Rebecca Chastain's Blog

I've got one thing on my mind: Muckrakers & Minotaurs.

It's *so* close to being ready for you.

And you know what that means, right?

Ready the confetti... Prepare the fireworks...

It's time to reveal the cover!



Synopsis

The exciting conclusion of the Terra Haven Chronicles!

Kylie’s everlasting seed is supposed to guide her to the story of a lifetime, but that hardly matters any longer. She was suspended from her position as journalist for the Terra Haven Chronicle. She can’t publish anything.

However, her stymied career is the least of Kylie’s concerns. Someone is targeting her mom. First, they tried to make her look like a criminal. Now they’re trying to kill her.

Kylie will stop at nothing to save her mom. However, the only people who might have useful information are pyromaniacs and prisoners, and they would rather see Kylie dead than help her.

Determined to flush out her enemy, Kylie must follow every lead, no matter how dubious. And this time, not even her loyal gargoyle companion, Quinn, can keep Kylie safe…

Release Date: Nov 16! It's almost here!

I am incredibly proud of this book the way this trilogy wraps up! I can't wait for you to read it!

PREORDER TODAY
Amazon
Kobo
Google Play
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble

NOTE: Preorder/order links for Muckrakers & Minotaurs in print and audio to come.

Catch up on the Series

You have 2 months to get caught up on Kylie and Quinn's adventures before Muckrakers releases. Use your time wisely. 😉

TERRA HAVEN CHRONICLES
Deadlines & Dryads (book 0.5)
Leads & Lynxes (book 1)
Headlines & Hydras (book 2)
Muckrakers & Minotaurs (book 3)

Or you can catch up on the audio versions HERE.

Now dance with me! Muckrakers & Minotaurs is almost ready for release!!!!

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

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I'm walking on sunshine!

Thank you for making the launch of Headlines & Hydras such an amazing success!

Early reviews are in, and people are liking the book.

(No, I'm not misty-eyed, you are!)

What readers are saying about Headlines & Hydras

"Wonderful characters, fascinating magic, nasty villains and one more fabulous adventure to fall into!" (Tome Tender)

"this is truly a great series" (Amazon Review)

"one of my most anticipated reads this year...Headlines & Hydras delivers on the magic, the mythical creatures, and the world." (The Lily Cafe)

"I could not put the book down. A great fantasy read." (Amazon Review)

"a wonderful follow-up to the first book . . .  a fast and easy read that is entertaining and engaging" (Goodreads Review)

If you haven't joined in on the adventure, now's your chance:

Amazon
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Kobo

And I have even more great news...

the audiobook is now available!



Headlines & Hydras is read by the super-talented Cindy Kay. 

I adore her narrator voice, but I'm even more pleased with the different voices Kay gives the characters. 

If you want to hear how she voices the harpy, Zipporah, GO HERE and listen to the audiobook sample.

Unless your a reading heathen, make sure you binge the series in the correct order.



Terra Haven Chronicles Series Reading Order
Deadlines & Dryads (Book 0.5)*
Leads & Lynxes (Book 1)
Headlines & Hydras (Book 2)

*Deadlines & Dryads is not yet available in audio.



Everyone in Casa Chastain is celebrating the release of Headlines & Hydras with some much-needed down time. 

(Sassafras and Buckaroo are TOO cute, right?)

Thank you again for giving my book so much love!

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. Pick up the Headlines & Hydras audiobook anywhere audiobooks are sold.

It's release day for Headlines & Hydras!

Cue the streamers and confetti. Set off the balloon drop. Turn on the celebratory dance music.

Get ready to dive back into a world of mythic creatures, elemental magic, and untold dangers!

I had a blast writing Headlines & Hydras.

Kylie is such a fun heroine, headstrong and brave, with complex goals. She's much more worldly than Mika, and through her, I got to explore more of Terra Haven's society and surroundings. Turns out, there's a lot going on. You'll see!

If you preordered your copy of Headlines & Hydras: THANK YOU! Check your ereader; it should already be loaded.



If you were waiting until the book was live, follow one of these geo-smart links to your favorite retailer:

Amazon
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Kobo

For print: it's live on Amazon and coming soon to other retailers. I'll keep you posted.

For audiobook: you need wait only a week.

The audiobook of Headlines & Hydras releases May 25!

SPOILER WARNING: Headlines & Hydras is not the first book in the series. Get caught up before you start reading.

Terra Haven Chronicles Reading Order
Deadlines & Dryads (Book 0.5; ebook is free)
Leads & Lynxes (Book 1)
Headlines & Hydras (Book 2)

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. Leave a review after you read the book and receive a phantom hug (aka, my undying gratitude)! Reviews help me gauge people's interest in the series, so if you want me to keep writing gargoyle books, let me know with a review.

Hello from sunny California,

In honor of Headlines & Hydras releasing in one week (May 18!!), I'm opening up my closet and unleashing the autographed books.

Most exciting, I have copies of Headlines & Hydras to send your way. SQUEEEEEE!

If you are interested in picking up a signed copy of Headlines & Hydras or any book in my catalog, fill out this Google form HERE.



The signed-books order form will be live only until May 14.

I love sending out autographed books, but it takes a lot of time. Batching them into one week makes it possible for me to keep the bulk of my attention on writing the next book.

Orders are open internationally.



You have to guard a good reading spot in my house or this happens! Since he was far too cute to move, I was forced to take the sofa.

Thank you to everyone who signed up to receive an advance review copy of Headlines & Hydras. The emails (and books) for recipients are going out later today. 

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. I hope you pick up a signed copy of your favorite book, and remember to do it before midnight on May 14!
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Howdie!

I'm excited to announce that I'm opening up sign-ups for advance review copies of Headlines & Hydras, because we're this close to its release.

For details, keep scrolling.

I also want to thank everyone who wanted to order signed copies of the Deadlines & Dryads old/limited edition covers. I'm sorry I ran out of copies before everyone got a book.

However, signed copies of ALL my books will be available next month. Keep an eye out for the post.

