urban fantasy

#CoverReveal #TheEmissary

/ Marcia / 43 Comments

I really shouldn’t be doing this yet, but since I only have a few minutes to post today, I thought I’d use it to share a sneak peek at the cover of my latest book. Shhhhhhh. This is very hush-hush. Just between you, me, and 3600 of my dearest friends! 😀 (Okay, blab all you want. I’m pretty proud of this cover and very excited about this Riverbend spinoff novella. Feel free to spread the word as far and wide as you can, and you will be the first to know when the book is published. Hopefully, within the week.)

But for now . . . TADA! The Emissary is on the road! Jake and Azrael are looking for troubled souls from Key West to Atlanta, Georgia! (And believe me, they find them, too!)

Now how gorgeous is that? *happy sigh*
(You may now resume your regularly scheduled programming.)
😀

I’m Baaa-aaack.

/ Marcia / 29 Comments

Did you miss me? Rats. I was afraid of that. But for anyone who may have noticed that I’ve been quieter than usual, I am happy to announce, I should be much more visible now. I’ve been in full-on Edit Mode for the last couple of weeks, but guess what? It’s DONE! The Emissary has been tweaked, nudged, tickled, polished, and otherwise edited to a fare-thee-well, and will definitely be released for public consumption in the next couple of weeks.

I’m pretty excited about this one, as it is a bit of a departure for me in several ways. For one, it’s my first novella, and if rapidity of writing and editing is anything to go by, it won’t be my last. Not quite instant gratification, but darn close. I’m definitely planning on doing more novellas in the future, and the next two will be the second and third books in the Emissary series.

It’s also my first attempt at something in the fantasy/urban fantasy vein–Urban Fantasy Lite, shall we say. Yes, there are paranormal aspects to the Wake-Robin Ridge series, with a few ghosts, an Appalachian legend or two, and some ESP, but this one is definitely new subject matter for me.

The Emissary is a spin-off of my Riverbend series, featuring a character introduced in Finding Hunter, but Riverbend is set firmly in reality, and The Emissary is most assuredly not. Since the story doesn’t take place in Riverbend, I think the genre change works. After all, Willow Greene did pose a question as to whether a certain trucker named Gabe Angelino might, in fact, be a real angel, so she opened the door. Blame her, if you don’t like what walked through. 😀

Telling this tale might have been the most fun I’ve had since I started writing. Look for more info (and possibly an excerpt or two) very soon.

 

#FREE gift – SPRITE NIGHT – a Caledonian Sprite short story #UrbanFantasy #ScottishHighlands

/ Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 3 Comments

As a late Christmas (or early New Year) present, please help yourself to a FREE copy of my Caledonian Sprite short story, SPRITE NIGHT.

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If you have yet to meet sassy Cassie, the Scottish water sprite with a passion for the environment (not to mention the odd hunky Highlander), now is your chance.

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This 8000 word story is a stand alone read, though it follows on from events in the full length novel DESPRITE MEASURES, described by one reviewer as ‘a unique eco-urban fantasy’.

So if you love the Scottish Highlands (yes, Marcia, men in kilts!), the environment, strong characters and a bit of magic, then bag a copy while it’s FREE this week.

Here’s a little taster…

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. One of the more frustrating aspects of my human body is 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 effect on my metabolism.

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 gathering 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.

Never one to stand on ceremony, I sauntered across the room and put a hand on the chair facing him. A pleasant waft of pine aftershave tickled my nose, evoking images of wide open spaces and forest, meeting my approval. He nodded in response to my raised eyebrow, and I pulled the chair out, dragging it across the bare wooden floorboards with a squeal.

He winced. “Dear God, lass, d’ye like to torture your men even before ye’ve been introduced?”

Blurb

When Scottish water sprite, Cassie, joins an anti-fracking protest, she doesn’t expect to find herself at odds with a druid. But with time running out for the local environment she can’t afford to be distracted by the handsome hunk of a Highlander.

Intent on sabotage, Cassie is unprepared to be caught in the cross-fire of a magical battle. Can she avert catastrophe? Or will she become the very agency of an ecological disaster?

Download from Amazon,  or leave me a message below if you’d like a different format and I’ll send it to you directly.

End of the Line by @barbtaub #ExcerptWeek #wwwblogs #SciFi #UrbanFantasy

/ barbtaub / 11 Comments

Note from Barb:

Thank you so much Marcia for all you do to promote other writers, and for allowing me to participate in Excerpt Week.  The following excerpt is from End of the Line, the final book in my Null City series. 

