Breaking Fate Read Along

Chapter One: Bounty

No sooner had I entered the Underworld was I put to work. And I found out the true cost of grabbing Hade’s crown of invisibility that fateful day of Poseidon’s fall. I remembered it as clear as it was yesterday. As soon as he told me what kind of favor he required for “saving” me from being a decoration of the ocean’s floor at the edge of the world. He had tricked me into thinking I was needed to help save Atlantis, and it was already set in motion without me. I was just there for the show.

Typical.

I should have known better. And I might have, if my family was a bit more clear on the gods being more than myth and legends.

“Medusa, you owe me a favor, and I’ve named it, Little Goddess,” Hades had said to me, “You see, I’m quite fond of the ‘monsters’ Zeus likes to send his mortal children to defeat in an effort to prove their worth to him… to earn his favor. You will protect the dark gods for me.”

“It’s Aless,” I corrected him. No matter who I might have been in the past that wasn’t me anymore. Little bits of my memories were returning here and there, but it was more like seeing someone else’s life, a kind of disconnection from knowing and feeling them. I was still me, whatever that meant now.

Hades grinned with amusement but didn’t acknowledge that he would call me anything different. With a flick of his finger, the crown of invisibility that was hanging from my elbow snapped against my bicep. I didn’t dare put the thing on when he gave it to me but kept it all the same, just in case I might have needed it. But that was when I thought I was needed at all to help save Atlantis. To help save Dion… I was just a witness to what would have happened regardless. My eyes had darted to Poseidon, standing there in Hades’ throne room, as if he would have the answers to what his brother had planned for me. My face contorted in shock as the crown of invisibility shrunk around my arm and embedded itself to my bicep like a collar. When the dark smog emanating from it faded, I glanced up to see Poseidon was gone.

Or more accurately, I was gone. Invisible. We were gone from each other’s perception.

“What did you do?” I could still hear Poseidon growl through the golden crab shells secured behind my ears. They were magically connected with him, regardless of what Hades did, at least for the briefest of moments before realizing those were the last words I’d hear from him without Hades’ permission.

“Fate is such a tricky mistress,” Hades began with a cool demeanor. He wasn’t talking to me, I realized soon enough. “I had a fated mate myself, brother. I followed my path and yet I was spurned for doing so. You avoid your own, and what? I’m supposed to congratulate you and hand her over without you proving to me your fate deserves to be happier than mine?” His haunted laugh still echoed in my mind as he finished with ignoring his brother that I could no longer see nor hear, then faced me to say, “I control who sees you, Little Goddess. Do a good job in your new role as protector and I will grant you time to do as you choose. Do you choose to see your fated mate? Or perhaps you choose to see someone else?”

It was clear what he meant. Would I choose to see Poseidon, or Triton, instead? Or my sister?

“Are you the only one who can see me?” I asked first, ignoring his interest in my love life.

“Of course not,” he balked. “It would grow tiresome. You’d become a pest that would never leave me alone. No, you have access to all of the Underworld, and of course any dark god you wish to extend your protection to. As for other gods… that’s a case-by-case basis. If they know what they’re looking for then I can’t say my protection will hold. But in the Underworld, the crown’s power is absolute. It is where you will be safest when the time comes that Olympus discovers what you are up to.”

“And what am I up to?” I wanted him to clarify my new role as an Underworld servant.

“My brother,” he said plainly before he lifted a brow and clarified, “the one you aren’t fated to, is overly obsessed with results. To the point that if there is even a miniscule chance that Apollo’s prophecy can be interpreted a different way, he will see to squashing it. Anyone with Tartarus blood will be hunted, and as soon as you start to protect them, they’ll begin to gather, growing in number. Well, I don’t need to spell it out for you, do I?”

“He’ll think I’m building an army for war,” I finished for him, my voice trailing off in thought.