Now, if you're interested in getting your hands on a copy of Headlines & Hydras before it releases, read on!



p.s. Sassafras looks adorable here, right? She was trying to convince me she should be allowed on the kitchen counter. This look almost worked!

Also, scroll to the bottom to see how Sass "helps" me edit.

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Headlines & Hydras Advance Review Copies



I'm thrilled to announce that the sign-up for advance review copies (ARCs) of Headlines & Hydras is now open!

If you would like to read the book early (for free), with the intention of leaving a review during the launch week, sign up HERE.

Priority will be given to reviewers with a platform (blog, Goodreads following, social media book page, etc.) and those who have reviewed my other books, because the goal is to spread the word about Headlines & Hydras.

You know it exists. I know it exists. But does your neighbor? Does your reading group? Does your best friend's sister's cousin? 

Copies are limited. Not everyone will get one. But you might.

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Get caught up on the series before you receive an ARC:

Deadlines & Dryads (Book 0.5; ebook is free)
Leads & Lynxes (Book 1)

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Sass's style of editing help includes meditative breathing and sprawling into my extremely limited workspace.



It's adorable, but it makes my markups challenging!

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. Are you on Facebook? Pop over to THIS POST, leave a comment letting me know what you think of the Headlines & Hydras cover, and be entered to win a $25 gift card.

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If you would enjoy this content delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter. You'll also receive 2 free books, behind-the-scenes information, giveaway notifications, and so much more. Sign up here.

It's spring!

I've been taking extra walks in nature, enjoying all the new plants and singing birds. It's been good for my soul (and for my daily step goals).

Easter decorations are going up around the neighborhood. Which got me thinking...

Now would be a great time to reveal the Easter eggs hidden in Leads & Lynxes.

(If you're not familiar with this use of the term "Easter eggs," see this site.)

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Leads & Lynxes and the Real World



The Gargoyle Guardian and Terra Haven Chronicles are alternate-history fantasies, or as I like to think of them, alternate-history-light.

The setting is the United States, late 1800s...but, you know, with elemental magic and mythic creatures being the norm.

I tend to keep details like the architecture and modes of travel fairly accurate (minus all the magically propelled crafts), with the huge caveat that the industrial revolution was more of a cultural whimper and less of a society-overhauling bang.

People have magic. They don't need massive manufacturing machines and assembly line factories.

So while I veer from the timeline of historical events, I like to bring in real people and places whenever I can.

Spoiler warning: If you haven't yet read Leads & Lynxes, the following text includes small spoilers. Continue at your own peril.

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Easter Egg 1: Mary Lowman, Mayor

Magic is a great equalizer, and gender roles are wildly more advanced in my novels than they were in the real 1800s. 

Which is why I love including real-world women who were anomalies in their time and treating them like the norm. 

Mary Lowman is just that type of woman.


(image from Wikipedia)

From Leads & Lynxes:

Grant seized a massive amount of air and dropped a thick, soundproof ward around himself and the message, his barrier falling so close it skimmed against my face. I jerked back and surreptitiously rubbed my nose. When he activated the message, a larger-than-life image of a woman with long gray hair expanded in front of him. Wrinkles etched her sun-darkened cheeks, and worry laced her dark eyes. I recognized her instantly, as would anyone from Terra Haven: Mayor Mary Lowman. I edged closer again. I might not be able to hear what the mayor said, but I might be able to read her lips. 


(image from Wikipedia)

In real life, Lowman was the first female mayor of Okaloosa, Kansas in 1888. After working for the city (and being unimpressed with how it was run), she decided to do something about it.

Although white women didn't achieve the right to vote in national elections for another 30 years, they could vote in the municipal elections in Kansas—and did! 

What I love most about this story: her entire city council was made up of women. How incredible, right?

This is the type of woman I want running Terra Haven!

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Easter Egg 2: Toypurina 

History makes its mark on landscape in Terra Haven, too. For instance, I have fun naming the rivers after real people.


(artist unknown)

From Leads & Lynxes:

I searched for roads or familiar landmarks, but I had been so disoriented and distraught when we had left the city, I couldn’t tell if we were traveling north or south. The glistening blue ribbon twining through the forest could have been Lincoln or Toypurina River. Either way, it didn’t matter. We had traveled far beyond my range for sending messages back to Terra Haven, so even if I figured out my location, I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone.


(image part of a larger mural by HOODsisters)

The tale of real-life Toypurina is both courageous and sad.

As a native Tongva living in now-California, she organized a rebellion against the Spaniard Missionaries overtaking her lands and people in 1785. 

She was known among the local tribes as a talented medicine woman, and she rallied several Native leaders to join the uprising. When the men attacked the Spaniards, she went along, too, there to inspire the men to fight. 

The group was caught. (You knew this wasn't going to end well for the Native Americans.) Toypurina was baptized, sent to a far-off missionary, and married a Spaniard.

Today, Toypurina has become a symbol of defiance and a hero for those defending their cultural freedoms. 

And outside Terra Haven City, a river is named after her. For me, it was a way to honor this brave woman. For Terra Haven history, I envisioned a much happier life for Toypurina, in which she practiced as a healer and served as a leader in her tribe. She was so incredible, people half a continent away knew of her and named the river in her honor.

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Easter Egg 3: Harvey House

I have spent more time than necessary contemplating the dining lifestyles of Terra Haven citizens, considering I rarely let my characters enjoy a meal in between their adventures. 

But when I had the chance to send Kylie out for food, I knew it had to be to a Harvey House.


(image from Harvey House Museum)

From Leads & Lynxes:

The trip exhausted me, and I napped through the afternoon, waking in time to beat the dinner rush at Harvey House. I bought a bubbling-hot potpie to go and ate it in bed while skimming the massive collection of borrowed reference books.

Fred Harvey started his eponymous restaurant business along the railroad line in the 1870s, but I don't really care about him. I'm more interested in the staff he hired.

Namely: women. The company hired single women from the East Coast, trained them, and sent them west. The women lived above the restaurants and had strict dress, makeup, and lifestyle regulations they had to maintain to stay employed.

It was wildly sexist. (See above.) It was racist, too. Only white women were hired.

But it gave this small group of women freedom. Single women could earn money, travel, and be in charge of their own destiny (...so long as they didn't stay out after curfew).

The women who worked in Harvey Houses went on to be founders of many of the towns in the west and are romantically credited with "civilizing" the west.

Imagine the courage it took to leave family and the city life you knew and venture out alone! It's inspirational.

On a more personal note, I wrote a paper about the Harvey girls (as the women were called) in college, so these women have a soft spot in my heart. I enjoyed envisioning a misogyny-free, non-racist environment for them in Terra Haven!

If you'd like to learn more about them, check out Lesley Poling-Kempes's book, The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened the West.

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I hope you enjoyed this literary Easter egg hunt/reveal.



If you're wondering how editing of my next book is going, I give you Buck and Sass. How am I supposed to concentrate while they're elevating sleeping to a new work of art?

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. In case you missed it, Headlines & Hydras is available for preorder everywhere!

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Headlines & Hydras, Book 2 of the Terra Haven Chronicles, comes out in two months! I'm thrilled that Kylie's second adventure is so close to making its debut in the world.



You can preorder your copy of Headlines & Hydras here: https://books2read.com/HeadlinesHydras

And you can read an extended excerpt right here...

Chapter 1

A rapid hammering jerked me awake. I seized a fistful of air element before my bleary vision cleared. I shouldn’t have let my guard down. It’s too dangerous—

The familiar sight of my apartment punctured my panic. I was home. Safe. My escape from Lunacy Labyrinth hadn’t been a dream, though the horrors I had witnessed there haunted me in my nightmares.

Breathing deep, I released my magic and fought free of knotted, sweat-damp sheets. Pain flared through my thighs and biceps, and I bit down on a groan. After mending the cuts and scrapes I had received yesterday, the healers had claimed doing more—like soothing away the soreness of strained muscles—would have overtaxed my exhausted body. Allowing those muscles to relax overnight had only invited the stiffness to root deeper.

A fist pounded the balcony door again, hard enough to rattle the whole wall. “Are you awake?” Mika asked, her voice muffled through the door.

“I am now,” I grumbled.

Normally I appreciated living on the second floor of a large Victorian house, renting a room connected to my best friend’s by a balcony.

However, my best friend normally didn’t wake me at dawn.

Grunting with each step, I hobbled to the door and opened it.

Mika burst into my room, haloed in morning sunshine. I shielded my eyes as I staggered back to my bed, slumping onto the edge. She followed, too fast for my tearing eyes to track. Her long strawberry-blond hair hung loose, still snarled from sleep, and she hadn’t bothered to change out of her striped pajamas or put on shoes. Oliver trundled into the room on her heels, his sinuous dragon body casting a red glow across the ceiling as the sun refracted off his glossy carnelian scales. Despite the gargoyle’s stubby legs, Oliver’s head now cleared my bed, and I hoped he was close to done growing. If he got much bigger, he wouldn’t fit in our tiny apartments.

“Is everything all right?” I asked before I spotted a copy of the Terra Haven Chronicle clutched in Mika’s fist. My heart sank. I scooted back on the bed and drew my feet up in front of me, wishing I could crawl under the covers and avoid this conversation.

“Is this true?” Mika spread the paper open and waved toward the black-and-white print beneath a picture of a firebird. “Are you the Airstrong heiress?”

“I . . .” My thoughts scattered when Mika lifted her gaze to mine, the pain of betrayal glistening in unshed tears.

I hadn’t wanted Mika to find out about my family like this. I hadn’t wanted anyone to find out, period. I had chosen to leave behind my parents’ world and their upper-crust lifestyle in favor of making my own way. With their blessing, if not their understanding, my parents had freed me from the expectation of assuming responsibility for their international shipping empire and allowed me to pursue my passion as a journalist. Doing so anonymously had been my decision. I had wanted to make sure I succeeded on my own merit, not because someone owed my parents a favor. It had taken years of scraping by before I landed a junior journalist position at the Terra Haven Chronicle. Now, just when I was starting to get noticed by the editor in chief, my nemesis, Nathan, had taken it upon himself to out me to the world in his front-page article.

“Your real name isn’t even Kylie,” Mika said, her voice soft. “It’s Harriet, isn’t it?”

I flinched. I hated my first name and loathed hearing Mika use it. It had been bad enough to see it printed in the paper. Grayson daughter, Harriet, has been operating seemingly independent of her parents’ business under the alias Kylie Grayson. I would never forget the line—nor forgive Nathan for writing it. The article should have focused solely on the recovery of the missing firebirds and the destruction of Lunacy Labyrinth. However, my parents’ shipping company, Airstrong, had been the business responsible for the firebirds’ transportation. Having the firebirds discovered in the possession of the Airstrong heiress—another deplorable quote from the article—had given Nathan the opening he needed to slander me to the world.

Keeping my voice neutral, I said, “Kylie is my preferred name. My full name is Harriet Kylie Grayson.”

“You used an alias—”

“Not an alias,” I said, hating that Mika was quoting Nathan.

The paper crinkled in her fist. “You lied to me about your name.”

“I didn’t lie—”

“Stop parsing words with me. You lied by omission.” Her words landed between us, the vulnerability in her expression cracking and anger seeping out. “You let me believe you were someone you’re not. What else have you been lying about?”

“Nothing. I swear.” I leaned forward to stand, but she didn’t give me enough room. “I wanted to tell you. I just . . .”

“Let me guess. You couldn’t find the right time in the last half decade.” Mika spun away, pacing in the limited space, stepping over Oliver without seeming to notice the gargoyle. Confined by the tight room, she about-faced and bore down on me. I fumbled for the right words to make her understand, but her glare silenced me. Reversing course, she paced away from me again. Oliver hopped onto the love seat and curled his slender tail out of the way, his wide eyes tracking Mika. He reached a paw out to her when she stomped close but withdrew it when she didn’t acknowledge him.

