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Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts
Monday, 27 July 2015
Sisterhood is Deadly by Lindsay Emory ~ Review
Welcome to my tour stop for
Sisterhood is Deadly by Lindsay Emory
~ Guest Post ~
A genie grants you three writing-related wishes: what are they and why?
First wish – I have the ways and means to write full time. I’m somewhat leery of getting things for free – ever read The Monkey’s Paw? But as long as this is a good genie, I’ll ask for enough money to be able to stay home and play with my imaginary friends all day. And access to good health insurance, just in case. (I know, that might be more than one wish, but this is a good genie, right?)
Second wish – A metabolism that lets me eat what I want and never gain weight. Okay, not like Stephen King’s Thinner, but at least be able to enjoy some ice cream or a Hershey’s with Almonds, without dreading stepping on the scale later.
Third wish – To be draped in jewels… Wait, no, that’s not my wish, I think Dressed to Kill’s Sherry King is taking over the post. I must have paused too long thinking.
A career I enjoy, good food (that doesn’t make me fat), those two are taken care of. I know, friends and family around to make me laugh and realized the joy of giving and receiving love.
About the Author
Lindsay Emory
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter
Hi! I’m a writer. And a mom. And a wife. And a sniper. And a pastry chef. (Any Flight of the Conchords fans? Anyone?)
I often speak without thinking. My brain is stuffed full of useless trivia, which is really fun at parties and on blogs (See, above.) I live in Texas. I’m a Diet Coke addict, and yes, I know it’s poison, and no, I’m not going to stop. Yo hablo espanol.
But most importantly, I’m a writer. I write because it’s been in my heart since my first grade teacher gave me a pencil, some paper and told me to sit in a closet and write.
About The Book
Sisterhood is Deadly
by Lindsay Emory
Series: Sorority Sister
Date Published: May 26, 2015
Publisher: Witness Impulse
“We’ll be sisters ’til we die…”
Margot Blythe is a professional sorority girl. As a Sisterhood Mentor for her beloved Delta Beta, she travels to colleges around the country, advising on serious sorority issues (and picking up all the gossip along the way). Margot is thrilled when she’s invited back to her alma mater to assist the Delta Betas—but tragedy strikes when their chapter advisor drops dead during a meeting, sending shockwaves down sorority row.
Shaken by the death—especially when foul play is suspected—Margot has to step up. Appointed the honor of serving as temporary chapter advisor, she now must manage the drama of fifty frazzled sorority women with secrets to hide; protect the house from the annual fraternity pledge pranks, which are more ominous than they seem; and worst of all, combat the ruinous rumors surfacing about a Delta Beta phone sex ring. If she wants to keep rival sororities and a suspicious (but dangerously cute) local policeman from bringing Delta Beta’s reputation down, it’s up to Margot to find out the truth—about whether a sister could have committed such an unimaginable sin as murder.
A sassy debut for fans of Susan McBride and Meg Cabot
~ Review ~
Sisterhood is Deadly is a funny, light and fluffy chic-lit read with a dash of mystery. It's very sorority-filled so if you've been in a sorority you will find it even funnier as you'd be able to relate to what's going on. Unfortunately I did not go to College in the US so I was never able to be part of a sorority but I would have loved to have been so I love reading sorority books just to see what it's like.
Margot Blythe loves being part of a sorority, Delta Beta, so she continued to work for the Delta Beta head office when she graduated. Her job has her traveling the country helping other Chapter Advisors to solve minor problems, so when she was invited to her Alma-mater (home-Chapter) she was so excited to be back in her College dorm, but her homecoming reception wasn't exactly what she expected when the Chapter Advisor dropped dead whilst their doing their first Chapter meeting. She soon finds herself amidst a murder investigation and a sex phone scandal, can Margot Blythe save her precious Delta-Beta from this major PR drama?
Margot Blythe is incredibly hilarious, her immaturity and her all-consuming thoughts about the perfectness of Delta Beta is quite a laugh, I found myself laughing out loud so many times because of her naivety and ditziness. She reminded me somewhat of Reece Witherspoon's character in Legally Blonde.
"What were y'all reciting?"Casey is one of my favourite characters and I don't think that the book would have been the same without him and Margot's relationship. Casey is the PR representative sent from the Delta Beta head office, his main job is to ensure that the PR for the Sutton Chapter isn't damaged beyond repair, so when he arrives Margot and Casey goes all out to personally solve the mystery so that the Delta Beta name isn't tarnished.
"Objection!" I glared at him.
Hatfield looked stunned. "What in the world are you objecting to?"
"You're asking about privileged information!"
"Was a lawyer there? A doctor? A priest?"
Now he was talking crazy. "Of course not," I said. "You are asking about secret sorority rituals. We can't share those with anyone who has not been initiated, and that includes the police."
