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Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Book Tour ~ Mages & Magic and Mages & Mates by Nina R. Schluntz

 

Fantasy Adventure (All Ages)

Date of Publication: 1 September 2023

 

Rojo Siete Φωτιά

The red dragon full of chaos fire magic must serve the human mages for seventy years.

Leslie Μάγος

Orphaned human child of slaves, sold to the Magesterium to train as a mage, and paired with a fire dragon.

Ruven Σκιά

Shadow assassin elf turned tracker with a hellhound who eats the undead.

Heista Νεκρός

An undead priest risen and controlled by the most powerful necromancer


Tiamat is a demon god from Earth now banished to a world full of magic and dragon. Lucky for him, his dragon form is a six-headed dragon. The magic here is not like on Earth, it comes from dragons, not from souls.

To be a god on this world, he must learn how to harness the power of the dragons. So, pretending to be less than he is, he joins the Magesterium to train as a mage. He masters this ability easily but is paired with a dragon who was once a human. Her dragon mate has died and if he doesn’t pair with her, the other dragons will kill her.

Her magic is weak, but Tiamat can fix that. He can show this world that the dragons banished from their clans can find a new purpose, just like him. Until his past catches up and demons from Earth arrive to take a soul from Tiamat that they feel is theirs. Turns out, necromancy is easy to do on this world and the other demons have no qualms about using it.

To defeat the other demons, Tiamat must give up the new life he’s found, and become the god he was destined to be.

This story is told from multiple viewpoints and is available in both an all-ages friendly adaptation (Mage & Magic) and the original (Mages and Mates) which has a heavier focus on romance.


Excerpt: 

Eleven - Εντεκα - Born of Shadow - Γεννημένος Σκιά

The ground smelled of fresh rain and death. A single elf darted among the decaying ground, quiet as the dead that resided in their graves. Reports came that the dead were rising. Villages spoke of a necromancer, but Ruven would not believe such things. Humans were easily deceived.

She heard the sound. A scratching on the earth. Digging.

A human would think it was an undead, searching for their means out of the grave. Ruven knew better. She came from the shadows with a dagger in each hand, the blades darker than the purest night.

“Percy,” she said.

The hound paused briefly in its digging. It was a sloppy pup that had recently learned how to dig his way out of the pen in the backyard. Ruven’s sister had deemed the pup a loss for hunters and had gifted it to Ruven’s daughter. This was the third time she’d had to go searching for the mutt. And each time, she found it with something dead, and not a fresh kill. He seemed drawn to rotting dead.

“If there actually were undead among us, you might be useful,” Ruven said. “Now, stop that, and get home.”

She pulled on the dog’s collar. It was a brown bloodhound pup, standing no taller than her knee at its neck. Fully grown it would be near her waist and she needed it trained by then. No amount of force would get a full-grown hellhound to move. Especially when they transformed into their hellhound form.

“Get home.” She tugged again. “Home. Do you understand?”

The dog broke free and barked, the sound echoing off the tombstones.

“Can you understand stealth?” She reached for the beast, but it sprinted, running with a maddening speed. Ruven stumbled at the abruptness of it. And then she saw the unthinkable, something moving through the woods, chasing after Percy.

And Percy was going home.

Her speed couldn’t match that of Percy or whatever the beasts were that chased him. Try as she might to shift through the shadows and increase her speed, she arrived too late.

The hut she lived in was a shell of its former self. It looked rotted from decades of ruin. She barely knew it as her own and thought for a moment she had gotten lost. Then she saw the forms moving in the structure that had no walls, only loose timbers supporting a few beams.

They were her family but not her family. They moved with the lumbering steps of the undead. They danced to the demands of their puppet master, a man who stood in the center, his eyes a demonic yellow. An orb glowed on the necklace around his neck. He turned, his body part mist and part human, and entirely not of this earth.

Ruven’s daughter of a mere five years turned on unsteady legs, her eyes glowing yellow, her skin already that of a four-day-old corpse. Her husband, his back broken, crawled toward her, his jaw snapping at the air.

