Welcome to the virtual book tour for
Unreachable Skies by Karen McCreedy.
In a world where it is normal to fly, what happens when you can’t?
About Unreachable Skies:
When a plague kills half the Drax population, and leaves the hatchlings of the survivors with a terrible deformity – no wings – suspicion and prejudice follow. Continuously harassed by raids from their traditional enemies, the Koth, the Drax are looking for someone, or something, to blame.
Zarda, an apprentice Fate-seer, is new to her role and unsure of her own abilities; but the death of her teacher sees her summoned by the Drax Prime, Kalis, when his heir, Dru, emerges from his shell without wings.
A vision that Dru will one day defeat the Koth is enough to keep him and the other wingless hatchlings alive – for a time. Half-trained, clumsy, and full of self-doubt, Zarda must train Dru to one day fulfil the destiny she has foreseen for him, even if it is quickly becoming clear that the Prime’s favourite adviser, Fazak, is not only plotting against the wingless, but is gaining more of Kalis’ trust by the day.
Efforts to fight prejudice and superstition are certain to lead to death for some and exile for others; while Zarda’s own journey to understanding her role in events may lead her to abandon all tradition in order to protect her peoples’ future.
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Book Information:
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Adventure - This book is targeted toward a general audience.
Page Count: 242 pages
Publish Date: August 17, 2018
Exclusive Excerpt:
Exclusive Excerpt:
“If
Vizan is not well enough to come, then you must. Kalis is frantic,” he said. He
rubbed a paw over the brown fur on his snout and I noticed that the skin
beneath bore a pattern of red marks.
Vizan
coughed and I set the beaker down, wiping his mouth with a cloth. Once I’d
tended to him, I raised a paw to point at Morel’s sore nose. “Kalis bit you?”
“It’s
just a nip.” Morel gave the marks another rub, then put his paws behind his
back as though to keep them as far from his injury as possible. “My own fault.
Kalis ordered me to fetch the Fate-seer right away, and I was foolish enough to
say that Vizan wasn’t well.” His claws made a regular ‘pitter-pit’ sound
against the uneven stones of the floor as he wiggled his toes, and I smelled
impatience mingled with anxiety. Clearly he had no wish to incur more of the
Prime’s displeasure by returning without a Fate-seer.
Neither
did I. But…
“Kalis
won’t want me praying over his egg. Vizan was his sire’s Fate-seer and his
grandsire’s. I’m just an apprentice.”
“No!”
Vizan’s voice was little more than a thread, but there was surprising strength
in his wrinkled paw as he clutched my arm. “You must go, Zarda. You have the
Sight. You are the Fate-seer now. Go! Go with Morel…”
“Vizan…”
I hesitated, too afraid to voice the questions that had been gnawing at my
thoughts since the Prime’s egg was laid: What if the hatchling is like
the others? What might happen if he, too, is crippled?
It
wasn’t a question I could have imagined asking a couple of moons ago. The sun
shone by day, the Spiral watched over us by night, the moon waxed and waned
every fifty-four days, and every drax could fly. Even after the Sickness had
taken so many in the growing season, there had been no reason to imagine that
the survivors would face the horror of hatching deformed offspring from their
late batch of eggs.
Vizan
seemed to sense what I couldn’t put into words and his grip on my arm
tightened. “We Saw him, Zarda,” he croaked, “in the Dream-smoke.” He coughed,
and his next words came in ones and twos, forced out between snatched breaths
that rattled in his chest: “The Visions…are never wrong…never.”
I
could see he was trying to set his ears upright to indicate his sincerity,
though he was now so feeble they did little more than twitch. “This
hatchling…will lead…victory…over the…Koth.”
I
glanced up at Morel and saw my own doubt reflected in the set of his ears. The
mountaindwelling Koth had raided and pillaged our farms since the Spiral first
shone in the sky. It was true that I’d shared Vizan’s astonishing Vision, but
still I had trouble accepting it as fact.
Vizan
must have sensed my doubt. “You Saw it too…we both Saw.” He began to cough, and
I reached again for the beaker, but he waved a paw toward the door and I read
anger in his one open eye. “Put on the badge. Go!”
Publisher: Mirror World Publishing
Purchase Links:
Review Quotes:
"In the tradition of Ursula K. LeGuin and Anne McCaffery, with Unreachable Skies Karen McCreedy has created a nuanced alien culture populated by compelling characters." ~ James Swallow, bestselling author
Meet the Author:
Brought up in Staffordshire, England, Karen McCreedy now lives in West Sussex where she recently retired from the University of Chichester. She has written articles on films and British history for a number of British magazines including ‘Yours’, ‘Classic Television’, and ‘Best of British’.
Karen has had a number of short stories published in various anthologies. She also won second prize in Writers’ News magazine’s ‘Comeuppance’ competition in 2014 with her short story ‘Hero’.
‘Unreachable Skies’ is her first novel.
