Friday, May 30, 2014

"Liminal Lights" by J. M. Bogart

NEW RELEASE and EXCERPT
Liminal Lights
by J. M. Bogart


Liminal Lights, the first book in a new YA trilogy by J. M. Bogart, is currently on tour with Enchanted Book Promotions. The tour stops here today for an excerpt. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.


Description
What if faerie magic is real?
Nadia discovers an ancient truth hidden by Liminals, coveted by Shadow Monsters, and protected by humans.
Somewhere, between faerie legends and story books, lies the truth to magic. It grows in children, matures, and is eventually captured by Liminal beings. These small, faerie-like creatures harvest and manipulate it, crafting it into the talents and skills inherent in humans. The rest, they keep for themselves in an effort to sustain their own life forces.
The human race is evolving, forcing Bean, Pritt, and Tissa to find new ways of harvesting human magic to save their own kind. Nadia’s power, found in her talent as an artist, is the last hope for these Liminal beings who find themselves caught between light and shadow. Liminals aren’t the only ones after her magic, so are the creatures who lurk under the bed, hide in the darkness, and go bump in the night.
This is the first book of a trilogy.

Excerpt
Pressing my nose against the cold glass of the window, I watch her coax the images to life, creating magic from nothing more than her imagination. She shifts on the bed, allowing the light to briefly illuminate her unfinished drawing. Its vibrant essence is exposed for a fleeting moment before her calm demeanour changes, and she viciously attacks the page with the wrong end of her pencil. I place the palm of my hand on the window allowing desperation to wash over me. I will her to stop the destruction, but I am too small for her to notice. The sketch is obliterated; only the scattered shavings of a brief moment in time remain in its place. Her magic fades, and once again I am left with nothing.
Silly mortal, doesn’t she know that every time she scrubs the page clean, another opportunity is lost?
A flickering light distracts me from the task of watching over my charge. Carefully, I skip across the ledge and peer around the corner in an attempt to discover what took away my attention. Of course, it’s only Pritt, up to his usual mischief. I wonder what dreams he plans to bestow on the boy who lives two windows over and breathe a sigh of relief when he whizzes past in a blur of blue-green light, bypassing my window altogether.
I return my gaze to the bedroom to find the girl has disappeared from view. I check the moonstar, note the time, and realize she must be preparing for sleep. Finally, I might be able to get some work done. Watching and waiting are tedious but necessary work, especially now that time is critical. Any minute now the world could tilt, shifting the shadows, and leaving my kind to drown in the dark.

Featured Review
I read Liminal Lights as a beta reader for Jennifer, we met on Authonomy. I liked her book (without really knowing her at the time) and just started reading it while providing some editorial suggestions. It was already pretty polished at that stage.
Liminal Lights is the story of fairy-like creatures (but they're not fairies) who harvest a small amount of human magic in exchange for remolding it into something we can use. The Liminals do this in a friendly way, which they believe to be beneficial for both themselves and the humans involved. But there is a problem, the Liminals are running out of magic, they're pinning their hopes of survival on the coming of magical age of the one child, Nadia. Bean is Nadia's guardian, but she doesn't even know the child's name. The dark ones, the shadow creatures, have also noticed Nadia, and would think nothing of ripping the magic away leaving her a husk of herself. Will Bean be able to convince this child of magic that she's a friend and only wants to help, or is interacting with the humans more than Bean is capable of?
I thought this was a book that middle grade children and young adults would enjoy, I certainly did.

About the Author
J. M. Bogart believes there’s a spark of magic in every person, regardless of age or background. Her upper Middle Grade novels are written with bright and imaginative youth in mind. She hopes to provide fun and appropriate content combined with challenging language and concepts for readers drifting in those precocious middle years.
J. M. also writes women's fiction as Jennifer Bogart. Her titles include: Remember Newvember, Reflections, and Money, Masks & Madness.
Ms. Bogart spends her days writing, editing, and caring for her very busy family. She used to dream of the day when Mary Poppins would swoop in to help with the children, but now that they are older she wishes those chaotic days filled with giggles and sunshine hadn't disappeared quite so fast.

Links