Crimson Winter Vol. 1: Ruins of Sapphire by Justine Alley Dowsett

About the Book:

When Japanese high school student Yukari Namikoya finds herself suddenly and inexplicably on another planet, she must quickly come to terms with the fact that she may never see Tokyo again. With a sun that never sets, the desert world of Crimson Winter is on the brink of extinction and day-to-day survival can be difficult; especially for someone used to the modern-day conveniences of Earth.

Following the only clue she has to a way home – a cryptic message from a woman long dead – Yukari heads into the desert searching for the Temple of Sapphire. There, she finds the temple in ruins, but what waits there for her is her destiny as a Chosen of the gem god Sapphiros.

Stranded on this new world and hunted by the Vile Emperor and his vast forces simply for being what she is, Yukari has no choice but to learn how to fulfill the role she’s been cast into and become the long-awaited saviour of a dangerous planet she doesn’t yet understand.

Follow the Tour to Read Exclusive Excerpts, Reviews, and Guest Posts. Make sure to enter the giveaway, too!!

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2020/06/book-tour-schedule-crimson-winter-vol-1.html

Book Details:

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing

Publication Date: June 17, 2020

ASIN: B088DHBLG4

Purchase Links:

Mirror World Publishing

eBook: https://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/products/crimson-winter-vol-1-ruins-of-sapphire-ebook

Paperback: https://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/products/crimson-winter-vol-1-ruins-of-sapphire-paperback

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2UNKFG3

Read an Excerpt:

Directly across the playground from where the teenager stood there was a girl about his age and dressed just as strangely as he was. She was wearing all black as well, but in her case that meant a tight-fitting dress that flared out from her waist and belled at her ankles. That was strange enough, but she also had a glowing, red-jeweled necklace around her neck that matched her companion’s exactly. Her hair, which framed her face and fell almost to her waist, was the same fiery red as the contacts in her eyes. 

There were two more as well, one to each side, and the four of them had the four of us surrounded. My fear spiked – this wasn’t normal. 

Rash, fiery Yue again did the unexpected and she leapt for the gothic teenager nearest us. Oddly, he did not react, nor seem to care in the least. Then, somehow, her outstretched arms passed through him as if he wasn’t even there at all. 

I didn’t waste the time or effort trying to reason out how that could be possible. I simply did the only thing I could think of; I lifted my phone and called the police. 

“What is your emergency?” 

“My friends and I are being accosted by a gang in Hyuski Heights Park, Shinjuku district.” If I sounded panicked now, I had the police on the phone and did not care. I clung to my cell phone like a lifeline. 

The Goths all stepped forward, and in unison they each lifted their crystal necklaces in what I assumed to be a ritual motion. This was it. Whatever they had come here for, it was going to happen now. 

At the request of the dispatch lady, I described the four people around us. They continued to ignore us – even Yue, who had taken several swings at the blonde one with no results. Amazingly, red lights shot upwards like laser beams from their upheld crystals to connect in the air above us. I didn’t bother to explain this to the woman on the phone – she wouldn’t have believed me and I was beyond shock at this point – the police would see it when they arrived. 

“The police are on their way,” she informed me. “Did you need me to contact your parents?”

“No,” I answered a little too quickly, stricken, “but can you please stay on the line with me?” I thought I might lose what grip on reality I had if I lost this woman’s voice – that was how scared I was. 

The glowing beams cast a red hue onto the park and us. The point where they connected to each other pulsed brightly above our heads. Surely someone would see this and come looking? Hotaru and Kaji had stopped digging by now and were staring about in surprise. They had been too preoccupied to notice our predicament before and I had not thought to warn them. The center point continued to pulse and we, in the midst of it all, stood almost riveted, watching as it grew and lengthened inexplicably until it formed a column of red light reaching to the ground. 

Yue was the first to snap out of the trance the odd phenomenon had caused in us. She changed her tactics abruptly on the gang member she was facing, and weaved to dodge past him, making a break for the exit. I could hear sirens in the distance now and I thanked providence the local police station was not far away. There was a sharp crackling sound as Yue struck an invisible wall, seemingly created by the joining of the red beams of light. She cried out in pain and was flung backwards by the impact. The blonde teenager laughed and I ran forward to make sure Yue was okay, all the while dictating what was happening to the dispatch woman, no longer worrying how crazy or delusional I sounded. 

