Riftmaker Blog Tour: Character Spotlight on Heather

Today I welcome the Riftmaker blog tour and have a spotlight for you for the character of Heather from the book. Riftmaker is a steampunk portal fantasy by Phoebe Darqueling and looks fabulous. So enjoy...

Meet Heather

Like all members of The Chosen, Heather’s name comes from nature. When her people were driven out of the city to fend for themselves in the forest, they adopted this practice to set them apart from the greedy, progress-obsessed denizens of Excelsior. Although her name may come from a flower, Heather is all leather and no lace. When I found this photo spread by Pixie Vision of Felicia Day in Steampunk military garb, it felt a lot like this character.

She is a member of an elite strike force that operates on both sides of the rift. On one side, she’s a human with a long, scarlet braid. On the other side, AKA our world, she’s a panther. She spends so much time moving between the two realms, the speed, balance, and ferocity of her panther-self bleed into her human shape. Heather is a predator through and through, which leaves little room for remorse.

Her father is the leader of The Chosen, but her mother was lost on a mission to the other side. Heather is her father’s right hand woman, and never fails at her missions. But despite her frequent trips to our world, she has led a sheltered life with only her father’s words to show her the shape of things. If his plan succeeds and The Chosen take over Excelsior, her world will become a lot bigger. There’s no telling how new the experiences or the new people she encounters will change her, and it may not be for the better.

Here’s a little taste of Heather with an excerpt from Riftmaker.

As Cirroc peered at the oblivious people below, he found it difficult to think of them as the same as the faceless “enemy” the Commander referred to. Unlike the encampment in the forest, there were children in the kitetown. He shuddered to think of the members of Brigade descending upon them.

He glanced at the woman at his side, her eyes staring fixedly at the dancers. Heather did not acknowledge him with her eyes, but when she sensed his regard, her hungry leer widened. “Shall I give the go-ahead?” she asked as she surveyed the gather, nearly salivating with her desire to pounce.

A torch smoldered a few yards away, giving them a meager light to see by—not that the Brigade really needed any. Though the Brigade occasionally came inside the city’s walls, most often their missions took them through the rifts to explore on the other side. The entire corps was each some breed of feline in their otherworld form, and most retained some of the enhanced night vision of their species as a result.

“I am your commanding officer, Heather, and when we are in the field, you will call me ‘sir.’ Is that clear?” Cirroc snapped, sounding far more confident than he felt. He would not admit it to anyone, but he found Heather’s proximity both unsettling and oddly riveting.

She turned her strange, almost glowing eyes to him, and he could feel their pull. He’d just given her an order, but just like her father, a sliver of his mind was telling him to obey whatever she said instead. The lenses the mask she kept at the ready on top of her head flashed in the firelight. “Of course,” she purred, “sir.”

“Then, yes, give the signal,” he answered, both eager for her to leave and loath to set her among the happy crowd below. Heather reached for the torch to signal the others on the adjacent rooftops, the wicked brass claws on her gloves catching the firelight. Heather and her comrades were all outfitted with this kind of gear to help them climb, but Cirroc could imagine the damage they could also do to flesh.

He caught her shoulder as she turned to go. “And I don’t want any casualties,” he warned, leveling his gaze. “Is that clear?”

“But he didn’t say anything about that at the briefing,” she whined. Looking down at his hand on her arm, she added a sneered “sir” that dripped with malice.

Cirroc released her arm, but managed not to flinch or give in to her unblinking gaze. “Our goal is to cause a little chaos and get what we came for. Nothing more, nothing less,” he replied.

“As you wish…” she purred. “Sir.” 

Riftmaker by Phoebe Darqueling

Save his boy, uncover a conspiracy, and master opposable thumbs—a dog’s work is never done.

Buddy’s favorite thing is curling up for a nap at the foot of Ethan's bed. Then he stumbles through a portal to a clockwork city plagued by chimeras, and everything changes… Well, not everything. Sure, his new human body comes with magic powers, but he’d still rather nap than face the people of Excelsior, who harbor both desire and fear when it comes to “the other side.”

He discovers Ethan followed him through the portal and underwent his own transformation, and it becomes Buddy’s doggone duty to save him. Buddy finds unlikely allies in an aristocrat with everything on the line, a mechanic with something to hide, and a musician willing to do anything to protect her. Using a ramshackle flying machine, the group follows the chimeras deep into the forest and uncovers a plot that could reshape the worlds on both sides of the rift.

