Welcome to my tour stop for Sky Chariots Saga by Emily Mah!
This is a YA/NA
high fantasy series. This is a series tour with three books.
The tour runs September 21 to
October 2 with reviews, author interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for more information.
About Restless Earth:
For over a thousand years, the Tanoa have relied on their Earth Shamen to bring rich harvests, temper
stone tools and weapons, and imbue pottery with strength like metal. Now, though, the bloodline has
dwindled to one Shaman, Tuwa, who is trapped high in the mountains, holding bedrock together to
prevent a volcanic eruption while the rest of her people flee to safety. The only way to save the village
is for her to sacrifice herself and buy them the time they need to evacuate.
But her grandson, Ahote, refuses to abandon her to die. Rather than do as she asks—marry and bear
daughters who might inherit her gift—he sets out to find the one person who might be able to save
Tuwa’s life.
Kasha is a Tanoa girl in who lives in Solace, a city of the pale-skinned Andalanos. If the Engineers Guild
ever discovers her gender or race, they could order her execution—for in violation of the King’s law,
Master Engineer Seamus trained Kasha as his apprentice. She is a genius in all things mechanical and
earned her master certification when only fourteen years old. Since Seamus’s death, she has been
discreetly working his job as the City Engineer.
She knows there is no machine or technology that can save Tuwa. In order to complete this task, Kasha
must invent a vehicle unlike anything the world has ever seen, and risk exposure and death in the
process.
About Blessing Sky:
Master Engineer Kasha lives in hiding. As a Tanoa and a woman, she has no legal right to her title, and
risks expulsion or even execution if the Guild discovers her identity. For over a year she has served as
the City Engineer of the Andalano city of Solace, home to the Winged Riders and their Pegasus
mounts.
Now, though, her people need her. The last of their Earth Shamen is trapped in the mountains, holding
back a volcanic eruption so that the rest of her people can escape. It is a job for only the greatest of all
engineers, and that happens to be Kasha.
But when her kinsman, Ahote, breaks the most sacred law of the Winged Riders, an alliance with him
means certain death. Kasha must work alone to solve the most difficult engineering problem of all time
before the summer months are done and winter comes to claim the life of the Shaman and the hope of
her people.
About Cleansing Fire:
Kasha has lived her life in hiding, working the job of the City Engineer
of Wingmount, in a society that lets neither women, nor any member of the Tanoa race work trades.
Finally, she has been offered the chance to work for her own people, who must evacuate their beloved
Earth Shaman from the slopes of an active volcano. No other engineer in history could build the craft
that Kasha has designed for this task: the sky chariot.
However, in order to fly it, she and her cousin, Ahote, will breach the most sacred rules of the
Andalanos, the pale skinned race of people who govern their nation. Once, Kasha thought she would
not mind betraying them. They had only given her grief.
But as she has grown in her talent for engineering, many Andalanos have supported her at great risk to
themselves. Even high ranking government officials seek her counsel and beg for her aid in a costly war
they fight on the coast, in a part of the kingdom Kasha has never seen and never thought she’d care
about.
There is no way to help one people without betraying the other, and in this society, betrayal often
means death. Kasha must decide where her loyalties lie, and whether she is up to the task of saving the
last shaman of her people.
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Excerpt:
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Excerpt:
As Ahote climbed in, the craft leveled itself. The seats felt flimsy as the wood bowed under his weight. Only Kasha’s confidence convinced him that this rideable kite, or “sky chariot,” would hold together. As they strapped in, the wind tugged and yanked at the great wing that spanned over their heads, sending shudders through the craft’s entire frame.Air is a substance, like water, Ahote thought. They weren’t about to try to fly off into nothing, but rather to sail an invisible sea. Kasha had explained this, and on its face, the concept did make sense. Air could lift a kite, turn a windmill, or even create winds strong enough to destroy a wood-frame house. Still, Ahote preferred to rely on things he could see. When Kasha said that things were a certain way, she was never wrong.Which was why he was sitting in a seat suspended below a large kite, preparing to leave the ground. He took Sky’s lines in his hands, and the brown-and-white paint Pegasus, feeling them shift against his sides, bent his neck to look back at them.“All right,” Kasha said loud enough for her voice to carry. “Let’s go.”Ahote took a deep breath of air scented with the slightest touch of morning dew then coaxed Sky with a slap of the lines.The Winged responded at once, going from a standing start to a loping run. The harness lines went taut, and the chariot lurched forward with a jerk. They’d chosen the smoothest stretch of land they could find, but even still, the wooden skids on the bottom of the craft transmitted every bump and hollow. After Ahote snapped the lines again, Sky moved into a canter and then a gallop. His wings were still folded against his sides.The chariot bounced and jostled until a gust of wind caught it and hefted it into the air. Ahote had to admit that the chill whipping across his skin and through his hair did indeed feel like a substance. The great cloth wing above them billowed out like a ship’s sail, and the ground fell away beneath them. He sucked in his breath and focused on Sky, who was still running along the ground below.The pegasus looked back and up at his master.“All right?” Ahote had to yell to be heard.Kasha’s lips were pinched into a firm line, one hand gripping the wooden rail in front of them with white knuckles. With the other, she manipulated the omni-directional lever that controlled the chariot’s rudder and flaps. She gave a curt nod.“Up, Sky!” Ahote shouted, snapping the lines a third time.
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About the Author:
Emily writes as both Emily Mah (for science fiction and fantasy) and E.M. Tippetts (for chick lit). Her short
stories have appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Black Gate,
and anthologies like The Dragon and the Stars, Shanghai Steam, and The
Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth. Her E.M. Tippetts novels have been on the
Amazon Top 100 numerous times, and her novel, Someone Else's
Fairytale was semi-finalist for the Best Indie Book of the Year - Kindle Book
Review, and a runner up in Romance for the Best of the Independent Book Awards -
eFestival of Words.
She is a graduate of the Clarion
West Writer's Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy and Viable Paradise Writers Workshop, and she often teaches the unit on
self-publishing at the Taos Toolbox Writers
Workshop.When she is not writing or chasing small children, she manages E.M. Tippetts Book Designs,
her company which offers formatting, cover design, and editing services to authors and
publishers.
Thank you so much for hosting a tour stop!
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