Hey all! This is a special posting by one of my fellow author friends, Rebecca Ryals Russell. She has written a bunch, so read the good stuff below. There is plenty of info to absorb, including where to get her books. Enjoy!
Available soon, you can get a sneak peak at Harpies, Book Two of Seraphym Wars series by Rebecca Ryals Russell.
Excerpt: Chapter One
The door to our cottage slammed with a boom which echoed across the empty beach. The windows rattled in their frames and I yelled, “Good, maybe it’ll fall down around your ears. Serves you right if it does.” My voice cracked, which pissed me off even more. It had just started doing this and the kids at school mocked me, although nearly every other boy’s voice sounded the same.
But every other boy at school had a dad or stepdad or at least a grandfather. I had none of the above. I had a revolving door full of Mom’s boyfriends.
Stomping barefoot across the sandspur-strewn sand mom called a yard, I ranted and yelled with each small prickly ball I removed from my heel or arch. I hated those things—the way the prickle got under my thumb nail when I plucked it from my skin drove me crazy.
The tension in my shoulders eased as I strode down the night-cooled sand. The beach always soothed me in a way I couldn’t explain. It was the main reason I spent so much time there. Whether by day or night I craved the solitude and swish of the waves licking the white sand--—the warm wet breeze off the ocean rustling through the dried seed heads of the dune grass. I stopped and faced the ocean with eyes shut--listening.
A flash far out over the black sea fluttered behind thick clouds. Even through my closed lids I could see it. Slowly a rumble rolled across the sky until it roared overhead like a freight train. I loved night heat lightning. My favorite nights on the beach were spent watching God’s spectacular light shows.
I opened my eyes. Momentarily distracted from the argument I’d stormed away from, I sat for a few moments on the sand watching nature’s electrical display. Cold dampness slowly eased through my cut-offs. I dug my toes into the cold sand. Purple streaks of jagged light flickered within white and black clouds as they comingled. With each scatter of light that streaked across the clouds, I imagined Greek Titans clashing swords.
Finally I stood and began walking again, my mind tangled with thoughts about the fight I’d had with mom. Again. It was the same old thing. She insisted on bringing home strange men, hoping to make us ‘a complete family’, as she called it. I thought we were complete enough. I didn’t see the need for anyone else in the house. I didn’t get to see her enough as it was, what with her working double-shifts at the fish cannery then ‘dating’ all the time. I loved my mom. She was a wonderful mother and companion. It had been just the two of us all my life. But I was cool with that. It appeared, however, Mom was not.
The air crackled and popped with the glory of nature’s energy. Lines of electron brilliance zig-zagged through the black sky illuminating the wide, white sandy beach for an instant then plunging it back into velvet blackness. An ethereal glow imprinted on my retinas for several seconds longer as though the sand was lit from beneath.
I glanced down at my feet, awash in the cool Atlantic saltwater. Phosphorescent amoebas danced around my ankles, swimming in the gentle wake. I lifted my foot then lowered it again watching the bio-luminescent creatures swarm away then back again.
The air crackled and the hairs on my arms stood on end. It felt odd—exhilarating and tickly. I glanced up. Over the surging black sea, another brilliant streak illuminated the sky. I counted—one, one-hundred, two, one-hundred, three, one-hundred then cringed as a sonic boom of thunder rumbled across the world, vibrating the sand beneath my feet. I shouldn’t be on the beach with a heat storm this close. I knew the risks, but it was so beautiful I couldn’t pull myself away. Going back meant facing mom, and I wasn’t ready to confront her. I was tired of arguing.
The air sizzled, like bacon frying. The hairs all over my body stood to attention again. I looked down--—the danger of the ocean water lapping gently around my ankles hit me at the same time as...How could I have been so stup…I lifted one foot to run when the bolt of energy I’d thought so beautiful miles away struck my head.
My body went rigid.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t think.
