Blog Tour & Book Review: The Light of Burning Shadows (Iron Elves, #2) by Chris Evans

Today we welcome Chris Evans to Morbid Romantic. I just had the pleasure to read book 1 and 2 of the Iron Elves series, so it's an honor to welcome Book 2: The Light of Burning Shadows here for a blog tour. If you would like to know more about the author, you can read more about Chris Evans at his blog, or visit the Iron Elves Homepage.

About The Light of Burning Shadows

Musket and cannon, bow and arrow, and magic and diplomacy vie for supremacy once again in this second epic fantasy adventure from acclaimed author Chris Evans. As the human-dominated Calahrian Empire struggles to maintain its hold on power in the face of armed rebellion from within, the Iron Elves' perilous quest to defeat the power-hungry elf witch, the Shadow Monarch, takes on greater urgency. The Iron Elves, shunned by their own people for bearing the mark of the Shadow Monarch, and desperately wanting to forever erase this shame, became legendary for their prowess on the battlefield as the Calahrian Imperial Army's elite shock troops. But when their commanding officer, Konowa Swift Dragon, murdered the Viceroy of Elfkyna, he was exiled, and these brave elves were banished to a remote desert outpost, doomed and leaderless, their honor in tatters. Recalled to duty to reform his regiment from the dregs of the Imperial Army, Konowa thwarted the plans of the Shadow Monarch at the Battle of Luuguth Jor -- ensuring that the fabled Red Star, a source of great natural energy, did not fall into Her hands. Now Konowa must cross storm-tossed seas to seek out the lost elves and the prophesied return of another Star somewhere in a desert wasteland roiling with mysterious power, infernos of swirling magic, and legends brought back to life in new and terrible ways. And the fate of every living creature will come to depend on a small band of ragged and desperate soldiers, whose very loyalty to the Empire they have sworn to serve is no longer certain. When death is but a temporary condition, a terrifying question arises: who is the true ally -- and fearsome enemy -- in a growing conflict that threatens all?

My Review of The Light of Burning Shadows

Genre: Fiction - Fantasy 

Finished: July 28, 2009 

The Red Star will stay with the Elfkynan people, but more stars will certainly fall. Konowa Swift Dragon and his Iron Elves now realize the full weight of the curse they are bound under and fear their immortality of service. Konowa and his men want the curse to end, but they don’t know how to end it. To strengthen and reinforce their numbers, Konowa sends the Iron Elves south to look for the former elven members of the group. With the Shadow Monarch still alive, the new Viceroy of Elfkyna under her spell, and his men upset that Konowa chose to let the Elfkynan keep the star instead of use it to free them of the curse, Konowa is ever more determined to use the power in the acorn given him to defeat the evil forces and free his men. He just doesn’t know how. Still suffering the Prince who wants to use the stars as collections of knowledge while expanding the oppressive Calahran Empire, Konowa is at the breaking point. Private Renwar is also battling his own ghosts. Almost killed during the last big battle, he lost a leg and neared death. Getting so close to the other realm has put him in a state of living limbo. Along with the constant pain of his wooden leg being rejected by the magic of the frost fire curse, he is connected to the shades of the dead Iron Elves. The Viceroy of Elfkyna, now a dark servant to the Shadow Monarch, is set out on a mission to spread her dark forest, which he does dutifully as Her Emissary. The frost fire curse gives the Iron Elves the ability to destroy the dark forests, but the more they use the powers, the deeper they fall into the curse. Now there is also a new flame, a white flame that consumes the shadow until the body is dead. Most interesting is that those who die of the white flame are cured of the curse and do not return as shades. Unfortunately, though, they still die. Can the Iron Elves harness this power to free them of the curse? Will they find the former Iron Elves and defeat the Shadow Monarch, keeping the stars out of the hands of darkness? If you think this book is going to resolve anything, you are wrong. But isn’t that great? It means there are more books to come. At the end of the book, you are literally left at the edge of your seat because you cannot believe that what has happened indeed really happened. Evans very effectively wraps up his story with a proper cliffhanger to leave you wanting more. I absolutely loved the foreboding way The Light of Burning Shadows ended and am going to watch the web for information about book three, which I have to read. Even more masterfully, Chris Evans weaves in elements of our world into the one he has created. I like connecting the parallels such as the Dwarf slave trade, the one omnipotent creator one soldier raves about, and the imperialist spirit of the Calahrian Empire that seems very familiar when one understands the history of our world. If not for the magic and mystical creatures involved, one could easily see this series as an historical and Napoleonic epic. Fans of military fiction, battles, and fantasy are going to love this book. I also think there’s something about the dark nature of the book that will appeal to people who enjoy supernatural and paranormal fiction. The Shadow Monarch and the Viceroy are certainly evil enough to sate anyone’s need for dark forces! For those of you who love romance, there is some of that included, too. Konowa and Visyna like each other, but they can’t seem to see eye to eye and Visyna is worried for Konowa as he wields the dark power. She feels that he won’t be able to properly control or resist it. He, of course, sees differently. I cannot wait for book three because I need to know how the book will end. I hope for the best for Private Renwar and I hope that the darkness is defeated, that the men are severed from the power of the curse, and that Konowa becomes the elf he has never been. Oh, and that he and Visyna stop fighting long enough to love each other properly.

Participating Sites:

The Epic Rat: http://epicrat.blogspot.com/ 

Drey’s Library: http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/ 

Must Read Faster: http://mustreadfaster.blogspot.com/ 

Carol’s Notebook: http://carolsnotebook.wordpress.com/ 

The Crotchety Old Fan: http://crotchetyoldfan.wordpress.com/ 

A Journey of Books: http://ajourneyofbooks.blogspot.com/ Book Soulmates: http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/ 

A Book Bloggers Diary: http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/ 

Horror and Fantasy Book Review: http://horrorandfantasybookreview.blogspot.com/ 

Booksie’s Blog: http://booksiesblog.blogspot.com/ 

Temple Library Reviews: http://templelibraryreviews.blogspot.com/ 

Fantasy Freak: http://fantastyfreak.blogspot.com/ 

Starting Fresh: http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/ 

The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf and Review: http://booktionary.blogspot.com/ 

