Today we have excerpts from Marva Dasef's books Bad Spelling and Midnight Oil - Books one and two of the Witches of Galdorheim series. One lucky commenter will get to choose a copy of either of these books, plus Marva provides a link to a free download of Spellsinger the prequel to this series. Salmon the Orca fills in for Marva and introduces himself.
Welcome Salmon.
BAD SPELLING – Book 1 of the Witches of Galdorheim
A klutzy witch, a shaman's curse, a quest to save her family. Can Kat find her magic in time?
If you’re a witch living on a remote arctic island, and the entire island runs on magic, lacking magical skills is not just an inconvenience, it can be a matter of life and death–or, at least, a darn good reason to run away from home.
Katrina’s spells don’t just fizzle; they backfire with spectacular results, oftentimes involving green goo. A failure as a witch, Kat decides to run away and find her dead father’s non-magical family. But before she can, she stumbles onto why her magic is out of whack: a curse from a Siberian shaman.
The young witch, accompanied by her warlock brother, must travel to the Hall of the Mountain King and the farthest reaches of Siberia to regain her magic, dodging attacks by the shaman along the way. At the Troll Kingdom, a young troll, Andy, joins the siblings in their quest to find the shaman and kill the curse.
MIDNIGHT OIL – Book 2 of the Witches of Galdorheim
Shipwrecked on a legendary island, how can a witch rescue her boyfriend if she can’t even phone home?
Kat is a nervous wreck waiting for her boyfriend's first visit to her Arctic island home. He doesn't show up, so she's sure he’s given her the brushoff.
When she learns he’s disappeared, she sets out on a mission to find him. Things go wrong from the start. Kat is thrown overboard during a violent storm, while her brother and his girlfriend are captured by a mutant island tribe. The mutants hold the girlfriend hostage, demanding the teens recover the only thing that can make the mutants human again–the magical Midnight Oil.
Mustering every bit of her Wiccan magic, Kat rises to the challenge. She invokes her magical skills, learns to fly an ultralight, meets a legendary sea serpent, rescues her boyfriend, and helps a friendly air spirit win the battle against her spiteful sibling. On top of it all, she’s able to recover the Midnight Oil and help the hapless mutants in the nick of time.
CONTACTS
Twitter Handle: @Gurina
THE GIVEAWAY: One lucky commenter wins their choice of either book in any of the available formats: PDF, PRC, or EPUB. In addition, anybody who’d like to download the prequel short story, “Spellslinger” (included as a bonus with Bad Spelling), can just click the following link to download the story for free.
SALMON THE ORCA
Chchchchch skreak! That be hello in human people talk. My name be Salmon Hunter because I so good hunting the fish.
I never met a human person who could talk the orca talk. I talk that speech only to Katrina Witch in her head. She talks back to me and both of us understand the other. Only this one human witch girl. She says it's how she makes magic. That is good for me! I like Kat Witch and help her out.
I even save her life more than one time. She's a lucky Kat Witch to have me be her friend.
First time I save her from a mad whitetooth. Kat Witch says human people call him polar bear. Not nice! But orca is big, strong! Not afraid of the bear. When I hear Kat Witch in my head, I heard scared. I heard help me. Curious, me. I went to look and chased off the mean bear.
Funny thing the whitetooth awake. Should be sleeping this season. Too early to wake up. I think some bad magic wake him up to kill Kat Witch. She says that's truth. A shaman, she says.
After I save Kat Witch, I not see her for a long time. Begin to think never see her again. That make me sad. I not should worry! Kat Witch fall out of the sky one day right into my home ocean. I know not why she’s riding a big bird that not a bird, but is a bird. Well, can’t explain that, but I was glad to carry her and the strange bird to the land.
I think I probably see her again some day. I hope soon since she makes fun. Orca can’t just eat all day. All eat and no play make a dull killer whale.
Here’s some places in both Kat Witch’s books where I play important role. Save her life. That important, right?
Excerpt from Bad Spelling
Kat looked around, but the orcas were gone. She regretted she hadn’t had a chance to thank
whichever one saved their lives.
Rune repacked their supplies in the little boat. “Well, it’s time to go sailing,” he said.
Kat still felt shaky on her feet, but she wobbled over to the boat; then scanned the vast sea of
ice floes before them.
“How can we sail on that? The boat will get crushed between the floes.”
