Cover Reveal: Darkness Taunts

It’s a celebration of cover reveals on the blog this week! Darkness Taunts is the sequel to Darkness Haunts, a kick-ass urban fantasy featuring a heroine who is in most ways, plain human. Except for the fact she’s a sensor, able to detect magic and neutralize it. Melena isn’t a damsel in distress, however. This ex-military chick knows enough moves to give you a good beating…or just shoot you. Anyway, on to the cover, which is GORGEOUS, and a sneak peek excerpt.

Darkness Taunts by Susan Illene

Book two of The Sensor Series

Cover Design: Phat Puppy Art w/typography by Bookish Brunette

Expected Release Date: June 30^th, 2013

Add the book to your To-Read list on Goodreads.

 

BLURB:

Melena Sanders has managed to avoid all things inhuman for most of her life, but after coming to Fairbanks, Alaska to rescue her best friend from supernaturals she hasn’t been allowed to leave. That is, until her long-time nemesis comes to collect a favor she owes him. Lucas might be half angel, but he’s all bad as far as she’s concerned.

Paying him back might get her out of town for a while, but her new destination will be anything but enjoyable. Mel’s got to help the nephilim take care of a demon possession outbreak in Juneau. Although something like this hasn’t happened for thousands of years, Lucas is certain Melena’s rare abilities are the key to solving the problem.

With violence in the capital city growing, she’s going to have to figure out how to stop it fast before the trouble spreads to other places. Not only that, but working closely with Lucas is changing the dynamics of their hate-hate relationship—worrying her even more than the demons. Getting back to her captivity in Fairbanks never looked so good.

EXCERPT:

Lucas climbed into the passenger seat. Though his large frame took up a lot of space, he still looked comfortable, in control. There were no delays leaving the airport. The whole thing had been arranged for a quick and smooth pick-up. I wasn’t used to Lucas being so accommodating.

“Did you eat?” he asked.

“Yeah, Emily and I went out to a restaurant earlier.”

He glanced over at me. “You didn’t feel like poisoning her with your cooking before you left?”

I fiddled with his navigation system—might as well get the lay of the land. “That joke got old a long time ago.”

“I wasn’t joking,” he said. “Leave the GPS alone.”

I switched to scanning the radio stations. “Where are we going?”

He nudged my hand away from the controls and shut it off. “To my cabin. We made some progress during your absence. I want you rested and ready to help interrogate a demon first thing in the morning.”

A thrill went through me. My job in the military had been as an interrogator and I was damned good at it with my lie detecting abilities. Plus I’d gained a lot of experience during my combat tours. “You got one?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I’ve worked on him already, but he hasn’t revealed anything of value…yet.”

I shot him a disgruntled look. “You should have waited for me.”

“Time was of the essence, sensor. You’ll get your chance.”

“Then why not go talk to him tonight?” I asked.

“Demons are at their strongest during the hours of darkness. You’ll have better luck after dawn.”

“Fine.” I sat back and tried to admire the snow covered mountains. They would be easier to see during the day, but the moon lit them up enough for me to catch brief glimpses as we drove.

“Sensor,” Lucas broke the silence. “The next time I call…pick up the damned phone. Do not make me come in person to speak with you.”

“That’ll give me incentive,” I said. The pompous ass. He wouldn’t threaten me and get away with it. I let a couple of minutes go by.

“Do you know why I’m glad you never call me by my real name?” I asked.

We were stopped at a traffic light. I’d waited for that. He turned to look at me and raised a blond brow. “I suppose you’re going to tell me.”

I studied my fingernails. “Yesterday, when I heard you say Melena for the first time it gave me chills. It was like the devil himself had walked over my grave and spit on it. I’d rather you not say it again.”

The light turned to green. He jerked his attention back to the road. Lucas was a master at keeping his emotions in check, but he still gripped the wheel a little tighter than before.

 

 Pick up the first book in the series, Darkness Haunts, at Amazon, B&N, and Kobo.

ABOUT SUSAN:

Instead of making the traditional post high school move and attending college, Susan joined the U.S. Army. She spent her eighteenth birthday in the gas chamber…an experience she is sure is best left for criminals. For eleven years she served first as a human resources specialist and later as an Arabic linguist (mostly in Airborne units). Though all her duty assignments were stateside, she did make two deployments to Iraq where her language skills were put to regular use.

