Tuesday 29 October 2013

Interview with Amber Skye Forbes by Liz

Interview with Amber Skye Forbes
Author of When Stars Die
Released October 22, 2013


 

Where are you from?

I am from modest Augusta, Georgia and live in Grovetown. I will also give out the address and phone number, because I do want stalkers and paparazzi. I generally prefer to be photographed while doing random ballet in my house, for all you future stalkers and photographers out there.

What inspired you to write your first book?

The Salem Witch Trials, really, though I wouldn't say a whole lot inspired my the book. I had a witch obsession at the time of its inception, so I knew I wanted to write about witches and put a new spin on them that I'm sure no one has ever done before--and I don't think anyone still has yet, even though the book is already out. My witches are born of the Seven Deadly Sins, so they are despised in the universe of The Stars Trilogy. And there is also a lot of other surprising things about my witches that don't exist in your typical witch books or books where witches are hated and burned.
As for the rest of my novel, it seriously all came from my head. I can't even tell you how, but I was fifteen when I started WSD, so my memory might just be muddled.

How did you come up with the title?

There is a point in the book where Amelia is mulling over stars and how when they die, they leave a lasting impact. Through WSD, Amelia strives to leave that lasting impact on her world. She doesn't want to quietly disappear from her world, as many witches do. She wants to go out with a bang, like a star, if she has to, and be remembered. So there is a lot of stars theology in the book, and stars are and will be an enormous motif throughout the entire trilogy. 

How did you go about naming your characters?

The names aren't symbolic, although the name in the epilogue is. I just choose names that I like at the time, and I looked up 19th century names and saw Amelia was one and decided to name her thought. There is also an Oliver Cromwell, which sort of alludes to the deceased Oliver Cromwell. There is also her little brother, Nathaniel, and I just like that name. Then there are the names of the antagonists, Sash, Asch, and Gisbelle. I don't know where Sash and Gisbelle came from--probably my head--but Asch came from the Asch in Tales of the Abyss since they are similar in personality. 

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I want readers to question everything they currently know and believe in their lives. My book has a very negative view of religion and touches upon the hardcore beliefs of fundamentalist Christians and other hardcore believers of other various faiths. I am going to admit upfront that I am agnostic, that I do believe in something, but I don't know what it is. However, I don't have a negative view of this almighty being. If this almighty being exists, I believe it does love us, but it wants us to have free well, that it doesn't want us to spend our days worshipping and lauding it. I see it as a sort of parent. It cares for us in its own way, but like any good parent, offers us free will so we can live our lives as we want to. It doesn't want us to abuse this free will, but, well, free will has its own nature, and so people are going to abuse it. Therefore, I don't question why God lets bad things happen. People make bad things happen--not an almighty being.
I sort of poke fun at the people who have a very scary view of God, that God will send you straight to hell if you commit a sin, and that God does not believe in redemption. If you're homosexual, you're a sinner, and you'll go to hell. My book pokes fun at stuff like that and brings it to the extreme because people don't realize that they believe what they believe because they were told to believe it. We have free will, but the only way we can use it is by realizing we are essentially brainwashed from birth into believing what we believe. You can call it social conditioning, but I believe that is a politically correct term for brainwashing. So they only way you can free your mind is by questioning everything you know. Now it's still okay to believe what you believe, as long as you truly want to believe it--not because you were told to. Some people need religion; I don't.

People in Amelia's world don't do that. They hate witches because they have been told from birth to hate them, because their religious text tells them to. And Amelia knows this because she is a witch.
What are your current projects?

I am working on the sequel to When Stars Die, The Stars Are Infinite, which will have a new protagonist. I also hope to get back to work on When Heaven Was Blue in December, so that I MIGHT have two books come out next year, if AEC is able to juggle both. It's about a suicidal teen rescued from a suicide attempt by a puppeteer and doll maker who then decides to take him to a strange town called Stolentime. So it's essentially a book about mental illness in a fantasy setting. I am also outlining another book on mental illness currently titled, The Hours That Winter Blooms, which will be a YA literary contemporary. Also, I know I need to get outlining the third book in The Stars Trilogy, whose titled I haven't determined yet, but will have the words stars and collide in there somewhere. 
How have your personal experiences affected your writing?
The dark times in my life have affected my writing. I had an anxiety disorder and mild depression in the eighth grade upon writing the sequel to When Stars Die. So that affected the darkness of the book, and that darkness leaked over into When Stars Die. I still have an anxiety disorder, but it's co-morbid with my bipolar disorder. My mental illness inspired When Heaven Was Blue, and will probably continue to inspire stories to come because mental illness, especially bipolar disorder, does something new to you every day, and so your thoughts constantly shift to how you feel and see things. So that in itself can inspire a lot of stories and characters. 
How long did it take you to publish your first book, after you started trying?
It didn't take long at all. AEC Stellar Publishing was my first choice, and I got accepted by my first choice. Someone on Tumblr commented that I cheated myself by going with a new house, but my experiences with them prove otherwise.   
What advice would you give to someone who "runs out of creativity" when writing? 
I'd probably say just take a break. You can't force creativity. You really can't. It only brings on frustration, which then continues to stem the flow of creativity, and you don't want that. 
If you could work with any author who would it be?
John Green hands down. Even though I write across genres and he doesn't, I still love his books and still love YA contemporary literary, so I think our combined minds would come up with something awesome. 
Author Bio:
Amber Skye Forbes is a dancing writer who prefers pointe shoes over street shoes, leotards over skirts, and ballet buns over hairstyles. She loves striped tights and bows and will edit your face with a Sharpie if she doesn’t like your attitude. She lives in Augusta, Georgia where she writes dark fiction that will one day put her in a psychiatric ward…again. But she doesn’t care because her cat is a super hero who will break her out. 
  
