Posts Tagged ‘monsters’

Michael West
Featured Book Release:
Hades’ Disciples
July 7 to 13 , 2014

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I had to be a part of this tour!

I’d already read Poseidon’s Children and loved it, so I was thrilled to get a chance to showcase Michael West’s series and review the first two books for ya!

Come meet the cast, human and monster. Follow the mystery. Enter the world of The Legacy of the Gods!

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MY REVIEW

I’m trying to think of one thing the author did wrong with this book, and can’t come up with anything.

The setting is great. The island of Colonial Bay reminds me of the movie The Fog. The locals are close-mouthed and secretive. Being isolated from the mainland, life is very different.

The creatures. Michael got very creative. I watched the movie Dagon, and drew from that to picture these fearsome beings. Even the ones that weren’t trying to kill people must have been terrifying to behold. I also remembered some of the characters from Pirates of the Caribbean and came up with some nasty critters.

The characters. So many of them, and that’s a plus for me. I love character driven stories, and the humans aren’t the only ones I connected with.

Artist Larry and his girlfriend Peggy. On the island for a vacation, Larry is awakened by a bad dream and gets up to get a drink. Glancing out the window, he sees something off the beach. A girl is being attacked by a shark near the shoreline. But then he’s not so sure it’s a shark. Something doesn’t look right.

Carol always new Atlantis was real. Now she’s discovered it. When things start pointing to Colonial Bay, her and Alan go to investigate. What they find is beyond belief. But, once they’re drawn into the middle of an ancient myth, when the beings of nightmares attack, they’ll have to believe if they want to survive.

With action and adventure, monsters, characters to love and loathe, and mysteries from the deep, Poseidon’s Children is a blast and I’m anxious to get started on Hades’ Desciples, the next book in this series.

I’m thrilled to give this 5 STARS

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Synopsis

Man no longer worships the old gods; forgotten and forsaken, they have become nothing more than myth and legend. But all that is about to change. After the ruins of a vast, ancient civilization are discovered on the ocean floor, Coast Guard officers find a series of derelict ships drifting in the current-high-priced yachts and leaking fishing boats, all ransacked, splattered in blood, their crews missing and presumed dead. And that’s just the beginning. Vacationing artist Larry Neuhaus has just witnessed a gruesome shark attack, a young couple torn apart right before his eyes….at least, he thinks it was a shark. And when one of these victims turns out to be the only son of Roger Hays, the most powerful man in the country, things go from bad to worse. Now, to stop the carnage, Larry and his new-found friends must work together to unravel a mystery as old as time, and face an enemy as dark as the ocean depths.

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MY REVIEW

This is the second book in this series. Just wanted to warn you if you haven’t read Poseidon’s Children yet. I’ll do my best not to spoil it for you.

The story picks up around two years after Colonial Bay and, while some of my favorite characters aren’t in this story, some are.

Carol and Alan are now living in Japan and settling in nicely when someone from Carol’s past comes calling. Kari is a very close friend from back in her college days. She’s asking for their help in finding her father. He disappeared after heading off to Nepal to find what he believes is the Ark. Not that he thinks it’s Noah’s Ark.

The decision is made for them when a rampaging tiger crashes into their home, bent on obliterating them. Carol and Kari manage to take it out and Alan reluctantly joins them as they prepare to scale the frozen mountain of Makalu, the location of the Ark. Also a place of hidden danger and myth. Even the Sherpa won’t guide anyone up there. Local superstition says it belongs to the Yeti.

Earl, now working for Homeland Security, is back and has a bigger role this time. He barely survives an attack by Hades Desciples. They want the old Gods back. Seems they forgot the bit about being slaves to them. Earl forms an alliance with the creatures that rescued him and they rush to protect his partner, laid up in a hospital.

This second book delves deeper into the history of these creatures. I learned more about how they came to be here and why.

There are three clans.

Poseidon’s Children are water based. They take on the aspect of creatures from the deep.

