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Tuesday, December 16, 2014

GRAND FINALE BLITZ: Claus Box Set (clean YA Sci-Fi)

 
A themed tour through Prism Book Tours.

It's the Grand Finale for
The Claus Box Set Tour
By Tony Bertauski


Now you can purchase all three books in the Claus Series together!


Have you ever wondered if Claus had a family? Who exactly is Jack Frost? How about a living, breathing snowman? Have you ever thought about how it all would work? Let Tony Bertauski's imagination and fabulous storytelling take you on a journey through a sci-fi winter wonderland! If you missed any of the stops for the tour, you're welcome to go back and check them out now...

Launch - The Claus Universe
The story of Santa has been told a billion, billion times on the screen and the television, the written page and the digital, in short form and long, in verse and song. He’s been animated and claymated, horrified and glorified. There’s not a single word left unwritten about the jolly old fat man.
Except, maybe, not that I recall, in science fiction...

Mommabears Book Blog - Excerpt from Claus
And in March of 1820, just as the sun had begun to rise from its long winter disappearance, they set out to do what no human – Inuit or otherwise – had done before.
They would touch the North Pole.
The Arctic was stunning.

SBM Book Obsession - Characters from the Claus Universe
Elven
An ancient race that evolved through the Ice Age, the elven are short and fat with generous layers of blubber to tolerate the cold. Their fat feet are large and wide like snowshoes, the soles scaly to slide across ice. Technologically evolved, long-lived and wise, they carve their homes in the North Pole ice and secretly monitor the growth of the human race while living in harmony with their environment.

Mythical Books - Characters from Claus
Nicholas Santa
Born in the late 1700s, Nicholas Santa set out with his wife, Jessica, and son, Jon, to become the first people to journey to the North Pole. However, they discover something much more than snow. Nicholas finds himself in the middle of an elven conflict. And we discover how he becomes the immortal and mythical figure known as Santa Claus. Why does he wear a red coat? Why is he fat? Why does he laugh like that? It all makes sense.

Wishful Endings - Characters from Jack
Janack (Jack)
An elven, son of Jocah and fraternal twin of Claus. Due to a genetic abnormality, he is the only hairless elven in existence. Jack can freeze people, elven and objects with the touch of a finger. He returns to this modern day story through the science of cloning...

Letters from Annie (Douglass) Lima - Excerpt from Jack
Joe leads her into the maze. They run their hands over the flat-topped boxwoods, shuffle over the oyster shell path. The sunken garden is imbued with warmth, the kind that flows through her, melts in her stomach, opens her heart. She smiles, involuntarily, as she couldn’t frown if she tried.
The short, fat woman sits on a square pedestal inside a round pool, water dripping from her frozen hands. Light emanates from the center without a source.
“Who is she?” Sura asks.
“You’ve never heard the Myth of Jocah?”
Beck Valley Books - Characters from Flury
Flury
The snowman that lives on the property. He is rarely seen until Oliver comes to live with Grandmother. The snowman becomes his protector and slowly reveals the family secrets that have been hidden for over a hundred years.

fuonlyknew - Excerpt from Flury
“You have grown.”

She doesn’t let go while looking him over: his hair, the stray whiskers on his chin, the insufficient winter clothing. She stares at the floor. His socks are loose at the ends of his frozen toes, specks of snow clinging to the fabric. Small puddles begin to bead on the polished floor.

“And how old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

My Life Loves and Passion - Review
"These books were awesome. I am not a huge fan of holiday themed books for myself, but these were different. Each book is a very different story about 3 very common winter myths. I loved that these stories were not all candy and rainbows. There was such a good mix of fantasy and holiday spirit.
I started reading and before I knew it hours had passed. It pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading."

 The Book Lovers' Lounge - Spotlight

Book Babble - Review
"By the end of the book, I couldn't want to move on to the second one to find out what was going to happen next...

This book really took me on a wild ride. Every time I thought I had something figured out, the plot went in a completely different direction...

There is a great deal of humor in the story, and some really fun dialogue..."

