Friday, January 29, 2016

#Excerpt: ELEMENTALS, THE PROPHECY OF SHADOWS by Michelle Madden


The Prophecy of Shadows
Michelle Madow
(Elementals #1)
Published by: Dreamscape Publishing
Publication date: January 26th 2016
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Filled with magic, thrilling adventure, and sweet romance, Elementals is the first in a new series that fans of Percy Jackson and The Secret Circle will love!
When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers–and, to her dismay, by Blake–the school’s notorious bad-boy.

Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle’s wrath, he finds it impossible to keep his distance.

When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect–it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town … and possibly the world.

“Elementals is going to blow your mind!”
-Crossroad Reviews, ★★★★★
“Five glittery stars for being such a compelling read!”
-Andrea Heltsley, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★
“A perfect mixture of magic and mythology. An entrancing story of trust, friendship and well naughty boys. WITCHES are not the only thing walking the earth!”
– BenjaminOfTomes, BookTuber ★★★★★
EXCERPT:
Everyone stared at me, and I looked to the front of the room, where a tall, lanky man in a tweed suit stood next to a blackboard covered with the morning announcements. His gray hair shined under the light, and his wrinkled skin and warm smile reminded me more of a grandfather than a teacher.
 

He cleared his throat and rolled a piece of chalk in his palm. “You must be Nicole Cassidy,” he said.

“Yeah.” I nodded and looked around at the other students. There were about thirty of them, and there seemed to be an invisible line going down the middle of the room, dividing them in half. The students near the door wore jeans and sweatshirts, but the ones closer to the wall looked like they were dressed for a fashion show instead of school.


“It’s nice to meet you Nicole.” The teacher sounded sincere, like he was meeting a new friend instead of a student. “Welcome to our homeroom. I’m Mr. Faulkner, but please call me Darius.” He turned to the chalkboard, lifted his hand, and waved it from one side to the other. “You probably weren’t expecting everything to look so normal, but we have to be careful. As I’m sure you know, we can’t risk letting anyone else know what goes on in here.”


Then the board shimmered—like sunlight glimmering off the ocean—and the morning announcements changed into different letters right in front of my eyes.


Author Bio:
Michelle Madow grew up in Baltimore, graduated Rollins College in Orlando, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida. She wrote her first book in her junior year of college, and has been writing novels since. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle has toured across America to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.


Visit Michelle online at www.michellemadow.com, and be sure to sign up for her newsletter and follow her on Amazon to get instant updates on her books!


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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

#Excerpt: THE SUGARSPEAR CHRONICLES by Nicole Arlyn


Excerpt:

She stood up, carrying with her this vision of a place she was seeing in her mind. It was a beautiful room, wide and spacious with a breeze of roses entering through a clear window. A hand carved wooden desk sat under the window and on top of the desk was a pile of fresh parchment and a big clear jar of dark purple ink. A pen with a blue feather sat on top the paper.
           
That was all. All she needed now. In this moment, a desire so strong rose up in her and lifted her spirit. She desired this place, this ink, and that’s all. Her body was done. It had exhausted itself, a physical exhaustion beyond anything she had felt, like she had run hundreds of days without stopping. She rested her head against the tree. The bugs spread apart and stopped crawling as they felt in her breath, the kind of truth that is undeniable. The truth of her exhaustion. She told them all, “If only I could have, a quiet place all my own where I can write by the sunshine, the smell of the sea in the wind that comes to me.”
           
The bones were breaking under her feet, the bones in her hands, crushing as she pushed again. Nothing left. No human strength in her.
           
But the tree. The tree had strength to feel her. It knew her hands, her breath, it had taken her stories, her secrets, her prayers. It always heard her. It shaded her from her shady world. It danced its branches around her and swung with her when she swung from the swing that was no more. It knew her roots. It couldn’t hold onto itself like she couldn’t. It wanted to speak back to her and this would be its way...



