Marilyn Peake's Blog, page 4

$900 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies, the first book in my Mutation Z (Zombie Apocalypse) series, is one of the sponsors in The Kindle Book Review's $500 Black Friday Giveaway in which the prize is a $500 Amazon gift card.

Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies is FREE on a variety of websites, including Amazon.com.

The Kindle Book Review's actually running two Black Friday Giveaways. The prize for the other giveaway is a $400 Amazon gift card.

Here's information on both giveaways in The Kindle Book Review's $900 Black Friday Giveaway.

Good luck!

52 FREE Books

52 FREE First-in-Series Books!

Today (November 3, 2015) 52 Science Fiction and Fantasy books that are first in series are all FREE! See here to check them out:
52 FREE Books

This special is run by Science Fiction and Fantasy author, Patty Jansen. There are a lot of incredible books available for free today! Here are a few:

1.) The entire multi-author box set, Quest: Eight Novels of Fantasy, Myth, and Magic.

2.) Fire & Ice, Book #1 in Patty Jansen's Icefire Trilogy.

3.) Qualify by Vera Nazarian who is a two-time Nebula Award Nominee.

4.) Yseult, Part I: Two Women by Ruth Nestvold whose work has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards.

5.) Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies, the first book in my Mutation Z series. (Book #4 in this series was published yesterday.)

There are 52 amazing books for free and some really gorgeous book covers here: http://pattyjansen.com/promo/

Enjoy!

Kidtastic Back-to-School Giveaway

I'm participating in the Kidtastic Back-to-School Giveaway organized by author Scott Gordon. This promotion includes a lot of wonderful kids' books by a variety of authors. The best part? Every one of these books is either FREE or 99 cents! In order to participate, I've reduced the price of each book in my trilogy of children's middle grade books - The Fisherman's Son, The City of the Golden Son, and Return of the Golden Age - from $3.99 each to $0.99 each. The Kidtastic Back-to-School Giveaway runs from September 11 - 15. All the colorful book covers and special prices can be found here:
Kidtastic Back-to-School Giveaway

Grab a Whole Lot of FREE and 99-Cent Books!

Author Patty Jansen has gathered together some amazing authors - including two-time Nebula Award Nominee, Vera Nazarian! - to list FREE and 99-cent books in her Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Specials. Some of these prices will only last a few days. I'm honored to have one of my own books, Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies, included in this promotion. Check out all the amazing books here: Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Specials. Happy reading!

New Zombie Book and Chance to Win Children's Books

Hello,

I have some exciting announcements I'd like to share...

MUTATION Z: CLOSING THE BORDERS NOW AVAILABLE!

I'm thrilled to announce the publication of the second book in my Mutation Z series, Mutation Z: Closing the Borders. I've decided to set the price at only $0.99 (with the first book in the series remaining free):
Mutation Z: Closing the Borders (Book 2)

SUMMARY OF MUTATION Z: CLOSING THE BORDERS:

Second book in the series.

Eviscerated bodies are found along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Military security is stepped up on both sides of the border. However, journalists are given free rein to explore the devastation. As more and more bodies are found, people begin to panic. Meanwhile in The Liberia Treatment and Research Camp of West Africa, Emma Johnson and Chibueze Koroma continue to receive experimental doses of Mutation Z. They also begin to remember the horrific things they’ve done. As journalist Hunter Morgan’s investigation leads him to that same Camp, his own little girl falls sick with fever. NOVELLA. GENRES: Apocalyptic Science Fiction, Zombie Fiction, Conspiracy Fiction, Horror.

Mutation Z: Closing the Borders is the second book in the Mutation Z series. In the next book, Mutation Z: Protecting Our Own, guerrilla warfare breaks out between armed militias and those perceived as protecting the zombies.

FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES IS FREE:

Links to some of the sites where Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies, the first book in the series, can be found:

Amazon

Smashwords

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

REVIEW FOR MUTATION Z: CLOSING THE BORDERS:

The first review has come in for Mutation Z: Closing the Borders from Shandy Jo at Mama Knows Books:

"Short, but action packed. Ms Peake delivered an enthralling read.

"Ms Peake has a very interesting and unique twist on the zombie virus. We follow Hunter as he runs down a story on a connection between a pharmaceutical company and the government. The deeper he digs, the more he discovers things aren't what they seem.

"I was pulled into the story, following Hunter as he tracks down leads from the US to West Africa all the while we are left to wonder what's going on with Hunter's daughter. While he's trying to save the world, is danger brewing on his home turf.

"Ms Peake pulls you into the story and keeps you reading with lots of action and twists to keep you on your toes."

Read the review on:
Mama Knows Books

GIVEAWAY FOR A COMPLETE KINDLE SET OF MY CHILDREN'S BOOKS:

And now for something completely different than my apocalyptic zombie books, I'm currently running a raffle for someone to win a complete Kindle set of my children's books:
Rafflecopter Giveaway!

Back to School Blog Tour and Giveaway

This Blog Post is my part of the Back to School Blog Tour run by Tiffany Turner who's been a teacher for 18 years. She's also an author, the editor and head writer for the Indie Children’s Authors Connection, and a member of both the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Association of Independent Writers.

To view the entire Blog Tour, please visit this page:
https://crystalkeeper.wordpress.com/b...

For a chance to win a complete Kindle set of my children's novels — The Fisherman's Son, The City of the Golden Sun, and Return of the Golden Age — please entire the raffle on my website:
http://www.marilynpeake.com/giveaways...

