Where Dragons Are Captured

 

 

How much would you wager to save a dragon?

Your safety, your friends, your people?

How about your life?

Where Dragons Are Captured

Where Dragons Are Book 1

by Fran Zuid

Genre: Epic Grimdark Dragon Fantasy Adventure

How much would you wager to save a dragon? Your safety, your friends, your people? How about your life?

Skye, an alitur—elf as the small-minded humans would degrade her—is a gambler hiding in the skin of her enemy to escape capture, her past and her true identity.

However, her fragile safety shatters when she's caught cheating. Thrown into the corrupt world of gambling, where animals and creatures are pitted against one another for sport, Skye witnesses something she thought long extinct: dragons.

Determined to save and connect with the dragons, Skye is drawn into a web of deceit, loyalty, and love, impelling her to face her past and reclaim her heritage.

With unlikely allies, Skye must confront the soul-devouring priestesses and their ruthless general, One-Eye-Nic, before the last dragons—and her own soul—are lost forever.

This is an enthralling tale of lies, rebellion, and the price of freedom…

**NEW RELEASE!**

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The girl showed up with their tankards and a jug of homebrew. The man’s attention went straight to her cleavage. The hairy man pinched her behind for good measure before tipping her. Skye used the distraction to nick a card from the pack, a prince, hiding it in her coat sleeve. She waited for the girl to leave before dealing. The cards were soft, faded, and stained from nights of gambling.

Skye watched the three players as they scrutinized their cards. ‘Stupid’ smiled, Sid’s left eye twitched. The hairy man downed his tankard of homebrew.

Skye looked at her cards, she had two of pawns and a prince. On the table were a five and a seven of shields, a castle, and a three of pawns. Skye wasn’t sure what ‘Stupid’ thought he had, but Skye was pretty sure Sid had a castle, giving him the highest pair from the table.

Skye’s attention turned to the hairy man. The more she watched him, the more he seemed a ‘Stupid’ and in that case, no threat to Skye. He was only lucky with the previous hand.

Skye had the winning hand if she switched her two of pawns for the prince in her sleeve. ‘Stupid’ started the bets, throwing half his coin in, four silvers. Sid saw the bet and the hairy man added a silver.

She didn’t want to chase away Sid, so she also raised with only a silver coin. Keep it modest, keep it moving.

As the bets evened out around the table, Skye shifted her weight slightly and slid one hand under the edge of her sleeve. A quiet motion, a simple flick. She switched her cards—replacing a dud with a prince. Now she had two.

But just as her fingertips closed over the edge of the second card, a hand clamped down on her shoulder.

Steel. Not touch. Not pressure. Just steel.

“That is enough. We know what you are,” a male voice said. “Good call, Jim, you will get your reward. And you,” the man’s grip tightened slightly, “Finn Skylar, just won yourself a meeting with the gambler’s guild.”

Her heart jumped. Breath caught halfway up her throat. The hairy man had a smug cat-smile. He’d caught his mouse.

Her gut twisted. A setup. She should’ve seen it. Should’ve felt it. No wonder he was unreadable—he wasn’t here to play. He was here for her. Cold flooded her limbs.

What did they know? That she was a cheater? A woman? An alitur?

Or all three?

She relaxed her face into neutrality, but her mind raced. Could she run? No. Not yet. Too many eyes, too close to the table. No one had drawn steel, which meant they still wanted her alive—questioned, not killed. Yet.

“What? You have nothing to say?” the hairy man–Jim–said. He leaned over and took Skye’s tankard of homebrew and downed it. “Cheers.”

Skye didn’t answer. She reached down, slow and measured, and picked her tricorne up off the floor. Her hat was just fabric—but it made her feel armed. Steady. Like herself.

She rose to her feet.

“I don’t know what this guy told you,” Skye gestured towards Jim, “but I didn’t cheat. I haven’t seen him before in my life.” She truly hoped that was the only reason they were confronting her.

The house-muscle behind Skye chuckled, or that was what she assumed the rumbling noise was.

“We have been watching, and you have an appointment with the gambling guild.”

“No one told me,” Skye said with a shrug.

“I did. Just now.”

