Title: Aspect of Winter
Author: Tom Early
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press
Cover Artist: Sadie Thompson
Length: 260 pages
Release Date: October 15, 2015
Blurb: It’s hard enough being gay in high school, but Fay must also deal with hiding his magical ability—powers he barely understands and cannot possibly reveal. His best friend Sam is his only confidante, and even with her help, Fay’s life is barely tolerable.
Everything changes when Janus University, a college for individuals with magical capabilities, discovers the pair. When the university sends a student to test them, Fay and Sam, along with their classmate Tyler, are catapulted headfirst into a world of unimaginable danger and magic. Fay and Tyler begin to see each other as more than friends while they prepare for the Trials, the university’s deadly acceptance process. For the first time, the three friends experience firsthand how wonderful and terrible a world with magic can be, especially when the source of Fay’s power turns out to be far deadlier than anyone imagined.
There was an absolutely massive serpentine shape circling my makeshift ice raft. The only reason I didn’t scream was because of the continuing effects of Stability. Instead, my mind immediately jumped to how I could use whatever it was to my advantage. If I was going to make it to shore within the hour, I needed to go fast. And even going nuts with my power alone wasn’t going to cut it, but along with whatever that thing was, perhaps I could….
That was when the creature decided to make itself known. Sharp spiny ridges crested above the surface of the water, easily six feet in length before they disappeared into dark blue and gray scales. Its body was incredibly long, the water around me roiling as its bulk disturbed it. Eventually a massive head rose out of the waves, towering in front of me, water streaming off its scaly hide. It had two massive, slightly luminescent sea-green eyes that were filled with a malevolent intellect, with slit pupils that narrowed as they took me in. The ridge continued all the way up its head, stopping dead between its eyes. Two long blue whiskers hung off its chin, below a mouth filled with teeth that looked incredibly sharp and almost as tall as I was. A low hiss filled the air as it stared unblinkingly at me. I had to act quickly.
As it swayed in place, taking me in, I started my spell. I clenched my fist behind my back and some of the ice forming my boat began to rise up slightly, and become fluid enough to move quickly. I added more and more water to it from the ocean, perspiring slightly as the magic took its toll, until I had what resembled a coil of incredibly thick rope. The creature let out another rumbling hiss.
“Too bad,” I said brightly. “Too slow.”
I snapped my hand out at the creature’s head, and the coiled ice unfurled like a whip and shot toward the creature’s head. Its eyes widened as the ice wrapped itself around its neck and mouth, once, twice, three times, fusing together as it went. I fused the other end of the coil to the boat. Predictably, once the serpent found that it couldn’t open its mouth to devour me, it tried to flee instead, preparing to dive back to the depths.
“Sorry, but you’re mine now,” I said mock sternly, and flicked my wrist, forcing icy spikes to grow on the inside of its ice collar.
It roared in pain, its massive body writhing as the spikes dug in. I wasn’t bothered in the slightest. I was pretty sure this was a simulation, after all. It looked at me, pupils blown wide with agony and rage, its mouth working ineffectively as I thickened the ice holding it shut, careful to keep its nostrils uncovered. I just smiled at it innocently, and pointed toward the land visible in the distance.
Tom Early is currently a student at Tufts University who probably spends more time than is wise reading and writing instead of studying. More often than not, he can be found wrapped in a blanket on the couch forgetting most of the things he was supposed to do that day.
When not writing, Tom can be found either reading, gaming, drawing, scratching his dog, or bothering his friends. He also frequently forgets that it’s healthy to get more than six hours of sleep a night, and firmly believes that treating coffee as the most important food group makes up for this. If you show him a picture of your dog, he will probably make embarrassingly happy noises and then brag about his own dog. He’s always happy to talk about any of his previous or current writing projects, because people asking him about them reminds him that he should really be writing right now.
Winner’s Prize: Free signed copy of Aspect of Winter
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I love paranormal books. Thank you for sharing.
This sounds very engaging!
Sounds like an interesting read.
book sounds different from the usual stories
Congratulations on the release and looking forward to reading it! Awesome excerpt!
I think this sounds like a very interesting book. I love books with magic in them.