Book Feature with Susan Waterwyk, author of Lantamyra

Indie Book Promo is happy to welcome Susan Waterwyk to the blog. She is the author of Lantamyra and is here to share some information about her book. If this sound like a book that you would be interested in reading, please pick up a copy using the buy links at the bottom of the post.

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Blurb:

For the chance to journey to another world, Tylya Lansing is willing to give up everything on Earth, including her lover Josh Hamilton. All she has to do is find her grandmother’s crystal scepter, lost for decades in a rugged Sierra Nevada canyon. Since she was a child, she has heard stories of Lantamyra, a world where magic is created with myra crystals, where mind expansion is granted crystal powers, where keepers and wards respect and protect life. Once the scepter is found, she journeys to this earth-like world that is recovering from an ice age. Areas of the planet have been terra-formed by the mysterious Keepers of Akosh to provide sanctuary for the endangered species of two other worlds—humans from Earth and dragons from Lanluong. She learns that Earth is about to experience catastrophic changes from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and Lantamyra may provide the only hope for humankind to survive. Tylya is determined to learn the ancient Akoshic Secrets of the Ways, a mind-expanding process necessary to control the power of myra crystals and to become a keeper of dragons.

Excerpt from Chapter Five: Annoyed that her warning was shrugged off so easily, the queen brought her head close to Tylya. “You will pay for your training with your labor, but you will pay a higher price to become a keeper. It will change you in ways you cannot imagine…”

Lantamyra is an intriguing story with plenty of drama, humor and memorable characters. Written for mature adults more than young adults, Lantamyra is not formula fantasy, no stereotypical villains or gratuitous acts of violence or overt sexual scenes, and very little profanity.

Excerpt from Chapter Eight—Nightkeeper Kyra Starszyn: “This night belongs to lovers and dreamers, a night when threads of love are woven into a tapestry of fantasy…a night to banish hatred and all things sad and dark….”

Excerpt:

Tylya reacted quickly. “I’ll see what it is. Empty the water out of your boots.” She ran her detector it over the spot, and by the sound, could tell that the object was long and narrow. Her heart raced. She dropped to her knees and dug with her hands until she touched something that felt like a branch. She pulled it out and brushed off some of the mud. The gray shaft was the length of a cane and inlaid with gold and platinum designs. On one end, a gold filigree cage held a large dark-purple crystal as big as her fist. She stared at the scepter her grandmother had lost so long ago. Her father must have found it the day he died and dropped it when he fell. It ended up by the stream covered with dirt and gravel from the slide. Her mind began racing even faster than her heart. What about Josh? What do I tell him?

“I guess I’m not much of a good luck charm,” he said, wringing the water out of his socks, his boots beside him. “So far, all I have to show for my effort is wet jeans, wet boots and wet socks.” He had watched her digging in the sand and gave little thought to what she found. “Now, I’m not complaining—it’s a beautiful day, and I could sit here forever and admire the view.” When he got no response, he spoke a little louder. “I said your butt looks nice, and I could stare at it all day.”

Tylya set the scepter down and turned so quickly that for an instant, he thought she might be angry. He was taken completely by surprise when she sat down on his wet lap, wrapped her legs around his waist and gave him a hug.

“Thank you!” She kissed him. “I love you! I absolutely love you! You’re the best good luck charm.”

“What’d you find, a bucket of gold? Kiss me again and I’ll let you keep—” After a long passionate kiss, he whispered. “Okay, you can keep it.” After all, how big of a nugget could it be? It was worth it to see her like this—she actually said love instead of tolerate.

She held his face with both hands. “Promise me, you will tell no one what we found.”

“What is it? What’d you find?” He tried to turn his head to look, but she held it tight.

“First, promise me.” She would not let go until he did. “If you love me, promise me.”

“If I love you? You know I love you! Always have! I’d give you anything in the world. Whatever it is, you can have it, and I promise to keep it secret. Happy now?”

“Yes—and I do love you.” She kissed him tenderly.

His anguish disappeared; he had waited a long time to hear those words.

She stood up, walked over, picked up the scepter and turned around.

He saw what looked like a muddy branch with something shiny on the end of it. “Beer can on a stick—ha, ha.” He gave his wet socks one more squeeze.

She went to the stream, rinsed it off and showed it to him. “This is what you found. It’s my grandmother’s.”

He stared at the scepter. “Your grandmother’s? What is it, an antique? Looks expensive—hey, wait a minute—this is the reason you’ve been coming to the canyon?”

“Yes, it’s what I’ve been searching for. It’s definitely expensive, and it may be antique.” She decided to find out if he could handle the truth. “It’s a device—an instrument that can do—amazing things.”

“An instrument? You mean like a magic wand? Come on, are you trying to tell me that your grandmother’s a witch or something?”

“Well—some people might think of it as a magic wand and her as a witch. Other’s might think of it as a scientific device and her as an—alien.”

“Your grandmother is an alien?” He raised his eyebrows. “Okay, I can believe that.”

She frowned. “She’s not that kind of alien. She’s human. Her parents were human. She’s just—not from here.”

He stared at her silently, wondering if she was sincere. “Well, let me get my boots on, and we’ll head back to the truck. I’m sure she’ll be happy we found it.”

Lantamyra can be purchased on Amazon.

Bio:

Becoming an author began with a dream I had of a lengthy conversation with a dragon; the dream ended with the image of a grandmother and adult granddaughter being carried by the dragon through a doorway in the sky to a magical world.

A few days after the dream, my daughters and granddaughters came to spend Mother’s Day with me. After dinner, I shared the story of the dream and told them that it would be fun to write a fantasy and create a world that people could escape to when life on Earth became too overwhelming. Everyone agreed. Later that night, the first pages were written.

I have been an avid reader of classic novels, as well as contemporary, and I enjoy reading fantasy and good sci-fi (by good, I mean where the author has researched the science to support the scientific concepts).

Since this would be my first serious attempt at writing, I wanted a lighthearted novel. If I was going to devote a lot of time inside the story world, I wanted to enjoy it. The women would be strong and intelligent, the men handsome and well-mannered (it’s a fantasy, remember) and the dragons would be intelligent and cultured. I also wanted a story that would appeal to sci-fi fans with scientific concepts that would intrigue. For the next seven years, I spent the majority of my time traveling between Earth and that magical world.

I felt that there was a magical symmetry in publishing the book in the Chinese Year of the Dragon, after all, some of my dragons were created in likeness and with respect to Chinese dragons.

For my book cover, I created a dreamscape of Lantamyra on canvas so that the reader could see some of the important elements of the story.

As a child (who never quite grew up) I spent a lot of time creating imaginary worlds in my mind, but never had the urge to write them down, until now, hence Lantamyra.

Susan can be found on

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