#Excerpt from THE PRINCE’S MAN by Deborah Jay #EpicFantasy

June 7, 2015June 7, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 1 Comment

Excerpt from THE PRINCE’S MAN – prologue

Risada tiptoed across the darkened bedchamber and felt behind the tapestry for the hidden niche. Her tiny fingers located it and she grinned as the lock tripped with a faint click.

She heard voices in the outer chamber and light flickered around the doorframe. Heart thudding against her ribs, she dropped to her knees and scuttled forward through the swinging panel into the secret room. This was such fun!

Careful to close the panel behind her—Daddy said you must always lock doors when you were going to have your back to them—Risada wasted no time clambering onto the chair she had positioned beneath the spy hole. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of dust. It seemed like ages since Daddy had shown her how to work the hidden catch. Certainly it had been before that woman had arrived.

At thought of Mistress Chalice, Risada scrunched her face up into a ferocious scowl. How she hated her dancing tutor. Oh, the woman was very polite, and she was very beautiful—all the servants said so—but Mummy didn’t like her so Risada didn’t either. And the maids were saying such wicked things about Mistress Chalice and Daddy. Well, tonight Risada was going to see for herself.

Continue reading →

Shameless plea for votes – my #SF #shortstory ‘Perfect Fit’ is #FREE to read

April 28, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 4 Comments

When I entered my short story PERFECT FIT in a contest being held in honor of the late, great Terry Pratchett, I didn’t realize it was open voting. It took me a couple of hours to find a cover, upload and write a description, so when I saw that I needed to also blab about it to gather votes, I thought I’d just chalk up the time spent to experience and move on.

In the process, I did discover a great site where you can download free wallpaper images, which is what I used for the story, so it wasn’t a total waste. You can find that site here.

But then I thought, hell, why not?

So here is my plea: please click on THIS LINK to read the story and vote. In fact, you don’t even have to read it (which makes it rather a poor writing contest, in my opinion, but hey ho), all you have to do is click on the little heart to vote for it.

If you do read it, like it and want to, you can also rate and review.

I shared a snippet of this story during excerpt week here, and it is my contribution to the anthology THE WORLD AND THE STARS, that I published earlier this month.

So here is the mini blurb for the story:

Humanity has the technology to play God, but how far should it be allowed to go? On a generational starship where workers are created to fit their jobs, Roz believes they might have gone too far…

And the lovely cover I found for it:

Now go. Vote.

Please… 😉

Bet you didn’t know this about me… #Fantasy #author Deborah Jay

April 4, 2015April 4, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 12 Comments

The (not so) secret life of Deborah Jay, fantasy author

If you are a friend of mine on Twitter, or you’ve visited my ‘about me’ page on my own blog, you may know that I am by profession a trainer of dressage horses.

Didn’t know that? Where have you been?

Now, much as I love my writing and plan to do more as I get older and less inclined to earn my keep standing out in all weathers, or pushing myself physically as my body starts to stiffen up, I don’t ever see myself giving it up completely. As long as I can see clearly, and have a voice I can project (even that’s easier these days, with the use of radio mics), I shall continue to be involved in my sport in one capacity or another – as well as being a rider and trainer, I am also a top level national judge.

Here’s me, competing on the International circuit, in Spain, 8 years ago.

What you really don’t know about me is that I absolutely, categorically, cannot cook. Eating, however, is not a problem!

As a consequence, for many years I have used that lovely tailcoat you see above as my incentive to keep my weight in check. I’ve had the coat since I was 28 years old, and I’m now 55. This year I have finally admitted defeat 😦

I’ve moved the buttons as far as I can, and I can still just do it up, but breathing is not an option!

The new coat, with blue paisley details and smart silver buttons.

As a result, and with much sadness, I asked my lovely partner for a new coat for Christmas this year – made to measure, and up to date fashion-wise. It wasn’t cheap, believe me, and when it arrived yesterday and I tried it on for the first time, I have to admit to a certain disappointment that it is nowhere near as fitted as the old one.

But I’m guessing it won’t be long before I’m appreciating it, when I ride down the centre line later this month at the first show of our season, and find I can draw enough breath not to turn puce while riding my Grand Prix test!

