Thursday, October 29, 2015

BOOK TOUR - Hopebreaker, By Dean F. Wilson

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In the world of Altadas, there are no more human births. The Regime is replacing the unborn with demons, while the Resistance is trying to destroy a drug called Hope that the demons need to survive.

Between these two warring factions lies Jacob, a man who profits from smuggling contraceptive amulets into the city of Blackout. He cares little about the Great Iron War, but a chance capture, and an even more accidental rescue, embroils him in a plot to starve the Regime from power.

When Hope is an enemy, Jacob finds it harder than he thought to remain indifferent. When the Resistance opts to field its experimental landship, the Hopebreaker, the world may find that one victory does not win a war.

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Excerpt:

The walls crashed down and the soldiers stormed in, replacing bricks with leather boots and stones with clenched fists. The dissonance died down, but the dust hung for endless moments, dimming the light and stinging the eyes. Yet Jacob did not need to see; he knew why they were here, what they had come for.

A figure, tall and broad, stepped into view, his hair and uniform as black as the long shadow he cast across the room. His fists were not clasped, but the anger was still there, pouring out of the cracks and crevices of his crooked face. Everyone could recognise him, even in darkness—especially in darkness. Everyone knew his name. Domas. Yet not everyone knew what he was.

You are accused of smuggling amulets,” Domas said. He paced to and fro restlessly, until the very floor began to recognise him. The light from the oil lamp flickered on his face, creating and killing lots of little shadows. Those shadows made him look inhuman, but under any other light he looked like everybody else. Jacob remembered when he was first told about them by his father. They are like you and I. They walk among us.

What evidence do you have?” Jacob asked, hoping they would not search the bookcase, hoping they would not scour his soul.

Domas drew close, seizing Jacob by the collar. “I don’t need evidence.”

Jacob parried Domas’ glower with his own. He felt like responding, like snapping or biting, even though he knew it would not help. It would make him feel better for the briefest of moments, and then, as the soldiers responded with their fists, it would make him feel much worse. The words of his father haunted him like a demon. In time they will replace us.

Take him to the Hold,” Domas barked to one of his commanders. He turned to leave, but halted as something caught his eye. “Open your hand,” he ordered.

It’s a bit late to shake it.”

Open your hand,” Domas repeated. He did not need to give a warning. His tone gave enough.
Jacob offered his left hand, which was empty.

A clown as well as a smuggler,” Domas said. “Your other hand.”

Jacob reluctantly loosened his grip on the tiny bag of coils he was holding, his all too meagre payment for smuggling an amulet into the city. Domas snatched it from his grasp.

You won’t be needing this,” he said. “In the Hold, the rent is free.”

The soldiers seized Jacob and pulled him outside, where a mechanised wagon waited, one of the many vehicles the Regime used to transport its forces—and its prisoners.

In moments Jacob was hauled up and hurled into the back of the warwagon, where he banged his head against the iron walls. He heard the cogs and pistons start up, and he heard the roar of the furnace and the rhythm of the wheels.

The smell of coal and smoke filled his nostrils and seeped into his lungs, until finally he faded off into a halfway place between the waking world and dreams, where he imagined what things might have been like if the demons had not come here, if the Regime had not gained power.

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Dean F. Wilson was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1987. He started writing at age 11, when he began his first (unpublished) novel, entitled The Power Source. He won a TAP Educational Award from Trinity College Dublin for an early draft of The Call of Agon (then called Protos Mythos) in 2001.

He has published six novels to date, and is working on several others.

Dean also works as a journalist, primarily in the field of technology. He has written for TechEye, Thinq, V3, VR-Zone, ITProPortal, TechRadar Pro, and The Inquirer.



