Earth Witches series

Viper Moon (Earth Witches -1) by Lee Roland — Viper Moon (Earth Witches #1) by Lee Roland

Earth Witches series — by Lee Roland.

Genres and Sub-Genres[]

Urban Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy Romance

This series is Urban Paranormal Romance—what I call Soul-Mate Romance—not true Urban Fantasy. In each book, a couple meets, lusts after one another, and gets their HEA. ~ Fang-tastic

Series Description or Overview[]

✥ "I would call the Earth Witch series Urban Fantasy with mild humor and a strong love story. The earth witches are keepers of the world’s magic. Servants of the Earth Mother, they battle men, monsters and personal conflicts to protect the world." ~ Interview with Urban Fantasy Investigations

✥ IN THE SMALL TOWN OF DUIVEL, MISSOURI, DARKNESS AWAITS... Cassandra Archer is the Huntress. She has faithfully served the Earth Mother for years, rescuing kidnapped children from monsters—both human and supernatural—dwelling in the abandoned ruins of the Barrows district of Duivel, Missouri. When Detective Flynn's twelve-year-old sister goes missing, he suspects she was taken to the Barrows, and he goes to Cass for help. The two clash, but Cass still finds herself irresistibly drawn to the tough, no-nonsense cop. After another child goes missing, all clues point to a cataclysmic event during the next dark moon. Cass and Flynn must race against the clock to save the children and prevent a sacrifice that could destroy the entire town.... ~ Viper Moon ~ Shelfari

Lead's Species[]

Earth witches

Primary Supe[]

Earth witches and Drows

What Sets it Apart[]

not much—"interesting premise, weak follow through" Fang-tastic

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

First person narrator person narrative from various Leads:

Viper Moon: Cassandra Archer
Vengeance Moon: Madeline Corso
Vicious Moon: Nyx Ianira

Books in Series[]

Earth Witches series:

Viper Moon (2011)
Vengeance Moon (2012)
Vicious Moon (2013)

Shorts, Novellas, Anthologies and Guides[]

none yet

World Building[]

Setting[]

Duivel, Missouri

Places:

Barrows District: dark, scary magical section of Duivel
Zombie Zone: #2
Twitch Crossing, Georgia #3
San Francisco, CA #3

Supernatural Elements[]

✥ Earth witches, Drows, monster hunters, ancient Earth Mother-Godess, demons, artifact called the Portal, teleportation, Marisol's grimoire,

Glossary:[]

Drows: "invaders who slipped through places scattered across the earth where the boundaries between parallel worlds are weak." (p. 12) Drows can be killed only by bronze weapons.
The Portal: powerful magical artifact; The Portal was ripped from Madeline's mother's neck just after her death by her murderer;

Groups & Organizations:[]

Sisters of Justice: For millennia we have served the ancient Mother Goddess. Ashera, Inaras, Ishtar, are but a few of a thousand names they have called the ancient Earth Mother, the Mother of Men.
Sisters of Justice Correctional College: run by an order of female warriors who have two primary tasks: policing the Earth Witches to eliminate those practicing dark magic and ridding the earth of the Drows.

World[]

☆ The Sisters of Justice:

We are the Sisters of Justice. For millennia we have served the ancient Mother Goddess. Ashera, Inaras, Ishtar, are but a few of a thousand names they have called the ancient Earth Mother, the Mother of Men. Most of her servants see her as a nurturer, a giver of life. The Sisters of Justice see her darker image. Men will call her Kali—Kali the Destroyer. She hides that darker face and we are abandoned—save when she needs us. We are the last she calls, when all of her earth witches' gentle methods fail. We worship her. We despise her. We are her dark angels, her servants. Our blades are sharp and we strike upon her command. — Mother Evelyn 25 January, 1951 ~ FF

In this world, the Earth Mother selects various young women to be her Huntresses—to rescue abused innocents and punish evildoers. As the series opens, the Mother's high priestess is Abby, who operates as a psychic for hire in small-town Duivel, Missouri. As a trade-off for dedicating her life to Mother, each huntress receives extra strength, speed, and stamina. Plus, she gets to live a dangerous existence on the brink of poverty.

Here, one Huntress describes the Earth Mother to another Huntress:

"She's not human. She plots, plans, and schemes, never consistently. She sees possibilities of things to come and dumps one of us into the fray in hopes that things will turn out okay. There's not much you can do about it. She considers you hers, even if you never took a vow to serve her. She thinks meddling in your life is her right." (Vengeance Moon, p. 72)

Duivel is separated into a mortal section and a dark, scary magical section called the Barrows. At the center of the Barrows is the Zombie Zone—the darkest, most dangerous part of the Barrows. Within the Barrows, the Mother has imprisoned her mortal enemy, the Darkness (aka Aiakós, the King of the Drows), who has no physical form (at least not until the end of book 1).