Pick of the Literate: http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/ 

Books Joseph Reads: http://booksjosephreads.blogspot.com/ 

Poisoned Rationality: http://lastexilewords.blogspot.com/

Book Review: A Darkness Forged in Fire (Iron Elves, #1) by Chris Evans

Title: A Darkness Forged in Fire

Series: Iron Elves

Book Number: 1

Author: Chris Evans 

Genre: Fiction - Fantasy 

Finished: July 27, 2009 

Konowa Swift Dragon was exiled to the woods and his elite band of Iron Elves, all elves cursed with the black ear tip as sign that they are children of the Shadow Monarch, were disbanded and sent away for his killing of the former Viceroy who had fallen into darkness by serving the will of the Shadow Monarch. The Shadow Monarch, an elf, is possessed by a magic that she wishes to consume the world with, spreading her dark forest. After a few years in isolation, wandering with his only companion Jir (a bengar), Konowa is approached again by the Calahrian Empire he once served to once again become a soldier. The Red Star has supposedly fallen, which foretells the return of a magic and knowledge many people and creatures want: the current Viceroy, the Price of Calahr, and the Shadow Monarch included. Given an acorn from the elven Shadow Monarch’s Silver Wolf Oak, Konowa feels a strange power and connection to her, which he wants to use to his advantage to defeat her and her forces once again. As an elf born with a black ear tip and rejected from the birthing meadow so that he never bonded with a tree as elves do, Konowa has never felt much like an elf and was shunned for being cursed. With stories of the Red Star, old and evil extinct creatures are being resurrected, so it is imperative that someone or something stop them. Konowa is told to reband the Iron Elves, but he is not given his old elves. No, instead he is delivered a scattered section of people and races. The new Iron Elves is made up of elf, human, dwarf, and giant alike. But, committed to their service, they take the oath to serve as Iron Elves. Unwittingly, though, the power of the acorn bonds the Iron Elves to their oath such that not even death can separate them from service. Even after death their shades must serve. Unfortunately, too, for Konowa, he must act as second command to the Prince of Calahr, Tykkin. The future king of Calahr has no military experience and cares more for finding the Red Star and studying the world than properly defending it. Another source of frustration for Konowa is the elfkynan witch Visyna, who he likes but disagrees with his usage of the Silver Oak acorn and wants the Red Star for her and her people in order to liberate them from the Calahrian Empire. Plagued by nightmares of the Shadow Monarch, Konowa has a lot to worry about. 

I must say, I enjoyed this book from page one all the way to the end. My love of reading began with the fantasy genre, after all, so I will always have a very deep love for all things magical. The world that Chris Evans creates is indeed separate from ours, but parallels ours enough that I can see similarities. In the various stories of races and conquest, I see vestiges of our history and culture. For some reason, this helped me connect to the characters. Konowa is brave and handsome and a wonderful soldier, but he is a bit stubborn. As is Visyna. The drawf Private Yimt Arkhorn is loud and overconfident and his partner Private Alwyn Redwar is careful and skittish. The prince is properly clueless and the writer Rallie is obscure and mysterious. All of the characters are distinct and layered. I love it when an author can create characters that are distinct, that react just as they would and not in a way convenient to making the story easy. It is not hard at all to simply write a character, but to truly create one is a work of true talent. 

What about the story, though? A Darkness Forged in Fire is just the kind of fantasy I like-- just enough of everything without it being too much. It is full of action and the questions pile one on top of the other as the story progresses. No resolution is come to by the end, which opens way for book 2. By the end of the book, you are left with even more questions as additional stars must be sought out and kept from falling into the wrong hands. The battles are intense and full of detail, and I really got the sense that Evans knows what he is talking about as far as weaponry and battle tactics go. That sort of attention to detail and accuracy lends a lot of realism to a story. For lovers of the fantasy genre, this book will fit perfectly in a collection of quality fiction. As far as I am concerned, Chris Evans is right up there in excellence with Tolkien and Piers Anthony.

Author Interview: Carolyn Wada (For Cory's Sake)

Yesterday I reviewed the book For Cory's Sake, and today I have the pleasure of welcoming author Carolyn Wada to Epeolatry for an interview.

Q: I read from your website that the reason you wrote For Cory's Sake was to write a book believable enough that people would buy it and make profit that you could donate to organizations for neglected and abused children. What made you choose writing a book to accomplish this?

A: I initially wrote the book because I had characters and a story in my head, and a compulsive urge to get them out into a Works doc. When I first wrote out my story, the first version, I had no particular plans for symbolism, or to publish, or to accomplish anything beyond the storytelling. As I was revising my 300-page story, however, I was simultaneously agonizing over the problem of child abuse, how little I thought was being "done about it" (comparatively speaking) and what, if anything, I could do about it. Themes I was thinking about in real life worked their way into my revision. I finished my more meaningful version of For Cory's Sake, decided to make my one unique product available to the public, and donate any generated income to my most important cause.

Q: Is For Cory's Sake meant to be a dystopia novel? When you wrote it, were you trying to make a statement about current political and societal conditions?

A: Yes, my characters do "lead dehumanized and often fearful lives in an imaginary place" (merriam-webster.com). A couple of readers have slotted my novel in the same sub-genre as 1984. Again, my obsession with the problem of child abuse thematically influenced For Cory's Sake. The planet of Cory has been enslaved by "Fear itself," which was brought on by a Great Threat. This threat has stopped its voice. They need outside champions to provide a voice and find a solution. A fundamentally violent man comes into power and overshadows the lives of an entire generation, with his emphasis on control by means of violence. I place "strong father" scenes contiguous to "weak father" scenes and invite the question of who really "controls" his child(ren)? The main plot twist of For Cory's Sake is a statement about the freeing power of knowledge. Dictators of all sorts limit or control knowledge. The resulting darkness leads to fear; access to key pieces of information can very suddenly open up the path to freedom.

Q: What do you do to prepare to write? What is the process that gets you ready to sit down a lay out a story?

A: I work on my stories, in my head, every night before I fall asleep. I'll spend half-an-hour to two hours every night working on stories. I wake up ready to write, and have to consciously and with great effort force myself to even eat breakfast first.

Q: How much of yourself do you put in your characters? Are they extensions of you, or are they independent creations that take on a life of their own after coming from your imagination?

A: I put parts of myself into William, both Kerrys, Terrence and Jeffrey. As this is Morbid Romantic, I think it's fitting to admit that the neurotic parts of myself got scattered between these five characters. William got my tendency towards excessive worry and self-questioning. Kerry Bentler got my impatience with apathy, among many other things. Boy Kerry got my escapist tendency to sleep all day when I'm depressed. Like Jeffrey, I can be very impulsive when I'm emotionally worked up about something. Terrence and I both have social anxiety (self-diagnosis), but because of the testosterone differential, it expresses in very different ways. We are very tough in certain key ways, though. Terrence is actually my favorite character because he's the one who got the most of the deepest parts of me (again, morphed by masculine chemistry).  I fear that laying it all out at once, like this, will make me look like a total head case. I am actually a good, fully functional member of society who for the large part saves neuroses expression for her writing. I promise.

Q: What is the most valuable piece of knowledge that you've picked up throughout life that you think everyone should know?

A: Simultaneously owning black cats and white shirts can lead to embarrassment, especially if you're not in the habit of looking in the mirror before leaving the house.

Q: What is one thing you've never done but would love to do?

A: You know, I have never been out of this country. I almost went to Canada once; I was directly in front of the Detroit/Windsor tunnel (think that's what it's called), but I didn't have the two IDs I'd need to get back stateside. Think I'll start my world exploration in County Kerry, Ireland. See some green rolling hills and take pictures of town signs as a funny.

Q: Finally, could you share with all of us a quote that you love?

A: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." (attributed to Edmund Burke) My characters approve this message . . .

