Michel Prince

Today's special guest is Michel Prince. Michel graduated with a bachelor degree in History and Political Science.  She writes young adult and adult paranormal romance as well as contemporary romance.

With characters yelling "It's my turn damn it!!!" She tries to explain to them that alas, she can only type a hundred and twenty words a minute and they will have wait their turn.  She knows eventually they find their way out of her head and to her fingertips and she looks forward to sharing them with you.

When Michel can suppress the voices in her head she can be found at a scouting event or cheering for her son in a variety of sports.  She would like to thank her family for always being in her corner and especially her husband for supporting her every dream and never letting her give up.

Michel is a member of RWA Pro and Midwest Fiction Writers.  She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, cat and new puppy.


ABOUT THE BOOK

In the annals of dysfunctional families, the Chisholm’s are working their way to the top. Drug abuse, an unwed mother with multiple fathers, and the questionable cash flow for the 'pretty one'.   All this from a seemingly normal, two parent middle class family. But were the choices truly made of their free will?
Bad choices are a Chisholm family trait, one that confounds the youngest child, Ellie, who's trying to separate herself by making smart decisions. And falling for Oscar Jeffreys, the hottest guy at school, would be number one on the list of  Chisholm family disasters.  Yet the crazy part is it’s not a one sided attraction.  Somehow Ellie has caught Oscar Jeffreys’ eye.   Sure she could see the barriers between them.  Race, age, popularity.  They were at opposite ends of the spectrum.  But a demon set to destroy her family? She can't see that.  
Oscar provides security and acceptance Ellie never imagined she deserved.  As the passion of first love grows, Ellie honestly believes she has a chance to beat the odds and live a happy, normal life. Then her world collapses around her. With the help of a guardian angel, Ellie learns of a world that has unknowingly surrounded her for years.  And she'll have to find strength buried deep inside to save not only her future, but flush out and stop the demon in her midst.
And Ellie will have to learn that sometimes the hardest lesson about growing up is accepting that you're worth more. 

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

The Chisholm family sounds very interesting - and very dysfunctional. How did you develop each of these characters and their flaws? Did you have anyone in real life that their character traits were modeled after? 

I don’t know if I should plead the fifth on this question.  In developing the flaws I had to look at all the mistakes a person could make. The standards are sex, drugs, envy, etc.  Normally you have a family with the one black sheep that people either enable or ostracize.  Instead with the Chisholm’s we have multiple mess-ups in one family.  As far as real people…sadly yes.  Some I’ve met in passing others I had to deal with directly, because as humans we all make mistakes…with the Chisholm’s I just had them not learn from them.

There is a theme with Ellie of someone who believes against all odds; believes in a better life and believes in love. Was she based on anyone in particular? Was it difficult to transition between her dysfunctional family's negativity and Ellie's optimistic attitude? 

I think I tapped into the young me.  That’s the joy of writing YA, when we are younger everything is a possibility.  Although some people might try to tell you no (I had more than a few between teachers, family members and acquaintances) you have to find some thing inside yourself to push through for what you want not what is expected of you.  Anyone can do what’s expected of them…it takes strength to do what you want.  As far as transitioning, part of the reason I call the book Chrysalis is because Oscar really keeps Ellie safe from her family.  Ellie’s family rarely acknowledges her existence in everyday life, but in book two The Beam her family’s dysfunction exists to the point Ellie walks the line of sanity.  It’s not easy to go back and forth between the two because they always make Ellie question what she’d learned to be true.  In the second book she feels like they are watching her every step ready to tell her what she’s done wrong and how she too is a failure. 

I love the premise of the guardian angel. Do you believe in guardian angels? Do you have any stories you can share with us? 

I hope so.  People usually look at a City of Angels type guardian who kind of tap you on the shoulder and you stop right before the bus hits you and saves your life.  I’ve had a few of those incidents where I had remembered something or it seemed like I needed to stop for something and then I learn my five minute stop saved me from being in a car crash.  As for Ellie’s live in guardian angel I look to my husband and the people in his life that helped him, just because.