And now for my post in the Blog Tour...

Behind the Scenes of The Fisherman’s Son Trilogy

Writing The Fisherman’s Son, the first novel in my Trilogy of The Fisherman’s Son (children’s middle grade chapter books), was quite the journey in and of itself. The Fisherman’s Son is the story of a twelve-year-old boy named Wiley O’Mara who’s born into poverty and a difficult family situation, but manages to become a hero through the help of a magical dolphin that becomes his guide and mentor. As part of Wiley’s journey, he travels on the back of the dolphin to an ancient city under the ocean where he rescues a group of boys trapped in an enchanted air bubble. Their city in many ways resembles ancient Greece and Rome.

My research in writing these books was extensive. Not only did I research dolphins, I also researched a wide variety of colorful and fascinating creatures that Wiley and his dolphin guide might encounter under the sea. I also explored information on ancient Greece and Rome, including the smallest details such as food, customs, clothing and buildings.

I decided that Wiley would live on an island far up north where it’s very cold around the beginning of the nineteenth century. Life on his island would in many ways resemble that of Ireland around the same time. This led to more fascinating research that included castles.

Once the book was published, I had some amazing experiences with it. Best-selling Science Fiction and Fantasy author, Piers Anthony, read The Fisherman’s Son, loved it and gave me a review quote for it. This opened up a delightful period of email correspondence with Piers Anthony, my first experience communicating with a well-known author.

In order to advertise The Fisherman’s Son, I decided to take out one of those slideshow type ads that run on movie screens before the preview movie trailers run. That was fun! I ran the ad on every screen in the movie theater for an entire week. When I went to the movies, I got to see the ad.

Through serendipity, the woman who designed my ad was married to an oceanographer. As a result, she took a special interest in The Fisherman’s Son and invited me to speak to young children at a YWCA after-school program. The kids were interested in the excerpts I read from my book as well as pictures I brought along of the awesome under-the-sea creatures. They especially loved the ugliest, somewhat horrifying one, the anglerfish that lives in the deepest part of the ocean where there’s very little light. You can see a picture of it here:
http://www.livescience.com/48885-rare...

I had many more happy experiences with The Fisherman’s Son Trilogy. A producer of a popular children’s TV show included The Fisherman’s Son in a pilot for a new show she was planning. (Alas, this TV show was never picked up.) I started seeing The Fisherman’s Son placed in community and college libraries. A librarian wrote to tell me, at the height of the Harry Potter craze, that she had set up a set of display shelves for all three books in my trilogy, along with a sign describing them as Books to Read After Harry Potter. I was deeply honored. A magazine publisher emailed me to tell me that her niece had done a presentation for her elementary school class on The Fisherman’s Son because it was her favorite book. This brought tears to my eyes, in a very good way.

I’ve continued to have fun with The Fisherman’s Son Trilogy. It means a great deal to me every time a parent writes to tell me how much their children enjoyed these books. Wiley O’Mara is one of my most cherished characters out of all the ones I’ve ever created and I love when children feel the same way about him.

SHADE is FREE for a Few Days

Hello,

I just wanted to let everyone know that my YA Paranormal Mystery novel, Shade, is FREE from 7/17 to 7/21:
Shade on Amazon

BOOK SUMMARY:

Shade: Girl on a hero’s journey, going from smart-ass to badass.

Thanks to her offbeat mother, Shade’s full name is Galactic Shade Griffin. Having a name like that while being the new girl in school is pretty much catnip for bullies. The summer before Shade’s junior year of high school, her mother breaks up with yet another boyfriend and moves them once again to a new town.

This time, they move into a dilapidated old house where Shade has an entire attic bedroom to herself—at least until she discovers it’s haunted by the ghost of a teenaged boy named Brandon Yates. When Shade’s best friend goes missing, her life becomes even more complicated. With the help of Brandon who’s struggling with his own issues in the world beyond, Shade faces the question of whether or not she has what it takes to become a true hero.

Although this novel deals with a number of serious issues—drug and alcohol abuse, cutting, and disturbing world events—it's primarily a novel about a teenaged girl finding out who she really is and that she's capable of so much more than she ever thought possible.

Invitation for You to Discuss SHADE

Hello,

Shade, my Young Adult Paranormal Mystery novel, is this month's Featured Book Spotlight in the Goodreads Writers and Readers group. If you'd like to discuss Shade, please leave a post here: Featured Book Spotlight for SHADE. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this book!

Thanks So Much,
Marilyn

My Newsletter

Hello,

I have quite a few things in the works right now.

I just had a short story that will create a bridge between my first Shade novel and the next one accepted into an anthology. It's expected that the anthology will be published before the end of the year, around the holidays.

Between now and December, I plan to publish four more novellas in my Mutation Z zombie series.

If you'd like to follow my progress on future publications, you can subscribe to my newsletter using the button on the home page of my website which will take you to the sign-up form.

Thanks So Much,
Marilyn

Kidtastic Childen's Book Giveaway with Chance to Win a 3DS XL

My children's middle grade novel, The Fisherman's Son, is one of many FREE children's books in a contest that includes a chance to win a 3DS XL. My other two books in The Fisherman's Son Trilogy - The City of the Golden Sun and Return of the Golden Age - have been reduced to 99 cents for this promotion. Here's a link to the Kidtastic Children's Book Giveaway.

Good luck and may you find many free and discounted books. I know I did. :)

Best Wishes,
Marilyn