Skye looked over her shoulder at the house-muscle looming over her. Tall. Broad shoulders. A scar cut down his right temple, hugging the cheekbone like a crack in old stone. His stance was heavy, but not rooted. A bit off balance. Good.

The short one would be slower, maybe better in a brawl, but easy to outmaneuver. The tall one could be clumsy. The real problem was her coat—it would get in the way if she had to move fast. If she had to fight.

But—

She ran through options. Surrender. Fight. Flee. None was good. She shifted her weight, breath held shallow in her chest.

“Where is this meeting?” Skye asked.

“At the boss’s office, at the pits,” the tall one answered.

Skye scanned the room. No escape. Everyone watched. Waited. Sid had crushed his cards in his hands. Only Jim kept drinking, he found his entertainment for the night.

“I don’t go to the pits,” Skye said.

The tall one rumbled again from behind, “I don’t care, you are going.”

The room inhaled.

Jim smirked at Skye and lifted his tankard off the table. With a flick and a flash of her hand, a knife plunged into Jim’s eye.

Gasps.

The cup fell, and Jim followed. 

Fran Zuid lives in a village on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, with two dogs and four parrots (her personal dragons, without the fire-breathing part—which is a bonus). If she is not submerged in a creative fantasy world, or playing old games, she is fiddling in her garden, sipping wine at a vineyard or conquering a hiking trail somewhere—that is, if her “dragons” allow it.

Where Dragons Are Captured is her debut novel.

 

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False Connections

 

 

She's ex-MI5.

MI5 wants her dead.

Who can she trust?

False Connections

by Steve Sheppard

Genre: Thriller, Action

"Thriller addicts won't be disappointed"
"Steve Sheppard has created another great character in Mel Milano."

Three years ago, Mel Milano was an MI5 intelligence officer with a promising career. Then, during a routine protection and surveillance operation in Wales, things went drastically wrong and three people died, including Mel’s partner and fiancé, Liam Webster.

Drummed out of the service on trumped-up charges by MI5 Deputy Director, Sarah Brook, Mel lost her career, her self-respect, her confidence and her fiancé. Nothing made sense.

Three years on, she is rebuilding her life, working for a private security outfit.
But she’s never forgiven the way she was dumped by MI5. One day she’ll discover the truth about Brook and what was really going on.

Now, though, it’s clear that Mel’s not the only one still holding a grudge. Suddenly everybody seems to want her dead. But why?

On the run from MI5, is there anyone Mel can trust to help her uncover the past?

 

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The door opens noisily, bringing with it a gust of chilly air. I turn on my stool, expecting to see Adam. I’m formulating some sort of suitably sarcastic barb. It’s not Adam, however. Instead, two men have entered. Strangers. Adam once said he found it odd that so many people he didn’t know came to The Crown but the place is his choice and I don’t come here so often that I’m going to know all the regulars. I look away from the new arrivals but immediately feel a tap on my shoulder. I’m never happy when strange men think they have the right to touch me and I tense, my hand gripping the whiskey glass slightly more tightly.

Still, it isn’t the time and place to make a scene so I relax again and look at the man who’s tapped me on the shoulder. He’s about forty, similar height to me, dark suit and tie, blond hair trimmed to within an inch of its life, and he’s holding a warrant card. I may not know all the regulars of The Crown but I thought I knew all the local coppers. There aren’t many and I’ve had dealings with most of them during the past year, one way or another. This guy is not an East Hampshire plod though. Behind him and to one side, his colleague, younger, bigger, also fair-haired, is staring at me with tight little eyes. A bully’s eyes. He looks like he’s itching for a fight. In other circumstances, I might have been happy to oblige but Kaylee had clearly been round the bar with a cloth and cleanser before opening and I wouldn’t want to bloody her handiwork. Nor would the subsequent paperwork have appealed.

Detective Sergeant Aaron Walcott, I read on the warrant card. Metropolitan Police. He’s off his patch. He says nothing so I say nothing right back at him. It’s definitely up to Walcott to start the conversational ball rolling so I pick up my glass and drain it. I don’t want to waste any bourbon if this plays out as I’m beginning to think it might.

Eventually he speaks. Maybe he was rehearsing his lines. ‘Miss Melanie Marie Milano?’ he says.

