Urzites - telepathic animals of many species found originally only on the southern island of Urz. Receptives - humans who are able to hear the Urzites. Only about one person in eighty or ninety is a Receptive. Most Receptives can only hear the animal who has chosen to be their partner, although there have been recorded instances of very rare people, SuperReceptives, who can hear more than one Urzite. The Warden Corps - a government-sanctioned force within which the Receptive-Urzite pairs function. The Wardens and their Urzite partners are mostly used as espionage agents and scouts in the ongoing war with the neighbouring nation of Zeranda, although some are also involved in search and rescue and also in recruitment and the finding of new Receptives. Hartan got reluctantly to his feet. "I'll come back tomorrow," he said as he passed through the door I held open for him. "Don't bother. The answer will be the same." He turned as he stepped past me, that dreadfully earnest expression on his face again. "Naya, you don't understand!" he said urgently. "You're a SuperReceptive. Don't you realise how rare that is?" "How could I?" I said, wishing he'd just take the hint and leave. I didn't want to have to slam the door in his face, but it was beginning to look as though that was the only way I was going to get rid of him. "I'd never heard the term before tonight." "There have only ever been a handful of SuperReceptives reported," Hartan said. "Even if we assume that there were as many again that weren't recorded, that still means only one or two in each generation. We need you, Naya. You can't just sit here and sell vegetables and ignore such a great gift." "Watch me," I said. "Just because I can talk to more animals than someone else can doesn't mean I'm going to be a better spy, does it? I don't want to be a spy, Hartan. I'm perfectly happy with my life the way it is, and that's my final word." He didn't look happy, but he did at least finally take the hint and leave. "Take my word for it," he said as he stepped outside. "You will regret this decision." "I somehow doubt that, Hartan, but I'll take that risk," I said. Naya Sheydaughter is perfectly happy running her business as a vegetable seller in her local market. So when recruiter Hartan Igellson comes to town looking for her, she isn't best pleased, especially since the Wardens are regarded with suspicion in Harat and her neighbours suddenly don't want to know her any more. Learning that she has been identified as a Receptive it's a case of thanks but no thanks. She has a business to run. She can't afford to leave it for a month just to find out if some animal might want to be her friend, and she doesn't want to be a spy anyway. It all seems very straightforward. That is, until the recruiter discovers that she is a very rare SuperReceptive. Determined to bring in the greatest find of his career, he sets about destroying her business and her life in an effort to force her to come with him. But Naya is equally determined not to let him win in such an underhand manner. With nothing left to lose she runs away and takes to the road, determined to rebuild her life somewhere far away from Hartan Igellson, Urzites and the Warden Corps. She has no intention of having anything to do with an outfit that treats her the way Hartan has. But will she be left alone to build a future for herself that she actually wants to live? Can she avoid being found when the entire Warden Corps is searching for her, the greatest find in a century? Naya is the first book in a new fantasy series.
About the Author: Hello there. I'm Ashley Abbiss, and I live and write in beautiful New Zealand. There's no graphic sex in my books. If that's what you want, you'll have to look elsewhere. There is violence, and there is swearing, though mostly of the 's/he swore' variety, nothing overly graphic or offensive. I also write about strong, independent female characters, so if your taste runs to something more macho, or something more frilly and helpless, this may not be the place for you. I've always loved wandering in different worlds, be they fantasy or science fiction. The only proviso is that they have to be believable worlds, worlds that feel real, that have depth and scope - and they must, absolutely must, be fun to visit. I read for escape and entertainment, and I don't really want to escape from this world into one even grimmer. Trouble, tension and danger I can deal with, what sort of story would there be without them? Where would Pern be without Thread, Frodo without Sauron, Harry Potter without Voldemort? But there has to be hope, and there has to be a light touch. Happy ever after does have a lot going for it, even if initially it's only a very small light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. My personal favourites include Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, and the fantasies of David Eddings, and lately they've been joined by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and a few others. Of those, David Eddings was probably my greatest inspiration. I began to wonder if I could create my own world, one just as believable and multi-layered as theirs. Could I create a world with its own history, geography, social structure, deities, and all the rest? One that hung together? That a reader could believe in? It became a challenge, one I really wanted to see if I could meet. So I dusted off my writing skills, learned a few more, cranked up the imagination, and got busy. I quickly discovered that I'm not the sort of writer who can plan a book (or a world!) before I start. But I can create characters, and suddenly the characters took on a reality of their own and took over the stories, often to the extent that they actually surprised me. Even though my first attempts were pitiful, I knew I'd found where I belong. I persevered, I learned, I wrote. Come join me in worlds where magic is real and the gods are near, where beasts talk and men and women achieve things they never dreamed they could. But most of all, come and have fun!