Concealed Special Edition

by Christina Bauer

  The spell felt like hundreds of embers searing my skin. That could only mean one thing. A detection spell from a Creation Caster. Interesting.

  All Creation Casters knew magick, but most could only perform a handful of low-level spells. Senior Casters were extremely rare. Sadly, an evil mage named Viktor had transformed most Senior Casters into Changed Ones, which were part-animal mages that could cast hardly any spells. Rowan and I had sent Viktor into exile; most Changed Ones were thrilled with that accomplishment.

  A handful still served Viktor, though.

  A sinking feeling crept into my stomach. Something told me this new mage was one of Viktor’s followers. Not good.

  I pulled the wagon to a stop and scanned my surroundings. We’d passed the orchard some time ago. Now, tall stalks of green barley lined either side of the road. The shadows within them seemed too dark for daylight.

  Something was wrong here.

  And because I was Zuchtlos, that wrongness felt absolutely exciting to me. My shoulders squared. The world came into clearer focus. An evil Creation Caster was definitely close by. A battle of wits and magick could start any second now.

  For the first time in ages, I giggled with joy.

  —The End—

  To find out more about CHERISHED, visit:

  http://monsterhousebooks.com/books/beholder/cherished

  Appendix I - Bonus Content

  What Beholder Teaches Me

  Now that I’ve finished book two of the Beholder series, it’s time for a little self-reflection. Looking back, I think Beholder shows some (hopefully interesting!) insights about yours truly as an author.

  I have some serious issues with deities

  I don’t think of myself as grappling with the concept of god all the time, but in looking at my writing? I’m like:

  Sheesh, what is UP with YOU and the divine?

  In my Angelbound series, I have an afterlife where all the angels and demons are as clueless about the Almighty as we are. In Beholder, the gods—well, let’s just say it gets really complicated. I don’t know why that inspires me, but it does!

  For some reason, I like to play around with identity

  Here’s what I mean. I tend to have characters confront their kid-self or spirit-self. In fact, I do this so much so that I actually need to name a character Spirit-Rowan or whatever. Go figure.

  Colors are big too

  I often end up color-coding things and yeah, that makes me happy for some reason. In Beholder, the Creation Caster magic is red while Necromancer is blue.

  I loves me some monsters

  This is somewhat of an obsession. I don’t ‘do’ monsters that have been done before. For instance, when I read a book with a retread monster (Wow, another hydra! Pinch me!) I want to throw my kindle through a wall. I’ll sometimes use a classic category, like dragon or chimera, but I always try to put in a twist.

  Battle scenes float my boat

  Another thing that gets my inner writer going is devising new ways for partners to fight side by side, as in 1) no one cowers in a corner while someone else fights and 2) it doesn’t count if they are fighting halfway across the room from each other. Side by side. BOOM. That’s life.

  Snark, snark and, oh that’s right, SNARK

  My heroines all have snarky voices, and Elea is no exception. Go sass!

  I can’t do antiheroes

  I know bad boys are a great draw, but I just can’t write them. Believe me, I’ve tried!!! Turns out, I like a good man with a strong moral compass and lots of powers and-or muscles. In that order.

  I appreciate my readers

  It’s been said before but that doesn’t make it any less true: what inspires me to write stories are the people who dig my work.

  So THANK YOU for reading.

  Writing Tips

  Beholder marks my second major series as an author. At this point, I can look back at the ten-plus novels I’ve written and pull together some tips for new writers. Hope some of these are useful!

  It’s okay to suck as a writer

  Every author is positively rotten when they start out. Why do you think we begin with the alphabet? Everyone starts with nothing and needs to work their way up. The trick is …

  Stick with it

  Writing is an endurance sport. Be prepared. I find that greasy snack foods help a lot.

  Play with words

  A fun part of writing (for me anyway) is figuring out how to use language to simulate experience. Whether you alternate consonants or vowels, play with the length of words, or love alliteration … there are a ton of tools at your disposal to create a vivid world for your readers.

  Have a business plan

  Most writers can create a number of different stories for a wide variety of audiences. Why not research which of those options can also make you some money? If it’s all the same, there’s no shame in pursuing the ideas that can financially support you through your next book.

  Welcome criticism

  As an author, there can be a lot of boo-hooing about bad reviews. Here’s my advice: ask for people to pick your stuff apart, both in terms of your writing and your business plan. Feedback is a gift.

