Blog Tour: Interview with Melanie Karsak author of The Harvesting, plus Giveaway

Tour Schedule

I am super excited to have Melanie Karsak, author of The Harvesting, here today. I read and reviewed The Harvesting late last year and absolutely loved it. Without further ado.....

Welcome Melanie!

As I understand it, The Harvesting, is a trilogy of books. Is a trilogy in order due to so much story to tell?

Yes, I have an over-arching narrative I am trying to accomplish. I want the reader to see Layla and the other survivors from day one until the “problem” of the story resolves itself. There was just too much story to tell in just one novel!

Do you plan everything or just let the story flow?

I am a planner. I have to know the narrative arch of every story before I begin writing. I actually draw out the arch on a notepad before I begin writing. I usually have the entire story written in my head before I actually start typing. Occasionally I vary from my original plan if I come up with something better or if the characters get a mind of their own (this happens more often than sounds sane to admit). And sometimes I have to revise, but I always know what my characters want, what their goal is in a novel. This helps me stay focused.

What was the most important aspect when writing your non-zombie characters?

I try to keep them real. There are a lot of characters roaming around in “The Harvesting.” I wanted to make each person unique. I wanted them to react the way real people would react, and that is with a wide range of emotion, skills, and personalities.

For those that don't know, the last chapter is from a different point of view. Could you explain why you chose to show that in this book?

I wanted to show the z-day event from the perspective of a character who will be important in the rest of the series. My idea was to help the reader get to know Cricket and Vella before they appear in “The Shadow Aspect.”

How has it been for you to see the fan reaction for The Harvesting?

People really seem to like the book. Almost everyone who reads it seems to enjoy it. It seems like the introduction of “other” supernatural creatures about 100 pages in either makes it or breaks it for the reader. Some readers get turned off at that point, and that’s fine. Reading is an individual experience. This is not a horror novel. It is a dark fantasy novel. If someone wants a pure zombie romp, this isn’t it. This might be why some people are confused the supernatural element further reveals itself. But if you like a tale of the undead with fantastical elements, you will like it (maybe even love it!)

A couple of quick ones:

What is your favourite food?

When Pandora opened the box, inside she must have found a lox bagel platter from my local deli, Bagel Box, in Viera, Florida.  That bagel platter is worth upsetting the heavens.  A bagel platter may seem mundane, but that is, of course, because you have not had this particular bagel platter.  The bagel has homemade cream cheese, capers, red onion, lox, and fresh cut tomatoes on a freshly baked salt bagel.  Toasted.  With a giant pickle.  It is so good that every time I finish my bagel I feel sad.  When I die, if there is an afterlife, they will have an unlimited supply of lox platters from Bagel Box. 

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

I like to write in the morning when my energy is the strongest, but most of the time I am awake until the wee hours of the morning as well. I have a full-time job and a family, so I don’t sleep much. I need there to be more of me! Too much to do!

Do you listen to music while writing?

For some projects, yes, and for other projects, I need dead silence. “The Harvesting” series didn’t have a lot of background music, but the Steampunk series I am working on has a lot of music playing in the background.

What’s your favorite season/weather?

I live in Florida, so it’s pretty much summer all year round. Having spent most of my life in the north, I despise cold weather. When it gets below 50 degree, I am very unhappy.

Pet Peeves? 

People who are rude to small children in public places. I hate the younger version of myself who used to frown at parents in restaurants. Shame on you, younger self. Enjoy that big plate of karma.

I appreciate your time and really loved the book. Are there any parting thoughts you’d like to leave our reader’s with?

Stay in touch! If you liked the book, feel free to drop me an email or stop by my facebook page. I try to have giveaways and other fun stuff from time to time. I also have a new series coming out with an awesome new female protagonist I think readers will love!

Thank you so much for having me!

Thank you Melanie! 

 Author Bio

Melanie Karsak, steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and  caffeine junkie, resides in Florida with her husband and two children. Visit the author at her blog to learn more about upcoming projects, book signings, and other neato things. A Walking Dead fan, check out her blog for recaps!

