Guest: ELLE CARDY Wielder’s Fire @ElleCardy #YAFantasy

Today's guest is Lynda R. Young writing as Elle Cardy. I met Lynda through Insecure Writers Support Group. She is a great supporter of all of us. Here she is talking about her new release. This series sounds so intriguing. I have to read it.

Thanks for having me today, Diane.

I’m super excited to share the news that Wielder’s Fire, the thrilling conclusion to the Wielder’s Storm series, unleashes today.

This trilogy has been a long time coming. As a kid, I loved anything that led me to fantastical worlds or exciting adventures. Reading transported me. It was inevitable that I’d end up conjuring my own fantasies, but the path to creativity and expression oscillated between writing and art.

I became a game developer, photographer, animator, graphic designer. I even dipped my toes into music for a while. I’ve written a range of fantasy and scifi short stories and even had a book of daily devotions, Cling to God, published under my real name, Lynda R Young. I’m proud of it all.

But it wasn’t until a family tragedy sharpened my focus, that I realized time was short and I still hadn’t achieved a particular dream I’d carried most of my life: To get a novel published. So I pushed my hesitations and fears aside, worked super hard, and completed Wielder’s Prize, a manuscript I’d sat on for about nine years. Not only did I publish it, but I completed the whole series. Wielder’s Fire is the exciting conclusion to the epic fantasy adventure set on the high seas.

Marooned on an island, stripped of her magic, Jasmine must find a way to mend her heart and defeat the oncoming storm.

Her secrets have been laid bare. The one who was supposed to love her, stripped her of her magic. Now she’s shipwrecked on a forsaken island with nothing but her anger and determination to keep her warm at night. Alone and defenseless against a powerful enemy, she must find a way to survive.

She will get her magic back.

She will escape the island.

She will face the enemy and defeat it once and for all.

But how can she when her heart is blistered to a crisp? One fierce step at a time.

For fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo, who love exciting tales with dark secrets and unexpected twists.

To grab your copy, click here: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0892SBQGT/

It’s also free to read via Kindle Unlimited.

Where to find Elle Cardy:

Website: http://www.ellecardy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellecardy/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElleCardy

Blog: https://lyndaryoung.blogspot.com/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19553756.Elle_Cardy

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/elle-cardy

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gCVzuv

Guest: C. LEE McKENZIE Not Guilty #giveaway @cleemckenzie

I’m delighted today to welcome author C. Lee McKenzie to my site to talk about her latest release, NOT GUILTY, as part of her MC Book Tour Blog adventure.

I met Lee through Insecure Writers Support Group. When she asked for reviewers for her new YA story, I couldn't volunteer fast enough. You can read my review at the end of this post.

After you find out more about this tantalizing new story, be sure to enter Lee’s giveaway featured below.

* Not Guilty
* by C. Lee McKenzie
* Publication Date: October 25, 2019
* Genre: Young Adult

Hi Diane,

Thank you for hosting me today and giving me a chance to talk about where Not Guilty came from.

I love the theme of justice, or as in this story, injustice. It’s a long-time interest of mine and probably started when I was about ten and discovered life wasn’t fair all the time. People aren’t always afforded justice, but when they are it’s a beautiful thing.

I wrote another story with this same theme, and one day I set out to revise it. That revision turned into Not Guilty, a very different book. That’s the first time revision has taken the bit between its teeth and run away like that. I’m still scratching my head, wondering how it happened.

In both books, the boys are falsely accused and ostracized by the people they’ve known all of their lives. Their families suffer as well. While there are similarities between Book One and Not Guilty, those end after the first few chapters. Book One, heads off into a Nevada ghost town while Not Guilty is rooted in the community Devon, the MC, has grown up in. Most of the story is about how he sets out to prove he’s innocent.

I kept some of the scenes from that first book, so I thought I’d show you one of those side by side to give you an idea of how similar they are. This is the scene of the boys’ homecoming after they’ve been released from custody.

Book One

With Dad’s arm slung over his shoulder, they walked to the porch. Jonah caught his reflection in the front window. He looked exactly like the boy who’d left this house six months ago, but that was impossible. A bitterness crept up into the back of his throat, burning his tongue and bringing a sting to his eyes. In that one second, he wasn’t at the front of his house. Instead, he was in a different time and a different place—one he wanted to forget.

His dad’s hand pressed on his back. “It’s over, Jonah. Let it go.”

But it wasn’t over and Jonah knew it. It would never be over. It would always be in his gut and in everyone’s mind.

Not Guilty

With Dad’s arm slung over his shoulder, they walked to the porch. Devon caught his reflection in the front window. He looked exactly like the person who’d left this house five months ago, but that was impossible. A bitterness crept up into the back of his throat. The Devon Carlyle who left from this door for the courtroom didn’t exist anymore. In that one second, he wasn’t at the front of his house. Instead, he faced Room Five and it was March. He was about to walk in on JD and Reeker.

One thing’s for sure, if I ever go back to work on Book One again, I have to dump a lot of scenes. What worries me is what will happen if I try another revision. I’m afraid it will turn into Book Three about justice and injustice.

BLURB

          A blood-smeared knife. One young man’s word against another. A lifetime dream crushed.

          The evidence points to Devon Carlyle. He was there when it happened. Everyone knows he had it in for Renzo Costa. And Costa says Devon was the one. In the judge’s rap of a gavel, Devon’s found guilty of assault. The star of the Oceanside High’s basketball team loses his shot at the one thing he’s worked so hard for—the championship game where college scouts could see how good he is.

          Now he makes his great shots in Juvenile Hall with kids far different from those that have always been in his life.

          Angry? Hell, yes.

          He’s bent on finding who did the crime. He’s bent on making them pay because he’s Not Guilty.

          But can he prove it?

For those who aren’t familiar with the author, here’s a bit of background on her.

C. Lee McKenzie has a background in Linguistics and Inter-Cultural Communication, but these days her greatest passion is writing for young readers. She has published five young adult novels: Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative, and Sudden Secrets. Not Guilty is her most recent one.

          Sometimes she likes to jump into the world of the fantastic and when she does, she writes for the middle-grade reader. Some Very Messy Medieval Magick is the third book in the time-travel adventures of Pete and Weasel, with Alligators Overhead and The Great Time Lock Disaster being the first two. Sign of the Green Dragon, a stand-alone, takes the reader into ancient Chinese dragon myths and a quest for treasure.

          When she’s not writing she’s hiking or traveling or practicing yoga or asking a lot of questions about things she still doesn’t understand.

For more information on Lee and her writing, connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at her Website. 

NOT GUILTY can be found Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

The author’s other young adult books include: Sliding on the Edge, Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative, Sudden Secrets

GIVEAWAY

With Halloween celebrated this week, Lee’s giving away five digital copies of NOT GUILTY and a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate. This tour-wide giveaway will end at midnight on Tuesday, Nov. 5^th.

To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient. If the widget doesn’t show up, just click HERE and you’ll be directed to the widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by today during Lee’s visit. Do you enjoy stories where the underdog becomes the champion? Don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

Diane's Review: 5 stars

This story about a young man falsely accused of a crime disturbed me. The author made the situation in juvie so real I had to put down the book. But the story was so well written I had to find out what happened to Devon. My persistence was rewarded. As the story unfolded, the characters became real to me. The situations Devon and his family encountered were equally realistic. Devon's obsession with discovering the true culprit "forced" me to keep reading. I had to know if he would be successful. Young readers and adults will find the book compelling.

GUEST: Nick Wilford's CORRUPTION Blog Tour #YA @NickPWilford

I'm happy to welcome Nick Wilford as he stops by on his blog tour today. Nick's new release is a Young Adult story that sounds terrific. Here's Nick.

Hi Diane! Thanks for hosting me on my tour. I'd like to change pace a bit today and offer your readers a bit of a more thoughtful topic.

Dealing with Difficult Subjects in a Young Adult Book

I’ve been having a lot of fun on this blog tour up to now, but I’d like to get serious for a second and talk about the complications of dealing with sensitive subject matter in a young adult book – and why it can ultimately be worthwhile.

Corruption contains references to a rape, as well as other instances where the act is attempted. That wasn’t something I set out to confront when I started writing this series – I didn’t even  know what would happen in the second and third books at that point. I’ve never been much of a planner. It was something that developed as a byproduct of one of the ideas in the first book – when the series begins, sex has been eradicated in Harmonia, and babies are grown in a lab environment using DNA from both parents. That decision gets overturned as part of the drive to return to a more natural way of life, but this new edict is then abused. It’s part of the corruption referred to in the title of the second book, which centres principally around one of the scientists, Harold Lunkin.

So having included such an element, how can it be justified? Well, one of the main purposes of fiction is to reflect life as we know it, even if the book takes place in a totally different world or society. A writer shouldn’t pretend that certain things don’t exist. Of course, going about this in the right way can be a delicate matter, but that doesn’t mean we shy away from it. We know that everything we include should be there to serve the story and keep it moving forward, but you’re dealing with a bit more than a narrative device when it comes to something like this. Do proper research into the effect on victims, even talk to some people if possible.

Even if it wasn’t something you thought about at the start, you never know if something you write might end up helping someone who’s been through such an experience. Let them know that it’s alright to speak out and seek help and that no one can just get away with this.

Do you cover difficult subject matter in your writing? How do you go about it?

Title: Corruption

Author: Nick Wilford

Genre: YA dystopian Series: Black & White Series #: 2 of 3

Release date: 11th February 2019

Publisher: Superstar Peanut Publishing

Blurb:

Wellesbury Noon and Ezmerelda Dontible have found themselves in a position where they can make their native land somewhere that lives up to its name: Harmonia. However, they’re setting their sights further afield for their number one task: eradicating the disease that has plagued the neighbouring country of Loretania for generations and allowed the privileged Harmonians to live in a sterile environment.

After dispatching a team of scientists to Loretania, armed with cratefuls of an antidote and vaccine and headed up by their friend, Dr George Tindleson, Welles, Ez, and Welles’s brother Mal – who grew up in that benighted nation – start to worry when they hear nothing back, despite what they had agreed. Commandeering a fishing boat to follow the science team over the sea, they soon find that, while the disease may be on the way out, a new kind of infection has set in – the corruption they thought they had stamped out in Harmonia.

Can they get to the root of the problem and eliminate it before even more damage is done to an innocent people?

*** Warning – this book contains themes that some sensitive readers may find upsetting. ***

Purchase Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks

Add it on Goodreads

Meet the author:

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those early morning times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. Visit him at his blog or connect with him on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon. 

Meet Author Cecelia Earl

Please welcome my first guest of 2017, Cecelia Earl.

Thank you so much for having me here today, Diane!<3 o:p="">

Glad you're here, Cecelia. Please tell us about yourself.

I credit my passion for penning fiction to a mandatory sixth grade study hall. I could have gotten my math done, but instead chose to write a teen mystery series, loosely inspired by Sweet Valley High, Trixie Beldon, and Nancy Drew--my favorite series at the time. I never shared the stories with anyone, and time moved on. Sadly, I had no more mandatory study halls during which to write. It wasn’t until I had three children, worked full-time as a teacher, and kept a home relatively tidy that I realized my passion for writing wasn’t something I had to give up with childhood and the end of study halls. Four years and five novels later, I wrote the first book in the Kingdom Come trilogy. 

I live with my husband, three sons, and male dog near enough to Green Bay, WI that my refrigerator is always stocked with cheese, and the first colors my children learned were green and gold. (I happily spend time with my female characters whenever the testosterone levels get too high in the house.) 