Book Review: For Cory's Sake by Carolyn Wada

Title: For Cory's Sake 

Author: Carolyn Wada 

Genre: Fiction - Dystopia 

Finished: July 14, 2009 

Roci lives the life of a slave, forced to work day in and day out in a factory. He is not allowed pleasure, family, or freedom. All he can do to escape the misery of his existence is create a world in his head of people who are trying to save him and his planet Cory. With the threat of a bomb that no other planet has the technology to match, Cory is enslaved by the Borrynzian race. The family in Roci's head, the Bentler's, led by father William Bentler, are a pre-invasion family who work subversively against the government to spread outrage of Cory's enslavement. They also hope to build a weapon to match the bomb of the Borrynzians. Some work as lightening rods to write articles about what is happening to the Coryans, some infiltrate the Borrynzian infrastructure, and others pretend to be good citizens while harboring secret facilities in their basement. Punishment for sedition, administered under the regime of Captain Prackerd, consists of caning, whipping, and then a rod-like device that shoots electricity into the spine and leaves one with lasting damage. 

For Cory's Sake is a dystopian novel. The people on and about the different planets lived in peace and came to believe war as a thing of the past. With nothing but optimism in their hearts, they destroyed the technology that helped Earth and then them create weapons. That is what left them open to the bomb of the Borrynzians, and left them so far behind that they struggle to come up with something to counter the threat. For Cory's Sake is also a story of how there are good people and bad people, but even those people can contradict their nature and do good and bad things interchangeably. Captain Prackerd, for example, keeps the Coryans enslaved and punishes anyone who goes against their order. Yet, the ultimate punishment is never death. And Captain Prackerd loves his son Kerry in his own way, spoiling him with material things even though his own punishments are physical and harsh. I never understood why lightening rods are necessary. If the goal was to create another bomb to use to save the Coryans, then the Bentler family could have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they just continued to work on that in secret and pretended to be a law abiding family. There was no reason for William Bentler to let his children be punished for speaking out in support of the Coryans. The articles of sedition published never seem to do any good, only bad. Maybe they helped sway people... I don't know. It was still a brave thing to do, for sure. 

The story is original and compelling. I very much enjoyed that every character is different, complex, consistent, and unique. Wada had a vision for each of her players and executes it perfectly. Even characters like Terrance, who seems harsh and unforgiving, you come to understand as deep and sensitive. The ending, too, is startling but still sweet. The twist Wada gives to the end of the book still leaves one with a sense of victory, but makes you question the nature of everything done for it. I don't want to give specifics because I don't want to give away what the ending is, but you feel terrible for the characters who have sacrificed so much for it. Yet what this sympathy does is make you consider what the sacrifices are ultimately worth and why they are nevertheless very necessary. It is not a clean and clear victory, easy to justify, and I like that about it.

Book Review: Jack Wakes up by Seth Harwood

Title: Jack Wakes Up 

Author(s): Seth Harwood 

Genre: Fiction - Action 

Finished: July 11, 2009 

Jack Palms is down on his luck-- after some bad tabloid press, his acting career bottomed out after only one action film. During his time of fame, he developed a heroin addiction and an abusive relationship. These are the two major reasons that his one film remains just one film. Now he is trying to pick up the pieces of his life and pay his piling bills. When his friend Ralph offers him a couple thousand to help him show a few Czech visitors a good time and help them with their Colombian cocaine deal, Jack does not turn him down. Unfortunately, Ralph ends up dead and Jack wants to know who did it and why. The Czechs know nothing, but someone does and Jack doesn't want to be the next one on that hit list. Pretty soon Jack is dealing with a couple of crazy ex-KGB Czech's, a Colombian drug dealer's crew, a blood thirsty club owner named Tony, and a cop who wants information about the drug dealers in the area or else Jack is going to take a fall for the carnage that is following him everywhere he goes. Not to mention that Jack has also met a woman, a desperately sexy woman named Maxine who nurses the wounds he inevitably incurs during his harrowing adventures through the dangerous San Francisco underworld. One would think that this would be enough to send anyone in to the nuthouse. But not Jack. No. This is the first time he has felt alive in a long, long time. After such a long period of inaction, it feels good to Jack to be in the midst of things again. Like a movie... but real. So real that you end up with broken ribs, knife wounds, machine guns going off around you, and people really out to kill you. This book is crazy like an action movie. I can actually imagine the guy from The Transporter running around in this book ducking sprays of bullets (though yes he is a bit too skinny to be Jack, but still, you get what I am saying). Standing up to big time drug lords and doing major drug deals seems to come naturally to Jack, which is a bit strange because if you put most normal people in a situation like that, they would run around like their heads are cut off or cower somewhere. I guess being an action hero comes naturally to some people, because it comes naturally to Jack. Even if it means getting arrested, killed, or maimed, Jack is determined to see things through to the end. It was all very exciting-- action packed, I think the correct phrase would be. The Czechs are great, too. Coked up, waving guns, speaking broken English, and listening to techno music is their profile. If not for the whole you might get shot and 'they bring danger and Russian terrorists' elements, they would be great to hang around with. They were really a lot of fun to read about. The best scenes are with one of the Czechs, Al, flipping out and wanting to kill someone. Though I will admit that I was surprised none of them turned on Jack. Not knowing how the story would turn out, I figured it was only a matter of time before the Czech's would make their escape and let Jack handle the mess, but they were with him to the end. This is a man's man kind of book-- the men are masculine and immune to the fears of life threatening danger and the women are unnaturally hot, things men admire and women usually scoff at. Of course women can be in to this kind of stuff, too, but the genre belongs to men. I did enjoy the book, though, girly-girl though I am. Harwood wrote a very riveting and intense book with Jack Wakes Up, so you get caught up in it and can't put it down. I mean, you have to know who the one at the head of the plot is. You have to know if Jack will get the girl in the end. You have to know if Jack is going to end up getting himself blown away. No, no, I won't spoil it by answering all of those questions. You will just have to read the book for yourself.

Interview with Seth Harwood

Q: What do you do to prepare to write?

A: I wake up every morning and try to write first thing. The less tasks/things I add to the mix before I start writing, the harder it is to get down to work. When I'm in a drafting mode, I'll make sure to shut down my email and web browsers at night so that I can go straight to the word processor (Scrivener) first thing.

Writing takes a lot of practice and it's like exercise: if you can do it every day, you stay "in shape" and can keep doing it. When I stop writing for a while, it'll take me a few days to get back into the swing.

Q: What is the process that gets you ready to sit down a lay out a story?

A: I write by feeling my way through the story and its events. When I start out, I often don't know where the story is going-- this is how I've worked for my crime novels. I try to write one good, true sentence at a time and then follow that one with what's next and on and on.

Writing a novel can be like paddling a boat across an ocean. When you're out there on the water, you might not know which way it is to the opposite shore; you can't do anything but paddle. But if you keep paddling, good things will eventually happen. And then in revision, you can straighten out the bumps.

I also make sure to end off each day at a place where I know for sure what happens next. That makes the next day's work easier to start.

Q: How much of yourself do you put in your characters? Are they extensions of you, or are they independent creations that take on a life of their own after coming from your imagination?

A: They're definitely creations that take on a life of their own. Some of them might come from amalgamations of people I know or characters I've read or seen in movies, but then when I start writing, I get to know them more and more and they become individuals. I really like that part of it: getting to know my characters and finding out what they'll do in certain situations.

In my short stories, I knew all the characters ahead of time and there was a lot of me in them. Now that I'm writing crime fiction, I get to make it all up.

Q: What is the most valuable piece of knowledge that you've picked up after becoming a published author that you wish you knew from the start?

A: Ow. That's a tough one. I guess I d say that I wish I'd known from the start how to start building my own audience. I mean, I knew the web was there, but I always thought if I waited long enough and kept doing the traditional things, I'd get lucky. Now I know that even if that came true, I'd still need to build an audience to get my book to sell. That's just become a key part of it in today's world.

And then I guess I wish I'd have known about podcasting. To me, connecting blogging/RSS and audiobooks has been the most important part of getting my work known and, ultimately, published.

Q: What is one thing you've never done but would love to do?

A: Fly a plane. Jump out of a plane.

Q: Finally, could you share with all of us a quote that you love?

A: "She opened a mouth like a firebucket and laughed. That terminated my interest in her. I couldn't hear the laugh but the hole in her face when she unzippered her teeth was all I needed.“ Raymond Chandler The Long Goodbye

Official Website Myspace Facebook Facebook Group Twitter

Book Review: Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville, #1) by Carrie Vaughn

Title: Kitty and the Midnight Hour

Series: Kitty Norville

Book Number: 1

Author(s): Carrie Vaughn

Genre: Fiction - Paranormal

Finished: July 11, 2009

In Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour, book one in the Kitty Norville series, main character Kitty Norville works as a late night radio DJ and has great taste in music. These late nights fit well into her new nature as a werewolf. One night in between songs, a caller phones in and begins a discussion about the paranormal. Since this is something that Kitty understands very well, she answers. More people begin to call in claiming to be vampires or werewolves, or humans with vampire/werewolf concerns. Pretty soon Kitty is running her own late night talk and advice show for the paranormal called The Midnight Hour. Her pack leader, the Alpha Male Carl, is upset by this exposure of their kind. Upset even more is local Vampire Family leader Arturo who feels that she will upset the balance of his power by giving out advice to vampires. Both leaders want Kitty to stop the show, but Carl is begrudgingly willing to let Kitty go ahead with it for a cut of the profits. Though she is a weak werewolf, she is a strong talk show host and for the first time since she became a werewolf, Kitty is feeling independent and happy. But if good times were made to last, the book wouldn't be nearly as exciting as it is. First a werewolf hunter is sent to kill her, exposing her for what she is live on air. Second, there is a rash of killings that were obviously done by a werewolf. As the resident paranormal expert, Kitty is brought in by the police to scope out the crime scenes, but Kitty does not recognize the scent of this werewolf and knows he is not one of her pack-- he is a rouge in their territory mutilating young human women. Third, a church is claiming to "cure" paranormal creatures and everyone who goes there for help seems to disappear. Fourth, things within the pack itself have become a bit tense. Carl is making moves and suggesting she try to take the place of the Alpha Female Meg, her own maker Zan is becoming aggressive, and someone is working against her to get her killed by the hot werewolf hunter. How can a women so consumed by problems possibly give advice to others? Kitty is certainly not infallible. She is definitely not a tough girl capable of beating up men twice her size complete with roundhouse kicks like so many paranormal heroines. Sure, she is stronger than even a powerful human male, but she doesn't go around flaunting it. Kitty just wants to be normal. Even as a wolf she is submissive and uncertain, deferring to Carl as the Alpha Male as any wolf would do by instinct. Vaughn seems to have a good understanding of the hierarchical dynamics of wolf packs, which makes the book more realistic in terms of how werewolves as creatures would behave. I think too many authors are afraid to make submissive female characters for fear of playing into the stereotypes of women, and therefore realism suffers. Vaughn found a way to make Kitty real but also strong in her own way. There are many different plots and conflicts going on at once. Vaughn balances all of the issues very well, putting together a story that is fluid and easy to follow without becoming a tangled mess. Kitty is dealing with a lot of complicated stuff, but you don't feel overwhelmed by everything while reading. It all comes together in the end in a very intense scene, but the resolution is left open in certain ways to allow for the rest of the series to proceed. I have to admit that I like books that come in a series much better than stand alone novels. Usually, when given the choice of vampire or werewolf, I always choose vampire. Most werewolf characters are too animalistic and it is hard to relate to them. Yet Vaughn makes Kitty someone easy to understand and find commonalities with. So now I can say that there is at least one werewolf book that honestly enjoy. I enjoyed it most of all because of the flowing way Vaughn made her wolves human but wolf at the same time, never too much of either and certainly not just the best of both worlds. I am definitely excited to read the rest of the series.

Book Review & Author Interview: Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood

Title: Jack Wakes Up 

Author: Seth Harwood 

Genre: Fiction - Action 

Finished: July 11, 2009

Jack Palms is down on his luck-- after some bad tabloid press, his acting career bottomed out after only one action film. During his time of fame, he developed a heroin addiction and an abusive relationship. These are the two major reasons that his one film remains just one film. Now he is trying to pick up the pieces of his life and pay his piling bills. When his friend Ralph offers him a couple thousand to help him show a few Czech visitors a good time and help them with their Colombian cocaine deal, Jack does not turn him down. Unfortunately, Ralph ends up dead and Jack wants to know who did it and why. The Czechs know nothing, but someone does and Jack doesn'˜t want to be the next one on that hit list. Pretty soon Jack is dealing with a couple of crazy ex-KGB Czech's, a Colombian drug dealer's crew, a blood thirsty club owner named Tony, and a cop who wants information about the drug dealers in the area or else Jack is going to take a fall for the carnage that is following him everywhere he goes. Not to mention that Jack has also met a woman, a desperately sexy woman named Maxine who nurses the wounds he inevitably incurs during his harrowing adventures through the dangerous San Francisco underworld. One would think that this would be enough to send anyone in to the nuthouse. But not Jack. No. This is the first time he has felt alive in a long, long time. After such a long period of inaction, it feels good to Jack to be in the midst of things again. Like a movie... but real. So real that you end up with broken ribs, knife wounds, machine guns going off around you, and people really out to kill you. 

This book is crazy like an action movie. I can actually imagine the guy from The Transporter running around in this book ducking sprays of bullets (though yes he is a bit too skinny to be Jack, but still, you get what I am saying). Standing up to big time drug lords and doing major drug deals seems to come naturally to Jack, which is a bit strange because if you put most normal people in a situation like that, they would run around like their heads are cut off or cower somewhere. I guess being an action hero comes naturally to some people, because it comes naturally to Jack. Even if it means getting arrested, killed, or maimed, Jack is determined to see things through to the end. It was all very exciting-- action packed, I think the correct phrase would be. The Czechs are great, too. Coked up, waving guns, speaking broken English, and listening to techno music is their profile. If not for the whole you might get shot and 'they bring danger and Russian terrorists' elements, they would be great to hang around with. They were really a lot of fun to read about. The best scenes are with one of the Czechs, Al, flipping out and wanting to kill someone. Though I will admit that I was surprised none of them turned on Jack. Not knowing how the story would turn out, I figured it was only a matter of time before the Czech's would make their escape and let Jack handle the mess, but they were with him to the end. This is a man's man kind of book-- the men are masculine and immune to the fears of life threatening danger and the women are unnaturally hot, things men admire and women usually scoff at. Of course women can be in to this kind of stuff, too, but the genre belongs to men. I did enjoy the book, though, girly-girl though I am. Harwood wrote a very riveting and intense book with Jack Wakes Up, so you get caught up in it and can't put it down. I mean, you have to know who the one at the head of the plot is. You have to know if Jack will get the girl in the end. You have to know if Jack is going to end up getting himself blown away. No, no, I won't spoil it by answering all of those questions. You will just have to read the book for yourself.

