It's blog tour week for Water Princess, Fire Prince! Now the world can finally enter the amazing world of Rizkaland! Water Princess, Fire Prince, the book I love so much that I rather annoyed my sisters by talking about it all the time. The book that easily joined Narnia and Ilyon at the top of my favorites list. The book that stays near the front of the carousel on my Kindle Fire because it gets opened for favorite part rereads so often. It's such a great book. You can read my full ravings on the awesomeness of this book here. But what's one of the best parts? It's book one in a series. And today I get to help introduce you to book two!
Introducing …
Lady Dragon,
Tela Du
Two girls with one face
Two girls with twisted fate
One in purple, one in red
One shall speak the other’s death
Who shall win their final war?
Lady Dragon or Tela Du?
Amber, the Lady Dragon, has been promised fifty years ruling over Rizkaland, and it is time for her to claim it. Only one person stands in her way of ruling forever – the Tela Du, the girl who shall share her face.
The last thing Petra wants is to have to fight and kill the Lady Dragon. What she wants is to have a normal life, and to prove that she isn’t insane for remembering sisters that no one else can. Rizkaland has other ideas.
The Story Behind this Book from Kendra E. Ardnek:
Nearly ten years ago now, the first of the new Narnia movies released, and I got to see it in Theaters – actually, the last movie we got to see as a family. A friend of ours had also seen the movie, and had been converted to the Narnia fandom, and so as we were chatting about it, one of us had a brilliant idea – why don’t we make our own Narnia movie? We all loved acting, so it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
As the eldest of that threesome, and the most adamant about the plot, I took on the responsibility of writing the script, then titled “The Giraffe, The Witch, and the Tunnel Tube.” At first it resembled Narnia fairly closely, the changes we made were for casting or prop reasons – we didn’t have a lion costume, we did have giraffe. We didn’t have a wardrobe, we did have a tunnel.
After several fits and starts, my mother told me that I needed to put it away and rehash it so it resembled Narnia less, perhaps make it summer instead of winter, a dragon instead of a witch. So, I followed her advice and managed to turn out my first finished work of any great length. It was quickly followed by a second draft, after I decided that I wanted to make some changes to the ending. A third draft quickly followed when I decided I wanted love interests.
As I finished this third script, I realized that it was far too complicated a story for me to hope to perform at that time. And since it had changed so radically from Narnia by that point, I decided to take the plunge back into novel writing. Shortly before NaNo of ’10, I finished this draft at twenty thousand words, and was terribly proud of myself – though I knew it needed work. However, I now had other story ideas on my plate that were demanding my attention – Bookania and the Ankulen – and I knew I needed to write and publish Water Princess, Fire Prince first.
So I set aside again. Oh I worked on it, here and there and in snippets – one or two scenes especially – but for the most part, it largely sat at the back of my mind festering and boiling.
It’s changed a lot since I started writing it, and this draft that I’m writing now has changed even more. It’s a powerful story that has come with me through some of my darkest years. I’m so thrilled to finally be at the verge of sharing it.
Sneak Peek:
At last Amber came to the men working this farm, a father and his two sons, she guessed, of human stock. They’d suit her purposes just fine.
“Oh, good gentlemen!” she cried, filling her voice with pathos. “I’m so glad to have found you. Do these fields never end?”
The father straightened and regarded Amber critically. “Well,” he said, after several long moments, “I reckon I can say that there are days I wonder the same, though with this drought, they aren’t nearly enough. Who may you be, Miss? It isn’t often we see strangers around here, especially not ones dressed as fine as you.”
“Nor as pretty,” one of the sons commented.
Amber shot the boy an imperious glance. “I am married.” She’d already noticed the way they’d been staring at her while trying to look like they weren’t. She turned her attention back to the father. “I have traveled rather far from home, I fear,” she admitted. “Where I come from, there aren’t nearly as many colors, and the rim of this world curls away from me strangely.”
It took the man several seconds to process Amber’s speech. At length, he asked, “Did the Doorkeeper bring you to us?”
This question took Amber by surprise, and for a moment, she was rendered speechless, as her conversation with Laura echoed through her head. She quickly recovered herself, however, and shook her head. “No, I cannot say that she did.”
And it was true, Amber admitted bitterly to herself. For all the travels she made and grand stories she produced, Laura had never taken Amber anywhere. Amber had been forced to make her own escape both times her world fell.
“Well, perhaps she did and you just didn’t see her, I hear that she can be mighty sneaky at times.” The man shook his head. “But from the looks of your dress and jewels, I’m willing to say you were someone mighty important where you come from. A princess, maybe?”
“Queen.” Amber drew herself to her full stature.
“I see.” The man nodded. “Well, after our last few hard winters and scorching summers, we scarcely have enough to call a fitting meal for royalty, but you’re welcome to come stay at least the night with us before we send you to Loray to meet our own kings and queens. You said you were married, didn’t you?”
She nodded, “I am.”
“So your husband?”
“Accompanied me, but he lacks my ambition.”
“I see,” said the man. “Welcome along then, my dear – I mean, your highness. I don’t think I quite caught your name.”
“I don’t think I gave it to you,” she replied.
Author Bio:
Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairy tales and twisting them in new and exciting ways. She's been practicing her skills on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years, "Finish your story, Kendra", is frequently heard at family gatherings. Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that also glorify God and his Word. You can read more about her on her blog,knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com.
Water Princess, Fire Prince on KindlePart 1’s first chapter
Part 2’s first chapter
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The tunnel tube is funny. And the prophesy is cool. Whose says those things have to rhyme?
ReplyDeleteI like the tunnel tube too. "It doesn't really rhyme." "You're kind of missing the point!" :D
Delete"Rizkaland has other ideas." Doesn't it always? xD
ReplyDeleteDefinitely looking forward to this book!
I'm looking forward to it too! Though I'm looking forward to book 3 slightly more since that's when Clarand comes back. :)
DeleteI was going to say the same thing, Morgan. I'm looking forward to more Clarand. But this'll be exciting too!
DeleteYep! The snippets from LDTD sound great, and so do the later Clarand scenes Kendra mentioned on Goodreads.
DeleteOh I understand the 'annoying the siblings' thing! Such an awesome book and I can't wait for book 2, though I miss Andrew and Clara a lot! *sniffs*
ReplyDeleteYeah...my sister told me to stop talking about it because I was apparently making her not want to like it. But I'm still handing it to her as soon as my copy gets here and I'm still predicting she'll have it done before she goes to sleep that night, even if it means staying up half the night (she's a lightning fast reader). I miss Clara and Andrew too. They're one of my favorite ships, Jayrin being another. But LDTD looks pretty awesome...even if giraffes and tunnel tubes don't have much to do with it anymore. :)
DeleteYou are too funny!!! Now, I don't annoy my family with my favorite books, but I do any my friends. :-D
Delete*annoy, I mean. Not "any".
Delete