Tag Archives: Touch of Salar

Weekend Writing Warriors #17 + Cover Reveal!

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Hello Warriors, Writers, Readers and Random Internet Browsers!

I’m super excited today because I now have the cover for Touch of Salar.  Bask in the wonderfulness over there in the sidebar.  The cover artist is Fiona Jayde and I think she did a fabulous job of capturing the mood and creating a striking image.  (That model is pretty damn cute, I must say). To celebrate I’m sharing another snippet from Touch, this time from the point of view of The Major.

Touch of Salar

Major Jamil Jarka left the temple in a bit of a daze and walked into the heavily floral air of the surrounding gardens. He’d gone into the healing room that morning expecting nothing more than a simple massage accompanied by incense, chants, and more of the mystical folderol these monks excelled in.

He’d barely noted the young monk assigned to him for this stage of his treatment, who was allegedly one of the most gifted at Ka’alar. Jamil had already forgotten his name, but not the intense pleasure nor the pain inflicted. He’d doubted a monk’s touch could do much for him, but he was willing to try anything that would get him cleared for duty. He itched to put his skills to use in the fight against the growing southern rebellion that threatened the survival of Rakkan.

When the monk had begun his work, Jamil was surprised by the power and firmness of the fingers. The shadowy person he’d glimpsed hadn’t radiated strength, only that same damnable calmness and inscrutability required of monks everywhere.

***

In a world ruled by tyrannical kings and fickle gods, the young monk M’lan finds himself at the center of royal intrigue as his healing powers attract the attention of his superiors. When he learns the handsome warrior whose body he’s tending to is not only a noble, but a king’s assassin, any attachment to him might prove fatal. Despite the danger, he can’t stop himself from falling in love. Can he risk the abandon of passion when a slip of the tongue might force his lover to execute him?

Major Jamil Jarka comes to the temple with one intention—heal his wounds so he can return to the fight against the rebellion. When the monk assigned to him turns out to be stunningly attractive, he sees this as a pleasant distraction, no more. But soon he finds himself becoming obsessed with M’lan and is torn between the fear of betrayal and the lure of love.

Sinister forces strive to turn the monk and the warrior against each other—a conflict neither will survive if they cannot trust their lives to love and the healing power of Salar.

****

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or copy & paste this address: http://www.wewriwa.com

Weekend Writing Warriors #14

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Welcome warriors, writers and readers!  I’m going to share one last snippet from my upcoming novel, Touch of Salar.  The almost certain release date is June 17th and I hope I’ve wet your whistle enough that you’ll check it out when it’s available.  Does time go into super slow-mo when you’re waiting for a book to launch?  It has for me. I’m already half way through the next in the series, working title Blood of Salar and I’m so excited about it I wish both books could come out at once.  Ah well, patience is a virtue, I guess.

 

Touch of Salar  (I cut a few lines to reach a nice stopping point. If you like you can read the complete scene up to this point on my Salar page.)

The major lay down on his stomach without a word, crossed his arms above his head, and rested his face on the open frame at the top. He was tall, and he reached from one end of the table to the other. M’lan moved closer, rubbing warmed zinn bark oil onto his hands.

“With your permission,” he said as was required – all he got in return was a grunt.

After warming his hands, he placed them on the small of the man’s back. Though heavily scarred in places, the skin was smooth and hot from the sulfur bath. Electric sparks trickled up M’lan’s hands, and he nearly jumped back. He closed his eyes and let out a calming breath, feeling the rhythm of the man’s pulse beneath his palms.

***

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or copy & paste this address: http://www.wewriwa.com

About Touch of Salar, soon to be released by Loose Id.

Touch of Salar is a high fantasy, m/m erotic romance. In the kingdom of Rakkan, in a culture ruled by gods, mystical orders and magic, a young monk with the ability to channel the healing powers of the god Salar falls in love with a wounded warrior he knows only as The Major. Relations between the classes are forbidden, and things become even more complicated when the monk discovers that the man he is obsessed with is a king’s assassin. If M’lan is found out, he will be put to death, possibly by the Major himself.

 

Weekend Writing Warriors #13

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Hi! If you’re participating in the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia, please scroll down to the next post to find my HAHAT post and leave a comment for a chance to win a prize!  I haven’t quite figured out yet how to update my linky-thingy on the website to go directly to the post.

Okay, back to the snippet!  Greetings Weekend Writing Warriors!  My, I’m using a lot of exclamation points today! Maybe it’s because I’ve finally reached the point where M’lan gets to interact with the major.  Be still my heart. (creative punctuation alert)

 

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Touch of Salar

The major crossed the tiled floor without a sound and stepped up to the table. From behind him, M’lan watched the silk robe slide from wide shoulders and drop to the floor before he raised his eyes, ready to assess what he saw.

His breath caught. Even though he was used to seeing well-sculpted, muscular bodies, this one was exceptional. Faint scars crisscrossed the truly beautiful almond skin but were hidden among the swirls and tangled vines of an elaborate tattoo that climbed from the crease beneath the man’s left buttock to the base of his neck. His torso tapered from the broad shoulders to a slim waist, the arms and legs were lean yet muscular, and the buttocks tight and hard. He had glossy black hair that flashed red in the sunlight. M’lan glimpsed a fine high cheekbone, sculpted jawline, and aquiline nose– a true son of Rakkan.

***

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or copy & paste this address: http://www.wewriwa.com

About Touch of Salar, soon to be released by Loose Id.