I can usually be found snuggling my kids, reading on the couch, drinking strong coffee, or sipping from a glass of Malbec. Once in a while I vacuum.

Where can readers find you?

Website https://ceceliaearl.wordpress.com/

Blog https://ceceliaearl.wordpress.com/blog/

Author Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/authorcecelia

Twitter https://twitter.com/authorcecelia

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32611801-when-ash-rains-down

Newsletter (for giveaways, updates, exclusive content, etc) http://eepurl.com/cdvvIj

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, outline, or...?

I used to start with the character(s), but that usually led to my books being completely character-driven with little plot. Now, there’s nothing wrong with character-driven stories, and my contemporary realistic manuscripts still are, but I realized that I still needed a better story, and I wasn’t getting there without outlining my plot points ahead of drafting. This led to loads of time being spent on revisions.

 In order to be more productive and make better use of my writing time, I researched various plotting and outlining techniques. I used Christine Frazier’s Better Novel Project Master Outline (link: http://www.betternovelproject.com/blog/master-outline/) before the first draft of When Ash Rains Down, but I still needed more revisions than I’d hoped for, and then I discovered Libbie Hawker’s book Take Off Your Pants. After reading it, I reshaped the book’s plot and am using her outlining suggestions for the next two books in the series.

I tend to research as I go, whenever I come across something I need to understand more carefully, either while drafting or revising.

What did you learn from writing your first book?

For my first “novel”, I penned a 120,000 word manuscript about a girl who could see auras and who traveled through portals to another dimension and met a boy named Phin. I don’t remember anything about that character other than his name… And I did everything, everything wrong. The novel opened with the main character waking up. Then she looked in the bathroom mirror to describer herself. I prided myself on using every dialogue tag I’d ever heard of. I loved adverbs, thought they were God’s gift to writers. I wrote passive sentences and so much purple prose. Sososo much. I wrote a two-page query, shrunk the text, sent it to my top five agents. Rejected. Surprised? I posted the manuscript online through writing critique forums. Both the query and the novel were red-lined. So. Much. Red. I rewrote the beginning chapters fifty-six-ish times. I never did nail down a query for that one (remember my plotting issues?) before I shoved it in a drawer for the rest of eternity.

How many hours a day to you spend writing?

I have three kids, ages 10, 8, and 5, and I work full time, so I write once they’re all fed and their homework is done and when we’re not at baseball (We play indoor baseball in the winters in Wisconsin, so it never ends!) and when the laundry and cleaning are done…so basically on the days I get up at 5 or 5:30 and the nights I can keep my eyes open until 11 or 12. So, anywhere between 1-2 hours, if I’m not using those hours to work on other book-related activities, like promotion, or to critique work for other writers.

Are your stories driven by plot or character?

Well, I guess I basically answered this before, but I’ll say again that they’re more character-driven. My stories begin, are driven forward, and end with my emotion toward, or rather the emotion I feel inside, my characters. I spend a lot of time contemplating my character’s arc and the theme of the novels. I try to incorporate these aspects in each scene of the novel.

How do you balance a life outside of writing with deadlines and writing muses?

I have some work to do in this area. I’m a huge procrastinator and work best under pressure, when there’s a deadline looming. Unfortunately, this means often times I’m pulling an all-nighter the night before a deadline rather than having used the two months prior to evenly space the work out. Maybe setting and sticking to a schedule should be a 2017 resolution… The biggest things to fall through the cracks after I started writing (since work and family are still a priority over writing) are my running and working out. The one way I try to balance this, and it works out really well, is that I get my best ideas for scenes and dialogues while running. So, when I’m feeling burnt out while sitting in front of my laptop, if I hit the pavement or treadmill, I take care of my health, fitness, and writer’s block issues all at the same time. The struggle is that I no longer run before work, so that’s writing time over coffee, and my kids are still too little for me to leave home alone. It’s hard to find that time to get to the gym… And I find little motivation to head there after they’re in bed at night. Guess I’ve found another 2017 resolution.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading your work?

Since my novels are character- and theme-driven, I hope they’ll be inspired to apply some aspect of my character’s growth or some underlying message to the struggles and challenges and issues they face in their own lives. I also hope they’ll enjoy some aspect of my writing style and voice, maybe find a quote or two that they reread two or three times or read out loud or bookmark or share.

What two authors would we find you reading when taking a break from your own writing?

Maggie Stiefvater and Kiersten White and Chelsea Fine and Rachel Morgan (Sorry, that’s four! I teach first grade. I promise I really can read, follow directions, and count 1, 2….)

Tell us about your latest release.

When Ash Rains Down is a paranormal novel for young adults. Since contemporary realistic is my go-to genre, it’s heavy on the contemporary realism with a splash of paranormal that turns into a bit of a tidal wave. The fantasy aspects of angels and demons is the main focus of the plot, obviously, but my main character is well-embedded in a normal contemporary world and is initially concerned with everyday issues concerning school, romance, family, and friends… you know, until her world is turned upside down and angels and demons begin to battle for souls and she, in turn, has to pick up her sword and fight back.

Book Blurb:

When Ash Rains Down is a paranormal novel for young adults.

The final battle between Heaven and Hell has begun and the devil has his sights set on claiming a human-angel hybrid, eighteen-year-old Julia White, to use as a pawn to destroy Heaven and Earth. 

Julia’s disbelief at the news that she’s being hunted by demons doesn’t stop her guardian angels from wanting her to fight on their side. Will it be too late to protect her family and friends from soul-siphoning demons by the time Julia believes that she needs to trade in her homecoming crown for a sword and a pair of angel wings? And will she accept her fate to become an undercover angel?

When Ash Rains Down is the first book in debut author Cecelia Earl's Kingdom Come series.

Book Excerpt:

This scene takes place in what Julia thinks is a forest, but is truly a training ground for warrior angels. After demons infiltrate it, and a battle breaks out, Nicholas tries to explain everything to Julia, who before this thought the world existed without angels and demons….

“So…”

“So, Julia. This is about angels and demons. Those,” he points to the monsters, “are demons. The devil’s army. The final battles leading to the final war between Heaven and Hell has begun, and it’s trickled down from every dimension into your little town, because the devil has set his sights on you.”
He touches my cheek again, and I see he is like the warriors on the battlefield. He wears a golden aura and stark white wings behind him. A wave of tingles replaces all the pressure and nothingness in my back. He flicks something behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to see—

Wings.

A pair of wings fly out from my back, not heavy, though I’d expect to fall backward from the weight of them, as they are attached…to my back.

There are wings attached to my back.

I spin around, trying to see them, but they move with me and stay behind me. I can feel them there, a part of me.

I reach over my shoulder to feel them and shriek, “Nicholas!”

A fiery sword is suddenly in my hand, blazing white and peridot, like the stone around my neck, which is warm and flashing on its own. A fierce blast of cold and hot washes over me, and I shriek again. I jolt back and drop the sword, my eyes flying to Nicholas’, needing an explanation, needing to wake up in my bed at home, needing something other than whatever is happening to me right now.

“I… I have wings.”

“Of course you do.” He stoops to pick up my sword. Holds it out for me to take. “You’re an angel.”

Buy Links:

Amazon Paperback $8.99

 https://www.amazon.com/When-Rains-Down-Kingdom-Come/dp/1539553892/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483304245&sr=8-1&keywords=when+ash+rains+down

Amazon e-book 99 cents

https://www.amazon.com/When-Rains-Down-Kingdom-Come-ebook/dp/B01N0MKSDW/

Createspace (Paperback) $8.99

https://www.createspace.com/6648303