Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Spotlight: I Stand Corrected by Patricia Asedegbega @Patricias_Place

I Stand Corrected by Patricia Asedegbega

About the book...

ROSARIO: I am Rosario Domínguez González, heiress to one of the largest and oldest fortunes in Spain. My family is considered in both the most elite economic and social circles as one of the richest and most influential in Europe… 

BALOU: That was until the day when I sensed that someone was watching me; I opened one of my eyes and was just about to close it again when something caught my attention… 

Rosario and Balou need each other for very different reasons… But for one of them, it is a matter of life and death. Balou is taken away from his mother at a very tender age and sold to a pet shop where he waits impatiently for someone to claim him and take home a black and as he considers himself, an attractive British Shorthair cat. Just when he thinks this is going to be impossible and his bags are almost packed to go to the local animal shelter, he meets young and troubled Rosario who is really not looking for a pet. 
It does not take him very long to realize that something is horribly wrong in her household and he takes it upon himself to protect the human he has come to love almost as much as he loves his food, his siestas and of course the time he spends outside chasing everything and anything that moves. A Strange and endearing alliance is forged between them but he soon discovers that something is horribly wrong in Rosario’s household. Will he be able to save her? The first in the mystery series of Rosario and Balou.

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About the Author

Author of I stand corrected, Rewind, Balou uncensored, Bienvenidos a gatos anónimos, Pasarse cuatro Pueblos and Sesenta segundos dan para mucho, Patricia Asedegbega Nieto was born to a Spanish mother and a Nigerian father in Madrid. As a child, she relocated with her family to Nigeria and later returned to Spain, where she acquired her BSc and master´s degree. She is currently living near Madrid with her family and her very stubborn cat, Merlin Mojito.

Find out more about Patricia Asedegbega here: 


Website: http://www.patriciascorner.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatriciasUniverse

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Patricias_Place

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9857496.Patricia_Asedegbega?from_search=true





Thursday, April 23, 2015

Prep For Doom Cover Reveal




Prep For Doom

From the imaginations of twenty authors of dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction comes PREP FOR DOOM - an integrated collection of short stories that tell the tale of a single catastrophe as experienced by many characters, few of whom will ever meet.

What begins with a seemingly innocuous traffic accident soon spirals into a global pandemic. The release of Airborne Viral Hemorrhagic Fever upon New York City’s unsuspecting populace brings bloody suffering within hours, death within a day, and spreads worldwide within a month.

An online community called Prep For Doom has risen to the top of a recent doomsday preparation movement. Some have written them off as crazy while others couldn’t be more serious about the safety the preppers could provide in a global disaster. But when AVHF strikes, their preparation may not be enough to save them.



About Band of Dystopian

Band of Dystopian is a Facebook group, blog, and company dedicated to Dystopian, Apocalyptic, and Post-Apocalyptic books. Our mission is to help fans of dystopian fiction find books they will love and help authors of the genre get the word out about their work. We are branching into the publishing world with our first anthology, Prep For Doom.

Hyperlinks




Authors

Expanded Links

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Interview: Tara Willis

Today I'm please to welcome Tara Willis to the blog to talk about her new book, "Carry Me Home." 

But first, a little about the book...

Following the passing of their invalid father, the poverty-stricken Montoya family is barely surviving, as, together, they wage a daily war against the ravages of extreme poverty, racism and a system bent on separating and destroying them. Nine months after her husband’s death, his widow makes the difficult decision to accept an advantageous marriage proposal from a close friend, for the sake of her nine young children. Her eldest, thirteen year old Celina, is hurt and angry about the remarriage which appears, to her, a betrayal to her dear father’s memory. Just as the young family is growing close, a stranger from the past appears and reveals the shocking secret Celina’s mother has kept for many years; a secret that will test the Gonzalez family’s love for each other and leave them changed forever.

                                           
1. What inspired you to begin writing? Reading about the lives, even fictional lives, of writers, such as Jo from Little Women and Laura Ingalls Wilder. As a child, I thought the life of a writer was glamorous. Although I know different now, I am addicted to the written word and in creating books and stories for others to love and enjoy.

2. Would you classify your writing more as plot driven or character driven? In this book, I would have to say more character driven; however, I do not believe the plot suffers as a result.

3. Can you tell us a little about your main character? Celina is a 13 year old girl of mixed race, growing up in poverty in modern day (give or take a few years) New Mexico. She is the eldest of nine and very devoted to her family, especially her dying father. Due to poverty, Celina has had to grow up a little too quickly, and this shows. She is extremely responsible, fiercely loyal and devoted, loving and caring. She is also very proud, outwardly tough and inwardly resilient.  

Celina is far from perfect. Despite her street smarts and an unusual ability with music, Celina
struggles in school, especially reading, as, in her mind, earning income to help her family takes precedence. Celina is not a fan of change. Her mother’s remarriage, although it makes her family’s life easier, is not something Celina is happy about. Throughout the novel, Celina grows, changes and learns some important lessons about life, love, acceptance and forgiveness and the unbreakable ties that bind a real family. 

4. Without giving away too much, tell us a little about the main conflict in the book.  The main conflict, though by no means the only conflict, in Carry Me Home, is that of Celina coming to love and accept her role in a blended family and a secret hidden for many years that she is fearful of her stepfather discovering. Throughout the book, Celina has to reassess what truly makes a family following the revelation of this terrible secret. Celina, like most teens, has to learn to accept and deal with change, fear of rejection and grief and healing following the death of her beloved father. In the end, she comes to realize that blood doesn’t make a family and she learns to appreciate and lean on the unconditional the love that has always sustained her.

