DJINN
Serving the Scales Prequel
by Niki McAlister
Date of Publication: August 1st 2020
Publisher: Niki McAlister
Cover Artist: Niki McAlister
Genre: Adult Fantasy
ASIN: B08BTTKJK1
Number of pages: 132
Word Count: 45,690
Tagline: From Silver Spoon to Silver Tongue
Book Description:
Born into a wealthy family on the west side of the Naga Kingdom, Djinn De’monte has always lived a life of undeserved luxury. He parties every night courtesy of his father’s money and, with a flick of his hand, can bed any woman he chooses.
Why would he ever give any of that up to settle down and work a regular job? Everything he needs is right at his fingertips, but when an unexpected tragedy strikes the rug is suddenly yanked out from under him. Djinn is forced to sink or swim.
Join him on his forced pilgrimage as he reluctantly discovers that there is more to life than having everything served to you on a silver platter. Will he learn just what he stands for, or will he be swept up with the rest of the garbage?
In this short prequel we travel back to Djinn’s youth to find out exactly what transpired before he met a very unusual servant girl. This story can be read before Serving the Scales, after, or by itself. Though Djinn’s story isn’t part of the Serving the Scales Trilogy, it is an important part of the history that took place in Iruli.
Excerpt:
“You can’t go in there right now, he’s in a meeting!” The butler elf cried, trying to insert himself between me and the double doors of my father’s office. I slapped him aside with a brush of my tail, sending him clattering into the wall. As he sputtered in surprise I threw open the doors, my faded green locks whipping in the artificial breeze as I met my father’s deadpan stare.
“Djinn, now isn’t a good time.” He said, dismissing me with his hand but I would have none of it.
“Are you directly responsible for the suffering of countless pregnant women and children?” I seethed, glaring directly into my father’s eyes.
“Djinn..” Dad’s face was blank as I heard someone clear their throat to my left.
Councilman Wartez was seated on a cushion there, looking up at me in disapproval—but I didn’t care. “Well? Are you?” I repeated.
“Djinn if you could come back later I’d be happy to—”
“No, we’re going to talk about this now dad.” I huffed, raising my tail to tower over him.
Dad sighed. “Where are you hearing this from? Is this about Jess? I assure you she received the best care.”
“Why aren’t all of the pregnant nagas in the East city receiving that type of care? Are you aware that they’re being treated on the damp ground?”
“Surely those people must be used to doing things on the damp ground.” Councilman Wartez snickered beside me.
“Are you fucking with me right now?” I spun around to the councilman. “People are dying and you’re over here making jokes? Why isn’t the council doing anything to help?”
Dad glared up at me through his tiny glasses. “Not that you’ve ever cared before, but we’ve been conducting tests on the female naga’s issue for decades. We’ve informed everyone that, should they find themselves pregnant they should seek proper medical care.”
I slammed my hands down on his desk, remembering all the times he’d had the maid whip me for touching his desk. His eye twitched as he looked down at my hands. “You do realize that most of the citizens in the East city can’t afford to see a doctor, right?”
“That’s being quite presumptuous. I’ll have you know that we installed Deklyn over there to care for the elves ten years ago. They’re being cared for better than they ever did in that backwoods place they hail from.”
“You know damn well I’m not talking about the elves.” I seethed.
He shrugged, making my blood boil. “You and your council buddies could easily extend a hand to these women but you’re not!”
“That’s enough Djinn.” Dad rose, grabbing my hand and pulling it off his desk.
“It’s not nearly enough dad.”
“I must ask you to go home and we’ll discuss this at another time.”
“Fuck you.” I spat. “You’ll just send Natasha over with more money or a fucking fruit basket to shut me up, you bastard.”
“That’s enough!” Dad boomed, coming around the side of his desk. “One more word out of you and I’ll cut you off.”
“I dare you.” I grinned, spitting on the ground in front of him. I raised my gaze back to his face to relish in the shock I’d caused but to my surprise I felt my father’s fist collide with my cheek as he snarled at me. I flew backward, hitting my head on the back wall of the office and pulling down a bunch of books as I slumped to the ground.
“I’m sorry for this outburst Councilman Wartez.” Reginald was saying, shaking the councilman's hand. The last thing I remembered was both of the councilmen looking over at me in amusement as I passed out.
Author Info
Niki McAlister is an avid reader of romance and fantasy. She’s always lived in a little world inside her own mind, often getting herself in trouble while daydreaming. She currently resides in Tennessee with her husband, two boys, and many pets.
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with Niki McAlister . . .
How would you describe you style of writing to someone that has never read your work?-My husband lovingly refers to my style as “Slutty Tolkien,” but I like to say that I write rich, fantasy adventures for adults.
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
-Writing tends to flow naturally for me I suppose. I was always in my own little world all throughout my childhood, spending most of my time in school writing stories in my notebooks. I even had a little following of friends that would pass my notebooks around between classes and make notes, returning them to me on the bus so I could make adjustments.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?
-I tend to get the brunt of my work done in the middle of the night. From 8pm to midnight I'm making dinner, putting the kids to bed, putting my husband to bed, making his lunch for work the next day and putting away leftovers. After that I sit down, relax and hope that the muse takes me. I try to be in bed by 3am because the kids are up at 6-7am and they will destroy the house if I'm not up with them.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
-My characters usually start with a rough idea of what they look like. From there I try to find enough images to flesh them out and start working on their place in the world. I don't tend to settle on their personality until I start writing. My characters usually tell me how they'd react to a situation, and I go through many rewrites until it feels “right.”
Do you have a character that you have been working on for a long time that still isn't quite ready, but fills you with excitement to work on the story?
-Yes! I'm actually super excited to say that after I finish the Serving the Scales trilogy I plan on immediately diving into a Dark, Romantic Duet about how the god Zirato met his wife.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character(s)? If so which one(s)?
- Yes! I was surprised to find myself falling in love with Rory as his personality filled itself out. I enjoy writing him immensely.
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
-Several! I haven't settled on a name for her but I do have an androgynous mermaid character that might make a debut in Zirato's story. She's going to be the main character of her own story that I may or may not be putting out in between the two books featuring Zirato.
Can you share your next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
-I'll happily share some of insights about Zirato and his brother Arisa, who we'll be getting to know rather intimately in the next series I'll be working on.
So, the brothers have been tasked with caring for a planet they've named Arahdo. They are part of a bigger pantheon headed up by their mother, Teiwa, and their father Nyl—who are, of course, the Goddess of creation and the God of destruction for the entire universe. Their mother is a creative soul who whips up different planets the same way one might take up pottery or painting. Rather then leave the planets sitting empty she assigns her children in pairs or trios to each one, allowing them to design creatures and rule over the planets until their eventual demise.
Arisa and Zirato aren't exactly close, even though they are related, and this makes for some rather tumultuous beginnings for Arahdo.
What are some of your writing/publishing goals for this year?
-I'd like to get book two of my trilogy out as well as Rory's standalone prequel, which will be closely formatted to Djinn's.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?
-I'd say yes. I struggle a lot with depression and anxiety pretty much daily. Over the years I've come up with lots of coping mechanisms that work for me and I encourage anyone out there who suffers from depression and/or anxiety to do some research and put together some ideas for helping themselves through their dark spots.
If you could have dinner/dinner party with 7 fictional character, who would they be?
-If I could pick any fictional characters to have dinner with I think I'd pick literally any of Anna Zaires's characters from her dark romance novels, especially Julian and Nora. The dinner would be tense and terrifying but I'd just love to see everyone interacting with each other after all they've been through.
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