Shieldmaiden Book Three

Heart of Alban

When truth is lost to legend and myth, what is left for those who knew first the truth?

~ The Book of Clanns

Book three in the Shieldmaiden series, Heart of Alban continues the struggle between the Druid Clanns and the Vík Ingr. Lady Athebryn and the Council of Alban, lead the newly formed Armies of Alban as they wait for the Vík Ingr to return.

Alban, the home to many clanns and kingdoms, is fighting to remain free of the marauding hordes from over the North Sea. Leading the cause is the former Druid handmaiden to the Princess Thalynder, Lady Athebryn of the Brae. Bryn—as those close to her call Athebryn—stands as a beacon to the newly formed Armies of Alban. She has gathered the scattered clanns and kingdoms under one banner to fight off the invaders. Those invaders, the Vík Ingr, want only one thing—to kill off the inhabitants of the Alban, especially the Druids. They greatly desire to claim the island as their own and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Aiding Bryn and the Army of Alban are the dragons. Descendants of the first stars to fall to earth, the dragons have pledged their allegiance to the Heart of Alban—the Lady Athebryn.

 

Heart of Alban, the third and final book in the Shieldmaiden series is available now on Amazon in ebook format. A print version will be available by February 22, 2019.  This last book is being independently published. Shieldmaiden Book One: Quest for the Jewel and Shieldmaiden Book Two: Jewel of Fire will continue to be published by Bella Books. These two books are available via Bella Books.com or on Amazon.com. I had hoped the final book in this series would also be published by Bella Books. However, as this is not the case, I hope you will checkout Heart of Alban, Shieldmaiden Book Three on Amazon.

I urge you to continue to support Bella Books where so many good stories call home.

Shieldmaiden Book Two: Jewel of Fire

From Bella Books – Coming Soon!  Shieldmaiden Book Two: Jewel of Fire

In the highlands of Alban near the waters of the Inbhir Nis, Lady Athebryn waits for her dragon to bring word of the enemy across the sea. At her side is her beloved Princess Thalynder. Once handmaiden to the Princess, Lady Athebryn now stands ready to lead the hastily gathered army of clanns and kingdoms to battle against the marauding Vík Ingr.

Danger and death come to Lady Athebryn and her council when the Vík Ingr venture beyond the eastern shore to the brochs and fortresses of the clanns. Will Athebryn be able to lead the fledgling army and not give in to the temptation to use the dragons against the enemy? Will the dragons remain hidden, keeping the secret of Alban safe? If she can defeat the enemy, Lady Athebryn will win the hearts and minds of all, uniting Alban under one banner. But if she fails, then all hope for a united Alban may be forever lost.

 

Coming soon: Shieldmaiden Book Two: Jewel of Fire.  Release date Feb. 15, 2018

 

Jewel of Fire

 For your viewing pleasure here is the cover for Shieldmaiden Book Two: Jewel of Fire.  Thank you artist Sandy Knowles for the beautiful cover!  My editor Chris Paynter and I are working on the final touches for a release date in the Spring of 2018.  Thank you for all your encouragement Chris. You can read all about Chris here at ckpaynter.com.

Shieldmaiden Book Two: Jewel of Fire

In the highlands of Alban near the waters of the Inbhir Nis, Lady Athebryn waits for her dragon to bring word of the enemy across the sea. At her side is her beloved Princess Thalynder. Once hand maiden to the Princess, Lady Athebryn now stands ready to lead the hastily gathered army of clanns and kingdoms to battle against the marauding Vík Ingr.

If they are successful, Lady Athebryn will win the hearts and minds of all, uniting Alban under one banner. But if they fail, then all hope for a united Alban may be forever lost.

 

GL lives in the Pacific Northwest near the rugged and beautiful Oregon Coast. When not tapping away on a keyboard, GL can be found walking the beach in search of the next inspirational treasure.

GL’s first fantasy, Shieldmaiden Book One: Quest for the Jewel was a 2017 GCLS finalist.

2017 Golden Crown Literary Society Finalists

Bella Books authors Gerri Hill, Karin Kallmaker, KG MacGregor, Tracey Richardson, Jessie Chandler, D Jordan Redhawk, Dillon Watson, Rachel Gold, Blayne Cooper, Nat Burns, S.M. Harding, Caitlin Drake, GL Roberts, TL Hart and Joanne Passet, are among the many authors chosen for 2017 Goldie Finalists.

Thank you to all at Bella Books and Congratulations to my fellow finalists!

Shieldmaiden Book One: Quest for the Jewel is a finalist in the Young Adult genre/category.  You can find Quest for the Jewel at Bella Books.

Five Star Reviews for Shieldmaiden

 Five Star Reviews!

Book One: Quest for the Jewel is available at Bella Books and at Amazon.

