Blog Tour: GOD'S SURPRISING WAY by Jeyran Main

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. S. Jeyran Main will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

God's Surprising Way: The Path to Lasting Joy, Healing, and Love guides readers into the upside-down kingdom of God, where human expectations are consistently overturned. In this transformative journey, the humble are exalted, the last are lifted, and true greatness is found through servanthood, surrender, and sacrificial love. Through Scripture, theological insights, and historical reflections-from Augustine and Luther to Bonhoeffer and Nouwen-readers discover how God's surprising ways cultivate lasting joy, deep healing, and authentic love.

Each chapter explores a distinct paradox of the gospel, demonstrating how humility, generosity, and obedience can transform relationships, communities, and personal faith. Practical reflections and prompts invite readers to integrate these principles into daily life-choosing forgiveness over resentment, service over recognition, and trust over control.

With accessible scholarship, devotional insight, and concrete application, this book reveals the practical power of God's reversals. It challenges conventional assumptions about success, power, and happiness, inviting believers to live counterculturally in alignment with Christ's teachings. God's Surprising Way is both an invitation and a roadmap: to encounter God's transformative presence, embody the values of the Kingdom, and experience joy, healing, and love that endure.

Read an Excerpt

Christianity begins with surprise! From the moment the Word became flesh, God has been showing us that His ways are not our ways. He made incarnate the Savior, not in a palace but in a stable. He was welcomed by shepherds first, the lowly, marginalized outcasts of society (Luke 2:8–12). Jesus continued to reverse our expectations throughout his life. He taught everyone that the last would be first, and the first last (Matthew 20:16), that the meek would inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), and that greatness was about servanthood, not privilege or authority (Matthew 20:26–27). Everywhere he went, the crowds were astonished—they were forced to recalibrate their understanding of power, privilege, and God’s blessing.

This reversibility, what some have called the upside-down kingdom, is key to understanding the surprising way of God. Where we see strength, control, and recognition, He delights in lifting the humble, exalting the meek, and blessing the poor in spirit. This is what Augustine means when he observes, “In the wisdom of God, they are overturned, and what seemed to be less is more weighty than it seemed in the world” (Augustine 1998, 54). This is often the counterfactual logic of the kingdom: surrender as a means of power, weakness as a source of strength, and service as a path to greatness.

The scriptures are replete with examples of reversibility. Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, and ultimately rules nations and saves them from famine (Genesis 50:20). David, the youngest and least regarded son of Jesse, becomes the greatest king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:11–13). The disciples, though zealously devoted to Jesus, have to learn that glory comes through humility, self-denial, and love for others (Mark 10:42–45). Jesus Himself modelled the supreme example; the Son of God, made majesty incarnate, suffers and dies, allowing defeat to become eternal victory.

Inviting us into the upside-down kingdom is more than a theological concept; it also shapes how we perceive our lives today. Our human assumptions—about success, happiness, and significance—are misguided. While learning to honour God’s surprising way, we see that consideration for a fleeting bit of favour from others gives way to joy, that surrender to God’s will yields health, and that loving others sacrificially through humble service changes relationships.

The upside-down kingdom is an invitation to see the world through God’s eyes—a way to fulfill what Jesus says; a way where “the last are first,” the “lowly are received” and “the hidden thing of love and service” is of eternal weight. The Paradox of Joy, Healing, and Love

In the upside-down kingdom, joy, healing, and love often appear to be contrary to human expectations. True joy is not the product of achievement, recognition, or comfort; healing is not always immediate; and love is rarely transactional. Instead, the Christian life invites believers into a paradox: the more we surrender, serve, and humble ourselves, the more these blessings flow into our lives.

About the Author:

Jeyran Main has spent years immersed in the world of books as an editor and publisher. She is the author of The Radical Realism of Jesus: A Framework for Living in the 21st Century and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Living in the Light of the Cross magazine. Through her platform, HeavenlyHarmonyHub.com, she provides resources that encourage thoughtful engagement with faith. Guided by a passion for seeking truth, Jeyran explores how God’s counterintuitive Kingdom wisdom overturns human expectations and invites readers into a life marked by joy, healing, generosity, and love.

https://jeyranmain.com/gods-surprising-way/

Blog Tour: DEATH BEFORE A HOOKUP by Alicia Rice

 

In a world ruled by power, desire can be deadly.

Death Before a Hookup

by Alicia Rice

Genre: Romantic Suspense, Thriller

In the heart of two cities divided by rivalries, it unveils a compelling narrative of passion, ambition, and transformation.

 James, a steadfast leader striving for progress, faces the complex dynamics of a changing world as he partners with Evelleyne, a boss from a rival gang. Against an ongoing feud between the Northside Ryders and the River Syndicates, a symbol of new possibilities, the characters embark on a journey of self-discovery, secrets, adoration, and resilience. The flames of change burn brightly, forging alliances, shattering expectations, and ultimately illuminating the path to redemption.

Prepare for a tale of love, loyalty, and redemption set against conflict and transformation. As the characters navigate the complexities of their choices, the story explores the resilience of the human spirit and the indomitable power of love to endure even in the darkest times.

 

“The perfect enemies-to-lovers novel with Romeo and Juliet vibes. Gritty, emotional and utterly unputdownable!”

“Evelyne and James’ love story was beautifully made. I was torn apart by the tragic ending.”

 

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Where are you, baby? You know I hate waiting,” says Evelleyne, her breath briefly fogging the reflected outline of her bare shoulder on her phone's screen."

“I just got out of the shower. Give me about fifteen minutes, and I’ll be there,” said James.

“You could have waited on the shower, baby. You’ll be hot and sweaty as soon as I let you in the door.”

“Is that so? Well, let me hurry up then. Sounds like I’m going to have my work cut out for me tonight.”

“You have no idea.”

“Let me finish here. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Okay, baby. Be careful. No speeding tickets this time.”

“I can’t make any promises. You know I can’t wait to get to you, girl.”

“I know, baby, but I’m not going anywhere, so there’s no need to rush. Just know your girl is waiting on you—with nothing on.”

“See, that’s what makes me break the law getting to your house.”

Evelleyne laughs. “You’re so cute when you’re possessive.”

“Yeah, and I’m the luckiest man alive to have you in my life. I’m gone; see you in a few.”

“Okay, baby.”

Evelleyne sits on the window ledge, gazing out into the night. The moon is high, and its white light glistens on her voluptuous, tanned body. Her heart beats faster, and she can barely catch her breath as she tightens the grip on her cell phone.

James is rushing down the steps, ready to see his beloved. He hears a soft, shaky voice as he’s about to hit the “end call” button on his cell phone.

“I love you, James,” says Evelleyne.

“I’ll see you soon,” he shyly responds.

Evelleyne gazed at the night sky, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She knows James loves her, but he won't say it—he’s proved that. Still, she wants to hear it from his lips.

James hopped in his Chrysler 300. Though excited to see Evelleyne, he’s nervous before starting the car. His mind drifted through the chapters of his life, a journey marked by unexpected turns and profound transformations.

He thought back to the days when he rose through the ranks, becoming an underboss for the Northside Ryders. The choices, alliances forged, and conflicts navigated shaped him into a formidable figure in the city's underworld.

Meeting Evelleyne was a turning point. Her strength, resilience, and unwavering spirit drew him in. Love blossomed amidst the chaos, a beacon of light in the shadows of their tumultuous world. Together, they dared to dream of a different future.

 

Alicia Rice is a multi-genre author, leadership development strategist, and speaker whose work explores power, choice, resilience, and the human condition. She is the author of several compelling titles, including Historian of the Wasteland, a gripping dystopian series that challenges readers to examine what survives when systems collapse — and what should.

By day, Alicia serves as a Learning & Development leader, designing leadership programs that empower emerging and senior leaders to lead with courage, justice, and accountability. By night, she writes stories that explore generational trauma, moral conflict, and the quiet strength of those history often overlooks. Her work is deeply influenced by her grandmother’s encouragement, who nurtured her love of storytelling from a young age and instilled in her the belief that her voice mattered.

When she’s not writing or mentoring, Alicia is either gaming or building platforms that connect authors, leaders, and lifelong learners through purpose-driven dialogue

 

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Blog Tour: INTERRUPTION by Victor Pierce

 

Untether the pleasure.

Reclaim the magic.

Interruption: Kingdom of Paradimia

The Princess Annals Book 2

by Victor Pierce

Genre: Erotic Romantasy

Aaliyah’s journey continues in this erotic fantasy-scape as she struggles to understand whether love includes depravity.

Exposed to a handful of soul dust, Aaliyah re-awakens and sets off to free Gabriel from his prison within the Dry Woods. Outside, she is again confronted by a gryphon but with no not-to-bright knight to defend her. Good thing the gryphon only wants companionship. The flight of a wandering heartsick gryphon is not a direct route to anywhere and after watching a raunch of unicorns, Liyah tumbles into a magical river far from her desired destination. Between encounters with dwarves who remember her forgotten promise and fairies who sell favors for power, she must master the primal magics of patterning and untether the pleasures she once bound to fidelity.  For Liyah has learned that Gabriel, the man who anchors her, is not only trapped in the Dry Woods but also bound by primal locks that will age him to death if opened incorrectly. 

Every bit of new magics comes with a cost: soul-dust addiction, bargains that entangle desire and duty, and adversaries who want her power for themselves. With time collapsing and a witch’s spell hovering like an axe, Liyah must decide whether the route to rescue is the same path she promised never to tread—pleasure given away to reclaim what matters most. The question is simple and brutal: how much will she sacrifice to save him?

 

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Liyah blinked and found herself back in her body in the castle’s kitchen. Edwin gazed at her, concerned. “What happened? Are you all right?”

Indeed. She looked down to where the bag of red dust should have been cupped in her hand. The bag, along with its siblings on the table, had disappeared. For a moment, Liyah mourned. She wanted to return.

Edwin must have read her expression. “I removed it. It’s addictive. Soul dust. If I’d known something so powerful was left hanging around in the kitchens, I would have checked and removed it earlier. Perhaps magical royalty is less concerned with lower magics. Are you alright?” He’d rounded the table and stood beside her, rubbing her back.

She wasn’t, but she didn’t want him focused on her. She needed him to return to the dragon. “Lower magics?”

He sighed. “I forget you do not remember certain things. Most things, it seems, related to magics. In my kingdom, Paradimia, we are not generally born magics users, but we do have access to lower magics—magics not of people, but of things, like the soul dust. Low-level magics—from something inanimate, like the dust—may be used by anyone, whether they are magical themselves or not.”

She’d thought this land was without magics, but it seemed there were magics within, just not many magics of living beings. She nodded. “So it is not likely low-level magics would be hanging around in a kitchen. I understand.” She felt around on her body. “I don’t seem to be injured, so perhaps it is time I started my journey.”

“Do you not wish for my company?”

She needed him elsewhere. “It isn’t that I don’t want you with me. My parents need your assistance. Bethela will need another story for the spell needed to put my parents back to sleep. And I am going to the Dry Woods to free Gabriel. You see? We are fated to part ways now.”

It was a pity his expression grew suspicious, for she had relayed the truth. His voice broke as he spoke. “Is it what I did with the gargoyles? Is that why you no longer wish for my assistance?”

She had only briefly thought of the gargoyles since she died. It must have weighed on him. “It is not the gargoyles, although I know you to be the true knight you are from what I witnessed. And I know you to have love in your heart, even when you sometimes speak to me without consideration. No. Here I ask you to be the guardian I know you to be.”

“But why is it important that your parents go back to sleep? Surely they can be of greater assistance awake. They will eventually remember who you are.”

Liyah reached out and squeezed his arm. “I already know who I am, Edwin. That is thanks to you. I am Aaliyah, and I am kind and courageous and determined. I know those things about myself because of you.”

Edwin sighed and leaned back against the table. His golden locks fell against his handsome face. “So now I need to help your parents go back to sleep.”

“Yes. If anyone remembers who I am, a spell will find and kill me. Like the spell that protected the castle.”

He frowned. “Yes. That was very dangerous.”

“And my father says this spell is far worse than the one that chased us about Haven. So, you see, it is imperative that they go back to sleep. I do not wish to separate, but I must free Gabriel. When I left him, he was afire again.”

