Monthly Archives: October 2015

Happy Halloween! Days Of the Dead tour saves the best for last!

We’re close to wrapping up my Days of the Dead tour, but there are still plenty of surprises to come!

New Books, Novellas and Stories!

Arctic PrisonFirst off, I’m introducing a whole new six-part novella series set in the Ascendant Kingdoms world featuring Blaine McFadden and his convict friends during their time in Velant Prison and Edgeland colony—the ‘missing’ six years at the beginning of Ice Forged. King’s Convicts Novella 1: Arctic Prison begins right where the prologue of Ice Forged leaves off, with Blaine and Verran on the ship bound for Edgeland!  Available now–Read it here (available on Kindle, Kobo and Nook): https://amzn.com/B017DZ787M

And a second Blaine McFadden short story during the Velant years, No Reprieve, comes out in December (available for pre-order) https://amzn.com/B0151YRCPA

Just in time for Halloween—Spook House, a Deadly Curiosities Adventure short story, is available now! Cassidy and Teag have their hands full when a haunted house attraction gives guests more supernatural scares than they bargained for! https://amzn.com/B017ABS8R8 Spook House

Vendetta (Book 2 in the Deadly Curiosities novels) comes out Dec. 29 but it’s available now for pre-order! https://bit.ly/1ZXCPVS Launches Dec. 29

And the first new addition to the Chronicles of the Necromancer series in four years—The Shadowed Path—is a PRINT and ebook collection of the first 10 Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures PLUS an exclusive, never-before-seen 11th story that’s ONLY in the collection. Coming in 2016, pre-order here: https://amzn.com/1781084394

FC JONMARC COLLECTION

New Blog Posts

EC Ambrose and I talk about the occupational hazard of going down the research rabbit hole https://ecambrose.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/guest-author-gail-z-martin-days-of-the-dead-tour/

NoReprieveI chat with The Writers’ Lens about strategic short stories https://www.thewriterslens.com/2015/10/gail-z-martin-strategic-short-stories.html

Jacey Bedford hosts me for a quick Q&A https://jaceybedford.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/gail-z-martin-five-questions-guest-post/

Why urban fantasy loves its tainted talismans https://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2015/10/blog-post-cursed-relics-and-urban.html

Why promoting your book is as important as writing it https://www.ismellsheep.com/2015/10/promoting-your-book-is-as-important-as.html

Selling Your Soul for the good of the craft https://davebrendon.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/gail-zmartin-guest-post-days-of-the-dead-blog-tour-2015/

Talking Steampunk and Pittsburgh with Sf Bokhandlen Oct. 28 https://www.sfbok.se/ (be sure to do the ‘translate page’ unless you speak Swedish)

I chat about Cursed Trinkets, Haunted Objects and Deadly Curios with Solaris Books https://www.solarisbooks.com/post/866  DEADLY CURIOSITIES-VENDETTA2

Over at Vonnie Winslow Crist’s blog, I muse about how to go about Making Epic Fantasy Epically Epic https://vonniewinslowcrist.wordpress.com/2015/10/31/making-epic-fantasy-epically-epic-by-gail-z-martin/

And MB Weston hosts me pondering Urban or Epic? https://mbweston.com/2015/10/31/guest-blog-post-urban-or-epic-by-gail-z-martin/

Doing the Monster Mash over at Falcata Times  https://falcatatimes.blogspot.com/2015/10/guest-blog-monster-mash-gail-z-martin.html

I’ve got a favor to ask: If you’ve liked my books/stories please do me a BIG favor and leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads! Reviews matter a lot! Thank you.

 

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

More Giveaways!

The Broad Universe Full Moon blog tour with 30 author blogs and 3 awesome book bundle giveaways runs through 11/7. Find the blogs here: https://bit.ly/1LPBLNR and the rafflecopter for the giveaways here: https://bit.ly/1LRYrtr

The Swaggiest Swag promotion—like a convention in an envelope!—ends tonight! All it costs you is an envelope and a stamp, and you get free swag from me, David B. Coe, Faith Hunter, John Hartness, Stuart Jaffe, Darynda Jones, Christina Henry, Laura Anne Gilman and Jennifer Estep—info here https://www.facebook.com/events/147435758936773/

swag

More Treats! Enter to win a copy of Deadly Curiosities or Iron & Blood!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin

Deadly Curiosities

by Gail Z. Martin

Giveaway ends November 14, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Iron & Blood by Gail Z. Martin

Iron & Blood

 by Gail Z. Martin

Giveaway ends November 19, 2015.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Win yourself a copy of The Weird Wild West (which includes our Steampunk Storm and Fury Adventure Ruin Creek) https://bit.ly/1iUU8pw

New holiday giveaway with free books, book gift cards and cool stuff from the same bunch of authors (including me!) who brought you The Swaggiest Swag—to enter, just comment on a blog or Facebook page, or join our newsletters, like our pages, details here—the more you enter, the more chances to win! https://www.ltpromos.com/2015/10/31/happyholidays/

Happy Holidays giveaway

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Days of the Dead Blog Tour Rolls On With Spookalicious Surprises

DaysofDead Banner V1 copy

My Days of the Dead blog tour is on a roll with new guest blog posts, new giveaways and lots of goodies!  Here’s what’s new.

Spook HouseBrand new for Halloween—“Spook House”—a Deadly Curiosities Adventure now on Kindle (also Kobo and Nook) amzn.to/1NBpL1M

Five Reasons Authors Do Blog Tours (And Maybe You Should Too) on Magical Words https://www.magicalwords.net/really-i-mean-it/five-reasons-why-authors-do-blog-tours-and-maybe-you-should-too/

Why authors love research on Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s page https://bryanthomasschmidt.net/guest-post-why-authors-love-research-days-of-the-dead-blog-tour/

Switching Gears Between Genres for The Qwillery https://qwillery.blogspot.com/2015/10/days-of-dead-tour-with-gail-z-martin.html

Recap thus far of all the Days of the Dead posts and goodies https://www.ascendantkingdoms.com/2015/10/28/days-of-the-dead-tour-is-creeptastic/

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What lies at the intersection of fantasy and reality? https://disquietingvisions.com/2015/10/28/intersection-fantasy-reality/

Why I wrote Vendetta https://www.paulinebjones.com/BlogWP/why-she-wrote-vendetta

SFF World chats with me about Kickstarter’s impact on publishing and authors’ careers https://www.sffworld.com/2015/10/five-things-to-know-about-kickstarter-for-publishing-by-gail-z-martin/

DEADLY CURIOSITIES-VENDETTA2

And the U Mass Science Fiction Society sits down for a Q&A with me on various and sundry bookish things https://umsfs.tumblr.com/post/132129286682/an-interview-with-an-author

Then SFSignal asks about small press vs. self-publishing and get an earful https://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2015/10/guest-post-gail-z-martin-iron-blood-small-press-vs-self-publishing/

Speaking of the Full Moon tour—there are 30 awesome moon-related posts on the tour and three awesome book prize packages. You can find the posts here: https://broaduniverse.org/blog/2015/10/14/full-moon-blog-tour-25-oct-7-nov/ and the Rafflecopter contests here (make sure you click on the arrow in the box—there are 3 contests) https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/739c9ac21/

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

I’m doing a giveaway on Reddit/Fantasy for a set of 3 of my books in either physical or ebook (Kindle/Kobo/Nook)—2 winners, lots of fun! Books are War of Shadows, Deadly Curiosities and Iron & Blood. Details here https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/3qfpym/giveaway_rfantasy1_signed_set_of_three_gail_z/ Ends 10/30.

If you want to make sure you always know about new books, stories, novellas, events and giveaways, please join my Chronicles newsletter. It’s free, you’ll get excerpts and flash fiction, and you’ll get the scoop first! Sign up here: https://bit.ly/1CF12Th

And don’t forget The Swaggiest Swag giveaway. If you like bookmarks, postcards and cool free stuff from bestselling authors, this is for you. I’m one of 11 authors who are giving away neat stuff for just the cost of a self-addressed/stamped envelope. Find out more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/147435758936773/

swag

Two cool giveaways begin today, with free copies to be won on Goodreads of Deadly Curiosities and Iron & Blood here https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160181-deadly-curiosities 10/29-11/14 and here https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160182-iron-blood 10/29-11/14

Read an excerpt from #TheLowRoad by @GailZMartin @Rebellion_Pub on @Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/9463190-the-low-road

Win yourself a copy of The Weird Wild West in this Goodreads giveaway https://bit.ly/1iUU8pw

Trick Or Treat! Download the DoubleDragonSampler #1 for free! https://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/sample/DDPSAMPLE001.mobi

BB2 smallHow about an excerpt from The Big Bad II antho https://www.darkoakpress.com/bigbad2.html

And one from Space Horrors https://www.sidhenadaire.com/books/SH-ex.pdf

There’s more to come, so stay tuned! And be sure to get in on the goodies fast–like Halloween, many of them vanish after 10/31!