Taken from the ancient texts of the Clann of Brae Writings and Teachings, as set down by the Arch Druid of Brae:

The pact between dragonkind and humankind, long a treasured and cherished union, began eons before the words were carved into the sacred stones or inked onto the ancient parchments. Once a union of equals, over the centuries the pact gradually was refashioned—to the continuing detriment of dragonkind—and the tenuous thread that held the two together began to slowly fray.

Bound to the ancient ways by honor, dragonkind adapted to the changing ways of humankind, albeit with reluctance. Obedience to the pact was the duty of every dragon. It had been so since humans had crouched behind rocks and dragons watched over them from both the earth and stars. Dragons that had remained true and pure of heart and thought were granted a spot in the night sky from which to spend eternity looking down upon their earthbound charges. Angels with hearts as big as their bodies, they lit up the night with a light from within their souls, causing the sky to blaze with nobility.

Follow Bryn and her beloved Thalynder on a quest that will take them to the edge of their world where dragons reside and danger lurks. Where friends are found and love cannot be denied. Brave the wild with the dragon riders and discover how the first dragons came to live on earth.

Book Two: Jewel of Fire has an expected release date in 2017

Shieldmaiden Book One

Shieldmaiden Book One: Quest for the Jewel is now available at Bella Books!

Shieldmaiden Book One: Quest for the Jewel is a YA Fantasy set among the highlands of ancient Scotland during the beginnings of the Norse invasion. Bound by traditions older than anyone can remember, Waiting Lady and Shieldmaiden Bryn of the Brae must decide whether to follow the path of her Druid ancestors or deny her heritage and follow her heart. What begins for Bryn as a leisurely summer trip to the North with the realm’s princess Thalynder, the captain of the king’s guard Arryn and Meydra the dragon companion of the princess, soon becomes an urgent quest to find the one thing that will unite all the realms of Scotland. To bring together the Picts of the North, the Clanns of the West, and the Kingdoms of the South will take nothing less than a legend. The future of a nation rides on the back of a dragon and in the heart of one young woman.

 

Shieldmaiden Book One: Quest for the Jewel available now at Bella Books!

 

 

Light and Shadow and other things

For my readers who have checked out my m/m romance stories, both Scar Tissue ~

check out some cool stuff on Scar Tissue here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kergan-edwardsstout/qa-gay-fiction-publisher-_b_1837334.html

http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/blurbs/

http://gregory-g-allen.blogspot.com/2012/08/interview-with-ken-harrison.html?showComment=1345158177327#c928446603539435209

and A Pharaoh’s Promise (find it here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15703643-a-pharaoh-s-promise), a new novella is due out at the end of the year.  Light and Shadow will be out by the end of December, again published by Seventh Window Publications, Thanks! Ken!  It is my second novella with Seventh Window, and I am so excited to see it come to fruition.  It started out as a story about an abandoned lighthouse, then blossomed into a romance about the Lighthouse being renovated and the owner, a self described recluse, finding love of another kind, in the form of an artist visiting the small coastal town.  The Oregon coast, where this story takes place, is a part of the U.S. that is steeped in Coast Guard lore, lighthouse ghosts, and romantic wind swept beaches.  This story takes place in a small coastal village with an abandoned and neglected lighthouse.  The lighthouse is purchased by a slightly jaded, and disillusioned, architect from Los Angeles, looking for a new start.  He finds what he is looking for in the lighthouse ~ and in a tourist, who is also looking for a fresh perspective.

Fresh perspectives are something I have been looking for myself for a while now. This year I have written, A Pharaoh’s Promise, Target Acquired,  Light and Shadow, as well as a f/f fantasy, Shieldmaiden.  Shieldmaiden is the story about a young Lady in Waiting that discovers her true calling when she makes a pilgrimage to her ancestral home located in the Orkney Islands.  Her destiny, joined to the dragons that rule the skies over Scotland, finds her leading a small band of clansman to fight the invading Norsemen.  Her love for her Princess, tempts her to give up her true self and follow the Princess into a quite life of Keeps and inner court trivial pursuits.  Her decision ~ to stay and claim her birthright, or go home with the Princess ~ will affect the future of Briton. Love or Country?

I continue to write the Haiku that drives a sensual mind, and I hope that all my readers continue to enjoy, or otherwise feel moved by my work.  It is not always a happy or uplifting thought I wish to evoke.  Sometimes, the pain or angst that a piece evokes in a reader is more powerful than a pocketful of posies.