  Appreciate your support system

  It’s a romantic idea … the lone writer. In reality however, successful writers rely on reviewers, editors, proofreaders, other readers and loved ones. Know who yours are and thank them a lot.

  Be patient

  I didn’t really get into my groove with writing until book eight. There’s a lot of focus in the industry on new writers and manuscripts. Ignore it. Work your craft.

  Read a ton

  What you put in your mind is what comes out on the page. Be super careful of any and all storytelling you consume, especially if you want to create something unique. If you’re reading the same stories as everyone else, that’s what you’ll produce.

  Enjoy your tribe

  As you publish more books, you’ll get the chance to gain wonderful readers who enjoy your writing. This is THE BEST.

  Enjoy!

  My Rules for Elea

  Whenever I write, I keep a list of to don’ts handy. In creating CONCEALED, I updated those for our heroine. Here’s the latest.

  Heroines don’t run away from trouble.

  Well, sometimes they have to, but that’s only when there is no other choice. This is especially true in CONCEALED. Elea has power. She’s safe from her curse. Our girl could go hang out on her farm and tell everyone to stick it. But she doesn’t.

  Remember Bugs Bunny

  Warrior heroines always give people a chance to back off before killing them. This is what I call the Bugs Bunny rule. Bugs always gave his antagonists at least one opportunity before declaring, “Of course you realize this means war.”

  Value life

  Heroines have a reaction to the taking of any life. It’s just creepy to kill and walk away without having any feels about it.

  Plan, plan, plan

  Elea always has a scheme going. When there are setbacks, she regroups, thinks it over, and comes up with another strategy.

  NOTE: This one is really hard for me. In my first drafts, I tend to have a very passive heroine. Then I go back and give her action.

  Don’t forget goals

  This ties in with the planning rule. You can’t scheme without a serious goal, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to write hundreds of pages without one. It happens. Plus, it’s important to have a life goal outside of finding your significant other. Romance is important, but it’s not the only thing going on. That said…

  We all deserve love

  Heroines who have goals outside of love still deserve rich and satisfying romantic arcs, period. In other words, no one gets stripped of their femininity just because they have an atypical life goal for a romance novel.

  Work, work, work

  Elea makes a conscious choice to develop her skills. In CURSED, she works for years to develop her magick. In CONCEALED, she takes herself to the n
ext level by developing social abilities outside her supernatural powers. Namely, our heroine learns how to hide within a new type of society.

  Hence the name CONCEALED :)

  Five Paranormal Big Bads

  When I created Elea, I listed out other characters (from life that’s both real and not-so-real) in order to inspire her personality. I follow this same process when creating my villains as well. In that spirit, here are some so-called big bads that inspire me.

  Grendel

  Grendel is the main antagonist of BEOWULF, a Nordic saga where there’s a shit-ton of mead and smiting. What I like about Grendel is that although he’s definitely a big bad monster, the REALLY BIG big bad is none other than Grendel’s mother. I’d like to read a reimagining of that story where Grendel’s mother kicks Beowulf’s ass, but I’m a romantic like that.

  The headless horseman

  This is a personal childhood memory for me. As a kid, I was freaking terrified of the headless horseman. Specifically, I was convinced that he’d chop off my head at night unless I slept with my hair in curlers, because no self-respecting headless horseman wanted a head full of curls. What can I say? I was six.

  Jenny Greenteeth

  No one can scare the ever-loving crap out of me better than an evil Irish fairy. Jenny Greenteeth is a dark fae who lurks by the edges of ponds and pulls kids in to their deaths. I first read about her when I was thirteen and have been avoiding ponds ever since.

  Stupid Peter

  If the Irish are great for sheer fright, then the Germans are proficient in a good mind fuck. In fact, there’s a series of children’s stories called Stupid Peter in which said boy doesn’t eat his dinner and so he dies of starvation, doesn’t clip his nails so he turns into a wild man, and so on. Great inspiration in here, believe it or not.

  Krampus

  And what list of paranormal nonsense would be complete without Krampus, the evil version of Santa who takes kids away in sacks because, again, this is a Germanic story and Santa Claus kidnapping you is yet another mind fuck.

  So there you have it. Paranormal nightmares that inspire my literary villains to this day. The badassness never ceases.

  Secrets of Elea

  Now that you’ve known Elea through two books, I thought you might appreciate some secrets about our favorite Necromancer.

