Hey, guys!

I’ve posted the first two chapters of Into Elurien at this link, if anyone’s looking to kick the tires a little before pre-ordering. It’s just a little taste of the style of the story, an introduction to our unlikely heroine, and a bit of a tease of what’s coming in LESS THAN A WEEK.

Wow.

One thing you might notice about Hazel is that she’s a little older than the usual YA character. That’s because (drumroll)… this isn’t a YA book.

Shocking, I know. 🙂

Into Elurien is in no way related to the Bound trilogy. It’s a stand-alone fantasy romance, and it falls loosely into the New Adult category. So what does that mean? It means that the main character is about college age, not high school. It means I didn’t censor her language (not that I personally think that’s a necessity for YA), and it means there’s a little more heat in this one than in my past books.

Not graphic, porny sex. It’s not remotely erotica. Just saying that before anyone gets either excited or offended. But this is a romance, and it’s not exactly a clean read.

Why would I do that? Because it suited the story. Because it worked for the characters. Because the love story, warts and all, is an important part of her character development. Because this is the book I wanted to write.

Because I’m a fantasy writer, but not solely a YA fantasy writer. Though I’ll be jumping back to that for my next project, it just wasn’t right for Into Elurien. And sometimes I like to explore a little, you know? Stretch myself. Step out of my comfort zone.

That said, this one will definitely appeal to fans of the Bound trilogy. It’s got the amazing characters you guys expect from me, a story full of emotion and humour, romance, friendships, magic, and a lot of surprises. Advance readers are thrilled so far. I think you will be, too.

Here’s the link again to the first two chapters. Enjoy!

(Here are the pre-order links)

Are you guys ready for this?

Newsletter subscribers met Zinian on the same day this blog hosted Into Elurien’s cover reveal (the benefits of subscription are real). Now it’s time to unleash him in public.

I hope he behaves himself. He’s a lovely guy, but he’s… well, he’s a bit of a monster.

I’ll just grab a bit of chapter three and leave it here for you. Enjoy.

(If you’re the type who needs context, our main character has found herself quite suddenly surrounded by violent monsters, about to be executed. A moment ago she was in a hotel attic in Newfoundland, Canada. These things do happen, or so I’m told…)

“Stop.”

A lower voice, more human. I only shook harder. With my head down, I couldn’t see anything but the crowd of feet in front of me parting. I closed my eyes. Something cold touched my chin. Metallic. A blade. I pictured the cat’s great, curved sword, and felt like vomiting as it lifted my chin.

“Look at me,” the human voice ordered.

I forced my eyes open and was confronted by the strangest feet I’d ever seen. Human…ish. Longer toes than normal, with curved claws instead of toenails, and skin covered in tough blue scales to the knees. I didn’t want to look higher, but the sword beneath my chin insisted. My gaze continued up the legs, which were covered by ragged pants from the knees up. Above that, hard abs and a chest that would have looked comfortingly human if not for the faint blue patina that shaded parts of the bronze skin, or the extra set of muscles under the otherwise highly acceptable pectorals. Spots of blood had dried on his skin. The fingers of the smooth hand that gripped the straight-bladed sword ended in sharp black claws. I let myself look up to the creature’s broad shoulders, where massive, bat-like black wings arched high behind him. Dark scales dotted their bony parts in patches.

“Look at my eyes,” he ordered, “or die now.” The blade tilted sideways, a reminder of how easily he could follow through on the threat.

I swallowed hard, and the tip of the blade pricked again at my throat. Another deep breath, and I looked up.

I met his eyes, and they were enough to keep me from noticing anything else for several moments. Bright green, and blessedly normal. Not snake eyes, not feline slits for pupils. The thick black eyebrows that topped them furrowed, but seemed more intensely observant than angry.

“Please,” I said again. “I don’t know why I’m here.”

His mouth twisted into a snarl, revealing long, white canine teeth. He turned toward the cat person, and I noted the deep scars that marred his right cheek. “It’s not her.”

When he returned his attention to me, his roughly cut black hair fell over his face. At least, the parts of it that weren’t held behind the thick horns that spiralled back like bony corkscrews from his hairline.

Devil. That name came to me as easily as centaur had, but seemed not entirely right. As he glared down at me, I thought that it might be close enough.

Wondering how our MC got there? Curious to see more? I’ll be revealing chapters one AND two next Friday. Or you can just go ahead and pre-order this one in ebook (links here). Into Elurien releases June 15, and at just-over-novella length it’s a gorgeous, fast-paced, magic-and-romance-filled, chill out with some monsters beach read. Or cottage read. Or relaxing at home read. Whichever.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the series here!

Here’s my review of The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey, the book that led me to pick up The Shallows (reviewed in my last post here). It’s an interesting and practical book. Really glad I picked it up.

The vlog is still going well. Still fun. I’m not posting all of the videos here (maybe I should), but I’m trying to post every Tuesday. Next week’s will be a bit longer, as I had a couple of related questions that readers asked.

If you have ideas for what you’d like to see me do a video (or blog post here) on, let me know! I’m always open to suggestions.

Just going to copy and paste my Goodreads review. You guys know how I struggle with distractedness/attention issues… I may be on my way to fixing some of that.

 Really fascinating read! Well… the chapters on the history of how technology has influenced the human mind/culture were engrossing. The ones on the potential future of reading were terrifying for me as an author who does not want to write multimedia books in tweetable snippets that people can bounce in and out of without deep reading and engaging with the content. I mean, that was all interesting, too. Just in a less pleasant way than the bits about maps and clocks and printing presses. 🙂

I picked this book up because I feel the effects of what the internet/social media/constant connectedness are doing to my brain. I have no attention span. I’m constantly distracted, as though my brain is searching for diversions when I try to work, eager for any notification or excuse to bounce off and do some research instead of becoming engrossed in what I should be doing. I can only read for extended periods if I haven’t touched my phone/computer that day. If I have, I’m primed for distraction and can’t get into a book (especially fiction). And this book mentions all of those symptoms. I was basically just looking for the science behind it, not to be convinced. I was already there, just from my own experience.

Unfortunately, this book doesn’t tell us what to do about it. The author acknowledges that there are many advantages to our new technology (obviously, and the book is definitely not all gloom and doom, as the title suggests), and points out that it’s far too late to close the gates on this progress and its effects, positive and negative. He outlines in detail how computer and internet use affect our brains. He does not address practical ways to curtail the effects while maintaining our connection to the benefits.

So while this was a really interesting read, I can only recommend it to those looking for information on the problems we face, not those looking for practical solutions. I’d love to see a book on that. For now, I’m experimenting. “Social Media Sabbaths” are becoming a regular thing here on Sundays for me, and I’m actually getting some reading done. I’ve already got all notifications turned off on my phone, as absolutely none of them are necessary and all of them derail me from real life and important tasks. And I’m going to start leaving my wifi off/ leaving my phone outside the office until after my work is done for the day. My short experiments have shown that my concentration on reading does improve when the internet is off-limits… we’ll see what happens for my writing.

So there we go. I got on this book via another book that I’ll review on my YouTube channel: “The Productivity Project.” That one was less in-depth, but more helpful in practical ways.