#Excerpt week finale – SPRITE NIGHT by Deborah Jay #UrbanFantasy #ecology #fracking

March 15, 2015March 16, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 8 Comments

Here is my last contribution to excerpt week – and a fun and informative week it has been 😀

This little offering is from a short story that has not yet been released – maybe next month if I can find the time, once I have the anthology (excerpt here) all sorted.

Back to Urban Fantasy today, and a bit more of Cassie, the Caledonian Sprite, who has a tendency to get tangled up in ecological issues, seeing as they have potentially devastating implications for her element.

This story takes place just after DESPRITE MEASURES, (excerpts here and here), and finds our sassy sprite involved in a fracking protest near Stirling, Scotland.

NOTE: there are live links scattered throughout the Caledonian Sprite stories, taking readers who choose to follow them to informative pages and photographs of all things quintessentially Scottish. My stab at a (slightly) interactive experience.

Excerpt from SPRITE NIGHT

The inn was typical of its type; old, creaky and in need of renovation, but warm with hospitality and a reputation for excellent food and choice of single malts. It’s one of the more frustrating aspects of my human body that consuming food or alcohol is a futile exercise; I can eat, but solid food needs disposing of—let’s not go there—and alcohol, whilst I can take pleasure in the taste, has no affect on me.

Companionship though—that I can, and do, enjoy.

I pushed open the swing doors to the lounge and glanced around. Most of the crowd were locals I’d come to know over the past few weeks, but a rather delectable-looking stranger sat in the snug beside the chimney. My body perked up with interest.

Right now, my DNA stores were high, and harvesting more would be an indulgence, but this guy had the makings of a pleasing dalliance, with or without extra benefits. His shaggy brown hair melded into a luxuriant beard, above which shone a pair of the brightest blue eyes I’d seen in a long while. He was dressed in a heavy woollen sweater, with a thick, quilted jacket and thermal beanie discarded beside him on the bench. Continue reading →

#Excerpt from #SF short story PERFECT FIT by Deborah Jay #readers #books

March 14, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 12 Comments

Excerpt week continues!

Today, a little snippet from my forthcoming contribution to the SFF multi-author anthology edited by Chris Butler, THE WORLD AND THE STARS, that I will be publishing next month.

You are the first people to see the cover!

I trained originally in life sciences, with specialised interest in genetics, so developments in gene-splicing and genetic modification (GM) are of particular interest to me, and that’s how this story came about.

Roz is a technician in the gene-splicing lab on board a worldship, travelling to set up a new colony. Unfortunately their arrival is long overdue, and the inhabitants are getting restless.

Excerpt from PERFECT FIT, a science fiction short story

Roz sidled in at the back of the crowded meeting hall and slid onto a chair in the hope that nobody would notice her arrival. The wooden seat creaked a protest as she perched on its front edge, and she drew a couple of deep breaths to settle her pounding heart. Accustomed to the sterile atmosphere in the lab, she almost choked on air thick with the smells of so many bodies.

She glanced from side to side to check who else was there, and met a pair of beautiful velvet brown eyes, almond-shaped above sculpted cheek bones. Sam’s lips curved up, and her stomach flip-flopped. She’d met him at her second meeting, and they’d made an instant connection, though under normal circumstances their paths would never have crossed. As a gardener, Sam’s was not a profession normally found in the social circle of a lab tech, but these secretive gatherings defied the usual conventions, and for that, she was glad. Their relationship was blossoming fast, and even as Sam smiled at her, Roz’s mind was darting ahead, imagining how his unique, fuzzy-tipped fingers might feel against her bare flesh. The tech side of her brain speculated what genes might have produced the specialised modification that allowed Sam to pollinate plants with just his finger tips.

Just then, Garth, the huge man responsible for instigating the budding revolution, rose to his feet at the front of the hall, towering over everyone else, even those still on their feet. Roz’s face snapped forward, severing the delicious promise in Sam’s gaze. The assembly—several hundred, by Roz’s reckoning—settled into reverent silence, overawed by the spectacle that was their leader. With the dense double muscling of his bovine GM bulging beneath his skin, Garth looked like he could take on the world and win. Charolais genes, a mutation that had proven fortuitous for the beef industry, supplied the tech side of Roz’s mind. Sometimes she wished she could switch it off.

