Deathbringer
Tamara Grantham
(Fairy World M.D., Olive Kennedy)
Published by: Crimson Tree Publishing
Publication date: April 25th 2017
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Some heroes are fated to save the world. Others are meant to destroy it…
Olive Kennedy is all about positive thinking. She’s been stuck on Earth for the past four months, waiting for the spring equinox to arrive so she can return to Fairy World — but she’s staying positive. She’s hopeful she’ll once again see her handsome Viking fiancé who’s waiting for her. She’s optimistic that her mission to reclaim the sword of Dracon — a sword of King Arthur fame and the only weapon capable of killing Theht — won’t result in death and destruction. And then there’s the small matter of an asteroid that’s been ripped out of its orbit and is hurtling toward Earth…no biggie.
One last thing — she’s fated to destroy the world. To stop that prophecy from being fulfilled, she may have to sacrifice the one person she loves the most.
Good thing she’s staying positive.
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The Cat and the Computer: Background Information for Fairy World MD
When I asked my readers what they wanted to know more about concerning the Fairy World MD series, I got KULL, the CAT, and the LAPTOP!!
I’ve already written a character interview with Kull, so this post focuses on the CAT! and the LAPTOP!
PART I: THE CAT!
Name: Han Solo
Color: Gray
Owner: Olive Kennedy
Favorite activities: Stalking birds in the window, chasing socks, napping, eating kitty kibbles, and NAPPING!
What does Han do when Olive is gone? First, Olive feels very bad about leaving Han behind all the time, but since the fate of the two worlds is usually on the line, she doesn’t have much of a choice. Han is not as lonely as some might think. In the earlier books, Olive’s elderly neighbor checks on him twice a day. Olive doesn’t know, but her neighbor brings over cans of tuna fish and balls of yarn.
Han and the neighbor get along well, although Han always prefers the company of Olive to anyone else.
Later, Olive asks Brent to check on Han. While Han doesn’t get as spoiled, he does like Brent because his hair always smells of that wax that has a faint fishy odor.
Once, two strange-smelling people broke into Olive’s apartment and tore it apart, but Han stayed out of sight under the bed. When the strangers left, Han found an unexpected surprise. The thieves had left the refrigerator opened. They had spilled luscious bologna all over the kitchen floor!
Han ate until his whiskers got greasy and his belly round and uncomfortable. When Brent found him, he brought him back to his place in Houston. At Brent’s house, he finally met up with Olive again, only for her to leave on yet another quest to save all humanity. Le cat sigh…
*This story is continued in Deathbringer.
PART II: The LAPTOP!
Olive made her magical laptop mirror in Boston when she was doing residency training for a year. She worked at a computer lab that doubled as a computer graveyard. Old computers would break and be brought to the lab where parts would be harvested to repair other computers.
For some time, Olive had been trying to find a way to diagnose her patients. She’d found that different types of magic triggered specific memories. For example, if someone had interacted with elves in Faythander, blue magic would trigger their memories. If they interacted with dragons, green magic would appear, and so on…
She created her five figurines before she made the laptop, but she needed a way to keep them organized.
One day, while gutting out an old laptop, she had the idea to use it as a box for her figurines. She replaced the computer keys with a velvet lining, and she replaced the screen with a mirror that she enchanted with Faythander magic.
The laptop is also a symbol for those savvy enough to pick up on it. She creates the mirror box on Earth, using a piece of Earth Kingdom junk. It represents a time of her life when she spent more time on Earth than in Fairy World. Earth is a place she always tries to fit into by never succeeds, just as she fits her statuettes from Faythander into a piece of Earth technology.
Later, she’ll use other various types of boxes, which represent differing aspects of her life. One represents her lost childhood, and another the person she’s always meant to be—but if I told you everything, I’d give it all away, and what’s the fun in that?
—
EXCERPT:
I stood and crossed to my bedroom, then grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. After grabbing my temporary mirror case out of a drawer, I placed it on top of my dresser.
