Angela Myron's Blog, page 7

The Rising by Terra Harmony

Seventeen-year-old Serena is the youngest member of a dying race. The increasing acidity of the ocean is destroying her home, slowly eating away at the once thriving underwater landscape. But since the night of Serena’s birth, it is an outside force that most threatens their dwindling population. Werewolves, who once served as protectors for mermaids in the Kingdom of the Undine, now seek to eliminate all who dwell in the ocean—and Serena is about to find herself right in the middle of the deadly conflict.

Given the title of Werewolf Liaison, Serena is determined to make things right for her people. When she ventures to The Dry, she meets Liam, the werewolf with hazel eyes, and her whole world gets turned upside down. As Serena discovers the real history between werewolves and mermaids, she is left wondering who her true enemies are.

The Rising, Book One of the Painted Maidens Trilogy' is FREE across all platforms for the remainder of the month of October. 

iTunes | Kobo | Amazon | B&N | Smashwords | Facebook | Blog | Twitter

About Terra Terra is author of the eco-fantasy novels in the Akasha Series, 'Water', 'Air', 'Fire' and 'Earth', as well as the Painted Maidens Trilogy. Terra was born and raised in Colorado but has since lived in California, Texas, Utah, North Carolina, and Virginia. Terra served a 5½ year enlistment in the Marine Corp, has earned her bachelor's and master's degree and presently runs the language services division of a small business.

Terra currently lives in a suburb of Washington, DC with her husband of fifteen years and three children.

Project Firebird by Nick Green

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nick will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Don’t ask Leo Lloyd-Jones. Ask him how to steal a car, or why he got excluded from every school in Salford, but don’t come to him for help. This whole thing must be a daft mistake – and if anyone finds out, he’s done for.

Earth is on a deadly collision course that nothing can prevent. The only real hope is Project Firebird, deep inside a blast-proof bunker that shelters the brightest and bravest young people. Leo has got mixed up with the likes of Rhys Carnarvon, the celebrated teenage polar explorer, and other child prodigies chosen to keep the flame of civilisation.

Among them is the streetwise Paige Harris, a girl Leo likes a lot (but not in that way). Paige is desperate to rescue her little sister from London before the catastrophe strikes. But no-one is crazy enough to try that. Almost no-one.

Enjoy an excerpt:

Kian tried to break the ice by spinning the bottle.

‘Okay.’ His eyes flickered at Lucy. ‘Next question. Who do we think is the prettiest girl in the room?’

Lucy blushed at once. Isabel looked merely curious, perhaps forgetting that she herself was a girl. But Paige shifted on her beanbag chair and turned her face away. Leo had to feel a bit sorry for her. Great though she was to have around, no-one’s choice was ever going to be Paige, in his expert opinion. He realised that the bottleneck had stopped on him again.

‘Truth or dare!’ said Kian. ‘Who’s prettiest?’

‘The bottle seems to think it’s me.’

‘Only ’cos it’s drunk,’ Lucy smirked.

‘Prettiest girl. Come on,’ said Kian.

Leo laughed. ‘That’s easy.’

It was now. Their three supervisors had appeared in the lounge: David followed by Lenka and the long- haired Chris. Even in workaday jeans and her very uncool Firebird Foundation t-shirt, Lenka remained drop-dead gorgeous. She might have been a Hollywood actress relaxing between takes. The noise levels plunged as most of the boys stopped talking. Rhys pretended to throw a glass of water over Leo.

‘She’s too old for you.’

Leo shook his head. ‘Age can’t stop true love. See the way she looks at me.’

‘You mean like she’s about to be sick?’

‘She’s playing hard to get.’

‘So that’ll be game, set and match to her,’ said Rhys.

Leo gave him a friendly dead arm.

About the Author: Nick Green lives in the UK. He is the author of seven fiction books to date, including the middle-grade CAT KIN trilogy published by Strident. His other books include THE STORM BOTTLE, a fantasy adventure about the dolphins of Bermuda, and most recently the FIREBIRD trilogy, a YA science fiction epic.

www.nickgreenbooks.com
https://www.goodreads.com/ nickgreen_catkin

Buy the book at Amazon.

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Theme in Crimson Son by Russ Linton

His mother kidnapped, his superhero father absent, powerless Spencer Harrington faces a world of weaponized humans to prove himself and find the truth. 

Nineteen-year-old Spencer is the son of the Crimson Mask, the world's most powerful Augment. Since witnessing his mother's abduction by a psychotic super villain two years ago, he's been confined to his father's arctic bunker. When the "Icehole" comes under attack from a rampaging robot, Spencer launches into his father's dangerous world of weaponized human beings known as Augments. 

With no superpowers of his own save a multi-tool, a quick wit and a boatload of emotional trauma, Spencer seeks to uncover his mother's fate and confront his absentee superhero father. As he stumbles through a web of conspiracies and top secret facilities, he rallies a team of everyday people and cast-off Augments. But Spencer soon discovers that the Black Beetle isn't his only enemy, nor his worst.

themes I return to The themes at the heart of many of my stories center around coming of age and discovering identity. Both are inextricably linked. Often it isn’t until we step out on our own that we first start wrestling with the question of who we are and what our place might be in a great big world that seems to have lost all boundaries overnight.

That twilight between youth and adult is a perfect place to find all the elements of great fiction. Conflict, triumph, and disaster navigated by a fresh and naïve perspective creates memorable tales which everyone can relate to.

I write fantasy for adults who are young at heart and youngsters with old souls. I like to explore that realm which both groups have common – those who’ve been there and those anxious about what’s to come. And let’s face it, even years after we’ve started our own journey of discovery, most of us are still searching.

In Crimson Son, Spencer, is the son of the world’s toughest superhero. His struggle includes finding a way to be himself while also escaping his father’s enormous shadow. He’s coming of age in the middle of a family crisis that threatens to not only drive him over the edge but which could spell disaster for the world he’s been desperate to explore.

True, we don’t all have to deal with that amount of drama on our personal quest, but interspersed in the fantasy, I grounded Crimson Son with very real, relatable experiences.

I can relate to those still searching for whatever inner truth they need for peace. I’ve lived my life as an explorer, constantly seeking new experiences and trying my best to “settle” down. With writing, I feel I have finally found that place, but I’m still restless and I’ve started to think that’s simply a commentary on who we are as human beings. 

With fantasy, we can continue to explore places we never thought possible. Mostly because it turns out, that great big world is infinite. And the reason why figuring out who you are makes “good art” is that there never is a perfect, final answer. Only more stories to tell.

An Excerpt from Crimson Son This part always comes so fast.

I hand the phone back to Mom. “You’ll need to send later, I guess. The signal dropped. Should be in your outbox ready to go.”

As she takes the phone, the wall of the room explodes.

Here. Dream becomes nightmare. For a moment, I feel I can make it stand still, but why would I? Events unfold with the emptiness of the bunker gnawing at my insides. I can identify every stray chunk of plaster and splinter of wood in this time-robbed moment.

Fragments of home spray like a swarm of locusts. Mom screams and the world spins under her protective dive. I struggle to see through a haze of dust. Glimpses of the valley filter past a humanoid silhouette. A long, pincered arm lashes out. The arm clamps tightly around Mom’s waist and retracts, drawing us closer.

“Release the boy and he will live,” the Black Beetle speaks with an unnatural vibration. “He can relay a message for your husband.”

Mom squeezes tighter but her screaming stops.

I search her face, knowing what I’ll find, all the while scrambling to find an anchor as we slide across the room. She’s bleeding from a gash on her forehead and the pincer cinches tighter. Her eyes are full of fear, but focused. She’s calculating, deliberating. A hundred times? A thousand? It always hurts.

“No, Mom, please!” I throw my hands around the leg of a toppled chair which drags uselessly behind us. Countless trips through this nightmare, I know I can’t keep us here, but I reach out anyway. And always, she lets go.

I grab her arm, trying to pull her back, cursing my stunted size, my weak limbs, my feeble grip. Sweaty hands slip as the pincer continues to retract. Her trembling lips form a final smile and she watches me with a sad but determined expression.

She mouths the words, “I love you.”

About Russ In the fourth grade, Russ Linton wrote down the vague goal of becoming a “writer and an artist” when he grew up. After a journey that led him from philosopher to graphic designer to stay at home parent and even a stint as an Investigative Specialist with the FBI, he finally got around to that “writing” part which he now pursues full time.

Russ creates character-driven speculative fiction. His stories drip with blood, magic, and radioactive bugs. He writes for adults who are young at heart and youngsters who are old souls.
Russ lives in Denton, Texas where he writes beside an unnervingly quiet dog with the support of his history-obsessed son and his extremely patient wife. He regularly pursues community service and is currently scoutmaster for his son’s Boy Scout troop. He is a regular at the North Branch Writers’ Critique Group and has honed his craft through creative writing courses with Stanford University’s continuing studies program as well as writing workshops at local conventions.

Russ holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do which was marginally more useful in a former life not making his living from behind a desk. He enjoys the outdoors and when he isn’t leading his scouts on virtual campouts in Minecraft, he’s making them haul their gear across state parks in the North Texas area.

Social Media: russlinton.com | Facebook | Twitter | Google Plus

Purchase Links: Amazon | Amazon UK | Create Space Paperback | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords | Apple | Google Play | Powell's Books | txtr | Abe | Alibris | Kobo

Russ will be awarding a $10 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner and another winner will receive a signed copy of Crimson Son (US ONLY), both prizes via rafflecopter during the tour. A $10 Amazon GC will be awarded to a randomly drawn host.
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Vanished from Dust by Shea Norwood

A CHILL RUNS THROUGH HIS SKIN AS THE PHANTOM APPEARS.
 
HE SEES THEM EVERYWHERE . . . 
 
Eric Stark is not insane. Or at least he doesn’t think so. He wishes everyone in Dust, Texas, felt the same way. But that’s not going to happen since the whole town thinks he’s crazy. Why didn’t he keep his mouth shut? 
 
No one understands. Eric is alone as he battles his sanity in a town of tormenters. Suddenly a new friendship emerges after the new kid, Kyle Barrett, moves to town.
Eric reluctantly reveals his secret. Is it a curse or a gift? He isn’t certain, but with Kyle by his side he finds the courage to seek the truth.
 
They soon realize that something sinister is descending on the residents of Dust.
Is it caused by Eric’s phantoms or is it something else? Is it connected to the mysterious death of hundreds of townspeople over sixty years ago? One thing is certain—only Eric and Kyle can save them.
 
They set out on a heart-pounding adventure and find themselves transported to a disturbed and deserted version of their small southern town. They quickly discover that this new world has mysteries of its own to uncover. What they find could prove more than they bargained for, and it only leads to more questions. Eric and Kyle must face a horrifying fact—they may never get out alive.
 
“We’re gonna die here,” Kyle muttered.
 
 “I don’t believe that,” Eric said. “And neither do you.” 
 
Will they survive their encounter with these dark and mysterious beings? 
 
Will they find a way back home? 
 
Or will they be lost forever? 
 
The Vanished from Dust series is perfect for anyone who craves a hair-raising thriller packed with mystery and suspense. This paranormal story for young adults can be compared to Stand by Me, mixed with Odd Thomas, and a twist of The Dark Tower.

An Excerpt from the Book “Anyone there?” A large man asked in a loud and forceful voice.

Kyle peaked over the hedge and ducked down quickly. “I think he saw me.”

“No way,” Eric said, his heart still pumping hard in his chest. He edged his head over the hedge.

There was no one at the door.

Seconds later the light went out.

“He went back inside.” Eric stood up, ready to leave.

“Let’s go do another one.” Kyle walked into the street. “This time it’s your turn.”

“Okay,” Eric said.

A porch light came on without warning.

Eric thought of his mantra to run instinctively but froze instead as a large man darted outside with amazing speed for his size. He was pointing a shotgun directly at them. They were standing in the darkness of the street just out of reach of the man’s vengeful eyes.

“Stop right there, you little pricks,” the fat man said in an authoritative tone.

The shotgun was still pointed at them. “I’m gonna call your daddies and tell ’em what you’re up to. Or better yet, shoot you with this salt rock I loaded just for punk kids like you who knock on my door in the middle of the night.”

“Let’s run,” Eric whispered. His heart was pounding even faster now.

“Screw that! He has a twelve gauge pointed at us.”

“What are your damn names?” The man, still in his overalls, stood in his yard. By now, his wife and two young children were among the audience.

The hammer on the shotgun pulled back, making a distinctive click.

“Run!” Eric shouted and bolted. He was reminded of Kenny Rogers’s well-sung advice, which correlated nicely with his innate nature to run when confronted with danger.

An ear-piercing explosion shot through the night sky as rock salt slammed into the road in front of Eric. It sounded like thousands of shards of glass crashing against the pavement all around him.

About Shea Norwood Shea Norwood is a West Texas native that currently lives in the DFW area with his wife and son. He's an avid reader and enjoys the craft of writing. The fictional town of Dust is loosely based on a small town south of Odessa, TX. 

Facebook | Twitter @sheanorwood | GoodReads | Amazon
Shea Norwood will be awarding a $25 PayPal, Amazon or BN Gift Card via rafflecopter. Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  Goddessfish Promotions Blog a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shadows of Ghosts by Stefan Haucke

Shadows of Ghosts carries readers to Enara, a kingdom at war with itself, where for centuries centaurs have been treated like animals because of their horse-like lower bodies; they've been forced to work as slaves in the southern agricultural provinces, and have been bought and sold like livestock. But a strong abolitionist faction has convinced many that centaurs' human torsos, heads, and intellectual abilities make them humans, who should be liberated from slavery and granted the same rights as any other person.

After four years of being forced to live in a remote village and having to keep his real identity a secret, Cal Lanshire, days away from his thirteenth birthday, is given the best birthday present he can imagine. He is told the war is almost over and he will soon be allowed to return home.

But then an old acquaintance unexpectedly arrives with news that changes everything. Cal's father, the king, has been assassinated.

Suddenly the outcome of the war and the very fate of the kingdom depend upon Cal being able to reach the capital where he will take his father's place.

With only his crafty best friend by his side and an escaped centaur slave to guide him, can Cal make it through an enchanted, hostile wilderness, past the assassins sent to kill him, and back to the capital before it's too late?

An Excerpt from the Book Suddenly, Grintar shouted something, but Cal couldn’t understand the words. Grintar’s men spread out, and there was a tension that Cal could sense, like the way it felt seconds before a bolt of lightning was about to strike nearby. Grintar raised his sword over his head, held it there for several seconds, and then he swooped it down, slashing it through the air, and shouted, “Advance!”

Chaos exploded. Crossbow bolts and arrows whistled through the air, and men on both sides charged forward, yelling battle cries, and the ringing sounds of metal striking metal pierced the air as the opposing troops crashed into each other. Soon the agonized screams of the wounded and dying joined the other sounds.

The men who were guarding Cal moved him back, and they tightened their circle around him so that their shields were almost touching; Cal strained to see out through the thin slits in between the shields. All he saw was an occasional flash from the sun reflecting off metal, and at one point he saw a streak of red, which he was certain was blood pouring out of a wounded man.

It was difficult to estimate how long the battle lasted. The agonized screams and the ringing of metal striking metal seemed interminable, and it took all of Cal’s willpower not to clasp his hands over his ears, but the battle stopped so abruptly Cal had a sense that it hadn’t lasted more than three or four minutes. There came a brief span of absolute silence which, after the battle’s cacophony, seemed eerie, as if the dead had suddenly demanded the payment of silent respect.

About STEFAN HAUCKE Stefan Haucke, driven by the desire to learn about other cultures and the need for adventure, has traveled to over twenty nations. He rode a camel near the pyramids in Egypt, swam with sea lions in the waters of the Galapagos Islands, climbed the Great Wall of China, hiked near the Acropolis in Athens, went dog sledding in northern Michigan, and photographed polar bears in Canada.

Along his many travels, Stefan has successfully worked as a deckhand, a shepherd, a dispatcher for an emergency services unit, an electric meter reader, and an office manger. 
He has also found the time to study the literature and history of ancient Greece, Russia, and the United States, and loves reading folktales, fairytales, and urban legends. He also enjoys astronomy, and on clear nights can be found gazing at the stars and planets with his telescope.

My website | My GoodReads page

My Book can be purchased on: Amazon | Kindle Edition | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound - Independent Bookstores

Prizes for the tour are as follows:
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
One randomly chosen host will receive a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  Goddessfish Promotions Blog

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Fall into Fantasy 2014!

It's happening again! That's right, Ash Krafton's massive annual fantasy giveaway starts today! Over fifty authors have contributed books, swag, and gifts in this year's mega giveaway.  You can also win great author SWAG from:
Me! (Angela Myron) Ash Krafton
Jami Gray
Ronesa Avila
Sharon Buchbinder
M Pax
Debbie Christiana
Tonya Macalino
Juli D. Revezzo Konstanz Silverbow Fall Into Fantasy YA & NA Books: Enter here for a chance to win any of these YA and NA fantasy books: a Rafflecopter giveaway Fall Into Fantasy Adult Books Enter here for a chance to win one of these adult fantasy books: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Scavenger Hunt Winners!

Official YASH winners will be announced Wednesday, but today's the day for my little YASH drawing! So without further ado, the winners are:

Melissa P - Print copy of book two in the Ennara series, Ennara and the Book of Shadows

Abby C - Ebook copies of books one and two in the Ennara series

Jordan W - Your own book trailer by Stardance media (or print copies of Ennara series, if you prefer)

Congratulations! And thanks to everyone for participating and making this such a fun event!

YA Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go tothe YA Scavenger Hunt page.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!). 
Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by DATE, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST Today, I am hosting Amy Christine Parker on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! 

Amy Christine Parker is a Pennsylvania native now living near Tampa, Florida with her family and trying to be okay with extreme humidity, no fall to speak of, and every kind of bug imaginable. Her book, GATED, about a girl growing up in an apocalyptic cult and the months leading up to what they feel will be the end of the world debuted with Random House Children’s in 2013. It was picked as an Amazon Book of the Month Spotlight Pick July 2013 and as a YALSA 2013 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Her second book, ASTRAY, the sequel to GATED, released August 26, 2014. She is now hard at work on her third novel about teenaged bank robbers called SMASH AND GRAB which will release in Spring 2016. 

Visit her at amychristineparker.com and follow her on Twitter @amychristinepar.

Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author's book here! 
amychristineparker.com
amychristineparker.com/#!books/cnec

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT Lyla is caught between two worlds. The isolated Community that she grew up in and the outside world that she’s navigating for the very first time. The outsiders call the Community a cult, but Pioneer miraculously survived a shooting that should have killed him. Are the faithful members right to stay true to his message? Is this just a test of faith? One thing is for sure: the Community will do anything to bring Lyla back to the fold. Trapped in a spider’s web of deception, will Lyla detect the sticky threads tightening around her before it’s too late? She’ll have to unravel the mystery of what Pioneer and the Community are truly up to if she wants to survive.
 
Suspenseful and chilling, Astray is Amy Christine Parker’s nerve-fraying sequel to Gated. This fast-paced psychological thriller is masterfully plotted and sure to leave goose bumps. Perfect for fans of creepy YA thrillers and contemporary fiction alike.

Astray: Deleted Kissing Scene from Chapter 7 Originally this scene was part of Chapter Seven, but was deleted when I figured out that Lyla was going to find a little gift waiting or her in Cody’s car that basically ruined any opportunities for romance. But I do like this scene, the tenderness between them.

When we stop at the light, Cody opens the glove compartment and pulls out his sunglasses. “Here, these’ll help.” He unfolds them and slips them onto my eyes. “There. Now you can’t tell.” His hands linger on the sides of my face. He’s only inches away. “Puffy or not, you’re eyes are always beautiful.”

My stomach is flip-flopping all over the place. I don’t know what to say. It’s like I want him to get closer, but I also have the strangest urge to jump out of the car and run. It’s the best thrill and the strangest fear all wrapped into one. When I can’t stand the sweet awfulness of it I start babbling. “I thought you said I was scary enough to inspire your next monster. So which am I? Scary or beautiful?”

Even with the window open and the wind whistling softly in the background I feel as if all the air has gone out of the car. Cody bites his bottom lip. “Both. You’re both,” he says and before I can even process this, he leans over and his lips brush against mine. At first it’s the lightest of kisses, a tickle against my mouth, but then his kiss deepens, and I bring my arms up around his neck. I feel like I could forget everything when he kisses me like this. There’s just him and the taste of his mouth and the way his hand holds my back. I pull away a bit to catch my breath. He moves his chin is in the crook of my neck. His jaw is slightly scruffy—in an on purpose, carefully groomed to look disheveled kind of way. It’s like fine grit sandpaper, the kind we used in the woodshop back in Mandrodage Meadows. It makes a million goose bumps pop out along my arms and legs as he moves it up and down my neck. Cody pulls back and smiles when he sees the bumps before he buries his scruff in my neck again. Before long I’m squealing and laughing and gasping for air. 

“Aaah, quit it!” I squeal. He laughs into my neck. His breath warms me, making the goose bumps worse. “I. Can’t. Breathe,” I gasp and he chuckles and gives my cheek a quick peck before he settles back into his seat. We’ve been sitting at the light so long that it’s red again. The car behind us starts honking. I look over at Cody and he winks at me. I can feel my smile and I know it’s all goofy and ridiculous, but then so is his. He’s the one thing that’s turned out right so far. It gives me hope that maybe there are more good things out there, things that will feel better than anything I experienced with the Community. And this is why I needed to leave Mandrodage Meadows, why we all did. Everyone should have the chance to feel this good—even if it might not last forever. And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Angela Myron, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 13. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! P.J. Hoover
Also! I'm is touring the interwebs starting Halloween, and will be giving away some awesome prizes, so come back October 30th to get in on the fun!

Tweet #YASH But wait, there's more! Enter my bonus YASH Giveaway here: (all entries will be verified) a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Release: The Betrayed by Terra Harmony

Two separate worlds; the Undine of The Deep and the Wolves of The Dry. A history muddled in war but thick with family bonds blur the lines of right and wrong. The youngest members of each race unite, trying to steer their people away from the brink of disaster. Serena and Liam must work together to resolve the problems of their people before the pressure tears these twin siblings apart. But the betrayed are angry, and are out for revenge. 

Links:
Amazon | iTunes | Kobo | B&N | Smashwords | Goodreads

Author links:
Facebook | Blog | Twitter

About Terra Harmony Terra is author of the eco-fantasy novels in the Akasha Series, Water, Air, Fire and Earth, as well as the Painted Maidens Trilogy. Terra was born and raised in Colorado but has since lived in California, Texas, Utah, North Carolina, and Virginia. Terra has served a 5½ year enlistment in the Marine Corp, has earned her bachelor's and master's degree and presently runs the language services division of a small business.

Terra currently lives in a suburb of Washington, DC with her husband of fifteen years and three children.

Theme with J.P. Lantern

Disaster brings everybody together. A cloned corporate assassin; a boy genius and his new robot; a tech-modified gangster with nothing to lose; a beautiful, damaged woman and her unbalanced stalker—these folks couldn't be more different, but somehow they must work together to save their own skin. Stranded in the epicenter of a monumental earthquake in the dystopian slum, Junktown, there is only one way to survive. These unlikely teammates must go...UP THE TOWER.

themes I return to again and again in my stories One theme that is pretty consistent in my work so far is family. I find family absolutely fascinating because it basically decides everything you're going to be from a very young age.