Sisterhood is Deadly is truly an entertaining and funny read. I know that sounds bizarre considering they're investigating a murder and phone sex scandal, and whilst the mystery comes together nicely at the end I think the main focus was more Margot and her saving the day more so than the mystery itself. I will definitely read more of Margot's story if Lindsay Emory releases more Sisterhood books and I don't think it'd be a bad idea, Margot can be like a sorority Nancy Drew.
Grab yours today
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Monday, 22 June 2015
Book Blitz: The V Girl by Mya Roberts ~ Guest Post + Giveaway
Welcome to the three day blitz for
Mya Roberts' The V Girl
There will be awesome teaser quotes, excerpts, sexy pics, Interviews and Guest posts in this three day blitz, so check out the other blogs participating so you can check all the amazing goodies. The teaser quotes are delectable! Today we have Mya Roberts talking about something that is quite interesting to me as I still haven't made my mind up about this debate...ebook vs Printed books.
~ Guest Post by Mya Roberts ~
eBook vs Printed Books
Friday, 12 June 2015
The Heartbeat Thief by AJ Krafton ~ Victorian Tea Guest Post + Giveaway
Paperback Princess is proud to host the
Release Day Blitz for
The Heartbeat Thief by A.J. Krafton
Please read on to get an insight into Victorian Tea, and how it relates to The Heartbeat Thief, it's definitely an interesting and entertaining read. AJ Krafton is also giving away a SIGNED copy of The Heartbeat Thief, giveaway is open Internationally, but for now, grab your copy today from Amazon for only 99c!
About The Book
The Heartbeat Thief
by AJ Krafton
Release Date: June 12, 2015
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Haunted by a crushing fear of death, a young Victorian woman discovers the secret of eternal youth—she must surrender her life to attain it, and steal heartbeats to keep it.
In 1860 Surrey, a young woman has only one occupation: to marry. Senza Fyne is beautiful, intelligent, and lacks neither wealth nor connections. Finding a husband shouldn’t be difficult, not when she has her entire life before her. But it’s not life that preoccupies her thoughts. It’s death—and that shadowy spectre haunts her every step.
So does Mr. Knell. Heart-thumpingly attractive, obviously eligible—he’d be her perfect match if only he wasn’t so macabre. All his talk about death, all that teasing about knowing how to avoid it…
When her mother arranges a courtship with another man, Senza is desperate for escape from a dull prescripted destiny. Impulsively, she takes Knell up on his offer. He casts a spell that frees her from the cruelty of time and the threat of death—but at a steep price. In order to maintain eternal youth, she must feed on the heartbeats of others.
It’s a little bit Jane Austen, a little bit Edgar Allen Poe, and a whole lot of stealing heartbeats in order to stay young and beautiful forever. From the posh London season to the back alleys of Whitechapel, across the Channel, across the Pond, across the seas of Time…
How far will Senza Fyne go to avoid Death?
Time for Tea ~ Victorian Tradition
and its place in
THE HEARTBEAT THIEF
Victorian tea time wasn’t always a thing.
Tea has been around for thousands of years. In many cultures, it was customary to share tea with company. Tea was ceremonial, a sacred part of social law.
In England, mealtimes evolved to include two main meals: breakfast and dinner. Dinner became an evening phenomenon, which was held after the work day. In the case of the upper classes, dinner was an event that lasted hours into the night. Afternoon meals tended to light and on-the-go and had no real structure.
What we’ve come to know as “tea time” began with Duchess Anne of Bedford. Anne experienced a “sinking feeling” around three or four o’clock and would ask her maids to sneak her tea and pastries, since supper wouldn’t come until much later in the evening. At first, she had tea alone but eventually the practice was expanded to include her close friends.
Thus, a tradition was born and tea time became a thing.
Less food, more talking
Victorian tea time carried on the tradition of offering tea to guests. Tea was served in wide-mouthed shallow cups (nothing like our 16 ounce paper cups from the coffee shop). That way, tea could be sipped without waiting all afternoon for it to cool (or blowing on it, which could lead to sloppy accidents). Tea time became synonymous with company and socializing and was, in itself, a social event.
And Victorian events were elegant, spectacular things.
It was customary to have tea in the parlor or garden. It provided a chance to show off the hostess’s best china and linens, as well her abilities to command the skills of her kitchen staff.
Tea served not only to quiet the rumblings of a belly, it was food for the social soul. Dishes were customarily light and easy to eat without worry of a catastrophic mess. Eating was a dainty dance in itself.
Tea sandwiches, cakes, scones, biscuits, candies and nuts were usual fare for low tea (named for the low tables around which guests gathered—think “coffee tables” in the living room). I found a website with loads of recipes here: I refer to it often when I’m looking to create a special little something.
