The Story Behind The Undine's Tear by Talena Winters

 

The Undine's Tear is the first installment of Talena Winters' new YA epic historical fantasy series, Rise of the Grigori. Find out how the title came to be and take a sneak peek inside. Download your copy and then follow the tour for more as well as bonus chances to enter the giveaway!

She's destined to save the world . . . if she doesn't destroy it first.

Calandra’s destiny is also her doom. As the most powerful healer since the woman who sank Atlantis, she’s been raised to restore the Heartstone that protects her island from humans . . . before she goes Mad like her mother and all the powerful undine healers before her. When she learns she needs both male and female magic to succeed, she becomes desperate—there hasn't been an undine male born for over three thousand years. Instead, she's being pressured to use the siren mind-bond to enslave her childhood friend, the one man she's sworn to risk a death sentence to free.

When Calandra discovers a cryptic message that shows her exiled mother was not only sane but pregnant with a boy, she questions everything she’s been taught to believe. But revealing the horrifying truth of the bonds could tear her island apart—and concealing it could unleash the Earth’s oldest, most destructive enemy. With insanity looming, can Calandra find her brother and save the Heartstone, the man she loves, her people, and the world . . . before she loses control and destroys them all?

The Undine's Tear is the first book in the mind-blowing young adult epic historical fantasy series Rise of the Grigori. Packed with complex characters, lush world-building, gritty action, and impossible odds, this intricately woven tale presents mermaids like you’ve never seen them before. Join Calandra in a search for redemption that will threaten the very fabric of the universe. Dive into the adventure today!

Read an excerpt:

Osaze looked between them with fear in his eyes, then turned back to Calandra.

“Redeemed. That’s what the queen did to me before, right? Is that what you mean by ‘help’?” He clutched Calandra’s arm. “Please don’t do it again, Calandra. I—I think I would rather die than have that happen again.”

As soon as Osaze touched her, a wave of desperation and fear crashed through her. She put her hands to her ears as though she could physically block out the sudden onslaught of emotion. Is it happening already? Is this the Madness?

When Osaze’s hand fell from her arm, the emotions subsided. She slowly lowered her hands, staring at the boy. Those feelings . . . they had all come from him? Why had she felt them so strongly? Did it have something to do with the Heartstone?

“It’s okay, Osaze. It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

He shook his head and buried it in his hands. “That would be better. It’s worse than anything you can imagine.”

Calandra stared at him, stricken. As a rule, undines treated every living thing with respect. She had always been told that Redemption meant saving the men from themselves, cleansing them of impurities they could not purge on their own. But how could it be right to do something to these men that they hated so much?

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The Story Behind the Title of The Undine’s Tear

Have you heard of mermaid tears?

Growing up far inland with not many trips to an ocean, I hadn’t—not until I started doing the research for the book that became The Undine’s Tear.

In lore and fantasy, a mermaid’s tears often have unique magical properties—such as the mermaid tear Blackbeard was after in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which was a key element in his pursuit of the Fountain of Youth. Perhaps this mythological meaning is why sea glass, which is often green, blue, or aquamarine in colour and has been worn smooth by time and tide, was given the name of mermaid tears. These mermaid tears are often treasured collectibles of beachcombers and look very pretty displayed on a shelf.

Before publishing my book, I had intended to call it The Mermaid’s Tear, but a poll of my readers suggested the word mermaid would deter the boys in the room from picking it up. That wouldn’t do, since this is not your typical mermaid book—and, to date, has been enjoyed by many of the male persuasion!

Besides, I had long since decided an entire race of sea creatures wouldn’t be named only for the females. So, much like people are known as humans, I opted to call my merfolk undines (UN-deens), a word referring to the Greek water elemental creature. Since elemental magic is the undines’ inheritance, this seemed kind of perfect.

As for the tear the story is named after—it’s not a drop of saltwater, nor a bit of sea glass, but instead a teardrop-shaped dark green (black) opal that, in the culture of the undines, works like a flash drive to store messages and data, as well as serving as a beautiful piece of jewelry.

And the message that Tear contains is going to change the way the undines look at the world forever—in fact, it could affect the very future of the cosmos.

But that’s a story that would take a whole series to tell…

Talena Winters is addicted to stories, tea, chocolate, yarn, and silver linings. She writes page-turning fiction for teens and adults in multiple genres, coaches other writers, has written several award-winning songs, and designs knitting patterns under her label My Secret Wish. Master of the ironic GIF response. She currently resides on an acreage in the Peace Country of northern Alberta, Canada, with her husband, three surviving boys, two dogs, and an assortment of farm cats. She would love to be a mermaid when she grows up.

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Talena Winters will be awarding a hardback copy of The Undine's Tear (Rise of the Grigori Book 1) and also The Sphinx's Heart (Rise of the Grigori Book 2) to a randomly drawn winner (International Giveaway) via rafflecopter during the tour.

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