The necromancer raised his hand and Ruven felt the pull. Her soul being taken and consumed, leaving her body to be an empty shell for this creature to command. She saw Percy huddling in the rubble, not doing a thing. The dog had led this creature here and then watched as it killed their family.

“Percy…” Ruven said. “Kill.”

It was a vain attempt, but she had to try. The dog was trained to shift into a hellhound on command, and she knew her sister had worked to train all her pups to obey, even the disobedient ones.

Ruven gagged, feeling her body overtaken by the darkness, the glowing yellow essence that made up her soul spread between her and the outstretched hand of the monster. At least in death she would join her family. Perhaps, their souls would—the connection severed. Ruven dropped to her knees, catching herself on her hands.

She took in a painful breath, her entire body aching. She lifted her head to see the pup standing between her and the necromancer. Percy’s body was black, three times his former size, and hellish purple flames circled his body. Percy growled, lowering his head, and preparing to attack.

He couldn’t win, Ruven knew this, but it might buy her the time she needed to flee. The necromancer clutched the orb in one hand and dangled his fingers at the pup, aiming that soul-sucking energy at Percy.

The dog skidded in the dirt, his entire body being pulled toward the creature. Her husband and daughter were now close enough that they grabbed the pup with their skeletal hands.

And Percy absorbed them. The corpses fell with a clatter, looking exactly like the bones Ruven always found the pup with when he ran off.

Ruven’s chest throbbed as she realized how wrong she’d been.

There was never undead where Percy went because Percy consumed them.

He hadn’t led the undead home. He’d come home because he had sensed the undead were here. And when he’d gotten here, he’d been uncertain about what to do.

Because he didn’t want to consume his family.

Ruven sobbed, regretting her ill thoughts toward the beast.

Percy stepped closer to the necromancer, embracing the pull the man had. And… it wasn’t the necromancer doing the pulling. Percy was trying to pull the man into him, but the creature was able to maintain his footing, so it was Percy sliding to him. He was clutching the orb because Percy wanted it.

“Then you shall have it,” Ruven said. She shifted to the shadows, reappearing behind the man, and slicing at his neck with her daggers. She couldn’t cut the man’s throat since he wasn’t a fully materialized being. But she did cut the chain that held the orb in place.

The orb slipped from the man’s grasp and went directly into Percy’s mouth. He bit and the area exploded in a blinding white light as the souls were freed. Ruven fell back, her head hitting the ground behind her so hard she lost consciousness.

Percy’s sloppy licks roused her. She pushed the beast away, the cross-eyed mutt drooled and sat on its haunches next to her, back in his normal bloodhound form. Ruven would think she’d dreamt last night, except she was sitting in her destroyed hut.

In the rays of daylight that came through the trees around them, she realized it wasn’t just her hut.

The undead had destroyed her entire village.

 

Purchase Link

 


Fantasy Adventure (Adult)

Date of Publication: 1 September 2023

 

Rojo Siete Φωτιά

The red dragon full of chaos fire magic must serve the human mages for seventy years.

Leslie Μάγος

Orphaned human child of slaves, sold to the Magesterium to train as a mage, and paired with a fire dragon.

Ruven Σκιά

Shadow assassin elf turned tracker with a hellhound who eats the undead.

Heista Νεκρός

An undead priest risen and controlled by the most powerful necromancer


Tiamat is a demon god from Earth now banished to a world full of magic and dragon. Lucky for him, his dragon form is a six-headed dragon. The magic here is not like on Earth, it comes from dragons, not from souls.

To be a god on this world, he must learn how to harness the power of the dragons. So, pretending to be less than he is, he joins the Magesterium to train as a mage. He masters this ability easily but is paired with a dragon who was once a human. Her dragon mate has died and if he doesn’t pair with her, the other dragons will kill her.

Her magic is weak, but Tiamat can fix that. He can show this world that the dragons banished from their clans can find a new purpose, just like him. Until his past catches up and demons from Earth arrive to take a soul from Tiamat that they feel is theirs. Turns out, necromancy is easy to do on this world and the other demons have no qualms about using it.

To defeat the other demons, Tiamat must give up the new life he’s found, and become the god he was destined to be.

