Tales of the Feisty Druid Boxed (Books 1-3): Age Of Magic - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Tales of the Feisty Druid Boxed Set)
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Sitting here, thinking about what to say to the readers and how to properly introduce myself, I can’t even believe I’m here. It’s surreal to me. I began this crazy ride with Michael’s group as an editor, and now here I am.
When I was told about how amazing his fans were, how dedicated, and how excited they are to read all things KGU, it was a dream come true to work to create something worthy of him and of his fans. You guys are epic, and the opportunity to be able to do this is monumental.
So, since this is the first time (but hopefully the first of many) you’re reading anything about me, I’ll introduce myself so you know exactly who I am and why I think this and all of you are so bad ass.
I began writing eight years ago. I started my first book (The Eternal Gift) in April of ’09 and finished it in September of ’09. It was NEVER supposed to be published—I didn’t even know that was possible! And I wrote it all while going to nursing school full time, working full time as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) in a long-term care facility, with two very little boys (only twenty months apart at one and two years old), and with my husband several states away in basic training.
It was one hell of a ride, and I’m still shocked that I didn’t rip my own face off at some point out of exhaustion and confusion. I think writing was a huge coping mechanism for me. It started with reading. Because even with all that, I read one book every single day—until I started writing. And as I said before, that book was just for fun. In fact, I only ever planned to write it for my co-workers. I didn’t know self-publishing was a thing, but I soon would.
Things were action-packed back then when it came to my hectic schedule, and I hadn’t considered doing anything except write, print, and bind those chapters every week for my friends, but eventually, I got brave enough to publish a few chapters online back in 2010, and my entire world changed.
People were constantly asking for more, so I wrote more and more and posted a lot until I stumbled upon other people doing even more than that. I made a few friends and then…
I learned a few things.
The next couple of years I spent writing The Eternal Series, and the characters inside became my fictional children. The universe was so big that it allowed me to create so many wonderful characters—vampires, werewolves, immortals, succubi, and more—full of rich pasts and trials of their own.
Every one of them powerful in their own way, and every one of them near and dear to me. Later, I’d realize just how fun it was to expand on the universe.
Now, eight years later, here I am. I’m one husband lighter, fifteen books heavier, and the with the absolute best group of writers (now friends, whether we’ve met in person or not—totally sounds creepy) that I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Eight months ago, because of an amazing author and friend—Bonnie R. Paulson—I stumbled upon Michael and all the amazing people that I now have the joy of working with.
On top of learning a shit-ton of amazing things, I go through every day with at least a couple of dick jokes, more if I’m editing for Chris and Lee, and isn’t that what makes the world go ‘round?
I certainly think it helps at times.
[Edit - add by Michael - Absolutely!]
My boys are now nine and eleven, and my youngest, Matthew, just finished his first children’s book—which he wrote on my laptop sitting next to me while I sat at my desktop—which is very sweetly named The Legendary Kitten Adventures. No clue when it will finally be published, but we are working on it together, and it’s so much fun.
I had to force that child to read (the book I chose was The War of the Worlds), and once he finished it, he was hooked. While I found it very amusing, given that very same thing happened to me, only with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I couldn’t have been prouder of him.
Now, being a full-time author, I get to watch him grow every day. I get to watch him grow his imagination and develop his stories.
My oldest son, Brandon, has an imagination that I’m convinced is bigger than that of anyone I know, but he isn’t the book writing type—though, I’m still working on it. Anyone that can create over a hundred unique monsters in a single year with each one having their own unique name and super power needs to tell stories! So, I’m hopeful, but he’s welcome to keep it to drawing if he likes.
He’s a sweet boy with an evil genius mind for stories, and I love it. Maybe one of these days, my boys will grow up and be able to write in the Eternal Universe and create creatures of their own.
How awesome would that be?
For right now, my goal is to continue to inspire them as I have been. It’s every parent’s dream to be an inspiration to their kids, and I’ve achieved that. They think I’m cool—because they’re weird and are still too young to know better, but I hope that never fades.
They are my life and to have the opportunity to not miss out on their lives is a blessing. My goal in publishing has always been one thing: make a life for my family. And now, because of Michael Anderle, his genius brain, this amazing Universe, and all the crazy awesome fans, I stand a chance of doing that. So, again, thank you! Because this is absolutely a dream come true.
There is another person that I owe a big thank you to. Several, actually, but I want to start with Michael York. I’ve had several jobs and several employers/superiors, and I never learned a thing from any of them except how not to treat people.
I started working for Mike about six months after my divorce, and I’d never had anyone push me quite so hard. He never let me give up or take no for an answer, and he pushed me to realize that I was a much different person than I thought I was. I was stronger and more capable than I’d ever thought possible of doing anything in the world that I wanted.
