- Publisher : Chaos Publications; 19th ed. edition (April 21, 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 296 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1954413106
- ISBN-13 : 978-1954413108
BLURB
Five years have been lost to a void in Reven Si’ahl’s mind. Now, everything Reven was is barreling at him faster than he can process it. Family, love, enemies, demons, and nightmares he can’t control plague him at all hours. The more he learns about his previous life, the more he questions his sanity.
Stuck with the small handful of survivors from the Phoenix Empire, Reven finds himself offering advice to his nephew, asking advice of his son, Kaleo, and learning that sometimes family can be your biggest enemy.
Meanwhile, the Kormandi King, Demyan, finds himself in need of the bard’s aid again as he is left to sort out how to escape a nation hell bent on killing people with Power. By sheer luck, and with the help of Idris Acai – an assassin and Reven’s other son – the miraculous is achieved until reaching Tierra Vida with the others. What should be a warm family reunion turns into Reven’s greatest nightmare when Kaleo is taken by the Queen of Torment herself, Madhavi. Now Reven has to accept his new role, and go rescue his urchin before it’s too late.
Buy Link: https://mybook.to/SmokeNStars
Shop Indie: https://bookshop.org/p/books/smoke-and-stars-michelle-schad/19952742
Praise for Michelle Schad’s Novels
This is the series that keeps on giving… – Lissa of Sassy_booklover about Schad’s Beyond Human Series.
Michelle Schad recently had a signing at RavenCon in Richmond, Virginia, where she signed with fellow authors Brienne Lee Carter and Cathryn Leigh.
On social media? Follow Michelle on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for giveaways, teasers, and general author updates.
Rafflecopter: a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
From a young age, there have been voices inside of Michelle’s head. No, not those kinds of voices – or, maybe they are; who really knows? Rather than fear those voices, Michelle wrangled them like wild mustangs on the prairie, make each one bend to her will in its own time. Well, what does that mean?
It means that Michelle has been writing stories of the fantastic, the horrific, and the mysterious for as long as her little fingers have been able to hold a pen and probably longer, but memory only goes back so far. In a world that passes for ‘normal’, she is all of the ‘normal’ things one might expect: mother, wife, keeper of fur-babies. She is also a student of life, meaning if there is something to learn, she will learn it, thus making her a veritable font of only partially useful knowledge.
The whimsy and ChAoS that actually controls the rest of Michelle’s existence has earned her a place in two different arenas so far: Bards and Sages Quarterly and Corrugated Sky Publishing. While wielding the unwieldiness of words is her primary function, she is also an avid crafter, collector of “creepy” ball-jointed dolls, and can run through a Target in under an hour with only two extra items from her intended list. Talent!
You can find more about her on her website at https://tamingchaos.net/
EXCERPTS
Excerpt
Kaleo Oenel sat outside Reven’s tent. Serai was inside with the bard. Kaleo had argued with the woman for the last three days since their arrival to Tierra Vida that
clothing was required, that they were not home, that she could not walk around nude. It was like speaking to a child sometimes; a very Powerful child. He often forgot how much Power the woman had, tempering his annoyance only after he noticed her Power radiated off her like heat from an oven.
Lara sat beside him, idly plucking at blades of grass. The runeli thief kept her opinions to herself, mostly, but they still found their way to Kaleo’s mind. Everyone’s opinions did. Three days since their arrival in Tierra Vida was a lot of time to think about how stupid he had been, how reckless. Whether he’d intended to or not, he’d stepped into a hornet’s nest of politics and warfare against an enemy he couldn’t see.
clothing was required, that they were not home, that she could not walk around nude. It was like speaking to a child sometimes; a very Powerful child. He often forgot how much Power the woman had, tempering his annoyance only after he noticed her Power radiated off her like heat from an oven.
Lara sat beside him, idly plucking at blades of grass. The runeli thief kept her opinions to herself, mostly, but they still found their way to Kaleo’s mind. Everyone’s opinions did. Three days since their arrival in Tierra Vida was a lot of time to think about how stupid he had been, how reckless. Whether he’d intended to or not, he’d stepped into a hornet’s nest of politics and warfare against an enemy he couldn’t see.
Excerpt
“Drink or somethin’, ya look … pathetic.”
Reven frowned, turning a slow glare up at Liam as the drawling duende plopped down beside him on the sand that evening with two bottles of liquor in hand. He handed one to the bard by way of apology and drank from the other without saying another word. Unwilling to start yet another argument with the thief-taker, Reven kept his mouth shut and drank. Half a bottle later, he looked at Liam and frowned again.
“How long have you known about me?” Reven asked. Liam didn’t answer. “Roe?”
“Day one,” Liam sighed, then drank. “Weren’t no question when I seen what ya got on yer chest. Anyone what’s paid even a hair’s attention t’what tha’ bloody nation
did woulda known it too. Ya just happened t’end up in a place what don’t care. Prolly fer th’best anyhow.”
Reven remained silent. He felt betrayed and angry all over again, yet oddly grateful. It was for the best. If he’d been found in the state he was in by anyone else,
he’d be dead or worse. But the knowledge that his so-called friend had known who he was, known even the smallest fragment of a life he’d been trying so hard to remember and kept it a secret hurt.
“Drink or somethin’, ya look … pathetic.”
Reven frowned, turning a slow glare up at Liam as the drawling duende plopped down beside him on the sand that evening with two bottles of liquor in hand. He handed one to the bard by way of apology and drank from the other without saying another word. Unwilling to start yet another argument with the thief-taker, Reven kept his mouth shut and drank. Half a bottle later, he looked at Liam and frowned again.
“How long have you known about me?” Reven asked. Liam didn’t answer. “Roe?”
“Day one,” Liam sighed, then drank. “Weren’t no question when I seen what ya got on yer chest. Anyone what’s paid even a hair’s attention t’what tha’ bloody nation
did woulda known it too. Ya just happened t’end up in a place what don’t care. Prolly fer th’best anyhow.”
Reven remained silent. He felt betrayed and angry all over again, yet oddly grateful. It was for the best. If he’d been found in the state he was in by anyone else,
he’d be dead or worse. But the knowledge that his so-called friend had known who he was, known even the smallest fragment of a life he’d been trying so hard to remember and kept it a secret hurt.
Books Glorious Books 