Floor 21 by Jason Luthor ~ Blog Tour: #GuestPost @JL_TheProfessor

Welcome, Donnie Darlings, to my stop on the Floor 21 Blog Tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours! Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule! 

Floor 21

by Jason Luthor

Release Date: June 2nd 2015

Purchase: Amazon 

Synopsis

As humanity lives out the remainder of its existence at the top of an isolated apartment tower, young Jackie dares to question Tower Authority and their ban on traveling into the tower's depths. Intelligent and unyielding, Jackie ventures into the shadows of the floors below. But will her strong will and refusal to be quiet - in a society whose greatest pride is hiding the past - bring understanding of how humanity became trapped in the tower she has always called home, or will it simply be her undoing?

Guest Post by Jason Luthor 

   FLOOR 21 happened by accident. I had previously written two books, neither of them great. I had an agent in L.A. who told me I was great at building worlds but my characters didn’t pop or stand out. So, November 2014, it’s NaNoWriMo, I’m watching Walking Dead, and this interesting moment happens. There’s this young teen girl trying to escape a hospital by lowering herself down an elevator shaft. I’m watching this, then I have an idea:

What if the horror was on ground level, but nobody had been back to the ground in centuries?

That’s what inspired the book. I opened up a Word document, started typing in a first person narrative from the perspective of a teenage girl, and put out about five pages of it to a writing group. Response? People go nuts about it. So I think with it. I think after years of writing, feedback from my agent, and just tons of practice, I finally nailed the balance between world building and character.

The book itself follows a headstrong girl named Jackie, whose life is lead from a position of privilege inside of an isolated apartment tower. The occupants live on the top 21 levels, and going any lower is forbidden. Nobody has seen ground, or knows why they got trapped up here, but they know there’s a living sickness known as the Creep that reacts to negative human emotions and will attack or kill people further down the tower. Teams, known as Scavengers, are sent out every three months to scavenge the lower floors for food. Not all of them make it back.

Jackie has two questions: Who is running things from the top floor (where nobody is allowed to go), and what’s beneath the 21st floor? The book tries to combine a kind of slice-of-life story that portrays Jackie as a pretty imperfectly perfect teenager who has trouble relating to people, bouts of mild anxiety and depression, but also this bravery to explore where nobody else will.

The greatest response I’ve had to the book has been how much people like Jackie and the characters. That would never have happened a few years ago, when I was still struggling to portray these people as interesting, engaging individuals. So, I’m glad that people are not only fascinated by the world of the tower, but also by Jackie.

About the Author

Jason Luthor has spent a long life writing for sports outlets, media companies and universities. His earliest writing years came during his coverage of the San Antonio Spurs as an affiliate with the Spurs Report and its media partner, WOAI Radio. He would later enjoy a moderate relationship with Blizzard Entertainment, writing lore and stories for potential use in future games. At the academic level he has spent several years pursuing a PhD in American History at the University of Houston, with a special emphasis on Native American history. 

His inspirations include some of the obvious; The Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia are some of the most cited fantasy series in history. However, his favorite reads include the Earthsea Cycle, the Chronicles of Prydain, as well as science fiction hits such as Starship Troopers and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 

Connect with the Author

Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook  

Scratched by Marie Long #BookBlitz ~ #GuestPost & #Giveaway

Welcome, Donnie Darlings, to the Scratched Blitz organized by Xpresso Book Tours! I have info on the book - which releases TODAY! - PLUS a guest post written by the author, Marie Long. And don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post! xx

Title-Scratched

Series- The Anderson Brothers #2 

Author- Marie Long

Publication date- August 4th 2015

Genres- New Adult, Romance

Purchase- Amazon | B&N

Synopsis

Twenty-four year old Kevin Anderson lost the opportunity to end his senior year at the University of Washington as the Huskies' all-star point guard, and sought out one last opportunity to put his extraordinary basketball skills to use: by training for a chance at the pros. 

But when he's not on the court, Kevin has only two things in his life that gives him happiness: spinning records at the local clubs, and Trinity Brown. 