“Hello? Hello, are you hearing me?” I demanded into the receiver. “Yue is hurt! You have to hurry.”

Yue was in pain, I could tell, but she climbed to her feet regardless, wincing as she did so. 

“Um, Yukari, Yue…” Hotaru called in an uncertain voice and we turned to look over at her. 

The pulsing light in the center of the red dome they had created was now in the shape of a pillar – no, a gateway – and something was coming out of it. 

I knew in that instant I didn’t want to know what that something was.

Meet the Author:

Justine Alley Dowsett is the author of nine novels and counting, and one of the founders of Mirror World Publishing. Her books, which she often co-writes with her sister, Murandy Damodred, range from young adult science fiction to dark fantasy/romance. She earned a BA in Drama from the University of Windsor, honed her skills as an entrepreneur by tackling video game production, and now she dedicates her time to writing, publishing, and occasionally role-playing.

Connect Justine:



Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/mirrorworldpublishing



Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/mirrorworldpub



Amazon:

https://amzn.to/2UMkqjj



Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/28439132-mirror-world



Blog:

http://www.mirrorworldpublishing.wordpress.com/



Publisher Website:

http://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com/



YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-d6tf8fpn4_mjraKjM-hUQ

Enter the Giveaway:

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The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge ~ Nikki Landry Swamp Legends, Book 5) by Rita Monette

Welcome to the 1-week book tour for The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge!!

“I never believed in ghosts… until I met Oggie.”


About the Book:

Nikki Landry and her friends discover strange white smudges in photos Patti’s grandmother had snapped at an old gravesite. No one can explain what they are.

Did Nikki’s little brother mark them up with a piece of chalk? Did a low-lying fog move in just as she snapped the photos? Could it be just a smear on the camera lens?

Spikes insists it’s a ghost.

Then Mrs. LeBlanc remembers a legend her grandfather told her of a spirit that haunts the small family cemetery located near an old Civil War battle site. 

Will Nikki and her legend busting gang discover it’s just an old tale, or does the ghost really exist? If so, why is he there? What does he want?

Join Nikki and her friends as they go searching for the answers…and the truth behind the Haunting near Battlefield Ridge.

Excerpt:

“Do you see anything strange about the photos?” I scooted my chair toward her.

She adjusted her glasses, looking closer at the one in her hand, then flipped through the rest of ’em. “It looks like just a couple headstones, and some trees and flowers.”

Patti stood behind her peering over her shoulder.

“It’s a small graveyard on private land once belonging to my family,” she explained. “It’s been bought and sold several times since then, but they always leave the graves untouched.” She looked up at me. “What do you mean by strange?”

I got up and leaned over her arm, pointing at one of ’em. “Right there. What’s that?” I poked my finger at a white shadow that seemed to be in each photo.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, “probably fog. It always seems to be lingering out there.” She glanced up at me. “I told Pierre one day that it seemed to follow us around.” She laughed. “The strangest thing.”

I snatched one of the pictures up and held it closer to my face. I couldn’t make out anything but a blur. “Spikes thinks it’s a ghost.”

She gazed at me for a long minute, then looked back at one of the photos. Her face seemed to get a little paler than it usually was. “Well I’ll be.”

“What is it, Grandma?” Patti asked.

“I probably shouldn’t be telling y’all this. Pierre would make fun of me for repeating such things, but there’s a legend I heard when I was a young child. In fact my own father was the one first told me about it. I haven’t thought of it in years.”

“Tell us, Mrs. LeBlanc,” I said. “I love legends.”

“Well, you see, it all started back after the War Between the States, The Civil War, they named it. There was a battle took place over near Plantation Road. That’s what it was called back when Doctor Brashear owned the sugar mill out there. It was just a dirt road going through fields of purple sugar cane—the plumpest and sweetest kind of cane.” She stared at the wall across from her, as her thoughts seemed to wander. “It was the sweetest smell when that cane was a-burning in the fields. It’s mostly filled in with marsh and woods now.”

