The Silver Siren
by Chanda Hahn
(Iron Butterfly Series #3)
Publication date: May 25th 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Young AdultSynopsis:
Every journey has an end.
Unable to find the answers she sought in Skyfell, Thalia, Joss, and Kael travel to Haven with a prisoner in tow. An attack on the road waylays their plans, and Thalia finds herself traveling alone with
Kael to the hidden sanctuary of the SwordBrothers.
But war is on the horizon and the Raven is amassing his army. This time, the target is not Calandry, but the Sirens of Sinnedor. When family ties are revealed, Thalia must choose sides. Desperate to break the final seal on her power and save those she loves, will Thalia willingly taste the bitter pain of the iron butterfly machine one final time?
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Silver Siren Excerpt #1
The barn burst into flames, the Septori burst into flames, and Talbot screamed as he beat at his clothes to stop the fire. The fire shot across the beams of the barn.
The Septori in a panic, tried to drag me out of the barn.
The shriek of a horse made me glance to Faraway, and I saw him outside of the barn screaming in terror.
He was going to try and run in to save me. With a wave of power, I slammed the barn door closed on him, keeping him out. I was going to end this once and for all. I had a glimpse of what I was becoming and I didn’t like it.
“Burn,” I whispered and watched as the flames licked higher. Energy flowed through my body, and I could hear something just beyond my consciousness. Like a sigh being released. My body became warm, tingling. And then more pain.
“Her eyes. Look at her eyes!” One of my captors backed away from me and ran out the side door.
“Don’t look at her, just grab her!” Talbot screamed.
I felt more hands grasp me and I hated it. I hated them. Looking up along the beams of the barn, I saw the main support beam.
It was time to end this for everyone. I gave in to the pain and anger, reached for a smaller support beam, and pulled at it. Half of the burning roof came down on a large group of the Septori. They screamed and tried to cover their heads as it fell. Too late.
“Stop her! She’s going to kill us all,” Talbot cried waving his hands at me.
I smirked. I was.
Excerpt #2
“Will you stay close?” It sounded crazy coming from my own mouth, but I needed him near.
“I’ll stay as close as you want,” he whispered. Then he sat near me cross-legged. “Is this good?” A small smile played at the corner of his lips.
Nodding my head, I curled up in his bedroll and immediately felt comfortable and safe. I yawned and inhaled the smell of him from his blanket. I was definitely tired.
“Thalia?” Kael leaned over and spoke into my ear.
“Hmmm?” I answered.
“Why don’t you want me to leave?”
“Mmm. ’Cause you keep the bad things away,” I mumbled sleepily.
“What if I am the bad thing?” His thick voice questioned. Was that a hint of fear I heard?
“You’re not,” I answered honestly.
I was almost asleep when I heard shuffling. My eyes flew open, and I reached out to grab Kael’s arm. He looked at me in surprise.
“I’m just getting comfortable,” he smirked.
“Promise you won’t leave me,” I demanded tiredly.
Kael nodded, and I let sleep finally win. But I swore I heard him whisper under his breath. “Never.”
EXCERPT #3
Someone yanked the sack off of my head. I’d been so lost in thought that I didn’t hear him come over. My eyes flew open and I saw a young man with pimples. He grimaced when he looked into my eyes. He had pulled off his red robe and had it tucked under his arm. I had yet to see my eyes, so I could only imagine what they looked like to send such fear into him.
“See? She’s alive,” he yelled over his shoulder.
“Quick, someone’s coming. Knock her out so she doesn’t warn anyone.” The now familiar voice yelled into the darkness. The young pimple-faced Septori grabbed my head, pinched my nose, and poured a draft into my mouth.
The taste was different. I was actually shocked to realize they’d switched tactics. It was a sleeping draft. I fought against my eyelids as huge weights seemed to tug them down.
The young man jumped up and moved into the shadows of the cave, blade in hand. A few moments later, I saw the familiar outline of Kael at the entrance to the cave. Walking right into a trap.
“Wait!” I tried to whisper, fighting against the sleeping draft.
Kael kept walking, oblivious to the trap.
I heard swords being drawn behind him. The Septori closed in.
He was outnumbered and cornered.AUTHOR BIO
Chanda is a bestselling and award winning author of the UnEnchanted: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale series and the Iron Butterfly series. She’s been a bestseller in five countries and was named one of Amazon’s top 100 customer favorite author.
She uses her experience as a children’s pastor, children’s librarian and bookseller to write compelling and popular fiction for teens.
She was born in Seattle, WA, grew up in Nebraska and currently resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband and their twin children.
Learn more about this author visit her website www.chandahahn.com
Follow her on twitter: www.twitter.com/chandahahn
Now for the longer extended edition.
Bio: I was born in Seattle, WA and grew up in a very small town in Nebraska. I’ve worked for Barnes & Noble in NE and MN. I attendend North Central University, in Minneapolis MN. Which is where I met my BFF and husband, Philip Hahn and we became credentialed pastors with the Assemblies of God. In 2003, we moved to IL and I became a children’s librarian, while my husband worked full time at the church. I became a certified pastor in 2007.
