Welcome to Sara R. Turnquist & ‘The General’s Wife’ @sarat1701 @GoddessFish #Historical #Romance

On October 12, 2016October 3, 2016 By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Goddess Fish Promotions18 Comments

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Today we have author Sara R. Turnquist visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* Sara is originally from middle TN. After a short stint in Memphis, where she earned a degree in Biology and began a career as both a Zoo Educator and a Sleep Technician, she then followed a dream to work for a large zoo in Orlando, FL as an Educator. Once she and her husband started their family, they moved back to Tennessee. Sara and her husband now enjoy a full life with their three beautiful and very active children. Sara enjoys many creative outlets – singing, piano, drawing, drama, and organizing anything. And even though she has enjoyed her career as a Zoo Educator, Sara’s great love of the written word continued to draw her to write. She has always been an avid reader and, for many years, has been what she terms a “closet writer”. Her travels and love of history have served to inspire her to write Historical Fiction. Sara has made several trips overseas to the Czech Republic. Her time among the Czech people and the landscapes of the country inspired her and greatly influenced her work on her debut novel, The Lady Bornekova, set in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. Sara is also a member of the ACFW.

Today Sara R. Turnquist will be talking about — THE WRITE STUFF: THE BENEFITS OF A CRITIQUE GROUP.
* I cannot say enough good things about my critique group. Or about the benefits of a critique group in general. No matter what stage of writing – whether a newbie or a seasoned professional. My critique group is made up of all stages and places. And I love that. So, what can a writing group do to benefit me? I’ll spill the beans here…
* Provide Instant Feedback. This is one of the most basic and obvious reasons anyone joins a critique group. I encourage everyone to be bold enough to share his or her work. That’s the only way to improve. Let the group see it and give feedback. The more eyes, the more they can catch. This is not because the writing is bad, it’s because there are only so many things the writer can catch. We tend to be too close to the work. This is, however, where I advise everyone to be choosy about his or her critique group. No one wants a group that is vicious or tears others down. If that’s the vibe, don’t go back; but try another group.
* Broaden Your Horizons. By this I mean that we can learn more about our craft from others who are further along in their careers. I can benefit from others who have editors that have taught them different things. What can I glean from someone who attended a conference workshop that I didn’t have access to? These are all things to think about.
* Teach. There may even be an opportunity to teach others. This not only brings on the warm fuzzies, but it solidifies your knowledge of craft and gives anyone a confidence boost. As we learn and grow in our craft, we should turn around and teach others.
* Connect. Those in the group that are published and going to conferences can connect newbies in the group with people in the industry they have met. This can be extremely valuable. During my time in my critique group, I have come to see the necessity of going to conferences and workshops and even taking online courses. All of these things have grown me in my craft. But I never would have known where to find these things had it not been for my critique group’s fearless leader, who encouraged and connected me with other writers.
* Accountability & Support. That regular check-in keeps everyone accountable to continue working, so we have something to share if nothing else. But the groups’ support and encouragement helps everyone strive to complete projects and move further along in their career.
* These are just a few of the benefits. As I said, I could go on and on (but I won’t). The next question you are bound to ask is “how do I find a critique group?”. I would look in your city or surrounding area through local publications, or check with the public library. Utilizing your computer to search for local groups can also prove fruitful. If there isn’t anything promising, try to find an online critique partner, or critique group. I would look for these through a search as well. The important thing for me is that I am in a group led by or at least regularly attended by a published author.

A look into…

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~ Blurb ~

* “Go home!” Ismene is speechless as she reads those words written in blood on the walls of her new home. The young, raven-haired Grecian beauty had traveled all the way from her homeland to marry the Pharaoh’s top general. But she never expected this. The hatred of the Alexandrian mob for their Greek rulers is right in front of her. It is the first of many threats she will receive.
* Things are escalating out of control. Damaged crops and horses turned loose at night are one thing. But when Ismene receives a death threat, it becomes clear that there is a spy within her own household. She would turn to her husband to deal with this issue, except he left for battle by order of the Pharaoh. Not knowing whom to trust, she fears for her safety as well as the entire ruling class of Egypt.

~ Excerpt ~

* “Can you please take this blindfold off?” Ismene loved surprises, but couldn’t stand the waiting. Alistair had risen early to prepare a special breakfast for them and served her in bed. Then he had told her that he had something special planned for them today—a special place for them to visit.
* “Not yet,” Alistair said as he gripped her waist. Their chariot went over a bump which caused him to pull her to him even more tightly. She smiled at the feel of his secure embrace; even after this short time it still caused butterflies in her stomach.
* She felt the chariot continue to move down the smooth path with a little rocking here and there as the wheels found imperfections in the road.
* “We’re almost there, I promise,” he assured her. His voice was close to her ear and it gave her warm chills. She thought of the feel of those lips on her neck. There wasn’t much time to daydream, though, because, true to his word, it wasn’t much longer before she felt him slow the horses and still the chariot.
* “Ready for your surprise?” he asked.
* “Yes!” She feigned exasperation.
* Only then did he reach up, untie her blindfold, and let it fall. “The great Library of Alexandria.”

Buy The General’s Wife here…
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords

Find Sara R. Turnquist here…
Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | Website

Thank you for joining us here today, Sara R. Turnquist! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! Sara R. Turnquist will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour! So be sure to leave a comment AND use this RAFFLECOPTER LINK to enter the drawing. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!

Welcome to CJ Perry & ‘Dark Communion’ @DarkCommunion @GoddessFish #epicfantasy

On October 10, 2016October 8, 2016 By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Goddess Fish Promotions8 Comments

vbt_tourbanner_darkcommunion

Today we have author CJ Perry visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* My deep and abiding love of fantasy began when I was six when I first saw the 1981 film Dragonslayer on VHS with my father. He loved fantasy movies too, but didn’t have the courage to be a dork about it like I did. That movie was a gateway drug that led me straight to the hard stuff – CS Lewis. I was far too young for such potency but by the time I was ten I had read the whole series. That’s when I found my first Dungeons and Dragons group. When I started playing, my friends and I used pre-made campaign settings and published adventures, but I quickly grew restless with their limitations and trite story lines. I needed my own persistent world: something adaptable to my whim and that no one else owned.
* Back in my day, there was no internet, so I took out every book about castles and medieval history from the school library and read them in Math class (I’m still terrible at math as a result). I came up with an entire world and brand new history. I read books on cartography and hand drew maps of my new world. I created a cosmology, a hierarchy of gods, and the tenets of their religions. I read the Dungeon Master’s guide a dozen times, and every fantasy novel I could get my hands on.
* Then, one day, I sat down and told my friends, “Hey guys, wanna try my story instead?” Even 15 years after the original D&D campaigns ended, former players tell me that they share our incredible stories with their children. I’m honored to say that most of those players still have their original character sheets 16-20 years later, and a couple have even named their children after them.
* Now, I’m 39 years old and a loving father of 2 girls, and I still play those games on occasion. My passion has evolved into putting those ideas and amazing stories on paper for the whole world to enjoy. My first novel took me and co-author DC Fergerson 10 years to write and topped out at 180,000 words. Being too long and too complex, I finally ended the project and took its lessons to heart.
* I learned that Dungeons & Dragons did not translate well into a novel. D&D made for great times, but also for some meandering plot lines, pointless encounters, and poor character motivations. No matter how memorable some of the moments were, if I wanted anyone to read my story, I needed to learn a lot more about writing.
* I threw myself into being a full time student of novel crafting. I read every book on writing by Dwight Swain I could find. I paid Chuck Sambuchino (Editor for Writer’s Digest) to critique and edit my older work. I took James Patterson’s Masterclass, went to college, and joined online writing communities. All the while, I read my favorite fantasy novels again, only this time with a mental highlighter. I reworked my stories, outlined them, and decided to start from the beginning.
* Many, many years later, I am in the final edit and proofreading stage of Dark Communion, the first installment of the Shadowalker Chronicles. My role as a father of two girls heavily influenced the characters I’d known for over 20 years, shaping them into women that my own daughters could respect. My characters took on a depth and quality that brings them off the page and into the minds of readers, because they have become all too real. I was privileged enough to work on two careers at the same time to accomplish this feat – a fun-loving and involved stay-at-home dad, and a full time writer.

Today CJ Perry will be talking about the first book that had a big impact on him.
* The first book to have a big impact on me was Pet Sematary by Stephen King. I read it when it came out in 89, when I was only twelve. When I picked it up, I couldnt imagine ever being truly scared by a book. I understood that movies could scare me, but the idea of printed words on a page having the same impact seemed ridiculous. At least, that’s what I told my parents. My father laughed and let me buy it. I had no idea what I was in for.
* I read Pet Sematary in two days. I stayed up late with a flashlight under the covers. I read it in school. No book had ever gripped me like that one did. I had read Christine, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Stand, and the Gunslinger. I loved them all, but not one of them had scared me. When I finally closed Pet Sematary, I couldn’t sleep without a nightlight. I didn’t even have one as a toddler, but I had my parents put one in my room and the bathroom. When the movie came out, my father asked me if I wanted to go see it. I refused, but my father went to see it. When he came back he finally understood what he let his pre-teenage son read.
* I had nightmares for years and the nightlights stayed in my room and bathroom until I was in High School. Then, one day, in the library I decided to try my hand at my own story – a sci-fi horror about an alien invasion of my little suburban town in upstate NY. It took me a couple of days to finish, but when I did, the nightmares stopped. I should have realized then, how powerful and therapeutic writing was for me. But at that age, it didn’t occur to me that the nightmares stopped when I wrote. I just never made the connection.
* To this day I still won’t pick up Pet Sematary. I just have no desire to go back to that place. Stephen King traumatized me, but somehow in the midst of scaring my hair white, he also inspired me. I didn’t know books could create such powerful emotion in the reader. I have no interest in scaring my readers half to death, but I want people to feel that deeply for my characters and my story. I want them to take Ayla’s struggles with them in their hearts and dreams when they click off the light after reading Dark Communion and close their eyes.

A look into Dark Communion…

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~ Blurb ~
* The minotaurs have kept Ayla and Deetra’s people in chains for 200 years. With nothing left to live for, and a death sentence in her womb, Ayla trades her soul for a chance to break the curse which holds her people in slavery. Armed only with her faith, she and Deetra start a revolution, and bring about the return of the Goddess of Darkness.

~ Excerpt ~

* Ayla lifted the woman’s chin with her finger. “What is your name?”
* “Ava.”
* “How far along are you?” They both knew what she really asked; are you carrying a calf?
* The woman met Ayla’s eyes and did not look away.
* “Three months.”
* Ayla’s heart ached with pity. Judging by the size of her womb, if she had carried a human child, she would only have two months to go. Horses clopped up the drawbridge until the other wagon stopped behind the first. The people on the back leaned to see what went on up ahead. Ayla knelt down in front of the pregnant woman on the cool stone of the gatehouse.
* Her voice echoed off the stone walls. “Who is this man with you?”
* The woman bowed her head. “My brother, Gaelan, milady.”
* Butch’s chest rumbled. “It’s Priestess.”
* The woman looked up, then back down and hurried to correct herself. “He’s my brother, Priestess.”
* Ayla shook her head at Butch with a stern look and he dipped his head in silent apology. She lifted the woman’s chin again. Her voice kept the compassion it had before, but with an edge.
* “You are too far along for any surgeon to help you.”
* “I know, Priestess. That’s not why I came.” The pregnant woman’s green eyes held Ayla’s gaze and did not waiver. She set her jaw. “I want to fight.”

Buy Dark Communion here…
Amazon

Find CJ Perry here…
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Website

Thank you for joining us here today, CJ Perry! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story. Stephen King had a big influence in my reading and writing life as well. I, too, remember reading Pet Sematary. It was 1984, my freshman year of high school {the book was published in ’83 & the film came out in ’89}, and I’d borrowed the paperback from a friend–who happens to be my husband now. I’d read it as I walked the halls between class and would even get a few pages in during them. 😉 I really fell in love with the horror genre back then, both in literature and film. And yeah, I have to agree, the movie Pet Sematary is pretty creepy.

ANNOUNCEMENT! CJ Perry will be awarding a $10 and a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to two randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour! So be sure to leave a comment AND use this RAFFLECOPTER LINK to enter the drawing. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!

Welcome to JW Troemner & ‘Mark of the Dragon’ @JWTroemner @GoddessFish #UrbanFantasy

On October 5, 2016October 2, 2016 By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Goddess Fish Promotions7 Comments

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Today we have author JW Troemner visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
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* JW Troemner was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States, where she lives with her partner in a house full of pets. Most days she can be found gazing longingly at sinkholes and abandoned buildings.

Today JW Troemner will be talking about the first book she read that had a big impact on her.
* Hello Casey, and thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today!
* You asked me to talk about the first book that made a big impact on me. As a lover of dark fiction, I have to wonder if you had a chance to read the same series that I did when you were younger, because it left me with a craving for darker stories that’s lasted me the rest of my life.
* I’m speaking, of course, of the Animorphs series.
* Yeah. The ones that were huge in the 90s with the goofy covers of a person turning into an animal on the front cover. They were the length of a typical mid-grade book and usually on the shelves between the Saddle Club and Goosebumps.
* I started reading them in the first grade or so, while I was still struggling to learn English, and I kept going through all fifty-three main books, all the prequel series, and all the multi-POV special editions. I used to sit around on the playground with my best friend, making up self-insert characters to go on adventures with them (mine was a spy that helped the protagonists get top-secret information; my friend’s was one of the main characters’ little sister).
* All of this sounds sweet and adorable if you’ve never actually read one of these books.
* From the first book, they were full of violence, gore, and trauma. The protagonists are child soldiers fighting a guerilla war against body-snatching aliens, and it’s played absolutely straight. Nobody ever comes to save the heroes at the last minute. Every character constantly wrestles with terror, depression, despair, and their own fracturing humanity as they have to make progressively darker choices. On several occasions they have to decide the fate of entire species—which ones are eradicated, which ones are enslaved, and which ones are saved—and it weighs heavy on them. And (spoilers for a book series that concluded in 2001): almost all of them are dead at by the series’ end.
* Now, none of this is done in a sadistic or cruel way, and never once did I get the impression that the author was going for gross-out humor. I also noticed that for all the times that a character was said to swear, I distinctly only remember seeing it once in the series. The entire time I was reading, it was incredibly clear to me that the author knew her readers were primarily kids, but she wasn’t talking down me.
* K.A. Applegate just laid it out exactly as it was: leadership means you’re the hero, but it also means all the hardest choices and all their worst consequences are on your shoulders. You can save people, but there will always be someone you can’t save. Warriors may be awesome, but they’re also absolutely dripping with trauma. Just because somebody is a family member or in a position of authority doesn’t mean they are trustworthy, or even good people.
* I add this as an afterthought because I only ever noticed it as an afterthought: the stories were remarkably diverse. Two of the five protagonists are girls, and the girliest of them is also the most ruthless combatant in the series. One of the protagonists is a black girl; another is Latino. Two are Jewish; one of them comes from an abusive household; one is raised by a single father. No attention is ever brought to these facts. They’re simply part of the characters, not the traits that define them. Cassie isn’t the Black Chick™, she’s the gentle and compassionate one who knows practically everything about animals and medicine. Marco isn’t the Latino™, he’s the guy who always has a wisecrack but can zero in onto the central conflict of every situation. I never even noticed the diversity until years later, when I started approaching my childhood loves with a more critical eye.
* In a lot of ways, I’ve found myself trying to live up to K.A. Applegate’s style of writing, and I hope that shines through in Urban Dragon.

A look into Mark of the Dragon…

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~ Blurb ~
* Rosario Hernandez doesn’t ask for much. She’d like to sleep on a bed instead of a sidewalk, to know where her next meal is coming from, and maybe, if she’s really feeling optimistic, to get a girlfriend. More than anything, though, she wants her best friend Arkay to not murder anyone— because Arkay is a dragon, claws and all, and she has a penchant for vigilante justice. When Arkay’s latest escapade goes sour, Rosario gets stuck with a stolen van and a cooler full of human organs. Now they’re on the run, and it’s not just the cops who want answers. The owner of the cooler is still out there, and they want to replace what they’ve lost— by any means necessary.

~ Excerpt ~

* Occult ‘R’ Us:
* The room was lined with dozens, maybe hundreds, of unlit candles in shades of white and red and black. The line of candles only stopped at a bookshelf full of old, leather-bound tomes and even older-looking brass weapons. An iron circle had been pounded into the concrete floor, which had been liberally smeared with rust-brown stains. The far wall was shiny and steel with a big door that looked like a walk-in refrigerator, the kind you’d find in a restaurant kitchen.
* Arkay had apparently ignored Occult ‘R’ Us entirely, except to stack the old books under a window and try to pry open the glass with a rune-covered dagger. “Think you can fit?”
* “I’ll suck it in,” I said.
* “Then give me just a minute. I’ve almost got it.”
* So during that minute, I did The Thing. You know, that one thing you usually see people in horror movies doing. The one that makes you facepalm and shake your head at the sheer stupidity.
* Because Arkay was busy with the window, and Matheson and his goons were scratching at the door with what sounded like a screwdriver, and I had nothing else occupying my time or my mind.
* Nothing but that giant freakin’ door in the shiny metal wall, just begging to be opened.
* Three guesses what I did.

Buy Mark of the Dragon here…
Amazon

Find JW Troemner here…
Facebook | Goodreads | Newsletter/Mailing list | Twitter | Website

Thank you for joining us here today, JW Troemner! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! JW Troemner will be awarding $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour! So be sure to leave a comment AND use this RAFFLECOPTER LINK to enter the drawing. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!