Salt, Sky, and Fire is done! For now. I’ve finished my edits at last. Now off to beta readers. Stay tuned for that Amazon release date.
The sequel, Wind, Waves, and Ruin is with my editor and she is happy. My favorite compliment so far, about Cleobah – “I don’t want to strangle her now whenever she comes on the page.”
Writing a sphinx character was a challenge. Translating how I envisioned the complex and contradictory Cleobah into words stretched me, and from my editor’s feedback when she read the first draft of WWaR, I didn’t quite pull it off. After some major re-writes, I think I’ve got it. My editor: “I no longer want to strangle her when she comes on the page.” High praise, believe me!
Here’s a quick peek at the new, improved, Cleobah in Salt, Sky, and Fire:
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“It’s going to take a bit more to bring you around isn’t it?” Cleobah couldn’t seem to sit still. In true feline fashion, she was back up and pacing across the grass, weaving between Taenya and me, passing between the blue dome of energy holding Fraser and sashaying past Cassyrra, her tail waving behind her like it had a mind of its own. I held my breath, wondering if she’d press against the dragon’s shoulder like a kitty against its person’s leg.
“Lucky for you, I can tell you anything about the past or the immediate present. So let me tell you something that might change your mind.” She rustled her wings as she strode back and forth. “Give me a moment. There’s so much to choose from.”
Fraser rocked on his heels, looking bored. “Take your time. Go ahead, I’m not going anywhere.”
She curved around me as she turned, wings just brushing across the backs of my arms and trailing her tail across my calf, then sat next to me, putting herself between me and the numin cage holding Fraser.
“Ozora saw the holding pens in Skirmisher.” Fraser’s eyes narrowed at the sphinx’s pronouncement, closing off his expression, but Cleobah wasn’t done. “She had every reason to believe you were catching and selling hippocamps. Of course she believed what Gordon told her because she saw that’s exactly what you were set up to do.”
I nodded in agreement, and he caught my movement, his attention now shifting between Cleobah and me. “She never would have torched your ship if you had shared your plans with her sooner. That sunset sailing you dreamed of would’ve been your fate.” She said in as gentle a voice as I’d heard her use yet.
I stopped nodding. That last part was completely wrong.
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I have a couple spots left for beta readers for Salt, Sky, and Fire before it goes to publication. If you are interested, send an email to:
admin@serenadracis.com
with the subject “Beta Reader.”
Serena Dracis 