Loving my readers !!!

   I am overwhelmed with the show of support from my readers. You all are the greatest people in the world!  Rane's Giants has been enjoyed by a few hundred people to date and you have no idea how pumped I am to follow the book up with one just as good as Rane.

   The next book will be finished by Christmas, so save that Christmas money and gift card for January or February's release of Hawk's Nest.  I put a small snippet from Hawk's Nest at the end of Rane's Giants.

Here is the snippet. I hope you enjoy it!

Hawk’s Nest

Tremble Island

It had been six months since Hawk received the title of Lord Hawk, Overlord of Hawk’s Nest onTremble Island. He was appointed by the Lord of Tremble Isle himself, and he understood the importance of being the caretaker of one of the twelve Halls of Care.

In that time, he had settled the villagers and shifters into a daily routine of living without fear of their overlord. He had first asked for volunteers to join the guards and soldiers for the hall, its surrounding village, and countryside. The men were understandably wary and few stepped up to fill the need. Lord Tremble had thoughtfully left ten of the castle’s soldiers with him to get the hall in order. Three of them, all shifters, decided to stay and make lives in this place. The others would be leaving for the castle within the month. Forcing men into service to the Hall was not something he wished to do.

Families that had escaped from the hall before Lord Tremble attacked and won the battle for control, were being repatriated and should be returning within weeks. The lack of soldiers would bring the entire force of Hawk’s Nest to ten. The low number was unacceptable. Hawk’s Nest was a large holding with several hundred people within its scope. Ten soldiers would be a mere laugh should the hall be attacked.

Now there were five women standing before him requesting his indulgence in their wish to become soldiers. Two of the five were human, the other three were wolf and owls. The three shifters were sisters and were not willing to bow to another despotic overlord. The human women seemed harmless until he told them that he feared they might be weaker than the men they would fight against. Where the shifters could take flight on silent wings, the humans would be direct targets. He was surprised when one of the women held out her hand to him. When he took her hand, she curled her fingers over his wrist and somehow yanked him over her shoulder. He was left sitting on his ass in the dirt with her boot at his neck, as her counterpart grabbed his balls in her hand with enough pressure to assure him that she could damage his chances of fathering children. He actually had no reason to exclude the women from service to the hall. He had put each of them separately through their paces and found them to be extremely intelligent and eager to learn to fight and defend. He could imagine the teasing he would get from his peers about this, but he was desperate, and they were competent.

“You have all displayed proficiency and a willingness to defend this hall, and its entire people. Perhaps taking you on as soldiers will set a trend on the island. You will train with the forces from Tremble Castle until further notice.” Somewhere in the back of his brain, a plot was hatching. A force of women would be one element of surprise that no enemy would be expecting, no matter the gossip. No male wanted to do battle in a harmful way with a woman. Especially if they were trained secretly, under the cover of darkness and moonlight. The humans would need to hone their senses, but the result would be worth the pain they would feel from being attacked unaware. Any man that wanted to join the ranks out of ego, or spite, would have to best the female’s best fighter after they were trained. They would need a healer, and more women, many more women.

Any man, other than the ones who had already stepped up for service, would be assigned to a female as her second. If the men of this hall wanted to play the coward, then they would assume the role that had been given to women in the past. He found himself rubbing his hands in anticipation. “I have made a decision. Each of you are to come back tomorrow morning before sunrise with two other women that might wish to join. I want no females with toddling children, nor any women under the age of sixteen years. We will require the services of a healer or witch woman too. Older, less limber women can assume a support position if they choose.”

The females nodded to his decree. Some had small smiles on their lips and others eyes werenarrowed in thought. He knew they wondered what he was about. He wondered if he would be able to see this wicked plan through. There would be only one way to find out.