Author Spotlight week - Excerpt from Conception

Having Shaw teach me the sword may have been a bad idea. I was alone, in this lovely forest clearing, with the most breathtakingly handsome man I could ever have imagined. The fact that the sun was starting to set certainly didn't help, either. With the light fading and twilight creeping in, the whole scene felt romantic. It was going to be hard to learn when the only thing I could truly concentrate on was him.

"Here," Shaw said, handing me one of two sticks that he broke off of a nearby tree, "we can practice with these."

"A stick? Really?"

A playful grin spread across his face. "Well, it's the safest thing we can use. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Maybe you're afraid I'll hurt you." I joked.

"I doubt it," he laughed, looking me over with a skeptically raised eyebrow.

"Now wait a second, you're the one who thinks I have powers. You should be afraid." I smiled and waved the end of my stick at him.

"Alright, come here," he laughed again, and gestured for me to go to him.

My stomach jumped up into my throat as nervousness flooded my body. I tried to convince myself that I simply wanted to do a good job. That had to be the only reason I was nervous. Trying to control my growing attraction toward Shaw was getting increasingly difficult. I took a tentative step forward. He reached over and took my hand in his. Pulling me ever so gently, he moved me to a spot directly in front of him.

"Stand here with your feet about shoulder width apart. Keep your knees slightly bent." I followed his instructions while reminding myself to breathe. It was a meager attempt to stem my nervousness. My heart pounded like a jackhammer in my chest as he circled around behind me. "The type of sword you use will really dictate your fighting style. I use a broad sword, but something more slender would be better for you. I have a nice rapier sword that I might let you have."

I nodded, very aware of his presence just inches behind me.

"Hold your sword in your right hand."

"You mean stick," I corrected. I hoped that joking would ease my nerves.

"Right, but that stick is a formidable weapon," he agreed with a laugh. The moment of levity felt nice, and my anxiousness eased. Until he touched me.

Placing both of his hands on my waist he moved my body into the proper position. All of my muscles tightened from the contact. Then, one of his hands glided up my body and down my right arm, leaving a tingling trail of heat in its wake. "Don't hold your arm so stiff, you want to have a little bit of give in your elbow."

"Is that better?" I asked, making an adjustment. I tried to look over my shoulder at him, but my thick, wavy hair obstructed my view.

He moved his hand off of my arm. Pushing my hair away from his face, he let it drape down my left shoulder, exposing my bare neck. An electrified chill shot through my body when I felt his warm breath on the skin of my neck. Our eyes met and he smiled at me.

"Yes, that's better," he said, holding my gaze, which only left my eyes for a quick second to look at my mouth before returning to my eyes. A long moment passed. Then he cleared his throat and moved in front of me, "Your left hand can do several different things. If you use a rapier, you won't need to hold it with both hands so your left hand can hold a shield. Or, if you don't have a shield, you should probably keep it behind your back, at least until you're more practiced. This way your opponent can't cut it off."

"Hmm," I snickered, "that would be a sight, 'the one-handed savior'. I doubt Leticia would be afraid of me then."

"Ha!" Shaw exclaimed, "Probably not. Okay, the first move I'm going to show you is a simple defensive counter move. Please keep in mind that this move most likely won't work if you only have one hand, but we'll do the best we can."

I chortled with laughter. "I certainly will try, but it will be hard with this stump." I tucked my left hand inside the sleeve of my shirt and raised my arm to show him. Sure it was juvenile, but I couldn't help myself. I was really enjoying this fun, playful side of Shaw.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," he said with mock concern. He held a serious expression for a moment and then we both broke down with laughter.

Author Spotlight Week - Jennifer Hartz shares her passion for Fantasy

When I was about six years old, I wrote and illustrated my first story, an epic adventure about a group of fairies who had their magic wands stolen by an evil troll. A simple story to be sure, but even at that young age I was all about the dramatic ending. On the last page of the fairy book the wands were stolen again and the caption read, "Here we go again." Who doesn't love a good cliffhanger? Fast forward to today and Future Savior. Conception, the first book in the series, has only been available for a few weeks and already there's some buzz about the ending. As much as I might enjoy going into detail about the ending of Conception, I'm not going to talk about that today for two reasons. First of all, I don't want to give anything away, and secondly in today's blog I'm focusing on genre. Which brings me back to the fairies.