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Title: The Harvesting (Book 1 of The Harvesting Series)

Author: Melanie Karsak

Published: Sept 18, 2012

Publisher: Steampunk Press

Cover Artist: Michael Hall Photography

Synopsis:

When mankind finally consumes itself, can any spark of humanity survive? Layla fights to keep those she loves alive when the zombie apocalypse unfolds, but she soon learns that zombies are not the only problem. With mankind silenced, those beings living on the fringe seek to reclaim power. Layla must learn who to trust, fast, if she hopes to save what is left of our kind.

Giveaway

10 swag packs (as seen in the picture attached) which includes a t-shirt, an autographed hard copy of the novel, a bumper sticker, and postcards  (US Shipping Only)

10 ecopies of the novel (open internationally)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Interview with Patti Callahan Henry Author of And Then I Found You, with Giveaway

Tour Schedule

I'm excited to have an interview with Patti Callahan Henry, the author of And Then I Found You, to share with you today. I hope you enjoy and check out And Then I Found You book details further down the post. There is also a giveaway to win a copy of the book (US Only). 

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.

My most rewarding experience is the cumulative enriching experience of meeting those who love books, reading, story and writing as deeply as I do. In publication, I’ve been allowed to enter this world in ways I never could before. It is rewarding beyond compare for the book worm young girl I once was.

If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world.. which would it be?

Narnia. No doubt. All day.

Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects? 

There is always another book in the works, and yet it might change ten times before it becomes what it will be. Right now I am working on an untitled novel about a woman who must choose which story to believe…

What's the best advice anyone has ever given you?

I have no idea what the best advice is. With every season of life, this answer changes. But right now, I think it is more of a reminder than advice and it is this by Pablo Picasso “Art is the lie that tells the truth.”

What is your favorite way to spend a rainy day?

Reading….mixed with a little writing.

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

People are usually surprised that the first thing I published was not my first novel, Losing the Moon, or even the first short story in Sweet Tea, but my thesis titled Factors Associated with Closed Head Injury in the magazine Neuroscience Nursing in 1991.

Favorite music?

My music taste scatters all over the place, but I lean toward singer-songwriters with a lovely pining melancholy from jazz to bluegrass to country.

Favorite smell?

That unnamed, but particular aroma when I arrive in the Lowcountry and drive over the bridge at low tide.

Do you prefer Print or Ebook?

I prefer print but of course I read ebook.

Title: And Then I Found You

Author: Patti Callahan Henry

Release date: April 9th 2013

 Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

 

Synopsis:

Katie Vaughan is no stranger to tough choices.

She’s made them before. Now it’s time to do it again.

 

Kate has a secret, something tucked away in her past. And she’s getting on with her life.  Her business is thriving. She has a strong relationship with her family, and a devoted boyfriend whom she wants to love with all her heart. If Kate had ever made a list, Rowan would fill the imagined boxes of a perfect mate. She wants the facts to move from her head toward her heart and settle in with deep love, something past admiration and comfort. But when Kate discovers the small velvet box hidden in Rowan’s drawer, she panics.

 

It always happens this way. Just when Kate thinks she can love, just when she believes she can conquer the fear, she’s filled with dread. And she wants more than anything to make this feeling go away. But how?

 

When the mistakes have been made and the running is over, it’s time to face the truth. Kate knows this. She understands that a woman can never undo what can never be undone. Yet, for the first time in her life she also knows that she won’t fully love until she confronts those from her past. It’s time to act.

 

Can she do it? Can she travel to the place where it all began, to the one who shares her secret? Can the lost ever become found?

 

And Then I Found You gives new life to the phrase “inspired by a true story.” By travelling back to a painful time in her own family’s history, the author explores the limits of courage, and the price of a selfless act.

 

In this heartfelt novel of love, loss, and reunion, a woman reconnects with her first love, and the daughter they placed for adoption some thirteen years before.

