Thanks to all of you for participating in the #exploreleira tour over the past month and a half! Would you believe it – Songkeeper is now officially one year old! Honestly, I’ve had WAY too much fun exploring the characters, places, and creatures in the world of Leira and hope that you have too.

But now, at last, the moment you’ve been waiting for …

It’s time to announce giveaway winners!

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE

In scanning the entries, I was excited to see so many old familiar faces, as well as many new names and faces that I am thrilled to meet. (I hope you new friends will stick around post tour as well! We have lots of “boggswoggling” fun here. Just saying.) While I would love to be able to give a copy of the Songkeeper Chronicles to everyone – because I do just love sharing the books with readers – I’m afraid we will have to stick with our three winners this time around.

Winning the grand prize package, including a copy of Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, and this gorgeous handcrafted mug:

Caryl Kane!

And each winning a copy of Songkeeper:

Jane Maree and Elizabeth Russell!

Congrats to the winners and thanks to all for entering! If you weren’t lucky enough to win this time and the #exploreleira tour whetted your appetite for the books, you can also purchase them online in the following places:

Amazon: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper

Barnes and Nobles: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper

And for all you lovely fans of the series, consider telling a friend about the books or writing a review on Amazon or other retail site. Missed a stop or two on the tour and want to catch up? Find all the posts here: #exploreleira.

Until next time, happy wandering, fellow travelers!

Welcome to stop number twenty six in the #exploreleira tour blog tour where we’re celebrating the (almost) one year book birthday for Songkeeper! It is the second book in the Songkeeper Chronicles, which tells the story of a girl who can hear the song that created the world.

If this is your first encounter with the blog tour, we are continuing a series of alphabet posts looking at the world and characters and magical creatures of the Songkeeper Chronicles.

Today, we’re looking at the letter …

Z is for Zahar

Can you believe it? We are already at the end of the #exploreleira tour! I hope you have enjoyed our little rambling trek through the world of Leira. I know that I certainly have. If you have read the books and enjoyed them, consider spreading the word through writing up a quick review online or telling a friend about the series.

In the meantime, we have one more #exploreleira post to enjoy.

Over the past few weeks, I have been working on a short story that delves further into Zahar’s tragic tale. I hoped to be able to share it here as the culmination of the tour, but true to form, the short story has grown beyond what I expected, so a blog post is no longer the best medium for sharing. (And I am not quite finished yet. Almost. But not quite.)

For now, we will simply discuss the formation of Zahar’s character and how she fell into her role in the story, and I will save her full tale for another time. Zahar first appears toward the end of Songkeeper, so I shall endeavor to share her backstory without revealing too many spoilers about her role in the book.

For those of you who have read the book, here’s a fun bit of trivia. In the first draft, Zahar’s role was originally filled by Auna, Birdie’s grandmother and the previous Songkeeper. In that version of the story, Auna had survived her initial run in with the Khelari (seen at the beginning of Orphan’s Song) and wound up being led astray by the lies of the Takhran over years of captivity in the Pit.

There was a fair bit more to it than that, and it was tied into several character development ideas and plotlines. But my editor wasn’t a fan of that storyline and encouraged me to try something different, so I went back to the drawing board, sketched out an idea for a new character, and voila, Zahar appeared on the page. And honestly, I’m so grateful for my editor’s suggestions there, because the book became so much stronger through the changes made.

As soon as I began developing this new character, I immediately went for a name that began with the letter Z. I searched on various naming websites and wound up with a long list of Z names, but as soon as I said the name “Zahar” out loud, I knew that it sounded right. Naming characters is one of my favorite parts of the writing process. It usually takes me a little while, but once I settle on a character’s name, I very rarely change it.

Certain names just feel right.

But I digress.

Who is Zahar?

Well, we first hear portions of her story from Gundhrold when he, Amos, and Birdie are in Serrin Vroi. Originally a daughter of the Nordlands, Zahar lived a nomadic life with her brother, Rav, after the untimely death of their stepfather. By all accounts, she was a beautiful woman, but hers was the beauty of a frail, wind-shorn leaf.

“ … robed in the blue of the Shantren, with hair like autumn leaves that hung in long, silver-banded braids to her waist. A red crystal dangled from a chain about her neck. Save for the dark hollows beneath her eyes and cheekbones, neither age nor worry had yet lined her forehead or marred her skin.”

– Songkeeper

At a young age, she discovered her ability to hear faint strands of melody, but the ability never fully developed. Even so, her brother, Rav, became convinced that she was the next Songkeeper. He dragged her to the desert, insisted that the council of griffins recognize her gifting, and became almost violent when they labeled her a Songling and not a Songkeeper. (For more on Songlings and Songkeepers, check out this post!) For the next year, Rav and Zahar vanished from the desert. Little is known of what befell them during that time. None can say why they returned to the north, nor how they wound up wandering the lightless paths below Mount Eiphyr …

But into the Pit they went.

A year later, they marched ragged and sand-blasted to stand before the council of griffins, and once again, Rav demanded that his sister be recognized. When they refused yet again, he unleashed an ambush. A group of chimera lurked in the shadows beyond the meeting place of the Protectors. To Zahar’s horror, they fell upon the griffins with flame and fang, and in the sudden onslaught, the Protectors were slaughtered.

Alone of the griffins, Gundhrold escaped, with Auna at his side.

“But as we fled, I saw her. Zahar. Standing on the brink of the fight. Then she plunged in after her brother only to fall at the feet of one of the beasts. Dead. I am convinced of it.”

– Songkeeper

I did warn you that hers was a tragic story, yes?

Unfortunately, I’m afraid we’ll have to end the post there in order to avoid too many more spoilers from Songkeeper. In the meantime, I am enjoying wordcrafting on Zahar and Rav’s short story. Sibling tales offer so many fascinating dynamics.

I always get ridiculously excited about the telling of a new tale, so I am loving every facet of developing this new short story, drawing from the strengths and weaknesses of this established character and following them back like footprints to determine who she was at the beginning. It is fascinating … and oh so much fun.

Hope to be able to share it with you all at some point too!

Want to find out more about Zahar? Check out the links below to purchase the books:

Amazon: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, Song of Leira

Barnes and Nobles: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, Song of Leira

Welcome to stop number twenty four in the #exploreleira blog tour where we’re celebrating the (almost) one year book birthday for Songkeeper! It is the second book in the Songkeeper Chronicles, which tells the story of a girl who can hear the song that created the world.

If this is your first encounter with the blog tour, we are continuing a series of alphabet posts looking at the world and characters and magical creatures of the Songkeeper Chronicles.

Today, we’re looking at the letter …

X is for Commander Thallus Liturgis Xyamphene Noonan

Okay … I am totally stretching this one. It’s just that there really aren’t any other names of peoples or places or things in the Songkeeper Chronicles that start with the letter X. So, I’m afraid we are stuck with Commander Thallus, whose full name just so happens to include one that starts with the letter X.

Lucky coincidence.

(Don’t you just love the dwarves’ crazy long names?)

We get to meet Thallus when (SPOILER ALERT) Ky and his friends arrive at the fortress of Siranos in the Whyndburg Mountains. When it came to writing the dwarves in the Songkeeper Chronicles, I didn’t want to simply go with the stereotypical fantasy dwarves who can come across as rough, hard-boiled, and generally uncouth, so I tried to make the dwarves of the Whyndburg Mountains a little more varied. Theirs is a multi-layered, cultured society. You can read more about it here.

But out of all of the dwarves in the Songkeeper Chronicles, Thallus is probably the most similar to your typical fantasy dwarf … which made him pretty fun to write. He is gruff, blunt, and snores like an earthquake. He wields a mace in battle and sleeps in his armor, because—as he jokes—it’s too much trouble to put it on and take off at his age.

A sputtering fire provided just enough light to see by. One a straw pallet beside the heart, an old dwarf sprawled beneath a mound of blankets, snoring loud enough that Ky could have slammed the door without being heard.

He tapped the dwarf’s shoulder and jumped back as he roared awake, reaching for the mace propped beside his pallet. Curly gray hair and a beard the color and texture of an unshorn sheep stuck out in all directions around a face that most closely resembled a battering ram.

– Songkeeper

Hair like an unshorn sheep and a face like a battering ram. Yep. Commander Thallus is undoubtedly a favorite with the ladies. And if his looks weren’t enough to clinch it, his personality certainly would. He is a real charmer.

Paddy met Ky’s glance. “Wasn’t that a mite risky? Firing under a flag of truce?

Thallus just chuckled and clapped him on the back, hard enough to make Paddy stumble. “Negotiations, beardling, aren’t so much of a delicate art as those stuck up Xanthen chancellors would have you believe. It’s more a matter of figuring out who’s got the bigger sword and the guts to use it.”

– Songkeeper

Man, I’d love to meet this guy! But only if I’m guaranteed to stay on his good side. Because, I get the feeling that getting on his bad side is not a great idea …

“Cursed Khelari dog!” Thallus roared, and his voice cracked. “I don’t need two minutes to decide, let alone two hours! Send your worst. We’ll not surrender.”

– Songkeeper

Thallus is another character who I would have loved to give more page time! But he doesn’t show up on scene until late in Songkeeper when the pace is already ramping up at break neck speed toward the climax, so we don’t really get to enjoy his antics for long.

But hopefully he’s memorable enough to still make you grin through the scenes where he is on the page. Even if we only get to be around him for a short while.

Want to find out more about the Commander Thallus and the rest of the crew? Check out the links below to purchase the books:

Amazon: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, Song of Leira

Barnes and Nobles: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, Song of Leira

Welcome to our second #exploreleira tour blog tour round up! We are celebrating the (almost) one year book birthday for  Songkeeper! It is the second book in the Songkeeper Chronicles, which tells the story of a girl who can hear the song that created the world. If this is your first encounter with the blog tour, we are continuing a series of alphabet posts looking at the world and characters and magical creatures of the Songkeeper Chronicles … and we have an awesome giveaway that you can enter below!

Now, the #exploreleira tour tour has been gallivanting all over the blogosphere lately, so I thought it might be handy to come back here and share some of the more recent posts, in case you might have missed one or two! (Note: If you’re confused by the fact that the links skip over a few letters of the alphabet – because I probably would be – the posts between were either posted directly to my blog or were shared in another post on my blog. You can find a complete list of posts here.)

Scroll through the list below to find out a bit about each post and then pop over to say hello to the host bloggers and enter the giveaway on their site!

N is for Nisus!

For this post, we visited the site of blogger Marrock MacIntyre. He’s a writer, artist, self-proclaimed comic geek and fellow fan of action movies! (I do love me some action movies!) He also runs a movie review site.

POST SNEAK PEEK: “Nisus is a tapestry of contradictions. He is a dwarf of the Whyndburg Mountains and has a twin brother named Jirkar. In matters of etiquette, his manners are impeccable.

In fact, if he were here right now, he would be getting on my case for not properly introducing him. (His full name is Nisus Plexipus Molineous Creegnan, Xanthen Chancellor to the Caran, just in case you were wondering …)

READ MORE …

P is for Paddy

The incomparable Hannah Williams hosted the blog tour for a look at Paddy, Ky’s best friend from the Underground. Hannah is an incredible artist and a fellow writer, Tolkien geek, and fan of the fantasy genre. You can find out more about her work in progress here!

POST SNEAK PEEK: “Everybody needs a friend, right? And of course, every hero needs a sidekick. When I first wrote Paddy into the story, it was as a comedic friend and sidekick pal for Ky. Someone to cast a bit of humor and light into the otherwise grim situation ruling the cobblestoned streets of Kerby: abandoned kids left to fend for themselves while the Khelari soldiers wreak havoc on their town…”

READ MORE …

R is for Renegade

For this post, we swung over to the blog of fellow writer and speculative fiction fan, Josh Hardt. I first met Josh in person at the Realm Makers conference in 2015, which (by the way) is one of the coolest conferences in the world!

POST SNEAK PEEK: “Recently, I have been suffering BIG TIME from puppy fever. I consider myself both a dog and cat person. After growing up around both, and having many canine and feline “friends,” I would be hard pressed to choose between the two. At this point, I have a cat—Finn—but am not able to keep a dog for a variety of reasons. Still, that doesn’t stop me from shamelessly borrowing my friends’ dogs or drooling over pictures of adorable puppies. (Please tell me I’m not the only one!)…”

READ MORE …

S is for Songkeepers and Songlings

Fellow fantasy author Jennette L. Mbewe hosted this post on her blog! Like me, she hails from Texas, so she’s familiar with braving the heat, which makes her doubly cool in my book! (Terrible play on words, I know.) You can find out more about her books and read about the world of Nalu here.

POST SNEAK PEEK: “I am feverishly excited about this post because I get to tell you all a little more about the “magical” system in the world of the Songkeeper Chronicles. Whether it was reading the creation of the worlds in Tolkien’s Silmarillion and Lewis’s Magician’s Nephew, or reading spellbound about the contest between Felagund and Sauron, or listening to epic soundtracks from my favorite movies, the idea of powerful music has always intrigued me …”

READ MORE …

U is for the Underground

We visited with the lovely Hope Ann for this post. She is a reader and fantasy writer and loves history, particularly the Greek Roman period and WWII! (Some of my favorites! I’m sensing that we have a lot of things in common.) Any other history lovers here?

POST SNEAK PEEK: “Five years before Orphan’s Song began, the Khelari occupied the city of Kerby as a part of the Takhran’s mission to conquer the Nordlands. Not long after the Khelari arrived, people started disappearing. Taken by the dark soldiers. Those left behind assumed them dead. Far too often, only the children were left abandoned, forced to the streets to fend for themselves. When the Khelari came for his father, Cade Peregrine fought his way through a burning building to get his sister Aliyah to safety …”

READ MORE …

V is for the Vituain Desert

Fellow Enclave author Steve Rzasa hosted this post on his new website! Steve is the author of several great science fiction, steampunk – super cool! – and fantasy novels. (I’m feverishly reading one of his sci fi novels right now, so I can say that you guys should totally check out his books!)

POST SNEAK PEEK: “One of my favorite settings to write about in the Songkeeper Chronicles was the Vituain Desert. Leira is a large land with a wide variety of landscapes, including the carpeted hills of the Midlands, grass-swept dunes of the Nordlands, and the high moorland and peat bogs of the Westmark. But in the south, the hills of the Midlands give way to a more arid region, known as the Soudlands, and beyond that, all that is green and growing is swallowed by the ever-hungry maw of the desert…”

READ MORE …

W is for Waveryders

For today’s post, we are visiting Writeratops, the super cool blog of author and filmmaker Mollie E. Reeder. I first met Mollie several years ago when she helped with filming for the book trailer for my novella, Out of Darkness Rising. We are now writer pals and chat about books, brainstorming, story ideas, and ways to stay encouraged when our creative lives get crazy! (Which is, you know, most of the time.)

POST SNEAK PEEK: “I have always been a dreamer. One of my biggest childhood dreams was learning to sail. Growing up far inland, as I did, made the likelihood of learning to sail slim, but that didn’t stop me from dreaming. Though, honestly, I would probably become woefully seasick if I ever set foot on a sailboat or a ship. I am a daughter of the earth, accustomed to spending my time with both feet firmly planted on the ground …”

READ MORE …

Hope you enjoyed the blog tour round up! We’re coming up to the end of the tour and the announcement for the giveaway winners! In the meantime, if you’re enjoying the tour, why not share a post with a friend and invite them to #exploreleira and the Songkeeper Chronicles with you!