Author Spotlight - A.M. Manay

Today, I have the honor of being a part of A.M. Manay's 3-Day Weekend Book Boost. I've downloaded her books, She Dies at the End and She Lights Up the Dark, and I cannot wait to read them. Her novels are the kind of books that I love to read, and I'm sure the readers of my novels will also love them. So, enjoy an inside look to Manay's books as she tells you about them.

In my second novel, She Lights Up the Dark, we are introduced to a community called Eden, where humans, fairies, vampires, and werewolves live honestly and in peace. The commune was created by Gul, an elderly former king among the fairies and widower to Queen Lilje. Gul eventually marries Raina. This letter sheds some light on the origins of this community as well as the close relationship between Raina and her mother, Ilyn's late wife Marisha. It would date from the late 18th century, a few decades before Marisha's untimely death. You can learn more about all of these characters by reading She Dies at the End, She Lights Up the Dark, and She Sees in Her Sleep, all available this weekend for only $0.99 each!

Dearest Mother,

I hope this letter finds you content and well. My journey has been largely uneventful, though more rugged than I knew to expect. This is an untamed land. The fairy servants I brought along have served me well, and we have taken care to keep our contact with other wagon trains brief and seldom. I hope to send them back to you as soon as weather permits. I suspect, however, that once out of my sight, greed may call them to seek their fortunes on the frontier.

It is a beautiful country, with much for me to paint and draw, though treacherous for the mortals. We passed dead and dying migrants with some frequency along the trail. Thankfully, there have been enough hale and hearty human travelers to keep us in prey. The natives keep well clear of us. It seems they are aware of the danger we pose. There was no real trouble from the lycanthropes. They, too, are cautious on the road, fearing to be exposed to the ordinary people. We were and continue to be careful during the full moon.

Gul's band is small, but committed and growing. It is a strange sight, to see werewolves and fairies, humans and vampires, working together to put up a barn by moonlight. This evening, as I write, a fairy girl and a little cub are playing checkers by the fire, laughing together like brother and sister. I cannot believe my eyes. Mother, some of them even marry happily! It is quite astonishing.

You must never tell Father. He would burn the entire place to ashes.

Give my best wishes to Savita and the others.

All my love,

Raina

Book blurb for She Lights Up the Dark (November Snow Book 2)

A frightening vision stalks November, even in her grave . . . and things go severely sideways just as soon as she claws her way out of it.

Continuing the story begun in the well-received paranormal romp She Dies at the End, She Lights Up the Dark finds November Snow struggling to adjust to her new life as a vampire with none of the support she'd expected. Her nemesis Luka has plotted to isolate November and scatter her allies as he executes his plan to bring human society under his control. Her loneliness leads her to become emotionally entangled with a charming but likely untrustworthy fellow vampire.

When danger flares, November discovers that her psychic gift has expanded in a powerful and perilous fashion. Coerced into close company with her enemy, she fights to master her power and to uncover the secrets that may help her to save both her friends and the human world from being crushed under Luka’s boot. November is determined to stop Luka as his plan builds toward an unknown and deadly climax, but she may find that lighting up the dark comes with a high price to pay.

This books contains violence, some sexual content, and occasional profanity.

A short excerpt from She Lights Up the Dark (November Snow Book 2)

Raina turned from her canvas, a smear of blue paint on her cheek testifying to an earlier itch. "Ilyn's made another child? And lost the throne?"

"It seems so. Luka's finally made his move." Gul shook his head. "Marisha's only mistake, that one."

"I wouldn't say 'only,'" came her dry reply. "There's also me. What about William? What's he up to?"

"They know nothing of him, save that he's out there making trouble for his brother."

"Hmmph. I don't really know William. They found him after I left," Raina replied as she turned back to the painting. It was a landscape of a garden in the morning sun. It was quite beautiful, but there was something off about it, about the colors, as though she was painting a picture of something she had only heard about thirdhand.

"Apparently Luka's using a hider fairy to keep the girl from Ilyn," Gul said carefully. "A fairy who may well be my descendent — the sole survivor of that werewolf massacre a few centuries back."

Raina closed her eyes and put down her brush. "Well, s***."

"Indeed."

"She's going to wind up all screwed up like the others. Emil's children never recovered after the wolves took them when they were young. He had to put them down," Raina said, growing more upset. "He's never been right since. And that boy, Philip . . . when Ilyn kicked him out and Marisha died, I heard he went all strange."

"I remember the stories," Gul replied.

"How could Luka take such a risk with his own kin?" Raina fumed. "Is nothing sacred anymore?"

"He really wants that girl, I suppose. And he likely hates Ilyn more than he cares about her." Gul's chest tightened painfully. He struggled to continue. "There's something else . . ."

"Oh, Christ on the cross," Raina sighed. "Spit it out."

"This girl, November, she's a demon, like Savita and Philip . . ." He looked down at his hands. "This demon girl once was Lilje," he finally continued. "I'm nearly certain of it. The way Pine described her eyes, and there are things in Lilje's book that sound like what is happening now."

Raina at last looked him full in the face and swore softly in a dead language. "You're going to go after her, aren't you?"

"I am honor bound two different ways, Raina. How can I not?"

"Helena will have a fit," Raina replied, placing her hand worriedly over her mouth.

"That she will. She won't be the only one."

"I guess I'd better pack light," she sighed.

"You're coming with me?" he asked, his face lighting up. "You said you'd never leave this place again."

"I can't very well let my husband go off looking for his dead first wife without me, now can I?"

In addition to her work as an indie author of paranormal fantasy, A.M. Manay is a former inner-city chemistry teacher, a singer, a yoga enthusiast, a Clerk of Session in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and a mother through domestic open adoption. She has a passion for increasing diversity in popular culture and for strong heroines who stand up for themselves, make their own decisions, and don't depend on romance as their reason for being.

Be the first to know about the release of the upcoming sequel as well as bonus material about your favorite characters by:

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