Courtlight Series #1
Terah Edun
Genre- Young Adult, Fantasy, Coming of Age
Blurb-
Seventeen-year-old Ciardis has grown up in poverty, a cleaner in a small vale on the outskirts of the empire. But beneath her empire’s seemingly idyllic surface lies a hidden secret. Whispers of an inept crown Prince are growing ever louder—intensified by the five year anniversary of the soulbond initiations.
Amidst scandalous whispers, Ciardis finds herself chosen to train for the Companion’s Guild. She leaves her home and sets off on a personal journey to become a Court Companion. A position she’d never thought possible for a lowly servant to obtain, she must prove that she has the skills to attract a Patron.
But she must master those skills quickly. If the legends are true, only Ciardis can harness the power to raise a Prince in an Imperial Court sworn to bring him down.
This sensational series debut melds intricate storylines with remarkable characters and unforgettable magic. Sworn To Raise is ideal for fans of Kristin Cashore, Michelle Sagara, and Maria Snyder.
Links-
Click HERE for my review.
Sworn to Transfer
Courtlight Series # 2
Terah Edun
Genre- Young Adult, Fantasy, Coming of Age
Blurb-
Eighteen-year-old companion trainee Ciardis Weathervane has won the friendship of the royal heir and saved his claim to the throne. Yet her interference in the inheritance rights leaves more harm done than good. The Ameles Forest lies unprotected and its inhabitants are dying.
As humans begin to die in gruesome deaths, the Emperor dispatches the royal heir to the forests with the solution to the kith concerns.
With enemies closing ranks in Sandrin, Ciardis can little afford to leave the city’s nest of vipers to take on a new task. But she’s given no choice when her loyalty to the crown and courts are called into question.
To keep the Companions’ Guild happy and the favor of the Imperial Court, Ciardis will be tested in frightening new ways, especially when she’s faced with an obstacle that could risk the lives of her friends and the family she never thought she had.
This second novel continues the story of Ciardis Weathervane from Sworn To Raise.
Links-
Courtlight Series # 3
Terah Edun
Genre- Young Adult, Fantasy, Coming of Age
Publication Date- December 6, 2013
Blurb-
Ciardis Weathervane fought for the living dead and won. But worse than taking on a mass murderer, was her discovery that she had been deceived by her friends. Now she needs to not only fight a war in the North and survive, but also decide where she stands in the midst of competing sides.
A threat to all she holds dear lies in the North and her heart is not the only thing she might lose. A massive army awaits in the mountain pass, surging closer to the gates of the southern lands. Nothing the Algardis army has done so far has dissuaded their march forward and Ciardis finds out that her powers to enhance are needed now more than ever.
As she faces her greatest fears on the battlefields and her heart is torn between her love of Sebastian and loyalty to her family, Ciardis must choose her fate carefully. For in her path, lies the destiny of the empire.
This third novel continues the story of Ciardis Weathervane from Sworn To Transfer.
Links-
Excerpt
Lillian Weathervane and Vana Cloudbreaker came to a silent
understanding. Their eyes met and Lillian turned around while Vana fully
sheathed her swords.
Lillian cupped Ciardis’s face in her hands
and looked down at her with pride. “My darling daughter, it’s time for you to
return to camp. Time for you to take your place once again by the Prince Heir’s
side.”
“No,” said Ciardis, “I’m not leaving you.”
Lillian shook her head. “And I will not
leave you. We will only be apart a short while. But for now Sebastian is
seeking you, and if he doesn’t find you he will send out search parties. People
who cannot be allowed to find me.”
“How do you know he’s looking for me?”
Lillian smiled with wise eyes. “Because I
know how long you’ve been gone and I see how he looks at you.”
“Now go, and remember—tell no one,” Lillian said with a gentle push of her
hands. Before Ciardis could object again the Lord Chamberlain clasped a firm
hand on her left shoulder and transported her from the Aether Realm with the
amulet he had retrieved from Vana.
She turned around and saw that she was back
in the snow-laden field with the horses. Frowning, she turned to the Lord
Chamberlain to angrily demand that he return her to the Aether Realm. But
before she could he was gone in a blink of an eye, back to Lillian
Weathervane’s side, she assumed. Ciardis stamped her foot angrily but there was
nothing she could do about it. She no longer had the bracelet that linked her
to that realm. And the truthsayer’s body had vanished.
“Ciardis, what are you doing?” said a
confused voice to her left.
She whirled around to see Kane leaning
against the fence with a puzzled look on his face.
“I was…well…talking to someone.”
“To whom?” he asked, looking at the empty
field. There was no one else around and no tracks in the snow that would
indicate there had been.
She almost told him about Lillian and Vana
and the Lord Chamberlain but then she remembered Lillian’s admonition, her
fight for survival, and the fact that this whole northern campaign might be a
secret plot led by the Imperial courts. She closed her mouth with a click.
“No
one,” she said, looking at Kane wistfully. “Just myself.” Wishing she could
tell him.
“Well,” he said with amusement, “if you’re
done, then Sebastian is in a fine fit looking for you, not to mention the fact
that you have a meeting with the commander of this army.”
She nodded and traipsed across the snow.
“The general is supposedly on the outskirts
of camp. We’ll have to ride there,” he explained.
She was glad they hadn’t confronted General
Barnaren right away, but they also hadn’t had time to plan what she and
Sebastian were going to tell him about the sanctuary and the Daemoni tales. But
she knew that now Sebastian wouldn’t wait. He was in a fury. On one hand she
could understand it; Barnaren had been keeping secrets upon secrets from him
since the beginning. If either course were true, it wouldn’t negate that fact.
As the Prince Heir it was Sebastian who should have been planning the campaign,
Sebastian who should have been leading the war. But the general went over his
head time and again with messages to his father and secret meetings with his
men.
She and Kane joined an irritated-looking
Sebastian in the northernmost corner of the camp. Once he spotted her,
Sebastian said, “The general is in one of the side camps, but I’m not yet sure
which one.”
She nodded while Sebastian tersely questioned a regiment
commander about the whereabouts of the general from atop his black stallion.
Once told, they raced straight there.
Sebastian didn’t stop at the request of the general’s guard to halt
outside of the perimeter. He rode straight toward the four men and through them
when they hastily jumped aside to avoid being trampled by his spirited
stallion. Ciardis almost felt sorry for them—almost. They were too well trained
not to question the presence of anyone who came into the general’s vicinity but
no doubt knew they could be executed for putting a hand on the Prince Heir. It
put them in a quandary.
When the general heard the commotion outside
of the tent he strode outside in full battle armor with a thunderous expression
on his face. An anger that didn’t lessen when he saw who had interrupted his
strategic session with the commanders of the army, who spilled out of the tent
behind him.
Click HERE for my review.
Sworn to Secrecy
The Courtlight Series #4
Terah Edun
Expected Publication Date-February 28, 2014
Blurb-
In the heart of the Imperial Courts, Ciardis Weathervane knows that death is coming for the empire. With her friends by her side and the new triad of Weathervanes, she's in a race against time to convince the courts of the same.
She must do her best to unite kith, mages, nobles and merchants under one cause - the fight to prevent a war. Soon she is forced to keep a secret that could exonerate her mother of the Empress's death, and is always one move away from stepping into diplomatic chaos.
Throw in a Daemoni Prince who is showing interest in the youngest Weathervane, a jealous Prince Heir, and a irritated dragon with her own designs on Ciardis, and you have an Imperial Court in turmoil.
This fourth novel continues the story of Ciardis Weathervane from Sworn To Conflict.
