Katie Hamstead's Blog, page 16

Blog Tour: Iniquity by Melody Winter

Iniquity
Melody Winter
(Ascent, #1)
Publication date: October 25th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Romance

Athena Harrow is about to turn twenty-one, but there will be no celebration. What is there to celebrate when the world is ruled by demons?
She hates the darkness the demons brought with them and longs for the light to return to the world—a world she only vaguely remembers. The people in her forest village blindly accept the life the demons forced upon them, even tolerating the yearly ascension ceremony where all the girls who have turned twenty-one are either sent away to serve the Master Demon or left in the village and forced to procreate.
But Paymon, the assigned village demon, selects a different role for Athena, a role that pits her against the village. While she adapts to her new life, Erebus, a younger, more powerful demon, arrives, and Athena must play a dangerous game with his emotions in return for information about the demon’s reign of darkness.
As Athena’s dreams of restoring the light begin to fade, her life with Erebus takes an unexpected turn, and this time it’s her life being put to the test.
Set in the forest around Buttercrambe in North Yorkshire, England, INIQUITY explores the frightening, darker side of romance and the uncontrolled emotions it can unleash.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble
Melody's Playlist for IniquityThe Story – 30 Seconds to Mars
The Sacrament – HIM
Butterflies and Hurricanes – Muse
Running out of Days – 3 Doors Down
Bleed – Catatonia
Slow – The Cardigans
Human – Christina Perri
Seven Devils – Florence and the Machine
Field of Innocence – Evanescence
The Only Hope for me is You – My Chemical Romance
Kiss from a Rose – Seal
Hysteria – Muse
Beauty of the Dark – Max Langer

Author Bio:
Growing up, Melody showed a natural ability in art, a head for maths, and a tendency to write too long English essays. Difficult to place in the world when she graduated, she pursued a career in teaching, but ended up working in finance. Melody is convinced the methodical times she spends working with numbers fuel her desire to drift into dream worlds and write about the illusory characters in her head.
Melody Winter lives in York, North Yorkshire, England with her husband and two sons. When not dealing with football, rugby, and a whole plethora of ‘boy’ activities, she will be found scribbling notes for her stories, or preparing for another trip to the nearby beaches at Scarborough and Whitby. With an obsession for anything mythical, Melody revels in reading and writing about such creatures.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!
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Cover Reveal for my Novel Brownlow Baby

Here is the cover reveal for Katie Hamstead's latest novel; Brownlow Baby! Set in Australia and following hot Aussie Rules players, you don't want to miss this romance.

Julia Saxon has been in love with her best friend since the moment she met him. The problem is, Lachlan Daniels was already in love with his model girlfriend. But she just dumped him, and the night of the Brownlow medal ceremony--the most prestigious award in Australian Rules Football--Julia is determined to win him over.
For one night, she believes she has succeeded, until in the morning he runs out in a panic, apparently regretting their passionate time together.
With the support of her friends, she tries to move on, and even manages to snag herself a boyfriend. Then, the vomiting starts.
When the pregnancy test shows up positive, Julia knows exactly who the father is; Lachlan. But that is all kinds of complicated as he continues to pine after his ex, who has moved on, although, she still toys with him.
When Julia makes the decision to keep the baby, her boyfriend leaves, unable to watch her carry his team mate's child.
As the following months ensue, Lachie discovers the pregnancy and vows to stand by Julia. The pair struggle through a tumultuous and complicated relationship. When it comes down to it, Lachie will have to choose between Julia and their baby, or his ex. But Julia won’t go down without a fight for her happy ending, whether it’s with Lachie or not. 

Add Brownlow Baby on Goodreads!



About the Author:
Born and raised in Australia, Katie's early years of day dreaming in the "bush" and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughters and their dogs.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing.
When her debut novel, Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh, climbed into bestselling status, she believed she was onto something, and now has a slew of novels available, and is published through Curiosity Quills Press, Soul Mate Publishing, and REUTS.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports, and be a good wife and mother. She now works as an Acquisitions Editor to help support her family. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.




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Release: INIQUITY (The Ascent, Book One) by Melody Winter

Release Day – INIQUITY (The Ascent, Book One) by Melody WinterPublication date: October 25th, 2016Genre: New Adult, Dark Romantic Fantasy


To celebrate the release of INIQUITY, the first book in The Ascent series trilogy, Melody is giving away a signed paperback of Iniquity and a handmade Iniquity bangle.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is sign up to her newsletter. Click here: newsletter sign upIf you’re already signed up then send melody a quick email telling her you’d like to be entered into the giveaway for the release day prize. Email: melodywinterbooks@gmail.comMelody will pick a winner on the 31stOctober 2016.
If you haven’t grabbed your kindle version of Iniquity, grab it today—the last day before the price goes up. (Please double check price before purchase.)Amazon.com: Link to Iniquity on amazon US  Amazon.co.uk: Link to Iniquity on amazon UK

Book Blurb: Athena Harrow is about to turn twenty-one, but there will be no celebration. What is there to celebrate when the world is ruled by demons?She hates the darkness the demons brought with them and longs for the light to return to the world—a world she only vaguely remembers. The people in her forest village blindly accept the life the demons forced upon them, even tolerating the yearly ascension ceremony where all the girls who have turned twenty-one are either sent away to serve the Master Demon or left in the village and forced to procreate.But Paymon, the assigned village demon, selects a different role for Athena, a role that pits her against the village. While she adapts to her new life, Erebus, a younger, more powerful demon, arrives, and Athena must play a dangerous game with his emotions in return for information about the demon’s reign of darkness.As Athena’s dreams of restoring the light begin to fade, her life with Erebus takes an unexpected turn, and this time it’s her life being put to the test.Set in the forest around Buttercrambe in North Yorkshire, England, INIQUITY explores the frightening, darker side of romance and the uncontrolled emotions it can unleash.
About the Author: Growing up, Melody showed a natural ability in art, a head for maths, and a tendency to write too long English essays. Difficult to place in the world when she graduated, she pursued a career in teaching, but ended up working in finance. Melody is convinced the methodical times she spends working with numbers fuel her desire to drift into dream worlds and write about the illusory characters in her head.Melody Winter lives in York, North Yorkshire, England with her husband and two sons. When not dealing with football, rugby, and a whole plethora of ‘boy’ activities, she will be found scribbling notes for her stories, or preparing for another trip to the nearby beaches at Scarborough and Whitby. With an obsession for anything mythical, Melody revels in reading and writing about such creatures, and creating her own.

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Blog Tour: Brainwalker by Robyn Mundell & Stephan Lacast

Brainwalker
by Robyn Mundell & Stephan Lacast
Genre: YA Scifi/Fantasy
Release Date: October 1st 2016
Dualmind Publishing

Summary from Goodreads:

Fourteen year-old Bernard is full of out of the box ideas—ideas that nobody appreciates. Not his ultra-rational father, not his classmates, and definitely not his teacher, who’s fed up waiting for Bernard’s overdue science project. You’d think with a hotshot quantum physicist for a dad, the assignment would be easy as “pi”, but with his relationship with his father on rocky ground, Bernard is under more pressure than a helium atom.

And Bernard’s impulse control flies out the window when he’s stressed. So instead of turning in his project, he moons the class and gets suspended. Now his dad’s got no choice but to bring him to his work. At the Atom Smasher. It’s the chance of a lifetime for Bernard, who knows smashing atoms at the speed of light can—theoretically—make wormholes. How about that for the most mind-bending science project ever? But when he sneaks into the particle accelerator and someone hits the power button, Bernard ends up in the last place he’d ever want to be.

Inside his father’s brain.

And it’s nothing like the spongy grey mass Bernard studied at school. It’s a galaxy, infinite and alive. Like, people live there. A mysterious civilization on the brink of extinction, as unaware of their host as he is of them. But there’s zero time to process this. Bernard’s about to be caught up in an epic war between the two sides of his dad’s brain over their most precious resource:

Mental Energy.