 

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The Intersection between Fantasy and Reality

By Gail Z. Martin

Most of us read fiction to escape reality, at least for a little while. If you want to immerse yourself in the real world, you generally read non-fiction. But any time there are two groups, there is a boundary line between them, and often that boundary is fuzzy, porous, and perhaps more an imaginary demarcation than a wall. That’s the way I think the separation is between fantasy and reality.

Reality focuses on truth and fact, or at least believes it does. Of course, unless we’re good at vetting our information and choose our sources wisely, what we believe to be real may, in actuality, be nothing more than tin-foil hat conspiracies and magical thinking. The truth is out there, and it can often be empirically proven. But because it is uncomfortable, threatening to the status quo or results in cognitive dissonance requiring us to divest ourselves of comfortable ideas proven untrue, we resist looking for the truth, and often turn away from it when we find it.

On the reality side of the line, the gray area is the home of pseudo-science like anti-vaxers and climate change deniers, of life-long smokers who resist the idea that tobacco kills, of moon shot unbelievers and grapefruit dieters, alien abductees and Bigfoot sightings. It’s where the last believers of debunked science find refuge, the shadowed wilderness where the devotees of magical thinking go to escape those who blinded them with science. This is the arid no-man’s land for those who either lack the capacity to understand the concepts or—much more likely—find it so threatening to change their minds that they dare not leave their self-imposed exile.

And it is scary to move away from the borderline. If you have embraced a junk science concept all your life, it’s probably because an authority figure, someone you trusted like a parent, teacher, member of the clergy, or political leader told you that concept and rewarded you for believing. The fear that keeps people locked in the DMZ is that removing one faulty belief may lead to finding other, equally incorrect assumptions, until the whole house of cards collapses. There may be social pressure to stay in the wilderness with your tribe of true believers. And if you leave the tribe, where would you go?

Then there’s the line as viewed from the fantasy side of the divide. This is the place where good storytelling, the power of myth and wishful thinking create fantasy so close to being real that it seems to actually be real. This is the realm of urban legends, stories of one-armed carjackers and ghostly hitchhikers that have been repeated so often, we swear we heard that it happened to a friend of a cousin’s friend. It’s the apocryphal story that would be so perfect if it actually happened, but it didn’t. The promises we believed of inventions (like flying cars or faster-than-light travel) that were supposed to come true, but didn’t, and we feel cheated.

This is also the space of the half-awakened dream, the place where archetypes rule. It’s a liminal space where there is truth in something not quite real—which is the essence of myth and archetype. It is not the truth, but it is a truth, and a powerful truth at that, which lasts down through the ages, staying alive by the power of its mythic truthfulness.

It’s the transcendent nature of the myth that keep sojourners in the fantasy border wilderness. The near-real dreams are so seductive, the promise of the future so fulfilling, the siren song so loud that it feels like failure to move into the mere fantastic.

Borders are dangerous places. They question your identity and allegiance, and they’re often hotly contested. Most of the time, they’re imaginary lines that we draw and defend as if they were real. Sometimes, the line shifts and suddenly there is a new reality. Efforts to eliminate ambiguity with total certainty lead people to build a wall instead of a line. But walls never last.