Links-
Excerpt
As they flew over the city, Ciardis
was surprised to see the sky darkening with ominous clouds. Not the kind that
predict heavy rains, but the ones that flashed and flared with clouds of purple
and midnight blue full of thunder and lightning. The winds picked up and
slammed into them above the city. In Thanar’s arms she felt the buffet of harsh
winds tangling her hair, ice scraping her skin, and the feel of Thanar’s
muscles bunching as he clutched at her desperately, trying to keep ahold of her
and stay flying high.
“What’s going on?” she yelled into
his ear. She tried turning to face forward and see what was in front of them
but the wind and ice was too strong. They stung her eyes and forced them
closed. She couldn’t imagine how Thanar was handling it. Determined not to bury
her face in his shoulder and wish away her fears, she faced backwards, looking
past his broad black wings to what lay behind them.
She almost wished she hadn’t.
Because what she saw almost made her swallow her tongue down her throat in fear.
She screamed in his ear. “Thanar!
Trouble!”
“What kind?” he snapped back.
“The fire-breathing dragon kind!”
He turned his head slightly in the
air, too laden down by her weight while he fought the fierce winds to turn his
full body. What he saw made him start cursing enough to set the air on fire in
three languages.
“Hang on,” he snapped at her.
“To what?” she screamed as he
suddenly dropped through the air.
Desperately she clung to his neck
and prayed to the seven gods to deliver them from this evil. Because the dragon
wasn’t just passing by. When Thanar dropped, so did he. The great horned beast,
black of scale and fiery of eyes, smiled with rows of razor-sharp teeth as he
gained airspeed on them with a leisurely pursuit. The dragon didn’t even look like
he was breaking a sweat. If dragons could sweat at all.
Not that Ciardis was such a
connoisseur of dragon physique. It could have been female for all she knew. The
only thing she could say with definite certainty was that it didn’t look
friendly and it certainly wasn’t Raisa.
“This isn’t working,” Ciardis
screamed to Thanar. “He’s gaining on us.”
Thanar kept falling in the air.
“I’ve got an idea.”
“Does it involve us bashing into a
building at top speed? Because it looks like that’s what going to happen more
or less,” she said. By this time Ciardis had her nails digging into Thanar’s
topless shoulders, and she was fairly certain it would leave a mark if they
survived.
Click HERE for my review.
About the Author
Terah Edun is a young adult fantasy writer born and raised in the Atlanta metropolitan area, who transplanted to the Northeast region for college, and has spent years living abroad in South Sudan and Morocco. She writes the stories that she always loved to read as a young girl.
Links-
Twitter- https://twitter.com/tedunwrites
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/TerahEdunAuthor
Website- http://teedun.com/
Interview:
What inspired you to
write your first book?
I wrote my very first book, an epic 57,000 word manuscript
(at the time I so thought that was epic), for my best friend of 15 years. She
and I grew up reading fantasy books. Like ravenous wolves we devoured
everything we could get our hands on and check out of the library. So one day,
two years ago, I decided to see if I could surprise her with my own tale of
magic, adventure and heroines galore.
What is your favorite
book that you wrote and why?
My favorite book is always the one I’m working on at the
moment. Once they’re out of my hands and out in the world of readers, my focus
on is on the next creation. The next line that I need to write, the next
paragraph that I need to create and the next book I need to develop. When I’m
with each book and the characters that make up that world, they have my sole
attention.
If you were stranded
on a desert island which of your characters do you want by your side?
A desert island, you say? Ambassador Sephera then. Sephera
was introduced in Sworn To Transfer, as the female Ambassador from Sahalia (the
dragon lands) to the Empire of Algardis. She has proven time and again that
she’s resourceful, powerful and better than anything else - capable of
transoceanic flight. Yep, that’s right. The flying dragon would bear me to
safety. ;)
If you could be best
friends with one of your characters, who would it be?
I rather like Sebastian - he’s level-headed, smart and
occasionally a bad-ass. Yes, we could be friends.
Who or what inspired
you to be a writer?
Every writer I read growing who always gave me fantastic
stories of strong women, impossible situations and the spark of magic to get
through it all - Mercedes Lackey, Katherine Kerr, Tamora Pierce, Robin Hobb and
a host of others.
