Saturday, July 27, 2019

Lisa Lowell: Spotlight and Interview


Please welcome author Lisa Lowell to Fantasy Fun Reads. Lisa is the author of the Wise Ones Series.

Owailion awakens with no idea who he is.  However, dragons and magic are somehow a part of his life.  He has become an apprentice to the dragons who are going into hibernation.  They will leave him alone to defend an entire world from demons and sorcerers.  Then there’s the woman.  Book #1 in the Wise One Series.

Vamilion is torn.  His Wise One instincts drive him to seek for the lady who will one day be a Queen and his beloved.  He also yearns to be faithful to the wife he loves, even as she is turning him away. One the other hand, outlander sorcerers that covet the Land’s magic, are invading.  Only Vamilion can sense the ley lines that they are tapping.  The Ley Lines lead right into the heart of the Land.  Now even Owailion is driving his protégé until he will crack the Ley Lines, or crack himself into pieces. Book #2 of the Wise One Series.

Fighting against fate, a wielder of magic seeks balance as he is gifted with unbridled power – and an inescapable destiny.

 Link:  http://mybook.to/lifegiver 

 The Wise Ones (3 book series)
The link to the entire series is here:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077LQ4HFS

INTERVIEW

What inspired you to write?

I have always had artists around me in my family, but didn’t want to compete directly. Since both my grandmother’s wrote and I had access to keyboards from infancy, writing came naturally. My love of magic and mystery led to fantasy and sci-fi and the rest is history.

What do you know now that you wished you knew when you first started to write?

I wish I had realized that what you are writing does not have to be perfect from the get-go. So many valuable starts, inspired ideas and weird twists were tossed simply because they did not fit in with what I’m doing right now. They can be held for later and worked inot something worthwhile.

Tell us about your writing and publishing journey. What made you decide to go the traditional or self-published route?

The Wise One series (and it is a series of nine) has been over thirty years in the making. The book Talismans, that is officially the first in the group was written in 2016. However, the first concepts for the Wise Ones began as early as 1986.




It started life as a fairy tale about a mousy little girl from humble circumstances. I was reading Andre’ Norton’s Gryphon series at the time and found a beautiful drawing of a glorious castle in the book’s illustrations. I wondered how my shy, sheltered girl (thinking of myself at the time) could change herself to become someone worthy to live in such a place. So I crafted a tidal wave of trials, and she transforms herself slowly into a lady. The Sea Queen was born.
All of my friends and family enjoyed the story, but began begging for the back-story of my supporting characters. Unfortunately, there were a lot of them. I ended up having to write each character or two into their own novel and I did this backwards. I used this method to deepen my 'world' and magic system. Thus, they are all written as stand-alone stories with a different antagonist and protagonists in each.
As a result of this unconventional creation, I had to write all nine books before I could approach any publisher. Creativia, my publisher, delighted that all of them are ready to go. And so, the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

Who are your favorite authors today? What genres do you love to read?
I always need some element of mystical in whatever I read, so mostly I stick with historical fiction from ancient times, sci-fi and fantasy. I also dabble with biographies because of my love for history, but I have to respect or find the person interesting before I’ll pick it up. Right now, my favorite authors are David Brin, Brandon Sanderson and Erik Metaxas. It’s funny that they’re all male. Hummm.

What are you working on now? What's planned for the future?

At present I am working on the revision for book #4 of the Wise One series, Heart Stone. I’m also promoting #3, Life Giver and tinkering with a new book for the Dual I wrote two years ago. Three is enough at any one time.





DIGITAL MEDIA
Web Page: www.magicintheland.com
Blog: https://magicinthelandlisalowell.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vikingauthor/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/uMcAG3Xh7B0
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Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Laura Daleo: Spotlight and Interview


Please welcome Laura Daleo to Fantasy Fun Reads. I first met Laura when she agreed to co-host one of my big events. She is a big supporter of other authors and if you haven;t connected with her yet, you really should. Today we are going to spotlight her Immortal Kiss series.

Immortal Kiss blurb:
Centuries ago ten powerful vampire gods first walked the earth; their blood thirst knew no boundaries. The destruction of mankind was inevitable. Recognizing their weakness, they selected twelve wise human beings to transform with their godly blood. These twelve, known as The Old Ones and The Council, govern The Ten. A blood lottery appeasing The Ten’s hunger was set forth into the human world and passed down every fifth generation, continuing into the present day.

All of Beth Ryan’s life a mysterious mist has watched over her; a mist she believed to be a vampire. On a cold winter night, Philippe Delon, a 700-year-old vampire walks into Beth’s life. She is drawn to him, certain he is the vampire behind the mist...but is he?

Beth and Philippe cannot deny their love for each other, nor do they try to fight it. Within days of their encounter, Beth accepts Philippe’s invitation to move into his mansion. The mansion unlocks the door to the vampire world and exposes secrets from Beth’s past. Within its walls, she learns the true identity of the mist, her link to the blood lottery, and betrayal of her loved ones. Surrounded by lies, Beth stands before The Council begging for resolution.



Bound by Blood blurb:
Five years crawled by at a painfully slow pace for young vampire, Beth; each year more agonizing than the next. The powerful unyielding spell which masked Amon’s whereabouts showed no signs of weakening. Influenced by the binding ritual and Amon’s blood surging inside her, Beth will stop at nothing, and risk everything, to find him and turn the tables on Osiris, Isis, and Hathor. In foggy streets of London, lives are threatened by a new breed of hunter, and nothing is what it seemed. Beth once again finds herself surrounded by betrayal. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between Philippe and Amon – knowing that her decision will change one life forever. But whose?



The Vampire Within blurb:
Brandon Cass is not your average teenager. He has a taste for blood—human blood. For sixteen years, he stumbled through life without a hitch until the enigmatic aroma of blood awakened something dark within him. Visions of a beautiful young woman with chocolate brown hair and ocean blue eyes haunt his mind, yet her identity is a puzzling mystery.

His hunger for blood strengthens, and the cravings become too powerful to control. No one is safe, not even his family. To safeguard all he once found dear, Brandon sets out on a quest for answers. In an unfamiliar city, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful young woman, confronts the dark force which controls him, and learns what he must endure to reclaim his soul.



Interview:



1. What inspired you to write?

Actually it was Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. After finishing Tale of the Body Thief, her next book in the series wasn’t coming out for a year and I couldn’t wait that long as I wrote my own.

2. What do you know now that you wished you knew when you first started to write?

Persistence is key, don't ever give up. I completed Immortal Kiss in 1996 and was accepted by an agent. After six months of submissions, I put the whole writing thing aside as I'm an impatient person. If I'd kept up with the process, who knows where I'd be today.

3. Tell us about your writing and publishing journey. What made you decide to go the traditional or self-published route? As I stated, I had started out with an agent in 1996, but then stopped. Once I was older and wiser, I started looking again. Twilight had just come out and agents and publishers had had enough of vampire stories. I was able to find two publishers that were still accepting vampire stories and was given a contract by a small press publisher. After being with the publisher for 2 years, I made the decision to start my own publishing company. In 2016, I started Story Bound Publishing and switched over my books to my own label.

4. Who are your favorite authors today? What genres do you love to read?

Anne Rice and Stephen King are my favorite authors. I love to read urban fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal (no romance), and horror.

5. What are you working on now? What's planned for the future?

I'm finishing up my 5th book, The Soul Collector, a supernatural thriller and my first non-vampire tale. It will be released summer 2019. My next project is The Doll, another supernatural tale with a bit of horror. Eventually, I would love to begin accepting other authors books to publish under Story Bound Publishing.




Author Bio:

Laura Daleo was born and raised in San Diego, California where she majored in Fine Arts at Mesa College. She is best known for her love of animals and shares her home with three humorous Basset Hounds, Stuart, Morgan, and Dexter, her toughest critics. Laura has held positions in several industries, Restaurant, Telecom, Biotech, Research, and Retail. Throughout Laura's professional career, she furthered her writing skills by taking courses and by joining writer’s critique groups and Writers Digest. She is now the owner of Story Bound Publishing, a fresh voice in the supernatural realm of ebooks and traditional print, committed to publishing unearthly tales of Aliens, Angels, Demons, Fairies, Ghosts, Shifters, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Zombies and all other creatures that go bump in the night.

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Saturday, July 13, 2019

Tabitha Scott: Spotlight and Interview



Please welcome Tabitha Scott to Fantasy Fun Reads! I first met Tabitha when I read the first book in her Dark Witch series which was really awesome. Who knew evil doing could be so fun?

Tabitha has a new release, The Lasts and the Faerie Curse which is currently on pre-order and will come out in just a few days. This is book four of the the series and if you haven't read book one, it's FREE TODAY....


Blurb: Clara and Precipice Last live rough on the streets of Dublin. When they're not sleeping in cardboard boxes they're avoiding the toughs of the Southbank gangs. Precipice is pretty scary for fifteen, and watches out for her ten year old sister, but when they discover Jimmy the Blade in pieces in a backstreet dumpster things take a turn for the worst. It seems that magical creatures have been watching the Lasts, and these might be more dangerous than the human predators they dodge.



Interview:

What inspired you to write?


I’ve been writing since I was little. I’ve loved books since I could first read, and I think I realised even back then that they were an outlet for my own imagination. I remember being called up to the Principle in Junior High to have discussions on my writing for the school paper, it was a bit graphic, even then.


What do you know now that you wished you knew when you first started to write?

Wine and coffee are both writing enablers.


Tell us about your writing and publishing journey. What made you decide to go the traditional or self-published route?


I wrote some books that were on a now defunct writing site called Authonomy, they were taken up by a small publisher, but didn’t go that far. I wanted more control in regards the advertising, so the next one I self-published under a pseudonym, and was able to get more sales, so now I self-publish under the name Tabitha Scott. That’s right, Tabitha Scott isn’t me, I’m actually a 70 year old hag with boobs that droop down to the ground. Or maybe I’m an earthly sprite whose real image creates a glamour allowing me to seduce men to their deaths. I could be anyone, really.


Who are your favorite authors today? What genres do you love to read?

I like fantasy books, I’m an escapist. Life can be hard enough, so I write and read to get away from it. I like Richelle Mead, Angelika Rust and even that urban fantasy indie Rose Montague.


What are you working on now? What's planned for the future?


I’ve been working on an urban fantasy series called ‘The Lasts’. It’s about fifteen year old Precipice Last and her ten year old sister Clara, who live rough on the streets of Dublin. The two girls were staying clear of the local gangs with the help of their friend Old Straw, but when Jimmy the Blade ends up in pieces in a backstreet dumpster that plan goes out the window. A battle erupts between two magical groups who want control of the girls. What’s so special about them? Well, they’re the last witches left in Dublin. Anyway, it’s a serial, and I’m just finishing the fourth book, ‘The Lasts and the Banshee Queen’.


What’s planned for the future. I’m a panster when it comes to writing, so I don’t know, the stories just happen, and I never know where there’ll lead. Another Dark Witch is in the offing, probably lots of Lasts. Who knows what else?



Follow Tabitha at these links....




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Saturday, July 6, 2019

Debbie Manber Kupfer: Spotlight and Interview


Please welcome Debbie Manber Kupfer to Fantasy Fun Reads! Debbie is the author of The P.A.W.S.Saga (5 book series). Cotula is the 5th book in the series and is currently on pre-order for 2.99 (regular price 4.99).

Follow the Cotula. The stone will show you the way.
Rifka is lost, far away from home. Kidnapped by an insidious werewolf.
Far off in Manus Wu, a plan is set in place. An Old One sends colutae out into the world. These stones when brought together have the power to release Rifka. Yet does she truly want to go home?
Meet an empathic goat, a family of otters, a girl who loves to draw fairies, and a dragon in this new installment of the P.A.W.S. Saga.




The entire series is available via Kindle Unlimited!

Interview:

What inspired you to write?


I’ve been writing much of my life (sent my first short story to the Puffin Post when I was around eight years old), but I didn’t finish a novel until 2012. While I always wanted to write a book I felt I had all the time in the world, but in 2011 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through treatment. Luckily today I’m cancer free, but my brush with cancer made me realize my mortality. I learned that if I really wanted to finish that novel I needed to do it now, so in November 2012 I attempted NaNoWriMo and wrote the first draft of P.A.W.S. And the rest as we like to say is history.


What do you know now that you wished you knew when you first started to write?

That first drafts don’t need to be perfect. They just need to be written. I started so many books over the years, but only when I tried NaNo and just ploughed through did I actually get something finished.


Tell us about your writing and publishing journey. What made you decide to go the traditional or self-published route?


Well after I finished P.A.W.S. I didn’t really know what to do with it. I’d edited it and sent it to a friend who beta read it (and is still my number one beta reader today) but now what?
With some trepidation I took my prologue to a local writers’ group and read it aloud. Silence. Was I really so bad? Apparently, no – the opposite. The group that was filled with far more seasoned writers than I loved my story and encouraged me to find a publisher.
I then discovered that while I could write a 60K novel I couldn’t write a query letter! I sent one off to a New York agent and got a standard, not for us form letter back. I probably should have kept going, but instead I started talking to one of the members of my writing group who ran a local small press. I submitted P.A.W.S. to her and she accepted and just nine months after I’d written my first draft, P.A.W.S. was published.
I ended up publishing books 1 and 2 with the same small press, but then when my contract was up for renewal I decided not to renew and instead reedited the books and published them myself. While I appreciate the start my original small press gave me, I love the control I get self-publishing, and I would only go back to trad nowadays if it was one of the big boys.


Who are your favorite authors today? What genres do you love to read?

I mostly read fantasy and sci-fi with the occasional mystery and lit fic thrown in for good measure. Favorite authors include Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling and Cornelia Funke. I also read A LOT of indie authors and highly recommend E.A. Copen, R.R. Virdi, Michelle Proulx, Misha Burnett, Robert Franks and um Rose Montague!


What are you working on now? What's planned for the future?


Book 5 of my P.A.W.S. Saga, Cotula, will be out in August (currently on presale) and I’m currently writing Book 6.


Debbie Manber Kupfer grew up in the London. She has lived in Israel, New York and North Carolina and somehow ended up in St. Louis, where she works as a writer, editor, and a freelance puzzle constructor of word puzzles and logic problems. She lives with her husband, two children, and a very opinionated feline. She is the author of the young adult fantasy series, P.A.W.S. which features a secret institute of shapeshifters hidden deep beneath the Jewel Box in Forest Park, St. Louis. In addition she has stories in several anthologies including Fauxpocalypse, Stardust, Always, Winter Wishes, Sins of The Past and Sins of the Future and is the editor of the Sins of Time anthology series. She has also published a book of puzzles, Paws 4 Logic, with her son Joey. She believes that with enough tea and dark chocolate you can achieve anything!
Connect with Debbie on her blog, Facebook, Twitter or sign up for her newsletter. 
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Monday, July 1, 2019

Bria Lexor: Spotlight and Interview


Welcome Bria Lexor to Fantasy Fun Reads today. Bria is the author of
Spellbinder Of Time (Shaman Academy Book 1)

Nyxie Playfield-Starlit is a medium who is struggling to find the balance between the worlds of the living and the dead. She joins a Shaman Academy only the best Shamans become Spirit Chasers. The Spirit Chasers protect the world of ordinary people who are called "The Lifeless" from the dark forces beyond our world. She is searching for her mother who went missing six years ago when she runs into Evan Reigns "Solas", the Shaman King's son. Nyxie's life is endangered after her powers manifest themselves. Will Nyxie be able to blend in as a Shaman Spirit Chaser? Or will she be hunted down and killed by those who seek her power?

Short Excerpt:

“I am Sinergy,” she replied in a powerful voice. “Why did you summon me here Lifeless girl?” she demanded.
“I-I didn’t summon you?” I replied, finding my voice. “You can leave now.”
Sinergy looked down at the pile of ashes, then looked back up at me.
“Did you kill that demonic spirit Lifeless?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. “He attacked me… so I killed him.”


Buy here (universal link):   https://books2read.com/u/47zDY8


Interview:

What inspired you to write?


I wanted to see if I would be able to write a book.


What do you know now that you wished you knew when you first started to write?

Never sign a contract to a publishing company who doesn’t have your best interest at heart.


Tell us about your writing and publishing journey. What made you decide to go the traditional or self-published route?

I have been signed to many publishing companies. None of them seemed to be the right place for me. I am currently self-published.


Who are your favorite authors today? What genres do you love to read?

S.D. Perry, Kindra Sowder, Holly Black, Richelle Mead I read horror, YA Urban Fantasy, Sports Romance, Mysteries.


What are you working on now? What's planned for the future?


I am working on many different projects at the same time. I want to get my Superheroine Vampire Academy books published within the next year.
_________________________
Bria Lexor is a multi-published popular YA author of Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance. Bria has always had a fascination with the supernatural and the paranormal as well as folklore. She enjoys watching creepy ghost shows and is obsessed with anime and wrestling (The WWE). She started writing song lyrics at the age of 4 and was a rapper in a Hip-Hop group Called: Mount West. Bria was inspired to become a writer after reading novels like Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black, The Resident Evil series by S.D. Perry and the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. A lifelong reader, Bria also became an author after wanting to become a Manga Comic Book Creator as she also draws her own characters for her stories. Born and raised in Colorado, she works on many new Series full-time.

Follow Bria:


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