“I knew you were clever,” he mocked and then yawned like he was bored with our conversation. What was needed to be said was already said according to him. “You can chat with Cerberus about the details, he’s been briefed and will help you acclimate to your new job. I don’t care what you call yourself, but I think he’s under the impression that you’ll be called the Fate Breaker Legion. Do tell him that a legion requires at least three thousand, and there is currently only the two of you. Follow the river to the cave. Cerberus will meet you there.” He lifted his feet up onto his throne of obsidian rock embedded with skulls and bones and then waved his hand once more. Even he disappeared from my view, and I didn’t know whether it was simply him using the Helm of Invisibility to control who I saw, like he did with Poseidon, or he was gone. I guess it didn’t matter, and I turned to leave the room, and find my own way out of this damned castle.

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Sneak Peek – Divine Series – Lathar’s POV

If you loved the Divine Series, you’ll love that book one is being redone from Lathar’s POV. Take a look:

Soul Stealer – Book One of the Divine Series by Lathar.

There could only be a few reasons that Lathar could think of for why a serpent would have their memories wiped so thoroughly. He stared at himself through the dingy warped glass of the public bathroom not recognizing the man standing before him. It was a blessing from the Moon Goddess he even remembered what he was so he didn’t get executed by the council for accidentally killing a human, which would have been a very real and likely scenario for his kind. How he knew that was nothing more than a blurry notion he but accepted as a known truth.
Apparently there was a council, he thought, rubbing his face and tugging at his blond hair. Intrinsically he knew they were a threat to his life, and it was best to remain under the radar. It was entirely possible his lack of memories about his life previous could be traced back to them, if he chose to dig up those threads. Leaving the rotten human waste facility he decided some things were best left alone.
He had to face facts, he was either a criminal punished by the council, a victim of another shifter clan, or he did this to himself. Lathar didn’t feel evil so he dismissed that theory, because he had no desire to murder humans.
The park was scattered with humans enjoying the pleasant weather of the end of summer. Lathar could tell the season by the yellow shade of the leaves, sure, but it was the pooling of the tree’s aura from the branches back down into the roots to store away for preparation of winter that told him the coming of fall. Again, he thought himself a decent enough soul that he had no desire to drain the trees of their life prematurely. He couldn’t be all that bad if he cared about oxygen he didn’t even need should the tree die from his feeding.
Everything in moderation, he mused as he wandered the park drawn by a particularly intoxicating vibration in the air. His hand reached out, and inhaling the energy lingering there he licked his lips in indescribable pleasure. The aura nearly incapacitated his senses to the point where he felt himself draining the grass, as it turned brown and ashen beneath his boots. Whatever the source he wouldn’t risk losing the trail. He steeled himself against the delectable miasma, and closed his eyes feeling his way to wherever it led.
It felt familiar to him, comforting even.
Skin tingled as he resisted taking the aura into himself like a drug.
Lathar gathered the aura around himself, keeping it close by, surrounding himself with it and accumulating more as he walked. What could produce this kind of energy and allow it to float freely about… wasted, he thought?
Sweet, he licked his lips allowing just a taste. His fangs extended, making his gums ache. He tensed his muscles, back taut anticipating some kind of trap. If the council were trying to lure one of his kind to capture this was the perfect way to do it. He couldn’t imagine many serpents could control themselves around such an aura.
Should he consume the energy and defend himself? He ducked off the trail, and sat on a log hidden by bushes. The whole park could be seen from this vantage point, if someone were coming, he’d see it… unless they were already here.
Too distracted with the energy surrounding him, he didn’t notice the wisp of a human that approached. Black hair, no, it was dark brown with hints of red and blonde highlights only seen in the right light of the sun, or by keen eyes such as his, was pulled back into a sloppy heap upon her head. A notepad in her hand, she finally glanced up with green emeralds that narrowed quizzically at him.
A soft voice reached his ears, “You seem down.”
The small thing didn’t realize what he was, a predator, a danger to her kind, and yet… he felt no desire to drain her of her life.

