NEWS NUGGET: Barbara Spencer Author Announces a Four-Day Sale
To celebrate publication of the final book in the Children of Zeus trilogy, Book 1, The Click of a Pebble, will be on offer on Amazon from February 24 at $0.99c.99p for four days:
https://www.amazon.com/Click-Pebble-Tryst-Devil-ebook/dp/B07SVVZSFW
‘You must promise never to speak out about your heritage,’ his grandmother warned, ‘because people fear anything different.’
‘Fear us!’ Yöst laughed in protest. ‘We are too few to fear.’
‘It makes no difference. We are descendants of Zeus, shapeshifters, magical creatures …’
Known as swan-people for their ability to shape-shift not only into the swanlike form of the carinatae, but also the celeste, the winged shape of Zeus himself, the children of Zeus, although peace-loving have always been forced to live apart from humans, persecuted almost to extinction.
Three children survive the latest massacre: Yöst; Zande, the son of the Black destined to be the clan’s next leader, and a small girl, Tatania, who insists on being called TaTa.
This is their story.
Chapter 1
Yöst listened to the darkness, unsure what had woken him. In the distance, surf stirred restlessly, and wind soughed through the tops of pine trees. Yet that wasn’t it. Those were sounds he heard every night since he’d come to live on the island five years previously. This was more the click of a pebble against a glass window. He and his mother had had glass windows in their tiny house on the mainland. Once, he had broken a pane throwing a stone against its brittle surface. He stared into the darkness listening to the quiet breathing of his five companions. Older than him, two were from the great continent of Africa, their skins the colour of aubergines ripening in the sun. Geography was good, Yöst decided, grateful that his mother and grandmother had insisted he attend school, crossing the narrow gap between the island and mainland by boat.
‘Learning will take you places,’ his grandmother’s voice chided him, invading his thoughts as she did almost every night, her voice ringing out as plainly as it had when she was alive. That had been her speciality, nagging when all he wanted was to play with the other boys. Going on and on about learning how to gut a rabbit and build a fire, ‘so that you can care for yourself when I am no longer about.’
‘Why should I bother?’ he had retorted impatiently. ‘None of the cobs do that sort of work.’
‘That’s no excuse. Just because someone else is lazy and stupid. If they stuck their arm into a fire, would you do that too?’ she countered. ‘I want you to do more than read and write.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the world is changing and when you are fully grown, you may not wish to live this life.
‘Not wish?’ Yöst echoed. ‘How can there be anything more wondrous than our lives? I cannot wait to fledge; it is the most exciting thing ever.’
‘Yöst!’ The old woman had frowned, his name on her lips a rebuke. To her grandson, she was as old as Methuselah, even though her dark hair had little grey in it. Fifty was very old – too old. She had to be old to die from something as trivial as a cough. ‘Listen to me. This is no longer a world in which we belong—’
‘Grandmother, I’m not listening.’ He had laughed then and run outside to watch the young cobs…
My Review…
Review of The Click of the Pebble
By: Patty L. Fletcher
If you want a book which will keep you captivated from first word to last, one which will keep you up long past your bedtime into the wee hours of the morn, this book is for you.
This is a book of fantasy, reality, suspense, mystery, historical fiction and mythology, all rolled into one enthralling package.
I began reading The Click of the Pebble a few weeks back. Then life stepped in and tore me away. Over the weekend, I picked it up again and during a sun filled afternoon, sitting with my kitty comfortably snuggled into the crook of my arm, I was swept away into the world of
Yöst, Zande, the son of the Black and destined to be the clan’s next leader, and a small girl, Tatania, who insists on being called TaTa.
In this age of immigration issues, discrimination, and revolution, I found their plight resonated deep into my soul.
Can you imagine being a child, already set apart because of things you consider gifts which others believe are evil and then having your life ripped apart by a war? Being thrust into a new way of life, with new people with whom you couldn’t share your true self?
Reading their story and watching them navigate this new world while reconciling their beliefs, trying to incorporate it into the life they’ve been given was fascinating, joyous, and heart-breaking in one moment.
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