Zeus’ Warriors are human in appearance.

Hades’ Desciples are beasts of all kinds. Some of nature and some of fantasy.

All were created by someone or something for a reason that will be revealed.

Werewolves, bats, yeti, satyrs, and many more monsters will keep your hair standing on end.

Three clans.

Three agendas

One final outcome.

And one heck of a cliffhanger ending!

Just thought I’d warn ya.

Zeus’ Warriors: Book Three in The Legacy of the Gods Series is coming soon and I’ll be there!

If you love monsters, myths and urban fantasy, you’ll love this series and I recommend you give it a go.

5 STARS

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Synopsis

Terrifying creatures exist all around us, hiding in plain sight. Ancient. Deadly. They gather in secret, conspiring, dreaming of nothing less than humanity’s destruction, and their numbers are growing.

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Earl Preston knows the danger all too well. After tangling with a horde of mythological sea monsters in Colonial Bay, he has been tasked with finding these beasts and exposing their plans whatever they may be.

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But Earl is not the only one with a mystery on their hands. At the very top of the world, Carol Miyagi has stumbled onto an artifact from Earth’s past, something magnificent held captive in a prison of ice and snow. Now, Carol and Earl must work quickly to decipher the will of the gods–a plot that defies imagination–and to stop their followers from carrying it out.

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They thought the nightmare was over, but they are about to discover that the horror has only just begun.

Amazon Links for Hades’ Disciples

Print Version ~ Kindle Version

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About Author Michael West:

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Michael West is the bestselling author of Cinema of Shadows, Skull Full of Kisses, The Wide Game, Spook House, and the critically acclaimed Legacy of the Gods series. He lives and works in the Indianapolis area with his wife, their two children, their turtle, Gamera, and their dog, King Seesar.

West avoids manhole covers and sidewalk grates whenever possible. He just doesn’t know what’s down there, and he’s not sure he wants to find out.

Author Links: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Tour Schedule and Activities
7/7 Shells Interviews Guest Post
7/7 Come Selahway With Me Interview
7/7 Beauty in Ruins Guest Post
7/7 Fuonlyknew ~ Laura’s ramblins and reviews Review
7/8 Deal Sharing Aunt Top Tens List
7/8 Jess Resides Here Top Tens List
7/8 I Smell Sheep Guest Post
7/9 SpecMusicMuse Interview
7/10 Coffintree Hill Guest Post
7/10 Armand Rosamilia, Horror Author Guest Post
7/11 Bee’s Knees Reviews Review
7/12 A Haunted Head Top Tens List
7/12 Willow’s Author Love Interview
7/13 The Rage Circus Vs. The Soulless Void Review

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

Check out this cover art. It had me thinking The Hills Have Eyes.

Seriously though, it does make ya really curious doesn’t it?

There’s been an apocalypse. It looks the air is unsafe to breath. And I heard something about monsters!

I’ll be watching for this come December. I’m looking forward to meeting the characters and experiencing Shauna’s writing.

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World of Ash
by Shauna Granger
Release Date: 12/2013
Book Summary:
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There are two inherent truths in the world: life as we know it is over, and monsters are real.
The Pestas came in the night, spreading their pox, a deadly plague that decimated the population. Kat, one of the unlucky few who survived, is determined to get to her last living relative and find shelter from the pox that continues to devastate the world. When it mutates and becomes airborne, Kat is desperate to avoid people because staying alone might be her only chance to stay alive.
That is, until she meets Dylan. Dylan, with his easy smile and dark, curly hair, has nowhere to go and no one to live for. He convinces Kat there can be safety in numbers, that they can watch out for each other. So the unlikely couple set off together through the barren wasteland to find a new life – if they can survive the roaming Pestas, bands of wild, gun-toting children, and piles of burning, pox-ridden bodies.