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Kingdom of Acatalec Sneak Peek

Chapter One

Drone Pilot

How was it possible that all the local drones were with passengers already, or still returning from a drop off? It wasn’t. Any attempts at hailing one within the next five minutes would be near impossible, and the only reasonable explanation was… Jessi, the bane of my work life, thought it would be hilarious to make sure every drone nearby was redirected to other locations. Rushing out the door with a bagel hanging from my teeth, I had minutes before being late to work. I didn’t have those precious minutes to spare.

Typical.

It wasn’t like she wasn’t on the boss’s good side. Second best drone pilot in our sector, she always rubbed her customer ratings in my face every chance she got.

She wasn’t a complete monster.

I knew she’d only delay my request by the few minutes I needed to avoid being tardy. To keep her off my back I resorted to desperate measures, or risk losing my job, which wasn’t necessarily illegal, but it wasn’t not illegal either. Though, if Mr. Azel knew what I was doing, I’d probably have lost my job long before now.

And that was exactly what Jesse wanted to have happen.

Quickly, I tapped into my NeuralGo, which was second nature and as easy as blinking since I’d had mine installed at the time of my accident. Most don’t get theirs so early, considering brains weren’t fully matured until twenty-five, but I was a special case, and it was probably why it was so easy to use. Because my brain grew-up with it.

Pulling up my work’s designated drone airspace, D.D.A., I found the closest drone was only one minute away heading right past my home. The NeuralGo connected to my contacts through RedTech, and I haven’t needed the keyboard on an overlay display to enter data since I was sixteen. This was easier than deciding whether I should or shouldn’t eat the last cookie in the box. No one wants only one cookie later, so it’s better to let it mingle with its friends in my stomach.

Intercepting the destination, I plugged in the new coordinates. My contacts flashed red, letting me know the authorization protocols had triggered. Entering in my password, I logged in my credentials: Pilot officer class A. Link to on-route drone connected, and rerouting to my location.

Guilt made me cringe and to ease that little demon I made sure to setup the programming so that as soon as I was dropped off it would go back to its original pickup. Adding a few upgrades to their service, and a small credit as compensation for their extra wait time. Who would complain about that? They probably wouldn’t even notice the few minutes delay, with how glued most people were to their social media. Every time I ever went out, they all looked like zombies staring off into space, but really just surfing the linked up interface in their contacts.

The drone landed in front of my apartment building and the wind drafted through my hair. If it weren’t already messy, it would’ve been then. I would have had a slower descent for a normal passenger, but I was in a hurry, and there was no time to waste. Kelly, my best friend ever since I temporarily borrowed her family’s drone without permission, would probably be clucking her tongue at me right now in disappointment with how I left the house in what she would consider rags.

Tossing out of bed last minute did have its advantages. I smirked thinking about my best friend Kelly’s reaction if she saw me disheveled like this. I’ll let her act appalled later in our video chat, when I describe what I deigned appropriate to wear to work today. Wrinkles were my new best friend today. I’d have to tell Kelly she’d been replaced.

I didn’t wait for the ramp to assist me. Before the elevating hatch even finished lifting on the transport, I popped a wheelie, which was the first thing I tried to learn how to do when I was eight, and then used the handlebar assist to pull me and my extra weighted equipment into the drone. Rapid-fire pressing the close-door function as soon as I was in helped soothe my anxiety. I knew it did nothing to really speed it up, but it was something to occupy the seconds, so it wasn’t a complete waste. Letting my fingers pound out some nervous energy was the least I could do.

Once inside, I connected to the panel in front of me and bypassed the auto function pulling out my manual joysticks. Now these suckers were off market; I had to spend a diamond worth of credits on these, all in the spirit of illegally hacking commercial passenger drones for manual flight.

Not that the joysticks themselves were what controlled the drones. It was the chip inside that held manual function code and security breaches. The joysticks housing the chip just made it easier for the link in the NeuralGo to process my intentions, plus made the whole experience a little more tactile. I never understood why everything had to be so hands off these days, but in a pinch knowing I could do it without the joysticks was comforting, even if a little less enjoyable.

