Saturday, June 29, 2013

Free Book Notice: Kamori: Mystery of the Pau'i


Kamori: Mystery of the Pau’i
by P.A. Mundi 
Free giveaway weekend: Sat 29th June and Sun 30th June

Exclusively on Amazon Kindle:

This is a coming-of-age tale with a mystical twist. It involves the ‘Kamori’—advanced chameleon-people with color-morphing skin. But there is a problem: in kamori society, color morphing is taboo; adults must permanently display “National Colors” like a uniform.
Along comes an orphan named Meyu. Born in the wilderness, he knows no societal norms. He loves to color-morph and he can even make his skin sparkle and glow--just like the caverns he once called home. In civilization Meyu is considered a freak. Nobody realizes that his skin holds the key to long-forgotten powers of the Spirit—powers once harnessed by the legendary civilization of the Pau’i.
The story is set on an outlandish world named B'hu (bee-oo) where most plants can move, squirt, or shoot, and  where most pets have their own littler pets.
Will Meyu fulfill his destiny and rekindle the golden age of the Pau’i? Or will dark forces prevail? Join Meyu as he journeys through his fascinating planet on his quest for truth.
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The author invites all readers to obtain a free download during the giveaway weekend and to provide any feedback at info.kamori@gmail.com.
See also:     www.kamori.ca  
Twitter:        @PAMkamori

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Off to Chicago!

Hi there everyone!

Tomorrow this time I will be on a plane to Chicago for the ALA convention. If any of you are going to be there as well, please shoot me an email, I'd love to meet you! I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far.

Read on.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Blog Tour Stop: Reconaissance


Reconaissance: Book 2 of Paradise Reclaimed by Aubrie Dionne






Nova Williams has lost her one shot at Lieutenanthood and at love. Lieutenant Crophaven has promoted her rival, Andromeda, all because her lifemate, Sirius, sacrificed their mission to win back Andromeda’s love.

While sneaking out to prove Andromeda is a fake, Nova finds an alien ship hovering over their colony. Lieutenant Crophaven assigns her to a reconnaissance mission, giving her a second chance to redeem herself. Sirius must fly her and a research team to the vessel to decide if they are a threat. Thrown together with the lifemate that betrayed her, she battles with her own jealousy while her team battles for their lives.

Can she forgive Sirius in order to save her team and warn her colony?



Excerpt:

A drone, as deep and low as the growl of a primordial beast, resonated in my gut and I yanked my hand away. My heart sped like someone had fired a starter gun to a race, and my chest tightened until I couldn’t breathe.
 
That blaring blasphemy wasn’t from my ship.

The sound tapered off, leaving me in silence. I stared at the bones, wondering if I’d imagined it, or if I should hide here in the ruins in case the sound came back.

What am I doing? I’m a team expedition leader, for crying out loud!

I pulled myself back together. Everyone else was attending the ceremony on the ship. The thick hull, designed to protect us from deep space, blocked all sounds from the outside world. I was the only one who would have heard it. The only one who could investigate. I thought about going back for help, but every second I delayed, the source of the sound could disappear. Besides, I didn’t want the credit taken away from me. Not this time.

I scrambled to the window and climbed over the ledge, throwing myself down so fast my ankles exploded in pain. Cursing, I hobbled up the embankment of the excavation site. The sound boomed around me, vibrating the crystals underneath my feet. I fell to my knees and covered my ears. It reminded me of warping metal, growling monsters, and screeching alarms all at the same time.

The sound came from the jungle. I pulled myself up the incline and peered over the edge. A dry, fiery breeze blew my hair back, and I looked above the rustling canopy.

My heart stammered then beat into a frenzy. A massive ring of a ship, twice as large as the New Dawn, hovered over the jungle. Spires jutted from the top and the bottom, like a two-sided pin cushion. Blinking reddish lights adorned the ends. The hull was a dull gray shield of impenetrable metal with no sight panels or markings of any kind.

The buzzing sound made my eardrums throb. I pressed my nose up against the crystal ledge and peered over as my whole body shook. The lowest spire, thick as a nuclear reactor, lengthened from the belly of the ship until the tip hovered a meter from the jungle canopy. A trap door opened, and a beam of white light seared a hole in the foliage. The smell of burnt vines choked my throat, and I cowered against the side of the ledge.

I have to warn the ship.



Buy Links:   Amazon   Barnes & Noble     All Romance eBooks


Book 1: Colonization


Andromeda has spent all seventeen years of her life aboard a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet. Her safe cocoon is about to break open as Paradise 21 looms only one month away, and she must take the aptitude tests to determine her role on the new world and her computer assigned lifemate. As a great-granddaughter of the Commander of the ship, she wants to live up to her family name. But, her forbidden love for her childhood friend, Sirius, distracts her and she fails the tests. The results place her in a menial role in the new colony and pair her with Corvus, “the oaf”.

But when Andromeda steps foot on Paradise 21, her predestined future is the least of her worries. Alien ghosts from a failed colonization warn her of a deadly threat to her colony. And when Sirius’s ship crashes on the far ridge in an attempt to investigate, she journeys to rescue him with Corvus. 

Andromeda now must convince the authorities of the imminent danger to keep her protect her new home. What she didn’t expect was a battle of her own feelings for Sirius and Corvus. 

Can she save the colony and discover her true love?

Buy Links:     Amazon           Barnes & Noble



About the Author:

Aubrie grew up watching the original Star Wars movies over and over until she could recite and reenact every single scene in her backyard. She also loved The Goonies, Star Trek the Next Generation--favorite character was Data by far--and Indiana Jones. But, her all time favorite movie was The Last Unicorn. She still wonders why the unicorn decided to change back to a unicorn in the end.

Aubrie wrote in her junior high yearbook that she wanted to be "a concert flutist" when she grew up. She majored in flute performance at the University of New Hampshire on a full scholarship, then secured two teaching jobs at a University and a local community music school. While playing in orchestras and teaching, stories popped into her head, and she used them to make the music come alive for her flute students. Her students said they were so good, she had to write them down! Maybe they were right, who knows? Two careers seems to keep her busy. For now.

She is represented by Dawn Dowdle and writes sweet and adventurous fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary romance.

Author Links: Twitter        Site       Blog      Goodreads



Sunday, June 23, 2013

Blood of Ancient Kings Spotlight


Synopsis: A medieval story of love, honor, and courage.
As a young prince grows up and advances through the military ranks, with his true identity unknown to his friends, he meets a young girl and they become friends. As the years pass their friendship blossoms into true love, knowing that she already has an arranged marriage and he being royalty most certainly has one as well, they still continue with their relationship. As their friendship progresses he must be courageous as he goes through many trials, testing his love for her, his loyalty to the kingdom, and in doing what’s right as an officer and a gentleman. The story spans multiple generations, their families deal with many problems, going from the pain of death, to the joy of birth as they feel the blood of the ancient kings running through their veins. 
The book was written with young adults in mind, however with no foul language, graphic sex or violence they are appropriate for reader’s as young as ten. The author allows the reader’s imagination to fill in between the lines with their own experience, so even parents and grandparents will enjoy them.
The story begins with King Burkhart, who is an evil tyrant of a king, holding his beloved wife and queen as she is dying from giving birth to his first born. Suddenly the door is kicked open! Colonel Langward from his own army, now fighting to take the kingdom from him, is standing there with his bloody sword in hand. As King Burkhart kneels at his conqueror’s feet hoping for death so he can join his beloved wife, his only true love, he hears the cry of his new born child! The new king has compassion and instead of killing him, allows him to live to raise his daughter but he must live among the very people he abused as king. He is given only what he can carry with him and taken to a small village. On his first night there he wakes to find the tiny house on fire. He grabs his infant and the bag with their few belongings only to find the door will not open, it’s blocked! He breaks through the door to find the enraged villagers that are burning the house, he runs trying to find a place to hide as he is pelted with rocks. He runs to a bridge over a brook and crawls under it, into to the mud to protect his infant knowing he must survive, if only for her. For the first time in his life he is truly afraid of death, but not for himself, for his daughter.




Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I grew up in a small town in Utah before going to Dixie College where I took Fantasy Lit and writing classes. Yeah, most college students complain about having to write papers for classes and I’m one of the crazy ones that took the class where that’s all you do is write essays and papers.


What inspired you to start writing books?
I started daydreaming and writing them down. Before long I realized that what I had was more of a novel than a short story.

What kind of books are they?
The Ancient Kings Series is mostly medieval fantasies with romance, action and history along with some sci-fi and magic mixed in. The first book of the Under the Dragon Moon series, Journey Home to a New World takes characters out of their medieval setting and puts them on a space ship to find the home world of their ancestors. Although they are in a series, each book stands alone, so you don’t have to start with the first book in the first series.

What attracted you to write about medieval times?
It’s always been a period of time I’ve been fascinated with.  While the Ancient Kings Series is set in medieval times exploring the struggle for power and land along with finding love and personal identity, when I started writing the Under the Dragon Moon series I mixed in some sci-fi, but retained the idea of the medieval living conditions for some of the groups of people.

How did you come up with the titles for the books?
Blood of Ancient Kings is actually part of a quote in the book that presents the idea that it is not one’s ancestry that makes one noble, but one’s deeds.
Quest of the King was originally Glynis Quest after the place the main female character came from, but my husband suggested the change.
Three Kingdoms of Alessandrine came from the evolution of a nation from three independent kingdoms.
Journey Home to a New World my husband came up with after reading it.
Return of the Dragon Moon was split off of Journey Home to a New World and was given that name as the title book for the Under the Dragon Moon series.
The People of the Red Cliffs was named because of a vision the queen dragon in Quest of the King had about a world with red cliffs under a violet sky.

Do you model your characters after people you know?
I really haven’t based my characters on any individual person, the characters seem to take on their own individual personalities. One of the key characters is a young woman named Marriah.  When she is first introduced in Three Kingdoms on Alessandrine she is unable to speak and near death. As the story progresses she grows into a confident young woman who becomes an important influence for many of the other characters.

What do people get out of reading your books?
I wrote them for entertainment, but each has an underlying positive moral message. A recent review commented about how Quest of the King reminded him of the Boy Scout Law. I have ten year olds enjoying my books as well as their parents and both get something a little different out of them.



Do current events influence your writing?
Although my books are not driven by current events they do relate to current events.  While Blood of Ancient Kings was actually written a few years ago, the messages it gives regarding the role of government still rings true today. It opens with a ruler becoming corrupt and abusing their power at the expense of the people until the ruler is over thrown. Similar situations have played out in governments just recently.

What age group do you write for?
I wrote them with young adults in mind, but there is no foul language, graphic sex or violence so they are appropriate for ten year olds and up. I allow the reader’s imagination to fill in between the lines, so even parents and grandparents can enjoy them.

What character is your favorite?
One of my favorites is Haskell. He has the caring personality of a grandfather with an interesting sense of humor. He’s introduced in Quest of the King, but is in several of the other books as well.

What comments have your readers made?
            After reading Blood of Ancient Kings one said, “I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next to these people I had come to care about. Not only is it engaging, but it has an underlying moral to it, which is carried throughout the series. I like reading about people with integrity. Another plus for me was the complete lack of gratuitous sex or foul language. I was completely comfortable letting my 12 year old son read the first book, and he literally jumped with excitement when he learned there would be a second and third book. It is well worth the read.”

Are there any more books you are working on?
There are several more that I am working on that will continue the Ancient Kings Series and a few more in the Under the Dragon Moon series.

Where are your books available and how much do they cost?
The paper backs are available at most Book stores and also online at vjogardner.com  for $18.95USD. They are also available on Amazon for Kindle, Barnes & Noble for Nook, iStore for iPad and Kobo for other e-readers. The ebooks are priced $2.99USD.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?
Write about something you’re comfortable with. Writing classes can be very helpful as well. Don’t worry about everything being good enough to put into print, that’s what editing is for. Just keep writing. The best stories write themselves and sometimes take you in unexpected directions.




About the Author
            Growing up, I was a voracious reader. In college I took Fantasy Lit and writing classes. I’ve always enjoyed observing people and how they interact based on their individual experiences and upbringing. I found that I enjoyed writing to take a break from the reality of life. After trying my hand at a variety of jobs, I felt it was finally time I begin to publish what I had been writing.
            There have been so many great authors that I have learned from and a few very poor ones. I do not presume to compare myself to any other author’s style but only attempt to tell the story in such a way as to immerse the reader in the story. Just as some of the characters spend most of their time trying to figure out where they fit in this life, I too have been searching for a place where I fit only to realize that it’s the journey of discovery that is the most important part of life.

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