The Page Unbound

The Perfect Tear schedule

The Perfect Tear
by Connie Lansberg
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: November 11th 2015

Summary from Goodreads:

Eleanor, a timid orphan, is a Singer. Her songs keep nature in balance, but when they are stolen from her the grey mist descends, and her world fails to thrive. This timid orphan is forced into a course of action she never asked for, nor envisioned.
Eleanor grapples with crippling self-doubt and fear until she learns these are far more perilous than the physical dangers she faces moment to moment on her terrifying, puzzling and often funny search for The Perfect Tear, a crystal which contains the Third Vibration and able to heal the land. She is horrified to discover that she must defeat an inter-dimensional being or become his accomplice in the destruction of she loves.
But Eleanor is no savior, just a simple girl with strong instincts and she must learn to trust them. Just like the notes of a song must form connections to create a melody, Eleanor must discover the connections needed to create the harmony required to truly save her world.

Teaser:

Eleanor, a timid orphan with an extraordinary musical gift has just turned sixteen. She has no clue to her real purpose, but she refuses to become a subservient old maid, like the miserable nuns she grew up with. Eleanor knows Mother Superior has no intention of letting her leave–her songs are the only thing keeping the grey mist at bay. Her best friend Audrey begs her to run away with her but where would they go? The world outside the Abbey is barren and dangerous. Eleanor finally decides to take her chances and in the act of running away, meets her destiny. The girls find themselves in a strange land full of unknown dangers where they are met by an ethereal creature, Tsera, who gives Eleanor a choice. Go home to Edward, the boy she loves, never to sing again and wait until her world dies or, risk everything to find The Perfect Tear, a crystal that contains the Third Vibration and the only thing that will stop the destruction of her world.

Excerpt:

The wind hit Eleanor with a great force. She staggered back, bumping into the wall of the quarter gallery. She had always loved the elements—wind, rain, lightning, and thunder—but always with solid the earth beneath her feet. Here, they were all at the mercy of the storm.

She kept her back against the gallery wall and watched the men struggle with the main mast. The rope had come loose and whipped about like a wild animal. Audrey clutched the railing. Her mouth moved but Eleanor could hear nothing above the shrieking of the wind. Audrey needed to come back to their quarters. She was in danger. Eleanor’s heart pounded. She knew nothing of the sea, but she could feel its power and knew Audrey was too brave for her own good.

Eleanor left the safety of the wall and headed toward Audrey. She pitted herself against the wind. It tore at her dress and whipped her hair around her face, stinging her cheeks.

Edward motioned for her to go back. He looked frantic. She peered over her shoulder to see Bella at the top of the stairs. Why wouldn’t they go below deck where it was safe? She yelled for Audrey to come away from the railing, but Audrey couldn’t hear her over the shrieking winds. Eleanor had to get to her.

The tempest roared past her ears and brought with it another sound. The resonance made her blood freeze. Eleanor felt her body stiffen, and a sense of foreboding took over.

Her gaze darted about, and the hairs on her arms stood up. What was happening? The very air felt different, and the sound, low and ugly, grew louder until she could no longer hear the wind. A small moan escaped her lips. Something was happening. Something bad was about to take place, and she needed to stop it.

In the space of one breath, the wind halted, the rain stopped falling, and the sea grew still. Eleanor raised her head and reached out her hands as if preparing to ward off a blow.

A long-necked creature rose from the sea and towered over the ship. Eleanor pressed her hand to her throat and tried to scream, but the sound stayed trapped within her.

The clouds disappeared, and the serpent glittered in the full moonlight. It was magnificent and terrifying. It opened its mouth and roared. Eleanor shivered.

The ship, lifted from beneath its hull by a massive wave was tilted portside. Eleanor hit the deck hard as Bella skidded by, and she managed to grab the frightened animal. With Bella under one arm, Eleanor slid forward until she was able to fling her arm around the mizzenmast. Audrey hung onto the railing with a terrified look on her face and Eleanor could see she was at risk. The men clung to the main mast, but Edward lost his grip and skidded toward the ship’s railing.