BLURB:

The Sugarspear Chronicles, the incredible twenty-six-novella saga that started with a little girl and her willow tree, is finally available in one complete collection.

The Sugarspear Chronicles: The Complete Collection is the story of young Sadie Sugarspear, a girl who endures intolerable abuse by reading about a fantasy world filled with incredible sights and outlandish people—a place she’s only ever encountered through her real father’s storybook.

One day, when the cruelty becomes too much to bear, Sadie runs away and hides inside her beloved willow tree. To her surprise, the tree opens, sending Sadie down into the abyss, into a land she’s only ever read about—where she must being a long, terrifying, and heartbreaking journey home.

Readers can now enjoy the entirety of author Nicole Arlyn’s dark fantasy saga in one complete book. This complete collection also includes a note from the author detailing the inspiration and events that led to The Sugarspear Chronicles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Nicole is a writer and an actress born in Brooklyn, New York. She has worked in films such as Clay Pigeons, opposite Joaquin Phoenix; The Wedding Planner; and Brooklyn Bound, among many others. She has performed, written and directed theater productions in New York, Los Angeles, and Europe. She has also read her poems in many poetry lounges in Europe and America, and is a song lyricist for musicians.
After living in Rome, Italy, for the past several years, Nicole has returned to New York City where she lives with her husband and son. She is at work on more novels.

My authors page on Full Fathom Fives website:
(Buy links here)


my authors page on facebook:

Twitter:

The Sugarpsear Chronicles webpage:


Goodreads:


Nicolearlynwrites on wordpress (building this up into a website)

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:




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#Excerpt: FAIRLY CERTAIN by Deborah Ann Davis


“Hey, have you seen Maid Rianne?” Petir ventured to ask after watching their efforts for a while.

“Ye won’t find her around here. She is paying a visit to my wife.”

“Your wife? I thought she was a prison—” Petir glanced at Scottie, busy with his task and ignoring their conversation. “I thought she was a guest of the sheriff.”

“That she is, but Maid Rianne would not be dissuaded from carrying a message from Scottie to his mum. Aye, she be a feisty one, that.”

Alarm filled Petir. “But what if she gets caught?”

William chuckled. “Not Maid Rianne.”

“How do you know?” he snapped at the big man. “She doesn’t have some kind of invisible cloak, does she? I didn’t think so. She could get caught.” How could the man be so casual about it?

“Anything is possible, m’lord. But even if she is caught, she will be safe enough. She can tell the guard she was trying to sneak in to see her betrothed. No harm will befall her.”

Petir threw his arm up in frustration. “You shouldn’t have let her go!” What was he supposed to do now, beside wait and worry?

“Let her go? M’lord, do you really think I had a say in the matter?” The blacksmith threw back his head and laughed, a big booming sound that erased his perpetual scowl. “You tell Maid Rianne what she should do, and let me how that works out for you.”


 BLURB:

Petir takes a rough tumble in the Connecticut woods, but awakens in the middle of old England. His instinct to freak out is tempered by the arrival of a fair maiden wearing a bow...and arrow. Throwing caution to the wind, Petir decides he has nothing to lose by pursuing Maid Rianne. But when she is captured by the enemy, a geek with no ability to defend himself must find a way to rescue the fair maiden.

Buy Links for Fairly Certain:









~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I’m DEBORAH ANN DAVIS, and I write Quirky New/Young Adult Fiction with a Twist. I began writing when searching for inspiration for my 5th grade English Journal. Lo and behold, my world was full of funny tales just waiting to be told. It never occurred to me to pursue writing, not even when I discovered my flare for telling stories at college parties.

After a string of undergrad majors, I realized I could reach a captive audience EVERY DAY in the public school system. As you probably know, teenagers love to laugh, and what could be more entertaining than Biology, Earth Science, and Environmental Science? I jumped into teaching with both feet and loved it for 27 years. It came with an added bonus: Once teens know you like to laugh, they want to make you laugh. Go figure.

