Category: Writing

Aekhartain, Books, Writing

The Crying Child

Becca Lusher

The Crying Child

~ Icarus Child #2 ~

Once there was an island, and on that island there lived three cousins…

Britain 142 BC

Cover_2 Crying Child The Sisters of Icarus may all be gone, but the next generation remains. Bitter, half-selkie and broken, the three women are different in many ways, yet one thing connects them: the island and its quest for a new Icarus.

Ghosts and family, selkies and betrayal, love and loss, these cousins are on a journey that will change all of their lives. And when the stars fall nothing will ever be the same again.

For there will be a new Icarus – the island will accept nothing less.

No matter what the cost.

Available Now!
Amazon: US || UK || AUS || CAN || DE
Smashwords || B&N || iBooks || Kobo

The Crying Child in Brief
What’s in it?: A 78,000 word novel (around 246 pages)
When is it set?: 142-141 BC
Where is it set?: Iron Age Britain, pre-Roman.
What kind of story is it?: A family drama between three cousins, involving jealousy, love, friendship, betrayal, selkies, lots of chores, ghostly goings on and general island creepiness.
What’s the genre?: Historical Fantasy.
Any age restrictions?: Not really. Although it is more geared towards adult themes, such as childbirth, romance, jealousy, etc.

Behind the Story
This used to be the middle section of the original Icarus Child story, and was the part where not a lot happened, except for the island being creepy and characters being miserable. So this time around I wanted to do things differently – starting with Callirye and her little romantic interlude. In the original that was all dealt with in barely a paragraph, but this time around I wanted to know more about her. Especially as in this version she’s Cana and Fox’s daughter.
While I was expanding her story, the island was going behind my back and changing other things. So, if you’re one of the unfortunate people who read the original version on Elfwood around ten years ago, this version is quite a bit different. It’s also made my life very difficult for the last part of the trilogy, but that’s the island for you.

Extras
The original dedication for this book was a bit long, so I cut it down rather drastically. However, since I wrote the long version for a reason I thought I’d include the full thing here.

To Family

Whether big or small, near or far, close or distant, family is the one thing that is always there.
By blood or friendship, bound by shared memories and experiences, real family will never let you down
– or if they do then they are the ones worth forgiving.
They know your worst secrets, drive you to tears and infuriate you as nothing else can, but they also make you laugh, sing all your favourite songs and share in those awful movies that no one else will watch with you.
Family is the hearth that warms the soul.

May your family be strong and your friends be family.

Always.


Read on for the opening chapter from The Crying Child, and be aware that it may contain spoilers for Sisters of Icarus.

Continue reading “The Crying Child” →

Books, Updates, Writing

The Crying Child is Coming!

Becca Lusher

Though I have been quiet, I have been working hard (promise) and The Crying Child is on its way.

Cover_2 Crying Child

Once there was an island, and on that island there lived three cousins…

Britain 142 BC

The Sisters of Icarus may all be gone, but the next generation remains. Bitter, half-selkie and broken, the three women are different in many ways, yet one thing connects them: the island and its quest for a new Icarus.

Ghosts and family, selkies and betrayal, love and loss, these cousins are on a journey that will change all of their lives. And when the stars fall nothing will ever be the same again.

For there will be a new Icarus – the island will accept nothing less.

No matter what the cost.

At this precise moment in time it’s working its way through the mysterious KDP and Smashwords distribution/checking systems so as yet it’s only available from Smashwords, but hopefully within the next day or two all the links will be up and I can post them all.

Also within the next few days I’ll be making Sisters of Icarus FREE! More details on that when I’ve sorted out a few Smashwords related issues.

In the meantime, The Crying Child is coming!

Books, Updates, Writing

Sisters is Out!

Becca Lusher

Cover_1 Sisters of Icarus
The first in the Icarus Child Trilogy is available now!

Amazon: US || UK || AUS || CAN || DE
Smashwords || B&N || iBooks || Kobo ||

Actually it’s been out for over a week, but in my rush to get it ready on time I overloaded my brain and have been useless for anything else since. Oops. Still, better late than never, right?

Cover_2 Crying ChildIn the meantime I’m back at work on the next one – The Crying Child – and I hope to offer both excerpts from Sisters and a few chapter previews from The Crying Child over the next few weeks until it’s ready to be released, which will probably be November now. But as this year seems determined to teach me, the even the best laid plans are prone to going astray…

I’ll try my best to keep on track. Until then – don’t let the island eat you!

Aekhartain, Books, Writing

Sisters of Icarus

Becca Lusher

Sisters of Icarus

~ Icarus Child #1 ~

Once there was an island, and on that island there lived a boy, but before that boy there was another child. And before that child there were three sisters.
Those sisters had a brother.

His name was Icarus.

Britain 163 BC
Cover_1 Sisters of Icarus

On a small island just off the south coast, three sisters are determined to survive against nature’s unmerciful odds, but their brother is mad, everyone thinks they are strange and old voices cry on the wind.

Battling against love, grief, selkies and ghosts, middle sister Raccanta will face many tests of her strength if she intends to keep her sisters safe – and her promises intact. For on the mainland there lives a man who walks the woods and shows Raccanta a world that could tempt her far away.

Except the island keeps what it takes and it has no intentions of letting any of its sisters go.

Available Now!
Amazon: US || UK || AUS || CAN || DE
Smashwords || B&N || iBooks || Kobo ||

Sisters of Icarus in Brief
What’s in it?: A 101,000 word novel
When is it set?: 163-158 BC
Where is it set?: Iron Age Britain, pre-Roman.
What kind of story is it?: A family drama with a bit of romance, a lot of domesticity, broken hearts, selkies, jealous spirits and general island creepiness.
What’s the genre?: Historical Fantasy.
Any age restrictions?: Not really. Although it is more geared towards adult themes, such as childbirth, allusions to an abusive relationship and general ghostly gore.

Behind the Story
The original Icarus Child was one novel split into three sections, detailing the life of Shaiel, the first Aekhartain (which is actually Demero, since Shaiel is… different. As I discovered when I wrote this book eleven years ago). The first part – Sisters of Icarus – was supposed to be a chapter or two introducing Icarus and the women who became Shaiel’s ancestors. I’ve always been drawn to the story of Icarus and there’s something about the word that I really, really like, so I couldn’t resist borrowing a bit of the legend for my book. Which fits in quite neatly with my winged Aekhartain.
Of course the original story ran away with me, mostly thanks to the middle sister, Raccanta/Cana, and the way her life twists and turns. What was supposed to be around five thousand words of backstory turned into a fifty thousand word romance and definitely took on a life of its own.
Because, as I often do, I grew rather attached to my throwaway characters (Cana and Fox this time around) I desperately wanted to find a way to bring them back into the Aekhartain story. In the past I simply made it work because *magic!*, but this time around I needed to find an honest way for how that would happen. Which also meant I needed to work out why a man would have a very Greek name in Iron Age Britain. The latter I solved by marooning a Greek traveller on the isolated island, after his exploratory trip went wrong, but the former involved changing a few things.
None of which I can go into here for spoiler reasons ;)
In the end I tweaked the plot here and there, coloured in the details and tried to make it fit into a true time period for the first time, but in essence much of the original is still here. It just grew even bigger this time around – and I actually knew what was supposed to happen. I just wish the other two were going to be as straight forward.

Read on for the opening chapter of Sisters of Icarus!

Continue reading “Sisters of Icarus” →

Updates, Writing

Progress Report: The Woe of Words

Becca Lusher

Why did I ever think making up my own language was cool? I’ve never been good at languages. I’m barely passable with English most days, especially when it comes to correct grammatical terms.

Which might be why I made up my own language, now I think on it.

It was an okay language as far as it went – because it had no rules and I botched it together as and when I needed it. But then I had to try and tidy it up and put in proper rules for verbs and such things.

Which already gives me a headache just thinking about. And that was before a character turned up only speaking in auxiliary verbs! (Okay, he doesn’t only speak in aux verbs, but it felt like it when I was trying to translate it.)

I never even thought to plan for auxiliary verbs! I never thought I’d need to! I’ve been avoiding writing practically anything in Aekh-speak ever since I decided to tidy it up and realised as a purely spoken language that I needed to be able to pronounce it! And then along he came, with his verb baggage trundling behind him.

So now I have a new rule, which is basically don’t bother conjugating the second verb unless it looks prettier that way (I’m kidding. Mostly. About the last six words, anyway). I’m sure this will trip me up spectacularly at some point. Right now, however, I don’t care.

*kicks the Man Who Fell To Earth*

As you can probably tell, I’m really enjoying writing The Crying Child. Although I’m still not sure whether I’d prefer for Icaria to be more or less creepy. Less would probably be better for my health.

Oh well. I hope your summer is treating you well in your part of the world. Unless you are upside down, in which case I hope your winter is passing swiftly.

My summer is now wet, but then I am in England, so I should expect nothing else. I did, however, see a hummingbird hawk-moth in my garden the other day! And a white stag!(!) In the wild. An actual white stag!(!!) (No wardrobes were spotted in the sighting of this stag. Nor any lions (religiously metaphoric or otherwise) or witches either. Alas.) He’s a fallow deer and he had ladies and a baby in tow, but they were mostly hidden in the bushes while he stood out in front like a forgotten Christmas lawn ornament.

I also saw a rainbow at dawn this morning. In the west. I’ve never seen one that early in the day before, but it was very pretty in its half-shining state.

Fun times.

Updates, Writing

Done! (For now…)

Becca Lusher

My rewrite edit of Sisters of Icarus is done! At 100,000 words it’s grown by 20K, but right now I don’t care. It is done, and hopefully most of the bits my betas didn’t like have now been removed.

I’ve also found out that a bunch of my family are coming to visit this weekend (and next week), so I guess work on The Crying Child will have to wait. While the schedule-keeping bit of me is disappointed, the rest of me is doing a happy dance. I get to play with my nieces and nephews and also avoid writing the less-than-happy book! (Though I’m working on getting more happy into it.) It’s also carnival week next week in my little town, which mostly means face painting, crab fishing, cake stalls and sunshine – yay! 

Summer is on! I hope you’re getting a chance to enjoy it in your part of the world. And if you’re in an upside down spot, then I hope your winter is passing kindly. (If it’s not, sorry to hear that, but I’m not giving the sun back yet ;)

In the meantime, I have books to read and review, plot ideas to form and butterflies to count – if only they will actually appear in the garden! (Seriously, where have all the butterflies gone this year? Last year I couldn’t move for them. Guess my contribution to the Big Butterfly Count is going to be pretty pathetic.) Happy, sunny days!

Aekhartain, Updates, Writing

Progress Report: Blame it on Fox

Becca Lusher

This always happens; I should have expected it. The first time I wrote Icarus Child a certain pair of characters, Cana and Fox, overtook everything and expanded the story way beyond my original plans. I didn’t mind too much because I came to love the pair of them, so I was excited to write about them again in Sisters of Icarus.

As it turned out, while it was nice to write about the again, it wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped. Part of this was because this book is pretty dark and I tried to remember only the nice bits. Another part was because I was trying to force my characters to fit the old plot and keep to a rough word count. I managed it, just about, but some of the spark had gone – and Fox’s biggest fan didn’t like it.

I kind of agreed, which was why I put the book aside and launched a rebellion with Caligo/Nawaquí instead. (Well, why wouldn’t you?)

Needless to say I wasn’t looking forward to going back to this tale and trying to sort out the mess I’d left it in. I knew it would take some work and I foresaw headaches ahead.

Well, so far it’s grown by 15K, including three whole new chapters – which isn’t ideal – but I’m actually quite enjoying it. Because Fox is back, my Fox, the proper Fox, not the angry, resentful, not particularly enjoyable character who showed up for the rewrite. Oh, he’s still angry in places (he always has been and he has his reasons), but he’s also more fun. And because he’s more light-hearted and cheeky, so is Cana.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a sad book in which unhappy things happen, often to nice people, and there’s the whole evil island lurking over everything. But now, thanks to Fox and my vastly inflated word count, there are a few happier moments to lighten the atmosphere and a much more enjoyable romance to keep things ticking along.

