The Seers’ Table February 2021
Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community
Theresa Derwin recommends:
Azaaa Davis is an International Bestselling American author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels.
She fell in love with reading as a high school freshman and continues to read, write, and draw today. Her background in social work helps her portray realistic characters in otherworldly—and sometimes terrifying—situations. A New York native, Azaaa currently lives in New Hampshire (USA) with her husband and daughters.
Azaaa is working diligently to finish writing more fantasy novels while raising her daughters. Thank you for showing an interest in her stories!
You can learn more about her here: (Web site and Blog) https://www.azaaadavis.com.
Newsletter Sign-Up: https://sendfox.com/azaaadavis
Social Media Links: https://linktr.ee/azaaadavis.
Davis’ Instagram is full of fabulous cosplay stories and pics of women of colour in various costumes from Rug Rats to Faerie Queens. So worth a look.
There’s also book stuff, of course, and her latest release is Jilted: Never Marry a Shifter, Book One (paranormal romance):
The smell of Jamaican beef patty improved my afternoon at the office. That distinctive smell of a handheld meat pie filled with earthy spices from the islands lifted my spirits. I turned to the right to get a better whiff of the appetizing aroma. Not only did I enjoy Caribbean foods and free food, but I also liked the person delivering it. A tall, dark-skinned and well-built man entered the break room. At a glance, it was a challenge to pick his best feature. It wasn’t the muscular arms, perfectly even skin tone, or bright eyes, it wasn’t his trusting smile or confident walk, either. It was a toss-up between how handsome he looked in dark scrubs under a monogrammed lab coat and how hard it was for him to pay attention to others when I occupied the same room.
People warn you, ad nauseam, to avoid dating someone you work with. I, on the other hand, wanted to marry a doctor and therefore needed to work in a hospital or clinic.
Ace Antonio Hall introduces:
Chicago-born and bred Jose Nateras now lives in Los Angeles and, besides writing horror, works as a director/actor. He earned an MFA in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). His debut novel, Testament, was released by Ninestar Press, and his original feature-length screenplay, the horror/comedy Departing Seniors, is currently in pre-production.
About Testament:
When a hotel guest violently attacks Gabe, he finds himself the target of a dark entity’s rage; a rage built upon ages of racial tension and toxic masculinity. Desperate to escape the dark spiral he’s found himself in, Gabe flees across the city of Chicago and dives into the history of the hotel itself. Now, Gabe must push himself to confront the sort of evil that transcends relationships and time, the sort of evil that causes damage that ripples across lives for generations. Gabe must fight to break free from the dark legacy of the past; both his own and that of the hotel he works in.
Nateras can be found at his Web site; Follow him on Twitter: @JoseNateras & Instagram: @JLorca13
Kate Maruyama recommends:
Marjorie Liu is an attorney and New York Times-bestselling novelist and comic book writer. Her work at Marvel includes X-23, Black Widow, Han Solo, Dark Wolverine, and Astonishing X-Men, for which she was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the LGBTQ community. She is also the co-creator of Monstress from Image Comics, which has won multiple Hugo Awards, British Fantasy Awards, the Harvey Award, and five Eisner Awards, making Liu the first-ever woman (and woman of color) to win an Eisner in the Best Writer category. She teaches comic book writing at MIT.
The Hunter Kiss series is about the last living demon hunter on earth—a woman covered in living tattoos that peel off her body at night to form her own personal demonic army, an army that is her only family, dedicated to saving her life, and destined to end it.
Excerpt from Wild Thing:
My mother used to say that the tale of the world is drawn in blood, blood in flesh, veins forking into destiny like the branches of the tree from which the apple hung and the serpent danced, trading whispers for the corruption of innocents. Good and evil, knowledge and choice. And there, at the root of history, the world tumbled down.
History is legend. Legend is blood. And I am totally fucked.
You can learn more about her at http://marjoriemliu.com/about/ or follow her on Twitter @marjoriemliu.
Tawana Watson recommends:
Mya Lairis has been writing and drawing since she knew how to write and draw. She is an avid fan of Godzilla, werewolves, dragons, gargoyles and giant mech robots. She loves to travel, international and domestic; she also has lived for one year in Russia and speaks Russian fluently. Currently, Mya resides in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area. However, she considers St. Martin her second home. She resides with her family, which consists of two children and two cats. She is known for her Challenging the Dark three-part series novels, among other books.
About Be My Shadow:
As an elite mech jockey in the United Galactic Alliance, Commander Herra Daskana was a savior to many. Sent on a perilous mission across galaxies, there was never any time to wonder if she herself was in need of saving. From the moment she laid eyes on the lithe, blue-haired, Arune, thoughts of having someone special of her own emerged, even if only for one very expensive night.
Arune may have appeared to be a high-priced whore, but he was far from it. After experiencing a harrowing brush with death, the Elgeruan prince searched across primitive worlds for a fierce protector and Commander Daskana more than fulfilled that need. From the moment he laid eyes on the ferocious, dark-skinned soldier, he was willing to use every weapon at his disposal to possess her.
Through mistrust, conspiracy, and certainly manipulation, theirs was a relationship doomed even as it blossomed…certainly before the threat of an all-out war!
You can learn more about her books here:
Twitter: @myablackkoda
and:
Christine Marie Morgan started off writing traditional fantasy; however, due to her love of reading horror fiction, she later decided that she was cut out to write more than just traditional fantasy. She has completed two traditional fantasy trilogies, a six-book fantasy series for younger readers, and several horror novels. Christine’s current and upcoming projects include a paranormalish series about a psychic investigator, a pioneer-days blizzard, a dark urban/medieval/gothic tale, a crazy-cat-lady novella, and a blood-soaked Viking horror novel.
On her new book, The Night the Silver River Run Red:
Some things, according to Cody McCall, are worth risking a whipping. Such as, sneaking out with your friends after dark for a peek at the traveling show setting up just outside of town. Oddities, the signs promise. Marvels. Grotesqueries. Exotic attractions and mysterious magics.
Not as if they’d be allowed to attend otherwise, not with parents and preacher and schoolmarm all disapproving. But how often does a chance like this come along? There isn’t much else by way of excitement in quiet, peaceful Silver River, a once-prosperous boom town slowly gone bust.
Worth risking a whipping, sure. Worth risking life and limb, and maybe more? Worth risking being ripped to pieces by ravenous, inhuman brutes? Worth crossing paths with those strange, silent cult-folk from the high valley? Worth all the fire and bloodshed and horror and death?
Because something far worse than any ordinary traveling show has come to town, and one thing is for certain: those who survive, if any, will never forget the night Silver River ran red.
You can learn more about Christine Morgan here:
https://christinemariemorgan.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: @cmorganauthor.