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Shauna

Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, but it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer. Five years ago, Shauna started work on her Elemental Series. She released the first installment, Earth, on May 1, 2011 and has since released four sequels, with the series coming to an end with Spirit. She is currently hard at work on a new Urban Fantasy series, staring a spunky witch with a smush-faced cat named Artemis.

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Author Links

Author Links:

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Cover Reveal Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

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I’ve got a lot to show you about Elle Hill and her book, Hunted Dreams.

I want to thank Goddess Fish Promotions for organizing a really fun tour!

Elle Hill is here to answer a couple of questions about writing her book. I have a hook to snag ya and a glimpse inside this exciting story.

And don’t forget to enter the awesome giveaway!

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Elle Hill is here to answer a couple of questions about her writing process and her story. Enjoy this quick, fun interview.

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When starting a new book, do the characters come first or the storyline?

Rewind about four years to the genesis of my Hunted Series universe and Hunted, the first novella that would populate it and my thoughts went something like this:

Wouldn’t it be cool if there were a community living under human’s noses that bred women warriors and men magicians? Yeah, that’s cool. And they’d be at war with another supernatural group, one from whom they needed to protect humanity. Maybe that other group would eat humans. Not literally, though, ‘cause that’s kinda gross. At war for centuries, these groups wouldn’t know life without fighting; they can’t imagine life without hatred and death. Children would be trained as soon as they could hold a weapon. The two different groups would probably shove their members under one roof in order to protect them. Heck, I imagine the warriors would even sport names with one syllable, since, during battle, it’s a lot easier to call out “Bren” than “Anastasia.”

 

Now imagine one of those woman warriors. What would she be like? Probably pretty no-nonsense. Even if she cared to, she wouldn’t know anything about dating or nail polish or playing board games. What would happen if this ascetic warrior met a peace-loving, sweet human guy? She’d probably feel as uncomfortable around tenderness as he would feel knowing an entire supernatural war has raged invisibly for centuries.

Throw in a black cat named Picante, and you have the foundation for Hunted.

As you can probably tell from the example above, my plots and characters tend to inform one another. My story ideas usually start out as a small, conceptual seed (“What kind of character development could we explore if the main character remains locked inside her own head throughout the book?”) that blossoms into character sketches and arches, which in turn branches into specific scenes and situations. It’s all very organic.

Did the loop of nightmares lead to psychic vampires or vice versus?

In Hunted Dreams, Katana, the amnesiac main character, remains locked in an endless parade of nightmares. She doesn’t even realize she’s dreaming till a quarter of the way into the book, and only when Reed, the story’s male protagonist, begins visiting her dreamscape.

The pair tries to figure out who she is and why she can’t wake up. They discover the second first: Katana is trapped inside her brain because supernatural beings named Leeches (AKA, the Broschi) subsist on painful human emotions, and they wanted a continuous supply of snacks.

So, in short, the psychic vampires induced Katana’s endless nightmares, since the resulting pain, confusion, and terror benefit them mightily, that is, gustatorily.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to chat with you, Laura. Happy October!

Happy October to you too Elle. Hunted Dreams will be the perfect read for Halloween!

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Hunted Dreams

by Elle Hill

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BLURB

Her history, her whereabouts, her name: She knows nothing. Nothing but her current reality: a constant stream of horrific, surrealistic scenarios in which she fights not only monsters and unseen attackers but also her own pain and despair.

Reed Jayvyn is an ex-Army vet, penniless and living in his truck. After saving a young man from attackers, he finds himself embroiled in a superhuman drama between the Broschi and the Clan, two groups engaged in a centuries-long war. Worse, he finds he is one of them—a Broschi, a psychic vampire that feeds off the pain of humans. But Reed’s greatest surprise comes each night, when he finds himself dreaming of a fierce, nameless woman.

She is dreaming. So says the handsome man who uses his heretofore latent psychic ability to flicker in and out of her dreamscape. With Reed’s help, she slowly learns more about who she is, why she is here, what trauma in her past keeps her locked inside her mind. Meanwhile, Reed explores his own heritage, discovering enemies and allies in unexpected places.

But most important to Reed is freeing this woman caught in an endless loop of nightmares, someone he considers in every way to be the woman of his dreams.

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Hook

A woman trapped in an endless cycle of nightmares. A handsome hero committed to rescuing her. It’s just like Sleeping Beauty – except the dreaming damsel is the sword wielder and the hero is a psychic vampire feeding off her pain.

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Enjoy this glimpse inside.

“The Leeches got their nickname from the way they eat.” Reed’s voice was even.

“They drink blood?” she breathed.

He shook his head. “A little less literal. The Broschi are empathic. They can feel and even evoke other people’s feelings, negative ones like fear, pain, horror.”

“Sun and stars,” she breathed. She got it.

She got it.

“They’re eating me,” she said, and laughed, but not humorously. “These superhuman, psychic Leech people are keeping me trapped in nightmares, eating my feelings.” Her chest felt heavy. She pressed her left hand against it and felt its gentle rise and fall.

None of this is real. All this drama, all this fear, all the pain and anger and malice. None of it exists except in the form of juicy brainwaves that these beings sip like mint juleps. No wonder she couldn’t die, couldn’t escape, couldn’t ever wake up.

Reed’s face was flushed, his nostrils wide. Her handsome hero. For a minute, she hated him, hated that he got to wake up, hated this situation, hated everything boxing her in this narrow world.

Katana glared at him for a moment. “I’m trapped in here,” she grated.

His face relaxed into compassion. Hers hardened.

“I know,” he said.

She stared at him for a moment longer. Finally, with a sigh, she leaned her head against the glass. “Who are you, Reed?”

“I’m a Leech, too, Katana.”

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

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An inveterate fan of fairy tales, particularly the darker ones, Elle pens paranormal romance. Her urban fantasies envision an alternate Los Angeles (or is it?) in which Leeches — scheming psychic vampires — and Hunters and Psychics — the beings that exist to thwart them — fight fierce, primal battles in the land of movie stars, silicone, and sunshine.

Born in Idaho during the height of disco, Elle Hill now chicken-pecks at the keyboard while rocking out to Donna Summer and KC and the Sunshine Band. She worked in Idaho for several years as a secretary and journalist before moving to California and selling her soul to academia. After receiving her PhD in Sociology, Elle Hill became a not-so-mild-mannered college instructor by night and a community activist during the remainder of her waking hours. Always a journalist and writer at heart, one of her favorite pastimes includes publishing commentary on the political and social states of the world; some of her thoughts are posted on her blog at ellehillauthor.blogspot.com.

Elle welcomes visitors to her website at www.ellehill.com. She also urges everyone to become a superhero and adopt their next non-human companion from a local animal shelter.

Links:

Blog: http://ellehillauthor.blogspot.com/

Website: http://www.ellehill.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Elle-Hill/155409064486649?ref=hl

Purchasing the book: http://www.amazon.com/Hunted-Dreams-ebook/dp/B00CHUEIIG

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Elle will be awarding a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
Click on the rafflecopter link below to enter.

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

Click on the button below for more fun posts on the tour.

Don’t forget to comment! The more you comment, the more chances to win.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For all of my giveaways go HERE.

What could be better than a free book?

Why, two free books, of course!

Check out the goodies below and get your free copies now!

***Both books are free August 1st thru August 5th.***

I want to say thanks so much to Edward Lorn and Jeff Brackett.

Free books are a great way to discover new authors and I can’t count how many I’ve found!

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Check out Edward Lorn’s Bay’s End.

I love a good monster story, especially the human kind, and I’m almost done with this!

Bay's End

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Officer Mack Larson is not everything he appears…

When twelve-year-old Trey and his best friend Eddy play a prank on Officer Mack, the resulting chain of events rocks the small town of Bay’s End.

