venerdì 26 giugno 2015

Book Blast: Blood and Scales: An Anthology



Blood and Scales: An Anthology
By- E.C. Hibbs, Jacinta Maree, Victoria Escobar, Susan Burdorf, Luke McCallin, C.L. Matthews, Ruthi Kight, J.K. Radalyac, Bobbie Palmer and Heather Clawson
Genre- Mature YA/NA Fantasy


Dragons are a race of mythical creatures shrouded in magic and mystery. Whether good or evil, countless stories have been written detailing their majesty. For centuries, mankind has searched for the facts regarding the true nature of these fantastic beasts.

Today, another quest for knowledge has struck our attention; a cure for diabetes. In this dragon themed anthology, ten authors have come together to create this collection of short stories to benefit the American Diabetes Association.



     




About the Authors-
C.L. Matthews resides in Utah, the state with the best snow on earth. She is not a fan of the snow but loves her state just the same. She is known for her swag business and creative pieces. C.L. Matthews is a college student, swag maker, and new author, it isn't an easy task but she wants to succeed in many things. Her hobbies consist of crafting, drinking coffee until she can't consume any more, and reading until she falls asleep with books in her lap. C.L. Matthews is married to her childhood best friend, she got her happily ever after.

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Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but with the ability to claim eight states as home; Victoria Escobar writes fiction from her current home in New York. She writes whatever comes to mind and because of such has a variety of genres written including Young Adult, New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, and Contemporary Fiction.
In spare time if not with family, and friends Victoria enjoys curling up with a book from a favorite author with music playing. If not reading or writing she spends time drawing, sketching, crocheting, or some other random art project. She enjoys staying busy, but most of all enjoys staying creative.
Links-

Self confessed chocaholic, Jacinta Maree was born and raised in Melbourne Australia with her loving family of five. Even as a child Jacinta had an itch to write. Writing was the one constant hobby she clung to, also trying her hand at piano, flute, tennis, horseback riding and drama.

Jacinta works full time in the family business and spends her afternoons either playing basketball, reading, writing or hanging out with friends. She is always happy to try something new; getting her real estate license, practicing ninjitshu, Zumba and parkour to name a few.

For her future, Jacinta sees herself writing. It is a large part of her identity and something she hopes to continue. Aside from her love of stories she loves Japan and its unique and beautiful culture and history. From their delicious sushi dishes right down to their wooden sandals and kimonos. She is also a huge cat person and loves to snuggle up in front of the fire for a good movie or book. Her favorite genres are paranormal and fantasy but she also loves anything written by thriller writer, Stephen King.

Links-

E. C. Hibbs has lived all her life in Cheshire, north-west England. A lover of stories from an early age, she wrote her first 'book' when she was five, and throughout school was a frequent visitor to the younger classes to read her tales to the children.

Living so near the coast, she loves anything to do with the sea. She studied Animal Behaviour at university and longs to work with marine mammals in the future. As well as nature and animals, she also has a soft spot for history, and loves paying visits to castles, cathedrals and museums.

There are many things she could be without, but writing isn't one of them. She carries a pen everywhere, in case an idea appears, and takes pride in still seeing the world as brimming with magic. Besides writing, she reads obsessively, her favourite genres being the classics and all kinds of fantasy. She also enjoys Disney and horror films, practising Shotokan karate, drawing, archery, and playing with her very cheeky kitten.

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Luke McCallin was born in England, grew up in Africa, was educated around the world, and has worked with the UN as a humanitarian relief worker and peacekeeper in the Caucasus, the Sahel, and the Balkans. His experiences have driven his writing, in which he explores what happens to normal people put under abnormal pressures, inspiring a historical mystery series built around an unlikely protagonist, Gregor Reinhardt, a German intelligence officer and a former Berlin detective chased out of the police by the Nazis. THE MAN FROM BERLIN was published in 2013, followed by a sequel, THE PALE HOUSE, in 2014.

Luke was surprised as anyone that his first book was an historical detective novel, seeing as he'd grown up with Tolkein, Donaldson and CS Lewis and Anne McCaffrey! A dragon story is just the ticket to get back to what he always thought he would write!

Links-

J.K. Radalyac lives with her awesome hubby and son in Northern California. Lunch lady by day and blogger by night, she fills the in between times with reading and scribbling down stories. She loves Harry Potter and is a huge advocate of indie authors and never tires of helping them in their endeavors.
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Bobbie Palmer lives in Delaware and is very involved with NaNaWriMo and the local writing community.  She writes anything from Paranormal to Historical Fiction to kids books.

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Susan Burdorf is a lover of all things sparkly and can often be found spreading glitter everywhere in hopes the fairies will find her. She grew up reading about the Dragon Riders of Pern and does not understand why she cannot have one of her own. Some day, she is sure, they will find her and then you will hear her laughter in your dreams as she flies overhead. Residing near Nashville TN she spends her days at her normal job, or walking her dog, or stalking the animals at the Zoo in hopes of finding a fantastical creature or two looking for a new home. She asks that you contact her if you find any.

