Listen to the Immanence Soundtrack
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/qG3suMw5SvQ
Excerpt Book One
While washing up the dinner dishes, Andrei heard Jovienne’s door open down the hall. She called, “Sun’s gonna set soon. You ready?”
He rinsed the last dish and placed it in the rack. “Yeah. Are you?” He moved to lean in the doorway, drying his calloused hands on a dishtowel.
On one knee, Jovienne tightened the lacing on her boot. “Almost.”
He glanced around the empty living room where they sometimes sparred. The walls had been drab green long before they moved in. Stains marred the ceiling, some from age and others from leaks. The floor wasn’t much better. Worn and dark, the boards had little shine left. They all creaked under foot.
He imagined the abhadhim had far better living quarters than this. Though he was stuck here, she wasn’t. She deserved better.
She stood and tossed her head, resettling her long mane of black hair. Rocking from her heels to her toes, she tested the feel of the footwear, then approached the wide wooden cabinet. As usual, she studied the weapons on the shelves. She always started by loading her pockets with throwing stars. Next, she would strap leather dagger sheaths to her wrists.
He smiled to himself when she did just that. He knew her well.
Her every move seemed part of a dance, a choreographed routine she’d performed for years. He noted every detail as her fingers worked those buckles. Nails trimmed short. A web of pale, thin scars marked the brown skin of her hands, badges earned in the mastery of all those blades.
She was a fierce sparring partner who would seize the tactical advantage. A clever and competent student and a serious young woman whose beauty drew the eye, he admired everything about her. She embodied much more than he ever aspired to be.
He could not have been more proud.
He wanted to tell her the news, but a lump swelled in his throat. Revealing the news would bring his tears. He had to master his emotion first. He’d been tough on her. Couldn’t ruin that now and risk her remembering him as a sniveling fool.
Still, he’d have to say those words soon. Too soon. But not yet.
She gave him the once over in a glance. “You going empty-handed?”
On a normal night, he’d already have his sword on his belt and daggers on his hips. But he didn’t need gear tonight.
His stomach churned. Each minute brought him closer to their parting. He didn’t know what zone she’d get, but it was possible he’d never see her again. Every second felt precious. More so because she didn’t know what awaited her tonight. She didn’t have to carry the weight of their inevitable goodbye. For now, he carried the bittersweet burden for her.
You need her far more than she ever needed you.
Every healthy thing in his life stemmed from her. Not just the training routine or emphasis on nutrition. He gained stability from being her teacher. Pushing her physical abilities to ever-better levels required him to be engaged and sharp. And it kept old weaknesses at bay. With her, he achieved his best self.
Still, the need to atone for mistakes of the past haunted him.
His highest, best hope for her entailed a successful future that justified what had been taken from her. She’d had a family. He hadn’t been so lucky.
She slid daggers into the wrist sheaths and retrieved her short jacket from the peg by the door. As the coat settled on her shoulders, the costume jewels of the collar pin sparkled in the light. Andrei grimaced and the knot in his gut twisted tighter.
He’d given her the decorative lapel dagger on her sixteenth birthday. Just over three years ago. That night should have been a happy memory. Instead, an unforgettable trauma etched into his mind.
That night she’d touched him. The child he raised had declared herself a woman and offered herself to him.
He’d refused her. Morally, ethically, it was his only option. He was the only man in her life. She had a teenage crush. It was understandable. Predictable, even.
But it wasn’t easily dismissed.
Disgusted with himself at how quickly he’d grown hard under her hand, all his self-loathing coiled into his throat as he rejected her. His tone had been harsh and critical, bursting with his need to prevent her from ever tempting him again.
In hindsight, he’d been too forceful. Bullish, even. Her defeated expression and posture told him his words had landed like fists. He fled from her room praying he hadn’t done the one thing he never meant to do: break her will.
Jovienne proved too resilient to break, but the incident cost them. Their closeness evaporated. A rift opened, impossible to bridge. The pin on her lapel became a jeweled reminder of the day they destroyed their sense of family. All that remained was teacher and student.
