Cobweb Bride - 'Fiction Addiction'Blog Tour, Interview - and *G*I*V*E*A*W*A*Y*

COBWEB BRIDE

(Cobweb Bride Trilogy, Book One)

by Vera Nazarian

Release Date: July 15, 2013

Publisher: Norilana Books

Imprint: Leda

Trade Hardcover (First Edition) ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-112-6 ISBN-10: 1-60762-112-6

$24.95 US / 20.00 UK

Trade Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-113-3 ISBN-10: 1-60762-113-4

$14.95 US / 12.00 UK

Ebook (multi-format) ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-114-0 ISBN-10: 1-60762-114-2
Amazon Kindle ASIN  - B00DK02MHG 

$5.99

There are two giveaways on this tour:

1) a giveaway for 5 e-copies of Cobweb Bride.  To enter you just need to leave a comment with your email address, and follow this blog if you don't already.  Entrants must also sign up to the book announcement Cobweb Bride Mailing List  http://eepurl.com/vodcT

2)      Rafflecopter giveaway .  Please read the interview and enter the Rafflecopter contest at the end.

About Cobweb Bride:

Many are called… She alone can save the world and become Death's bride.

COBWEB BRIDE (Cobweb Bride Trilogy, Book One) is a history-flavored fantasy novel with romantic elements of the Persephone myth, about Death's ultimatum to the world.

What if you killed someone and then fell in love with them?

In an alternate Renaissance world, somewhere in an imaginary "pocket" of Europe called the Kingdom of Lethe, Death comes, in the form of a grim Spaniard, to claim his Bride. Until she is found, in a single time-stopping moment all dying stops. There is no relief for the mortally wounded and the terminally ill....

Covered in white cobwebs of a thousand snow spiders she lies in the darkness... Her skin is cold as snow... Her eyes frozen... Her gaze, fiercely alive...

While kings and emperors send expeditions to search for a suitable Bride for Death, armies of the undead wage an endless war... A black knight roams the forest at the command of his undead father… Spies and political treacheries abound at the imperial Silver Court.... Murdered lovers find themselves locked in the realm of the living...

Look closer — through the cobweb filaments of her hair and along each strand shine stars...

And one small village girl, Percy—an unwanted, ungainly middle daughter—is faced with the responsibility of granting her dying grandmother the desperate release she needs.

As a result, Percy joins the crowds of other young women of the land in a desperate quest to Death's own mysterious holding in the deepest forests of the North…

And everyone is trying to stop her.

PLEASE NOTE: Characters and content

The youngest Patty is thirteen, while the heroine, Percy is sixteen, and her eldest sister Belle is eighteen.  In addition, the Grand Princess Claere is sixteen.  There is some "undead" gruesome violence, but mostly it is offstage or PG-13. As for sexual situations, also PG-13 at worst (dream sequence in this book), and mostly the romance will be in the next two books.

***

INTERVIEW

HL:   I'm so excited to have  the author of Cobweb Bride as my guest today.

Welcome to the Flight Deck, Vera.  Grab a glass of something sparkling and refreshing from the replicator and tell us a little more about yourself, with three things not many people know about you. 

       

VN:  First of all, thank you so much for having me here! And, great question! Some of my readers might already know that I am originally from Russia. I was born in Moscow, back when it was the USSR, and immigrated first to Beirut, Lebanon as a little girl with my parents, my Armenian father and Russian mother, and then—after the civil war started there and missiles started to fall—we fled as refugees to Greece and finally arrived in the United States a month before I turned ten. However, here are some things that most people don’t know about me:

Fun Fact One—I spent every summer of my childhood except one, at my grandmother’s in Simferopol, the capital city of Crimea (now in Ukraine), on the shores of the Black Sea. My parents put me in the water as an infant and I could swim on my own by the time I was five or six.

Fun Fact Two—I started first grade in Moscow a year early, at the age of six. In Soviet Russia, kids normally started school at seven. However my mother was a teacher and there was no one to watch me, so she petitioned the school to let me attend a year early. And so I went to my first grade in Moscow School #671, while my mom taught the sixth and eighth graders there. About a year later, we transferred to Moscow School #30, until we left the USSR.

