Authorpreneur Dashboard – AC Smyth
Crowchanger
Science Fiction & Fantasy
For centuries, the Irenthi have ruled Chandris—the island where a race of shape-changers draw on a mountain’s energy to enable their abilities. Sylas can shape-change—or at least, he shows the signs. After a year of studying, changing eludes him. On the brink of being sent away, the changers’ most notable healer offers him an apprenticeship. He can’t miss this opportunity, though it means leaving his ambitious and possessive lover behind. But trouble is brewing. Sylas’s usually peaceful Chesammos race are in revolt. His lover’s people are their hated oppressors. And the shape-changers are caught in the middle. Sylas will be seen as a traitor whatever he chooses: to his king; to his lover; to his people. As conflict approaches he must decide: Is he Chesammos, shape-changer, or a nobleman’s plaything?
Book Bubbles from Crowchanger
The opening
This is our introduction to Sylas, the main character. He wants to be a shape changer more than anything--it is his only hope of escaping the harsh desert life he left behind--but he is struggling dreadfully. The changers of Chandris are led to their transformation by the kye: a sort of bird spirit that links the changers with the energy of the volcano that dominates the island. Trainee changers would hear one kye, two at most, but Sylas hears so many he cannot single out the one he needs to hear to effect his change. By rights Sylas should have given up by now, accepted his fate and returned to his family, but still he perseveres. Immediately after this scene we meet his lover, who has his own agenda.