With his father’s life at stake, Bernard must go up against the tyrannical left side of his father’s brain to save the dying, creative right side. But how the heck is he supposed to do that when he’s just a hopelessly right-brained kid himself?

http://brainwalker.net/
Buy Links: Amazon Kindle | Amazon Paperback


Check out a Q&A with the authors, HERE!
Advance Praise:
"Excellent story with well developed characters and an awesome setting. My students are currently participating in a Growth Mindsets. Can't wait for publication. It would totally coincide with our brainology studies... I couldn't put it down." — Pam B, librarian, Wyola SD, MT

"In the novel Brainwalker, Mundell and Lacast have devised an ingenious plot using the tesseract concept found in 'A Wrinkle in Time' with the setting being the brain of the protagonist's father." — Douglas B. Educator

“This story is full of high-stakes adventure, and it often excels in its imaginative and allegorical exploration of real-world issues” — Kirkus Reviews

“The descriptions of the various locations, creatures, and residents of the Brainiverse are both fun and intelligent. Bernard is an engaging protagonist.” — Kirkus Reviews

“An imaginative adventure, ... one that clearly benefits from the great amount of thought that its authors put into it.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A fun way for kids/preteens to learn about science and the brain. The pictures are also really great and add a lot to the story” — Olivia Farr, Reviewer at Harvard Medical School

"The characters and the setting of this book are truly unique and very diverse, the plot is filled with fiction mixed with real brain concepts and puts everything into perspective from both fiction and reality" — Gabrielle Messier

"Definitely an approach to teenage urban fantasy that I’ve never seen before. I found myself quite enamored with Bernard and all his geeky questions and theories ... Underneath all the neurology, it’s really a story about connection and love and fighting for what’s important." — Kristen Canady

"'Brainwalker' is a great scientific fiction and that offers the readers a fantastic experience of the scientific adventure with the beautifully written words, the well laid out plots, and lifelike characters in the story." — Yichen Tu

"Not unlike experiencing Avatar in a 3D IMAX theater, this exciting and provocative novel includes characters and images of such dimension, the reader cannot help but feel fully invited into this fantastical storyline." — Lolly Howe

"Story starts and ends with the MOON! All will have to take a read to find out what I am talking about. This is a great Teen read revolving around young minds faced with the challenges of life." — Linda Babbs

"The world-building was pretty sublime: it was so cool to contextualize the brain in this way, and learn about it at the same time... The illustrations were all so refreshing to see - it's been too long since I've read a book that isn't afraid to support the plot line with pictures! I'm looking forward to what Mundell and Lacast have to offer in the future!" — TT turner

5 stars - "The authors have found a creative way to introduce the functions of the brain in a creative way that's full of action, adventure, and suspense. This will be a popular book in middle grades and middle school boys will enjoy this one!" — Susan Grigsby, ALA Librarian

“Teachers are always looking for ways to enhance scientific literacy and Brainwalker is the perfect vehicle to bridge the gap between exciting adventure and scientific inquiry.” — Jennifer C., Educator

"This brilliant new novel grapples with the most exciting topic possible, and invites middle school, young adults and also adult readers into the inexhaustible mystery of the universe. Take the walk." — Maureen G., Educator

 About the Authors Robyn Mundell is an award winning playwright. A graduate of New York University, she performed in dozens of plays in New York and was part of David Mamet’s Atlantic Theater Company. She studied with such theater legends as Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg, and Stella Adler.

Robyn wrote and performed in several of her own plays including Pieces of O and Traveling Bowls of Soup, produced by Pulitzer-prize winner Beth Henley. Traveling Bowls of Soup opened at the Met theater to rave reviews and received several Drama-Logue awards. Robyn has since been selling original screenplays and TV pilots to major film companies and networks. She is the daughter of Canadian Nobel laureate Robert A. Mundell, and is married to actor-playwright Raymond J. Barry. Together, they have four children.

French-Born Stephan Lacast likes to think of himself as a geek, which depending on your dictionary means either “knowledgeable about computers”, or “boring social misfit.” At the age of twelve his idea of fun was building computers and programming, and by fifteen he was a contributor to a computer magazine. A graduate of Paris-Dauphine University, he holds a Bachelor in Economics, a Master in Business Administration, and a Master of Advanced Studies in Information Systems.

After teaching at Dauphine University, Stephan went on to work as a consultant and engineer for one of the top ten Information Technology services companies in Europe, before deciding to leave Paris and move to the United States.

Social Media Links:        

Virtual Fantasy Con Blog Hop

Hi, I’m Katie Hamstead author of the bestselling Kiya Trilogy, Cadence Duology, and Princess of Tyrone, and I’m your host for this stop in the Hunt.
If you would like to find out more about the Hunt, please click here - http://vfcscavengerhunt.weebly.com/Somewhere on this page is a hidden number. Collect all the numbers from all the authors’ posts, and then add them up. Once you’ve added all the numbers, and if I am your last author, please head to the official website and click on the ENTER HERE page to find the entry form. Only entries with the correct number will qualify to win.
The author I’m pleased to be hosting for Virtual FantasyCon’s Blog Hop Hunt today is Tom Fallwell, author of Heroic Fantasy.
Heroic Fantasy
I have thought long and hard about what it is that draws me to the Epic Fantasy genre. The most memorable and inspiring read that has always stuck with me is The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien, and I wondered what it was about that story that grabbed me so hard and held my fascination. So I began to analyze, within myself, the other stories from that genre that I have read that have affected me in similar ways. There are many, such as the Conan stories, by Robert E. Howard, the Narnia tales by C.S. Lewis, the Dragon Rider stories of Anne McCaffrey, just to name a few. But there was something in all of them that inspired emotions within me and made them highly memorable to me, and I wanted to figure out just what it was that did so.
After much deliberation with myself, reviewing the stories in my head, and contemplating on the elements if each, I came to the conclusion that what inspired me so were the heroic characters and their bigger-than-life presence within their world. Not so much how big, bad and tough they were, but how much they concerned themselves with others, having compassion for others lives, more so than their own. I can see that theme throughout all the stories from the genre that has affected me so much. Even in Conan, while he may have been a self-centered barbarian, there were times he put himself in front of danger for the sake of someone else. Granted, that was usually a woman, but it still showed that the hulking warrior had a heart deep inside that hulking mass of muscle.
This is what I find so thrilling in the stories I have read, and it is what I portray in the stories I am
now writing. In my first novel, Dragon Rising, we have a young elven woman who wants nothing to do with the people of the world, yet as she learns about her heritage and destiny, her compassion for others begins to outweigh her own self-worth, and she becomes a hero. In my Rangers of Laerean series, the same theme is found in the reknowned group known as the Rangers, who daily put their lives on the line to protect the people, and many do so without regard to their own safety and security. This, in my mind at least, is what makes a true hero, and I enjoy reading 64 stories about such exploits.
Whether the hero is a super hero, fighting against a super villain, or a fantasy hero saving a damsel in distress, or just a soldier on the front lines, standing between the enemy and the people whom he has sworn to protect, a hero is one who puts the welfare of others ahead of themself, one who sacrifices their own comfort and security to for the safety of others. That is a true hero.
If you love Heroic Fantasy in the epic tradition, then I invite you to read my books. Visit my website and view more information, or visit me on Goodreads or Facebook. My books are available from the store on my site, or from the Amazon links below. Thanks for reading.

Website: http://tomfallwell.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11303749.Tom_Fallwell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TomFallwellAuthor
Dragon Rising: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RGZU56Q
A Whisper In The Shadows: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VYL2426
Where Shadows Fall: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01APYF1G8



Did you find the number? If you did, then click Tom Fallwell link – http://tomfallwell.com to continue Virtual FantasyCon’s Blog Hop Hunt.