 

Steve Sheppard was born and grew up in Surrey before moving to Buckinghamshire and then to Oxfordshire, where he spent a quarter of a century living in an idiosyncratic village that was the affectionate inspiration for his fourth book, Lazytown. He now lives in Hampshire. He spent forty years starting to write books but not finishing them, until belatedly realising that the key is not to give up. The other thing he has since learned is that he should have become a celebrity before writing a book, as this would have made selling it much easier. 

 False Connections is Steve’s fifth book, but the first one written as a straight thriller and not primarily as a comedy, although it does contain humour. He hopes it will be the first of a series featuring feisty, funny but flawed ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano. He also has three spy thrillers with laughs to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot (2019), set in Australia, Bored to Death in the Baltics (2021), not set in Australia, and Poor Table Manners (2024), which takes place in Cape Town.  These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be. Steve’s fourth book is an out-and-out comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown (2025).

  

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Nikki Ash has a NEW small town romance series coming! And the first book will be releasing later THIS YEAR!

 

Nikki Ash has a NEW small town romance series coming! And the first book will be releasing later THIS YEAR! 

Wilde Love is a 4 book series with interconnected standalones, starting with Forsaken Vows, which will be releasing November 12th.

If you read Exposed Ink, Forsaken Vows is TAYLOR’S BOOK! And Casey, her best friend also has a book! 

You can preorder the first two books in the series and Nikki will be back after the release of Secret Seduction to share the tropes and COVERS (yes, plural) for Forsaken Vows with you! And, as always, the audio books will release on the same day as the ebook.

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6JYTHSV

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H6JYTHSV

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0H6JYTHSV

Please note: While Exposed Ink is part of the Imperfect Love series, this series is NOT part of it or an extension of it. This is an entirely brand new series and you do not have to have read any books prior to reading this series. Of course, if you want to meet Taylor and Casey, you can find them in Exposed Ink: a firefighter single dad, tattoo artist romance, which can be read as a complete standalone. 

Influencers: If you would like to participate in this series, you can check out the Forsaken Vows interest form here: https://forms.gle/PQTFdk6zyp9Po948A

The Hera-Zeta Chronicles

 

 

The only freedom of man is the freedom of thought. 

That is how human evolution is possible. 

Evolution of a man is the development of power and possibilities 

which never develop by themselves.

The Hera-Zeta Chronicles:

As Above So Below

by Zsa Zsa Tudos

Genre: SciFi Fantasy, Extraterrestrial Time Travel

Somewhere between galaxies, soul contracts, and the quiet chaos of human emotion, the book casually decided to rearrange your entire understanding of reality. Rude. Brilliant. Slightly illegal.

The Hera-Zeta Chronicles: As Above So Below doesn’t just tell a story, it initiates the reader. There’s something deeply precise about the way Zeta’s earthly path intertwines with Hera’s galactic mission, like it is not just a fiction, but it is decoding something ancient and quietly slipping it into the reader’s consciousness. The dynamic between dimensions, the Alpha & Omega Council, the 12 Magi… it all feels expansive without losing emotional gravity. And then it is anchored in something so human: behaviour, struggle, longing, connection.

The story embraces millions of Earthly years in cosmic interrelations emphasising the roles of earthlings in the Great Matrix and the cycle of nature. It is not only a book but an initiation of the readers, that can truly highjack their mind and clear misconceptions chiselled in by hundreds of years of conscious brainwashing.

The 87 chapters introduce events of the multidimensional life of the heroes, like the 1st generation Hera, a member of the Alpha&Omega Council, Hades's wife, and her earthly counterpart Zeta, whose mission is to push the knowledge and help the Haya Sophia, the Magnum Opus, the Sefer Jezeera. Their steamy love affair with Hades serves as a good example of passion and deep emotional attachment.

There are no sharp divisions in the book. The story unfolds naturally, through which a clear vision of the origin and the true nature of mankind is drawn, providing allowance for the supernatural capabilities they all possess and the responsibilities they all bear.
Touching upon the creation and the arrival of people on the planet, the book introduces the effects of prominent astronomical events, migration, purpose, the knowledge and the lack of it, through the picture that unfolds after removing the man-made gap fillers, the stories and false events invented by the groups in power.

