Monday 18 August 2014

Wands, Fangs and Wings Day 4!


Welcome to DAY FOUR of
A Week of Wands, Fangs and Wings - A Paranormal Book Blog Tour!

From August 15-22, we will feature books by EIGHT different authors. What kind of books? Paranormal! What do we mean by paranormal? Well, just as the title implies: wands, fangs, wings and everything in between. Pretty much, if it isn’t real, it might be here. If you enjoy reading all things paranormal, we are about to hand you heaven on a gilded plate. Or, at least, on your e-reader.

What do we have in store for you? Excerpts from cool books. A fun Q&A session with the even-cooler authors who wrote them. A rafflecopter contest in which you could win a total of ELEVEN e-books. Wait, let’s note that again, just for clarification.

Eleven. Books. Free.

Score!

The contest closes at midnight on Thursday, and the winner will be announced Friday evening, so don’t forget to enter! As if you would. In the meantime, we have A.J. Naverre and Tami Lund featured on today’s blog. Ash has a book out called Good as Dead, while Tami released a paranormal called Into the Light.

A.J. lives in the smog-filled oasis of California's Central Valley, where she spends the days at a desk covered in paper and half-empty ru       m bottles.

Find A.J. at http://ajnavarre.wordpress.com/, at her Facebook page www.facebook.com/storyscribbler, and at Twitter @OutlineofAsh.

We asked A.J. a few questions, because everybody likes to get to know the person behind the book, right? This is what she had to say:

1. Red or white? We're talking about wine, right? Then both. I'm a writer - the only thing I like more than words is booze.
2. Fave paranormal being? Werewolf. I love the idea of a dual nature stuck in one body, and how many ways that can be explored.
3. Favorite author? Mikhail Bulgakov. His work manages to be satirical, grotesque, fantastic, and realistic all at once. I love it.
4. Do you like heroines who get rescued, or heroines who do the rescuing? I like it when a story has a heroine going through both experiences. Makes things a little more complicated.
5. Cover - hot guy or unique/creative? Unique/creative always draws me in more than rippling abs - though those are nice to look at, too.

I don’t know about you, but I am really intrigued to see what A.J. writes. Well guess what? There’s an excerpt of Good as Dead below!


