New Contract w/Samhain!

It’s official – Dust of Dreams is now officially Bk 4 in the Guardians of Light series for Samhain. Benilo is the elven spirit healer in Hedda’s Sword and the heoine is a rebellious dream faerie named Pryseis.  They go to help a goblin lad whose nightmares have gotten out of hand and are poisoning everyone around him. The two themes are tolerance  – people are people and kids are kids regardless of race, etc. – and peace over war.

I’ve always tried to portray war as a last resort, something that may sound odd coming from someone who’s grown up around warriors and works with warriors on a daily basis. I fully support the warriors fighting for what they believe in, but I would like to believe that the alternatives to killing each other can win out over hate and bloodshed. Pryseis’ half-troll nephew Dax is a veteran w/issues. He’s a minor character in Dust of Dreams, but he’s going to have his own story, “The God of Fyre Mountain” as soon as I finish “Riever’s Heart.”

The one I’m starting now, “Riever’s Heart” is Verdeen’s story. She was Queen Dara’s lady’s maid in Duality, but quit to enter the elven military academy – first girl to enter, first girl to graduate. The hero prince Aryk is one of the dreaded rievers – think Spartans in Iceland. But he wants to unite the tribes into a nation (think Attila) and join the rest of the world as an equal. His rival Belok wants to unite the tribes into a nation to dominate the rest of the world. King Loren makes Verdeen his Right Hand to keep Aryk alive in his quest – the elves judge him the lesser of two evils. Aryk’s best friend Valkyn doesn’t trust Verdeen, thinks she’s a spy. Tries to undermine her at every turn. Poor girl’s got her work cut out for her!