Today, Trey Franklin is a man haunted by his past. Tormented by that one tragic, fateful summer, Trey searches for catharsis the only way he knows how – by writing.

A tale of love and loss, bittersweet memories, and the depths of human evil.

Welcome to Bay’s End.

*Warning: Contains graphic language and adult situations

***Click on the Amazon Icon below to get your free copy now!***

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You can read my reviews of Edwards books and enter his awesome giveaway for his newest release Life After Dane HERE.

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Jeff Brackett is giving away his Cyber Punk Novel, Streets of Payne.

He is a new author for me and I look forward to reading this exciting novel!

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Humanity is in the eye of the beholder.

But for street-smart detective Amber Payne, it’s the eyes that aren’t human. Cybernetic implants replaced the organics she lost in the line of duty, and their appearance often causes Amber to doubt her self-worth.

Rookie detective Kevin Glass is her partner. And though he may be new, Kevin’s unparalleled skill as an elite cyber-surfer makes him an invaluable asset.

When Alta Corp contracts the two of them to solve a case of high stakes data theft, they will need every bit of skill, experience, and determination to succeed. For the more they investigate, the more it becomes evident that this case is much more than it appears, and its resolution may forever alter the world in which they live.

***Click on the Amazon Icon below to get your free copy now!***

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew.

For all of my giveaways go HERE.

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What’s inside the Box of Infernos?

That’s what I want to know.

Join me on this tour of discovery organized by Bewitching Blog Tours and lets find out together!

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The Chronicles of Darkness: The Box of Infernos

The Chronicles of Darkness Book One

Matthew Head

Genre:  Supernatural Mystery

ISBN:  978-1-78299-263-9

Number of pages:  204

Word Count:  85,000

Cover Artist: Matthew Head

Teaser trailer: http://youtu.be/STsB96OFZfw

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Book Description:

In the south of England, in the city of Monks-Lantern, events are starting to unfold which have the potential to threaten all of creation. Isaac Jacobs is a young university student with a haunted past who has long been fighting the supernatural monsters of this world and now he fights them alongside his four friends; Gabbi Gurtpasha, Billie Stamford, Laura Henley and Ben Pokeley.

What starts off as a disturbing but relatively low key investigation soon explodes into something much larger, darker and more fearsome than any of them could have imagined. Just what is behind the slow but steady disappearance of people from the city? Who is the much feared Imperator? What is the worst thing you can hope to see beneath a door in an empty building? How do you define a good man from a bad one? And what terror lies within the Box of Infernos?

A plan which has been in motion for millenia is now coming to fruition and Isaac had better be ready as his life will never be the same again from now on.

Something is coming.

Here is a peek inside!

It is said by some that all of creation can be divided into good or evil. Light or dark. Right or wrong. True or false. Those who say this say it as a comfort to themselves, as they are undoubtedly the ones who will claim to be good, light, right and true and it makes their lives just a little easier if they can believe that those adjectives really apply to them.

It is said by others that all of creation can be classed together – that every being is a combination of good and evil, that there is in fact no true good and no true evil in existence. Those who say this say it also as a comfort to themselves, as it means they can sleep better in their beds believing that there is no true evil lurking in the world, or perhaps in the shadows of their own bedroom.

It’s an unfortunate truth then for both of those groups of people that they are both wrong in their beliefs. There is pure good, there are beings of pure light in existence. And there is pure evil, and rest assured there are many beings of pure darkness in existence. But then there are also creatures who straddle both camps, which are impossible to class one way or the other.

The beings of light are predominantly the angels who sing and blaze in the higher realms, radiating love and beauty. They live their lives in what we as humans have decided to call heaven but that isn’t to say that they don’t make their presence known still in our world from time to time. They aren’t the only beings of light however – there are the Witches of the Veil who pass through worlds offering help and kindness, and legends also tell of ancient beings that swirl in the deserts of the east of the world – always happy to show love and friendship to any who need it.