As if sensing my doubts, Gideon says, “Are you sure about this?”
I settle the purse over my shoulder and move for the kitchen door, wanting to get it over with. “Laci specifically said wood. Maybe silver only burns vampires.”
“I meant attempting to kill him.”
“Oh. Yeah. Are you?” It never occurred to me that he might try to ruin my plan, and I give him a sharp look as we step into the garden, scrutinizing his expression for any hint of reluctance.
But he has his agent face on. “Even if I were to collect enough evidence to arrest him, it’s very possible he might be released by my superiors. When they dismissed my report, I discovered signs that certain people in the Kingdom would prefer Scheer to be charged, no matter what. And INKtech, despite what it conveys otherwise, isn’t above political machinations. If the evidence is there, then yes, I agree killing him is the only way to be truly safe.”
I’m not an idiot; I know most people in official positions dip into corruption when it suits them. Try experiencing just one bad hospice counselor without losing faith in the safety of a system. But hearing Gideon admit it so flatly is a big shock. What will they do to him afterward? Something ripples through me, and it feels a lot like fear.
My silence must tip him off, because he glances at me. “Don’t worry; I’ve already considered the consequences. I’ll still help you.”
If that’s supposed to reassure me, it’s doing the complete opposite. “What kind of consequences?”
“Depends on the outcome, really.”
When he doesn’t say any more, I grab for his arm. “Wait a minute, I don’t want you doing this if you’ll be killed for—for insubordination or something.”
It’s deliberate hyperbole I’m using, trying to make him dismiss it as the absurd idea it should be. But he doesn’t smile at that, and the muscles under my fingers go tense. “No, I won’t be killed.”
I can only stare at him. His face still doesn’t show anything, but behind those quiet words is something that sounds like grief. “Gideon?”
“Phoenix, please. This is hardly the place to bare souls,” he says, shooting a significant glance at Valentine’s back door, which waits only steps away.
Can’t wait to read more? Buy link: http://amzn.com/B00IHRWZU6
****
Our second author of the day, Tami Lund, likes to live, love and laugh, and does her best to ensure the characters in her books do the same. After they’ve overcome a few seemingly insurmountable obstacles, of course.
She loves to be stalked via social media at www.tamilund.com, on Facebook: AuthorTamiLund, and on Twitter @TamiLundAuthor.
Let’s see what Tami has to say about our Q&A session…
1. Red or white? Both, although lately I’ve been hitting the vodka bottle. I heard a rumor that Vitamin C burns belly fat, and who drinks orange juice without either vodka or champagne?
2. Morning or evening? Morning.
2a. Was that answer in reference to writing… or something else? Um….
3. If you weren’t a writer, what would you be? Crazy. Oh wait….
4. Furbabies? How many? One, a mutt we adopted shortly after my 13 year old rescue furbaby passed. She loves to sit with me on the back porch while I write.
5. Antagonist: kill off or make disappear? Make disappear. That way, you are almost guaranteed a sequel.
How do those interesting answers translate into Tami’s writing? Read this excerpt from Into the Light:
“Yeah, I get that they got their magic from the sun,” Tanner acknowledged. He eyed the scrap of material in Mickey’s hand. “But no one has seen a trace of lightbearers in over five hundred years. Somebody wiped them out. Probably our kind, trying to inherit their magic.”
“Probably our kind eating them for dinner,” Finn contributed to the conversation for the first time. “Back then we were slightly more primal.”
“Slightly,” Tanner remarked tongue in cheek. Finn smirked. Tanner recalled how they used to hang out together as kids. They’d shifted for the first time together. Now, Finn was Quentin’s best tracker, and Tanner was doing his best to avoid getting sucked back into the pack. Time and change and all that.
“If a shifter kills a lightbearer, he’ll inherit its magic.” Mickey refused to give up on Quentin’s obsession.
Considering the only magic a shifter possessed was the ability to change forms at will, it was a heady idea to be able to steal another creature’s magic. Especially for one who considered himself to be the top of the food chain, even without much magic.
“Touch it,” Mickey demanded as he waved the bit of material in Tanner’s face.
Tanner batted at the material, if only to push it away. His fingers skimmed the surface. A jolt shot through his system, so raw and potent that his entire body reacted as if he’d been electrocuted.
“Told ya,” Mickey said triumphantly.
“Give me that,” Tanner said as he snatched the torn bit of material out of Mickey’s hand. He held it, reveling in the feel of magic there. It felt…intoxicating. “Where did you get this?” His breathing accelerated as he stared at the gold and silver thread that wove a pattern through the white material.
“The lightbearer. Your father figured you wouldn’t come unless you had proof.”
Tanner continued to stare at the material. It wasn’t true—was it? Tanner—and a great many other shifters—believed they didn’t really exist. His father had never let go of the belief that they were simply hiding, and all he had to do was find one of them. Just one.
Was his father right all along?
Fates be damned, but Tanner certainly hoped not. He’d spent the better part of his life desperately hating the man for what he represented, for how he ruled his pack, for the way he treated Tanner’s mother and every other woman in his pack. Most of all, he’d hated the man for his obsession over a race of magical creatures that Tanner had been certain no longer existed.
Tanner didn’t understand his father’s obsession. The man was already pack master over one of the largest and most respected—or at least feared—packs in the country. He didn’t need magic to gain prestige and power. He already had it all.
“Come on, Tanner,” Mickey begged. “He won’t let none of us see her until you come back to the pack. He says you get the first honor. Come on.”
Tanner continued to stare at the scrap of material for a few more moments, pondering his decision. Finally, he tossed the pool stick onto the table. “Damn it to hell,” he muttered as he turned and strode from the pool area, out of the bar and into the cool summer evening air.
Damn the man for luring him back like this.


Want more paranormal? Two books by Patricia D. Eddy will be featured tomorrow! And don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter contest!





2 comments:

  1. What a great blog tour! You know I love the paranormal.

    ReplyDelete