Friday 27 November 2015

A Broken Race blog tour

Happy Friday! I hope those of you who live in the States had a calm and relaxing Thanksgiving, and that Black Friday isn't too hectic for you (it's over here as well now, thanks for that!) Some of you will be in the last throes of NaNoWriMo with the finish line hopefully well within sight. As a bit of inspiration, I'm helping to launch Jean Davis' novel A Broken Race, which was born during NaNo. Here's Jean to tell us more.


Here we are in November, in the midst of another NaNoWriMo. It's hard to believe that six years ago I was in the middle of writing A Broken Race. That year, my fourth year participating, I'd set out to write a whole story from beginning to end in thirty days. I managed to do that and then, content with completing my goal, saved the file to my hard drive one last time and went on to the next project.

It wasn't until I was considering writing a prequel to A Broken Race for my 2012 NaNo Novel, that I read the story again and realized I really liked it. The prequel effort was easily the worst thing I've written since I started writing seriously, and it will never see the light of day, but it did put me on the path to sharing One-fifty-two's story with the world so it was well worth the effort. I hope you will agree.


The fortress is home to the last of civilized humanity. The few remaining women live in a vault far below the gardens,  the men who protect, manage, and labor, and the walls that protect them all. A virus generations past and inbreeding since, has left average men severely outnumbered by Simples. Humanity, as it once was, is broken. 

Outside those walls live the Wildmen, starving, poor, and desperate for the treasures of the fortress. Seeking women to once again fill their ranks with healthy children, and something other than rats to fill their stomachs, the Wildmen launch one last raid. One of their number makes it inside alive.

One-fifty-two is a Simple man. The raid fills his calm and orderly world with smoke and fear, the need for the comfort of his mother, and the promises of a Wildman captive. With his eyes open to the secrets behind the order his always known, One-fifty-two must find the courage to stop being a cog and take hold of the wheel, or the fortress may be the end of them all.

A Broken Race is available in ebook and paperbackhttp://www.caffeinated-press.com/shop/

Jean Davis lives in West Michigan and this is her tenth year participating in NaNoWriMo. She has reached 50K eight of those years and settled for 25K last year due to building her new house. Don't try to build a house and write a novel at the same time.

When not writing speculative fiction, she can be found playing in her garden, enjoying a glass of wine, or lost a good book. A Broken Race is her first novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Theian JournalBards and Sages Quarterly, Acidic Fiction, Tales of The Talisman, The First Line, Allegory, Isotropic Fiction, Liquid Imagination, and more. Upcoming short fiction publications include Caffeinated Press' Brewed Awakenings II, The3288 Review.


Follow her writing adventures at www.jeanddavis.blogspot.com

Friday 20 November 2015

The Undead Road cover reveal



Title: The Undead Road: My Zombie Summer: Part 1
Publisher: CreateSpace / Dashboard Books
Ebook Release: January 1st, 2016
Paperback: January 26th, 2016
Cover by Steven Novak

Blurb:

Nothing brings the family together like a zombie apocalypse …

Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Barnes would rather watch a zombie movie than shoot a real one, but he has no choice if his family wants to survive the end of the world. Their plan? Drive across the infected United States to a cabin in the Colorado Rockies without a scratch, but their trip takes a complicated detour in the middle of Nebraska when they find Kaylynn, a girl who can handle a baseball bat better than Jeremy can hold a .45 Berretta. And when they stumble into a sanctuary, Jeremy soon learns that Kaylynn is stronger than she looks—a deadly secret lies inside her.

After the radio picks up a distress call from Kansas City about a possible cure, Jeremy’s parents go with a team to investigate. They never return. The only way to find their parents is for Jeremy and his sister Jewel to rely on a dangerous girl who might just turn on them at any moment.

Contest Details:

A while ago, David invited the blogosphere to let him turn one unfortunate lucky contestant into a zombie for The Undead Road. The winner was Ilima Todd, who is now the awesome author of Remake. The next installment of My Zombie Summer is underway, and David wants to do this contest again. Want to be in a zombie book? Not only is this your chance, but it is your choice!

Between now and next Wednesday, send an email to dpowersking [at] gmail [dot] com, with the subject line: Zombify Me! Contest. In your email, David wants you to tell him three things:

1: The name you will be identified as (example: your first name).
2: A description of yourself—the more detailed you are, the better.
3: How would you like the survivors to put you out of your misery?

Four casualties contestants will be chosen on Wednesday, November 25th. The most inventive or interesting entry will be zombified! The other three who are unlucky fortunate enough to survive will be given special honors. Winners will be announced on December 2nd on David’s blog.

Prizes? The winner will be zombified in the pages of My Zombie Summer: Part Two, receive a signed proof of the novel (when it’s ready), and a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card. The runner ups will receive a free ebook of The Undead Road for their Kindle (other platforms TBA).

Thank you for participating, and good luck!


About the Author:

David Powers King was born in beautiful downtown Burbank, California where his love for film inspired him to be a writer. He is the co-author of the YA fantasy novel WOVEN, published by Scholastic. An avid fan of science fiction and fantasy, David also has a soft spot for zombies and the paranormal. He currently lives deep in the mountain West with his wife and three children.



Thursday 12 November 2015

Realms Faire: My character needs your help!


Calling all friends and fans, I need your help. My character Reuben has met a worthy opponent at the Realms Faire and is in a duel that just might threaten his life. I need you to finish the story for me by visiting the realm of Lady Cassandraone quick comment on who you think will win the duel could win you ebooks and more.

Verily, I trust all revellers are still enjoying the fun of the Faire. There's still plenty of grog to go around, and many amusing diversions to be found in the grounds of our host Lady Mary's castle, with prizes galore. Huzzah!


Monday 9 November 2015

Realms Faire 2015 - The Duels Begin!

Huzzah! It is time once again for one of the most breathtaking spectacles in the blogging calendar - yes, we're talking about Realms Faire. I am honoured to participate as Sir Nick the Noble in today's duel with a worthy adversary, and there's lots of other fun and games all week too.


You can cheer for me in the duel by using my magic words at the Castle of Lady Mary. Go here to check it out! If it so moves you, you can also cheer for me on the rest of the days. There's a host of prizes to be won daily, today including my collection A Change of Mind.

My magic words are:

Nick the Noble
Mind game
Yonder

Using these words in comments on the Joust Page, up to three times per day, will earn me points in the tournament and place you in the drawing to win goodies including ebooks and giftcards. Winners will be announced each day at 10pm Eastern Time. So, I hope you'll join me in raising a flagon of grog to this year's Faire!

Wednesday 4 November 2015

IWSG November 2015

It's the first Wednesday of the month and of course that means it's time once again for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, hosted by Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh with his erstwhile co-hosts for the month Stephen TrempKaren WalkerDenise Covey and Tyrean Martinson. It's a safe haven where writers of all stripes can their insecurities without fear of ridicule.

Well, seeing as this is the place to do so, I could say I'm insecure about a few things right now. But I'm also feeling good about some things, so I'm somewhere in the middle. I'm insecure about the fact I haven't posted in a few weeks, due to tech problems with my laptop yet again, so I'm feeling slightly disconnected from the blogging world. I've been working lots of hours on my editing job but I'm feeling good about the fact I've got into a regular routine with this, and posting for the IWSG today will hopefully get me back into blogging regularly too.

I'm insecure about the fact I haven't done a significant amount of writing since the last NaNo ended, almost a year ago, and the final part of my trilogy has yet to get off the ground (my major goal for this year was to write and finish it). Actually, I still need to re-read the end of Part 2 and my novella prequel because due to my failure to back up (again - I'm never going to learn!) they only exist on my stepdaughter's laptop which I currently can't access, but I'm hoping to fix that by the end of the week. Despite this, I'm feeling good about the fact I had my first short story placement in four years earlier this year, I got my collection out in the world to positive reviews, and I got a story submitted to the IWSG anthology (did you?) as well as to another contest which I'll hear about next year. And there's still nearly two months to work on that series ending, and a new year starting in January.

So, it's ups and downs, swings and roundabouts - that's the writing life, isn't it? And it's about letting the good outweigh the bad.

Don't forget to visit the other participants in the IWSG - click here!