Nero's Fiddle (44 page)

Books and writing have always been an enormous part of Anita’s life. She survived school by hiding out in the library, with several thousand fictional characters for company. At university, she overcame the boredom of studying accountancy by squeezing in Egyptology papers and learning to read hieroglyphics.

Today, Anita writes steampunk novels with a sexy edge and an Egyptian twist. She lives in rural New Zealand surrounded by an assortment of weird and wonderful equines, felines, canine and homicidal chickens.

You can find Anita on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/AWExley

Obsidian Eyes, by A.W. Exley
(
http://bit.ly/1chG59s
)

1836, a world of light and dark, noble and guild. The two spheres intersect when seventeen-year-old Allie Donovan is placed at the aristocratic St Matthews Academy. More at ease with a blade than a needle, she finds herself ostracised by the girls and stalked by a Scottish lord intent on learning why she is among them.

Used to relying on herself, Allie must cross the guild-noble divide to keep her friend safe when she discovers he is working on a top secret military project, deep under the school.

Kiya: Hope of The Pharaoh, by Katie Hamstead
(
http://j.mp/1diG9o4
)

To save her younger sisters from being taken, Naomi steps in to be a wife of the erratic Pharaoh. As Naomi rises through the ranks of the wives, Queen Nefertiti seeks to destroy her. Naomi must play the deadly game carefully. She is in a silent battle of wills, and a struggle for who will one day inherit the crown.

To protect herself, Naomi charms the Pharaoh, who grows to love her. But when Naomi conceives his child, Nefertiti’s lust for blood is turned against her.

Viola Doyle or an Unconventional Gift, by Amy Lynn Spitzley
(
http://bit.ly/1ic10Ja
)

Viola Doyle, a carefree Victorian girl, is far more interested in riding her bicycle and hearing about her grandmama’s adventures than in making a good marriage, much to her mother’s dismay. However, when she acquires a magical pin and bumps into a handsome historian, things get more interesting than even Viola had planned.

And then, of course, there is the dragon…

The Judas Reflections: Murder in Whitechapel, by Aiden James & Michelle Wright
(
http://j.mp/1ggRe65
)

Emmanuel Ortiz holds an ancient and dark secret: his real name is Judas Iscariot. Forced to walk the earth as a cursed immortal, Judas’ disguise as Emmanuel does little to ease his eternal loneliness.

But when the brutal murders ascribed to Jack the Ripper in poverty-stricken Whitechapel, London in 1888, he recognizes the bloody signature of killing that speaks to the unholy talents of a fellow immortal… an enemy from long ago.

Night of Pan, by Gail Strickland
(
http://bit.ly/1ukxR4Q
)

Fifteen-year-old Thaleia is haunted by visions: roofs dripping blood, Athens burning. She tries to convince her best friend and all the villagers that she’s not crazy.

The gods do speak to her. And the gods have plans for this girl.

When Xerxes’ army of a million Persians marches straight to the mountain village Delphi to claim the Temple of Apollo’s treasures and sacred power, Thaleia’s gift may be her people’s last line of defense.

Her destiny may be to save Greece… but is one girl strong enough to stop an entire army?