Blurby Business

I have a new blurb for Girl of Rooftops and Shadows! I loved the old one, but it needed a facelift to better represent BOTH main characters, and just because it lacked a little bit of marketability regarding current trends. The good news is, I love the new blurb just as much as the old one! Check it out below, and, if you feel so inclined, hop on over to Amazon HERE to read this book for only $0.99 before the sequel drops in a few months!

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“From ashes to shadows you will rise. A black phoenix. A dark horse. Champion to those who go unseen in this world.”

The last thig Despiris expected on her death bed was to be recruited. But when a shadowy figure materializes from the darkness to save her, her life is spared, and changed, forever. A destitute existence in the slums of Fairoway becomes a charmed life of thievery and luxury in the unsung cracks of society.

The kingdom has many names for her benefactor. Trickster. Terrorist. Shadowmaster. But to Despiris, he becomes mentor. Master. Friend.

The last of a secret order of criminal masterminds known as the Shadhi, Clevwrith is determined to carry on the order’s legacy. By taking on an apprentice, he intends to mold a creature equal to himself, another that can never be caught.

But liberating tricksters is a dicey business. In the end, every soul has his – or her – own agenda. Charged with pulling every heist, scheme, and bit of mischief she can devise, Despiris is as much a threat as she is a partner.

In a game without rules, the next move can come in any shape or form.

Pawn for Pegasus

I took a break for the holidays (and to cure burnout), but I’m back with new excerpts! Game of Towers and Treachery is back on track for a spring or summer release. Enjoy this tidbit from today’s chapter.

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If only people realized they didn’t have to be pawns, just because that was the mold society had pressed them into. Spirit was shapeless. Boundless.

Despiris had realized this. Embraced it. Pushed against the casing of her natural-born shape – which already had been a malleable, fluid thing thanks to his tutelage – to evolve into something even Clevwrith had not anticipated.

One should be careful teaching a caterpillar to transform into a butterfly – lest she apply herself, and aspire instead to become a behemoth.

He’d created a monster, as they said.

His beautiful, terrifying butterfly.

A titillated grin crooked Clevwrith’s lips, thinking of the force she had become. He couldn’t help it. A margin of betrayal might yawn, secretly stung, in the depths of his being, but in the end it was a game. You didn’t take it personally when your opponent surprised you on the chess board. You didn’t curl into yourself, heartbroken, and whisper across the checkered wasteland of what was once your beloved common ground, What have you done?

No. You rose to the occasion. You reached for a pawn, switched if with sleight of hand for a trick up your sleeve. Drew back to watch your opponent’s surprise and delight when she saw in place of a pawn, a figurine of a dragon now graced the board. Then she would switch her own pawn for a Pegasus. And instead of moving square to square in halting, segmented succession, the pieces would embrace the board for what it really was – a dance floor.

And they would dance.