More About the Series

Claus: Legend of the Fat Man
Claus: Legend of the Fat Man
(Claus #1)
by Tony Bertauski
YA Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Holiday
Paperback & ebook, 326 Pages
June 19th 2012

The Christmas story you never heard.

In the early 1800s, Nicholas, Jessica and Jon Santa attempt the first human trek to the North Pole and stumble upon an ancient race of people left over from the Ice Age. They are short, fat and hairy. They slide across the ice on scaly soles and carve their homes in the ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean. The elven are adapted to life in the extreme cold. They are as wise as they are ancient.

Their scientific advancements have yielded great inventions -- time-stopping devices and gravitational spheres that build living snowmen and genetically-modified reindeer that leap great distances. They’ve even unlocked the secrets to aging. For 40,000 years, they have lived in peace.

Until now.

An elven known as The Cold One has divided his people. He’s tired of their seclusion and wants to conquer the world. Only one elven stands between The Cold
One and total chaos. He’s white-bearded and red-coated. The Santa family will help him stop The Cold One. They will come to the aid of a legendary elven
known as...Claus.

Jack: The Tale of Frost (Claus, #2)
Jack: The Tale of Frost
(Claus #2)
by Tony Bertauski
YA Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Holiday
Paperback & ebook, 290 Pages
October 17th 2013

Sura is sixteen years old when she meets Mr. Frost. He’s very short and very fat and he likes his room very, very cold. Some might say inhumanly cold. His first name isn’t Jack, she’s told. And that’s all she needed to know.

Mr. Frost’s love for Christmas is over-the-top and slightly psychotic. And why not? He’s made billions of dollars off the holiday he invented. Or so he claims. Rumor is he’s an elven, but that’s silly. Elven aren’t real. And if they were, they wouldn’t live in South Carolina. They wouldn’t hide in a tower and go to the basement to make…things.

Nonetheless, Sura will work for this odd little recluse. Frost Plantation is where she’ll meet the love of her life. It’s where she’ll finally feel like she belongs somewhere. And it’s where she’ll meet someone fatter, balder and stranger than Mr. Frost. It’s where she’ll meet Jack.

Jack hates Christmas.

Flury: Journey of a Snowman
Flury: Journey of a Snowman
(Claus #3)
by Tony Bertauski
YA Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Holiday
Paperback & ebook, 300 Pages
November 15th 2014

Life hasn’t been kind to Oliver Toye.

As if juvenile diabetes isn’t enough, he’s forced to live with his tyrannical grandmother in a snow-bound house. He spends his days doing chores and the nights listening to the forest rumble.

But when he discovers the first leather-bound journal, the family secrets begin to surface. The mystery of his great-grandfather’s voyage to the North Pole is revealed. That’s when the snowman appears.

Magical and mysterious, the snowman will save Oliver more than once. But when the time comes for Oliver to discover the truth, will he have the courage? When Flury needs him, will he have the strength? When believing isn’t enough, will he save the snowman from melting away?

Because sometimes even magic needs a little help.
   

About Tony Bertauski

During the day, I'm a horticulturist. While I've spent much of my career designing landscapes or diagnosing dying plants, I've always been a storyteller. My writing career began with magazine columns, landscape design textbooks, and a gardening column at the Post and Courier (Charleston, SC). However, I've always fancied fiction.

My grandpa never graduated high school. He retired from a steel mill in the mid-70s. He was uneducated, but he was a voracious reader. I remember going through his bookshelves of paperback sci-fi novels, smelling musty old paper, pulling Piers Anthony and Isaac Asimov off shelf and promising to bring them back. I was fascinated by robots that could think and act like people. What happened when they died?

I'm a cynical reader. I demand the writer sweep me into his/her story and carry me to the end. I'd rather sail a boat than climb a mountain. That's the sort of stuff I want to write, not the assigned reading we got in school. I want to create stories that kept you up late.

Having a story unfold inside your head is an experience different than reading. You connect with characters in a deeper, more meaningful way. You feel them, empathize with them, cheer for them and even mourn. The challenge is to get the reader to experience the same thing, even if it's only a fraction of what the writer feels. Not so easy.

In 2008, I won the South Carolina Fiction Open with Four Letter Words, a short story inspired by my grandfather and Alzheimer's Disease. My first step as a novelist began when I developed a story to encourage my young son to read. This story became The Socket Greeny Saga. Socket tapped into my lifetime fascination with consciousness and identity, but this character does it from a young adult's struggle with his place in the world.

After Socket, I thought I was done with fiction. But then the ideas kept coming, and I kept writing. Most of my work investigates the human condition and the meaning of life, but not in ordinary fashion. About half of my work is Young Adult (Socket Greeny, Claus, Foreverland) because it speaks to that age of indecision and the struggle with identity. But I like to venture into adult fiction (Halfskin, Drayton) so I can cuss. Either way, I like to be entertaining.

And I'm a big fan of plot twists.


Tour Giveaway
   
$25 Amazon gift card and the Claus Box Set ebook
Open internationally
Ends December 21st


Prism Book Tours

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Book Review for Sawyer Beckett's Baby Momma Drama By S.E. Hall




Baby Momma Drama
By S.E. Hall

5 stars
Reviewed by : Tonya
Format : Kindle Edition
Published by : S.E.Hall
Source: Purchased Copy
Gene:  Contemporary

 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23697559-sawyer-beckett-s-baby-mama-drama-guide-for-dummies

Blurb

After going through a pregnancy at her side, listening to all the mumbo-jumbo jargon strangers in white coats spewed at me, just to have my woman do the exact opposite the minute we left their office- I decided to help my fellow man. 

In language we actually speak. 

If you've got a Baby Mama, pick up this short, simple guide and thank me later.

Our Review



OMG this book is absolutely hilarious and a super fast read. I read this in 20 minutes. I couldn't stop laughing. I loved Sawyer in the Evolve series. But this book, this book seals what a truly awesome character he is. Sawyer puts it all out there, exactly what he thinks about being on the other end of a pregnancy - the male end and he is going to have you laughing out loud the entire time. From his butt hurt comments to his "nope you're mistaken" to his "may the force be with you and your chafed right hand". I can't tell you how much I laughed and truly loved this book.

S.E. Hall did an amazing job with Sawyer and this book. And I bet any guy that reads this will appreciate it greatly. Sawyers mouth is what makes him such an endearing character - truly, as crass as he can be, you know the guy means well inside. And he is back full force in this book. ♥ LOL ♥

He hits the nail on the head many times in this book, from the guy's point of view on what happens while going through pregnancy and the best ways to handle it and survive it and come out alive on the other side. If you know any young couples out there going through a first time pregnancy this would be the PERFECT gift fort the guy. He can read it in one sitting on his throne and be fore warned and fully prepared.

Now run along and get your copy, sit down, oh don't drink anything while you read this, and enjoy. 30 minutes and you are done and you will absolutely LOVE this book.


















One Week Blog Tour for The S.P.I.R.I.T Series by Dawn Gray from Dec 8 to Dec 16, 2014

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Sparkle Blog Button info book1Title: S.P.I.R.I.T. Fire Storm Series: S.P.I.R.I.T. Series #1 Author: Dawn Gray Audience: Adult Genre: Paranormal Formats: E-book and Paperback Publisher: Anchor Group Cover by: Najla-Qamber-Designs Editor: There For You Editing Pages: 290 pages ASIN: B007SZR7T2 Date Published: 1 January 2014
blurb
When Samantha Ricketts finds herself placed in a town half-way across the country, her only worry is how did she get there, but when her life is saved by a handsome and mysterious man, the connection they feel is almost more than she can stand. Zander Smith was only acting on his instincts and training when he moved the dark-haired woman to safety but what he got from his heroics wasn't the distressed woman he had thought he was helping but a fireball of fury that sparked a storm within himself. Together they tap into the supernatural to uncover the mysteries surrounding the strange town they were slowly growing fond of before they became part of its history.
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book 2Title: Malevolent Gateway Series: S.P.I.R.I.T. Series # 2 Pages: 290 ASIN: B00AM4I1BO Date Published: 10 Dec 2012 blurb The Green Mountains of Vermont is a wonderland of picturesque valleys and hills, a landscape of fields and small towns that are hidden treasures. However, they can also hide many secrets. Burke Flats, located in the upper right hand corner of the state, the Northeast Kingdom, has many skeletons in its closet. Lieutenant Will Stiles and his group of men, the S.P.I.R.I.T. team, are called in to investigate the strange happenings around the marshlands of Burke Flats. For generations the marshes have been a place of ghostly lore, disappearances, and strange deaths. Anna and Blake call the Flats home, but when the deaths begin to pick up in numbers they are more than happy to have the help of the military’s new elite. Will having the S.P.I.R.I.T. team so close open up a world of evil that they aren’t prepared for? Can a member of a different unit help spread some light on the subject? Join Anna, Blake, Will, and his team in a fight against a stronger malevolent presence than anyone ever expected.
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info book3Title: Hidden Demons Series: S.P.I.R.I.T. Series # 3 Pages: 290 ASIN: B00IA7A94M Date Published: 5 Feb 2014 