 Buy Link 

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Author Bio

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times Bestselling novelist. She has published nine novels (Losing the Moon, Where the River Runs, When Light Breaks, Betweeen the Tides, The Art of Keeping Secrets, and Driftwood Summer, The Perfect Love Song, Coming up for Air and the upcoming And Then I Found You --April 2013, St. Martins Press). Patti has been hailed as a fresh new voice in southern fiction, appearing in numerous magazines (Good Housekeeping; SKIRT; The South; Southern Living, etc..). She has been short-listed for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. She has been nominated four different times for the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Fiction Novel of the Year. Her work is published in five languages and all novels are on Brilliance Audio.  Two of her novels were OKRA picks and Coming up For Air was an Indie Next choice. Patti is a a frequent speaker at fundraisers, library events and book festivals, discussing the importance of storytelling. Her next novel, AND THEN I FOUND YOU, will be released on April, 9th, 2013 by St. Martins Press. Patti Callahan Henry is a full time writer, wife and mother of three living in Mountain Brook, AL.

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Tour Wide Giveaway

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Ten Things You Didn't Know About Michelle Madow, Author of the Transcend Time Saga

Ten Things You Didn't Know

About Michelle Madow

1) I love singing—especially Broadway showtunes! I have a mediocre voice though, so I was always in the chorus in school plays. (The high point of my theatre career was when I got the part of Pinocchio at a local theatre group when I was ten. It was downhill from there.) If you want to hear me sing, I have an old video on YouTube (www.youtube.com/michellemadow) of me singing "On My Own" from Les Miserables. But as I warned you, my voice was never “the best,” or good enough to get me a lead part in high school.

2) I was in a pre-professional dance program for ten years. Dance was a HUGE part of my life until my senior year of high school. I did ballet, jazz, modern, hip-hop, and some tap. When I was in seventh grade I performed with the Russian Ballet in “The Nutcracker”—I had the part of one of the little mice! (When the Russian Ballet tours the country, they cast the children’s roles separately in each city.) I eventually stopped dance in my senior year, because my program wanted me to rehearse until 10:30 PM on Friday nights. I realized I wasn’t going to be a professional dancer, and that I preferred to have a social life.

3) I was in a sorority for my first three years of college. I didn’t plan on doing recruitment, but one of my close friends talked me into attending a “sorority open house,” where I ended up receiving a bid to join the sorority. I didn’t have many friends in the beginning of college, so I decided to join because it would help me branch out. I’m glad I did, because I met my three closest friends in that sorority, and they are still my best friends today. I’m not good at following arbitrary rules though (I question every rule and need to understand WHY it’s in place if I’m going to follow it) so I got in “trouble” with the sorority a lot. I wrote Remembrance when I was a junior, and after signing with an agent in the summer between my junior and senior year of college, I decided to drop out of the sorority in my senior year so I could focus more on my writing.

4) I’ve broken both my ankles—luckily at separate times! The first time was in fourth grade. I was playing a make-believe game with a friend that involved fake-flying. I decided to jump out of a tree. Bad decision. The second time was in sixth grade. I was excited for the end of the school day, and ran to my mom’s car when she arrived to pick me up. I randomly decided to do a ballet leap on the way there, but the ground was icy, and I didn’t land right. Another bad decision.

5) I cannot draw. Seriously … my drawing/painting skills are pathetic. I can barely make a stick figure. Something doesn’t compute right when I try to draw an image. I’m so bad that I can’t even play the game “Draw Something” because I get so frustrated! Part of the reason I made Lizzie an artist in Remembrance is because it’s a skill I highly admire, since I have no concept of how to do it myself.

6) I wish I’d taken writing seriously at a younger age. I never considered writing novels as a serious possibility until I was a junior in college. I wish I could go back in time and tell my fifteen year old self to stop caring about dance so much (since dance was always a short term goal of mine), and to think more long-term and start writing novels in high school. To those of you who are in high school and are already taking writing seriously, I give you major props. I wish I had been more like you when I was your age.

7) I tried to play guitar for years, but was never any good. It’s sad, but true. You see, my dad and brother both play guitar. They’re not experts, but they’re good enough so they can play songs and entertain people. I wanted to be able to do that so badly, so I got a guitar and started playing when I was in tenth grade. I had trouble with strumming at first, but I figured I would improve with practice. After two years of practice, my strumming was still terrible, so I set aside guitar. Then I picked it back up when I was a junior in college. I practiced almost every day when I was a junior and senior, but remained awful at strumming. I could only manage to strum a song right if I focused very hard on it, but then I couldn’t sing along. Even then, the strumming wasn’t that great. Eventually, I realized I just wasn’t naturally talented at guitar, and set it aside again. 

8) I was obsessed with Star Wars in fourth grade. I watched the movies multiple times, and started a Star Wars action figure collection (that I still have today). I have a Millennium Falcon for them and everything! In fourth grade I brought my action figures to school, and insisted my friends do the same, so we could create make believe stories set in the Star Wars universe and have our action figures act them out. (Luckily, I went to a very small school then—I had 12 kids in my grade—and I somehow managed to make Star Wars cool, so no one thought I was a total loser.) I can’t imagine what people would have thought of me if I were in public school!

9) I don’t like most cold or room temperature foods. I have this (kind of weird) thing about hot food. I pretty much ONLY eat food that’s hot. I don’t like cereal for breakfast, and I definitely don’t understand the appeal of sushi for dinner. (Cold AND uncooked?! Gross.) I’ll occasionally have a room temperature food as snack (it happens rarely, though). But I never feel satisfied from a meal unless it’s hot.

10) Discovering that I wanted to take writing seriously made me grow as a person more than I had ever thought possible. In high school and the first two years of college, I worried about what people thought of me. I’ve never been naturally “cool,” but I wanted to be part of that crowd so badly that I tried too hard, which resulted in them not liking me. Then I discovered writing in the beginning of my junior year of college, and suddenly what people thought of me wasn’t important anymore. I realized there was no point in trying to be “cool” when there were tons of other awesome people out there who I had more in common with, anyway, and I had more fun hanging out with. I stopped caring about what others thought of me, and learned to be happy and proud of who I actually am. That realization led to me being happier in those last two years of college than I was in the first two years of college and high school combined—and because I was more confident, I ended up with an awesome group of friends!

Transcendence

Available for free download Transcendence (Transcend Time Bonus Packet) which includes:-

- Sneak peak of Remembrance 

- Bonus scene for Remembrance 

- Deleted chapter from Timeless 

- Character extras for Lizzie, Drew, Chelsea, Jeremy, and Hannah 

- Author interviews 

- Essays written by Michelle Madow about the series 

Download from =  Smashwords

 -------------------------------------------------

Title: Remembrance

Author: Michelle Madow

Series: Transcend Time Saga #1

Publication date: July 27th 2011

Genre: Young Adult, Time Travel

  

Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

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Title: Vengeance

Author: Michelle Madow

Series: Transcend Time Saga #2

Publication date: December 8th 2011

Genre: Young Adult, Time Travel

How far would you go to get revenge?

When Chelsea Givens discovered that her ex-boyfriend Drew dumped her to be with her former best friend Lizzie, she'd never felt so betrayed in her life. Then her new friend Shannon tells her she can help set things right. Chelsea's willing to listen, but what Shannon wants her to believe -- that she shared a past life with Drew -- is impossible. And what she wants her to do to get him back … well, it's downright crazy.

Could Shannon be telling the truth? And if she is, what lengths will Chelsea go if it means making Lizzie pay?

Find out in Vengeance, the second part of the Transcend Time Saga.

*Vengeance is the short story that bridges the events in Remembrance and the final novel in the Saga.

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Title: Timeless

Author: Michelle Madow

Series: Transcend Time Saga #3

Publication date: November 14th 2012

Genre: Young Adult, Time Travel

IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME.

In Remembrance, Lizzie and Drew changed the course of fate so they could be together.

In Vengeance, Chelsea set fate back on its original, deadly path.

Now, strange things keep happening to Lizzie. Things that are omens of darkness to come. A curse has doomed her to die an early death, just as she did in her past life. To make matters worse, even if she can figure out who cast the curse, it's irreversible. There's only one option left for her to save herself. It's crazier than anything she's heard yet, and to do it, she'll need Drew and Chelsea's help.

