Book Spotlight – Dawn Rises – Marta Moran Bishop #Dystopian

Title: Dawn Rises – book 3 in The Divide Series

Author: Marta Moran Bishop

Genre: Dystopian

Main character description (short).

There are three main characters in this book. Jewell who holds the prophecy to chart us on a new course and bring hope to the world. Ben (her father) who has been her protector. And Jamie (who with the help of those he recruited implemented a plan to be put in place after Jewell had torn down the walls between the rich and poor.

Synopsis:

Dawn Rises the sequel to The Divide Series brings us hope after fifteen years of despair. When all rights were taken away from women, children, and anyone who was not rich and white. The suburbs and small towns destroyed, the rich walled themselves into the upper town with clean water, electricity, heat, domes that kept the city air clean, and pushed everyone else into the lower towns to live in tenements designed to house multiple families, though women were no longer allowed out of the house or even to meet, and men of different races no longer mixed.

But all had the same fate, at six the boys were all taken away to apprentice, and at fifteen into the military. If they survived fifteen years in the military most were given a wife and a job in the company owned factories.

But a prophecy was to be fulfilled according to Rebecca’s words as she died for to give them a chance, that a girl child would be born who would be able to draw in the magic that would free the world.

How and what happens is in Dawn Rises the sequel to this dystopian series. It might be a future we face. It is a cautionary tale.

Brief Excerpt:

Turning to the crowd she said. “Fifteen years ago, I stood before many of you and made a prophecy. Today that prophecy has come true. My daughter Jewell has brought us all with her into the between times and opened the door for us to build a new world.

When women were made breeding animals, books were burned, and all but the rich were denied education. Sent to labor in sweat shops, shipped off to fight in yet another war. The poor separated from each other and kept poor and uneducated; it was then our society died.

But we can and will build a new and better one together and the true American dream will spread across the land and the world.”

Why should readers buy this book (50 words max)?

It is a ray of hope in darkness that has and may yet still be coming, and a prophecy to be fulfilled.

Cover Art (add as attachment please)

Links etc.

https://tinyurl.com/bd5uyzry (it’s on pre-order till 10/1 after that it will go to paperback, audio and other sites.

The Guidal – Blog Tour #YA #Dystopian #Fantasy

The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis

The Guidal Book 1

by Roxy Eloise

Genre: YA Dystopian Fantasy

In a future where the mention of magic is banned, one paranoid man rules the entire country.

Adopting children to become his private bodyguards, they are raised together in a strict institute where sixteen-year-old Aurora struggles to follow the rules. Finding herself disciplined often, she doesn’t particularly like her endless life of servitude.


Soon, she will have to take part in the institute’s annual Unity ceremony where she could end up engaged to a complete stranger!

Aurora’s fears of being different are realised when she discovers something about herself, something which will make most fear her, and her adoptive father will want her killed for.

Friends, bullies, and a touch of something magical, Aurora’s first year in the grown-ups’ quarter is far from ordinary.

Add to Goodreads

Amazon * Website

Roxy Eloise is a successful participant of Pitch Wars held quarterly on Twitter. During this event, she created a pitch that stood out from the hundreds of thousands, landing herself a traditional publishing contract.

Her debut novel, The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis, is the first in a 3-book series. Coming April 2022, this exciting new novel was inspired by a dream. Roxy writes the stories she really wants to read. If she finds it boring to write, she’ll find it boring to read, so she’ll always make sure her novels are binge-worthy! Her favourite place to write is in bed with country music and a hot drink. On the weekends, you’ll find her out walking her dog, filming videos for YouTube, or spending time with her family.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Youtube * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$20 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Last Forest – Excerpt #Fantasy #Shortstory #Dystopian

The Last Forest (c) A.L. Butcher

The whine of the chainsaws, and the rumble of iron machines cut through the growing sound from the forest. Death came on tracks of metal and wheels of rubber. The monkeys who commanded the machines waited, smoking and pointing towards the edges of the forest. “Where do we start?” one asked, eyeing the trees.

“Make your way to that big old one – the tallest. That will take out plenty when it falls. Look it’s three-quarters rotten anyway! Break the heart of the forest and tame it! That is how it’s done, lad.” The speaker pointed towards the Great Oak, satisfaction creased his face, and power gave his countenance a smirk. The monkey who walked on two feet was lord of the land and knew it well. He had brought death to the flora and fauna of this land, and their sap and blood soaked the soil. And he ignored the cacophony of music around him.

“This is the last patch of woodland in the country, the only unspoiled wilderness left,” someone said, from the back. “Must we?”