blurb In the quiet Northeast Kingdom town of Aldenville, surrounded by beautiful mountains and a lake that crosses borders, something is amiss. Construction begins in the midst of protest, which only escalates when the remains of an ancient skeleton is found. Suddenly, the ground opens up to reveal a hidden cavern below the town itself. Special Agent Scott Embry of the S.P.I.R.I.T unit is flown in from Washington when the leader of the dig site goes missing. Their only witness, her best friend, Peighton Weak, is a Speleologist who was brought in to lead the team of cave divers. Their plan is to go down into the depth of the darkness to explore the strange writings that cover the dig site and bring about the mysterious beginnings of Aldenville. Along with the help of Evan Reed, a peculiar man himself, the team begins to uncover the secret beginnings of Aldenville and its hidden demons, some which span over five centuries.
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dreamcast
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My playlist for writing is usually soundtracks and instrumental music.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Harry Potter
Dungeons and Dragons
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
and Pandora on random/shuffle
bio
book1

SAMANTHA RICKETTS: 25-30 long hair, dark, feisty. Sam grew up in a haunted house being able to hear ghosts that her father (a scientist) help conjure up and capture. They torment her for her whole childhood and she finally breaks free of them become a mythology tutor. She wakes up to find herself in the field of a church which blows up and she is rescued by Zander but doesn’t let her guard down. Lieutenant Zander Smith: 25-30 dark hair, military man. Zander can see ghosts and uses his ability to help the military team find and destroy the ghouls that they trace. He is fascinated by Samantha when he finds her on the field. He has had run ins with the ghost in the old house that she used to live in and find s that he is very protective of her and very attached.
book 2
ANNA NEUVILLE had lived in Burke Flats most of her youth, had seen the comings and goings of the strange little town, but for her there was nothing magical about the place. Scary, dark, secretive, and definitely a place of unrest-those were the words that she would use to describe how she felt about her home in the mountains. That was until she met William Stiles. FIRST LIEUTENANT WILLIAM STILES never liked being so close to any hot spot. Something in Burke Flats wasn't just hot, it was steaming, especially out by the marsh. He was a strong-headed lifer; there was no way he was getting out of the service anytime soon. He had entered straight from high school and moved up the ranks quickly, gaining a college education and taking command in Iraq several times. He had a Master's in Homeland Security and a Bachelor's in Strategic Leadership. He had never questioned his abilities until Anna stepped into his life.
book 3
PEIGHTON WEAK She was the one that Dell always called in. There was nothing that Peighton couldn’t figure out when she’s put in the right situation. Having witnessed Dell’s death, Peighton set out to solve the mystery that surrounded Aldenville, and she had Scott by her side to do it. Peighton came with the highest recommendations in her field, and Dell always requested her when she stumbled on the black hole. She is an expert at dry cave diving and anthropology. SPECIAL AGENT SCOTT EMBRY Embry was an ex-Special Ops, if anyone could ever be one, who transferred to the FBI’s special new division after his medical discharge. It was strange to step into a world outside his own after living in the military ranks for so long, but at the same time he had seen some things on his tours that brought the rest of the “known” world collapsing down on him. The S.P.I.R.I.T. division of the FBI was a bit different than the military units deployed around the country. Most of the agents he knew were the first in after everything was cleared and taken care of, but with Embry and his canine companion, they seemed to be the ones that stepped in just as everything came to a boil and things weren’t looking good for the unit members.


