Item: Cargo of Bones
Author: Gina

Cargo of Bones (The Salt Water Chronicles #1) by Z. Lindsey | Great Prize Raffle | #Spotlight #VirtualBookTour #Fantasy @GoddessFish @z.lindsey_fiction

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Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.

Book Details

Author Guest Post & Spotlight | Cargo of Bones (The Salt Water Chronicles #2) by Z. Lindsey | Great Prize Raffle | #Spotlight #VirtualBookTour #Fantasy @GoddessFish @z.lindsey_fiction

Cargo of Bones by Z. Lindsey
Series: The Saltwater Chronicles #2
Published by Independent on June 26, 2024
Genres: Fantasy
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 292

Devilish intrigue in a magical library...

Devil bureaucrat Essimore Darkenchyl barely made it out of the jungle alive, but next she’s going straight to hell—aka her hometown. When she finds out about a dark and desperate plan for immortality originating from her own people, her family ties, her sense of right and wrong, and her silly sense of humor will all be put to the test.

A strong and geeky female lead

A doomed romance

A dark but hopeful storyline

Llamas!

In the second book of The Saltwater Chronicles, the stakes are higher, the villains are scarier, and the jokes about cannibalism are more common.

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Excerpt from Cargo of Bones

“You nicked me in the dance, remember? The council might be scandalized if we slept in the same tent.”

She laughed, remembering how embarrassed she’d been as the other girls gasped and the doctors swarmed him. Her dad said, ‘Essie, if you didn’t want Vashon to be eligible to marry you, you just had to poke him! You didn’t have to stab so deep!’ But she did like him. It wasn’t her fault he couldn’t block. And it had been nice to think the one boy she liked couldn’t marry her. There had been more important things than boys. Like Gossen’s Guide to Shipping Law.

“Nicked you?” she asked as she stood and walked for the tent. “Sir, I stabbed so deep they had to use medical magic to get the knife out.”

Vashon touched his shoulder where the knife had been.

“Yeah, like I said, you nicked me. I’ll sleep outside.”

Essie put a hand on her hip.

“It’s too cold, Vashon.” She crouched and crawled into the tent. “It’s not like you’re proposing. If you keep your underwear on, I’m sure the council will forgive us.”

“I’m not wearing underwear,” he said.

“Oh.”

Vashon cleared his throat.

“It’s not part of the cossetter’s ritual outfit.”

Essie bit her lip and looked away.

“Of course.”

“The first cossetters practiced naked to be closer to essential—”

“Okay, I get it!”

“So—I should sleep out here?” he asked.

“Get in here,” she said, then blurted, “but stay on your side.”

Excerpt provided by the author/publisher for use in this post.

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Purchase Links for Cargo of Bones

The River Against the Sea (The Saltwater Chronicles Book 1)

Amazon Kindle Edition
Lindsey, Z. (Author)
English (Publication Language)
322 Pages - 12/18/2023 (Publication Date)

Cargo of Bones (The Saltwater Chronicles Book 2)

Amazon Kindle Edition
Lindsey, Z. (Author)
English (Publication Language)
296 Pages - 06/24/2024 (Publication Date)

If the above link does not take you to your country’s Amazon page, please let me know, and I’ll gladly get a link for you.

Using my link does not change the price you pay. Amazon pays me a minimal amount out of their share. Every penny helps to support this blog.

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I love my Amazon Kindle Unlimited Subscription. So many books, so little time!

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About Z. Lindsey

Z. Lindsey -

Zac Lindsey is an anthropologist and a linguist who focuses on the Maya people of Quintana Roo. Since childhood, he's had a not-so-secret love of weird, silly, and well-structured fantasy. When other people's parents were reading them picture books, his mom was reading him Terry Brooks. He typically writes hopeful and character-driven fantasy.

Today, he lives in Quintana Roo, Mexico with his wife, daughter, and various stray cats.

Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Instagram

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Guest Post by the Author of Cargo of Bones

Convince us why you feel your book is a must-read.

It’s good to have a laugh every now and then. In a sea of grimdark fantasies, my new book CARGO OF BONES is a hopeful island of happy flowers. Except the sea is pretty dark, now that I look at it, so maybe those flowers have a little to worry about after all.

I love stories where characters get put through the ringer, and with this trilogy of books, I wanted to write one of those. CARGO OF BONES is the second book in the trilogy, meaning it’s also the “ringer-y-est” of the books. The hero Essie Darkenchyl, she gets knocked around, that’s for sure. She even loses a horn.

I wanted to play with some of the same themes that are present in dark fantasy works–evil rulers, epic stakes, and profound betrayals–but to do so in a way that was hopeful and funny. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I’m making fun of A Song of Ice and Fire with this trilogy, but the first book was definitely a response to how dark that show was. I often like to say about my work, If you think this has a happy ending, you’re mostly right.

So the book is a must-read for folks who like fantasy but maybe need a bit of a break from the true darkness. If the last book you read ended with the love interest dying, or the bad guy winning, or if anyone killed a dog at any point, now’s the time to read my books.

This particular book is a little heavier than the first and third books in the trilogy, because the middle’s gotta be rough. It just does. When you’re in the middle of a fight against overwhelming odds, it’s hard to look up and see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there. That said, no dogs die, I promise.

I think most fantasy lovers will find a lot to like in the book. The desert setting is intense and spectacular, full of almost-familiar creatures, and the energy-based magic system has some wild possibilities.

I grew up reading fantasy, and I’ve been a fan of the genre since I was a little wyrmling reading Terry Brooks at my mother’s side. While the story has a darkly humorous sense to it, it’s deeply respectful of the tropes of fantasy. It’s not the kind of humor that disparages the genre, but instead leans into the things that make fantasy so enthralling.

I wrote the trilogy for my wife, so it might connect more with female readers. Like my wife, Essie’s got to deal with being a person who walks in two worlds; her people are misunderstood, and even her closest friends expect her hometown to be a literal hell-on-earth because of what they’ve heard about it.

Then there’s Essie herself. She’s a super fun character who always tries to solve her problems with words but has no problem causing wanton destruction if necessary. In the first book, she is a powerful if clumsy magic user, but by the second book she’s got some finesse to her abilities, and it makes a real difference in the way she approaches situations. She’s not egotistical, but she’s becoming more confident, and that’s a lot of fun.

I think she’s got a very relatable vibe for the 21st century in that she will go on adventures if required, and she’ll always help someone in need, but she’s not seeking power, she’s not seeking glory, she just wants to take a nap.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there are llamas in this book. Cute, life-saving, aggressive, spitting, fuzzy, possibly-sentient llamas.