Interview with Seth Harwood

Q: What do you do to prepare to write?

A: I wake up every morning and try to write first thing. The less tasks/things I add to the mix before I start writing, the harder it is to get down to work. When I'm in a drafting mode, I'll make sure to shut down my email and web browsers at night so that I can go straight to the word processor (Scrivener) first thing.

Writing takes a lot of practice and it's like exercise: if you can do it every day, you stay "in shape" and can keep doing it. When I stop writing for a while, it'll take me a few days to get back into the swing.

Q: What is the process that gets you ready to sit down a lay out a story?

A: I write by feeling my way through the story and its events. When I start out, I often don't know where the story is going "this is how I've worked for my crime novels. I try to write one good, true sentence at a time and then follow that one with what's next,"and on and on.

Writing a novel can be like paddling a boat across an ocean. When you're out there on the water, you might not know which way it is to the opposite shore; you can't do anything but paddle. But if you keep paddling, good things will eventually happen. And then in revision, you can straighten out the bumps.

I also make sure to end off each day at a place where I know for sure what happens next. That makes the next day's work easier to start.

Q: How much of yourself do you put in your characters? Are they extensions of you, or are they independent creations that take on a life of their own after coming from your imagination?

A: They're definitely creations that take on a life of their own. Some of them might come from amalgamations of people I know or characters I've read or seen in movies, but then when I start writing, I get to know them more and more and they become individuals. I really like that part of it: getting to know my characters and finding out what they'll do in certain situations.

In my short stories, I knew all the characters ahead of time and there was a lot of me in them. Now that I'm writing crime fiction, I get to make it all up.

Q: What is the most valuable piece of knowledge that you've picked up after becoming a published author that you wish you knew from the start?

A: Ow. That's a tough one. I guess I'd say that I wish I'd known from the start how to start building my own audience. I mean, I knew the web was there, but I always thought if I waited long enough and kept doing the traditional things, I'd get lucky. Now I know that even if that came true, I'd still need to build an audience to get my book to sell. That's just become a key part of it in today's world.

And then I guess I wish I'd have known about podcasting. To me, connecting blogging/RSS and audiobooks has been the most important part of getting my work known and, ultimately, published.

Q: What is one thing you've never done but would love to do?

A: Fly a plane. Jump out of a plane.

Q: Finally, could you share with all of us a quote that you love?

A: "She opened a mouth like a firebucket and laughed. That terminated my interest in her. I couldn't hear the laugh but the hole in her face when she unzippered her teeth was all I needed." - Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

Official Website Myspace Facebook Facebook Group Twitter

Blog Tour & Author Interview: One Scream Away (Sheridan, #1) by Kate Brady

I would like to welcome author Kate Brady to Epeolatry. Kate Brady is here as part of her blog tour for her book One Scream Away. I was fortunate enough to get to ask her a few questions, so I hope that you enjoy her visit here.

About Kate Brady

"My writing career began in the closet, where--thankfully--my first several novels remain. As a full-time choral conductor and assistant professor of music education, I didn't consider going public with my fiction. It was strictly clandestine and only a hobby. Then the needs of small children convinced me to switch to part-time teaching. For the first couple of years as a mostly stay-at-home-mom, it was all I could do to complete the metamorphosis from domestically-challenged career woman to culinary-queen and housework goddess. (Okay...Some transitions are never fully realized.) But later, when the kids got old enough to be in school for six hours a day, the characters in my head found time to come out again. Murderers, cops, victims, lovers. I started writing down everything they did and said, then finally decided to see if anyone but me wanted to read about them. Now, I lead a double life. Some days are spent in the university classroom or at the rehearsal podium; others spent chasing villains on my laptop. So what do I do when I'm not creating music teachers or psycho murderers? (Two unrelated populations, I assure you.) With a husband, two children, and way too many furry, feathery, and scaly things, there isn't a lot of time left. It's enough to keep up with the house, the yard, and the family schedule, and hope no one on my laptop gets murdered when I'm not looking."

About One Scream Away

Killer Chevy Bankes is a master of disguise, and just paroled, he's coming after the woman who sent him to jail, the beautiful antiques expert Beth Denison. A set of antique dolls brings Beth into his sight, and inspire Chevy's disturbing crimes as he draws closer to Beth and her young daughter. Chevy sends the dolls to Beth one-by-one and she soon realizes that these antiques carry the same marks as his victims, signaling that the final piece in his collection will be for her. Neil Sheridan gave up his FBI shield five years ago, but his best friend Rick, a cop, pulls him in as a consultant on a case involving a serial killer who is eerily similar to a murderer Neil encountered in the past. The investigation leads Neil to Beth's doorstep, and he is certain she isn't telling him the truth. Neil is the only one who can get through Beth's defenses and, as they grow closer, discover the secrets that Beth is hiding about her fateful night with Chevy.

Interview With Kate Brady

Q: What do you do to prepare to write? What is the process that gets you ready to sit down a lay out a story?

A: To prepare to write, I get a hot mug of coffee and my laptop! I'd love to say that I have a nice office with a desk and neat files and an ergonomic chair. The truth is, I settle in a recliner, or shove the dog to one side of the sofa and plop down there.

As for the process of laying out a story-- My very patient editor can tell you: I'm not a planner. It's the act of writing that reveals the story and characters to me. So, while I may have a concept for the story (as in a killer who uses dolls to represent his victims), I don't plot in advance. I start with the concept and three things: a villain with a goal (vengeance, atonement, money), and a hero and heroine each with some profound need (which is usually quite different from what they want.) These kinds of things stir and percolate for weeks, usually while I'm gardening, cooking, showering, and often while I'm still in edits of a previous story. When I'm ready to actually write, I'll sit down and jot a list of traits for each character and get a general plan for the villain.

Then I start writing. Put someone on screen doing something, and let it unravel. It doesn't progress without hitches, but most of the time, a conversation generates something about a character I didn't know, or an action spurs another action, and the whole spirals into some semblance of a story.

"Some semblance" wasn't a coy choice of words; I mean it: Once the story is written, that's when the work begins. Because I didn't plot, plan, or outline, there are major changes necessary once I get to the end and find out what the story is really about. This is the point at which I figure out the theme, define the characters, and go back and make the story fit what it turned out to be. I also wind up throwing out a good number of characters and plot threads' things I might have thought were part of the story at one point, but that wound up not really being pertinent. (Some of those can show up later in other stories!) In a nutshell, my first draft is a revelation, then I go back and write the book.

Q: How much of yourself do you put in your characters? Are they extensions of you, or are they independent creations that take on a life of their own after coming from your imagination?

A: In some ways, they are extensions of myself, but those attributes are usually small and insignificant: a turn of phrase, a specific reaction to an event, the floor plan of an apartment I once lived in. Beyond that, I am very fortunate to say that I am not possessed of the dark and tragic backstories that make my characters tick, so they must take on a background and life of their own. This happens quite readily! In fact, I have very little control over what they become as they evolve and sometimes have to remind myself that I can change what they do or say. Characters are not always cooperative.

Q: What sort of research went into making this book?

A: For One Scream Away, there wasn't extensive research. There was basic research about police procedure and FBI (including talking to real-live cops); basic research about Victorian dolls (I worked at an antiques firm for many years, so I already knew a little), and basic research about the minds of serial killers (and there is nothing I could write as twisted as reality). Beyond that, the research was in the details: How long does it take to get from Quantico to southeastern PA by chopper? What was the price of gasoline in 1976? How many miles could Chevy drive cross-country in twenty-four hours? That sort of thing. It was just the kind of research I imagine all writers do, but not super in-depth. I mean, I didn't spend weeks observing a real-live FBI task force or interview a real serial killer or anything.

Q: What is the most valuable piece of knowledge that you've picked up after becoming a published author that you wish you knew from the start?

A: The first book is the easy one! Doing it again on the publisher's timeline, which is no doubt a lot shorter than what you used on the first book and doing it while trying to keep up with the publicity efforts on the first one, is the hard part.

Q: What is one thing you've never done but would love to do?

A: Hit the New York Times bestseller list!

Q: Finally, could you share with all of us a quote that you love?

A: "If you can stop writing, do."

Unfortunately, I don"t know the source.

Blog Tour & Book Review: The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand

About Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.

Author's Homepage Plum

Nantucket Video

About The Castaways

Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourn their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed.Once again, Hilderbrand masterfully weaves an intense tale of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of endless summer island life.

Read an excerpt

The Castaways book club

The Castaways cocktail recipe

My Review of The Castaways

Genre: Fiction - Drama

Finished: July 8, 2009

Andrea and Ed (The Chief), Delilah and Jeffery, Addison and Phoebe, and Tess and Greg are four couples that make up a group of friends who called themselves The Castaways. Living together in Nantucket, the group is as close as any group can be until a boating accident shakes claims two of their lives and shakes the rest of them up. While sailing on a boat for their anniversary, Tess and Greg have an accident and both are killed. What they leave behind is a lot of grief, a lot of questions, and some secrets that slowly start to come apart as people unravel. Most of the secrets center around Tess and Greg: what happened the night they died, why did Tess have opiates in her blood, had she been about to tell Greg about the affair she was having, and was Greg going to admit to the affair he was having and leave her? With the two of them dead, their friends can only try to make sense of the events without them and it tears them apart. The story is not really about Tess and Greg, but about the friends that are left behind. This is a book about emotion. Some turn to alcohol, some dream of escaping, some retreat inward and seem about to self-destruct, and some flourish. Phoebe, the pill addict, seems to blossom from the tragedy while Andrea, the den mother type who is logical and hard backed, seems to dissolve. Addison, rich beyond anyone's dreams, starts to drink and neglect life because he was in love with Tess. And Delilah, in love with Greg, can't find solace in the same places she once did and longs to run away like she did as a teenager. It is the full spectrum of grief and how different people react to loss. Every character of The Castaways is rich and full of life. Each one is complex and realistic, and you can imagine people like this living down the street. Again and again, though, I was taken aback by the selfishness of each person in the story. One of the greatest things that friends provide each other is a support group, yet none of the friends-- for how tight they claimed to be-- felt comforted by each other. The tragedy does not bring them close together. Instead, it almost tears them apart. Nearly everyone became consumed in their own grief, or in their own memories. But there is a lot happening to tear them apart. It is a little shocking that so many of them are betraying each other. In a way, though, this is good because people aren't perfect. Hilderbrand doesn't try to make ideal characters, but creates them with flaws and does not nurse their grief with excuses. Stark reality is really that hard and people don't always behave the way we'd expect or want, even the best of people. I was absolutely addicted to this book while I read it. I couldn't put it down, and I mean that with complete honesty. For a while when I started the book, I had to refer back to the front to get the characters and their relationships straight. It took a while for me to remember offhand who was married to who, who were best friends, and who was secretly in love with who. If you like complex relationships, this book will definitely appeal to you. There is also so much emotion in this book, and you want to keep reading because you want to see everyone start to pick up the pieces of their lives and heal. You want to know what the truth is. You want to see if good things can happen out of a series of bad.

Participating Sites:

For June 10th- 

http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset 

http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/ 

http://imbookingit.wordpress.com/ 

http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/ 

http://nisefunpages.blogspot.com/ 

http://tvandbookaddict.blogspot.com/ 

http://allisonsatticblog.blogspot.com/ 

http://wrightysreads.blogspot.com/ 

http://frugalplus.com/ 

http://www.mgpblog.com/

Book Review: The House of the Vestals (Roma Sub Rosa, #6) by Steven Saylor

Title: The House of the Vestals

Series: Roma Suba Rosa

Book Number: 6

Author: Steven Saylor

Genre: Fiction - Historical

Finished: July 8, 2009

In The House of the Vestals, Rome's best finder Gordianus is back in a series of short stories full of political intrigue, murder, theft, and mystery. Set in between the novels Roman Blood and Arms of Nemesis, The House of the Vestals update readers on what Gordianus has been up to in the years that pass between the two books. In Death Wears a Mask, Gordianus tracks a murderer who targeted an actor in between play scenes. Bethesda tells the story of a King's missing treasure in The Tale of the Treasure House. Rich Patrician Lucius Claudius, who soon becomes a close friend of Gordianus, first comes to him with a mystery about a will, a supposed dead young man, and a sighting of the supposedly dead man in A Will is a Way. The Lemures is about two separate households plagued with spirits of the dead, which Gordianus must figure out even as he has his own wits scared out of him. Gordianus' life is once again put in danger when he is sent to ransom a kidnapped young boy from pirates in Little Caesar and the Pirates. The Disappearance of the Saturnalia Silver once again involves Lucius Claudius and his missing Saturnalia gifts-- this one is solved by Bethesda. In an attempt to get away from the chaos of the city, Lucius Claudius and Gordianus escape to the country in King Bee and Honey, but death and mystery follow. To entertain Lucius Claudius, Gordianus tells him the story of The Alexandrian Cat and how he saved the life of a fellow Roman in Egypt after the murder of a sacred cat. Finally, in the namesake story, The House of the Vestals, Gordianus must help Cicero by solving a murder that happened in one of the most sacred buildings of Rome. I was very eager to read this book because Roman Blood is such a good book and now one of my favorites.

When I got The House of the Vestals, I didn't know it was a novel of short stories until I opened it up. Each story is short enough that it is to the point with no tangents or intertwining plotlines to stray from the one major plot focus, the mystery. Novels can get complex because they require a lot of build up and climax, as well as a lot of details, but short stories need very little of any of that and can get to the point quickly. I like short stories because they are like instant gratification, plus you can sit down and read one in between other things. Sometimes my attention span needs a break. There are also some good character developments within the short stories. First, there is the introduction of Lucius Claudius, a new character. Second, we get to see how Gordianus and Eco are progressing in their relationship, which is almost father and son. Third, the story Little Caesar and the Pirates tells of how Gordianus got his bodyguard Belbo. And fourth, Bethesda once again shows herself to be more than a mere slave-- indeed, she is quickly showing herself to be the equal of Gordianus and very perceptive. All in all, I just really like Gordianus-- he is realistic, witty, imperfect, and practical. Like Roman Blood, the history is rich and subtle, not shoving facts in your face so much as using them for setting but teaching you about the time nonetheless. If you like short stories and Roman mystery, there is no way that you won't like The House of the Vestals.

Book Review: The Man's Book by Thomas Fink

Title: The Man's Book

Author: Thomas Fink

Genre: Nonfiction - Reference

Finished: July 7, 2009

Thomas Fink's The Man's Book is indeed an essential guide for any modern man. Split into broad subject topics, Fink informs men on everything they should know about health, sports/games, women, dress, outdoors, drinking, smoking, cooking, idling, and arts and sciences. Among the numerous topics, a man will learn the benefits of a wet shave versus a dry shave, how to cook a steak, the right wine to serve for any occasion, what suit to wear and when to wear it, what to stock in a kitchen, the equation for the perfect age of a potential bride, how to make a potato gun, and everything one needs to know about the man-of-men James Bond. If you would like to know Morse Code, it is in there. Curious about a few of the best cocktails? You will find them in The Man's Book. Need to make an origami wallet? Fink shows you how. And if you are having a hard time becoming a modern media man, you can follow the guidelines of the essential books and movies for any male. There is a lot of humor found in The Man's Book. Fink doesn't approach the topic of manliness and masculinity without a few jokes. I got a good laugh out of the urinal position chart. And the picture guide of beard styles? I laughed out loud, I'll admit. You need to be able to see the humor in being a man or dealing with men to thoroughly enjoy The Man's Book. You will learn everything you want and need to know about quite a few things, so you will miss out if you take life too seriously and put down the book. It is true that I am not a male and therefore don't need a guide to become the perfect modern male. But let's be honest here, most men are never going to learn all of these things for themselves and will thus never know what a man should know. Right? It is just as essential for a woman to know this information as it is for any man because she can-- and most likely will-- help guide him in the right direction. She can make sure he has the right suits, the right tools of hygiene, and the right liquors in the cabinets. Some of the information is even gender neutral. For example, women love beer and sports and chili, too! Even women need to know about wines and men's clothing and essential spices. It's not like this sort of stuff is born into women. We need a guide for these things as much as a man. As I read The Man's Book, I learned a lot that I can and will use in the future. I knew nothing about wine until now, for example. And I learned all of this with a laugh. The Man's Book is clear and to the point, but not a dry read. I think that The Man's Book is a great reference for anyone to have on their shelf. I am keeping my copy on an easy to reach shelf just in case my boyfriend needs to know what to wear or I need to know which wine to serve with my meal.

Blog Tour, Book Review & Author Interview: Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

About Margaret Mallory

Margaret Mallory recently surprised her friends and family by abandoning her legal career-and her steady job-to write tales of romance and adventure. At long last, she can satisfy her passion for justice by punishing the bad and rewarding the worthy-in the pages of her novels, of course. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and their two college-age children. Knight of Desire is her first book so she would dearly love to hear from readers.

Official Homepage

5 Fun Facts about Margaret Mallory

About Knight of Desire

FEARLESS IN BATTLE... His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn. TENDER IN BED... Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she's keeping secrets, and dare not give him her heart. As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

My Review of Knight of Desire

Genre: Historical Romance

Finished: July 3, 2009

In Knight of Desire, Lady Catherine Rayburn is locked in an abusive marriagve, her only solace the memory of the one innocent night she spend with a kind man as a girl and her son. When her husband becomes a traitor to the English crown for his own benefit, she spies on him and sells him out to the English. When they put him to death, Catherine considers herself delivered and free. All she wants is a quite life in her castle with her child. Unfortunately, the King of England has other plans for her-- it is either to the Tower for being the wife of a traitor or marry another man and let him resume control of her castle. Emotionally and mentally wounded from her former husband, Catherine does not trust or submit easily to her new husband William FitzAlan, who she does not recognize as the man she spent her one good evening with before marriage. William, a soldier, has a hard time understanding women or trusting her because his own mother quite manipulative. It takes the two of them a while, but they soon enough fall into passionate love with a few tiffs in between since William is the jealous and quick to assume type. At the same time, conspiring against them is William's friend Edmund, who pretends to be a loyal protector in order to give Catherine over to the enemy. Held hostage by the Prince of Wales and the Tudor family, the now pregnant Catherine can only accept her fate or hope that her husband comes to rescue her. 

Knight of Desire is a historical romance, its context Medieval England and the Welsh rebellion of the 15th century. I have to admit, my knowledge of Medieval England is a bit lacking, but I do know a considerable bit about Medieval society and expectations in general. Aside from a few things that I couldn't imagine a woman of the time doing (not saying some women didn't and couldn't defy expectations, of course), I was pretty much pleased with the historical accuracy of Knight of Desire... and trust me, I was looking at the small things such as what they used for dinner and how they ate. If a fork showed up, I would have promptly closed the book and refused to reopen it! The book is very well written, as well, so it flows along from page one to the end without those little bumps along the way that come with reading a book that is a bit difficult or awkwardly written at times. All of the action and the descriptions work well on text. As it seems, this is Mallory's first novel and shows just what a adept writer she is and how much she deserves to be published. Her talent with words give credibility to the entire novel in general. Mallory's English countryside is breathtaking, the wilderness wild, the fights rough and bloody, and the passion hot. I certainly never got bored with reading this novel and had it in bed with me late into the night and early morning. Most of the second half of the drama was fueled by Catherine supposedly being so beautiful that a man wanted her enough to hate her. Typical romance stuff there, which I have difficulty enjoying. I prefer my romance to defy convention in certain ways and to catch me by surprise. I was a bit bothered by the rampant use of the phrase "in sooth" because I don't believe in dotting modern language novels with archaic terms unless the words used are nouns. That is just a personal pet peeve of mine, and my personal feeling on the matter doesn't diminish the simple fact that Mallory wrote a very good historical romance novel, which paints a satisfactory picture of Medieval life in England. All in all, Knight of Romance is a good book and I would definitely recommend it to fans of the romance genre.

Participating Sites:

http://bridget3420.blogspot.com - June 29 giveaway.

http://www.thisbookforfree.com - June 29 giveaway

http://mustreadfaster.blogspot.com/ - June 29 review and giveaway. http://yankeeromancereviewers.blogspot.com/ - June 29 to July 10 review and giveaway

http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com - June 30 review and giveaway.

http://BookSoulmates.blogspot.com - July 1 review and giveaway.

http://epicrat.blogspot.com - July 1

http://www.foreigncircuslibrary.blogspot.com/ - July 2

http://booklover125.blogspot.com/ - July 2 giveaway

http://www.loveimpossible.com - July 3

http://www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com/ - July 4 review and giveaway

http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com/ - July 5 review; July 19 giveaway. http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com - July 5

http://ajourneyofbooks.blogspot.com - July 6 review and giveaway.

http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/ - July 7 review and giveaway.

http://alphaheroes.blogspot.com/ - July 8 review and giveaway.

http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/ - July 8 review and giveaway.

http://annavivian.blogspot.com/ - July 8 giveaway.

http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com - July 9 review and giveaway.

http://reviewfromhere.com/ - July 10 review.

http://www.startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/ - July 10 review and giveaway

http://reesspace.blogspot.com - review and giveaway.

http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset - review.

Blog Tour, Book Review & Author Interview: The Wolves' Keeper Legend by Sylvia Weber

Today I have the pleasure to bring you Sylvia (Silvia) Weber and her book The Wolves' Keeper Legend, a story that she wrote at the tender age of 12 and transcribed into English for publication. I would like to welcome her to Morbid Romantic, and thank her for taking the time to let me ask her a few questions. Enjoy!

About Sylvia Weber

Silvia Weber was born in Abrantes, Portugal, on 20th June 1968. She started writing at the age of twelve, sending articles to newspapers and participating in school contests. Graduating in Modern Languages and Literature, her whole career was dedicated to teaching and developing the youngsters greatest potential. A wide diversity of interests took her to a life of researching and studying a variety of subjects such as Languages, Phytotherapy and painting. A strong belief in dreams took her to England at the age of thirty-nine, searching for a place to call home.

The Wolves' Keeper Legend Homepage

About The Wolves' Keeper Legend

From the beginning of time, it seemed that rivalry between man and wolf was at the root of man s dislike for the animal, discovered only too well by Sealgair. Was his fate forever to be condemned to isolation, to see terror and hate in the eyes of the ones he once loved? All he could see in his mind was the last picture of Awena s beloved face, which he carried in his heart for all his life. Was the only way out to discover the special secret held by the papyrus-pearl in the stone pot - what secrets could this hold? And which stone pot could keep that precious secret when there were so many of them? Seanns quest to find the pearls and uncover the secret ended with tragic consequences, resulting in him not only discovering the truth of his birth and who his real mother and father were, but the realization that his father lived among the wolves.

My Review of The Wolves' Keeper Legend

Genre: Fiction - Fantasy

Finished: July 3, 2009

The Wolves' Keeper Legend by Sylvia Weber is a fantasy tale, full of magic and heroism. It is a story about love lost and a boy becoming a man. Because of the jealousy of the sorcerer Fiosaiche, Sealgair was cursed to roam among man's most hated creature: wolves. Separated from his home and his love Awena, his curse is a constant torment to him and he wants nothing more than for the curse to break and to be allowed to be human once more. Of course, being a wolf has given him a great respect for the misunderstood wolves, but that is no consolation for what he has lost. Enter young Seanns, friend to Awena. When she whispers a secret to him about papyrus-pearls in a stone pot, he sends himself on a quest to find these very things in hopes that they will cure her of the malady that has kept her isolated and silent for so, so long. Seanns travels with his friend Maise and elderly wiseman Cibeir, who is brother to the evil Fiosaiche. To be honest, I am not sure what the plot is supposed to focus on specifically because it is scattered all over the place. Was Seanns supposed to be seeking out Fiosaiche to make him break the spell? Or was the purpose to find the papyrus-pearls to break the spell? Or both? I just don't know what the ultimate goal of the trio is. There is a lot about this book that left me confused and disorientated. Weber is excellent with her descriptions of nature, and she describes the world around the characters in vivid and lustrous detail. But I had a lot of trouble with the fluidity of events as they unfold. A lot of the time while reading the book, I was perplexed as to what was happening, how someone got where they were, and how one event led to another. Along with that, most of the dialogue is left without any clear cut indication of who or what is speaking, so most of the time I wasn't sure who was saying what to whom. Apparently in this world, trees and spirits talk, which added a whole new complication to the 'who is talking' issue. From out of nowhere, things that were not human would talk, but it would never state what these things are. And then there are confusing plot elements like the sword Cibeir gets from some traveling merchants that he said was important… why did Cibeir have it when it served no real purpose in the end? He didn't DO anything with it, and neither did Seanns. And why did Awena say that her child with Sealgair had been killed when we were told that Seanns was their son? These things were never explained or developed and I have no idea what the deal is with Seanns being their son. If the transitions were better and the dialogue were more clearly assigned, The Wolves' Keeper Legend would be a great fantasy book for kids and adults. Weber has a lot of talent with words. Like I said, her descriptions of the physical world are quite lovely. The book just needs to be bit more focused, less erratic, and better defined to eliminate confusion or holes.

Interview With Sylvia Weber

Q: You wrote your book when you were only twelve years old. Why did you wait so long to have it published?

A: I was living in Portugal, by then, and the Portuguese publishing market was much different from the English one; I don't know how it is now. The truth is that I tried to publish it several times. I remember sending it to many contests; for example, or the City Council of Sintra or to the Fnac, and I did never get any reply. I tried the publishing magazines for advice, but I was told that, to publish the book anywhere, I would have to pay for all the publishing costs, so I didn't have a chance.

Q: What sort of research went into finalizing this book?

A: I researched a lot about wolves -- their habitat, the way they behave, what they eat, the way they relate in the pack, their breeding process. I read books from the Middle Age, particularly about the day-to-day life. Then, I tried to improve the information contained in my book, though the most of it doesn't come from research, but from imagination.

Q: What do you do to prepare to write? What is the process that gets you ready to sit down a lay out a story?

A: I must say: it used to be a piece of paper and a pen; now I have my precious computer. Then, take a deep breath and dive. There is no preparation, just let the imagination flow. The improvements come later.

Q: Is it your goal to ultimately become a career writer? Or would you like to teach again?

A: Teaching and writing would be amazing. I couldn't see myself, at the moment, separating those two parts of my life. But it can happen; I guess there must be so many other interesting jobs to do, so many things and worlds I don't know yet. On the other hand, if ever I could afford to spend all day in my computer writing, that wouldn't displease me too.

Q: What is it about your story that appeals to children the most? And what appeals to adults?

A: The action -- this book isn't boring, and its pace becomes more thrilling as it evolves. The characters are very colourful and varied, specially the most legendary ones, such as the griffin or the dragon-snake. At last, it has an open end, leaving a thousand possibilities in the horizon.

How much of yourself do you put in your characters? Are they extensions of you, or are they independent creations that take on a life of their own after coming from your imagination?

They are absolutely a product of imagination. Of course I got involved with them and I couldn't treat them in a cold and objective way, but I tried to keep a distance. What most surprised me was exactly that they took a life of their own – I was expecting something like that to happen, but never in such a autonomous way.

Q: What is the most valuable piece of knowledge that you've picked up after becoming a published author that you wish you knew from the start?

A: If I knew, I would have written my book in English before and sent it to publishers outside the boundaries of Portugal. I didn't have a realistic vision of the world by then.

Q: What is one thing you've never done but would love to do?

A: Travel the Road of Silk. It would be absolutely fascinating.

Q: What would your "theme" song be on the soundtrack of your life?

A: "One moment in time", by Whitney Houston. It is overwhelming, extraordinary, beautiful.

Q: Finally, could you share with all of us a quote that you love?

A: Einstein said once "Imagination is more important than knowledge". It doesn't mean that knowledge isn't important and who knows his work goes further in the sense of those words. To me it means that only knowledge combined with imagination can lead to innovation, discovery and achievement.