The beings of darkness can be loosely tied together with the common term of demons, however this broad term does their numbers an injustice. There are many creatures of hate and lies – soul dwellers, ghouls, the Children of Despair, the Ar’karnak, the shadows, malignant fairies – the list can continue almost indefinitely as the dark realms have spawned infinite monsters in the time since the dawn of creation. Higher up than simple demons there are also the primordial beings of chaos and hatred that have long been forgotten by our world although that is not to say that they have forgotten us.

It might seem on the face of it that the beings of darkness outweigh the beings of light, but then it must be remembered that a single match shines brightest when surrounded by the pitch blackness and that a single truth if properly wielded can topple a whole tower of lies.

Still there is another group to look at, the beings that fall in between. Those gloriously grey beings that refuse to be either the deepest black or the purest white. Humans. People. Grey is often seen as a boring, drab kind of colour but in the case of humanity it shines brilliantly. Many people in the world would resist being painted with the grey brush – some may claim to be pure good, some may well claim to be pure evil. But whatever you may think of an individual you must remember the truest truth there is in the whole of the world – they are all grey. They are all somewhere in-between. No person is wholly right ever, everyone has their own faults and everyone makes mistakes and does wrong from time to time. And equally no person is wholly wrong ever, behind the most wicked people you will always find some glimmer of good – a shadow of the person they once were perhaps or an indication of some terrible event which once turned them down darker paths.

The greatest strength of humanity is its ability to comprehend and exhibit the emotion we’d loosely call love. Love binds people, binds families, binds friendships together and holds them close. It pulls you close to people and keeps you with them and through that it can be a source of great joy and great happiness. But despite being the greatest strength love can also perversely be the greatest weakness of a person too. For many it never becomes an issue because their lives are too ordinary. But for some who find themselves dealing with those creatures who dwell purely in the darkness then love can twist and turn. Before long it can lead to terrible choices, awful deeds and heartbreaking consequences.

So then, we can see that there are beings of true light, beings of true darkness and beings of the in-between. All are important and all will play a crucial part in the story which is about to begin before the final move is made and we see whether creation ceases to exist or if it will continue to flourish in all its diversity. For there is one more truth to impart.

Something is coming.

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Giveaway

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Two signed print copies of The Chronicles of Darkness:

The Box of Infernos by Mathew Head – open worldwide!

To enter, click on the rafflecopter link below.

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About the Author:

My name is Matthew Head and I’m a writer from Surrey. Well, I say from Surrey – I was born in Kent, moved to London for a bit and then moved out to Surrey to live with my partner Andrew. I was born in the eighties, raised in the nineties and then I was inspired in the noughties during my time at university where I studied Theology.

Theology is quite possibly the most fascinating subject in the world. Sounds boring I know, sounds like church and everyone knows that church is boring. But it’s not like that at all. It’s packed full of myths and monsters, gods and goddesses – mad, bad, sad ones alive in stories which rival many blockbuster movies in terms of how epic they are. It doesn’t matter whether it’s all real or not – it’s the story that counts. Stories are beautiful because absolutely anything is possible within them. That’s why I love writing because I love the idea of contributing to that and creating stories. Stories that will make you cry, make you laugh, make you scared. Because I think there is some magic in writing – that simple words have the power to make us feel and react so strongly to them.

When I’m not writing or doing my day job then I really enjoy going out and exploring new places. I love going somewhere I’ve never been before, especially if there’s some history linked to the place. Old places are the best – the older the better. You just get this sense that so much has happened there, so many different people have come and gone and yet the place remains.

A few more random facts about me – my favourite pet is the humble goldfish, my favourite dinner is macaroni cheese, I love banana flavoured things but I strongly dislike bananas and the only real phobia I have is a phobia of frogs. Yeuch.

Web: www.chroniclesofdarkness.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheChroniclesOfDarkness

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chronofdarkness

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Chronofdarkness

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6536000.Matthew_Head