Fun Fact Three—I am a vegetarian, since 1985 when I first discovered the cruelties of factory farming, and I am now a lifelong proponent of animal rights. This is the one personal cause I believe in with all my heart.

HL:   That's fascinating - and it's always good to talk to someone who cares about animal welfare. Whilst I'm not entirely vegetarian myself, but I do try to ensure any animal products I eat are at least from sources where the animals were well looked after and had reasonable freedom; OK, my readers are always interested to know - what do you do for fun when not writing?

VN: I think the default easy answer is reading all kinds of books, including world literature, fantasy, science fiction, romance, and historical fiction, and watching guilty pleasure TV shows. However, these days I don’t have much time for anything but writing. I used to paint and sing and play guitar, and knit, and engage in crafts such as wood carving and dollmaking. But at present my artistic outlet is creating book covers and interior illustrations for my written works. You can see my most recent—it’s the hand-drawn interior Map of the Realm and the Domain in Cobweb Bride, and of course the cover design itself.

HL:   And it's just beautiful! When did you start writing?

VN: I like to say that I started writing as soon as I could hold a pen, but that would be so not true—first, I started drawing. Writing came a bit later. Okay, I wrote my fist poem, in my native Russian, when I was eight, and it was two four-line rhyming stanzas about a cat. Seriously, I am not a poet, so this kind of thing happened very infrequently since. I am definitely a prose writer. My first English-language creative work was a homework assignment in 5th grade in the United States, where I wrote a mini story that was a blatant ripoff of The Nutcracker.

HL:   LOL! So many great stories are spin-offs or adaptations of fairy stories! What comes first: the plot or the characters?

VN: That’s a tricky question, and usually it’s neither. First comes this brief, even nebulous idea out of the blue, often prompted by some ridiculous unrelated thing like an image on TV or something outside the window, or on the street. Sometimes it’s a striking image in a dream! Don’t laugh, I came up the word “Amarantea” and “the color red,” in a dream, and that was the basis of my novel Dreams of the Compass Rose.

Sometimes the idea comes as an overwhelming feeling, and then it takes the form of a powerful theme or high concept. A theme is something like “what if you first killed someone and then fell in love with them?” Or, “what if all over the world, in one instant, all death and dying stopped?” these two themes collided and became the basis of Cobweb Bride. And then, after this catalyst hits me, then I start coming up with characters and plot. Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? I have no idea!

HL:   Tell us about your latest release and what you think readers will enjoy about it

VN: Cobweb Bride is the first book of an ambitious, historical, magical epic trilogy that is based on the myth of Persephone and Hades and the underworld, and takes place in an alternate Renaissance Europe. If you’re looking for a fast-paced popcorn read, this is not it. This is a dense and rich book, and it will immerse you into a very different world, if you let it, and yes in places it will blow your mind.

There is a large cast of truly unusual characters, ranging from the poorest peasants to the loftiest emperors, fair maidens and noble knights, including Death himself. The story is very complex, with loss and mystery, with true love and grief and humor, and yes, wonder. And if you think you know what’s coming, it’s most likely you will be unable to guess. I truly cannot say any more without giving it away, so see for yourself, and read… Oh, and be prepared to uncover only the tip of the iceberg!

HL:   It sounds like a terrific read! Have you a favourite actor/actress/hunk? And if someone were to play one of your characters in a movie, which character and what actor would it be and why?

VN: Oooh, this is a tough one! Usually I visualize completely different characters in my head than any actors we all know, but for Cobweb Bride, if I had to cast the sexy Lord Beltain Chidair, also known as the black knight, I think Richard Armitage would be a fine choice.

One cannot have too many favorite hunks! Yes, Richard Armitage is in the top ten, and so is Viggo Mortensen, and Daniel Craig, and Will Smith and Alexander Skarsgård. And my newest hunky obsession is Ed Skrein who plays Daario in The Game of Thrones, and would be the perfect actor to play another favorite male character of mine, looking exactly as he does in that role—the sexy assassin lord, Elasirr, from my novel Lords of Rainbow.