  Elea is short for Eleanor

  I’m a big history fan and there are a lot of cool Eleanors in the past, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Unfortunately, growing up we also had a cleaning woman named Eleanor who was a figure of—how shall I put it?—not some small angst. My mother was bi-polar (truth) and when she’d get in a mood, she and Eleanor would hang in the kitchen, drink tea, and talk about how I and my siblings sucked (more truth).

  I’m not sure Eleanor really hated us kids so much as liked the big tip my mother gave after any of these sessions, but I still had some torn feelings about the name Eleanor. So, I shortened the name to Elea (ah-LAY-ahh). Extra geek bonus that the pronunciation has Princess Leia’s name in it!

  Elea was originally trapped in a dungeon-well at the opening of CURSED

  I tried to make it work, but it was just too SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. It was also dark as hell. Eventually, I put Elea on her farm and that was much better for everyone.

  I feel really bad for what I did to Elea and Rowan in CONCEALED

  So much so in fact, that I couldn’t start writing the next book in the series for ages. Which is crazy because these are fake people in my head.

  Good news: The next book, CHERISHED, is already here, so you don’t have to wait for some resolution. Huzzah!

  Appendix II

  If You Enjoyed This Book…

  …Please consider leaving a review, even if it’s just a line or two. Every bit truly helps, especially for those of us who don’t write by the numbers, if you know what I mean.

  Plus I have it on good authority that every time you review an indie author, somewhere an angel gets a mocha latte. For reals.

  And angels need their caffeine, too.

  Acknowledgments

  If you’re reading my freaking acknowledgements, chances are, I should thank you for something. So, for the record: you are awesome, dear reader.

  That said, huge and heartfelt thanks must go out to my husband and son for their rock-solid support. Writing the Beholder series meant a lot of early mornings, late nights, long weekends, and never-ending patience. You two are the best guys in the universe, period.

  After that, I must thank the extensive network of reviewers, friends and colleagues who helped me build my writing chops in general. Gracias.

  Finally, deep affection goes out to my late, much loved, and dearly missed Aunt Sandy and Uncle Henry. You saw the writer in me, always. Thank you, first and last.

  Collected Works

  Beholder

  Where a medieval farm girl discovers necromancy and true love

  1. Cursed

  2. Concealed

  3. Cherished

  4. Crowned

  5. Cradled

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  Angelbound Origins

  About a quasi (part demon and part human) girl who loves kicking butt in Purgatory's Arena

  1. Angelbound

  2. Scala

  3. Acca

  4. Thrax

  5. The Dark Lands

  6. The Brutal Time (2019)

  7. Armageddon (already here, long story!)

  8. Quasi Redux (2020)

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  Angelbound Lincoln

  The Angelbound experience as told by Prince Lincoln

  1. Duty Bound

  2. Lincoln

  3. Trickster (forthcoming)

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  Angelbound Offspring

  The next generation takes on Heaven, Hell, and everything in between

  1. Maxon

  2. Portia

  3. Zinnia (forthcoming)

  4. Kaps (forthcoming)

  5. Huntress (forthcoming)

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  Fairy Tales of the Magicorum

  Modern fairy tales with sass, action, and romance

  1. Wolves and Roses

  1.5 Moonlight and Midtown

  2. Shifters and Glyphs

  3. Slippers and Thieves (forthcoming)

  4. Bandits and Ballgowns (forthcoming)

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  Dimension Drift

  Dystopian adventures with science, snark, and hot aliens

  Prequels

  1. Scythe

  2. Umbra

  Novels

  1. Alien Minds (forthcoming)

  2. ECHO Academy (forthcoming)

  3. Drift Warrior (forthcoming)

  About Christina Bauer

  Christina Bauer thinks that fantasy books are like bacon: they just make life better. All of which is why she writes romance novels that feature demons, dragons, wizards, witches, elves, elementals, and a bunch of random stuff that she brainstorms while riding the Boston T. Oh, and she includes lots of humor and kick-ass chicks, too. Christina lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.

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  Stalk Christina on Social Media – She Loves It!

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  Blog:

  http://monsterhousebooks.com/blog/category/christina

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  Facebook:

  https://www.facebook.com/authorBauer/

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  Instagram:

  https://www.instagram.com/christina_cb_bauer/

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  Twitter: @CB_Bauer

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  VLOG: https://tinyurl.com/Vlogbauer

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  Web site: www.bauersbooks.com

  Complimentary Book

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