Lifted back in the air, I connected my overlay to my contacts with the current drone airfields, so I could track where I was in relation to other drones, and off we went. Bypassing the speed restrictions and maneuvering around other air traffic was no picnic, when traveling at these speeds. At least, for a normal person it would be terrifying.

For me, this was heaven, and it was over all too soon. Zipping up, through, around, and into the parking lot. In minutes I arrived at work, and the clock read: 7:58 a.m. My fastest time yet. I might actually clock in for work on time for once. I was really pushing my luck on having my pilot record outweigh my work ethic, but I did my job, and I’m pretty sure that’s what counted.

Pushing the door open to speed up its slow ascent, I yanked out my joysticks shoving them into the hidden compartment under the legs of my chair, that should never see the light of day unless I had a wish to see the inside of a jail cell and snapped the panel back into place.

Preprogrammed to go back to its original destination before I commandeered it, I didn’t have to worry about things as I turned off my speed restrictions on my chair to supercharge this baby out of the drone and through the automatic doors of this over-sized office tower. I took a moment to peek over my shoulder and confirmed that the transport was already lifting off and forgetting all about our short adventure together.

As I entered work, a green light flashed over me reading my authorizations to enter the building through my NeuralGo. Before I could even wheel up to my desk, the screeching voice of my prissy co-worker could be heard behind me, probably coming from the break room already.

“Are you ever on time?” Jessi groaned. “You know the rest of us have to pick up the slack when you’re late. Eight a.m. is when the drones are supposed to be active, not when you’re supposed to be at your desk. Here,” she waved her hand at my cube with disgust, and a notification popped up on my interface, “These are the results from your sector’s drone tests this morning… Or didn’t you remember that we had an update last night.”

“Thanks,” I said reluctantly. I supposed I should have been more grateful that she came in early to run the tests on my sector, but it was hard to even smile at her. This was honestly the nicest she had ever been to me.

“These should be good to go,” she said arrogantly. “Maybe next time you should come in earlier for software updates.” It was only a matter of time before that girl got me fired, but really who was I kidding. I would be the reason why I got fired. Being on time wasn’t my strong suit, but I was the best drone pilot in the business. My boss valued my skills more than my timeliness, and even Jessi knew that, though against her nature to admit it.

Most employees at Zeiten Drone Transportation had to be here earlier, but I tended to take advantage of the disability leeway that was given to me. Extra time to get to work didn’t seem to help me much. Sleeping in seemed like a better use of that time.

The green light on my monitor scanned me before my computer turned on. A notification popped up showing that the software updates had been downloaded just like Jessi said. I really should’ve come in earlier to do the testing before the drones were swapped out and live. But, thanks to Jessi, I didn’t have to. My computer then prompted me to confirm software testing was complete. I only had to think the word, cleared. My sectors drones were now live.

Jessi sauntered back to her seat, and I could see a clear gleam in her eyes. She smiled briefly before her eyes met mine and it turned into a scowl.

If it weren’t for me, she’d be considered the best drone pilot in this sector. Her resentment was clear on her face. It wasn’t her fault that her reaction times weren’t as fast as mine. She didn’t have the history I had. Maybe if she was forced to plug into the neural networking at a young age, she’d be well past where I was in terms of integrating with the software. My brain had more time to create more pathways, it was as simply as that, and one of the reasons why I was so highly ranked within the company without actually having a title to show for it.

I brought up the traffic on my interface. Drone airspace always reminded me of the old school arcade game Frogger. All the many little dots representing the drones leaping in and out and zooming across the screens.

Being a drone pilot was pretty boring for commercial passenger drones, but the true skill and fun was in manual operation. That’s when I truly felt alive behind the manual interfacing that linked you directly to the controls. Avoiding other drones, controlling the speed, and getting to your destination faster than any flight service could ever do. There were restrictions on how fast a drone could fly, because after a certain speed it’s hard to control the airspace. But not for me. Instinct took over, and that’s all that mattered. Those extra neural pathways made me feel like I was the drone. Like lifting a finger, chewing your food, or smiling.

It was all natural to me.

My screen lit up red.