How did you come up with the plot of this book and the lesson Ellie must learn? 

This book started out as an adult book flashing back…that really didn’t work.  I knew where I wanted the book to go and in book three people will finally see the beginning that I wanted for the series.  This whole series developed itself.  I finished book two with Ellie being strong, but not where she needed to be.  When I began book three even I was amazed and her development.  She becomes so incredibly strong and a force to be reckoned with it surprised me.  Growing up is hard in general, having the burden of basically raising everyone else when you’re the youngest takes a character I didn’t know for sure I could make feel real, but Ellie seems like a person you could know.

CONTACT MICHEL - AND WIN A PRIZE!

www.michelprincebooks.com

http://www.facebook.com/MichelPrinceBooks?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/MichelPrince1

http://www.youtube.com/user/Michelprincebooks?feature=guide

http://www.amazon.com/Chrysalis-ebook/dp/B007USU6AO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351526304&sr=8-2&keywords=Chrysalis+by+michel+prince

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/chrysalis-by-michel-prince?store=allproducts&keyword=chrysalis+by+michel+prince

Michel will be awarding a butterfly gift basket to one randomly drawn commenter and a butterfly necklace to a second randomly drawn commenter.

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/11/nbtm-chrysalis-by-michel-prince.html

The Silver Sphere

Today's special guest is Michael Dadich, who is visiting us from Beverly Hills, California with his latest book, The Silver Sphere. I'll let Michael tell you about himself in his own words:


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’ve been writing since first setting pencil to steno pad at age 8. A year later, I began developing the world of my current series-in-progress, and even created its title, The Silver Sphere. Now, with the support of years of experience, those early maps and back stories have progressed into what I hope is a fresh and entertaining take on the classic young adult fantasy adventure.

Despite my frequent escapes into parallel worlds, I root myself firmly in my very real family and community. When not pacing the yard maniacally after every few pages of writing, I spend as much time as possible hanging out with my studly 9-year-old son, and my inspirational wife Jenna. I also coach several local youth sports teams in Beverly Hills, and alternate between yelling at my two crazy Corgis and hiking with my trained German Shepherd.

For more, join me in my favorite fantasy worlds, from Lord of the Rings to the creations of C.S. Lewis, Anne McCaffrey and Terry Brooks. Even more importantly, stop by and say hello on my Facebook page at AuthorMichaelDadich, tweet me at @MichaelDadich, and stalk my website at http://www.thesilversphere.org.org

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Shelby Pardow never imagined she could kill someone. All she wants to do is hide from her troubled father… when she is teleported to awaiting soldiers on the planet Azimuth. Here she is not a child, but Kin to one of the six Aulic Assembly members whom Malefic Cacoethes has drugged and imprisoned. He seeks to become dictator of this world (and then Earth by proxy).

His father, Biskara, is an evil celestial entity, tracked by the Assembly with an armillary device, The Silver Sphere. With the Assembly now deposed, Biskara directs Malefic and the Nightlanders to their strategic targets. Unless….

Can Shelby find the other Kin, and develop courage and combat skills? Can the Kin reassemble in time to release or replace the Assembly, overthrowing Malefic and restraining Biskara?

WIN A PRIZE!

Michael will be awarding a $75 Amazon or BN.com GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tours. 

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/11/super-book-blast-silver-sphere-by.html

Walk With Me Through Time

Today's very special guest is bestselling author Jennifer Conner. She has twenty short stories and one full length book on ebook and in print. She writes in Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Historical Romance, and Erotica.

Christmas Chaos was in the Kindle sales top 50 ebooks and #2 in the Romance category.

Her novel Shot in the Dark was a finalist in the Emerald City Opener, Cleveland, and Toronto RWA contests.

Jennifer is an Associate Publisher for the indie e-book publisher, Books to Go Now who resides in the Seattle area. They pride themselves in helping new authors get their foot in the door with well-edited manuscripts, professional covers, and platforms uploads.

