Monday 8 December 2014

Ashlyn Forge Today!

Lovely lady this one, I’m chatted with her quite a bit and for longer than I ever should, lol
She’s a lovely lady but I’m saddened to admit that I’ve only read one of her books, a free one.

She writes MM Science fiction, which isn’t my cup of tea. I did, however read Caterpillar. What I liked most about the story, and you can find my review here, was that even though, clearly they were alien’s, it was more a romance than a fantasy world, which, for a romance reader, was key to me liking it.

This one, the one up for the giveaway, I believe is much more intently fantasy, which for sci-fi readers I believe is key to liking the book more.

Anyway, enough about me here’s an excerpt so you can make up your own mind, the reviews are awesome, by the way

Excerpt

Johann had heard that you can’t change who you are. He’d never questioned that until today. Surely everyone could change—even their basic nature—if they tried hard enough. Why not? Times changed; places changed; so what made people the exception? People can change if they want, he thought. And so could he.
Today, as he walked past the tall gray pillars of the main hall, his footsteps echoing on the onyx floor, he contemplated the changes taking place and what they would mean for him and his family’s school of fine arts.
Despite the uncharacteristic calm of his subterranean home, when he looked up at the three paintings at the end of the hall, he was filled with dread. He’d come this way to see the largest one in the center, but Johann’s eyes drifted from his father’s picture on the left to study its superior quality of his own portrait, the one on the right. Oil paintings weren’t common in the Colony anymore, but his grandfather had insisted on it. Johann looked pleasant enough in the picture, his pale blue eyes and narrow face innocent and hopeful last year when he’d posed.
Your face always stays slim, at least. But you look strange there, Johann, like you don’t belong, he thought to himself, forever focusing on his light blond hair. He was the only blond in his family, and although he thought it suited him, just for today he wished he looked more like his grandfather.
You can’t change who you are…why the hell not?
The hand put on the small of his back felt comforting until he saw that it was Marian, his mother. He stepped back, checking to make sure she hadn’t stabbed him with something.
Today she too looked different.
Eyes narrowed, he stared at her, trying to determine what had changed about her. Surely it wasn’t her raven hair, wound up in its usual neat bun, or the black dress on her slender frame. Her seemingly plain clothes surprised him until he noticed the sequins and detailing. As always, she had the proper dress for the proper occasion; she was nothing if not proper.
Yet something was different about her.
Finally, he focused on her lean face and found the answer. Her face usually seemed mismatched—youthful with weary eyes. Today was the first time she didn’t look haunted. Today she looked young, something he’d never seen before. She was much older than her thirty-something looks suggested, but without her usual scowl, she almost pulled it off.
“I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you all right?” she asked, uncharacteristically gentle.
Any idiot could have answered, but surprise stole Johann’s will to talk. When she stepped closer as if to hug him, he recoiled, and she raised her hands.
“I know this is hard for you,” she said, “But just for today, let’s try. Let’s try to be a family. Please, what’s wrong?”
He tried to place her unfamiliar expression, but he ultimately gave up. When he focused on the center painting again, she stepped beside him.
“I think you get your looks from me,” she mused.
Yeah, along with my inferiority complex.
“You look handsome there. You always complain about that beauty mark under your eye, but it does look good. Don’t you remember me telling you?”
I must have blacked out for that part. ‘Cause all I remember is you screaming “Suck in your gut, suck in your gut!” even though it was a fucking portrait.
When she put a hand on his shoulder, he regarded it as if it was covered with poison. Johann took a chance and decided to be candid. “Ma’am, this…is a bit…uncharacteristic.”
Relief rushed through him when she nodded.
“We can start over today,” she said, letting out a soft sigh. “Your grandfather is gone now; don’t you see that we’re free? Things will be different now. No more fights, no more arguments, no more being pitted against each other. We’re free.”
She took him into a half hug, and even though he was taller, he felt frail in her strong embrace. He didn’t mean to cringe.
“We should go. It’ll start soon,” she said.
“I…” Johann shook his head, his heart beating faster at the prospect of what the morning would entail. “I can’t—I can’t look at the body. I can’t see him at his true age. I don’t remember ever seeing him at his true age.” His gaze rose to the center portrait again. “I want to remember Grandfather like I always knew him, with this face, young and strong.”
“All right. I’ll instruct Gulliver to keep the body covered. Is that enough?” He could hear the displeasure in her voice, yet she still held him firmly.