One of the passenger drones was sending a distress signal. It was rare for there to be an issue on the job. This would be the most exciting my glorified observation appointment had been since I started working here five years ago.

Quickly, I manually entered the programming and discovered that the flight simulation that controlled the sensors did not download the new software appropriately. It wasn’t reading the location signals of the other drones in the airspace, and it already picked up a passenger. It would collide with another drone if it didn’t start communicating with the other drones in the sector.

But, more likely, it would collide with a building, because it’s on-flight location was malfunctioning, and other drones still had collision avoidance. This shouldn’t be happening, the new updates were only supposed to update valid air traffic locations, and any adjusted flight courses to different destinations. It was solely used to better the passenger’s experience and make the service faster. The only way this could have happened was if there was an error in the download of new information. Maybe even a loose bit of hardware, that should have been caught during the… test run this morning.

The test run done by Jessi before I arrived. She would have seen that there was an issue with this drone before I sent it out for pickups. She may have hated me, but did she hate me enough to put a passenger in danger? There was no way. This would get me more than fired. It would put the whole company at risk. Zeiten Drone Transportation had a spotless record, and one incident like this due to human error, would defeat the whole slogan that the company was built on—safety guaranteed. No other drone service had been able to provide this level of security, and I wasn’t about to ruin that reputation because of Jessi. I may have been ethically in the gray zone, but I had my pride.

Protocol would be to ground the flight and comp the passenger as another drone comes to finish the transport, but then the passenger would know there was a problem, and one review like that would be the end of my super boring, but well-paid career. I wouldn’t get another drone pilot job anywhere, not even in the private sector, why would they hire someone with a reputation for not double checking the test flights after a download.

I wouldn’t let her have the satisfaction.

Already mapping the flight course into my contact screen, I took a quick look around to make sure no one was paying any particular attention to me. They had their own screens to focus on, but it was still a risk. I pulled out my manual override joystick from the hidden compartment in my wheelchair’s seat. This would have been considered the best part of my day, to manually drive the drones on the clock, but the whole thrill of it was short lived considering the drone wasn’t empty, my cube mate Kline could see my illegal accessory at any moment, and I had to seamlessly transition to make sure it followed its path as if it were being automated.

“Good morning, this is Tyler from Zeiten Drone Transportation. I’d like to offer you the opportunity to earn a complimentary five-minute transport by filling out one of our surveys. Do you accept?” I tapped into the passenger’s microphone feed to distract them from my manual adjustment. It would be slight, barely noticeable, since all I was doing was making small adjustments to the straight away, before the turnoff up ahead.

“Continue,” the man’s voice said in approval. It was an odd response, but I was too busy maneuvering for upcoming drones, and the pathway ahead to think too much on it. I mean, most people would say something more along the lines of a typical sure, yes, no, or something.

I eased over to adjust for an incoming drone passing by with upgraded speed, giving them the right of way on the airspace. This was normally an automated process, with all the drones communicating with one another about their locations, but not this drone, and not today. That’s why the company had pilots on staff as puffed-up watch dogs, for the very, very rare occasion that we actually had to fly one ourselves. But that was rare, if at all, hence how depressingly boring and soul sucking being a pilot for a commercial passenger service was.

“Thank you. The survey will appear on your screen before the end of your trip, and the credits will show up on your account once completed. May the spirit of travel take you safely to your destination.” I tried to be pleasant enough, saying the mandatory closing phrase after any communication with a passenger. I exited the communication before I could even hear if the person had a response, it didn’t really matter, the likelihood of the person having said anything that required my involvement was too low of a probability to warrant keeping the line open, plus it’s our policy to not eavesdrop. Privacy and all, less I’m connected to their comms the less likely I’ll have to overhear anything I can’t unhear, like that time Passenger Handy accidentally pressed the pilot assistance button while indecently indisposed. I can never unhear those noises, and I’ll never be able to even hope to have that much fun in a passenger drone. Except maybe during a manual drone race. Those always did get me a little hot under the collar, but not quite the same way.