She lives in a hundred year old house that she grew up in. Her semi-small town holds an interesting mix of resident hillbillies, yuppies and Navy Seals. And of course Seattle, only a few miles away, is the birthplace of Starbucks so coffee is always on the check list. She blows glass beads with a blow torch, (which relieves a lot of stress and people don't bother you) and is  a huge fan of local soccer teams, the Seattle Sounders, and Kitsap Pumas.

ABOUT THE BOOK

An enchanting time-travel romance for fans of Jude Deveraux and Diana Gabaldon.

Hadley Easton has a family legacy to uphold as a Time-Keeper. He guides people forward -or back- who feel they were born into the wrong time.

Samantha turns his world upside down when she arrives through the front door of the London bookstore. No one arrives through the front door: it’s the time portal.  On top of that, she informs him she’s from the year 2012, over a hundred years in the future.

When Hadley learns the truth, he realizes his time is running out...

AN EXCERPT

Hadley Easton took the watch from his pocket and flipped it open to check the time. He wasn’t sure why— the hands never moved. Time seemed to flow everywhere except inside the portal where the bookstore stood. Here, time felt suspended.

*****

Hadley stood with his back against the wall and stared at the floor. His boots felt nailed down. He wanted to run after the woman. Stop her. Ask her those million questions starting with, how could it be 2012? He couldn’t force his legs to move.

He slid his fingers along the chain and tugged the watch from his pocket again. He popped open the silver case. Once more the hands of the watch were frozen, as they were since he arrived at the bookstore. But now, it was a quarter to one. Time moved ahead ten minutes. The ten minutes he assumed he’d spoken with Samantha. How did that happen? How could it happen? Had he imagined the hands moved? Hadley tapped the glass face with the tip of his fingers.

He gathered his strength and made his way down the stairs to the front of the bookstore. She was gone.

A PRIZE!

Jennifer will be awarding a pocket watch (US/Canada only) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. 

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

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/09/virtual-walk-with-me-through-time-by.html

 

CONTACT THE AUTHOR

Website: www.jenniferconnerbooks.com

Blog: http://jenniferconnerwriter.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.conner2

Books To Go Now: http://www.bookstogonow.com/sweetjenniferconner.html

And: http://www.bookstogonow.com/historicalromancejenniferconner.html 

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jennilynnjac/

 

Oxford Whispers

Today's special guest is Marion Croslydon. Marion is a true citizen of the world. She was born in West Africa, grew up in the South of France, and studied in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Cape Town, and Oxford before finally settling down in London. This wide variety of cities has provided lots of inspiration for her writing. Talk about culture exposure!

In addition to being an author, she works as an entrepreneur, wife and mother-of-one but spends a good deal of time with books, DVDs and listening to her mp3 player; all for the sake of inspiration, of course. She says her debut series, The Oxford Trilogy, has been a blast to write because she can indulge in her favorite types of music: Country and English rock.

Her main goal as a writer is to make readers dream bigger and cause their hearts to beat a little faster. Since her writing is all about sharing dreams and stories, she loves connecting with fellow readers and authors.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Oxford Whispers is the story of Madison LeBon, an American student at Oxford University, with psychic powers she prefers to ignore. But when the tragic lovers in a painting begin to haunt her, she must learn to accept her gift. Otherwise, life will imitate art and Madison's own first love will be doomed.

Oxford Whispers is a New Adult Paranormal Romance (Upper-Young-Adult / MatureYoung-Adult). It’s a “college-lit” fiction. I’m sure people can come up with many other names ;-)

So, yes, there’s some Voodoo, a few homicidal ghosts, and some psychic tricks, but the story is also about these “in-between” years.

I dived into Harry Potter. I devoured Twilight. But then what?

I’m not a teen anymore. But in some time-defying ways, I grew up with those heroes. They nurtured my thoughts, my dreams. I cheered for them, cried with them… and fell in love with them (you, broody vampire whose name starts with an “E”, yes you!).

“Coming-of-age” doesn’t only happen in high school. A lot of the excitement, joys and heartbreaks also fill those “in-between years,” when you’re legally an adult but don’t always know how to be one. Or why you should even try to be. But hardly any book deals with this transition into the “big bad” world, about these life-changing, earth-shattering “first-times.” The first time we leave home, our family, our parents, the friends we grew up with, but didn’t always choose. The first home, the first job, the first real love.

So really these are some of the things I wanted to explore through Madison. She’s passed the rebellious teenage years (although hers were very tame because she’s a nerd ;-)). She’s on her own and has to construct her own identity. For her, it will mean accepting where she comes from, her roots, and her heritage.

Independence, uncertainty, building your own life are all themes specific to the New Adult genre.

I’m about to write “The End” on the sequel to Oxford Whispers, Oxford Shadows. The release is scheduled for early May 2013.

Before getting to the last installment in the series, I’m dying to write a contemporary romance (also New Adult). I can’t say too much at this stage but I’m planning to publish it in July 2013, then will come the last episode in the Oxford trilogy in October 2013.

  ABOUT THE BOOK

Two star-crossed lovers in the English Civil War

A painting with haunting powers

A murderous ghost back for revenge

Madison LeBon is dead set against the dead. She has vowed to ignore her Voodoo-stamped heritage and the psychic gift passed down through her Louisiana family. The world of the living is where she wants to belong.

But her resolution shatters when the ill-fated lovers in a painting—the subject of her first history class at Oxford—begin to haunt her. The lovers warn her against their own nemesis, a Puritan from the English Civil War.

In misty present-day Oxford, Madison embarks on a quest to unravel the secrets of the past and understand her personal bond with the painting. To protect herself, she must learn to accept her gift before life imitates art, in all its tragedy.

College becomes more complicated when she falls hard for Rupert Vance, a troubled aristocrat and descendant of one of the characters in the painting.

With the spirit of a murderer in hot pursuit, Madison comes to realize that her own first love may be doomed…

Based on a real Pre-Raphaelite painting, Oxford Whispers is full of romance, drama and suspense.

Fall in love for the first time… Again

 
HOW TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR

Marion will be giving away a $20 New Adult Reading pack --i.e. selected NA titles on Amazon to one commenter on the tour) Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/07/virtual-book-tour-oxford-whispers-by.html.

Connect with Marion here:

www.marioncroslydon.com

www.twitter.com/mcroslydon

www.facebook.com/marioncroslydon

www.youtube.com/user/marioncroslydon

 

Away from the Spotlight

Today's guest is Tamara Carlisle, a former attorney and business consultant.  Away from the Spotlight is her first published work of fiction.  She currently is working on two additional novels:  one is about love in the music industry and the other is a work of paranormal fiction.  Tamara currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her British husband and daughter.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

What do you like to read?  Do you have any favorite authors or books?

When I was young, my father wanted to create a home library.  Our family library had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with books by my parents’ favorite authors and gilded leather-bound versions of classic novels.  Consequently, in addition to the classics that were required reading in school, I read even more at home, including The Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula, Jane Eyre, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, among many others.

Reaching adulthood (and after a three-year hiatus from reading for pleasure during law school), I started to read popular fiction.  My favorite genres were spy thrillers and adventure novels.  My favorite books are The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins and The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. 

When True Blood came out in 2008, I started to read the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  The original Twilight movie was released soon thereafter and I read the related novels by Stephenie Meyer.  I became hooked on the romance elements in those books.  I then started to read all types of romance. 

Now that I have a Kindle Fire and selecting a book requires only a push of a button, I have become an even more prolific reader.  Over the course of the last year or so, I have started to read a lot of books by Indie Romance Authors. 

I tend to be captivated by the hero in romance novels.  If I’m really into the hero, I love the book.  Off the top of my head, my favorite heroes are Jamie Fraser from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, Kellan Kyle from Thoughtless and Effortless by S.C. Stephens, and Eric Northman from the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

How do you develop your characters?

I started with the underlying premise that being famous would be tough in terms of the lack of privacy, the difficulties in engaging in basic activities without being bothered, and never knowing whether a so-called friend wasn’t really your friend, but with you solely for the perks and publicity.  With that premise in mind, I created a hero who initially struggled with fame and subsequently tried, to the extent possible, to live a normal life.  Since Will MacKenzie largely enjoyed a normal, grounded life, he was a genuinely good guy rather than the narcissist some famous people appear to become.