“But what’s the legend?” I asked, trying to get her back on the important stuff.

“Well, I guess I need to start from the beginning,” she said, “or I’ll get confused. My papaw was a sharecropper, you see, and worked the cane fields until around the year 1860, when Dr. Brashear died. It wasn’t long after that when the Yankees came in and took the town over. They put up a dirt fort to keep out the Confederate soldiers. Kind of like the levees we use now to keep the water under control.”

“Get back to the legend, Grandma,” Patti said.

“Oh yeah,” she continued, “the Confederates came in the summer of eighteen sixty-three. They took the fort and captured the Union soldiers, but not before there was a bloody battle. Some died there on that ridge and many more injured, and died later from their wounds. My papaw called it Battlefield Ridge, but I reckon that ain’t what the real name was.”

“Is that when the legend started?” I asked.

“I imagine so,” she said. “That’s about when it was first seen.”

“When what was seen?” Patti asked.

My eyes opened wider.

She held up her pale finger. “You see, after the war, Papaw bought a small piece of land not too far from there, and built the house where I was born.”

She stared at the wall, again being sucked back into her memories. “It was a small house but filled with lots of love.”

I jiggled my legs, as I got anxious for her to get back to the legend part.

She stretched her neck toward the back door to see if her husband might be able to hear her through the screened door, then she whispered, “Legend is there’s a ghost wanders around that area wearing a blue uniform. A Yankee soldier, no doubt.”

Make sure to visit all of the tour hosts and leave comments about the book, read the guest posts, and enter the giveaway!!

https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/book-tour-schedule-haunting-near.html

Book Details:

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing; 1 edition

Publisher Website: Mirror World Publishing

Publication Date: April 17, 2020

ASIN: B085MMZLFF

Purchase Your Copy:

Mirror World Publishing eBook

Mirror World Publishing Paperback

Amazon

Meet the Author:

Behind Every Legend Lies the Truth!

Rita Monette was born and raised in Southwest Louisiana. After retiring from her “real” job as an administrative assistant for the State of Michigan, Rita began doing what she always wanted to do…write and draw. Her stories are set in the beautiful, yet mysterious, bayous and swamps of her home state. The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge is the fifth book in her Nikki Landry Swamp Legend series. Rita now lives with her husband, four lap dogs, and one lap cat, in the mountains of Tennessee.



Social Media Links:



Website



Facebook



Amazon



Goodreads



Blog



Enter the Giveaway:



Winner's choice of a Kindle copy of one of the books in Rita Monette's Nikki Landry Swamp Legends series. Go to Amazon to learn more about the books in the series

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The Demons of Wall Street (Nora Simeon Investigations #1) by Laurence Raphael Brothers

Welcome to the 1-Week Virtual Book Tour for The Demons of Wall Street (Nora Simeon Investigations #1), an Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Novella by Laurence Raphael Brothers.

About the Book:

Nora Simeon hates demons.

But as an investigator for the secretive Commission, the organization that regulates financial sorcery in New York City, she deals with the creatures a lot more than she'd like. Her latest case has her on the track of a rogue demon, escaped from magical bondage as an analyst for a leading investment bank.

On the demon's trail, Nora crosses paths with a beautiful young man named Eyre. He's too pretty and complaisant to be human, and too kind to be a demon in human form, but what else could he be? Together they become embroiled in the secret corruption at the heart of the financial industry. But before Nora can untangle a twisted skein of sorcerous murder and intrigue, she has to untangle her feelings for Eyre. And before she can do that, she has to find out who and what he really is.

Publisher Website:  

Mirror World Publishing

Purchase Links:

Mirror World Publishing e-book

Mirror World Publishing paperback

Amazon e-book

Amazon paperback

Please visit the tour hosts and share their post and/or leave a comment!

