Halloween Deals – My Halloween Love to You!

Hello my darlings! Since I have been so busy working on “The Bitch King” as of late (and have been developing another Dragoloth related side project… more on that later) I haven’t been able to dole out many goodies in honor of my favorite holiday – Halloween! Since it doth approach so quickly, I set up a few deals on Amazon that you will (hopefully) be very eager to grab a hold of! Think of it as my internet Halloween candy as you go blog trick-or-treating (omg analogy police come get me).

Here is a list of my Amazon freebies and Kindle Countdowns running from Oct. 27th (Monday) to October 31st (Halloween!)

FREEBIES 

 

“Mr. Fingers” and “The Heretic Priest” are going to be completely FREE for the week of Halloween!!

KINDLE COUNTDOWN

Yes, The Hollow Living is scheduled for a Kindle Countdown for the Halloween week – starting at 0.99!

It may come across as random with how I chose to do the series, but think about it this way. Buy “The Dragon’s Disciples” at $2.99 (a whopping over 500 pages of riveting adventure and sizzling comebacks for $2.99? Um, YES!), then get book 2 for FREE, and then you get to buy book 3 for only 0.99 cents. So really, who wins? YOU! Because you get three amazing books for like, $4 as opposed to $10. Win.

So that is what I have planned so far for this Halloween, and I’ll try my best to throw in any extra goodies or “candy” ( *police sirens*) your way as I am able!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN, and now so can you!

Reasons to Purchase and Read “The Dragon’s Disciples” RIGHT NOW!

BUY ME!!

*We interrupt these October Interviews to bring you shameless plugging*

Reasons to Buy and Read the Dragon’s Disciples

RIGHT NOW

1. Because chilly October afternoons are perfect for reading.

2. Because let’s be honest, you need more backstabbing family politics and forbidden love in your life.

3. Dragons and vampires – are there more reasons?

4. It’s $2.99 on the Kindle store – what else are you going to do with that random $3?

5. Because getting a new book in the mail and smelling those freshly printed pages is irresistible (especially on a crisp fall morning).

6. Because the week of Halloween, “The Heretic Priest” (book 2!) is going to be free and you want to be all caught up!

So what are you waiting for!

October Interviews: Brisha and Raul

image credit: syrkell (Deviantart)

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Brisha: WAIT WAIT WAIT. We don’t even get our own days?

Me: No.

Raul: Why not?

Me: You’re not interesting enough.

Brisha: EXCUSE YOU.

Raul: Maybe BRISHA isn’t interesting….

Me: Oh gods…

Brisha: I – what?! I am SO interesting!

Raul: Not interesting enough to generate a good comeback.

Me: I AM STARTING THE INTERVIEW YOU GUYS THE MIC IS ON NOW!!!

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Did you two ever get along?

Raul: Define “get along”.

Brisha: We get along fine, but just because we are twins doesn’t mean we have many common interests..

Raul: Our bond was mostly forged on the basis that we are both the youngest in the family, and the most attention we were ever going to receive was from each other, and we recognized that.

What was it like growing up the youngest children?

Brisha: Being young and acknowledged as illegitimate is no fun…

Raul: As if it made a difference to you. You’re a woman. All you had to do was embroider. I am a man and I was consistently held back from competing with my elder brothers…

Brisha: At least father knew I existed.

Raul: only because you annoyed him so constantly that he could never forget you…

Me: MOVING ON-

Both of you, who did you get along with most in the family?

Brisha: Each other.

Raul: Yes. Sadly. Each other.

Brisha: Pharun is hardly ever around. And too ridiculous.

Raul: Shrukian is too full of himself. And Olympia is as engaging as an old history book.

Brisha: *adding* In a language you’ve never studied.

Raul: Or barely studied but are too lazy to understand.

Brisha, what do you think about Olympia?

Brisha: I think she is a trollop with no special talents. She wanders around the castle all day and just waits on her next opportunity to bang Shrukian. And if she isn’t in his bed then she’s torturing servants, and there’s only so much screaming one can take in the room next to yours.

Raul, do you have any regrets?

Raul: My regret is that I have a twin.

Brisha: D:< !!!

Raul: More seriously, one of my greatest regrets is allowing myself to be consumed by a foolish pursuit that ultimately served to only get me killed.

Raul, what was it like leaving your family behind?

