Promo & Giveaway: Fiery Edge of Steel by Jill Archer

Fiery Edge of Steep
Noon Onyx #2
by Jill Archer

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Lucifer and his army triumphed at Armageddon, leaving humans and demons living in uncertain peace based on sacrifice and strict laws. It is up to those with mixed demon and human blood, the Host, to prevent society from falling into anarchy.

Noon Onyx is the first female Host in memory to wield the destructive waning magic that is used to maintain order among the demons. Her unique abilities, paired with a lack of control and reluctance to kill, have branded her as an outsider from her peers. Only her powerful lover, Ari Carmine, and a roguish and mysterious Angel, Rafe Sinclair, support her unconventional ways.

When Noon is shipped off to a remote outpost to investigate several unusual disappearances, a task which will most likely involve trying and killing the patron demon of that area, it seems Luck is not on her side. But when the outpost settlers claim that an ancient and evil foe has stepped out of legend to commit the crimes, Noon realizes that she could be facing something much worse than she ever imagined…

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Jill Archer is the author of Dark Light of Day, the first book in the Noon Onyx series. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jill now lives in rural Maryland with her two children and her husband, who is a recreational pilot. She blogs about books, movies, interesting people, and various weekend adventures.

Find Jill and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook

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May 6- May 11 each day a new excerpt from Chapter One of Fiery Edge of Steal is being revealed. Stop by each site to read a new sneak peak and enter the giveaway.

Chapter 1 Part 4

To the east of the square, I heard scraping and clanking. The crowd rippled and swelled back as if a giant had stepped into its edge. “But drakons are a myth,” I said quickly, turning toward the sounds. They were mythological creatures, winged demons supposedly born to human mothers.

“As much of a myth as a female member of the Host with waning magic,” Sasha snorted. I blocked him out. I was trying to block it all out.

I don’t want to be here, I thought. I can’t do this. I won’t do this.

I was the girl who went out of her way not to step on ants. I put house spiders in cups and took them out to the curb rather than squashing them under my boot heel. And I was expected to help kill someone I’d never met just because someone else said they deserved to die? Even if I had paid more attention in class, someone else’s case notes wouldn’t have been enough to convince me to end another’s life. Frankly, I didn’t know if I was capable of executing a demon in cold blood. But what I did know was that if I was going to be asked to take on the moral responsibility of ending another’s life I was damn well going to be deciding for myself whether they deserved it or not and I wasn’t going to be participating in an execution purposefully designed to be cruel.

At the edge of the crowd, my father was ascending the wooden steps of a hastily erected platform. Waldron Seknecus, St. Lucifer’s dean of demon affairs, and Quintus Rochester, one of our professors, stood near the platform with several upper-year Maegesters-in-Training. My father walked to the center of the platform and held his hands up. The crowd immediately fell silent. He gestured to his left and a young man was led up the stairs.

Rail thin and filthy, the man stared defiantly out at the crowd. But when a woman’s cry pierced the silence, his defiant look turned to one of terror. He hadn’t known she would be here, I thought. I could feel it in his signature. The anguish, the anger, the remorse. Suddenly I heard a thump and the crowd shifted again in response to something happening. Jezebeth strained against his captors, twisting his body from side to side, trying to break free. But more than mere muscles held him in place.

Had his human lover thrown herself against the base of the platform?

Was that the thump I’d heard? The thought of her desperation suddenly made me sick. Why was she being forced to watch?

The crowd swelled. I felt the waning magic around me intensify. Beside me, Ari’s waning magic flared and I suddenly felt like I’d emerged from a dark house into blinding sun. Instinctively, I shielded myself from him. He glanced down at me with a small, stiff smile. In the midmorning sunlight, his eyes were the color of caramel.

“Ari . . .”

I didn’t have to finish my thought. Waning magic users couldn’t read minds, but some of us—the more powerful ones—could feel each other’s feelings. My redlining signature told Ari everything he needed to know. I was ready to bolt.

“Don’t. Everyone will see you leave,” he said in a low voice, leaning close to my ear. “You’re standing right next to me so no one will know if you don’t participate. My magic is strong enough for both of us.” He stared at me, waiting for me to respond. I shook my head and clenched my fists, keeping my head down. I didn’t want Ari throwing my stones for me. Or seeing me cry when I did so. Up front, the drakon’s lover continued her pitiful sobbing as she begged my father to set him free.

“Unveil him,” my father commanded, motioning toward Jezebeth. The Archangels on the platform cast a spell and suddenly Jezebeth—the real Jezebeth—was before us.

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Interview: Gilded Destiny by Nola Sarina

UFI welcomes Nola Sarina Author of Gilded Destiny. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?

First, I am a mother. That always comes first in my life.

After that comes the rest of me: wife, writer, and Tarot card reader.

My ancestors were Romani Gypsies from Poland/Russia/wherever, since it’s really hard to track the origins of travelling ancestors. I learned about stereotypical Gypsies when I was young and began reading Tarot cards before I hit my teens. Now, I use the Tarot to guide me in everyday life, to open my eyes to things I may have missed, and to foreshadow what challenges may lay ahead. I love reading cards for others, too. All of it makes up a piece of who I am, along with the littler puzzle pieces like “Star Trek fan” and “constantly wears zip-up hoodies.”

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

Down time is kind of rare for me. But my best friend (and writing partner on other projects) has a gaggle of kids of her own, so we get together for family dinners and video games and swimming. In the summer, we also geocache and hike along the river. It really takes someone else enticing me away from the writing/housework routine with magical phrases like “treasure hunting” and “shiny rocks in the river” that make me go OMG, maybe we’ll see a FAERY!!!