Lucky for me, the ride for the passenger was a fairly short one. Only five minutes, and at regular passenger speed, not upgraded which would have made my manual piloting a lot more obvious at those speeds. Finally, I put the drone on descent, and sent the survey to the drone.

The man decided to complete the survey, which was also not very common, since most people decided to say screw it and exit the drone immediately. I’d look at it later to see how much I’d fooled them into thinking I’m a perfect machine of transportation piloting safety, which would undoubtedly make this whole ordeal feel worth it. If anything, maybe I should be thanking Jessi for the impromptu opportunity to log some manual piloting hours.

Before exiting the drone, the passenger pressed the pilot communication button, also a rare occurrence.

“Thank you for completing the survey. Your credits will appear on your account shortly,” I informed him, because I couldn’t think of any other reason why the comm button would be initiated, since he’d already landed at his destination.

Speaking of destinations, I was too distracted with following the on-screen flight directions and drone location overlay on my contacts. The whole thing felt like an arcade game with higher stakes distracting me from noticing the final coordinates until it was flashing in front of my sight lines. In big green bold lettering: Zeiten Drone Transportation…

They were coming here. I’d just manually transported someone who worked here. Meaning that there was a higher probability that if they were a pilot like I was… then they could, if they were good at their job and paying attention, tell the difference between automated and manual. Though, I was hoping the short duration, and the distraction of the survey was enough to make sure the later didn’t happen.

I mean, most pilots weren’t really into manual operation like I was. They wanted the paycheck, and most of the time even in instances like this they could just push the code into the drone to have it descend and send another drone out. Their piloting education was mostly just a piece of paper that meant in a pinch they could, in theory, pilot a drone.

“Ms. Beryl, will you see me in my office?” The deep voice was all of a sudden much more recognizable now that I had time to think about it. I’d heard it often enough in company memos and quarterly video conferences.

It would be my luck that the one drone having issues would be my boss doing an impromptu screen check of the services and how his drones were performing. Such an overachiever, and much too sexy of a voice to have to listen to him firing me when he made it up the elevator.

“Of course, sir. I’ll just finish up this diagnostic screening and transfer my overlays.” I tried to sound all official, like nothing was wrong, because there was still a chance. Even if it was a small one, that maybe he was too preoccupied. That was a big maybe and, given his attention to detail, highly unlikely.

“No need. I’ve already finished transferring your data.”

Shit. That was not promising.

“Please head straight there. I won’t be long.” The calming chime noises of the door closing on the drone signaled the conversation was over. And just like he said, all of my drones in my sector blinked, disappearing from my overlay viewer.

Game over.

I was no longer the one in charge of monitoring them.

My heart skipped, and the pit of my stomach churned that quickly eaten bagel in my belly like a day-old burrito. Lucky for me I didn’t have to worry about keeping steady on my legs, I’m not sure they would have held me even if I had full use of them to begin with. The manual magnetized brake on my wheels clicked off, my NeuralGo seamlessly connecting.

Wheeling back and away from my desk, for me it was as simple as other people walking, but it didn’t change the stares people gave me as I passed. I could see Jessi peek out from her cube, and the way she smiled made my blood chill. If I didn’t suspect it already, that look confirmed it. She knew the testing had a drone with an invalid upload and made sure that I thought she’d already cleared the drones before I arrived.

I glared over my shoulder at her as the elevator came to greet me, and she merely shrugged as if to say, I’m not the one who didn’t check the report, I just ran it. And she was right, which made me even more infuriated. I shouldn’t have taken her word for anything. I should have scanned the report she gave me before initiating all the drones out for transport. I would have caught the error in the drone and sent it in for engineering to make sure everything was fine with the hardware. Even though she was a sneaking, conniving skank it was my fault that protocols weren’t followed, and it was also my choice not to immediately ground the drone. I didn’t have to like it though.

The doors closing behind me, I heard Jessi say, “It’s about time.”

Thank you for reading Chapter One of Kingdom of Acatalec! Want more?

