Love, Life and Freedom Volume V: It Is Almost Too Late, Ney Dr Philip Gordon

Nerine, a sea nymph of the ancient world, knows too much about both.

Each morning, in the chill before the sun's rising, Nerine and the three Fates stand under the mighty branches of the World Tree, gazing into the depths of the root-girdled Well of Destiny to master the dooms they must bring to life that day.

When the dawn's visions show Nerine's lover - shipwrecked and drowning - all her renounced yearning for him rises anew.

Surely, as handmaiden to the Fates themselves, she might tilt the odds to give her beloved a chance.

Somehow - this day, this morning, this time - Nerine must subvert destiny or lose the companion of her heart forever.

Love and coming of age in a mythic Mediterranean where the gods and goddesses of old shape history.

EXCERPT FROM FATE'S DOOR

Nerine served all three norns as handmaiden. And Nerine would choose the new materials required for this day's weaving.

She would need pale peach for the baby born to a king, blood red for abattle between Sparta and Athens, gold for a hero's bright deed. And ifshe failed to watch the images unfolding in the Well of Destiny, shewould not know the other threads to choose for the day's work.

She had to know.

So Nerine watched, but her heart ached, and memories from her past overlaid the flowing images on the waters of the well.

Altairos as a curly black-haired boy, laughing, his eyes crinkling in that way that only he had.

Altairos as a gangly youth, earnest and passionate, reciting poetry to her.

Altairos as a young man, strong and sure, pressing a first kiss upon her willing lips.

Who but she would lay out the symbols of his death? She, the handmaiden of the fates. She couldn't bear it - to lose him so.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains.She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.

A worship made taboo half a millennium ago. Performed still in secret by a few. Quietly tolerated by the king.

Until madness took him, there beside the stone well on the grassy hillside of the castle's outer bailey.

As the king's mind unravels into violence, no one near him remains safe, not even his best beloved. Especially not his best beloved.

Worse, Remeya believes King Xavo's insanity arose from her own mistake. Because she said yes, instead of no.

When life itself hangs in the balance, putting wrong to right is surely past praying for. Or is it?

Epic fantasy in which old beliefs and old loyalties clash with hidden magic in the Middle Ages of J.M. Ney-Grimm's god-touched North-lands.

EXCERPT FROM HUNTING WILD

The pebbles of the underground stream bed dug into the soles of her feet, and the chill of the shallow water numbed her toes.

The rough surface of the ceiling sloped down, scraping her back, forcing her to bend, to crouch, to curl enough that she caught her balance with her hands in the wet.

The light faded swiftly. Had she gone far enough?

She paused, eyes adjusting.

The glimmering ripples of the spring's source cast dim flickers against the rocks pressing her down.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains.She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.

On fabled Navarys - the Atlantis of the North-lands - Liliyah studies energea as all thirteen-year-olds do, devoting her mornings to mastering the music that controls her magic. Afternoons, she hobnobs with the artisan crafters and shopkeepers who built the island city-state into the trade capital of the world.

Her friend Mago faces struggles unsuspected by carefree Liliyah. His father, a renowned inventor, succumbs to irrational flashes of rage. His mother holds a lethal secret close.

When the king's geomancer announces that a tidal wave threatens Navarys, every citizen on the island springs to action. Amidst the uproar, the aeromancer Palujon steals Mago's father's latest invention: unique lodestones with the potential to revolutionize life as the Navareans know it.

Mago vows to make good his father's loss. But Liliyah questions Palujon's motives. Why would a man of his stature break the law? Is he truly a dastard?

Two friends. Two answers. Life and death hang on their choices.

PRAISE FOR J.M. NEY-GRIMM

..".a coming-of-age story with elements of Steampunk make it a great tale for fantasy enthusiasts of all ages." - D.J. Gelner, Amazon review of Troll-magic

"I loved this story It is lively, perky and interesting." - W. Walsh, Amazon review of The Troll's Belt

"J.M. Ney-Grimm is a master of epic fantasy], and I've been a fan of her work since the first paragraph I read..." - James J. Parsons, Speaking to the Eyes review of Sarvet's Wanderyar

"Her work compares favorably with Robin McKinley and Patricia McKillip ...I'm really pleased to have discovered her " - Mira, Amazon review of Troll-magic

EXCERPT FROM SKIES OF NAVARYS

The tale is usually told with the great Palujon Clisto as rogue and thief, and the legendary Zandro Mytris as hero and savior. But one mother of ancient Navarys knows the truth.

She was there on the fabulous airship Subindo, the only one of the fleet to ride untouched through the storm.

* * *

Liliyah clutched the back of the divan where she knelt, bounced once, and pressed her face to the slanted window pane of the airship. The glass felt cool against her nose tip.

"Look Look " she exclaimed. "It's Eirene Going to the park."

"How can you tell?" Mago's shoulder nudged hers as he peered downward. "We're way too high to tell who's who."

"She always goes now. Besides, I just know. It is her."

Why did Mago have to doubt everything? He'd been nicer when they were younger. Now it was always "are you sure?" and "why do you think that?" and never just taking her say so. Liliyah gritted her teeth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.

Almost as much as he loves playing pranks.

But when Earth's guardian Gaia bids Mercurio to organize a circus act for Sol's birthday celebration, the joke's on him.

While Mercurio wangles his way around the captious refusals of his would-be stilt-walkers and clowns-"No, no, and no "-the somber guardian of Pluto plots a darker scheme.

With the subtle delight, clever misdirection, and teasing wordplay that Mercurio himself enjoys, J.M. Ney-Grimm tells a tale of steeply rising stakes in a clockwork solar system ruled by the gods of ancient Rome.

PRAISE FOR J.M. NEY-GRIMM

"It's no secret...that I have favourite writers. J.M. Ney-Grimm is one of them, and with good reason-her writing style is unique, and engrossing." -James J. Parsons, Speaking to the Eyes

..".Ney-Grimm paints a vivid, lush picture worthy of the Peter Jackson treatment." -D.J. Gelner

..".the world depicted is magical, but the people are very real." -M.A. Dunn

"Her work compares favorably with Robin McKinley and Patricia McKillip ...I'm really pleased to have discovered her " -Mira

EXCERPT FROM DEVOURING LIGHT

Draco loomed large, reptilian, and uncooperative in the center of his refuge. His tails cracked, emphasizing his displeasure.

"Would she let me devour her, younger cousin?" he asked, a sly note edging his harsh tones.

Mercurio slipped on a spill of star dust, swallowed complaint, and sprang upward. Might as well spread his sandal wings. He maneuvered away from Draco's twitching tails toward the dragon's face.

Draco yawned.

A miasma of burning cold belched from his gullet.

Ah Not directly in front then. Right.

Draco snickered, and Mercurio shuddered. A blast furnace opening its maw, that's what it sounded like, despite its chill.

"I don't need your blandishments to coax Juno. I've blandishments of my own," Draco remarked.

Too true. But surely Mercurio possessed something Draco wanted. "Name your price " he blurted. Uh, oh. That was a mistake. Cronos only knew what the dragon might come up with. And once he settled on something, he wouldn't take anything else.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands. Look for her novels and novellas at your favorite bookstore-online or on Main Street.