Bittersouls
by L.A. Morton-Yates
Date of Publication: December 17th 2022
Publisher: Synthesis Press
Cover Artist: César Pardo
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance
ISBN: 979-8-9866022-0-2 (eBook)
ISBN: 979-8-9866022-1-9 (Paperback)
ASIN: B0BQFLM7D4
Number of pages: 286
Word Count: Approx. 99,500
Tagline: A Shade. A Storm. A Soul.
BLURB
Cursed with forbidden knowledge, 19-year-old Dela must hide her secret from her nomadic tribe or face exile into the frozen wasteland of the Bitters. When she becomes separated from her people during a blizzard, a mysterious and dangerous wanderer named Talon promises to help her find her way back to them. She quickly learns that nothing is what it seems, that her curse may actually be a gift, and that the Bitters are far more dangerous than she could have imagined.
Packed with unexpected twists, Bittersouls is a mixture of survival, adventure, and slow-burn romance that is sure to get your heart pounding.
Excerpt:
Something moved at the edge of the horizon. It was like a shadow, black as a cloud but moving fast across the snow plain. Time seemed to stop, but Dela could feel herself sliding forward as if she were standing on a lake of ice. Freja was still yelling, but she couldn’t hear her. Her arms were flailing, but Dela hardly noticed.
A wave of lights moved in front of the thing, jumping and turning, quick as sparks. It was like a field of quails fleeing into the sky before a coming wolf, but the wolf—the shadow—followed them. The closer it got, the more the shiver racked her spine. She knew exactly what it was, though she’d never seen one. No one in the congregation had. There were no stories. No whisperings. Only a name.
“Shade.”
Freja stared at her, bewildered into silence. Perhaps she was going to speak, but then—
“Shade!” Dela reached for her friend, snatching her by the sleeve and pulling her toward her. They ran, berries forgotten even as the bags bounced in Dela’s grip. They were a dozen strides from the bush before she thought to secure them to one of her belt hooks. How could she even think of them at a time like this? They had to get to the camp. People had to know.
They skidded to a stop at the edge of the overhang they’d climbed. The tents were only a dozen feet below, and a handful of people had gathered at the commotion. They stared up at the two girls with confusion intermingled with irritation. They weren’t used to their evening being disturbed by shouting, and the long journey had people’s nerves worn thin.
None of that mattered. All that mattered was what they would do. What were they supposed to do?
“Shade coming from the east!” Dela yelled. “Get the Ministers!”
Chaos possessed the camp. People scrambled, yelling. Others just stood with disbelieving frowns. Some started running in no particular direction. As if that would save them.
Would it?
Dela knew nothing about Shades. She hadn’t put much thought into what they might be or do or want. All she knew was that whatever that thing was, it was one of them. And the lights? The things it was chasing? What were they?
Freja was trembling as she crouched and threw her legs out over the edge of the rocks. It was a maneuver she’d done a hundred times, and in colder weather than this. But for fear or anger or nerves, her grip failed. Dela lurched downward, chest striking hard against the rocks as her hand snapped out into the air—and caught her friend’s arm. She grunted as she swung the girl toward the rock wall, which Freja caught in an instant. They exchanged an important glance, but there was time for little else.
Dela stood again, scanning the snowfield for signs of the shadow. It was still gliding forth on nothing but empty air, like a nightmare in a dead sprint toward an innocent dreamer. But, she realized, it was not heading straight for them. It had deviated, aiming toward the empty field north of them, and if it kept going that way, it might miss them entirely.
Could it see? It didn’t seem to have eyes. Nor any other body part, per se. Did it smell, then? Or feel? How could it expect to find anything out here in the cold, white abyss of the Bitters?
Whatever rules it followed couldn’t be the same as what humans or animals followed. It didn’t make any sense.
Then she saw the reason. One of the congregation, maddened by fear, had made a break for it, out into the open Basin. The Shade wasn’t just going to miss the camp. It was going after him.
He’d made it a hundred feet from the camp, and showed no signs of looking back or slowing. From the angle of approach, the man couldn’t see the shadow coming. Couldn’t see it bearing down on him. Couldn’t see the impossibility of his flight.
The Shade engulfed him as though it was little more than a localized fog. He vanished entirely from view, and for one bizarre moment, the beast of a cloud seemed to stop.
Then
they heard the scream.
A life-long lover of the magic of storytelling, L.A. wrote his first story at the age of 7 and has been writing ever since. Speculative fiction, particularly fantasy, has always held a special place in his heart for the uniqueness of the places and the questions it can address. Though veiled by apparent strangeness, he has always seen it as capable of revealing deeper truth about our own reality.
