Can't Dream Without You

Exciting announcement!
PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dreaming is the easy part in the first novel from Tanya Reimer’s Dark Chronicles  In a haunting ritual performed by his father, Steve’s soul is linked to Julia, an innocent. To protect her, Steve haunts her dreams, but it has the opposite effect and now he can’t dream without her. 

DARTFORD, KENT – 18 May 2015 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is delighted to announce the signing of a deal with Canadian author Tanya Reimer for her post-apocalyptic supernatural fantasy Can’t Dream Without You, a novel from the Dark Chronicles.

Legends say that tens of thousands of years ago, Whisperers were banished from the heavens, torn in half, and dumped on a mortal realm they didn’t understand. Longing for their other half, they went from being powerful immortals to lonely leeches relying on humans to survive. Over the years, they earned magic from demons, they left themselves Notebooks with hints, and by pairing up with human souls, they eventually found their other halves. Humbled by their experiences, they discovered the true purpose of life and many were worthy of returning to the heavens. But many were not.

The Dark Chronicles are stories that share the heartache of select unworthy Whisperers on their journey to immortality after The War of 2019. Can’t Dream Without You is one of those stories, in which we meet Steve and Julia, two such heroes.

Steve isn’t a normal boy. He plays with demons, his soul travels to a dream realm at night using mystical butterflies, and soon he’ll earn the power to raise the dead. Al thinks that destroying him would do the world a favour, yet he just can’t kill his own son. Wanting to acquire the power that raises the dead before Steve does, Al performs a ritual on Steve’s sixteenth birthday. He transfers Steve’s dark magic to Julia, an innocent girl he plans to kill. But Steve is determined to save Julia and sucks her soul to Dreamland.

From the dream world, he invokes the help of her brother to keep her safe. Five years later, Steve can’t tell what’s real or what’s a nightmare. Julia’s brother wants to kill him, a strange bald eagle is erasing memories, and Steve’s caught in some bizarre bullfight on another realm with a cop hot on his trail looking to be Julia’s hero. All the while, Steve and Julia must fight the desperate need to make their steamy dreams a reality.

According to Peter Buck, Editorial Director at Elsewhen Press, the post-apocalyptic world of the Whisperers that Tanya has created is “recognisably contemporary, yet with a rich and deep mythology distinguishing it from our own world while at the same time making it much more credible. These are characters you might expect to meet, but really wouldn’t want to!”

Tanya has previously published Petrified, a young adult story from the world of the Whisperers, but Can’t Dream Without You is the first of the Dark Chronicles and is written for adults.  It will be published early in 2016 by Elsewhen Press in both digital and print editions.  

Magic- part 1: DON'T RUIN IT FOR THEM

I had to teach  a magic class to kids. Now, I am in no way a magician. But! I can learn anything, even magic. Excited, I set to the task and worked hard at it. I studied several tricks, mastered them (I use that word lightly. I got okay with them would be a more accurate statement) and then I captivated my audience. Okay, maybe not captivate, but it was cool.

"How did you do THAT!?!" Even though I am not very good and my tricks were oh so simple, they were astonished. So I did it again, slower, in case they could catch what I was doing. They tried to figure it out and couldn't.

Then I did something horrible. I showed them HOW I did it. It was a magic class, I was supposed to teach them how... right?

The blank looks I got had lost all excitement.

The magic had died.

Did they want to practice to be able to do these tricks? Nope. Well... one did... there is always one.

Anyway, fast-forward.... same kids, during a summer camp, I thought I'd give them a little magic show. I have these okay abilities, I might as well put them to use. Magic is hard, and if you don't practice it in front of a crowd, you will not get better at it. Plus, I knew they would be very forgiving since they knew the tricks.

I was expecting them to say, "I know that trick." And come up and do it for us. Because they did know them all.

They did not offer. Well, that  one did... the others sat and gaped like I was magical. They were captivated and demanded I show them how I did that.

I already had... but I said "Nope, it's magic." I learnt my lesson. Never ruin the magic for others.

This can apply to all forms of art. I remember my daughter being captivated by a piano player. She couldn't believe how great he was. I know what it takes to be that good so I brought her up to the young man and asked how often he practiced. "Four hours a day. Everyday." Was his non-magical answer. The excitement she had faded. The magic was gone. He had to work to be that good.

Magic is an illusion we enjoy because we want to believe.

Have you created this for others or ruined it for them?
In what magical things do you believe?