A Sip of Fear, volume one of The Illuminated, is now live on Amazon and Smashwords. It should be up at most other e-book retain outlets within about a week. You can read the first three chapters in the three posts prior to this one, or by reading the free samples from the retailers.
Filed under Fantasy Storytelling
NOTE: The cover art below does not link to the books. To link to the books, please see the links below each picture that say "Amazon," "Barnes & Noble," or "Smashwords."
A Sip of Fear (The Illuminated Volume One)
When Gordon the bio-mage and the other Illuminated – magicians blessed with familiar spirits that give them remarkable powers – hear rumors that Shadow is on his way, they soon learn that the adept of Death, supposedly mythical, really exists. He’s undead, invincible, and ruthless. He kills Illuminated. Nothing can stop him, and now it seems that Gordon is his chosen target.
Gordon’s familiar spirit knows how he can survive, but she’s left him alone to discover it for himself as a test. If Gordon can’t find the answer in a few days, he’s sure to die.
"A Sip of Fear works on two levels: as a contemporary urban fantasy thriller with a compelling plot, and as a novel of personal (and transpersonal) development. I don't often see the two brought together so effectively, or so thoroughly intertwined."
The Order Master (Refuge Volume One)
(Contemporary Fantasy/Science Fiction)
He hates it. He wants out. But the Order will kill him if he tries to run.
When Michael Cambridge inherits the post of Order Master of the Scourge of God, he discovers the truth about his order and the people they kill. He finds himself walking a path that might lead to his freedom – or his death.
He must balance his own survival against the stain on his soul as he struggles to deal with the evil Droon, and their enemies the Andol, both of them alien spirits incarnate in human bodies. Under Andol tutelage, he must master the arts of magic to a depth the Scourge of God never taught, while dodging Droon kill squads. And at the end of his journey, he must confront the order itself, fanatical, unforgiving, and deadly.
"By the time I was a few pages into the book, it was difficult to put down."
"There's plenty of action, well described, and the plot moves along swiftly."
The Ingathering (Refuge Volume Two)
Contemporary Fantasy/Science Fiction
Claire's magic is so powerful it makes her mentally ill. Suffering symptoms of bipolar disorder caused by her undeveloped talent, she escapes a Droon murder squad and reluctantly seeks training from the Andol. But the enemy follows and launches a plot to destroy the Andol stronghold and kill everyone in it, including Claire.
Meanwhile, the war between the Droon and the Andol is heating up, as the Andol seek human allies with magical talent, while the Droon hunt human magicians down and kill them. It's a race between the Andol rescue operations and the Droon murder squads. Who will win the race? Can Claire recover her sanity and develop her powers in time to save herself, her friends, and the Andol from certain death?
The Green Stone Tower (A Tale of Two Worlds)
(Epic Fantasy)
Long ago in the legendary time, at the very dawn of civilized days, the Old Gods sang the Green Stone Towers into being as bridges between two worlds. By means of the Towers the workers of magic, descended of the gods, escaped the wrath of the rest of mankind. Into the world of Faerie the mages fled, the gods followed, and the doors of the Towers were sealed behind them. In the ages after, the makers of magic evolved into the immortal faerie-folk. Now once in a while a faerie will brave the Green Stone Towers and visit the world they left behind, sometimes out of curiosity, often for love’s sake, if a mortal takes their fancy.
Johnny Silverbell’s merchant father wants to buy him a commission in the Royal Army and, eventually, a “Sir” before his name, but Johnny, secretly the son of a dalliance by his mother with a man of the faerie, and blessed with gifts of music and magic, has different ideas entirely. He would find the hidden door in the Green Stone Tower and leave this world for the land of the faerie. There he hopes to find his true father, and also the beautiful faerie-girl who awakened his magic. But as long as anything – love, fortune, even life itself – binds him to this world, he can’t even see the door in the Tower, let alone climb its hidden stair. He will only be able to do it when he has lost everything and flees from certain death.
Meanwhile, in the land of the faerie-folk, Illowan, the faerie girl who won Johnny’s heart, herself lives under a dreadful doom: to become the unwilling bride of the dark god Malatant, Lord of Shadow, and bring him victory in his ages-long struggle with the gods of light.
"Overall, this is a good read. Fantasy fans will not be disappointed if they spring a couple of dollars for a copy, and I suspect they'll be waiting anxiously for the second installment."
Amazon
Smashwords
Barnes & Noble
Goddess-Born (A Tale of Two Worlds)
(Epic Fantasy)
The Kingdom of Grandlock heaves with revolution. The nobility have oppressed the people for generations, but new advances in technology are enabling them to drive more and more people into unemployed misery, at the same time as radical ideas spread among the populace: ideas like democracy and popular rule. Liberty is only a revolt away – but magic threatens to subvert it and fasten new and crueler chains on the people even as they cast off their old ones.
An evil priestess of the Lord of Shadow has come from the world of faerie by way of the Green Stone Tower and built a secret cult dedicated to chaos and ruin. Her agents infiltrate the democracy movement and may replace the king with a tyrant who will enslave the people in the name of liberty, using sorcery to bind them to his power.
And the only thing that can stand against him and his evil mistress is a young woman barely out of her teens: the daughter of a goddess and a powerful sorceress herself.
"Imagine the French Revolution set in a world with gods/goddesses, sorcery, and dark faeries. Seriously, this remarkably imaginative premise leads to a very entertaining tale with plenty of action, romance, and vivid characters ranging from evil villains to heroes/heroines and every shade of gray in between."
Brian Rush 
Not showing up on my Nook (Barnes and Noble) yet but I’ll keep trying to order it.