Magic Fell: A Guest Post and Giveaway with Author Andi Van

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Today we’re so pleased to welcome author Andi Van for a little release day celebrating of their new Young Adult novel, Magic Fell, from Harmony Ink Press.

Enjoy Andi’s guest post, and then be sure to check out the Rafflecopter giveaway, where you can enter for the chance to win a paperback copy of Magic Fell.

Good luck!

Before I get started: Magic Fell isn’t a romance. It has a romantic sub-plot, but overall it’s a high fantasy adventure.

[waits]

Still with me? Okay then.

You might already know the backstory behind this. A novel written on request from a beloved grandmother. A once-popular role playing forum set in a mages’ guild. If I were the type to make bad puns, I might say the combination was…magic.

…

Sorry. I’ll try not to do that again for the duration of the post.

Magic Fell is the first in a trilogy that centers on Tasis Kadara, his adopted sister Zaree, and their friend Kelwin. Oh, and the cat. K’yerin would happily tell you that he’s the most important character in the book.

I wanted to write some short pieces to share with you during this blog tour, but as this is the first book, it took me a while to figure out what I could write that wouldn’t involve spoilers. And then it hit me – why not write the very beginning?

In the prologue, you witness the end of the guild, a millennium before Tasis is even born. The leader of the guild at that point in time is a woman named Trivintaie, who washed up on the isle’s beach when she was a young woman. I thought it might be fun to write a few short pieces set before the prologue, starting from when Triv washes up, to give everyone a better feel for what exactly is lost when the guild is destroyed.

So read on, and I hope you enjoy. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a paperback or ebook copy of Magic Fell! I’ll be pulling winners on May 29th.

Blurb

MagicFell Past and present are about to collide, and the world will never be the same.

Magic has been missing from the world for a millennium, and it’s needed now more than ever. It falls to young Tasis Kadara to revive the fabled Mages’ Guild of the Dragon’s Claw. But in a culture where arcane power is forbidden and practitioners are executed, Tasis will have to keep his own aptitude for magic secret. With nothing to direct them besides bizarre dreams and a mysterious cat, Tasis and his sister Zaree undertake a quest to discover the hidden island that was once home to the guild.

Kelwin Tiovolk departs his village following his mentor’s suggestion. As an elf wandering into human civilization, he’s in danger simply for being who he is. A brawl at an inn leads him straight into the path of the young man he’s been dreaming about, and he’s compelled to help Tasis and his sister any way he can. Together, the trio might have a chance of accomplishing their mission—or the attempt might kill them.

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Excerpt

“It has to be her,” Gyr bellowed to the assembled, nearly making Triv jump away from the door she’d cracked open to allow her to peek into the room. She’d had a hard time convincing herself to eavesdrop, because if she did, then it would make things true. They really would be confirming a new leader.

Trekelm really would be dead.

Triv choked back the keening noise her body had been set to utter without her permission. That damnable wasting disease that no one had been able to find the source of had taken him from them, despite the widely-held belief that mages weren’t prone to illness. Trekelm may not have been her master, but he was her friend. Her leader. Their leader. And they needed him.

No, K’yerin said from where he sat next to her. You don’t need him. You will miss him, and you will wish he was still with us, but you will persevere. Would he have wanted you – any of you – to wail and tear at your hair and gnash your teeth like some sort of poorly-told bard’s tale? Or would he have told you to keep looking forward?

Triv knew the answer to that, but she didn’t want to hear it.

A noise from behind her made her jump, but Corrin put a hand over her mouth before she could yelp. “Shh,” he whispered needlessly. “Have they started?”

Triv nodded. “They’re arguing. I missed who Trekelm named, though. Except that Gyr said ‘she’.”

“She’s too young,” Master Yzril said, her nose turned up with disgust. “Too headstrong, too stubborn, too willing to take risks.”

Triv and Corrin looked at each other. “Falcon?” Triv whispered. That description suited the standoffish girl quite well.

K’yerin snorted.

“She’s stronger than all of us put together,” Gyr said, pointing a thick finger at his opponent. “She needs a little guidance, yes, but she has the heart for it.”

“And Trekelm named her,” Master Navi interjected. “Are you really suggesting that he didn’t know what he was doing?”

Yzril glared at them, at the majority of people in the room. They stood with Gyr. Only a handful stood with her. “If you confirm that brat, I’m leaving.”

“Don’t let the door hit your extremely large backside on the way out,” Gyr said, his tone overly friendly. Before Yzril could do more than sputter, Gyr looked at the door. Right at Triv.

She flung herself backward, despite knowing it was already too late. He’d seen her.

“Trivintaie,” he said slowly, his deep voice rolling through the room. “Come here.”

She looked at Corrin, and he gestured toward the room with a nod. “I’ll go with you. Gyr wouldn’t punish us too badly for being nosey.” He smiled at her then, leaning down to give her one of the kisses she’d started receiving from him a few years prior. “I will always have your back.”

With a long sigh, Triv nodded, then headed for what felt like her doom.

“Close the door, please,” Gyr told them when they’d entered. “And kindly lock it so no one else can snoop.” There was humor in his eyes when he said it, and Triv nearly wilted with relief. They weren’t in trouble.

“Trekelm made things very clear for us,” he told the newcomers, though his attention was focused on Triv. And then, oddly enough, he bowed to her. “My leader.”

“But…” Triv tried to wrap her brain around what it all meant, and said the first thing that came to mind. “But I’m not a master.”

“You are now,” Gyr told her. “Do you accept?”

Triv looked at Corrin, whose eyes were as wide as hers probably were, then looked down at K’yerin. The cat was giving her a look that very clearly told her to get on with it.

“Well,” she said, clearing her throat when her voice wobbled. “If that’s what Trekelm wanted, I suppose I’d better.”

About the Author

Andi Van is a foul-mouthed troublemaker who lives near San Diego with a small fluffy thing named Koi, a baseball bat that’s forever being used for things other than baseball, and a fondness for rum and caffeine (though not necessarily together).