The Last Summer Queen
A novel
At thirty-one, Macy Parker is ready to enter the world outside the isolated village where she was born. But she’s a witch, and worse, her magic hardwires her to kill. When the village elders elect her Summer Queen—responsible to seduce and sacrifice a male of magical power—she attracts Ethan North, a witch of magic especially attuned to the modern world of smart phones, computers, and surveillance. He's more useful alive than dead, and Macy's willing to bend the rules to save him. But when old jealousies threaten them both, she has to face facts. The only way through is to demolish everything she’s ever known and embrace an unknowable future.
(Launching June 22, 2026)
Excerpts
from Chapter One…
The sun sets. The sky darkens and the brightest stars wink into being. Everybody knows what comes next.
I move into the circle, joined by the others. Jerusha, Paisley and Gracey, Aria and Lark. Junior taps out a slow rhythm and the dance begins.
Fifty or seven, numbers don’t matter. A cone of power flows upward to heaven. Auras like wraiths shiver in the firelight. I look for mine, but like Gran always said. Witches can’t see their own auras.
Junior thumps a faster beat. The trees sing old songs in languages I don’t know. The dance circles sunwise, twirling to celebrate the last of the light. Jerusha leads the way. The three older women will dance half the night—quite a feat for women in their sixties. They stand upright, backs straight, bodies honed by years living in a village stuck in the nineteenth century.
We chant the thirteen couplets prescribed by the Book of Light while Junior drums faster and faster. Bare feet pound the ground, ankle bells jingle, and streams of sweat fling from overheated bodies to sizzle in the fire. We praise the light, singing paeans to the sun. At the end of the thanksgiving chant, a cheer goes up.
The moon rises. The circle whoops and turns widdershins in a counterclockwise dance. Today begins the descent into night, a time for witches to celebrate the coming dark months.
from Chapter 2…
I expect to lie awake the rest of the night, but don’t. I fall into bed, sound asleep before my head hits the proverbial pillow.
The enchantment happens while I slept. The Summer Queen magic descends on me until the power of it wakes me soon after morning arrives.
Bleary eyed, worried, I throw on a robe and go to the kitchen. I ignore the changes I can feel. I’m not ready for them.. The poppet unexpectedly sits at the table, not wearing an identical robe, but dressed up. White, tailored slacks, a sleeveless rose-colored silk tunic, Gran’s moonstone pendant (the one I buried with her ashes), and a fancy hairclip of silver and pink stones, holding back the thing’s hair.
My closet doesn’t contain clothes like these.