HL:  Ooh, we must be kindred spirits.  Richard Armitage is one of my all time favorites, and I'm also soft on Viggo Mortesen and Daniel Craig.  So, this leads me on to my next question - Who is your favorite character in your book and why?

VN: No way! I can’t answer that without hurting my characters’ feelings! But seriously, I think whichever character’s POV I am in at the moment, is my favorite character, then and there.  However, I do have a particular soft spot in this book for little Jenna Doneil. And I think you’ll see what I mean when you read about her.

HL:  And finally, where can readers connect with you?

VN: I am happily all over the place online, and the links are below. But first, please be sure to subscribe to my Cobweb Bride Mailing List which is for new book announcements only (no chit-chat), and this particular list is only for Cobweb Bride trilogy books, so yup, it’s very specific!

Cobweb Bride Website: http://www.norilana.com/cobweb.htm

Official Author Website: http://www.veranazarian.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Norilana

Cobweb Bride Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/vodcT

General Mailing List (all other books): http://eepurl.com/hKaeo

See here for many more: http://www.veranazarian.com/contact-2/vera-nazarian-online/

HL: Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog, it’s been a thrill having you here and learning more about you and your writing. I wish you much success now and in the future.

VN: And thank you so much for having me here and letting me talk about Cobweb Bride! It’s been a pleasure!

About the Author:

Vera Nazarian is a two-time Nebula Award® Finalist and a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She immigrated to the USA from the former USSR as a kid, sold her first story at 17, and has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, honorably mentioned in Year’s Best volumes, and translated into eight languages.

Vera made her novelist debut with the critically acclaimed Dreams of the Compass Rose, followed by Lords of Rainbow,. Her novella The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass with an introduction by Charles de Lint made the 2005 Locus Recommended Reading List. Her debut collection Salt of the Air with an introduction by Gene Wolfe contains the 2007 Nebula Award-nominated “The Story of Love.”

Other work includes the 2008 Nebula Finalist novella The Duke in His Castle, science fiction collection After the Sundial (2010), The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration (2010), and four Jane Austen parodies, Mansfield Park and Mummies (2009), Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons (2010), Pride and Platypus: Mr. Darcy’s Dreadful Secret (2012), and Pagan Persuasion: All Olympus Descends on Regency (forthcoming), all part of her Supernatural Jane Austen Series. And now, Cobweb Bride is the first book of her ambitious new epic fantasy trilogy.

After many years in Los Angeles, Vera now lives in a small town in Vermont. She uses her Armenian sense of humor and her Russian sense of suffering to bake conflicted pirozhki and make art. In addition to being a writer, philosopher, and award-winning artist, she is also the publisher of Norilana Books.

Vera’s links:

Official website:

http://www.veranazarian.com/

Norilana Books:

http://www.norilana.com/

Cobweb Bride Mailing List:

http://eepurl.com/vodcT

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/Norilana

Facebook (author page):

http://www.facebook.com/VeraNazarian

Facebook (personal)

http://www.facebook.com/Nazarian

Pinterest

http://pinterest.com/veranazarian/

Blogs:

http://www.inspiredus.com/

http://urbangirlvermont.blogspot.com/

http://norilana.livejournal.com/

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/186145.Vera_Nazarian

LibraryThing:

http://www.librarything.com/author/nazarianvera

Shelfari:

http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1628414/Vera-Nazarian/

Red Room:

http://www.redroom.com/author/vera-nazarian

SFF Net Newsgroup:

http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=xover&group=sff.people.vera-nazarian

Austen Authors:

http://austenauthors.net/

Vera Nazarian’s Amazon Author Central page

http://www.amazon.com/author/nazarian

The Official Book Website: http://www.norilana.com/cobweb.htm Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2027984632/cobweb-bride?ref=live

Praise for Other Vera Nazarian Books:

Trade References:

