Guest post by Tahlia Newland
Another book in my Diamond Peak series has just been published! I think it is worthy of several exclamation marks in a row!!! That, of course, is something I’d never do in a book, no matter how excited I might be. In formal writing, one exclamation point at a time is enough. It reminds me of my mime teacher—was it really thirty years ago?—saying, ‘why do you turn three times when one is enough?’ Hmm, I was always more a dancer than a mime. As a dancer, I could pirouette as many times as I wanted.
But I digress. The topic of this little exposition of joy is that the third book in a four part series is now available for purchase. This, for me, is a magnificent achievement, and just in case you don’t realise it, I’m telling you so.
I began writing the series in 2007. I thought it was one book until I actually put the tips of my fingers to the keyboard and watched the words flow and the world and characters fill out. I wrote the whole series in three years and polished book one, Lethal Inheritance, enough to impress a literary agent. To cut a long story short, book one came out at the end of last year, book two was published a couple of months ago, and book four will be out in another few months.
The story is of a girl learning to handle her emotions as she fights demons on her way up a mountain to rescue her mother from demons, and she uses meditation methods to defeat the demons, which are external manifestations of her negative emotions. It’s all very metaphorical, which is why you can call it magical realism as well as contemporary fantasy, and it’s also metaphysical, because there’s a philosophical element and meditational experience woven into the story.
The central character, Ariel, takes control of her own destiny, just like I did when I decided (against my literary agent’s advice) to forget the traditional publishing system and opt for independent publishing. Perhaps Ariel whispered in my ear. More likely it was Walnut, the wise and rather quirky old mountain guide. It could have been Nick, the earnest, helpful, intense and rather dashing love interest in the story—I don’t think he’d like me calling him that though. He’d probably point out that it took Ariel three books to realise that she’d fallen in love with him.
‘I could have told her that in book one,’ he might say.
In Ariel’s defence, Twitchet, the grumpy talking cat, spent the first two thirds of book two, Stalking Shadows, trying to convince her that she shouldn’t go anywhere near Nick, and she had her reasons to keep her feelings locked away. She had her hands full with demons who were busy trying to fire up her negative emotions, so they could trap her, feed on her, and then kill her to prevent her from killing their boss & rescuing her mother, which is why she’s in this hidden realm where people can fly and dissipate and where the subtle energy between people can be a tangible force. Yes, it really is electric between Ariel and Nick.
In this book, Ariel faces her hardest test yet—Emot, the demon of desire. He plays on her likes and wants and turns them into the craving he feeds on. The theme of the second part of the book is addiction and the heartbreak and frustration of those who try to help their loved ones get free of the Demon’s Grip. The question is, will Ariel make out alive or will she end up in the addicts ward at Sheldrake hospital? Read the book and find out.
It’s always best to start at the beginning of a series though, so to inspire you to do just that, book one in the series is only 99c until the 6th July on Kindle and Kobo, so pick it up and read your way to the top of Diamond Peak.
Purchase Points for Demon’s Grip.
Kindle Store
Smashwords
Kobo
About the author:
Tahlia Newland is an award-winning fantasy and magical realism author with a metaphysical twist. If you enjoyed this blog post, you can join her on Facebook , Twitter or Google+ You can even fan her on Goodreads. When not reading, writing, reviewing or mentoring authors you may find her being an extremely casual high school teacher or making decorative masks. Tahlia began writing full time in 2008 after twenty years in the performing arts and a five-year stint as a creative and performing arts teacher in a high school. In 2012, she set up the Awesome Indies List to showcase quality independent fiction. She has had extensive training in meditation and Buddhist philosophy and lives in an Australian rainforest south of Sydney. Creativity is her middle name!
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