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2020/03/virtual-book-tour-schedule-demons-of.html

Meet the Author:







Laurence Raphael Brothers is a writer and a technologist. He has published over 25 short stories in such magazines as Nature, the New Haven Review, PodCastle, and Galaxy's Edge. His WWI-era historical fantasy novel Twilight Patrol was just released by Alban Lake. For more of his stories, visit https://laurencebrothers.com/bibliography, or follow him on twitter: @lbrothers.

Guest Post

Social Justice in the Demons of Wall Street

Blog post by Laurence Raphael Brothers

In my romantic-noir urban fantasy novella The Demons of Wall Street, you can almost tell from the title what I think about late-stage capitalism. The average demon is bad news, to be sure. They’re cannibalistic creatures from an appalling realm of existence where no laws protect the weak and where survival is only possible for those willing to submit themselves to absolute domination by the powerful. A foolish sorcerer who summons a low-level demon without binding it is liable to be torn limb from limb. But even the worst demon isn’t as bad as the monstrous human bankers depicted in the story.

I have to concede that in our world there are probably not that many sorcerers* among the elite masters of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, or Citibank; rather than being summoned from an infernal plane, their analysts graduate the Ivy League and are awarded lucrative salaries, and though they’re locked into contracts and non-disclosure agreements, these are hardly as constraining as the spells used to summon and bind demon analysts in the novella. I’m sure most bankers don’t think of themselves as agents of evil, rather, they must imagine their work is essential to the functioning of the complex engine of international trade. And yet a casual move by an investment banker that makes billions for the bank and wins the lucky executive a bonanza in bonuses can ruin the lives of millions at home and abroad. Some politicians may believe they ordain the course of the world, but their actions are constrained by the not-so-invisible strings of their party’s financial backers. There are no effective checks and balances on the deeds of the ultra-rich; it’s only when they offend against their peers that they are ever called to account.

The problem with corporate capitalism, though, is that it kind of works. Attempts to disrupt the status quo have been futile thus far, because the prospective damage that radical change portends to the commonwealth, including the working class, is so great that most people shy away from the commitment and sacrifice required to tear down the existing system. And maybe the proposed replacement, whatever it may be — democratic socialism, real socialism, full-on communism, or what have you — wouldn’t be as efficient or as benevolent as hoped in any event.

Ethical sorcerers (the few of them who exist) face a similar dilemma in the world of the novella. The whole apparatus of sorcery is erected on the basis of secrecy. If everyone were allowed to learn the principles of magic, if the reality of the existence of demons was revealed, who knows what chaos would ensue. And yet sorcery is used almost exclusively to increase the wealth and power of the ruling class. People like Nora, on the fringes of the magical establishment, are quite aware how horrible the system is. Even her mother Madame Villiers understands this. But to those few members of the establishment who care about such things, the world is too fragile to attempt to rectify these injustices, and the horrible thing is they might just be right about that.

This first volume of Nora Simeon’s adventures with Eyre exposes some of these issues, but really it’s a fantastic and mysterious adventure first, a romance second, and social commentary is pretty far down on the list. But as the series develops, look for questions of social and economic justice to continue to arise, as well as the thorny question of what to do about these damnable demons.

* Though I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there were a few. Ceremonial sorcery in the western tradition has been an active if generally covert hobbyist pastime ever since the 15th century, and despite the lack of actual magical results, there are always plenty of believers, even among the highly educated. Just google OTO, for example, if you don’t believe me, or look up the life of Aleister Crowley in Wikipedia, paying attention to his occultist heirs and what became of his teachings.

Enter the Giveaway:



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The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge by Rita Monette

Welcome to the Cover Reveal for The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge!!

About the Book:

“I never believed in ghosts… until I met Oggie.”

Nikki Landry and her friends discover strange white smudges in photos Patti’s grandmother had snapped at an old gravesite. No one can explain what they are.

Did Nikki’s little brother mark them up with a piece of chalk? Did a low-lying fog move in just as she snapped the photos? Could it be just a smear on the camera lens?

Spikes insists it’s a ghost.

Then Mrs. LeBlanc remembers a legend her grandfather told her of a spirit that haunts the small family cemetery located near an old Civil War battle site. 

