The Silver Sail by Bridgette Dutta Portman [Excerpt]

A looming supernova. A long-lost starship. A hero turned evil.

Welcome to the May 31st stop on the blog tour for The Silver Sail by Bridgette Dutta Portman with Lola’s Blog Tours (schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, exclusive content, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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About the Book

The Silver Sail
The Coseema Saga Book Two
by Bridgette Dutta Portman

Published 2 May 2022
Titan1 Studios

Genre: Science Fantasy
Page Count: 342
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

A looming supernova. A long-lost starship. A hero turned evil.

Olive Joshi never meant to fall through a portal into her own abandoned novel, much less kill her protagonist and resurrect her as a villain. Now she’s on the run in a universe quickly spiraling out of her control.

After narrowly escaping Coseema with her life, Olive and her friends head for a distant planet in search of the legendary starship the Wave-Rider, which may be the only hope for the doomed people of Lyria. But the voyage there is littered with obstacles—the tyrannical ruler of a dying colony, a mysterious spacefarer, the ever-present threat of Coseema, and Olive’s own obsessive fears. Back on Lyria, Olive’s allies face obstacles of their own as they vie with the cruel emperor Burnash, while Burnash himself chafes under Coseema’s control. Olive, armed with her omniscient journal, finds comfort in reading along with her friends’ adventures. But when time runs out, she must embark on a risky collision course with her former heroine, one that may force her to give up what she treasures most.

The Silver Sail, Book Two of the Coseema Saga, is a must-read for fans of portal fantasy, space opera, coming-of-age adventures, and novels about mental health, self-esteem, friendship, and courage in the face of uncertainty.

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Excerpt

Jambol had put down the trunchpick and lantern and seated himself in the moss on the tunnel floor. Olive joined him. Her feet
ached after what must have been hours of walking, and it felt good to rest. The lantern sat between them, casting their hulking
shadows on the walls.

“Maybe we should take turns sleeping,” Jambol said.

“Now?”

He took off his backpack and retrieved a bottle of water. “We haven’t slept since…”

He trailed off. Olive couldn’t remember, either. She did feel tired. Sitting next to Jambol, with the darkness settling over them and the moss like a soft blanket, her eyelids sagged like lead curtains. She shook her head and grabbed the water he offered her. They had to stay awake, to keep going. Every minute they rested was another minute Nestra and Zeph were in peril. She drank deeply to keep herself alert. She had to think of a plan. They had run out of thread, but perhaps there was another way they could mark their path. There had to be.

Jambol slumped against her, knocking the lantern over.

“Sorry…” he mumbled, sitting back up. “We’ve got to sleep, Olive. We can’t save them if we can’t think straight.”

He had a point. Still, the thought of losing any of their precious time was hard to accept. “Just a little farther, okay?” she pressed. “Until the tunnel branches again.”

Jambol hesitated, but then he dragged himself to his feet.

They walked on through the darkness for another half an hour. Sound carried better through the thicker air—Olive clearly heard her and Jambol’s soft footsteps, the drip of water from the ceiling, the occasional scuttle of a lumizard. She listened hard for any hint of Nestra or Zeph.

A rock jutted out in front of her, and she tripped, falling against Jambol.

“Seriously, Olive,” he said as he steadied her, “I think we should stop.”

“I’m okay.” She shook her head hard, trying to clear the fog of sleepiness that was rolling in.

“I’m not.” He set the lantern down. “I don’t think we should go any farther until we’ve slept at least a little.”

She exhaled. He wasn’t going to budge. If she were honest with herself, she desperately wanted a nap, too. “Okay. But only for a
few minutes.” She glanced ahead, where the moss on the cavern floor looked especially smooth and welcoming, like a fluffy green bed. Something looked different about the moss, but she was too exhausted to dwell on it. “It looks soft over here.”

She took a step onto the moss blanket.

And fell through it.

Book One

The Twin Stars
The Coseema Saga Book One
by Bridgette Dutta Portman

Published 2 July 2021
Titan1Studios

Genre: Science Fantasy
Page Count: 326
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

A magical journal. A world savaged by its own suns. An evil prince. A princess in hiding. And a teenage girl who learns to be the hero of her own story.

Sixteen-year-old Olive Joshi has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and can’t stop worrying about hurting the people she loves. She finds refuge in writing about Coseema, a magical princess on a distant planet. Coseema is fearless, confident, and perfect – everything Olive thinks she’ll never be. When she falls through a portal into her own unfinished story, Olive finds herself in a world in peril: double suns scorch the land, the brutal Prince Burnash seeks supreme power, and Coseema is nowhere to be found. Together with her friends – a bold poet, a cursed musician, a renegade soldier, and an adventurous girl from the desert – Olive will have to face her deepest fears to find the hero in herself.

An engrossing new portal fantasy in the spirit of the Wizard of Oz, the Neverending Story, and the Chronicles of Narnia.

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

About the Author

Bridgette Dutta Portman is an author, playwright, and teaching artist. Dozens of her plays have been produced across the United States and overseas. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University, as well as a PhD in political science from the University of California, Irvine. She is past president of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco and is currently a member of Same Boat Theater Collective, the Pear Playwrights’ Guild, and the Dramatists’ Guild. She recently joined the board of the Pear Theatre in Mountain View, CA. The Twin Stars is her debut novel, and the first of a planned trilogy. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Deepanshu and their two young children.

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Giveaway Alert!

The author is giving away a $25 Amazon or B&N gift card! (International)

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