You have to understand that everyone in Null City is a normal human. Most of them just didn't start out that way. Imagine you're some superhero with special gifts or abilities that are, frankly, damn awkward. Let's say, for example, that you are the Man of Steel, but you don't dare have sex with the Plucky Girl Reporter because your LittleMan of Steel would probably split her in two. (And we're not even going to discuss the havoc your Swimmers of Steel could wreck on Woman of Pasta…) The point is that when you think about it, most people with special powers would be lining up to get rid of them and get their normal lives back. That's where Null City comes in. After one day there, those with extra gifts turn into their closest human counterparts. Dragons, for example, might become realtors. Or imps become baristas. (Of course, those imps are now ex-PhD candidates in literature or classics who claim to be experts on third-world coffee blends and obscure world music groups. But hey — there is only so close to human that hellspawn can get…)

End of the Line

by Barb Taub

You have to understand that everyone in Null City is a normal human. Most of them just didn’t start out that way. Imagine you’re some superhero with special gifts or abilities that are, frankly, damn awkward. Let’s say, for example, that you are the Man of Steel, but you don’t dare have sex with the Plucky Girl Reporter because your LittleMan of Steel would probably split her in two. (And we’re not even going to discuss the havoc your Swimmers of Steel could wreck on Woman of Pasta…)

The point is that when you think about it, most people with special powers would be lining up to get rid of them and get their normal lives back. That’s where Null City comes in. After one day there, those with extra gifts turn into their closest human counterparts. Dragons, for example, might become realtors. Or imps become baristas. (Of course, those imps are now ex-PhD candidates in literature or classics who claim to be experts on third-world coffee blends and obscure world music groups. But hey — there is only so close to human that hellspawn can get…)

POPPY: Null City, 2016

I paused on the landing of the grand stairway leading down to the main waiting room and on to the platform of the Metro Station. Above me the pearly light of a typical Null City afternoon streamed through the green and gold stained glass arched ceiling and huge matching rose windows at either end.

Just below the window, a tiled mosaic spelled out Ø CITY above a painted banner bearing a quote from Sir Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”.  Visitors are usually impressed, at least until someone shares the Null City version that it was painted by an artistic imp standing on an actual giant who was waiting for his one-day window to pass until he became a normal human.

Dark old polished wood benches from the waiting room—the round ones whose central lamp posts now bloomed with tissue flowers and white ribbons, and the long benches with elegantly curved backs—were filled with guests, both from Null City and those who had poured in on the special Metro run.

Null City residents know that the needles on any compass here point to the Metro Station as our own version of true north. But as far as I know, only the Anchor feels that pull. I closed my eyes, and opened my connection to the City. It wasn’t words, not exactly. But…images of feelings, like holding the most effervescent of champagne to my nose…dry and tingling and full of delicious, intoxicating promise.

I smiled at the tickle as the fizz of the connection spread over my skin and I passed my own feelings back along the connection. I know you’re pleased. This wedding is just the right thing, in the right place, with the right people. Continue reading →

#SALE #$0.99 this week – DESPRITE MEASURES, a Caledonian Sprite novel by Deborah Jay #UrbanFantasy

/ Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 10 Comments

Following a fabulous Excerpt Week (thanks Marcia), I have my urban fantasy DESPRITE MEASURES on sale for one week at $0.99/£0.99 (US & UK only, sorry folks) starting NOW, in case anyone would care to dip their toe into my fantastical world of elementals and magical happenings.

You can read the excerpt I shared  here and you can find the book on Amazon here

Please share!

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#ExcerptWeek & #giveaway – DESPRITE MEASURES, #UrbanFantasy by Deborah Jay

/ Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 22 Comments

desprite measures by Deborah Jay 4pprb 3D

DESPRITE MEASURES – a Caledonian Sprite Novel

Genre: Urban Fantasy

DESPRITE MEASURES (yes, you read that right) is the tale of a Scottish water sprite who’s quiet life is jeopardised by a magician intent on using her natural powers to fuel his dangerous experiments in energy production.

A reviewer recently described it as ‘an eco-urban fantasy’ which sums it up pretty well.

Excerpt

The drive into town seemed to take forever.

In truth, it took no longer than any other time, but I was impatient. I’d chosen the Audi Quattro this time—no point making things easy for Liam—and I was frustrated that I could not use all the power the sleek little beauty offered me. Every driver who delayed me by even a fraction of a second had me fuming at the wheel. By the time I turned into the club’s paved driveway, I was as near boiling point as it is prudent for a sprite to reach. A discreet parking attendant, whom I suspected doubled as a bouncer, pointed me to an empty bay, and then directed me to the head of the stairs leading down to the basement club. Not wanting to arrive looking flustered, I paused to gather myself.