Will Nikki and her legend busting gang discover it’s just an old tale, or does the ghost really exist? If so, why is he there? What does he want?

Join Nikki and her friends as they go searching for the answers…and the truth behind the Haunting near Battlefield Ridge.

Book Information:

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing; 1 edition

Publisher Website: Mirror World Publishing

Publication Date: April 17, 2020

ASIN: B085MMZLFF

The Cover:

Pre-Order Your Copy:

Amazon

Meet the Author:

Behind Every Legend Lies the Truth!

Rita Monette was born and raised in Southwest Louisiana. After retiring from her “real” job as an administrative assistant for the State of Michigan, Rita began doing what she always wanted to do…write and draw. Her stories are set in the beautiful, yet mysterious, bayous and swamps of her home state. The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge is the fifth book in her Nikki Landry Swamp Legend series. Rita now lives with her husband, four lap dogs, and one lap cat, in the mountains of Tennessee. 


Social Media Links:



Website



Facebook



Amazon



Goodreads



Blog

The Coffee Monster and the Land of Coffee by Nate Friedman

About Coffee Monster and the Land of Coffee:

The Coffee Monster’s family has a secret. 

The Coffee Monster has been a part of a great family for as long as he can remember. There’s mom and dad, Jenna and James. Everything in the Coffee Monster’s life is perfect until he learns of the place he came from, The Land of Coffee, and is given the chance to visit. There, he’ll learn all about his heritage and the extended family he never knew he had. 

In this sequel to Nate Friedman’s debut children’s book, our lovable Coffee Monster is confronted with the truth of his past where he learns the true meaning of family through a journey to the land of his birth.

Book Details:

Series: The Coffee Monster (Book 2)

Paperback: 40 pages

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing 

Publish Date: February 17, 2020

ISBN-10: 1987976606

ISBN-13: 978-1987976601

Purchase Links:

Mirror World Publishing

Amazon

Re-launch of The Coffee Monster, Book 1

About the Book:

There's a little 'Coffee Monster' in all of us...

In a pleasant little town lives a normal family with a mom, a dad and two beautiful children. There is just one thing that makes this family different from most other families; they don't have a dog, a cat, or pets of any kind. Instead, they have a Coffee Monster! Follow Jenna and James as they try to deal with the Coffee Monster's antics and help him overcome a personal struggle. Through this simple, but comedic tale, learn about the value of telling the truth, taking care of oneself and each other, and how to work-through everyday issues. Most of all, you just might learn that there's a little 'Coffee Monster' in all of us...

Book Details:

Series: The Coffee Monster (Book 1)

Paperback: 36 pages

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing 

Publish Date: July 1, 2015

ISBN-10: 0994749015

ISBN-13: 978-0994749017

Purchase Links:

Mirror World Publishing

Amazon

Follow the Book Tour:

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2020/02/book-tour-schedule-coffee-monster-and.html

Meet the Author:

I want to change the world, one smile at a time!

A writer from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Nate graduated from the Kinesiology program at the University of Windsor. His education has fuelled a keen interest in how people think and what drives them to be their best. Comedy is his first love and his desire to be creative has directed him towards writing children’s literature. He enjoys reading to his nephews, two of his biggest fans.

Connect with Nate:

Website

Facebook



Publisher Website:



Mirror World Publishing

The Demons of Wall Street (Nora Simeon Investigations #1) by Laurence Raphael Brothers

Today is the cover reveal for The Demons of Wall Street (Nora Simeon Investigations #1) by Laurence Raphael Brothers an upcoming Urban Fantasy, Paranormal novella.

About the Book:

Nora Simeon hates demons.

But as an investigator for the secretive Commission, the organization that regulates financial sorcery in New York City, she deals with the creatures a lot more than she'd like. Her latest case has her on the track of a rogue demon, escaped from magical bondage as an analyst for a leading investment bank.

On the demon's trail, Nora crosses paths with a beautiful young man named Eyre. He's too pretty and complaisant to be human, and too kind to be a demon in human form, but what else could he be? Together they become embroiled in the secret corruption at the heart of the financial industry. But before Nora can untangle a twisted skein of sorcerous murder and intrigue, she has to untangle her feelings for Eyre. And before she can do that, she has to find out who and what he really is.

