Karina Fabian’s Mind Over . . .

Karina Fabian has a new book out, this one the sequel to Mind Over Mind. No Faerie Catholic Church or dragons here, but still interesting material.

Deryl isn’t crazy; he’s psychic. Desperate to escape the insane asylum, Deryl teleports to Kanaan, a world of telepaths who regard him as an oracle. The Kanaan expect their oracle to teach them to wage war. He falls in love, but to be with her means to share his psyche, which could drive her insane. Most dangerous of all the Master, enemy of the Kanaan, would will forge Deryl’s powers into a weapon to kill all he loves or destroy his mind trying.

Available in Kindle, epub or Amazon:
Epub: www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76200/1734
Kindle: www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76202/3746
Print: www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Psyche-Karina-Fabian/dp/1897492685

Read on below the cut for a personal interview with Karina. Continue reading

Is there greater treasure?

Greater Treasures book tour banner

As promised earlier this month, today, I’m spotlighting Karina Fabian’s latest DragonEye story, the novella Greater Treasures.

Being a private detective in the border town of the Faerie and Mundane worlds isn’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern. Still, finding the wayward brother of a teary damsel in distress shouldn’t have gotten so dangerous. When his partner, Sister Grace, gets poisoned by a dart meant for him, Vern offers to find an artifact in exchange for a cure. However, this is no ordinary trinket—with a little magic power, it could control all of mankind. Can Vern find the artifact, and will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for the life of his best friend?


To begin with, this novella is more serious than the earlier DragonEye novels. Yes, Vern still has his wry humor (I was particularly amused by the filet minion line), but he doesn’t find nearly as much funny when his partner’s lying in the hospital, dying. So the tone’s slightly different.

However, if you are a fan of classic movies — specifically, if you love The Maltese Falcon, which this novella is based on, you will love it. The homage to the Falcon is even remarked upon in the novella itself, with (for example) a mention of how Cambridge Ramada is reminiscent of Sydney Greenstreet playing Casper Gutman.

The novella highlights some of the tension between Faerie and Mundane, as well as showing that bigotry and prejudice don’t have a magic cure. Some of the characters are old and familiar; some, this is the first time they’re seen. All fit well in the world Karina Fabian has created, wher St. George really did defeat a dragon, on the other side of the Interdimensional Gap.

It’s a quick read and an enjoyable one, and it’s definitely going on my short list for Hugo nominations next year.


If you haven’t already become acquainted with Vern and his human partner, Sister Grace, you can find Greater Treasures in Kindle and print formats.

Information on the novels in the series can be found at the following links:
Live and Let Fly, which is discussed here on my blog.
Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, which is also reviewed here on my blog.

If you’d like to see more of Vern and Karina’s posts, as well as enter drawings for e-books, check out the rest of the book tour.

Greater-Treasures-Ebook

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Vern’s Warehouse Dogs

Greater Treasures book tour banner

As promised earlier this month, today, I’m spotlighting Karina Fabian’s latest DragonEye story, the novella Greater Treasures.

Being a private detective in the border town of the Faerie and Mundane worlds isn’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern. Still, finding the wayward brother of a teary damsel in distress shouldn’t have gotten so dangerous. When his partner, Sister Grace, gets poisoned by a dart meant for him, Vern offers to find an artifact in exchange for a cure. However, this is no ordinary trinket—with a little magic power, it could control all of mankind. Can Vern find the artifact, and will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for the life of his best friend?


And now for a few words from the dragon himself:

Vern’s Warehouse Dogs
By Karina Fabian

I have dogs. I know that sounds weird for a dragon. I never had dogs before I came to the Mundane world. Even among humans, dogs don’t have the status in Faerie that they do here. But I’ve found them to be useful creatures.

While my warehouse is a reasonably comfortable lair, it’s not what I’m used to. Too many entrance points, too exposed. Too many humans–even worse, too many Mundane humans who don’t know how to respect the dragon. Sneaking in for a photo, hoping to swipe a scale, or thinking I’m going to leave my treasure nice and exposed–seriously? (Not that it’s not a good idea, but since my run-in with St. George, I’m not allowed to trick and eat treasure-hunters.) Nice thing about a mountain cave is I can find a quiet spot where I can let my guard down. Not so with the warehouse, but with a dog to keep watch, I can relax knowing that they’ll sound the alarm should any Mundane try to sneak around.