"...a clever concoction of vignettes and short stories knitted into a morality tale about the temptation of illusion and the price of truth.... an exotic setting reminiscent of Tanith Lee's Flat Earth series.... The author's sumptuous language will resonate with Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith fans.... Nazarian's vital themes and engaging characters are sure to entertain."
— Publishers Weekly on Dreams of the Compass Rose

"Nazarian's story cycle treads the borderline between the episodic novel and the short-story collection, recalling the work of contemporary fantasist Charles de Lint, early-twentieth-century fantasist Lord Dunsany, and even, reaching way back, The Thousand and One Nights....her imagery is rich, vivid, and memorable, not to mention being remarkable because she realizes it not in her native language, Russian, but in English.... Indeed, this is a singularly appealing book by a new voice in fantasy."

 — Roland Green, ALA Booklist on Dreams of the Compass Rose

"In a world devoid of color, the woman warrior Rahne swears herself to a mysterious nobleman traveling to the exotic city of Tronaelend-Lis, the City of Dreams, where a decadent brother and sister rule as co-regents in the absence of the land's true ruler. When an evil being representing true Darkness threatens the safety of the colorless world, Rahne is drawn into a spiritual journey in search of a legendary phenomenon known as Rainbow in an attempt to find a way to defeat the dark. The author of Dreams of the Compass Rose brings to life a unique fantasy world in which lost colors hold the key to salvation. Nazarian's fluid storytelling and vividly drawn characters make this unusual fantasy a good choice for most libraries."

 — Library Journal on Lords of Rainbow

"Nazarian creates a unique civilization and populates it with heroic archetypes who stand on their own. Extravagant language reminiscent of Dunsany and even Tolkien adds to the legendary feel.... an innovative premise, consistent world-building, and appealing heroes mark this as the work of an emerging talent... readers may find themselves heralding a new star of fantasy fiction."

— Romantic Times Book Club on Lords of Rainbow

"Sixteen cautionary, sensual stories of love, reversal and revenge upend fairy tale conventions in Nazarian's lush collection (after 2003's Lords of Rainbow). Some pieces retell classic stories: "Absolute Receptiveness, the Princess, and the Pea" compellingly subverts the cliché of the tender princess into a disturbing rape fantasy. "Beauty and His Beast" recasts the beast as an ugly but perceptive princess. Other stories approach myth. In "Sun, in Its Copper Season," the avatar of the sun falls in love with the man who brings the four seasons, and in "Lore of Rainbow," a wife seeks her missing husband, only to discover that he is the personification of a color. Adventure stories skirt the edges of the expected: in "The Slaying of Winter," a woman seeks revenge on a god for her family's destruction, only to find forgiveness; and in the near-future "Rossia Moya," a woman and Russia itself both rediscover their heritage. Sumptuous detail, twisty plots and surprising endings lift these extravagant tales."

— Publishers Weekly on Salt of the Air

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cobweb Bride is touring with Fiction Addiction Book Tours throughout August.  The following dates Vera

Hunted - Cover Reveal and *G*I*V*E*A*W*A*Y

Cover Reveal

A  gorgeous cover and a fantastic prize - be sure to read to the end and enter the contest.

Publishing 17th August

Inkspell Publishing

YA Paranormal Romance

"Since elementary school, I remember being in love with words. Spelling them, writing them, reading them...I even hang them up around my house. I think I owe my love of language to my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Templeton. I can recall sitting around in a circle in that old, red-brick school, listening to her read aloud Greek mythology. The oxymoron there was that she was the most prim and proper teacher I ever knew, right down to the white buttoned up blouse held together at the collar with a cameo pin. The way she read made words come alive.

I had written a few things here and there throughout my life. I used to think I'd be good at children's books, and it wasn't a far stretch since I worked with children every day and knew what they liked. But then I read the series by Stephenie Meyer, maybe you've heard of it...Twilight. This was the type of story I knew I had to write. Teenagers were my audience. It helped I had one at home to learn from.

My idea didn't come in a dream. No, I wasn't that fortunate. It happened through research. And lots of it. The only criteria I had was that I wanted my story to be different from everything else out there. I wanted my story to stand out. No vampires or werewolves. No witches or wizards. Unicorns were my choice. And I think the story that unfolded is definitely unique." 

