Did we catch the dragon?

Hi,

This is Ran and I may have been mistaken last week. What did I get wrong?

Well, as you may recall, for a while I had my scribe’s phone and I checked it for early drafts of our next stories so I could find some fun spoilers to give out. But I didn't find any drafts so I said my scribe didn't start writing them yet.

Well, Melinda read that email, and she told me I was wrong. You can bet that didn’t go over well.

In case you forgot, I’m Ran, Sarn’s son from the Curse Breaker series, and I don’t like being wrong. If you haven’t read our adventures outside this newsletter, now’s a great time to start!

But I digress. I didn't believe Melinda because that's a big thing to get wrong, and I pride myself on getting things right 100% of the time.

So Melinda brought up the draft for Chaos Rises which was going to be book 5 of the His Angelic Keeper series. But now it'll be book 1 of the Riders of the Apocalypse series since my aunt will be chasing after them. She won't have much time to be our angelic keeper during that storyline, and Melinda likes to title things what they are. But I digress again.

Apparently Melinda worked on Chaos Rises whenever she had time and the ideas weren't flowing for the other books she was writing at the time. I still didn't believe her until I realized that the previous book, His Angelic Keeper Tempted came out two years ago. Even if she just added a chapter a month, it would add up to a whole book after two years.

That kind of blew my mind a little, not gonna lie.

In other book news, Chasing Dragons is done and edited! It also has a new cover:

Chasing Dragons is the 11th book in the Curse Breaker series, and it will publish on January 6th in honor of Melinda’s father.

That day would have been his 77th birthday if he didn’t leave this world for new adventures in the afterlife back in September, while Melinda was writing Chasing Dragons. So it felt right to publish the book that day in celebration of his birth.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll read some of Melinda’s books in the afterlife.

But you don’t need to wait for the afterlife to enjoy Chasing Dragons. You can preorder it on retailers now, and you’ll receive it on January 6th. (Retailers are still updating with the new cover, so don’t worry if you see the old one. The book will publish with the new cover.)

But you don’t have to wait, you can buy it directly from us and get your copy early too.

If you’re looking for a cozy holiday adventure, starring yours truly, then grab Stars & Angels Sing.

And now, we really need to catch a scribe and make her ours!

Yes, we’re heading back to our preview of the totally true and not at all fictional story of how we met our scribe and got our stories into your hands. Since this is a work of nonfiction, the names of real people have been changed to protect their identities except for our scribe because her name is on all our books. So you already know who she is.

Right now, there are no real people in the story aside from our scribe. If that changes, then we’ll change their name. I hope that’s not confusing. I think I digressed again, so it’s time for that excerpt!

Catch the Scribe

by Melinda Kucsera

Chapter 3: The Woman in the Leaf, Part 2

“There’s a woman in the leaf!” Unable to contain his wonder, Ran patted Papa’s side. Papa must see this. Here, at last, was a mystery worthy of his magic. 

But Papa slept too deeply, so all he did was roll onto his side and pull his knees in toward his chest until they touched Ran. Papa’s stomach was now his backrest, and he was comfortably ensconced in a cozy little niche formed by Papa’s extra long arms and legs. Ran smiled because he was extra protected now.

“Thank you, Papa.” Ran patted Papa’s thigh, and that must have triggered his magic because green light shot from Papa’s knees to his hands and back again forming a glowing green fence between Ran and the rest of the cave. 

“You’re always looking out for me.” Ran leaned forward and gave the shield an appreciative pat, and its power made his hand tingle. 

Papa’s magic must have sensed something. But the leaf had come from the Queen Tree, and she was everything that was good in the world. So the danger didn’t come from the leaf. Then where did it come from?

Ran scanned the cave, but it looked like it always did. Dirty laundry and other unidentifiable items were scattered about the floor except for the spot Papa had cleared for the Queen Tree’s mark. By some miracle, that area had remained stuff-free. On one side of the cave, water dripped from the stalactite into the pail sitting directly under it, and its constant plinking made a comforting counterpoint to Uncle Miren’s soft snoring to his right. 

On the other side of the cave, books and papers covered the table. Other than the stool and a small chest, there wasn’t any other furniture in the cave besides the mattress, and it was currently occupied. Papa tended to take up most of it when he slept because there was so much of him. 

Two lumir crystals cast orange light on the cave. One rested on the table and the other on the chest. Papa never extinguished their glow because he didn’t  like darkness.  Neither did Ran so he never asked him to turn off their glow. Ran squirmed around until he could see over Papa and look at the shadowed corner where the Ghost Boy had appeared a few times, but the young ghost wasn’t there. Uncle Miren’s sock-covered foot was. 

The Queen Tree took the ghost boy to the place where dead people went when they left this world. It looked like a nice place. But Papa didn’t know anything about it aside from the glimpse they got when the Queen Tree had appeared in their cave. But if the Queen Tree was involved, it must be as nice as it had seemed. She wouldn’t be involved in anything bad.  

Ran twisted around and frowned at the magical fence Papa had generated in his sleep. “Are you having a bad dream, Papa? Is that why you caged me?”

***

Next week, we’ll continue with the next chapter. But you can read ahead on patreon right now. Have a great week!

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