Blog Archives
Book Tour ~ Empath by S. Usher Evans
About the Book
Title: Empath
Author: S. Usher Evans
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Lauren Dailey is in break-up hell.
Stuck between moving on and letting go, she puts on a brave face while crying herself to sleep at night. But when a mysterious voice promises escape from her sadness, she is suddenly transported to a new world. And in this place, the slightest touch pulls her out of her tortured emotions into the mind of another – an empath.
The villagers – sweet Aerona and her mischievous twins, wise Siors, and hunky Cefin – welcome her and the blessings her empath powers bring. But this world is not without its dangers. The Anghenfil, a fire-breathing monster, has haunted the village for decades, and has a taste for empaths. And that mysterious voice promising escape from sadness? It’s sounding more like a whisper tinged with smoke and embers.
Can Lauren keep the monsters in the mountain and in her head at bay? Or will she succumb to the darkness like the empath before her…
Author Bio
S. Usher Evans
S. Usher Evans is an author, blogger, and witty banter aficionado. Born in a small, suburban town in northwest Florida, she was seventeen before she realized that not all beach sand is white. From a young age, she has always been a long-winded individual, first verbally (to the chagrin of her ever-loving parents) and then eventually channeled into the many novels that dotted her Windows 98 computer in the early 2000’s. After high school, she got the hell outta dodge and went to school near the nation’s capital, where she somehow landed jobs at National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and the British Broadcasting Corporation, capping off her educational career with delivering the commencement address to 20,000 of her closest friends. She determined she’d goofed off long enough with that television nonsense and got a “real job” as an IT consultant. Yet she continued to write, developing 20 page standard operating procedures and then coming home to write novels about bounty hunters, teenage magic users, and other nonsense. After a severe quarter life crisis at age 27, she decided to finally get a move on and share those novels with the world in hopes that she will never have to write another SOP again.
Links
http://www.susherevans.com
http://www.twitter.com/s_usherevans
http://www.facebook.com/susherevans
http://www.goodreads.com/susherevans
Buy Links:
Amazon (US)
B&N
iTunes
Smashwords
Giveaway
Win an eBook copy of “Empath” per tour stop and a print copy during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Book Excerpt
“There,” Cefin said, pointing to a pile of rocks that leaned against the side of the mountain. “That is where I found you.”
“I was under there?” Lauren breathed. It was obviously a cave-in, and the boulders were thick and heavy. If any of them had fallen in the wrong place, she would have been crushed.
It was a miracle she wasn’t crushed.
She approached the pile and saw where Cefin must have dug her out. Seeing the size of the rocks, knowing how close she had come to not getting out, she felt a little sorry for being so angry with him. Although he was being an jerk right now, she wasn’t sure she ever thanked him for saving her life.
“Hey,” Lauren said, tossing him a sideways glance. “Thanks for saving me.”
“Just hurry up,” he huffed, pulling his spear off of his back. “The Anghenfil could be in any one of these caves.”
“The right response is ‘you’re welcome’…” She walked up to the pile and began pushing aside any of the rocks she could, looking for anything strange. She tossed a fist-sized stone behind her and gasped.
“There’s a cave here!” she called to Cefin, who was standing with his spear in his hand and not helping her whatsoever.
She sniffed and began tugging at a big rock, hoping that if she could move it a little bit, it would dislodge other ones, creating a larger hole, one that she could slip through. With a heave, she pushed with all of her might and it broke free, tumbling down into the blackness and taking Lauren with it.
She landed in a heap in the dark, cool cave, coughing up dust and other particles. A small halo of light formed a circle on the ground, but didn’t offer any other illumination in the cave. Pushing herself to her feet, she walked over to the hole and peered out, spying Cefin standing at attention.
“I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
“Hurry up,” Cefin snapped, his eyes glued to the skies.
“Yeah, yeah,” Lauren rolled her eyes, disappearing into the darkness.
She stumbled around for a moment, feeling at the floor with her feet for anything that would give her a clue as to how she got here. Maybe she just needed to walk to the end of the cave and she’d wake up back in her own bed. She kicked the ground until she found the wall of the cave, placing her hands on the chilly stone to guide her. She kept to the wall, planting her feet firmly with every step to keep her balance.
Her foot caught on something and she fell, but not onto the hard ground, onto something firm…
And scaly.
In the darkness, a gigantic red eye opened.
She gasped, fear gripping her as she scrambled for the small pinhole in the distance that was the edge of the cave. “CEFIN!” she screamed, her voice echoing in the cave.
The monster was moving, and Lauren saw a flash of bright fire, illuminating the black body the size of an elephant.
She screamed and ran faster, hating herself for ever coming up here. She flung herself at the small hole, wriggling out as fast as she could. Cefin’s spear was out, concern on his face.
“Lauren, quiet down, you’ll wake the—”
“TOO LATE!” she screamed, pulling herself out of the cave and running past him as fast as her feet could carry her. “RUN!”
Book Signing – Robert P. Mitchell
BOOK SIGNING
Robert P. Mitchell, author of Tales Of A Tenacious Tenor, will be having a book signing at the Monroe County Library, (Hughes Library), Stroudsburg, PA on Saturday April 18th, 2015. From 10:00AM til 3:00PM
Bob’s amazing story of how movie idol Mario Lanza inspired him to sing, and the road he traveled to realize that dream.
From Central Pennsylvania to the opera stages of New York, Bob overcame many obstacles to realize his dream.
It’s an inspiring story for all dreamers and doers, those who have the courage to follow their inner voice, and make their singing voice as rich as it can be.
If you are in the area, don’t miss it!
Goodreads Giveaway – The Students Sold Us Secrets Volume One
Goodreads Giveaway. Starting March 1
Win an Autographed copy of The Students Sold Us Secrets Volume 1 by Lee Mavin!
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Students Sold Us Secrets Volume One
by Lee J. Mavin
Giveaway ends March 14, 2015.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Interview with Lilian from AMWC
OVER COFFEE with Sia McKye
OVER COFFEE with Sia McKye
http://siamckye.blogspot.com/2009/04/never-lose-dream.html
My guest today is C.A. Milson. He talks a bit about his odyssey from short story writer to writing his first novel. His topic is one we can all relate to as writers, the dream of being published and what we go through to realize the dream.
.
.
.
.
“Never lose sight of the dream”. These words are from the song “Can you feel it” by The Jackson 5. How true those words are.
As a writer, nothing is as satisfying as being able to sit down and write a great story. But being able to write is not easy, as one would hope sometimes. It is not something that can be done by the wave of a hand or thinking, okay, today I am going to write 5 chapters. Writing takes time, dedication and inspiration. Without these three things, one cannot write. I can remember the days when I started writing. It was back in 1989, and I wrote 26 short stories in a matter of a few months. Now, back then and being very naive as to how anything in the real publishing world worked, I thought I’d have the best thing since sliced bread on my hands. Of course, I was wrong. Many told me the stories I wrote needed to be made longer. That was hard for me to take, but it was also true.
In 1989 I had no clue how to do that. I wrote from the first person POV, but what I wanted was to write in the 3rd person POV like Stephen King. The first book I read of his was Misery. That alone was enough for me to know that this was how I wanted to write. Of course, living in the “hopefully-someday-I-may-be-published” mindset, I knew that in order for my dream to come about I had to live in the real world…. And so I did… I lived in the real world and put writing on the shelf for 5 years. In fact, I completely forgot all about it for the most part, although I do have to say that I always had a certain niggling feeling that I had to write again, but I decided to ignore that.
To learn how to write like a professional, I needed to read other writers and see their style. I am not going to say that writing is easy, as it is not. There are many times when we have to sacrifice what we want in order for our dream to be fulfilled, and one is going to get the barrage of negative comments and insults, not only from friends but also some family members also. Not only is there outside influences that give you all the reasons why you can’t, but you have your own inner demons that give you all the excuses why you shouldn’t. I’m sure we’ve all heard these ones we tell ourselves: You need to work to reach your goals. Can’t today, got too many other things to do, but I will get to it later. As I found out, later, sometimes never comes.
In 1994 I was unemployed and living with my father. Back then, the only thing I had to fill my time was writing. So day and night I wrote, until 9 months later I had a two-part novel. Coming up with a title was also not easy. The original short story was titled Shack of Evil in 1989. In 1994 I changed it to Phantasmagoria, then Darkworld, then Phantasdominion, then The Chosen One. It wasn’t until 2007 when I edited the book and I changed the title to The Chosen.
Although I had done what I wanted to do by writing in the 3rd person POV, I once again put my writing life on hold… For what seemed to be an eternity. I locked my writing away to live in the real world again, and for the next 14 years I worked in marketing. Now I’m not going to say that I regretted working in marketing, as I learned a lot. I got to work with some great companies in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada and the US. In 2000 I moved from Australia to the States. During my time in the US I worked for a few companies and learned a lot about real marketing. That experience helped me become one of the few multi-national marketing experts today. As great as working freelance and traveling the world can be, writing still holds a strong pull.
One may be wondering how the heck did I get published? To be honest I am still amazed. It was 2007 and I was living in New Zealand. I decided to send out query emails to publishers just to see what response I would get. Naturally I got a wave of the “No thank you” replies from 50-odd publishers, until I got an offer from a small Print On Demand Publisher. That day changed my life. Of course, that did not mean I could pack my bags and head for Hollywood—that rarely happens.
The Chosen was released in July 2008. But then came the real work. How to promote it. I learned a valuable lesson in this. A majority of publishers will expect you to do most, if not all, the legwork. Sad, but it is true. For me, learning how to promote my own work is like relearning everything about marketing. Even though I have 15-years experience behind me in marketing, this is a different arena entirely, and one I am still learning, and sometimes learning comes from making bad choices.
I guess one does not realize the quality of their work until they get feedback. Now I have had some wonderful reviews on the first release, and the feedback from fans and supporters is always a pleasure to read.
Feedback, whether good or bad, is valuable to any writer. It helps us grow in our craft. It makes it all worthwhile.
Never lose the dream.
***
Born in Brisbane, Australia, these days Chris resides in Russia, where he spends most of his time freelancing his marketing services to companies in Canada, the UK and the US. When he’s not working in freelance, he is busy promoting of his novel online.Chris is a writer of supernatural horror and has also written 28 short stories, and is currently working on his You Tube project about Urban Myths and Legends.
The Chosen follows the life of Alex Manning. A hero called to stand and face a destiny he wants no part of. Currently, The Chosen will be available in English and Russian through Amazon, Bookhabit, Mobipocket, available in Paperback and E-Book, in May 2009. The second novel in the series is titled Bloodline of Darkness and will be available later this year.
The Chosen can be Pre-Ordered through my website
Guest Author ~ MJ Sullivan
Today my special guest is author M.J.Sullivan. MJ is an established sports journalist who currently covers high school and college basketball recruiting for the Fox Sports-owned website Scout.com. MJ’s new novel, Necessary Heartbreak is set in first century Jerusalem during the tumultuous last week of Christ’s life. Necessary Heartbreak is a story about Michael Stewart, who faces alot of difficulties in raising his daughter Elizabeth, a precocious girl who’s growing up much too fast. Michael is all too aware of time lost, and time still slipping away. But fate has other plans for Michael.
MJ, please tell us a little about your latest novel and when and where we can get it.
The novel is called Necessary Heartbreak. It’s the first book in the When Time Forgets trilogy. The second book is called Heard On A Mountain. This book is almost done. And the last book in the series is called The Manger.
Necessary Heartbreak recaptures some true childhood and adult experiences while incorporating characters in a time travel journey to first-century Jerusalem in the last week of Christ’s life. It also focuses on the struggles a single father faces while trying to raise a teenage daughter in the modern world, and how difficult it is to release the pains of the past.
I started writing my thoughts and emotions of my childhood when I was homeless back in 1984. I rode the E train in New York City at night to get out of the cold January air. I had a green plastic bag with my belongings, and my notebook and pen. Writing was the only way I could keep myself from mentally collapsing back then.
I was rescued off the train by an aunt and uncle on Long Island. My novel was put aside so I could focus on paying some rent. Then I got married and had two wonderful daughters. Now that they are older, I decided to return to the idea I originally had.
The book can be ordered on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com, or from almost any book distributor.
How do you balance the creative process of writing with the demands of public appearances, maintenance of your web site, and your family?
It is extremely hard since I am at home most of the time caring for my two daughters. I have just started to book some public appearances but I do so at the convenience of my family.
Give us an example of a day in the writing life of. Do you stick to a schedule of X amount of hours writing, editing, answering email, etc.?
I don’t have the discipline I would prefer, but that’s in part due to the other responsibilities I have. I’m also a sports writer and cover high school and college sports for Scout.com. (hsnewyork.scout.com is my personal web site).
I’ve very fortunate to have a great editor in Jenn Kujawski. She has helped me throughout the process of the book.
But it’s a juggling act each day. When I’m able to fulfill all of these tasks, I sleep very well at night.
About the great ‘rule’ debate: we are told you can’t do this and you can’t write that. But it is stepping outside the lines that gets many authors noticed and eventually published. What are your opinions on the rules?
I think it depends upon your target audience. My book is geared toward inspirational readers, those who have been knocked around in life, and those who enjoy time travel and a decent love story.
I’ve been told by a few people that some of the language I used could be more mellow. I was stunned. I consider my book PG at worst. I don’t use profanity but there are some very stressful events that happen in the main character’s life. He also says the word “hell” a few times. But it’s done in the context of the scene.
What music do you listen to when you write?
I could listen to any music. I love the soft beauty of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra’s voices. I love the serious Christmas songs. I’ll even listen to them year round. But I really admire the work of Bruce Springsteen. I mention a true event in the book in which a priest is telling the main character he needs to leave the house, his father wants him out. It’s there I reference the song “Independence Day.”
Springsteen’s music helped me make sense of what happened to me during that time. It made me understand the conflicts between a father and son. Bruce’s music kept me strong, made me believe in a better world, and helped me face this sometimes cruel life with courage.
Has a song inspired you to write?
I’d always wanted to write before I really got into music. I was writing poems about girls that broke my heart or when I lost a friend who died at a young age. It was my way of releasing emotions that weren’t allowed to be expressed in the house that I grew up in.
Do you have a favorite show on TV that helps in moving your muse?
I am an old TV fan. I spend most of my time watching DVD’s from shows that were on in the 1970’s (The Odd Couple, Mary Tyler Moore, MASH, Bob Newhart). I find most of today’s TV unappealing. There’s very little I find inspirational or funny. Occasionally, I’ll watch “House.”
If you could collaborate with any author, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Any of the apostles, particularly Paul given all the letters he wrote back in the day. I would have a bunch of questions for him about Jesus and the moment he first knew that he was God’s son. But I’m also very interested in how a common person can reconcile his faith with the cruelty and tragedy of the world around him, and still write such inspirational material.
What are your thoughts on promotion for books?
Since I have gone the self publishing way, I have no choice. I prefer to spend more time on the writing part of the process. But I do recognize that if I want this series to be successful, I must reach out to an audience. The key is to find that audience, and the Internet has provided unparalleled and unique ways to do this. I’ve contacted book groups on-line, have readerships forming as far away from NY as Australia and Japan, and am able to converse with readers directly.
What advice do you have for authors who haven’t quite gotten their manuscript to the next level, which for most is publishing?
It depends upon your goals. I didn’t want to wait around several years, just hoping my manuscript would be published. So I hired a designer, an editor and a public relations friend to help me along with the process. My goals are clear — to reach as big an audience as I can. I’m totally confident in my work and the story I have to tell. I believe someday it will be recognized as an inspirational story and will hold the test of time.
If you don’t have the necessary tools to be published, keep plugging away. Don’t let anyone tell you to give up your dream. Surround yourself with positive people. Negative people are only there to hurt you and to provide some little security to their own lives.
Many things are expected by an author when writing, publishing and promoting their book. What, if any, are some of the unexpected things that you have noticed or experienced during this journey?
There are several. I thought that my closest friends would be my biggest supporters. I found out this to be disappointing. The positive part of this is I met some people along the way who have become part of my strength in this process, including several reviewers on Amazon.com.
When you self publish, make sure you understand every step of the way. You have to remember this is your baby. They are dealing with thousands of babies every year so you’re just a number to them. I was fortunate to have people in the business guide me through the process.
Would you like to add any final thoughts?
I hope everyone decides to give the first book a chance. It’s a quick read. But it was done this way to introduce the characters and reach as many people as possible, including reluctant readers. I was one of the reluctant readers growing up and thick bulky books always intimidated me.
The second book is more extensive and book three will come in around 400 pages. I’m looking forward to putting the entire story out there.
An excerpt of MJ’s new novel can be found here.
MJ, thank you for being my guest today. We look forward to having you back real soon.