Trays of snacks were laid out so guests could serve themselves. Affluent hostesses could afford an elaborate tea service.
By comparison, my tea service looks like this
Not quite as shiny but it makes a perfect pot, every time.
The overall goal of these tea parties was to ensure that guests enjoyed themselves so thoroughly that they completely lose track of time, ensuring the hostess’s graceful place in the hearts and esteem of all invited.
Senza and her Tea
In The Heartbeat Thief our heroine, Senza Fyne, took much comfort in the ritual of tea time. Despite her longer-than-usual life, she never lost her affinity for a well-set tea. It connected her to precious memories of family and friends and times long gone by. Here’s a brief excerpt from The Heartbeat Thief, in which Senza prepares tea for company for the first time in a very, very long time.
The tea kettle hissed, the steam building up to a whistle. She plucked it off the heat before it could reach full shriek. She didn’t like noise. She’d become far too accustomed to quiet and stillness. It had been ages since she made tea, a proper tea with a full service and decorative sugars. She’d missed the routine.
Grandmother had always taken three lumps of sugar in hers. She’d preferred a Darjeeling, earthy and fragrant, over the milder Assams and startling Keemuns that Father would bring home. Darjeeling, she’d insisted, was an expression of liquid divinity. If you could taste the earth, you could touch the stars. Be one with everything.
Senza blinked, stirring herself from the hazy memory. Grandmother had always told her to live in the moment. Senza seemed only to live in the past.
Wrong moments in which to live.
She rubbed her temple with the bend of her wrist and spooned tea leaves into the pot. Funny that he’d procure a tea service for her in this rustic shanty, a proper set with a silver empress tea strainer and matching sugar and creamer pots. Odd that he’d provide a service for two people, especially since she’d always been completely alone.
Senza arranged the service on a broad silver tray and arranged a spread of biscuits onto a saucer, next to a plate of cucumber and spread cheese sandwiches. A small bowl of candied fruits completed the tea. All had been conveniently located in the small pantry, as if she’d shopped the list on her own.
Stepping back, she surveyed her work. Grandmother would approve. A good host always saw to the tea herself, taking every pain to ensure her guests lost track of the time of day.
Hefting the tray, she carried it into the front room, still startled by its shocking transformation. A small but cozy fire blazed in the simple brick fireplace, near to which an unfamiliar tea table stood. Hand-embroidered flowers trimmed the edge of the linen, matching the elegant bunch of flowers that topped a grey ceramic vase.
Senza enjoyed a small tea in that scene, but I love this post here because it shows a full elaborate spread that Senza would really have enjoyed. Now, THAT’S what I call a happy tea time.
Perhaps the next time you’re experiencing a “sinking feeling” you’ll treat yourself to a cup of Darjeeling and a cinnamon scone and have a happy moment to yourself (or, better yet, with a friend). There’s no reason to let go of the past when it’s full of sweet traditions like tea time. No wonder Senza Fyne never surrendered her fondness for the practice, even as the years took everything else away from her, bit by precious bit.
For more images of tea time and the book THE HEARTBEAT THIEF by AJ Krafton, click here.
About The Author
A.J. Krafton
AJ Krafton is the author of New Adult speculative fiction. Her debut The Heartbeat Thief is due out on Kindle in June 2015. Forthcoming titles include Taking' It Back & Face of the Enemy. She's a proud member of the Infinite Ink Authors. AJ also writes adult spec fic as Ash Krafton.
~ Giveaway ~
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Monday, 8 June 2015
Fabled by Vanessa K. Eccles ~ Guest Post {Top Ten Fabled Facts + Giveaway}
About The Book
Fabled
by Vanessa E. Eccles
Publication Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Bound & Brewed
Genre: YA Fantasy & Fairytale
|
Rowena thinks the Grimm’s infamous podcasts are simply another teen fad until she finds herself trapped in a land of nightmarish storybook characters. She tries desperately to flee Mezzanine and return home, but Dresdem, Mezzanine’s wicked monarch, plans to use Rowena’s access to her world to bring dark magic and absolute rule into Georgia and beyond.
But when Rowena’s dear friend Madeline falls into Dresdem’s grasp, her battle with him becomes war, and all hopes of home are temporarily thwarted. With the help of an invisible hero, a beast, and an owl, she sets out to free Madeline from a deadening sleep. But Rowena must become her own hero when she finds herself bound by the kingdom’s darkest family. She must make the ultimate choice – align herself with her enemies or live on the run forever.
Ten Fabled Facts
1. Trapped in a world of dark magic, Rowena must learn how to
become her own hero. Easier said than done.2. In Mezzanine, neither time nor death exist.
3. Many storybook characters appear, but they’re not as friendly as we remember.
4. Kidnapping and slavery doesn’t sound like a fairy tale, or does it?
5. Adelaide Kane would be my pick to play Rowena in a movie.
6. The Brothers Grimm make an appearance.
7. Someone becomes possessed, and someone gets married.
8. Sometimes aligning with your enemies is the only solution.
9. Betrayal of a sister is the worst of all wounds.
10. Home isn't how she left it
~ Excerpt from Fabled ~
The dirt shifted beside me, and the end of the tunnel opened. The crevice felt like
it plucked me up in a whirlwind. In seconds, I landed on the ground face first on the
surface of whatever lay beyond the tunnel. It smelled like nature after a storm.
When I opened my eyes, I stared down at my mud-covered hands. The darkness that I once thought would be my tomb was now gone, and two low hanging moons lit the forest where I found myself.
Even though I had no idea where I was, the fact that I was out of the hole sent a surge of relief that filled my entire being. I stood up, dusted off all the mud I could, and looked back.
Strangely, there was nothing but trees. As I moved closer to the spot where I’d most certainly came from, all I saw was a mirror that reflected the woods.
An illusion. I touched its smooth surface, tried to find the end of it but couldn’t. Another dead-end.
When I opened my eyes, I stared down at my mud-covered hands. The darkness that I once thought would be my tomb was now gone, and two low hanging moons lit the forest where I found myself.
Even though I had no idea where I was, the fact that I was out of the hole sent a surge of relief that filled my entire being. I stood up, dusted off all the mud I could, and looked back.
Strangely, there was nothing but trees. As I moved closer to the spot where I’d most certainly came from, all I saw was a mirror that reflected the woods.
An illusion. I touched its smooth surface, tried to find the end of it but couldn’t. Another dead-end.
Before I could figure out what to do, I heard a voice and spun around to confront
“What are you doing here?” I heard a man’s voice growl, but I couldn’t see
anyone. I looked around. He sounded like he was only a few feet from me.
“Where are you?”
“First, tell me why you’re here?”
“I don’t know why I’m here. I’m lost, I think. I was at a party, and while walking
in the woods behind the house, I fell into a hole. Now here I am. I have no idea what
happened. Where am I?”
Silence.
Right square in front of me, he appeared out of thin air. I blinked my eyes in
disbelief. He seemed to be about my age and wore his hat cocked to one side with
suspenders atop a blue button-up and brown trousers. It reminded me of Dashielle’s
costume. I guess he could read the amazement on my face, so he answered the question
that my mind was trying to form.
"Invisibility. That's all."
About The Author
Vanessa K. Eccles
Vanessa K. Eccles graduated Troy
with a degree in English. She currently serves as executive editor
of Belle Rêve Literary Journal and is founder of the book blog
YA-NASisterhood. When she’s not writing or devouring books,
she enjoys the lake life with her Prince Charming and their four
dogs.
~ Giveaway ~
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Sunday, 18 August 2013
Steel Lily by Megan Curd Blog Tour {Giveaway}
Welcome to my tour stop for
Steel Lily by Megan Curd
Please click on the event banner above for tour schedule
About The Author
Megan Curd
Megan Curd is a graduate of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. While having always enjoyed reading any books she could get her hands on, Megan didn’t begin writing until a friend encouraged her to do so while in college.
When not writing, Megan enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She loves to snowboard and travel to new places, and doesn’t turn down the opportunity to play xBox with her brother and friends when it presents itself.
Megan currently resides in Stanton, Kentucky with her husband, son, and Great Dane named Dozer.
1.) I collect Starbucks mugs. Like…a lot of them. :) I collect what's called the Global Icon Series, which is the mug that has a city, state, or country on the mug and features something from that area. Each one has a special story about how I got it or traded for it, and I drink out of a different one each night I write. I have over 100 different ones, and my husband is getting a bit terrified. He might have valid reason for concern, haha!
2.) I snowboard. I learned how to snowboard while in college, and I absolutely love it! I love the winter, and I'm hoping to get my son on a snowboard this season if we can find a place near us in Kentucky.
Five Things About Megan Curd
1.) I collect Starbucks mugs. Like…a lot of them. :) I collect what's called the Global Icon Series, which is the mug that has a city, state, or country on the mug and features something from that area. Each one has a special story about how I got it or traded for it, and I drink out of a different one each night I write. I have over 100 different ones, and my husband is getting a bit terrified. He might have valid reason for concern, haha!
2.) I snowboard. I learned how to snowboard while in college, and I absolutely love it! I love the winter, and I'm hoping to get my son on a snowboard this season if we can find a place near us in Kentucky.
3.) I speak Spanish. Well…kind of. I'm dangerous. I spent about six months in South America over the course of a year during college and loved it. Being immersed in the culture, I learned the language…and learned the words "left," "right," and "that road!" while lost in a cab in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Those are amazing words to know, people. That, and "where's the bathroom?" Really…that's all you need to know. :)
4.) I have a Great Dane named Dozer. We got him under the pretense that my son needed a pet…but my husband knows it was really me who wanted the dog. I just used my son as an excuse. :) He's six months old and is what they call a fawnequin - white with fawn-colored spots. He's my buddy.
