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Welcome to my place in the blogosphere!
feel free to explore the Flight Deck and check out my books and website.
Then fasten your seatbelts, sip a glass of something sparkling and let's chat awhile!
I hope you'll stop by again for guest authors and spotlights from time to time.

Beloved Enemy joined Starquest and Children of the Mist to continue the Destiny Trilogy and I'm thrilled to announce was shortlisted for the R.N.A. RoNA Awards 2017, awarded 2nd Runner up in the RONE Awards 2017 and was the winner in the SF/Fantasy category of the 'Best Banter Contest'.

Sunday 25 August 2013

Laura Bickle - The Outside -26th Aug


I'm so happy to welcome Laura Bickle to as my special guest again.  Make yourself comfortable, Laura, don't worry, you'll soon get used to the artificial gravity on the Flight Deck. Help yourself to something sparkling and begin by telling us what you like to do for fun when not writing?

I’m a complete nerd. My spare time is spent flipping through comic books, customizing action figures, and being harassed by my cats. I belly dance once in a while, and I just started karate lessons. Neither one of those activities is accomplished with much grace or expertise, but I have fun.

Wow, I can't speak for karate, but I've always thought belly dancing was so graceful and sensual. Getting back to your books though, when did you start writing?

I’ve always been scribbling, ever since I was old enough to hold a crayon. I loved stories – my mother was a librarian and was always reading to me – so I always wanted to try to tell my own.

Writing as Laura Bickle and Alayna Williams, I wrote four urban fantasies. Two are best summed up as “Ghostbusters in Detroit with dragons and arson” (EMBERS and SPARKS). The other two, DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE, are about a criminal profiler who uses Tarot cards to solve crimes.

My most recent work includes a pair of dystopian fantasies. THE HALLOWED ONES is a YA thriller described as “Witness meets 28 Days Later.” The sequel, THE OUTSIDE, releases September 3.

I read the first chapter of 'The Outside' and it really has me hooked, so tell me, what comes first: the plot or the characters?

I’m a plotter. I love building a skeleton of a story and then adding flesh to it. Staring at the blank page scares the daylights out of me, and the outline is my security blanket. I find that the characters grow organically out of the plot, and that I grow to love them more than the story. They bring life to the story, while the plot structure supports them.

It's so interesting how people answer that question. characters growing out of the plot sounds so logical - for me it's actually the other way round! :) Tell us about your latest release and what you think readers will enjoy about it

At the end of THE HALLOWED ONES, Katie and her friends were exiled from Katie’s Amish community. As the title to THE OUTSIDE suggests, Katie must confront the devastation in the world beyond her community. Her chief challenges will be her own survival and protecting those she loves.

My favorite thing about the story is taking Katie from her familiar world and bringing her into ours. This is something that she wanted to experience before the disaster, when she longed to go on her Rumspringa. But she must now cope with it in a very dangerous new landscape, without any guarantees for a safe return.

This is such an interesting premise, and you've built Katie's world so well.  How do you write - do you listen to music when you write and if so, what kind of music – or do you find it distracts you?

I like instrumental or ambient music. It keeps my dreaded inner editor mollified while not being too distracting.

What is your favourite source of inspiration?

If I get stuck, I reach for my collection of Tarot cards and randomly pick some cards. More often than not, the cards I’ve drawn lead me to a new insight on the scene I’m working with.

That's an unusual and very interesting way to be inspired, Laura. Is there any advice, as a new writer, that you were either given, or wish you had been given?

The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is to set up a word count calendar and use it. It’s too easy to let the days and weeks slip by without anything productive happening. I keep a writing calendar and to commit to writing a certain number of words a day. Otherwise, I tend to procrastinate. If I don’t set deadlines for myself, I would never finish a book

I really suggest that writers try National Novel Writing Month at least once. It got my excuses and blocks out of the way, and helped me learn that what I thought were my limits were not really limits. They were just walls I’d set up in my head.

A word count calendar is a really useful idea. I agree about NaNo too, I've done it three times and now have three drafts to edit! Sowho is your favorite character in your book and why?

