Spotlight: The Monster of Selkirk

About the Book:
Monsters come in many forms, and not everyone knows a monster when they see one. After three hundred years of monstrous, feral elves plaguing the island nation of Selkirk, everyone believes they know what a monster is. Humans have learned to live with their savage neighbors, enacting a Clearing every four years to push the elves back from their borders. The system has worked for centuries, until after one such purge, a babe was found in the forest.

As Tallis grows, she discovers she isn't like everyone else. There is something a little different that makes people leery in her presence, and she only ever makes a handful of friends.

But when the elves gather their forces and emerge from the forests literally hissing Tallis's name like a battle mantra, making friends is the least of her troubles. Tallis and her companions find themselves on an unwilling journey to not only clear her name, but to stop the elves from ravaging her homeland.



About the Author:

C. E. Clayton was born and raised in Southern California where she worked in the advertising industry for several years on accounts that ranged from fast food, to cars, and video games (her personal favorite). This was before she packed up her life, husband, two displeased cats, and one very confused dog and moved to New Orleans. Now, she is a full time writer (mainly in the fantasy genre), her cats are no longer as displeased, and her dog no longer confused. More about C.E. Clayton, including her blog, book reviews, and poetry, can be found on her website: http://www.ceclayton.com

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Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.  

Spotlight: Misaligned: The Celtic Connection

About the Book:
How does a tossed bowl of tapioca close a trans-dimensional portal? And how is it connected to a centuries-old druid artifact? 

Penny Preston, a gifted 8th grader existing in more than three dimensions, plans to find out. Together with her mysterious cat, she struggles to protect our universe from invaders, save her relationship with her best friend, and uncover her connection to Celtic legend.









About the Author:

Unlike many authors, Armen can honestly say that he didn't voluntarily read a book until he finished The Hobbit in sixth grade. After that reading became a vice, as he ravenously devoured science fiction and fantasy stories. Taking a more practical approach to college, he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was an Honorable-Mention All-American swimmer his senior year.

After serving as an officer in the USAF, working on top secret 'Area 51' projects, where he never saw a single alien (dead or alive), he left the service and earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina. He spent a decade riding the high-tech wave, moving more frequently than an informant in the Witness protection program.

His stories mix elements of science and history with a healthy dose of fantasy. When not writing he can be found swimming, reading a book, or enjoying the outdoors with his family. He lives outside of Rochester, NY with his wife and three children.

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Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.  

Author Interview: Christopher Slayton

Today I would like to welcome Christopher Slayton, author of Chaos Company, to the Howling Turtle! I'd like to thank him for taking the time to answer a few of my questions!

Tell us a bit about what you do when you are not writing.

When I am not writing I’m usually working, reading, playing videogames, or exercising. I currently work full-time for Uber and Lyft and take up odd jobs on the site Taskrabbit. All three jobs allow for me to have more free time to write and to talk to people one on one about my book "Chaos Company," which is out now.

As for reading, I can’t put down the Walking Dead tie-in novels! I’m currently reading the second one and am fortunate to know there are still eight more books to go!

When it comes to exercising, I find it easier to get and stay in shape when I have something physically challenge to look forward to. Right now I’m training for the 2017 Spartan race in August which will be held in Philly!

One phrase a lot of reviews use to describe "Chaos Company" is "action packed." What's the key to writing an "action packed novel?

I strongly believe putting yourself in physical and critical thinking activities is the key to writing an action-packed novel. I myself have been practicing martial arts on and off since I was six years old and started competing in martial arts fight when I was in college. I’m a huge fan of lazertag, paintball, and action/adventure shows, films and video games. Now I’m not saying you have to live and breathe all these things to write an action novel, but going out and finding something that gets your heart pumping is the key to bringing action to life in a novel.

What sort of research went into writing this book?

My research was split into three parts. The first is obviously from reading thrillers I love and admire such as Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider novels, the Halo novel series and Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead tie-in novels. The second source for writing Chaos Company was researching DC and Marvel entertainment, from their comics to their films and shows. The final source was from tactical and strategic video games such as Rainbow Six and XCOM. Now I know that just sounds like having fun lol, but I always made sure I was taking note of the appeal of the stories of each product, either by having a notepad close at hand or quickly make a memo on my cell phone. That way when it was time to write I could refer back to my notes and implement them into my writing while still keeping my story original.

If "Chaos Company" were going to be made into a movie, who would you want to be the director, the artist/composer in charge of the score and/or soundtrack, and an actor to play one of your main characters and why?