And it’s always worth it, too. One time we found a big boulder and broke it apart because it was loaded with crystals inside. Imagine the glee on the faces of seven kids crowding around a rock that opens up and reveals what they think are diamonds. J

What is your Favorite part of writing? 

Probably the daydreaming. Like, when you read a book, you don’t think about, “How many scenes in this book were structured while the author was in the bathtub?” But the answer is: a lot. I spend more time imagining the scenes, arranging the characters in my head and flowing through their dialogue than I spend writing them out.

Hell, sometimes my husband catches me staring into space and moving my lips and hands around while my characters are talking to each other. And then I’ll get really into it and gasp out loud, or laugh at something and then my husband can’t keep it in anymore and he starts laughing. But I get SO INTO IT.

Action scenes, not so much. I’m not running around my yard going, “AAAHH! VESPERS!” and ducking and rolling through the mud or anything. I swear. *shifty eyes*

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?

Every time I complete a scene, I read back over it, and then I set it aside for an hour, a day, a week, whatever time my brain needs to form the next scene in my head. But when I sit down to write the new one, I always re-read the last thing I wrote.

Also, coffee is a must before writing, but I do sometimes sip tea while writing for one reason only: I can keep the teapot next to me and pour into my little tiny teacups and sip a little, and then when I draw a blank on a sentence, I pour another cup and sip it so it looks like I’m doing something, rather than just staring at the screen going duuuuuhhhhh…….. *flatlined brain*

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?

Jacqueline Carey is my favorite Fantasy author. Her worlds are elaborate, refined, and her characters experience the world through vivid relationships and conflicts that I’m so invested in because she just knows how to make you cheer for a character’s success.

I’m also a big fan of Karen Chance and her sense of humor, and the action that is so packed with the unexpected that I flip the pages until I’m exhausted!

How would you pitch Gilded Destiny to someone who has never heard of it before??

A woman's memory returns when she falls in love with the monster who took it from her.

What can you tell me about the world that Gilded Destiny is set in?

Gilded Destiny is set in this world, and the events of the immortals involved are always hidden from the public eye. The Vespers move at night and on secret trains, and forbid any human outside the train company to know of their existence. In fact, that secrecy leads to the most frightening conflict in the book: Calli’s exposure to so much of the Vesper world puts her in serious danger from the brutal Master she fears.

Do you have a favorite scene in Gilded Destiny?

The sex. Hahahaha Okay, no seriously… the sex. *laughs* What can I say? I write what I love, and I love having my characters connect on that intimate level. I also love allowing them to walk on that border between the most forbidden pleasure and the most exquisite danger, as is the nature of sex between Vespers and humans.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?

 

Nycholas was a joy. He’s quite different from the other Vespers I’ve written about, because he’s already defied the Master and isn’t stuck in the repetitive life of servitude, anymore. The thing about Vespers is that they don’t get to enjoy how awesome they are, since they’re always oppressed beneath their duty to safeguard humanity, their food source. Nycholas gets to be a bit freer, eat when he needs to, love with a depth of which he’s not afraid, and seek what he wants without giving a crap about the repercussions unless it personally affects him.

Calli was difficult for me, because I’m not good at writing female 1^st person voice. Or at least I wasn’t, until Calli. She taught me a lot about how a woman thinks and behaves, but I’m so used to male voice (despite being a woman, myself) that it took a few tries to really sink into her voice and figure out where she came from, and what she wants.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?

Gilded Destiny is the first in a trilogy of Vesper novellas which will allow the reader to understand the divide between the genders of the Vespers as well as learn more about their origin through the eyes of unique characters falling dangerously in love.

In addition to the novellas, I have the full-length novels in the series Vesper on submission to publishers thanks to my amazing Inklings agent Michelle Johnson. Vesper explores the relationship between the immortal Levi and a certain red-headed human woman who pursues him, and the dire consequences that result from his eventual betrayal of his Master’s rules.

I also have Wild Hyacinthe, a paranormal romance I co-wrote with Emily Faith on submission to publishers. 

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GILDED DESTINY is the first of three novellas in Nola Sarina’s dark fantasy VESPER series, represented by Michelle Johnson of Inklings Literary Agency. Follow Nola on Twitter @NolaSarina and on Facebook for awesome announcements, giveaways, and upcoming info about the second Novella in the series!   

Nola is a mother, wife, writer, and giggle-a-holic, living in Canada and raising a pack of kids. In her spare time she can be found geocaching, guzzling coffee, or tending to her garden. Her VESPER series is on submission by her agent to publishers, along with WILD HYACINTHE, a paranormal romance co-authored with Emily Faith.

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Gilded Destiny
A Vesper Novella

A woman's memory returns when she falls in love with the monster who took it from her.

Calli tattoos her skin to fill the holes in her memory, thanks to an accident that left her mind damaged and empty. But a nasty encounter with a fired employee leaves her in the arms of her unlikely savior: Nycholas, a predatory, serpentine Vesper on the run from his brutal master.

Nycholas’ clandestine world holds the secrets to mankind’s origin and survival… but he only wants one thing before his time is up: a few colorful nights with Calli, the fragile, tattooed, human woman he pursued and saved.

The more Calli learns about Nycholas, the more her own darkened memories return to her. Despite her haunted past, she loses herself to passion and desire with her immortal captor.

Now, Calli must overcome the demons of her past, or allow Nycholas to kiss her memories away and spare her the trauma of loving a doomed immortal. But each choice comes with dire consequences – some that endanger not only herself, but her family as well.

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