Ennara and the Fallen Druid
by Angela
Myron
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Eleven
year-old Ennara Gaern has a serious grudge against the dragon on her right
hand.
Born
with a caul—a mask that foretold magical powers—she was immediately inked with
the fiendish, fire-breathing tattoo that forces her to study boring texts,
cover her hand continuously, and worst of all, keeps her from visiting the
beautiful capital city, Dordonne. But her quiet life changes when one night she
is attacked by a shadowy demon.
Tork,
an old friend and wizard, is enlisted to help. But when he arrives, he informs
Ennara’s parents that she is her world’s only hope of finding the legendary
Sword of Gisilfrid, which is needed to destroy the curse that is creating the
demons. Ennara doesn’t want to leave on the dangerous quest, but when she
learns the curse threatens her world, she reluctantly agrees.
Ennara
and the wizard begin a perilous journey to the Sunken City, pitting them
against dangerous oceans and pirates intent on claiming Ennara’s magic as their
own. With only her friends at her side, including the intelligent, aquatic cat
Smoos, Ennara must defeat monsters guarding the sword and servants of the
Fallen Druid. When her world is covered in darkness, will she know how to
dispel the curse?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
“Misty?”
A twig
snapped. A damp chill surrounded Ennara, picking up goose bumps on her arms.
The girl hugged herself and stomped her feet to fend off the cold. Why couldn’t
the cow make things easy for her tonight?
She took a
tentative step between two wild rosebushes. The sun slowly sank toward the
distant hills across Lake Coeur. If she hadn’t stayed so late fishing at the
docks with Kithe, she’d be home by now, cow tucked safely in the well-lit barn.
Ennara
glanced around the gloomy forest. Long shadows stretched across the pasture
between her and the farmhouse. She shivered. Her father, Lir, had warned her to
bring Misty back before sunset. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but she didn’t
want to meet one of the monsters stalking around at night that Kithe told her
about.
She heard the
familiar clang of the cow’s bell and called again, stepping near the sound.
Trees blocked her view. She peered between them, trying to catch a glimpse of
the exasperating bovine.
The
life-filled woods departed as the last rays of light slipped behind the hills,
leaving a hollow version of its higher self. The girl shivered a second time
and rubbed her arms.
The bell
sounded once more. Ennara jumped and spun around. She ran a few steps in the
direction of the sound, further into the trees.
Through the
approaching dusk, she caught a glimpse of metal. There it was—the cow’s bell
and collar hung on the limb of a young cottonwood. How had Misty managed to get
it off? Confused, the girl stepped toward the bell.
Behind her, a
twig snapped. She froze. She turned to see a tall shadow flitting among the
trees. Her heart fluttered as she backed away.
“M … misty?”
she whispered.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Like many
writers, I have a full life in which I juggle many duties and joys. I love to
cook, garden, and play with my twins. As a mother to toddlers, I write whenever
I am not helping them navigate their day--which typically means in the early
mornings and early afternoons when they sleep, and sometimes when Grandma comes
to visit.
I was
twenty-two when writing became a passion of mine. I've been doing it in one
form or another ever since. But it took me a very long time to follow my
heart's desire to tell stories.
For years, I
simply journaled. I delved into writing articles for newsletters and grant
proposals. I settled into technical writing, often finding myself a one-person
writing, editing, design, app development, and publication team. I learned the
basics of journalism, and finally, when on maternity leave with my twins, I
turned to writing fiction.
I am grateful
for every reader I have. Writing can be a solitary pursuit, but it can also be
a dialog, a meeting of the minds. I invite you to connect with me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AngelaMyron
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myron.angela?fref=ts
Website: http://www.angelamyron.com/
Join
my street team! Email me at myronangela@gmail.com to
subscribe to my newsletters.
Guest Post:
Creating Magical Worlds
Thank you for having me at your great website today, Deal
Sharing Aunt!
Today I was asked to write about a topic of my choice, so
I’m going to talk about one of the influences behind my fantasy stories.
Orson Scott Card, author of many
volumes of fantasy and science fiction, helped to shape Ennara and the Fallen Druid in subtle ways. I’ve read many of his
books and, frankly, can only hope that someday the style and quality of
legendary authors like him, Martin and Rowling will show in my pages.
Card wrote a book called How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy
that helped to guide how magic would work in Ennara’s world. He asserted that in
a magical world you can’t allow magic to cause anything to happen. There have to be rules and limits to magical
use. By giving a structure to how magic works in the world, you open up possibilities
for story. Card and many other authors have shown effective use of the limits
of magic many times in popular fantasies.
In Rowling’s Harry Potter series, for example, spell use was limited to knowing
the exact wording, to the age of the caster, and to the magical persons and
beings in Harry’s world. When magic spilled out of its boundaries and into the
normal “muggle” world, there were serious consequences.
Similarly, in A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin’s magical world appears to be
limited partially to the existence of dragons. In this extremely restricted
magical world, most people don’t even believe that magic exists. It’s a part of
history that is irrelevant to present-day reality. Except for a few rare
individuals.
In Ennara’s world, I limited
magical use to mental energy. The more spells a person in Lan uses, the more
downtime he or she needs to recover. This is a common limitation of magic in
fantasy role-playing games, so I felt it wouldn’t be difficult for my readers
to accept. However I shifted some of the details to make this magical world
unique. The energy required for spell use—and the spell itself—comes from
meditation and knowledge of the world philosophy built around “the Source”. A wizard
must focus his mind to regain his powers—he can’t just take a rest and start
casting again. And if he’s in the middle of a fight and runs out of energy,
he’d better be a quick runner! I built in one work-around for emergencies; an
energy elixir that will allow one, maybe two more spells out before the caster
can simply do no more. Unfortunately, the elixir doesn’t help Ennara and her
friends very much!
Ennara is unique in her world. Magic
is highly regulated. Not many people are able to perform magic—it is passed
down in families. All of magical families are connected to the Druidic Council
in Icelan, the regulating body of magic users. Ennara doesn’t have magic in her
family, but her birth carries a rare sign that foretells her magical ability.
As a newborn, she’s immediately tattooed to warn others she’s a magic user, but
her parents bribe the midwife to not report the birth to the royal house in
Dordonne.
Tork, an old friend of the family
and a wizard connected to the Council, maintains the girl’s secret so that she
can be raised at home. The family remembers the story of the last caul child
born in Estlan, to a family in Dordonne. Word spread quickly of the other
child’s birth and the city celebrated the birth of a hero.
Amid the festivities, the baby was kidnapped and never seen again. Rumors
alleged that King Gisilfrid, born miraculously to a barren queen, was that
child. The King then went on to defeat the sorcerer Ardewynn, keeping the tale
of the lost caul child in the local taverns for centuries.
And so, Ennara’s world of magic is
one of limits. Ennara is unique in that world, which sets her up for conflict,
demanding personal growth, and adventure. If I’m lucky, I did half as well as
legendary fantasy authors like Card, Martin and Rowling did before me.
Angela will be awarding to a randomly drawn commenter during each week on the tour, a wall calendar print from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag (Items can be exchanged for other equal or lesser value items from Ennara Swag on Cafepress.), and will award a t-shirt from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY).
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:
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Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting Ennara and the Fallen Druid today, Deal Sharing Aunt!
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