GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Excerpt: The Lost Legends: Tales of Myth and Magic by Adam D. Jones + giveaway | I Smell Sheep

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Excerpt: The Lost Legends: Tales of Myth and Magic by Adam D. Jones + giveaway

The Lost Legends: Tales of Myth and Magic by Adam D. Jones, Ryan Swindoll, Rachel Neumeier, Renea McKenzie (Editor)
August 26, 2019
294 pages
Publisher: Archgate Press
Genre: Paranormal Short Story Anthology Old magic. New stories. Lose yourself in a fantasy anthology where adventure and mystery wait on every page. The Lost Legends is bursting with mystical rivals, crafty elves, elusive vampires, and everything that makes fantasy the most fun genre in fiction.

The Lost Legends contains thirteen new stories from talented and award-winning authors, including Rachel Neumeier, Sarah Bale, Kristen Bickerstaff, Michael Hustead, Adam D. Jones, A.E. McAuley, E.S. Murillo, Madelin Pickett, Abigail Pickle, and Ryan Swindoll.


The Luck Stone by Kristen Bickerstaff
Aoife hated these stupid boots.

She cracked an eyelid open and dragged one ponderous shoe up into the air. She held the boot up until her leg trembled from the weight, then let it drop to the ground with a loud thunk. The iron sole clanged against the loose white rocks scattered around the quarry mainway, shocking Bran into jumping off of his perch on the boulder next to her. He shot her a baleful look, his dark eyebrows cranked down low.

“I don’t see why I had to wear these,” she complained. Even with the layer of leather between her and the iron, the soles of her feet itched abominably.

“They’re mule-kickers,” Fynn said from under the brim of his outlandishly large southern hat. She couldn’t even see his sharp features underneath the brim, tipped down as it was to shield his face as he napped. “It’s so you blend in. Well, as much as you can blend in. Not many with elvish blood this way, and you know how superstitious the folks in Grimnal can be. Can’t have potential clients turning us down on sight alone.”

Aoife ignored the comment about her appearance, though she did tuck a stray white lock of hair back under her kerchief. The tight braided coil of hair trapped under there itched too, and her own foolishly large hat trapped the sweat trickling down her scalp, making her feel grimy. She thought longingly of the last time she’d had a bath, before their ill-fated river job a month ago.

Blend in. She rolled her eyes. By the look of the menagerie of people hawking their wares on the quarry’s mainway, blending in was laughable. Between the hedgewitch cloaked in smoking incense (and not much else) and the merc whose stone-colored skin spoke of at least a drop of troll blood, she was not the oddest one here.

The hat did hide her dully-pointed ears, she had to admit, though there was no hiding her distinctive green-gold eyes. Or the thick strokes of her brand, white lines stark against the brown skin of her cheek, elegant in their cruelty. Aoife traced its familiar outline, a circle broken by a jagged slash. Even Grimnalians who’d never so much as smelled the bluebell-scented air of the Vyoathe Forest would know what it was. Only one sort was branded on the face in the so-called Civil States. Murderer.

About the Author:
Website-FB-Twitter
Instagram
I began telling stories when my middle school newspaper asked for fiction submissions. They accepted mine, and then I saw my words in print for the first time. Ever since, I’ve only wanted to be a writer. (It was a very important story about a dolphin outwitting a shark.)

Besides fiction, I’ve also done my time in the academy, where I lectured students, researched some of history’s more obscure figures, and published a thesis on medieval historiography that (somehow) is listed on Wikipedia as something authoritative.

I even wrote a board game or two, and then spent some time writing ads for businesses, big and small, and contributed to two books on creative writing.

But it’s all about the storytelling for me, and working with other writers to put The Lost Legends together has been nothing short of a dream project. Each story will take you on a new journey, carrying you on an adventure until you’ve reached the tale’s end and turn the page, tumbling into the next flight of fancy.

Author Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

1 comment: