by JustinSloan | May 13, 2017 | Snippets
UNEDITED – This is a snippet from my new book in the Age of Magic series with Michael Anderle. Follow the Facebook Page, check out the Rise of Magic books by Chris, Le, and Michael and enjoy! What you have here is the prologue, so… be sure to pay attention to the next one too (when the story really starts)
Larick reached the top of the hill before his fellow mystic, Volney, and therefore felt like the beauty of the view was his and his alone. They had traveled over land and sea to reach this spot, and as the wind whipped at Larick’s heavy robes, casting them about like thrashing waves, he felt as one with nature.
Spread out before him was Roneland, the top portion of an island divided since the Age of Madness. Remnants of a city, old ruins of buildings that once reached into the heavens from the days of technology toppled and largely covered in vines and earth in spots, some completely overgrown so that they appeared to be new hills.
The ghosts howled, though Larick knew it to be simply the wind blowing through those old ruins, as he had heard those same ghosts many times before. He stood with the sea behind him, the green, rolling hills flowing in every direction, with the highlands just visible, rising up in the distance.
Heavy breathing came from his right, pulling him from the moment. He turned to see Volney, a shorter man with a shaved head like Larick’s, but with piercing blue eyes. Though the man was less physically intimidating, when those eyes turned white the man was a force to be reckoned with.
“If only I could learn to simply levitate,” Volney said between breaths, holding his chest, “this would be so much simpler.”
“You know, brother,” Larick replied with a taunting smile, “you could also spend more time on the physical.”
“And lose time from my mental studies? Hardly.”
For the first time, Volney looked up at Roneland and all exhaustion melted from his expression, replaced with awe.
“This is the place?” he asked. “Where are all the people?”
“My records indicate we’ll not find them in, or even around, the cities. Here, from what I’m told, the people scattered, avoiding the cities and turmoil, holding their own in the mountains on the one hand, or creating great fortresses in the lowlands.” (more…)
by JustinSloan | May 7, 2017 | Snippets
As I prepare to release my first Age of Magic book (a Kurtherian Gambit Universe fantasy series), and to celebrate finishing that book today, I thought I’d share some snippets from my already published book, Tears of Devotion. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
The man’s eyes opened, and he stared at the clouds floating across the sun that glimmered and wavered as if barely there. Yellow rays of light warmed the man’s skin, accompanied by a gentle breeze. A breath of fresh air alerted his senses, pulling him into the present, reminding him that he couldn’t lie there forever.
For a moment, he wondered if he were in heaven, but a shooting pain in his back told him that thought was wrong. He sat up with the piercing question of who he was and why he was here.
A glance at himself revealed tattered blue robes, and a sandal on his left foot but none on his right. He glanced at his surroundings, curious, hoping for a clue among the weeping willows that lined the reed-filled river, but found none.
Waters raged inches from the man’s feet, tossing froth across small rocks like a rabid dog hoping to eat all in its path, all but the life-size statue of a woman in the middle of the river, where the water soothed to a low whisper. The moment the man’s gaze met the face of the statue, he wished he had not wasted so much time looking elsewhere. He thought of diverting his eyes, to look at the maples in his periphery, or the gentle sky he still knew was above him, but he couldn’t. The statue’s slender neck led the man’s eyes to the soft chin and the perfectly formed pouty lips of this sorrow-filled angel. The marble formed a sleek nose below large eyes that stared into the sky as if to thank the heavens for her beauty.
A leaf came to a rest as it drifted along the river, floating against the statue’s base like a gentle hand caressing the woman’s leg. At that moment, the man thought he would give anything to be that leaf. Hours passed, and the statue seemed alive at moments, but always full of sorrow, and always staring at the heavens in gratitude.
Part of him hoped, maybe even believed, that if he lingered here long enough, the lapping waters would break the stone and reveal a living woman beneath. But another part of him said that no woman alive had ever been so beautiful. It couldn’t be possible. (more…)
by JustinSloan | Mar 25, 2017 | Snippets
UNEDITED (This is book 4 in the Reclaiming Honor series [A Kurtherian Gambit series]. Check out books 1-3 on Amazon, all in Kindle Unlimited)
Enforcer HQ
Jackson approached Enforcer HQ, moving his neck to work out the kinks after the way Valerie had tossed him around. Damn, he was going to miss her. It was weird knowing that, on the one hand his body was going to go through withdrawal pangs while she was gone, and yet finally have a chance to heal from her wild passion.
