Karda by Sherrill Nilson
Karda: Adalta Vol. I
Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Publisher: Green Canoe, LLC
About the Book:
On the beautiful world Adalta, an ancient threat emerges. Young Marta is dropped to the planet for her first secret mission alone. Raised by her father on an orbiting trade ship, he trained her for this - and to live by two rules: Don’t get attached. Don’t get discovered.
As cover for her mission, Marta joins the Mi’hiru, the all-female elite guard who patrol the skies on Karda, majestic hawk-headed flying horses.
On this planet where the only weapons allowed are arrows and swords, Marta discovers a high-tech weapon she knows could only come from her ship. Someone is smuggling them to use in the bitter power struggle between two noble brothers. She knows she must stop this threat, and she reluctantly joins forces with the handsome but arrogant Altan. As their connection grows, Marta struggles to keep her secret and to keep the rule of not getting attached.
As tensions rise and the ancient threat grows, will Marta accept the frightening elemental magic powers Adalta wants to give her to save the planet she loves?
Read an Excerpt:
The wagon slowed, and Bren poked an elbow into her ribs. Marta caught herself on the side of the seat before she tumbled off and embarrassed herself. “Look there,” he said, pointing up through a break in the clouds. “Karda.”
Joy swelled in her chest, and she forgot to breathe. Two enormous flying figures were high in the sky, wings outstretched as they circled up a thermal. Sun glinted from bronze and gold wingtips. Their forelegs were tucked under, hind ones stretched behind. Manes and tails streamed.
“Oh, by the Lady Adalta,” Bren breathed. “Did you ever see anythin' more beautiful?”
She watched the creatures rise ever higher into the sky, spread their wings wide in a glide, and disappear into the clouds. And something inside her shifted. Her whole body prickled with the need to see them again. To get close to them. She grabbed the side of the wagon to anchor herself. The few images the spy bugs had sent couldn't compare. I can't believe I might fly on one of those beautiful beings. They are magical. What if I’m rejected for the training program? What if my cover story has too many holes?
Well-trained as she was at blending in on a new planet, the possibility of getting recalled or caught was too real. On this, her first mission alone she would not, could not, fail. A cold, hard knot formed in her stomach. Getting expelled was not the only danger. She was going to have to guard against commitment that went too deep. That might be worse than not being accepted. The beautiful horse-bodied, hawk-headed Karda filled her mind. A sharp, involuntary shiver shot up her spine. How could she not become attached to them? But Adalta wasn't her home. She couldn’t stay here forever.
Other Books in the Adalta Fantasy/Sci-Fi Series:
Hunter: Adalta Vol II
Publisher: Green Canoe, LLC
Published: August 2018
About the Book:
Tessa, a young girl with a shattered dream, must unite with Galen, a young man with a shattered emotional shell.
Tessa’s dream to reclaim her trauma-blocked elemental talent and become a healer fractures when a powerful flying hawk-headed horse claims her as the Austringer, one who hunts with hawks. Instead of learning to heal, she must learn to kill the ancient evil arising on the planet.
Galen has no dream, and the emotions he can no longer hide threaten to explode. Assaulted by overwhelming elemental forces from the planet, he becomes the legendary Kern––with power over plants and soil he doesn’t believe in and doesn’t want.
When a blood-and-death magician releases an ancient alien imprisoned for centuries, its horrific creatures rise to kill everyone who threatens to block its returning powers and its invasion of the planet. Together Tessa the Hunter and Galen the Kern must fight this alien evil that threatens to enslave their planet.
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About the Author:
Sherrill Nilson used to raise horses. Now she writes about flying horses--with hawk heads and wicked talons.
Author of the Adalta Series, she's been a cattle rancher, horse breeder, environmentalist, mother of three, traveler to exotic places-even a tarot card reader. She's lived in Santa Fe and Ruidoso, NM, San Francisco, and Austin after leaving the hills of Eastern Oklahoma and her ranch.
She has a Ph.D. in East-West Psychology, and those studies opened her to the world of ancient myth and story. The rigor of writing so many papers and her dissertation suited her. She loves science fiction and fantasy and is a prolific reader.
One day she put the book she just finished down and thought, "I'm going to run out of books to read. I love imagined worlds. Maybe I could create my own." So she took a leap of faith and embarked on writing Karda and Hunter-the first two books in the Adalta series. She's now working on Falling, the third book, and lurking in the back of her mind is another series about the trees deciding whether or not to leave earth.
She lives, writes, and reads SciFi/fantasy in Tulsa, Oklahoma--back where she started as the oldest of seven kids (don't ask to drive), three of whom are writers who love telling each other how they should write. "Sometimes," she says, "They're mean to me and use too much red ink."
She doesn't have a dog, a cat, or even a bird, but she does have an old Volvo convertible and loves to drive around with the wind blowing her hair. It's how she gets her vitamin D.
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