5.) I LOVE the Green Bay Packers. Our entire family loves the Packers. We all have jerseys and we've taught our son to cheer, "Go, Pack, Go!" He's ready for this season. :)
5 Things You Don't Know About Steel Lily
1.) Steel Lily was brainstormed over Christmas while reading a LOT of books. I had been reading a lot of Cassandra Clare and Suzanne Collins, and loved the imagery they provided in their books. I thought about what I could do to create a world as vivid as what they do in their books, and I really tried to channel what I'd learned from reading. Another author I love learning from is J.K. Rowling. All three of them are masters of the craft, and I hope I can learn to be even a a quarter as effective at portraying my characters and worlds as they are.
2.) Steel Lily is the first in at a trilogy. There's always room for more, but there will definitely be three books in this series.
3.) My fellow author and friend helped me name the series. My friend and fellow writer, Hope Collier, helped me name the series. I told her I wanted to keep using metals (book two is titled Iron Pendulum), and we brainstormed. She thought of the Periodic series, and I loved it. :)
4.) My cover designer is a genius. Okay, maybe you knew that. But seriously, Regina Wamba of Mae I Design is phenomenal, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with for Iron Pendulum!
5.) Steel Lily's first draft took three months. But then it was a good year before it was completely perfect (well…I'm sure I could find more to tweak…but it's as good as I think I can get it! I hope you think so too!)
About The Book
Steel Lily
by Megan Curd
Series: The Periodic Series #1
Genre: Dystopian
Published: August 12, 2013
AVERY PIKE is a commodity. No, more than a commodity. Her existence is guarded at all costs.
She’s a water Elementalist, the strongest of her dwindling kind. She creates steam to provide energy to fuel Dome Three: the only thing standing between humanity and an earth ravaged by World War III. No steam, no Dome. No Dome, no life.
Or so she thinks.
That is, until a mysterious man offers her a way out of having to donate steam. A way to escape the corrupt government of Dome Three. While the offer seems too good to be true, Avery is intrigued.
But when she arrives to her new home, she realizes the grass isn’t any less dead on this side of the fence. Instead, the lies are just hidden better.
...Which means digging deeper.
When Avery enlists the help of her friends to uncover the truth, it may make her wonder if she was better off being a government tool than searching for freedom.
Some secrets are better left concealed, but humankind was never meant to live in a cage. And when you can control the most sought after resource, you can learn to control anything...including the fate of your world.
Excerpt
I was moving double time to keep up with his long strides. He seemed so sure of himself, so in control of his destiny, even in this place, where he claimed we were imprisoned. I didn’t have a shred of doubt that what Jaxon wanted, Jaxon got. He owned his life. I so desperately wanted to own mine as well. Could he help me take control of it, or would he cause it to crash around my feet? For some reason, it felt like either option would be exhilarating if he were involved.
Exhilarating and dangerous.
The back of his shirt was soaked. The small “v” of muscles at the base of his spine flexed as he craned his neck to make sure I was still behind him. Why did that give me butterflies?
He turned and smiled. “Are you even listening to me? You’re way past your ogling allotment.”
“I’m not ogling you.”
“Trust me, I’ve experienced enough ogling to know it when I see it. If you’d prefer to ogle in peace, I’ll turn around again. There have been contests where my ass took first place in squeezability.”
“You must have been the only person in the running.”
He grinned mischievously. “And the only one to vote, but a win is still a win, right?”
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Saturday, 10 August 2013
Canary by Rachele Alpine Guest Post Tour {Giveaway}
Welcome to my tour stop for
Canary by Rachele Alpine
Please click on the event banner above to view the tour schedule
Please welcome Author, Rachele Alpine to Paperback Princess as she tells us what her inspiration is for Canary.
About The Author
Rachele Alpine
Rachele Alpine is a lover of sushi, fake mustaches, and Michael Jackson. One of her first jobs was at a library, but it didn’t last long, because all she did was hide in the third-floor stacks and read. Now she’s a little more careful about when and where she indulges her reading habit. By day she’s a high school English teacher, and by night she writes with the companionship of the world’s cutest dog, Radley, a big cup of coffee, and a full bag of gummy peaches. Rachele lives with her husband in Cleveland, Ohio, but dreams of moving back to Boston, the city she fell in love with while attending graduate school there.
The Inspiration for Canary
by Rachele Alpine
CANARY grew from a project I did in college. It was for an education class, and we had to research a topic that high school students may face. I chose sexual assault. However, instead of presenting our information in a traditional research paper, we wrote multi-genre papers. These consisted of sharing our information through a mixture of poems, stories, and artwork. One of the poems I wrote really spoke to me, and I kept going back to it every once in awhile.