L.A. graduated from Montana State University in 2015 with Honors in Biochemistry and a minor in Music Composition. This helped nurture his critical thinking and research skills which continue to be instrumental to his writing. During his collegiate years, he also met the love of his life, Julie, whom he later married. At once his greatest supporter and his staunchest critic (when he is wrong, which is more often than he’d like to admit), she has been an integral part of his creative process ever since.
In February of 2018, L.A. became the father of his first son, Griffin. His second son, Tiber, was born in December of 2019 and his third son, Malachi, was born in January of 2022. Though life has become considerably busier since he became a family man, L.A. continues to work on writing in what little spare time he can find. He hopes to one day pass on his love of literature to his sons.
The Book Junkie Reads . . .Reckless Dreams Interview with . . .L.A. Morton-Yates . . .
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
My need to write, something I like to think of as “the Call”, is as natural as it is irresistible. I have trouble feeling like myself when I ignore it, especially for more than a few days. That said, the skill of writing is something I have developed over time through habit and discipline. Though I feel the need to write, that doesn’t make writing easy or natural for me. If I want to satisfy the Call, I have to put in the work. Though it gives me the keenest satisfaction, writing is and will always be work.
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)?
Between my 3 kids, my schooling, and my job, I don’t really have the luxury of a routine to “get me in the mood” to write. I have to steal every available moment to get words on the page, whether that is while my kids are momentarily distracted in play or I am on the train commuting to or from my other responsibilities. The only thing I can really do to make sure the words come when I get the chance to visit a keyboard is to keep my momentum. I try to put at least a few hundred words on the page (whether that’s part of a draft or just a note for worldbuilding) every single day. It keeps my mind in the right frame to make progress when the opportunity arises.
But while I don’t require structure for my writing time itself, I do tend to suffer if my day overall lacks structure. Ironically, I get my best writing done when sneaking it in between other activities, but on days that I have nothing but time, often very little will get done. Fortunately, my endlessly busy life doesn’t leave me with too many of these unproductive days.
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?
I do at fair bit of character planning during the outline phase, but I like to leave myself open to develop them as needed when I start the actual draft. Sometimes characters reveal hidden facets of themselves when you actually render them to the page. Sometimes that makes them better, sometimes it kind of wrecks things. It usually comes to the revision process to decide which of those things happened when a story goes off the rails, but that’s just part of the fun of the creative process. Learning how to fix a character who broke themselves in the drafting process can be one of the most fun and satisfying challenges in writing.
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?
There are a few characters like this, but one has been rolling around in my head for longer than the others. His name is Jonas Drace and he’s one of the main characters of a huge steampunk setting that I’ve been planning for almost ten years that will span five or more books. He grew up in a desert wasteland populated by monstrous creatures, always watching as the airships of merchants and freelancers sailed past overhead. His dreams of freedom are eventually realized after he stows away on an airship—then proves himself indispensable to the crew with his brilliant mind for engineering. This past year I was finally able to draft the first book of that series, entitled The Marrowknife, which I hope to have ready to publish by the end of 2024.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character(s)? If so, which one(s)?
Like most writers, I channel certain aspects of my personality into many of my characters. Everything about me has a chance of showing up in my characters; my fear of failure and my anxiety, my desire to prove myself, my will to protect those that I love, my interest in science and technology, and my perseverance and tenacity. The fact that these aspects and emotions aren’t founded on inference, but rather on direct experience with them (albeit in many cases with a different scope), is part of what makes my characters feel deep and genuine.
To more directly answer the question: yes. I absolutely feel a deep bond with most of my characters. After all, what deeper bond is there than between a person and themselves?
What are some of your publishing goals for this year?
The book that I’m releasing later this year is called The Damned Earth, and is the first installment in my sci-fi setting, which I’ve entitled Lost Empyrean. This book follows the last surviving member of an expedition as he tries to make a once-populated alien world safe for human habitation. The narrative digs deep into his psyche as he perseveres through grief, hardship, and loneliness in his desperate quest to save the last ark of humanity.
Right now I’m targeting Q4 for release. If you are interested in following me on my publishing journey, feel free to follow me on Substack (lamortonyates.substack.com), Facebook (@authorlamortonyates), Twitter (@lamortonyates), or Instagram (@lamortonyates)!
Can you share your next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
Definitely! I’ve got a few projects in the pipeline, the one that I’m most actively working on is a large-scale steampunk series entitled The Shattered Heavens, the first book of which should come out in late 2024. I mentioned Jonas Drace in a previous question, who is part of a wide cast of characters who pursue their own ends while their various factions spiral—willingly or otherwise—toward a world-wide war. All the while, a group of shadowy mages manipulate the world’s events and a cult devoting themselves to an impossible god rises in the background.
I won’t go into too much more detail, but suffice to say that I plan to release a new book every year for the foreseeable future. With luck, every other year we’ll see a new installment of The Shattered Heavens as part of that release schedule.
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Great intervieuw!
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