Archive for June 30, 2013

TSblast

Welcome to my stop on the blitz for Desolation by Travis Simmons

Thanks so much to Book Nerd Tours for organizing this exciting event!

I just love the cover art for Desolation.

The colors are eerie and do you see what’s in the background?!

Read on to learn more about Desolation and Travis and don’t forget to enter the awesome giveaway!

desolation cover

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Asher St Paul thought it was just a typical zombie apocalypse like in the movies, until the necromancers crawled out of the woodwork. Since the undead have chased the living into hiding, the necromancers are able to roam freely in a new America of their making. Asher is seeking safe harbor. The need for safety is what drove him from his home in Philadelphia Pennsylvania before it was shelled. He has searched from quarantine to quarantine, always finding them overrun with zombies until he hears of The Refuge, a military compound in Binghamton New York. With his family and lover lain to rest by his own hand, he has nothing left to lose and gives everything he has to reach the safe haven. But questions arise when he reaches The Refuge, mainly, how has he been able to sustain multiple zombie bites and not change? He thinks he has found safety in the military compound turned quarantine, but he was wrong. Even now there is a necromancer trying to make The Refuge their kingdom of the dead.

BUY DESOLATION HERE

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desolation author pic

About Travis Simmons: WebsiteFacebook

  

I have always been a do-it-yourselfer. I haven’t had any formal education on writing, and I haven’t been raised around writer types. For that matter, I wasn’t even encouraged to read when I was a kid, even though plenty of people in my family read. When I was a teenager, I discovered Cliff’s Notes on Mythology, and it sparked something in me. It was like a floodgate had been opened, and all of these stories started rushing in. I would get ideas at random times, and I would jot them down. I have a pretty big file system of everything I have ever written. Someday I will get to them and put them all into electronic files. There is some good material in there, but there are a lot of bad stories too.

I started writing when I was thirteen or fourteen. At an early age I was already writing books of Saracin (the world The Bonds of Blood takes place in). The first book I wrote of that place was “The Calling of the Two” (not yet released). While I was writing that, I kept thinking of these characters Jovian and Angelica. I knew they had a part to play in the storyline, but they weren’t going to be in the same series. For that matter, they weren’t even going to be in the same age. As I finished the first draft of “The Calling of the Two” I went on to write the first book of Angelica and Jovian’s story. At that time it was The Mirror of the Moon. Later an editor told me it was so massive that I should make the one volume into two, and so The Bonds of Blood was born, and The Revenant Wyrd Saga went from a planned three to six.

That story has taken many forms until now, and I am sure if I didn’t declare that it was “done” it could continue to transform.

Along the way, I discovered my passion for research. I absolutely love researching. It would be nothing for me to sit for days on end, barely eating, just getting up to take care of necessities, and research really odd theories and stories. I get my ideas from them to be honest. Of course, my idea’s are never the main theme of the research I am doing, but it always seems to come from some obscure topic mentioned while I am researching. For instance one book I am outlining now is based on something I heard while watching Ancient Aliens.

Unlike most authors, I have not always loved reading and writing. I hated it until I was in 7th grade. My teacher wanted us to read the entire semester. We would read a book and write in a journal about it. Back then the teachers were allowed to spend more time on what their passions were, and actually foster something in their students, and she did just that. She made me love reading and writing. She told me to go to her book shelf and pick out a book that I was interested in. I found one of my first loves: David Eddings’ Pawn of Prophecy.

Back then I was in remedial reading, and my teacher (Mrs. Peters) would sit with me for the time I was in her classroom, taking turns reading the story out loud with me. We would read where the adventure was taking Garion, and then we would flip to the beginning and look at the map so we could follow them as well.

I think it was at that point, getting lost in a book I love to this day, that I knew I had to do this. I had to create the same magic for others that Mr. Eddings created for me.

At times it is boggling. I have three series of books started, and 2 more forming in my mind (and outlined on the computer). At this point I have to step back and finish the ones I have started before I can let myself move forward.

I feel that I am blessed in being able to write, and forging a life of my passion. It is tough at times, but that is what makes the payoff all the sweeter. The writing business is a huge adventure, trying to figure out what to do and what not to do; when to do things and when not to do anything. Currently I am planning the release of the second book to “The Bonds of Blood”. This is the first time I am armed with the knowledge of what I must do for a book release, and I finally understand why it nerves so many authors up, but it is that excitement that makes me love writing. Every time I hear a reader I don’t know praise my work, it makes my heart race and brightens my day.

Travis is the author of The Bonds of Blood, the first book in his epic fantasy series The Revenant Wyrd Saga. He has also written a young adult novel called A Lament of Moonlight which is book one of his pre-apocalypse series The Harbingers of Light. He is currently seeking publication for the first book of a third series, a zombie novel called Desolation. When he isn’t writing he is helping his family and trying to live a normal, under the radar life. His interests lie in cooking, gardening, green living, and human rights advocacy. He is a huge supporter of the Trevor Project and all agencies that seek to preserve natural resources and protect pets from abuse.”

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Giveaway

Enter for a chance to win:

Giveaway Open Internationally. Must be 13+ to enter
1 Winner will receive a $15 Gift Card to Amazon
1 Winner will receive a $10 Gift Card to Amazon

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Click on the rafflecopter link below to enter.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

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This is my own version of a weekly bookhaul post where  I’ll be telling you about all of the books I got this week, whether print or e-book plus all things new on fuonlyknew.

I got a few books this week, some free, some for review, and some I purchased just for my reading pleasure.

I also post reviews on another blog aknifeandaquill . It’s all about horror. If someone doesn’t die, we don’t do it here!

Here’s some I picked up to review on both blogs. Double exposure for the author:)

I Vampire  Dark Deeds: Serial killers, stakers and domestic homicides  Body of Immorality

Here are some I picked up to review on fuonlyknew.

Dark Territory (The Tracks, #1)  Scraps of Paper Large by Kathryn Meyer Griffith photo ScrapsofPaper_LRG_zps22ac2264.jpg

Got some good ones!

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Books for Review.

Blood in the Past (Prelude Novella to the Blood for Blood Series)  Triptych

I had to have these!

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Books I won.

Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream (The Gastien Series #1)

I won Gastien from Renee on her blog giveaway at Reading Renee. Thanks so much Renee!

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Books I reviewed this week.

Buick Cannon: A Joke From the Moon

You can read my review on my Monday Minis here.

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You can read my review and enter the giveaway here.

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Cemetery Planet

You can read my review on my Freakin Fridays here.

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Reviewing this coming week.

Accendo (The Light-Bearer, #3)

A Tag Team Event – Two blogs, two reviews, two giveaways!

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Halo of the Madonna

Reviewing on my Monday Minis post.

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Other reviews coming up next week.

Black Door  Dawn of a Dark Knight

Haedyn's Choice (Haedyn Chronicles, #1)  Stitch (Stitch Trilogy #1)

Several more reviews and awesome giveaways coming this next week. Be sure to stop by!

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Other posts this week. Just click on the links to see the posts.

Cover Reveal ~ Someone Else’s Skye

Free Book Blitz ~ Witch Weigh

Teaser Tuesdays ~ House of Fallen Trees

Blast Giveaway and Freebie ~ The Esposito Series

WWW Wednesday

Thursday Theatre ~ Pacific Rim

Giveaway Tour ~ Bad Publicity

Cover Reveal ~ Landlocked

Cover Reveal ~ Heart Search: Found

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Go here to find all of my giveaways. Enter one or enter all of them!!

Go here for a list of free e-books.

Busy, busy, busy. So many delicious reads! Some I’ve read and will be posting my reviews soon.

So what did you get this week? See something you like? Do you have any of these? Leave a comment and let me know.