With the help of astral travelling, souls go through star gateways, visit far-away planets, learn and experience to support the one objective of life: to raise their own vibration. With the interrelations of energies, it creates a healthier environment below and adds to the frequency required by the above to fit into the cycle.

However, as it was clearly stated by Antoine Saint-Exupery in his most prominent book, The Little Prince, WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS HIDDEN. This concealed treasure is always Knowledge. Nevertheless, there is a catch. One needs to have enough to understand the lack of it.
Life is a jigsaw puzzle. However, the board is empty and there is no image to help you with the design. The only certainty is the interrelations between the pieces.

My strong desire is to help people understand their lives, events and become knowledgeable enough to take responsibility for their words, thoughts and deeds. It is a necessary step towards the Nirvana, called Happiness.
All the wonders!

 

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     With the chip in her hand, Zeta walked to the round table on the terrace. It was already cleaned and the black ritual cover was laid out. There were few candles to choose from and some frankincense was lit on the burner. There was a small, washed and ironed white cotton cloth for the chip that Zoltan brought back from his trip.

     Zeta decided upon 3 candles. One small white for the altar, one thick red for energy and fire and the help of Hades and one thick blue for Uranus. She lit them and invited the brothers to contribute to the ceremony.

     The small, turquoise, pebble-like recording device was lying there, waiting for the expert touch.

     “Wow, I have no idea how to handle this one,” pondered Zeta. “Let’s be logical. Looking at the aura it is organic. If organic, it behaves like one, therefore cracking it open is not an option. The full moon would help,” entered Zeta’s mind. “But it is still a week away. There is no time to wait. I will try the frequencies.”

     As she said that few musical instruments were fetched and placed on the table.

     “Logic dictates that I should use the opposite frequency to irritate the mass to open up. It is a high frequency energy. I will use deep sounds. The starting point should be the A sound. For lower vibration, I need to go down by either 5 or 7 pitches to follow the structure of the universe. I go down an octave. This name is confusing. There are 7 sounds between the two pitches, why is it called octave then?

     They represent the 7 colours of the rainbow as the 7 natural colours, the 28 days moon cycle, 7 days of the week and so on. On musical terms they count the frame. Starts with A and finishes with A. So, the finishing A is the beginning of another octave. It shows infinity just like the number 8. It could be. But it is still confusing,” ran a train of thought Zeta. “This African drum would do the trick,” she said and hit the leather.

     The pebble moved and its colour started changing however, stopped a minute later.

     “All right. I might need to hit it 7 times in a certain rhythm, like the heartbeat of the universe.”

     After the last beat the recording device started to show significant changes in its energy field. A rainbow emerged slowly growing until it covered the table. “I have to get ready to take notes,” ran Zeta for a notepad and pen.

     When the energy covered the whole terrace, it began to concentrate at a point few steps away from her, until it formed an almost human-like being, who started to talk in a warm and deep voice.

     “Greetings Hera. I am the messenger. My function is to deliver the message from the Pleiadeans. Listen very carefully. You cannot rewind me, I am not capable of answering questions that form in your mind while listening, and I cannot argue.

     I exist until I speak. After, I become the organic part of the device yet again. The message is quite lengthy therefore you should make yourself comfortable,” it announced and paused for a minute.

     Although Keta is an old planet, human life here is relatively young. In all of our 5 planets we count humanoid times in the millions, while you are in the early thousands. That is why souls coming down here still store memories of our existence, our schools, some of them might have even lived among us.

     The structures of the planet and our physical appearance are almost identical. However, there is a big difference in our ways of living, and consequently our way of thinking. From now on, when I say: us, I mean the 3 planets living in unity. These are: Mekhranat, Muskhat and Mughat. The other 2, Quilwan and Nowtey walk different paths.

     Following that thought, our planets are not visible from Keta. The stars’ cluster you call Pleiades received its name from people who cherished the Knowledge and noted everything within the interrelations of energies. These people you refer to as the Greeks. Unfortunately, they succumbed to the blind force of ignorance, similarly to the great majority of the planet, at one stage. I will talk about it later.