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Monday 28 October 2013

Halleluiah Baby by Kathleen Martin~Cover Reveal!!


Summary:
Treez McDuffy is a single woman who’s recently retired from a forty-year-long-lifeless job. She’s now faced with facing herself. The wounds from her childhood reopen, having never really healed. They’re responsible for her unwillingness and inability to have formed any type of meaningful relationship. She is alone without any sense of purpose or belonging and consoles herself with endless cigarettes, liter-boxes of Merlot and micro-waved frozen dinners.

Something happens that ignites a transformation. One morning she hears the sound of Canada geese flying over her apartment on their way home. They’re calling her to join them. She rushes out onto her balcony and is overwhelmed by the momentous display of this huge flock of geese flying overhead. It stirs something inside her which has lain dormant for years – hope to change her life. But to change, she has to change everything.

She terminates the lease on her the rent-controlled apartment she’s had for thirty years, cashes in her retirement savings, buys a new car, adopts a dog, aptly named, Guido, from the local pound and sets out to travel the Trans Canada Highway on a tentatively planned journey to the Badlands of South Dakota.

On day of her departure, she suffers an extreme anxiety attack after travelling only a few blocks from her old apartment. Somehow the realization of what she’s done has remained safe in her imagination but now it’s reality. She fears she’s made a very reckless and foolish decision but it’s too late to turn back.

What starts off as a trip to the Badlands veers dramatically off course as she encounters people and events, both natural and supernatural that steer her in a whole new direction. She is challenged in ways she has never experienced before. She is on an odyssey of rebirth and self-discovery.


Author Bio and Links:

Kathleen Martin is a Gemini-nominated writer for film, novelist and playwright. Her first book “Penny Maybe” was published in Canada and in Germany. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and a little herd of little dogs.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kathleen-Martin-Author/216453405059269
https://twitter.com/katx123
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3127294-penny-maybe-a-novel
https://www.facebook.com/groups/centralphoenixwritersworkshop/
http://authorsinfo.com/index.php?option=com_community&view=profile&Itemid=167


Friday 25 October 2013

Cover Reveal for Desire (The Seductors Series Vol.1) by B.L. Wilde

Written Elegance Presents: 

Desire (The Seductors Series Vol. 1)
by B.L. Wilde


Cover Design by Jo Matthews
Genre: Erotica
Scheduled Release: December 6, 2013




Summary:

Jade has worked as a Seductor in a secret organization for five years now. Her main job? To earn the trust of her targets and secure the object or information her company was hired to steal—by any means necessary. She’s damn good at it, too. With five years left on her contract, she is handed an assignment that turns her world upside down.

Oliver Kirkham is the attractive, young CEO of Kirkham Industries, a weapons manufacturing company, and is currently in possession of some very important blueprints—blueprints that could change the way war, as we know it, works. He’s extremely focused and doesn’t have time to date, at least until he comes to the rescue of a shy but very alluring Jade Gibbs.

What happens when one night of passion turns into more? Will Jade allow her feelings for Oliver to get in the way of her mission? Or will she do what she was hired to do and secure the steal?



Excerpt:

Oliver wined and dined me with style. The conversation followed effortlessly, and a few hours later we were back in the bar having a nightcap.

“I really can’t thank you enough for dinner, Oliver.”

“It was my pleasure, Jade. I’ve enjoyed your companionship immensely tonight.”

“Do you really own your own company?”

“Why do you ask that?” he chuckled into his coffee.

“You’re so young and…fun. I thought CEOs were supposed to be bald with beer bellies, and be too stressed out to even crack a smile.”

“Are those the kind of CEOs you have as your clients?”

“Yes,” I laughed.

“These interior art skills of yours—how much do they cost?”

“Are you interested in utilizing my skills, Oliver?”

“I’m very interested, Miss Gibbs.” Oliver’s look became almost predatory.

“Maybe we should take this conversation elsewhere, then?” I suggested, looking around the bar.