As it should have been all along.
A new ferocity developed in her training regimen afterward. As if she’d discarded secret feelings that had held her back. Or she’d developed new emotional armor.
Either way, it would serve her well in the future. Starting tonight.
What is
it about this book that makes it special?
I am so happy to be here today! It’s my birthday! Let’s all have some cake, shall we?
Image credit Polina Tankilevitch, via Pexels
Yum! Now that I’ve shared my choco-holic-ness, let’s talk
about what makes my Immanence series special. Let me start with sharing what other
people have said about the series:
Beta readers comments:
“Good, punchy characters with
complex and believable histories.”
“Wow. What a mythology you’ve
constructed! Remarkable and complex… I wonder what some future cleric would
make of finding these stories…”
“I love how each successive
demon tops the previous.”
“…this could create a
controversy…”
Professional comments:
"...a unique and twisted journey of action, horror, and
urban fantasy, packed with cool ideas.
In a genre where so much feels the same, it’s a pleasure to encounter a
writer who has found a different muse."
-
NYT Bestselling Author Christopher Golden
“Linda Robertson Reinhardt has created an intriguing world,
a compelling narrative, and a strong, canny heroine you’ll be cheering on from
the first page to the last. Enjoy the ride.”
-
Award Winning Author David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson
"Linda Robertson Reinhardt has written a masterful
example on using religious lore and legend as inspiration for damn fine
storytelling! {The Immanence Series} is both soul-soaring and heart-wrenching,
a fresh take on high-octane Urban Fantasy." - Award Winning Author James R. Tuck
Who wouldn’t love that feedback?
To zero in on what makes it special—as in different—I’m
going to point to that ‘controversy’ comment. This series has, as James Tuck
said, ‘religious lore and legend’ at its core, but it is not a book that folks
who take their religion very seriously will enjoy. This is fiction and I poke,
or rather, punch and slice at what I perceive as gaping holes in dogma. I’m not
trying to make a political statement or speak for the sake of shock value. I’ll
leave that stuff to the politicians and the shock-jockeys. I’m just telling a
story that takes what many people believe is fact, tosses it on its ear, then
blends and bends the strands while shaping it into something readers will find
to be fresh and new.
My world-building was extensive. Though the story is set in
modern times in San Francisco, I built a fictional culture from the ground up
to use as a basis for some unique characters who show up in the story. In
hindsight, it was way more than I needed to tell this story, but in doing so I
uncovered some nuggets. Those nuggets became the little details that, to me, provide
a very genuine feeling as the characters explore the differences. I even
studied Akkadian specifically to lend realism to this other culture by having
their own language.
Let me talk about the supporting cast for a moment. Elsu and
Nehandra own an occult shop in Oakland. Jovienne (the main character) eventually
turns to them for answers about magic. Emiko is a police detective in San
Francisco whose life is in flux, and events in her past haunt her still.
Lamoureux is a non-binary paranormal investigator and minor local celebrity in
San Francisco who’s been gathering evidence of some very strange goings-on in
the city, which have some parallels with Emiko’s newest cases. Then there’s
Andrei, who raised and trained Jovienne; Eitan, who is responsible for
providing her weapons; and Nathan, who, as a stigmatist, is as unhappy with his
fate as Jovienne is with being an angel.
I would classify it as dark fantasy, but some readers have suggested it might be better termed as grimdark. What will you think? I’d love to hear your take on this story. The trilogy is complete and available now. I hope you will check out my books as well as the music I wrote to accompany the series, like a film score. Find it on your favorite streaming channel by searching Immanence or Linda Robertson Reinhardt. Thanks and Happy New Year!
Thanks for hosting me on my birthday and letting me tell you about my new series. If anyone has questions about my books or anything writing related, I'll answer as I check back throughout the day.
ReplyDeleteDelighted to have you, Linda!
ReplyDelete