She’d seen countless modifications, but few as visually impressive as Garth’s. Specially designed for heavy lifting, his super-manly physique had quite swept her off her feet when they’d first met, but things had not gone so well thereafter. She crossed her legs and squeezed her thighs together, recalling their embarrassing attempt at sex.

She’d heard all the jokes about ‘size matters’, but she didn’t think that was quite what they meant.

#Excerpt 2 from DESPRITE MEASURES, a Caledonian Sprite novel #UrbanFantasy #ecology #LGBT

March 13, 2015March 14, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 7 Comments

Anyone up for a little more elemental mischief?

Yesterday I shared the opening page from DESPRITE MEASURES – a Caledonian Sprite novel. If you missed it, you can find it here.

Today I thought I’d give you a bit from the thick of the action, towards the end of the book, so without further ado

Excerpt 2

“Come on, Wynter, get a grip and get me in there!”

The witch fell to her knees, and for a horrible moment I thought she was going to blubber, but then I noticed the implements on the ground: a small cauldron, some pouches of who-knew-what. The remains of a fire.

Wynter’s hands shook as she tried to re-kindle the fire. For one ironic moment, I wished for Gloria. She’d have lit the charred sticks in an instant.

A tiny puff of smoke wisped upward and Wynter sprinkled dried grass around it, blowing delicately as she coaxed the infant flame. I stopped breathing.

“Find something to burn!” she ordered, and I scanned the hillside, grateful my vision was not as poor as human eyesight in the gloom. I located a cluster of twigs beneath a sheltering gorse bush and scooped them up.

“This do?”

“It’ll have to,” Wynter said, and now I heard steel in her voice. She sounded well pissed off. Finding out that your lover is using you can have that effect.

She poured a portion of oil into the cauldron and set it on a tripod above the little fire. Then she emptied out the contents of her pouches, muttering as she did so. I didn’t listen; I wanted nothing to do with human magic. I stared with laser beam eyes at the invisible spell shield, trying to burn a hole through it. The twined aromas of thyme and lavender swirled around me.

“Cassie, I need your help. Please?”

“What? You know I can’t do magic.” Continue reading →

#Excerpt from #UrbanFantasy DESPRITE MEASURES (The Caledonian Sprite) by Deborah Jay

March 12, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 1 Comment

And now for something completely different…

I have so far shared excerpts from my Epic Fantasy, THE PRINCE’S MAN, here and here.

Today it’s the turn of my Urban Fantasy, DESPRITE MEASURES. And no, that’s not a typo.

Here’s short blurb, so you know what you’re letting yourself in for:

Scottish water sprite, Cassie, lives a quiet life in human guise, along with her selkie boyfriend, until a magician tries to force her to power his crazy experiment.

Escape is only Cassie’s first challenge; she falls for her dangerous fellow captive, fire elemental Gloria, and somehow becomes the prize in a contest between rival covens.

Struggling to stay one step ahead of it all, her life and loves spiral dangerously out of control.

A unique eco-urban fantasy

Excerpt from Desprite Measures

It’s just as well I’m not claustrophobic.

Even so, being held captive in a bottle was not how I’d planned to spend my weekend.

It was also one of the most undignified positions I’ve ever been in; a water sprite can be squished down pretty small, but it doesn’t mean we enjoy the process.

Rainbows played across the clear glass walls of my prison, refracting through the swirling liquid of my elemental form. Taking a deep breath, metaphorically speaking, I tried to slow my agitated motion, in danger of over-heating. If someone would uncap my bottle, I’d be able to let off steam.

I prowled the confined space. It stood around ten inches tall, or should that be twenty-five centimetres? I can’t keep up with the speed humans alter things. My existence had flowed serenely through the millennia without need for change until the human race invented plumbing.

I’d known there might be drawbacks to living in human form but, after one too many close encounters with the local sewage farm, I’d taken the risk. It had its upsides. Elementals are solitary by nature, but I’d found that I liked having friends—not to mention the thrill of experiencing human emotions.

I don’t understand them all yet, but I’m learning.

