Publisher's Synopsis
Inspired by the characters and stories from the volumes of Slices of a Starchild's Life, this novel takes a darker turn in its sequence of events. Many old faces and more not seen before explore this quaint town and others beyond the forest.
Val is just an ordinary shape-shifter called a starchild in an ordinary town with ordinary citizens. The sky always gray, the beach has creatures below the surface that will drag you under if you stray beyond the net. The forest that surrounds most of it never the same day to day, filled with monsters that most of humanity only thought creatures of legend. And Val wouldn't have it any other way. No city could ever feel like home when the worst that happens is a horse digs through your garbage or an invasion of raccoons that often hypnotize humans to find food. No other town has an elder god that can cause temporary insanity with a glance. This is where they live and no other land could take its place.
That all changes when a photo is discovered inside a hidden room of Val's rental and a ghost tells her history with an ancient war goddess who eyes them. A deity with an insatiable bloodlust and in a decades-long search for a champion. Adding to this, a strange dog with a dark past reveals an evil older than humanity that will cause them to go on a journey and uncover secrets better left unspoken. Unable to escape the goddess's greed when she pushes the peaceful starchild to violence no matter how fast or where they run. The quest for peace growing closer to impossible when another goddess decides their destiny should be in her temple. Her cult of women with machine guns hard to ignore. Both doing what they can to ensure the fun-loving shape-shifter shall betray their nature and burn with a lust for battle when they get what they desire.
Will Val control their fate and escape the reach of two goddesses? What can be done when all they have known is put to the test?
