizes there may be more to the initial resistance Honi had warned her to expect.
Honi is confused and hurt by his family’s reaction, and by Adi’s increasingly strange behavior. She’s claiming the spirit animals of his tribe are diseased and sickly, but they look just fine to him. On top of that, when Adi meets Honi’s ex, Nina, her jealousy gets way out of hand, and threatens to drive them apart.
While mysterious forces manipulate and distort their realities, can Honi and Adi join forces to figure out what is happening before it’s too late and they are separated forever?
ARC Readers
I will send out a mail to my ARC readers in about two weeks. I’m working hard to organize promotions and advertising, so the launch will depend on how that goes. I would think I’ll launch Spirit Warrior in about four weeks, though.
A Final Excerpt
To whet your appetite, here’s an excerpt from Spirit Warrior. The tables are turning on the queen…
“Keenly aware of the chill in the air, so different from when she was last here, Adi cautiously moved closer. Her eyes grew large as she approached the still figure in the bed. Captain Diarmuid sat by the queen’s bedside, clutching her hand. Whereas before she had been supernaturally tall and powerful, she now seemed to have shrunk to the size of a child. She lay so still Adi was afraid it was already too late.
Stepping as closely as she dared, she saw that the Queen was breathing shallowly, her eyes half closed. There were dark shadows under her eyes, the only color among the whiteness of bed sheets, her skin, and her hair. Diarmuid’s deep voice, for once devoid of all humor, startled Adi.
“Why are you back? You haven’t finished your task. She would be better if you had.”
Adi nodded. There was no mistaking the fear and apprehension in his voice. She was about to answer when an unpleasant smell made her wrinkle her nose. The air in the faerie realm was usually scented with the perfume of roses and lavenders, lilacs and honeysuckle. Compared to that, the stink of exhaust fumes and rotting garbage on collection day nearly made her gag. The smell was familiar to her as part of living in the human world, but it had no place here. The barriers between the worlds were breaking down faster and faster. Adi walked to the window to find the source of the stench. Her eyes widened, the sight shocked her so much that she forgot to breathe for a moment.
The usual sunny sky was an angry purple, streaked with yellow. It reminded Adi of a squashed plum, unappetizing and unpleasant. Underneath the impending storm, hundreds of spirit animals covered every square inch of the queen’s once pristine gardens. The last time Adi had seen a congregation like that, she and Honi had been fighting for their lives on top of a tree. Here, the creatures whined and cried, turning their faces to her as if she were their savior. Adi stared back, humbled and overwhelmed.
“They know you are the only one who can save us.”
Wichita Mountains
Let me know what you think in the comments below!