Reckoner Redeemed
Page 34
Garrie lives off the grid in the Sandia mountain foothills, explores Kehar with impunity, had Lucia cater Solchran’s first Independence Anniversary at Nevahn’s home, and keeps the Southwest clean.
Trevarr...IS.
Rhonda Rose:
Rhonda Rose knows.
That is exactly right, Lisa McGarrity.
From the first moment I saw you.
Author Note:
The first two books in this trilogy are now available in Author's Cuts that contain extensive new material. There are good reasons for that, and I talk about them in my notes for those two books (originally published by Tor, but not quite to my vision for reasons endemic to my recent publishing experiences).
But THIS book...
This one, for good or for bad, is all mine. It's my first major independent book, and the long-awaited completion of a trilogy that was left teetering through no desire of my own. It's more than just fiction to me; it's the first step of a reawakening, and of being able to return to the work that calls so strongly to me. Finishing it—being so close to final production that it's time to write this note—is very much a Moment for me, in so many ways. I'm glad you're here to share it!
Readers Ask:
Is this really the end?
I dunno, define “the end.” In my worlds, in my imagination, there isn’t ever an “end,” because these people are too real to me for that. So do I know what happens next? Whether Anjhela makes her way somehow, or Nevahn ever comes to visit his son/grandson, or if Sklayne gets his own pet, or even why Drew started acting a bit odd? Of course I do! But whether any of those things becomes a story or another book is, right now, as much a mystery to me as it is to you. We’ll just sit with the situation for a while and see what happens...
There is no greater joy for a writer than to know her work gave a reader a bit of a break from the day. I appreciate your letters, emails, blog comments, and Facebook posts more than I can ever express. These days, readers hold more power than ever with their choices, and reviews and word of mouth are an author’s best friend — a reader can offer no greater support!
If you’d like to keep tabs on what I’m writing, here’s my newsletter sign-up. It goes out several times a year with notices about releases and giveaways, but I won’t fill your mailbox. Or feel free to come by and say hello at my Facebook page, where we have lots of other fun! If you just want to see what else I've written, try this list on my web site.
Reading Onward
The Reckoners: A powerful ghostbuster raised by a spirit, her brilliantly eccentric backup team, a cat who isn't a cat at all...and a fiercely driven bounty hunter from a different dimension who brings them together when worlds collide.
Skilled ghosthunter Lisa “Garrie” McGarrity not only sees dead people, she wrangles them into submission. But her beloved ghostly mentor moved on years ago, and the Southwest has gone quiet under Garrie's hand. Garrie and her team have grown restless and...well, face it. Maybe willing to take a risk or two.
So when the relentlessly mysterious and fiercely driven Trevarr (and his not-cat!) shows up asking for help, Garrie is inclined to listen. And when he describes big trouble at the San Jose Winchester Mystery House, she’s inclined to go with him, even if it splits her team along the way.
But she doesn’t expect a mansion crammed with spirits on the brink of madness, and she doesn't expect to face off against the powerful and unfamiliar energies of semi-ethereal beings from another dimension. She definitely doesn't expect the fabric of her own world to unravel around her — with no one but her to stop it.
And truly, she has no idea how deep Trevarr’s secrets run.
~~~~~~~~~~
Lisa “Garrie” McGarrity just fought a battle of cataclysmic energies alongside a man who turned out to be not from this world at all. Now she no longer seems quite familiar to herself...or quite under control. But she'd better figure it out fast, because she and her ghostbusting reckoners team have detoured to Sedona, where a friend desperately needs occult assistance — and where fiercely driven, half-human bounty hunter Trevarr keeps glancing inexplicably over his shoulder.
It doesn't help that the intense ethereal breezes and vortexes of the Red Rocks have gone utterly silent — and that the regional ghosts, when they do appear, are targeting Garrie.
With a rogue entity on the loose, Trevarr's not-cat bond partner also hinting at dire trouble on their trail, and Trevarr himself resting uneasily on exile, Garrie is running out of time to figure out just what's happening to herself — and to the Southwest — and to put a stop to it.
Again.
~~~~~~~~~~
All woman, all heart... all horse.
When hikers Dayna and Eric find a naked and terrified young woman, they’re sure she’s the victim of foul play. But the truth is much more shocking: she isn’t human at all. She’s Dun Lady’s Jess, a horse transformed into this new shape by the spell that brought her and her rider, to whom she is utterly devoted, into this world.
Possessed now of human intelligence but still a horse deep inside, Jess desperately searches this world for her master and rider, using her fiery equine spirit to take on human idiosyncrasies — and human threats.
~~~~~~~~~~
Suspense, romance, and a Celtic dog bundled into a contemporary fantasy setting.
As a child, dog-loving Brenna Fallon naively invokes an ancient Celtic deity to save her beloved hound — and inadvertently anchors the new-found power at a spring on her family’s farm.She doesn’t know she’s also left an opening for a far more malevolent force.
Years later, Brenna discovers the terrible potential of that gateway. With a devastating plague unfolding abruptly around her, she must depend on her wits, a stranger she doesn’t trust, and a mysterious stray dog who becomes more than just a faithful companion as she struggles to drive back the threat of a modern Black Death.
Welded by a desperate sacrifice, woman, man, and dog face the feral darkness together.
~~~~~~~~~~
Kelyn of Ketura.
