Black
Waltz
by
Yoshiyuki Ly
Genre:
Contemporary Fantasy Romance
As
a Black Waltz—a magical ballet dancer—Stella Azrith appears to
all as a composed, no-nonsense sorceress of notable talent. Yet she
is deeply dependent on her muse for far more than most artists,
complicating her relationships. Nyte Lysander is a suave, emotional
cellist who once struggled in her obsession to stay in Stella’s
world. She and Stella find one another again after a tumultuous
breakup, needing the other for reasons warped beyond the norm. Black
Waltz is a sprawling urban fantasy romance set 350 years after The
Scorpion’s Empress and 100 years after Venus and Lysander,
concluding the trilogy. Can be read as a standalone.
Searching
for acceptance, Stella and Nyte learn to understand each other anew,
strained only by disagreements past and unspoken. Nyte’s living
situation in the crime-ridden district of Maleficus in the city of
Eden pushes her and Stella to pursue better artistic opportunities
elsewhere. As they toy with the idea of exploring a power play
relationship, they learn about a greater evil that threatens the
Azrith and Lysander families. The true enemy twists on its head
through whirling rainstorms, driving Stella and Nyte to prove who and
what they stand for.
There
can be no waltz for three.
Yoshiyuki
Ly was born in San Diego, CA. Her pen name represents her multiracial
heritage and a unique, diverse outlook that reflects in her work. She
is a writer and a gamer, primarily inspired by thought-provoking,
well-written video games such as the Shin Megami Tensei, NieR, and
Drakengard franchises.
GUEST POST
Hey everyone,
I’m Yoshiyuki Ly and I’m here with a guest post for my third
book, Black Waltz.
This is quite
a long book that went through several revisions and transformations
over the years. In fact, the title and core plot were something else
entirely, though with the same two main characters. I had to break
the skeleton of this story a few times before it became anything
remotely like the final product. So it’s safe to say that I edited
a lot out.
The main
reason why I edited and edited and edited so many times is because I
was afraid of writing the book as it is today. I thought that it
would be too controversial, or that it would reflect badly on me, or
that, in admitting the story is based loosely on true events, it
would suggest too much about what I’ve experienced. I hated that
I’d let my fears rule me to the point where I had to censor myself.
With this
final version of the book, there’s more that I removed for a number
of reasons. One of them involves entire side characters I removed,
like a fellow dancer in Stella’s Black Waltz Company that was her
understudy, and tried to scheme to steal her spot as the star for an
important performance. This was then supposed to lead to a side
romance story with another major character. This major character is
part of the possible controversy that I was afraid of – the side
romance story was only a cover-up and distraction from what I
actually wanted to write.
In the end,
this is the truest version of the book that I could have written. As
strange as it is to put myself out there like this, I accepted that
this comes with the territory of being an author.
I’d rather
be true to myself on the page, even if no one else knew for certain
or could tell otherwise.
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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