Raul: Fairly liberating. I did not have a great attachment to any of them, and I didn’t care if or whether I saw any of them again.

October Interviews: Malhii

Do you miss youth?

What a dumbass question.

Me: HEY! Be nice!!

Of course I miss being young. Do you think having skin that snags on chipped vessels like a piece of wrinkly old cloth is fun? I don’t miss the days of my youth, but I do miss being able to feel like I can still pursue and seduce someone on a merit besides my power.

Describe your first experience with love/lust?

My first experience was a painful one, because it ran so deeply and was cut off so soon. And it was love, there was no doubt about that. I was in love with a young boy whose father had defaulted on his debts. My father, the baron Ivan Clieous, destroyed the family and divided up some of the members as slaves. Atlas, the one I loved, originally belonged to my brother. But Igarth is the sort of person no one can ever love. Atlas was the reason I was forced to leave Drakkian Province.

Why did you become a priest?

Because I tried being a schoolteacher, and they almost hung me over it.

Seriously.

When Atlas was alive and we had been forced to leave my home, I ended up in Dragoloth and practiced as a school teacher for boys. With my history, you can imagine just how well that went. After nearly being lynched by the town, Atlas and I were forced to lay low. It was during that time that he became very ill and I was not able to properly care for him. Once he died, I buried him and became a priest. I had to give myself something to be devoted to, a reason to live, or I would have killed myself.

Do you ever hold your saving Pharun’s life over his head?

Of course. This kind of relates to question #1, mostly because these days that is the only way to get him to come to bed with me. It was so much easier when I was the more powerful of the two of us.

Me: I threw up a little in my mouth.

What?

Me: This is the ickiest interview I have had to sit through…

October Interviews: Domenico

image credit: venlian (deviantart)

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How did your relationship with Austric evolve?

I am convinced he put a spell on me. Of course I have always had a fondness for adorable, airheaded boys with a sense of style – but I have known Austric since he was a toddler, and I never thought I would be attracted to him in any sort of way. Of course, if you could have heard how his father complained about him…

What more can I say? It began like you might treat an annoying nephew of a brother you don’t really like. Then it was business, and then it became something more. Relationships are always fluctuating in this way.

How do you feel about your family?

I don’t have much family to feel any sort of way about. My family history is extensive – the Mad Barons are well-whispered about behind the closed shutters and doors of Drakkian Province. The history of murder, jealousy, and madness has done its best to define me – and I often find myself waiting for the day when it takes hold. All of my patriarchal ancestors died before they reached their thirtieth year. Here I am, having made it well past that age and have no signs of deterioration. It worries me – there is always the chance it skipped me altogether, maybe my mother’s genes were the ones to save me from my own curse. But most likely not. Maybe I will start slipping into the same madness once I have finally found something in my life to make me happy.

Spill the Tea on Austric?

I’m not sure what this means.

Me: *flips through Urban Dictionary* I think they want some gossip on your boyfriend.

He isn’t my boyfriend.

Me: Keep telling yourself that.

I don’t indulge in gossip.

Me: You are SO BORING!!

October Interviews: Meridith

image credit: elephant wendigo (deviantart)

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What was your relationship with Pharun like when you two were still boys?

I did not have any brothers, and Pharun didn’t have any that he liked. Holidays were the best because it meant that our fathers would travel to see each other and Pharun and I could wreak havoc together for a solid month or more. Our relationship did not begin to form until we were both a little older, perhaps seven or eight, because that was when my mother died and Encarz mended his relationship with my father. Even though I am closer to Olympia’s age, Pharun always treated me like his equal. We had a lot of fun and created many good memories.

How do you think time affects friendships?

Time has a habit of wearing down and peeling away the pretty outer layer of most things, that includes friendships. Unless, of course, those who share them care enough to maintain the bond. I don’t think Pharun ever put any thought into our friendship, he just assumed it was effortless and would continue to be so, withstanding time and war. That is not how it works… friendships begin effortlessly and you have to keep them well your entire life or they dissipate.

Can you trust anyone?

Not anymore.

How did you and Ravenel meet?

