My pal David B Coe / DB Jackson has a new novella out. It’s in a series I seriously love, and while there are several full length books out there, he’s currently doing a set of 3, stand-alone, novellas, to introduce people to the characters and world, in prep for (maybe!!!) book number 5 in the full-length series. (I am squeeeing like a kid in a candy store at that thought!!!)
So anyway — this weekend, I’m, posting the cover and few excerpts from novella #1, The Witch’s Storm, some excerpts today and some tomorrow! Gotta see! Then go, buy the first novella, And then the second novella, and fall in love! And then you can start the longer books while you wait on novella 3! Cover first, then excerpt.
#1 Magick roared in the wood floors and walls, the spell powerful enough to bring down the building. A glowing red figure winked into view at her shoulder—a young girl dressed in an ornate gown, her eyes alight and unearthly.
Ethan couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak, or lift a finger. He certainly couldn’t stand. Nor could he breathe. All he could do was sit and glare at her as he suffocated. No one in the coffee house would notice until he died. Even then, her spell might hold him in place, so that long after she exited the building and walked away, he would remain as he was.
“I don’t make idle threats,” she said and sipped from her cup.
Pressure built in Ethan’s chest.
#2 Wood snapped beneath them. The carriage rocked, tipped. The rear of the vehicle collapsed onto stone. The impact threw both of them against the side of the carriage.
Her composure slipped, long enough that Ethan managed to fling himself out of the carriage and onto the street.
Blood continued to flow from his wound and he cast again.
Flame engulfed the carriage. The horses harnessed to it reared and the driver scrambled to get them free.
Ethan didn’t remain to see if he succeeded or if the woman escaped the fire. He limped away at speed, arms wrapped around his gut.
#3 He staggered on, passing Winter and Summer Streets, certain he would collapse before he reached the gabled house on the left.
He didn’t. He approached the door, knocked once, leaned against the doorjamb. His vision swam, the landing on which he stood seeming to pitch like a sea-tossed ship. He started to fall as the door opened, landed on his side.
A woman screamed and then shouted a name. After that, darkness.
#4 Ethan took Kannice’s hand. “I didn’t want to put you through this again—the worry, the fear. But I’m in it now. This woman is after me. She knows where I live. She knows about you, she knows that Diver and Deborah are my friends. None of you is safe so long as she lives. And as long as I’m here, Doctor Church and his wife are in peril.”
She straightened and pulled her hand from his grasp, her gaze heating again. “No! You are not leaving that bed!”
“I have to. If something happens to Church—”
“And what about if something happens to you? Oh, wait. It already did!”
“You’d have me endanger their lives? Really?”
Go. Buy. Read.