Saturday, October 27, 2007

COMMENT on this post for a chance to win a download of The Gates of Infinity by Denyse Bridger.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

BLURB:

Thaer is a world that mirrors our own, but in many ways it is both the past and future of Earth. Magic and sorcery are commonplace, and beneath the vast sands of Cairos and the waters of Venicia, lie secrets that may hold the key to travel between worlds and time itself. All things are tied to the presence of a legendary pirate captain, a skilled mage, and a sorceress who has never known her true origins.

As the spells weave amid treachery, and betrayals both known and unknown, the tempestuous storm gates are opened and salvation or destruction looms in their swirling, fiery depths. Will time be turned inward, or can the Fate of two worlds truly rest on the success of a terrified reporter from modern day New York? A woman whose fate was written in another world and time, and who now holds the key to the unpredictable power contained within the Gates of Infinity?


EXCERPTS:

The story poem that begins the novella:

MAHJRAH

ocean kissed sands wink diamonds into the night
the whisper of waves caresses
nerves taut with panic
the sea-foam surf is a balm to
troubled spirits
and the abyss of down-soft waters
beckons as a lover's embrace

out there, somewhere, is a ship
using stars to guide a course to
infinity
eternity, too, has a path to follow
and a destiny to fulfill

standing on the rooftop of a
once-thriving inn
I wonder at the fate that pulls me ever closer to death
isolation has become a way of life
, my existence
against all my efforts to turn away from the void before me

the sea calls to me, pulls at my soul with seductive purpose
I hear voices carried on the misted winds
promises that I can't quite define
but which haunt my heart and inflict greater agonies

I turn away to pursue the sandman of my dreams
despite the knowledge that there will be no respite there
no escape from transient demons and specters
no shelter in the arms of Morpheus

eyes close and breaths lengthen and deepen
then he comes to me, the devil who torments my being
with sensuous murmurs and erotic promises
he shows me what my life is without, what I deny within myself

the dream begins.....

the gentle sway of the ship is the rhythm of passion and sex
the lap of waves the stroke of a lover's tongue over a swell of quivering flesh
the surge of the tide is his possession of my eager body
the fall befits our writhing ascent into heaven

who are you? I ask in mystified wonder
am I afraid of his answer, or anticipating it?
he laughs, a hearty, faintly mocking reverberation of humor
and my blood runs cold, then hot with rage

he is magnificent, this proud pirate who steals
with the exquisite skill of a thieving seducer claiming his virgin prize
dark hair streams and smoky eyes gleam with anticipation
and this is what I have been born to desire?

Mahjrah
lover.... friend.... enemy.... destiny....
his hands have taught me love and pain
his heart has scarred me with hatred and unbearable pleasure

Darius
mentor.... destroyer.... confidant.... father....
you drove me to his arms, intent on betrayal
and in the end it was I who was betrayed, by myself

he touched me, and I was whole in his hands,
balanced on the edge of discovery and despair
I went willingly to his bed and his heart
asked desperately to remain prisoner to his destiny

he kissed me, a soft caress that vowed so much more would follow
and I stood before him, naked in all ways, desiring
things I could not yet name, but knew within me
and he held me with his gaze, searching for deceit, finding only trust

his hands stripped me of everything, while giving everything back
his mouth, soft, wet, suckling at my breast, gave me the taste of euphoria
hot, rigid velvet sheathed within my clutching body tortured me with ecstasy
and his possession defined my being and made me what I am

Veranna
sorceress.... companion.... seer.... hope....
I am Mahjrah's mate, and his life is mine, as mine is his
though we both have often wished it were not so

and I have betrayed my beloved captain.....

Doren
comrade.... strength.... protector.... deception....
what we did was wrong, yet it, too, was predestined in so many ways
Mahjrah made you my champion, and that story is as old as time itself

and now I stand before him again, waiting and afraid
trembling with need and terror, and reawakened love
yes, I love you, Mahjrah, always and only you
and somewhere inside you, I feel the poison of my treachery

you are uncertain, even as you stand solid and ever strong
the serpent of doubt and suspicion has bitten deep
that venom mingles with the heart's blood of our bond
and I do not know which will emerge as the stronger power

still, you have taken me again, in passion and welcome
my body has been reclaimed, even as my spirit hides in shame
try as I may, I cannot forget the rapture that you gave me
and all I am able to offer you now is the frightened shell I have become

you deserve far better, you have asked for little,
given everything without question or price
until now, when a challenge far greater than others removes our choices
now you charge me with the task of finding our home

I have always thought my home was in your eyes
but the romanticism of that whimsy is a joke in the face of this harsh reality
you demand a gateway to another life
and I must find a way to obey this command

Thaer.....
our world....
close enough to touch, to feel....
the parallel of this prison in which we have been trapped.....


Part Two: a short scene...

“Captain!!”

The captain heard Gianni's yell of warning in the instant before the ship was scooped from the ocean, twirled on an invisible hand, then dropped. As the vessel plummeted from the sky and began to spin, voices rose in terror. They crashed into the sea seconds later, and men sprawled across the decks, clinging in horror as the reason for their peril began to coalesce.

Rising up from the raging waters was a swirling, spraying inferno of ocean. As the tempest solidified, the second ring began to appear, forged by magics he understood on only the most basic level. Fire, impossible though it was, crackled to life on the writhing surface of the ocean, and it, too, began to ascend slowly on either side of the vortex. He knew, instinctively, that when the tongues of fury met at the apex of the portal, the configuration would be fully shaped and at its most powerful.

The storm-gate, now under the control of the woman he loved, and his sworn enemy.

And they were to go willingly into that demonic force. And hope Veranna would be drawn through the portal with them.

Screaming to be heard above the torrential winds that were speeding their headlong rush into the void, he ordered his crew to tie themselves down and stay alert.

A short distance from them, The Pharaoh's Ghost struggled as they did...

The Gates of Infinity by Denyse Bridger
ISBN: 978-1-59578-348-6
Genre: Fantasy erotic romance
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Cover by: April Martinez
$4.50 from Liquid Silver Books


Purchase The Gates of Infinity by Denyse Bridger HERE!!