Mistress of the Elements... I Wish!
People ask me what inspired
me to write something as offbeat as The Masters of the Elements series, where
Wind and Water and Fire are all living, thinking elements with agendas of their
own. I have to say that it just sort of happened, but it is not a coincidence
that each of the books is closely tied to nature. I grew up on a working farm
and I live on 20 acres with two horses, a huge dog, and five cats, so to me
nature is very close and personal. I think something inside would wither if I
could not hear the wind moaning around the house on a stormy night or step out
and admire the stars, or listen to the voices of rain dripping from the
rooftop.
Even when she is most
annoying, nature inspires me. My EPIC-award finalist novel Firedancer arose
from my ongoing and never-ending battle with the knapweed in my horse pasture.
Every time I think I’ve managed to eradicate it in one spot, it crops up again—and
then happily spreads to somewhere new. Old Man Fire is like that--constantly
sneaking up from below to challenge the authority of the Firedancers whose job
it is to keep it from destroying the whole world.
How I wish I could bend fire
to my will like my Dancer, Jetta, or spin wind between my hands like my
Windrider, Sheshan, or make water dance to my tune like my untrained Water Clan
girl, Nes. Being the mere writer, I have to imagine it; they get all the fun!
I doubt they think of their
talents that way, though, for their lives are spent on a world forever at risk
from something vast and largely uncontrollable, that could sweep everything
they love from existence tomorrow. They must stand together to fight for their
homes, and to me that is the basis of all good fantasy; indeed, all good heroic
stories. Whenever ordinary people discover the spark within themselves and push
beyond what they think was possible to meet a challenge, it makes for good
conflict and good reading.
I myself can't master the
elements, but I sure am having fun writing about those who can. Oh, I want to
be able to call Wind to cool my cheek on a hot day! But, in the interim until I
learn how, I'll just have to enlist Sheshan to do it for me...
Firedancer is a finalist for the 2013 EPIC award for Fantasy. You
can read the first five chapters for free at my website: http://www.sabolichbooks.com/Firedancer1-5.pdf.
You can also buy it and its sequel, Windrider, in ebook or print
anywhere books are sold. Seaborn, the
third book in the series, will be out later this year.
Buy links:
http://www.amazon.com/Firedancer-ebook/dp/B005JMXIMG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318134259&sr=1-1
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1105383281?ean=2940011485084&itm=1&usri=firedancer
Bio:
S. A. Bolich is a full-time
freelancer with a number of published fantasy stories as well as many
nonfiction articles in print. A native of Washington state, she resides there
again after serving six years in Germany as a regular army military
intelligence officer. She graduated summa cum laude from college with a degree
in history, which she confesses was greatly aided by devouring historical
fiction of every era and kind through her formative years. She is also a
lifelong horsewoman, and shares her knowledge in the popular "Horses in
Fiction" blog series at http://blog.sabolichbooks.com
to help writers keep their equines from falling into the trap of Hollywood
clichés.
Book 1 of the Masters of the
Elements series, "Firedancer," was released in September 2011 by Sky
Warrior Books, with Book 2, "Windrider," appearing in May 2012. Her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, On Spec, Damnation
Books, Defending the Future IV: No Man’s Land, and Wolfsongs 2, among others, and is upcoming in several more. Currently she is putting the finishing touches
on “Seaborn,” Book 3 of Masters of the Elements. Keep up with her at www.sabolichbooks.com.
Teaser for Firedancer by S.A. Bolich
Jetta ak'Kal has always suspected that fire thinks. The Ancient, the strange, living flame imprisoned at the heart of the world, has always seemed to her more than the clever, opportunistic beast the elders of her clan say it is. But how could a beast break the primal power of the Firedance that has bound it from the very Beginning of all things? How could a beast know exactly where to strike to kill Jetta's lifemate and destroy the village she was charged to protect? And how can a beast know her name?
Haunted by the laughing roar of the flames that destroyed her life, her reputation, and her confidence, Jetta reluctantly accepts reassignment to Annam Vale, a village with no experience of malevolent fire--or Firedancers. Jetta and her new Dance partner, Settak, find themselves battling the naive ignorance of Stone Delvers who cannot quite believe tiny Jetta can really save them; the hostility of arrogant Windriders whose mastery of air could kill them both in a breath; and occasionally each other as they struggle to find new and more powerful forms of the Dance. And all the while the Ancient is stealthily testing every entrance into Annam, seeking a way up into the open air it craves. If it succeeds, two Dancers alone will never stop the firestorm that will surely follow.
Excerpt from Firedancer:
“Father Flame!” Settak blurted behind her. “Look at
that!”
Jetta was looking, not quite believing what she
saw. The Windrider was leaning against a huge boulder with one foot propped on
a lesser stone, his shoulders braced comfortably against the rock behind him.
His hands hovered at chest height, his fingers moving in an intricate weave that
never quite touched the fingers of the opposite hand. Between them, a trio of
leaves spun and tumbled around and through each other in no pattern that Jetta
could make out, accustomed though she was to the intricate patterns of the
Dance. One leaf escaped; the Windrider made a darting move of his right hand
and it fell back among the others, swirling ever faster until the eye ached
trying to follow it. A faint whuffing noise caught Jetta’s ear. It stopped
abruptly when the Windrider looked up and saw them.
He dropped his hands. The leaves tumbled earthward,
caught an updraft soaring out of the valley, and flew away. Or perhaps it was
the wind he had caught and now released that carried them off. It took Jetta an
instant to realize that he had truly been spinning wind.
“Sheshan ak’Kal,” Nuurn said. “This is unexpected.”
“Wyth said you would be here, Nuurn ak’Kal, and that
it would be wise to come talk to you.”
Suspicion flamed in Jetta’s brain. What business had a
Windrider in closed tunnels where fire lived? Why had the lantern flared so
suddenly? Fed on a draft sent by this man?
“Why?” she demanded, before Nuurn could answer. “What
wisdom is to be found in Firedancer business, Windrider?”
Sheshan reared upright. “And you are--?”
“Jetta ak’Kal of the Third Rank,” she snapped.
“Firedancer to Annam Vale.”
“Ah.” It came out so perfectly neutral that Jetta’s
cheeks flamed. He crossed his wrists, palms out, and gave her a graceful
inclination of his head, his voice as bland as his tone. “Greetings from Sheshan
ak’Kal, also of the Third Rank.”
At least he did not outrank her. But Jetta’s nerves
still twitched from the close call in the tunnel, and she went back on the
attack. “You haven’t answered my question, ak’Kal. What wisdom does a Windrider
seek here?”
Sky-colored eyes narrowed, regarding her through a
lengthening silence. Long bones, hair the color of spider silk, ridiculous
fluttery shirt--he bore a striking resemblance to the rude Fourth Rank at the
inn. His bone-colored skin seemed unnatural to Jetta’s eyes; he looked
unhealthy, but there was nothing weak about his voice. It wrapped itself around
her like the glacial wind.
“That is Windrider business, ak’Kal. I came to
speak with you, Nuurn. If I might have a moment of your time? There is no need
to detain these others.”
“These others have an interest in whatever
brings you here, ak’Kal.” Jetta jabbed Settak in the ribs when he made an
uneasy, protesting movement beside her. “I had to dance against fire just now
in the tunnel. It acted strangely. Perhaps because there was a Windrider out
here?”
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