Golden light bounced across the walls as Quinn dropped from the roof to fill the doorway, worry etching his feline features. Sunlight slanted across the gargoyle’s broad lion shoulders and glinted off his long wings. Quinn’s citrine body sported an alarming number of clear quartz patches, a testament to all the injuries Mika had healed. Navigating the blood-magic ruins of Lunacy Labyrinth had been harder on Quinn than it had been on me, and I resolved not to complain about my own soreness.

Against my will, my gaze dipped to Quinn’s everlasting seed. It hung from a cord around his neck, ugly and brown. Thanks to our adventures in Lunacy, it had evolved into its current shape, though maybe devolved was more appropriate. The original artistic ebony knot of a snake biting its own tail had transformed into a fist-size mess that resembled a muddy, half-melted, half-exploded pinecone. Staring at it made me woozy. Quinn had used his one question to ask the everlasting tree how he could best help me, which was why I tried not to let on how unnerving I found his seed’s new shape. Especially since saving my life had been the catalyst of his seed’s evolution, whereas initiating my seed’s transformation had nearly killed us both, and its current shape pointed toward even greater danger.

A bundle of elements coasted through the open door, drawing my attention from Quinn’s seed. The tight knot of magic curved in the ubiquitous lines of a message sphere, but the magical signature—the texture of structured fire and steady winds underlying the spell—was unmistakably my boss’s. Expecting the sphere to settle into my message bowl, I nearly levitated when it dropped to pop in my face. Editor in Chief Dahlia Bearpaw’s brusque voice spilled out, as loud as if she were standing in the room with us.

“Ms. Grayson. My office. Now. Don’t make me wait.”

My stomach flipped. Nothing good could follow that tone.

“Did she know?” Mika asked.

I shook my head.

“So it’s not just me.” With Quinn filling the balcony doorway, Mika’s pacing space had become confined to a few steps, and she stopped to glower at me with her hands on her hips.

“I understand why you’re mad,” I began.

“Oh really? Please enlighten me, Harriet.”

My teeth clenched, but I forced them apart. “I should have told you, but honestly . . . it wasn’t important.”

“It . . . it wasn’t important?” she sputtered. Her hands twisted the hem of her shirt, her eyes bright. “Because I’m a commoner and it doesn’t matter what I think?”

“That’s not it at all,” I protested. “Mika, please—”

“What is all this to you?” She swept a hand to indicate the cramped apartment, with its secondhand furniture, faded curtains, overflowing hamper, and claustrophobic bathroom. Or maybe she included the entire low-income neighborhood beyond the curtains in her gesture. “Is this some sort of elitist rite of passage? See how long you can slum it? Now you’ll return to your ‘peers’ and regale them with tales of living among the pitiable poor?”

My explanation withered on my tongue. I shoved to my feet and pointed at Mika. “This is the other reason I never said anything! I knew how judgmental you would be.”

“I’m the one to blame for your lies? That’s rich. Very full spectrum of you. I didn’t ask you—”

The house’s wards broke, the magic popping against my eardrums as it shattered. Something heavy crashed into the roof, rattling the whole house. I ducked, my hand flinging out to find Mika’s.

The rafters creaked and popped. Breath held, I stared at the ceiling, straining to see through solid matter. Mika’s fingers clamped a vise around mine. The Victorian’s roof had endured extraordinary strain in the last half year from the weight of five growing gargoyles roosting nightly along its ridges, but their movements never made this kind of racket. These steps sounded wider, more scratchy, like a dragon or a—

“Harpy,” I whispered, my muscles locking in a wave of terror. The stench of sunbaked feces and carrion oozed into the apartment, confirming my words.

Zipporah had found me.

Quinn whimpered. I jerked my gaze from the ceiling.

“Get inside,” I hissed, frantically motioning him forward.

Mika backed up to give Quinn room to squeeze into the apartment, and I half fell over him in my rush to close the door behind him.

How had Zipporah figured out where I lived? Did she know I didn’t have her payment? Was she here to collect anyway? The only item left on the bartering table was my life.

I rubbed sweaty palms down my cotton shorts and glanced around for inspiration—or for an escape. I didn’t fool myself into thinking we were safe inside. The bay windows were cloaked by curtains, disguising our movements, but once Zipporah figured out where I was, those panes would be no barrier against her talons.

“What’s going on?” Mika whispered.

The answer came from above. “Kylie Grayson, show yourself!”

“Where are Anya, Herbert, and Lydia?” I asked Mika, listing Quinn and Oliver’s littermates, who also frequented our rooftop.

“They went to the park before dawn.”

“So no one’s up there?”

Mika shook her head, and I let out a tight breath.

“Why does a harpy know your name, Kylie? What are you mixed up in?”

I bit my lip, debating if we had time for an explanation. “I made a bad decision and—”

“Little girl, I can smell you inside,” Zipporah called. “Come out, or I’m coming in.” She screeched the last words loud enough to echo through the neighborhood. If my landlady hadn’t been woken by the house wards breaking, she was awake now—along with everyone else in a three-block radius.

“We can’t let her find you,” Quinn said.

“I think it’s too late for that.”

“She hasn’t seen you yet.” He nosed me toward the apartment’s front door, which opened onto the upstairs hallway of the Victorian. In a few steps, I could be downstairs, protected by the bulk of the enormous house instead of one thin layer of rafters and shingles. But as much as I longed to flee, I didn’t let him move me.

“Don’t make me wait!” Zipporah shouted. “I’m not in a patient mood.” Claws raked across the roof, the deafening swipe tearing apart shingles and timber. The pictures on my walls rattled and crashed to the floor. I flinched, eyes darting to the ceiling, expecting to see the harpy’s claws puncture the roof. The wood held, but it wouldn’t take much additional abuse before Zipporah burst through.

Grabbing Mika’s shoulders, I gave her a shake so she would focus on me. “Go. Get downstairs and take Oliver and Quinn with you. Make sure everyone stays inside, even Josephine.” I had a horrible vision of our middle-aged landlady rushing up to the roof with a broom and a handful of questionably legal repellent spells, thinking she could chase away a harpy as easily as she did the occasional gang member who thought to cause trouble on our street. Zipporah would flatten her without a second thought.

