shake the light
The first daughter in two generations of her family to carry the full strength of the Warder magic, Millicent Wray is determined to find a city of her own to protect and defend. Seattle, Washington seems like just the place, for its Wards are down, its Warder gravely ill. But as she takes on the burden of restoring Seattle’s magical protections, Millie soon discovers that malevolent forces are rising from the depths of Lake Washington, bent on claiming the ailing Warder Catherine Heino’s power for their own—and Catherine, her strength shattered by polio, is desperate enough to bargain with them. Now Millie, with her Texas-born tenacity and her trusty shotgun Butch, is all that stands between the vulnerable city and the hungry spirits from the lake. Can she lay the kodama to rest before they claim all of Seattle—and Catherine’s life—with their vengeance?
Status: First Draft Planning
walk the wards
book 2.5 of the free court of seattle
(Summary forthcoming.)
Status: First Draft
warder soul
book 3 of the free court of seattle
When mysterious attackers ambush her beloved Christopher MacSimidh, Kendis Thompson’s prepared to defend him with every scrap of Seelie power at her command. But neither Kendis nor Christopher are prepared for the wild magic that hurls them clear across North America, to St. John’s, Newfoundland. Displaced backwards in time, beyond the reach of their friends and allies, the two must seek the help of Christopher’s family—for Christopher, as a Warder of Seattle, cannot be long away from his bonded city. Kendis has only a few scant days to get him safely home again before his own magic strikes him down, or until their assailants catch up with them. And with the aid of two young Warders, she’ll have to find out fast why Christopher’s been targeted—and what secrets the Sidhe are determined to destroy along with him.
Status: First Draft Planning
queen of shades
No love is greater than that of a mother for her child–and no mother is more fierce in the love than Demeter the Life-Giver.
Demeter has never forgiven her brother Hades for stealing her precious only daughter. Three thousand years ago, desperate to free Persephone from the bond that pulls her back to the Underworld each year, she committed the ultimate sacrifice: transforming herself and her child into mortals. They have walked ever since in countless lifetimes across the earth, reincarnating when their human shapes die, while their eternal souls remain forever out of Hades’ reach.
The loss of his queen has nearly driven Hades mad. Consumed by grief and remorse, determined to win Persephone back to his side, he has abandoned his realm to search for her. Yet the Persephone he finds knows herself only as the mortal woman Korinne Marlowe. And her mother will stop at nothing to prevent him from stealing her again.
But a power greater and older than them all is rising to take back the earth he once ruled–and Korinne will have to prove herself worthy to stand among the gods if they’re to defeat the Lord of Time himself.
Status: Third Draft Edits
child of ocean, child of stars
Searching through the galaxy for habitable worlds, humanity has opened negotiations with the telepathic, shapeshifting Nereans to settle the land masses of their mostly aquatic world. Kaiulani Millais, a young telepath raised in the Terran settlement on Nereus, has spent her childhood protected by a mysterious, unseen presence in the waters near her home. Now, after training her mental gifts offworld, she returns to join the corps of diplomats, scientists, and telepaths like herself establishing ties with the Nerean species–and to learn whether her childhood guardian truly exists.
Her discovery of the feral hunter Benja sends shockwaves through her colleagues, family, and friends, and Kai must call upon every talent she possesses to measure the scope of his own unique gifts and determine if he is friend or foe. But as she delves into the truth of Benja’s past, she makes a far more dangerous discovery: that his identity is a secret that can rip the fragile, forming alliance between the peoples on Nereus apart.
Status: First Draft
shards of recollection
The violent streets of the planet Khilann are no place for a young girl without home or kin, and the orphan Shenner is desperate to take any chance she can get to leave her homeworld. When she saves Tance Vokrim’s life, she thinks her chance has come. Eagerly fleeing the past she’d rather forget, she bargains with the destitute smuggler for passage on his ramshackle ship–only to learn that Vokrim is haunted by a past he cannot remember. As Shen helps him begin to uncover what he’s lost, her escape from Khilann turns into a search across the galaxy for secrets certain forces want kept buried. And soon she and Tance discover that the answers they seek could bring peace to a war-torn world… or cost them both their lives.
Status: First Draft
mirror’s gate
Lady Yevanya Morokev of Vrey has mourned the passing of her husband, the sorcerer Aleksandr, for the past four months. It’s been the most difficult thing she’s ever done, for not only must she remain a tower of strength for her and Aleksi’s three children, she must also fend off the advances of her cousin Antoli, who would love nothing better than to claim her hand in marriage.
But something is rising in the city of Istra, something that haunts the people out of the polished surfaces of windows and mirrors, showing them the faces of loved ones thought dead–and darker apparitions as well. Nor is Yevanya immune, for she too has seen the impossible: a stranger on the streets of the city, wearing her husband’s face.
Status: First Draft