Tag Archives: Isabelle Santiago

Three Wishes by Isabelle

He slumbered. For millennia, no doubt. But when he woke it was always to the same rumbling, the deafening crackle of magic like thunder, the stretching of his body to infinite proportion as it squeezed him through a space too small for him to fit, before making him whole again. The space around him came to focus slowly, dimly lit shadows dancing in flickering torchlight, fading fast, a single breath from extinction.

And like a passing sandstorm, they faded, clearing his vision, leaving behind only the shape of men and women, deathly still, crushed beneath the rubble. They’d come for his treasure. For gifts and talents unattainable. At a cost none could fathom. And like most, they earned nothing but a spot among his collection of bones.

The vacuum of silence exploded, as his sense fully returned, only to realize that the stillness of the room did not match the wet gurgling sound echoing against the cavern walls. He frowned, crossing his gargantuan arms over his chest, looking for the source of such desperate gnawing and froze when he saw it.

At the foot of his looming shadow, a small, suckling child sat, it’s tiny mouth pressed against the handle of his golden lamp. Continue reading


Forged Through Fire by Isabelle

Welcome back to Hollow Tree, dwellers! As many of you likely know, the second book to my Guardian Circle Series, The Guardian’s Choice, has released! For those who have read the series thus far, you know that I’ve been telling a small bit of the untold, behind the scenes story right here on Tales From the Hollow Tree, involving two of the lesser known characters.

The Earth and Air Guardians first met in Dream Walker and now we get another piece of the puzzle with Forged Through Fire. Enjoy! 🙂

Broken Diamonds

by hworks at stock.xchng

She watched him work from the shadows, hidden within her Element, exploring him as she could not in flesh. Her stomach fluttered, a cluster of butterflies eager to break free from their cage. He pounded at the red-hot metal of a steel blade with a large mallet, his naked back and shoulders slick with sweat. She traced the ancient script of his Mark with her eyes, from his neck down the length of his spine, stark black against the warm caramel of his flushed, sun-kissed skin.

His muscles tightened with each mallet swing. The four walls of the tiny, sweltering workshop quivered, ready to buckle, to bow to his power.  Continue reading


Element by Lisa

Inspired by characters from the Guardian series by Isabelle Santiago. She didn’t ask me to write this, but I felt like it was appropriate to end her debut week!

She can’t remember a time when he didn’t fascinate her.

Fire.

And he was as fickle and biting as his element. Warm and sweet at times—especially when she had something he wanted—but cruel and careless at others.

She can’t remember a time when he wasn’t in love with someone else, either.

She can remember a time when it didn’t matter, though. When they all belonged to each other—a tiny family, all growing side by side. He loved her sister, but it didn’t matter, because she would always have both of them.

Until she couldn’t.

Continue reading


Tales From the Hollow Tree Bloghop Finale!

Well, here it is, the last day of the blog hop, and your chance to fill in the secret keywords that you’ve been collecting all week!

And just what is the prize you’ll be trying to win? We have some awesome Tales From the Hollow Tree swag to give away! Two notebooks, hand bound by Lisa herself will go to one awesome follower!

Besides that, we’ll be giving away THREE more copies of our special edition PDF! Leave a comment and fill out the form below! Look through the last few entries of this blog to find the secret keywords!!!

Winners will be announced next week!


Day Seven of the Hollow Tree Giveaway!

For your third chance to win a .pdf of Tales From the Hollow Tree, and today’s secret keyword, head over to our friend Cathy Witbeck’s blog!

Check out our blog Friday for more info on our GRAND PRIZE! Winners announced this weekend. :)


Day Two of the Hollow Tree Giveaway!

Hey hoppers! Sorry to get this up so late, I’m in a McDonald’s in Tucson as my hotel’s wifi wasn’t working last night.

For your second chance to win a .pdf of Tales From the Hollow Tree, head over to our friend Taryn Taylor’s blog!

Don’t want to miss out on any of the blog hop days? Make sure to follow us on Facebook and on Twitter!


Happy Release Day! Get Ready for Some Giveaways!

Okay, things have gotten a little hectic here with Isabelle back at her day job and me getting ready for a big move, and we’re a couple of days late, but anyhow, it’s here!

Tales From the Hollow Tree Volume One

You can now buy your very own digital edition of Tales From the Hollow Tree, Volume One: Stories of Enchantment and Desolation, a collection of ten Hollow Tree Tales. Eight have been previously published on this blog, and two are brand new and exclusive to this collection, beautifully formatted just for you, and a steal at only 99¢!

There are THREE WAYS for you to purchase this collection:

1) For your Kindle from Amazon.

2) For your Nook from Barnes & Noble.

3) Here as a PDF from (or in our sidebar).

The last is my personal recommendation, just because the .pdf version is just so beautiful. If you’re a fan of the extra touches available on a .pdf, ours certainly won’t disappoint you. Then again, I guess you could buy all three… I certainly wouldn’t mind! 😉

And now for what you’re really interested in. To celebrate our release, we’re going to have a week long blog hop giving away our ebook, and there may be some other prizes available here and there, too!

FIRSTLY – we’ll be giving out one copy of the .pdf version of Volume One. Leave a comment on this post and tell us which Hollow Tree Tale you’ve enjoyed the most so far. OR, if you’re new to the Hollow Tree, tell us the name of your favorite short story. Don’t forget to leave your email or a way to contact you, also!

SECONDLY – There will be a GRAND PRIZE (which is going to be a secret, but it will involve Hollow Tree Swag!) here on this blog next Friday, but we’re going to put you to work a little bit. In order to win the Grand Prize, you’ll have to collect a keyword from each of the blogs participating in the Blog Hop. If you collect all SEVEN keywords, then you’ll be entered to win the Grand Prize. The keywords will also be clues as to which stories are in the collection.

Sounds fun, huh? We’ll start you off easy, though, and give you the very first keyword here:

COYOTE

Check back here tomorrow to see where to go to find another chance at winning a .pdf, and for your second keyword for the Grand Prize! In the meanwhile, add Tales From the Hollow Tree to your Goodreads list!


Tuesday Mash-Up

I meant to come along on Friday and post my good news. I didnt. I got roped into an extended shopping trip at Toys R Us where my little guy ended up with a Cozy Coupe and a plastic slide. All to use IN the house, as I do not have a backyard. *_* Ah yes, the joys of parenting.

I then meant to come and brag about my good news on Monday. But, as you can probably guess. I didn’t do that either, since real life tends to take me away and keep my hands full with other things. Like our television for instance. No, I was not watching it, though I wish I had been (no Gossip Girl spoilers! I am still furious over what the writers are doing to Chuck/Blair). My television lost power last Thursday. And never came back to life. We spent yesterday night shopping for a new one and dishing out a good chunk of change. Plus side, we have a cool new flat screen HDTV. Down side, we’re out a few hundred bucks. *sigh*

So here I am today, with a mashup of info and my good news.

First up: I am a Steampunk enthusiast. I love the style, I love the era, I love the possibilities. I am loathe to find that it is often NOT done justice. I do however have high hopes for this.

Thanks to http://www.scifiguy.ca/ for the heads up!

OMG. First of all, that cover is STUNNING. Secondly, one of the YA authors I’m kinda obsessed with (Maria V. Snyder, whose Glass series I’m currently working on), is contributing a story. Along with a few other heavy hitters. Ann Aguirre. Caitlin Kittredge. Et al. I’m beyond excited. And I’m going to get it, if only to support the steampunk love. 🙂 Look for it in May 2011.

Speaking of beautiful covers- ok, I can’t wait. Check it out! I have a brand new shiny to share with all of you. I just received the cover to the second book of my Guardian Circle Series, Zerah’s Offering.

I LOVE it. The color, the mood, everything. The heroine is Amaya, the empath from book 1. And Zerah is a very different place than you remember it! Look out for book two coming sometime in November. And look out for exclusive excerpts and giveaways here on Hollow Tree!

Happy Tuesday all!


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