Blog Tour News

Today, I'm with Stuart Aken.  Don't forget to leave a comment on any post I have on this blog from June 1-July 6th, 2011 to enter the drawing for an author-signed copy of My Fearful Symmetry!

My Fearful Symmetry Drawing Deadline Extended

Due to the print copies being available a little later than we hoped, I'm extending the deadline to enter to win an author-signed copy of My Fearful Symmetry until June 5th, 11:59 PM EDT.  To enter, you must comment on any post at this blog from June 1st-July 5th.  You get one entry for each time you comment.  Good luck!

Blog Tour News

Today I'm with B. K. Walker. Immortality and Beyond.  Please stop by.  I have a giveaway there.  While you'e here don't forget to leave a comment at this post or any of my June posts to enter to win a signed copy of My Fearful Symmetry.

My Fearful Symmetry Release Update/Drawing

My Fearful Symmetry is now available on Kindle.  Don't forget to enter my drawing here to win an autographed copy!  The drawing is June 30th.  All you have to do is leave a comment on any post in June.  One entry for each time you comment. The winner will be chosen by random drawing.

Enter to Win a Copy of My Fearful Symmetry

Comment on any post in June (including this one) to be entered to win an autographed copy of My Fearful Symmetry!  You get one entry for each post you comment on.  The winner will be chosen in a random drawing at 11:59 PM on 6/30/11.

Good Luck!

My Fearful Symmetry

Aleron by Kane

   Today I'm turning the spotlight on

Aleron by Kane

Aleron must cope with a timeless existence, seeing those he loves suffer the fate of mortality, while he remains cursed with eternal life. What if your immortal origin as well as others of your kind were hidden from you by the one you loved most; the one who gave you into a life of darkness and a lust for the sweetest nectar? These dilemmas and more face Aleron, but he must first learn to live, to survive, and most of all, to feed. Seduced by the alluring vampire Mynea, Aleron learns what it truly means to be immortal as he adapts to his new life and new insatiable lust. She is teaching him to give her what her maker never has. She desires a new king and a new coven. Hearts, minds, and vampire souls intertwine as long kept secrets crawl out from the grave, refusing to remain buried beneath earth and lies. A blood kiss between them reveals a darker and even deadlier soul that has learned of Aleron's blasphemous existence. Vlad is the beginning, the father of them all. Mynea must not let her young prince learn of her ancient king. Can a vampire truly love and trust another of his kind when their very lives depend on skillful deceit? Walking a thin line between life and death Aleron is certain of one thing, if love is, then blood is.

Excerpt:

Aleron arose from his slumber and she was gone. Aleron was alone—his heart empty for his maker had deserted him. The only reminder was an ancient book he can’t decipher and Minea’s ever faithful human servant, Eliza.

Minea watched him closely, she knew he would be the one, her new King—Aleron. She made him in secrecy and for decades she has nurtured him in the ways of the Vampire. He must be strong for she knew the time would come for her to leave him. Her beloved Aleron.

Vlad’s temper was growing. How dare Minea disappear for decades? He is the beginning, the father of them all, no Vampire dare to defy him. Those who have tried no longer bear the mark of immortality.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Aleron/Kane/e/2940012302502/?itm=1&USRI=aleron

Kane's website

Comment on this post and any other of my posts during the month of June to enter to win a copy of My Fearful Symmetry, Book Three of the Immortyl Revolution!

My Blog Tour and Contest to Win My Fearful Symmetry

My blog tour starts on Tuesday at Written in Blood.  I will be giving away an Immortyl Revolution mousepad there.  To enter my book giveaway, please leave a comment at any post on my blog during the month of June!  If you haven't yet become a follower here, please do!

Featured Author Katie Salidas

                                Katie Salidas

I'm thrilled to announce that Katie's new Immortalis novel, Pandora's Box is now available. 

Here are the links to guest posts from Katie and my reviews of her first two books.  Enjoy!

Immortalis Carpe Noctem 

 Hunters and Prey

Please follow this link for more details on Katie's tour.  Virtual Book Tour Cafe

Follow Katie at these sites!

Katie on Facebook

Katie's Website

David F. Porteous Interview

What age group is your work geared toward?



I’ve never given the age of my readers any thought.



Into which genre would you say your work falls and why?



Singular is near-future science fiction, with some elements of thriller and comedy thrown in. I think genre is pretty poor shorthand for any book’s subject; a hundred years ago someone going into space would be science fiction, but now it’s biography. Much of what is possible in Singular may be achievable in our lifetimes.



Tell us a little about your book.



Thirty-five years from now the Singularity Network offers immortality to those who can afford it. Abandon the physical form and transfer yourself into a virtual universe, move from world-to-world and become different people, experiencing thousands of different lives.



The British government plans to move all of its elderly from expensive care homes into a cut-down version of this virtual universe. But in the depths of the immortality machine a random glitch has created an entirely new form of life; one that now struggles to be free of the virtual and reach the real world.



Singular is the story of four unalike characters and their struggles for freedom, power, revenge and survival.



Who is your favorite character in your book and why?



I love all my children equally, but Patrick most of all. But it’s only because Patrick gets a unique fate – he’s able to both triumph spectacularly and be betrayed and defeated at the same time. It’s an interesting ending for him, because it could just as easily be the beginning of another story.



What other writers would you say have influenced your work and why? What are some of your favorite books in the genre?



It’s hard to say in terms of influence. I don’t consciously emulate anyone. When I was a child I read Roald Dahl (the Fantastic Mr Fox), as a teenager Terry Pratchett (Small Gods) and Iain Banks (Walking on Glass, The Bridge), as an adult I’ve tended to read older books rather than new ones. I do like the weirdness of H P Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, but neither of those are writers with a style I’d want to emulate. I’m also a fan of Robert Louis Stevenson – I think he was the best writer Scotland has ever produced.



What is your writing process like? Do you do a lot of background research? Do you plot every detail or do you prefer the characters to move the story in new directions, or a combination of both? Do you belong to a critique group and do you find this helpful?



I start with a thing. To use Singular as an example, “the thing” was immortality in a virtual world. I then start to construct a story around that. What would a society with virtual immortality in it look like? What might happen to, or because of, virtual immortality? Who might be most affected by this? What do each of these people want, in general and from the immortality machine?



Everything that happens in Singular can be traced to decisions made by characters in the book, though sometimes we don’t learn about these decisions until much later.



My plotting and my use of themes are intricate. I pride myself on that and I like to reward observant readers with little “ooh”s and “ahh”s.


Do you have any advice for young or beginning writers?



Give it up and become an engineer. Writing is a terrible idea – like taking drugs and having anonymous sex – all sensible, stable, happy people avoid it.



Where are your books available? Are there e-books and hard copies available?



Singular is available from Amazon in ebook and print. Right now the ebook is only 99c.



What is your website and/or blog where readers can learn more? Can they friend you on Facebook or other sites?



You can visit my website dfpiii.com for links to my twitter and Singular’s Facebook page. At the end of the virtual tour one person who “likes” Singular on Facebook will win the US Print Edition ‘Proof Copy’ of Singular, signed and with a personal message. It’s a unique prize of which there can never be another and is worth almost $9 – more if you count the free postage and packing.



Are there any upcoming signings or appearances you'd like to mention?



The book tour continues until the end of June. You can follow @dfpiii on twitter for more links as they come up.

Thanks for joining me today, David!


Thanks very much for having me.

My Fearful Symmetry Drawing

Anytime you comment on a post at this blog during this month, you will receive an entry in a drawing to win a copy of My Fearful Symmetry.  Winner will be drawn on June 30th at 11:59 EDT.

Guest David F. Porteous rescheduled to Tuesday June 14th

My Fearful Symmetry Release Update

Here is the cover for My Fearful Symmetry.  Contest announcement tomorrow.  Got to get my son graduated first!

Free Read of beginning!

Fangs Rule! Amy Mah on Creating a Vampire World

Welcome Amy Mah to Immortyl Revolution! 

Okay, we all love to win things.  Right?  This month, anyone who comments on any of the posts at this blog will recieve one entry per comment to win a free copy of My Fearful Symmetry, Book Three of the Immortyl Revolution.  The Book drawing will be held on June 30th at 11:59 PM.  I will also be holding weekly drawings starting on the 15th of June for Immortyl Revolution shirts, pens, mouse pads etc. In July, I will be running a launch party contest with a neato prize package of books and goodies! 

Amy Mah

How did I create a vampire world?

Well, it all started when my publisher Nicholas Reardon of Reardon Publishing was looking for authors to write some paranormal novels, he wanted something funny to publish and wanted to use an as yet undiscovered author, and that is where I came in, Miss Mah to the rescue!

You would think creating a vampire world would be easy as everyone knows all about vampires and unlike doing a book on say a dryad, which apart from a numbering system is also a tree nymph in case you are interested. With a Dryad I could say she has six fingers on her left hand and likes to drink mead and very few people will shout and say no it is the right hand and she only drinks water,

But with vampires you have to see what has gone before you and then build on it, and that is what I did with my book: FANGS RULE a girls guide to being a vampire.

