AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a companion story to ICE LIKE FIRE, the sequel to SNOW LIKE ASHES. I say "companion" as it parallels the beginning events of ICE LIKE FIRE -- and as such, you will find a few minor spoilers for ICE LIKE FIRE. If you are the sort of reader who screeches in horror at the thought of a spoiler of any kind, LOOK AWAY NOW. But if you are the sort of reader who flips through the pages of a book, perusing lines here and there before you've quite finished it yet...well, read on, dear rebel reader. Read on. *** SUMMARY: "She was part of Summer, and Summer was part of her, and this land wouldn't abandon her too." Ceridwen Preben, princess of Summer, has spent her life plotting against her brother, Simon, the Summerian king. Simon has embraced the ruling family's reputation for using their conduit to keep their subjects in a state of bliss, and has spent his reign slowly driving Summer into ruin, filling everyone with carelessness and letting them turn a blind eye to Summer's rampant -- and deadly -- slave trade. But Ceridwen refuses to let her kingdom disintegrate, and with the help of her fellow rebel-in-arms, Lekan, she hopes to undo Simon's lethal dealings. But when Ceridwen uncovers Simon's deadliest plot yet, she starts to realize just how deep magic runs -- and that even though her kingdom is one of sunlight, with light, there always comes shadows. *** The first part of this story will appear on Tuesday, September 8. Parts will continue to be uploaded every Tues/Thurs through October 8. Look for ICE LIKE FIRE, out October 13 from Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins!

The year is 1881, and five years have passed since the events of the SOMETHING STRANGE & DEADLY series. Eleanor Fitt and the Spirit-Hunters are comfortable (and perhaps a bit complacent) as professors at the Sheridan Institute, a place for students both strange and necromantic. Yes, some of Eleanor's students (namely the troublemaker Tristan Lang) seem determined to annoy her at all turns, and yes, she does sometimes find the scholarly life a bit stifling, but it's better to teach her young charges about magic and the walking Dead within the safety of the school grounds rather than subject them to firsthand corpse exposure. But when Eleanor's former demon, Oliver, arrives with news about a secret society called The Luminaries, Eleanor and the Spirit-Hunters must decide if "firsthand corpse exposure" isn't exactly what their students need after all. Especially since these Luminaries and their creatures of darkness want something hidden within the Sheridan Institute...

**A Blue Beard retelling** Based on Charles Perrault's fairytale, this YA Historical Fantasy short story set in Victorian England mixes romance, magic and mystery. After agreeing to an arranged marriage to escape her greedy relatives, 18-year-old heiress Amelia moves into her husband's manor determined to start a new life. But the gothic mansion's forbidding surroundings, the servants' strange demeanour and her husband's mysterious past soon awaken her suspicions. If Amelia truly wants to become the lady of the house, she'll have to discover what secrets lie beyond closed doors and unravel the mystery of the old house's forbidden room. But sometimes secrets are kept for a good reason... HIGHEST RANKING IN HISTORICAL FICTION # 44 Copyright © 2017. All works posted here are the property of EM Castellan. Please do not use without permission. Any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal. Cover artist: @seventhstar

#WATTYS2017 Winner - HIGHEST RANKING # 5 - DOWNTON ABBEY meets Libba Bray's THE DIVINERS in this YA Historical Fantasy set in 1922 England. Unlike all the Debutantes she knows, eighteen-year-old Vita couldn't care less about her coming out ball. Trapped in her gloomy country estate, all she wants is to spend the summer dancing to jazzy numbers in East End clubs with her best friend Izzy. Freshly returned from a year abroad, Izzy is ready for the thrill of the London Season, with its endless whirl of balls, shopping sprees and horse races. Most importantly, she's counting on Vita to help her find the rich and handsome husband every high society girl deserves. But when Vita is kidnapped and found barely alive in an East London alleyway, the carefree summer the girls had planned turns into something much stranger than they could ever have imagined. With flappers turning up dead all over the city, and Vita terrified of hybrid monsters she swears she can see lurking in Mayfair's marbled houses, Izzy can't help noticing that darkness is seeping into their lives. As Vita starts to believe she's turning into a monster herself, Izzy suspects her friend's sanity is slipping away. Both girls have to find out what's happening before they lose their friendship and status, and their crowd of Bright Young Things becomes a thing of the past. *** A Wattpad Featured Story from 16/02/17 to 25/07/17 HIGHEST RANKING: # 5 on the Wattpad Historical Hot List *** THE BRIGHT AND THE LOST Pinterest Board: http://uk.pinterest.com/emcastellan/the-bright-and-the-lost/ *** Cover designer: Amalia Chitulescu *** Copyright © 2016. All works posted here are the property of EM Castellan. Please do not use without permission. Any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.