King of the Tides Book Cocktail

Yes, you read that right--a book cocktail. If you've been reading this blog for very long at all you know me well enough to know that I adore adult beverage type love potions of every kind. Added to that is the fact that I hide a special drink inside each of the Tides of Atlantis books and they turn into the cocktail especial for my newsletter subscribers on release days. Today, I was in my mad scientist lab (i.e. kitchen) mixing up something extra special for you, dear readers.
Voila! I give you "the pink drink" from Marley's trip to Asphodel in the Hell Realm from King of the Tides. The heroine of the book herself named this concoction The Unicorn Fart and, as we all know, she's a pretty tough cookie so I am not going to argue with the fire eyed, demon blood bearing girl. (Or her bad ass, demon slaying  boyfriend for that matter.) I'm just the writer here folks, Unicorn Fart it is.

Read on for a tiny little bit from the scene this whimsical beverage originated in then be sure to sign up for  the Amanda V Shane Newsletter for your very own Unicorn Fart Cocktail recipe card to be sent out on  release day for King of the Tides! Have your drinks ready then meet me in the Tides to celebrate book three of the Tides of Atlantis series on Jan. 29th 2020. See ya there!

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Only 99 cents, for a limited time.

Asphodel - realm of thoughts, dreams and wishes

Excerpt from King of the Tides:

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She couldn’t sit here in this stew any longer. She had to move, had to find out what had happened to Adam. Her chest ached at the thought, but she forced herself up. As she moved, the mist and smoke combined. Wet, black droplets formed in the air and a strong wind started to blow. In no time, icy sludge drenched her skin, chilling her to the bone. When she brought her head up to look through it though, a light, round and white, took shape in the rain. With nothing left to lose, she walked toward it.
The further she went, the brighter the light got. It grew so blinding she threw her arm up over her eyes. After several moments, the rain stopped. She lowered her arm and opened her eyes to find herself standing in a sun-filled meadow. Lush grass folded beneath her feet, tiny white flowers springing up everywhere amid the green.
“How thoughtful of you to come.”
Marley whipped around at the sound of the voice. Powerful, white light blinded her once again but then it mellowed into the shape of a gorgeous white skinned woman. White like the flowers in the meadow. Simms, the Time Keepers’ tech agent, had fair-skin and red hair, the two kind of went together, but this lady was the color of fresh snow.
“Don’t trust anything here, Marlowe.”
Adam’s voice echoed in her ears. Tears welled up in her eyes when she looked up at the shining apparition. Just like before, above the Acheron, misery pulled at her heart.
The woman cocked her head to the side, a benign smile on her silvery lips. Her eyes shone green as emeralds against her pale skin.
“Oh, but you are sad… so very sad.” A sincere look of concern came over the woman’s face.
Marley shook her head.
“Who are you… or what?” She asked the spirit. “And where am I?”
The being smiled.
“I am so close to a mystery,” she said cryptically. “My name is Daeira. You, child, stand in the meadow of deciding, very near the realm of thoughts, dreams and wishes. Far to the east lies the Gate of Horn, to the west, that of Ivory. You are in the very middle.”
Marley’s gaze left the woman. Sure enough, off in the distance to one side, a shining white gate appeared. When she looked to the other side, there stood a black gate.
“Your lover and your friends are not far, but you should come inside and rest.”
Marley’s heart leapt into her throat. Had she just said…? She called him her lover. That wasn’t accurate. They’d never… heat flushed her body at the thought. The sun suddenly seemed brighter. Daeira made a small sound, a sigh. When Marley looked up, the spirit smiled at her again. Was Adam still out there with the warriors somewhere… alive?
“Where are they, if they are alive, as you say?”
The lady’s smile only brightened as she started to grow transparent.
“Wait!” Marley yelled, but too late.
The vision disappeared as quickly as it had come. The place where the beautiful glowing woman had stood became a perfect arch carved into the air, a doorway. It was obvious she was meant to walk through it. Marley stepped through the passageway. Immediately, her head began to swim. Everything she saw blurred as though she were underwater. She pinched at the space between her eyes wishing for just one recognizable thing to pop up in this damn realm—something normal.
“I wish I was at home,” she muttered.
The words fell out of her mouth before she’d even thought about them. Then she started to laugh—a testament to her failing sanity. It was the home part that got her. She had no clue why she’d said that. When had she ever had a real home? Where she’d grown up certainly couldn’t be considered one. The time she’d spent shackled underground in Adam’s ‘palace slash demon apocalypse armory’ didn’t count and her apartment above Maria’s—she’d lived there for a hot ten minutes. She rubbed her eyes. The laughter made them water… yeah, that explained the wetness. When she opened them again, she gasped, unable to believe her eyes. She stood in her room at the Time Keepers’ base, back in Colorado.
“Whu… ?”
What had just happened? This must be another trick or a dream. She walked to the very utilitarian, single bed in her living space in the underground bunker the Time Keepers called The Mountain. A metal nightstand stood beside the bed with a stack of comic books on it.  A soft sound escaped Marley’s throat at the sight of them. If any of this were real, then she knew what she’d find in the slim drawer of the stand—her copy of Anne of Green Gables. Stark as it appeared, this was maybe the one place she’d ever felt like she didn’t have the sole responsibility of watching her own back. The Keepers all converged at The Mountain regularly. Their headquarters lie hidden deep underground beneath the remains of an old mine shaft. She’d done a lot of training here, learned a lot about the Keepers and their legends. It was also one of the few places she’d ever felt safe.
She realized how dumb that sounded since it had been built with the end of the world in mind, but there was her twisted thought process for you.
This was wrong. It was perfect, but so wrong. Marley shook her head. Everything looked the same as she’d left it the last time she’d been here. It couldn’t be though… none of this could be real. She swiped her hand down through the air above the nightstand to prove it, expecting her fingers to whoosh through the façade of the piece of furniture.
Clunk.
“Ow… mother… ahhh!” Marley grabbed her fingers. Dammit, that hurt.
Yanking open the drawer in the stand, she peeked inside. Sure enough, a first edition, leather-bound copy of her favorite book lay tucked inside. Kay’s mom had given it to her from her own collection when she’d seen Marley’s tattered copy.
Her mouth gaped open as she stared at the book.
“No way,” she said.
Reaching out, she brushed her fingertips over the treasure then grabbed the book and sat on the bed. That felt real too, same hard little mattress she remembered. Hmph. She wondered how Adam’s great big bed would look in her Spartan little bunker room. Even as she thought it, the mattress under her butt got softer. She looked down. Yup, soft black sheets now covered the same bed from Adam’s room.
“Oh, my…”
 Her knees were nearly at the edge of the room now because of the size of the big bed. She smoothed her hands over the super soft sheets as she laughed. Maniacally. Might as well embrace her lunacy and go all out, Batman villain style.
The realm of thoughts, dreams, and wishes.
Alrighty, then.
“I could really use a drink right about now,” she said to the open air. Not Adam’s smooth cognac either, or burning whiskey. Something with foam would be nice… and a cherry.
In her hand, a curvy glass appeared. It contained a frothy, pink liquid with a sparkly mist that swirled around the juicy looking red fruit in the middle.
“If a unicorn ever farted into a glass, this would be what it looked like,” Marley said. “Nice touch, Wish Realm,” she added then took a sip.
It tasted heavenly, just enough alcohol to hint at what lurked under all the fruity goodness. Dangerous—the way she liked it.
Well, if Adam had her dropped off here to be babysat in some wishing realm while he went off to fight demons and have all the fun without her, she might as well make the most of it. She took another drink then ate the cherry.

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