Mortals who live in Duivel stay out of the Barrows because horrible monsters roam the streets and the sewers and the magical atmosphere play havoc with their memories. As one character explains, "The Earth Mother cast the spell over this area to protect outsiders. It's a world of its own now. People might see things here, but as soon as they look away, they forget everything." (Vengeance Moon, p. 32)

Click HERE to read "A Completely Unsanctioned and Unofficial History of Duivel and the Barrows" on Roland's web site. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction: Lee Roland: EARTH WITCHES

Protagonists[]

✥ Viper Moon #1: Cassandra Archer & Detective Flynn

Cassandra Archer spends much of her time rescuing kidnapped children from the Barrows. Cass lives in a decrepit apartment with her three magical pets: two snakes and a cat, all of whom apparently came to Cass from the Barrows. One of the snakes travels frequently with Cass and makes itself useful as a poisonous weapon against Cass's enemies. ~ Fangtastic
Phelan Flynn: Duivel police detective—asks Cass to rescue his missing sister, who has disappeared from the local mall. ~ Fangtastic

✥ Vengeance Moon #2: Madeline Corso & Michael aka "the Archangel"

Madeline Corso: "I'm 26 years old. I've spent the last six years in a combination prison/paramilitary training college, where they taught me how to do a lot of things, most of them not very nice. My mother was an earth witch..., my father a retired soldier turned restaurateur. One night when I was seventeen, three men came into our home and murdered them. I'm here looking for one of those men." (p. 89) What she doesn't tell Michael is that as her mother died, she placed a curse on Madeline (along with a scar on her cheek) that forces Madeline to track down and kill the three men who killed her mother. So far, it's two down, and one to go. Madeline's "training college" is the Sisters of Justice Correctional College. ~ Fangtastic

Michael aka "the Archangel": Michael is the son of Aiakós, the King of the Drows. That means that although Michael appears to be a handsome and charming human, he actually has a bestial side that comes out when he is angry or when he is forced to defend himself. ~ Fangtastic

✥ Vicious Moon #3: Nyx Ianira * Etienne

Nyx Ianira ex-soldier and earth witch who grew up in the tiny town of Twitch Crossing, Georgia.Nyx is the chief investigator and part-owner of a private investigation firm in San Francisco, solving cases with her intelligence, her guns, and a little bit of magic. Nyx is an untrained earth witch who turned her back on her fiery magical heritage ten years ago when she ran away from home and went off into the world to make her own way. Fangtastic ✥ Nyx joined the army to escape the ridged rules of her family and coven. She’s made a life for herself as a private investigator. Nyx is called home by her grandmother and then sent to find her sister Marisol. Marisol has gone to the city of Duivel, Missouri to study with another witch and is missing. — Nyx is always With human beings and human nature, never and always are concepts riddled with exceptions. For Nyx, her magic is her best and worst weapon. It is in her genetic makeup. It never leaves her but often fails her when she needs it most. ~ Interview - Manga Maniac Cafe
Etienne: Nyx meets her match in Etienne, a man who has walked in the shadowy world of mercenary soldiers and criminal enterprises. ~ Manga Maniac Cafe Etienne despises witches—all witches—because of a horrific experience he had with a witch several years ago. Also, he is completely immune to magic. In fact, when Nyx touches him very gently with her magic, it rebounds on her with a hundred times the power she used. ~ Fangtastic

Sidekick[]

Name: Herschel / What: canine familiar / Sidekick-to: Nyx / About: Nyx’s unusual and uncouth familiar / Book First Seen In: Vicious Moon #3

Characters Chart[]

Characters	What	About
"Cass", Cassandra Archer	Huntress, Earth witch
Phelan Flynn	Police Detective
Abby	Mother's high priestess	operates as a psychic for hire in Duivel;
Carlos Dacardi	local mobster	son has disappeared from the same mall as Flynn's sister
Michael, aka "the Archangel"	owner of exercise spa; part Drow;	Cass seeks his assistance; hitting on Cass for years; Cass thinks he's more than human, not sure exactly what; son of Aiakós, the King of the Drows; has a bestial side;
Victor	do-gooder reverend	Also helping Cass;
Madeline Corso #2	Huntress, Earth witch, b-2 heroine	as her mother died, she placed a curse on Madeline that forces her to track down and kill the three men who killed her;
Aiakos	King of the Drows; demon	prisoner and "toy" to Mother Earth; son: Michael
Nyx Ianira	PI, untrained earth witch, ex-soldier,	part-owner of a SF P.I. firm; goes hoe to search for missing sister;
Marisol	Nyx's younger sister	search for locations based on clues she finds in Marisol's grimoire
Etienne	former mercenary soldier	worldwide criminal record; Etienne despises witches because of a horrific experience; immune to magic: rebounds off him ten-fold;
Herschel	canine familiar	spends most of his time eating, drooling buckets of slime, and farting

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table or Column (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column.

