Rak and Jisten

Honor, Duty, Lust.

Captain Jisten is a man divided. Honor, on the one hand, and love, on the other. It’s difficult to balance the needs of his partner, S’Rak, and the needs of the prince he serves. It doesn’t help that the prince is acting oddly and growing increasingly jealous of the time his captain spends with the high priest. But then Jisten is drawn into the dark world of S’Rak’s past, where he is forced to confront his deepest fears. Racial pride and heritage war with his need for sanity and decency.
   
Will Jisten learn to accept S’Rak for who he is and face his internal demons, or will he withdraw behind the shield of duty and abandon the man he loves?

Video for Road to Koilatha

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Midnight Matters

Dragons blasting down Sun Temples, sun priests invading the palace, nothing to report.

High priest S’Rak successfully prevented his brother’s assassination and discovered, to his delight, that Captain Jisten wasn’t under a vow of purity after all. But nothing is as simple as it should be, and the prince’s health continues to decline, and discovering the cause stirs up far worse trouble than anyone expected.

While Jisten might not be under a vow of purity, it stands to reason that a sun priest should be, but that doesn’t seem to bother S’Rak’s enemies. When the high priest appears powerless to stop the senior sun priest’s abuses, allowing himself to be victimized for the sake of the Victory Prophecy, the captain takes matters into his own hands. 

He has a good crossbow, the help of a Goddess, and a dragon. What could possibly go wrong?

 Now available from eXtasy Books

The Log Line Blog: Assassins

The Log Line Blog: Assassins: Assassins A.C. Ellas eXtasy Books eXtasy Books Buy Link Author Website Available NOW!!! There's an assassin in...

Assassins

I apologize for the lateness of this. Book 6 was released on the 1st of February. I think it has the best cover yet. What do you guys think?

Dark Servant #6, Assassins

There's an assassin in the pantry.

High priest S’Rak is a man beset by many problems. The king wants to crown him, the sun priests want to purify him, and the palace slave trainer just wants him. Captain Jisten stands at the heart of an ethical dilemma that continues to plague Rak, for either Jisten is an oathbreaker or Rak is a rapist, and neither result bodes well for their future in the service of a God whose punishment for either crime is death. On top of all that, chaos-wielding assassins are trying to kill his brother.

What’s a high priest to do when the man of his dreams is under a vow of purity and assassins lurk around every corner?

The Hobbit: A Review

I don't often review books, and I never review movies, but in this case, I'm going to make an exception.

I give Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey five stars, two thumbs up, an A+, or whatever uber-positive rating you wish. Tolkien's work has always been near and dear to my heart, and I've read it all, from the Simarillion to the Lost Tales. I first read The Hobbit when I was seven. At the time, I enjoyed it for the adventure story it was, taking little thought to the larger picture of Tolkien's intricate, richly detailed world.

If Peter Jackson had stuck to just the words contained within The Hobbit, he would have ended up with a kid's movie that seemed barely related to the events of The Lord of the Rings. But he didn't contain his vision of Tolkien's world, for which I am profoundly grateful. Instead, he drew on other sources, such as the Simarillion, The Lord of the Rings, The Unfinished Tales, and the many reams of notes and thoughts that Tolkien left behind that were never published. He took this matieral and presented The Hobbit to us in the context of the greater whole. Much more was going on in Middle Earth than Bilbo's adventure, and Jackson brought this to light and life.

 
Purists might argue that he should have stuck to the book, and nothing but the book. That's already been done, and the cartoon version of The Hobbit is laughable. What Peter Jackson gave us was The Hobbit grown up and as spectacular, in its way, as his version of The Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend this movie, and I can't wait until next December.

Chaos and Flies

Chaos and blackmail and lust, oh my.

 

Honor. Duty. Love. Blackmail. Intrigue. Lust. Flies. Yes, flies. Killer blood-seeking flies have been the bane of Koilatha since the founding. They’re rumored to live in the ruins of an ancient temple of evil, not that anyone has ever gotten close enough to find out for certain. As a high priest, Rak is duty-bound to investigate these flies. The sun priest attempting to purify him and the palace functionary blackmailing him complicate matters, as does his brother’s near death at the hands of an ambitious woman and the king’s continued attempts to force him to accept the position as heir to the throne.

The worst thing of all is that, while sober, Jisten won’t settle for lust—he wants it all. And never mind that Rak has seduced him twice already. Where does honor lie when intrigue, duty, and love conflict?

http://www.extasybooks.com/chaos-and-flies-2/

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PG Excerpt:

Once Jisten was safely re-fastened with new straps, Rak directed Scorth across the river. The temple is supposed to be north and east of the city, closer to the inland sea.

Scorth adjusted his course. Are you sure this is wise? It’s the middle of the day. Shouldn’t we be doing this at night, when you’re stronger?

The time of day should not matter for this. Why? Are you afraid? Rak asked.

Hardly. Scorth snorted, incinerating a bird midair that he then snapped between his jaws and swallowed. Tastes like chicken.

Eat later. We have work to do now. Rak was focusing on the heavily wooded landscape beneath them. This looks like the impenetrable forest I was told about. That means the ruins are close.

They told you that the forest is impenetrable?

Ai.

And they told you what was inside the impenetrable forest?

Ai.

And you believed them?

I have an advantage that they lack.

Oh? And what might that be?

I have a dragon.

Scorth laughed, mollified by Rak’s obvious, but sincere, flattery. Jisten also laughed, having followed the entire exchange, and Rak graced him with a smile. The forest ended too abruptly for the border between tree and grass to be natural. The meadow beneath them was perfectly circular, and at the center, there was something that did not fit.

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