Thursday 7 August 2014

New Release YA Urban Fantasy - Chasing the Demons by Louise G. White


Looking for YA urban fantasy? Fantasy Sci-Fi Network's Louise G.White may just have the dose you need with her second book in the Gateway series, Chasing the Demons released June 30th.

  Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Urban fantasy exists on one side of a spectrum, opposite high fantasy, which is set in an entirely fictitious world. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods, and the settings may include fictional elements. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.  Wikipedia

 


The system has been changing; the Agency flaunts its cruel practices, and the balance of the realms has been disrupted. Ethan's enforcers are already stretched to the limits, and things get worse when alliances are forged between the worst of the demon realms. Meanwhile, on Empustat, Carolyn has spent an entire year being "reconditioned" - her memories being wiped and replaced in order to produce a limited and vapid princess. Under the constraints of the Chief, she is no longer the feared and mythical "destroyer" Carolyn's life of privilege is marred only by the expectations held for her to marry Peter and produce heirs for the realm. Her friend, Mario, in contrast, has suffered hardship and humiliation at the hands of the Lilim guard - and a chance encounter will spur Carolyn's awakening. The disabled gateway has frustrated the team's efforts to reach Carolyn, and Ethan and Note can barely tolerate each other, but both mage and demon share the same goals. Hope by way of an unexpected source leads to the team embarking on a plan so daring that their survival hangs in the balance. With old and new friends from the realms, the fight for order continues.


What Readers are Already Saying;

"...was at the edge of my seat the whole time... Another great installment by Louise G. White." 5 Stars
"There is so much more action and twists. It will keep you guessing as to what will happen next." 5 Stars
 "You won't be able to put down this new and compelling edition to the fantasy genre."    5 Stars

An Excerpt to Tempt You; 

 Prologue


Where now are my strength and my cocky self-assuredness? thought Mario as he shovelled mouthfuls of slop into his mouth. I’m nothing. I’m little more than an animal struggling to survive, hoping somehow that my folly has not ruined the lives of so many others that I’ve come to care about. Thrusting the empty bowl away in disgust, he knew that his ill humour wasn’t just about the food.
Here sits Mario, the only Lilim of his adopted world and the most important being on this world, currently delirious in self-derision believing he cares for others who exist on or around his world.
A harsh, self-mocking noise erupted from Mario’s lips. Thinking of oneself in the third person is sure to be a clue as to how well my mental health is faring. I should congratulate myself.
Nights and days had passed, Mario being haunted by faces that bore eyes of a much missed range of shades but that pierced and tortured him.
The Lilim’s body trembled, and he traced a symbol in the air that shimmered with his residual magic. The small act would ensure the solitude he felt he needed until he gained composure.
The horrible food was a stupid ploy, a way of distracting his thoughts from what was really bothering him. Working under the Protectorate, there had been times when he had made do with worse fare than this. But not every stinking day.
He ate also to try to keep up the strength he had managed to retain. Were it not for what he had learned under Sean’s instruction, he would have been trapped there with nothing but his shield and Lilim guile … Not that the latter did him much good with the Lilim guards, and his skill worked not at all with stronger Lilim like their leader, Arthur. Mario had deemed it not worth the effort to try influencing Peter or Patrick of the Chief’s inner circle, sensing the measure of their strengths. Both could make his life even more difficult than it was now if he challenged them.
Suspecting Peter to be the stronger and more focused of the two, the Lilim was certainly crueller than any other Lilim he had met. At Arthur’s right hand, Peter had access to whatever he wanted – and Mario had to hope that his benefits did not include Carolyn.
Shaking the thought away, a greasy lock of Mario’s hair slapped his face. Irritated, he smoothed it back. If things had gone differently – if life had been fair – then he would have returned to the others and been able to experience life as an adult. But here he sat, trapped, not only by the bars that surrounded him but in the body of his fifteen-year old self. The perpetual pubescent form mocked him, tormenting him much more effectively than anything his captors could envisage.
When he had first met Carolyn, he had been taken with the fact that she was the destroyer, and there had been no clue of her being part-Lilim. In “surfing” her mind, he had abused his ability, citing his impetuousness as being to blame, and she had been more forgiving than he would have been given the same circumstances.
How could it be that he had been in her mind and not recognised the signs? Even in hindsight, he could not recall anything that would have suggested her heritage. Certainly, she had the good looks of the Lilim, but there had been nothing else. Had the strange mix of everything else she happened to be messed up the markers?
Unlike in many other races, Arthur had become the Lilim Chief not through accident of birth but because of his superior powers, and he was the Lilim to whom Mario owed his inability to age.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time to run off to a life with the humans, and the thought of the first few months with the human beings almost raised a smile. Mario had left trouble in his wake and caught the attention of Sean. Never before had he known such a powerful magic user, and the mage had been harsh with him while accepting the risk of Mario’s apprenticeship. It had seemed strange that the first meaningful relationships on his new world had been with a collection of fellow magic users and enforcers. When the full effects of his punishment had become apparent, he had trusted in Sean’s abilities to reverse the process and re-enable his ageing, but all attempts had been fruitless.
Living apart from the Lilim for so long, Mario had forgotten how they operated. Wearing nothing but filthy combats that covered his legs, he had been left in the cell to rot. Marking time by scraping his nails on the slabs beneath him, he noticed that the scarred slabs bore similar designs from previous occupants, but he sensed that his were the only ones of recent years. This type of treatment of imprisonment was reserved for the worst of high-born Lilim who it was judged could not be controlled or rehabilitated properly.
He scored the seventh scratch through the six faint lines that marked the passing of another week, wondering if his captors were also marking time – the time before they put an end to him. He imagined that he had been incarcerated for three weeks following their most recent attempt to “rehabilitate” him; it had surely not been more. Some days had been worse than others, and Mario was uncertain of whether he had marked all of the days since their capture.
How had the Lilim known to expect them? He was certain that they had been waiting.
He had learned that Carolyn was not just any interloper on the realm of Empustat; she was Arthur’s daughter by blood. Could Arthur have traced her presence by blood alone? The fact of the blood tie should have given him hope that her lot would be easier, but Mario burned with an unfamiliar emotion – shame –  at the thought of what could be happening to her.
Strangely, he felt almost as bad for her Kistatus demon, Note. The pair had indeed been something to behold. Unbelievably, she had Anchored to the snake-demon after two years of being a pure untamed destroyer, policing the gateways without the Protectorate safety net. That net had proved tenuous when her breeder status had emerged, forcing her to accept Note’s Claiming in order to protect her from other demons. Other races would be compelled to do whatever it took to acquire her, in the interests of the furtherance of their species. He still didn’t understand the decision of the pair to mute the more physical effects of the Claiming. Things might have been very different if they hadn’t have watered down the process.
Apart from the obvious advantages – and it was perhaps the hormonal effect on his teen body – Note and she would have been inseparable. The Kistatus should never have let the destroyer out of his sight. And how long ago was it that Note’s claim had become invalid? How long did she have before her father would gift her to some Lilim powerful enough to succeed him and ensure his continuity in the mechanism that ruled the land? And what of Carolyn? All of her skill, passion, and ferocity would be lost – just like Mario’s ability to age.
They had come to Arthur’s realm at Mario’s insistence to steal an artefact from the race to help restore his ageing to Lilim normality, but the Chief had taken charge of both of their lives as forfeit. Didn’t the punishment fail to fit the crime – especially given that Carolyn’s moral code would have led her to return the artefact? Mario clung to the hope that both of them could make it through this. Otherwise, why continue to exist?
He curled his fingers, tangling grubby fists into his dirty hair until the flesh stung furiously. Who I am trying to deceive? He had failed in his responsibility to Carolyn. She had confessed her shield failure when they had come to Empustat, and he had been blasé, telling her that he could adequately protect the pair of them.
Even now, he could make excuses for his egocentrism. If they hadn’t been discovered and hadn’t needed to fight then they could have accomplished their goal and returned to the relative security offered by the Protectorate.
Uncurling his fingers, Mario remembered the look on Carolyn’s face as she had succumbed to the attack. They would have “conditioned” her by now, taken everything from her mind that they didn’t need her to have. In a similar way to what had happened to Sam, who cared for them back home on Earth, his people would have reduced Carolyn to a shadow of her formal self.
Damn it all to hell. Her mind would be mush!
Mario cares. He should make a note of it in his diary. 

 

Book 1 of the Gateway Series;

 

 

On the run and hiding from the suits , Carolyn s life is far from straightforward. After her mother and brother go missing in a most extraordinary way, (through a hole to another world which appears in the kitchen wall!), she is determined to track them down and bring them home. But life is never that easy! Rescued and protected by a group of unusual and likeminded people , Carolyn hones her magic and fighting skills. Whilst answering a call to retrieve a human from another world she s faced with a quick decision and ends up bringing a demon back with her. Little did she know what effect this demon would have on her. As each day passes her strengths grow and her magic develops to assist her in her quest to track down her family, but there are decisions to make that will affect the rest of her life.

About the Author;

 

 

"I've had a variety of jobs, including waitress, library assistant, nurse, and police officer. I hold a BSc in Health Studies, and a PG certificate in Primary Education. The scenic west coast of Scotland is where I live with my family.
My varied life experiences were not strictly by design, but have likely given me fuel enough for the next few decades of of writing. Fortunate enough to come across some of the most amazing real life characters, there's been good, bad, and downright ugly at times. I can say the same for many of the situations in which I've landed. Let's face it, delivering a baby to an adoring couple is as far away from the reality of bagging criminals as you can get. And yet, I've been passionate about all the jobs I've done, soaked in the experiences, and blanked out the worst ones for the good of my mental health. But they are all there, happily bubbling, or festering away, to be recalled when I need them.
I didn't set out to write Fantasy, but when I sat with my laptop to begin The Calling, It became apparent that I still believed in the Bogey Men, the Monster in the cupboard and of course, the Faeries at the bottom of our garden. Suddenly I found that I was writing a story of perhaps less than willing, but more than able 'Real to me' Heroes who could be found both on our doorsteps and in the realms that lie beyond."

Books Available at;

The Calling- Book 1

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
 

Chasing the Demon- Book 2

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Kobo


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