Release Date is March 17

Publisher Website: 

Mirror World Publishing

Pre-Order Purchase Links:

Mirror World Publishing e-book

Mirror World Publishing paperback

Amazon e-book

Amazon paperback

Please visit the tour hosts and share their post and/or leave a comment!

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2020/02/cover-reveal-hosts-demons-of-wall.html

Meet the Author:

Laurence Raphael Brothers is a writer and a technologist. He has published over 25 short stories in such magazines as Nature, the New Haven Review, PodCastle, and Galaxy's Edge. His WWI-era historical fantasy novel Twilight Patrol was just released by Alban Lake. For more of his stories, visit https://laurencebrothers.com/bibliography, or follow him on twitter: @lbrothers.

Exile: Unreachable Skies Vol. 2 by Karen McCreedy

Mirror World Publishing presents the cover reveal for Exile: Unreachable Skies, Volume 2 by Karen McCreedy!

About Exile:



Zarda, Fate-Seer of her people, the Drax, has chosen to join the wingless and their broken-winged dams on their long and dangerous journey into exile. But Kalis, the Prime she has abandoned, dispatches flyers to hunt her down and offers a reward to anyone who will give her up.



When their path takes them into the Crimson Forest, horror and death stalk the exiles beneath the vines. As the pain and hardship of banishment begin to take their toll, Zarda wonders which of the exiles will be the first to betray her, but nothing can prepare her for the discovery that awaits her beyond the furthest reaches of Drax territory; a discovery that has the power to alter the course of history.



Exile’ is the sequel to ‘Unreachable Skies’, and Karen is currently working on the third book in the trilogy.



Book Details:



Print Length: 286 pages

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing (https://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com/)

Publication Date: September 17, 2019

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure

The Cover:

Read a Teaser Excerpt:

The females, their wings broken by Kalis’ new Elite Guard, had been netted over the river along with their younglings, and had been left on the claw of reed-tufted sand that jutted into the ocean from the Manybend estuary’s north shore. As I’d circled over the nines of fires, their spiralling layout had shown that someone had taken charge of setting the camp properly, and my sole concern had been finding somewhere to land without being seen. In the end I had set down on the beach to the north, wetting my feet as I landed at the edge of the incoming tide. Taking care to make sure I would not leave any traces of my approach, I had walked along the tideline till I reached the promontory at daybreak. I had intended to find my friend Doran and make myself known to her, but the sound of raised voices had drawn my attention, and I had instead made my way across the camp to the ridge of snow-covered ground that separated the hook of sand from the mud of the Deadlands. I smelled cooking – branmeal bubbling in a pot to my left, meat patties warming in a pan to my right. My stomachs rumbled a protest that I was not stopping to eat, but my attention was on the group at the foot of the slope where Shaya stood, and the arguments that I could now hear more clearly.

Visit the Tour Hosts:

https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/2019/08/cover-reveal-tour-host-list-exile.html

Meet the Author:

Brought up in Staffordshire, England, Karen now lives in West Sussex where she is enjoying her retirement. When not writing, she enjoys reading, watching films, local WI and U3A activities, volunteering with the South Downs National Park Volunteer Rangers, and spending time with friends and family. She has also flown in a Spitfire!



Karen has written articles on films and British history for a number of British magazines including ‘Yours’, ‘Classic Television’, and ‘Best of British’. In 2009, her essay on ‘British Propaganda Films of the Second World War’ was published in ‘Under Fire: A Century of War Movies’ (Ian Allen Publishing).



She also wrote a number of online articles and reviews for The Geek Girl Project (www.geekgirlproject.com), as their British correspondent.



Karen’s short stories have appeared in anthologies by Fiction Brigade (2012, e-book), Zharmae Publishing (‘RealLies’, 2013), Audio Arcadia (‘On Another Plane’, 2015), Luna Station Publishing (‘Luna Station Quarterly’ December 2015), Horrified Press (‘Killer Tracks’ and ‘Waiting’, both 2015; and ‘Crossroads’, 2016), and Reflex Fiction (‘Voicemail’, published online 2017). She also won second prize in Writers’ News magazine’s ‘Comeuppance’ competition in 2014 with her short story ‘Hero’.