Website

Twitter: @jillkaelin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jill.kaelin

https://www.facebook.com/Cycle13Hunted?ref=hl

                                                              ~~~~~

8

That’s how old I was when I found out I was special. I was given my rose quartz gem and taught about my past.

13

That’s how many times I’ve lived in this world. This is my thirteenth life cycle as a human.

1

That’s how many seconds it took me to fall in love with Mike. It’s also the amount of time I had to say goodbye to him just before he was killed by Reggie, the hunter that’s been after me for months.

Will Reggie succeed in killing me too, and possibly eradicating the planet of the unicorn race forever?

~~~~~

To win one of these gorgeous book marks, enter the rafflecopter contest below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover reveal 'The Grandfather Tree' Guest post and *G*I*V*E*A*W*A*Y

Benjamin McTish and the Door Through the Grandfather Tree  by June M. Pace

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure – YA and Older


This looks like such a fun adventure - be sure to read to the end and enter the Rafflecopter contest

As an artist I have always skirted around the perimeter of creating on many levels.  It seems to me if one can paint, then singing and writing aren’t too far a stretch to contemplate or even excel at...it’s all connected to that same thread of imagination and action.

So when I sat down to attempt to paint something of whimsy...something that wasn’t so linear or black and white, as most of my artwork is, I found that when I simply put the pencil on the paper and let whatever came out, come out...it came.

Without conscious intention I had drawn a little boy with a tree growing out of his head, and then there was a pixie woman balancing in the middle of the air on a ball, and it continued from there.  A week later I had four drawings and four very unique characters....and suddenly there it was, my book!

I decided right then that the book I had always hoped to write was born from the name Benjamin McTish.

Now don’t get too far ahead of me...I had no clue what the book was about, other than the fact that it had to have tons of magic... and hope.  It had to stand for something more than entertainment, there had to be a moral to the story...a purpose.

I always had a way with writing, with captur ing the essence of what it was I needed to say in a way that caught peoples attention...I am a wordsmith...a storyteller. 

Even my everyday speech is up and animated...some call is loquacious, or embellished, I call it passionate...honest.

So here I was, sitting at my computer, poised to put pen to paper, as it were, and write the novel that would change everything.  The only problem was I had no clue what I wanted to say, or how to begin.  The only part I absolutely knew was it needed to be about a world of delight and imagination that lived beneath a behemoth rooted tree...the Grandfather Tree.  And that somehow I had to inspire on a deeper level about the connectedness of us sentient beings, floating around this blue and green orb...and of course wrap it all up in a big exciting world of magic and thrills, adventure and question.

When I read, as I have done for a majority of my life, I need the first page, the first sentence, to grab me.  I need to be taken away instantly with the promise of something continuing to take me to places I reserve only for books, for reading and escaping...for losing myself in a new world for the next few hours, days and weeks.

So that’s how it all began.

I literally pulled a random sentence out of the air, something that held a mystery, something that if the narrator of the story was surprised about, then the reader would be just as engaged, and the magic would happen.

“Well, that’s very odd, thought Benjamin.  He had never noticed the peculiar looking key hanging from a very worn and tattered green ribbon, on the rusted nail in the garden shed before....”

June lives with her soon to be husband and best friend Ray, his youngest son and their two dogs, seven chickens and two ducks, in Santa Cruz Ca. Ray’s two older kids live respectively in LA and San Francisco.
June spends her days writing and sometimes painting her well known series of Rock n Roll icons.This series of work, the McTish characters, are a part of June in every sense of the word. “This work brings a deep sense of joy and passion for me in a very profound way, like nothing else that I do.”

June’s Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads


Excerpt

He looked back at the Queen and calmly said, “You know you never answered my question about the prophecy. You HAVE heard the portend…am I correct?”

Tar Vigorn tilted her head in interest and her smile never wavered.