     Coming back to the stars, as far as you are concerned, they are named after the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. The 9 of them together show a close unity. However, like other stars, these are not equipped to support humanoid life on their surface. Here, you live in a solar system with a sun at the core, from where you gain your energy, knowledge and fire. In our case it all comes from the sisters, notably from Maia and Marope.

     The Haudi solar system, where Keta lives, is an old and wise organic energy mass. The planets ooze wisdom, especially that of Keta. Knowledge was the main objective when the decision for establishing a human life form here, was made. Knowledge shouldn’t be wasted. Without Knowledge the Great Matrix falls apart. The more the Knowledge the higher the resonance and stronger the Matrix. This should be an important clue for Keteans. To understand the Matrix of the Universe and their place within it.

 

Life is an extraordinary journey. It is full of challenges and unsolved tasks that are put in front of us on the constantly moving and changing road towards Nirvana, the place that today we refer to as Happiness.

In my journey, I visited 103 countries, lived in 7, on 4 continents. I learned about the interrelated micro- and macrocosm. I became a REIKI Master-Healer, an Initiated Witch, an Orixa Shamanic Master, and a Phoenix Initiated Educator to teach the ancient wisdom of Khem, the Royal Art of Al Khemi.

Today, I have an established philosophy - I call AKIA - that explores the interrelations between earthlings and nature, and Earth and the universe. I have 12 books published and many faithful students. I am an Intimacy & Family coach and help people to find their purpose. The joy of seeing them succeed gives me the strength to find new adventures and learn from new experiences.

I believe that learning is the only way to understand life and the self within. This unique knowledge makes us or breaks us in the end.

I am British and living in London.

 

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Enter The Hera-Zeta Chronicles Giveaway Here

Twisted Devotion by Lilith Vincent needs to be on your radar.

 

🖤 TEASER BLAST 🖤

Something dark, dangerous, and completely addictive is coming...

If you love dark mafia romance with possessive heroes, emotional tension, and secret baby drama, Twisted Devotion by Lilith Vincent needs to be on your radar.

🥀 Secret Baby

🖤 Mafia Romance

🥀 Obsessed Anti-Hero

🖤 Manipulation

🥀 Mutual Virgins

🖤 Single Mom Romance

Coming July 22 to Amazon & Kindle Unlimited.

#TwistedDevotion @lilithvincentauthor #LilithVincent #DarkRomanceBooks #MafiaRomance #SecretBabyRomance

Bitter Sweet Heart is FREE

 

 Bitter Sweet Heart is FREE for a limited time.

I don’t do one-night stands, but I just served my ex divorce papers.

When my paddleboard floats into a gorgeous stranger’s dock and I subsequently accidentally pull him into the lake with me, I take it as a sign that maybe I should bend my rules.

What better way to celebrate than get under a man who makes superheroes look like they need to put more effort in at the gym?

He’s everything a woman could ask for: unbearably sexy, attentive and oh-so-giving between the sheets. Not to mention exceptionally endowed in the you-know-where department.

Maverick is the best bad decision I’ve ever made.
That is until he shows up in the college class I’m teaching.

Get Bitter Sweet Heart free (Amazon Universal) → https://geni.us/BitterSweetHeart

Taboo by Jenika Snow #Review

 

Did you see?

Jenika Snow has a SURPRISE RELEASE!

Some lines were never meant to be crossed… unless it’s a smutty romance written by Jenika snow

TABOO, a forbidden romance with all the feels and smut, is LIVE on Amazon and FREE to read if you have Kindle Unlimited!

READ HERE (link in bio): https://geni.us/taboobook

#ForbiddenRomance #TabooRomance #AgeGapRomance #jenikasnow #RomanceReaders

REVIEW: 5 stars

Jenika Snow has brought us a surprise smutty read with a forbidden romance. He’s Juliet’s step uncle and the man she can’t take her eyes off. Taboo was everything it promised to be. It’s a short, age gap romance with a grump hero and high spice love story.

This was a bite size read which can easily be consumed in one sitting. Bastian is everything to Juliet but will he stop fighting the connection between them?

I enjoyed this quick read. Bastian tried his best but it’s hard to resist Juliet.