Mika allowed herself to be pushed a step before she firmed her stance. “What are you going to do? You can’t go out there.”

I couldn’t stay inside either. Zipporah was fully capable of tearing the roof off a house, and even if I was all right with allowing the harpy to destroy my home—my rented home—there was nowhere I could hide that she couldn’t find me. Running was out of the question, too. She was faster, had an aerial advantage, and could brush aside any spell I cast with depressing ease. But most important, I couldn’t allow Zipporah near Mika or the gargoyles. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if they were hurt because of me.

“I’ll get Grant,” Quinn said.

Zipporah tore into the roof again, ripping a chunk free with an earsplitting screech of shattering boards. A shadow flashed past the drawn curtain; then the lumber hit the cobblestones below with a resounding clap.

“There’s no time.” I braced myself and eased open the balcony door.

The foul odor of excrement engulfed me, and I wavered. My debt to Zipporah was straightforward: I acquiesced to a favor of her choosing or I died. At the time I made the foolish bargain, my choices had been the same—owe her or die on the spot. I had envisioned all kinds of frightening requests Zipporah might make, but none came close to her horrifying demand that I bring her the Chiefmaker, a deadly, blood-magic artifact last seen inside Lunacy Labyrinth. She had even gone so far as to toss me into the hellacious ruins. Neither of us had expected me to survive. Yet here I was, empty-handed but alive.

How was I going to convince Zipporah not to kill me?

On watery legs, I crept onto the balcony and peered past the roof awning. The harpy filled the sky, her oily wings spread, every glob and crust of filth caking the undersides of her giant bird body intimately visible from this angle. She faced the opposite direction, one clawed foot braced on the roof’s peak while the other gouged a hole through the shingles.

I pulled a thick ward of earth and air around myself. The magic came easily, enhanced by Oliver and Quinn. The gargoyles’ natural ability to boost the elements in others gave me twice my usual strength, and I added extra layers to my protective ward. It did little to reassure me. Zipporah had proven she could rip through my gargoyle-enhanced wards before, but I couldn’t step outside without at least the illusion of protection. I glanced down at my thin cotton pajamas. I might as well be naked for all the protection they would afford, but I didn’t dare take the time to change.

Quinn squeezed out onto the balcony behind me, and Oliver and Mika stood inside the threshold. Did they not understand how dangerous Zipporah was?

Stay back, I mouthed. I wouldn’t try to stop Quinn—he knew the dangers, and it would take too long to convince him to stay behind—but for once I wished Mika was more of a coward. If she involved herself in this confrontation, she would only get hurt.

Giving Mika one last, stern glare, I vaulted onto the balcony railing, then up to the roof above Mika’s room. The abrasive shingles bit into my bare feet and scraped my palms. I scrambled for the peak of the roof where my footing would be the most stable, every nerve in my body tensed in anticipation of being skewered. A dog barked several houses over, and I caught glimpses of shocked faces pressed to the windows of the nearby homes as hasty wards flashed into place.

Quinn sprang onto the railing, then surged up the roof after me, so close his half-spread wings brushed against my legs. I wanted to order him to fly away for his own safety, but his determined expression stopped me. Instead, I laid a grateful hand atop his shoulders and extended my ward to encompass him.

Mika and Oliver hunkered in the shadows just inside my apartment doorway. Mika mouthed something, but I couldn’t read her lips.

Zipporah hopped in a tight circle, shaking the roof as she turned to face me. I bent my knees for balance, hands splayed as if I could hold her at bay by sheer will.

“How disappointing. I thought you might try to run,” she said before launching toward me. Torn shingles and ripped boards scattered into the air behind her. Snapping her wings wide, Zipporah closed the distance between us in a single flap, her talons splayed before her. I ducked beneath them, clutching the shingles with my fingertips. Her next flap cupped around me as she back-winged, drowning me in noxious fumes. I struggled to rise, stumbling when she added an elemental enhancement to the buffet of her wings.

Quinn caught me, a sturdy stone wing supporting me until I regained my balance. I glanced over my shoulder. The drop-off to the street two and a half stories below yawned behind Quinn’s back foot, one meager misstep away.

Cackling, Zipporah landed, crowding me with her filthy body as she folded her wings loosely against her back. The movement thrust her flaccid human breasts toward me, the skin mottled with sun spots and puckered with permanent gooseflesh above the brown feathers of her abdomen. We were almost matched in height, but she effortlessly loomed.

“Here you are. Alive.” Zipporah shoved her face into mine.

I fought against the instinct to retreat. I had nowhere to go. Instead, I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin, attempting to project courage and pretend my knees weren’t quivering. Up close, Zipporah’s features looked less human than ever. Grime crusted the wrinkles etched in her bald forehead, around her yellow eyes, and down her hollow cheeks. Spindly feathers matted the rounded crown of her leathery head, giving the impression of oily hair, and her nose jutted like a misplaced beak above her lipless mouth.

“Which makes me wonder,” she hissed, revealing razor-edged teeth caked with gore, “where is my bloodstone? Where is the Chiefmaker?”

I choked on her exhale, my eyes watering at the olfactory assault.

“I was—” I coughed, struggling for a breath without actually inhaling. “I was unable to find it before the firebirds destroyed the ruins.”

That wasn’t precisely true, but even if the Chiefmaker hadn’t been destroyed, I would never have handed it over to the harpy. The bloodstone had granted the user complete control over anyone with blood running through their veins. I had been helpless against it when it had been used against me, and when I had held it . . . The power the stone had offered would haunt my nightmares for years to come. If someone as immoral as Zipporah had gotten the Chiefmaker in her clutches, she could have wreaked unfathomable devastation.

Zipporah cocked her head left, then right, as if trying to decide if I was telling the truth—or perhaps to decide which piece of me to eat first. “Isn’t that unfortunate for you. Or do I have to remind you of the consequence of coming back without my bloodstone?”