After leaving the service in 2009, Susan returned to school to study history with a focus on the Middle East. She no longer finds many opportunities to test her fighting abilities in real life, unless her husband is demanding she cook him a real meal, but she’s found a new outlet in writing urban fantasy heroines who can.

CONNECT WITH SUSAN ONLINE:

Website- www.darknesshaunts.com

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/SusanIllene1

Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/Susan_Illene

Twitter- https://twitter.com/@susan_illene

Everyone’s Favorite Dream Assassin Is Back!

One of the things fans of Dreamwalker have told me is how much they love Dirk. And who wouldn’t? He’s rugged, handsome, cocky—oh, and could kill you in your sleep. He’s one of those bad boys you can’t help but love. So, I’m giving readers more of Dirk. That’s right, he’s got his own story in this prequel novella to Dreamwalker. It’ll be out in the next couple months, but for now, here’s the cover and a short teaser to whet your appetite.

Cover Design by Erin Lark

Teaser:

As Dirk stepped into the dreamscape, he froze at a soft snuffing sound. Foul breath puffed over the back of his neck and he slowly turned. A large round glob of black floated six feet behind him. The width was the size of a man’s torso. It had no limbs, no eyes, no other features aside from a perfectly round, inky surface—except for a ragged crater gouged down one side in a scar. Tints of red lined the stretched skin like tendrils.

A Nightmare. Not just any Nightmare, but one that had been hunting Dirk for close to a year. These beings lived in the dreamscape, glutting themselves on the terror of bad dreams. He had tangled with this particular one a while ago. He’d gotten away, but not before it’d taken a piece of him. And it seemed to have developed a taste since it’d been harrowing him ever since.

It opened a mouth in the center of its mass, revealing rows of jagged teeth. The creature appeared to grin as it snuffed out another wave of putrid breath.

Dirk envisioned a sword in his hand and smoke burst up in a column before solidifying into steel. The Nightmare made a gurgling sound, and a drop of viscous black goop dribbled down its mouth to bubble like acid on the ground.

“Want another scar?” Dirk growled.

~~~

Dirk’s story will be coming out soon, but to ensure you don’t miss it, sign up for the newsletter.

Heroines of Fantasy: Miss May

May is such a sweet sounding month, but I do not have a sweet heroine for you today. For this month’s Heroine of Fantasy feature, we’re heading back into the book world to meet Jeaniene Frost’s Cat of the Night Huntress series.

 Cat Crawfield

Due to her mother being raped by a vampire and getting pregnant, Cat is both half-human and half-vampire, which gives her the unique strength to combat these evil undead creatures. Every night she goes out hunting, hoping to find her father and kill him so maybe her mother can stop living in fear.

One night, she tries to lure and kill Bones, a vampiric bounty hunter that’s on to her. He imprisons her in a cave for days until he convinces her that the two of them would make a pretty good team. Of course, romance isn’t far off.

Cat is very young in the first book, so it’s no surprise that she can be immature. Throughout the series she does grow up some. She serves on a secret military team hunting vampires for a while, and delves deeper into the vampire world with Bones (I’m not going to go into detail and give anything away, but it’s a wild ride). Cat is stubborn, tough, and not afraid to take risks—she’s basically been using herself as vampire bait since she was sixteen.

She also has a hot temper, as does her lover, Bones, which makes for some very fiery spats—and fiery make-up sessions. Caution to those who may not like the racy so much: Frost is very graphic in her descriptions. But if you’re comfortable skipping over the sex scenes, the rest of the story is a lot of fun and very imaginative.

Cat is a badass girl we can all admire. Be it monstrous vampires, ghouls, or ghosts, she’ll take them all on. She is, after all, half dead herself.

~~~

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Excerpt of Dreamstealer: Lexa vs. The Dress