“It’s coming down. It’s needed for houses – people are more important than trees. They are just plants.” The foreman glared at the speaker, as the wind began to blow around them. “It’s not the last, there’s that coppice over in Haydock, and the Amazon of course.”

“The Amazon went a decade ago, boss. And that place in Haydock was bulldozed last year.” The first speaker reminded him.

The boss shrugged. “Not my problem. We have our orders. Now get to it, there is no place for conscience or sentiment here.”

The machines snarled, they spat their poison breath and rumbled forward, inexorable, awful. Monsters of modernity, some had called them. Progress had been their name from others. All the trees understood was the choking stench and the inexorable roar of impending death. Trees are not complicated, but they are not stupid. The knowledge of the wood pulsed through every branch and root; the force of nature, the will of life to survive surged.

Crack! The sound of tons of wood uprooting drowned the roar of the engines. It was the sound of defiance. Earth showered from roots, and leaves swirled as the mighty trees moved. Nature stopped; from red fox, and blackbird to tiny grey mouse life paused – the cry of war flowed through the ground, squeaked from the lowliest and sung from above. ‘We come! We stand! We fight! Nature Rises!’

Birds swooped, squawking at the monkeys who walked on two feet. Beaks were sharp, and eyeballs soft. The brave robin and the humble thrush dived, their song the sound of battle as they flew towards danger. ‘Be gone! Be gone!’

The humans flapped their arms against the onslaught.

“Get away, filthy creatures!” one monkey yelled. “I hate birds!” His flapping arms knocked birds to the ground, and some rose up for another onslaught. Others lay broken but roused the song to inspire their comrades.

“What is this? Alfred Hitchcock been ‘ere?” The foreman cried, trying to bat away the crows, pecking at his face. Blood flowed, feathers flew, and the beat of the Primal Song changed again – the music surged as other creatures joined the fray.

Available as an ebook and audiobook https://books2read.com/TheLastForest

Book Spotlight – She Runs with Wolves – Scifi/Fantasy/Dystopian

Title: She Runs With Wolves

Author: Kimberly T. Hennessy

Genre: Fantasy\Scifi

Main character description (short).

Eira is a survivor hell-bent on saving her unborn child from the evil King Lorcan, but the further along her pregnancy, the deeper Eira spirals into madness. Her body, for no apparent reason is shutting down. Out of sheer will and determination, Eira fights not only the enemies within but all those that would do her and her baby harm.

Brief Excerpt 250 words:

What if losing yourself meant you were erased from existence? Your essence overridden with no one the wiser?

Ylva the She Wolf – a parasitic artificial intelligence trapped for years in a box yearns for a human host to become alive again.

Eira, a fiery human prisoner, will do anything to escape the clutches of the evil ruler Lorcan and fulfill an old prophecy told about her unborn child.

The power of three wolves unite the two in a battle for supremacy to restore those living underground to the surface. Their inner war rages as they fight for dominion of the frozen wasteland that is now Earth.

Why should readers buy this book (50 words max)?

The 100 meets Divergent. It’s an action-packed mash up of tribal history and artificial intelligence that leads the reader on a gripping adventure of twists and turns. Discover a strange new post-apocalyptic world in a book that is compelling, unpredictable, and digs beneath the surface of what it means to be human. https://amzn.to/3L8mXwS

The Descendants – Blog Tour

 

 

The Descendants

The Descendants Book 1

by Destiny Hawkins

Genre: Dark Dystopian Fantasy 

 

Fail the tests and become a slave. Display defectiveness and be put to death.

Monroe Academy was built to separate the weak from the strong. Pass the biyearly leveling and be released into society upon graduation. Fail to be promoted and be stripped of rank and forced into servitude. That was a rule that applied to all but Rayah Bardeau. A student of Monroe Academy, branded as a Null because of her absence of Lighter energy.

With her mother standing as a slave in her place, Rayah was given until the age of twenty to make level six, but at nineteen-years-old and with only eight months until her twentieth birthday, she was only a mere level one. The same level she’s been since she was ten. With the stress of her upcoming test, the loss of a friend, and the constant wrongdoings towards her, Rayah could only dream of escaping from Lytonia, and escape she did. Only, when she awakened in her dorm, she couldn’t distinguish if she had only dreamt of meeting Soren, a wild and adventurous defect in the Wild Lands, or if she had somehow used her Lighter Form to get there.

But only the elite ― the most powerful of Lighters ― could tap into their Lighter Forms. Right? And what was the dark energy she used when she and Soren were attacked by Depleters? Was Rayah really as powerless as she thought? Was she a defect? And if she used dark energy, could she call herself a Lighter at all?

Bestselling author Destiny Hawkins brings you the first installment of a gripping dark fantasy where a powerless girl must survive in a society that doesn’t accept the weak…or the defective.

Content Advisory: The following book contains vivid depictions of violence and death. Reader discretion is advised.

 

**On Sale for Only .99 cents!**

Goodreads * Amazon

 

 

The Calling

The Descendants Series Book 2

 

She was given a second chance to prove that she could fall in line, but with her lack of power, that would be impossible. 

Rayah’s entire life, she’d always been different from everyone else, and in Lytonia, being different was treated as a crime, but in her case, she was granted a pass. In only a few months, she had to present her abilities to the council and prove to them that she was worthy of walking the halls of Monroe Academy, but Artemis, her tormentor and superior officer, would stop at nothing to keep her from excelling. Being powerless and not proving herself meant that she would be transitioned into a slave, and Artemis would become her master. What Rayah realized was that she wasn’t as powerless as she thought. For weeks she had been able to do things that only the elite lighters could do, and even though this meant that she was strong, it made her more different than she could have ever imagined. Rayah went from being weak to possibly being as strong as a Gods Daughter, and she couldn’t tell anyone. The standard colors of a Lytonians powers are white, royal blue, and turquoise blue. Hers were black… 

Bestselling author Destiny Hawkins brings you the second installment of a gripping dark fantasy where a powerless girl must survive in a society that doesn’t accept the weak…or the defective.

 

Goodreads * Amazon

 

Destiny Hawkins is a multi-genre author with a dark imagination and a love for magic.

She enjoys working on her graphic designing business : Vibrant Designs LLC, writing, listening to music, reading, and of course watching some anime! Her favorite genres to read and work in are Fantasy, LGBT, Paranormal, Romance, Dystopian, Sci-fi, and young adult.

Destiny loves creating stories and building worlds that both teach and entertain! When writing she sticks to her slogan: Where beauty can be found in darkness.

Get ready for The Unbroken, Book Three of The Descendants Series!

 

Website * Facebook * FB Group * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

 

 
 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$20 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Dirty Dozen Author Interview – L. J. Kerry – Dystopian/New Adult

Author name: L.J. Kerry

Are you a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter’? I’m definitely a ‘pantser’

What piece of advice do you wish you’d had when you started your publishing journey? Don’t give up, self-publishing is an option if no literary agents want you.

What are your views on authors offering free books? Do you believe, as some do, that it demeans an author and his or her work? To each their own to be honest. I don’t think it demeans an author’s work, I find this can entice somebody to actually purchase a book and some do see it as a marketing magnet.

How do you deal with bad reviews? It depends on the review’s content. If it is a critical review that can help me grow as a writer, I will take those comments on board and implement them into future work. However, if it doesn’t help me as an author I ignore it.

How much research do you do for your work? What’s the wildest subject you’ve looked at? I do a lot of research for my books, it takes a huge majority of my time. The wildest subject I’ve looked at is how much weight a bird’s nest can hold before it breaks, turns out not that much.

What’s the best advice you’ve received about writing/publishing? Just write. Ignore it if it’s bad you’ll clean it up later.

What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve received about writing/publishing? Don’t pay for an editor.

Tell us about your latest piece? My debut novel LISTED is a New Adult Dystopian novel about Judas Wells defying his country’s ruthless regime to rescue Nadine Ellis from her execution. This leads them both into a desperate situation and a fight for their survival.

What’s your next writing adventure? My next writing adventure is LISTED’s sequel REBOUND. Following on from the events of book one, my main characters are finding the past repeating itself but with a much more sinister twist.

With the influx of indie authors do you think this is the future of storytelling? Definitely, especially with the recent loss of publishing houses making competition in the traditional world even more difficult. Hopefully in the future we can see more indie authors in bookstores.

Are indie/self published authors viewed with scepticism or wariness by readers? Why is this? Yes self/published authors are viewed with a lot of skepticism and I think that is because of the stereotype that we publish poor-quality books that are either cheesy, and riddled with errors. I know there is a large majority of the poor-quality work in the self-publishing world but there are some self-published works which challenge traditional publishing.

Is there a message in your books? There is light in a dark time

Links

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram – @ljkerrybooks

Website: www.ljkerrybooks.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20632594.L_J_Kerry

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/l-j-kerry

Bio

L.J. Kerry was born and raised in Sheffield, England. She has always loved to read and write from a young age, some of her favourite genres are Urban Fantasy and Dystopia.

Now living in Derbyshire, England. L.J. Kerry likes to spend her free time (aside from reading or writing) playing video games, travelling and learning new languages/cultures.

