#amwriting – Page 9 – Rebekah Lyn Books

New Release by Pauline Creeden

Scales
A Falling in Deep Collection novella
by Pauline Creeden
published on May 26, 2015

Verona is a bottom feeder. She is the one mer in her clan who is considered the ugliest and least intelligent. Growing up with the constant bullying and abuse wasn’t the worst of what her kind had in store for her. At seventeen years old, she must now endure “The Reckoning.”

The scales will measure her worth to her clan. Will she endure thirty days as a land-walker to gather information and knowledge to appease her clan and return a valued member? Will she wait three years, until she is twenty, and find a mer of her kind to accept her and marry her? Or will she suffer exile for the rest of her life?

EXCERPT

TO KEEP FROM SCREAMING, I bite hard on my lip. The copper mixture of blood and saltwater mingles on my tongue. Mer claws rake against my back. The barnacles on the post to which I’m tied stab me in the chest. Pain sets my body on fire. Everything burns. I squeeze my eyes shut tight and keep my silence.

“Ugly.”

“Repugnant.”

“Unsightly.”

“Ignorant.”

“Bottom Feeder.”

Each word cuts as deep in my flesh as the physical wounds my clan inflicts. It can’t last long. I can endure this. As soon as the sharks catch scent of my blood they will come, and the Mer will scatter.

The world spins around me like a whirlpool. My breaths come quick and shallow, my heart pounds faster in my ears. Each second is an eternity, until I realize fresh wounds are not adding to the burning in my skin.

The elder’s sharp tongue whispers in my ear. “Now you will be measured.”

My wrists fall free of the post as he cuts the ties.

Exile. My Reckoning has begun.

About the Author:

Pauline Creeden is an award-winning author, horse trainer, and overall book ninja. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long. Her debut novel, Sanctuary, won 1st Place Christian YA Title 2013 Dante Rosetti Award and 2014 Gold Award for First Place YA Horror Novel.

Stalker Links:

Website: http://paulinecreeden.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/PaulineCreeden

Twitter: http://twitter.com/P_Creeden

Instagram: https://instagram.com/paulinecreeden/

Go West~Chapter 15

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Fifteen

Aldon

When supper was over and the clean up finished, Aldon decided to hike up to the beaver pond for a bath. He grabbed a bar of Molly’s homemade soap, and an old towel from his saddlebag and joined Joe and Dieter on the trail. At the pond, the men raced to see who could get into the water first. Joe had to stop and help Dieter get his boots off, so Aldon made the big splash. He started swimming as fast as he could in the icy water, all the time wishing for the hot and cold spring so it would be more comfortable. He was half way across by the time Joe jumped in, and Dieter came next. The three of them wrestled over the soap like dogs over a bone, and when Aldon finally got hold of it, he washed quickly and then threw the soap to Joe. He got out and while the two of them continued to struggle, he dried off and put on fresh jeans and a flannel shirt. For a while, he sat on the large, flat boulder that was like a ramp extending into the water. The top part of the rock was still warm from the sun shining on it all day. It felt so good that he wanted to lie down and sleep right then. He took a deep breath of clean, pine-scented air, held it and breathed out the weariness of the trail with a sigh of satisfaction. They had arrived safely with all the men, the woman, the horses, dogs, and cattle. His cousins quieted as they came out of the water as if they two had started to relax after the long day on the trail.

When they arrived back at camp, Aldon found Ellie sitting on the chuck wagon tailgate with her head against a post that supported the canopy. She looked so bedraggled, he felt sorry for her.

“No more travel until tomorrow when we leave the cattle and ride back down to the ranch,” he said.

“Any chance of my getting a bath, too?” Ellie slid off the tailgate and stood looking up at him in the gathering dusk.

“Sure.” Aldon swallowed hard at the thought of Ellie taking a bath anywhere, but this was practically out in public. He’d need to go with her and keep her safe, but who would keep her safe with him? He shook the thoughts away. After all, bringing Ellie along was his idea and that made her his responsiblity.

“You sure it’s okay? I don’t want to be any trouble.” Her eyebrows went up in consternation.

