Glass and Ice Now Available

Hi all,

In case you missed it, Elemental Dragons #3: Glass and Ice is now available on Amazon! This is the second to last book in the series, with the next one out in April!

As with the previous books, it’s available in ebook and paperback. I’m also doing a giveaway on my Twitter of a signed paperback copy! If you want to enter, check out the details here: Twitter Giveaway

Glass and Ice is also competing in Cover Wars, you can vote here: Cover Wars

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Being on the run isn't easy.

Hazel, who’s learned just how dangerous messing with dragons can be, now finds herself battling yet a new foe: the great Anthropomorphic Dragon.

With enemies old and new mounting around them, Hazel and the others are running out of safe places to flee. Finding themselves prisoners in a strange city, they’ll have to learn who to trust if they want to survive. Some members of the group soon find that they’re developing strange new abilities, but at what cost?

Will Hazel and her friends be able to save themselves from the battle and ever shifting alliances of the Wyrms? Or will they fall at the hands of the Cindaraans?

Find out in Glass and Ice, the third book in the exciting Elemental Dragons series. A pulse pounding Young Adult adventure series that has everything a fantasy lover could want in a book.

The final one in the series, Cinder and Fire, will be out in April. I will be doing a cover reveal next month so keep your eyes peeled!

If you want some new books to read this Autumn, check out this book bundle:

It’s an ‘Always be a Unicorn’ Autumn

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Mental Health in Elemental Dragons

Hi all!

As it was Mental Health Day yesterday I thought I'd talk about the mental health of my characters in the Elemental Dragons series. When I first wrote Blood and Water I had undiagnosed anxiety and depression. I thought that these feelings were normal, so my characters also felt the same way. It wasn't until two years later that I realised that this wasn't normal and that I had accidentally given my characters mental health issues. The characters that have mental health issues are:

Hazel.

Wes.

Marco.

Ray.

As the book is read through Hazel's eyes we see her struggles the most, especially with her anxiety. As I thought these thoughts were normal at the time I never thought anything of it when I wrote Hazel's character to think the same way. In the books she suffers with her anxiety a lot, from public speaking to unwanted attention. After I was diagnosed with anxiety I decided to keep her character that way to give some insight into mental health. Every time she second guesses herself it reminds me of when I was untreated, as I had doubts about everything I did. Including writing books.

Wes also has a degree of anxiety, though his is mild compared to Hazel's. He hates public speaking but finds his confidence through Ray. Having someone to support you at your lowest can be the best thing to have, as you don't feel so alone. Although Ray was manipulating Wes, he didn't care. He looks up to him and sees him as his saviour and mentor, someone to rely on when his doubts become too prevalent again.

Although Marco doesn't have as much anxiety, he has depression. This is in part due to trauma and also his isolation by his brother. Mason inadvertently pushed him away when they were young, which made their bond suffer. Marco feels he can no longer rely on his twin, and instead has Hazel as his 'partner in crime'. Especially since Mason chose Sadie over him in book two, this has only made those feelings worse. The others find him too mopey to be around sometimes, and Rocky hates him for his love of Hazel. While Hazel was a year behind in Primary Camp, Rocky bullied him relentlessly with his friends and pushed him further into a depressive state. As the books go on he gets better, but still doesn't feel the same as he used to.

A lot of readers overlook Ray as having mental health issues as he's the antagonist. However, he has suffered a horrific childhood trauma at the hands of the government, which cost him his best friend, Fae. Ever since he's been desperate to take them down, and finds the perfect opportunity to lead the Cindaraans. He still suffers from horrible nightmares of his burning friend appearing to him to chastise him for not doing enough to help dragons.

Some have also asked me if the dragons can suffer mental health issues, which the answer is yes. This is not explored as much in the books so far, though I hope to delve into it a bit further in the future. The main one is Bluey, who has feelings of survivors guilt due to his companion dying. He also suffers from nightmares, but puts a brave face on for his friends, who don't really seem to notice his inner feelings.

That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading, see you next week!

PS, looking for some new books to read before Halloween? Check these out!

September Children’s Books Giveaway

It’s an ‘Always be a Unicorn’ Autumn

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Elemental Dragons Trivia

Hi all,

This week I thought I'd talk about something a bit different - a few bits you may not know about the Elemental Dragons universe. I've been thinking of doing this for a while, but with Glass and Ice coming out in eleven days I thought now would be the perfect time to do it!