Blog Tour: The Perilous Journey of the Much too Spontaneous Girl by Leigh Statham

The Perilous Journey Of The Much Too Spontaneous Girl(The Perilous Journey of the Not So Innocuous Girl #2)by Leigh StathamPublication Date:  September 20, 2016Publisher:  Month9Books

Lady Marguerite Vadnay and her trusty automaton, Outil, have settled into life in New France rather well. Marguerite is top of the class at flight school and her future as an aerpilot is nearly secure. She has everything she wants— except a commission on the pirate hunting dirigible The Renegade. Using every card in her aristocratic arsenal, Marguerite wiggles her way onto the finest warship France has to offer. But as usual, Marguerite’s plans endanger the lives of those she holds dear— only this time no one else is going to save them. As Marguerite and Outil set off on a rescue mission they may not return from, she finally realizes it’s time to reorder her cogs.
This steampunk adventure is littered with facts from The Golden Age of Piracy and follows (not too closely) some of the lives and adventures of the brave men and women who sailed the seas as privateers, pirates and soldiers.
Link to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28537398-the-perilous-journey-of-the-much-too-spontaneous-girl  
Purchase Links:
Google Play | BAM| Chapters| Indies | Amazon | B&N| Kobo| TBD| iBooks
How you created the plot for this book around what you learned from your family history.
Hi! Thank you so much for having me on your blog. This is an excellent question that I don’t think anyone has ever asked me before. The idea for the series came from, as you mentioned, a story I discovered while doing family history research. One of my ancestors was a Daughter of the King (a girl adopted by King Louis the IVX and sent to Canada to pick a husband and help settle Quebec) but because she was a good girl and did her part for her country without any issues, there isn’t much information about her personally. There is a LOT of information about girls who didn’t follow the rules or decided to do their own thing in Canada. This got me wondering. What would make a nice girl from a good family (the Daughters of the King were all recruited from upstanding families in France, some were even nobles) want to leave her cushy life and sail across the pirate infested Atlantic ocean to pick out a soldier husband and settle down? It was a really fun game of “what if” that I actually dwelled on for a few years. I went back and forth from a bad family life, to a kidnapping situation. None of that felt right. Then the image of a girl came to me that fit exactly the kind of character I would want to write about. She was rich, beautiful, popular, completely spoiled, and had a lot of growing up to do. But there had to be things about her that made you want to stick with her. Even rich beautiful people have trials, so I gave her a mean governess with ulterior motives, a best friend below her station that is heading off on adventure without her, an absentee father who is trying to marry her off to the highest bidder, and a passion for machinery. When this all came together in my mind, I knew I had the right combination for a great story. After that it was all downhill. The more research I did about the era, the life styles, fashion, and pirates, the more excited I got and the faster the story flowed. I love writing about characters that start out borderline despicable and then redeem themselves. I feel like it has the biggest payoff in the end and if you do it right.However, at the end of the first book, I felt like Marguerite was just starting to come into her own and learn the things that she needed to learn. I also felt like I didn’t get to spend enough time with the pirates, so that led to a natural path for the second book— pirates and more shenanigans!I hope you enjoy reading the series as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Marguerite does grow up in the end, eventually, I promise!


OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES  

Lady Marguerite lives a life most 17th century French girls can only dream of: Money, designer dresses, suitors and a secure future. Except, she suspects her heart may be falling for her best friend Claude, a common smithie in the family’s steam forge. When Claude leaves for New France in search of a better life, Marguerite decides to follow him and test her suspicions of love. Only the trip proves to be more harrowing than she anticipated. Love, adventure and restitution await her, if she can survive the voyage.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18308621-the-perilous-journey-of-the-not-so-innocuous-girl    Google Play | BAM| Chapters| Indies | Amazon | B&N| Kobo| TBD| iBooks



Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho, but found her heart in New York City. She worked as a waitress, maid, artist, math teacher, nurse, web designer, art director, thirty-foot inflatable pig and mule wrangler before she settled down in the semi-quiet role of wife, mother and writer. She resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, five chickens and two suspected serial killer cats. If the air is cool and the sun is just coming up over the horizon, you can find her running the streets of her small town, plotting her next novel with the sort of intensity that will one day get her hit by a car.

Connect with the Author: Website |Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads



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Son of a Pitch Twitter Party!

Twitter Pitch Party begins NOW and runs until 5PM Arizona time Sept 27th.
Rules:Keeping it simple: Once an hour per manuscript. Do not Favorite others pitches unless you are making a request.
That's it!
Go crazy!

