Tarnished
Beginnings
Soul
Dance
Book
One
Ann
Gimpel
Book
Description:
Tairin’s wolf is more than just a
dream creature. She hates it, but it’s also her only friend.
1700s Egypt is a haven for
magic-wielders of all kinds. Vampires hold court, staying one step ahead of the
priests and priestesses who want them dead. Gypsy caravans roam the Nile from
north to south and back again, plying their wares, telling fortunes, casting
Tarot cards, and stealing from the gadjos.
Tairin Jabari was born in a
caravan and has always believed she’s Romani. Why wouldn’t she? Her mother and
father never suggested otherwise. The Rom have harsh rules. When Tairin’s first
shift catches her unaware at thirteen, her father disappears, and the elders
move with deadly speed to punish her mother for mating outside the blood.
Hurt, lost, confused, and fearing
for her own life, Tairin runs away, leaving her mother’s smoking funeral pyre
behind. If she could only find her father, he’d welcome her. He’s always loved
her, hasn’t he? Only problem is he’s in a shifter settlement. With her mixed
blood, they won’t welcome her any more warmly than the Romani. It doesn’t take
long before Tairin discovers how desperately unprepared she is for life outside
her protected caravan. With her survival on the line every single day, she and
her wolf have some hard choices to make.
Tarnished
Beginnings, the prequel to the Soul Dance books is only available in the
Magic After Dark Boxed set.
Journey from the hills of Ireland
to Victorian England, from medieval Italy to eighteenth century Egypt, from the
United States to the sand-baked Middle East and beyond to explore forbidden
magic, meet exotic gypsy lovers, navigate the pitfalls of ancient prophecies,
battle vampires and shifters, and defeat evil sorcerers and hellish demons.
This unique collection, inspired
by the rich and varied history of gypsies from all over the world, contains
over one million words of captivating urban fantasy and paranormal romance
fiction that’s guaranteed to keep you up long after dark.
Discover gypsy worlds where
heroes roam and magic reigns with twenty-five brand new works from today’s New
York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors.
Each book within this collection
is exclusive to the set and can’t be found anywhere else. Preorder now for a
future filled with romance, mystery, adventure, and magical thrills!
*** Contributing Authors ***
New
York Times bestselling author Rebecca Hamilton
USA
Today bestselling author Caryse Locke
New
York Times bestselling author Margo Bond Collins
USA
Today bestselling author Ann Gimpel
USA
Today bestselling author J.L. Weil
USA
Today bestselling author J.A. Culican
New
York Times bestselling author Tom Shutt
Melle
Amade
USA
Today bestselling author T.F. Walsh
Dean
F. Wilson
Miranda
Hardy
Award-Winning
author D.N. Leo
David
J. Normoyle
Megan
J. Parker
Monica
Leonelle
P.E.
Padilla
Ainsley
Shay
Megan
Linski
Award-Winning
author Julie Morgan
Cait
Reynolds
Chloe
Garner
Paris
Andren
Cate
Farren
Felicia
Starr
Award-Winning
author Nathan Squiers
Tarnished
Legacy
Soul
Dance
Book
Two
Ann
Gimpel
Germany, 1940
Half Romani, Tairin’s no stranger
to hiding her mixed blood from gypsy caravans. What she can’t hide is her
perpetual youth, courtesy of her shifter heritage. Every few years, she drops
out of sight, resurfacing in a new country to join a caravan where no one knows
her. She’s overstayed her welcome where she is, but Germany is at war, and
travel has become all but impossible for everyone targeted by the Reich.
Elliott’s clairvoyance is strong,
even for a Romani. Seer for all the caravans in Germany, he catches Tairin
eavesdropping outside their leader’s wagon one night. He should turn her in,
but it would mean her execution, and he can’t bring himself to do that.
Instead, he interrogates her. Her magic is different, but he can’t figure out
quite what she is.
Any association between Romani
and shifters is forbidden, and Tairin shields herself from Elliott’s probing.