Until we meet again, be of sound mind and clear thought…

GL

Shieldmaiden ~ WIP Fantasy

My current work in progress is a F/F fantasy romance set in the highlands of Scotland when dragons ruled the air, marauders ruled the north sea, and kings were a dime a dozen.  The Heroine, Bryn, a young woman from a displaced Druid clann, comes into her own while wielding a sword to protect her love, the Princess Thalynder; thoroughly unaware that she is a Princess in her own right.   The two women, accompanied by a Captain of the King’s Royal Guard and the Princess Thalynder’s Dragon Meydra, set off on a journey to the Standing Stones of Stenness, located on the island of Orkney.  On the island, Bryn hopes to find answers to her questions about her ancestors and why they left the island.  Princess Thalynder hopes the journey will bring out her own true love, unaware of Bryn’s love.  Dancing between friendship, sex, and love, the two learn things about themselves that bring them closer together, only to discover a secret, set in the ancient Stones, that will change their lives forever.

Excerpt from Shieldmaiden

The sun was beginning to rise and the day promised to be clear and warm.  Meydra was awake long before the sun cleared the horizon and sat very still while her two charges slept peacefully against her chest.  Bryn was holding Thalynder and sometime during the night their legs and arms became entwined.  They both looked quite content.  Meydra smiled at the two and wondered if she should tell them the quest would be in vain.  She knew where Thalynder’s true love could be found, but she also knew that Bryn wanted desperately to see the Stones at Stenness.  The problem did not lie with the true love, it lie with the Stones.  In Stenness, Bryn would learn the truth about who she was and why she had to give up her dragon.  Meydra was not sure she was ready to tell that story to Bryn.  It would change many things and for the moment, Meydra liked things the way they were.  No, she decided, “I will not tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Bryn asked quietly.

“That the sun rises and you will be missed in the Keep,” Meydra whispered.

Bryn hugged Thalynder closer to her.  “I like it right here,” she said.

“So do I,” Thalynder replied with a little morning yawn.  Thalynder turned in Bryn’s arms to face her bedmate.  After a momentary hesitation and a little inhale of breath, Thalynder kissed Bryn’s mouth.

Bryn felt Thalynder’s mouth on hers and her body immediately responded.  She pulled Thalynder tight against her and slipped her hand behind Thalynder’s neck.  She returned the kiss, letting it linger until Thalynder wanted her to stop.  She moaned softly against Thalynder’s mouth.

Thalynder broke the kiss, but did not move.  She looked at Bryn and smiled, then reached up and ran her hand over Bryn’s neck.  “You are blushing my Bryn,” Thalynder said.

“That was a nice kiss, Lynder,” Bryn replied, and took Thalynder’s hand in hers.  “Why did you kiss me?”

“Because you looked so soft and beautiful in the dim light,” Thalynder said.  “And, I’ve never kissed a woman before.”

“Neither have I,” Bryn said.  Her voice was soft and her lips wet, and she realized that her mouth was not the only thing that was wet.  She blushed again, and felt the need to tack a different direction.  “Have you kissed a man?”

“Yes, many times,” Thalynder laughed.  “The male attendants my father had chosen to be my playmates when I was younger were anything but chaste.”  Her breath touched Bryn’s face.  “Have you not kissed a man, Bryn?”

“Only once,” Bryn replied.  “It was part of my instruction.”

“Oh, yes, I forgot, you druids have other areas of instruction,” Thalynder said and now her voice was thick.  “Someday you should instruct me.”  She leaned up and kissed Bryn again, this time she pushed her hand against Bryn’s breast.

Bryn’s body responded before she could think.  She returned the kiss with more desire, allowing her tongue to brush Thalynder’s lips.  She arched her back and pushed her breast hard against Thalynder’s hand, and ran her bare foot up Thalynder’s leg.  They continued to kiss and when Bryn moved to touch Thalynder’s neck, and began to undo the laces at the top of her dress, Thalynder abruptly stopped.

“No, my Bryn,” Thalynder said.  “Enough instruction for one day.”  Thalynder moved to sit up, and put back on her shoes.

Bryn rose to sit next to Thalynder.  She was winded from the excitement of having Thalynder in her arms, but began to realize it was all a game to Thalynder.  Thalynder’s inquisitive nature, her persistent quest for adventure; were her only feelings for Bryn at that moment.  Bryn sighed.  Something she had dreamt of doing for many years had happened, and it was all a game.  She lifted her tunic off the ground and shook it out before placing it over her head.  She got it over her head, and then stood with her back resting against Meydra.  Thalynder was standing at Meydra’s tail looking out over the grassy meadow between garden and Keep.  Bryn looked longingly at Thalynder’s back.  “At least I held her close,” she whispered.

Thalynder turned to look back at Bryn.  “Come on Bryn, I’m hungry and we have to prepare for our journey.”

Bryn kissed Meydra’s cheek and heard the little moan of pleasure as it rose deep inside Meydra’s throat.  She patted her shoulder, then trotted after Thalynder.  She glanced back over her shoulder as she walked under the linden arch, and watched as Meydra lifted effortlessly into the air; the only sound coming from the wind as it moved beneath her wings.