— Stay tuned with the release of Kingdom of Acatalec for 2022 with The Wild Rose Press by signing up with my Newsletter if you haven’t already, plus get a free copy of Blood Crescent and start the Divine Series journey while you wait.

Already part of the newsletter? So happy that you read Chapter One, Continue Reading with Chapter Two’s Sneak Peek! See you soon! Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter below to make sure you don’t miss a new release, cool maps, freebies, and author updates.

Blood is on the Horizon!

A few updates, as well as a sneak peek at the upcoming title BLOOD QUEEN, book three. Haven’t read the previous books see their sneak peeks in previous posts. Blood Crescent and Blood Rebirth.

Voted 2019 Best Indie Book top 20. Blood Crescent made it to number 18, and Blood Rebirth was number 9! How exciting! Click the picture to go check out Amy’s website! Thank you Amy and to all those who voted for the Divine Series.

Blood Queen is on the horizon!

I’d like to apologize to everyone who has been waiting impatiently patiently for the next book. Previously, I had planned on it being released already. However, being a new mom has delayed things more than I had anticipated. You go into it thinking, babies sleep a lot so I should have plenty of time to get things all together. Then you have a baby and realize that it’s not one lump sum of sleep, you’re on constant duty because their sleep patterns are all over the place, and they need to feed constantly. Who knew? Every parent ever, but they don’t warn you… oh no, they don’t warn you about this, because then the human race would go extinct, and there is a sick twisted part in every person that wishes the same fate on others because they too had to go through that fate.

Fast forward a few months and mom life is actually pretty great, even with the lack of sleep, but now I’m getting a rhythm down, and can squeeze in my writing time, editing time, and of course UPDATE time to chat with you all. Want to get exclusive sneak peeks, and monthly updates from me? Please sign up for my newsletter, and all the goodies are yours.

My goodies bring all the readers to the emails, and I’m like it’s got to be good. Damn right, it’s going to be good. I can show you, but you have to join! Yes, I brought back 2004 Milkshake and I swear I will have my child dancing to this song in the future too, it’s that entertaining.

Now, on to the sneak peek of BLOOD QUEEN.

CHAPTER ONE

Eat Your Heart Out

Brandy saw a vision of my death, I know she did. It’s why she pushed me away and treated me like an insect, didn’t want me to get close to her. Didn’t want to see me die. Or didn’t want to care when it happened. We were separated now, I knew that much, but if her diviner magic was right then I would be seeing her again soon enough. Though now I debated whether I wanted to face what horrors she saw in her visions.

(more…)

Blood Rebirth Progress Update

I just completed the Revising phase of Blood Rebirth! Now onto Editing! Book is in the hands of my editor for a manuscript evaluation!

Goodreads GIVEAWAY!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/282114-blood-crescent

It’s that time my friends! The giveaway has started! Get excited, get pumped and click on over to join!

Blood Crescent is doing a giveaway for 20 copies of the Kindle e-book before it’s official publication in September!

Starting on August 1st and running through August 30th, you could be one of the lucky winners of this giveaway. Add the book to your “to-read” list on Goodreads

Enter for your chance to win one of 20 copies of Blood Crescent by S.M. McCoy!

A missing mother. A magical birthright. Can she uncover the secrets of her family legacy before the bloodline runs dry?

If you like hidden magical realms and fresh takes on vampire lore, then you’ll love this YA paranormal fantasy.

“The writing is descriptive and enjoyable… echoes of the Twilight series and Harry Potter, (though) the characters and scenario are wholly original…the author provides enough mystery and suspense to keep readers turning pages.” — The BookLife Prize

Sixteen-year-old Crystal Dylan thought magic only existed in storybooks. But everything changes when she finds out her long-departed mom isn’t dead: she was stolen away by the same power-hungry league now hunting her own enchanted blood. In search of answers, she must make sense of a hidden mystical realm and two mysterious protectors.

With enemies closing in, Crystal must find her mom and uncover her magical destiny before her powers fall into the clutches of evil.

 

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