Book Launch Guest Post ~ The Crown of Stones: Magic-Price by C.L. Schneider

To save the realms and those he cares for, Ian Troy must embrace the one thing he fears most: his own power.

The Crown of Stones: Magic-Price

Available now on Amazon US and Amazon UK

As the youngest child in a house of readers, I was never want for a wide variety of books. My mom liked a good mystery or biography. My dad always had a paperback western in his hand. Horror grabbed my sister’s attention, and my brother was the comic-book, sci-fi, and fantasy buff. The classics were all there too. We were a multi-genre household and that exposure set the stage for me at an early age.  Somewhere between “Gone with the Wind” and “The Mists of Avalon”, the cowboys and outlaws, the detectives, the monsters and the heroes, I realized: I want to do this.  I can do this.

Starting to write
  

So, I sat down at a typewriter in my parents' living room and went to work, creating worlds very different from the small, Kansas town where I was born. High school ended, life happened, and I was forced to put my writing aside many times over the years. I devoured books written by others, until I couldn’t stand it anymore. Then I would pick up my writing and start again. Some stories I finished. Some are still no more than scribbled down ideas, settings, and names; skeletons of future novels, waiting patiently in a notebook for me to flesh them out.

All about the characters

I've dabbled in various genres. With a lifelong interest in the Middle Ages, and all things supernatural and unexplained, I feel most at home with fantasy. Yet, writing, for me, has never been about the genre so much, as it is about the characters. That’s where I start a new project. Defining their motivations, their fears, likes, dislikes, and then throwing curve balls at them to see how they’ll react.  People’s imperfections, their secrets and lies, what they can endure and what they’re capable of—I believe that’s where the stories are.   

Crown of Stones

Those overflowing bookshelves in my parents' house still influence me today. Ian Troy, my protagonist in The Crown of Stones is a little bit cowboy and outlaw, a detective when he needs to be, a monster when he can’t help it, and a hero even when he tries not to be.

Born of the Shinree, a fallen race reviled for their inherent addiction to magic, Ian Troy is no stranger to scorn.  His people bred and sold as slaves for hundreds of years, Ian was conscripted into the Rellan army and made to fight in their longstanding conflict with the ruthless Langorian invaders. In an attempt to end the war, he wields the Crown of Stones, an ancient Shinree relic of untold power—and pays a terrible price.  

A decade later, still tortured by the aftermath of that day, Ian lives in self-imposed exile. Having renounced his magical heritage, he curbs his obsession with a steady stream of wine and regret. He struggles to put it all behind him.  Until a fateful encounter with a pretty assassin brings Ian’s past crashing into the present.  Now, targeted by enemies old and new, Ian is forced to use magic again, awakening his deadly addiction. 

C.L. Schneider

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About the Author

Originally from Atchison in Kansas, C.L.Schneider now lives in upstate New York with her husband and two sons. The Crown of Stones: Magic-Price is her first published novel and she is now working on the two follow-up books that will conclude Ian’s story.  You can find out more on her Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter @cl_schneider and and follow her journey as a new author on her Goodreads blog, "Heading Down The Yellow Brick Road".