Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series) New Cover Reveal!

Today, I'm excited to reveal my brand new cover for

Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series Book 1)

I hope you like it!

 

 

As well as this one, new covers for

books 2 and 3 are also being worked on

by Adrijus from Rocking Book Covers.

 

Cover Reveal for NO RETURN by Zoe Cannon

If you like young adult dystopian novels, you're going to love this series! I've already read Book 1 - The Torturer's Daughter - and it's a great, suspenseful, fast read that will have you itching to get your hands on Book 2 - Necessary Sacrifices.

Today, I'm happy to be hosting the cover reveal for Book 3 - No Return . . .

Every dissident knows about Becca Dalcourt.

They know about the lives she’s saved. About the prison break she carried out against impossible odds. They know she turned a dying resistance into the first real threat Internal Defense has faced in a long time.

And even now, with the resistance under attack from the inside, they know Becca can save them.

They’re wrong.

This conclusion to the series explores what happens when an ordinary person becomes a legend – and how to choose between who you are and who the world needs you to be.

No Return will be released May 21^st 2014. You can add it to your Goodreads TBR list here.

Zoe Cannon writes about the things that fascinate her: outsiders, societies no sane person would want to live in, questions with no easy answers, and the inner workings of the mind. If she couldn't be a writer, she would probably be a psychologist, a penniless philosopher, or a hermit in a cave somewhere. While she'll read anything that isn't nailed down, she considers herself a YA reader and writer at heart. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and a giant teddy bear of a dog, and spends entirely too much time on the internet.

Here's where she hangs out online:

Website | Mailing List | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Shattered Worlds is On Tour!!

If you love dystopian and apocalyptic fiction, then join us over the next 

few days to get your fix. You'll find exclusive excerpts from the novels, 

guest posts from the authors, and there’s also an opportunity to enter the Shattered Worlds giveaway to win 12 novels and a $60 Amazon gift card.

Check out the tour dates below!
 
26th February
Playing Jokers
Mythical Books
Read More, Sleep Less
Jess Time To Read
Donnie Darko Girl
K.F.Breene
Vanilla Moon Blog
Old Victorian Quill
Happy Indulgence Books
Sarit Yahalomi
Trina’s Tantalising Titbits
Mom with a Kindle
Primorose Musings
Becca Anne’s Book Reviews
Aria Kane
Booky Thoughts and Me
Share My Destiny
Day Dream Books
Simplistic Reviews
A Touch of Book Madness
A Dream Within a Dream
To Dream with Eyes Open
Wonderful Monster Book
Reviewing in Chaos
We Do Write
Girls with Book
Rude Mom
Living in a Book World
Marked by Books
Gin’s Book Notes

27th February
Two Ends of the Open
Purple Shadow Hunter
Books Direct
I Love Books
Sassy Book Lovers
The Book Bag
The Bookish Confections
Fantastical World of Wonders

28th February
Why I can’t Stop Reading
Shayna Varadeaux
Books by Kay
Contagious Reads
Creating Serenity
Bawakas Book Fair
Crazy Beautiful Reviews
Literary Me
Fuonlyknew
Wanted Readers
Pieces of Whimsy
Naughty Book Eden

1st March
Bibliophile Mystery
Vanya Drum
Yearning Mermaid
My Book Addiction
Reviews by Jasmine
Magic Inside Pages
Book Liaison
Cada Libro Un Mundo
Ebook Escapes
Literary Winner
Rockin’ and Reviewing
Fundinmental
Sun Mountain Reviews
Mismatched Bookends
Books to Breathe

2nd March
Once Upon a YA book
Buried Under Books
Michael Scifan
Book Lover’s Life
Live a Thousand Lives
All Things in the Cloud Sweet
The Cover Contessa
Scandalous Bookblog

3rd March
Thoughts at One in the Morning
Addicted Readers
A Book Addict’s Bookshelves
So Many Books, So Little Time
FicCentral
Deal Sharing Aunt
NaYa Books and More

Thanks a bazillion to all the amazing bloggers who signed up for the Shattered Worlds tour. We're blown away by how many of you have offered to host it.