Because of his initial pushing and my ever-growing desire to succeed, I made goals every day at work, and I smashed them. It made me so motivated inside of work that it carried over to my home life, and I began writing more and more all the time. Instead of telling me to focus more on my job (a Sales Rep at an authorized Verizon retailer), he let me write my books in my down time and always asked what he could do to help.
I doubt many people take the time to stop and thank him—because I’m well aware I’m not the only person he’s tried to inspire with his positive attitude and hilarious yet wildly inappropriate sense of humor—so I wanted to make sure that he knew. Friends like that don’t come around often.
I’d also like take time to thank Scott Paul (author T.S. Paul) for being a badass and believing in me and helping me along my journey. Michael Anderle—you are my hero, even if you don’t wanna take credit because you’re an awesome guy. You’re the shit, and I’ll always be grateful to you for letting me write in your world. Chris and Lee—you guys are the best and helped this entire project grow into something amazing. It’s hard to believe this all started with editing a few awesome books (the Age of Magic books) and turned into this.
The time is finally here! Cheers!
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting on the first third of the words finished in the second book, and it has even more action and fun things to look forward to. The next book is full of madness, so as excited as I am to write it, I hope you guys are just as excited to read it.
Thank you again for all the warm comments and reviews. All this is still unreal to me, and I’m just damned happy to be part of it.
Candy
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
July 19th, 2017
It is always something special for me to write this first paragraph of the Author Notes. Which goes like this… THANK YOU! Not only did you read the whole story, but NOW, you are reading the Author Notes as well.
I just got finished reading (and editing) Candy’s author notes. I’d like to say I didn’t edit much, but I did take out a few exclamation points.
Why? Because when Candy gets excited, and emotional, she whips out those “!’s” and she flings them throughout the author notes like she was giving out candy at Halloween.
So, she was editing their stories, and when it came time for Chris and Lee and myself to open up the opportunity to write for you, they asked her if she would enjoy writing a series?
And, it just isn’t easy to do this.
For one, she had to be willing to review, re-read, and decide if moving to a Kurtherian voice was something she would be willing to do? (Some authors say they will, but when it comes time to make it happen, aren’t willing to do it.)
She said yes.
Then, the rubber hit the road and the writing, and re-writing, and ‘oh holy crap, I have to rip ALL of that out of the story?’ happens.
Then the whole episodes of working with our cover artist, and the challenges that come along with it (have to grow up, grasshopper) happens. Here in LMBPN, we are a family, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t ….mmmm…. not demanding really, but very focused on providing stories that marry our collaborators voices with mine and provide the entertainment, and just kick-assery of characters we all grow and love.
It causes a few of our authors to step into a whole new world, and Candy jumped into the pool with both feet and came up bubbling with laughter. She is SUCH a hoot in the group (and really, she does love those jokes from Chris and Lee.) Here is a secret I’ve mentioned a few times lately. I think most female authors are WAY less concerned about things being PC (or correct in any way) than a lot of ladies I see played on TV.
It seems I’m the one who has been embarrassed when I’ve had to suggest anything sexually clarifying in our conversations.
For example, on the cover for Quest For Magic with Martha Carr (July 31st, 2017 - the new Oriceran Universe) I had to tell her that the cover artist had not done something … correct … with our main characters breasts.
Martha had to suffer through me stammering out that Leira’s left breast seemed to be squished over to the middle of her chest. My face was FLAMING red as I stuttered through that. Then, Martha had to take that information and talk with the artist (another guy) and work with him to fix the issue.
Apparently, I think their original clarification took less time for me to explain to Martha my concerns.
Then, I related that story to Sarah Boyce (another Oriceran group writer) and she agreed. Indie Female Publishers were VERY pragmatic and generally didn’t care about things that I stumble over explaining. Hell, Ell Leigh Clarke is the one who makes sure the covers for her books sizzle.
So, when Candy Crum (which is her real name, not a pen name) is speaking about the joking around with Chris and Lee, I get it. Sense of humor is a wonderful thing, and girls can be just as humored as guys about stuff I’d be embarrassed to say at times.
Yeah, this is coming from me, right? With some of the stuff I put into the Bethany Anne stories I can only imagine some of you are thinking ‘WTF?’ I curse like a sailor in real life, I don’t share too much other stuff IRL (in real life) as I put into my stories.
Damn, these author notes are freaking rambling.
Once upon a time, we had just one female author writing in The Kurtherian Gambit (Natalie Grey). Now, LMPBN Publishing (The Kurtherian Gambit, The Oriceran Universe and minority partner on Allazar Universe) will have the following ladie’s stories out or coming soon and I couldn’t be happier.
1) Natalie Grey (The Kurtherian Gambit - Trials and Tribulation Series - Paranormal / Sci-fi)
2) Ell Leigh Clarke (The Kurtherian Gambit - The Ascension Myth Series - Age of Expansion)
3) Candy Crum (The Kurtherian Gambit - Tales of the Feisty Druid series - Age of Magic)
4) Martha Carr (The Oriceran Universe (Co-Creator) - The Leira Chronicles - Urban Fantasy)
5) Sarah (SM) Boyce - (The Oriceran Universe - The Fairhaven Chronicles - Urban Fantasy)
6) Amy Hopkins (The Kurtherian Gambit - A New Dawn - Age of Magic)
7) Amy DuBoff (The Kurtherian Gambit - Uprise Saga - Age of Expansion)
8) Abby-Lynn Knorr (The Oriceran Universe - The Kacy Chronicles - Urban Fantasy)
9) JL Hendricks (The Kurtherian Gambit - Series to be Named - Age of Expansion)
10) Holly Dodd (The Kurtherian Gambit - Chronicles of the Queen’s Rangers - TKG)
11) Sarah Noffke (The Oriceran Universe - Soul Stone Mage Series - Urban Fantasy)
12) Hayley Lawson (The Kurtherian Gambit - Series to be Named - Age of Madness)
Chrishaun Keller-Hanna Publisher / Author (Tales of Allazar among MANY others)
PROLOGUE
"Archers, hold!" Arryn shouted.
Her voice was the only sound that could be heard, other than the gentle shifting of feet and the slight creak of the bows as they were pulled tight.
The early Spring temperatures were still frigid in the mornings. The air was cold enough Arryn could see her breath. But that didn't matter. There were other things—far more important things—to focus on.
A light fog had descended upon the area that morning, creating the illusion that everything was calm. Peaceful.
But it wasn't.
This particular morning was clouded over by more than the fog. Several guards stood ready on the ground and several more stood on the wall with Arryn, bows in hand, as she tried to remind herself to breathe.
The possibility of a remnant invasion on the city had become a reality.
Several weeks after Samuel’s group had been rushed, another crew further south than that had been as well. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have Samuel and Andrew and had been completely overrun.
There were no survivors that time.
Still, half the city had felt confident the remnant had only been protecting their lands. That the men—both Ren’s group as well as the second—had been working too close to the Madland’s borders and incited an attack. But Samuel had far more experience with them than anyone, as did his friend, Ren.
Most had believed the Capitol Guard was ever vigilant and capable of handling an incursion, but more importantly, they never believed such a thing would happen.
Arcadia was just too far away from the Madlands and too heavily protected for the remnant to risk attacking and failing. While they were incredibly strong and lived only to destroy, they were still capable of higher reasoning. They would know not to advance on a city so well-armed, or so the most Arcadians had believed.
Arryn sighed as she thought back to the first conversations regarding the invasions. What some hadn’t taken into consideration was that it didn't matter how well-armed the city was.
The Guard was untrained and underprepared.
Nearly the entire Arcadian Guard was brand-new. Almost all of them lacked sufficient training with weapons of any kind, let alone magitech weapons and hand-to-hand combat. It would require a hell of a lot for any single member of the Guard to take down a remnant, more so if there was an army of them.
The only way they would be able to survive such an onslaught would be to have skilled archers on the walls to thin out the horde before it reached the gates—and Arcadia didn’t have a single one.
Given the growing fear of the remnant, after talking to Amelia and getting her blessing, Arryn, Cathillian, and Samuel had taken matters into their own hands, fixing that problem after they had rounded up a few men who were interested in learning extra skills. Brave men who took their job seriously and would stop at nothing to protect their city.
They weren't the best archers in the world—yet—but they knew how to shoot, and they occasionally hit something… Especially if that something was an approaching big-ass horde.
It was a hell of a lot better than what they’d had before.
As Arryn sto
od on top of the wall that separated Arcadia from the rest of the world, she stared outward into the fog as she tried to see anything that might be coming their way.
“Hey, bitches,” Arryn said, holding tight to her bow and taking aim at what seemed like nothingness. “How lucky are ya feeling today?”
There was a laugh beside her from one of her archers. “Lucky enough not to fall off the wall and on my ass. Anything else, ask me later.”
A smile crossed her face. “Fair enough. Let’s just hope Cathillian doesn’t get hit on by one of their chicks. They might be ugly, but Cathillian can’t deny a girl that thinks he’s prettier than she is.”
Everyone laughed, and Arryn sighed, happy she could bust up the moment.
There were five bowmen to her left and five to her right, spread evenly apart to defend the eastern wall. Given the last remnant attack, Cathillian, Samuel, and Arryn all believed they’d be coming from that direction.
Unless they were smart enough to change directions to throw them off, of course.
Samuel seemed to think that might be possible, too, so he and Cathillian took the northern wall. The Arcadian gates had been closed, but only after some heavy convincing on Arryn's part.
After a man covered in blood from head to toe had raced his horse into the city, screaming about yet another remnant attack, one would think he'd have been believed. But because he came to warn them the remnant were planning to come for Arcadia, the guards and those that had discovered the news hadn't been so convinced.