Haha! Isn’t that the dream for all writers? If it were to happen (fingers crossed) I would love for Maurissa and Kevin Tancharoen to co-direct “Chaos Company”. I’ve been following them both for years now and love the work to do. Any viewer who has experience d their projects can tell that the two of them put a lot of energy in their work, and that is exactly what I would want in a director.

As for a musical composer, I would want Steve Aoki to be in charge of the score and soundtrack of “Chaos Company.” I know film scores are not his specialty, but I believe his style would make a perfect fit for “Chaos Company.”

Are you working on any new writing projects right now?

Oh, absolutely! Right now I’m working on a vigilante novel I’m hoping to have released by this fall. And there is definitely a sequel to "Chaos Company" that I hope to have out by February 2018. I have a few other projects but as of right now they are only outlines.

If you could travel to the story world of any books which would it be and why?

Oh, it would definitely be the Harry Potter Universe! The dangers aside, who wouldn’t want to go to a school of magic and learn how to cast spells and befriend mythical creatures?

About "Chaos Company"

The highly effective team of super-powered soldiers code-named Chaos Company has returned to the United States to be commended for their bravery. While on leave the team finds themselves at odds with the highly dangerous mercenary Liam King, who has been contracted to assassinate President Jennifer Grey. Chaos Company thwarts Liam’s attack, but at the cost of team leader Tyler Young’s life.

With their leader killed the team looks to Desmond Striker to guide them in a hunt for Liam. During their hunt the team will find themselves in the cross-hairs of a private military company and have their abilities pushed to their limits. Before Chaos Company finally comes to blows with Liam they will discover that their greatest threat is a leader within their own country.

Check it out on Amazon!




Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.  

Release Announcement: Shattered Fates

Sometimes unlikely alliances are the only way to succeed. Shattered Fates by Rebecca Roland is available in ebook and paperback today, May 23, 2017, from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes and World Weaver Press, and for wholesale through Ingram. Shattered Fates is the final installment in the Shards of History series.  Praise for the Shards of History series: “Fast-paced, high-stakes drama in a fresh fantasy world!” — James Maxey, author of the Dragon Age trilogy. “One of the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. Suspenseful, entrapping, and simply … well, let’s just say that Shards of History reminds us of why we love books in the first place. 5 out of 5 stars!” — Good Choice Reading “A must for any fantasy reader.” — Plasma Frequency Magazine “A passionate tale that will engage both young adults and more weathered fantasy readers.” — NewMyths.com The magic barrier protecting the Taakwa from their enemies, the Maddion, is gone. Malia, who led the Taakwa against the Maddion in the Dragon War, must convince the magical being, the changer, to repair the barrier before the Maddion invade to take revenge on her people and the winged Jeguduns who also call the valley home, even if it means reversing the healing the changer wrought for her. Chanwa, the wife of the Maddion leader, uses the disorder created by the changer to lead a coup against her husband in a desperate attempt to ensure she and the other Maddion women are treated as equals. Her life, and the future of every Maddion woman, depends on her success. Both women know the only way to succeed is to come together in an unlikely alliance... Publication Date: May 23, 2017 • Fantasy $13.95 trade paperback, 292 pages  • $4.99 ebook ISBN: 978-0997788884 Publicity/Reviews: publicity@worldweaverpress.com Information: Click Here

Spotlight: The World Without Crows

About the Book:
In 1990, the world ended. A disease turned people into walking shells of themselves. Zombies. Most of them were harmless, but some were broken by the pressure of the disease. The cracked became ravenous killers whose bite infected.

To escape the apocalypse, Eric, a young, overweight boy of 16, sets off on a journey across the United States. His plan is to hike from Ohio to an island in Maine, far from the ruins of cities, where the lake and the fierce winters will protect him from both Zombies and the gangs that roam the country.

Along the way, Eric finds friends and enemies, hope and despair, love and hatred. The World Without Crows is the story of what he must become to survive. 

For him and the people he would come to love, the end is only the beginning.

About the Author:

Born in Buckfield, a rural town in the state of Maine, Ben Lyle Bedard grew up in the country. He studied at the University of Maine at Farmington. After graduating from college, he eventually moved across the country to Oregon and then California, where he studied for his Master’s Degree at Mills College, in Oakland. He moved to Buffalo for his PhD. In Buffalo he met his future wife, a Fulbright scholar from Chile. Bedard followed her back to Chile where they married. Now they live in La Serena, Chile, where Ben teaches English and writes novels in many genres.

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Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.  

Author Interview: Catherine Milos

Today I am thrilled to welcome Catherine Milos, author of the Angels and Avalon series to the Howling Turtle. She was gracious enough to answer some questions for me.

What do you like about writing in the New Adult genre?