It seemed an eternity passed. Images flew through my mind like a slide show on speed. Everything I had done or said since birth bounced around my brain in no particular order. Mom and me at the zoo watching the chimps and laughing. Mom and me snuggled on the couch watching a scary Halloween movie. Mom and me singing ‘Happy Birthday to Me’ on my birthday with two chocolate cupcakes sitting on a dirty plate in the middle of our kitchen table.
Images of places and people I’d never seen flashed in there as well. A thin blonde girl with frightened, hollow eyes hid beneath a tarp in a dirty alley. Large green dumpsters angled together for a shield. Flaming red hair above a freckled face matched the flames a young teenaged boy stared at.
When the slide show finally stopped, I crumpled into the surging surf, face down on the wet sand—somehow managing to turn my face at the last minute so I didn’t suffocate. I had no feeling in my extremities and the entire world was bathed in an unearthly brilliance. A gentle blue-green glow suffused the edges of the saw grass at the top of the dunes in the distance. Tiny white crabs poked their heads up out of the sand to investigate the Gulliver on their turf, wore bright yellow auras edging their shells.
I tried to rise or even move, but my body refused to cooperate and lay prone in the cold salty water.
Am I dead?
Who will take care of Mom?
I can’t be dead. This doesn’t happen to kids. Kids don’t die.
Kids die all the time. Especially stupid ones.
I realized with shocked chagrin that my feet and lower legs were completely under water when I felt the creeping cold splashing on my thighs. I’m not dead if I can feel things.
My next thought chilled me to the core.
Oh, God, the tide is coming in.
Here are the links and topics detailing where I’ll be all month. Check them out and win PRIZES.
Seraphym Wars Series Summary May 2
Seraphym Wars and Stardust Warriors Series Blurbs May 10
Who are the Vigorios? May 4
The Prophecy of the Vigorios May 7
EXCERPTS AVAILABLE TO READ:
Harpies Chapter One May 12
Harpies Chapter Two May 15
Harpies Chapter Three May 16
Prophecy Chapter One May 23
Prophecy Chapter Two May 25
Prophecy Chapter Three May 28
Odessa Chapter One May 29
Odessa Chapter Two May 30
Odessa Chapter Three May 31
GIVEAWAY:
Comment on EACH of my postings (listed above with links) showing you read the posting. Commenters will acquire ONE point per comment. At the end, fill out the form on my blog, Under the Hat.
The prize? This lovely Phoenix medallion and a bag of swag including Odessa notepad, Seraphym Wars pen, Mind the Signs bookmark, coverart Postcards for each book in both series AND an eBook copy of my newest release: Harpies, Book Two Seraphym Wars Series.
BIO:
Rebecca Ryals Russell writes MG and YA Dark Fantasy while living with her family in a Victorian house on five acres of North Florida countryside. She also runs a Vacation Rental Log House on the property: Florida Black Bear Cabin.
Over the course of the next few years she has several books being published in two series: Stardust Warriors for MG readers and Seraphym Wars Series for YA readers.
Be sure to check out the special interactive Middle Grade Reader website Tween Word Quest for tons of information about Stardust Warriors as well as the other projects Rebecca has in the works and Under the Hat for all of her other works.
Catch Rebecca at any of these links:
Under the Hat
Tween Word Quest
Teen Word Factory
Odessa
Prophecy
Harpies
GOODREADS
LINKED-IN
JACKET FLAP
TRIBERR
YOUTUBE
Amazon http://tinyurl.com/rebeccaryalsrussell-amazon
Barnes and Noble http://tinyurl.com/rebeccaryalsrussell-B-N
iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/odessa/id433118705?mt=11
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/zarena/id460312541?mt=11
TAGS: Rebecca Ryals Russell, Seraphym Wars Series, YA books, YA Fiction Books, YA series, demons, Seraphym, dragons, Dracwald, Vigorios, Prophecy, Odessa, Harpies