‘Exile’ is the sequel to ‘Unreachable Skies’, and Karen is currently working on the third book in the trilogy.



You can follow Karen on Twitter @McKaren_Writer, or check out her website at www.karenmccreedy.com

Shelf Life by Rob Gregson

Welcome to the Virtual Book Tour for Shelf Life!

About the Book:



Young bookseller Cathy Finn is having a bad day. First, there's the assassin's bullet. Then comes the realisation that she's been living in a work of fiction. Worse, she wasn't even the main character.



Cathy's quiet, bit-part life may be over, but her troubles are only beginning. Her last day on Earth is also her first as a citizen of New Tybet. For over four hundred years, its people have been rescuing those destined to die in other narratives, but now the system is faltering. A saboteur is at work and Cathy will have to stop him if she’s ever going to find a way home. Failure could maroon her forever and spark a revolution that sets all the worlds of literature ablaze.

Book Details:



Print Length: 338 pages

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing; 1 edition (http://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com)

Publication Date: July 17, 2019

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Language: English

ASIN: B07SNGW2Z7



Genre(s): Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Literary Mashup, Parallel Worlds, Comedy

Exclusive Excerpt:

Scowling at the downpour, Hitch angled the hand-written page to catch the strobing lights of a carrier drone that passed overhead. Cold blue washed the page for an instant and moved on.

It was the right place. He snapped shut the address book and considered the tenement opposite. A vertical chessboard of barred windows and soot-black brick, it stood with its lower third rooted in the night. There were no streetlights in the neighbourhood; no fixtures of any kind that hadn't been carried off by scavengers. Down here, it was just a deep sea of shadows and violence. Somewhere around the fifteenth floor, the streaming glass and ductwork reflected the colours of the city - a pointillist scatter of neon, sodium, and fires run wild - but he'd see none of those tonight. He wasn't going to rise that far.

Standing in his dripping doorway, he pocketed the book and peered hard into the rain. It was futile. In this light and weather, his chances of spotting a carefully-concealed watchman were about as lofty as a beetle's bum. An entire marching band might be taking a quiet breather just yards away and he'd never know it.

On the other hand, mistrust was a long-established habit, one that had served him well. Futile or not, it was an animal instinct; something that kicked in whenever he broke cover, and with one last job to do, it was time to move.

Clutching his coat tight around his throat, he probed his way across the road and felt water running into his hair and shoes. Silently, he cursed. The incessant rain was one of the many things he hated about this place. Cold, dark and sodden: why would anyone choose to make it their home? If it was just to show how tough and dangerous you were, then really you were trying too hard. People never ceased to disappoint him.

Approaching the building, he thumbed a card in his pocket. The door answered with a sullen clunk. It was heavy - checkerplate sheets bolted to wood - but it opened smoothly when he pushed. Stepping inside, he swung it shut, then squinted as the strip lights blinked and buzzed in reluctant procession up the stairwell.

His impression of the place didn't improve much with illumination. Give or take a few broken bottles, the little hall was empty: just the stairs, a single metal door and the inevitable aroma of other people's piss. Halfway up the door, a no-nonsense padlock underlined the sentiment of its single terse instruction: Keep Out.

So - eight floors and no lift. Well, that was just super. 

Order Links:



Mirror World Publishing



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Meet the Author:







Rob Gregson spent much of his youth reading fantasy novels, immersing himself in role playing games and generally doing everything possible to avoid the real world. In his defence, we're talking about the late 1980s - a time when ridiculous hair, hateful pop music and soaring unemployment were all very popular - so it wasn't altogether a bad decision. However, had he abandoned the realms of wizardry at an earlier age, he might have developed one or two useful life skills and he would almost certainly have found it easier to get a girlfriend. Rob lives in Lancashire and has two children, although he has absolutely no idea why anyone should find that interesting.



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