Hello and thank you for allowing me to ramble here at Love Bytes!

 

My youngest son decided this summer we were going to go to Disneyland for his birthday. Besides the cost and the oppressive heat, I got to thinking about Walt Disney and world building. If anyone knew how to create an entire environment out of an idea it was Walt.

 

I will never reach the level of Disney but I do try to create worlds my fans feel they can walk into. In the Thresl Chronicles I created an entire planet of cat shifters and in the Wizard’s Touch series I made a magical world with wizards, shifters and all kinds of paranormal beings.

 

World building isn’t easy, especially when doing a series. Remembering all the details from story to story is a challenge and more than once I’ve made a cheat sheet to keep all the details right. Did John have blue eyes or green and was he a cheetah or a lion shifter. All these things can change if I don’t keep track especially when dealing with characters mentioned only once or twice.

 

My favorite stories are the ones where I’m taken out of the everyday experience that is why in my latest book I brought forward the Reapers. Hades even gets a few cameo appearances.

 

Below is an excerpt from my new addition to the Wizard’s Touch series, Porter’s Reaper. Enjoy!

“I don’t really have much,” Porter said.

Since Alstair had already begun mentally packing, Porter’s quiet comment almost escaped his attention.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve only been here a year. I haven’t acquired enough clothing for a week.” Porter shrugged his shoulders as if that wasn’t an important issue.

“Really?” The entire lower portion of the Underworld featured shopping malls. Nothing brought out the worst in the citizens than a half off sale Demons had clashed horns over the rights to a sparkly top. The victors often presented their injuries as points of pride and spent afternoons at tea retelling the story of their shopping scars.

“I’m not much of a shopper,” he said, his tone apologetic as if he should be sorry for his lack of a spending obsession.

“That’s all right. Just bring what you have—we can pick up more if we need to.” A quick stop at a store near campus would solve all Porter’s clothing needs.

Porter blinked up at him as if trying to judge if Alstair was kidding or not. “Can I bring my cat?”

“What?” Alstair stared at the young man before him. Surely he’d heard wrong.

“My cat. Persephone.”

Alstair laughed. He couldn’t hold it back. “You named your cat after the Queen of the Underworld?”

“Well, she is a Hellcat.”

“That makes it much better. Is she your familiar?” Alstair couldn’t shake the happy vision of introducing the prissy Queen to her namesake. Unfortunately, it would probably end with a flaming poker up his ass so he’d have to resist the temptation. Good thing Hades hadn’t stuck around to hear their conversation. The God of the Underworld sometimes became defensive of his wife’s well-earned reputation.

“I think she’s my familiar. I mean, I haven’t had a chance to try her out. I just got her a few days ago and my magic never developed fully.” Sorrow etched across the young man’s face.

Twinges of regret pierced Alstair. He brushed them away like irritating flies. He’d learned a long time ago not to worry about things he couldn’t change. Maybe Porter could still develop his magic if he spent enough time above. The Underworld didn’t foster a good environment for magic other than necromancy. “Sure, bring her with you if you think she’ll travel well. I don’t want to deal with a puking feline.” If anyone asked Alstair, he’d say she was Porter’s familiar. A wizard school couldn’t object to that.

 

Like the sound of Porter’s Reaper? Buy it here.

 

Blurb for Porter’s Reaper:

 

This is book five in the A Wizard’s Touch series, see the full series listing here

 

Death is a minor inconvenience in the path to true love.

When the God of the Underworld sends Alstair back to the Academy to help pick out a new headmaster, he doesn’t mention he put Alstair in for the job. Angered but willing to keep his word, Alstair discovers the headmaster position comes with more knots of deception than a sailor’s rope.

Porter Exton had a crush on Alstair. He’d watched Alstair train Elijah through the window and had spent more than one night dreaming of the Reaper. However, dreams were set aside in order to discover the truth about his death and if the man who killed him is responsible for the other deaths at the school.

Two men with different backgrounds need to discover what they have in common if they hope to save themselves from plotting gods, egomaniacs and possible killers.

About Amber Kell:

Amber Kell has made a career out of daydreaming. It has been a lifelong habit she practices diligently as shown by her complete lack of focus on anything not related to her fantasy world building.

When she told her husband what she wanted to do with her life he told her to go have fun.

During those seconds she isn’t writing she remembers she has children who humor her with games of ‘what if’ and let her drag them to foreign lands to gather inspiration. Her youngest confided in her that he wants to write because he longs for a website and an author name—two things apparently necessary to be a proper writer.

Despite her husband’s insistence she doesn’t drink enough to be a true literary genius she continues to spin stories of people falling happily in love and staying that way.

She is thwarted during the day by a traffic jam of cats on the stairway and a puppy who insists on walks, but she bravely perseveres.