Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts, on #LisaBurtonRadio

Welcome to another edition of Lisa Burton Radio. The only show that brings you interviews with the characters you love.

I’m your host, Lisa the robot girl, and my special guest today is Tisha, a dancer and mage from the dark land of Skaythe. Prepare to be enchanted! “Welcome to the show, Tisha.”

“Well met, friend.”

“What can you tell us about your brand of magic?”

“I belong to a small band on minstrels who draw upon vitalis, a power born of the sun and life itself. By movement and dance, I focus vitalis into my casting. Ever since I was very young, my drive has been to heal all sorts of wounds. That is why I travel with the other minstrels. My dance draws the people away out of their sorrows and gives them hope for the future.”

“I love how you draw power from dancing. I’ve known a few girls who would be pretty powerful after Saturday night.”

“But, Lisa, I have to ask how you are feeling? As a healer, I sense the flow of energies within all living things. But from you there is no such light. Have you hidden it, somehow?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m not like regular people. I’m a robot girl. All my ‘power’ comes from the outlets on the wall.”

“A robot? I have never heard of such a creature. You don’t behave as though you are ill, though.”

“No, I’m perfectly fine. This isn’t about me, anyway. My bio says you are involved in some sort of mess with an oppressive regime. What can you tell me about that?”

“Alas, Skaythe is beset by many ills. The evil mage, Dar-Gothull, trains his followers to use lethentros, the power of death and destruction. He demands that people fight for everything they have. Lethentros warps their spirits, and that’s why they think it’s all right to behave the way they do.”

“Wait, I know that name. I interviewed Zathi a few months ago. She works for Dar-Gothull as a hunter-guard.”

“Dar-Gothull has many squads of hunter-guards who roam the land, looking for renegades like me and the other minstrels. We can never know when we’re being followed or spied on. It’s a good thing for me that I’ve never met Zathi’s squad!”

“Then what did you do to run afoul of the regime?”

“I saved a man’s life. Cylass was one of Ar-Dayne’s personal guardsmen, until Ar-Dayne accidentally hit him with a lethal power bolt. The guardsmen left Cylass behind, but I was able to restore his health. Ar-Dayne was furious. First, because he thinks every other mage is a rival to be crushed, and second, because saving the weak offends him.”

“That’s horrible. You help someone and get in trouble? I have a hard time with that. My programming is to help people.”

“I agree, but as far as Ar-Dayne is concerned, we both deserve to die. Cylass and I are fleeing from him. Unfortunately, I can’t really trust Cylass. He’s been a mage’s guardsman for years. The easiest thing would be for him to prove his loyalty by turning me in.”

“Ouch! What about gratitude?”

“Gratitude is also a weakness, or so they say.”

“If all mages are that twisted, it seems like you have a lot of work a head of you.”

“That’s true, but I know of a place where Dar-Gothull cast a terrible curse long ago. It still grips the land in Seofan Valley. My goal is to learn if that curse can be healed, like any other injury. If I can do that, then I know eventually Dar-Gothull himself can be defeated.

“I don’t know if Cylass will try to stop me from getting there. It’s my hope that as we travel together, he will learn a better way. But I can’t make that decision for him.”

“I hope Cylass comes out on your side. He owes you one, and if he has any honor at all, he’ll realize that in the end.”

“I hope so, too. He’d be a good man if he can let go of Dar-Gothull’s warped ideals.”

“Thank you for visiting with us today, Tisha. On behalf of our listeners, I wish you all the luck you can find.”

“Thank you for having me on, Lisa.”

“If you’d like to learn more about Tisha and Cylass, pick up the book Dancer in the Grave of Ghosts, by Deby Fredericks. I’ll put all the deets on the website after I log off today.

“Don’t forget to use those sharing buttons today. I’m sure Deby and Tisha would do it for you, when your character appears on the next Lisa Burton Radio.”

***

Blurb

“He’s dead. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Mortally wounded, Cylass is abandoned on the battlefield by comrades who would just as soon have him out of the way. But as he waits for death, a strange savior appears. The dancer, Tisha, heals him with her forbidden magic, but also draws the wrath of his cruel former lord.

Soon guardsman and renegade mage are on the run. Will Cylass help Tisha, as she helped him? Or will he do the smart thing, and turn her over to the vicious Count Ar-Dayne?

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZXLHC62

D2D: https://draft2digital.com/book/496360

(formats other than Amazon’s Kindle format)

Social Media

Newsletter sign up: http://eepurl.com/geV_nX

get a free e-book when you join

Author website: http://www.debyfredericks.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDebyFredericks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebyFredericks

Blog: http://wyrmflight.wordpress.com

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/debyfredericks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debyfredericks/

Biography

Deby Fredericks has been a writer all her life, but thought of it as just a fun hobby until the late 1990s. She made her first sale, a children’s poem, in 2000.

Fredericks has six fantasy novels out through two small presses. More recently, she self-publishes her fantasy novellas, bringing her to 13 books in all. Her latest is Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts. Her short work has been published in Andromeda Spaceways and selected anthologies.

In addition, she writes for children as Lucy D. Ford. Her children’s stories and poems have appeared in magazines such as Boys’ Life, Babybug, Ladybug, and a few anthologies. In the past, she served as Regional Advisor for the Inland Northwest Region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, International (SCBWI).