Creating Shannon’s character and backstory was easy.  I merely layered the overarching plot on my experience graduating from law school, studying for the California Bar Exam, traveling abroad after the Bar Exam, and commencing a legal career. In terms of Shannon’s appearance, I wanted her to be unusual.  Since Will felt different, I wanted to create a character who felt different as well.  As a redhead, I can relate to a feeling of otherness.  I therefore made Shannon a redhead to give Will and Shannon some common ground in feeling different.  In terms of Shannon’s personality, I made Shannon a fairly emotional creature because the story wouldn’t be so interesting if she looked at life, as I do, in a very logical, rational way.  She would come off like a robot on the page.  Also, Shannon’s insecurities make it clear that she doesn’t feel entitled to the lavish treatment bestowed on her by Will - she wouldn’t be very likeable if she had an entitled attitude.

In keeping Will grounded, I created a support network of a loving family and good friends around him.  When I was a third-year law student, I dated a Frenchman who shared a house with a two other French ex-pats in Pacific Palisades.  I therefore had Will live with two other British ex-pats in a house in Pacific Palisades.  Those friends, and their girlfriends, helped Will live a relatively normal existence for a twenty-something in Los Angeles, albeit in a little nicer neighborhood that most.

I also included a love triangle in the story.  I wanted to ensure that John Maher and Shannon were thrown together regularly so I created his character as one of Shannon’s co-workers.  I knew from experience that, in light of the hours required in the practice of law, you tend to become really close with your co-workers because they are there at the office burning the midnight oil along with you.  It makes sense that, with limited free time, a romance would blossom in that environment – and I speak from experience in that regard as well.  In terms of John’s personality, I wanted him to be different from Will.  Will is an engaging, outgoing actor.  I therefore made John a relatively shy person.  The fact that John was shy and reserved also helped to explain why he hadn’t made any moves on Shannon before Will came along.

Shannon’s friend, Rachael, is based upon a friend of mine who died as a result of complications of uterine cancer at the time I wrote the novel.  The fact that my friend had been a paralegal and my partner in crime at the various pubs in and around Los Angeles when I was younger made her character fit right into my story.

How did you get the plot idea for your book?

Around the time that the Twilight movie was released and for quite a while afterward, I couldn’t open my internet browser without seeing, front and center, some story about one of the actors or actresses in that movie.  Every detail of their lives, real or rumored, was published.  I wondered how they would date and ever know whether that person liked them or the perks and publicity of being associated with them.  I thought that they would have to date someone who knew them before they were famous or someone who didn’t know who they were.  However, considering how much press they were getting, who wouldn’t know who they were?  The answer then occurred to me:  a law student. 

A law student has little free time in light of the vast amounts of reading required and working part-time as a law clerk reduces that free time even further.  Based upon my experience, the last thing a law student wants to do in his or her limited free time is read or engage in any other sedentary activity such as watching television or going to the movies.  Consequently, a law student might not be knowledgeable about relatively new actors and actresses.

With all that in mind, the idea for the novel came to me:  a very famous, young actor meets a law student who doesn’t know who he is.  I couldn’t get the idea out of my head and finally decided to write it down.  Away from the Spotlight was born. 

 
ABOUT THE BOOK

In the closing weeks of law school, Shannon Sutherland meets handsome and charming Englishman Will MacKenzie. Initially swept off her feet, Shannon finds that Will has a secret that, once discovered and the consequences realized, could destroy their fledgling relationship. Will and Shannon take great pains to have a normal relationship but, ultimately, find it impossible to do so. Will the pressures of their careers and the temptations of others drive Will and Shannon apart? Can Will and Shannon live a happy life away from the spotlight?

AN EXCERPT

“I met someone.  His name is Will.  He’s English, I think.”

“That would be different for you.”

She wasn’t wrong.  I had very casually dated a number of men I had met in the various pubs in Santa Monica.  They were from all over Europe, but not one of them had been English for some reason.  There were Scottish, Irish and Welsh men among them, but never English.  I had commented on occasion on the fact that I never seemed to meet English men at the English pubs I frequented.

“I’m going to see him again tomorrow night.”

“What’s he like?”

“Drop-dead gorgeous, smart, funny and with excellent taste in music.  Just my type.  Well, better than my type, actually.  It’s hard to believe someone that perfect has any interest in me.”

“Please” Rachael said.  “You get hit on every time we go out.”

“That’s overstating things quite a bit.”

“You seem oblivious to it half the time.”

I guess I did ignore some of it.  When you spend time as part of a female minority in bars full of drunk men, it was hard not to think that some of them would have hit on me for no other reason than that I was female, regardless of how I acted, what I said, or what I looked like.  I therefore learned that getting hit on wasn’t necessarily a compliment and, the later it happened in the evening, the less of a compliment it was.

 
HOW TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR

Tamara will be awarding two $25 Amazon GCs to randomly drawn commenters during the tour.

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/08/virtual-book-tour-away-from-spotlight.html

For further information about Tamara, go to http://www.tamaracarlisle.com. 

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Away-from-the-Spotlight-by-Tamara-Carlisle/166846163445733

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6185721.Tamara_Carlisle

Shelfari:  http://www.shelfari.com/books/29531300/Away-from-the-Spotlight?amatc=kdp-c

Library Thing:  http://www.librarything.com/author/carlisletamara

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Tamara_Carlisle

Tamara’s Goodreads Author Page also includes a blog detailing trivia relating to Away from the Spotlight.

 

Interview with a Mind-Scribe

Please welcome our guest today, Anne Brooke, who comes to us through Goddess Fish Promotions. Anne Brooke’s fiction has been shortlisted for the Harry Bowling Novel Award, the Royal Literary Fund Awards and the Asham Award for Women Writers. She has also twice been the winner of the national DSJT Charitable Trust Open Poetry Competition.

She is the author of six published novels, including her fantasy series, The Gathandrian Trilogy, published by Bluewood Publishing and featuring scribe and mind-reader Simon Hartstongue. More information on the trilogy is available at: www.gathandria.com and the first of these novels is The Gifting. In addition, her short stories are regularly published by Riptide Publishing, Amber Allure Press and Untreed Reads.

Anne has a secret passion for theatre and chocolate, preferably at the same time, and is currently working on a fantasy novella, The Taming of the Hawk. More information can be found at www.annebrooke.com and she regularly blogs at: http://annebrooke.blogspot.com.

The Gifting Blurb:

The mind-dwellers of Gathandria are under deadly siege. For two year-cycles they have suffered: their people decimated, their beautiful city in ruins. Their once peaceful life has descended into chaos and misery. Legends tell of the Lost One who will return at such a time to save them from their mortal enemy – the mind-executioner. This enemy knows their ways well, for he was once an elder of the city. Time is running out.



Johan and Isabella take up the quest, journeying to the Lammas Lands searching for their distant cousin and lowly scribe, Simon Hartstongue. The elders dare to hope that he is whom they seek. Not everyone shares this hope; there is one amongst them who is bound to the enemy, shielding their secret thoughts from mind links while seeking to betray Simon.



Powerful lessons are learned as they travel through the mystical kingdoms of the Mountains, the Air, the Desert and the Waters. Deadly attacks threaten total annihilation and devastating sorrow strikes. Story-telling weaves a tenuous net of protection around them, but the enemy has absolute power with the stolen mind-cane in his possession. To his surprise Simon hears its song. Desperately he tries to understand and embrace his gifting, as he struggles to comprehend his inheritance.



A strong and pure mind is needed in the battle to defeat the enemy. If you are branded a coward, a murderer and an outcast, how can you be a saviour? Doubt creeps into the Gathandrians' minds. Is Simon truly the One?

You can read an excerpt and purchase The Gifting in eBook and in paperback.