Touch of Salar is a high fantasy, m/m erotic romance. In the kingdom of Rakkan, in a culture ruled by gods, mystical orders and magic, a young monk with the ability to channel the healing powers of the god Salar falls in love with a wounded warrior he knows only as The Major. Relations between the classes are forbidden, and things become even more complicated when the monk discovers that the man he is obsessed with is a king’s assassin. If M’lan is found out, he will be put to death, possibly by the Major himself.

Weekend Writing Warriors #12

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Do all writers love the rain? I do.  The constant patter of sloppy drops on the window, the chilly gusts rattling the blossoms off the trees, gives me permission to ignore the weeds, the foot high grass, the  drooping limbs in need of  trim, to hole up with a cup of  tea and write, write, write.  If you’re a writer who loves the rain, nothing beats Oregon in the springtime!  Back to the snippet–at last, the warrior arrives, M’lan’s ultimate challenge.  Here’s a little eye candy to wet your whistle.

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Touch of Salar

Cobwebs clearing from his mind, M’lan hurried to wipe down the soft-padded table in the middle of the room with essential oils and snapped out a fresh cloth to smooth on top of it. Today he was to begin the healing process on a new patient. For the sake of secrecy and discretion, patients were referred to by title. Today’s client, if spoken to, was to be addressed as Major. He was male, twenty-eight passages of age, and had been in the intensive-care ward of the temple for three weeks.

The entry chimes sounded, and M’lan bowed his head, as was custom when nobility entered. The patient wore a black silk robe, head covered with a hood. He moved with an easy grace and a lightness of foot, unlike most of the warriors M’lan worked on, who tended to be heavyset and muscle-bound.

wewriwa

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or copy & paste this address: http://www.wewriwa.com

About Touch of Salar, soon to be released by Loose Id.

Touch of Salar is a high fantasy, m/m erotic romance. In the kingdom of Rakkan, in a culture ruled by gods, mystical orders and magic, a young monk with the ability to channel the healing powers of the god Salar falls in love with a wounded warrior he knows only as The Major. Relations between the classes are forbidden, and things become even more complicated when the monk discovers that the man he is obsessed with is a king’s assassin. If M’lan is found out, he will be put to death, possibly by the Major himself.

Weekend Writing Warriors #Lucky 11

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Greetings fellow warriors, writers and readers.  I’m feeling lucky this week– Lucky that my novella Touch of Salar will soon be published, lucky that I’ve been assigned a great editor, lucky that I’ve finished the second round of edits with hardly any mental or emotional damage!  I feel especially lucky that my dreams of being a professional writer are on the verge of becoming real.  I much prefer my dreams to those of poor M’lan, who’s in for a rough of time of it.

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click the link above or copy & paste this address: http://www.wewriwa.com

Touch of Salar

M’lan had trained for years to calm his mind and cool his passions. While he was busy treating his patients, passion was not a problem. Despite the array of beautiful bodies he worked on, he remained as cool as a mountain lake, his mind as still as he concentrated on sinews, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. At night, though, his passions erupted in those violent dreams of war, killing, and terror.

The monks of Ka’alar Healing Temple exclusively served the noble classes of the kingdom of Rakkan. In recent years, most of their clients were soldiers, officers who’d been injured in the ongoing battle with Jirnan Province to the south. The monks also treated elite forces of no particular rank or designation—spies, assassins, sons and daughters of the nobility trained to serve the king in secret and deadly ways. The only reason M’lan knew this was because of the nightmares that showed him what his clients did, where they went, who they killed. If anyone ever found out, he’d be executed on the spot.

About Touch of Salar, soon to be released by Loose Id.

Touch of Salar is a high fantasy, m/m erotic romance. In the kingdom of Rakkan, in a culture ruled by gods, mystical orders and magic, a young monk with the ability to channel the healing powers of the god Salar falls in love with a wounded warrior he knows only as The Major. Relations between the classes are forbidden, and things become even more complicated when the monk discovers that the man he is obsessed with is a king’s assassin. If M’lan is found out, he will be put to death, possibly by the Major himself.

Weekend Writing Warriors #10

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Greetings fellow readers and writers!  Well, I finished the first round of edits on Touch of Salar. The good news is that after spending an entire sunny Sunday inside hunched over the keyboard, I still love being a writer! The editing process was informative and it’s exciting work (I am such a writing geek).

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click the link above or copy & paste this address: http://www.wewriwa.com

Touch of Salar

The fading aroma of night-blooming cacti still sweetened the air of the healing room. Clay ovens had been fired but a chill remained in the open-air space. M’lan was grateful, because the nightmare had left him drenched with sweat. He leaned against a marble column and basked in the rose-tinted glow of the sunrise. Morning was his favorite time of day, a fresh start, a new beginning. Every day, he channeled divine energy to mend fallen warriors. Every night in his dreams, as if he became a warrior himself, he relived the horror his patients experienced in real life.

His heartbeat slowed and he took a moment to clear his mind and prepare for the first patient of the day.

***

About Touch of Salar

Touch of Salar is a high fantasy, m/m erotic romance. In the kingdom of Rakkan, in a culture ruled by gods, mystical orders and magic, a young monk with the ability to channel the healing powers of the god Salar falls in love with a wounded warrior he knows only as The Major. Relations between the classes are forbidden, and things become even more complicated when the monk discovers that the man he is obsessed with is a king’s assassin. If M’lan is found out, he will be put to death, possibly by the Major himself.