Sword of Shadows

 

Hello everyone! Please, give a huge warm welcome to author Karin Rita Gastreich and her Dark Fantasy novel, Sword of Shadows. Karin also has a guest post for us talking about what she would do if she could be one of her characters for a month and why 🙂 Karin will also be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. For Karin’s other tour stops and more chances to win, please click on the banner above, which will take you to her Goddess Fish tour page 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

From Karin:

What would you do if you could be one of your characters for a month and why?

This is a tough question because the truth is, a lot of bad things happen to my characters. So, I’m not sure I would want to be any of them! But if a story genie showed up one day and told me that as punishment for making my characters suffer so much, I must choose to be one of them for a month, I think I would choose to be Eolyn’s good friend, Adiana.

I would also ask to be Adiana during one of few periods of her life when she is not going through hell. When she works as a musician for Mage Corey’s Circle, for example. Or during that period between the first two books of The Silver Web trilogy, when Adiana helps Eolyn build a new home for women’s magic in the highlands of Moehn.

Adiana is a talented musician from Selkynsen, one of the wealthiest provinces of the kingdom. At the age of fifteen, she was orphaned when her parents, successful merchants, were executed on false accusations of witchcraft. Their family fortune was confiscated by the local magistrate, and Adiana was left to fend for herself on the streets. That situation could have ended very badly were it not for one of her father’s former servants, who found Adiana and took her in as one of his own family.

Years later, Adiana would join Mage Corey’s Circle, a group of traveling performers, where she quickly earned her status as his best musician and singer. Adiana would always look back on this time as a unique period in which she felt truly free, able to be entirely herself without any risk of persecution or death. She loved the creative interaction with Corey’s other musicians and performing artists, who hailed from all corners of the known world.

In Sword of Shadows, we meet up with Adiana in a very different context. She now works with Eolyn to resurrect the lost tradition of the magas. While Adiana is not a maga, her command of music gives her special status, as music is considered a fundamental part of their magical tradition. Eolyn and Adiana’s community of self-determined women helps young girls escape the constraints placed upon them by a largely patriarchial society. Theirs is a refuge of womanly love, strength, and support in an otherwise cruel and violent world.

I would like to be Adiana because I admire her passion and independence. She can be very cynical, especially towards men, but this same cynicism gives her the strength to stand on her own, to retain a sense of pride and dignity, even in times of great danger and intense brutality. She was a wonderful character to work with, and a very good friend for Eolyn to have.

Thank you, Karin!

Book Blurb:

Sisters in magic, Eolyn and Adiana seek to revive a millennial tradition once forbidden to women. When war strikes, their fledgling community of magas is destroyed; its members killed, captured or scattered.

Determined to defend her people, Eolyn seeks to escape the occupied province and deliver to King Akmael a weapon that might secure their victory. Trapped by the invading army, Adiana is taken prisoner and placed at the mercy of the ruthless Prince Mechnes.

Even as their world is torn asunder, Eolyn and Adiana cling to a common dream. Courage and perseverance guide them toward a future where the Daughters of Aithne will flourish in a world set free from the violence of men.

“War propels the story forward, and the characters are at their best when circumstances are at their worst.” -Publishers Weekly

This is the second book in THE SILVER WEB trilogy. It can be read as a stand-alone novel, or as the sequel to the first book, EOLYN.

Excerpt:

As Joturi-Nur’s breath slowed, Rishona wrapped her fingers around the jeweled hilt of his broad sword. She adjusted her balance and tilted the blade, trying to see Abartamor’s oversized figure at her back.

When at last the San’iloman laid still, the priest nodded to the princes. Abartamor’s heavy step sounded behind Rishona, along with the slow unsheathing of his sword.

“I, the eldest son of Joturi-Nur, challenge your claim,” he said. “Face me, so that I may send you with my father to the Afterlife.”

Rishona spun, hands wrapped around the hilt of the scimitar, and cut deep into Abartamor’s protruding belly. The prince cried out as metal parted flesh. Blood sprayed across Rishona’s shimmering gown. Abartamor dropped his weapon and staggered backwards, eyes wide and lips quivering in protest.

“What have you done?” he stammered. “My niece? A woman? It’s not possible…not permitted…”

He sat hard on the floor and stared dumbfounded at the entrails spilling from his belly.

Rishona strode forward and drove the scimitar into his thick neck. With a few vicious hacks, she cleaved Abartamor’s head from his torso. Tearing off her veil, she leveled the sword at his brothers and demanded, “Who else would challenge me?”

For several moments there was no sound but the gurgle of Arbartamor’s blood, pooling around Rishona’s satin slippers.

Then Paolus-Nur drew his weapon.

About the author:

Karin Rita Gastreich writes stories of ordinary women and the extraordinary paths they choose. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she is part of the biology faculty at Avila University. An ecologist by vocation, Karin has wandered forests and wildlands for over twenty years. Her past times include camping, hiking, music, and flamenco dance. In addition to THE SILVER WEB trilogy, Karin has published short stories in World Jumping, Zahir, Adventures for the Average Woman, and 69 Flavors of Paranoia. She is a recipient of the Spring 2011 Andrews Forest Writer’s Residency.

 

Website: http://krgastreich.com

Twitter: @EolynChronicles

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Eolyn-110814625640244/

 

Purchase link for SWORD OF SHADOWS, Book Two of THE SILVER WEB: https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Shadows-Silver-Web-Book-ebook/dp/B01G5L1GEG/

 

Purchase link for EOLYN, Book One of THE SILVER WEB: http://www.amazon.com/Eolyn-Silver-Web-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01B8F4G50/