Daughter of a legendary warrior who left the mountains before she was born. Brave. Strong. Tempered by her struggle to survive in the hostile, craggy Keturan mountains. And plagued by moments of enormous and puzzling clumsiness.
“Find your father,” the local wisewoman tells her. “To find your true self, find the Wolverine.”
Angered by his abandonment, Kelyn doesn't care about her father — but the lure of adventure in the Outlands calls to her, just as it called to the Wolverine before her, and she accepts the challenge.
New languages, new weapons. Magic. Witch hunts. The treacheries of civilization. She doesn't know just how much of a challenge it’ll be.
~~~~~~~~~~
One man loses everything to magic — and will do anything to prevent it from taking over his world.
Magic has never been a part of Reandn’s life. Almost gone from Keland when he was born, there is no trace of it left by the time he patrols the Keep lands as an elite King’s Wolf.
Magic has never been a part of Reandn’s life. Until the people under his care start dying. Until the threat extends to his family — and then turns on him. Someone, somewhere, is trying to draw magic back into Keland, and they don't care what — or who — is destroyed in the process.
But Reandn does.
Magic.
~~~~~~~~~~
When Blaine Kendricks discovers strangers in Shadow Hollers, she thinks they've come to trade. She couldn’t be more wrong.
When Dacey Childers comes to Shadow Hollers, Blaine’s family thinks he's there to hunt game. They couldn’t be more wrong.
When the Annekteh come to Shadow Hollers, they think the isolated community living there has no way to resist their invasion.
They’re pretty much right on target.
But the last man of the lost seer’s blood has returned, and is about to draw Blaine into his magic, his adventure...and the most dangerous hunt she could ever imagine.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Glossary
Garrie’s World
Bob/Bobbie – Garrie’s default name for all ghosts
Caray – a Spanish interjection, meaning, “!!!”
Chicalet – Lucia’s nickname for Garrie, based on Spanish chica and the English diminutive, not to mention an allusion to a certain brand of wee gum.
Darkside – a place vague in Garrie’s understanding, from which invading entities come. They all have the same flavor to her. She has thought of it in terms of spiritual planes rather than dimensions. This is changing.
Etherea – an energy plane and its energies, manifesting in breezes that Garrie (and, as it turns out, many beings from Kehar) can manipulate.
Reckoner – those who take care of a final reckoning for spirits who need it; specifically someone who can manipulate ethereal breezes, although Garrie considers her whole team to be reckoners beside her.
Trevarr’s World
Atreya – heart partner
Atreyvo – bondmate
’Bloods – Mudbloods. Enforcers. Mixed races, usually of less fortunate mixes—without much wit or initiative, but trainable.
Book of Trevarr, Trevarr’s Bestiary – the reference book Trevarr leaves with Quinn.
Drones – less than successful mudbloods, dull creatures with little free will.
Echveria – Formal name for storage pods; Garrie calls them energy eggs.
Ekhevia – the Gatherer, the unfolding weapon that takes ethereal beings into custody/”stores” them.
Fark – Pretty much what you think it means, but more—a specific verb reference to inter-being sex, considered most disgusting on Kehar and the origin of the reviled part-bloods.
Freehand – the non-mendihar hand
Ghehera – Tribunal HQ and detention, a small city in its own right. Nefarious evil overlords live there.
Gheherian Master – one of the entitled powerful members of the tribunal
Keharian Tribunal – also simply called Ghehera
kirkhirra - a record of clan history kept in knots and formed into a ceremonial belt. The most complex macramé ever.
Klysar – a hard god, not much called upon. The Everybeing, more recently co-opted by Ghehera to represent human form.
Klysar! or Klysar’s Blood/various rude body parts! – irreverent cursing.
Klysarneh – the worst of curses. Blasphemy. I’m not even going to say it.
Krevata – a clan of semi-ethereal demons, particularly ill-formed and excitable.
K’thai – encounter braids, the conduits for certain energies, affects hair color
Kyrokha – blood dragon
Mendikha – one who wields the mendihar; Mistress of the glove and blood and darkness.
Mendihar – glove of blood and darkness (other hand called freehand); it harvests experiences and uses them against others.
Nortreya – once beloved
Oskhila – the Hand, the travel device Keharian name; oskhila minor
Shahh – Geherian master
Sklarr – a rare cluster of beings. Sklayne is one.
Rhekerra – a being with both ethereal and corporeal states
Solchran – Trevarr’s village
~~~~~~~~~~
About Doranna Durgin
Doranna Durgin is an award-winning author (Compton Crook, best first SF/F/H) whose quirky spirit has led to an eclectic and extensive publishing journey across genres. Beyond that, she hangs around outside her Southwest mountain home with horse and dogs, and the dogs keep her busy in the sports of tracking, obedience, and agility. She doesn’t believe in mastering the beast within, but in channeling its power. For good or bad has yet to be decided...
Complete Booklist
~~~~~~~~~~
About Book View Café
Book View Café is a professional authors’ publishing cooperative offering DRM-free ebooks in multiple formats to readers around the world. With authors in a variety of genres including mystery, romance, fantasy, and science fiction, Book View Café has something for everyone.
Book View Café authors include New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, Nebula, Hugo, and Philip K. Dick Award winners, World Fantasy and Rita Award nominees, and winners and nominees of many other publishing awards.
www.bookviewcafe.com