Today’s snippet from me goes back a couple of years to one of my favorite books, THE ELF MAGE. The book is the third in the series, and begins in tragedy. The newborn son of the Elf Queen, Jelani Marsh and her consort, Astan Hawk, has been abducted, and the clan is in chaos. Jelani and Astan have left the clan lands, hiding in a cabin that belonged to Jelani’s human father until they can decide what best to do. But one thing they agree on in perfect clarity:

***

What to do? How would they find him?

            Holding her cold hands near the edge of the cookstove’s blue flame, she stared at the water, watched the bubbles come to the surface in the small pan, the steam rising above it. Her arms ached to hold Elliun. She sensed Astan behind her just before his arms encircled her waist, pulling her close to him.

            “We’ll find him, denami.”

            The emotions swirling in her gut lay far from his comforting reassurances; her instincts cried out for violence.  “We’ll find Grigor, too, and we’ll destroy him for real this time.”

            His voice in her ear held an edge of cold ice. “He will not live.”

***

The tale continues through the winter lands in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana, as they track their missing son and others seek to either build the clan back together or tear it down once and for all.

Is it enough to say that the solution to the whole mess comes at the hands of one Kevin-Smith like computer geek and his World of Warcraft avatar? Perhaps.

For more information on this series, click the tab above.

Still working on the Horizon Crossover series–but I expect to turn book two in to my editor this weekend (Yay!), and I’m so grateful she has been understanding of how my life has changed this year. Book three, HORIZON DYNASTY, is underway.

Let’s hope everything is back on track. Relationship and health issues and legal issues just…suck.  :)

For more fascinating snippets, do stop by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Saturday site. Each week there’s a whole new buffet of bites and bytes all for your reading pleasure.

http://www.erindanzer.com/the-elf-guardian-by-lyndi-alexander/

The Bitterroot Mountains (pictured, right) hold many secrets. Including the existence of elves. :)

  Book Four of the Clan Elves of the Bitterroot series picks up several years after the other three, and involves a climate/earth shift crisis in the Montana mountains:

The strong Earth energies that support the Clan Elves of the Bitterroot have gone awry for unknown reasons, and the powerful forces at work have not gone unnoticed by the outside world.

When a paranormal investigator looking for a story to save her career is told a fantastic tale by the juvenile and disobedient elf prince Elliun, his young albino elf bodyguard Max must try to fix the mistake.

Can Max get  humans, mages, and elves working together in time to save the land before the energies spin out of control? Or is this the end of the elven world in the Bitterroot Mountains?

I’ve posted previous snippets from this book introducing readers to the paranormal investigator, Chiara diLuna, and I think people are still prepared to like her.

Today’s snippet, though, goes back to the close relationship between humans Lane and Crispy, who are friends of the elf queen, as they’re on their way to warn the clan about the investigator’s arrival. Both of them grew up in foster care, and they have some…issues. But this bit tends to define how they feel about each other:

***

“You can do anything—you have the protection of the elves and the magic laptop. You can even kill evil elf usurpers! And you’re just….” Crispy struggled for the right words. “You’ve always taken care of me, Lane. Even when I was at my most lost, you could always find me. Whatever life gives you, you always throw it back in its face. Nothing ever gets to you.” A small smile came to him. “I want to be you when I grow up.”

***

This pair are some of my favorite creations ever, and they’re in every book of the Clan Elves series. I confess Lane actually took over THE ELF MAGE. But how else can you deal with a Kevin-Smith-like computer geek with a passion for Creamy Cupcakes and a tolerance for all flavors of crazy?

Find out more about THE ELF GUARDIAN here or at my other blog, Lyndi Alexander and her Worlds of Fancy . It’s available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, Smashwords, Apple iTunes and more!

For more delicious snippets from authors around the world, stop back at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and enjoy!

The first three books brought to life the story of Jelani Marsh, a young barista who believed she was mostly a failure in life, having grown up an orphan, losing her parents, dropping out of college, not having much to show for her years. But her encounter with a glass slipper revealed a whole different side to her life she’d never known. After that, she and her friends became involved in a secret world deep in the forests of the Bitterroot Mountains and had many adventures, even fighting in a civil war unseen by the outside world.

THE ELF GUARDIAN tells the story of what happens when that outside world becomes aware of some of the effects of the elven community on the human terrain they share, particularly the Montana Vortex, a fascinating site in Columbia Falls, Montana.

Here’s the book blurb:

Clan Elves of the Bitterroot – Book 4:
The strong Earth energies that support the Clan Elves of the Bitterroot have gone awry for unknown reasons, and the powerful forces at work have not gone unnoticed by the outside world.  When a paranormal investigator looking for a story to save her career is told a fantastic tale by the juvenile and disobedient elf prince Elliun, his young albino elf bodyguard Max must try to fix the mistake.  Can Max get  humans, mages, and elves working together in time to save the land before the energies spin out of control?  Or is this the end of the elven world in the Bitterroot Mountains?

And here’s today’s snippet, which delves a little into the histories of Jelani’s human friends Lane Donatelli and Ron “Crispy” Mendell,  and their interaction with elf mage Daven Talvi:

Lane tried to ignore the worm of nausea that slid, wet, through his stomach, at the memory of their thin, bruised foster brother. Crispy had been particularly close with Sammy during those times he’d lived with them, when the court hadn’t sent him back to his abusive mom and her boyfriend for ‘trial’ visits. During the last of those visits, Sammy hadn’t come back; the boyfriend killed him.

And Crispy had gotten revenge for poor Sammy, in his own way.

“Yes,” Daven said, “that hurt from the past is tied to his remorse for what happened that day.”

“He must have been able to sublimate it for awhile, in all this excitement of being free to go outside and all that.”

“Sublimate it? As in hide it away?”

Something in Daven’s tone flagged Lane’s Crazy-o-meter. “Daven, what did you do?”

Coming soon from Dragonfly Publishing, Inc. in ebook and paperback!

For more great science fiction and fantasy snippets, check out the rest of this week’s authors here at Science Fiction and Fantasy Saturday and come back every week for more!

Whatever was about to happen, Astan was sure she was at the center of it. He’d discovered over the years that Djana and the women didn’t gather without good cause.

            Why does Nana push me toward this girl?

            One of his grandmother’s favorite sayings came to mind: The best weapon against ignorance is the search for knowledge.

            Astan set his mind and his heart on that search, and went back downstairs. He pulled a chair away from the table, turned it so he could straddle it, and studied his grandmother intently.

            She was smiling before she even looked in his direction. “So, you finally want to know who she is. It’s about time.”

What he discovers changes his future forever, and indeed, the future of the whole elf clan.

Read another excerpt here, and see the book trailer here.

Here’s the blurb:  Clan Elves of the Bitterroot – Book I:
At her friend’s coaxing, Jelani tries on a real glass slipper left lying on the sidewalk. When she steps into the shoe it shatters, cutting her foot. As blood trickles to the pavement and mingles with the broken glass, dozens of two-inch high creatures emerge and then scurry away into the shadows. As if that was not bizarre enough, soon sheis approached by two mysterious and very handsome men claiming (of all things) to be elves who need Jelani’s help to rescue their queen. More revelations come, threatening to unravel the life of this sassy barista from Missoula, Montana. Jelani must come to grips with the idea that elves are not just creatures from a fairy tale. They are alive and living in the forests of the Bitterroot Mountains….

  THE ELF QUEEN is followed by THE ELF CHILD, THE ELF MAGE, and coming in 2013, THE ELF GUARDIAN, all from Dragonfly Publishing. You can order them at any online book distributor or a print copy at your favorite indie bookseller!

 Learn more at Lyndi’s other webpage: http://lyndialexander.wordpress.com

For more great science fiction and fantasy snippets, visit the Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday page–always someone new to read. You might discover your favorite new author!

Lane moved toward the door faster than he could remember moving anywhere for a long time, stopping short when he caught sight of Astan, holding an unconscious Jelani in his arms, both of them wet and dirt-streaked. “Come in, come in.”

            He and Kevin took the woman from Astan, the two of them half-tripping over each other as they carried her into the living room. It was Iris’ turn to vacate the couch so they had somewhere to put Jelani.

            “Iris?” Astan asked in bewilderment.

            “Oh, honey, here’s your baby—he’s safe.” Iris handed the baby to his father, who stumbled, mouth gaping in shock.

            “Germs!” groaned Crispy, still hiding in the kitchen. A roll of paper towels flew in from the kitchen. “Wet wipes.”

Have you read the Clan Elves’ series yet? Three books are in print/in ebook form now, and the fourth volume THE ELF GUARDIAN will be released in the next several months.

The series is geared for both YA and adult readers, with plenty of action, an unexpected love story, mystery, suspense and whimsy as well. The varied cast of characters, flawed, broken, yet also heroic, rising above their limitations to overcome magical odds they never imagined they’d encounter, are inspiring, and some of my personal favorites.

Have you heard of Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday? It’s a wonderful place to become acquainted with a number of new writers brave enough to put snippets of their work out there for people to read. The description on-site is ” a close-knit group of friends and colleagues working together to support and encourage one another and promote the science fiction and fantasy genres.” I’ve made new writer friends through the site for sure, and I invite you to come check it out every Saturday! This week’s posts will be found here, and will take you into the farthest reaches of space and the wildest places of fantastical imagination. Bring your hot beverage choice and settle in for a delightful buffet of snippets. :)

EXCERPT:

Concentrate, damn it. If you don’t get this right, those old witches will eat your liver or something. Turn you into a newt for real this time.
He bent down with a grunt and set the running computer on the bare dirt. Connected to the magic of the clan lands, it immediately whirred into a higher gear, and he could sense it was doing something. Now he had to see if it was doing what was needed.
“Hear, o elf clan of the Bitterroot, hear your technomage at work holding up his end of the bargain. Ah…Presto chango, Shazzam, Abracadabra, A la peanut butter sandwiches, hickory, dickory dock, shazbot, um, make it so!”
Having exhausted his repertoire of magic incantations, he stepped back, held his breath and waited.

Find out more about THE ELF QUEEN, THE ELF CHILD and THE ELF MAGE at the tabs above, or at http://lyndialexander.wordpress.com. You can buy the books at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and a host of other sources–find them at Dragonfly Publishing, Inc.

Find more great science fiction and fantasy snippets at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday’s main page. I love this group of authors–what great imaginations!

The quandary in the beginning of the story is that a defrocked but flashy paranormal investigator named Chiara DeLuna comes to the forest to investigate the Montana Vortex, hoping to make her name tops in the business again. She arrives just as the elves are about to conduct their solstice ritual–collision course ahead!

Lane Donatelli, now a “technomage” of the elf clan, has to do his part in the upcoming ritual, at the same time the clan is trying to fend off this investigator. If he was playing this out in his online game, he’d have no worries, but in real life? What’s a technomage to do?

Snippet:

Lane’s mind wandered, considering the possibility of the wind ‘speaking’ to anyone, a ridiculous thought. Despite the fact he’d been exposed to magic among the elves, and the fact he spent half his waking hours (and some of his sleeping ones, too) engaged in an ephemeral zone of bits and bytes in the online game that was so much less than real, he found it hard to believe that someone could commune with nature to such an extent. He’d seen it; Jelani had the power to heal broken trees and damaged stands of wood and grass. But he still didn’t believe it.
Fighting Yoda-scolding from his head, he tried to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing. Good thing, too, because just about then, Jelly Bean turned to him and asked, “And what can we expect from the amazing technomage department?”
The sparkle in her eyes showed that she teased him, and for just a moment she looked like his dear friend the barista, before the cares and worries of being a queen settled on her shoulders. He owed her more than just a light moment between good old buddies. As her colleague and advisor, she was counting on him for something magnificent.
And he had nothing.

Boy, is he in trouble now.

Find out more about THE ELF QUEEN, THE ELF CHILD and THE ELF MAGE at the tabs above, or at http://lyndialexander.wordpress.com. You can buy the books at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and a host of other sources–find them at Dragonfly Publishing, Inc.

Find more great science fiction and fantasy snippets at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday’s main page. I love this group of authors–what great imaginations!

This snippet is from the third book in the Clan Elves of the Bitterroot series, The Elf Mage, published by Dragonfly Publishing, Inc., (buy links here) available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all the usual sources.

Here’s the blurb: Daven Talvi made a choice a quarter-century ago to serve the Bitterroot Elf Clan, allowing the Circle of Elders to send him into suspended animation until the queen could be rescued. In doing so, he gave up his mate and his newborn son, sacrificing his own life for that of the clan. It had been a mistake. With the clan now in chaos and the new young queen in hiding, Daven must acknowledge his own errors and take responsibility to set things right. He teams up with Lane Donatelli, a human who has too long used food and computer gaming to feed his own insecurities. Together, they use Lane’s technology with Daven’s innate magical abilities to wage battle against the evil elf mages threatening the clan.

Lane’s specifically used a laptop one of the elves has infused with magic to manifest one of his toon warriors into the real world, the subject of today’s snippet:

The door burst open, but didn’t fly off its hinges, as he would have surely guessed with such a rickety piece of wood. Out came a huge green being, thick-bodied with rippling muscles and a sword in each hammy hand. Black clothing covered most of its body, and its chest covered with chunky leather armor. The thing dripped slobber from an impressive row of sharp teeth, and when it stepped forward, the ground shook. It stopped two elves’ lengths in front of him, leaned its head back and roared, a sound that vibrated the branches overhead and rattled Vez’s bones.
“I am Xiomar the Mighty!” it cried in a bold, deep voice. “I fight to protect the elf prince. Prepare to die!”

Sounds like it would work, right? But Lane just hasn’t quite figured it out yet…

Learn more about the Clan Elves at this site or at Lyndi’s main website.

Check out all the snippets from science fiction and fantasy authors for this Saturday!