Waxing Moon
Calling the Moon, #2
by
Sarah E. Stevens
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: The Wild
Rose Press
Date of Publication:
August 18th 2017
Cover Artist: Deborah
Turner
Tagline: Paranormal
arson, rogue wolves, and torn loyalties. How can a mere human mother protect
her Werewolf baby?
BLURB
Julie Hall thinks she has the hang of
mothering her Werewolf baby Carson, until the night she wakes to frantic
barking and finds her house on fire. Arson. Paranormal fire creatures want to
kill Carson—and an unknown Were may be helping them.
As if fire-spawning Salamanders and a
mysterious Werewolf aren't dangerous enough, Julie soon faces even closer
threats. Her trusted friend Eliza harbors a secret and Julie’s new
understanding of Werewolves threatens to tear apart her team. Meanwhile, her
relentless enemies will burn everything in their path, if they can’t get to
Carson.
Will Julie’s efforts to protect Carson do
more harm than good?
Buy Links:
Dark Moon Wolf
Book One of Calling
the Moon
Available on Amazon
Excerpt
“Your
house was burned down by Salamanders.”
The words
didn’t match his tone.
“What…salamanders?”
I echoed.
“No, not
salamanders—Salamanders.”
This
time, I heard the capital letter, but remained bewildered.
“What the
hell are you talking about? Salamanders? Like, lizards?”
Tim’s
face registered surprise. “Sheila?” “I know what they are.” Sheila’s voice
shook.
“Great.
So glad you’re both part of the in crowd. Since my house burned down and my
life nearly ended, do you think one of you could please enlighten me?”
“Dammit,
Jules.” My sarcasm seemed to revive my best friend. “Could you drop the
attitude for a while? Yes, shock and trauma and all of that, but you’re being a
total jerk. Tim’s just trying to help.”
I meant
to yell back, but the frustration on her face stopped me. I tried to give her a
grin, instead. It probably looked like a grimace, but I gave my best shot.
“God,
Sheila. Attitude is the only thing keeping me going right now.”
“I know,
Jules. But you’re safe here—” She stopped. “Tim, are we safe here?”
“We
should be. I’ll know if they’re around.”
“Hey,
still waiting to hear who ‘they’ are.”
Tim said,
“Salamanders are paranormal creatures, like Werewolves. They draw their
strength from the sun and can call on its powers—fire, heat, light—similar to
the way Weres draw on the moon to raise water, shift darkness, and such.
Judging by the scents at the scene, at least three salamanders called fire at
your house. Not an accident, Julie. Arson. Someone—a group of someones—wanted
you and Carson dead.”
“Why?”
Sheila asked.
Me, I
couldn’t even form the word. Dammit, I should have taken a shower and gone to
bed and dealt with all of this later. Sheila had been right. As usual.
“I don’t
know,” said Tim. “Yet.”
“I know
Salamanders are…antithetical to Weres, but I thought you mostly co-existed
peacefully.”
“We do.”
“Well,
apparently not!” said Sheila.
“So these
people turn into giant lizards? Instead of wolves?” I asked, not understanding
why Sheila stifled a small laugh at my question.
Tim said,
“No, they don’t change form. Sometimes when calling the sun, Salamanders have a
different cast to their eyes or their complexion—minor changes—but they remain
fully human in shape.”
“Then why
are they called Salamanders? If they’re not lizards?”
Tim
frowned, then finally crossed the room to stand beside Sheila’s chair. When he
rested his hands on her shoulders, tension visibly drained from his body.
Sheila unconsciously leaned back against him and his thumbs traced circles on her
white t-shirt. They were physically opposite in so many ways, with Sheila’s
striking looks and Tim’s extra-in-a-crowd-scene appearance; Sheila’s long
blonde hair and smooth tan, Tim’s closely shorn black curls and dark brown
skin. Yet, there was an undeniable sense of rightness between them. I’d even
stopped teasing Sheila about Tim being just another in her long line of
throwaway men.
I
realized my hands still shook and I clasped them together to hide the tremors.
As Tim spoke, I forced everything else out of my mind to focus.
“You’d
have to ask a Salamander for a full version of their history, but as I
understand it, they believe they’re descended from a powerful sun-being, a
lizard creature from the sun that came to Earth and mated with a human long
ago.”
Sheila
looked up at Tim. “Really? I always thought they were called Salamanders
because people used to think salamanders—the real ones—lived in fire.”
“Why
would people think salamanders lived in fire? Aren’t they amphibians?” I asked.
“Because
salamanders lived in rotten logs and crawled out when the logs were thrown into
a fireplace.”
“Well,
both explanations sound equally bizarre to me,” I said.
“I don’t
care how they got their name,” said Sheila. “Why are they trying to kill Julie
and Carson?”
Buy Links:
Interview
with Julie HAll
Blog: Today we have Julie Hall with us. A
few months ago, Julie found out her baby Carson is a Werewolf. She wrote about
those adventures in Dark Moon Wolf. You might think that’s enough
excitement for anyone to deal with, but Julie recently had another set of
adventures she chronicled in Waxing Moon, just published. Julie agreed
to join us today and answer some questions.
Julie: Thanks for having
me! I’ve never been interviewed before, so this is kind of exciting.
Blog: So,
Julie, let me get this straight. Your baby Carson is a Werewolf?
Julie: (laughs) I know—I could hardly believe it
myself. Yes, he’s a Were. Before all this happened, I had no idea that
Werewolves even existed! And now I’m the mom of a Were pup.
Blog: What’s
the hardest thing about being a mother to a Werewolf?
Julie: Well, none of it’s easy. I mean, motherhood in
general is hard, isn’t it? Diaper changes and tantrums and dropped pacifiers.
Then just imagine if your baby also turned into a furry little wolf during the
full moon.
Blog: How
did he become a Werewolf? Was he bitten by someone?
Julie: No, that’s the weird thing. A lot of the
mythology around Werewolves is totally wrong. I’m not sure I should say more,
though… I do want you to buy my books and if I give everything away now…?
Blog: (laughs)
Good point. How old is Carson now?
Julie: He’s six months old. He first changed into a
wolf at four months—that’s the night I found a baby wolf in his crib—which is very
early for a Were to manifest. The next full moon, I nearly lost him. He changed
shape early in the evening before I had time to get him home and then he just
took off across the park. We’d been having a late picnic with some friends.
These were non Werewolf friends, mind you, regular humans. I’m still
amazed my cover story worked. No one saw the actual transformation, so I just
pointed after the wolf and yelled, “Look, a lost puppy!” and ran after him. I
kind of cradled my arms to pretend I was still carrying Carson while I chased
the puppy across the playground. After I finally caught him, I went right back
to the car and texted my friends to tell them I had a migraine. I don’t even
get migraines!
Blog: I can’t imagine worrying that my baby
would sprout fur!
Julie: Yeah, after that we stay close to home during
the three days of the fullest moon.
Blog: So what other paranormal creatures
have you met?
Julie: Witches, of course.
Did you know there are honest-to-goodness witches in the world? With ritual
spells? They call on the four elements to do all sorts of magic.
Blog: Have
you learned any witchcraft?
Julie: Oh no. It’s not like that. You can’t be
taught—you have to be born into the lineage. During my most recent—what did you
call them? Adventures? In my latest book, I talk about an entirely new
paranormal race called Salamanders.
Blog: Salamanders?
Julie: Yes! I see you haven’t heard of them either.
Salamanders have powers associated with the sun. They control things like
light, fire, and heat. Werewolves are connected to the moon, right? So ’Manders
and Weres are kind of antithetical to each other. Some Werewolves really hate
Salamanders.
Blog: Julie,
I don’t want to bring up anything upsetting, but I know that you really loved
Carson’s dad Mac—Roger MacGregor. What’s going on in your love life now?
Julie: (long pause) Nothing, really. I mean…nothing to
talk about…I mean…there was this one guy recently…well. It didn’t work out. I
guess. It’s kind of confusing. I’m not sure.
Blog: Do
you think you two might get together in the end?
Julie: Well, that’s the million dollar question, isn’t
it? (laughs) Oh, I think I hear Carson fussing. I’d better go now. It’s been
really fun to talk to you, though. Thanks for not asking any weird questions,
like what ice cream flavor I’d be if I were an ice cream flavor.
Blog: What
ice cream flavor would you be?
Julie: Oh wow. Chocolate peanut butter? Just because
it’s delicious? Anyway, thanks for the interview and I hope you and your
readers take a look at my books!
Blog: Absolutely! Thanks for being here!
Author Info
Sarah's love of reading, writing,
and all things fantasy started with her childhood explorations of Narnia,
Middle Earth, and Pern. She's a huge enthusiast of all fantasy, paranormal, and
science fiction. She's a board game geek, an artist, and a dabbler in making
chainmaille jewelry. She loves to write about strong women and their
friendships--combined with magic and love, of course.
Sarah, her husband Gary, their
three kids, and three cats live in Evansville, Indiana.
PS. None of her kids are actually
Werewolves.
Author Links:
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