I have another excerpt of Dreamstealer for you today, this time one with a little humor. Lexa is on her way to Teltania to see if their princess is in fact a new dreamwalker. Unfortunately, her cover for this mission is to go as a visiting diplomat of Artasia. And one must dress to fit the part…

~~~

Neil gestured to the gray-toned, crackle-textured trunk. “Mathias left this for you, but he insisted you not open it until the day before our arrival. So, here it is.”

Lexa could tell she was not going to like this. She strode forward, flipped the latch, and swung the lid up. The trunk was full of clothes, it seemed, and dresses at that. She stared at the fitted, maroon velvet gown with a cross-laced bodice on top.

“Hell no.” She slammed the lid down again.

Neil cleared his throat. “I believe his words were something about you being a lady and needing to dress to fit the part.”

No wonder Mathias hadn’t wanted her opening it until the last minute…or while he was still around. She would have strangled him. Yes, she understood the importance of playing the role of diplomat, but did he have to choose such…opulent clothes? If he had given her more time, she would have done her own shopping—which had probably been his plan all along.

Lexa threw the lid open again; the hinges rattled as they quaked under her wrath. She grabbed the maroon dress and lifted it up. It was even worse in full form: puffed sleeves at the shoulder, which tapered down into a tightly fitted cuff at the wrist. Her arms would look like mutton legs in it. She tossed it on the bed. The next dress on the pile was an aquamarine with wide, billowy sleeves and lace around the neck meant to imitate sea spray. Underneath that lay a dark green gown with a loose skirt that Lexa thought she could tolerate, but for the most part, she discarded the various dresses on the bed, her lip curling in even more disgust with each one.

“I’m going to throttle him.”

Neil arched a brow at the mess. “So you two hadn’t discussed this?”

Lexa glowered at him. “Don’t pretend that comes as a surprise. He did tell you to keep this until the last minute.”

Neil rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure I see the problem.”

Lexa gestured to her plain shirt and pants, then at the dresses. “Seriously?”

He quirked a smile. “They would look stunning on you.”

“They’re ridiculous.”

“Perhaps you should try one on first.” He dug under the pile, pulled out the maroon one, and held it out to Lexa. Her fingers twitched, unwilling to even touch the extravagant fabric. But with Neil watching her closely, she swallowed her discomfort and snatched it from his hand.

“You’re forgetting a piece.” He reached into the trunk and pulled out a corset.

Lexa gave it a blank stare.

“It’s all the fashion in Teltania right now.”

“You wear it.”

~~~

I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek. I was also on Mistress of the Dark Path’s blog this weekend for an interview. Curious if I have a naughty side? …

Dreamstealer is available on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and iTunes.

When her kingdom’s former enemy suspects their princess is a budding dreamwalker, Lexa is drafted out of retirement and sent to Teltania to train the twelve-year-old girl. But hidden agendas complicate her mission, and Lexa doesn’t know whom to trust. Meanwhile, her own dreamwalking powers are waning when she needs them most. Can Lexa decipher the mysteries at every turn, or will the dreamscape claim yet another dreamwalker?

~~~

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Shooting Star Poetry

I spent the last several days wracking my brain for something to post today. Perhaps due to the emotionally jarring events in Boston and Texas this past week, I have felt neither clever nor funny. So when all else fails, I shall give you poetry. I dug around in the recesses of my old writings and found this fantasy piece, which turns out to be appropriate for the Lyrid meteor shower that’s been going on this weekend. Hope you enjoy.

“The Night Archer”

Beyond the reach of city lights,
a black velvet canvas opens up
into a vast hunting ground.

Aries, Draco, Phoenix—
pin pricks strung together
with invisible twine.

Artemis draws back her bow;
the crescent moon arches.
The bowstring twangs, vibrating

the air as her comet strikes
Leo, shattering into shards
that flicker to the ground like dust.

No bouquet can match the stars that blossom
from her quiver, nor any crown wrap
the tresses of her starlight strands.

Did anyone get up before dawn to see the  stars in action?

~~~

I hope you enjoyed your visit and come back for more!  You can subscribe using RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.  And if you want to ensure you don’t miss any new releases, you can sign up for the newsletter!

~~~

DREAMSTEALER is now available on Amazon, B&N, and Kobo!

When her kingdom’s former enemy suspects their princess is a budding dreamwalker, Lexa is drafted out of retirement and sent to Teltania to train the twelve-year-old girl. But hidden agendas complicate her mission, and Lexa doesn’t know whom to trust. Meanwhile, her own dreamwalking powers are waning when she needs them most. Can Lexa decipher the mysteries at every turn, or will the dreamscape claim yet another dreamwalker?

 

LOL Cat Contest Results

Thank you to everyone who played our little LOL Cat game here this week. I had a blast reading your caption suggestions and it was hard picking the final winner. But here it is! Thank you, Suzie, for the Princess Bride classic!

To read all the other great suggestions, check out Monday’s post here.

Congratulations are also in order to Alina for being the winner of the book drawing!

~~~

DREAMSTEALER is now available on Amazon, B&N, and Kobo!

