Shalanna Collins and Denise Weeks:
their books
Young Adult/Middle Grade Fantasy and dark Urban Fantasy:
DULCINEA, or WIZARDRY A-FLUTE, by Shalanna Collins
In Trade Paperback
If You Liked Harry Potter or
the Narnia Books, read DULCINEA
Dulcinea: or Wizardry A-Flute is a traditional YA fantasy in the vein of Diana Wynne Jones and (dare I say it?) Harry Potter. We have not yet had a female Harry Potter . . . until now. It was the first runner-up in the first Warner Aspect First Fantasy Novel Contest (I have the kind letter from then-editor Betsy Mitchell on my wall.)
Dulcinea
Brown, though she doesn't realize it, is just coming into her powers as a flutemage. She has no idea that she has discovered a new
kind of magic until she uses it and is seen by her father's new apprentice, Raz.
Under Raz's guidance (because he is actually an
advanced mage who is in hiding, not an apprentice-level at all), she develops
her powers (and falls in love with Raz at the same
time). But can she save
The Society cares only for gaining power, even at the risk of tearing the very fabric of reality by gating into the dragons' plane. Raz has stolen a Dragonstone from them, and is an undercover agent for the "good guys," so it's not long before Dulcinea and her father are embroiled in Raz's scheme and in big trouble. On the way to saving the world, Dulcinea finds romance, discovers her family's secrets, and finally learns how to rely on herself.
You can order DULCINEA with confidence.
We have a no-risk guarantee!
DULCINEA at Amazon
April and June Bliss (13 and 14-1/2
respectively) are sucked into their elder cousin Arlene's troubles when Arlene
is picked up by the police as a runaway and gets bailed out by the sisters'
parents. Arlene has become involved in a theft ring and other unlawful
activities, according to her own parents, and is a bad seed--but April's mother
thinks that the girl only needs understanding. Still, the vibe is that she'll
call Arlene's parents soon. After only one night hiding out with the Bliss
family, Arlene runs away again to escape being sent to teen boot camp, leaving
behind a journal-style book for April to find. The journal is a magical tome
that shows a different scene or text every time she opens it, and that displays
itself to others as a benign math notebook or Bible stories (so that April is
the only one who knows it is magic). Arlene also gives June a spoon ring to
wear on her thumb, which secretly connects her to the same magical movement
that Arlene is working for. June begins acting strangely
("even for June," as April says), and soon a man claiming to be
Arlene's boyfriend shows up and makes several attempts to take away the ring
and the journal. The effects of the ring on June become evident: she's gaining
strange powers, but not the judgment to use them safely. The tome then begins
showing April distressing pictures of Arlene in trouble, and Arlene makes a
plea for help. Once April persuades the tome to show June the pictures, June
panics. She decides they must go to Arlene's rescue, via the Amtrak Texas Eagle
to Arlene's Circle is not exactly
benevolent. The girls arrive to "rescue" Arlene, but she has been
lying and is not a captive but a willing participant. June is captured, and it
turns out Arlene has been spoofing them in order to magically steal April's
math talent and sell it to the highest bidder. Unless April can turn the tables
on them, she and June--once their talents have been harvested--- will end up as
captives in an underground teen slave ring. If only they'd
told their parents where they were going. Viewpoint character April continually
asks questions, and is an exceptional child similar to those in various
recently popular YAs such as _How to Buy a Love of Reading_ and the Millicent Min books, as well
as the GIRL GENIUS series itself. Her stormy relationship with the sister she
adores is partly what the story explores: the younger sibling has most of the
wisdom, but none of the elder's authority. What is an appropriate sacrifice for
family, and what is too much to give? Themes include "what is
family?" and "what is home?" as April becomes an unlikely hero. This crossover YA/adult dark urban
fantasy is grittily realistic about runaway life on
the road, with a touch of the supernatural/paranormal. MURDER BY THE MARFA LIGHTS by Denise
Weeks
April, Maybe June in trade paper
APRIL,
MAYBE JUNE for the Amazon Kindle
Camille's
Travels for Amazon Kindle
Camille's Travels in trade
paper
Camille MacTavish is a seventeen-year-old runaway
escaping an abusive home life with a stolen magic dragon in the pocket of her
jeans. The trinket isn't a luckpiece as she thinks,
but is the protrusion into this dimension of a powerful magical entity from
another plane of existence. She took it after hitching a ride with Philip, a
sorcerer who sets out to track her down, retrieve it, and kill her (thereby
gaining power through sacrificing her to his personal demons.) Once she
realizes what's happening, Camille begins running for her life. The magic she
unwittingly wields but cannot control is evil, and the battle becomes far
larger and more perilous. Camille and the friends she has made on the road (and
at the Renaissance festival where she found work) must defeat the dark forces
quickly to prevent a rending of the very fabric of space-time.Denise Weeks
Cozy Mysteries and Magical Chick Lit
Little Rituals for Kindle at
Amazon
As Daphne attempts to restore her
luck by chanting incantations she finds on the Internet, burning candles as
advised by a New Age store, and even visiting a Mexican witch's
"circle," things worsen. Her ex swears out a restraining order
against her, and opportunities evaporate like soap bubbles. Events snowball
until even Daphne's best ritual can't extricate her.
Are there such things as hexes, or
can one make one's own luck? Is her mother right when she says Daphne just has
mild OCD, and most of this is in her imagination? Daphne's investigation into
the nature of luck runs parallel to her personal search for meaning and her
journey from being someone who blames "bad luck" for her problems to
being someone who takes responsibility for what happens to her, even if the
only thing she can do is bend her head against the ill wind and trim the sails
to change course. The romantic subplot steams up a few pages, but this isn't
strictly a romance; it's a sort of "coming-of-age" novel for a
grown-up--although it isn't about an initiation into sex. It's all about
growing up at age thirty, with a little help from true friends.
The novel is not exclusively a paranormal, because it is left up to the reader
as to whether the events that seem "magical" or mystical are
"real" (for certain values of "real") or simply
coincidences colored by the main character's compulsions, superstitions, and
beliefs. It is more properly literary women's fiction, like Alice Hoffman's
_PRACTICAL MAGIC_ or _CHARMS FOR THE EASY LIFE_ by Kaye Gibbons. Fans of TV's
"Monk" will appreciate the portrayal of a compulsive, superstitious
personality. And anyone who wants a happy ending has come to the right novel.
MURDER BY THE MARFA LIGHTS for the Amazon Kindle
Ariadne French has waited almost a year to hear from her boyfriend Aaron, who'd
left with her trailer to find his fortune out West. Instead, a call came to say
he'd just died in
This is a soft-boiled
traditional mystery with a touch of the supernatural and humor in the vein of
Joan Hess, Donna Andrews, and the late Anne George's Southern Sisters mysteries.
COMING SOON: MIRANDA'S RIGHTS, a tale of an unwilling witch and her accidental spell
MURDER AND THE SINGLE PRANKSTER, a Jacquidon and Chantal Carroll Mystery
Try the print versions or the Kindle editions--both guaranteed!
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