Trinity attends almost every one of Kevin's deejay gigs, but Kevin is uncertain if her love for him is genuine or a fangirl's simple admiration. Kevin takes that chance and hopes that she will see beyond the celebrity persona. But when fall classes start up again, their busy schedules press their relationship.

Kevin doesn't want to give up on her - on them. He hopes the happiness they had will rebound once more. 

But when he learns the truth about Trinity, Kevin must decide if it is worth everything - and everyone - he cares about to save her, or forfeit this exhausting game of love.

Guest Post by Marie Long

10 Things I Wish Every Aspiring Writer Would Know

I've been writing books for a while, and met some great people along the way who have helped me shape my journey into the publishing world. I'm all about paying it forward, and giving back to those who have helped me reach this point in my career. 

So here is a list of things I wish every aspiring writer would know. But as Levar Burton from Reading Rainbow says, "You don't have to take my word for it."      

1. Do more reading than writing.

No, seriously. This is especially true if you’re just starting out. Read lots of books in the genre that you want to write about. Learn about what works and what doesn’t. Dissect these stories until your eyes bleed and your brain explodes. What about the story held your interest? What’s a common pattern you’re seeing with the books you like?

Photo Credit: Maria de las Mercedes (creative commons by-nc-nd 2.0)  

2. You’re not going to get rich quick.

Those success stories you read online about authors quitting their day jobs because they earned millions from their writing account for only less than 1% of all the authors out there. Writing is a competitive game. Don’t chase the money. Write because you enjoy telling a story and the money will come. Most of all, your fans will appreciate you so much more.

3. Stay focused

With so many distractions in the world, it’s hard to stay focused on your work. But there is no greater feeling than that of accomplishment when you write ‘The End’ on the last page. Challenge yourself to stay motivated to finish what you start. Keep writing. A focused writer is a successful writer.

4. You’ll turn into a schedule freak

You will be surrounded by calendars, reminders, alerts, and other notifications for deadlines, book signings, critique group meetings, conferences, and other events related to writing, publishing, and marketing your book. It can be overwhelming at times.

5. You’ll need to do a lot of things yourself

Whether you’re self-published or published traditionally, you will need to know something about advertising yourself and your book. Unless you’re as prolific as J.K. Rowling you’re going to need to do most of this yourself. No one is going to do it for you. There’s a misconception that traditional publishers will do all the work for you and you can just sit back and reap the rewards. Think again! You’ll have to stand out among millions of other authors vying for the same attention as you. In addition to marketing your finished books, you have to continue writing your next one. That means organizing your time wisely (see #4). It’s an exhausting venture. Are you up for it?

6. Have a good support group

You’ll be overwhelmed and stressed out at times, but having a support group will help alleviate some of this. A support group can be anyone: your family, your friends, other writers. Not all of us are self-motivators. But having someone there to give us a good kick in the pants when things get rough is something every author needs in their corner.

7. Research the industry

The publishing industry is always changing. Successful authors make it a point to stay abreast on the latest happenings. For example, which publishers are engaging in shady practices? This is very important, and I’ve seen so many aspiring authors fallen prey to ‘vanity’ publishers and others who have engaged in unethical behavior at the authors’ expenses. It’s very easy to fall victim to these glamorous advertisements that promise your book on bookstore shelves. But the reality of it is, shelf space is limited, and if you’re not a prolific author like J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or Suzanne Collins, chances are, your book will not appear on those shelves.

8. Have patience

Writing the perfect story takes time, so don’t rush perfection. If you are an aspiring author, take the time to make your debut work the very best it can be. That means lots of editing, lots of rewriting, lots of everything. You want to make a good first impression, so don’t just rush a book to market. Reviewers will pick you apart.

9. Learn to network

Networking is one of the most important things authors need to engage in. The term “It’s about who you know” rings so true in this industry. Authors love to support and promote each other, and you’ll never know who may be looking at your book. Getting on good terms with people in the publishing industry can open up so many doors that you weren’t able to open by yourself.

