The Alastair Stone Chronicles series
by R. L. King
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BLURB:
Dr. Alastair Stone, Occult Studies professor, powerful mage, and snarky British expat now based in Palo Alto, California, does his best to keep his academic and social lives separate from his increasingly frequent brushes with various malevolent forces from the supernatural side of the street. A little horror, a little humor, but mostly straight-up urban fantasy.
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Dr. Alastair Stone, Occult Studies professor and powerful mage, has his hands full trying to keep the two sides of his life separate as he trains a new apprentice, deals with a malevolent entity trapped in the basement of a wealthy old woman's massive home, and battles dark mages intent on enslaving it for their own ends.
Debut novel of the Alastair Stone Chronicles.
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Dr. Alastair Stone is back, this time teaming up with Jason Thayer, a young man hunting for his missing sister. Embroiled in a web of odd homeless people, a growing conspiracy, and deadly danger, they soon realize that even if they find Jason's sister, they might not be able to help her.
What do you do when you discover an extradimensional plot that threatens the safety of the entire world, but you can't tell anyone about it because literally anyone on Earth could be part of it?
Book Two of the Alastair Stone Chronicles.
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EXCERPT
STONE AND A HARD PLACE
“…I’m going to kill you…” said a voice in the darkness.
Stone stirred, opened his eyes. He was still where he thought he was, Megan’s cheek warm against his bare chest, his arm draped protectively over her back. He listened for a moment, then shook his head. He must have imagined it. Or maybe it was the wind. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand: 1:42 a.m.
Megan muttered something and snuggled closer to him, and he settled back.
“…I’m going to kill you, and everyone you ever cared about. As soon as I am free, I will rip their entrails from their bodies…”
His eyes flew open again. He sat up a little, looking around, then shifted to magical sight. Nothing was out of the ordinary on either the mundane or the magical plane. “Who’s there?” he whispered, not wanting to wake Megan.
“…I will flay your skin from your body, and boil your eyeballs until they pop. You will beg for death...”
Stone looked around, trying to identify the source of the voice. At first he saw nothing, but then a faint light caught the corner of his eye. He turned.
There was a crack in the door to his walk-in closet. A thin line of unhealthy-looking greenish light shone from it, creeping out into the room.
And the line was getting thicker.
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Five Quirky Things about Dr. Alastair Stone
(As answered by his newest apprentice): Five quirky things about Dr. Stone, eh? The
hard part will be stopping at five! The guy’s basically a walking collection of quirks.
Don’t tell him I told you that, though.
#5: He can’t cook. Like, at all.
Seriously, I can’t decide whether it’s charming or a little pathetic. He’s a smart
guy—he’s good at a lot of things—but every time he gets near the kitchen, it’s like
he’s standing in the control room of the freaking Starship Enterprise. Except he’d
probably have a better chance figuring out how to steer that than to do anything
more complicated than stick something in the microwave. I haven’t been brave
enough to ask him yet if he’s any good at alchemy.
#4: He’s a magic nerd.
Sometimes I think he’d be happy if he could just shut himself up in his lab (or back
in that big drafty house of his back in England) and study magic 24/7. I mean, yeah,
he does get out—he goes to clubs sometimes, and of course he has the professor gig
going on, but he never just chills out in front of the TV and watches game shows or
something. Every spare moment, he’s reading magic books, doing experiments, or
tracking down some magical doodad. I need to loosen him up a little.
#3: He’s mostly clueless about how he affects women.
Not me, you understand. First thing, he’s too old for me, and second, I’m not really
that much into guys at all. But even I can see that he’s hot, at least for an old dude
(yeah, I know, 35 isn’t old, but it is to me). A little geeky-hot, true, but I see the way
women look at him. And when he starts talking—if he could figure out how to bottle
that accent, he’d make a fortune (see, there we are back to alchemy again—he’d
probably blow up the lab trying). But he doesn’t get it. He does roll with it,
though—he never has trouble getting dates, even if he can’t quite figure out why
they say yes when he asks. Now if we could just find him a steady girlfriend.
#2: He doesn’t lecture—he performs.
You know how most teachers/professors/whatever just get up there in front of the
class and drone on about the topic, and half the class is nodding off and the other
half is thinking about going out for a beer? Dr. Stone’s not like that. I sat in on one of
his classes once—it’s like he’s a rock star up there. He stalks up and down the aisles
of the lecture hall, gets in people’s faces, fires questions at people, and puts on the
kind of show that people can’t look away from. Don’t tell him this—he’s got enough
of an ego already—but his classes are amazing. I can see why so many people want
to sign up for them, even the ones who aren’t in his department.
#1: He hates being called “Al.”
I’m not even kidding. This is like the quickest way ever to piss him off. I think he gets
annoyed with us Americans and our habit of shortening everybody’s name. The only
one I know who gets away with it is my brother, and I think that’s only because Dr.
Stone’s given it up as a lost cause. Either that, or he’s still researching the spell for
turning him into a frog. I’m not sure which. Me, I’m not brave enough to do it. Yet.
We’ll see what happens after we’ve put up with each other for a couple of years.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
R. L. King is an award-winning author and game freelancer for Catalyst Game Labs, publisher of the popular roleplaying game Shadowrun. She has contributed fiction and game material to numerous sourcebooks, as well as one full-length adventure, "On the Run," included as part of the 2012 Origins-Award-winning "Runners' Toolkit."
Her first novel in the Shadowrun universe, Borrowed Time, was published in May 2015.
When not doing her best to make life difficult for her characters, King is a software technical writer for a large Silicon Valley database company. In her spare time (hah!) she enjoys hanging out with her very understanding spouse and her small herd of cats, watching way too much Doctor Who, and attending conventions when she can. She is an Active member of the Horror Writers' Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.
Her first novel in the Shadowrun universe, Borrowed Time, was published in May 2015.
When not doing her best to make life difficult for her characters, King is a software technical writer for a large Silicon Valley database company. In her spare time (hah!) she enjoys hanging out with her very understanding spouse and her small herd of cats, watching way too much Doctor Who, and attending conventions when she can. She is an Active member of the Horror Writers' Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.
Links:
Twitter: @Dragonwriter11
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/R.-L.-King/e/B0084QBKYC/
Buy link for The Forgotten (Book 2): http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Alastair-Stone-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B0084O96RW/
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GIVEAWAY
$40 Amazon or B/N GC
Thanks for the chance!!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely want to read 😀
ReplyDeleteHi DanieX! Thanks for stopping by!!
DeleteLove the 5 Quirky Things! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Betty! I laugh hard with those quirky things. Thanks for stopping by!!
DeleteThank you so much for hosting! Hope folks enjoy the post (and the books!)
ReplyDelete- R L King
Hi R L! Thank you, for letting me be part of your Blog Tour!!
DeleteGreat post! Thanks for sharing I enjoyed reading the 5 quirky things :)
ReplyDeleteOoo. Serious monsters in the closet! Thanks for the excerpt!
ReplyDeleteOoo. Serious monsters in the closet! Thanks for the excerpt!
ReplyDeleteFunny Tag line on the book!
ReplyDelete