Dirty Dozen Character Interview – Judas Wells and Nadine Ellis

CHARACTER NAMES: Judas Wells / Nadine Ellis

  1. Tell us a little about yourself.

Judas – I’m 23 and come from the country of Denmé, the oldest brother of my two younger siblings Gabrielle and Michael. There’s not much else to say, I’m not allowed hobbies aside from my government mandated tasks.

Nadine – I’m 21 and come from the country of Olympia and the youngest sibling in my family. I like photography, going to the gym and hanging out with my best friend Payton on weekends. 

  • How did you end up in the situation you’re currently in?

Judas – You’ll have to read the book.

Nadine – I know how Judas got in his, but yeah read the book.

  • Is your life now as you envisioned it? If not – then why?

Judas – HA! No. I lost my freedom when I was six years old, and have been a puppet since. My dad always told me how great the old country was, and wished I grew up there.

Nadine – Yes and no. Life takes us on weird journeys.

  • Have you committed a crime? What was it? If not, what circumstances would cause you to commit a crime?

Judas – Yikes. Erm, read the book.

Nadine – I got a DUI once from drinking cough medicine

  • Do you have a moral code? If so what might it be

Judas – Act how you expect to be treated, treat others like poop get it in return.

Nadine – I second that.

  • Would you kill for those you love?

Judas – Who’s to say I haven’t already?

Nadine – Depends who

  • Would you die for those you love?

Judas – Yes

Nadine – Again depends who

  • Who is your greatest enemy?

Judas – Our Leader, hands down.

Nadine – President Sanchez or Our Leader as Denmé citizens call her.

  • Tell us about your family?

Judas – I have my mum, my younger sister Gabrielle and my youngest brother Michael

Nadine – I live with my mum and dad, and older brother Wyatt.

  1. What is your greatest skill/asset?

Judas – I think the government mandated tasks have made me a man of all trades

Nadine – My dad taught me self defense since I was a child

  1. Do you believe you will be successful in your quest?

Judas – Hopefully

Nadine – Let’s kick ass! Ha, ha, ha!

  1. What do you think of your author/creator?

Judas – If you take my mental health and run over it with a train and then a second train that is what my author has done to me. Seriously, why?

Nadine – I think they’re great, we were promised pizza for going through with this…still waiting for that pizza.

For the author

Books in which this characters appears:

LISTED by L.J. Kerry

Links, short author bio…

L.J. Kerry born and raised in Sheffield, England. She has always loved to read and write from a young age, some of her favourite genres are Urban Fantasy and Dystopia.

Now living in Derbyshire, England. L.J. Kerry likes to spend her free time (aside from reading or writing) playing video games, travelling and learning new languages/cultures.

www.ljkerrybooks.com

https://amzn.to/3o9b3WX Listed on Amazon

L’ULTIMA FORESTA – Last Forest Italian Edition

Quando gli umani arrivano per abbattere l’ultima foresta, hanno una brutta sorpresa

Un racconto sull’ira della natura

Tweets: #Fantasy #Darkfantasy #distopico #racconto

https://books2read.com/LultimaForesta-LastForestItalian

Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L7ZCMTG

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08L7ZCMTG

Dirty Dozen Bundle Author Interview – Michele Laframboise

Author name: Michèle Laframboise

BigFatFirstNovelGris220

Figure 1 My first novel

What first prompted you to publish your work? The desire to right wrongs, imagine other futures. Often, a gut reaction to a very bad novel led me to create endearing characters that are not stereotypical heroes. For instance, in my Jules-Verne series, the entire narrative POW is from a very shy Martian woman with brittle bones, which gave her a peculiar voice.

How did you become involved in book bundles? Would you recommend it? Bundles allow us to discover new writers: buying for our favourite writers in the lot, then discovering new ones in the same genre. Bundles are a way to mutually enhance our reader’s platforms, doing amiable coo-petition. It is important that the bundle has a shared specific theme that will appeal to readers, and prompt them to try the authors they don’t know, because of the subject.

Are you a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter’?

Figure 2  Getting stuck in a plot loop

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I had had my heavy-plotter period, outlining, erasing, outlining again, rewriting, and still getting me in a stuck in a corner!

My first novel took 12 years to complete this way. My last novel was longer, but took me about two months.  Now I’m a pantser for most of my works, but I usually have a good idea of what’s cooking ahead, like when you walk in the dark with a flashlight, seeing a few steps ahead. Some times I do not even write my scenes in order. If I’m stuck, I manage to back up and find a way out.

Figure 3 Finding a way out

2018MichelePUSpogneeDansUnCoin

What does writing bring to your life? First: I love sciences. I graduated in two fields and did research. Alas, the “publish or perish” saying is true, especially for a shy woman.

Academia spat me out like an alien body.

As a “failed” scientist, I discovered I could tell stories and share my enthusiasm for sciences and nature, and also, invent other types of societies.

What piece of advice do you wish you’d had when you started your publishing journey? Do not spend months polishing a text. Perfection can never be attained. Stop worrying.

Do your best, correct a few typos or get someone to read the text over, and move on to the next story.

Beware of the tiny, high perched signing tables (yes, I fell from those!)

TableDedicaceBar

Figure 4 Those high tables are dangerous!

Sort these into order of importance:  Awesome world-building / Great characters / Good plot

(very far after the three first)

Technically perfect

How much research do you do for your work? What’s the wildest subject you’ve looked at?

TropDeRechercheNuitGris700

Figure 5 Researching for my SF novels

As an ex-scientist, I used to spend far too long researching a novel. Now I do it on the fly, because science changes fast. The specialised research I did 20 years ago for my first novel is totally outdated today. When a new publisher took up the story, I had to redo the research and make some change in the plot.

Subjects:

Ecological space lifts (there’s one described in my SF series)

Black holes and membranes

High-altitude sickness

What’s the best advice you’ve received about writing/publishing? Get a copy editor, and a first reader.

What’s the worst advice you’ve received about writing/publishing? You must absolutely get an agent to get published.

Tell us about your latest piece? Ice Monarch follows a lonely cyber-butterfly as he drifts over a planet scarred by climatic changes. A former scientist transplanted into an immortal body, he serves powerful masters from former fossil energy companies. He has to live with the consequences and sacrifices of his past choices, while survivors scrape a miserable existence from the earth. He may get a chance to redeem his past mistakes. But can he? It has been prompted by my long-standing involvement in ecological sciences, and I imagined what a distant future could look like.

What’s your next writing adventure? I am writing the first in a series of steampunk-dystopian SF novels. And I am taking narrative risks, so it can go both ways. My two first readers liked it.

What is the last book you’ve read? The Murderbot Chronicles, by Martha Wells. Just for the title character’s voice!

Are indie/self published authors viewed with scepticism or wariness by readers? Why is this? There were a lot of quality issues in 2010, when electronic books were rare. Now there are millions, and the first wave of get-rich-quick hopefuls have left the field. The quality level is getting better and better, as many writers looking at bad contracts from trad-publishers choose to go indie.

Four of my publishers have gone down in the last five years. I created my own publishing company, Echofictions (dot) com, to get my backlist available for my readers, and to control the publishing process. I love to do the graphical design of my covers.

Ad Astra

Figure 6 My table at the last Ad Astra convention in Toronto (pic by the author)

Echofictions specializes in fun and sweet (sometimes bitter-sweet!) stories in multiple genres, from short form to novel-length. Most of my stories have been previously published in pro/semi-pro magazines, so the professional editing/revision steps have been done. The quality is not in question, the challenge is getting the public to discover my brand of satiric and (generally) upbeat SF&F stories.

Links

Author website https://michele-laframboise.com
Echofictions https://echofictions.com
AMAZON author page https://www.amazon.com/Mich%C3%A8le-Laframboise/e/B00JFGLMPM/
 
SundayArtist blog https://sundayartist.wordpress.com
Patreon http://patreon.com/sundayartist

Bio

A science-fiction lover since childhood, Michèle Laframboise sprinkles coffee grounds on her tomato plants to help them achieve consciousness. Beside gardening, Michèle has published 18 novels and more than 45 short-stories, earning some reticent recognition among the literati. You may taste her fiction in magazines like Solaris, Galaxies, Fiction River, Compelling Science Fiction, Abyss&Apex.

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Figure 7 A fun picture of me in a first contact situation!

(credits: Gilles Gagnon)

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A face pic with my steampunk goggles!

(Credits: Sylvie-Anne Jeanson)

Michele’s story features here:

Worlds on the brink of apocalypse, or already there.

Nature’s wrath and dominion over humanity, and humanity’s folly incarnate.

Dark magic, terrifying tech, greed, ravaged environments, rare courage and grim hope in lost cities and fallen worlds.

Brave new worlds or last best hopes — Dare you glimpse the future?

https://books2read.com/HereBeBraveNewWorlds

ML BNW

New Release – The Last Forest – Short Story

I am pleased to announce the release of my latest short story:

The Last Forest

#Darkfantasy #shortstory #nature

When humans come to fell the last forest, they are in for a surprise.
A short dark fantasy tale of the wrath of nature.
Approx 2500 words.

Universal Link

Available as an e-book in all the major e-book stores.

Last forest cover.jpg