Despite his unease and suspicion, a part of him was genuinely thankful. “He had a good life, though; he lived long,” Johann said.
Marian didn’t answer at first. She looked up at the painting again and muttered, “Too long.”
Johann pretended not to hear. Instead he broke her hold; she gave no protest. When she turned to walk down the hall, he followed. In a short time the open space of the underground courtyard came into view.
“What do you want to do now, Johann?” She chuckled, “And don’t say get an E; that’s what you always want. But for you, your dream, anything is possible now that you’re not under anyone’s rule. What is it you want?”
He didn’t dare answer, but she gave him a pleasant enough smile, her blue eyes twinkling when he met her gaze.
“Don’t worry. You can have everything you want now. Nothing’s holding you back,” she assured him.
Instinctively, Johann walked closer to the wall, away from her. You can’t change who you are—that was what he’d heard—but this woman, a woman he’d known his entire life, was different. At this moment, she was so different that she was a stranger to him.
The courtyard seemed eerie and empty due to the low attendance, and the sight of it saddened Johann to no limit. Even the servants weren’t there. He knew his grandfather didn’t have many friends, but he had expected at least one.
“Nobody came,” he lamented under his breath.
“He was well into his nineties, darling.” His mother soothed. “His friends hadn’t kept their youth. They’re long gone now. You cannot be so surprised by the turnout.”
Now he really wanted to be rid of her.
For so many years, he would have killed for a mother like this—a woman who had a pleasant word to offer, who’d comfort him in time of need. Now, at his grandfather’s funeral, she was everything he envisioned a good mother would be. Yet he couldn’t say why he disliked the sudden transformation.
Only three other people were there: his mother’s servant, Gulliver, a man in his early forties; Johann’s fifteen-year-old brother, Dominic; and a man he knew well, the Elemental, Kobal.
Kobal’s tall, toned frame was a magnificent sight, even at a funeral, and his tasteful black suit made him stand out all the more. Today he had tied back his discolored wine-red hair, and his piercing blue eyes were heavy with sympathy and compassion.
Johann calmed upon seeing him. “Kobal,” he said.
“Master Johann.” Kobal bowed low. “My condolences.”
Marian focused on the body hidden under a white sheet in the center of the circular yard and said, “Let’s get on with it.”
Johann turned and took in the area, his eyes scanning the stone fence that bordered the wide, open space.
“Master Johann, is something wrong?”
Kobal’s voice brought Johann back to his senses, and he shook his head. “No, no. I just…I just wish we had sprung for at least one flower. Never mind the cost.” He scoffed. “Some courtyard. All concrete. Not even one flower for the man of the house upon his death.”
A sudden gasp from the small crowd prompted Johann to look about the courtyard again. He was touched by the sight of countless stone flowers rising from the ground, blanketing the concrete like a storybook meadow.
“It is only stone, and for that I’m sorry,” Kobal said gently. “To make it organic would require a lot more power, and I might not have enough energy for the burial.”
“That doesn’t matter.” Marian interjected and offered, “We can bury him with the System; a burial by that computer is fine. That’s all the rest of us will ever get.”
 “It’s just one day,” Johann said, his blood boiling. “It’s just one day, Mother. For the love of the Colony, can’t we just be cordial for one damn day?”
Kobal looked embarrassed for them as he waited for the family to step back and stand against the stone barrier encompassing the courtyard.
When the Elemental clapped his hands together and closed his eyes, Johann relaxed. He felt more at ease than ever, and although his gut ached at seeing his grandfather go, he felt proud that they’d given him a proper send-off. His father wasn’t there, but he decided to ignore that fact.
Johann hadn’t had enough saved up to afford a funeral conducted by an E—an Elemental—but when he’d asked his mother, she had shocked him by agreeing. He looked at her now, Gulliver by her side; she was so calm.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. Shouldn’t she be down on the ground, banging on the old man’s chest? Crying? He stifled a snort because he didn’t think she was capable of tears.
Kobal was ready, so Johann stood up straight. His own black suit had been freshly tailored, and he was proud that he at least looked the part of someone paying their honest respects. Tears didn’t come to Johann easily, but he wished he could cry for the man now. Somebody should. Maybe that was what his father was doing.
A gentle gust of air flowed around them, and Kobal took on the stance of an archer.
“From the Colony you’ve come.” Kobal stood to his full height, and the concrete below the Elemental’s feet liquefied. “To the Colony you shall return.” He stomped once and then punched forward.
A loud pop echoed in the courtyard as the body sunk into the ground so quickly that the white sheet rose. Once the fluttering fabric landed, the ground was solid once more. Kobal bowed low. “Be at peace, Johann Andreas the First.”