Angels with Attitude - Author Interview

What would you have done differently if you were the main character of your book ? 

 I think they are all perfect, I believe the love story in Fire Storm could use a little more time.
What was your inspiration behind this book?  A dream, the first chapter is the last thing I remember when I woke up.

Why did you become a writer? 

 I’ve always been a writer for as long as I could remember.  Adventures never ended when I came in from playing with friends.

Do you have a favorite author or authors? 

 Anne Rice, Stephen King, Christine Feehan, and a lot of the Anchor Group authors and Indie authors that I have come to know since publishing

Do you like to write your books in a continuing series? 

My books follow a path of their own.  While the S.P.I.R.I.T. series follows the actual military unit, each book is a different team or individual connected to it.

If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why?

I actually would date Julian Deveraux from the Vampire Legacy, he has been my crush since I met his inspiration.

What kinds of books do you like to read in your spare time?

 Anything

As a reader and writer I think it is important to get to know your fans and make a connection with them as an author who takes the extra step to hear what their fans think and want in their continued writing is continued success and key to selling more books .Do you agree with that?

  I absolutely agree with it.



 Yes.

Did you have a Cover Designer? 

 Originally I designed the covers myself and after joining Anchor Group, we’ve had several cover designers.

Who is your fictional boyfriend crush? 

Julian or Zander, it’s a toss-up
If you were able to dine and have a one on one with your favorite writer/author who would it be?  Anne Rice, definitely.

Do just re-read your favorite books?

 Most definitely.

Do you ever get in a reading slump like your readers do?

 I get into a writing slump, especially when things are busy and I can’t get myself going.


What is the funniest book you ever read? 

 There are a lot of them, I don’t think I pinpoint just one.

giveaway
author
clip_image017 Being raised in both the Northeast corner of Vermont and one of the larger cities in Massachusetts has given Dawn, a divorced mother of three, the unique ability to mix the spookiness of a small town ghost story with the fast pace action of city life. Island Pond, Vermont was every child's wonderland, with looming mountains and small towns nestled in the valleys, its simple lifestyle gave Ms. Gray the ability to let her imagination run wild, thus creating her unique style of writing, where the stories speak for themselves. Big city living, in her teenage years to the present allowed her to harvest that energy and creativeness to bring to life some of the most unique characters, such as Michael Raven and Julian Deveraux. Although Vampires are her most used basis for characters and settings, Ms. Gray's novels also venture into those of other supernatural realms, with ghosts, witchcraft and werewolves coming into play in several of her upcoming manuscripts.
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follow the tour
Tour Schedule - One Week Blog Tour for The S.P.I.R.I.T Series by Dawn Gray from Dec 8 to Dec 16, 2014
Dec 8
Coffee Books & Art - Promo & Dream Cast
Indy Book Fairy - Promo & Character Bio's
Dec 9
A Little Bit of R&R - Promo & Author Interview
Ogitchida Kwe's Book Blog - Promo
Dec 10
Loves All Things Books - Promo & Playlist
Angels with Attitude Book Reviews - Promo, Author Interview & Playlist
Dec 11
Trips Down Imagination Road - Promo & Review
The Avid Reader- Promo, Dream Cast, Character Bio's & Playlist
Dec 12
Evanlea's Bookshelf - Promo & Review
Patricia D. Eddy - Promo
Dec 15
Eclipse Reviews - Promo, Dream Cast, Character Bio's, Character Interview & Playlist
Portals to New Worlds - Promo, Dream Cast, Character Bio's & Playlist
Dec 16
MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It Book Reviews - Promo & Dream Cast
Fictional Rendezvous Book Blog - Promo
Ms. Me28 - Promo & Review