Ice crystallized down my spine. “I did my best. In fact”—I summoned the paltry argument I had pieced together last night in anticipation of this confrontation—“I searched as long as I could, until I was forced out when the ruins collapsed. I did everything you instructed.”

Zipporah’s eyes narrowed, her nostrils flaring and her wings flexing. Quinn’s wing dug into my hip as I shrank away from her fury.

Licking my lips, I rushed to get the rest of my words out. “Beldame Zipporah, our deal was that I owed you a favor. You called on that favor when you sent me into Lunacy Labyrinth. I went; therefore, I am no longer in your debt.”

Zipporah’s foot shot forward too fast to avoid, her steely talons knocking Quinn aside as if he weighed nothing. The gargoyle tumbled helplessly off the roof. I yelled his name, shoving a brace of air beneath him. It wasn’t enough to stop his plummet, but it slowed him. Quinn’s wings snapped open, and he flapped heavily to regain altitude. By then, it was too late: Zipporah’s claws encased me.

Effortlessly, she crushed my ward. The broken elements snapped back into me. My vision tunneled, pain bowing my body. Zipporah squeezed, grinding my ribs together, robbing me of oxygen. Mika hurled a blade of earth magic at the harpy, but Zipporah shattered it with a negligent slice of wood, then used a punch of air to toss Mika and Oliver deeper into my apartment. A second later, the harpy’s magic slammed the door shut and fused it in place.

Zipporah lifted me until I dangled inches above the rooftop. Lungs burning, I clutched her filthy toes, each larger than my thighs, straining to get free. I might as well have tried to straighten an oak’s branches with my bare hands.

“Our deal was your life for a debt,” Zipporah said. “I see no debt paid, which leaves only your life as payment.”

Quinn dove from above, an arrow of golden quartz. Zipporah bludgeoned him with a club of air, and he tumbled into the ruined roof above my apartment.

“Don’t hurt him,” I wheezed. I would have begged Quinn to stand down if I could have projected my voice that far. Air scraped down my throat in painful rasps, coated in Zipporah’s putrescence. Black flecks danced at the edges of my vision. “Give me another chance.”

Zipporah tipped me, dangling me higher above the sloped roof. If she dropped me, I wouldn’t have time to catch myself before tumbling to the hard cobblestones far, far below. I stopped struggling and twisted to meet her rapacious gaze. The angle exposed my neck, and her hungry eyes sliced to my visible, pounding pulse.

“Please, one more chance. I won’t let you down again,” I babbled.

She relaxed her grip. I screamed as I dropped half a foot before she clutched her talons around me again.

“One more chance?” Zipporah unfurled a wing, exposing the bony digits that protruded from the alula like a deformed skeletal hand. Fanning the fingers, she drew a clawed tip through my hair, catching a snarl and cutting through it with a sharp tug. A clump of my pale hair drifted to the rooftop. Dread caused goose bumps to break across my scalp. I trembled helplessly as Zipporah drew the digit down the side of my face, scratching lightly into my jaw, then more heavily down my throat. An involuntary hiss escaped my lips at the white-hot pain that followed in the claw’s wake.

“For all I know, you’re lying to me about finding the Chiefmaker. I’m not inclined to be lenient.”

“I’m not lying to you. I swear the Chiefmaker was destroyed.”

“You sound awfully certain for a woman who claims she didn’t find the bloodstone.” Zipporah’s cadaverous fingers squeezed my throat, and I fought not to swallow, afraid I would puncture myself if I did.

“The firebirds,” I rasped.

“Yes, the firebirds,” Zipporah agreed with a foul sigh that drew bile up the back of my constricted throat.

Sweat trickled down my temple. I wracked my brain for a spell—any spell—that I could use against the harpy. Quinn and Oliver still boosted my magic, but it was no use. With their help, I might be able to fashion an elemental weapon powerful enough to hurt Zipporah, but I would never be able to complete an attack before she slit my throat.

“Few are stupid enough to disappoint me. No one has lived to do so twice,” Zipporah said, stroking her bony claws down my neck again, lighter this time, the scratches chasing shivers down my body. She observed my reaction with unblinking eyes.

In my peripheral vision, Quinn struggled to stand, but Zipporah held him pinned to the mangled roof above my apartment with a sheet of air. She had used the trick on him before, and we both knew he wouldn’t be escaping until she let him.

“I can be useful.” I hated the words coming out of my mouth as much as I despised my pleading tone, but I had no choice if I wanted to live.

“We’ll see about that.” Zipporah dropped me.

I plummeted to the roof and slid. The drop-off rushed toward me, and I scrambled for purchase on the steep incline. Fiery pain flared in my hands, knees, and feet, but I managed to claw to a stop with my toes curled into the shingles inches from the edge. Heart pounding, I shoved to my hands and knees, craning my head to look up at Zipporah.

She remained at the peak of the roof, studying me indifferently. Shouts echoed from farther up the street, and Zipporah’s head swiveled toward the commotion. Distaste twisted her expression. She hopped to the edge of the roof, shaking the house beneath her. I curled my toes and fingers into the rough shingles, wishing I had a solid handhold.

“I always collect my debts, and yours just got more expensive,” she promised. “See you soon, Kylie Grayson.”

The gusts of Zipporah’s departure rocked me, but it was the full import of her words that caused my arms to collapse. I rolled to my side and stared blindly after the harpy.

One way or another, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be free of my debt to her until I was dead.

***

Read the entire novel on May 18. Add Headlines & Hydras to your to-read shelf, the preorder it here: https://books2read.com/HeadlinesHydras

Win a signed copy of Leads & Lynxes!



Happy March! 

I am wildly excited: I just finished the first draft of book 3 of Kylie's trilogy!

To celebrate, I ran two victory laps through the house, making excited-crowd noises and flailing my arms above my head.

Sass and Buck watched from my office with wide eyes, not sure if they were supposed to run from some invisible monster or if I was the monster. Ha!

Wait, you say. Book three? I thought book two was coming out in May?