The Princess Annals: Kingdom of Haven

The Princess Annals Book 1

In this fantasy world of the erotic, Aaliyah must journey to find her lost identity. Aaliyah awakens in an empty castle with no memory and only an enchanted clock to send her on her quest. Seduce by one not-to-bright knight, Aaliyah finds herself hunted by an unseen force yet imbued with powerful magic. She must coerce horny pixies, swap sex stories with a dragon, and rely on that same not-too-bright knight to seduce the gargoyle king and his coven in order to secure the incantation that will reveal who she is. And her unknown enemy is catching up to her fast.

Aaliyah’s journey sends her to Gabriel imprisoned in a magical wood. She grows to love Gabriel and discovers that the only thing which can release him now is love, absolute. But how can she love completely if she doesn’t know who she is?

Beware gentle reader; thread carefully through this erotic romp as a woman awakened to her innate powers risks all to discover her true self before an unseen enemy annihilates her.

This is the first Aaliyah story in the series.

 

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Victor Pierce is a seasoned writer with a focus on erotic fiction. He enjoys classic mythology and horror novels. His first series, The Princess Annals, draws together his love for mythology and the erotic. He resides in College Park with his partner and her anxiety-ridden black cat and overly-social gray cat. You may reach him at victor.pierce@bookofvenus.com or at or at https://www.bookofvenus.com/connect-with-us/

 

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Blog Tour: The Broken Crown Saga by Orlan Drake

 

Where loyalty shatters, legends are forged.

The King’s Fall

The Broken Crown Saga Book One

by Orlan Drake

Genre: Epic Fantasy

A Gripping Tale of Royal Betrayal and Hidden Romance

When darkness falls on the kingdom of Ardanthia, readers will find themselves caught up in a story where nothing is what it seems. Princess Eloise faces impossible choices as murder and betrayal tear her world apart. Her secret love for the Prince of Caladorn adds another layer of danger to an already deadly situation. This isn't just another royal romance - it's a heart-pounding adventure where love and loyalty clash in the most dangerous ways possible. You'll feel every moment of tension as Eloise walks the razor's edge between duty and desire.

 

Mystery and Investigation That Keeps You Guessing

Sir Cedric Blackthorn brings detective skills that would make any crime solver jealous. His brilliant mind works to solve puzzles that could save or destroy an entire kingdom. As Ambassador Zafir arrives with hidden motives and Baron Gorgo schemes from the shadows, every character becomes a suspect. The investigation twists and turns through palace halls filled with secrets. You'll find yourself trying to solve the mystery alongside Cedric, picking up clues and second-guessing every revelation. The chase scenes will have you on the edge of your seat as our heroes race against time through a kingdom ready to explode into war.

 

Fantasy Adventure That Brings Legends to Life

The Broken Crown Saga starts with this incredible first book that mixes political drama with fantasy elements that feel fresh and exciting. Secret groups work behind the scenes, pulling strings that control the fate of nations. The world-building draws you in completely, making you believe in a place where magic and politics dance together in dangerous ways. This story proves that sometimes solving one crime can prevent an entire war - and that the most important battles happen in the shadows.

 

For readers of David Eddings and Terry Brooks, this sweeping tale of betrayal, magic, and destiny will leave you breathless.

 

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The King's Fall opens not in a throne room, but underground. A secret order — no names, no titles, only cloaks and the authority of old purpose — has gathered around a rune-carved table to debate an incident that should not have happened: a full diplomatic party has been wiped out on the road between two kingdoms, and neither king ordered it. Someone is pulling strings that no one can see. The council is about to do something dangerous. They are going to look.

 

There existed beneath the old earth a sanctum kept from all maps and memories, shielded by corridors that twisted into each other with a geometry of deliberate confusion. In the deepest of its halls, a chamber circular and primeval waited in perpetual shadow. The room's centrepiece, a stone table whose circumference rivalled a city well, had been carved from a single slab of basalt. Its rim and surface bore etched runes and ancient sigils, their purpose unclear to any but initiates of the silent order that convened there.

Around this table, shrouded figures gathered, their cloaks indistinguishable but for subtle variations in the weave — one a blue so dark it drank in the torchlight, another a coarse grey laced with fine metallic thread, a third in deep forest green that shed a dusting of spores with every movement. Even in the heart of stone, the air hung moist and cold, saturated with the scent of burnt tallow and the musk of old water. From sconces in the arched walls, torches spat and guttered, casting orange light that slithered across faces as pale and anonymous as death masks.

No titles were spoken here, only the functional necessity of names earned and worn like invisible crowns. The magister at the head of the table, tall, angular, motionless save for the slow folding of gloved hands, did not need to identify himself. When he spoke, the voice cut through the stillness as though it had been whetted on the stone itself.

"Our watchers are not in agreement." The words were uninflected, carefully measured.

A murmur passed around the circle, not of dissent but of discomfort. The second figure, smaller but with an evident coiled energy, leaned forward. Her hands were bare, fingers long and stained black along the creases, and she tapped the table where the runes formed a broken circle.

"It is a minor border skirmish, Sentinal," she said. "Bloodier than most, but hardly unprecedented. Let the kingdoms squabble among themselves — Ardanthia and Caladorn have always warred at the fringes." She sounded impatient, as though summoned for a lesser concern.

The magister in blue, whose hood cast his face into shadow, spoke with a slight tremor. "The killing was not so minor. An entire diplomatic train vanished — every courier, every retainer, every guard. The ambassador's body was not even left for ransom. That is new. That is calculated."

The Sentinal allowed the words to settle, scanning the circle with a gaze that seemed to fix on each magister, regardless of where his face was aimed. "Six months ago, an envoy of Ardanthia, Lord Marcus Blackbriar, journeyed south with full ceremonial escort. Their course was direct: Eldoria to Delrith, then through the corridor to Mirashar. Before reaching Delrith, they were set upon and destroyed. Only one man survived, and he staggered back to Eldoria."

"Coward's tale," said the woman with the ink-stained hands. "Most witnesses die of their wounds, the lucky ones first."

The Sentinal ignored the snipe. "Our watcher in Eldoria heard the testimony. The survivor told King Leofric himself that the attackers wore the livery of Caladorn. Our watcher in Caladorn, however, tells a different story: they found no evidence of a sanctioned operation. If anything, Caladorn's own patrols have increased since the incident. Their court desires peace. Their king is tired of war."

A rustling of fabrics, the weight of suspicion shifting around the table. The green-cloaked figure finally broke his silence, voice low and gravelly. "If both kings are ignorant, then who profits from the attack? It's no longer a border dispute. It's something else."

A pause, broken only by the hiss of a torch collapsing into itself. The Sentinal's next words fell heavier for the silence.

"Our order exists not to shape events, but to understand them. Yet this affair grows more opaque with every new witness. Either our watchers lie, or we are being lied to. That alone is reason to intervene."

"There's little evidence it threatens the Balance," the woman pressed. "What can it matter if kingdoms grind each other to salt? We have seen worse in the east. Nothing endures but the Pattern."

"Unless the Pattern itself is being rewritten," the blue-hooded man said.

At this, the Sentinal brought his palms flat on the runic table, producing a hollow note that echoed into the stone. "We are not theorists. To maintain the balance we need clarity, not further confusion. We will look. Tonight, we summon the memory of that day and see for ourselves."

The woman's upper lip curled. "The power to see through time is not borrowed lightly, Sentinal. It leaves marks on both the living and the dead."

"We risk more by not knowing," the Sentinal said. "If our council cannot agree on what is, how can we guide what must be?"

The blue-hooded man lifted a hand, uncertain. "If it is as you say, and both sides are being manipulated, then the ritual may be hazardous. Memory is often trapped by the will of those who shaped it."

Twilight’s Dominion

The Broken Crown Saga Book Two

The peace was always a lie. They just didn't know whose.

Queen Eloise of Ardanthia has done everything right. She negotiated the alliance with Caladorn, married the prince, held her court together through blight and borderland attacks and the whispered threat of an ancient secret order. Now, with villages vanishing overnight — crops blackened, livestock dead, people simply gone — she does what any good ruler would do. She sends her best.

Sir Cedric Blackthorn, the precise and principled knight-investigator. Captain Elira, a soldier who has survived too much to flinch at anything. Tomas, a scholar more at home with footnotes than fistfights. Ryn, a street thief from the Saltspire docks whose instincts are worth more than anyone's education. And Auralias — the Court Mage, brilliant and unsettling in equal measure — who brings knowledge of old magic that none of the others possess, and who may be the only thing standing between Ardanthia and the League of the Moon.

