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

11 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick and Jean - I like the idea of One-Fifty-Two coming into his own ... and realising he has more to offer. Good luck and as you're both doing keep on writing ... cheers Hilary

JeffO said...

A Broken Race sounds like a great concept. Best of luck to you, Jean.

No Black Friday participation for me, Nick. We're pretty strict homebodies on this weekend. Enjoy!

Stephanie Faris said...

Sounds like a great book! Congratulations to Jean. I don't really do Black Friday. I'd be happy to stay home and shop the online deals in my PJs if I knew what I was getting people for Christmas yet... My sister and her husband want to go to all the thrift shops in the area and look for clothes for their kids.

betty said...

I am amazed with Jean's achievements with participating with NaNoWriMo over the years! That's quite an accomplishment! Best of luck to Jean with A Broken Race :)

Thankfully I usually work the day after Thanksgiving, so no Black Friday shopping for me :)

betty

Mark Koopmans said...

Wow, I can't believe Black Friday happens in the UK now, too! (The power of capatilism:)

Congrats to Jean! That is an amazing achievement and I wish her all the best.

(IF I was building a house, I'd have 2.5 words... so kudos on 10 years of NaNo :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Jean. I love hearing about NaNo novels getting published. I'd like to participate one day.

Jean Davis said...

Thanks everyone! I hope you enjoy the book.

I just crossed the 50K mark for NaNoWriMo last night, but still have a long way to go on both projects I started this month. Feels good to return to winning after last year. To celebrate, I took the morning off and went shopping, though not too early. I missed all the crazy shoppers and got most of my Christmas shopping done.

diedre Knight said...

Congratulations, Jean! With such an exceptional concept, A Broken Race is sure to please :-) I'm always impressed and a little envious of anyone who participates in the NaNoWriMo - write on!
Thanks for sharing, Nick - once again, you've picked a winner!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Congratulations, Jean! I love that you found treasure on a re-read of a previous project! That's awesome and I think the book concept sounds great! :)

Liz A. said...

Interesting concept. Congrats on getting a NaNo novel fully edited and published.

Sherry Ellis said...

Jean's book sounds really good. I think it's great that a Nano project got published.

Congratulations, Nick! You won a copy of my book, Ten Zany Birds. (Yes, I do ship to anywhere in the world.) Please send me an email and let me know where you'd like me to mail it. sherry.a.ellis@gmail.com