Blog Tour: Druid Warrior Prince by Juli D. Revezzo

Author Juli D. Revezzo has a new book called Druid Warrior Prince. It's full of Celtic mythology, which I groove on, so I think it looks interesting and I'm guessing you will too. She tells us all about her book in this guest post. Check out the post and then check out Druid Warrior Prince!  -- RE

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Druid Warrior Prince is the third in my urban/historical fantasy series, Celtic Stewards Chronicles. If you haven’t been introduced to it yet, the series is about a family who owns a patch of land on which the Irish gods of the Tuatha dé Danann, their druids, and a special squad of elite warriors fight an ancient, magical battle against mythic evil for the fate of the world, every 500 years. 

In the first book, Passion’s Sacred Dance, the heroine (Stacy) receives an old diary from the last overseer, who takes the overseer’s title of “Steward”. While Stacy lives in modern-day Florida, the previous steward oversaw the battle in 1513 on the family’s original homestead in Ireland.(The whole story of which is told in book 2, Druid Warrior’s Heart). That information only furthered Stacy’s curiosity about the family, so after her own battle in 2013, she’s gone digging for more information on how her family has dealt with this war, seeking clues to, perhaps, end it, once and for all.

The third volume, lately released, entitled Druid Warrior Prince continues the story, from the point of view of Gwenevieve, the steward who lived 1500 years ago, revealing to Stacy a little-known episode in the family history, taking place is 6^th Century Ireland. The progression down through Stacy’s history, to Gwen’s is why I can’t say the series is purely historical fantasy; it is, but it’s not, due to the modern setting of Passion’s Sacred Dance. Why did I decide to that? Because I’m mad? No. :)

If I am, there’s a method to the madness. For me, the combination of myth, fantasy, and history is something that has intrigued me for a long time, especially Celtic mythology. I have been studying up on it ever since I first found the King Arthur tales. A decade or so ago I fell into Irish mythology, and have barely resurfaced since. That’s where the world and war of the Celtic Stewards Chronicles came from. There’s a tale in the myths that says the evil god Balor one day did the unthinkable and refused hospitality to a druid of the Tuatha dé Danann. Well, the withholding of said hospitality was a major slight, in the eyes of the Celts, and so this druid did what you’d expect. He told tales of this king’s snub to his kin, and they decided to go to war with the king over it. (As I said, major slight!) That story, got me thinking, what if the war didn’t just end at the end of the tale we have written down? What if the uppity king kept poking at his enemies, by way of threatening humanity, or otherwise causing trouble so the Tuatha dé Danann would have no choice but to defend people from the king’s potential destructive wrath?

That thought gave rise to a war fought every 500 years under the watchful eye of one family, as ancient Celtic wars were fought with a druid on hand to oversee it all, and from there to my three books (so far) in the Celtic Stewards Chronicles, the third of which, Druid Warrior Prince, just released.

The official synopsis is as follows:

Gwenevieve Macken’s well-ordered world falls into chaos as encroaching interlopers scheme to possess both her and her land. Although she’s been trained to spot the signs of inhuman evil in men, the amassing armies take on guises she never expected.

When a foreign guardian presents himself as her only option for salvation, Gwenevieve must make a choice between her desires, and fulfilling the mythic fate to which she was born. A forced marriage to a Tuatha dé Danann warrior isn't part of her plan.

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 Should you like to check it out, it’s available at Amazon, in ebook and paperback.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Prince-Celtic-Stewards-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B076H7KRV5

The entire Celtic Stewards Chronicles can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KK77N5

I hope you will enjoy them. And before I go, I’d like to say thank you to Roger for allowing me to come here and tell you about the series. 

Juli D. Revezzo loves fantasy and Celtic mythology and writing stories with all kinds of fantastical elements. She is the author of the historical romances, House of Dark Envy, Watchmaker's Heart, and Lady of the Tarot, the Antique Magic paranormal mystery series and Celtic Stewards Chronicles series and more. She is also a member of the Independent Author Network and the Magic Appreciation Tour.