When her kingdom’s former enemy suspects their princess is a budding dreamwalker, Lexa is drafted out of retirement and sent to Teltania to train the twelve-year-old girl. But hidden agendas complicate her mission, and Lexa doesn’t know whom to trust. Meanwhile, her own dreamwalking powers are waning when she needs them most. Can Lexa decipher the mysteries at every turn, or will the dreamscape claim yet another dreamwalker?

~~~

I hope you enjoyed your visit and come back for more!  You can subscribe using RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.  And if you want to ensure you don’t miss any new releases, you can sign up for the newsletter!

LOL Cat Contest

I think it’s time for another LOL Cat game, don’t you? Put on your thinking caps for this one because I’m going to be choosing the most clever or funniest caption to go with this picture. In addition, everyone who plays will be entered into a drawing to win an e-book! I’ll have a prize pack from which the winner may choose one book they’re interested in; see below for specific titles. Sound fun? Okay, show me what you got!

I will be picking the winners Thursday night and posting the results Friday. If you are not interested in being entered for the contest, just say so in your comment. Valid email is required for entries. 

Prizes to choose from: (Please note, the last three titles linked below may only be awarded through Kindle)

Any of my books (including my next release!), which you can read about here.

 The Fourth Channel by Jen Kirchner—a laugh-out-loud comic urban fantasy

 Souled by Diana Murdock—an intriguing YA paranormal

 Darkness Haunts by Susan Illene—a slightly dark, kick-ass urban fantasy

~~~

I hope you enjoyed your visit and come back for more!  You can subscribe using RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.  And if you want to ensure you don’t miss any new releases, you can sign up for the newsletter!

Sneak Peek of Dreamstealer

With the release of Dreamstealer looming, here’s an excerpt to whet your appetite. This scene was inspired by these little things I saw at work one day. They’re some kind of plant found in the desert, but I’m turning them into something deliciously creepy. Hope you enjoy.

Image copyright Angela Wallace

Late that night, Lexa lay on top of her bed listening to the rain patter against the window and the wind whistle as it whipped in and out of the towers. She hadn’t meant to drift off, but in the next moment the sounds of the storm had been replaced with the silence of the dreamscape. She wandered absentmindedly until she returned to the dark forest where she had seen Dirk’s specter.

It was still a forest, but the bark on the trees was now black, like a coating of charcoal. The shadows in the canopy and along the forest floor looked bottomless, as though Lexa could fall right into them and be swallowed up. The gnarled trunks creaked and groaned, and the entire wood seemed to be moving, swaying. Something skittered through the treetops. Lexa raised her arm to summon a sword, but a shimmer of light in that dark place caught her attention. A wispy phantom floated toward her.

She froze, hope flickering deep down like a dying ember. “Dirk?”

The skittering in the trees increased in number, tap, tap, tapping so fast the sound started to buzz. The specter stopped ten feet from her. Dirk’s face rippled into view. Lexa gasped. Her hand twitched as though to reach out to him, but she held it back. Was it really him? His mouth moved, but no sound came out.

“What?” she shouted in frustration. The clicking movements were now all around her, though she still couldn’t see anything in the shadows. The trees felt as though they were bending down, oppressive and menacing.

Lexa’s head started to pound. She put her hands up to cover her ears as they throbbed with an intense ringing. “Stop it!” This was her dreamscape; it couldn’t hurt her.

The ghost of Dirk surged forward, enveloping her like a sheet of heavy, muggy fog. In a flash, the mysterious beings in the treetops descended—hundreds of three-legged, talon-shaped insects. They looked like fossilized bird claws, two thin legs curling on top, one on the bottom, with barbs at the tips. The middle body was no wider than a thumb with a split down the center for a mouth, except it looked sewn shut with fibrous roots.

The insects crawled down the trunks and dropped from the leaves onto Lexa’s shoulders. She swatted at them, but in an instant they swarmed over her head and down her body. The wiry thin legs snapped at her, pinching her clothes and hair, weighing her down as they multiplied on top of her. She twisted and turned, trying to get them off, and slipped onto one knee. She gasped, and breathed in the filmy substance that still covered her. Cold, wet slime slid down her throat. Gagging, she fell to her elbows. One of the creatures latched onto her neck and dug its barbs into her flesh. They bore down on her, pressing her face into the mud as she choked on the filmy ectoplasm.

With a shuddering start, she bolted upright in bed.

~~~

Watch for Dreamstealer coming this month! And be sure to read the first book, Dreamwalker, available at Amazon, B&N, and Kobo.

Add the book on Goodreads.