“Come with me.” Aldon felt heat in his face and chastised himself. Blushing was for women and children, but he hadn’t been able to break himself of it yet. He found another towel and they were on their way. Ellie carried a bundle of clothes clutched to her chest.

“You need a packhorse?” he quipped.

“I have to have clean clothes; I can’t stand these another minute.” As they ascended the trail with Aldon in the lead, he stopped, turned, and took the clothing from her.

“I am perfectly capable of being my own pack horse, thank you.” She tugged at the shirt in his arms but he held on to it until she let go.

“The trail is rocky. Since it’s new to you, maybe I’d better be the pack horse, in case you need to grab a bush to steady yourself.” He moved on.

As they arrived, they heard a splash and saw several beavers glide away toward a mound of brush. Aldon helped Ellie step up onto the boulder, and then he pointed out the sights.

“The beavers live over there,” he explained, indicating the far side of the pond where a pile of sticks stuck up at the edge of the water.

“Yes?” Ellie waited for more.

“It’s called a beaver lodge,” he continued. “They swim under the woven branches and into a warm, dry den. See the pointed stumps over there?” She nodded and he went on. “Beavers cut the saplings down with their teeth in order to use them for making the lodge. They also eat the spongy wood beneath the bark.”

“No wonder people say, busy as a beaver,” she said. “Imagine having to chew down a tree before you can eat breakfast.” They chuckled.

“Beavers mate for life,” he looked at her then cast his gaze out over the pond.

“Do they? That’s good, like people.”

“I’ll sit at the top of this rock. You go down there and get in the water. Here’s the soap.” He handed it to her. “The water is so cold; you won’t want to stay in long. I promise I won’t look.” Aldon listened to the faint sounds Ellie made as she undressed. He heard a squeal of outrage, evidence that she had dipped into the freezing water. After a few minutes, he stretched out on the warm rock and listened to a series of whimpers, feeling like a lout for not heating water on the campfire and letting her bathe inside the cabin.

“Coming out,” she said waking him from a short nap. He took the warm towel and her clothes down to her at the water’s edge. Without looking, he laid the towel across her shoulders. She was shivering so badly that he wanted to take her in his arms and warm her body with his, but knowing it would be the action of a cad, he hoped his hands alone might help.

“It’s okay, I’m decent,” she said. When he looked at her, he had to reckon that her idea of decent was different from his. The towel covered her top, but he could see that high on her bare legs were edges of something pink and silky. What he could see of the garment looked like a cross between fancy underwear and a racy bathing suit. He hadn’t seen anything like it since the war when a fellow flier insisted he look at a picture in a French catalog.

“Let me go, you big lug,” Ellie said between clenched teeth. “You’re squashing me so I can hardly breathe.” Realizing that he had been tightening his grip, he released her so quickly she almost fell.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “Let’s hurry now; I don’t want you to catch pneumonia.”

He handed her the bundle of clean clothes and stepped once again to the top of the rock to wait for her.

Promise Poster~Delight

Promise Poster~Delight .png #13

DiVoran’s Promise Posters, Paintings from Go West as well as other art can be purchased as note cards and framable art

Creative Arts

Interview with author Annie Douglass Lima

On May 2, 2015 we hosted Annie Douglass Lima when she revealed the cover of her new novel, The Collar and the Cavvarach. Today she has agreed to an interview and we are delighted to have her here. So let’s get started!

Annie, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you are from, your family, and your Christian background.

I was born in Southern California but raised mostly in Kenya, where my parents were missionaries. I’ve been a Christian since I was a young child and always knew I wanted to serve the Lord overseas somewhere. After college, I spent a year teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Indonesia with Mission Aviation Fellowship, which was an incredible experience. Shortly after returning to the States, I married my husband Floyd, and the two of us lived in the States for several years while I taught in a Christian school in Southern California. Eventually God put all the pieces into place for us to move overseas, and now we’re serving at Morrison Academy, a missionary school in Taiwan. I’ve been teaching fifth grade here for eight years now, and I love it! Floyd and I feel totally at home in Taiwan.

Which of the places where you lived growing up was your favorite and why? Do you have a special memory of it?