Photo credit: Kevin Dooley (creative commons by 2.0)

10. You’ll need to have thick skin

I saved the best for last. I think this is the single most important thing every aspiring author needs to know. Not everyone is going to like what you write. You’ll get hecklers and snarky one-star reviews. You can’t take these reviews personally. All you can do is hold your head up high and keep writing. Check Amazon or Goodreads sometime and see how many people hated the Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Divergent books. But those reviews hasn’t stopped the authors from writing more books, and it shouldn’t stop you, either.

Good luck and keep writing!

About the Author

Marie Long is a novelist who enjoys the snowy weather, the mountains, and a cup of hot white chocolate. She’s an avid supporter of literacy movements like We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) and National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Marie has shared a fondness and interest in the New Adult genre since its popularity boom in 2009. And now, as both a reader, and debut RWA author of New Adult fiction, Marie dreams to keep this fascinating genre going strong. 

Connect with the Author

Twitter | Website | Facebook | Goodreads

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Blitz organized by:

The Beast of Callaire by Saruuh Kelsey ~ Blog Tour: 10 Random Things About the Book & Excerpt

Welcome to my stop on The Beast of Callaire Blog Tour hosted by Diverse Book Tours! Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule! 

Title - The Beast of Callaire
Series - The Legend Mirror #1 
Author - Saruuh Kelsey
Publisher - Smashwords
Pages - 190
Genre - Fantasy, Adventure, YA, LGBTQIA, Myth
ISBN - 978-1291790603/1291790608 

Purchase - Amazon | B&N | Book Depository 

Synopsis

Yasmin is a descendant of the Manticore. A creature of Persian mythology. 

A Legendary.

But she doesn't want to be. Unlike the Legendaries in The Red, Yasmin wants nothing more than an ordinary life. She tries to fool herself into believing that she doesn't change into a beast every full moon and savagely kill innocent people. 

But when Yasmin starts hearing a voice in her head and is drawn into dreams that aren't her own, she is led to Fray - a girl who once saved Yasmin from hunters, who has shadowy memories that hint at her having Legendary magic - and Yasmin is catapulted into a life of Majick and malevolence. 

Despite the danger around her and Fray, Yasmin might finally have a chance at being a normal girl with a normal girlfriend. But with Legendaries being killed, a war between the Gods brewing, and the beast inside Yasmin becoming stronger each moon, her mundane life is little more than a dream. 

Guest Post by Author Saruuh Kelsey 

10 Random Things About The Beast of Callaire

1. The group of Legendaries in The Beast of Callaire are called The Red. Their leader named the group for his ancestor, Mars.
2. The first draft of The Beast of Callaire began with the tiny sentence, "Seven hours." It was a terrible way to start and I'm glad it changed.
3. The characters who are descended from Gods have different kinds of Majick. The main character Yasmin has Earth Majick and Psychic Majick, through which she can communicate telepathically.
4. Vic, one of Yasmin's friends, is transgender and has a blind girlfriend named Alice. Alice saves the day with common sense more than once throughout the series.   
5. The Beast of Callaire will have five sequels. 
6. Two of those sequels will be published this year!
7. The Goddess Juno visits Yasmin in a dream and brings an unhelpful and daunting warning. 
8. One of Yasmin's friends has betrayed the Red. 
9. The first draft of The Beast of Callaire began with the Thomas Hardy quote, "Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened." At some point between the first draft and the finished book, I decided it was much too pretentious. Good call, past me. 
10. The Beast of Callaire ends on a cliff-hanger.  

Excerpt

Symbols have been smeared in red on the wall over my bed - the same language as the words I saw lit up on the building across the alley. the words the original Phoenix confirmed to be the language of Gods. 

Without really thinking about it, I start running through my apartment looking for anything else out of place, avoiding what's in front of me. I feel my breathing quicken and I know I need to calm down but right now calm is elusive. 

"It's a warning," Guy says, his voice edged in ice.

"How do you know?" I plead with my legs to hold me up as I dizzily return to my room. The liquid used to write the symbols is definitely blood - my Crea nose can smell the tang from here. Thankfully, it's not human. 

"Mavers has been teaching me to read Numina," Guy tells me. "Do you want to know what it says?"

"No."

"It says to stay away from the Halfling or more Legendaries will die." 

Air rushes from my lungs all at once. "Fray." 

I disobey the warning without a second thought, rushing outside and tearing across the road, uncaring of traffic. When I reach the wood's edge, I rip off my talisman and reach out for Fray. Guy catches up just as I'm screaming for her. 

The muscles in my thighs strain with how hard I'm pushing myself. I don't want to admit the truth to myself - that something is irreversibly wrong. I hear no static from Fray's mind and there isn't a single scared thought from her. 

I unleash the monster I fight so hard to repress and scream a hostile growl into the woods. Guy flinches beside me. 

Talons unfurl from my fingers. My vision sharpens all at once and I know I look beastly, that my eyes are the most golden they've ever been. 

None of that matters. 

My link to Fray is gone. 

About the Author

Saruuh Kelsey is the author of several novels for young adults, including the free Lux Guardians series and The Legend Mirror series. Her latest releases include THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE, the first novel of a new YA fantasy series, and a collection of diverse fairy tales in LOVE IN THE GILDED AGE. Find her online at saruuhkelsey.co.uk. 

Author Links

Website | Her Review Site | Twitter | Goodreads  

Blog Tour organized by:

Brew Bash! Guest Post by David Estes & Giveaway!

I'm absolutely thrilled to have a guest post by the author of the Moon Dwellers series David Estes today and introduce you to his latest two books, Brew and its sequel, Boil! 

Thank you David for being a guest on the blog today!! 

Brew

Salem's Revenge #1

David Estes

October 1st 2014

Salem's Revenge strikes without warning or mercy, ravaging the powerless human race under the forces of united gangs of witches, wizards, and warlocks. During the slaughter, Rhett Carter's foster parents and sister are killed, and his best friend and girlfriend are abducted by a gang of witches calling themselves the Necromancers, who deal in the dark magic of raising the dead. Rhett's sword-wielding neighbor with a mysterious past saves Rhett from becoming another casualty of the massacre and teaches him the skills he needs to survive in this new world. 

Rhett is broken, his normal high school life of book blogging and football playing shoved in a witch-apocalyptic blender. The only thing he has left is his burning desire for revenge. Armed with his new witch hunting skills and a loyal, magic powered dog named Hex, he sets out into the unknown with one mission: hunt and destroy those who took away everyone he ever loved. 

But Rhett isn't just a witch hunter; He has secrets of his own that he has yet to discover, secrets that his enemies will stop at nothing to keep him from. 

And discovering the truth about himself is the human race's only hope. 

Boil

Salem's Revenge #2

David Estes

October 1st 2014

Revenge. That's all that's left for witch hunter Rhett Carter. The magic-born have stripped everything from him - killed his friends, cursed his warlock father, shattered his future - leaving him bare and broken, but not dead. Their mistake. 

When Rhett and Laney are suddenly thrust in different directions, Rhett must decide who to trust and who to kill. Backed by his trusty canine sidekick Hex, Rhett will embark on his deadliest mission yet, one that will lead him directly toward those who want him dead, pushing his unique resistance to magic to the edge and back again as he tries to remove his father's curse. 

Separated from Rhett, Laney seeks to understand the strange changes to her sister, Trish, who's believed to be the last living Clairvoyant, and what role she's destined to play in the future of humankind.

Wrapped around everything are four major groups: the Necromancers, the Changelings, the witch hunters, and New America, the remnants of humanity. When the major forces are brought together for an epic battle, the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Get both Brew and its sequel, Boil, the first two books in the Salem's Revenge series, for a special price of $0.99 each for a limited time only (Amazon Kindle exclusive: Brew until October 17th; Boil until October 7th). Click on the above buttons to take advantage of this limited time deal!

Writing is like sitting (with your feet up) on a big leather couch

By David Estes

I am a writer. Although it started out as a casual thing, I became so obsessed with creating stories that I turned my fun hobby into a career, quitting my day job as an operational risk manager to pursue my lifelong dream of being a real author. With the creation of ebooks, anyone who writes can also easily be published, something that allowed me to find success in an industry that would've otherwise been almost impossible to break into. Many others are doing the same thing, writing and publishing in the hopes of one day doing it full-time - and many others have already realized that dream, as I have. 

But is it fun? Is it therapeutic? Or is it no different than the tedious nine to five job that I used to have? Does the reality fall short of the dream? These are all very important questions that writers need to ask themselves. More and more I'm getting messages from published authors saying that they're not enjoying writing anymore. Their sales of previously published works are lackluster, they've received a few bad reviews, they have writer's block, there's too much pressure to write a good sequel...etc, etc. I get it, I really do. I've been there. Occasionally, I still am there. Sometimes I dread the following day's five-hour writing session. Sometimes I feel like crap after said writing session because I feel as if my writing wasn't as good as it should've been. Sometimes I don't feel inspired. So should I stop? 

NO! This is the right answer for me, but it might not be the right answer for everyone. Whether to write or not to write is a very personal decision, but for me, I actually love it at least 90% of the time, and feel as if it's free therapy. Yes, you heard right, writing is like sitting (with your feet up) on a big leather couch. Why? Because my words are naked, floating through my mind unprotected, without judgment, without fear - they're hope and they're beautiful, despite being rough, imperfect things. I get to express myself in whatever way I choose just as I'd be able to if I went to a therapist. My innermost thoughts and fears and dreams and hopes and desires can be stroked from the paint brush of my soul onto the canvas of my laptop. And then I get to choose which ones to keep and which ones to delete, which ones are worthy of other's eyes, and which ones are just for me. That's a beautiful thing, a daily sojourn that's as therapeutic as it is satisfying. In other words, I get more out of my writing than my readers do. That's the big secret that authors don't always tell you. That although they love entertaining their readers and a lot of what they do is for their fans, part of why they write is selfish.

So although I need to pay attention to book sales, and reviews, and deal with the pressures and frustrations that come with writing as a career, I don't let those things affect my LOVE OF WRITING. In the end, that's what matters both for myself AND for my readers, because it makes me a better writer. When someone loves what they write, it bleeds through to the pages of their books, and sends their readers' hearts racing. 

To those who are struggling with whether to continue writing, I urge you to go back to what got you started in the first place. Write something just for you, and see if you enjoy it more. If so, then you MUST keep writing, even if only for yourself. Me, I'll keep writing till the end of my days, partly because I can't imagine a world where I don't write, and partly because I want nothing more than to make my readers feel myriad emotions every time they turn the pages of my books, just as I do when I read awesome books by my favorite authors. 

A huge thank you to Jennifer for having me on her awesome blog, and for the perfect guest post topic. And I'd love to hear all your comments about writing. Do you find it therapeutic? Do you love to write? Finally, I hope you enjoy my new book Brew, and its sequel, Boil!! Thanks for all your support <3

David Estes

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Goodreads  ●  David's Blog  ●  Twitter  ●  Facebook  ●  Tumblr  and his  Goodreads Fan Group 

David Estes was born in El Paso, Texas but moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he was very young. David grew up in Pittsburgh and then went to Penn State for college. Eventually he moved to Sydney, Australia where he met his wife. They now live together in their dream location, Hawaii. A reader all his life, he began writing novels for the children's and YA markets in 2010, and started writing full time in June 2012. Now he travels the world writing with his wife, Adele. David's a writer with OCD, a love of dancing and singing (but only when no one is looking or listening), a mad-skilled ping-pong player, and prefers writing at the swimming pool to writing at a table.

 

To celebrate the launch of Brew and Boil, David Estes is also giving away FREE Kindle copies of his popular YA dystopian AND adventure book, Fire Country!!