This story is told from multiple viewpoints and is available in both an all-ages friendly adaptation (Mage & Magic) and the original (Mages and Mates) which has a heavier focus on romance.


Purchase Link

 

 

Fantasy Adventure (All Ages)

Date of Publication: 8 September 2023

 

Olje Ιππότης

Dedicated Goblin Paladin of the Sun Deities, raised as an undead protector to Tiamat

Gruillie Καλόγερος

Religious Goblin Monk, fierce warrior, and bound to Mage Tiamat as his dragon.

Tiamat ψόφιος

Six-headed demon god dragon sworn to protect the inhabitants of this world.

Neo Νερό

Water Dragon, bound to Mage Peter and entangled with demons.

 

Goblins have secrets. Their knowledge of science has created the sun deities and given them the power to harness the holy sun power from another plane of existence. Their methods of creating the coveted gold is unethical. Their practices drive a wedge in their alliance to the six-headed demon god Tiamat and soon elves, humans, dragons, and goblins are divided in who they will trust in the coming war against the undead.

New mages and dragons become trusted allies, while others are lost. Neo, a water dragon, despises elves and undead, yet vows to help Tiamat in order to protect his clan. Olje, a goblin monk, once faithful to Tiamat, shifts his priorities when an unwitting mage comes into possession of a clutch of goblin gold. This gold must be acquired and kept safe at all costs, even if it means asking the elves for help.


This story is told from multiple viewpoints and is available in both an all-ages friendly adaptation (Mage & Magic) and the original (Mages and Mates) which has a heavier focus on romance.

Excerpt:

“The fire sprites,” I said before Gruillie could answer my question. “Your sun deities are female goblins?”

“No-no,” Gruillie quickly denied, but I could see the fear in his eyes.

“What did you call them?” Olje asked.

“I saw them,” I said. I glanced at him briefly, not wanting to bring up the memory. “When you turned me into a dragon the first time. They took me to another astral plane or something. They looked like sprites to me, but I figured out they were the things you worship as sun deities. They were the same size as goblins. Same shape. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner.”

“Okay, okay, let’s pretend aye agree with ye,” Gruillie said.

“Let’s drop the pretenses, monk,” I snapped. “Have they always been sun deities or was that a side effect from all your experiments? The men got the ability to turn into dragons, and the women became fire creatures?”

“They don’t like to be called creatures,” Olje said.

“Monsters, then?”

They both gasped, like they thought I’d be smited for saying such a thing.

“Deities. They are sun deities.”

“You’re terrified of them.”

“Of course, we are. All our power comes from them. They are the gods of this world.”

“Born or made, Gruillie. Tell me.”

He clenched his jaw, refusing to speak.

“Olje.”

“Made.” This earned him a swift whack from the staff Gruillie held. “Aye can’t help it. He’s my necromancer. Aye have to obey.”

“You didn’t think you should tell me about this?”

“Do ye know what would happen if word got out? Imagine the elves becoming sun deities? Or dragons? We have to keep our secrets close-hold.”

“Your women are running around pretending to be gods.”

“They aren’t pretending,” Olje said. “They are gods.”

“They are your daughters,” I growled. “They are suffering from a side effect of your people’s experiments.” It took me a few swipes but I managed to yank Gruillie’s staff from him. “So, your women are sun deities and somehow you’re able to channel their power through gold objects?”

“Aye,” Gruillie said.

“Did you ever try to fix them?” They were both silent. “Did you ever ask them if they want to be normal again?”

“They aren’t exactly talkative,” Gruillie said. “When they are on our… as ye put it astral plane… they light things on fire and sing songs. So, when they hatch, we banish them.”

“You banish them. Of course, you do.” I put both hands on the staff and tried to focus on the sun power residing in it. I had more power now, thanks to the elf, so it was possible I could shift to the other plane. I’d gone there before, and I hadn’t been nearly as powerful as I was now.

My world filled with a golden haze, and my body burned with pain like it had on that first day. In the flames that danced around me, I saw the figures slowly become distinct. I grabbed the nearest one and held onto them, pulling them into a bearhug and shoving my darkness into them. It snuffed out their light and I shifted back to the plane we belonged in, still holding her tightly.

