Trials and Tribulations banner
This is my stop during the book blitz for Trials and Tribulations, these are two anthologies set in Faith Hunter’s Rogue Mage universe. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 20 February till 5 March. You can view the tour schedule here.

TrialsTrials (Rogue Mage Anthology #1) By Faith Hunter, Diana Francis, Misty Massey, Lou J Berger, Ken Schrader, Spike Y Jones, Christina Stiles, Tamsin Silver and Melissa McArthur
Genre: Anthology/ Urban Fantasy
Age category: Adult
Release Date: November 28, 2016
Blurb: 21 Vignettes and Short Stories set in Faith Hunter’s World of Thorn St. Croix.
The Rogue Mage world began long ago, when the epic battle between the High Host and the Darkness was won and lost. TRIALS takes fans of Thorn St. Croix into the past, before the opening pages of BLOODRING. These stories, set in Faith Hunter's Rogue Mage world, are adventures with new characters and old, facing dangers unimaginable. And they must save the world all over again.
If you ever wondered what happened between seraphs, kylen, second-unforeseen, mages, seraph-touched, spawn, humans, dragons, and their creatures before the series, now is your chance to delve deeper and wider. TRIALS features new short stories from nine authors—including Faith Hunter—and vignettes from the Rogue Mage role playing game.

You can find Trials on Goodreads

You can buy Trials here:

- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble

Interview: Lucienne Diver 

1. What was it like to play in the Rogue Mage world?

At first it was incredibly intimidating. Faith is such an amazing writer, and the world she’s created is so rich and textured that it was a challenge to jump in and feel that I was doing it justice.  But because the world is so well-realized, it really lives and breathes, and once I got a handle on the approach I wanted to take, it was a lot of fun. Who doesn’t want to write a kylen? Or the woman with a dangerous secret she’s afraid he’s come to expose? Who doesn’t want to fight the good fight in a post-apocalyptic world?

2. Was it hard to develop your character within the confines of the Rogue Mage world?
Not at all. Aoife (pronounced ee-fa), my heroine, is an itinerant storyteller and something a little more.  She’ll carry packages and messages for the right price. Not smuggling per se, but not necessarily things that are approved by the Administration of the ArchSeraphs.  She’s such a product of her upbringing.  Aoife grew up in an Enclave where her parents were in service, so she’s got a healthy distain for neomages who treated her and her family as though they were lesser because they were only human.  As soon as she was of age, she left to make her own way in the world, but with some specialized knowledge, like bataireacht, the Irish stick-fighting taught to her by her father, which is very handy in the dangerous Post-Ap world Faith has created.  Put Aoife in the same mule train with a second or third generation kylen (the product of a union between a seraph and a mage or human) and you have instant tension. Add to that the mysterious parcel she carries and dangers stalking their caravan, bring things to a head, and Aoife discovers where she really stands in the grand scheme of things.

3. Tell us about your character. What species, etc.
I jumped the gun on this question above, but the short version: Aoife describes herself as “standard-issue human” and is proud of it.

4. When your story was finished, how did you feel about your character and story?
I really love Aoife. I know we’re not supposed to put too much of ourselves into our characters, but I identify with her in so many ways, from the skepticism and continuing evaluation of beliefs to not being a joiner. I love that I was able to use my time in Ireland and the nature of the place and people themselves to inform her development, and I’m very pleased with the way she turned out. I hope my story will resonate with others the way it resonates with me.

5. Tell us about your other projects.
My latest novel, Faultlines, is a young adult thriller dealing with some serious issues that are close to my heart. In short, six months ago, Vanessa's best friend Lisa changed, pushing everyone away, Vanessa included.  Now she's committed suicide.  As Vanessa struggles to come to terms with Lisa’s death and to reconstruct the last months of her life, someone begins taking revenge against those he or she perceives drove Lisa to suicide.  Everyone thinks it's Vanessa, the former best friend and some begin their retaliation. As vengeance, counterattacks and clues mount, it becomes a race to the truth…and hopefully not to the death.

In addition to Faultlines, I’ve written the Latter-Day Olympians urban fantasy series featuring a heroine who can, quite literally, stop men in their tracks, and the Vamped young adult series featuring a heroine who goes from chic to eek when she becomes one of the undead (think Clueless meets Buffy).  My short stories and essays that have appeared in the Strip-Mauled and Fangs for the Mammaries anthologies edited by Esther Friesner (Baen Books), in Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (HarperTeen) and the anthology Kicking It edited by Faith Hunter and Kalayna Price (Roc Books).