I wasn’t sure if I should cringe or laugh as I scanned my new mirror. I’d found it at the dollar store after a frustrating day of trying to create a new mirror box with no success. I’d bought it because it was absurd and to remind myself that it was temporary.The plastic box was pink with the name BARBIE scrolled on the top. Inside was a foam liner that had once held five nail polish bottles. I’d cut the foam to make larger slots. Now, it held my five figurines that represented the races of Faythander: Dragon, elf, Wult, pixie, and goblin.
After unlocking the latch, I opened the lid. “You’re fabulous! Inside and out!” sang to me in a bubble-gum voice as I propped the lid open.
As I said, temporary solution. Extremely temporary. It had a mirror under the lid and was the perfect size for my figurines, so it worked. For now.
Scanning my figurines, I found the Wult and removed it from the foam, then propped it upright against the mirror. I needed to get to the Wultlands, and this would be the easiest way to do so.
I ignored the glittery scrolling along the edges of the mirror and focused on the glass. Taking a deep breath, I paused before touching my fingers to the mirror.
Months ago, the portals had started acting erratically. I’d thought the problem had been solved after we’d restored the fairies’ stone, but when I’d returned to Earth four months ago, the portal had almost torn me apart. I’d gotten several stitches in my abdomen because the crossing had been so violent. Since then, I hadn’t once been able to open a portal, but tonight, I had no choice. I needed to return to Faythander before the equinox, and I had one thing in my favor—I hadn’t tried opening a portal with my new Barbie box yet.
Here’s to hoping my luck improved, I thought. Then again, this was my luck we were talking about. Yeah, probably not.
Carefully, I placed my fingertips to the screen, inhaled a deep breath, and then conjured the word to open the portal.
Magic flowed from my heart, through my arms and hands, and into the mirror. Gold and amber swirls licked like fire over my skin as the magic interacted with the mirror, mingling with the blue glow coming from the plastic case.
The power grew inside me as the portal opened. Wind swirled around me until the room disappeared and I floated in a void. Voices came from somewhere. Soft whispers. Among them was a familiar one. The cold, detached voice of Theht.
I am here. I am waiting.
I’d gotten better at tuning her out, but being in a place like this, between worlds, made it almost impossible to keep her away.
Soon, we shall destroy the world together. Deathbringer.
The wind grew stronger and faster, wrapping around me, squeezing the air from my lungs. It compressed me until I couldn’t breathe. Pain coursed through my nerve endings as the pressure weighed me down. I felt as if I’d been buried under millions of tons of sand.
I cried out, but couldn’t hear my voice over the wind. Tears leaked from my eyes. I felt their warmth on my cheeks. In a desperate attempt to survive, I focused on the magic within me, unleashing every ounce, pouring it into the portal to keep it steady.
I thought for sure I was dead when I hit the ground. I landed awkwardly, my shoulder and hips taking the brunt of the impact. My mirror, on the other hand, made a graceful landing in a pile of leaves beside me.
I lay on the ground, panting for air, staring at the faded blue sky through the patchwork of branches with budding green shoots.
“Never again,” I muttered between gasps. Next time, I would find a Viking ship and cross through an underground ocean filled with man-eating sea-snakes before using a portal. “Never. Again.”
On the bright side, at least I’d finally made it back to Faythander. The $.99 investment into the Barbie mirror wasn’t such a bad buy after all.
Author Bio:
Tamara Grantham is the award-winning author of more than half a dozen books and novellas, including the Olive Kennedy: Fairy World MD series and the Shine novellas. Dreamthief, the first book of her Fairy World MD series, won first place for fantasy in INDIEFAB’S Book of the Year Awards, a RONE award for best New Adult Romance of 2016, and is a #1 bestseller on Amazon in both the Mythology and Fairy Tales categories with over 100 reviews.
Tamara holds a Bachelor’s degree in English. She has been a featured speaker at the Rose State Writing Conference and has been a panelist at Comic Con Wizard World speaking on the topic of female leads. For her first published project, she collaborated with New York-Times bestselling author, William Bernhardt, in writing the Shine series.
Born and raised in Texas, Tamara now lives with her husband and five children in Wichita, Kansas. She rarely has any free time, but when the stars align and she gets a moment to relax, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, taking nature walks, which fuel her inspiration for creating fantastical worlds, and watching every Star Wars or Star Trek movie ever made. You can find her online at www.TamaraGranthamBooks.com.
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