The Echo Worlds, #2
by Joshua C. Cook
Date of Publication:
September 12th 2016
Cover Artist: S.A.
Hunt
Genre: Urban Fantasy
BLURB
The Bridgefinders have won a battle they
never expected to walk away from. The Slyph has been pushed back, and now faces
open rebellion from Grellnot.
War is brewing on the Echo World, a war that
has large implications for us. Within the Bridgefinders something rotten has
taken hold, as one of their own starts down a dark path of jealousy, anger, and
hate.
When a woman from a mysterious group known
only as the Shrouded, comes with a warning, her appearance proves to be a
tipping point as the Bridgefinders face a new challenge, the evil within.
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Silence fell. Heather, Jasmine, and Cendan all exchanged
glances at each other, and the nearly foot-long flying thing lying on the
floor.
“Marcus had to have heard that.” Jasmine was the first to break the
silence. “I’ll get Heather outside. Make something up to tell him until we can
figure this out.” Grabbing Heather by
the arm, despite the start of protests, Jasmine quickly ran out of the room
towards the exit.
“What was that!?” Marcus came barreling into the room, focus
held up. Cendan could only wonder at
what he thought of the scene in front of him.
A dead flying grub of large size; the smell of pepper spray in the air;
and Cendan holding a wall-light like a two handed club with bits of… whatever
the thing was still sticking to the glass on the light.
Eyes narrowed, Marcus lowered his hand
slowly. “Ok, talk.”
Cendan sighed. Jasmine should have stayed and talked to
Marcus, not him. Got to think fast, he
told himself.
“Well…
Jasmine and I were talking about the map, about how we hadn’t seen any
Bridges since that day, right? I was
talking to EVA and realized her and the map were linked somehow. We came in here, and while we were seeing if
EVA could find anything wrong with the map, that thing,” Cendan paused and
pointed at the remains of the creature on the floor. “That thing came out of the map. You can see the crack it made. Jasmine had the forethought to spray the
thing with pepper spray, and I whacked it.”
Cendan held up the wall torch.
“Marcus, I think the map is
broken. I think that it’s been broken
since that day.” Cendan wasn’t looking
at Marcus. His eyes were glued to the
map in front of him. “I don’t know how
to fix this yet…”
The blow came fast, hard. Cendan went down involuntarily, grabbing the
side of his head as pain exploded.
“You broke the map! It was fine,” Marcus yelled, standing over
Cendan, rage written across his face.
Cendan was stunned. Through the
pain, he fumbled to think to something; anything to say. Instead, Marcus continued.
“You and that damn machine broke
it!” Marcus slammed his fist into the
map, his focus, the ring digging into the wood.
“I used to dream about that thing coming back online. I used to wish for it, and now, like
everything with you, you’ve ruined it.”
Cendan slowly came to his feet. He could feel a small drip of liquid on the
side of his face - blood? Maybe from the
ring.
“Marcus, calm the hell down. That thing broke the damn map. Not me, not EVA - that!” Cendan pointed to the remains on the
floor. “It probably got there the day
the Slyph attacked and Sal died! Think
for a damn second, Marcus!” Cendan
watched Marcus carefully. He wasn’t sure
what had triggered this rage, this level of anger, but he wasn’t about to get
sucker punched in the head again. Marcus he knew would be angry about the
witch, but violence?
Marcus’s face, tightened, his lips a
thin line on an already drawn and sharp face.
“Don’t you talk about the Bridgefinder
that you got killed. For the last two
weeks I’ve sat and thought, each day realizing more and more that you, Cendan,
you are the cause of all of this ... this falling apart of the Bridgefinders.”
“Sal’s death, the map, the breaking of
traditions, the tainting of Jasmine, all of it.
It’s your fault. We should have
let Grellnot damn well have you. I wish
I could go back in time and take that focus of yours that day when you dropped
it, the first night we all met. Take it
and send you away. That would have been better
than this!” Marcus held up his fist,
white knuckled and pale. “I have been a
Bridgefinder all my life. My parents
were, and their parents before them. I
honor this with my very life!”
“You, Cendan Key, you mock it. And now, your stupidity and carelessness have
broken the very tool we need to keep this world safe.” Marcus spat on the floor. “That thing I’m sure was something you
brought back from your little trip to the Slyph’s world.”
Cendan reached out to EVA mentally,
but once again found her hard to reach.
Prioritize! he told himself.
Cendan opened his mouth to respond to Marcus, but closed it again.
Jasmine saved the day as she walked
into the map room and stopped short.
“What is going on?” Jasmine rushed to Cendan, checking the mark
on his face. “What happened?”