The serpent roared again. It bent its enormous head toward the deck, toward Edward, and the scream inside her finally escaped. This monster was as tall as the barn from which she had jumped all those years ago. She dragged the comb from her hair and pointed it at the fiend. “STOP.”

A beam of liquid light flew from the comb. Within the stream, she could see smaller, pulsating circles of bright silver. The beam grew in size until it split, forming a web around the monster. It acted as a net. It created a barrier between the ship and the demon, thwarting its plan to devour Edward. Its roar was terrifying.

The ship leveled, and the serpent vanished. John raced to Edward’s side and pulled him to safety. The silence was like a thick cloak, and Eleanor stared in wonder at the sparkling net, which hung in the night sky.

She set Bella down and tried to calm herself. Edward was safe. They were all safe for now. Her breath came in bursts. She needed her heart to stop racing. An arm slid around her and she leaned into the support.

Audrey squeezed. “What are those little silver balls of light?” Her voice was soft and full of wonder.

They all stared at the sparkling lights, like tiny stars hung in the night, connected by the web of light.

Eleanor peered up through heavy lids. Her heart finally slowed its frantic pace, but she felt strange as if part of her was suspended in the night sky. She found it hard to move her limbs. She knew what the little balls of light were.

She struggled to speak. “Songs, my songs. Those I have sung and those I have yet to sing–they kept the garden awake.”

Audrey gazed at the wondrous sight and nodded. Eleanor lifted the comb and pointed it at the glistening net. She must call them back for she could not bear the emptiness inside, as though her soul had gone missing. She took a deep breath and readied herself to receive them.

“Not this time.” The voice inside her head reverberated throughout her body. Eleanor froze. The giant serpent reared its head from the sea. With no sound, it opened its mouth wide. The creature swallowed Eleanor’s net of light and all her songs with it.

Eleanor screamed and doubled over, clutching her stomach, and she heard Audrey gasp.

Edward raced toward her. “Eleanor.”

The long tail of the serpent slipped onto the deck and curled around Eleanor. It dragged her to the railing. Bella jumped on her skirts and bit down. Audrey flung herself at the tail. In an instant, Eleanor, Audrey, and Bella were swept overboard.

Book Trailer:

About the Author

Connie Lansberg is a singer/songwriter and now author based in Melbourne Australia. She’s had her original songs placed in some of Australia’s best loved TV shows that play around the world and The Connie Lansberg Quartet is a fixture in the Melbourne jazz scene. Her most recent original musical project is Tsera’s Gift, written especially for The Perfect Tear and she performs these songs throughout Melbourne. This is Connie’s first novel and the movie is coming. The record will be out soon.
Connie has received several grants from the Victoria Council of the Arts for the development of mobile phone games that she created.
Connie joined the Melbourne Writers Group in 2010 to work on ideas and scripts and during this time the idea for The Perfect Tear began to develop and take shape. She continued her education by taking scriptwriting classes at the Australian Film and Television School in Melbourne. She has two more stories to complete The Perfect Tear Trilogy and is hoping to have the second book finished in 2017
“The first thing anybody tells you about this business is to say what makes you unique and different, but I couldn’t and the very idea of it never sat well with me and after much deliberation, I finally realized why.
Because, I’m not unique or different-I’m exactly like you and I love that. We each have a unique filter through which we interpret the world, and with this filter in place, I write stories and songs and you might find them surprising or intriguing or confronting, you may relate or you may not. They may make you laugh and sometimes, even cry.
You may or may not understand what I’m trying to say and you may not understand me, however, rest assured, once we get past the filters, at our core, we are wonderfully and beautifully, exactly the same.”

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Curse of Stars
Donna Compositor
(Diamond Crier #1)
Publication date: February 19th 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Sabi Perez is the last Diamond Crier, only she doesn’t know it. Not until a crazed ruler from another world comes to collect her priceless tears and won’t take no for an answer.

