VBT: Harbingers by Ellis Morning

Harbingers

by Ellis Morning

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GENRE:   Science Fiction/Fantasy

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BLURB:

The Quest Continues To Stop A Killer "Curse!"

Dame Jessamine is a knight errant with a spaceship for a steed, a woman of science in a galaxy rife with superstition. Follow along as she continues her mission for truth within the barony of Nidaros!

A mysterious crop-withering blight spreads through the barony's soil. The court magicians have blamed two siblings of spawning the crisis through witchcraft. Convinced of their innocence, Jessamine has rescued and now secretly harbors Verahl Naustvik aboard her spaceship. Meanwhile, his sister Thordia flees to the Harbinger, a crashed space station from the distant and more enlightened past.

Approaching the Harbinger is an act punishable by death, but Jessamine won't let that stand in the way of a second rescue. Thordia, and the Harbinger's surviving technological secrets, may be Nidaros' only hope against the blight. Jessamine prepares to embark—only to be betrayed and set upon by vengeful court magicians.

Now, one wrong word or gesture will lead to deadly charges of witchcraft. Jessamine must protect the Naustviks and brave the Harbinger, all while striking a balance between ritual and reason. If she can't maintain the peace long enough to discover a cure for the blight, the entire barony will starve—unless its far-off masters decide to "restore order" with military action first!

Harbingers is Book Two of the Sword and Starship series of science fiction/fantasy adventure.

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Excerpt Two:

Dag held silent. He was surely scowling at me, but I couldn’t see it and didn’t care. With my right arm, I lowered Ormyr to a seat against the rock again. His limbs obeyed, but he seemed absent mentally, eyes glazed over. I learned the hard way that he was still paying attention when his hand darted to the bolt in his thigh. He tore it out with one swift movement.

“Damn it!” I cried. It just figured he wouldn’t listen. This bit of stubbornness might’ve cost him his life. Heart pounding and hands shaking, I dug into my first aid kit for bandages.

“I’m uninjured.” Ormyr rested his head against the rock.

“I don’t need your denial on top of everything else,” I snapped, struggling to rein in my irritation. That, plus the fog and the dizziness? Not good signs, but I couldn’t worry about myself just then. “Dag, turn on that light again. I can’t see too well.”

“Gamla skíta,” Dag spat. “I’m not helping him!”

“No, you’re not. You’re showing him the power the Naustviks gave you.” There. Something to appeal to the kid’s bravado and sate Ormyr’s curiosity about how Dag had come to wield the Shipbuilder relic. But if Ormyr cared about such a thing at the moment, he gave no sign, his gaze remaining detached.

Dag edged over to my makeshift surgical arena. The bright light cut on again, which the boy aimed directly at Ormyr’s eyes at first. The master adept’s only response was to squint.

“Lower, Dag,” I said.

He complied. Eventually.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Ellis has always loved staging adventures in her head before going to sleep each night. When she was twelve, she started putting these adventures on paper.

For the next twenty years, she wrote with varying degrees of seriousness, but always as a hobby. In that time, she fell in love with Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut, the original Star Trek series, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. Science fiction became her favorite domain to work in, but she also enjoyed reading fantasy, horror, Western, and detective stories, and incorporating their elements into her work. One of her favorite things to do was make people laugh.

Ellis denied being a writer for decades. But then she sold articles to The Daily WTF, and a short story to Analog Science Fiction and Fact. After quitting her full-time job to finish her first novel, it was time to own up to writing as her calling. She's currently an editor at The Daily WTF, and having the time of her life penning novels and short stories.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+EllisMorning

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/EllisMorning

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7871892.Ellis_Morning

LINKS FOR BUYING THE BOOK:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZA1BP3

Nook (B&N): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/harbingers-ellis-morning/1125466299?ean=2940157321758

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/harbingers-2

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1194116553

Interview with Ellis Morning

1. What is your favorite part of this book and why?

Without giving too much away, I really enjoy when Dame Jessamine, the main character, hits her personal rock-bottom and has to climb back out with some very unlikely help. That’s where we see what she’s made of.

2. If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?

I’d want to learn archery from Ingvar Leirfall, Dame Jessamine’s love interest. He’s a great mentor and easy on the eyes to boot!

3. If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?

There are lots of books I wouldn’t mind taking credit for! Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most thought-provoking and profound books I’ve ever read. I still cry when I read the part about the World War 2 movie seen in reverse.

4. Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?

Trick question! ;) Even when we think we’re make things up whole-cloth, we’re actually taking ideas stored in our brains and recombining them in interesting ways. So everyone’s characters are blends of all the real and fictional people they’ve ever met, seen on TV or the bus, read about, etc. Mine included! There’s no one who’s a 100% copy of a person I know in real life.

5. What made you want to become a writer?
When I was little, I liked imagining extra episodes of the cartoons I watched, continuing the adventures of my favorite characters. Eventually, those stories made it out on paper. I was in high school when the Internet took off, and it was a lot of fun to interact with other people doing the same thing. Writing became my favorite creative outlet.

I had a goal of finishing at least one book one day. Toward that end, I left fan-fiction behind for original fiction, starting with short stories and progressing to novels. The novels are my main focus these days, but I’m always happy to scribble out short stories when an idea strikes.

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Ellis Morning will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway