Tara Maya's Tales

There are tons of fairies and magical critters in The Unfinished Song . I’m always on the look-out for traditional magic creatures that I can adapt. I remake them to fit my world-building, but I do the research into whatever folk legends first. It’s a great excuse to pursue my love of folklore and mythology. The Aluxob are small, mischievous creatures are part of the world of the Maya, which are known from carvings and clay figurines from the ancient world. They play the same role as gnomes, hobs or leprechauns in ancient Celtic tradition. The Aluxob are usually only about 12 to 18 inches tall and are often found in maize fields, gardens, forests, and caves. They can become invisible or visible at will. They are usually depicted wearing traditional Maya dress.  Some stories even describe them turning into small forest creatures like weasels or frogs. Weasel and frog shifters? Cool. These creatures are known for their mischievous nature, and often show their displeasure at being bot...

Hell hath no fury like a selkie separated from his true love. The gate to the sea creature realm is finally open. Yara wants to bask in the glow of her budding relationship with Treygan and explore Medusa’s world, but as the new leader of Rathe her powers are needed to save a sea creature she’s never met. Rownan assumes the worst is behind him when he returns home to be reunited with his wife, Vienna, only to discover she’s gone. She traveled to the evil realm of Harte to find another gateway to Earth and was never heard from again. Rownan claimed he would go through hell to be with her, and now he must prove it. Rownan, Yara, and Treygan will put their lives and souls at risk by traveling to the most dangerous realm of all. Love is supposed to conquer all, but no one has ever conquered Harte. Purchase Dangerous Depths in ebook or paperback on  Amazon  and  Barnes & Noble . Find more from Karen on her website , Facebook , Twitter , Goodreads , and Pinter...

There are worse things than death, worse people too. The "talk" was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they're a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn't until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life. Download Persephone on Amazon , Barnes and Noble , Kobo , iTunes , Smashwords and Musa . Excerpt The branch crashed in front of me, scraping my legs. I ran for the parking lot as fast as I could. The frost closed in, surrounding me. I’d never been claustrophobic, but as the frost cut off my escape path with a solid white wall, I panicke...

A guest post from Jason Halstead.  It was about this time in 2012 when I decided to take a chance and write a traditional fantasy book called Child of Fate . I assembled a cast of characters that were part imagination and part remnants of time spent playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kid. The real D&D, with paper, pencils, and dice. It also required lots and lots of soda and pizza so our character sheets could end up spotted with grease stains. Child of Fate climbed slowly but steadily up the charts until in early 2013 it exploded and was selling like crazy. I was quick to use this as a springboard and wrote the sequel, Victim of Fate , early in 2013. Silver Dragon followed and the trilogy continued to perform very well. Unfortunately, a trilogy ends at three books but I still had more stories to tell. That meant I had to start a new series about those characters. The new series was longer and dealt with established characters coming to terms with their rise to fame a...

In this first book of The Gatekeeper’s Saga, fifteen-year-old Therese watches her parents die. While in a coma, she meets the twin sons of Hades—Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Thanatos, the god of death. She thinks she's manipulating a dream, not kissing the god of death and totally rocking his world. Unused to attention from anyone—god or mortal—Thanatos makes a deal with Hades and goes as a mortal to the Upperworld to try and win Therese's heart, but not all the gods are happy. Some give Therese gifts. Others try to kill her. The deal requires Therese to avenge the death of her parents. With the help of Thanatos’s fierce and exotic sisters, the Furies, she finds herself in an arena face to face with the murderer, and only one will survive. Download The Gatekeeper's Sons  for free on Amazon , Barnes and Noble , Sony ,  Kobo and Smashwords . Excerpt Whether McAdams injured himself in one of her traps or in some other way, he was nevertheless injured, and this added...