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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

BOOK/BLOG TOUR - The Challenge, By Kim Iverson Headlee


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The Challenge
by Kim Iverson Headlee
GENRE: Historical Fantasy Romance

BLURB: The gauntlet is thrown. One must die. Refusal is not an option. Arthur the High King of Breatein has fallen captive of a longtime enemy, the Saxon warrior-princess Camilla, who lusts to avenge the death of her betrothed at Gyan’s hands and will stop at nothing, even the black arts, to achieve her goal. Because Gyan and Arthur have grown estranged, she fears that Arthur may side with Camilla and make her his new queen.To meet Camilla’s challenge, Gyan must face all her demons—public as well as private.





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EXCERPT:  

The guard drew a long breath. “Your Majesty, it is time.”

Time to face all my demons, private as well as public.

At her nod, he returned to his post outside—a mite reluctantly, she observed.

“Any last advice?” she asked Merlin at the tent’s entrance. She barked a mirthless laugh. “How
does one fight a demon?”

“You must not forget your shield.”

She felt her eyebrows rise. “You know I am no novice warrior.”

“I am not talking of wood and metal, Your Majesty.”

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Excerpt from the graphic novel of The Challenge by Kim Iverson Headlee, forthcoming in full color Kindle and paperback editions. Art and storyboard copyright 2015 by Wendy Carey.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kim Headlee lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, goats, Great Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife. People and creatures come and go, but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins—the latter having been occupied as recently as the mid-twentieth century—seem to be sticking around for a while yet.

Kim is a Seattle native and a direct descendent of twentieth-century Russian nobility. Her grandmother was a childhood friend of the doomed Grand Duchess Anastasia, and the romantic yet tragic story of how Babushka escaped Communist Russia with the aid of her American husband will most certainly one day fuel one of Kim’s novels. Another novel in the queue will involve her husband’s ancestor, the seventh-century proto-Viking king of the Swedish colony in Russia.

For the time being, however, Kim has plenty of work to do in creating her projected 8-book Arthurian series, The Dragon’s Dove Chronicles, and other novels clamoring for attention. She has been a published novelist since 1999, beginning with the original editions of Dawnflight (Sonnet Books, Simon & Schuster) and Liberty (writing as Kimberly Iverson, HQN Books, Harlequin). 

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This book will be offered FREE on Kindle Oct 27-28

BUY & TBR LINKS:

WORLDWIDE AMAZON KINDLE LINK – http://getBook.at/The_Challenge_by_KIH_Kindle (Kindle Unlimited)
GOODREADS – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25906481-the-challenge
INDIE BOOK DISCOVERY – http://www.indiebookdiscovery.com/ibd/book/b00zgrocuq_the-challenge-the-dragons-dove-chronicles_by_kim-headlee/

AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS:

ABOUT.ME PAGE – https://about.me/kimheadlee
AUTHORGRAPH AUTHOR PAGE – https://www.authorgraph.com/authors/KimHeadlee
Book Gorilla Author Page – http://www.bookgorilla.com/author/B001KE2LK2/kim-headlee
WEBSITE  – http://kimheadlee.com
FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/KimIversonHeadlee
Street Team “Kim’s All-Stars” – https://www.facebook.com/groups/705479912880602/
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/KimHeadlee
GOOGLE+ – https://plus.google.com/+KimHeadlee
PINTEREST – http://www.pinterest.com/kimheadlee/
LINKEDIN – http://www.linkedin.com/in/kimheadlee/
BLOG – http://kimiversonheadlee.blogspot.com
TRIBERR PROFILE – http://triberr.com/KimHeadlee
ARTHURVERSE TRIBERR TRIBE – http://triberr.com/pages/tribe-overview.php?tid=61110
GOODREADS – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/845537.Kim_Headlee

NEWSLETTER

Indie Book Discovery Author Page – http://www.indiebookdiscovery.com/ibd/author/439_kim-headlee/
YOUTUBE CHANNEL – http://www.youtube.com/user/gyanhumara
YouTube video interview 2013 – http://youtu.be/DV5iKrEIROk
YouTube video interview 2015 – https://youtu.be/UcjvCJ-TjN8

Friday, October 23, 2015

Book Tour - Romancing Brimstone, By Brit McGinnis - Character Interview




About the Book
Title: Romancing Brimstone
Author: Brit McGinnis
Genre: Supernatural Romance
Things aren't going well for Mika. Engaged to a man she doesn't love and facing a future she has no interest in, she's lost and alone. She's attending the funeral of the only person who ever truly understood her (in the company of her overbearing mother and fussy fiancé, no less!) when she meets the man who will change her life forever.