I have always been a lover of all things speculative. Fantasy, science fiction, paranormal and even time travel I have always enjoyed stories that stretch the imagination and take people to places we cannot go. I'm not sure where this love for speculative originated, perhaps from my dad. People who are into the speculative genres are usually labeled as dorks and geeks, but my dad was far from that. He was an ex-football player and ex-Marine who loved Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. This made speculative cool for me.

Now, all of the stories I have floating in my brain have some sort of speculative spin to them. I have about thirteen books stored in my head that I really hope I find time to write. This includes the series I plan to start as soon as I get a bit farther ahead on Future Savior which is a YA urban fantasy.

Author Spotlight Week - Q&A with Jennifer Hartz

I'd like to welcome fellow Desert Breeze author, Jennifer Hartz, to the spotlight this week.

STEPH: I don't know much about Conception. Can you tell us a little about the book?

JENNIFER: Hey Steph! Thanks so much for having me on the blog this week. The series of Future Savior is a combination of all the stories I love. Whether they came from books, television, or movies, little elements from my favorite things crept into my own fantasy story. "Write something you would love to read", that's the advice I followed while developing The Future Savior Series and I'm glad I did because I love the results.

The story of Conception, book one in the series, revolves around Christina Vaughn, a seemingly ordinary person who is thrust into an extraordinary situation only to find out she's not as ordinary as she assumed. She is sent to a fantasy-like world and as Christina makes her way through her amazing adventure, she learns a great deal about her unbelievable past. She discovers that she has unimaginable powers which she must quickly learn to harness. She falls in love during a journey that has her battling horrific monsters and struggling with her remarkable destiny, a destiny that involves saving the people of this world.


STEPH: What was the inspiration behind the book?

JENNIFER: The Future Savior Series is the byproduct of a ridiculously long commute. I have an hour and a half drive… one-way. That's three hours in the car! One day, while driving, I started to daydream about interesting characters and the fantastical land of Meric. I would let my mind conjure up different storylines for my mystical characters, pulling out the things that really worked and filing them away in my memory bank. For three months these daydreams continued until I finally realized I needed to sit down and write.


STEPH: I see that it's a fantasy. What attracts you to that genre?

JENNIFER: I love anything speculative, I always have. Even when I was a little kid my favorite stories involved fairies and unicorns and leprechauns… things that you just don’t see every day! Stories, in any medium, that are normal bore me. Why would I want to waste my time reading or watching a story about someone that does the same boring stuff I do every day? No thanks. I want my imagination stretched to the limits, wrapped around a couple of Saturn's rings, then brought back and plunged right into the heart of Mordor.


STEPH: How many books do you have planned in the series?

JENNIFER: The story of Future Savior that is milling around my brain is huge. One book simply couldn't hold all of the ideas so naturally it became a series. However, there is so much that happened in Meric before Christina ever arrived that I could easily produce two or three prequels. But for now I'll stick with Christina's story which is the five books in The Future Savior Series that will be coming out over the next few years.



STEPH: Do you have a certain process to develop your characters? Do you cast your characters? If so who are the leads?

JENNIFER: I think it is important to make characters as realistic as possible, that way people can find something in them to relate to and connect with. Even fantastical characters need to have realistic actions and emotions otherwise no one would want to read about them. Sprites are really cool because they have wings and fly, but would anybody care about Luka if she didn't have her snappy quick wit? Probably not. Many of my characters have personalities similar to people I know in real life. This helps me to keep them as realistic as possible.

As for casting my characters, I did not have particular actors in mind while writing Conception. It was only after the story was complete, and I started milling around author loops and writing chat rooms, did I start to think about who would be great in the roles.

Hands down, without a doubt, and no questions asked Shaw would be perfectly portrayed by Kellan Lutz. If you don't know who he is, he plays Emmet in the Twilight Saga.