He wasn’t sure if he should laugh at the way he felt, or cry, at what he was going through physically. Mentally though, he was having a hard time dealing with the fact that she was leaving. Having led his people for so long, he’d come to know loss, and he had definitely learned how to not hold out hope when they went off to accomplish something they needed to do. When that involved revenge, they rarely returned.
Then again, this was Valerie. He had seen at firsthand what she was capable of, and had no doubts that it would be incredibly difficult to hurt her, let alone kill her.
But not impossible. (more…)
by JustinSloan | Mar 22, 2017 | Snippets
UNEDITED (This is book 4 in the Reclaiming Honor series [A Kurtherian Gambit series]. Check out books 1-3 on Amazon, all in Kindle Unlimited)
Old Manhattan, Sandra’s Caf
“I must die,” Valerie said.
Neither Sandra nor Jackson seemed to hear her, as Sandra was too busy arranging a cheese and wine sampler that some of her customers had ordered, while Jackson stood at the entryway to the backroom where they were all huddled. He kept pulling the curtain aside and nervously glancing out.
Valerie looked over her shoulder at Diego, going through one of the crates of supplies that had recently been delivered via blimp from Europe.
“Thank God this shipment made it through,” he said, closing the lid and turning to them with a smile. “All accounted for.”
“Good.” Sandra sliced chunks of cheese from a block, but this one she held as if she was going to take a bite. But right when it was close to her mouth she pulled it back to say, “One more damn shipment intercepted by those pirates, and I swear to god I’ll figure out how to become a vampire and go after them myself.”
Valerie just shook her head, flabbergasted.
“What?” Sandra asked. She looked at the others, who looked equally confused. “Did we miss something?” (more…)
by JustinSloan | Feb 7, 2017 | Snippets
UNEDITED – AND COVER REVEAL! (Already appeared on the Facebook page – follow to get them first!)
Chapter 1
Restaurant in Old Manhattan
Valerie breathed deep to take in the scent of lilacs and spring drifting over from the indoor waterfall, and she wondered if such a place as this had ever really existed in the outside world. Too much of the world was barren, too much of her life full of darkness and misery.
Sitting here, feeling the high life some had at their fingertips, while others struggled to avoid starvation or to get a roof over their heads, she was reminded why she had to change all that. Why she had taken a stand to see that justice had its day.
A small part of her mind reached into distant memories, a youth long gone, when a scent like this meant a visit to a mountain cottage. Memories of long days spent swimming in a lake and evenings wearing a flowing, flowery dress spinning as she danced with her mother.
But those days were long gone, barely memories at all. She’d reach for them in the dark hours of night, but during the day remembered the futility of trying to grasp a complete picture of what life had been like before she had become a vampire.
So she blinked the thoughts away, focusing instead on the meal before her, and this beautiful setting.
The restaurant had been set up to please the CEOs when they were in town, before Valerie had scared them off and then executed their attack dog, Commander Strake. She could certainly understand why they loved it here—the wall was set up to look like slick rocks interspersed with tropical flowers and the roof overhead was painted orange and purple to feel like a sunset.
“You haven’t touched your food,” Jackson said. He sat across from her with a half-eaten grilled lamb in front of him and a glass of amber ale in his hand, watching as she took in the scene.
She smiled. “I’ll taste it, but…” She glanced around at several other couples eating, noticing more than one set of eyes darting her way. “Is all this extravagance necessary?”
“Is this what you wanted?” he asked. “Had it, what, fed the flames, as you put it?” (more…)
by JustinSloan | Feb 4, 2017 | Snippets
UNEDITED
Chapter 2: Intervention
Rohan slowed the car, eyes searching for a way through the pileup ahead.
“We have to go back,” he said. He slowed to make a U-turn when—BAM! A van slammed into them, spinning the truck. By the time Rohan regained control, it was too late and the rear of his vehicle slammed into the back of another pickup truck. The impact jolted him and he slammed his head into the side window as a thump came from the backseat, followed by swearing.
His ears were ringing.
He had to check on the others. Everything was spinning as if the truck hadn’t stopped.
“Nora,” he asked in a daze. “Are you… okay?”
There was a distant response that sounded like a yes. (more…)
Larick reached the top of the hill before his fellow mystic, Volney, and therefore felt like the beauty of the view was his and his alone. They had traveled over land and sea to reach this spot, and as the wind whipped at Larick’s heavy robes, casting them about like thrashing waves, he felt as one with nature.