Except, well... he's not a man. He's the Devil. The real-life Devil.

Scary, right? But it turns out the Devil has a choice for Mika. But it's not an ordinary choice: Become Satan's bride and rule in Hell amongst the demons and lost souls, or marry Nick and remain in the world of humans. Forget love. This is a chance for the freshest start of all.

Brit McGinnis' intriguing supernatural romance
Romancing Brimstone upends everything you may have wondered about love, commitment, and the world beyond life and death. Mika's not your average runaway bride. She's ready for a change of scenery, and Satan himself may be the one to change her heart.
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So we had a chance to sit down with Mika and have a brief chat.....here you....

1. Thanks for joining us! To start off, we have to say that you have quite an unusual name. Can you tell us more about it? I'm happy to be here! And yes, it's a Greek name that means "precious." I'm named after my aunt Big Mika, who passed away a little while ago.
2. We're so sorry to hear that. You originally came from San Francisco, yes? Yeah, it's my hometown.

3. What's been the best place you've lived so far? I stayed on the beach once, just sleeping right on the shore. I wasn't in a good place in my life, but being in such a beautiful place at that time was great. It was where I needed to be.
4. We've been told you're a big music fan. What's your favorite way to listen to music? Vinyl's awesome, of course. But I refuse to get rid of my CD collection. And finding actual cassette tapes makes me happy, because they're such a different sound.
5. And what band's on your tape deck now? I'm loving Scissor Sisters right now. But I recently bought a bunch of tapes and vinyl by The Offspring, which is awesome. I never thought I'd find them again.
6. It's so strange to hear about Satan's wife being into Scissor Sisters. What do you say to people who are surprised to learn that you're the queen of Hell? I say I'm just as surprised as them! I honestly didn't ever expect to have a role like this in my life. It didn't feel right for me to be here until some of my power actually started to kick in. When the world or humanity or whatever started giving me the power that came with being the queen of Hell, it felt much more natural.
7. Do you ever regret leaving behind your humanity? Sometimes, but I honestly can't think about that too often. I have no idea how my life would have turned out had I stayed. All I know is that it felt wrong to stay in my human life at that time.
8. Who do you love most? Big Mika, for sure. I love her and miss her every day.

9. What would you change most about yourself?
Wow, that's really personal. I wish I was more clear about what I wanted. Most of the time I just start with what I don't want and work from that.
10. So what's next for you? More traveling, hopefully! I'm trying to learn how to be in the moment more. I'll probably take on or make a job of my own. But for right now, traveling and bothering Satan are enough for me.

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Author Bio
Brit McGinnis is an author based in Portland, Oregon. She writes supernatural romance and occasionally speculative fiction. In her previous life, she was an award-winning journalist and blogger. Her next book Smugglers is due out October 26th and is currently available for pre-order on Smashwords.


Links
Sign up for The Weekly Spooky newsletter: http://www.britmcginnis.com/the-weekly-spooky.html

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Just a Quick Update

We here at Reading, Writing, and What Not just wanted to update you on things that are going on.

It has been quiet here and I am truly sorry for not being around.  I have been reading some great books but I have not had time to get the reviews up like I need to be doing.  I am getting things back on track though and getting us set up for some great cover reveals, media blitz sets and even a couple interviews.  I am planning to get some reviews up as well, now that things feel like they are calming down for me.

That being said, if you have any great book suggestions, please let me know!  I love to find new authors and new series to read.  I have found some great free books for my Kindle that I have been lucky enough to read.  I am going to get a couple reviews up this weekend for you all, after we have our family time.  My husband and the evil monkey are taking me out to a hot air balloon glow event.

Again, I want to say that I am sorry we have been slacking here at Reading, Writing, and What Not.