TOUR Audio - YA FANTASY - The Water Legacy (Academy of Magical Creatures, #2) by Megan Linski & Alicia Rades Narrators: Jill Araya & Graham Halstead

THE WATER LEGACY 

Academy of Magical Creatures, #2

by Megan Linski & Alicia Rades

Narrators: Jennifer Jill Araya & Graham Halstead
Length: 16 hours and 1 minutes

Released: September 10th 2019

Publisher: Tantor AudioGenre: Young Adult Fantasy

Fire and water are forbidden.

Sophia:

Liam and I survived the Elemental Cup, but the tournament was only the beginning. The Koigni Elders were impressed by my performance and believe I can help them take over the entire tribe.

But they're asking me to fight for a cause I don't believe in, and forcing me to use my magic in ways that feel wrong. I must learn how to use my powers to contact the ancestors - or I'll lose everyone I love.

Liam:

Sophia Henley's now my girlfriend. And, oh yeah, I'm supposed to kill her.

The water council has promised they'll bring my familiar back from the dead - my literal soul - if I take Sophia's life. But I love her more than I love myself. How can I make such an impossible decision? Even worse, how could I possibly live without her?

But this isn't about us anymore. If don't fulfill my mission, thousands will die...and Sophia and I are both keeping secrets that will change everything.

READ MORE . . . THE WATER LEGACY (Academy of Magial Creatures, #2) . . .

SPOTLIGHT Audio- YA FANTASY - The Fire Prophecy (Academy of Magical Creatures, #1) by Megan Linski & Alicia Rades Narrators: Jennifer Jill Araya & Graham Halstead

THE FIRE PROPHECY
Academy of Magical Creatures, #1
by Megan Linski & Alicia Rades
Narrators: Jennifer Jill Araya & Graham Halstead
Length: 15 hours and 3 minutes
Released: July 24th 2019
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Fire and water don't mix.

Sophia: I'm Sophia Henley, your typical college freshman. I never expected a lion to be stalking me, nor for fire to come shooting out of my hands to protect my sister. Next thing I know, a drop-dead gorgeous guy shows up on my doorstep to sweep me away to a magical school, where I'll learn to control my element and bond with a powerful creature called a Familiar.

I don't believe I'm the savior of an ancient tribe, or the missing piece of a prophecy that's more myth than reality. Worst of all, I'm forced to enter the Elemental Cup, where I'll either earn my place in this society...or die trying.

Liam: The night I met Sophia, I didn't think we'd form an undeniable connection. But I'm from the Water tribe, and she's fire. I'm forced to push her away even as I'm falling for her.

I lost everything, yet Sophia makes me whole again. Our world is fixed on keeping us apart, but we're in this tournament together. We have to keep each other alive at any cost - or I'll give my life for hers.

It's pretty clear. If I continue to play with fire, I'm going to get burned.

READ MORE . .  THE FIRE PROPHECY (Academy of Magical Creatures, #1) . . . AUDIO EXCERPT . . . 

SPOTLIGHT w/Top 10 Literary Inspirations - Aries' Red Sky (Vergassy Chronicles, #1) by James Young Narrator: Jennifer Jill Araya

Aries' Red Sky

Vergassy Chronicles, #1

by James Young

Narrator: Jennifer Jill Araya
Length: 16 hours and 21 minutes
Released: August 27th 2018

Publisher: James L. Young Jr.
Genre: Science Fiction; Space Opera

Author James Young's Top 10 Literary Inspirations

#1 Alas, Babylon I read this book as a child and it’s always stuck with me. Frank does a very good job of dealing with disaster without sinking into the proverbial “grimdark” of later works. 

#2 Dies the Fire Another disaster book. This one really highlights S.M. Stirling’s writing style and his ability to make ordinary people into heroes. If I won the lottery and never had to work again in my life, this would be a series I would catch up on with my newfound spare time. 

#3 Red Storm Rising Another influence when I was young. I’ve always liked Clancy’s decision to go with the omniscient third person when necessary to convey the chaos that is unfolding across an entire engagement. 

#4 Robotech Series When I’m doing my elevator pitch for the Vergassy series, I tell people it’s like “Battlestar Galactica, Aliens, and Robotech thrown into a blender.” A small, niche fandom, the novelizations were written by multiple people under the pseudonym “Jack McKinney.” Regardless of who was doing things, this was a huge influence on me with regards to how I conceptualize space combat. 

#5 The Big E Although Barrett Tillman’s Enterprise takes advantage of a broader interview base on scholarship, this is a book that I consider the “gold standard” for recounting a vessel’s history. As with all my books, there are elements of it that interweave individual ship’s actions and discussion of their crews.

#6 The Girl With the Silver Eyes I liked this one for the way that Willo Roberts got us into the character’s mind and motivation. A good example of an outsider feeling so different...then realizing it’s a big world out there and that means there’s lots of other folks like oneself. 

#7 Bridge to Teribithia This was one of the first books I remember ever making me cry. In that way, it taught me the proper method for conducting a character’s demise, i.e., it serves the plot and cuts the reader. 

#8 The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 A grim, somber walk through as to how the United States went from a nation with minor friction to folks actively shooting at one another in less than a decade. Does a very good job of showing how the majority of the country did not want a no kidding Civil War...yet the nation got one just the same. This helps to understand how people can so demonize and mischaracterize the other sides’ actions that it’s almost impossible to reconcile without a major defeat. 

#9 This Kind of War This book lays out the price of unpreparedness versus having a combat mindset. With regards to Aries’ Red Sky, I do model some of the Confederation Fleet’s unpreparedness off of the same issues the United States Army had in 1950. Preparedness is a mindset. 

#10 Team Yankee This is another “World War Three” novel. Unlike Red Storm Rising, it is very focused at the small unit level. I loved it in high school before I even left to join the Army. After I became an officer, I realized Harold Coyle really did have a good grip on small unit interactions and craziness. 

Honorable Mention-- When Worlds Collide / After Worlds Collide (Toss up so I just added both) This is the go to book for “The world is ending.” While it’s somewhat dated (from the 1930s), it’s somewhat prescient in how it foresees the horrors that the “European fascists” are capable of. While it’s down the road, one of the prequel novellas for my series will have several homages to these two books.

READ MORE . . . ARIES' RED SKY (Vergassy Chronicles, #1) . . .