I was actually visiting Pharun at the time. I had brought with me my young ward, Shiva, with whom I was ridiculously infatuated. Ravenel was a slave that Olympia had acquired for her pleasure. She had treated him badly, I won’t go into the gory details. But Shiva found him hiding underneath the bed in our guest room and had to spend the better part of fifteen minutes coaxing him to come out. Shiva hid him from me for the first few days, only revealing him to me once his wounds had begun to heal. Like a guilty child who wants to keep the stray puppy he found, he pleaded with me to let him keep the boy. I was jealous of their friendship, I admit, but I agreed. Ravenel went home with us when we left, I don’t think Olympia ever missed him.

Describe a favorite moment between you and Ravenel.

My memories of Ravenel are so polluted with the times of turmoil that I can’t pull out a favorite memory, at least not easily. It is hard to talk about. Perhaps I’ll come back to this question in the future.

October Interviews: Felix

What do you remember about your childhood?

Very little. Most of it was spent in prayer. I can recall flashes of my mother… but nothing of substance. I don’t remember her voice, or what she smelled like, or if she ever held me close and told me that she loved me. I remember her mostly being surrounded by men and white powdery drugs, and I don’t think I ever will know what she looked like decently clothed. My memories with High Priest Gwynafor in the temple of Morre are better ones, if not much clearer. But I was happier, then, and I think when you are happy time goes by so quickly that you neglect to collect memories. Or maybe I have reached a point in my age where it is just more difficult to recall events that feel like they happened so long ago that it’s almost like they didn’t happen to you at all.

What’s something no one knows about Pharun?

He can be nice, sometimes. 😀 But in all seriousness – isn’t it easier to list what most people do know about him? He wraps himself up in so much mystery that sometimes even I begin to doubt whether or not the man I love is the “true” Pharun. If I had to pick one possibly little-known fact, I would say that he can be very gentle. There are times when I can see it in the way he holds me … his arms are strong but in the way that makes them sturdy and safe to lean on. And he will kiss me gently… no teeth or tongue to escalate the mood but sweet, soft kisses from firm lips while he keeps me close. He does some things that are sweet… when he gives me gifts that I was not expecting, always something small and sentimental, the kind of things I treasure the most. If I ever doubt myself for loving him… memories of those moments remind me why I can’t live without him.

What’s your fondest memory from your time as a cleric?

I was very fond of the piece and tranquility that life at the temple offered. Most would consider it a mundane existence, but I enjoyed the routine – fulfilling my daily duties, saying my prayers to Morre, studying scrolls and, on the best days, sharing a meal or a few hours of meditation with my mentor Gwynafor. It was a blissful time without complications, I’m not sure I could single out one perfect memory.

How did you feel learning your father was Death?

I was startled, to be sure. I have never consider myself to be a person of much cosmic importance or worth. Mind you, I do not feel as though I am worthless – no one in this world is completely without worth. I just never saw any reason for me to be singled out by someone more powerful or interesting. I also didn’t think it made much sense… after all, don’t children of the divine always display some sort of special quality or talent? I’ve never really had any of those. Compare me to Pharun… and it’s like pointing to the nuthatch and the heron and claiming they were both spawned from the same egg.

What’s the cutest thing Pharun’s ever done?

You know he pretends to hate children, right? He secretly adores them. He was always so kind and playful with the younger clerics at the temple whenever he came around to visit me. More times than I can count, I would catch him pulling sweets out of his pocket to give to them (they were not permitted to have decadent sweets).

Did you ever run into Encarz? What was that like?

Oh, my. Encarz was a man to be admired… that is for certain. I do not think I ever came into contact with him, directly, but I experienced many of Pharun’s memories of him. He did not seem cruel, but he wasn’t kind either, and he had a frigid nature about him that made him come across as absolutely unapproachable. I would not have liked to know him, and if I had I don’t think we would have gotten on very well.

Who besides your husband do you like most in the Mahtrador family?

Oh, I am quite fond of Shrukian. Again, I don’t have many real memories of him (not many that didn’t end in bodily harm, anyway) – but from Pharun’s memories, I have gleaned that there is just … something about him that is undeniably appealing. He is very charming, yes, but very kind and very gentle, also. He can be firm when the situation calls for it but he also loves to laugh and enjoy himself, and in a world as dark as ours those are qualities worth appreciating.

October Interviews: Benito

image credit: fimbul_vinter (deviantart)

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Do you ever feel guilty about stealing another man’s wife?