Hair still caught in pony tail band. Check. Dress neckline showing equal expanse of skin either side of cleavage. Check. Hem straight and not quite riding high enough to show that I hadn’t wasted mass on fashioning underwear. Check.

Ready to go, I stepped one well-shod foot onto the first step down. And froze. Involuntarily, my body ceased to function. My mind blanked and a chill of fear iced my veins. I gazed numbly at the slender, dark figure lurking at the base of the stairs until he glanced away, freeing me, permitting life to return to the lifeless.

My paralysed brain shot back to working order. Recognition of the figure chilled me all over. Vampire.

Not something you see every day in downtown Inverness, but I’d encountered enough of them in the distant past to know one when I saw one. And to know the horror of being trapped by their gaze, unable to move or even to think.

This one, darkly handsome and with more than a passing resemblance to a youthful Bryan Ferry with his ever-present hint of a sneer, glanced at me again but without interest. Vampires prefer their blood more full bodied than the pseudo-stuff that runs through my counterfeit veins.

Somewhat troubled at finding his sort here, I was, however, still determined to continue with my evening’s plans. I descended, brushing past the cold figure in his immaculate Armani suit. A body-wracking shiver ran down my spine, even though I knew I was in no danger from him.

I wondered what he was doing here. Perhaps it was simply a good place for him to get a carry-out meal.

Find it on Amazon

FREE to Amazon Prime members and on Kindle Unlimited

hobbit hole Author Deborah Jay, seen here posing with her own hobbit hole, can be found at:

http://deborahjayauthor.com/

https://twitter.com/DeborahJay2

https://www.facebook.com/DeborahJay

http://www.pinterest.com/debbylush/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7172608.Deborah_Jay

Amazon author page: http://viewAuthor.at/DeborahJay

For your chance to WIN an ebook copy of DESPRITE MEASURES, or one of 5 ecopies of the short story SPRITE NIGHT you can enter the contest today or tomorrow:

 a Rafflecopter giveaway
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July 1st – #Indie Pride Day! #BookBlast

/ Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 6 Comments

Please excuse me for jumping into the middle of excerpt week (this also explains why I’ve been absent so far), but I just had to share this: I’m taking part in a huge Goodreads takeover tomorrow as part of Indie Pride Day – do drop in and say hi if you can spare the time.

There will be excerpts there – so I’m sneaking in under the banner of excerpt week after all 😉

Superpowers suck? Try Null City #ExcerptWeek #SciFi #UrbanFantasy by @barbtaub

/ barbtaub / 20 Comments

Thanks so much Marcia for allowing me to participate in your Excerpt Week promotion! Following is the blurb and excerpt from Round Trip Fare. —Barb

Excerpt week: ROUND TRIP FARE by Barb Taub

Warden Carey Parker’s to-do list is already long enough: find her brother and sister, rescue her roommate, save Null City, and castrate her ex-boyfriend. Preferably with a dull-edged garden tool. A rusty one.

Carey knows superpowers suck, her own included. From childhood she’s only had two options. She can take the Metro train to Null City and a normal life. After one day there, imps become baristas, and hellhounds become poodles. Demons settle down, join the PTA, and worry about their taxes. Or she can master the powers of her warrior gift and fight a war she can’t win, in a world where she never learned how to lose.

And then there is… him. For the past two months, a dark stranger has persistently edged his way onto the mental game board behind her eyelids. Well, whatever trouble he’s selling, Carey Parker is not buying.

She just has a few details to work out first. Her parents have been killed, her brother and sister targeted, and the newest leader of the angels trying to destroy Null City might be the one person she loves most in the world. And her sexy new partner’s gift lets him predict deaths. Hers.

It just would have been nice if someone told her the angels were all on the other side.

EXCERPT —Round Trip Fare

March 2011:  Pike Place Market, Seattle

Carey slid low in the seat as Iax finally came out of the restaurant and turned toward the waterfront. To her surprise, the two watchers continued to stalk…him. So he hadn’t posted them to watch for her. Interesting. She slid from the jeep and shadowed the followers.

Accords Agency Recruiting notice

Accords Agency Recruiting notice

The attack came as Iax stepped around construction equipment at a building site in the next block. He spun around a second before the first one’s bow released, but the arrow must have missed as he was already ducking low and coming up with a knife. She narrowed her eyes. Probably too far for accuracy, but his throw managed a glancing slash on the attacker’s arm. Impressive. The knife wound was enough to cause the bow to droop as Iax sprinted toward him.