You're right. Unlike many authors I am jealous of admire, I have yet to write a book and release it a month later.

I'll be spending the next couple months editing all 108,000 words of this behemoth into shape.

But first, I took a 3-day weekend.

I planned to do nothing writing-related whatsoever...and then I unintentionally plotted out half a new series when I was attempting to fall asleep the first night. LOL 

But that's far in the future. For the here and now, I'm keeping this newsletter short, because I'm eager to get back to my book. Keep scrolling for:

*info on how to win a signed paperback copy of Leads & Lynxes
*free books
*an update on Headlines & Hydras, book 2 of the Terra Haven Chronicles

Happy Reading,
Rebecca



p.s. Buck stretched, then fell asleep in this awkward pose. Even though he looks like he's almost grown, moments like this remind me he's still very much a kitten.

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Win a Signed Copy of Leads & Lynxes



I'm running a Goodreads giveaway for THREE signed copies of Leads & Lynxes.

Entering is simple:

Follow this link
Click "Enter Giveaway"

If you win, I'll ship you a signed book! Easy-peasy!

Giveaway open to US addresses only. Ends March 17.

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Free Books & Deals

As always, I'm taking part in a few fantasy collections of free and discount books. Grab whatever sounds good, but be sure to do it before the collection vanishes.

Out of This World (ends March 15)

Some links will take you to a sales page; double-check the price of the book before you download.

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Headlines & Hydras Update



After the developments between Kylie and Grant in Leads & Lynxes, are you eager to see what happens to their relationship in book 2?

How about a peek?

Grant dropped to his knees in front of me, heedless of his pristine uniform. Something savage glimmered in his eyes, and I froze, my lips parted but my words forgotten. With a featherlight touch, he traced one blunt finger down the side of my face, brushing aside a snarl of dirty hair. Then he cupped my cheek in his callused palm. I drew in a shallow breath, mesmerized by the tenderness of his touch so at odds with his fierce expression.

Find out what happens between Kylie and Grant in Headlines & Hydras, Terra Haven Chronicles Book 2! Release date: May 18, 2021.

Preorder your copy of Headlines & Hydras today.

In the meantime, catch up on the series.

Book 0.5: Deadlines & Dryads (free)
Book 1: Leads & Lynxes

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Sass likes to sleep nestled against my stomach and fuzzy sweaters. It's so cute! Shortly after I took this photo, she woke up and sleepily booped me on the nose with the soft pad of her paw, then nodded off again.

This cat has stolen my heart!

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. Don't forget to enter to win a signed copy of Leads & Lynxes!

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Drum roll, please...

The wait is over.

Leads & Lynxes is now available as an audiobook!

Start listening immediately! CLICK HERE



From the moment Kylie almost sat on baby gargoyle Herbert in Magic of the Gargoyles, I've known what I wanted her to sound like: clear, chipper, and melodic, like a Disney princess.

Cindy Kay has the exact sound I envisioned, and I'm so excited that my publisher agreed to use her as the narrator.

Even better: Cindy Kay will be narrating all three books in the trilogy! 

(I dance in my chair every time I think about this.)

You can pick up your copy of Leads & Lynxes at your favorite audio retailer today, including:

Kobo  
Google Play  
Audible 
Amazon
Nook Audiobooks
Apple Books 
Overdrive 
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Book Giveaway & More

February 14 is well known for being Valentine's Day. It's also National Organ Donor Day (this amuses me to no end and makes me think of zombie love stories).

I recently learned February 14 is also International Book Giving Day. 

In that spirit, I have a signed book giveaway for you as well as book recommendations and links to free books. Keep on scrolling!

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

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Signed Print Giveaway of LEADS & LYNXES



Enter to win 1 of 3 signed copies of Leads & Lynxes! Entering is as easy as clicking a button! :)
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Book Recommendations

I've read 4 spectacular books so far in 2021 that I think you'll enjoy, too. I reviewed them here on Goodreads, but in case you missed it, here they are again in no particular order:

1. Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews. This fantasy was everything I love about Andrews: fast pacing, dynamic characters, heart, humor, so many problems thrust in the main character's path, and an insane amount of magic and world building. So good!

2. Hounded by Kevin Hearne. A fantastically paced urban fantasy. I loved the characters, the magic, the world building, and the humor, but I especially enjoyed Oberon, the main character's dog, who speaks telepathically.

3. All Systems Red by Martha Wells. A short sci-fi featuring a murderbot android as the protagonist (it's not a horror story). I wish I had written this book! I just realized there are 5 more in this series, and they've been bumped to the top of my TBR queue.

4. The Mythic Dreams by a bunch of authors. A collection of short stories that interpret ancient myths through a present-day or futuristic setting. All these authors are skilled at building entire worlds in a few pages. Pick this book up. You'll find something you enjoy.
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Free Books & Deals

As always, I'm taking part in a few fantasy collections of free and discount books. Grab whatever sounds good, but be sure to do it before the collection vanishes.

*Science Fiction & Fantasy Mega Promo (ends Feb 21)
*Fantasy Giveaway (ends Feb 28)
*Out of This World (ends March 15)

Some links will take you to a sales page; double-check the price of the book before you download.
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Headlines & Hydras Update

What's next for Kylie and Quinn? After their near-death adventures in Leads & Lynxes, I thought I should give them a break...

Then I laughed and laughed.



This excerpt is a good example of what's in store for Kylie:

Zipporah formed a pincher of air, seized my head, and bashed it into the ground. Pain cleaved my skull.

I fumbled for the elements, but they slipped through my grasp. My heart pounded erratically, my vision blurring. Words. I needed to speak up, to convince her to keep me alive. But when I opened my mouth, nothing but a pained whimper came out.

A lion’s roar split the air seconds before a golden blur shot through the sky behind Zipporah’s head. The harpy jerked upright, flapping sideways. Her attention slipped, and the air binding me fractured. I rolled away from her. Shoving to my feet, I ran for the nearest oak tree, hobbled by the skirt knotted around my calves.