I held the staff in front of us, channeling what remained of the sun powers into it, then dropped it. I couched and released the goblin I held. She stumbled and wobbled in circles for a bit, completely naked, with disheveled red hair that was so long it kept tripping her. She saw the two men with us and hurried to cover herself with the hair.

“A woman,” Gruillie said. He looked at me. “How did ye do that?”

“I don’t think I could have without the elf bond.” My head throbbed, and my body was exhausted. “It’ll be a bit before I can do it again.”

“We need to get out of here. We can’t stay on this beach.” Olje glanced wearily in the direction of Dragon Isle. We were a bit too close to that. “Can ye make us a portal?”

“Only to the Magesterium… but, I know a guy.” I reached out to Mage Peter and told him to come. Instead of shifting to smoke and flying to us, he opened a portal. Because of course, portals were easy for him to make.

He stepped through, bringing his dragon with him.

“What is this?” the blue dragon asked in his human form.

“You’re going to keep your mouth shut about all of this,” I said. “Do that, and I’ll put in a good word about you to Leslie.”

The dragon nodded.

“I need you to make a portal to Benchual Temple,” I said.

“You called me here to make you a portal? You’re a mage, can’t you do that yourself?” Peter asked.

“Oye, ye be a new undead. Welcome,” Olje said, strolling over with his hand extended.

“Undead.” The dragon looked at Peter. “When did that happen? You died? He’s your necromancer?”

“Want to join him?” I asked.

“I did not say I had a problem with it. No problems. No, sir.” He politely stepped back and clasped his hands.

“Is yer dragon a juvenile? He looks to be wee one of ten,” Olje said.

“I’m not as short as you,” the dragon snapped.

“Stop it. Portal now. We need to get her somewhere and I…” I couldn’t stand. “Need to rest.” I shot a glare at Peter. “I better not wake up in a dungeon.”

“Oh, aye knew there’d be a reason he killed ye,” Gruillie said. “Give me one of yer robes. The lass be naked.”

As Peter obliged, helping to cover the nude goblin, it was the water dragon who came to me and offered to help me stand. He was remarkably short, not even reaching my shoulders, but he was stout and easily took my weight.

 

Purchase Link


 

Fantasy Adventure (Adult)

Date of Publication: 8 September 2023

 

Olje Ιππότης

Dedicated Goblin Paladin of the Sun Deities, raised as an undead protector to Tiamat

Gruillie Καλόγερος

Religious Goblin Monk, fierce warrior, and bound to Mage Tiamat as his dragon.

Tiamat ψόφιος

Six-headed demon god dragon sworn to protect the inhabitants of this world.

Neo Νερό

Water Dragon, bound to Mage Peter and entangled with demons.

 

Goblins have secrets. Their knowledge of science has created the sun deities and given them the power to harness the holy sun power from another plane of existence. Their methods of creating the coveted gold is unethical. Their practices drive a wedge in their alliance to the six-headed demon god Tiamat and soon elves, humans, dragons, and goblins are divided in who they will trust in the coming war against the undead.

New mages and dragons become trusted allies, while others are lost. Neo, a water dragon, despises elves and undead, yet vows to help Tiamat in order to protect his clan. Olje, a goblin monk, once faithful to Tiamat, shifts his priorities when an unwitting mage comes into possession of a clutch of goblin gold. This gold must be acquired and kept safe at all costs, even if it means asking the elves for help.


This story is told from multiple viewpoints and is available in both an all-ages friendly adaptation (Mage & Magic) and the original (Mages and Mates) which has a heavier focus on romance.


Purchase Link

 

 



About the Author

Nina Schluntz is a native to rural Nebraska. In her youth, she often wrote short stories to entertain her friends. Those ideas evolved into the novels she creates today.

Her husband continues to ensure her stories maintain a touch of realism as she delves into the science fiction and fantasy realm. Their three cats are always willing to stay up late to provide inspiration, whether it is a howl from the stray born in the backyard or an encouraging bite from the so called “calming kitten.”

 

You can find Nina at:

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