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon!

I came across this challenge on Goodreads, and since I have a massive To-Be-Read pile, I really appreciated the sentiment behind it!

My challenge is to take a photo of your favorite books from when you were growing up and tag me on Instagram, (@katie_hamstead) If you don't have Instagram, share it on my Facebook page and mention the Read-a-thon.

Also, I have a reading challenge that you can find on Goodreads, and I have joined in with myself. And, since my books fit the profile, I highly encourage you to use them to join in with the fun. (Find my books HERE) Australian Women Writers Challenge.


I also have a giveaway for you! So click below and enter to win some books!

 


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Son of a Pitch Editor Round Has Begun!

Congratulations to everyone who has participated in Son of a Pitch thus far. More than anything I hope everyone has gleaned valuable insight on how to improve their query and writing so going out and querying will be successful for all. Querying is a beast, and getting objective eyes on your work to help you make that next step toward a contract is something we all seek out. So good luck to everyone!

Now, on with the show! Twenty entries were voted through to this round by published authors who helped the writers refine their queries. Let me tell you, counting those votes wasn't easy, because they were so widely spread! But here are the end results, and I hope the editors who come by make plenty of requests.

Just a reminder: Only editors and the author can comment on the post.

Here are the entries:
Young Adult: Jaguar ChildThe Doll TrainThe Crow QueenThe Mortal Coil - RevelationMolfarSoul BoundEdenBrokenThe Fall of TroyThe Sword & The ShieldNascentQueen For All SeasonsDoleful CreaturesAquestrialsFount of Power
Adult: Best Laid Plans in ScotlandImprobable GirlTrans Liberty Riot BrigadeCuckoo's CradlesongBoarding All Rows

Son of a Pitch YA Entry: Jaguar Child

Title: JAGUAR CHILDAge and Genre: YA FantasyWord Count: 79,000
Query:In two weeks, sixteen-year-old Nadya must announce her choice of hut-mate to her entire rainforest village, but she has no idea which unlucky man she’ll pick. Her last hope is that the ancestral Mother will give her guidance during a pilgrimage with other teens from the village. But instead of advice, the Mother torments her with nightmarish visions of fire and skin-melting pain, cementing Nadya’s belief that she’s cursed.
When the group returns, a translucent dome has risen over her village, trapping their families inside. Distressed by the strange magic, Nadya and the others set off through the perilous jungle to seek answers from the shaman of the nearest village.
As she battles past vicious apes and swarms of venomous wasps, Nadya can feel something skittering in her bones, demanding to be released. She fears it’s all part of the Ancestors’ curse, but when she transforms into a jaguar and tries to eat the future leader of her village, she realizes the truth: she’s hadana, a shape-shifting monster. Nadya is terrified and repulsed—especially since the Ancestors demand such abominations be put to death.                                                                                                    Worse, Nadya unknowingly caused the dome around the village and is the only one who can fix it. But her jaguar form is overtaking her mind. As she struggles to keep from becoming feral, Nadya must decide how long she will fight against herself to save a people who have never accepted her—and who will surely execute her if she succeeds.

Rotting couldn’t make it any uglier. 
My fingers tightened around the rough wood of the bowl. It was supposed to be a gift for my hut-mate, to be presented when I announced his name in front of the whole village at the hearth ceremony in two weeks. I had hoped to carve a masterpiece that would win the affections of my chosen man—and prove I had the blessing of the Ancestors. Prove that, in spite of everything, I belonged in the village of Liermo.
But whichever man I picked would probably take one glance at my pathetic bowl and flee ten miles through the jungle, seeking refuge in the village of Cardua to avoid marrying me. Because though I had been laboring over my bowl for weeks, trying to listen to the wood, to let it tell me where to chisel and scoop, the wood remained as silent as a dung beetle. I couldn’t even figure out the direction of the grain.
And now only an hour remained before the thing had to be finished. So tossing it in the water wasn’t really an option. But maybe if I could just add the right details, no one would notice the bowl wasn’t exactly smooth.