Not taking his eyes off Marcus, Cendan
let out a slow breath. “Marcus here
blames me for the map, sucker punched me in the head. Apparently I’m the worst thing that ever
happened to this place.”
Jasmine turned to Marcus, eyes
wide. “Marcus?”
Marcus pointed at Cendan. “I want him gone, Jasmine. Don’t you get it? Everything we’ve done, everything we’ve
worked for, our parents worked for, everything the Bridgefinders is under
threat because of him!” Marcus turned to walk away, but instead stopped and
stared Jasmine down. “Where were you just now Jasmine? I know you were here..”
Jasmine grabbed Cendan’s arm. “Marcus, you're being ridiculous. Cendan is—”
Marcus cut her off. “Gone Jasmine. I don’t care about anything. You’re staying, he’s going. Forever.”
Jasmine stood up straight. “Hell no.
What is in your head? Cendan is a
Maker, remember? You want to send away
the only Maker we’ve had in over a thousand years?”
Marcus barked a short laugh. “Maker?
He’s only making a mockery of us.
Of all of us. Don’t you see it,
Jasmine? In the short time he’s been
here; this talk of magic; breaking things; getting Sal killed. He’s the cause of all the pain we’ve had.”
Jasmine and Cendan exchanged
glances. Marcus didn’t know about
Heather at least. Whatever was going on
with him that knowledge would probably push him even farther down this dark
path he was on.
“Cendan isn’t going anywhere,
Marcus.” Jasmine answered quietly. “I don’t know where you are coming from,
you're one of my oldest friends, and I’ve been proud to call you such, but
this… this is insanity.”
Marcus grimaced in response. “Jasmine, I know you and he once dated, but
get away from him. Just... stay here,
and he leaves.”
Jasmine looked at Marcus and blanched. She turned to Cendan and whispered. “I think Marcus is... jealous.”
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MY INTERVIEW WITH
JOSHUA COOK
How would you describe you style of writing
to someone that has never read your work?
I would say that my style is one that is
pretty simple at first glance. It’s straight forward and clean. That being
said, one of the main themes that run though all my books and stories is one
that you can’t fully trust anyone. In everything I write, no one is pure.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need
to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project
or just free writing)?
Hmm… Interesting question. I would say that
I’m not one who likes to write with a lot of distractions going on. I dislike
writing with anyone else in the room, and I strongly prefer total silence, or
at most white noise. I do sometimes use rainyday.com, which is a loop of storm
and rain sounds at times when I write.
I usually have a cup of coffee or water
nearby as well. I’m a morning writer, meaning I do roughly 80% of my writing
between 9:00am and 12:00pm. I write total rubbish at night, so I stopped doing
that.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do
you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do
you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character
during story creation?
Character prep is a bit different for me.
While I’m not an outliner, nor am I a total pantser. I prefer the terms that
George R. R. Martin used once, Architect and Gardener. Characters I always
develop the same way. First I think about ‘who’ they are. I think up a rough
background and name them. Then I do a mind map for each of the main characters,
antagonists and protagonists.
Each mind map lays out their wants, needs,
strengths and weaknesses. I refer to them if I’m in a scene and having a hard
time figuring out where to go with a character. It helps me get ‘grounded’ in a
person.
Those mind maps, and my seed sentence is all
the planning I do on any story. All my books start as a single idea sentence,
and I go from there.
Have you found yourself bonding with any
particular character? If so which one(s)?
Oddly enough yes, one of my antagonists,
Grellnot. He’s evil to the core, but he’s VERY fun to write. And unlike most
other characters, he’s simple. His motives while not good ones, are
straightforward.
Do you have a character that you have been
working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
Yes! The next book in the series you meet a
character, not human, but VERY powerful. It will be pretty pivotal to the book,
and so far it’s proving to be very enjoyable to write. I don’t want to spoil
anything, but the other characters reactions are…interesting.
Have you ever felt that there was something
inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to
reach for the unexperienced?
At times. When I’m lost in the ‘zone’ and
writing sometimes it just flows out of me. I’m not even sure what the words
are, my fingers just type away. I’ve had to go back and read it and see if it
makes any sense at all.
I love to experience things, all sorts of
things. Both mentally and physically. Writing lets me share what I have learned
with those who read it. It’s one of the more unexpected things I’ve learned as
I’ve been writing.
Author Info
Josh Cook grew up in a highly literary
family, with an English Professor mother who taught rhetoric. Having a long
term love to fantasy and science fiction, Josh began writing three years ago.
Outside of writing, Josh enjoys politics, cooking, hiking, and a good argument.
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