Aqueous is the first black common dragon to be tamed, but he is protected from the media and scientists due to the Companion Rights Act. This law prevents them from harassing or doing any harm in the name of science to dragons who are bonded with someone.

Although common dragons have caused the most deaths among humans, most of them have been accidents or incidences where the dragon has tried to save someone.

However, most accidents are caused by premier dragons, who are a lot bulkier and don't always watch their tails.

Common dragons have the thinnest scales of the Western Dragon sub-species.

When a premier dragon dies, if their companion is still alive they will remove the gems from their tails and turn them into jewellery or ornaments.

Drea, companion to Marco White

Drea, companion to Marco White

Dragons and humans whose companion has passed away are referred to as 'Nothing' and all rights are stripped from them. Most Nothing dragons are taken to zoos or factories to work for the rest of their days. The humans are forced to live the remainder of their life with few job and housing opportunities.

Fairy Dragons are the rarest dragon species due to poaching and destruction of their habitat. Their wings are thought to have healing properties so they were hunted to near extinction.

Elemental powers are not to be used in public places under law. They can be used in the workplace if it is allowed and in their own homes.

Children are seen as dangerous due to their developing power. Before Camps were introduced, there were estimated to be 10,000 deaths per year due to children not knowing how to control their power.

Dragons can communicate with felines and canines, though they have different dialects.

Dragons get along better with cats rather than dogs, as dogs are seen as too excitable and rough.

When dragons first evolved, it is believed that they lived alongside prehistoric felines and canines. The groups mostly avoided each other however.

Despite uncertainty around the issue, the Original Elementals did in fact exist. Their story has been watered down due to the passage of time, but they were the first to develop Elemental powers.

The Original Elementals did not develop their powers naturally.

The Original Elementals did have dragons, but they were not bonded.

Normie was abandoned in the forest outside Aria. He managed to stumble inside and steal food from Exquisite while she was sleeping outside Café Terra.

Draca is a clone, though he still has the memories of his original counterpart. Scientists have been unable to find out why.

Draca went after the Original Elementals not for their powers, but due to more personal reasons.

The Wyrms are more akin to parasites than dragons.

Children in Primary Camps are allowed to leave once a year for a trip, usually to zoos. There they learn more about dragons before they move onto Secondary Camp.

Most of the area around cities is farmland, used to raise cattle to feed dragons.

There are thirty-six Secondary Camps across the country and forty-nine Primary Camps.

The Elemental Dragons series is based in England.

Other countries around the world have different systems for training children and dragons.

Healthcare is free for dragons across the world.

1 out of every 100,000 babies are born as a dual Elemental.

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed reading, see you next week!

PS: looking for some free books? Check out these ones:

September Children’s Books Giveaway

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First Character Profile is Available

Hi all!

A few weeks ago I announced that I would be creating a ‘Character Profile’ page on my website for my characters. After a poll where you got to pick who the first profile would be, I can announce that the winner is… Aqueous!

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His full profile is available to view here: Profile Page.

As you can see, the human and dragon characters will be separated to make it easier for everyone to find the character they want to read about. I haven’t designed the ‘Human Path’ yet - so you’ll have to keep an eye out for that one!

I already have a poll out for which human character you want to see first, you can vote here: Human Profile Poll.

I wanted to make the profile pages interesting, so I added a bit of background describing you walking through the forest. There are two paths currently, Dragon and Human, though I might add a third path in the future. The third one will be for the Wyrms, Draca and other dragon characters.

Let me know what you think! If you want me to add some more detail to the profiles, comment down below. If you’re waiting for a specific character, make sure you get voting!

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoy Aqueous’ profile! See you next Sunday.

PS, looking for some free books to read? Check these out!

September Children’s Books Giveaway

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My First Radio Interview

Hi all!

If you haven't seen my social media posts, I went on the radio! John Eden at Soundart Radio was kind enough to invite me onto his show, Feast of Eden. If you want to check out Soundart Radio and all the other shows it has to offer, click here.

My interview didn't start until 12:30pm, but I met up with John at 11:30am for a quick chat before the show started. We met at a cafe and sat outside, surrounded by pouring rain and wasps, but had a good time chatting about books and our lives. We then went to the studio when it got too wet, where I met some of the Soundart team and continued chatting before the show. John was even kind enough to give me a few presents before we went on. (If you're reading this, John, Mishka has her eye on the bag, I think she wants it for herself.)

You can just about see Mishka eyeing up the presents in the background

You can just about see Mishka eyeing up the presents in the background

Before I went on air I was nervous, but John made me feel comfortable as we chatted. All of my music played fine, I picked a few songs from my writing playlist, which you can read about in a previous blog post.

