The Flower Bowl Spell is the second book to go on tour from my Book Promotion business-ABG Reads Book Tours. Here is an excerpt from the book & details of the giveaway are below.
THE FLOWER BOWL
SPELL—Excerpt
I’ve always known that rats live in the Muni
Metro tunnels, but this morning, after I almost fall onto the tracks, I find
out that fairies hang out there too.
This should come as no surprise to a person
like me, even though I banished magick from my life two years ago. In that
time, I haven’t come across anything like fairies or talking sparrows. Not one
rag doll has tried to jump into my shopping cart in ages. Yet, all at once,
magick has come back to me.
In the Castro Street station, waiting for an
M, L, or K car to take me to work downtown, I stand on the edge of the platform
with a trickling crowd of morning commuters. Teenagers heading to Union Square
for midsummer shopping sprees mingle with hipsters and Asian elders. There are
a couple of indigents, one slumped against the wall, the other pacing and
muttering. They wear shabby clothes with dirty, threadbare cuffs. Their BO
could be bottled for biological warfare.
A high whining sound and blasting horn
signals an inbound train. I move with the crowd, the wind from the tunnel
gritty yet refreshing on my face. A shove at my back throws me off balance.
It’s split-second fast, and I can’t tell if I’m being pushed to the tracks or
pulled away, as my head is thrown back and the dim yellow ceiling lights lurch
into view. At the same moment, a woman’s voice cries, “Watch out!”
A disheveled man in a San Francisco Giants
jersey has hold of my arm. I glance at him as the train pulls up in front of us
and the doors open—his eyes obscured by sunglasses and the bill of his baseball
cap, and his face covered in graying stubble. He’s the homeless guy who’s been
sitting on the floor.
“Thanks,” I mumble.
“You okay?” A young woman dressed like an
H&M salesclerk puts her hand on my shoulder, and the man’s tight grip on me
loosens and slips away.
“Yeah,” I say as the woman and I step
through the doors together, carried forward by the impatient crowd that could
give a hoot about my almost-accident. You’re alive, aren’t you? No biggie,
their indifference says. The doors close. The man has not followed us. In fact,
he seems to be distracted by something just behind the train. I let my
shoulders relax, unaware until then that they’ve been tightly hunched. I look
out the window. Our train hiccups once before starting its slow glide out of
the station. He stands on the platform and, unexpectedly, I read the gray cloud
of his disappointed aura—but in response to what, I can’t tell.
With a smile of thanks to the young woman, I
move away from the door farther into the car. I find standing space near a back
window. As the train enters the subway tunnel, something on the tracks catches
my eye. It’s a rat, looking a little dazed and sniffing a bit of discarded
muffin. Isn’t it terrified by the rumbling train? I wonder why it doesn’t
scurry away. Then I see the reason. A tiny fairy is riding it bucking-bronco
style. A fairy who’s waving a shiny sword at me.
In the few seconds before the train rounds
the corner of the tunnel, I note that the fairy is only pretending to ride the
rat. Its wings beat rapidly, much like a hummingbird’s. I’m not familiar with
this variety of pix. The ones I’ve seen are slow flitterers mostly,
butterfly-winged. I can’t determine the fairy’s gender, but guess it’s a dude.
No self-respecting female fairy would take part in such tomfoolery. He waves
the sword around his head as if holding an imaginary lasso.
I allow myself to toy with the idea that
perhaps I’m merely hallucinating. Perhaps there’s a speck of dust on my retina
or this is just a childhood memory resurrected. But I know that’s wishful
thinking.
And I have to say I’m more than a tad
concerned.
One lucky winner will win an ebook of The Flower Bowl Spell by Olivia Boler. Just state which magical creature you would like to run into and a way for me to contact you if you are the winner. Either an email address or twitter handle works fine. Giveaway is from June 14-25th.