Living in New York, Sabi’s seen some nasty things, but the lengths to which her captor will go to keep his crown are things found only in the darkest nightmares. Afraid and alone, Sabi finds solace in her cellmate, Anya, and Cabal, a fellow Crier who also has powers, a rare combination that buys his favor from the ruler. Only it’s a favor he doesn’t want.

In a fit of rage, power erupts out of Sabi, the same power Cabal has, and a spark of hope ignites. Together they may have a chance at escape, something no other Crier has done. Except a ruler hellbent on draining them of every last diamond tear isn’t their only hurdle. If they escape they’ll be hunted to the ends of the earth, if they survive the trek to safety. If they stay the ruler will leech them dry. Sabi would rather die trying than lie down and die, even if that means running away into even more danger.

“. . . vividly imagined and deftly plotted dark fantasy . . .” BookLife Prize in Fiction

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Excerpt:

Fingers dug into her arm and she was yanked to her feet. She grunted as her skin pulled under the man’s grip and she stumbled when he dragged her along the corridor.
“Where are we?” she asked, her voice echoing on the dark stone around her. A well-worn carpet laid under her feet, track marks running the length of it.

“What do you want with me?”

“Normally I wouldn’t have the patience for stupidity,” he said without looking at her. “But seeing as how you haven’t lived in Raydin for more than a decade I’ll abide you this.”

“You’re so kind,” she said as she tried to jerk her arm free.

No dice. Instead the man swung her around and slammed her back into the stone. Precious air rushed out of her lungs and panic made her gasp, wheeze, scramble to bring the air back in.

“There is no escape, Sabina. Rest assured, you’re here for life. However long that may be.”

“Why?” She sneered at the immaculate face in front of her. Not a hair out of place. Not a blemish anywhere on his skin. She wanted to rake her nails across his perfection. “Why did you kill my papa? Why did you chase us out of our home?”

He smiled then, a look that crawled up his face and failed to reach his eyes.

“Your home, little Crier, is here. Far south from this castle. That’s where your parents ran from the first time. Alas, they couldn’t run forever.”

Sweat broke out on her forehead. She didn’t understand, but Papa said the same thing. They weren’t from a world that had New York. They were from somewhere else. Nausea swirled in her stomach.

“I have all the powers of the stars,” he said as he brushed a piece of hair from her face. She jerked away from his touch.

“Well, not all. Most. Most my family took from the Giver when they deposed him centuries ago. He was such a pacifist. It was almost too easy. All that power he just gave away to filth in this kingdom. Such a waste. We stopped that, though. We just couldn’t get diamond tears.”
Sabi’s head spun. “I don’t understand.”
The man frowned and leaned away from her. He yanked her off the wall and continued walking down the corridor.

“No, I imagine you wouldn’t. We couldn’t throw a successful coup without money. Lots of money. We had it, of course, but not enough. Not enough to sustain us. With the Giver’s powers, especially diamond tears, our problem would be solved. Instead we were still at his mercy, the decrepit old man.”

No, she wanted to say. That’s not what she meant. She understood why power-hungry people wanted power and money. What she didn’t understand was this Giver, his powers. What this all had to do with her. Her back throbbed. Bruises formed knots along her spine and she already felt their ache.

“It worked out for us and for him. While he’s stored away, nice and safe, he keeps doling out diamond tears and we merely collect those with the power. If he stops, the slaughter of his people would be on him. You understand? Sabina, I asked you a question.”

Sabi choked on the answer and finally said, “Yes.” It was a lie, but this man didn’t seem like someone who was used to hearing no.

Author Bio:

Donna has been writing since she was in the single digits when she first realized she needed to do something about all the thoughts in her head. After a stint with bad poetry she finally found her way to novels, mainly of the young adult fantasy variety. When she’s not cranking out more stories she works a regular 9 to 5, reads anywhere from 2 to 3 books a week, drinks copious amounts of tea, eats way too much, and makes her own beauty products because her skin turns into a sentient hive if she uses anything else. This is mostly because she lives in the desert where the air siphons water clean out of her. She lives with a man named Steve and several quadrupeds: three cats named Renfield, Sam, and Dean; and a MinPin named Malfoy.

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