Blog Tour Excerpt & Giveaway - Stinger and Bow by Orren Merton

Stinger and Bow
Author: Orren Merton

Book Description:
Stinger needs a new crossbow.

Thirteen year-old Rachel Silver—or as she's known to the world, Stinger—needs a new crossbow. Her last bow failed her when she needed it most. Besides, Firebird Alex, her aunt and fellow Seduman—half-human, half-spirit being—wields a Sedu blade, made with spirit magic.

So Stinger designs herself a magic crossbow, then convinces her best friends to accompany her around the world and into the universe of Sediin to find the right craftsmen to have it made. Trouble is, warriors attract people who want to challenge them, whether they're ready or not. Stinger is still tormented by her last battle—she's suffering night-terrors, shakes, and cold sweats. When the situation turns deadly, will she be able to come to grips with her trauma and become the warrior she needs to be to save her friends?

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Excerpt

“Got anything I can do for a while?”

Galdyr stops painting. He swivels his head so that all eight eyestalks are looking at me. Both his mouths slowly curl upward in wry, toothless grins. His lower left arm reaches down onto the ladder and grabs two small bags. He takes one of them in his lower right arm and tosses it to me. I catch it in midair and open it—it’s got four small throwing knives inside.

“Are you sure?” I smile, already flexing my legs and stretching my torso. “You’ll have to patch holes in the walls if I throw wild again.”

Galdyr jumps down from the ladder, landing in a defensive crouch, a beanbag in each hand.

“Yes!” his upper mouth says. “Think fast!” his lower mouth adds as he winds up his arms for throwing.

Instantly, my eyes grow larger and glow. I feel my skin harden like a shiny, scaly insect exoskeleton.

I don’t stop to think. My right arm reaches into the bag. I eye a straight line between my arm and his chest and release the knife at the same time as I spring behind the couch. I hear a beanbag slam into the couch right by my head.

I drop the bag on the floor, put one knife in my belt, and grab the two remaining knives. I roll to the side of the couch, eye another path to Galdyr’s chest, and let both knives fly as I continue rolling until I’m behind the recliner. I pop my head up but see two of Galdyr’s arms lurch forward in a throw, and I duck just as two beanbags soar over my head and slam into the wall behind me.

The ceiling is about thirty feet above me; I palm the one remaining throwing knife and spring straight up. I throw the knife down on him as I grab the ceiling beam with both arms and hang there. I feel a beanbag bounce off the beam I’m holding onto just inches away from my head.

“You didn’t hit me once!” I grin.

Both of Galdyr’s mouths smile as he positions himself under me. I let go of the beam, and he catches me with his two upper arms, handing me off to his lower arms, which stand me up on the floor. I close my eyes and concentrate on reining in my Sedu self and returning to my human form—which isn’t easy to do when I’m breathing hard and sweating. It takes me a while, but I do.
“But you hit me with one—great aim!” his upper mouth says.

I open my eyes and see him holding three of the throwing knives in three of his hands. One of the small knives is sticking in his upper-right shoulder.

“That’s only the second time I’ve ever hit you!” I exclaim.

“You’re getting better, Stinger!” his lower mouth says as his upper left arm pulls out the knife.

About the Author
Orren Merton started writing fantasy and science fiction at an embarrassingly young age. In high school, he picked up guitar and start playing up and down California in a few loud and moody bands, culminating in his current project  Ember After.  During that time, magazines, developers, and corporations began to pay him to write and edit music software related articles, manuals, and  books. Since then he has written the urban fantasy novel The Deviant and the science fiction novel Skye Entity before working on The Sedumen Chronicles, his current series of urban fantasy YA novels. He lives in Southern California with his family, pets, collection of sci-fi/fantasy memorabilia, and curiously large stuffed animal collection.

Author Links:

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