Cherished
Christina Bauer
(Beholder #3)
Published by: Monster House Books
Publication date: May 30th 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
For Elea, there’s never been a better time to turn away from witch life. The Tsar is in exile. The Vicomte is dead. And Rowan? Falling for him only broke her heart. Instead of casting spells, Elea spends her days running Braddock Farm and enjoying the flirtations of the very handsome and non-magical Philippe. Everything is going perfectly, except for one problem.
Someone’s trying to kill her.
Shujaa is a Changed One, a Creation Caster mage whose mutated form makes him invincible in battle. Now that the Tsar and Vicomte are gone, Shujaa wants to rise and rule. To do so, he must eliminate all those powerful enough to oppose him, and Elea is top on his list. Anyone who offers her aid quickly ends up dead.
In the end, there’s only one person who can keep Elea safe while helping her defeat Shujaa: Rowan. Like it or not, Elea must team up with her old love. With Philippe along for the ride, Elea plans to team with Rowan without losing her heart this time. But that’s when all her plans fall apart…
Monster House Books is celebrating the launch of the ebook version of CHERISHED! As a result, the first two books in the series are specially priced for a limited time! To find out more, visit: http://monsterhousebooks.com/blog/cherishedpromo
The Inspiration For My Book CHERISHED
By Christina Bauer
My book, CHERISHED, is an
epic fantasy that tells the story of a woman who wants to be a farm girl but
ends up as the most powerful Necromancer in the realm. It’s book three in my
Beholder series (if you aren’t familiar with the series, there’s a quick trailer right here.)
In any case, I’m now doing an author tour to celebrate the launch of CHERISHED,
and I’ve been asked to share my thoughts on writing sci-fi and
fantasy by the folks at the COVER CONTESSA. So here goes!
When
it comes to writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy, the number one thing I’d like you to
know is this: placing the reader in the story is a super-sized pain in the
ass. Yes, I write such scenes. Yes, that sounds a little whiny. No, I won’t
back down.
Please
allow me to illustrate with one of the classic lines from Western humor:
A guy walks into a bar
These
six small words tell a sizable story based on a world that’s already
built. For example:
A guy. In the Western world, this means a white guy, not too old, not too
young.
Walks into. Duh.
A bar. I don’t need to say anything more than these two words,
and you know this is not a nightclub or a speakeasy. It’s a low-ceilinged
space with a wrap-around counter and bartender who’s ready to be asked a
question.
Now,
let’s do the same phrase in Sci-Fi.
An alien sloughs in a mojocenter.
What
the WHAT? What kind of alien? Why does it slough? Is ‘it’ really a he or she?
What the hell is a mojocenter?
See
what I’m talking about? Pain in the ass. And it’s often worse for Fantasy,
because most f that is medieval, so 1) no one still knows what you’re talking
about except for 2) a small group of very picky people who know everything
about the middle ages and like to share.
But
I digress. Back to the example above.
In
this case, let’s say that this is a snake alien who’s losing his skin (hence
the sloughing) and is in his equivalent of a
bar (that would be the mojocenter). Now, we come to the classic debate of ‘show
versus tell.’ This is a writer’s game. As a creative diva, I don’t want to
just say that he’s a snake alien, I’d rather show it. Maybe I
have him look in a mirror and assess his appearance. After that, he could try
to move and lose some of his skin…It’s that time of the year! Finally, the
bartender at the mojocenter is gives him the evil eye for leaving his skin
on the floor.
By
this point, I’ve spent about a page and a half inside the alien’s head without
any real action or dialog. Not good.
Thus
comes the sci-fi and fantasy writer diva’s dilemma. Do I stick with the page
and a half… or do I just do some asides that get the same thing done fast, like:
‘It’s so unfair. Snake aliens like me are never welcome in mojocenters when
we’re sloughing off our skin. Doesn’t matter that we need a drink, same as
every other genetically engineered humanoid in the galaxy.’
Wow!
Three sentences and BOOM! We’re done. Now we can get into the action and
character development. See where I’m going with this? It’s always a tough
judgment call on ‘show versus tell’ when it comes to intense world building. It
depends on the scene, the pace of the story, and a bunch of other things, not
the least of which is ‘I dunno. That just works for me.’
At
this point, I always ask myself: Self, why do all the extra work to build
out an intricate world? It’s a crap ton of extra hassle. Plus, once it’s
done, there’s still all the other work of creating a good story.
In other words, what does the man do in the bar, or the alien in the
mojocenter?
After
much contemplation, I have decided that only a nut job would have the
patience for all of this sci-fi and fantasy stuff…And I am one such nut job.
Thank you so much for the
opportunity to answer this thoughtful question; I certainly enjoyed the journey
of writing my response. If you think of more queries, please know that I’m
always up for reader interaction, and more information on how to contact me is
listed below.
About the Author
Christina
Bauer knows how to tell stories about kick-ass women. In her best selling
Angelbound series, the heroine is a part-demon girl who loves to fight in
Purgatory’s Arena and falls in love with a part-angel prince. This young adult
best seller has driven more than 500,000 ebook downloads and 9,000 reviews on
Goodreads and retailers.
Bauer has also told the story of
the Women’s March on Washington by leading PR efforts for the Massachusetts
Chapter. Her pre-event press release—the only one sent out on a major wire
service—resulted in more than 19,000 global impressions and redistribution by
over 350 different media entities including the Associated Press.
Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.
Be the first to know about new releases from Christina by signing up for her newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/CBupdates
Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.
Be the first to know about new releases from Christina by signing up for her newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/CBupdates
Stalk Christina on Social Media – She Loves It!
·
Blog:
http://monsterhousebooks.com/blog/category/christina
·
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/authorBauer/
·
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/christina_cb_bauer/
·
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-bauer-481b12139/
·
Web site:
http://monsterhousebooks.com/authors/cbauer
Author Bio:
Christina Bauer knows how to tell stories about kick-ass women. In her best selling Angelbound series, the heroine is a part-demon girl who loves to fight in Purgatory’s Arena and falls in love with a part-angel prince. This young adult best seller has driven more than 500,000 ebook downloads and 9,000 reviews on Goodreads and retailers.
Bauer has also told the story of the Women’s March on Washington by leading PR efforts for the Massachusetts Chapter. Her pre-event press release—the only one sent out on a major wire service—resulted in more than 19,000 global impressions and redistribution by over 350 different media entities including the Associated Press.
Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.
Be the first to know about new releases from Christina by signing up for her newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/CBupdates
Thanks for being on the tour! :)
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