~~~

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Heroines of Fantasy: Miss April

Well, based on interest from last month’s installment of this series, and that April is the fourth month of the year, I’m going to go ahead and give the fourth Charmed sister her own feature. Here she is.

Paige Matthews

We’re introduced to Paige in Season Four of Charmed. The Power of Three had been broken at the end of Season Three (not saying how), and, naturally, the only way to fix it was to discover a half-sister the Halliwell’s had never known about. Paige is the daughter of mother witch Patty and her whitelighter, Sam (tragic love story that coincidentally mirrors Piper’s own situation…). Paige was given up for adoption because if the Powers That Be ever found out a witch and whitelighter had gotten together, there would be trouble. Unfortunately, Paige’s adoptive parents were killed in a car accident when she was in high school, in which she miraculously survived.

When we meet Paige, she’s working at Social Services as an assistant, though she’s trying to climb the ranks to actual social worker. She has no idea she has magical powers until she meets her half-sisters. Because Paige is a whitelighter, her magic manifests itself a little differently. She can “orb,” which is basically a glowing lights version of “Beam me up, Scotty.” And when she tries to telepathically move things, they end up orbing too.

“I’ll take that crossbow.”

Paige is the youngest sister, and since she grew up an only child, she struggles to fit into the family dynamic the other Charmed Ones are used to having. Paige is independent and stubborn, and it takes her a while to learn to work as a team with her new sisters. She also struggles to find her own identity outside of running to the beck and call of her family and fighting demons. She tries many things in order to find her place in the world, including being a full-time witch (during which time a potion explosion turns her hair carrot orange red for a season), various temp jobs, and even teaching at magic school.

Like Phoebe, Paige loves being a witch, but it still sometimes gets in the way of romantic relationships. She even falls in love with a male witch at one point who has an unhealthy addiction to magic. Trying to keep her beau from casting spells while she’s running around doing it all day isn’t the best for a healthy relationship…

So with her, the Power of Three lives on and these kick-ass witches continue to fight evil, find love, and look good doing it.

~~~

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Cover Reveal: Dreamstealer

I am so excited to share with you all the cover for my next release, Dreamstealer, the sequel to Dreamwalker. It looks AMAZING. But first, here’s some fun info about the upcoming book.

1. Where did the idea for Dreamstealer come from?

Well, it’s the sequel to the novella, Dreamwalker, which was supposed to be a single book, but readers kept threatening begging me to write another one. So I did.

2. What genre does your book fall under?

Fantasy. Kick-ass fantasy, I might add.

3. Who’s the main character?

Lexa is an ex-special forces soldier who knows how to kill a man half a dozen ways with her bare hands. She also has the rare ability to transcend from her mind into the dreamscape, an otherworldly realm somewhere between dreams and the heavens, and then to also enter other people’s dreams. Lexa is a tough, no-nonsense kind of woman who tackles challenges with either sharpened sarcasm or well-aimed right hooks.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Jennifer Garner as Lexa (definitely with the sai from the movie Elektra, but not the leather outfit):

Hugh Jackman for Sir Neil Duram (think from Kate & Leopold):

Child actresses are really hard to find, so let’s say we’d cast an unknown, brand new girl for Princess Taryn and she’d become a star.

Hector Elizondo for, well, Hector, the Steward:

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Lexa is once again called out of retirement, this time to help her country’s former enemy when they suspect their twelve-year-old princess is a budding dreamwalker.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It will be self-published, represented by me.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The first draft…two months. But it was bare bones. The second draft and fleshing out took another month, and the real magic happened in the next two. From the first draft to final, the word count more than doubled. So those of you who were sad when Dreamwalker was so short…buckle your seat belts.

8. Does this book have a soundtrack?

Not a very long one, but “Skyrim” by Peter Hollens & Lindsey Stirling is perfect for every fight scene, and “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele is the backdrop for a very specific, very romantic, scene. (Yes, that’s right, Lexa is getting a shot at romance.)

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

My readers. They loved Lexa so much, they wanted more of her. And really, who could blame them? She’s now my favorite character (don’t tell the Elemental Magic women).

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Everything readers loved about the first book—action-packed scenes with plenty of combat, intrigue, snarky Lexa humor, and a quirky guy attempting to sweep her off her feet—you’ll find in this one. And just when I thought I’d already thrown Lexa through the ringer in the first book, well, let’s just say Dreamstealer is one hell of a ride.

And now, drum roll please….

Cover Design by Amber Shah at BookBeautiful.com

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