She should leave right now, tonight. It would be easy enough. Shift to her wolf
form and run, keeping out of hunters’ gunsights. She’s on the edge of flight
when Elliott suggests a covert task to prove her loyalty. Tairin agrees
immediately, kicking herself for being weak where he’s concerned. Shifters and
Romani have no future together. Zero. Zilch.
She should be smart about this
and vanish into the night—before he discovers what she is and destroys her.
Tarnished
Prophecy
Soul
Dance
Book
Three
Ann
Gimpel
Germany, 1940
Magic runs strong in Ilona, a
gypsy seer. Powerful ability isn’t valued in Romani women, so she focuses her
fortunetelling on inconsequential details. Nothing that could come back to
haunt her caravan if a prediction went bad. Rounded up and dumped in Dachau
prison camp, she has plenty of time to rue her decision to downplay her
ability. If she’d taken the time to scry her own future, she’d still be free.
A wolf shifter, Jamal made the
mistake of wedding a Romani woman centuries ago. His arrogance caused both
death and heartache, and he’s been alone ever since. The recent threat of
vampires joining the Third Reich has provided ample reason for shifters and Rom
to lay their ancient enmity aside and work together, but their détente is
fragile.
Jamal and a group of shifters
come across Ilona after her escape from Dachau. Vulnerable, terrified, she’s
fully prepared to fight. Her courage and mettle touch places in him he’d
thought were dead, but she’s Romani. His last relationship ended so badly, the
last thing he needs is to fall for another gypsy woman. He wrestles his
tumbling emotions into submission, but when she trains her enigmatic, gray gaze
on him, his resolve first weakens and then vanishes entirely.
About the Author:
Ann
Gimpel is a mountaineer at heart. Recently retired from a long career as a
psychologist, she remembers many hours at her desk where her body may have been
stuck inside four walls, but her soul was planning yet one more trip to the
backcountry. Around the turn of the last century (that would be 2000, not
1900!), she managed to finagle moving to the Eastern Sierra, a mecca for those
in love with the mountains. It was during long backcountry treks that Ann’s
writing evolved. Unlike some who see the backcountry as an excuse to drag
friends and relatives along, Ann prefers solitude. Stories always ran around in
her head on those journeys, sometimes as a hedge against abject terror when
challenging conditions made her fear for her life, sometimes for company.
Eventually, she returned from a trip and sat down at the computer. Three months
later, a five hundred page novel emerged. Oh, it wasn’t very good, but it was a
beginning. And, she learned a lot between writing that novel and its sequel.
Around
that time, a friend of hers suggested she try her hand at short stories. It
didn’t take long before that first story found its way into print and they’ve
been accepted pretty regularly since then. One of Ann’s passions has always
been ecology, so her tales often have a green twist.
In
addition to writing, Ann enjoys wilderness photography. She lugs pounds of
camera equipment in her backpack to distant locales every year. A standing joke
is that over ten percent of her pack weight is camera gear which means someone
else has to carry the food! That someone is her husband. They’ve shared a life
together for a very long time. Children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids
round out their family.
Find
Ann At:
Interview with Ann Gimpel
Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
Lots of places. When we travel, a setting might pique my interest. Like Antarctica, for example. Or a person with an intriguing look might spin into a character. I generally begin working off a visual. In the Dragon Lore books, that was a dragon shifter waking in his cave, not realizing three hundred years had passed. That single scene turned into a 350K word epic urban fantasy romance.
How did you do research for your book?
Mostly on the Internet. I’m pretty compulsive when it comes to getting things right, which is one of the reasons I tend to write about places I’ve been. I do a whole lot of background digging to make certain my details are correct. Toward that end, I don’t stop with a single article. I always read at least three or four and amalgamate the information.
Do you have another profession besides writing?
Not anymore, but I was a psychologist for many years. Still am. I just don’t practice anymore.
If you could go back in time, where would you go?
The Old West in this country. I love that time frame when the country was young and everything required work.
What is your next project?
I’m just finished the fourth (and hopefully last) book in the Soul Dance Series. Tarnished Journey is just about there. Once it’s done, my next book(s) will take place in Antarctica. I have a couple chapters written, and an idea where I want the story to go.
Thanks so much for an interesting set of questions and for hosting me on your blog.