Perhaps I should also have considered potential pit-falls, but I was still quite new to all this, and when Alison had come to me for support I’d wanted to help. Replaying the fateful conversation in my mind, I realised I should’ve smelled something fishy from the outset.

“I know it’s not your kind of thing, but will you come with me, Cassie? Please say you will,” Alison pleaded.

I considered my flame haired friend for a millisecond before committing. “Aye, of course I will, as long as you’re certain it’s what you want.”

She frowned. “What, to become a witch or go to this meeting?”

“The meeting, dear heart. I have no problem with you trying out witchcraft; all that communing with nature is so you. I’m just none too sure about this group.”

We both studied the website on Alison’s laptop.

“Look at this list of events.” I pointed to one corner of the screen. “Like this one: ‘Self-development through equine partnership’. What’s that all about?”

“But that’s only one thing,” Alison protested. “Look at the rest. Crystal dowsing, aura reading, herbalism, etcetera, etcetera.”

“Okay, okay! Of course I’ll come with you. It can’t hurt to go to one meeting, can it?”

How wrong could I have been? I know that at the first whiff of strong magic I should have run in the opposite direction. But no, that whiff had been so enticing: aromas of strawberries and cream and chocolate all rolled into one. Someone had studied the Facebook group I’d set up for my gym clients, and discovered exactly what would make me hesitate just that fraction of a second too long.

* * * * * * *

Excerpt 2 from THE PRINCE’S MAN, #EpicFantasy by Deborah Jay. #readers #books

March 11, 2015March 13, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 5 Comments

Yesterday I shared a snippet of dialogue from the first meeting of the two main characters in THE PRINCE’S MAN.

Today we have an action sequence. To set the scene, Rustam and Lady Risada are fleeing an enemy’s lands, burdened with an unconscious elf they have just rescued from a dungeon.

Enjoy 😀

Rustam tightened the horses’ girths while Risada filled the canteens. They had just remounted when thundering hooves pounded down the slope behind them and three riders burst into the clearing.

On the edge of his vision Rustam saw Risada drop the bay mare’s reins, draw her dagger and raise a blowpipe to her lips in one fluid set of movements, while he struggled awkwardly to free his sword from the saddle scabbard beneath his left thigh.

Nightstalker pranced eagerly, destroying the tiny moment of concentration he needed to snap his mind into high speed. The elf bounced in front of him, blocking his view. He cursed and curbed the mare sharply. She half reared in protest.

The glint of a blade sliced towards him. Rustam threw himself sideways just as Nightstalker squealed and lashed out with her hind feet. Already off balance, Rustam slithered from the saddle pulling the elf with him, and they crashed heavily to the ground. Continue reading →

#Excerpt week – THE PRINCE’S MAN by Deborah Jay #EpicFantasy #readers #books

March 10, 2015March 10, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 4 Comments

Stepping up to the plate 😀

Thanks Marcia for this great idea – sampling authors we’ve not met before.

So here is a little teaser snippet from THE PRINCE’S MAN, a novel best summed up as ‘James Bond meets Lord of the Rings’.

Excerpt – THE PRINCE’S MAN

“Dart, meet Charmer. Charmer, meet Dart.”

Rustam looked pleadingly at Halnashead. “You’re joking, surely? You must be. She can’t be Dart; she’s—”

“What?” cut in Lady Risada. “A woman?”

“No! Well, yes. I suppose so.” Rustam shifted uncomfortably, his mind reeling as it tried to adjust to the concept of a noblewoman as a player. Female servants on occasion, yes. But a lady?

He glanced aside at the lady in question. She stared coldly back.

“Please, please!” Halnashead drew their attention. “I want you two to get on with each other. Does it surprise you so much, Rusty?”

“Rusty?” echoed Lady Risada derisively.

Taken aback by the lady’s obvious animosity, Rustam considered the prince’s question. “I suppose it shouldn’t. With her court position, the lady has access to all levels of nobility; certainly a great asset to your Highness.”

“And don’t you forget it, dancer boy,” muttered Risada.

Halnashead frowned. “Be nice, Risada. Rustam is my most skilled agent.”

“Most skilled womaniser, you mean!”

More to follow tomorrow…