5. 5. What do you hope readers take away from your book? In this day and age, I feel that friendships/peer relations are often sadly emphasized over family. I hope my young adult readers take some time to think about their families, blood or otherwise, and the strength, love and value they have in each other; a bond that should be much deeper than middle school/high school friendships.

6. What song best describes your writing style? Caledonia by Celtic Woman. I’m not sure I can explain why but it’s always inspired me and I often play it while writing.

7. Night owl or Early Bird? Night owl hands down.

8. Skittles or M&Ms? Peanut butter M&Ms! Eaten in same colors and in 3s. Eccentric much? Yup 

9. Who are your favorite authors? Oh, where do I start? Robert Alexander, SJ Bolton, Leo Tolstoy, Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Lori Wick, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen,  to name just a few.

10. Can you tell us about your future projects? My very next projects, already well on their way, are the prequel to Carry Me Home, titled Wait Until Sunset. This is the story of Celina’s Russian Jewish mother, as a young teen growing up in the 1980s Soviet Union.  After that will be the 3rd and most likely final installment in this trilogy, Celina’s further story (5 years after the conclusion of Carry Me Home), titled Praying for Daylight.

Get Your Copy: 




Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Interview: James Anderson @JAndersonAuthor

Today I'm pleased to welcome James Anderson to the blog to talk about his new release, "The Never-Open Desert Diner"

But first, a little about the book...

Ben Jones is a truck driver on a lonely stretch of desert highway when his life takes a sudden turn into mystery and longing when he discovers a young woman playing a cello in model home in a long-abandoned housing development in the high desert.



1.     What inspired you to begin writing? 
I have always liked my friend Luis Alberto Urrea’s response to that question: “I came from a family of unreliable narrators.” True for both of us.

2.     Would you classify your writing more as plot driven or character driven?  Character driven. Absolutely. My opinion is that readers, at least myself and the people I know, don’t care about the plot until they care about the characters. For me, a plot-driven story, and there are some damn good ones, don’t have the depth I like.


3.     Can you tell us a little about your main character?  Ben Jones is a truck driver in his late 30s whose route takes him on a daily back and forth along a desolate highway in southern Utah. He was an orphan who was adopted by an older couple when he was six. As far as he knows, he was the abandoned child of a female Jewish social worker and a native American.


4.     Without giving away too much, tell us a little about the main conflict in this book. 
There are three primary conflicts, internal and  external. Ben loves his job delivering necessary items to desert rats who have exiled themselves in the desert, but he is fast going bankrupt. Ben wants to be married and have a family, but that just hasn’t happened for him, until he discovers a woman playing a cello in the model home of an abandoned and unfinished housing development in the high desert. She means him no harm, yet their relationship reignites a tragedy that occurred at a nearby diner forty years earlier.

5.     What do you hope readers take away from your book? 
All I can do is repeat what I’ve heard from reviewers and the kind people who have read it. They fall in love with the character of Ben Joes, who is complicated, laconic and sometimes amusing in his observations about himself and the eccentric characters he serves. Readers also love the natural world of the Utah desert in which Ben lives and how that environment intersects and influences the characters. In brief, a strong sense of place.

6.     Now for a few fun questions! What song best describes your writing style? That is a good question! Jazz-blues fusion spiced with grunge. How’s that? I was listening to a lot of Yo Yo Ma and Nirvana, particularly Heart-Shaped Box. My tastes are eclectic in art, literature and music, which partly explains the strangeness, which is why in one hour I can listen to Sage Francis and Miles Davis and Black Flag!


7.     Night Owl or Early Bird? I am usually up between four and five every morning and I write until about nine. It’s as much about time management as anything else. It’s quiet and beautiful in the early morning and it’s best to have that time before the fires of the day begin to scorch my butt.


8.     Skittle or M&Ms? Both. Often together. With popcorn.

9.     Who are your favorite authors? So many! Here’s a sample. Thomas Merton, Colum McCann, Bruce Berger, Terry Tempest Williams, Katherine Dunn, Luis Alberto Urrea. I read everything, from memoir, creative nonfiction, novels and poetry, neuro-physiology, biography.
Presently I am reading The Collected Later Poems of Paul Celan and Luis Urrea’s Tijuana Book of the Dead. Formative and influential books include Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Marguerita and the seminal Pedro Paramo by Juan Rufalo.

 10.  Can you tell us about your future projects?  Gee, I hesitate to do that. What I can say is that I am always surprised at what I write, the stories and characters and settings. It is highly unlikely that anyone will ever accuse me of writing the same thing over and over.

Meet the Author

James Anderson was born in Seattle and raised in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. He is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and received his Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Pine Manor College in Boston. For many years he worked in book publishing. Other jobs have included logging, commercial fishing and, briefly, truck driver. He currently divides his time between Ashland, Oregon, and the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.

Author Links: www.jamesandersonauthor.com
FB Page: The Never-Open Desert Diner
Twitter: @JAndersonAuthor

Buy your copy today: 



Praise for "The Never-Open Desert Diner"

“High, dry and severely beautiful…a wondrously strange novel…Anderson is one fine storyteller.” — Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

         “Anderson's first novel…is a great one…(with) genius in creating characters that stay with you…They creep into your brain and settle in for a lengthy visit. You have not read a book like The Never-Open Desert Diner in a long time, if ever. Once you open its pages you will know you are in for something surprisingly enjoyable.”
— Jackie K. Cooper, The Huffington Post

“Anderson distills the heat and shimmering haze of the Utah desert into his fine first novel…. Just as important as the mysteries of human entanglement are the desert’s brilliant light, torrential downpours, and vast night sky.” —Publishers Weekly