Enter the Azura Universe, with warrior women, brave heroes, and cats – by Vijaya Schartz

 

Coming October 1, 2024

The last novel of the nine I set in the science fiction fantasy universe of Azura, is ANGEL REVENGE, Book 3 of the Blue Phantom series, coming out this October. An unruly Valkyrie on a flying tiger, a strict angel in love with the rules, and evil knocking at the gate… what could go wrong?

BLUE PHANTOM SERIES 

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This universe I created a few years ago includes three series of three novels each: AZURA CHRONICLES set on an angel planet (with Angel Mine, Angel Fierce, and Angel Brave), BYZANTIUM set on a space station, with Black Dragon, Akira’s Choice, and Malaika’s Secret – and BLUE PHANTOM set on an angel ship roaming the universe, with Angel Ship, Angel Guardian, and Angel Revenge coming in October.

All the novels of the Azura universe can be read as a standalone, but they are all set in the same galactic world, with a few recurring characters. In them, you will find strong heroines and brave heroes, angels and demons, despicable villains, and sometimes the devil in person. They will have to fight not only evil, but their own demons, overcome their weaknesses, trust in others, make friends and enemies… and sometimes they find love in the least expected places.

AZURA CHRONICLES SERIES

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And always among the secondary characters, a telepathic cat. Sometimes, it’s a sweet purring furball like Marshmallow in Black Dragon, a predatory saber cat in the jungle, a wise lion protecting a temple, an engineered bulletproof beast with metal claws, or a magnificent flying tiger with a possessive streak, like in Angel Revenge.

The larger the universe, the more it tempts crazy leaders who want to control it. Many will make a pact with dark forces to rule. But the angels are watching. They traipse across the universe to fight the battles of the light against the encroachment of darkness, preserving the balance of good and evil.

BYZANTIUM SPACE STATION SERIES

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Sometimes they encounter unexpected technology, opponents from another universe, flocks of black furry demons, flying like a black cloud through space. They have leathery wings, white fangs, red eyes, short horns, long whipping tails, and grimacing faces, and their drool is a strong acid that can burn through metal.

But always, after trials and adventures, and sometimes ultimate sacrifices, good will triumph and the universe will keep running, as it’s supposed to do, with some evil, some good, and always an opportunity for the living to make their own choices.

You can read all the previous books before the last one comes out in October.

Happy reading. Hope you enjoy these series.

You can find more of my books below:

Vijaya Schartz, award-winning author

Strong Heroines, Brave Heroes, cats

http://www.vijayaschartz.com

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Penny’s Two Cents by Penny Orloff

 

When I was a child, my mother’s family was five generations deep, five generations alive at the same time. Some of those people lived well over a hundred years. They were living history. Their stories and the stories they told of their ancestors’ ancestors were part of a six-thousand-year-old oral tradition.

By the time I was seven, I was consciously collecting stories that had been in the family for generations. I became a reliquary. I would guard and preserve these treasures for the generations to come. And when I grew up, I would be one of those Old Storytellers. 

I soaked up random memories from my grandma’s childhood in Russia, my dad’s memories of his long years at the orphanage, my great-grandmother's tale of her youngest child, my grandma’s little brother Georgie, running off to be a gangster—which I later realized was how my mom and dad eventually met each other.

At the family table, it was understood that nobody under the minimum age of 40 had anything to say of any imaginable interest or importance. Shah, shtil! Shut up and listen—you’ll learn something. Those people had outlived the pogroms, the post-WWI influenza epidemic, the great depression, Hitler. They had survived to tell the tales. So would I.

Early on, I was aware of creating the Old Storyteller character I imagined I could be. I had lots of tribal elders as role models among my mother’s mishpochah: very old musicians who’d played forever (I still have the violin that belonged to my grandfather’s grandfather). Very old singers of songs from a hundred years past (I still have Russian and Yiddish songs that belonged to my grandmother’s Grandma Masha).

They had their way of doing Old Age. And some day, I would do that. I would be that.

Time has chipped away at the sharp corners, sanded down the jagged edges, smoothed out the rough and rocky terrain that was a younger Penny. I am “colorful” and “eccentric” now, instead of weird. I realize I haven’t been in a fistfight in over 20 years. PS: I always fought above my weight class. You don’t wanna mess with me…

Cinderella has become the Fairy Godmother. Sometimes, from here, I look back on a younger me, and I remind her who she’ll be when the scars are healed, when the back-against-the-wall fight to the death has ended in survival, when the foolish, forever life-altering choice has given the inevitable result.

More than any successes—and there have been great successes—I realize that, during every meaningful challenge, from time to time this Me I have become used to appear to the girl who was becoming, and said, “Hey, Pen, look who you get to be!”

I didn’t know all the strange details of the journey to that future Me, but I must say I’m about where I expected to be. This is Autumn. This is the Harvest. The wounds are healed. I like my scars. My heart has been broken. And broken again. And will break, again.

One of the great gifts of Age is permission to tell the truth. Another is independence from the good opinion of other people. At 75, although certainly mellower I still feel like the snarky little me I have been, all along. But, sometimes, when I catch an unexpected glimpse of myself in a mirror across the room, I’m astonished to see this old gal, this Old Storyteller I always imagined I would be.

If you’re going to tell people the truth, be funny or they’ll kill you.—Billy Wilder 

NEW RELEASE: Your Forgotten Sons - by Anne Montgomery

Find it on Amazon HERE

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares to enter World War II in 1943.

A chance comment has Bud assigned to the Graves Registration Service, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine: a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose shadowy past leaves many unanswered questions.

When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva's love be enough to save him?