I've had a slightly harder time casting Christina, but my mind keeps bouncing between either Allysa Milano or Kate Beckinsale. I guess it depends on my mood, but both of these ladies are fabulous.

Charis is such an interesting and intriguing character that I'm not 100% sure who I would place in that role, but Carla Gugino, the Pocahontas guru in Night at the Museum, keeps popping into my head.

Finally, I place Zak Efron in the role of the obscenely handsome Elf Prince Jonus.


STEPH: How long did it take you to write Conception?

JENNIFER: Like I said, I had been daydreaming about the story for about three months before I placed my fingers to the keys. When I finally sat down to write, having such a structured skeleton in my mind to work with was very helpful. I was able to pound out the entire first novel in just under two and a half months.


STEPH: Do you have any hobbies you'd like to share with us?

JENNIFER: Well, writing is my hobby. I work full-time as a teacher. I also coach softball and volunteer at my church on the child care team. But above all of that is my wonderful family. I have a great husband named Chris and an amazing two-year-old son, Vaughn. They were gracious enough to lend their names to the lead character of Future Savior, Christina Vaughn.

STEPH: You know I'm a Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" fan, right? Team Edward or Team Jacob?

JENNIFER: The girls I teach at school always ask me this question and I can't help but answer, "Team Emmett!" Obviously I love Kellan Lutz since that's who I would cast as the lead in my own novel, but if I had to pick between Edward and Jacob, I've got to go with Edward. He's Bella's true love and poor Jacob just won't take the hint! Get over it Jacob, she's in love with someone else!

Thanks so much for having me on Desert Breeze Publishing's blog today! I had a blast! If the readers out there would like to learn more about Future Savior, they can swing by my website. http://jenniferhartz.com

Featured September Release - Conception, Future Savior, Book 1 by Jennifer Hartz

THE BLURB:

"I do not think it is a question of where, but when." were the words that Charis left my mother with thirty years ago when I disappeared from Meric…before I was born.

Shortly after being sent back I've been attacked by man-eating Vaipes. I've learned that my father was a power wielding Guardian. I've discovered that the silvery-blue eyes intriguing me my entire life belong to my Watcher, Shaw who is without a doubt the most handsome man I have ever seen. And somehow I need to stop a war mongering tyrant who can manipulate people's thoughts.

So my question isn't where or when. It is how? How can I help the people of Meric when I can't stop myself from falling in love?

EXCERPT:

Shaw faced me and the frightened men. His incredible pale blue eyes narrowed, and burned with such intensity they were nearly silver. "Stay back. I can handle this."

A brilliant flash of lightning framed his perfect physique in an illuminating beauty. A resounding crack of thunder pounded the air, and I jumped. How did the storm happen upon us so quickly?

The five men backpedaled until they were behind me. Then Shaw spun to face the beasts. He tossed his bow and arrows off to the side and ripped out his long sword from its sheath. Neither Shaw nor the Vaipes attempted to strike. They assessed each other, trying to ascertain a weakness, I supposed. The Vaipes on either end of the pack were trying to slowly loop around behind Shaw and surround him. This was the scene from my premonition! The lightning and thunder continued. Shaw's muscles tensed. He prepared to attack. Looking around me quickly I realized that the five men were gone. I stood back myself, watching Shaw, not knowing what to do. I had my sword raised, but I had no clue how to help him.

Apparently he didn't need my help.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jennifer Hartz wrote and illustrated her first novel, an epic tale featuring winged fairies losing their magic wands to evil trolls, back when she was six years old. She has been a fan of fantasy and science fiction ever since. From the land of Mordor to a galaxy far, far away, Jennifer loves it all.

Born in Pittsburgh, but currently living in northeast North Carolina with her amazing husband and beautiful son, Jennifer spends her days teaching at a small private school in Norfolk, Virgina. Other than reading the Bible, Jennifer loves to read (and now write) Speculative Christian Ficion that has wonderful romantic storylines and exciting twists and turns.

The Future Savior series is Jennifer's first crack at a novel since the early days of fairy wand heists and she couldn't be more thrilled with its quick success.

Desert Breeze congratulates Jennifer on her latest release.