Fast-forward to a few years later, and I became very aware of how our culture was athlete obsessed. Some major controversies involving both professional and college athletes were all over the news, and it got me thinking about the special privileges that athletes got. I began to think about this type of athlete worship in high school and what might happen if it went too far. The poem I had written in college still stuck with me, and I started to create a story around the piece and our celebrity-like treatment of athletes. CANARY was born out of these two ideas and the poem that first sparked everything is included in the book.
About The Book
Canary
by Rachele Alpine
Published: August 1, 2013
Publisher: Medallion Press
Staying quiet will destroy her, but speaking up will destroy everyone.
Kate Franklin’s life changes for the better when her dad lands a job at Beacon Prep, an elite private school with one of the best basketball teams in the state. She begins to date a player on the team and quickly gets caught up in a world of idolatry and entitlement, learning that there are perks to being an athlete.
But those perks also come with a price. Another player takes his power too far and Kate is assaulted at a party. Although she knows she should speak out, her dad’s vehemently against it and so, like a canary sent into a mine to test toxicity levels and protect miners, Kate alone breathes the poisonous secrets to protect her dad and the team. The world that Kate was once welcomed into is now her worst enemy, and she must decide whether to stay silent or expose the corruption, destroying her father’s career and bringing down a town’s heroes.
~ Giveaway ~
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Tuesday, 23 July 2013
Diagnose Your Dystopia ~ Guest Post by JL Bryan Author of Nomad
About The Author
JL Bryan
J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on English Renaissance and Romantic literature. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He lives in the metro Atlanta sprawl with his wife Christina, where he spends most of his day serving the toddler and animal community inside his house. He is the author of the Paranormals series and the Songs of Magic series.
Diagnose Your Dystopia
Something’s not right with the world. You know it, you can feel it, and you’re probably going to die because of it. Congratulations, you’ve just discovered that you live in a nightmarish dystopian future!
The next question: what kind of dystopia? If you’re going to live, you’ll need to know this stuff. Fortunately, we’ve assembled a handy checklist to help you diagnose your dystopia.
Total Surveillance State: If they’re watching your every move, including your facial expressions and body language so they can read your thoughts, and eavesdropping on all your conversations...hey, you’re not paranoid, you just live in an Orwellian total surveillance state! Odds are, they’re trying to control all media and information, including changing past records to suit their ever-changing lies. There may be no escape, so your best bet is try and hook up with that hottie from work before the oppressors destroy your mind and soul. Good luck!
Game Show-ocracy: If you find yourself cast into a game-show-to-the-death with a name like “The Running Man” or “The Hunger Games,” then you’ve entered a world where game shows keep the public complacent. If you play the game right, you might just topple the evil rulers of your society, but you’ll have to break a few rules to succeed. If you’re trapped in a game show-ocracy, my best advice is to contact Alex Trebek from Jeopardy! That guy has all the answers.
Happy Dystopia: Hey, maybe things aren’t so bad. Maybe in this Brave New World society, the rulers encourage sex, drugs, and other completely harmless entertainments to keep the population busy and content. You can try to whip up a rebellion if you want, right after you take your happy pills, eat your chocolate, get a pedicure and a massage...maybe have a nap...is this really a dystopia?
The State of Weird Ideas: Is everyone forced to wear pink bunny hats at all times? Or perhaps the letter “Q” is forbidden by law? Sounds like you live in a world where a completely loopy-fruits dictator has come to power! Your best bet is to play along while it lasts, but if you really want to shake things up, try being even weirder than the law requires.
We hope that this short pamphlet has somewhat enhanced your chances of surviving through this unfortunate dystopian period, and living onto into the even more miserable dark age to come!
In the comments below, you could tell us what kind of dystopia you would prefer, or which kind you would most want to avoid.
About The Book
Nomad
by JL Bryan
Release Date: July 26, 2013
Publisher: JL Bryan Books
A new dystopian novel from the author of Jenny Pox - coming July 26.They took everything: her family, her home, her childhood.By the age of nineteen, Raven has spent most of her life in the sprawling slums of America, fighting as a rebel against the dictatorship. When the rebellion steals an experimental time-travel device, she travels back five decades to the year 2013. Her plan: assassinate the future dictator when he is still young and vulnerable, long before he comes to power. She must move fast to reshape history, because agents from her own time are on her trail, ready to execute her on sight.
Excerpt
Her hands were red with blood, but the cold rain washed it away. Whose blood? She couldn’t remember.
She became aware of pain throughout her body. Freezing water and tiny hailstones lashed her face as she stumbled through a storm. Dying thunder echoed in her ears, and crackles of lightning faded in the night around her.
A pair of lights rushed toward her through the darkness, but her brain couldn’t interpret what her eyes saw. A long screech ripped through her ears, followed by shrill bleats.
Car horns, she realized as the lights loomed closer. Through her thick, fuzzy brain, it dawned on her that she was staggering along a multi-lane road, seconds away from getting splattered across the oncoming grill of an eighteen-wheeled truck.
She discerned a dark space off to her left and moved into it, stepping from hard pavement into squishy wet earth. The truck that had nearly killed her squealed past as the driver braked, dousing her with a wave of cold mud. Horns blew at the stopped truck blocking up the left lane.
She rubbed her eyes and tried to grasp her surroundings—a grass median dividing an interstate highway, up to her ankles in frigid mud.
She couldn’t remember where she was, or how she’d come to be there. After a moment’s reflection, she realized she wasn’t entirely sure who she was, either.
Raven, she remembered. She clung to that word like a lifeline. My name is Raven. It is now, anyway. She’d once had a different name, but that original, scribbled-on-the-birth-certificate name no longer mattered.
She wore black boots and a long black jacket. A backpack weighed down her shoulders, but she didn’t know what it contained. She trudged on weak, trembling legs toward an overpass bridge ahead. Once she was out of the downpour, she could gather her brains and figure things out. She didn’t seem to be bleeding, so the blood on her hands must not have been her own.
“Hey! Hey there, girl! You all right?” shouted the truck driver who had almost flattened her. More cars honked and swerved to avoid crashing into the back of his trailer, which was decorated with puffy pink sheep.
Raven squinted up at him. The man was in his forties, severely overweight, with a handlebar mustache and scratchy, graying beard stubble. His blue and white cap read: MoonPie: The Original Marshmallow Sandwich!
“I’m fine!” she shouted through the downpour. “Keep going!”
“You got a car?” he asked.
“No,” she told him. “I don’t think so.”
“Where you headed?”
“I don’t know.”
“The troopers gonna lock you up if they see you! You drunk or what?”
“I don’t think so.” She raised a hand to her mouth to check her breath. Not drunk.
The trucker eyed her up and down, a soaking wet girl stumbling along the interstate alone at night, and then he swung open the passenger door.
“Best climb on up in here with me,” he said. “Gonna freeze your pants off out there.”
Raven looked at the gruff, obese man and the warm, sheltered transport he was offering, and then at the overpass bridge in the distance. Her legs were rubbery. She might not make it to the overpass before she collapsed.
“Lady, I got to get moving,” he said. “You want a ride to the exit or what?”
“Yeah,” Raven said. She had no reason to trust him, but he seemed soft-bodied and slow. If he tried to get rough, she would break his wrists. Even in her current state, she knew she could take him if he pushed her to it.
Raven stumbled around to the passenger side and struggled to climb with her weakened limbs until he took her arms and pulled her up.
“Thanks,” she whispered, still shivering. She was almost too weak to pull the door closed.
“Just glad you ain’t tore in half.” He settled back into the driver’s seat, and it groaned under his weight. “You musta been one, two, three, four inches from me. Or less. Just popped up outta nowhere when that lightning hit.” He drove cautiously through the storm. “Didn’t seem like no normal lightning, you ask me. What was you doing out there? That big flash hit the road, then you come stumbling out....Did the lightning get you?”
“I don’t know,” she said. The interior of the cab smelled like cigarette smoke and old hamburgers. A collage of small objects was glued to the dashboard—action figures, an old watch face, postcards, salt and pepper shakers. Hail clattered on the cab’s roof.
“You don’t know?” he asked.
“Sorry.” Raven shrugged off her backpack and set it on the floor between her wet boots. She wanted to see what was inside it, but not while he was watching.
“It’s Jebbie, by the way.” He offered his calloused hand, and she hesitated a moment before taking it. “Jebbie Walters. From Yazoo City, Mississippi. You got a name, darling?”
“Angela. That’s my name,” Raven said. She knew not to trust a stranger with data about herself. He might be the enemy, and she felt informants and spies were everywhere, looking to report those who resisted.
“Huh. Where you from, Angela?”
She tried to remember, but finally shrugged.
“You ain’t gotta tell me,” he said. “You going north? Cause that’s where I’m going, way up north of here. You might want to hop out quick if that ain’t your plan.”
“I’m not sure.”
“You ain’t sure about much of nothing, are you?”
“Not right now,” Raven said.
“I guess I ought to drop you up at the exit.”
“You can.” Raven shrugged. “I think I’m lost.”
He looked her over again. “Tell you what. About three, four, five miles from here’s a good spot, the Big Porcupine Travel Plaza. Got showers, motel rooms, an all-night-you-can-eat place. We could stop there, get you a place to sleep. Maybe in the morning you’ll start to remembering things. I figure you just need to sleep it off. You’re on drugs or something, ain’t you?”