It was while I was a librarian, that I started to learn the market. I knew first hand what parents- grandparents, aunts and uncles were looking for when buying a book. They wanted action, adventure, fantasy and with a little romance. CLEAN. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that word pop up. But they wanted a book that would hook their non reader into reading. There were only so many series at my library that I could reccomend, because now the books were moving into drug use, cussing, sex- and this was in the YA section. I felt disappointed with the movement of publishing houses. I actually remembered the day when Twilight came across the desk and was exited because it was paranormal and clean. At this time, there was only one book in the series. I remember thinking. Okay. I can reccomend this, but I wish there were more like it. And I actually started writing a series back in 2003. I still have the drafts, I just never had time to finish writing them.
In 2008 I gave birth to twins, Aiden and Ashley and became a full time stay at home mom. And with twins I was busy. But I was bored. I needed a creative outlet. So I decided to write a book for me. I took everything I loved, and wanted in a fantasy and combined it into the Iron Butterfly.
I then found a picture on Flickr that told a story in itself. It was a picture of a young girl wearing a red hoody. I instantly thought of present day red riding hood, and what if this girl was cursed to relive all of the fairy tales. YES! Gold! So in Nov of 2010, I wrote UnEnchanted and started querying it. It was going to be the story that I wrote for all of those parents, teens and relatives that wanted something that was fantasy, contemporary, a lil romance and above all clean. Some have said that my books are simple, compared to my IB series. I disagree. I think they’re perfect for the new reader, that wants to fall in love with reading. Or an adult that wants to fall in love all over again.
In 2011, we moved to Portland, OR and I decided that a new move, new house, new me, meant new adventure. I self published Unenchanted Dec 31st 2011. A few months later I published, The Iron Butterfly Feb 2012. Fairest in June 2012. The Steele Wolf (IB #2) was released Jan 2013. And Fable came out Aug 2013.
I’ve sold almost 250K books, maybe more, I’m not really counting. Been featured in Embolden Magazine Winter 2013. Chosen as Amazon’s Customer Favorite author for 2012 & 2013. Fable was named iBooks Best of 2013 in Australia and New Zealand. Fairest won Best Fantasy of the Year at UtopYA 2013. UnEnchanted is getting translated into German and currently in the works for Hungary and Korean.
I’m currently working on the IB #3 and UnEnchnated #4. As well as other projects and WIP’s.
My agent is Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group. You can direct any inquiries regarding my foreign, film, audio and translation rights to him. www.tridentmediagroup.com
The Fun Stuff: I love coffee. Cold and chocolatey is my preferred method of consumption. I’m fascinated by Christian Bale and may have a small crush on him. But not Christian in the scary movies. I’m talking Christian Bale in Newsies and Reign of Fire. I also love books, but hate cracked spines, dog eared pages and I loathe to even put a highlighter to my Bible. Thank goodness, for iPads. I would love to one day write a classic that sits on everyone’s shelf. A book that lasts the test of time. If I could hang out with another author for one day it would be Meg Cabot! The next book on my to be read list is Gail Carriger’s Ettiquette and Espionage Series. I have no pets, though I used to own an American Eskimo and she would wear a lil pink hoody around the house. My kids are my world. (yes, I need to expand my world a bit.) I like dressing up and making outfits for Renaissance Faires. And I’ve been directing Kids Musicals now going on 14 years.
Can you give me any writing advice?
1. Read, Read, and then read some more.
If you love to read, then you have the potential to be a great writer or storyteller. I’ve never considered myself a great writer. In fact, I think I’m downright awful. But I consider myself a fantastic storyteller.
2. Get a great editor.
I learned this the hard way. Hire a great editor. A phenomenal editor is worth their weight in gold.
3. You need a to have a phenomenal concept.
Just because you wrote a book, doesn’t mean you will sell it and make money. In fact, it is quit the opposite. Most likely, it will sit on a digital shelf collecting cyber dust. But hey at least your wrote a book! Which is more than most people. I uploaded UnEnchanted just for fun, (without spell-checking) and it hit the charts within days. That is NOT the norm.
My favorite book series is The Iron Butterfly, because it’s written in first person and it’s epic fantasy. But it doesn’t sell. My least favorite book is UnEnchanted, because I struggle with third person and tenses, and I felt like I almost burnt myself out by writing it in 3 weeks, but that is everyone’s favorite. What can you do?
4. Don’t read your reviews!!!!
I feel that reading bad reviews and ratings is almost like submitting yourself to cyber bullying. There are people who will rip your book to shreds, rip you as an author apart and tell you your horrible etc. It will make it hard to gain confidence in yourself or keep writing. Some days I lay in bed and go “what did I do? I’m a horrible author…so and so just said so!” And I will find it very difficult to continue writing, but then I remind myself of all the teens and adults who want to know what’s going to happen next and I get up and continue the story. Telling myself everyday, I can do it! I’m a storyteller.
Just read your fan mail and the comments on your blog or website! It is way more ENCOURAGING!!!!
5. Yes, a cover does sell a book!
Please, please don’t make the cover yourself. Try and find someone who loves to play in photoshop, or a graphic design student, who wants to add to his or her portfolio. Find something that looks great as a thumbnail, because be honest with yourself, you thumb through your phone looking at the pictures to decide if you are going to stop and read the blurb.
6. Don’t give up.
Not every book is meant to be a best seller. But every story deserves to be a book. Find yourself a support group of other writers.
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