To learn more about this and future releases, visit her at: http://www.julidrevezzo.com

Sign up for her newsletter at: http://bit.ly/SNI5K6

Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julidrevezzo

or follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julidrevezzo

blog: http://julismapsroom.blogspot.com/

Book Launch: "Under the Nazi Heel" by Scott Bury

I'm proud to join the blog tour for Scott Bury's new book, Under the Nazi Heel. The sequel to his successful Army of Worn Souls, the new book promises to be a true page-turner. Be sure to check out the excerpt at the bottom of this post...

Under the Nazi Heel

Walking Out of War, Book 2

For Ukrainians in 1942, the occupying Germans were not the only enemy.

Maurice Bury was drafted into the Red Army just in time to be thrown against the invading Germans in 1941. Captured and starved in a POW camp, he escaped and made his way home to western Ukraine, where the Nazi occupiers pursued a policy of starving the locals to make more “living space” for Germans.

To protect his family, Maurice joins the secret resistance. He soon finds the Germans are not the only enemy. Maurice and his men are up against Soviet spies, the Polish Home Army and enemies even closer to home.

Experience this seldom seen phase of World War 2 through the eyes of a man who fought and survived Under the Nazi Heel.

Find it on Amazon.

 

 

About the author

Scott Bury just cannot stay in one genre.

After a three-decade career in journalism, his first published fiction was a children’s story, followed by an occult spy thriller. The Bones of the Earth, his first novel, crossed the boundaries between historical fiction and magic realism. He has also published spy thrillers and two police procedurals set in Hawaii.

Under the Nazi Heel is the sequel to Army of Worn Soles. They describe the real life experiences of Maurice Bury, a Canadian living in Ukraine during World War 2.

You can find all of Scott’s books and other writings at his website, The Written Word. 

Read his blog, Written Words 
Find him on Facebook at Scott Bury Author 
Visit his Amazon Author page 
Or follow him on Twitter @ScottTheWriter.

Under the Nazi Heel

Excerpt 1: From Prologue – Attack on the Train

Down the train, doors opened in every passenger car and soldiers and officers climbed out. Men asked “What happened? Why did the train derail? What happened to the engineer?” Officers asked “Any injuries? No? Weapons ready?” Soldiers formed a defensive line, weapons pointed into the forest or toward the lake, but they had trouble holding their rifles and machine guns over the top of the snow.

At the engine, the first two soldiers to come out of the train began to climb the ladder to the engineer’s compartment. The first soldier knocked on the door.

He was answered by a rifle shot from the forest. He arched his back and fell into the snow, knocking the man below him down.

More rifle shots came from the forest, hitting the officers first, then the soldiers with submachine guns. The Germans returned fire blindly. They could not see their attackers and their bullets went uselessly into the trees.

Fire came at the Germans from all sides. Some of the men in the snow tried to climb back into the train but they were cut down, shot in the back. The moonlight turned the blood black on the snow. 

A burning torch flew out of the forest, turning end over end to land on top of the first passenger car. Made of steel, it did not burn. But more torches flew, aimed toward the open doors. Most bounced off the sides of the cars and fell into the snow, snuffed.

Then an explosion blew off the rear of the last car and the Germans knew their attackers had grenades. They tried to hide between the cars or under the snow, but one by one they fell. More explosions came from under the train, and then someone managed to pitch a grenade into one of the doors. Smoke followed the muffled bang. Within a minute the men outside could see flames, and they knew they were dead.

One soldier fired his submachine gun in controlled bursts from a hiding spot between two of the cars, but bullets found him. Before his body hit the snow, a comrade took the gun from him and fired a continuous volley into the woods until he was hit three times from different directions.

Beside him, the junior officer who had tried to warm his hands fell with a bullet in his upper thigh. Blood gushing into his long coat, he raised his pistol to his head and blew his brains out before the partisans could take him.

The whole train was ablaze by then. Soldiers jumped out through windows and doors to be killed by more bullets. Within minutes, it was over. All the men outside the train lay dead in the snow, while those in the train screamed as they burned.

Under the trees, men in black uniforms watched carefully. One man shot a German body, just to be sure he was dead, and then the insurgents stood up. In twos and threes, they got into sleighs hidden in the woods, slapped the reins and returned along the paths they had made when they had arrived, hours earlier.

The only sound was the muffled steps of their horses in the snow and the soft roar of the fire, and soon only the fire was left.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army had begun operations against the occupying Germans.