I actually find this stage exciting. For me, editing is where the story really comes to life. I can’t wait to share it with you! As soon as I have a cover, I will set up pre-orders and you’ll be the first to know those dates.
For now, enjoy this snippet from Chapter One. It features a character new to The Knack Series. Phaedra is a reaper on a nacara mussel farming rig in the town of Titan Bay. She’s a bit sassy, a bit paranoid and a definite reluctant hero. I think we’ll be good friends.
In this excerpt, Phaedra is preparing for her first dive of the spring.
Excerpt from unpolished Rivers of Resonance:
Phaedra’s partner dropped onto the bench beside her. As usual, Rollins was the last to arrive. He smelled of stale beer. His round, pasty face made Phaedra think of under-cooked meat pie, and his pale blue eyes did nothing to enhance the look.
“Hey, Phae. I bet you didn’t expect to see me again.”
“Nope. I expected to find you dead from a tavern brawl. Or syphilis.”
Last fall Rollins had taken his generous reaper’s pay and told everyone—loudly and repeatedly that he was going home to New Torwood to marry his favorite tavern wench Susie and make a brood of children. “Did Susie kick you out already? Or have are you running from gambling debts again?”
Rollins squinted, turning his mean face meaner, and went on the offensive.
“Want some socks to fill out that suit?” He glanced to where the wetsuit gaped over her flat chest. She shot him a black look.
Like Hammer, Rollins probably had a first name too, but Phaedra had never heard it. It was probably Dick. He looked like a Dick.
“Thanks but you can keep your socks. I won’t tell anyone.” She nodded toward his crotch.
Rollins grunted and tugged on his dive boots.
“Saints! These wouldn’t fit an elf!” With a bit more struggling, he managed to cram his feet into the too-small boots.
“You never learn,” Phaedra said. “Last to arrive, last to get kit. Every time.”
He cocked his head and squinted one eye. “I need my beauty sleep.”
“It’s not working.”
Rollins ignored the jibe and unsheathed his air knife. He shook his hand to activate it, but the blade remained inert.
“What am I supposed to do with this crap? Where’s Sal?” He turned in his seat, looking for a target for his complaint.
“Take mine.” Phaedra handed over her blade. A reaper’s job consisted mostly of cutting away the ripe mussels and catching them in nets that would be hauled to shore by trawlers. One reaper to cut, one to catch. They didn’t both need working blades.
He narrowed his eyes. Cutting was the easier chore, and he didn’t trust her selflessness. Phaedra nudged the knife toward him.
“It’s not a trap. You cut and I’ll catch.”
Slowly, he reached for the blade as if it might bite him.
“Why?”
Phaedra shrugged. “You catch like a girl.”
Rollins grunted and hooked the knife onto his belt next to the shucker. Then he rose to wander to the edge of the dive platform.
“Your generosity will be your death,” Hammer said quietly.
“If it shuts him up for even a few minutes, it’s worth it.”
Phaedra spied Sal coming up the rig. She pulled on her dive hood and fitted the mask, tightening the strap until it made a good seal, then hooked the dud knife to her belt.
“Captain says a storm’s coming in and the titan warning system is still offline,” Sal said. “Best to get in and out as soon as possible.”
Rollins muttered something about slave-driving Corporate bastards. Phaedra didn’t disagree. Still, a little storm wouldn’t keep her from diving. And Fig was in the tower. His eyes were better than any mech warning system anyway. She adjusted her float and mask. Sal was uncoiling the umbilicals when she stepped to the edge of the platform. Hammer turned and he plugged the first cord into the port at the back of her mask. The umbilical was actually four cords in one—a safety tether, two air hoses, and a communications cord.
Phaedra turned and felt the distinctive snap as Sal plugged in hers. After he tugged on it twice and checked her kit, she turned her back to the river, gave Rollins a middle finger salute, then waved to Sal with the open-handed “all is good” sign. As she fell backward off the platform, she saw Sal’s lips moved. She didn’t have to hear the words to know them. Breathe slow, come back whole. The reaper’s prayer.
And then the cold arms of the river embraced her.
SPOTLIGHT BOOK VENUE
Where I spend my money is a deeply personal thing. I’m sure it is for you too. Money is hard-earned these days and finding dollars for recreational activities like hobbies or reading can be difficult. So we want to be sure we’re spending in the right places. To that end, I’ve decided to start posting little run-downs on various book retail/lending avenues. Some may be familiar to you. Others may be new. I’ll let you know which ones, I frequent and why. I’ll try to be as transparent as possible about which venues benefit me as a writer and which ones I prefer as a reader.
I’d love to know where you’re buying/borrowing your books from to give me a better idea of where I should shine my spotlight. Feel free to respond in the comments, or right to this email if you’re reading this in your in-box.
This week the spotlight is on a new subscription-based platform: Yearn.
What I love about Yearn is that it combines reading with the community of a great social media group that loves to chat about books. For a monthly subscription fee, you can download and read as many book as you want. It includes audiobooks too. You’ll also be part of a vibrant community of book lovers, without all the junk that come with regular social media. It’s a win-win situation.
Yearn was originally for fantasy-romance books, but it has opened up to general fantasy and general romance too. The library is smaller than other subscription platform but that’s only because it’s new. It’s growing all the time as more authors get on board. I think it’s a terrific deal, especially as spaces like Facebook and Instagram continue to make it harder for authors to connect with readers (more on that topic in another newsletter).
Yearn is currently available for iOS platforms and for Android from Google Play.
GET THE YEARN APP
BOOK FAIRS
This week’s fairs feature 2 Kindle Unlimited collections. Read them all for free with a KU subscription. Under the “Magic, Monsters & Consequences” banner, you’ll find free for everyone books. And the last market contains box-sets, which is a great way to save money on long series. Click on any banner to check out the deals.
SPOTLIGHT BOOK
The Last Door to Underhill is probably the least well-known of the Valkyrie Bestiary books. It’s a prequel novella that reads as a stand-alone. It takes place fifty years before Kyra’s story begins in Dragons Don’t Eat Meat and features Queen Leighna during the Flood Wars. It was a turbulent time that had a significant impact on Kyra and her world. It also features a certain dryad—Timberfoot Greenleaf, Kyra’s absent father.
Here’s a blurb:
In the last hours of the Flood Wars, a fae princess makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the human world.
Leighna, a refugee of the human war, returns to Underhill with a true demon on her heels. With only her arcane arts tutor and a strange dryad as company, she must close every door between Terra and Underhill. But can she find the strength to abandon her homeland and become a permanent exile?
It is available as an eBook, and part of the Kindle Unlimited collection. You can also find it in paperback in the Before Times anthology.
GET THE EBOOK
GET THE PAPERBACK
Until next time, happy reading!
Kim McDougall
Want more information about my books? Want extras like maps, games, playlists, deleted scenes and more? It’s all in one place at https://kimmcdougall.com.