Almost anything goes. New Adult still has the echoes of unlimited possibilities, but I am able to touch on more complex issues that the Young Adult and Middle Grade genres flagrantly avoid. I can delve into themes and concepts surrounding identity, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, belief, and more. I can spotlight the darkness and complexity within humanity in ways that other genres don’t like to. As a general rule, New Adult has less limitations and expectations from readers and the industry.

How did you get your start as a writer?

I’ve been a professional writer since seventeen. I’ve published articles, poems, essays, but most of them have been as a ghost writer. Before that, I read. I read every minute of every day that I could steal away. Reading was a lifeline, a place of security, safety, and majesty. I also wrote short stories, poems, and novels for the sake of writing stories. It’s a terribly beautiful compulsion. If I don’t write, I feel unsettled, like I’m not doing what I am supposed to be doing.

What's your favorite part about being a writer?

You mean aside from the writing process? Being my own boss and the solitude. I thrive on solitude. I love being able to create a project and guide it from start to finish, where stories become a physical book that you can hold in your hands. I love being my own boss, but it can also be really difficult. In reality, writing is a business, and putting that business hat on can be torture sometimes, especially when all I want to do is write.

What's the hardest part about writing fantasy?

The hardest part about writing fantasy is editing fantasy. Or is it writing fantasy? Hmm… When it comes to fantasy, I’m a discovery writer (and editor by trade). I constantly battle between the creative flow and the critical edit. I’ve written 80,000 words, only to delete and rewrite 50,000 of them. I once had to rewrite 30,000 words in 14 days. Since I work during the day, this stint almost killed me. The only person who understood was my best friend, who was writing her PhD at the time. It’s getting the story right so the reader can enjoy it. 

If you could go on vacation to any fictional world, which would it be and why?

Oh darn, that’s tough. Do I go to the academic inspired, intellectual and romantic world of Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches? Or, do I end up at Hogwarts (I’m a Gryffindor by the way, if anyone was curious)? Maybe Angela Roquet’s world in Graveyard Shift… Oh! Or maybe my childhood favorite Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest world… uh.. I think I might need a travel guide.

What is your favorite book that you've read in the last six months?

Lilith Saintcrow’s supernatural-like series Jill Kismet

If readers or other writers are interested in contacting me they can find me:

Twitter @CatherineMilos

http://catherinemilos.com

http://inglenook.catherinemilos.com

http://petrichor.catherinemilos.com

http://alchemy.catherinemilos.com

Facebook @CatherineMilosOfficial

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14236502.Catherine_Milos

and contact me directly at http://catherinemilos.com/contact/

About Angels and Avalon:

Fed up with the antics of gods and their wars, the Archangel Gabriel takes refuge in a secret paradise. The only condition, he must protect Goddess’ treasure. 

Driven by pride and darkness, Lucifer aims to dethrone God. Avalon is the perfect place of power and Adamina is the key.

Reincarnated, Adamina and Gabriel desperately try to find each other and stop Lucifer. But a soul can only take so much. 

Elizabeth McAllistar wants a new life free of Angels and Avalon. Will she be able to overcome the tragedy and the past that haunts her?

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Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.  

Cover Reveal: Vanity in Dust

Albuquerque, NM (May 10, 2017) – World Weaver Press has announced Vanity in Dust, the first installment of Cheryl Low's fantastic Crowns and Ash series, will be available in trade paperback and ebook on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Vanity in Dust follows a prince born to a world of evil and greed where the Queen's subjects are drugged by her magic pixie dust. But not for much longer...

Welcome to the Realm, where magic is your drug, your poison, and your only hope...   In the Realm there are whispers. Whispers that the city used to be a different place. That before the Queen ruled there was a sky beyond the clouds and a world beyond their streets. Vaun Dray Fen never knew that world. Born a prince without a purpose in a Realm ruled by lavish indulgence, unrelenting greed, and vicious hierarchy, he never knew a time before the Queen’s dust drugged the city. Everything is poisoned to distract and dull the senses, even the tea and pastries. And yet, after more than a century, his own magic is beginning to wake. The beautiful veneer of the Realm is cracking. Those who would defy the Queen turn their eyes to Vaun, and the dust saturating the Realm. From the carnivorous pixies in the shadows to the wolves in the streets, Vaun thought he knew all the dangers of his city. But when whispers of treason bring down the fury of the Queen, he'll have to race to save the lives and souls of those he loves.   Vanity in Dust will be available in trade paperback and ebook via World Weaver Press and other online retailers, and for wholesale through Ingram.   Cheryl Low might be an Evil Queen, sipping tea and peeping on everyone from high up in her posh tower—a job she got only after being fired from her gig as Wicked Witch for eating half the gingerbread house.             …Or she might be a relatively mundane human with a love for all things sugary and soap opera slaps.             Find out by following her on social media @cherylwlow or check her webpage, cheryllow.com. The answer might surprise you! But it probably won’t. World Weaver Press is an independently owned publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction. We believe in great storytelling.   Publication Date: August 8, 2017 • Fantasy $13.95 trade paperback, 272 pages  • $4.99 ebook ISBN-13: 978-0998702216 Publicity/Reviews: publicity@worldweaverpress.com Information: http://www.worldweaverpress.com/store/p132/Vanity_in_Dust.html