Hot Dog came with the warehouse. He was a nasty piece of work, made meaner by the months of neglect that followed the death of his master–the only human able to control him. The owner’s wife gave the warehouse and all its items to the Church in part because she didn’t want to deal with the mongrel, but couldn’t bear to have it “put down.” Guess she hoped for a miracle. She got me. A few minutes with his neck between my jaws and we came to an understanding. After that, he picked up fast that any human I respected, he’d better respect, too. We had a good year together before I ate him. (It was early in my career and cases were few and far between. Like I said, Hot Dog and I had an understanding.)

Now I have a couple of Labradorish mutts, Riff and Raff. They have a big bark, but friendly temperaments. Back when I didn’t have reliable heat, we kept each other warm on winter nights. More prosperous times and the fact that Grace loves them mean they’ve stayed off my menu for the past ten years. They’re getting gray around the muzzle. I may have to eat them someday, but when I do, it’ll be an honor and not just a luncheon.


If you haven’t already become acquainted with Vern and his human partner, Sister Grace, you can find Greater Treasures in Kindle and print formats.

Information on the novels in the series can be found at the following links:
Live and Let Fly, which is discussed here on my blog.
Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, which is also reviewed here on my blog.

Stay tuned later today for my review of Greater Treasures!

If you’d like to see more of Vern and Karina’s posts, as well as enter drawings for e-books, check out the rest of the book tour.

Greater-Treasures-Ebook

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I’d Rather Write about Interesting Times

This is a guest post from Karina Fabian, author of the recently released Live and Let Fly. (See previous post for my review.) She’s appearing here as part of her blog tour; you can see the whole calendar for the tour on her Website.


Karina Fabian author photo

Karina Fabian


You know the old (supposedly) Arabic curse: may you live in interesting times? I’m one of those blessed people who had never lived in a really “interesting time.” I grew up in a stable and loving home, enjoyed college, had an exciting few years as an Air Force Officer, met the man of my dreams, and have since settled down to raise kids and write books. I’ve had some hard times, but I’ve never been shot at, tortured, driven insane, been under an evil spell, or lost everything I owned or loved.

Trust me, I am not complaining. I thank God every day. But my life would be boring to write about, which is why my blog seldom gets into my daily life. I’d much rather write about all those awful things happen to my characters. Continue reading

V is also for Vern

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that I reviewed Magic, Mensa and Mayhem by Karina Fabian last year. (If you haven’t been reading here long, feel free to go read that post and then come back to this one. It’s okay; I’ll wait. Back? Great!) I said then that I was regretting reading so fast because the next DragonEye, PI book didn’t come out until this month. Hooray! Live and Let Fly is out! Guess how long it took me to read this one? Continue reading

Dreams from the past

Recently, Karina Fabian (discussed previously for Magic, Mensa & Mayhem), in her Rocket Science for the Rest of Us blog, pointed to an announcement — NASA is taking applications for astronaut training. There was a time I would’ve loved to be an astronaut, but I didn’t know how to go about applying, or what the requirements were, or where to go to find the answers. The only hint I had was that the Captain in I Dream of Jeanie had come in from the Air Force, and I knew I didn’t want to go into the military. So I went on with my dreams of going to medical school (which, clearly, I didn’t have much better information on).

Intrigued at the recent announcement (even though there’s no way I’m relocating to Houston), I looked at the Astronaut Selection and Training brochure for the requirements. Bachelor’s degree in math, science, or engineering — check. At least three years of post-college experience — check. (Two years as a lab tech, and the master’s degree counts as one, despite the number of years I put in to get it.) Vision correctable to 20/20 — check. (Even if it’s going to require progressive lenses next time around.) Blood pressure below 140/90 — check. Height between 62 and 75 inches — check. (Hey, I’m not too short!) At least on paper, I’m qualified.

The things that give me pause are in the training procedures. Because of my leg, I’m not sure I could do hyperbaric or hypobaric conditions, or even SCUBA certification. So much as I would love to have a mid-life crisis and apply to become an astronaut in the hopes of going to Mars someday, it’s not realistic. Which is just as well — as I said, I’m not up to relocating to Houston. Don’t care for the climate. And my husband has tenure here, which, in this economic climate, isn’t something to dismiss.

So I’m letting the dream stay in the past. On the other hand, if anyone reading this is qualified and tempted, let me know how it goes.