Katie is my favorite. Katie was an interesting character to write because she's very strong in a quiet, enduring kind of way. And she’s a young Amish woman – which was a very exciting challenge for me to write! Katie struggles to develop her own moral compass, independent of her parents and community. That requires a great deal of fortitude, just as much fortitude as dealing with the evil creatures in her world.

Great answer, I like Katie too.  Sadly we're coming to the end of our interview, but before we take a look at your book, where can readers connect with you?

My website is www.laurabickle.com. I’m also on Facebook and Twitter, usually exclaiming over cutecat pictures.

Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog, it’s been a thrill having you here and learning more about you and your writing. I wish you much success now and in the future.

Thank you so much for having me! I really appreciate it!

BIO

Laura Bickle’s professional background is in criminal justice and library science. When she’s not patrolling the stacks at the public library she’s dreaming up stories about the monsters under the stairs (she also writes contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams). Laura lives in Ohio with her husband and six mostly-reformed feral cats.




Buy links for THE OUTSIDE:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-outside-laura-bickle/1114076447?ean=9780544000131

http://www.amazon.com/Outside-Laura-Bickle/dp/0544000137/ref=la_B004HNFOCA_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1358385659&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/The-Outside-ebook/dp/B00AUZS6PQ/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1358430184&sr=8-1

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544000131

http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780544000131-0

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Outside/Laura-Bickle/9780544000131?id=5673744139677

http://www.hmhbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/bookdetails?isbn=9780544000131&srch=true


THE OUTSIDE
by LAURA BICKLE

One girl. One road. One chance to save what remains…

After a plague of vampires is unleashed in the world, Katie is kicked out of her Amish community for her refusal to adhere to the new rules of survival. Now in exile, she enters an outside world of unspeakable violence with only her two “English” friends and a horse by her side. Together they seek answers and other survivors—but each sunset brings the threat of vampire attack, and each sunrise the threat of starvation.

And yet through this darkness come the shining ones: luminescent men and women with the power to deflect vampires and survive the night. But can these new people be trusted, and are they even people at all?

In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, it’s up to one Amish girl to save her family, her community, and the boy she loves . . . but what will she be asked to leave behind in return?

Advance Praise for THE OUTSIDE:
* “Top-notch. . . . A horror story with heart and soul.”
—Kirkus, starred review

“At once horrifying, hopeful, and hauntingly beautiful, this gorgeous read with its rich textures and spine-tingling suspense kept me glued to the pages in utter fascination. Laura Bickle is a master storyteller.”
-Darynda Jones, NY Times Bestselling author of The Darklight Series

Excerpt link: http://www.laurabickle.com/the-outside//?action=excerpt


THE HALLOWED ONES, the first book in the series, is on sale in August! The Kindle version is $1.99 right now. Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hallowed-Ones-ebook/dp/B0098OHQNS/ref=sr_1_20?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1375456006&sr=1-20





Monday 19 August 2013

For Whom My Heart Beats Eternal by Val Muller - CBLS Virtual book tour and Review AND *Give*Away*



For Whom My Heart Beats Eternal
Sci-Fi/Futuristic Time-Travel Romance
Publisher: Val Muller
Heat Level: Steamy
Length: 118 pages

Available at:
http://www.amazon.com/For-Whom-Heart-Beats-Eternal/dp/1479128775/

OmniLit:
https://www.omnilit.com/product-forwhommyheartbeatseternal-1225960-153.html

Description:

In this time-travel novella incorporating sweet romance and science fiction, Anna, a young graduate student, has found her intellectual soul mate. She and Dr. Thomas Wellesley, forty years her senior, have been working on sensitive research on applied time travel. She respects the man: he is married to his work and just as passionate about science as she is. He is her favorite part of the day and she'll stop at nothing to help their research. When a rival professor follows the pair into the lab and threatens their research and their safety, Dr. Wellesley does everything in his power to protect Anna from harm. But in his effort to protect her, he inadvertently sends her back in time. Forty years back in time, to be exact—to a time when a young student named Tommy Wellesley is just embarking on his first degree in physics. And it’ll be up to young Tommy to see her safely back to her own time. If he can bear to lose her. This edition also includes two short time travel stories. "Suicide Watch" explores the more dangerous ramifications of time travel. After an unfortunate fight with the love of his life, Matthew Mitchell discovers a time machine. Tempted to win back his girlfriend, Matt takes the machine for a spin, only to find out that time travel is much more complicated than he expected, and the results are catastrophic. "Toward Every Future’s Past" is flavored with sci-fi and fantasy and examines the cyclical nature of time and man’s difficulty in comprehending it.

This edition also includes two short time travel stories. "Suicide Watch" explores the more dangerous ramifications of time travel. After an unfortunate fight with the love of his life, Matthew

Mitchell discovers a time machine. Tempted to win back his girlfriend, Matt takes the machine for a spin, only to find out that time travel is much more complicated than he expected, and the results are catastrophic.

 "Toward Every Future’s Past" is flavored with SF and fantasy and examines the cyclical nature of time and man’s difficulty in comprehending it. Warning: This title is intended for readers over the age of 18 as it contains adult sexual situations and/or adult language, and may be considered offensive to some readers.
REVIEW

Most time travel romances have the heroine falling through a wormhole of some description and being transported to a past time where she has to learn to adapt without modern conveniences, because there is usually no way back.  'For Whom My Heart Beats Eternal' is different in that is is more like the time travel novels of H G Wells and other classic Science Fiction authors who enthralled me when I was growing up, in that it involves a real time machine - and also serves as a warning that it can be dangerous to meddle with time and the consequences can't always be anticipated.

Anna and Thomas (or Tommy) are both likeable characters and from the start I was willing them to get together, despite the large age gap.  I don't want to give too much away. The story is a quick and easy read and I was sorry to reach the end.  The climax has a clever twist. The conclusion seemed obvious and I thought I knew where it was leadng,but this is a story about time travel and nothing can be taken for granted.Although not really a sad ending  I can't say that the ending was a typical 'H.E.A.' either, but it seems logical considering the turn the story takes toward the end, and probably the only way it could have ended.  
I loved the aura of authentic scientific research in this story. It is real Science Fiction, rather than just a romance with the trappings of time travel thrown in, although it is easy to read even for readers who are not normally SF fans, and the romance itself is certainly sweet, the love scenes implied rather than explicit.

The two short stories are indeed a bonus, although darker than 'For Whom My Heart Beats Eternal.'  They both serve as dire warnngs, and emphasise how easy it is to take a step too far and repeat the same mistakes. I enjoyed reading  all three, which were at once refreshingly different, and yet reminiscent in style of some of my favourite SF writers of the past.

Excerpt 

Shakily, Tommy crouched down near the girl. “Excuse me,” he mumbled. He touched her shoulder and shook her gently. “Wake up.”

That roused her somewhat, for her nose started twitching—ever so slightly. Tommy watched, entranced, and for no reason at all felt like it was the cutest thing he’d ever seen. 

“Dr...Welles…ley…” she mumbled without opening her eyes. 

“So this is her, then, yes?” the security officer asked. “Dr. Wellesley? Is that what she calls you?” He chuckled. “Some fetish you got there, doctor, eh?”

Tommy turned to the man, his face a deep, embarrassed red. He wanted to tell him the truth. He’d never seen this girl in his life and wanted nothing more to do with her. 
But something stayed his tongue. 

It seemed the girl was trying to communicate. “Dr. Wellesley,” she said again. Her eyes opened just a slit. “I…saved it…from him…” She held something in her hand, held it out to him. With the flick of a finger, the thing glowed. 

Tommy jumped back, for after a few moments the glowing screen displayed a series of formulas he’d only seen before in his most ecstatic dreams. 

“This is her, alright,” Tommy said. “She looks in bad shape. I’d better get her back to my apartment.”

He took the glowing screen, and the security officer helped him lift the girl to her feet. Semi-conscious, she leaned against Tommy and hobbled down the sidewalk. “Dr. Wellesley,” she kept muttering. Tommy couldn’t help but shudder under the white hot electric charge that seemed to move invisibly between their bodies where they touched. 

The security officer stood with arms crossed and watched the hobbling couple inch down the sidewalk. “Kids!” he chuckled to himself as they disappeared beyond the bend. 

About the Author:
Val Muller is the author of the Corgi Capers mystery series for kids, and Faulkner’s Apprentice, a horror novel for grown-ups. A teacher by day, Val is also an editor for Freedom Forge Press. A full list of works can be found at www.ValMuller.com with Corgi Fun at www.CorgiCapers.com.

Connect with Val Muller


G I V E A W A Y
2 eBook copies (1 each to 2 winners) of “For Whom My Heart Beats Eternal” AND “Faulkner’s Apprentice”

Don't forget to enter the contest below and to increase your chances of winning, also check out the rest of Val Muyller's Tour HERE, the more you enter the greater your chances!
 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Cobweb Bride - 'Fiction Addiction'Blog Tour, Interview - and *G*I*V*E*A*W*A*Y*

COBWEB BRIDE
(Cobweb Bride Trilogy, Book One)
by Vera Nazarian
Release Date: July 15, 2013
Publisher: Norilana Books
Imprint: Leda
Trade Hardcover (First Edition) ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-112-6 ISBN-10: 1-60762-112-6
$24.95 US / 20.00 UK
Trade Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-113-3 ISBN-10: 1-60762-113-4
$14.95 US / 12.00 UK
Ebook (multi-format) ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-114-0 ISBN-10: 1-60762-114-2
Amazon Kindle ASIN  - B00DK02MHG 
$5.99
There are two giveaways on this tour:

1) a giveaway for 5 e-copies of Cobweb Bride.  To enter you just need to leave a comment with your email address, and follow this blog if you don't already.  Entrants must also sign up to the book announcement Cobweb Bride Mailing List  http://eepurl.com/vodcT

2)      Rafflecopter giveaway .  Please read the interview and enter the Rafflecopter contest at the end.

About Cobweb Bride:

Many are called… She alone can save the world and become Death's bride.
COBWEB BRIDE (Cobweb Bride Trilogy, Book One) is a history-flavored fantasy novel with romantic elements of the Persephone myth, about Death's ultimatum to the world.
What if you killed someone and then fell in love with them?
In an alternate Renaissance world, somewhere in an imaginary "pocket" of Europe called the Kingdom of Lethe, Death comes, in the form of a grim Spaniard, to claim his Bride. Until she is found, in a single time-stopping moment all dying stops. There is no relief for the mortally wounded and the terminally ill....
Covered in white cobwebs of a thousand snow spiders she lies in the darkness... Her skin is cold as snow... Her eyes frozen... Her gaze, fiercely alive...

While kings and emperors send expeditions to search for a suitable Bride for Death, armies of the undead wage an endless war... A black knight roams the forest at the command of his undead father… Spies and political treacheries abound at the imperial Silver Court.... Murdered lovers find themselves locked in the realm of the living...

Look closer — through the cobweb filaments of her hair and along each strand shine stars...

And one small village girl, Percy—an unwanted, ungainly middle daughter—is faced with the responsibility of granting her dying grandmother the desperate release she needs.
As a result, Percy joins the crowds of other young women of the land in a desperate quest to Death's own mysterious holding in the deepest forests of the North…
And everyone is trying to stop her.

PLEASE NOTE: Characters and content
The youngest Patty is thirteen, while the heroine, Percy is sixteen, and her eldest sister Belle is eighteen.  In addition, the Grand Princess Claere is sixteen.  There is some "undead" gruesome violence, but mostly it is offstage or PG-13. As for sexual situations, also PG-13 at worst (dream sequence in this book), and mostly the romance will be in the next two books.
***
INTERVIEW

HL:   I'm so excited to have  the author of Cobweb Bride as my guest today.
Welcome to the Flight Deck, Vera.  Grab a glass of something sparkling and refreshing from the replicator and tell us a little more about yourself, with three things not many people know about you. 
       
VN:  First of all, thank you so much for having me here! And, great question! Some of my readers might already know that I am originally from Russia. I was born in Moscow, back when it was the USSR, and immigrated first to Beirut, Lebanon as a little girl with my parents, my Armenian father and Russian mother, and then—after the civil war started there and missiles started to fall—we fled as refugees to Greece and finally arrived in the United States a month before I turned ten. However, here are some things that most people don’t know about me:

Fun Fact One—I spent every summer of my childhood except one, at my grandmother’s in Simferopol, the capital city of Crimea (now in Ukraine), on the shores of the Black Sea. My parents put me in the water as an infant and I could swim on my own by the time I was five or six.

Fun Fact Two—I started first grade in Moscow a year early, at the age of six. In Soviet Russia, kids normally started school at seven. However my mother was a teacher and there was no one to watch me, so she petitioned the school to let me attend a year early. And so I went to my first grade in Moscow School #671, while my mom taught the sixth and eighth graders there. About a year later, we transferred to Moscow School #30, until we left the USSR.

Fun Fact Three—I am a vegetarian, since 1985 when I first discovered the cruelties of factory farming, and I am now a lifelong proponent of animal rights. This is the one personal cause I believe in with all my heart.

HL:   That's fascinating - and it's always good to talk to someone who cares about animal welfare. Whilst I'm not entirely vegetarian myself, but I do try to ensure any animal products I eat are at least from sources where the animals were well looked after and had reasonable freedom; OK, my readers are always interested to know - what do you do for fun when not writing?

VN: I think the default easy answer is reading all kinds of books, including world literature, fantasy, science fiction, romance, and historical fiction, and watching guilty pleasure TV shows. However, these days I don’t have much time for anything but writing. I used to paint and sing and play guitar, and knit, and engage in crafts such as wood carving and dollmaking. But at present my artistic outlet is creating book covers and interior illustrations for my written works. You can see my most recent—it’s the hand-drawn interior Map of the Realm and the Domain in Cobweb Bride, and of course the cover design itself.

HL:   And it's just beautiful! When did you start writing?

VN: I like to say that I started writing as soon as I could hold a pen, but that would be so not true—first, I started drawing. Writing came a bit later. Okay, I wrote my fist poem, in my native Russian, when I was eight, and it was two four-line rhyming stanzas about a cat. Seriously, I am not a poet, so this kind of thing happened very infrequently since. I am definitely a prose writer. My first English-language creative work was a homework assignment in 5th grade in the United States, where I wrote a mini story that was a blatant ripoff of The Nutcracker.

HL:   LOL! So many great stories are spin-offs or adaptations of fairy stories! What comes first: the plot or the characters?

VN: That’s a tricky question, and usually it’s neither. First comes this brief, even nebulous idea out of the blue, often prompted by some ridiculous unrelated thing like an image on TV or something outside the window, or on the street. Sometimes it’s a striking image in a dream! Don’t laugh, I came up the word “Amarantea” and “the color red,” in a dream, and that was the basis of my novel Dreams of the Compass Rose.
Sometimes the idea comes as an overwhelming feeling, and then it takes the form of a powerful theme or high concept. A theme is something like “what if you first killed someone and then fell in love with them?” Or, “what if all over the world, in one instant, all death and dying stopped?” these two themes collided and became the basis of Cobweb Bride. And then, after this catalyst hits me, then I start coming up with characters and plot. Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? I have no idea!

HL:   Tell us about your latest release and what you think readers will enjoy about it

VN: Cobweb Bride is the first book of an ambitious, historical, magical epic trilogy that is based on the myth of Persephone and Hades and the underworld, and takes place in an alternate Renaissance Europe. If you’re looking for a fast-paced popcorn read, this is not it. This is a dense and rich book, and it will immerse you into a very different world, if you let it, and yes in places it will blow your mind.

There is a large cast of truly unusual characters, ranging from the poorest peasants to the loftiest emperors, fair maidens and noble knights, including Death himself. The story is very complex, with loss and mystery, with true love and grief and humor, and yes, wonder. And if you think you know what’s coming, it’s most likely you will be unable to guess. I truly cannot say any more without giving it away, so see for yourself, and read… Oh, and be prepared to uncover only the tip of the iceberg!

HL:   It sounds like a terrific read! Have you a favourite actor/actress/hunk? And if someone were to play one of your characters in a movie, which character and what actor would it be and why?

VN: Oooh, this is a tough one! Usually I visualize completely different characters in my head than any actors we all know, but for Cobweb Bride, if I had to cast the sexy Lord Beltain Chidair, also known as the black knight, I think Richard Armitage would be a fine choice.