The Trials Authors:

Faith Hunter
Diana Francis
Misty Massey
Lou J Berger
Ken Schrader
Spike Y Jones
Christina Stiles
Tamsin Silver
Melissa McArthur

Excerpt:

Kicking the snow from his boots, Zadok took a calming breath and faced the small house, trying to project the confidence of a seasoned healer, rather than the fear of an acolyte on his first solo cure. His smile was stiff on his frozen face, the air so cold and still that his flesh felt brittle, as if it would crack and fall from his bones should he move wrong.
The short trip had been brutal, his contingent of six guides and fighters more accustomed to the vicious cold and hard pace than a mage who had lived his entire life in the comfort and ease of the Seattle Enclave. He’d gained an appreciation for the humans who lived in the frozen wastes, losing his snide sense of superiority, which had been based solely on his mage abilities. He never would have survived the short trip without the assistance of the others.
He glanced at the human woman, Sarai. She’d saved his life when he’d stepped off the track and crashed through the snow into the creek beneath. The driving snow had already drained Zadok's mage energies dangerously low, forcing him to draw constantly on his prime amulet to fight it, and he'd lost precious body heat to the icy water. Not even his amulets could fight off hypothermia. While Howard, a mule, started a fire, Sarai had activated all of his Healing amulets, stripping him down and crawling into a sleeping bag with him… naked… sharing her body warmth with him… offering him her life energies.
He’d accepted the gift of her life, stealing the energies of a human in ways no Earth mage was permitted. Now she smiled at him, encouragement in her glance, seemingly hinting that some bond still lingered between them. Zadok nodded once at her and opened the door of the fortified building.
Stepping inside the thick stone walls, he took in the dwelling with a sweeping glance. Perhaps twenty humans were gathered around a huge fireplace in the large room. Except for a table before the fire, the furniture had been shoved against the plastered walls. On the table was a blanket-covered form, a body racked by shivers. The gathered humans looked up, fear and stress grooving their faces. Zadok took a second calming breath and the stench of rotting flesh, old urine, and feces met him. Fear threaded through him, knotting his muscles, causing him to pant. Am I too late?

He gulped, frozen on the threshold. Gently, Sarai pushed him into the room and closed the door behind them, leaving the others to set up perimeters. As if she were his servant, she took the satchel from his numb fingers and whispered, “You can do this. I have faith in you.” Louder, she said, “The healer Zadok has arrived from Seattle Enclave to work an incantation of healing on your kirk elder, Judith. He requires a surface for his implements, a cup of warming chai, and space to work.” Within moments, the humans had helped him from his winter gear, brought him hot chai laced with brandy, placed a table before him for his mage amulets, and eased the body from the tabletop to the floor, creating a space wide enough for him to work a healing circle.


TribulationsTribulations (Rogue Mage Anthology #2)
By Faith Hunter, Lucienne Diver, Spike Y Jones, Jean Rabe and Christina Stiles
Genre: Anthology/ Urban Fantasy
Age category: Adult
Release Date: December 30, 2016
Blurb: 17 Vignettes and Short Stories set in Faith Hunter’s World of Thorn St. Croix

The Rogue Mage story began with the post-apocalyptic novels BLOODRING, SERAPHS, and HOST, when epic battles between Thorn St. Croix and the forces of Darkness were fought. TRIBULATIONS (Rogue Mage Anthology Vol. II) takes place during and after the series timeline. These stories and vignettes, set in Faith Hunter's Rogue Mage world, are adventures with new characters and old, facing Darkness and an uncertain future.

The relationships between seraphs, kylen, second-unforeseen, mages, seraph-touched, spawn, humans grow deeper, and the battles with dragons and their creatures grow more dangerous. TRIBULATIONS features new short stories from five authors—including Faith Hunter—and vignettes from the Rogue Mage role playing game.

TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS will soon be followed by TRIUMPHANT—the paperback omnibus (both Anthology Volumes I and II in a bound format).

TRIBULATIONS Authors: Faith Hunter, Jean Rabe, Spike Y Jones, Christina Stiles, Lucienne Diver.
You can find Tribulations on Goodreads
You can buy Tribulations here:

- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble

The Tribulations Authors:

Faith Hunter
Lucienne Diver
Spike Y Jones
Jean Rabe
Christina Stiles
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