“Maybe,” Raven said.
He laughed. “It’s okay by me. I don’t do drugs, myself. Just pills and booze. Well, you think about what you want to do.”
He turned up the radio, where a woman sang a slow, gentle song that Raven gradually recognized. Someone—her mother?—had once played it on the piano. It was an old song called “The Rose.”
“Uh, sorry.” Jebbie blushed pink and spun the radio knob. “I, uh, usually find a good honky-tonk or country gold station. Don’t know how my radio ended up on that soft-rock junk, or whatever that was. Yeah, here we go.” He found a song with a steel guitar and a man singing about his wife leaving him for his boss.
Raven looked at herself in the rain-streaked side mirror. She was about twenty years old, maybe nineteen. That felt right. Her black hair was pulled into a short ponytail with a rubber band. She wore all black: boots, fatigues, blouse, backpack, jacket. The knee-length jacket was made of a stretchy artificial material with a texture like a crocodile’s back. She felt a web of metallic fibers between the layers of leathery fabric. That’s armor, she realized, and she wondered why she might need armor. Her only jewelry was on her left wrist, a thin silver bracelet with a large moonstone.
She tried to reach back in time with her mind. She’d been stumbling along the highway. The moment before that: what? It was a solid blank slate, as though a giant magnet had wiped her brain clean. Perhaps the trucker was right, and she’d been struck by lightning.
Raven, she reminded herself. I know my name.
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Guest Post & Review ~ Losing Francesca by J.A. Huss {Giveaway}
Welcome to my tour stop for
Losing Francesca by J.A. Huss
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I'm so excited to be part of a J.A. Huss tour! J.A. Huss grabbed my attention when Tragic, a Rook & Ronin novel was released, and yes I absolutely LOVED Tragic's cover. So I definitely wasn't going to pass this opportunity to sample this Authors work. I've heard so many fantastic things about Tragic. Anyway, without further ado, I'd like to welcome J.A. Huss today as she gives us an insight of a day in her life.
About The Author
J.A. Huss
J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).
She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.
A Day in the Life of J.A. Huss
Well, a day in the life of me is pretty boring. I am a full time writer, so much of my day is spent in front of a computer. I don’t really wake up at a certain time, so that’s kinda nice. But once I get up I check all my various emails. I have three – a personal one, a blog/author one, and another one that I use mainly for my editor. After that it’s off to social networking sites. I check in with my friends on Facebook, try and come up with something fun to post for one of my FB pages, and then head on over to Twitter. Most of my morning is just boring stuff like that. I might make some promo graphics and I always check sales to see how things are going. But mostly I just screw around and do a whole lot of procrastinating.
Then I hop on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Since I sit so much, I have to do this or I’d go crazy. Plus, almost all my plot ideas come to me when I’m on the treadmill, so it’s productive. After that I have to go out to the barn and feed my animals because I live on a small farm. I have donkeys, chickens, and ducks.
By this time it’s afternoon and I tend to start feeling guilty about not doing any writing, so I’ll usually sit down and get in a few thousand words. If I’m on a deadline I will write well into the night. After writing it’s time for blogging stuff so I’ll read, write up reviews, and schedule posts for the book blogs.
If I’m nearing a publishing deadline I might make covers or a book trailer or edit the book that’s next up on the schedule. At the very, very end of writing, just before the book goes to the editor for the first time, I spend days just reading the book, over and over, trying to catch all the mistakes and polish it up. I think it’s my personal goal to one day send a book to my editor, RJ, and have her send it back saying – “It’s perfect!” That will probably never happen.
But that’s pretty much it for the daily grind stuff. I rarely watch TV, but I’m a Spotify addict and listen to my playlists on repeat pretty much 24/7. Most of my evenings I spend reading and on the weekends I like to hit the movies or shopping.
About The Book
Losing Francesca
by J.A. Huss
Published: July 1, 2013
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Synopsis
That’s not what happens.
Fresh off the plane and barely on American soil more than a handful of minutes, Francesca’s face is recognized by TSA scanners to be a match for a child who was kidnapped twelve years ago.
Brody Mason remembers the day Fiona Sullivan went missing during a family vacation in Italy and it’s haunted him his whole life. So when Francesca shows up at the Sullivan farm down the road, he’s compelled to figure out if this girl really is his long lost friend.
But Francesca knows she’s not Fiona Sullivan. She knows exactly who she is. At least she thinks she knows – until Brody Mason relentlessly pursues her and she begins to have feelings for him. Maybe being Fiona isn’t so bad?
Reality becomes blurred, secrets are revealed, and life will never be the same when the final questions are answered: Is she Francesca or Fiona? And where does she really belong?
Paperback Princess Review
~ Giveaway ~
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