For myself, I think I would have turned out as a much different, much worse sort of person if I hadn’t grown up in a loving, supporting environment. I think there are tons of people who don’t need that kind of environment to be awesome, but I am decidedly not one of them. By nature, I just have this huge list of flaws that can make me a pain: I’ve got a hell of a temper, I’m prone to resentment, I’m argumentative, and I’m stubborn. And let’s just say those are all things I can pretty reasonably trace down the genealogy line. But, because of my family, I also know how to apologize; I know my problems are my problems and not something to foist upon other people; I know how to see other people’s viewpoints; and, I know how to admit when I’m wrong. 

So a lot of my characters are sort of spin-offs of myself with just different family backgrounds. Ward in DUST BOWL is a pretty accurate summation of what I would have been like without a family to back me. He’s lonely and feels abandoned, and is completely alcoholic, and with a loss for anywhere to turn, he joins an apocalyptic cult. Clay from THE RED COUNTRY TRILOGY is sort of what I imagine myself becoming if I ever went back to drinking and grew up another twenty years or so. Basically decent and very intelligent, but flawed all the way through and unable to cope with the presence of other people’s needs in his life. 

But not all my characters come from that place. In my latest book, UP THE TOWER, it’s still very family-oriented in terms of theme, but not really any of the characters have much to do with me. I felt like a lot of my fiction was becoming about moving away from family, and so I wanted to write something where people were trying to drift back toward it. So the main thrust of Ore’s quest in the book is to find her boy-genius brother, Samson. 

Samson’s main thrust for his whole life, pretty much, was to enhance the safety of the man who became his father figure. Unfortunately, his father figure is a gang lord, and so by doing this, Samson has created this immensely powerful bad person, which is sort of an allegory for the ways in which we can give the father figures in our lives too much power over ourselves. 

Victor is a really interesting character in this vein because he’s a clone, and has never had any family. The nature of his clone-dom is that he's been killed and brought back to life a lot of times, so his brain isn't firing in all the ways it's supposed to be. When he's presented with the presence of Ana, who reminds him of his mother, he goes sort of crazy even though he's been designed to be this ultra-smooth secret operative. 

All told, I think family is a great source for looking at what makes us tick.
An Excerpt from the Book “Hey, Smellson!”

Samson ignored the jeer, focusing carefully on opening the box. He was twelve years old and he did not want to screw this up; being twelve was important, and people took the things you did seriously so long as you did them well.

“Smellson, hey!” The Crowboy banged his crowbar on the dusty ruins of the factory line where they had set up the six crates from their haul that morning. “Don’t blow us up, okay? I don’t want to die with your stench clogging me up, yeah?”

Again, Samson ignored the other boy, trying to concentrate as he eased his longtool through the gap in the crate before him. He very well could blow himself up; he could blow them all up. Inside the GuaranTech crate he tinkered with was a copbot.

Copbots blew up all the time. If their main processors or power source were damaged, they blew up. If they were being captured, they blew up. If they ran out of ammo and couldn’t refill within about ten minutes, they blew up. When they blew up, they incinerated everything in about a hundred foot radius. The warehouse was not big enough for the Crowboys to keep their distance and still work in the role of protection as they had been hired. So they were in the blast zone as well as Samson.

The copbots, deactivated, were precious and valuable. Strangely, they were valuable precisely because they were so hard to deactivate. A copbot was made almost entirely out of self-healing nanotech, and with enough time, it could repair from almost any wound to its metal shell. So, to keep this sort of power out of the hands of the gangster conglomerate that ran Junktown, the Five Faces, and any other sort of competitor, the copbots had a very liberal self-destruct mechanism.

This is what Samson worked against.

AbouT J.P.  J.P. Lantern lives in the Midwestern US, though his heart and probably some essential parts of his liver and pancreas and whatnot live metaphorically in Texas. He writes speculative science fiction short stories, novellas, and novels which he has deemed "rugged," though he would also be fine with "roughhewn" because that is a terrific and wonderfully apt word.

Full of adventure and discovery, these stories examine complex people in situations fraught with conflict as they search for truth in increasingly violent and complicated worlds.

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The author will be awarding a backlist ebook copy to a randomly drawn winner at every stop during the tour and a Grand Prize of a $25 Amazon GC will be awarded to one randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during this tour.
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