She’s the One Who Gets in Fights [Excerpt Tour]

Is it Sulphur’s good fortune her homeland is gripped by fear of a pending Mongol invasion? And the army is going door to door encouraging recruits? Sulphur thinks it is. But once she’s forced to kill in a small skirmish, she’s ready to rethink her career decision.

Welcome to the July 22nd stop on the excerpt tour for She’s the One Who Gets in Fights by S. R. Cronin, organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Read on for an exclusive excerpt, check out my 5-star review, and be sure to follow the rest of the tour for other excerpts and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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About the Book

She’s the One Who Gets in Fights
War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters Book Three
by S. R. Cronin

Published 14 May 2021
Cinnabar Press

Genre: Historical Fantasy
Page Count: 229
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It’s the 1200’s, and the small realm of Ilari has had peace and prosperity for generations. That doesn’t mean every citizen is happy, however. Sulphur, the third of seven sisters, is glad the older two have been slow to wed. It’s given her the freedom to train as a fighter, in hopes of fulfilling her lifelong dream of joining Ilari’s army. Then, within a matter of days, both sisters announce plans and now Sulphur is expected to find a man to marry.

Is it Sulphur’s good fortune her homeland is gripped by fear of a pending Mongol invasion? And the army is going door to door encouraging recruits? Sulphur thinks it is. But once she’s forced to kill in a small skirmish, she’s ready to rethink her career decision.

Too bad it’s too late. The invasion is coming, and Ilari needs every good soldier it has.

Once Sulphur learns Ilari’s army has made the strategic decision to not defend certain parts of the realm, including the one where her family lives, she has to re-evaluate her loyalty. Is it with the military she’s always admired? Or is it with her sisters, who are hatching a plan to defend their homeland with magic?

Everywhere she turns, someone is counting on her to fight for what’s right. But what is?

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Excerpt

The fourteen of us had to cover most of the width of Vinx and then go half of the length of Gruen before we arrived in Pilk. After Sashi the days grow short, so it was nearly dark by the time we reached the Svadlu encampment. Even the dusk couldn’t obscure the construction going on nearby.

Many of the borders inside of Ilari are informal. Everyone knows where they are, and people and goods flow freely between friendly nichnas. Other boundaries are defined by nature; usually by rivers or one of our sets of cliffs. A few, found in areas of old animosity, are kept by fences or walls.

The farming nichna of Gruen sits southwest of Vinx. Being near the Wide River, it’s blessed with richer soil and more rainfall, so its farmers grow more desirable crops than our simple grains. We have a friendly relationship with the Gruenites and an open border. The same applies to Gruen’s other border with Pilk, or at least it had until now.

I studied the wall being erected between Pilk and Gruen. The Svadlu were building this? It was as high and as thick as any wall I’d seen.

“Welcome to the Svadlu building crew,” a slight but fit woman several years older than I said as I dismounted. She wore a woman’s-sized version of the saffron cloak as she gestured to me and the five others.

“You six belong to me. Get some food.” She pointed in one direction. “Then get some bedding.” She pointed in another. “Breakfast is at dawn, I’ll find you then. Be ready to work. We’ve got a lot of rocks to move.”

“But I signed on to fight.”

There was no humor in her laugh.

“You signed on for whatever we need you to do, sweetie. Tomorrow, we need you to move rocks. The next day? We’ll probably need you to move more rocks. Now, I’d hurry if I was you. They often run out of food here at dinnertime.”

About the Author

Sherrie Cronin is the author of a collection of six speculative fiction novels known as 46. Ascending and is now in the process of publishing a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters. A quick look at the synopses of her books makes it obvious she is fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had.

She’s made a lot of stops along the way to writing these novels. She’s lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. Now she answers a hot-line. Along the way, she’s lost several cats but acquired a husband who still loves her and three kids who’ve grown up just fine, both despite how odd she is.

All her life she has wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. She now lives and writes in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she admits to occasionally checking her phone for a message from Captain Picard, just in case.

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Giveaway Alert!

S. R. Cronin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.