I consider Nakuru, Kenya, to be my hometown, and a big piece of my heart will always be there. It’s a quiet town on the shores of Lake Nakuru, which is rimmed with a ribbon of pink visible from miles away, from the thousands of flamingoes that live there year-round. Nakuru is within walking distance of Menengai Crater, the largest crater of an extinct volcano in the world. I have lots of fun memories of hiking in the crater with my family, as well as camping and watching wildlife at Lake Nakuru National Park. At night from our home we could hear the flap and twitter of flamingoes flying overhead. I love Nakuru!

Nakuru sounds magical. I would love to visit there. How did you end up living in Taiwan?

Well, I’ve traveled to a total of nineteen different countries, and I always wanted to live overseas. My husband and I prayed for God’s timing, and when both our careers showed signs of being close to a good transition point, we started looking into jobs in other countries. I applied to teach at a number of different international schools, and Morrison Academy here in Taiwan was just the one where God opened all the doors. So here we are!

I have enjoyed reading your posts on Facebook, especially the ones where you are sharing a recipe or trading for jam or other interesing items. I made the recipe you shared for Banana Monkey Jam and it is delicious. With so much that is good in your life, what are you most grateful?

I have so many blessings in my life that I hardly know where to start! The best is God’s love and His gift of salvation, but He’s given me so much else: a wonderful husband, a job that I love in a country I love, the gift of writing, opportunities to travel, a supportive family, online friends who have helped me so much in my writing – the list could go on and on!

What led you to work on the Annals of Alasia series and does your newest novel The Collar and the Cavvarach tie in with it?

The inspiration for my first fantasy novel, Prince of Alasia, came from a dream I once had about a prince who was forced to flee from invaders and live in disguise in a poor neighborhood in his kingdom. I wrote the sequels, In the Enemy’s Service and Prince of Malorn, to tell different sides of the same story. The Collar and the Cavvarach is completely unrelated to that series. It takes place in a different world, but one very similar to our own, with a nearly identical culture, level of technology, etc. The biggest difference is that slavery is legal there, and the main character is a slave whose life goal is to protect – and free – his younger sister. Things get more difficult when he is sold away from her, but his martial arts skills and the chance of winning the Krillonian Empire’s biggest tournament give him hope of a different way to save her.

How would you characterize your intended audience of readers and why did you choose that particular audience?

The genre of The Collar and the Cavvarach is young adult action and adventure, and it could also be considered speculative fiction. While this isn’t technically a dystopian story, fans of the dystopian genre would probably enjoy it too. One of my beta readers said it reminded her of The Hunger Games (but she liked my book better!). I didn’t actually choose that audience, at least not deliberately. I just wrote the story that came to me, and that ended up being the audience it fits best.

What kind of major theme or message have you intended to communicate through your writings in The Collar and the Cavvarach, and what motivated the message?

There is a strong theme of social justice, as well as family loyalty and courage. I hope this story will make readers think about the value of human life and perhaps take a second look at some of the practices we accept or choose to turn a blind eye to in our own culture. Legalized slavery sounds so impossibly evil that it’s easy to think we could never let it happen in this day and age, but how many other wrongs do we overlook just because it isn’t convenient to do anything about them?

What are your current activities and future plans in your writing career?

I’m working on two more novels at the moment. King of Malorn will be the next one in the Annals of Alasia, and I’m hoping to have that published sometime this summer. The other one is The Gladiator and the Guard, which takes place four years after the events of The Collar and the Cavvarach. I drafted it last November (it was a NaNoWriMo project just like The Collar and the Cavvarach), but it still needs a LOT of work. I hope to have it ready for publication by about this time next year, but we’ll see.

Where can readers purchase your new release?

The Collar and the Cavvarach on Amazon

The Collar and the Cavvarach on Smashwords

The Collar and the Cavvarach on Kobo

The Collar and the Cavvarach on Barnes & Noble

The Collar and the Cavvarach on Google Play

The Collar and the Cavvarach on Apple iBooks

And if readers would like to connect with you online, where will they find you?

Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com

Blog: http://anniedouglasslima.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieDouglassLimaAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia