Author: Tom Early
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press
Cover Artist: Sadie Thompson
Length: 260 pages
Release Date: October 15, 2015
Blurb: It’s hard enough being gay in high school, but Fay must also deal with hiding his magical ability—powers he barely understands and cannot possibly reveal. His best friend Sam is his only confidante, and even with her help, Fay’s life is barely tolerable.
Everything changes when Janus University, a college for individuals with magical capabilities, discovers the pair. When the university sends a student to test them, Fay and Sam, along with their classmate Tyler, are catapulted headfirst into a world of unimaginable danger and magic. Fay and Tyler begin to see each other as more than friends while they prepare for the Trials, the university’s deadly acceptance process. For the first time, the three friends experience firsthand how wonderful and terrible a world with magic can be, especially when the source of Fay’s power turns out to be far deadlier than anyone imagined.
As the Speaker unfurled
the scrolls once more, showing no hesitation as she read out the next two teams
to eliminate each other.
“Would
the team of Theo Pardus and Anthony Kaspar step into the Arena, please?”
The dark-skinned boy, Theo, and the small
brown-haired boy, Anthony, whom Tyler and I had rescued on the night of the
attack, rose out of their seats to our right. Both of them looked stoic and
determined. Theo’s eyes were glowing an eerie yellow, and his mouth was
slightly parted, revealing a glistening set of sharp fangs. He was dressed in a
skintight version of the rune-covered gear the rest of us had on. Anthony just
looked incredibly focused, brushing his mediumlength brown hair out of his eyes
as he stepped into the Arena alongside Theo. He was wearing a robe, but with a
high collar instead of a hood. His hand was wrapped around something inside his
collar, and he already seemed to be muttering something.
“Would
the team of Feayr Hanson and Samantha Gray step into the Arena, please?”
Sam,
Tyler, and I glanced at each other, trying to work out what strategy would be
best against the two of them. We stood up and walked to the edge of the Arena,
Aria hurriedly whispering “Good luck!” behind us. Sam strode through the
barrier confidently, blue light pulsing around her as she passed inside. Tyler
looked at me trustingly as I put my hand in front of me and pushed. It was like
putting my hand into water, and blue light rippled out from where I had made contact.
I stepped through slowly as well, and Tyler followed immediately behind. The
Speaker wordlessly pointed us toward our corner, and we stepped inside the
circle. On the other side, Theo and Anthony did the same thing. Moments later
the Speaker and the pedestal vanished, and the circles went dark.
Almost
immediately, Sam’s voice rang out in my head.
Fay,
I’ve set up a Connection between the two of us, but I can’t include Tyler
because he doesn’t have the magic to join from his side. Did you see these two
fight?
Yeah,
I saw Theo turn into a leopard, I think, except he was easily the size of a
grizzly or larger, and I saw Anthony. He uses chess pieces on a board, and when
they fall to the ground, they become life-size and fight. He’ll swarm us with
pawns and the like, and I’m not sure what else that board can do. If you can,
take him out first. Our Wards have handled worse than Theo can dish out, I’m
sure.
Got
it. Incoming!
The
three of us ran out of the way as Theo sprinted toward us, ending in a running
leap. His body twisted and lengthened in midair as a coating of spotted fur
spread over his form, and a massive leopard sank its claws into the ground
where we were just standing.
Anthony had pulled out his chessboard, and a
handful of black pawns fell to the ground, armed swordsmen made entirely of
obsidian springing forth and advancing lockstep down the middle of the Arena.
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Tom Early is currently a student at Tufts University who probably spends more time than is wise reading and writing instead of studying. More often than not, he can be found wrapped in a blanket on the couch forgetting most of the things he was supposed to do that day.
When not writing, Tom can be found either reading, gaming, drawing, scratching his dog, or bothering his friends. He also frequently forgets that it’s healthy to get more than six hours of sleep a night, and firmly believes that treating coffee as the most important food group makes up for this. If you show him a picture of your dog, he will probably make embarrassingly happy noises and then brag about his own dog. He’s always happy to talk about any of his previous or current writing projects, because people asking him about them reminds him that he should really be writing right now.
Winner’s Prize: Free signed copy of Aspect of Winter
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Angela:
ReplyDeleteThe blurb sounds very interesting :)
First off, congratulations to the author and much success. By the blurb and excerpt, the story seems to be filled with action, which is something I truly enjoy. This is a new to me author and I'm looking forward to learning more from his works.
ReplyDeletetaina1959 @ yahoo.com