Urban Fantasy Investigations

Monday, March 18, 2013

Guest Blog & Giveaway: Blood Moon by Holly Hunt

UFI welcomes Holly Hunt Author of Blood Moon. Thanks for Joining us!!

((Base 2669. Recording #34259. Squadron 2.

Location: Washington DC, USA.))

((Silence rings out for five seconds. High pitched squealing.))

This is Holly Hunt. I've taken over the recordings from Olivia, until such time as she can stick to the script. Don't bother sticking your finger up at me, girl, it isn't going to help you.

((Door bangs shut in background.))

For those of you playing along at home, I'm here to talk to you all about what inspired the scribbling down of this story originally. For those of you who stumbled upon this and don't understand what's going on, head over to Amazon.com and nab yourself an e-copy of the book. Read it (shouldn't take more than an hour, if you're not a flit-about like me), then join me. You can follow the progress of the blog tour by heading over to my website
over here

and click the link to any of my blog-stops that takes your fancy. Trust me, it's worth the energy. If you keep following to the end of the tour, you could even win awesome prizes!

Okay, enough of the plugging. Time to get down to business.

What was the inspiration behind Blood Moon?

Blood Moon was written in 2010, in response to a situation I had with a publisher. After picking up an acceptance for The Devil's Wife, my debut book, the company went under, and I was understandably mad. It was the first yes I'd ever received, and to have it snatched away by circumstances had me plotting my revenge. The company was based in Canada, around the area that the Ontario Wolf first appears.

Why did you lay it out like that? Why so many newspaper clips between chapters?

I've had people on both sides of the argument for this. Some people, after reading it, are like, 'Yeah, they give a greater view of what's happening in the world around the wolves! They're awesome!', while others are like, 'Seriously? I mean, seriously? You could have gotten away with just one or two, you didn't have to fill the book up with them. They're useless!'. So, it depends on what camp you're in, how well you view them.

Me, I like them. I'm in the camp of 'They're awesome!'. I haven't read many apocalyptic stories that give you the birds-eye view of what's going on – you see it through the eyes of the main character, and that's fine. But sometimes you wonder what's going on in the rest of the world. I decided to make that happen.

The most important question: When will the sequel be released?

At this stage, there is no sequel. I know those of you who've read it are dying to know what happens next, but there's no sequel on the cards (yet). It's up to you to figure out who wins the war (if you want to rant about it, and win prizes, go to my website from March 27 and leave me your feedback on the form – then you get the best of both worlds!).

I look forward to dodging much rotten fruit and cursing in my next stop-over. But, for now, the next of my articles will be about Angela and Charlie, and the roles they play in the story – and just why no one seems to bat an eye about Wilhelm having a mistress.

((Silence for five seconds. Radio cuts out.))

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An author living in Canberra, Australia, Holly Hunt writes a collection of works including Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror and Romance. Currently undergoing an apprenticeship in Butchery, Holly spends her days off writing and watching superhero cartoons.

Holly lives with her partner, Matthew, in a two-bedroom unit crammed with comics and movie memorabilia. She dreams of one day owning a big garden, three dogs and a cat, and can’t wait until that day gets here.

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Find Holly and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook

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Blood Moon

Amazon

Upon a dark and blood-filled hour, humanity's doom will rise to power.

Werewolves are real. They haunt the woods of North America, feeding on the bodies of humans stupid enough to blunder across their paths. Once rogue and uncoordinated, the rise of their goddess Alsvinth has brought them all together, with one goal: destroy as much of the species as necessary to enslave them within meat farms, to feed the werewolf army taking over the world.

Olivia, a werewolf from western Canada, and her brother Charlie set out to kill the goddess and save humanity.

But can the werewolf and human destroy the goddess's power, or will she prevail and turn the planet into a wasteland?

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International

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Sunday, March 17, 2013

Week in Review: 3/10-3/16

Books Ive Bought/received

* The Devil's Triangle by Toni De Palma -eCopy - Publicist

* Binding the Shadows by Jenn Bennett - eARC- Author

Books I Read

Death, Doom and Detention by Darynda Jones
Rise by Anna Carey,
Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza
Pros and Cons by Jenna Black

Reviews Posted

Fractured by Amber Lynn Natusch
Bittersweet Blood by Nina Croft

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* New Releases for the week. Was there anything you were looking forward to reading?

* Tuesday a promotional post for Claire Ashgrove's Immortal Protector was posted. As well as a cover reveal for Amanda Carlson's Cold Blooded!!

* Wednesday Out in Blue author Sarah Gilman stopped in on her book tour with a guest post and giveaway.

* Thursday and Interview with MaryJanice Davidson was posted to promote Undead and Underwater.

* Saturday I posted a Cover Reveal for Meredith Allard's Her Loving Husbands Return. It is the 3rd and final book in her Loving Husband Trilogy.

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* I love comments so if you see something you like (or not) please comment away and let me know.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Cover Reveal: Her Loving Husband's Return by Meredith Allard

Her Loving Husband's Return

Loving Husband Trilogy #3

James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties with anyone. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife, Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth's death, James cannot move on.

Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. Soon James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?

Part historical fiction, part romance, part paranormal fantasy, Her Dear & Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies.

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Prologue

In seventy years so little has changed. Then, the gate was taller than the tallest person, electrified, eager to shock to the death. Looming above the fence were eight high-standing towers with armed guards with submachine guns who looked down upon the people as though they could be, should be shot for amusement’s sake. They were at one with the enemy across the Pacific Ocean, many decided. They had to be. They were traitors. They were spies. How else can we separate the good ones from the bad ones? How else can we know the loyal ones from the conspirators? We must round them up like cattle and pen them here where they’re safe from us and us from them.

Looming above the barracks, higher than the gates, beyond the guard towers, were the mountains. Always the mountains. They encompassed everything within their distance—one vast, jagged, granite wall stretching toward the heavens from the deepest valley in the Americas, cascading Vs flecked with icy snow, unmistakable even through the wintry clouds. The mountains were everything everywhere. If the gates, the guard towers, and the armed military police weren’t enough to remind you that you were a prisoner here, the mountains shouted your helplessness. You are here, the mountains said, and we will trap you here forever.

I remember when the bus stopped near the guard station, a lonely shack at the edge of the camp, one window on either side, misshapen rocks slapped together with mortar, a pagoda-style roof. The guards spoke to the bus driver and barked directions as though the people inside were orange-clad prisoners linked by irons, but they were only families—fathers, mothers, children, grandparents. I remember the anxiety in those inside the gate, their quick-scanning eyes wide as they drew as close to the barbed-wire fence as they dared, searching those on the other side for missing family or friends. I remember the fear in those outside as they stepped off the bus and shivered in the bitter desert cold. Their clenched hands grabbed hold of family members and they stared without seeing the nighttime landscape of brush and tumbleweed that promised blinding dust storms, the horizon flat until the mountains. Always the mountains. The bewildered people outside clutched their bundles of luggage, all that was left of their former lives. The people from the buses were herded inside, shouted at, tagged and numbered. Already they were losing themselves. When the gate slammed and locked behind them they looked toward the outside as though they would never be free again.

So, yes, I have been here before. I have walked this arid wilderness. I have heard the sand blow a maddened howl in the night. I have seen the white-glow moonlight reflect the saw-toothed horizon. Through it all, the mountains have remained the same. After all, what is seventy years to a mountain range that has watched millennia pass away? Now, the gates are taller since they guess we can jump anything less. Now, the gates have silver coating, the barbs deemed no longer necessary since they guess the barbs cannot pierce our preternatural skin. Now, the military police carry guns with silver bullets, which we secretly laugh at. Now, I am the one who has been carted away, considered too unpredictable to be out among polite society. Yet the barracks, the mess halls, the natural barrier of the mountains between us and everyone else in the world…so much of it is the same. There are nights when I cannot make the distinction between then, when I was here from compassion, and now, when I am the one encaged. But do not worry for me, my love. Now, with this silver-coated gate and these imposing mountains between us, I am reminded all too strongly how I cannot be without you. Soon, Sarah. I will hold you in my arms soon. Be patient this little longer, my love, and I will return to you. I will.

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Meredith Allard is the author of The Loving Husband Trilogy, Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle. She is the executive editor of The Copperfield Review, an award-winning literary journal for readers and writers of historical fiction. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Find Theresa and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook

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