Between starfalls, p.48
Between Starfalls, page 48
part #1 of Children of the Nexus Series
cha’atanahn - Taunos’s pet name for his sister, literally meaning “abundance of heart”
nanovah - a Rinaryn word basically meaning “Forget about it”
ACKNOWELDGEMENTS
This book has been the work of many years, and I could not have produced it without the help and support of so very many people. As always, I stand on the shoulders of giants. I am so grateful for the advice, support, and encouragement from my writing community and my family and friends.
To my husband, my rock, thanks for being so amazing. You’re consistently there for me when I need you. You’re the best alpha reader a writer could ever have, and then you read things again once I think I’ve got them polished. I believe you read this story three or four times? Thank you for your steadiness through my nerves and waffling and stubbornness.
To my children, you are so understanding and supportive: asking questions, helping out around the house, and giving me your thoughts. I wish the world for you and love to see you creating your own stories, breaking past the limits others might place on you!
Thanks to my family for encouraging my love of stories, science, and fantasy.
My amazing critique partners, I can’t say enough good about you. R. Lee Fryar, you have an amazing gift to see right to the heart of my stories and my characters and you never hesitant to point me on the path when I stray. Thanks to you for helping my characters shine with their whole hearts. And for Ariana Townsend, you got Kaemada in a deeply internal way and joined R. in continuing to encourage me to dig into her. Not only that, but you copy edited this whole giant manuscript for me, and I cannot thank you enough for your care and attention to the details of all the rules I had laid out. Thanks to the two of you, this story is the best I can make it, and I love its polish!
To my writing groups, the Inklings, the Parliament of Pens, Quillhaven, and the Writer In Motion groups, thank you for providing such community and encouragement. I have my tribe and I’m so thankful for it! You’re all amazing.
Special thanks to Rosie, Pancake, Moxie, Honey, and Zelda.
To my fantastic beta, gamma, and omega readers, for all your feedback and questions and insights: Liza Tucker, Becky O’Connor, Billy Brinkley, Laura Kehoe, Autumn, Michael Chatfield, Jeremy Nelson, Amy Brown, Timothy, Agnes S., Mist, E.P. Larrson, 🚀, Jerusha Renee, Carrot, KJ Harrowick, Peach Hurtado, Catherine Bloom, and Ysabelle Suarez.
To Jeni Chapelle and Maria Turead for your constant support and generous editing advice. Thank you for the motivation you so freely give the writers around you.
To KJ Harrowick and Melissa Koberlein for your launching advice and pointers, and to Misti Wolanski for your grammar tutorials: an enormous thank you from the bottom of my heart! Thanks as well to Whitney Hill for marketing advice and Ben Gartner for support!
To my phenomenal cover artist, Dave Brasgalla. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to see my ideas made real in the form of your gorgeous paintings. I could spend days just staring at these amazing pieces of art, just as I hope my readers can get lost in my words.
To Michael J Sullivan, for your writing and marketing advice. I’m amazed and humbled by your generosity and hope I succeed in continuing to pay it forward.
And of course, if no one read my works, things would be more boring (but I’d still be writing!) Thank you for giving me the opportunity to spirit you away to another world for a few hours/days.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR/OTHER BOOKS BY SKAETH
S KAETH IS an author of sci-fi/fantasy stories, as well as a dreamer, reader, writer, character interviewer, and worldbuilder.
She was raised in the gorgeous Driftless area of the Midwest United States on a steady diet of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, mythology, legends of King Arthur, superheroes, and Doctor Who. As a child, she told stories constantly to family and friends, and she wrote some of the worst fan fiction and short stories that no one will ever get to see.
As S got older, she was inspired a great deal by Andre Norton’s Janus novels, the Foundation series, the Ender’s Game series, Wheel of Time, Ursula K LeGuin, and books like Ringworld.
With a friend, she designed a new role-playing system with its own class system, lore, and mechanics, along with a starter world to set it in. These form the basic underpinnings to the magic system of her writing today.
She’s an avid reader, and has been serious about honing her craft for about ten years, now. She finds writing necessary; it’s an integral part of who she is. Creative expression in some way helps her to get through the dark times and celebrate the bright times, making sense of the world and dealing with life in general. S has always been, and always will be, a storyteller.
Other books by S. Kaeth:
Windward
When dragons fight, mountains weep.
Dragonbonded Palon and her partner, the dragon Windward, are renowned for their flying skill among the dragons and dragonbondeds who make up their family. Palon’s days are filled with everything she loves, especially riding the wind. Even being tasked with teaching their way of life to Tebah, a newly bonded teenager, can’t bring her down too much.
But when treasures from the dragons’ hordes are found in Palon’s collection, her idyllic life comes crashing down. Framed, she battles to find the truth, to prove her innocence, while her every move is cast as further evidence against her. As if that wasn’t enough, her teenage charge’s increasingly dangerous behavior puts them both at risk. Tebah’s suspicion, homesickness, and defiance would be frustrating enough even if Palon wasn’t in the spotlight, with a rival smearing her name at every turn. Dragon tempers shorten, and challenges and disputes shake the ground.
Windward and Palon must find a way to clear her name while also keeping a teenager who hates her and everything about dragon life safe, before their community turns completely against them or vigilante justice succeeds.
S Kaeth, Between Starfalls
