The Pyro's Smoking Boot from THE EVERSTEAM CHRONICLES - BOOK ONE

An excerpt from my debut novel coming out on Kindle this August, audiobook in September, and paperback in October!

A gnawing thought in the back of his mind told him to get further away, but he wanted to feel the heat on his face. He was closer than he had ever been before. Even his eyebrows were being singed. It was glorious! The thought persisted, and he soon had to give in, self-preservation being much more powerful than passion. He started backing away, but his foot snagged on something. Glancing down, he saw that his bootlace had come undone and he was stepping on it. He bent to retie it and espied a delicate dandelion lying smashed where he had stood. Picking it up gently as though it were something so precious, he frowned, ears picking up the slightest warning.
He had not gotten far enough away from the inferno before it reached its climax. He had planned to watch the finale from several more meters away. But that little flower betrayed him and he never did get to see his masterpiece. One second he was looking at the fuzzy yellow head crumpled in the palm of his hand; the next, he was standing amidst heat and flames in a long line leading down to fiery red gates.

[Fan Art by Melina Rivera]