“Ahh, the prophecy of Pajah Set. Please tell me they don’t actually have you believing you are… THAT boy? You couldn’t possibly believe that. You are aware they’ve found others before you, are you not? Other boys they swore were going to save the world and put an end to all my beautiful darkness. Can you guess where those young lads are now, Benjamin?”

Suddenly Tar Vigorn disappeared from site, Benjamin looked up totally stupefied. However, before he could take another breath, she instantly reappeared on the other side of the Travel Chamber behind him and whispered, “Boo!”

Benjamin let the surprise grab him, “Ahh!”

“A little jumpy are we?” hissed the Queen.

Benjamin turned to look at her, his face filled with anger and question. She continued with her masterful web of unnerving him.

“Let me give you a bit of advice, dear boy. You’d be a fool to trust these imbeciles with your life. They’ll recruit anyone they can use to gain information. The last boy who followed the directive of Cottie Set….well let’s just say, he’s no longer following anyone. After all, how gullible does one have to be to believe in fairy tales…a prophecy, ridiculous! I thought you were much wiser than that young, sweet Benjamin. I mean honestly, do you really see yourself winning anything against the likes of me? You’re just a normal boy after all.”

Benjamin contained his anger, but the questions started to arise in his heart.

She’s right, how could I be the One? Why am I any different from the other boys who were told they were the ones? But before he had a chance to delve further into his impending doubt, the voice of Tannis appeared in his mind.

“Master Benjamin, the two boys that perished were always a question, she is not divulging all the information. There is much more than you have heard. You must not falter in the belief that the three of you are the children of truth, or she will gain advantage…..You are the prophecy, I put my life into your hands in trust and certainty. Search your heart young Benjamin and you will know the truth. You can not hide from your Path.”

Benjamin thought a moment, and once again a slow smile began to fill his face, disarming the Queen. Benjamin looked over at his friends, locking eyes with Annabel until she began to smile with him. Then Mathilda wiped her wet face with the back of her hand and followed suit. The girls walked over toBenjamin, standing on either side of him, and held his hands. They all looked up at the now boggled Queen.

“What you don’t know,” began the boy ever so cooly, “is that the prophecy was never about just one…it is about three friends. It also says that these three friends have a very powerful magic, the likes of which has never been wielded in the Gilley Forest before…a magic that stems from Love. But you wouldn’t know anything about that would you..Love? It also talks about a boy who has the ability to make things happen…just by THINK-ing them.”

The Queen flinched, her smile gone. Benjamin continued with his own Cheshire Cat grin.

“Can you guess what I am thinking right now Tar Vigorn?”

Then in an attempt to get even with the Queen and take back her power, Mathilda stepped closer to the Chamber wall, leaning forward as close as she could get, she locked eyes with the Queen.
“Better watch out, someone might drop a house on you,” she giggled.

The Queen went pale as the thought occurred to her in that instant, thatBenjamin McTish may very well be the boy of the ancient prediction. But before she had a chance to change her mind, a chestnut mare with a rider on his back was leaping high over the Travel Chamber and right over her head! The Queen swung around and looked as Tannis and Bits landed on the Forest floor a few feet away from her. A sly smile came back to her face.

“Well, if it isn’t my old friend Tannis. I should have know you would be involved in this. And how are things in the Darmon these days?”

Tannis smiled back at Tar Vigorn.

“You know perfectly well that I have not seen my home in many long years. But all this is about to change.”

And with this the battle commenced.

The children huddled together kneeling down on their heals, as Tar Vigorn unleashed a bounty of rapid fire lightening bolts straight for the Elf.

Tannis deflected the spikes of energy while jumping over the Chamber on the back of the stallion. The Queen instantly joined Tannis on the other side, and the exchange of red tinged electrifying currents flowed out of the two Forest dwellers. Bursts of exploding trees and stumps resounded like canon fire. The trio in the Travel Chamber were shell shocked at the intensity and force of the magic flying between the Elf and the Queen.

Errant lighting was ricochetting off the sides of the Travel Chamber causing the children to cover their ears from the booming sound it made inside. The entire Chamber shook with upheaval. Small trees that were unfortunate enough to be caught in the line of rage pouring out of Tar Vigorn, burned to char in seconds. The Travel Chamber was creaking and moaning, sounding like a wounded animal. It swayed and pulsed with every outcry of explosive energy thrown it’s way.
The Elf of the Darmon and the Queen of Darkness fought relentlessly. The Fairy clan dove in between the bursts of lightening to blind the Queen with their bright wall of color light. But the Queen would not be swayed.

Then, unexpectedly, Tar Vigorn halted her tirade and spoke the magic she needed to surrounded herself in a misty haze of smoke, thick, dark and ominous.

Everyone watched in astonishment as she appeared to be completely enveloped in the self propelled murk. Then she magically emerged from the cloud of spinning grey fog, in what appeared to be a large halo of light surrounding her body. It looked to the children as if she were in a small version of her own chamber, like an elliptical force field. Her own personal vibrating shield surrounding her entire body. And suddenly Tannis’s magic was senseless. Instead the powerful force of battle energy being heaved at her from all directions was bouncing back off of the protective barrier she now resided.

The Travel Chamber began to sound off an alarming vibration. It shimmied and shook with dramatic force. It felt as if the whole tunnel of light would collapse any moment. The sound engulfed the children and threatened to take their sanity with it. Mathilda was screaming at the top of her lungs. Annabel was holding onto her little sister as she grabbed Benjamin’s forearm and yelled with all of her might.

“Benjamin, I think the Travel Chamber is falling apart or something! We can’t just sit here!”
Benjamin’s mind was a whirling dervish of confusion. He could not keep up with the tremendous acceleration of events. He felt an immensely deep disappointment in himself for bringing this amazing journey to this final outcome. He looked up at the girls and just when he was willing to admit defeat, they all turned to look up as something flashed above them.

They had entered the eye of the storm.

The tightly nestled trio watched the activity around them in the syrupy silence of slow motion. First they witnessed, amidst the clouds of smoke and singed sky, as the belly of the chestnut stallion carrying the Elf of the Darmon, leapt over the slowly disintegrating Travel Chamber. They moved their gaze over to the backside of the Chamber where the steed landed with precision. The children looked up at Tannis.

Tannis looked calm and resolute, he smiled at Benjamin. In that quick momentBenjamin realized the intention of the Elf, and raised to his knees shouting, “NO TANNIS! DON’T DO IT!” But it was too late. The Elf was leaping on the back of his faithful stallion right into the center of the Travel Chamber.

Tannis turned Bits around to face the bewildered children. They all looked over at the Queen who was now standing solo amid her enraged destruction. The look on her face was worth every bit of fear the children had lived in the past evening. Her eyes were wide with incredulous disbelief. She was steaming with a rage strong enough to fell the tallest of fir trees. Then she let out a scream the likes of which had never been heard in the existence of the Gilley Forest.

She flew like a lightening bolt of deep dark magic at the Travel Chamber and it shook with a husky primal resonance that alarmed the inhabitants. When the Queen realized that her torture was beginning to wax heavily on the object of her anger, she reloaded and pulled the trigger again. She reigned a full force attack on the side of the Travel Chamber.

The walls were showing signs of dismantling. The glowing light of the Chamber began to flicker and the children could see that it would only be a matter of a short time before she would penetrate the protection shield. She would have them in her hands and at her unwavering mercy.
They all knew no one would survive.

Tannis jumped off of his steed and closed his eyes. He stretched his arms out beside him and touched the sides of the Travel Chamber with his hands. Within moments the watery energy of the Travel Chamber started to become more solidified. And without warning or thought…the lights went out.

After a moment the children, still in the darkness, realized there were no more sounds around them.
“Benjamin, where are we?” asked Annabel.

“I can’t see a bloody thing. But it doesn’t feel like we’re with the Queen anymore. Maybe…” and before he could say another word the small orb of light, generated by the Elf, was in the middle of everyone.

“Wow!” said Mathilda. “Where are we Tannis?”

“We are in between.”

Benjamin McTish and the Door Through the Grandfather Tree on Amazon

Publication Date: July 10, 2013

Published by Pressed Leaf Publishing

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