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• Red Sky

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Gemstone Ivora was completely alone. Her mother had abandoned her half sister and her as young children. Gem was forced to adapt, to learn to care for herself, for her half sister, and for the dozens of useless orphan girls that mysteriously found their way to her house. After a fire that results in the deaths of all of the orphans, Gem and her sister descend into a nightmarish world, where they find themselves on opposite sides in ’the ultimate’ war. The Cycle of Blood has begun. I started writing Red Sky when I was a late twelve or early thirteen. It started out as a poem--not a very good one--that eventually swelled first into prose, then into a prologue. The book grew daily; it was my after-school entertainment, and I loved it. When I finished it, it was about 130,000 words...very long, especially for an ebook. I edited it several times, cutting cliches and recycling chapters as well as I knew how, and began the submissions process. Deron Douglas accepted it for publishing with Double Dragon Ebooks shortly after it was finished. It's now available as an Ebook, or as an overpriced paperback from lulu.com for $24.99. Writer Marilyn Byerly calls Red Sky 'The Magnificent Seven meets the Twilight of the Gods on steroids and uppers.' and the reason was clear. Red Sky has no strong central plot, but is instead a weave of maybe a dozen separate subplots that are constantly interacting with one another and finally climax at a common point. The book starts out relatively slowly. A girl, Myriad, was wounded in a car crash, but when Death came to take her, she was immune to Death's touch. Later, she realizes that she can see all the creatures of Heaven and Hell, and descends into a mild madness. Her boyfriend, Ares, dies soon after, leaving her pregnant and alone. She gives birth to her first child, then finds a second boyfriend, Taur, who fathers another child seven years later. Both of her children can see the creatures that she can see. Her madness eventually drives Taur over the edge though, and he kills himself. When her children are 14 and 7, Myriad leaves on a quest to kill Death that will end quite successfully. Myriad's children, Gemstone and Crystal, are left in their mother's shack to fend for themselves. As time passes, orphan girls begin to show up and demand help. Gem overhears one of them talking and realizes that the girl is possessed. She mistakes her sister, though, for Hera--Gem's favorite child and the only one who helps her help the others. In an effort to drive out Mara, the demoness, Gem burns down the house with all of the children inside--except for, ironically, Crystal, who is the vessel for Mara. Gemstone and Crystal flee the ruins of their house for the forest; it's winter, and they need shelter. When they arrive there, Trinity meets them. Trinity is Queen of the Heavens, but her title is misleading--she's working against Heaven in the constant warfare. Trinity ages the girls and transports them to a rogue camp where the inhabitants can all see the creatures and angels from Heaven and Hell. There isn't unity in the camp, though--fighting between two sects of the only religion in the camp is on the verge of erupting. Renee, High Priestess in the camp, is vessel to the Fallen, and unknowingly does the bidding of Mara and Apollyon. Her adoptive children, Raven and Crow, take a different approach to things. When the time arises, Gem takes the side of Raven and Crow and promises to help lead a raid on a cave where hellacious creatures crawl into the world. Soon after, she realizes that Renee has taken Crystal as her new daughter. Renee publically shames Raven and gives her to Crystal as a slave. Raven is heartbroken, and neither her brother nor Gem can do anything to help her. During the raid on the cave, one of the archers from the camp goes mad and captures Raven. Gem steals a horse and chases them to an archaic cemetery, where she manages to save Raven from a vicious plant that punctures its victims' lungs with its vines. Raven escapes injured, but still living. This victory is short-lived, though--Gem is distracted by the mad archer, and when her back is turned, Renee's army shows up. Gem and Crow realize that something is wrong with both Renee and Crystal. They run away together, toward the Forgotten Monastery where they hope to find and kill Seir, the child of Mara and Apollyon. Along the way, they meet up with five others, unknowingly fulfilling a prophecy that will draw this world's life to a climactic close. Myst is Trinity's daughter. She has no father--at least, none that her mother will admit to. She's shunned in Heaven, where angel-born angels are often seen as inferior to angels that were once human. When her birthday arrives, she gets to try a human life at last. She's eager to get away from the discrimination, not realizing that she will soon be discriminating against a friend. When Comanche's tribe is killed by a giant bird, she escapes to a world where she meets up with Gem and Crow. She's quiet, but she helps with a great many things. Phoenyx Aryzona is a murderess--at least, that's what The City has decided. When she's unjustly convicted of killing her abusive husband, Phoenyx escapes through a window and into Gem's world. All isn't solved for Phoenyx, though--Angel, the Angel of Anger visits her in a dream, leaving her a vampire. Myst's disdain for her eventually leads her to contemplate betrayal... While all of this is going on, there is a spirited interaction between the ranking angels in both Heaven and Hell. A climactic battle is brewing, and both sides are making desperate plays to influence the actions of The Seven in their favor. When The Seven reach the River Styx, Heaven and Hell are at one another's throats, one of their own is trying to destroy them, and destruction looks to be around every corner. To save this world will mean their own deaths; to end it will rebirth it--but they can't know how the world will be on the other side of the river. This is a long book, and I really haven't begun to summarize it here. I'd appreciate it if you guys could read it and give me some feedback. Please bear in mind my age at the time it was written--I'm really not that much older now. There's a sequel accepted for publication; I'll have more info up about that later. Thanks for your time! -Rachael

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