One cannot have too many favorite hunks! Yes, Richard Armitage is in the top ten, and so is Viggo Mortensen, and Daniel Craig, and Will Smith and Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd. And my newest hunky obsession is Ed Skrein who plays Daario in The Game of Thrones, and would be the perfect actor to play another favorite male character of mine, looking exactly as he does in that role—the sexy assassin lord, Elasirr, from my novel Lords of Rainbow.

HL:  Ooh, we must be kindred spirits.  Richard Armitage is one of my all time favorites, and I'm also soft on Viggo Mortesen and Daniel Craig.  So, this leads me on to my next question - Who is your favorite character in your book and why?

VN: No way! I can’t answer that without hurting my characters’ feelings! But seriously, I think whichever character’s POV I am in at the moment, is my favorite character, then and there.  However, I do have a particular soft spot in this book for little Jenna Doneil. And I think you’ll see what I mean when you read about her.

HL:  And finally, where can readers connect with you?

VN: I am happily all over the place online, and the links are below. But first, please be sure to subscribe to my Cobweb Bride Mailing List which is for new book announcements only (no chit-chat), and this particular list is only for Cobweb Bride trilogy books, so yup, it’s very specific!
Cobweb Bride Website: http://www.norilana.com/cobweb.htm
Official Author Website: http://www.veranazarian.com/
Cobweb Bride Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/vodcT
General Mailing List (all other books): http://eepurl.com/hKaeo
HL: Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog, it’s been a thrill having you here and learning more about you and your writing. I wish you much success now and in the future.

VN: And thank you so much for having me here and letting me talk about Cobweb Bride! It’s been a pleasure!

About the Author:
Vera Nazarian is a two-time Nebula Award® Finalist and a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She immigrated to the USA from the former USSR as a kid, sold her first story at 17, and has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, honorably mentioned in Year’s Best volumes, and translated into eight languages.
Vera made her novelist debut with the critically acclaimed Dreams of the Compass Rose, followed by Lords of Rainbow,. Her novella The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass with an introduction by Charles de Lint made the 2005 Locus Recommended Reading List. Her debut collection Salt of the Air with an introduction by Gene Wolfe contains the 2007 Nebula Award-nominated “The Story of Love.”
Other work includes the 2008 Nebula Finalist novella The Duke in His Castle, science fiction collection After the Sundial (2010), The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration (2010), and four Jane Austen parodies, Mansfield Park and Mummies (2009), Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons (2010), Pride and Platypus: Mr. Darcy’s Dreadful Secret (2012), and Pagan Persuasion: All Olympus Descends on Regency (forthcoming), all part of her Supernatural Jane Austen SeriesAnd now, Cobweb Bride is the first book of her ambitious new epic fantasy trilogy.
After many years in Los Angeles, Vera now lives in a small town in Vermont. She uses her Armenian sense of humor and her Russian sense of suffering to bake conflicted pirozhki and make art. In addition to being a writer, philosopher, and award-winning artist, she is also the publisher of Norilana Books.
Vera’s links:
Official website:
Norilana Books:
Cobweb Bride Mailing List:
Twitter:
Facebook (author page):
Facebook (personal)
Pinterest
Blogs:
Goodreads:
LibraryThing:
Shelfari:
Red Room:
SFF Net Newsgroup:
Austen Authors:
Vera Nazarian’s Amazon Author Central page
The Official Book Website: http://www.norilana.com/cobweb.htm Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2027984632/cobweb-bride?ref=live

Praise for Other Vera Nazarian Books:

Trade References:
"...a clever concoction of vignettes and short stories knitted into a morality tale about the temptation of illusion and the price of truth.... an exotic setting reminiscent of Tanith Lee's Flat Earth series.... The author's sumptuous language will resonate with Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith fans.... Nazarian's vital themes and engaging characters are sure to entertain."
Publishers Weekly on Dreams of the Compass Rose

"Nazarian's story cycle treads the borderline between the episodic novel and the short-story collection, recalling the work of contemporary fantasist Charles de Lint, early-twentieth-century fantasist Lord Dunsany, and even, reaching way back, The Thousand and One Nights....her imagery is rich, vivid, and memorable, not to mention being remarkable because she realizes it not in her native language, Russian, but in English.... Indeed, this is a singularly appealing book by a new voice in fantasy."
  Roland Green, ALA Booklist on Dreams of the Compass Rose