By then, the second tail had come around the far side of the giant yellow earthmover and was in position. But Iax wrapped arms around the first assailant and whirled him into the path of the new arrow. Not missing a step, he dove for the dropped crossbow, loaded from its attached quiver, and without taking any apparent time to aim, lodged an arrow in the second attacker’s throat. Very impressive. There was just one thing he missed.

Iax was bent over the second assailant when the third dropped from the scaffolding above him and hit the ground head-first with a meaty thump. “You missed one,” Carey told him. “You’re welcome.” She moved across the street until she was standing in front of him. “Excuse me? Can I get by?” Their eyes locked as each quietly palmed a knife, before he moved aside. She rolled the third assailant over and removed the knife from his throat, wiping it with the dead man’s shirt. “It’s one of my favorites.” Returning the knife to her boot, she turned and headed back to her jeep. “You coming?”

He got in heavily, and she started the engine. “Where to?”

When he didn’t answer, she turned to see him slumped against the door. The front of his jacket was wet. Guess that first arrow wasn’t a total miss after all. Well, hell. Marley would never let her hear the end of it if they had to replace the upholstery. Again. Continue reading →

Superpowers suck much? Null City on #ExcerptWeek by @barbtaub

/ barbtaub / 12 Comments

As part of Excerpt Week, here are some brief excerpts from my Null City series

Superpowers suck. If you just want to live a normal life, Null City is only a Metro ride away. After one day there, imps become baristas, and hellhounds become poodles. Demons settle down, become parents, join the PTA, and worry about their taxes.

 

Hope flares each morning in the tiny flash of a second before Lette touches that first thing. And destroys it. Her online journal spans a decade, beginning with the day a thirteen-year-old inherits an extreme form of the family “gift.” Every day whatever she touches converts into something new: bunnies, bubbles, bombs, and everything in between. Lette’s search for a cure leads her to Stefan, whose fairy-tale looks hide a monstrous legacy, and to Rag, an arrogant, crabby ex-angel with boundary issues. The three face an army led by a monster who feeds on children’s fear. But it’s their own inner demons they must defeat first.

Hope flares each morning in the tiny flash of a second before Lette touches that first thing. And destroys it.
Her online journal spans a decade, beginning with the day a thirteen-year-old inherits an extreme form of the family “gift.” Every day whatever she touches converts into something new: bunnies, bubbles, bombs, and everything in between.
Lette’s search for a cure leads her to Stefan, whose fairy-tale looks hide a monstrous legacy, and to Rag, an arrogant, crabby ex-angel with boundary issues. The three face an army led by a monster who feeds on children’s fear. But it’s their own inner demons they must defeat first.

EXCERPT: DON’T TOUCH by Barb Taub

Click here for preview, reviews, and purchase links from Amazon

  • Text from S_Krampus: (5:02PM, Oct 20, 2012): dEr R., My nAm iz Stefan & I’ve Bin snt by yor Aunt Roulette 2 rescue U.
  • Text from Lette: I don’t need rescuing. Go away.

 •●• 

Use Your Words : LiveJournal, October 27, 2012 by LetteS [—Lette’s Birth Date Calculator: 22 years, 9.3 months]

Over the past week, the texts from Stefan, the guy with the rescue complex, have gotten more frequent and less grammatical. Except for the occasional “Go away!”, I’ve been trying to ignore him.

My touch was more random than ever this past week, turning things into needles, polka dots, chicken pot pie, okra, CDs of German art lieder songs, or velvet paintings of the queens of England. Actually, I have to admit, the pot pies were pretty good. And the polka dots and queen pictures perked up my bedroom. Even the needles didn’t take up that much space. But the okra and art lieder were just wrong.

The texts from Stefan have tapered off at last, and today it’s time for another Saturday visit from Mom and Dad. Wait, there’s a text.

R U there? cn I come ^ 2 c u?

What—I’m the only one on the planet who knows how to type whole words? I have to go throw down the ladder for Mom.

 •●• 

  • Text from Lette (2:13PM, Oct 27, 2012): OMG Mom. A man just tried to climb into my cabin. I pushed him back off the porch, and he fell to the ground.
  • Text from Mom  Is he blond?
  • Text from Lette: Yes
  • Text from Mom: That’s not a man.
  • Text from Mom: Well, actually, it is, but it’s the one your great-aunt Roulette sent. I texted him your address. You should probably let him in.
  • Text from Lette: Um…he might be dead.
  • Text from Mom: LETTE!
  • Text from Lette: Nope. He’s groaning. I guess I’ll have to go down there and help him. But Mom—what were you thinking? It could kill him if I touch him.
  • Text from Mom: Well, I’m guessing he knows that now. Let me know how he’s doing.

 •●• 

  • Text from Mom (3:19PM, Oct 27, 2012): Is he dead?
  • Text from Lette: Not yet. He has a cut and a lump on his head. I put frozen peas on it.
  • Text from Mom: What’s your touch today?
  • Text from Lette: Frogs. I only made a little one though, and I think George ate it.
  • Text from Mom: Be careful. Turning him into a frog would just be too big a clichĂŠ.
  • Text from Lette: Bye Mom.

EXCERPT: Payback is a Witch is a novella from Tales From Null City by Barb Taub

Click here for preview, reviews, and buy link from Amazon.

Continue reading →

Just doesn’t pay to be dead… #ExcerptWeek ~ ONE WAY FARE by @barbtaub

/ barbtaub / 7 Comments

As part of Excerpt Week, here is a little taste of my first book, One Way Fare.

B1 OWFEXCERPT: ONE WAY FARE by Barb Taub & Hannah Taub

Some days it just didn’t pay to be dead.

“It’s not fair,” Gaby panted as Leila pulled ahead on the hillside. All those hours as the victim of Bill-the-Hun on her BodiesByBill exercise tapes and she was eating Leila’s dust? Of course the hole in her side wasn’t helping things. And—was blood squishing into those over-priced new running shoes Leila had insisted they buy?

Behind them, she could hear the disciplined beat of pursuit. Well, sure they can concentrate on chasing us; they don’t have to worry about how to get blood out of $240 sneakers. 

“Do something,” begged Leila.

“I’m an accountant,” gasped Gaby. What does she want me to do? I could give the IRS an anonymous tip, but satisfying as it might be to contemplate those guys having to cough up receipts for our murder during the audit, I don’t think it’s going to get us out of this. 

Leila was several yards ahead of her by now, the trees giving way to the sheer drop of the cliff ahead, with the roar from the falls just beyond.

“I’ve got you Leila.” The voice echoed from beyond the cliff face. “Trust me.”

“Thomas!” Without breaking stride Leila ran straight for the cliff edge and leaped.

Come on. Who trusts someone enough to leap into space?

“Gaby-mine.” Luic’s smoky velvet voice called out as the first shots kicked up the dirt beside her. Without thought, Gaby dove for the cliff edge. She almost enjoyed the moments of free-fall before his arms surrounded her.

“Hell agrees with you,” he grunted. “I think you’ve gained weight.” He went into a swooping glide before his wings pumped, pulling them upward.

“If you do that again,” Gaby warned, “I’m going to be lighter after I throw up. And, come on, Luic. Wings? That’s just so wrong.”

“I got them when I was commissioned.” He spread them for another showy glide. “What do you think?”

“I think the puking sounds better and better.”

His chest shook with laughter under her cheek. “You’re taking this a lot better than I expected. I’m surprised you jumped to me.”

“Two reasons,” she muttered into his neck. “First of all, I’ve been dreaming of falling for the past five years. And usually I die in those dreams. Again.”

“And second,” Gaby pointed out, “if you can’t trust the angel you killed, you might as well give up.”

NOTE: FOR LIMITED TIME  Available for FREE from Barnes & Noble and from Kobo. For FREE Kindle version, contact Barb Taub. ONE WAY FARE is the prequel to ROUND TRIP FARE, available for preorder from most online booksellers. (see here for excerpt!)
BLURB: ONE WAY FARE by Barb Taub and Hannah Taub
 
winner-fantasy-sci-fiSuperpowers suck. If you just want to live a normal life, Null City is only a Metro ride away. After one day there, imps become baristas, and hellhounds become poodles. Demons settle down, become parents, join the PTA, and worry about their taxes. 
Null City is the only sanctuary for Gaby Parker and Leila Rice, two young women confronting cataclysmic forces waging an unseen war between Heaven and Hell. Gaby and her younger brother and sister are already targets in the war that cost their parents’ lives. Should they forsake the powers that complete their souls and flee to Null City? Meanwhile, Leila has inherited a French chateau, a mysterious legacy, and a prophecy that she will end the world. Gaby and Leila become catalysts for the founding and survival of Null City. It just would have been nice if someone told them the angels were all on the other side.
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