Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs, Book One) (39 page)

Aniri stared at the sketch in her hands. “Was there an earlier version of the ship?”

“No.”

“Is this the only ship you’ve built?”

The look on her face drew Ash away from the window. “What’s wrong, Aniri?”

The schematic was clearly labeled
HMS Dagger
. It could only mean one thing, and it made her mouth run dry.

“There’s a second skyship.”

The Dharian Affairs Trilogy
 
(
Third Daughter, Second Daughter, First Daughter
)
 continues with
Second Daughter
! 

Assassins, skyships, and royal intrigue...
 

(available in
ebook and print
)

With plans for a second skyship exposed, Third Daughter Aniri fears her sister, Seledri, will be caught in a war between the three Queendoms. Seledri is the Second Daughter of Dharia, which means she had no choice in her arranged marriage to the First Son of Samir—a country with whom they may soon be at war. As Aniri fights to free her sister from a husband and a country she does not love, she questions her own rushed betrothal to Prince Malik, the noble barbarian who controls the skyship—and whether a love pledged in the heat of adventure can survive the looming threat of war.

The Dharian Affairs trilogy will conclude with
First Daughter
! Want to know when it releases?
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In the meantime, I would love it if you 
left a review for
Third Daughter
. Reviews are tremendously important, especially for the first book in a new series, because they help readers know whether they'll enjoy the story. You can also check out the
Third Daughter Pinterest page
to see the images that inspired the book!

If you liked the romance and adventure in
Third Daughter
, there's more of that, plus some wild mind powers, in my bestselling YA science fiction series, the Mindjack Trilogy. 

Open Minds, Closed Hearts, Free Souls

(ebook, print, and audio)

Open Minds
 is FREE
 or go straight to
the full trilogy

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can't read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can't be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf's mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she's dragged deep into a hidden underworld of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

watch the live-action trailer

 
If you're looking for something more dark and gritty...
 you may enjoy my adult future-noir, 
the Debt Collector serial.

The first episode is FREE.

Watch the 
Debt Collector trailer
 on YouTube.

I think of Debt Collector as a kind of grown-up Mindjack, only instead of mindreading and mindjacking, the titular Debt Collectors can suck the life energy from one person and transfer it to another "more deserving" person. It's a chilling future-noir where going into debt risks a lot more than your credit rating. Debt Collector took me by the lapels and forced me to write it
—
it's intense, sexy, and I may have had a crush on the titular debt collector, Lirium, while I wrote the first season. Because of the dark themes and content, I recommend Debt Collector for ages 17+. 
Now optioned for VIRTUAL REALITY by Immersive Entertainment
.

If you're looking for something for the kids...
 my middle-grade fantasy, 
Faery Swap
, is suitable for ages 8+, for fans of Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl.

Warrior faery princes can be very stubborn. 

Especially when they possess your body.
 

Watch the 
Faery Swap trailer
 on YouTube.

Fourteen-year-old Finn just wants to keep his little sister out of Child Protective Services--an epic challenge with their parentally-missing-in-action dad moving them to England, near the famous Stonehenge rocks. Warrior faery Prince Zaneyr just wants to escape his father's reckless plan to repair the Rift--a catastrophe that ripped the faery realm from Earth 4,000 years ago and set it adrift in an alternate, timeless dimension. When Zaneyr tricks Finn into swapping places, Finn becomes a bodiless soul stuck in the Otherworld, and Zaneyr uses Finn's body to fight off his father's seekers on Earth. Between them, they have two souls and only one body... and both worlds to save before the dimensional window between them slams shut. 

Faery Swap
 is an action and druid-magic filled portal fantasy, told by both a runaway faery prince and the boy he's tricked into taking his place. 
Parents and Teachers: there is a
teacher's guide and card game
designed specifically for the book!

Susan writes speculative fiction all up and down the age spectrum. She's always dreaming up something new, so 
subscribe to her mailing list
 to be the first to know what’s up! 

Faery Swap

(middle grade)

Mindjack Trilogy

(young adult science fiction)

 
The Dharian Affairs

(steampunk romance)

Debt Collector

(adult future-noir)

Find all of Susan's works here.

(available in ebook, print, and audio)

Third Daughter
started as a contest entry on Rick Daley’s blog,
The Public Query Slushpile
. He wanted to run an experiment (which, naturally, hooked me immediately): given a vague premise, writers were asked to submit a query and the first five pages of a (fictitious) novel. His objective was to see which was easier to write (the query or the pages) and to prove that writers’ fears of their “unique” story being “ripped off” were unfounded. He posited (and I believe) that each author couldn’t help but craft something unique, even though they were starting with the same, basic story construct (a military intrigue). The results? I’m not sure if pages or queries were considered easier (for me, it was definitely pages), but it was clear that the stories were very diverse. And I’m fairly certain I was the only one to take a military intrigue and turn it into an east-Indian steampunk fantasy romance! Rick’s note at the time: