The Oceanic Empire: Sacred Breath Series World Map!

When I was a little girl, my favorite part of reading a fantasy novel was flipping to the front to view the map as the characters voyaged across the lands. "Oh, so that's where Cair Paravel is! I see how the boundary splits up the Midlands and D'hara!" I'm sure you all know what I mean. So, earlier this month while working on Tides of Tranquility, I became overly excited when I realized I had so many kingdoms that I needed to create a map. It wasn't just a neat extra, but a requirement for the heavily developed world of the Sacred Breath Series-- I want my readers to be able to follow along easily with all the places we're visiting, and look back in memory on all the places we've been. 

The map will be included in the eBook and print versions of Book #5. I have created a poster of the map as well, which is available here:
http://www.zazzle.ca/nadiascrievabooks
I will be ordering a few posters and giving them away as gifts to celebrate the release! Stay tuned to my Facebook page for more details. :)
I hope you're excited about Tides of Tranquility! I am. =)

Tides of Tranquility: Release Date

      I need to apologize to all my readers for the delayed release of Sacred Breath #5. I was almost sure I could finish it by the end of 2012, but some unexpected obstacles have slowed me down in these past few months. =( However, I promise that I will give it my everything, all day, every day for the next several weeks until it is completed. I really want to dive into the world of Adlivun and lose myself there. Abyssal Zone will be a hard act to follow, but I want this book to be amazing. To push myself harder, I’m going to say that I want it finished and edited before the end of January.

      To be honest, I have been a bit nervous about Visola. After such a huge victory, I was perplexed by figuring out how to write her character in peacetime. I thought that I would no longer be able to relate to the general. I understood her when she was constantly on edge, distrustful of the men closest to her, and making lewd and inappropriate jokes to promote an air of confidence and distract from the fact that she was miserable. But Visola happily married with wonderful young children? How could I possibly understand that? Has she really become a soft and satisfied person? I must have driven around aimlessly for dozens of hours, stressing over this question. How will the events of the last book change her? Could it be that I don't know her anymore?

      Then the answer struck me. Visola doesn't know -herself- anymore. If I'm uncomfortable with this peaceful world, then she is even more uncomfortable. Visola doesn't forget, and she doesn't forgive. This woman was separated from her husband for two hundred years. Her daughter was murdered. It doesn't matter how many years go by between the end of Abyssal Zone and the beginning of Book #5-- Visola is still on edge, and in fact, her anxiety is increasing with every second of tranquility. Here's a snippet of what's to come:

"I'm so happy. I've never been this happy in my life. Frankly, I’m freaking terrified. I just know that something’s going to go wrong at any minute and rip him away from me.” Visola turned and gestured to the two children on the beach who were building an elaborate sandcastle. “Or rip them away from me.”

      I got this! =) And I think I’ve also got my title: Tides of Tranquility. What do you think? 

      If you'd like to follow the triumphs and frustrations of my writing process, I will be posting almost daily updates on my Facebook page.