Because to make things right, they must go back to when it all began ... and Lizzie discovers that the final events in her past life were more sinister than she ever imagined.

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Author Bio

 In the fall of 2008, Michelle saw Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” music video for the first time. She thought up a story to go along with the video, and wrote the first chapter as a homework assignment for class. Her classmates and teacher loved it so much that they wanted to know what happened next, so Michelle continued writing, and that story eventually became Remembrance, the first novel in the Transcend Time Saga. She’s so happy to be able to share this series with you, and hopes you enjoy reading it as much as she loved writing it!

Check out her website, www.michellemadow.com, to add her on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and her many other social networking sites.

Michelle lives in Florida, and is hard at work writing more novels for young adults.

Blog Tour: Author Interview: The Crimson Hunt by Victoria H. Smith

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I'm excited to have an interview with Victoria H. Smith, the author of The Crimson Hunt, to share with you. I hope you enjoy and check out The Crimson Hunt book details further down  the post. There is even a giveaway at the end of the post where you have a chance to win one (1) of ten (10) ebook copies of The Crimson Hunt. 

Welcome Victoria. I'm glad to have you here today. 
For those not familiar with The Crimson Hunt, please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.

If you’re looking for a book that keeps you constantly guessing about what’s about to happen next—and filled with a whole lot of lovin’—then The Crimson Hunt is for you!

Well that does sound good! Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects? 

I just finished my NA contemporary romance called, The Space Between. That’s set to release March 18^th. I have many future projects, lol. The Crimson Hunt is the first book of a trilogy with a few novellas. Currently, the sequel and one of the novellas is done. I will be editing those, then putting those out late summer/ early fall.

You have been busy, and sound like you have many more books ahead of you. What inspired you to want to become a writer?

I pretty much wanted something to read, something I could relate to as a twenty something who was in grad school. I went in search of books like that and wasn’t finding much so I decided to write a book for fun. Three weeks later, I had The Crimson Hunt. While in the process of publishing it, new adult evolved around me. I’m very grateful for that and love the category :-)

Ok, a few fun questions, If you were stranded on a desert island what 3 things would you want with you?

My husband, a mobile phone with stellar 3G, and a way to get water.

If you could jump into a book, and live in that world.. which would it be?

Harry Potter. It all just seems so magical!

What is your favorite quote?

“But for now, let me say - Without hope or agenda – Just because it’s Christmas - And at Christmas you tell the truth - To me, you are perfect…” – Love Actually

***

Title: The Crimson Hunt 
Author: Victoria H. Smith 
Series: Eldaen Light Chronicles, #1
Publication date: November 8th 2012

Synopsis
College junior Ariel Richmond is working on year three of Project Normalcy.

Her house reeks of keggers past and her bestie is just a slight bit vulgar. But the thing is—they both aid in making life refreshingly uneventful.

So much for hard-earned mediocrity when Luca Grinaldi appears on the scene.

Luca’s sudden presence on campus is hard to ignore. Those bright eyes act like a beacon to unsuspecting females, and with features like his, he’s got to be moonlighting for GQ. Luca hopelessly captivates Ariel with his confidence and charisma, but the mysteries surrounding him make him nearly untouchable. And just when Ariel grows close enough to unlock his secrets, a tragic event sends her life in a downward spiral.

That steady life is no longer an option and allies quickly become scarce. The mysterious Luca seems to be the only one willing to help her—but with that trust comes the burden of his secrets. He has a dark mission of otherworldly proportions, and is willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes to see it completed.

Gone are the days of simply maintaining normalcy, and if Ariel isn’t cautious with her trust, so soon may be her future.

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Author Bio

Victoria H. Smith has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She puts it to good use writing romance all day. She resides in the Midwest with her Macbook on her lap and a cornfield to her right. She often draws inspiration for her stories from her own life experiences, and the twenty-something characters she writes give her an earful about it.

In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes. Her new adult science fiction romance, The Crimson Hunt, will be published November 2012.  

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