What books have most
influenced your life?
My writing life is different from my personal life. I will
say that Queen Noor’s LEAP OF FAITH influenced my decision to study the Middle
East and North Africa and pushed me towards a career in international politics.
While Mildred D. Taylor’s ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY taught me how blessed I
am to grow up in the time period I did.
Who is your favorite
author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Tamora Pierce is my favorite author and has been since
childhood. Her works are multi-faceted and dynamic gems that teach young adults
about the power to overcome adversity, hold fast to unique friendships and
truly shows how young girls and women are powerful in their own right.
What is your typical
day like?
There is no typical day. I work based on the needs of my
publishing schedule. Monday I might be drafting three chapters in my latest
book and handling reader inquires while Tuesday I might be buried in revisions
for the new release and talking to other authors about a character plot that
needs a major re-work. But every single day I check in with Twitter, Facebook
and my website to make sure everything is up to-date and the world isn’t
ending.
How do you overcome
writer’s block?
What’s writer’s block? *knock on wood* I haven’t had it yet
but I’m still really new.
Can you share a
little of your current work with us?
Why yes, I surely can! Do you like dragons? Then you’ll love
this:
“With a final crunch, her maw buried deep in his neck, she
snapped clean through the vertebrate of the smaller under-dragon’s neck. And
that was the end of the battle between the Empress’s representative and her
bestial brethren.” - Chapter 7, Sworn To
Secrecy, Courtlight Book #4
What book are you
reading now?
Poison Princess by Kresley Cole and getting ready to read
Anne Bishop’s Murder of Crows.
What do you prefer
paperback, hardcover, or ebooks?
eBooks for the convenience! I’m always in the air traveling
somewhere. In the last year I’ve been to Egypt, Kenya, Oman, the Cayman Islands
and Jamaica. It would be a real pain to take heavy hardbacks or even paperbacks
with me.
Do you have anything
specific that you want to say to your readers?
I love you all! You make my dreams possible and I have so
many surprises in store for you. If you join my author newsletter, you’ll see
what I have coming in March 2014 and a sneak peek into April’s publishing
schedule. ;) Here’s my link: http://bit.ly/SubscribetoTerahsNewsletter
Guest Post:
10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know
Before
Oh, this is going to be fun! In the year and a half I’ve
been publishing, here are the ten things I wished I knew about being a
(self-published) author before I started:
#10 - Marketing is king and but you don’t HAVE to do it all
yourself. Setting up blog tours, updating social media accounts, managing the
website, and even announcing new releases - there’s a lot of help out there.
It’s also possible to learn to do it yourself.
#9 - You’re not going in alone even if you think you are.
There are so many authors out there willing to share their experiences, their
ideas and their successes. Together, you move forward.
#8 - Carve out time for writing. Sometimes you get caught up
in promotion and marketing and forget that what you should be doing is writing,
writing and more writing.
#7 - You need a team behind you. Find the best editor for
you. Notice I didn’t say the most expensive editor, but the one who can work
with your manuscript(s) and your schedule.
#6 - Reviews can lift you up and bring you down. It’s your
choice. I tend to see the good in all of them.
#5 - Self-publishing is expensive. You need quality cover
art, editors, marketing and formatting at the very least. As you go along
you’ll find the system and the team that works for you. Just don’t go broke
doing it.
#4 - Authors are authors. Whether you’re self-published,
traditionally published, hybrid or whatever. Be nice to everyone.
#3 - You’ll need a routine. At least past me did. When to
start writing, what to start writing, even what food you’re going to eat when
you’ve been writing all day and forgot to cook dinner.
#2 - Have fun. No matter how tired you get, this is the best
job in the world and you should savor it.
#1 - Publishing is what you make of it. Work hard and you
can succeed. Work smarter and you excel.
Thanks so much for posting the excerpt and interviews Diane! They were a lot of fun.
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