Together, they are hunting the League before the League can finish what it started.

What they find will change everything they think they know — about the attacks, the conspiracy, and the true scale of what is being assembled in the dark. There are artifacts, older than any living kingdom, whose power was thought lost to history. There are secrets buried so deep that uncovering them will cost more than anyone is prepared to pay. And there is a question, growing louder with every mile: who, exactly, is the enemy?

Twilight's Dominion is a story about loyalty tested to breaking, courts where every smile hides a calculation, and the particular horror of realising that the enemy has been in the room all along. It is about a queen learning that the peace she built was built for her — and a company of mismatched, battle-worn companions who keep fighting even after the ground gives way beneath them.

Set across mountain fortresses carved from living rock, fog-wrapped port cities, a besieged royal palace, and the treacherous corridors of two kingdoms in collision, this is epic fantasy for readers who like their politics sharp, their magic consequential, and their betrayals earned.

Perfect for readers who love:

*The political intrigue of A Song of Ice and Fire

*The ensemble loyalty of The Lies of Locke Lamora

*The world-building depth of Robin Hobb

*Characters who are competent, scarred, and worth caring about

"There's no certainty in what's ahead. But I'd rather die among friends than watch the world go to monsters."

The Broken Crown Saga:
Book One: The King's Fall
Book Two: Twilight's Dominion
Book Three: Echoes of Kings - coming soon

 

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Twilight's Dominion opens on two stories running in parallel. In the first, Lady Seraphina D'Argent — a diplomat travelling alone through the unforgiving Crownspine mountains — has just been surrounded by armed strangers on a mountain pass. She has been riding for ten weeks on orders she doesn't fully understand, heading toward coordinates her queen gave her without explanation. She is about to discover something that will change everything she thought she knew about the world she serves.

~820 words

 

The figures came on in absolute silence, fanning out across the trail with the efficiency of wolves. In a matter of seconds they had closed off her retreat and were sliding, almost bonelessly, down the talus to encircle her.

Their leader wore a helm that entirely concealed his face, its visor painted with a crude snarl of animal fangs. The others carried composite bows at the ready, arrows nocked, but pointed down — a gesture that managed to be both merciful and contemptuous at once. Seraphina drew Cassia to a halt and set her hands openly on the pommel, every muscle rigid with calculation.

"State your business," the leader growled, voice rendered inhuman by the tin of his visor.

Seraphina debated, for perhaps two breaths, whether to attempt bluff or bravado. The bows decided the matter. "I am Lady Seraphina D'Argent, of Armathor," she replied, "on a mission from Her Majesty Queen Evelina."

The leader turned, a lazy gesture that made mockery of her authority, and a snort went up among his lieutenants. "And your escort?"

"Was not permitted." Seraphina kept her gaze level, though the blood pounded furiously in her ears. "I am to meet with a representative of the Riders, if you are such."

The mention of the Riders produced a shift in the circle. The archers exchanged glances, some wary, some almost amused. The leader drew closer, boots crushing the shallow crust of snow.

"You speak too much for a courier," he observed. "But too little for a spy." He swept a gauntleted hand at her pack horse. "Open your satchel."

She untied the travel case from the gelding, working fingers gone numb in the cold, and fished out the scroll tube. It was heavy, made of dark wood and brass, the wax seal untouched. She held it up so they could all see the sigil of Caladorn: a pair of crossed sabres over a seven-pointed star. There was a stillness, then a slow, careful release of tension among the archers as the leader nodded, almost respectful.

"Walk forward. Slowly," he said.

They escorted her up the ridge, off the trail, through a section of scree so loose that even Cassia balked. For an hour, maybe more, they wound through impossible switchbacks and across narrow spines of rock, each step a new exercise in balance and terror. Finally, the leader raised his hand and the party halted at a narrow saddle between peaks.

Seraphina caught her breath, took a long swallow from her water skin, and paused as she noticed what lay beyond the saddle.

The city was carved into the living stone of the mountain's interior, hidden from the world by both geometry and design. Terraced galleries spiralled down the inside face of a gigantic crater, studded with windows and fire-gleaming vents that gave the place an eerie, hive-like vibrance. Slender bridges of bone-white stone spanned the void between rocky spurs, connecting to massive towers whose roofs gaped open to the sky. Far below, at the crater's deepest point, a plaza of blue granite caught the light of a hundred lanterns, transforming it into a pool of shimmering stars.

