Author Guest Post with Deborah A. Bailey: Worlds of Fire, Metamorphosis

On the Floating World when two Alchemists fall in love it can be… complicated.

Welcome to one of the March 30th stops on the blog tour for Worlds of Fire: Metamorphosis by Deborah A. Bailey with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

Romantic Fantasy or Fantasy Romance?

My first novels were science fiction with romantic elements. The romance was central to the story but it wasn’t the entire story. If I’d removed the relationship between the hero and heroine, there would still have been a story.

After that I wrote two paranormal romance novellas about lion shifters. The love story was the point of that series, and of course there was a HEA in both books.

That brings me to my fantasy novellas in the Worlds of Fire series. Though I knew all the books would have relationships between the hero and heroine, would they be romances or romantic?

The way things seem to be defined right now, romantic fantasy has romantic elements but isn’t necessarily about the romance. That doesn’t mean the romance isn’t important to the story. But if the romance were removed, the story would still work.

In Metamorphosis, the romance is key to the story. Jaydon and Asira don’t start out necessarily wanting to fall in love. They are on separate paths up until they meet at the university. But once they get together, they work together to resolve the dangerous magic that the antagonist unleashes.

Would the story really be different if I called it a romance? Probably not much different. However, for a reader who is looking strictly for romance, I wanted to be sure to categorize the story properly. In the end, that’s the most important thing. Readers know what they want to read, and it doesn’t help to categorize a story as something it isn’t.

My Worlds of Fire series is romantic fantasy where the romance is the heart of the story. There’s fantasy worldbuilding and adventure, but there’s also a HEA at the end.

Though every reader isn’t going to be as concerned about whether a fantasy novel is romance or romantic (with elements), I’m happy that there are choices for readers and writers. With the expansion of fantasy, we’re free to tell different types of stories with relationships at the center.

About the Book

Metamorphosis
Worlds of Fire Romantic Fantasy Series
by Deborah A. Bailey

Published 24 October 2022

Genre: Romantic Fantasy
Page Count: 294
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

On the Floating World when two Alchemists fall in love it can be… complicated.

Asira is a member of a high-ranking family of Alchemists who exert control over the libraries that store magical texts. Jaydon, an unconventional but powerful teacher of transmutation at the university, is from a gargoyle shifter group known as the Gigun.

Asira finds Jaydon frustrating and too fascinating for her own good. But she desperately needs his help when she becomes the target of a classmate’s dangerous use of forbidden magic. With Jaydon’s assistance, the two of them uncover a conspiracy that threatens the well-ordered world of the Alchemists.

Struggling with his growing attraction to her, Jaydon is called on to use his knowledge of the magical Books of Fire to determine Asira’s fate. And depending on what secrets the books reveal, he may be forced to make a life-altering decision that will either bind them together… or permanently force them apart.

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Excerpt

His deep voice had a slight rasp, and a warmth that made his words much more interesting than they should’ve been. It was as though he was sharing his personal thoughts with her, not reading from a dry alchemy text.

“Would you like me to show you more?” he asked, as he absently flipped through the pages.

“Yes, please.”

He looked up at her and smiled, pleased at her enthusiasm. “Well, let’s look at this chapter. I think this will explain what elements are important to…”

What was happening to her? She’d never had to struggle to focus on alchemy theories before. And none of her previous instructors had had this type of effect on her. Maybe if she’d had more of a social life over all the years of study, she wouldn’t be feeling this way.

“And this element is essential in…”

There had to be a way to ignore the slight aroma of spice if she worked at it. Anise and Bergamot and was that citrus? Maybe it was from the soap he used. That had to be it.

“Now in this chapter, I want you to pay attention to…”

Each time he glanced at her, she smiled and nodded even though she had no idea what he was talking about. It had to be the spices, that was it. She’d read about how they could be combined to induce pleasurable thoughts. This was right out of her Olfactory Alchemy Formulas textbook.

The magister who had written it had been the topic of endless gossip and speculation for years afterwards. In fact, Varen had made one of the elixirs from the text on a whim. He’d never been as popular with faculty and students as he had been that summer.

“Asira?” Jaydon was staring at her. “Are you all right? I was asking if you understood these symbols.”

“Um, yes, of course,” she said, wondering why she was so warm all of a sudden. “I was distracted.” She rubbed her sweaty palms together, though it didn’t help.

“Oh?” He held her gaze as he continued to point to the page. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”

Was he sweating? No, that light sheen on his skin had to be…she had no idea what it had to be. Under the desk, their knees were touching and for some reason she was reluctant to move away.

About the Author

Deborah A Bailey’s Romantic Fantasy, Paranormal & Science Fiction Romance novels include suspense, a bit of mystery and a lot of romantic heat.

Her short stories have won awards from the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference and have been published in US1 Magazine and the Sun and are included in, Electric Dreams: Seven Futuristic Tales. She’s the author of non-fiction books, and articles for various online publications.

Visit her site for more information and subscribe to the newsletter so you’ll be the first to find out about giveaways, book launches and sneak peeks.

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Giveaway Alert!

Deborah A. Bailey will be awarding a $40 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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