“Where did you have in mind?” he asked, moving a little closer, his hand lightly skimming my leg.

“I was thinking of retiring for the night. It’s getting quite late,” I breathed, stretching out to play with his tie.

“Alone?”

“Actually, I was kind of hoping for some company,” I whispered timidly, pushing off my stool and slowly walking toward the lobby area. Counting to five, I turned to see Oliver walking toward me, looking dark and dangerously handsome. I was actually looking forward to seeing if this guy was any good in bed.

I pushed the button for the elevator and leaned against the wall just as he caught up with me.

“I hope I’m reading these signs correctly,” he grinned just as the elevator doors opened. With a small grin, I stepped in and pulled him with me. Oliver crashed his lips against mine right as the doors closed behind us.

Kissing was second nature to me. I could fake desire, even if it felt like I was kissing a wet fish, but as Oliver lifted me by my ass and pinned me against the elevator wall, I groaned in actual pleasure. I didn’t have to fake it. Desire flooded through my veins as I ran my hands into his dark hair.

“Christ, you’re beautiful,” he groaned, his lips moving down my neck while his hands began to fumble for the hem of my dress. I was about to start dry humping the guy if he kept on like he was.

“Ugh…” I groaned as his hands worked their way under my dress and he gripped my ass cheeks roughly. “Oliver…ugh…which floor?” He leaned toward the elevator buttons with me still wrapped around him, and pressed a button before quickly returning to attacking my neck.

“I saw you the moment I walked into the bar tonight,” he purred, his hands running slowly down my chest. Both my legs were wrapped around his waist. “And I wanted you.”

“Ugh…I…I’m flattered,” I said, forcing a blush. The elevator opened and Oliver finally let me go. As I slid down his body, I could feel his muscles through his shirt. Mm…it really was going to be a fun few months.

“I want you to know I don’t usually do this sort of thing,” I muttered, playing with the zipper on my purse while he opened his bedroom door.

“Neither do I.” He shook his head as if to clear it from a random thought, and somehow, I didn’t believe him. He was too smooth and confident to have never picked a girl up in a bar before.

“Wow, your room is so much bigger than mine!” I acted awestruck, gazing around as I placed my bag on a table. “Is this just the living area?” I gasped, turning to see that he was suddenly right in front of me. He responded by crashing his lips against mine while backing me against the wall.

“I don’t want to make small talk anymore. I just want to fuck you, Jade,” he growled into my ear. Holy crap! I was so turned on; I could feel the wetness between my legs begin to flow. His hands came back up underneath my dress, but rather than grab my ass like he had in the elevator, he simply pulled my panties down. “Do you want me to fuck you?”

“YES!” It was a plea, because in that moment, I’d never wanted anything more. I heard his belt buckle and the sound of foil before he was suddenly slamming me hard against the wall. Fuck, I’d dreamed of being taken this way, but never once had I thought it would happen. Who was this guy?

“I’m going to make you cum harder than you’ve ever cum before,” he smoldered into my ear. His fingers slowly teased my entrance and I arched my back, needing more. “I can feel how much you want this. I know your kind—shy and withdrawn. Let me free you. Let me release the desire I know is inside you.” Oh, this guy had no idea just how much desire was inside me. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist, drawing him toward me before I bit down on his neck.

“Fuck, yes,” Oliver growled, and with one deep thrust he was inside me.

I’d never been fucked this hard before. I was wanton. I needed everything the guy could give me as he slammed into me over and over again while I was pinned against the wall. “You feel so good,” he panted between thrusts.

“Fuck me harder!” I was totally breaking character, but I’d never had a man bring me to orgasm without my help before, and right now, I needed that moment more than the air I breathed.

“Harder? You better brace yourself then.” Oliver gripped my legs and rotated his hips before pushing deeper and faster inside me.

Before I could make sense of what was happening, I felt myself begin to build—the feeling becoming warmer and more intense with each of his movements. This guy was going to make me cum. Jade Phillips—top Seductor—was finally going to cum by the power of a man!

“Give it to me, Jade. Don’t you fucking dare deny yourself!” Oliver could feel my orgasm begin to take control, so he slid his fingers between us, circling my clit to help ease my release out.

When I did explode, it was earth shattering.

“Ugh…fuck…fuck…fuck,” I groaned, my entire body trembling.

Oliver continued to pound into me until he found his own release. “Fuck, yes, Jade…ugh…ugh…I knew you’d make me cum this hard!” Oh my God! He looked so hot when he climaxed.

I was still pinned against the wall, held up by his arms as we regulated our breathing. “You see?” Oliver finally spoke. “I knew there was a wild girl in there somewhere.”




About the Author:

B.L. Wilde is a British author obsessed with many things, including heated love stories. Supported fully by her husband, she can often be found at her desk working on her next project.

Her journey into the world of erotica began when she started writing online stories over three years ago, and she hasn't looked back since. 



Author Links:
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