With vampires you do not have to tell anyone about the basics ……basics are .er…well……like ……….blood……sun light……coffins…holy symbols…….fangs …….. fancy cloaks …. And did I say blood? Yes? Well it is worth a second mention as BLOOD is what vampires are all about, as you read what people write about, things change our lovely long toothed friends can walk in sunlight, wear modern clothes, and even be a priest! Ok I know but it was in a very low budget film that I will not even name as it was ……..er………. crap ………So lots of things can change but never the blood …….even if it now comes in bottles (True Blood).

Over the years I have read and seen lots of vampire books and films and some are so bad I wanted to go and bite the author or film director.

I once saw a film called the last vampire in New York that had the vampire walking about in the day light and shooting people instead of biting them………… if you have not seen it don’t bother,

………..I like films to have a plot and a reason for happening or they bore me, so when I have a world to create I try and step into it and take a look around ………… things have to happen for a reason …………. And always have logic to them no mater how odd the logic is …….. if someone can jump off a roof and land on the ground unharmed (Underworld) ther must be a reason and there must even be a reason for wearing long leather coats and is it the same as the cloaks in the past ……… the answer could be yes and in my world I can you give reasons.

So lets go back to BLOOD ……….step into my world and look back out at the odd humans as you join a teenage vampire trying to explain what life is like for a teenage vampire:

Wow, yes, blood. The taste, the feel and the pleasure of it... wowwwwww. (Sorry, getting a bit carried away again.) Humans always think it is disgusting how we can like blood so much knowing where it comes from, well, all I have to say is that they eat eggs knowing where they come from. And as to milk, well it's just perverted to enjoy milk unless you're a baby.

Forget the human movies about bathing in the blood of virgin teenage girls to keep young, it's rubbish - and besides, just where do you find virgin human teenagers now? And, like, are you going to ask them personal questions about their love life before you add them as a bath salt? I think not.

If you would like to know more about my take on the human world you can take a look at my blog http://amymahvampire.blogspot.com/

or better still buy one of my books at…………………… www.fangsrule.com

Amy Mah (Vampire)

The front of the book has the title in dripping blood and shows Amy as a 18th century dressed vamp in a graveyard, where as the back is in modern clothing,

The artwork is by the Asian manga artist Heby Sim and what happened is that I sent pictures of myself and she turned me into what you see in the books, so it is really me you see in the books!!!! She even produced a full portrait of me which I have hung up on the wall over looking the computer.



Synopsis:


Fangs Rule a girls guide to being a vampire



Being A vampire sounds like it should be a cool thing to be as a teenage girl, like sleeping during the day and enjoying a night life with friends but no one warned Amy that it also meant having to suffer Teenage hormones for so long as she was stuck as a 16 year old vampire until her new vampire family would let her grow up, being a vampire was not as much fun as she had hoped and as to walking about wearing a see through nightdress with no underwear, well that was so not going to happen!


So Amy decided to write a book to help all teenage vampire girls and here it is FANGS RULE a girls guide to being a vampire.


A self help guide for teenage vampire girls, the guide is fully illustrated by manga Artist Heby and is written in an easy to follow A - Z format explaining everything a teenage vampire girl would need to know about living life as a modern Vampire.


What is fashionable to wear when eating out?


Fang maintenance & how to keep your claws sharp.


Should you let a boy bite you on the first date?


Easy to understand clear advice is given to every day problems Example:


When you get an urge to bite: We all get those normal urges to bite things, and I must point out it is very normal, Claws are all well and good in a fight but a bite gives the extra advantage of getting a refreshing drink at the same time. Lots of girls worry about showing their Fangs in public believing that to show your fangs is rude, but don't be shy they can be a girls greatest asset (ok second greatest asset) if a boy is being rude to you, don't just snarl at him, just bite him! You are a vampire why do you think you have sharp teeth if not for sinking them into a boy that is being rude to you.


Life as a teenager is normally a living hell but even more so when you have fangs. She knows the world is just out to get her, and not just by people trying to stake her because she has better teeth than they do!

Bio:

My name is Amy Mah, and I am Asian Chinese by looks. I could say that I am oriental looking, but if I do people would think I look like a carpet. LOL

I’m in my 20s with a very strange sense of humor, I look at the world and see how stupid it is and like to point this out, to know what I mean just read my blog:

http://amymahvampire.blogspot.com/

I just love anime and manga and so I have had my own image turned into a manga cartoon which is what you will see in my books.

What else? …….. Well I think faster than I can type ………and I type faster than I can spell.

See more of me and my book visit my website at :

http://www.fangsrule.com/ or visit

Amy on Facebook.

T-shirt Winner

Congratulations to Julie S. the winner of the Cara Mia t-shirt!  There will be more giveaways announced in the coming days, as I count down to the release of My Fearful Symmetry.  Friday, I feature Amy Mah and her unique book, Fangs Rule A Girls Guide to Being a Vampire.

Love and Dark Kisses,

Denise