Spotlight: Changed by Vicki Stiefel
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(The Made Ones Saga, #2)
Publication date: August 13th 2020
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
What if you could be young again? Would it be a dream come true or truly a nightmare?
That’s the startling reality retired circus trapeze artist Breena Balážová awakens to on the world of Eleutia in her own re-engineered younger body. For a woman whose death on Earth was inches away, it seems like a second chance at life. But in this parallel world, where horses fly and animals and humans are symbionts, Bree is intended as breeding stock to balance the plummeting female birthrate.
As she searches for her missing sisters, who were pulled to Eleutia with her, Bree also must survive assassination attempts, the growing threat of war, and her unexpected attraction to the arrogant animal Clan Alpha, Gato, a man with terrible burdens and secrets.
The animal Clans join forces to combat a dark conspiracy that will shake the foundations of their world, even as Bree’s search for her sisters grows more desperate and dangerous.
If Bree has any hope of finding her sisters and fulfilling her own destiny, she and Gato must carry out a perilous deception, their success or failure deciding not only their own fate, but that of all Eleutia.
Excerpt
Breena meets Mother Tree. Mother is the origin of all trees on Eleutia, where trees are near sentient. Mother is fully sentient, and she knows things and makes things happen. She speaks to few humans and has chosen to speak with Bree.
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Another step forward and Bree reached the wall of trees, a gentle mist brushing her face. She pressed a palm to a sentinel, but snapped it away from the tree’s burning heat. Now what?
Creaks and groans sounded.
“Holy moly.”
The two closest trees bowed their trunks, opening a hole big enough for her to pass through. She guessed she was to climb inside the opening, so that’s what she did. And gaped.
A canopy of mist shrouded the circle of trees, yet a ray of light shone down onto the small grassy rise in the center where a single diminutive tree grew. It was the strangest, most beautiful thing Bree had ever seen.
Blue frilly blossoms cascaded like a willow’s, obscuring bark and branches, to trail across the earth like a woman’s hair.
Come.
It was both whisper and shout, a crone’s voice and a newborn’s, solemn and gay as a child’s.
She walked across the lush grass, whispers and laughter echoing in her head, and as she neared the tree, the blossoms sharpened into blue stars with gold centers, the scents of rose, lilac, and gardenia perfuming the air.
The tree was not far above her head, and she wondered if she should duck beneath the branches. A breeze at her back urged her onward, and she parted the blossoms and stepped forward.
Oh my stars alive.
Light filtered through the translucent blossoms, and before her lay a carpet of flowers—white lily-of-the-valley, blue roses, green jack-in-the pulpit, and yellow lady slippers. They surrounded the trunk, its silver bark inlaid with small gems—emerald and diamond, sapphire and ruby.
Shooting stars. The surrounding trees were sentinels, for she was in the presence of Mother, the genesis of all trees on Eleutia.
Touch.
The word echoed inside her, and Bree laid her palms and cheek against the trunk. Soothing, like standing within a cool mountain stream.
She is here. She will come. Be at ease.
Words, yet not. More like the sigh of the wind. Yet she understood. “Who will come?”
We did this. We brought you here.
“Here, you mean, to you?”
Blossoms fluttered and murmurs rose. We whispered to the owls, who told the falcons, who spoke with Falcon to choose you three. Falcon showed you to the Evil Ones, so they would bring you.
She is here. She will come. Be at ease. Go.
“Who is She?”
But Mother said no more.
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About the Author
Vicki’s fantasy romantic suspense series, The Afterworld Chronicles, launched with Chest of Bone, followed by Chest of Stone and Chest of Time. She is currently pounding the keys on her series’ fourth novel, Chest of Fire, and the first in a new series, The Made Ones Sags: Altered.
Her mystery/thrillers include Body Parts, The Dead Stone, The Bone Man, and The Grief Shop, a Daphne du Maurier prize winner. All feature homicide counselor Tally Whyte. All are available as ebooks.
She co-wrote (with Lisa Souza) and photographed the 10 Secrets of the LaidBack Knitters. With her late husband, William G. Tapply, she ran The Writers Studio workshops in creative fiction.
Vicki taught fiction writing and modern media writing at Clark University.
She loves both a well-crafted sentence and unlocking the doors of a student’s imagination.
She grew up in professional theater and planned to become an actress, with a bent for song and dance. She didn’t. Instead, she’s been a professional photographer, a high-school teacher, a hamburger slinger, a scuba-shop manager, and an editor.
She’s Blake’s and Ben’s mom, her favorite role of all.
Her passions include scuba diving and fly fishing and knitting; photography and movies; vinho verde and bourbon (not together!); Maine lobster and chocolate (also not together!); and musical comedy scores, which she sing in the shower, unfortunately not an Equity venue; and a fascination with people in all walks of life.
Connect:
https://www.facebook.com/vickistiefelauthor/
https://twitter.com/VickiStiefel