I thought it went well, I was told by my colleagues and boyfriend who listened live that I spoke well and sounded confident in what I was saying. Even though I thought I stumbled on a few parts, no-one else seemed to notice. The only part that I thought I did the worst on was reading a passage from Venom and Earth. I tried to slow down as I've been told before I read too fast, and it seemed to go okay.

We then talked about various themes in my books, mostly the dragons, elemental powers and the politics. John also referenced a few my blog posts and asked me to talk more about them, especially the one on creating alien planets. Of course, he also asked me about my cats; Rocky and Mishka! I couldn't forget about my little writing buddies!

Overall I think I did quite well despite my nervousness in the beginning. My anxiety kept me up most of the night before worrying about it, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Afterwards my boyfriend drove us home in the torrential rain, where we had lunch and played with Mishka for a bit. John has also invited me on his show again, to talk more about Glass and Ice. I can't wait for the next one, and I'll be a bit less jittery next time as I know what to expect!

John’s show, Feast of Eden, is on Thursdays at 12:30pm BST if you want to check out his other interviews! Next week he’s interviewing another author, John Simes, who actually recommended the show to me.

I've also done two other interviews with authors on their blogs, which you can check out here:

Sudesna Ghosh

Rockebah Stewart

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next Sunday!

PS; want some free books to download this weekend? Check out this book bundle organised by me!

Dragon, Creature and Monster Giveaway

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Glass and Ice Preorder Live

Hi all!

If you haven’t seen my social media posts, then I just wanted to let you know that Glass and Ice is now available for preorder on Amazon!

I can confirm that it will be out in ebook and paperback October 13th 2020.

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You can preorder here:

Amazon

In the meantime if you want something new to read from the Elemental Dragons universe, you can sign up to my mailing list! When you sign up, you’ll get a FREE enovella containing four short stories from the Elemental Dragons universe:

Sign up here!

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If you want to hear me discuss my books and learn more about me, then you can listen to me on the radio! John Eden at SoundartRadio has invited me for an interview 27th August at 12.30pm BST. I’ll be discussing everything Elemental Dragons and my writing process! You can listen here on Thursday: Soundart Radio.

That’s it for this week, see you next week where I will be discussing the outcome of the radio interview and how I felt during.

Short Story Collection - Excerpt

Hi all!

I finished Camp NaNoWriMo this week and manged to write 64K through July for my horror novel, Mute. Needless to say, I’m very drained right now. So, I thought I’d share an excerpt from the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection! I have a few new readers who may not be aware of this eNovella, filled with four short stories from the Elemental Dragons universe (with illustrations!).

Free to those who subscribe to my mailing list: Download free here

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This is an excerpt from the first story, Circles, which includes a familiar face!


Circles always fill her dreams.

A black dragon stands on top of a lone, jagged cliff overlooking a sea of pine trees. The crisp breeze makes the leaves whistle as it shakes the trunks, blowing many away into the night. The sky is dark, but comforting with twinkling stars scattered like blobs of paint on a canvas. A small gasp escapes the dragon’s lips at the sight of the moon, the biggest she’s ever seen it. The silver orb hangs just above the skyline, large enough to see individual craters on the rocky surface. The dragon silently wonders if it’s close enough to touch, but quickly shakes that thought from her mind.

She cries out in joy as a group of fireflies dance towards her, their orange glow causing her black scales to shimmer. The tiny creatures move in tight circles, weaving around her limbs and gently bouncing off her scales with their delicate wings. With a wide smile, the dragon purses her lips and blows a circle into the air, the cold air reacting with her hot breath. The fireflies zoom through it before heading towards the trees, taking their dance elsewhere.

The black dragon takes a step towards the cliff edge, in awe of the long drop that leads towards the swaying trees. Glancing behind her, she grins at the sight of her long, bat-like wings; strong enough to carry her through even the worst wind currents, she knew they’d have no problem with the steep drop.

A loud roar catches her off guard and she instinctively jumps back, baring her sharp teeth. A familiar red dragon with blue feet drops in front of her, an amused twinkle in his blue eyes. Relaxing at the sight of her friend, the black dragon scolds him for scaring her with a growl, but he just rolls his eyes in return. Before she can say anything more, her friend cracks his wings and steps backwards off the cliff; the strong flap of his wings keeping him suspended in the air. Motioning for her to follow with his long tail, he does a quick flip in front of her, his tail tip briefly touching his snout before soaring towards the trees. His red and blue scales stick out like a sore thumb against the blue and purple hues of the sky, so the dragon was confident that she wouldn’t lose sight of him.

Wriggling her rump in anticipation, the black dragon dives off the cliff, free-falling for a few seconds before a wind current catches her wings and steadies her in the air. A happy roar escapes her lungs, ringing out into the silent night. She drops down to the trees, skimming her feet against the leaves and making them fly in all directions. Briefly she glances back at the trail, watching as the torn leaves disappear into the night.

A loud roar from above tears her out of her thoughts, and her friend motions for her to come up higher. With a careful flap of her wings she zooms towards him, too fast. The two of them collide in mid-air, their scales clinking at the impact, but neither dragon loses any of their shining scales as they are thrown back a few feet from each other. Both of them recover quickly though, and approach each other more carefully this time. With an apologetic grunt, she leaps over him and takes the lead as they explore the unfamiliar area.

As they fly further from the cliff, the stars slowly start to go out in the night sky; the tall, dark trees start to look a lot more menacing without the twinkling lights in the background. The breeze picks up as well, turning into a strong wind which the two dragons have to drop lower to avoid. Eventually they come across a large bare area with some sort of fence in the middle. Her friend drops down to have a closer look, intrigued by the foreign structure. Though her gut tells her to go back, she follows her friend. On closer inspection it’s some sort of small paddock, with a large barbed wire fence flanking it on all sides. The middle of the paddock is filled with chains, shining ominously in the moonlight.

Uncomfortable, she growls her disapproval to her friend next to her, but he’s vanished. Panicked, she looks around wildly, trying to pinpoint where the colourful dragon could have gone. An ear-splitting groan from beneath her makes her jump, barely giving her enough time to register what is happening before one of the chains flies past her head. With a terrified screech, she launches further up into the sky, horrified as the chain follows her up. Desperately, she tries to flies away from the evil chain, but is unable to. Her wings feel like they’ve turned into jelly, leaving the black dragon suspended in the sky, completely immobile. The chain snakes its way towards her, coiling around her legs and making its way up to her neck. With an angry snarl she breathes a funnel of ice at it, but it just bounces off harmlessly.

As the chain snakes towards her face, locking around her muzzle, the dragon squeezes her eyes shut, hoping that when she opens them again she’ll be back on the cliff, and she and her friend will never have to come here.


That’s it for this week! If you want to read the rest and the other stories in the eNovella, you can download using this link: Free Book!

PS, looking for more books to read over Summer? Check these out!

Mid July Fantasy Giveaway Promotion

Dragon, Creature and Monster KU

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Winning a Book Award

Hi all, 

If you haven't already guessed from the title, I've won a book award! 

I entered Blood and Water a few months ago into the award on a whim, and managed to make it through all three rounds!

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Although it's only a small award, I'm still so grateful to win it. You don't need a prestigious book award to be a good author. 

I struggled to find awards to enter due to be self published. A lot of the larger and more well known awards won't even look at you unless you're traditionally published, so I had to look elsewhere for Indie awards. 

The problem is, a lot of these awards are scams. 

A lot of them charge extortionate fees or don't give out the winning prizes. You really need to research which awards you want to enter before submitting. I managed to find a few that charged a fair entry fee but also, with a bit of research, were legit. 

Even if you don't win, some offer reduced rates on editing your manuscript or getting added to the longlist. Some will even still advertise your book anyway.

If you're going to enter an indie award, please just research before you do anything. It will save you money and pain in the future. 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed! See you next week.

PS: check out these book giveaways!

Summer and Sunshine Fantasy Sci-Fi KU

Mid July Fantasy Giveaway Promotion

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Glass and Ice Chapter One Preview

Hi all!

With Glass and Ice out in October I thought I’d share a little preview of the first chapter, I hope you enjoy! If you don’t want spoilers, I recommend skipping this blog post.

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Wyverns.

I never thought I’d see a Wyvern.

Their bodies writhe around in their cage, their thin tongues licking the glass desperately. Their torsos are made up of thin colourful scales and they have thick, stubby tails. Their eyes are like Aqueous’, but with larger pupils, shaped like a deer’s. Two long, elegant wings replace their front feet.

Marine.”

The voice makes me jump, but I’m not surprised to turn around and come face to face with my older doppelgänger. She looks relieved this time, with a hint of a smile appearing on her face. She is no longer covered in Wyrms like last time; her face is clear and glowing a light blue. She’s appeared to me before, but this time is different. She looks ready to say more than she usually does.