My Days of the Dead blog tour runs through October 31 with never-before-seen cover art, brand new excerpts from upcoming books and recent short stories, interviews, guest blog posts, giveaways and more! Plus, I’ll be including extra excerpt links for my stories and for books by author friends of mine. You’ve got to visit the participating sites to get the goodies, just like Trick or Treat! Details here: www.AscendantKingdoms.com

Print

 

Book swag is the new Trick-or-Treat! Grab your envelope of book swag awesomeness from me & 10 authors https://on.fb.me/1h4rIIe before 11/1!

swag

Trick or Treat! Excerpt from my new urban fantasy novel Vendetta set in my Deadly Curiosities world here https://bit.ly/1ZXCPVS Launches Dec. 29

More Treats! Enter to win a copy of Deadly Curiosities! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160181-deadly-curiosities

Treats! Enter to win a copy of Iron & Blood! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160182-iron-blood

Treats not Tricks! Read an excerpt from War Of Shadows https://bit.ly/1Kbz7wl

Halloween goodies! Excerpt from Iron & Blood https://bit.ly/1GAvGOc

Bonus Treats! An excerpt from Everyday Haunts by JeanMarie Ward https://www.readmoreromance.com/sam/freebies/t-z/ward_haunts.pdf and from Real Weird https://jeanmarieward.com/and-stuff/real-weird/

Scary good loot! Free sample chapter from Charles Gannon’s Raising Caine https://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/site/page/RaisingCaine/01/-

Check out Broad Universe’s Full Moon Blog Tour now through Nov. 7 with 25 awesome authors (including me!) and spooktacular book giveaways! https://broaduniverse.org/blog/2015/10/14/full-moon-blog-tour-25-oct-7-nov/

 

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

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Days of the Dead Blog Tour Is Spooktacular!

DaysofDead Banner V1 copy

So many exciting things happening all at once for my Days of the Dead blog tour!

RisingShadow has an exclusive Q&A with me about Vendetta, Shadow & Flame, Iron & Blood and what’s coming up next, plus switching up genres. It’s all here: https://www.risingshadow.net/articles/543-q-a-with-gail-z-martin-days-of-the-dead-blog-tour-2015

DOTD3Then Beauty In Ruins gets me talking about Ghosts and Genre, and how the type of ghost and the way ghosts are portrayed differs by the sub-genre https://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com/2015/10/ghosts-and-genre-by-gail-z-martin-guest.html

Fellow author Catherine Lundoff and I chat about ghosts in alternate history stories, and the how/why of weaving in ghostly elements in Steampunk https://catherineldf.livejournal.com/384534.html

I posted about Moonlight and Magic for the Broad Universe Full Moon Blog Tour

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

https://disquietingvisions.com/2015/10/22/full-moon-blog-tour-moonlight-magic/

Speaking of the Full Moon tour—there are 30 awesome moon-related posts on the tour and three awesome book prize packages. You can find the posts here: https://broaduniverse.org/blog/2015/10/14/full-moon-blog-tour-25-oct-7-nov/ and the Rafflecopter contests here (make sure you click on the arrow in the box—there are 3 contests) https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/739c9ac21/

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I’m doing a giveaway on Reddit/Fantasy for a set of 3 of my books in either physical or ebook (Kindle/Kobo/Nook)—2 winners, lots of fun! Books are War of Shadows, Deadly Curiosities and Iron & Blood. Details here https://bit.ly/1N67wTF    Ends 10/30.

TWO Goodreads giveaways (one for Iron & Blood and one for Deadly Curiosities) post on 10/29, so make sure you enter for a chance to win! Watch for details—I’ll post the links when they go live.

On a slightly more serious note….Did you know that just because you’ve signed up for my Winter Kingdoms Facebook page, that doesn’t mean Facebook will let you see what I post? It’s true—Facebook has gotten greedy, and if you don’t pay to do ads or boosted posts, only about 1% – 3% of followers see what is posted. If you want to make sure you always know about new books, stories, novellas, events and giveaways, please join my Chronicles newsletter. It’s free, you’ll get excerpts and flash fiction, and you’ll get the scoop first! Sign up here: https://bit.ly/1CF12Thswag

And don’t forget The Swaggiest Swag giveaway. If you like bookmarks, postcards and cool free stuff from bestselling authors, this is for you. I’m one of 11 authors who are giving away neat stuff for just the cost of a self-addressed/stamped envelope. Find out more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/147435758936773/

Have you read War of Shadows yet? Try an excerpt here: https://bit.ly/1Kbz7wl

MonstrositiesHow about an excerpt from Monstrosities, an uber-creepy Jonmarc Vahanian story just right for Halloween! Monstrosities: https://bit.ly/1ZG0TMW

By the way, here’s where to find me for the rest of 2015:

Nov. 7             University City library event 2-3 pm Meet the Author

Nov. 10           Charlotte Writers’ Club SF/F Writer’s Club at Mugs Coffee

Nov. 13 – 15   Atomacon, Charleston

Nov. 20 – 22   Philcon, NJ—The Weird Wild West/The Side of Good/Vendetta launch party

Dec. 29            Vendetta launches

Stay tuned—there’s a LOT more Days of the Dead goodness coming your way!

