The Lost World (Book 1 of Hounds Abroad) by Susan Alison

Release date: June 17, 2015

Subgenre: Urban fantasy

About The Lost World: 

 

Lily's life was dog-free and uneventful until one night when it became absolutely the reverse.

That same night Matt Lannings was reluctantly drawn into the fantastical scenario that Lily's life had become - the only thing was that Lily believed she'd been chosen to save another world in another universe - and Matt didn't.

Matt didn't believe any of it!

Katie Fforde (internationally best-selling author, and President of the Romantic Novelists' Association) said of ‘The Lost World’ — ‘Magical! Full of warmth and humour.’ 

Excerpt:

 

The wind added to the chaos by moaning and howling. Who would be out on such a night? The very question made her pause – who would be out on such a night? And she didn’t have a spy-hole in her door. She’d been meaning to get one installed for ages.

            As though her visitor knew of her hesitation he thumped on her front door again. It was an imperious command as if to say she should stop being so sluggardly, and jump to obey. Lily hissed through her teeth. She disliked him already.

            The banging on the door redoubled both in volume and in pace. Whoever was out there was shouting at her through his fists, pounding on the door as though to smash it in, sod waiting! The storm also increased in ferocity, its efforts at tearing down the close-knit houses in her street no doubt resulting in flying roof tiles capable of decapitating unwary passers-by.

            Reaching the door, Lily hesitated. It was late, and she was on her own. Leaning against it, she shouted, "Who's there?"

            But no matter how hard she pressed her head to the door she could hear nothing but the wind and the rain and the clatter of flying objects, and then she heard a yelp as though one of those missiles had connected with her visitor. Now without thinking she threw back the bolts, turned the key and pulled. It didn’t take much effort because as soon as there was a gap the storm whirled in and slammed the door back against the wall, narrowly missing her. She leaned out into the night, but could see no one.

            As well as a spy-hole, she needed to get the light on the front of her house fixed. She couldn't see anything even with the street lamp just down the road. In the murky night air its orange glow didn't spread very far. Puzzled, she looked all around, her hair flying across her face, slapping into her eyes. She made to step back into her house when she heard someone say: Take me in. Take me in.

            The voice was very clear with an underlying current of anxiety. It made Lily feel desperate. The owner of that voice needed her, and with no idea of how she knew, she knew she needed him, too.

            She felt compelled to look down. There had been a definite yelp of pain and she dreaded seeing a body, or an injured person, lying on her doorstep. But all she saw was a black mass, blacker than the night that surrounded it. From that mass the merest glint of light showed, disappeared and showed again repeatedly as though from an eye blinking against the force of the storm. She was being stared at in a way that made her feel there was nothing else in the universe to look at but her.

            It was a dog! Or maybe a wolf. It appeared to be very large.

 

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About Susan Allison:

Susan Alison paints pictures and writes stories for a living, and her cafetiere is always hot.

Dogs tend to enter into the pictures, and the prose, quite a lot, Susan living under the paw as she does.

Monty and Rosie (and Jeff-Dog now, too) are her Border Collies - they keep an eye on her artwork to make sure she keeps earning kibble, and every now and then they round it up and post it to her artwork blog.

There are more romantic comedies on the way, but in the meantime some illustrated doggerel books are going to put in an appearance - the first being 'The Corgi Games' to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee and The Olympics.

Susan Alison is the Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner for 2011. She has won competition awards for short fiction and sold numerous stories to commercial publications.

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