Book releases are always exciting. Today I've got one from a fellow indie author, Annie Douglass Lima. Read on to find out about the Krillonian Chronicles and enter to win an Amazon gift card or digital copy of The Collar and The Cavvarach, the first in the series. At the end you'll find an excerpt from The Gladiator and the Guard. Welcome, Annie!
I'm excited to announce that my young adult action and adventure novel, The Gladiator and the Guard, is now available for purchase! This is the second book in the Krillonian Chronicles, sequel to The Collar and the Cavvarach.
First Things First: a Little Information about Book 1:
What is the Collar for, and What is a Cavvarach?
The story is set in a world very much like our own, with just a few major differences. One is that slavery is legal there. Slaves must wear metal collars that lock around their neck, making their enslaved status obvious to everyone. Any slave attempting to escape faces the dilemma of how and where to illegally get their collar removed (a crime punishable by enslavement for the remover).
Another difference is the popularity of a martial art called cavvara shil. It is fought with a cavvarach (rhymes with "have a rack"), a weapon similar to a sword but with a steel hook protruding from partway down its top edge. Competitors can strike at each other with their feet as well as with the blades. You win in one of two ways: disarming your opponent (hooking or knocking their cavvarach out of their hands) or pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.
First Things First: a Little Information about Book 1:
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
What is the Collar for, and What is a Cavvarach?
The story is set in a world very much like our own, with just a few major differences. One is that slavery is legal there. Slaves must wear metal collars that lock around their neck, making their enslaved status obvious to everyone. Any slave attempting to escape faces the dilemma of how and where to illegally get their collar removed (a crime punishable by enslavement for the remover).
Another difference is the popularity of a martial art called cavvara shil. It is fought with a cavvarach (rhymes with "have a rack"), a weapon similar to a sword but with a steel hook protruding from partway down its top edge. Competitors can strike at each other with their feet as well as with the blades. You win in one of two ways: disarming your opponent (hooking or knocking their cavvarach out of their hands) or pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.
Click here to order The Collar and the Cavvarach from Amazon
for$2.99 a discounted price of just 99 cents through May 30!
for
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is just one victory away from freedom. But after he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he is condemned to the violent life and early death of a gladiator. While his loved ones seek desperately for a way to rescue him, Bensin struggles to stay alive and forge an identity in an environment designed to strip it from him. When he infuriates the authorities with his choices, he knows he is running out of time. Can he stand against the cruelty of the arena system and seize his freedom before that system crushes him?
Click here to order The Gladiator and the Guard in Kindle format from Amazon
for $2.99 a discounted price of just 99 cents through May 30!
for
Click here to order The Gladiator and the Guardfrom Smashwords (for Nook or in other digital formats)
for $2.99 a discounted price of just 99 cents through May 30!
for
Annie Douglass Lima spent most of her childhood in Kenya and later graduated from Biola University in Southern California. She and her husband Floyd currently live in Taiwan, where she teaches fifth grade at Morrison Academy. She has been writing poetry, short stories, and novels since her childhood, and to date has published twelve books (two YA action and adventure novels, four fantasies, a puppet script, and five anthologies of her students’ poetry). Besides writing, her hobbies include reading (especially fantasy and science fiction), scrapbooking, and international travel.
Connect with the Author Online:
Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
Blog: http://anniedouglasslima.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieDouglassLimaAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGoodreads
Amazon Author Page: http://bit.ly/AnnieDouglassLimaOnAmazon
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnnieDouglassLima
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnLinkedIn
Google Plus: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGooglePlus
Blog: http://anniedouglasslima.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieDouglassLimaAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGoodreads
Amazon Author Page: http://bit.ly/AnnieDouglassLimaOnAmazon
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnnieDouglassLima
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnLinkedIn
Google Plus: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGooglePlus
Now, enter to win an Amazon gift card or a free digital copy of The Collar and the Cavvarach!
The Gladiator and the Guard
After they had placed their orders, Steene said, "So, you've worked at Red Arena fifteen years, huh? It must be quite an interesting job."
"Interesting is one word for it," Boris replied. "Dangerous is more like it."
"What makes it dangerous for you?" Ellie wondered.
"The glads, of course. It's like workin' around a bunch of wild animals."
"What are glad?"
"Glad-i-a-tors. You never know when one of them is going to turn and attack you."
"But why would they attack you?" Ellie looked confused. "I thought they only fight other gladiators when the arenas compete on weekends."
"I told you, glads are like wild animals." Boris's snort of amusement made him sound a bit like a wild animal himself. "The trainers teach 'em to be tough and dangerous, but sometimes they turn on 'em. That's where us guards come in: keepin' the trainers safe while they do their job. 'Course, the glads don't exactly appreciate it, so sometimes they turn on us, too, or try to."
Ellie still looked confused. "I don't get it."
Boris cocked an eyebrow at Steene. "Kid's a little slow, isn't she? Listen, kid, would you like it if someone stood over you with a shockwhip all day saying, 'do a million pushups in ten minutes or else'? If you were really really strong from doing all those pushups, don't you think you'd eventually try to hurt the guy, just to get him off your back?"
"Bensin has to do a million pushups with someone on his back?" She looked from Boris to Steene as though wondering whether or not to believe this.
"Who's Bensin?"
Steene nudged Ellie under the table, but it was too late.
"My brother. He lives at the arena."
I wasn't going to tell him about Bensin just yet. Perhaps Steene and Ellie should have discussed their plan in more detail before hand.
Now it was Boris's turn to look confused. "You've got a brother at an arena?"
"Yeah, at Red Arena. Don't you know him?"
"He's a glad?"
"Yeah, a gladiator. He got sent there to be executed for attempted murder, but he wasn't really guilty, and luckily he didn't actually die, but he's still there. We saw him fight on TV."
"Oh. Okay, yeah, I think I know who you mean. We did have a new glad join us a couple months ago, someone who was supposed to get the death penalty. He's our new number Fifty-Eight. The old Fifty-Eight got killed a month before in a wrestling match against a Green. Broke his neck. Crack! You could hear it through the speakers all across the arena. It wasn't supposed to be a match to the death, but you never know what's gonna happen out there. Somebody don't defend right like he's been taught, and before you know it some trainer's short a glad in his ten."
Boris shook his head and chuckled as though at an unfortunate but humorous situation.
Ellie was speechless.
"Interesting is one word for it," Boris replied. "Dangerous is more like it."
"What makes it dangerous for you?" Ellie wondered.
"The glads, of course. It's like workin' around a bunch of wild animals."
"What are glad?"
"Glad-i-a-tors. You never know when one of them is going to turn and attack you."
"But why would they attack you?" Ellie looked confused. "I thought they only fight other gladiators when the arenas compete on weekends."
"I told you, glads are like wild animals." Boris's snort of amusement made him sound a bit like a wild animal himself. "The trainers teach 'em to be tough and dangerous, but sometimes they turn on 'em. That's where us guards come in: keepin' the trainers safe while they do their job. 'Course, the glads don't exactly appreciate it, so sometimes they turn on us, too, or try to."
Ellie still looked confused. "I don't get it."
Boris cocked an eyebrow at Steene. "Kid's a little slow, isn't she? Listen, kid, would you like it if someone stood over you with a shockwhip all day saying, 'do a million pushups in ten minutes or else'? If you were really really strong from doing all those pushups, don't you think you'd eventually try to hurt the guy, just to get him off your back?"
"Bensin has to do a million pushups with someone on his back?" She looked from Boris to Steene as though wondering whether or not to believe this.
"Who's Bensin?"
Steene nudged Ellie under the table, but it was too late.
"My brother. He lives at the arena."
I wasn't going to tell him about Bensin just yet. Perhaps Steene and Ellie should have discussed their plan in more detail before hand.
Now it was Boris's turn to look confused. "You've got a brother at an arena?"
"Yeah, at Red Arena. Don't you know him?"
"He's a glad?"
"Yeah, a gladiator. He got sent there to be executed for attempted murder, but he wasn't really guilty, and luckily he didn't actually die, but he's still there. We saw him fight on TV."
"Oh. Okay, yeah, I think I know who you mean. We did have a new glad join us a couple months ago, someone who was supposed to get the death penalty. He's our new number Fifty-Eight. The old Fifty-Eight got killed a month before in a wrestling match against a Green. Broke his neck. Crack! You could hear it through the speakers all across the arena. It wasn't supposed to be a match to the death, but you never know what's gonna happen out there. Somebody don't defend right like he's been taught, and before you know it some trainer's short a glad in his ten."
Boris shook his head and chuckled as though at an unfortunate but humorous situation.
Ellie was speechless.
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