Spotlight: First Charge

About the Book:
Meredith and Theo both have their lives mapped out for them as a protector and guardian. They were born to protect people with an important destiny. However, not everything they've been told is true and they face difficult choices and obstacles as they struggle with their responsibilities, while trying to do the right thing. They discover that sometimes there is no good side to be on.










About the Author:
Amanda Steel was born in Bradford (UK) in 1979 and now calls Manchester her home. She always enjoyed writing as a child. One teacher even told her parents that English was the only subject she was good at.

She now enjoys writing online articles, short fiction, poetry and more recently longer works such as her novel 'While I was gone' which can be found on Amazon as well as some of her individual short stories.

Amanda can either be found sat in front of a laptop, with her head buried in book either for research or study purposes or occasionally at the cinema (to get inspiration of course).

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Spotlight: The Wolfe Experiment

About the Book:
What if, as a child, you could move the world with your mind? Think of the possibilities. But what if you couldn’t control it, and buildings toppled in your sleep? Think of the consequences.

Ethan and Tilly Wolfe are special. It’s a cruel, devastating kind of special that causes death and destruction in equal measure. Nobody is safe. Not even those who love them.

About the Author:
RW Adams had the good fortune to be born in 1978 to a teacher and an editor in a house full of books.

Having graduated in philosophy he realised nobody would pay him to philosophise, so he ended up having to settle for the excitement and glamour of a public sector IT career, which, despite what anybody might tell you, is as exciting as it sounds.

When not working or spending time with his wife and two daughters, he alternates between reading, writing and arguing with people about important things, unimportant things, and everything in-between.

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Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.  

Audiobook Release: More Than the Madness

NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO!

In October, 2016, John Kaniecki's More than the Madness was released in paperback and ebook. We are happy to announce that the audio version is available!


Author: John Kaniecki
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ABOUT THE BOOK:This book gives readers a glimpse into the life of someone living with bipolar disorder. It’s not a clinical book filled with facts and figures, but a book of humanity. 
Spanning childhood to early adult, through stories of abuse, being bullied, experimentation with drugs and alcohol, inpatient stays on psych wards, a night in jail, his college days in the fraternity, hitchhiking across America, and his time in a third world country, John gives the reader a personal and up-close look into his life as a manic depressive. The stories are sad, shocking, and at times funny as he shares his antics while at his most manic and delusional. 
Throughout his journey, John also struggles with his faith in God. More than the Madness is a testament of one man’s journey to grow closer to God while gaining a better understanding of himself. 
John wrote his story to help educate others on mental illness and remove some of the stigma associated with it. It is his hope that readers will get to know the person behind the diagnosis; take away the labels and meet someone's son, friend, and husband. See that there is More Than the Madness.
BOOK REVIEWERS, VIDEO BLOGGERS/BOOK BLOGGERS:  

Anyone who would like an electronic version of this book to review, please contact us on our website.

Cover Reveal: Beyond the Hope

Blurb:

In the aftermath of the latest battle, the stakes are higher than ever before. Time’s hardly an ally to Nicholai’s army of paranormal soldiers. The Tomes remain hidden, and the clock is ticking for the Essenced poisoned with the demon’s incurable toxin.

Beyond those worries, magic might be vanishing—a twist that could insurmountably cripple the army’s capabilities prior to the war’s conclusion.

Never has the conflict felt so desperate, with danger escalating and hope disappearing with the slow drain of the hourglass.

Will the answers surface in time, or will the band of warriors fail to prevent the ruin of the world?

About the Author:

Connie L. Smith spends a decent amount of time with her mind wandering in fictional places. She reads too much, likes to bake, and might forever be sad that she doesn’t have fairy wings. And that she can’t swing dance. Much of her preferred music is severely outdated, and as an adult she’s kind of obsessed with Power Rangers. She has her BA from Northern Kentucky University in Speech Communication and History (she doesn’t totally get the connection either), and her MA in English and Creative Writing.

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