Riftmaker is available at:
Amazon
Other Retailers
In Paperback
Smashwords
Goodreads

Riftmaker is available for $3.99 from Amazon and a variety of other e-book retailers. Print price is $18.99 from Amazon and the Our Write Side store.

Find more character spotlights, book reviews, guest posts, and interviews with Phoebe Darqueling during the Riftmaker blog tour, Jan 24 - Mar 6.  

Do you like free books? Sure you do! Get a FREE COPY of The Steampunk Handbook right now.

About the Author

Phoebe Darqueling is the pen name of a globe trotting vagabond who currently hangs her hat in Freiburg, Germany. In her “real life” she writes curriculum for a creativity competition for kids. She loves all things Steampunk and writes about her obsession on SteampunkJournal.org. You can find her short stories in the Chasing Magic and The Queen of Clocks and Other Steampunk Tales anthologies, and her contributions to the collaborative novels, Army of Brass and Esyld’s Awakening.

You can find more of Phoebe’s antics on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Drabble Wednesday: Exploration

Today, on Drabble Wednesday we go exploring... into space, through dimensions and below the ocean’s surface.

To Boldly Go...

A voice reverberated through the crowd of eager scientists at NASA Mission Control.

“Discovery One has passed out of the solar system. The exploration probe is transmitting. We are receiving video communication. We will soon see what is beyond...” Abruptly the screen filled with static as the probe’s transmission ended.

“Communication is down! I repeat communication is down! We’ve lost Discovery One!”

Outside the solar system, charred pieces of metal, the remains of the ill-fated Discovery One, floated past a black, cylindrical security drone. Just one of millions patrolling the galactic quarantine perimeter of hazardous species 4BZ112~THX, native designation: human.

~*~

Quantum Phenomenon

Curiosity.

A strange, essential human trait, but a dangerous one. At least I’ve found it so, for it led me here to a rather sizable predicament.

I’m a scientist, and you may imagine curiosity is my stock in trade. My field of study is quantum mechanics, and recently I made a breakthrough.

I found a method to generate interdimensional doorways.

Hence my current problem.

It was that last one, you see, the last door I opened. The one that led to Hell. Now I have demons trapped in the closet, and I don’t think the lock will hold much longer.

~*~

Under the Sea

They said I was mad!

They were probably right. I may indeed be quite insane. If my colleagues had been smarter, they would’ve locked me away in some deep hole and thrown away the key.

For, I found it.

Years of painstaking research, of ridicule, laughter, but I located the coordinates. I discovered the position where the city lies beneath the waves. Where He waits dreaming.

But today He shall awake.

I will pierce the black seas of infinity and rouse the beast.

He shall rise and return to this world.

The Old Gods will walk the earth once more.

© A. F. Stewart 2016 All Rights Reserved

Drabble Wednesday: Portal Power

Today on Drabble Wednesday we’re off to lands bizarre and places strange via the ever handy magic portal. I've dug deep into my vault, and produced three more stories for your enjoyment.

Adventures in Comic-Con World

This is not why I went to Comic-Con!

I thought it would be fun, I’d check out the panel discussions, get some autographs, maybe dress in costume as a superhero. Then I run across this odd booth. Next thing I know weird guys in glasses are doing a sparkly wham bang on me, I’m a foot tall and whisked through some dimensional portal gizmo.

Now I’m stuck in this stupid comic book world as some low-rent version of Antman, with a miniature sidekick named Scarlett L'Amour, and Dr. Catastrophe as an arch enemy bent on world domination.

Stupid, fraking portals!

Falling Through

I’m staring down a snarling dingo, holding a pudding in one hand and a doubloon in the other, wishing I had a shotgun loaded with buckshot instead.

The day started innocently, with a walk by a stream, and then, bam, I’m tumbling through the underground like Indiana Jones. I landed hard in some room housing a chest of coins, a fridge full of pudding and “Property of the Pilfering Pudding Plotters” scrawled on the wall.

Maybe I should have heeded, kept my hands off the goods, but how could I know there was a guard dog? I am so screwed.

Through the Gotham Looking Glass?

Holy Willie Nelson, Batman!

This isn't a dream—as much as I’d like it to be—and I’m in major trouble.

I’m standing on a road made of Corn Flakes in a strange version of Gotham City—I swear the Joker just ran past me. Strains of “On the Road Again” float to my ears, strummed by the country music banjo band cavorting on the Cheerios sidewalk.

Oh, why did I indulge my curiosity and investigate that wizard’s bubbling pink portal? What was I thinking? I should have known better than fool around with wizards, especially one named Lewis Carroll.