If you'd like to get your hands on a copy of all six featured novels, Shattered Worlds is on sale for just 99c / 77p !! 

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Smashwords

YA Dystopian Sci-Fi Series - The Spiral Arm

I'm extremely excited and proud to announce a special cover reveal for a brand new YA dystopian sci-fi series called The Spiral Arm. And the reason I'm so excited is because it was written by Peter Boland my gorgeous and lovely husband!

Now I know I'm biased, but the story is A-Maz-Ing. Written in novella-length episodes, each one ends with a cliffhanger, kind of like your favourite TV series. Think Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones etc. Each mini season has three episodes and the first episode will be out this month.

Can't freaking wait!!

So here's the oh-so-stunning cover and book description:

Wren Harper lives on an overcrowded Earth on the brink of apocalypse. There are just too many people. The answer lies 600 light-years away on Kepler; a planet more than double the size of Earth. For decades humans have been fighting another race for its control. Earth’s armies are depleted. So now 15-year-old cadets are sent to fight, trained along the way in vast combat ships. But why has Wren been chosen? She's small and geeky and not a fighter. Will she survive Kepler? Or will the training kill her first?

If you'd like to be the first to know when The Spiral Arm will be released, sign up here:

Enter your email to get Release Dates for The Spiral Arm Series:

And here's Pete's Facebook Page and Blog. He's new to it all so has no likes or followers yet (except me). If the series looks like your sort of thing, hop over to Facebook and say hello.

 

Hope you all love it. If any bloggers/reviewers would like a pre-release review copy, feel free to use the 'contact me' form above.



Blog Tour for THE CLEARING with Fiction Addiction

My blog tour starts today!!

 

I've hosted other books on their blog tours, but I've never had one of my own,

so I'm very excited to announce that my blog tour for THE CLEARING starts today.

I'd love it if you could join me over the next couple of weeks at the following virtual venues where there'll be interviews, blog posts, giveaways and reviews.

 

 

18th February 2013	A Daydreamer’s Thoughts - Review
19th February 2013	Victoria’s Pages of Romance - Interview & Excerpt
20th February 2013	Reading a Little Bit of Everything - Excerpt & Giveaway
21st February 2013	A Novel Review - Review
22nd February 2013	Story Addict Guest Post
25th February 2013	Snuggling on the Sofa - Review
26th February 2013	Rhoda Baxter - Guest post
27th February 2013	Miss Bookworm Reviews Review & Giveaway
28th February 2013	Book-Marks the Spot - Review & Giveaway
1st March 3013	Cosmochicklitan

 

 

Thanks so much to Shaz Goodwin at Fiction Addiction Books on Tour

for her super-special ninja powers of organisation and co-ordination!

 



Writing Post-Apocalyptic Fiction - My Top 10 Tips

 

 

THE CLEARING, Book 2 in my post-apocalyptic series came out this week and I'm already scribbling away on Book 3. Hoping to release it this summer if I can.

 

I'm really enjoying writing it. there's something about this genre which I find compelling. It sends shivers down my spine but despite this, I love to immerse myself in those terrifying end-of-the-world situations.

 

A few weeks ago I blogged about writing dystopian and post-apoc fiction over on Author's Anon. I've reposted it below for those of you who missed it:

My personal top ten elements for writing a great post-apocalyptic novel:

 

1. Make your setting original.

There have been oodles of futuristic New Yorks and Londons and a plethora of abandoned dystopian ‘facilities’. We’ve had kids battling to the death in arenas and gory zombie apocalypses. Worlds have been divided into ‘Factions’ and ‘Areas’, ‘Districts’ and ‘Zones’.

 

Put your own personal twist on the fall of society.

 

2. Sanctuaries

Locating them, getting into them and saving them from destruction. That’s all part of great post-apocalyptic fiction. Along with finding food, medical supplies, clothing and other survival gear.

 

3. Struggle

Decide whether your story is about struggling to save and change the world or whether it’s about a character’s struggle to adapt and survive within that world. It can be both, but have a clear idea about it before you go in. Do they succeed in their struggle? Or does everything unravel?

 

4. Why is your character special?

Did they get lucky? Are they equipped with specialist survival skills? Are they a victim? Why did they make it when everyone else died?

 

5. The Threat

Who or what is it? A person? A creature? A hostile environment? Are there multiple threats?

 

6. Authenticity and continuity

There are two main types of post-apocalyptic fiction. There’s gritty reality - the ‘what if’ scenario where life-as-we-know-it ends. And then there’s pure fantasy – zombies and dystopian societies etc. But whatever you choose to write about, make it as authentic as you can. If you’re writing about zombies, set parameters for them. What can they do? How can they harm you? And remember to never ever call them ‘zombies’ – there are ‘walkers’, ‘deadheads’, ‘the unconsecrated’ and a gazillion other names for the undead. Make up your own. Be consistent and make your world totally believable.

 

7. Technology

Does your world have any? Or did it all die with the end of civilisation? Or is there now even more advanced technology? Either way, talk about it and show it or the lack of it. What are the implications?

 

8. Atmosphere

Create a distinctive atmosphere for your novel. Whether it’s dark and claustrophobic or menacing and suspenseful, try and keep that feeling running through the story so your reader gets a real sense of being in another time and place. Perhaps it’s a world of extremes where you have luxury and decadence in the face of poverty and oppression. Either way, make the scenes ooze with atmosphere.

 

9. Before and After

What was the world like before the fall? What is it like now? Was it the same as the real world or was it something else? I want to know details. I want to see landscapes or cityscapes. I want to picture the before and after.

 

10. Hope

Even if everything is bleak and horrendous and it all seems futile, you have to plant a tiny nugget of hope somewhere in the story or we might as well all lie down and die.

Feel free to let me know if you think I’ve left anything out . . .


More online resources:
Writing Apocalyptic Stories
Apocalyptic Fiction Authors Beware
How to Write a Post-Apocalyptic Story
Best Post-Apocalyptic Novels

Thicker Than Blood Release Date

I'm happy to announce that book 2 in the Marchwood Vampire Series

will be released April 17th 2012

Chilling and fast-paced, Thicker Than Blood is the supernatural sequel

to Hidden. It combines passion and drama with a historical twist.

Aelia lives in 6th century Byzantium. She is sixteen years old and her life is about

to change forever. She doesn't yet know it, but she holds the fate of thousands

in her hands and her actions will echo across the centuries.

Fourteen hundred years later the lives of Madison and Alexandre are once

again plunged into danger. To save Madison, Alexandre is forced back to a

world he thought was dead and buried. But time is running out.

The chase is on...

On April 17th it will be available as an ebook from Smashwords and from Amazon for Kindle.
It may take a while longer to distribute to other outlets. The paperback will be available by the end of April.

Raven by Suzy Turner

Lilly's life is strange. She has odd parents and only one friend. But when Lilly’s parents disappear, things get even stranger. Everything she knows is taken away from her and she begins to realise that she isn’t who she thought she was. The story had me flipping the pages to discover Lilly’s family secrets and I wasn’t disappointed.

Suzy Turner’s writing flows and the story pulls you in with its intrigue and mystery. The characters are compelling and the plot unfolds into an exciting and dangerous adventure.

I can’t wait for book 2 and I’m really glad it’s going to be about Lilly’s friend, December Moon. She’s a character I wished we’d seen more of in Raven, so it’s brilliant we’ll get to find out who she is. All in all this was a fantastic read!

Raven is a refreshingly different novel suitable for children, teens and adults alike. You can find it in the following places:

Amazon for Kindle
Barnes & Noble for the Nook
Smashwords

Suzy's website: http://www.suzyturner.com/