Interview with a Mind-Scribe by Anne Brooke

Anne: Today I’m interviewing one of the main characters in my fantasy novel, The Gifting, which is the first book in my Gathandrian Trilogy. Simon Hartstongue is an itinerant scribe, originally from the White Lands. He has the ability to read minds but keeps this talent as secret as possible because of the laws of the Lammas Lands, where he is currently serving as scribe and companion to the Overlord, Ralph Tregannon. Simon, thank you for coming, and please tell us more about your mind-reading skills.

Simon: [Leans forward, frowning] It’s hard for me to talk about. The ability to know people’s thoughts, their deepest fears and loves, isn’t something I’m proud of. It’s not something I’ve ever sought out. On the whole, it brings nothing but pain.

Anne: Surely that can’t be true? I’d have thought there’d be a lot of advantages in having such a close connection with people. It would certainly give you early warning of danger, which can only be a good thing, especially in these tense times in the Lammas Lands. And having a closer relationship and really understanding people you love would, I imagine be a wonderful gift.

Simon: Yes, it should be, but that’s not my experience, I’m afraid. I don’t know anyone else who has the same kind of abilities, not since …not since I was young. I don’t think I’m supposed to be like this and, in the end, it only drives everyone away.

Anne: Everyone?...

Simon: [Speaking softly] No, not everyone. Some people in the Lammas Lands find it useful.

Anne: Yes, that’s true. Your answer brings me nicely to the subject of Ralph Tregannon, the Lammas Overlord. He’s been the instigator of a lot of changes in Lammas recently, which have caused a great deal of pain and difficulty across the region. Your name’s also been closely linked with the mock-trials and death-sentences of many villagers who have no previous record of dissent or crime. Can you tell me anything about this?

Simon: Ralph isn’t a murderer. He’s many things, but he’s not that. If he says there is a spirit of rebellion and fear in his country, and we have to fight to save the Lammas people, then I believe him. He’s no liar.

Anne: Even though his actions have caused the death of so many Lammassers you say he wants to save? How can you justify that, Simon the Scribe, and how can you justify your own involvement in this massacre?

Simon: [Runs hands through hair and looks away briefly. There’s a pause before his answer] I can’t, by the gods and stars. Not if you ask me for the truth. I never wanted anyone to die, but for me to refuse Lord Tregannon would be like a drop of river water refusing to flow with the current. Impossible to imagine. But I swear to you I wish these deaths had never begun.

Anne: But you can leave the region, and help end these murders. You have run all your life. What’s so different now?

Simon: [Smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes] You’re saying that as well as being a murderer, I’m also a coward? You’re right, I know it. Only a fool would say otherwise. Escape hasn’t been far from my thoughts, but the Lammas Lands have given me the first taste of a home and another man’s trust that I have ever known, and leaving it – even under these circumstances – is beyond me. I have to see the story through. Still, something in my mind tells me the life I know is about to change, but I don’t know in what way that could be.

Anne: And if it does change, what will you do then?

Simon: My past is against me, but I hope I’ll learn to be brave …

Anne: I hope so too. Thank you for talking to me today, Simon.

To discover if Simon finds his hidden supply of courage, and to enter the competition to win a Kindle (see below), pick up a copy of The Gifting today!

Giveaway competition details:

The giveaway competition: the prize is ONE Kindle ereader worth £89 ($89 US) if these three questions about The Gifting are answered correctly:

1. In the beginning of Chapter Four, what sound is Simon first aware of when he wakes up?

2. At the start of the Third Gathandrian Interlude, who knocks Annyeke down in his desperation to reach her?

3. What happens to Simon at the end of Chapter Six?

Answers should be sent to albrookeATmeDOTcom (and NOT left on the post), and winners will be notified as soon as possible after the tour ends.

There is also a Runner-Up Prize of THREE eBooks from my backlist (not including The Gifting) to one lucky commenter from the whole blog tour. Good luck!

Please follow Anne's tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/07/virtual-book-tour-gifting-by-anne.html

Contact Information for Anne Brooke:

My website

The Gathandrian Trilogy

The Gifting

Biblical Fiction UK

Gay Reads UK

My blog

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