Monday, December 21, 2020

Hidden Library: The Second Spell Book Launch

It's snowing today. My cat sits by the window and growls at the falling snow.  I guess he doesn't remember the last time it snowed.

Today is release day for Hidden Library.  I started writing this book five or six years ago.  When I wrote Behind His Mask, I had no thought of it being a series and, truthfully, I don't know if there will be another Spell Book.  I started writing it thinking about a girl, who was like Emi, but not Emi.  What would happen to her if she had to make a similar choice?

The back of the book is not a synopsis.  It's a character reveal.  Here's how it goes:

Veda has a plan no one suspects!

Meet the teenage witches of Emi's old coven:

Veda - Deceptively beautiful and deeply complex, she only looks like a porcelain doll.

Fair Isle - A steampunk pixie with a dozen holes in her head.

Intarsia - Looks like an elf strayed from the greenwood, who just had a meal of moss.

Clementine - Would look like a Barbie doll if Barbie had been brutally beaten the night before.

Pearl - Straggly and stringing like a rag doll, she looks like she'll never grow up.

Salinger has come from his coven in the Yukon to find the girl of his dreams from among Veda and her

cousins. It would be easy to choose, if their cousin, Antony, didn't keep getting in the way.

Excerpt from Veda's first-person perspective:

The thing about these evil cousins of mine was that their evilness was never directed toward me.  They had plenty of drama amongst themselves, but no fight ever broke out that involved me.  Firstly, if there was a quarrel over a boy, I would back down.  I didn't need a boyfriend.  Secondly, I was an only child and my mother was rarely in the city.  This made me the 'pitiable cousin' and the other four felt it was their duty not just to be my cousins, but to be my keepers.  This was especially the case with Clementine.

I crossed the threshold into the school and expected to see bloodshed among them.  Instead, each of them had on their best clothes and their best behavior.

I meant to walk by without saying a word, but Salinger called out to me, "Hi!"

I paused.  He couldn't possibly mean me, but I turned at the risk of looking like a fool to see if he really was calling me.  It would be ruder to walk on and I couldn't do that in a school for decorum.

He was calling to me and I got that close-up look at his face I never could have got through my living room windows.  His hair was nearly black, curled slightly, and cut perfectly.  The black of his hair and eyelashes made the amber of his eyes all the more startling.  He was much paler than I expected, looking both Asian and Native at the same time.  In truth, he had no Asian blood.  He was half Inuit and half Caucasian, which lightened his eyes to light brown with black rings.  It was the shape of his cheekbones and the upward curve of his lips that reminded me how splendid his bloodlines were.  The shapes of his muscles and bones that protruded from under his clothes, spoke of strength and firmness.  From head to foot, he was very impressive, the right height and build for a magazine cover.  For the first time, I thought that perhaps my cousins had not wasted their time pursuing him.

Knowing he was not just perfect but also exotic, he came toward me with confidence.  "You must be June.  I'm Salinger."

Pearl cackled while the others exerted more control.

My expression was innocent.  "I'm sorry.  You have mistaken me for June Borage.  Please excuse me," I said coolly, but not too coolly.  I remained poised, even though he had mistaken me for a woman forty years older than me who wore her hair in a silver bob.  I turned on the heel of my exquisite knee-high boot and continued on my way.

"That's Veda," Clementine explained.  "She's younger than me.  What made you think she could be June?"

"Where's she going?" Salinger asked.

"Probably to meet her student.  She usually has a full day of tutoring on Saturday."

I pumped up the stairs and passed out of earshot.

Link to paperback copy and ebook copy on Amazon.ca:

https://www.amazon.ca/Hidden-Library-Second-Spell-Book-ebook/dp/B08P6LKC5B/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Hidden+Library+by+Stephanie+Van+Orman&qid=1608607352&sr=8-1

Link to paperback copy and ebook copy on Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08P6LKC5B?pf_rd_r=K6M07C60FZPVHM3P86NS&pf_rd_p=6fc81c8c-2a38-41c6-a68a-f78c79e7253f&pd_rd_r=03021d32-1761-40dd-80fd-2953876cbbcd&pd_rd_w=va5dZ&pd_rd_wg=R4rh0&ref_=pd_gw_unk

Link to ebook copy on Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1059858

I'll post things to my Facebook page when the book becomes available at other bookstores!  Thanks for reading!  Please enjoy!

No comments:

Cut Like Glass

One of the things I really enjoy writing is novelettes.  I wish I had discovered them sooner.  They are SO MUCH FUN! 'Cut Like Glass'...