Twelve years after our first kiss, I reunited with, and married my childhood sweetheart. Together we coached our daughter's AAU Basketball Team, which swept States two years in a row. (Yay!) Then, for several years, our daughter and our money went to college.

During a particularly nasty bout of Lyme disease, I turned to Fitness to boost my Health, and to Writing to boost my Happiness. Currently, I am a healthy and happy Educational Speaker and a Certified Personal Trainer who loves to write.

We presently reside on a lovely lake in Connecticut. When I’m not writing novels for my Love of Fairs series, I enjoy dabbling with living a sustainable life, dancing, playing outside, and laughing really hard every day. I also promote increasing movement throughout your day as Wiggle Writer in my Merry Meddling blog at http://deborahanndavis.com/merry-meddling

You can track my meddling on https://twitter.com/DeborahAnnDavis  or https://twitter.com/WiggleWriter
 




  
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

 
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Interview with Kathrin Hutson, DAUGHTER OF THE DRACKAN


Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
 ‘Daughter of the Drackan’ is the first book in the ‘Gyenona’s Children’ series. The second, ‘Mother of the Drackan’, will be out in the next few months.

I had one reader describe it as ‘The Jungle Book’ meets a Fantasy ‘Kill Bill’ with dragons. That made me so happy, and he kind of nailed it on the head.

Keelin is a human fledgling, stolen by the mythical drackans as a child and made a drackan herself in all but physical form. She has reoccurring blackouts, always returning to her home in the High Hills covered in blood. Her search for what actually happens to her during these lost moments of time leads her to older, deeper secrets she never wanted to know.

The drackans and humans have loathed each other and warred for centuries, and Keelin is caught in the middle. Among the drackans, she’s an outcast, an abomination of their kind. Among the humans, she’s a terrifying vision of fury, mystery, and deadly skill. Eventually, armed with her drackan blood, she travels to the other side of the world to stop the thing controlling her blackouts and to ensure the same never happens again to her own drackans. But everything along the way makes her question her loyalties, the things she was always taught, and she has to forge her own path for a place among both worlds in which she doesn’t really belong.

It’s dark, violent, bloody, “a beautiful blend of tenderness and ferocity”, and explores loyalty, tradition, greed, double-lives, and defining oneself in a seemingly impossible endeavor. Plus, Keelin’s just pretty badass. She doesn’t listen to anyone, never takes no for an answer, and would rather cut your hand off than shake it. I’d never want to meet her in person, and I love the fact that she makes for a strong protagonist, hated and loved by the readers, those around her, and herself.

Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?
Aloran, the first human Keelin meets and her ‘guide’ within the human world, originally started as a very supporting character. He was the initial bridge between her and the humans, and was supposed to show her just a few tiny secrets in the beginning. It was not my plan to have him fall in love with her, nor to give him such a huge role as the leader of the underground assassin group, the King’s Knives. But it happened.

And when that happened, he invariably makes a second and possibly greater appearance in ‘Mother of the Drackan’. We get a little bit of a deeper look into his own life, where he came from, and when he meets Keelin again, he finds a connection to his past he never knew existed. It’s pretty important for the ending, too—Aloran has a huge role in the final epic scene.

Making Aloran a bigger character definitely changed the direction of the story, and added for a lot more depth. He might be the only human in these books (the only true human) who is affected by Keelin so profoundly. At first, he finds her and uses her as a tool for his own ends. Then he falls in love with her, and when she constantly pushes him away, he has to number himself all over again in order to use her one more time.

What factors influenced your decision to self-publish your book(s)?
What really did it for me was having queried, and subsequently been rejected by, every agent and publisher I could find. For two years, I bought the updated editions of ‘The Writer’s Market’ and scoured the pages. I made spreadsheets of every agent and publisher who took any type of Fantasy, and I sent my fifty-billion-times-revised query letter, summary, and short synopsis to all of them. My rejection folder is substantial, and oddly enough, each new rejection only gave me more determination to send to all the others.

When I finally reached the end, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Not relieved that nobody found an interest in my book at the time, but a relief that I had done absolutely everything I could possibly think of to get ‘Daughter of the Drackan’ out there and look for responses.

That was when I decided, ‘Okay, I think it’s time to go ahead and self-publish this. Because there’s no way I’m going to let traditional publisher rejections keep me from putting Keelin’s story out in the world!’ And four months later, I became a published Indie Author myself.

If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?
I am so fortunate to have had the experience I did with designing the cover for ‘Daughter of the Drackan’.

My amazingly talented artist friend, Chandler Steele, had read Keelin’s story after printing the document and taking it with him everywhere he went. We had lots of conversations about Keelin and how frickin’ awesome she is (I think it’s hard not to admire her in some way), and once I decided to finally self-publish, I asked him if he would like to create the cover illustrations. He jumped at the chance and was right on top of it. I can’t deny that he did a fantastic job.

I found my cover designer by chance, really. Michelle Rene Goodhew had commented on one of my blog posts on my editing site, and I went to go check out hers. I was impressed with her work, and I originally just asked her to put me on her list of beta readers. She made a great banner for my editing site to help advertise my business, and I asked her about designing packages. As it turns out, she was in need of an editor for her upcoming ‘How to Build Your Indie Author Platform’ and ‘How to Design Your Author Brand’ books. So we worked in trade—I edited her books, and she designed my book cover and all the promotional material.

I had complete creative control with both these artists—everything was okayed by me, and if I didn’t agree with any particular aspect, they were more than happy to accommodate me. Of course, I didn’t make every decision; I’m a writer, not an artist. But both Michelle and Chandler are absolute joys to work with, and I’ll be keeping them for as long as I can.

Do you belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?
My first ‘critique group’ honestly, was the class of fellow students who had been accepted into CU Boulder’s Creative Writing—Fiction program. The program was selective enough that I had almost all of my classes with the same fifteen students. That was the first time that I ever was surrounded by others as dedicated to their craft as I was, and I learned so much from them. That’s also where I first started editing, because editing and critiquing each other’s work was the other half of our curriculum.

When my husband and I lived in Charleston, South Carolina, I was part of Charleston Writing Group (founded by Christy Strick, who had started Writer’s House in Charlottesville, VA). There were only five of us in this group, and we met every Monday to critique each other’s work and discuss short stories or novel chapters. This group was phenomenal—meeting face-to-face is such a huge plus, if you can do it. They opened my eyes to the types of descriptions I tended to over-use, and I have since cut all of those out of my writing. I couldn’t be more grateful to them, and when we moved to California, I was definitely sad to have to leave the group.

I have yet to find an in-person writing critique group in our small mountain town that suits me. But the online writing community is just as helpful, if not more in some ways. I’m amazed by the magic that takes place in these circles. An Author’s Tale is a fantastic Facebook group that focuses entirely on writing prompts, sharing new writers’ successes, and critiquing each other’s work in a kind, supporting, encouraging environment. I’ve always been impressed by the way this group is run, and I recommend it for any new writers looking for a safe place to get some great feedback.

Currently, I stick to my small circle of ‘writing buddies’, who are always more than willing to take a peek at my work, whether it’s finished or not. I find this is more helpful to me, as the kind of feedback I’m looking for is more along the big-picture questions—does the scene progressions make sense? Does the tension build in the right way? Does the structure of chapters work for the plot and overall story ark? These handful of writing buddies have given me invaluable feedback, and I always make sure I take the time to repay them in kind.

What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?
My writing process is very simple. 1. Have a clean desk. 2. Have a giant bottle of water (or steaming cup of coffee or yerba matte with honey) at the ready. 3. Turn iTunes on shuffle (I can’t stand listening to the same band or genre of music in a row. I need eclectic chaos). 4. Turn off all Social Media and the cell phone on silent. 5. Tap into the creative universe within my mind.

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
I did not. As a professional editor myself, I felt comfortable enough with my own editing work to give my novels what they deserve. Of course, this means I went through twelve revisions of the dang thing (one of them included cutting out an entire 11k words) in order to make sure it was ready for anyone else to see.

I did, though, give it to three beta readers (who have since become my circle of writing buddies) and one fellow editor, Cayce Berryman (who started and mediates An Author’s Tale on Facebook—we swapped novels and I edited hers in trade). Once I got back all their suggestions and advice, I did lucky revision number thirteen, and it was ready to go.

What have you’ve learned during your self-publishing journey?
There’s no possible way I can write everything I’ve learned here without boring you all to death and making you drop your heads right into your soup. So I’ll stick with the most important things.

  1. Absolutely anything is possible. It sounds cliché, but I mean it. You can become a published author, you can find people out there who’s services are professional, beneficial, and probably should cost more than they do. You can reach readers with your words and make an impact on the world with your writing.
  2. Trial and error is your best friend. I’ve tried a lot of different things in the last four months, and have found what works, and what I’ll never try again. But you won’t figure any of that out if you don’t take a few risks and try it out for yourself.
  3. Listen to the advice of others who have gone before you and have been successful. I definitely didn’t know how to do everything myself when I started this journey. There was no way I could have. But I talked to tons of Indie Authors who had large followings and great sales, and I asked them what they’d done. Most of them say, ‘Just keep writing,’ but I already knew that. I searched around for books on Indie Author Publishing, and have found a list of five that I think are essential for any Indie Author starting out. ‘Indie Author Survival Guide’ and ‘For Love or Money’, by Susan Kaye Quinn. These are incredible for pointing out the different routes you can take as an Indie Author, and what it takes in each route. ‘Let’s Get Digital’ and ‘Let’s Get Visible’, by David Gaughran follow up the first two with a lot more detail about how self-publishing can benefit you as an author more than traditional publishing, and he really goes in depth into the industry, the specifics of how to launch and run promotions, and the technical aspect of self-publishing. The last book is a ‘holy bible’ for me, and I turn to it constantly (because I also help my editing clients format their works for paperback and ebooks). ‘Zen of Ebook Formatting’ by Guido Henkel is the only resource I’ve ever read that makes HTML CSS formatting understandable and a heaping load of fun. Don’t let that scare you away from it—seeing that would have scared me, too. But I took the chance in reading it, and I’ve since figured out how to format a remarkably perfect ebook every time at the code level (and for somebody who doesn’t consider herself ‘code-savvy’ or more technologically knowledgeable than the average person, that’s saying a lot). Get these books, read them, study them, and there’s almost nothing you can’t do.
  4. Network! Reach out to others. Say hi. Ask other writers what they’re working on. Start conversations with people about anything and everything (mine are mostly either editing topics, or total geek-out sessions about fiction in general, and more specifically Fantasy and Sci-Fi). It’s amazing how easy it is to make friends with others when you open yourself up a little, willing to share your work with others, to bare your soul, and to participate with others on their own work.
  5. Okay, I’ll wrap this up. Last one—promoting yourself does not equal being a pain in the ass. you have to do it if you want to make a name for yourself, but if you’re gracious, kind, and help others out in their own endeavors, promoting yourself as the awesome person you are will inevitably bring the rest along with it.

Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?
Yup. But I would much rather market my own work than pay someone else to do it…because that someone else is not me. I think it’s super important to put my own touch on things, market with my own voice, and control exactly what I do, when, and how. But that takes time, and so does writing. I try to give myself equal amounts of time on each (and with series, marketing the next book with the one before it kills two birds with one stone). It’s important not to get wrapped up in marketing and only marketing, because if I never write that next book, it won’t exist.

Besides writing, do you have any other passions?
Admittedly, writing is my greatest passion, and I think it always has been. This is followed very closely by reading (hmm…funny how they’re so closely related). I’m also a fairly musical person. I started taking classical piano lessons when I was five, and continued them for twelve years. After that, I moved on to writing my own music and lyrics, and I’ve spent some time rolling around at open mics and grabbing a few solo gigs here and there. Music is something I turn to when my emotions run way too high to focus on anything else, and I have to expel them through that channel. It’s always been a part of me, and that will never go away.

My husband and I love to travel whenever we can. Vacations, visiting our family and friends (because we live in California and no one else does), and scouting out new, fun cities to explore is one of my favorite things. My husband and I are the Super A-Team when it comes to long road trips. Put us in two separate cars driving across the country, though, and it’s a whole different story (learned that when we moved all our stuff from South Carolina to California…)

Thank you so much for hosting this stop today. I’m thrilled to be here! —Kathrin


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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

#Review: CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: SWORD OF DESTINY by Justin Hill



  5 of 5 stars

“The Sword of Destiny” transports the reader back to the landscape of ancient China when it was revered to be a warrior who followed The Iron Way. The story picks up seventeen years after the death of one of the greatest warriors, Mubai, as he defended the legendary sword, The Green Destiny. Shulien, who loved Mubai, must now come out of her self-imposed exile when The Green Destiny is once again vulnerable to falling into the hands of the evil warlord, Hades Dai. Two young warriors, Snow Vase and Wei-fang, also find their destiny intertwined with Shulien and the famed sword.

Mr. Hill’s words come alive on the pages as the story unfolds – the landscape, the inner thoughts of the characters and of course, the agility of the battles. The warriors fight with such elegance and grace and you feel like you’re watching a beautiful and intricate dance play across the stage, but make no mistake, the danger is all too real. Sulien’s character is the most complex—her feelings when she held Mubai as he took his final breaths, her need for reflection and solitude as she mourns a life that can never be, and finally her responsibility to the sword’s safe-keeping. No warrior is safe and evil is conquering the land. Can four warriors keep the sword safe or will it fall into the hands of one of the most evil warriors ever born? This is the journey Mr. Hill takes the reader on and he does it with such skill that before you know it, you’ve finished the story and are begging for more. Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.


Amazon buy link:


Author of CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON: Sword of Destiny

‘Justin Hill knows China inside out.” – Washington Post


Justin Hill has lived and worked and written about China for most of his adult life. His first novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse about small-town China, was a Washington Post Book of the Year and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. The novel had the rare honor of being banned in China.

His second novel, Passing Under Heaven, which re-imagined the life of Tang Dynasty poetess, Yu Xuanji, won the Somerset Maugham Award and was short-listed for the Encore Award. In a starred Kirkus review, his writing was described as being “painted with the exquisiteness of Persian miniatures.”  Shieldwall, the first in a series covering the Battle of Hastings, in 1066, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year.

In 2014 he was selected to write the book sequel to the Oscar-winning film, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and adapted the sequel’s screenplay into novel form. CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON: Sword of Destiny will be published by Weinstein Books on January 26, 2016 (Netflix and The Weinstein Co will release the film on February 26, 2016). 

Hill was born in Freeport, Bahamas and grew up in Yorkshire. He spent his twenties working as a volunteer in rural China and Eritrea, East Africa, and has since lived in New York, Ireland and Hong Kong, where he ran the undergraduate creative writing programme at City University of Hong Kong.  The Independent on Sunday listed him as one of the best young British novelists.

Visit his website at www.justinhillauthor.com and follow him on Twitter @JHillAuthor.


Monday, January 25, 2016

Interview with Alex Disanti, A SEPARATE HEAVEN


 
Thank you so much for hosting A Separate Heaven today. It is my pleasure to be here.

Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
A Separate Heaven is a series of seven books that spans twenty-five years in the lives of two families.  Book one introduces the Hamiltons and the Gianellis, brought together by an unlikely union.  Dominic Gianelli, a man of wealth and power, is nearing fifty when a chance meeting with twenty-year old Paige Hamilton forever changes his life. An evening that begins as a dinner date takes an unexpected turn and becomes a night he will never forget, a night that is the first step into their future together.