I hope. It’s working for me, anyway.

Then again, I haven’t actually finished it yet. There are still five chapters to go and a certain plot that needs to be reworked, but overall I’m happier with this version. I just hope my betas will be happy too and I’ll be able to win Fox’s biggest fan back into his club. I’ll need something positive to keep me going for The Crying Child, which is just as happy as its title suggests…

Before I go, one last reminder:

The Rebel Returns is increasing in price from tomorrow.
Rising from $.99/£.99 to 2.99.
Get it cheap while you can!

Aekhartain, Books, Writing

The Rebel Returns

Becca Lusher

TALES OF THE AEKHARTAIN
Historical Aekhartain
~ Dark Rebellion 2 ~

The Rebel Returns

The shadows are stirring, a tower will rise,
and thoughts of revenge are sweet.
It’s time to fear the darkness.

Nawaquí Caligo may have fallen, but his struggle goes on. Stranded on a remote world with only loyal Noctis for company, Caligo is changed but not defeated.

The road ahead is long, full of shadows and loss and regret. Can he find a way to free himself from thoughts of blood and revenge, or is he doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past?

The darkness is coming and this rebel’s fight is far from over yet.

Available Now!

Amazon: ||US||UK||AUS||DE||CAN||
|| Smashwords || B&N || iTunes || Kobo ||


The Rebel Returns in Brief
What’s in it?: A 70,000 word novel, with a bonus short story at the end
When is it set?: 1000-1002 AD
Where is it set?: Anglo-Saxon England and a deserted other world.
What kind of story is it?: One of madness, guilt, grief and revenge. Lots and lots of revenge. Also Vikings, marauding and enjoying themselves.
What’s the genre?: Historical Fantasy.
Any age restrictions?: Not really. There’s some mild language, a bit of violence and some warfare.

Behind the Story
I never intended for this to be two books. I wanted to wrap up Nawaquí/Caligo’s story in one, but as often happens, when I returned to my original stories everything got a bit bigger – and hopefully better.
One of the main reasons why this ended up as two books rather than one was because I wanted to explore where things went wrong between Nawaquí and Demero. Demero’s such a sweet, forgiving guy that I knew something had to have happened, but I’d never written it before. Now I have, and that – along with the fall of Caligo and his descent into Nawaquí – is what this book is about. So if you’re a Mero fan, he is all over this story.
The additional story – St. Brice’s Day – was written to tie up the loose ends between Nawaquí and Maskai. It didn’t fit anywhere else and I liked the ending of RR as it was, so I added the extra story to take care of the larger Aekhartain Tales threads rather than cramming it in where it didn’t really belong.

Read on for a sneak-peek at The Rebel Returns!

Continue reading “The Rebel Returns” →

Aekhartain, Books, Writing

Dark Rebel

Becca Lusher

TALES OF THE AEKHARTAIN
Historical Aekhartain 
~ Dark Rebellion 1 ~

A shadow lies over the marshes of Dumnonia.
A man moves in the darkness. He is a whisper, a legend. He is the Dark Dumnonii… and he’s looking for revenge.

In the year 814 AD Egbert, King of Wessex, ravaged and conquered Dumnonia, but there were some who resisted. Eleven years on and the Britons refuse to be subdued. Now the king has returned and the rebels are waiting.

Amongst them is Caligo, a man of darkness, a shadow in the marsh, and he is determined to take back that which was stolen.

Available Now!
Amazon: ||US||UK||AUS||DE||CAN||
|| Smashwords || B&N || iTunes || Kobo ||

Continue reading “Dark Rebel” →

Aekhartain, Updates, Writing

Let’s Dance!

Becca Lusher

First draft of Dark Rebel is done! I am so relieved, since I’ve mostly been writing it while waiting for the plot to show up – just as a traditional Aekh tale should go.

But it’s done. Sort of.

Okay, so it’s messy and needs loads of work, but the first draft is done! Excuse me while I slap on the Playlist of Victory and go dance for a while.

Merry Thursday, everyone :)