“Quinn!” The elements hung as flimsy as wet paper in my grasp. I needed his enhancement.

A club of earth smashed into my temple. A gong reverberated inside my skull. My knees folded, and I pitched forward, instinct preventing me from face-planting. Panting, I crawled on hands and knees until I faced Zipporah, dropping a weak defensive ward over my huddled body, for all the good it would do me. What was stopping Quinn from boosting me? Was he hurt?

© Rebecca Chastain

Will Quinn get to Kylie in time? Find out in Headlines & Hydras, Terra Haven Chronicles Book 2! Release date: May 18, 2021.

Preorder your copy of Headlines & Hydras today.

In the meantime, catch up on the series.

Book 0.5: Deadlines & Dryads (free)
Book 1: Leads & Lynxes
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Sass fell asleep mid-bath. It was really hard to resist her belly! 

A special note for Australian readers: the Gargoyle Guardian Chronicles Books 1-3 is a Kindle Deal in your country for the month of February. Pick up the box set for only $1.49 on Amazon.com.au (normally $11.99). 

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. Don't forget to grab your copy of Leads & Lynxes audiobook! :)
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Happy February,

Last post, I asked for your feedback on the print vs. ebook debate, and I was blown away by the number of email responses! Thank you to everyone who shared their strategies and reading preferences.

Books are important to us. They supply adventure and give us thrilling emotional journeys.

They transport us to magical locales within the pages and also to the time and place we purchased the book or were gifted it.

We (and I feel comfortable including you in this statement) have complicated relationships with our books.

Which is why I thought it worth a second look at the bookcase dilemma. Thus...

In this post: 

* I've got exciting audiobook news (as you might have guessed from the eye-popping banner)
* fellow reader's responses and strategies for transitioning from print to ebooks (or not, as the case may be)
* free books
* a Headlines & Hydras update

Happy Reading,
Rebecca



p.s. Look how high I had to move the one plant in my office! Sassafras's pogo-stick legs have grown enough for her to tear leaves off plants atop my bookcase. She's obsessed, too, and wonderfully/dreadfully smart. Check out how she's plotting her next attack angle! 

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Leads & Lynxes Audiobook!



Leads & Lynxes hits audiobook shelves on February 16! 

Preorder your copy today!     

Amazon
Audible
Google Play
Kobo
Overdrive

(coming soon to Apple Books and Hoopla)

I'm so excited to have Cindy Kay as the narrator for Leads & Lynxes and the entire Terra Haven Chronicles trilogy. 

Cindy has a clear, crisp voice, just as I always imagined Kylie to sound. I'm in love!

Listen to the sample for yourself HERE.

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Print vs. eBooks, Your Responses

I received so many helpful strategies and insights (via email) into your reading habits. It was wonderful!

Many factors played into your responses and influence your reading habits:

* health (eye strain or arthritis)
* sleep needs (blue light is the enemy or the soft light of an ereader is soothing)
* convenience (instant gratification of ebooks or easily finding a print book on your shelf)
* the reading experience (the tactile pleasure of a print book or the lightweight ease of an ereader)
* the risk to book collections (digital book providers going out of business or pipes bursting)
* author love (favorites got the prime bookcase real estate)
* genre (everyone agrees reference books are easier to use in print)
* price (ebooks deals or used books found for pennies)

A great many people who responded are wrestling with the same issue that prompted this discussion: What should be done with all the print books we own?

Here's what people suggested:

Strategies for Print Books and Their Bookcases

Print lovers urged me not to get rid of any books and instead to buy more bookcases. LOL

For aesthetics, more than one person suggested storing the bulk of my books somewhere out of sight (the basement, in cupboards, in closets), and displaying my prized books more artistically on my shelves.

The most creative suggestion that I loved was to make a point of adding one or two new print books a year, but to shift the books around periodically so they could sit next to new friends. That solves the stagnant-energy problem!

The most common strategy was to replace print books with ebooks before getting rid of the print copies.

The Winning Strategy

The best strategy (for me) was a combination of all of the above (which also happens to be the second-most popular strategy): keep only the print books that have an emotional resonance or aren’t available as ebooks, then replace the rest as ebooks if I ever have the urge to reread them.

This gives me the best of all worlds: more space on the shelves for art, my favorite books visible, and a test run for going completely digital.

But Wait, There’s One More Dilemma

No one brought up the secondary issue that plagues me: a print book collection feels like an accomplishment and a happy hobby; an ebook collection feels like a heartless filing system.

I’m still wrestling with that one and probably will for a long time.

Thank you again to everyone who responded. It was helpful and so much fun to talk books with you!

If you would like to provide me with some bookcase inspiration or to continue the conversation, check out this Facebook post. I would love to see your shelves!

_____________________________________________________
Free Books & Deals

As always, I'm taking part in a few fantasy collections of free and discount books. Grab whatever sounds good, but be sure to do it before the collection vanishes.

*Fantasy and Sci-Fi Giveaway (ends Feb 15)
*Fantasy Giveaway (ends Feb 28)

Some links will take you to a sales page; double-check the price of the book before you download.

_____________________________________________________
Headlines & Hydras Update

Kylie's quest for the story of a lifetime gets personal—and deadly—in Headlines & Hydras, the exciting sequel to Leads & Lynxes.



Book two of the Terra Haven Chronicles is a mere 3.5 months away!

Preorder your copy of Headlines & Hydras today: https://books2read.com/HeadlinesHydras

In the meantime, catch up on the series.

Book 0.5: Deadlines & Dryads (free)
Book 1: Leads & Lynxes

_____________________________________________________


Buck took a good minute to find the exact right sleeping position. Somehow, this was it! LOL He slept with his nose pressed to my desk for at least a half hour. 

Thank you again to everyone who helped me work through my bookcase dilemma. I love talking books, and it was fun to get a peek into your book world!

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

p.s. Don't forget to check out Kylie's new voice! Listen here!

_____________________________________________________
If you would enjoy this content delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter. You'll also receive 2 free books, behind-the-scenes information, giveaway notifications, and so much more. Sign up here.