 

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The Days of the Dead Blog Tour is in Full Swing!

DOTD8

…and you won’t want to miss a moment of it! Here are the latest links from my blogging hosts!

No More Grumpy Bookseller—Something Wicked and Wonderful This Way Comes https://bit.ly/1kIlyzS

The Evolution of Ruin Creek, our story for The Weird Wild West, is on Espec Books https://bit.ly/1GE9QQy

I get talking about how ghosts are different depending on the difference between urban fantasy and horror with the crew at We Geek Girls https://bit.ly/1O3lHdL    DOTD5

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan asks me about using real people and places in fiction, and I respond  https://bit.ly/1XtZ4AB

Over at The Scribbling Lion, I get chatting about moonlight, monsters and mayhem https://bit.ly/1LXIKEl

Then Alexandra Christian get talking about how ghosts are different depending on whether the story is horror, suspense or urban fantasy wp.me/p1zAqe-hM 

How do you like your alternate history? Romance Bandits finds out! https://romancebandits.com/how-alternate-do-you-like-your-history/

Two cool giveaways begin on Thursday, 10/29, with free copies to be won on Goodreads of Deadly Curiosities and Iron & Blood here https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160181-deadly-curiosities 10/29-11/14 and here https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160182-iron-blood 10/29-11/14

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Don’t forget the Broad Universe Full Moon blog, which has 30 fun posts from participating authors (including me!) and a big gift card and book giveaway! Find all the cool blogs here https://bit.ly/1LPBLNR

Details on the giveaway here (there are 3 different ones—be sure to click the link in the Rafflecopter box ttps://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/739c9ac21/

It’s not too late to get in on The Swaggiest Swag and get an envelope full of top author book marks, postcards and cool freebies all for a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Details here: ttps://www.facebook.com/events/147435758936773/  swag

And in case you missed the illustrated flip-book Kickstarter for The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, the full book is now available for pre-order on Amazon here https://www.amazon.com/Side-Good-Evil/dp/1942990030/ or you can buy each ‘side’ independently! The Side of Good – https://www.amazon.com/Side-Good-Super-Bryan-Glass-ebook/dp/B016Z5GEF8/  The Side of Evil – https://www.amazon.com/Side-Evil-Super-Peter-David-ebook/dp/B016X95RC2/

Good-EvilKeep checking back–there are a lot more giveaways, fun blogs and surprises coming up!

Trick or Treat! Enjoy a new excerpt https://especbooks.wordpress.com/2015/10/26/espec-excerpts-what-tales-he-knows-by-john-l-french/

Read an excerpt from my latest Ascendant Kingdoms Saga novel, War of Shadows, here: https://bit.ly/1Kbz7wl

Have you read my free, complete Deadly Curiosities novella—The Final Death? Get it here on Wattpad, just in time for Halloween https://w.tt/1NUd0SR  The Final Death

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Full Moon Blog Tour: Moonlight and Magic

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

Welcome! This post is part of the Broad Universe Full Moon Blog Tour! To find out more about the 30 authors included in the tour click here:

 and the three prize packages of ebooks and gift vouchers, please click on the Broad Universe photo! (Enter via the Rafflecopter link at the bottom of this post.)

What is it about the full moon, madness and magic? Maybe it’s how otherworldly everything looks by moonlight, or how strange it is to have light at night.

We’ve been intrigued with the moon for all of human history, speculating about its course in the heavens, linking it to the gods, making it the personification of the goddess, ascribing supernatural power to it and its light. The full moon is, of course, traditionally the bane of werewolves and all were-creatures, since it calls forth their inner magic as an irresistible compulsion. Interestingly enough, we always seem to think of the moon as female.