Links-
Twitter- @susanburdorfauthor

Ruthi Kight, author of Knotted Roots and Burn Out, is excited to announce her involvement with the upcoming anthology Blood and Scales. The proceeds of which are being donated to the American Diabetes Association. She currently lives in South Carolina with her fiancé and two children, aged 7 and 10 months. After being away from the writing world for a while, she is happy to be back and ready for action. As long as it’s before 8 pm. Once the kids are in bed, all bets are off. The best way to reach her is through projecting mental images while she sleeps…otherwise she will most likely miss your message/text and have to apologize profusely for days. Don’t worry, she loves to hear from readers and friends, but don’t be surprised if you catch her sleeping on the job occasionally.

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Heather Clawson is an incognito Valkyrie who’s been known to defy belief, imagination, gravity, death, and, on occasion, her mother. A big believer in knowing how to do the same things her characters know how to do, she can speak knowledgeably on the subjects of Tae Kwon Do, falconry, sniper shooting, swinging a sword, being chased by geese, creative swearing, motorcycling, origami, and baking. 
An aspiring novelist and book reviewer for the San Francisco / Sacramento Book Review, Heather lives on the east coast with her long-suffering husband and two fluffy, mostly-obedient dogs.


Please tell us about yourself using 3 adjectives, 1 quirk and a pop culture addiction

  1. Talkative
  2. Spontaneous
  3. Day dreamer

1 quirk: When I am thanking someone, regardless of race, I tend to bow. I don’t know why.

Pop Culture addiction: I am a massive video gamer, so my addiction tends to lean towards rpgs such as dragon age, the last of us, bioshock, mass effect so on and so forth.

Top 3 Pet Peeves:

  1. When I hold the door open for someone or do something nice for someone else and they don’t even acknowledge me.
  2. People who leave a massive mess in the food court when they are finished eating. It’s not that hard to throw your own rubbish away.
  3. People talking through the movies. Arghhh!!!

Who do you consider the most swoon-worthy man/woman in the literary world? How about on tv/in the movies?

Oh my god, you’re going to make me pick?
My favourite changes all the time, depending on what movie / t.v I’m obsessing over.

Literary world is really tough. And not wanting to be THAT person, but I rather my own main characters. I think I have a type, a rebel with a cause.

For t.v I would have to say Ian Somerhalder as Damien from Vampire Diaries. But, I can also easily say Dean Winchester aka Jensen Ackles from Supernatural too.

Movies, probably Loki from the Marvel series, but that’s probably because I like Tom Hiddleston so much.    

Top 5 Favorite Things

  1. You may or may not be surprised, I love video games. So my favourite is, Dragon Age 2.
  2. Chocolate, anything sweet really. Probably Rocky Road is my favourite type.
  3. My favourite animal is a cat. (fictional animals, definitely a dragon)
  4. My favourite colour is lilac.
  5. My favourite movie is How to train your dragon. I’m such a big kid.

What are your thoughts on book covers- in your opinion do they make or break a book?

Absolutely. If I like the cover, I’m very likely to buy the book. I’m a bit weird when it comes to covers. If the book has a really crappy cover (as in not professional looking) then it would have to come HIGHLY recommended for me to buy it. If anything, if I really don’t like the cover but interested in the story, I’ll buy it as an ebook. But if I really like the cover and the story sounds great, I’ll end up buying the paperback copy.

I know, I know, I shouldn’t be judging a book by it’s cover, but I think the packaging it worth some points. I put a lot of effort into my covers, I expect the same from others.

What’s the last song you listened to?

Galantis - Runaway (U & I)

How do you come up with character names?  How do you come up with novel titles?

I test the names out by writing the character in a random scene and see how it fits. I’ve changed character names plenty of times during a manuscript because it just doesn’t sit comfortably for me. Of course, genre and location influences character names a lot. I rather pick common names for my leading females, so that way people aren’t so thrown off when trying to connect with the main character. It also has to fit with other character names in that same world. Can’t have the leading lady called Angelica - Anne and then everyone else named like Sam, Bob, Jess ect. It doesn’t make sense.  

Titles are a constant battle for me. I try and pick a key theme, something that is reoccurring and relevant to the storyline while being unique and catchy all at the same time. I try and steer clear of complicated titles with confusing spelling. I don’t want to alienate the reader and have them confused from the very beginning. Simple. Easy to remember. Unique. Interesting. Catchy. Fun.

Do you have any advice for anyone that would like to be an author?

My best advice is a simple one. Write for you.
I’ve seen people try to follow the trend and write something they don’t care about, I’ve seen people only care about sales and start to hate what was once a passion and I’ve seen people compare themselves to others and tear down their own self system.

Block out the world, write your manuscript as honestly as you can and then welcome opinions to better yourself.

This or That-

*Morning or Night?
Morning.

*Vanilla or Chocolate?
Chocolate.

*Summer or Winter?
Summer.

*Ebook or Paperback?
Paperback

*Fantasy or Paranormal? 
Paranormal.


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