Author[]

Lee Roland

Website:Lee Roland – Author of the Earth Witches Series
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Other Pen Names:

Bio: Lee Roland began her writing career in middle school when she wrote a short story for her brother. He turned the story in to his teacher as his own work. To his amazement and terror, the teacher was so impressed that she read it aloud to the class—and asked him to write another one. She reads voraciously, but particularly loves Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Lee lives in Florida and is a full-time writer. She is a member of RWA National and the Florida based First Coast Romance Writers. Lee is the author of the Earth Witches series published by NAL, beginning with VIPER MOON in 2011. ~ Lee Roland – Author of the Earth Witches Series

Contributors[]

Cover Artists[]

Artist: none listed — Source: ISFdb
- The cover art was designed by the team at NAL Penguin, my publisher. ~ Interview with Paranormal Bookclub

Other Contributors:[]

Audio Book Narrator: — Source:
Editor: — Source:

Publishing Information[]

Publisher:
Author Page:

Viper Moon (2011)
Vengeance Moon (2012)
Vicious Moon (2013)

~ Goodreads | Earth Witches series by Lee Roland

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE—Viper Moon (2011): Cassandra Archer is the Huntress. She has faithfully served the Earth Mother for years, rescuing kidnapped children from monsters-both human and supernatural-dwelling in the ruins of the Barrows District. But when two children are kidnapped under similar circumstances, all clues point to a cataclysmic event on the next dark moon. Now Cass must race against the clock and prevent a sacrifice that could destroy the entire town... ~ FF — GR

☆ Viper Moon: Excerpt

✤ BOOK TWO—Vengeance Moon (2012): “On my seventeenth birthday, my mother’s last gift to me was a vision of death—and a curse…” Madeline Corso can’t rest until she hunts down the three unknown assailants who killed her father and witch mother. Two of them are now dead by her hand. But the third eludes her while she serves time with the Sisters of Justice—a mysterious order of female warriors with ties to her mother.

The Sisters have tracked the last murderer to Duivel, Missouri, and the dark underworld of the Barrows. But Madeline’s release is contingent on her fulfillment of a mission for the Sisters. Madeline doesn’t question them, but once in the Barrows, she discovers that things aren’t what they seem. Can she rely on Michael, a handsome and enigmatic local businessman, to help her navigate a world of men and beasts? Or will she lose her heart before the mission is complete? ~ GR

☆ Excerpt

✤ BOOK THREE—Vicious Moon (2013): "A powerful witch might live a long time, but a single well-placed bullet could change that. While my preferred weapon was magic, I was not averse to shooting anyone or anything offering my sister or me harm." Ex-soldier and earth witch Nyx Ianira is working as a PI in San Francisco when she sees the last thing she ever wants to see: the Sisters of Justice - the mysterious earth witch police force. A Triad of Sisters usually means an execution mission, but the Sisters' only goal is to capture and escort Nyx across the country.

Nyx is badly needed back in Twitch Crossing, Georgia, the place she ran away from ten years ago to escape the stiff rules and duties of being a true witch. She wanted a life of her own. Now she's being dragged back to her swampy hometown because another life is in danger: Her little sister is missing, and Nyx is the only one who can track her down in Duivel, Missouri. But the key to finding her may lie with dark and tempting Etienne - a sinister criminal with a fearsome reputation, a ruthless attitude, and a total immunity to magic.... ~ FF — GR — Long Synosis

☆ Excerpt

First Sentences[]

Viper Moon (2011) — Mama wanted me to be a veterinarian.
Vengeance Moon (2012) — Sister Eunice tossed me over her head, slammed me on my back, an planted her size-twelve, highly polished combat boot on my stomach.
Vicious Moon (2013) — Disaster loomed like an earthquake-born tsunami.

Quotes[]

Lee Roland Quotes (Author of Viper Moon) ~ GR
Earth Witches Series ~ Shelfari

Trivia[]

Read Alikes (suggestions)[]

— If you like these, you may like this:

Notes[]

A lot of publisher's are marketing PNRs as UFs, descieving readers by the book covers. It works for PNR some series that are close and blur the boundry between the two. Exampes: World of the Lupi, Otherworld / Sisters of the Moon, Guild Hunter series, Night Huntress series, Hunter Kiss series. All of these can be easily shelved on the other side of the aisle with the rest of the Urban Fantasy. Most readers feel that Night Huntress really is wrongly shelved in Romance. The Romance genre is an entirely different genre with its own rules and formulas. I feel decieved by the covers and an interview I read with the author herself calling it Urban Fantasy. When a seeries has different leads and HEA (Happily Ever After) in every book... that is Romance, not Urban Fantasy. Those other series do not try to decieve anyone. ~ Hopestar