“I’m hoping we’ll get a little help from our friends,” he said with a quick grin. A splash
made her turn to see the first orca’s head come up from the deeps. She recognized him by his
flopped over top fin; it didn’t stand upright like the other orcas.
Kat stepped carefully across the ice until she was only a few feet from the grinning mouthful
of dagger-like teeth. “Did you rescue me?”
“Skreee, chchch pop.”
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“Ka ka ka ka.”
“You don’t have to laugh. I’ll find some way to repay you.”
The orca nodded his big head and laughed again.
“Hey, Kat,” Rune said as he hauled the long rope out of boat and tied it to the bow ring.
“Ask him if he’ll give us a tow. By the way, does he have a name?”
“Oh my, I never thought to ask,” Kat replied, embarrassed at her lack of manners. “Just a
minute.” She turned back to the killer whale. “I’m Katrina, but my friends call me Kat. And
that’s Rune. What’s your name?”
“Skeee ckckck skreee pop pop skrr.”
Kat spoke to Rune over her shoulder. “The closest I can get to his name is Salmon Hunter,
but we can call him Salmon. And he says he’ll be glad to help, says it sounds like fun. He wants
you to make a loop in the rope and toss it in the water.”
“Salmon, eh? Well, whatever works,” Rune replied. Then he payed out the rope in a huge
loop. Salmon maneuvered himself within the loop and grasped the middle of it in his mouth. Kat
saw him work the rope, settling it between his teeth so they wouldn’t slice through it. Salmon
spoke in Kat’s mind: Hang on tight, Kat Witch! You’re in for a Nantucket sleigh ride!
“What’s that?” Kat asked, but Salmon didn’t answer. With a mighty slap of his flukes, the
orca took off across the sea. At first the boat bounced across Salmon’s wake; then it settled into
the water directly behind the whale. The rest of the pod joined them and swam ahead, clearing
the ice from their path.
Excerpt from Midnight Oil
Everything happened in seconds. Before she could do anything, the ultralight hit the surface
imitating a large rock, rather than a flying machine.
At first, the body of the plane with Kat in it sunk rapidly. Not again! Why? Kat blew air out
of her lungs and watched the bubbles rising before her eyes. She began to rise with them. The
plane floated! Relief washed over her as the seawater ran off.
The valiant little plane splayed its wings outward to hold the seat and Kat above water. She
heard a groan from the plane, and its broken wing pulled in a bit. The body sank, and the wing
moved outward again. The poor thing was in pain, but it bravely kept her safe. But, how long it
could keep afloat was an open question Kat didn’t want to think about.
She looked across the sea—nothing except choppy water and a dim horizon. Held tight by
the harness, it prevented her from seeing behind. She fumbled at the straps, trying to release
herself, when she heard a whistle followed by a series of pops. She jumped, and the straps
snapped open. She twisted around toward the sound. A familiar voice spoke into her mind.
“Kat Witch, I save you again!”
Kat spit out a mouthful of seawater and smiled at her good friend Salmon. “You sure did,
buddy. What would I do without you?”
“Kuk kuk kuk screee!”
“You’re absolutely right.” Kat looked past the orca’s huge head and waved to the three Sami
fishermen in the kayak coming toward her. They waved and put their backs into rowing again.
“Salmon, can you scrunch under that wing and support it? It’s broken, and the poor plane is
hurting.”
“Is this bird? It not smell alive.”
“Well, it is, sort of.”
Salmon maneuvered his back under the ultralight wing. Kat heard a sigh of relief from the
little plane. She hesitated and patted it on the instrument panel. “You did good. Thank you.” The
plane emitted a faint hum and stopped groaning.
“Can you carry the plane, too?”
Salmon swam out from under the ultralight’s wing, which set it to groaning again. He sank
below the surface and came up from beneath. Kat, still in the seat, squeaked when the little plane
rose out of the water, perched high on Salmon’s broad, black back in front of his dorsal fin. Kat
reached out and pulled the broken wing onto Salmon’s back. When the plane seemed secure, she
asked, “Where’s the nearest land?”
Salmon didn’t answer for a while. Kat heard faint squeals and grunts from underwater. She
suspected Salmon was checking with the local population on directions to land. She chuckled,
wondering what the sea-going creatures thought about a whale asking where the closest land
might be.
“The seals say Norway.”
“Okay, let’s go to Norway. I’ve been through there before. I might be able to get back to
King Ole’s Hall.”
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