Monthly Book Review: Stay Tuned by Lauren Clark

This month's review has sparked a new tradition! Every month, I will write a review on a novel, whether it's indie or mainstream! This month, I'm taking you inside Lauren Clark's "Stay Tuned."

While "Stay Tuned" is not yet available to the public, when it comes out, I highly recommend it! Melissa Moore is a behind-the-scenes producer for the news at WSGA in Macon, Georgia, and she enjoys her job. Things get ugly, and they get ugly fast when one of the snarky co-anchors for the news, Alyssa, throws a punch on the ten o'clock news. Melissa directs to commercial while she pulls Alyssa off of her co-anchor. With only a few minutes left, Melissa can either let the commercials run out the clock, or...she can take over.

She nabs an earpiece, settles behind the desk, runs through the prompts, and completes the ten o'clock news, much to her manager's relief. Calls come flooding in. Melissa is a hit! She's helped save WSGA's reputation and has landed herself a new job--though only temporarily.

Pulling into her garage, Melissa considers how she's going to break the news to her husband, Chris. Yet, as usual, the only thing she finds from him is a sticky note stating that he's working late. Again. Chris seems to be working late an awful lot recently, and Melissa has her suspicions. Everything falls out of place as Melissa tries to do her very best as the new co-anchor for WSGA and save her marriage. Nothing goes right, and she finds herself on the top of the station being wined and dined by her co-anchor, learns her husband's competition for a raise is a sexy, slinky woman, and Alyssa is trying to kill her. Yup. What a handful.

"Stay Tuned" is fast-paced, fun, and a downright treat. Trust me, you'll love Melissa's hectic life and want her best friend (and Dr. Phil devotee), Candace, to give you all the right tips for staying on top.

"Stay Tuned" to find out when this fantastic book is released!

Just for Fun!

Well, I decided I could give it a shot. I enjoyed doing Clei's responses during the Blogfest (over at at Elizabeth Mueller's blog) so much that I decided to do another one for his side-kick, Eti!

A little background: Eti is an ekra, a species of necromancers who are created from the discarded bones of amüli, dragons, and other creatures. When they marry, they leave their clan with their mate and search for bones to build their children with. Then they make fresh kills and use the muscle and flesh from the hunt to build the body and give muscle and flesh to their child. An ekra's horns are most often made from coral, signifying their link with the moon goddess, Ilandere-karais (as she controls the tide).

Ekra are animated through magic, but do not have vital organs, such as a heart, lungs, and guts. Rather, they have a blood-mite. Blood-mites are creatures that live within an ekra and take care of digestion and blood circulation. An ekra cannot survive without its blood-mite, because the mite does everything to keep the host alive. Mites can leave the host's body for short periods of time to fight or hunt if the host is too weak, but must return quickly so the host does not die.

Contrary to their appearance, ekra are very peaceful and deeply devout creatures. They have two classes: The hunter and the priest. The hunters can also double as warriors and fight to protect the clan, whereas priests and priestesses protect and serve the clan through divine channels. All ekra know magic, but priests are better suited to cast. Each clan has a Queen, an ekra descended directly from the goddess Ilandere-karais herself (blood-mites and souls are split and given to new ekra; in this way, the queens of every clan have a fragment of the goddess's soul within them).

Eti, from "Soul Carrier," will be answering the questions today!

Image (c) Kira McFadden a.k.a. Efirnda McDannak. To see the full image, go to The Inrugia Website.

Question 1: What is your greatest fear?

The amüli. It will always be them. The attempted genocide of my people two-thousand years ago still haunts us. Amüli are dangerous creatures, and they are spreading their territory too far. I fear for our people and for others like us.

Question 2: What is your biggest accomplishment?

One accomplishes only through actions. My biggest action was to teach the half-blood, Clei Vojtech, magic, so he may one day overthrow his people and save our world. He is craven, that one, and it makes little sense to me why he insists on living while his people wither, but I cannot begrudge him his choice. After all, I have little sympathy for the amüli.

Question 3: What is your biggest regret?

My biggest regret is feeling so much spite and hatred for the amüli. Few who live now know what their ancestors did to my people, and fewer still could have stopped it. They are a weak and fleshy people, and do not understand the concept of balance. Hubris and hatred have led me down this path. Ilandere-karais will guide me. She has given me a chance to redeem myself by helping this young half-blood find his way. And so, if it is her will, I shall comply.

~~~

Well, that's Eti for you. He's not as stoic as he appears to be--his people are very proper and well-mannered. I might do one for Marik tomorrow, simply because I love this. But I'm also considering an interview instead. Any thoughts?

Poor, Poor Pitiful Thing

Here's one of the 500-word skits I did a while back. I need to continue these! I was rereading some of them, and this one made me laugh, and then made me shudder, which I expect was the goal. Give it a read and let me know what you think!

Also, if you can name where I got the title of this piece from (i.e., who sang it?), I'll give you a virtual cookie!

~~~

The tomb was covered in white marble, gilded with gold, and even had a few engravings along the sides and top. But the worst of it was the serene expression worn by the burial mask at the head of the casket.

King Iodus ran his aged fingers along the cheeks and brows of the face. It was his son. Dear, poor boy had been laid to rest not ten days ago. He had died in a most brutal accident. After fighting with his new wife, Prince Felen had run out into the hallway, naked. There had been a maid scrubbing the sleek floors, and the prince had slipped.

At first, the king had been mortified that his son had died in such a foolish, embarrassing way. Now, however, he felt the weight of his son’s death. The king was in his eighties and had no living heir. Even Prince Felen’s wife was not with child. There was no one to take over the kingdom. Soon—very soon, the king felt—his country would be pitched into turmoil, and a succession war would begin.

The only way to remedy this was to take the late prince’s wife to bed. Iodus shuddered at the thought. She was a pretty thing, for certain, but he wasn’t comfortable sleeping with his son’s wife. Even if it was to save his kingdom from war, he wasn’t sure he could do it.

Iodus reached up and scratched at his balding head. Liver spots decorated his body in constellations of brown and gray. Little white hairs wafted from his naked crown, and for a fleeting second, the king considered taking another wife. Many of those in his harem had died years ago. He’d never seen fit to replace any of them. He was too old to be dealing in matters of the pants.

Pristine light shattered his thoughts as the sun rose and swathed the floors in orange. The king had spent another sleepless night at his son’s tomb. Rather than stay much longer, he took up his cane. He hobbled toward the door, leaving his son behind. Whatever misdeeds his son had done to deserve such an unfavorable end, the king knew in his heart he couldn’t wait much longer. Soon he might not be able to father children at all.

And so, he entered his palace. Knocking on his daughter-in-law’s door, he was resigned to waiting for her to answer. At last, she opened the door. She wore black, just as any widow in the kingdom was commanded to. Her eyes were clear and focused, not the red puffy eyes he had expected from a grieving widow.

“Your Majesty,” she said, draping her skirts back in a curtsy.

“Hello, Lady Elga.”

“What can I do for your grace today?”

“I was thinking of my son—Felen—and how I have no heir.”

The woman’s face paled considerably as she pieced together what the king was driving at. “You would have me?”

“There is no one else to take over the kingdom,” he muttered, ashamed. “It has to be done. You cannot rule, and will be ousted the minute I’m dead. To secure your place in the palace, you must bear me another son.”

Elga’s brow pinched, her fine, pale skin wrinkling at the thought. “But…I…”

“Come, we must be quick about it. You will have a child by royal blood, and say it is my son’s.”

“Your Grace, I don’t think now is a good time…”

“If we do not do it now, then I fear I will lose my nerve.”

Her expression seemed to plead for that moment. “Very well then.”