She had never seen such a thing. She had never heard of such a thing. And yet, as she stood there, wind plucking at her cloak, Seraphina understood instantly, with a sick clarity, that Queen Evelina had always known.

They did not take her down the public steps. Instead, the archers led her along a narrow spiral cut into the stone, half-tunnel, half-balcony, with just enough space for one person and a horse at a time. The air grew colder with every turn, and the hum of unseen machinery — bellows, pulleys, some kind of water-driven elevator — echoed from deep within the walls. At last they emerged onto a flagstoned platform where the leader, visor now up, gestured for her to dismount.

"Wait here," he said, less threatening now. "You will be summoned."

Seraphina did not ask how long. She untethered her gloves, flexed her hands, and tried not to shiver in the thin mountain air. The view from the platform was staggering; across the chasm, the terraces of the city glimmered with what looked like glass or ice, and tiny figures moved between the arcades.

A boy in a grey tunic arrived, bearing a tray of tea and something that looked like bread but tasted of cedar and salt. He smiled at her with a gentleness that belonged to another world. When she asked him his name, he merely gestured for her to drink.

Time stretched, then snapped back when the leader returned, flanked by two more guards in matching visors. "You will come," he said.

I am a new author writing under the pen name Orlan Drake, my real name is Chris Hills Farrow.  I've worked as a freelance writer for magazines in the past but have always wanted to write fiction, and after having more free time during the lockdowns, I have made some progress. I enjoy fantasy because it opens my mind to other worlds or ways of life that do not exist in real life, or have ever existed.

 

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Blog Tour: LAUGHING THROUGH THE STORM by Jane Rogers

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jane Rogers will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Diagnosed with epilepsy at 13, Jane's life took a wild turn full of seizures, specialists, and some seriously strange hospital adventures. But instead of letting it break her, she learned to laugh—at the chaos, the cringe, and even the curveballs. Laughing Through the Storm is a hilariously honest memoir about finding resilience, ridiculousness, and unexpected joy in the middle of life's messiest moments.

Read an Excerpt

It was a frosty January morning in 1981 when I decided to make my dramatic debut in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. As the latest addition to the family line-up, I was a calm and easy-going baby, quietly lulling everyone into a false sense of security. Classic me— always setting up for a twist.

My dad worked for the Health of Animals, a branch of the Canadian federal government, as a veterinarian in Prince Edward Island. They were responsible for the control, prevention and eradication of certain animal diseases. As the district veterinarian for the entire province, he had responsibilities for the health and well-being of all livestock, from pigs and cows to chickens. His days were a mix of travelling to farms to test animals for serious diseases like tuberculosis and rabies; visiting auction houses to ensure only healthy animals were sold; attending meat-packing plants to collect samples; and making safety diagnoses to ensure that animals entering the food chain were safe for human consumption.

When I was two, my parents decided to move us to Riverview, New Brunswick, a town that became the stage for my happiest childhood memories. We lived on Hamilton Court, a little slice of suburban heaven with one particularly glorious feature: hills. Our backyard sloped gently, but our neighbours’ yards were even steeper, perfect for sledding. Every winter, kids from all over the neighbourhood would arrive armed with sleds, ready to turn those snowy slopes into the ultimate playground. We would shriek with laughter as we careened down the hill and tumbled into a snowbank. Gravity may have been our accomplice in the winter, but in the summer, it was the architect of our joy. My friends and I would roll down those same hills, giggling uncontrollably, dizzy from both the spinning and the laughter.

About the Author:

Jane Rogers is an accidental expert in epilepsy, diagnosed at 13 and living with it ever since. She's spent over three decades navigating seizures, side effects, and hospital adventures with grit, sarcasm, and a solid sense of humor. Laughing Through the Storm is her first book—a tribute to resilience, ridiculous moments, and finding light in the darkest places.

She lives in Ottawa with her supportive husband, Pascal, and their two mischievous chihuahuas, Junior and Bailey.

Fun Fact: Jane once had a seizure during a comedy show— and still insists the comedian owes her one.

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