Save us, Marine.”

“Save who?” I reply, making Marco jump next to me. He gives me a strange look, staring at Marine. I guess my boyfriend still can’t see her.

Us.”

My heart drops as I realise what she’s been trying to say all this time.

She wasn’t a vision from Draca. The large dragon lied, again. So many times he’s claimed to help us but more often than not he’s just been a hinderance. He doesn’t know anything more than we do.

This means the Wyrms had no part to play in the visions either.

She’s the desperate form of a group of trapped Wyverns.

“Oh my God.” I stumble back as Marine stares at the caged Wyverns, warmth in her usually lifeless eyes.

“Haze? What’s wrong?” Marco gently tugs my hand towards him.

“I…had no idea…” Braith mumbles next to us, her eyes filling with tears. “We’ve been ignoring them this whole time!”

My friend Braith left Aria soon after I did. She has the same markings, but hers are that of an ice elemental whereas mine are water.

“Calm down, it’s not our fault.” I wrap my free arm around her shoulders as she trembles, her large eyes locked on the trapped Wyverns.

“Am I missing something?” Marco asks.

“You know how Marine kept saying ‘save us’?” I swallow back the lump in my throat as I speak.

“Yeah…?”

“Turns out she meant the Wyverns.”

He furrows his brow. “But we can’t let them out.”

“Why not?” I explode, attempting to rip my hand away, but he hangs on tighter.

“Because these dragons are extinct to the world.” He looks at the cage sadly. “If we let them out, God knows what people will do. They will be hunted and caged as trophies, killed for medicine-”

“I get it,” I cut him off.

More Wyverns seem to appear in the darkness, clambering towards the glass to look at us. Their eyes are glowing, happy.

Filled with hope.

Aqueous, my dragon companion, looks at me with his turquoise eyes. He whines, touching the glass with his nose. A large mossy green Wyvern approaches the glass before tentatively pressing its nose against it. Aqueous turns to me, his nose twitching.

Please. Save us,” Marine begs, her face distorting in desperation.

“How are you doing this?” I ask the apparition. “How can you talk to me?”

Marine lowers her gaze. “Disgrace…Big disgrace.”

“What do you mean ‘disgrace’?”

Had to save us.” She takes a few steps forward so she’s in my face, her older frame towering over me slightly. “Save us.”

So, the Wyverns have done something that allows them to communicate with us. But what? And how?

A loud bang makes everyone jump. Drea, Marco’s dragon, rushes to the door, pressing her bulky frame against it. Bluey, a dragon we previously picked up, quickly joins her as the door begins to rattle.

“Shit!” I exclaim.

They’re breaking in.

“We need to get out of here.” Marco sprints to a set of buttons on the wall, looking for any switches that may lead us out of here.

Braith stares at me, her face stained with tears. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know.”

“We can’t leave them.”

“I know. But Marco’s right; they might not make it out there.”

“We have to give them a chance.”

“Braith-”

“We have to! Draca lied to me, and I want to know why! Maybe letting them out will get us some answers.” She storms over to the glass, icicles forming in her balled hands. She strikes the glass with one fist, not making a dent in the thick material. Again and again she punches, while I’m left speechless.

What is the right thing to do?

I don’t want to be responsible for leaving these beautiful creatures to rot. Dr Gard looked after them; now that he’s gone, they have no-one.

***

That’s it for this week, see you next Sunday!

PS: there’s some book deals to check out below!

Summer and Sunshine Sci-Fi Fantasy KU

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Glass and Ice Cover Design

Hi all,

As promised, here is the cover reveal for Elemental Dragons Book 3: Glass and Ice! I’ve already made a few design differences with my website and social media banners to reflect the colour scheme of Glass and Ice.

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As with the previous covers, I got the Print Social package with Deranged Doctor Design.

Like with Blood and Water and Venom and Earth, I’m going to explain a few of the design choices:

The colour scheme is white and pale blue, to represent the Glass and Ice title.

Hazel, the MC, is on the cover.

The ice is not being controlled by Hazel as she is not an Ice Elemental.

The background is a frozen wasteland, which is a part of Hazel’s ‘dream’ in Draca’s memories when calling the marked Elementals to him.

Ice Elementals play a large part in this book, including Braith.

The font and colours, apart from the white ‘Ice’, is the same as the previous covers.

That’s it for this week. Do you like the cover? Let me know in the comments!

See you next week!

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