WAIT! Who says I stole her? o.o And no… Adriel did not want to marry her in the first place, and I knew he would have ended up divorcing her. She was in danger and I was helping her run at the time, I wasn’t really thinking…

What was life like when you and Olympia fled?

As a few details of that story have yet to be released… I can’t say much. I will say that I enjoy her company and her boys, I would honestly do anything for any of them. I know she could never love me like I want her to, but that doesn’t stop me from loving her.

What is the fondest memory you have raising her children?

The day they stopped crying when I held them…

October Interviews: Austric

What was is your relationship with Domenico like when the two of you are alone?

*snorts* What would I like it to be, or what is it in actuality? Domenico is as infuriating in private as he is in public. The only difference is that in private he sees no reason to be polite. He’s a rogue, and that is what I love about him, but it is also what drives me crazy behind closed doors. Believe it or not, he is quiet for the most part. Unless you get him talking about one of two things he cares about (politics or poetry) and then he will go on and on without stopping for hours. I don’t think he actually needs me to be present for him to continue a conversation, he answers himself often enough. I’ve napped before in his presence and he’s never noticed.

What was it like growing up as an Ercole?

I have never really felt like “an Ercole” growing up. As he likes to mention often enough, Adriel became everything that father and aunt Nerissa wanted. Most days I was alone. I actually became very fond of reading, and I enjoyed fairy tales. When I was little I would act them out until one of my nurses stopped me for my ‘frivolous and ridiculous’ behavior.

Give us some dirt on your brothers.

You mean my cousins? I remember how Adriel used to disappear for hours and none of the attendants could ever find him. I stumbled across him, one day, on all fours romping around with the hounds and kissing them. I was too busy laughing to confront him at the time, but I will forever cling to the hope that he has some deep-seated “special love” for dogs.

Benito has a weak bladder. He had to wear napkins until he was almost seven. To this day he cannot go a full hour without having to relieve himself. I used to tease him about it, but there was one day when he held me face-down in a rain barrel and wouldn’t let me up until I swore to never mention it again.

What was the most difficult thing you experienced growing up?

I would say the distinct absence of love and affection, but how can you miss something you have never before experienced? Perhaps the most difficult thing I experienced was finding ways to catch up to my cousins. Talk about an insurmountable hill.

October Interviews: Nerissa

Is it hard to be a mother and a ruler?

It is not difficult when you know how to maintain balance in your household. I was a mother long before I had to step up and take over the barony for Cyrano. Most of my children are grown, and even Cappi, who is young, knows how to conduct himself like a man. My children are not burdens, they are assets, and we know what to expect from each other. A successful family dynamic is key to alleviating the pressure that other responsibilities present. So, no, it is not difficult, but it is not necessarily easy.

What were your aspirations as a young girl?

I grew up being very well educated about my family history.  I wanted to the first and the best – I was always competing with Cyrano academically and in every game was played. Of course, of the three of us I was the middle child – my younger sister, Belinda, was not very useful and did not have the same aspirations as my brother and I. According to tradition, I had to marry before she could receive and suitors – so my father ended up arranging a marriage between me and a weak, but wealth lord because she was the far more ‘desirable’ daughter. It was never my goal to be a mother so young. I wanted to be baroness first.

Did you always want to be head of your family?

Of course I did. I was the only one who had any common sense. Cyrano is… was… a brilliant man, but he has no head for the finer politics. He doesn’t understand the nuances quite as well, but he is successful because he knows when to listen to someone who has better strategy. Because of how he and I worked together, I have always felt like the head of the family despite what the census said.

What do you admire in a man?

I admire creativity. I enjoy men who are inspired, even the young insipid poets who run around clinging to their maidens. I need a man to be able to create his own ideas, or at least steal the ideas of others in a tasteful way. If he isn’t creative, he isn’t truly intelligent.

What do you wish more women would do?

I wish more women would realize that being in control is more than just stepping on the heads and hearts of every man in their path. Many want power but they don’t realize the responsibility that comes with it, or they don’t want to work for it. Women in this day and age are not born to privilege, so they need to go in not expecting anything. If I had to advise any woman who had aspirations towards title or power… I would tell her to capture a man’s inspiration before you conquer his bed. Don’t sleep your way to power… and don’t come across as a threat. Don’t be afraid to be seen as a pawn in the early stages, don’t ever take a small victory for granted, and don’t ever run out of patience.