But Gianelli is a man with secrets and there are dark corners in his world. While he is pleased with this new development, this unanticipated treasure of a girl, he has grave concerns about marrying her. For when she becomes part of his life, he knows hers will no longer be her own. Despite any qualms, he finds he cannot, indeed will not give her up.

Catherine Paige Hamilton is the only daughter of an affluent, Long Island family. Until she meets Dominic Gianelli, she has lived her life in accordance with the wishes and rules of others but she has never known a man like him. He becomes her stepping stone from girl to woman. She enters his life, his world, and she never looks back.

If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?  
I found my artist on my own. A principal location in A Separate Heaven is Italy.

I knew that I wanted (for the first cover) a picture of a sunrise or sunset over water with a break in the center where the title would be placed.  The photos were found online and I had only a name to go by. It took several weeks but I made contact with the artist.  His name is David Humphries and he resides in Yorkshire, England.  A couple of amazing coincidences: The pictures were taken off the coast of Italy when he and his wife were guests on a friend’s yacht.  That coupled with the name on the yacht, which was Heavenly Daze, has led me to feel a certain sense of “meant to be” with regard to the series. 

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
I never outline. Most of the time I carry several chapters in my mind then sit down to write.

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
Yes, I do have an editor.

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?
At Barnes & Noble and some art galleries and gift shops. Book one is available in hardcover.  The first three books are available on Kindle with four soon to follow and I plan to have book 5 released in July or August.  Working on having all the books in print by then too.

What kinds of marketing [twitter, Facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your book(s)?
I have learned how important it is to engage in as many forms of social media as possible.  It has become a must for marketing and advertising.  Facebook, Twitter, a new website/blog and virtual book tours are currently taking most of my days!


Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?
At the moment, most definitely.  Right now I am devoting the majority of my time to marketing.

What advice would you give a new author just entering into the self-publishing arena?
KINDLE, KINDLE, KINDLE.  Use every form of social media to promote yourself and your work. Belief in yourself is paramount. You are your own best critic, in the sense that if you aren’t pleased with your story, then work on it until it feels right to you. But stick to what works for you.

Be innovative.  I had members of a local theater group portray major characters in my series and we “performed” at a beautiful restaurant on the Texas Coast, complete with two men dressed in suits and dark glasses who came in and “swept” the restaurant prior to the entrance of the Gianellis. Also had our own paparazzi surreptitiously trying to get pictures of the couple and being chased away by security.  We were a hit!

Besides writing, do you have any other passions?
Ballet and I love to read about other authors’ lives. For example, Karen Blixen (Out of Africa memoir), Marguerite Duras (The Lover), Lillian Hellman (Julia)

What’s next for you?
Doing everything I can to realize my dream of A Separate Heaven becoming a television series.



BLURB:

Step into a world of riveting drama.  Enter A Separate Heaven, a story comprised of power, wealth, and romance, multifaceted characters, and complex relationships.  A novel by Alex Disanti.  From Long Island to the shores of the Mediterranean, this exciting series spanning twenty five years in the lives of the Gianelli and Hamilton families will hold you spellbound.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Alex Disanti lives in the Texas Hill Country.  While writing has been a lifelong love for her, A Separate Heaven is her first novel.  Early works were mainly poetry and short stories.  As A Separate Heaven progressed from thought to paper, friends and family began reading the manuscript.  Then, in an effort to test the marketability of the material, she enlisted the aid of what she calls her “test readers.”  These readers vary in age, occupation and background.  It simply grew from there.  Alex’s rich detail brought the characters to life, and the ensuing chapters could not come quickly enough for her readers.

Twitter:        https://twitter.com/AlexDisanti  
Website/Blog   http://alexdisanti.com




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