"In a world devoid of color, the woman warrior Rahne swears herself to a mysterious nobleman traveling to the exotic city of Tronaelend-Lis, the City of Dreams, where a decadent brother and sister rule as co-regents in the absence of the land's true ruler. When an evil being representing true Darkness threatens the safety of the colorless world, Rahne is drawn into a spiritual journey in search of a legendary phenomenon known as Rainbow in an attempt to find a way to defeat the dark. The author of Dreams of the Compass Rose brings to life a unique fantasy world in which lost colors hold the key to salvation. Nazarian's fluid storytelling and vividly drawn characters make this unusual fantasy a good choice for most libraries."
  Library Journal on Lords of Rainbow

"Nazarian creates a unique civilization and populates it with heroic archetypes who stand on their own. Extravagant language reminiscent of Dunsany and even Tolkien adds to the legendary feel.... an innovative premise, consistent world-building, and appealing heroes mark this as the work of an emerging talent... readers may find themselves heralding a new star of fantasy fiction."
Romantic Times Book Club on Lords of Rainbow

"Sixteen cautionary, sensual stories of love, reversal and revenge upend fairy tale conventions in Nazarian's lush collection (after 2003's Lords of Rainbow). Some pieces retell classic stories: "Absolute Receptiveness, the Princess, and the Pea" compellingly subverts the cliché of the tender princess into a disturbing rape fantasy. "Beauty and His Beast" recasts the beast as an ugly but perceptive princess. Other stories approach myth. In "Sun, in Its Copper Season," the avatar of the sun falls in love with the man who brings the four seasons, and in "Lore of Rainbow," a wife seeks her missing husband, only to discover that he is the personification of a color. Adventure stories skirt the edges of the expected: in "The Slaying of Winter," a woman seeks revenge on a god for her family's destruction, only to find forgiveness; and in the near-future "Rossia Moya," a woman and Russia itself both rediscover their heritage. Sumptuous detail, twisty plots and surprising endings lift these extravagant tales."
Publishers Weekly on Salt of the Air



Cobweb Bride is touring with Fiction Addiction Book Tours throughout August.  The following dates Vera

Sunday 11 August 2013

Hunted - Cover Reveal and *G*I*V*E*A*W*A*Y

Cover Reveal

A  gorgeous cover and a fantastic prize - be sure to read to the end and enter the contest.

Publishing 17th August

Inkspell Publishing

YA Paranormal Romance


"Since elementary school, I remember being in love with words. Spelling them, writing them, reading them...I even hang them up around my house. I think I owe my love of language to my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Templeton. I can recall sitting around in a circle in that old, red-brick school, listening to her read aloud Greek mythology. The oxymoron there was that she was the most prim and proper teacher I ever knew, right down to the white buttoned up blouse held together at the collar with a cameo pin. The way she read made words come alive.

I had written a few things here and there throughout my life. I used to think I'd be good at children's books, and it wasn't a far stretch since I worked with children every day and knew what they liked. But then I read the series by Stephenie Meyer, maybe you've heard of it...Twilight. This was the type of story I knew I had to write. Teenagers were my audience. It helped I had one at home to learn from.


My idea didn't come in a dream. No, I wasn't that fortunate. It happened through research. And lots of it. The only criteria I had was that I wanted my story to be different from everything else out there. I wanted my story to stand out. No vampires or werewolves. No witches or wizards. Unicorns were my choice. And I think the story that unfolded is definitely unique." 


Twitter: @jillkaelin


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8
That’s how old I was when I found out I was special. I was given my rose quartz gem and taught about my past.

13

That’s how many times I’ve lived in this world. This is my thirteenth life cycle as a human.

1

That’s how many seconds it took me to fall in love with Mike. It’s also the amount of time I had to say goodbye to him just before he was killed by Reggie, the hunter that’s been after me for months.

Will Reggie succeed in killing me too, and possibly eradicating the planet of the unicorn race forever?

~~~~~

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