Pretty cool for something that’s really a very large rock. I’ve always been especially intrigued by the way the moon factors into magic. Directions for many spells indicate that they should only be done at certain phases of the moon. According to practitioners, the moon is instrumental in a wide spectrum of magic, from divination to clearing negativity, from spells for wealth and love to healing. More on that here and  here.

Of course, in more primitive times, the connection of the moon’s cycles with tides, planting and animal/bird migration must have seemed miraculous–or magical. No doubt that’s one reason the moon figures so prominently in religion and folklore. Even the faces of the goddess in her Maiden/Mother/Crone aspects are linked to the phases of the moon. And whether or not science can substantiate it, we ascribe all kinds of odd behavior to the full moon.

Depending on who you ask, people will swear that there are more drunken brawls, more emergency room visits, more crazy behavior during a full moon. They say coyotes howl more and lions are more dangerous. Don’t get me started on werewolves and vampires. Even the concept of menstruation has long been linked to the lunar cycle, giving it the old name of ‘moon days’.  There’s some pretty interesting research showing that life on earth is deeply affected by moonlight.

Birth and death, fertility and fear–all of it tied up with the silvery light in the sky. If  you’ve ever been camping during the dark of the moon, you get an idea of how our ancestors must have valued moonlight. Beyond the reach of electric lights, it’s really, really dark. (Yes, I know that’s somewhat obvious, but dark in a city doesn’t compare to dark in the middle of the ocean or dark in the forest when there’s no moon.

Without moonlight, the darkness seems to be alive, a smothering, dangerous entity. Just you and your puny little candle or lantern, against the big, bad darkness. Boo!

Now about the giveaway drawing for those gift vouchers and ebooks….Here’s the link to enter! a Rafflecopter giveaway

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What’s Halloween without some Trick or Treat goodies?

Book swag is the new Trick-or-Treat! Grab your envelope of book swag awesomeness from me & 10 authors https://on.fb.me/1h4rIIe before 11/1!

Trick or Treat! Excerpt from my new urban fantasy novel Vendetta set in my Deadly Curiosities world here https://bit.ly/1ZXCPVS Launches Dec. 29

More Treats! Enter to win a copy of Deadly Curiosities! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160181-deadly-curiosities

Treats! Enter to win a copy of Iron & Blood! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160182-iron-blood

Spooky stuff from Broad Universe member Jean Marie Ward Cooking Up a Storm https://jeanmarieward.com/books/excerpt-cooking-up-a-storm/

And another from fellow Broad Danielle Ackley-McPhail’s Yesterday’s Dreams https://www.sidhenadaire.com/books/YesterdaysDreams-EX.pdf

My Days of the Dead blog tour runs through October 31 with never-before-seen cover art, brand new excerpts from upcoming books and recent short stories, interviews, guest blog posts, giveaways and more! Plus, I’ll be including extra excerpt links for my stories and for stories by author friends of mine! You’ve got to visit the participating sites to get the goodies just like Trick or Treat! Details here

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Days of the Dead 2015: Tricks, Treats and Stuff that’s Scary-Good!

DaysofDead Banner V1 copy

Welcome to the 2015 Days of the Dead blog tour!

We are going to celebrate in style this year with excerpts, interviews, book giveaways, sneak peeks at new covers, and more!

DEADLY CURIOSITIES-VENDETTA2Three new books are coming up—and that’s just the beginning! On December 29, Vendetta: A Deadly Curiosities Novel (Solaris Books) launches—and it’s got an awesome Chris McGuire cover. Then in March, Shadow and Flame (Orbit Books) comes out—the fourth and final book in the Ascendant Kingdoms series. In June, we return to the world of The Summoner with Shadowed Path, a print (and ebook) anthology of the first ten Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures PLUS an exclusive eleventh story that is only in the anthology!

But wait, there’s more! The Weird Wild West anthology is out, with a Storm and Fury Adventure story from Larry N. Martin and me, and The Side of Good/The Side of Evil anthology/flipbook is also new—and it’s got another Storm and Fury Adventure story as well. Speaking of the Iron & Blood-related Storm and Fury Adventures, check out the FREE full novella Grave Voices on Wattpad as well as short stories Resurrection Day and Airship Down on Kindle/Kobo and Nook.WWW cover

There’s a brand new Deadly Curiosities Adventure short story, Spook House, which will be out right in time for Halloween, and earlier this year we wrapped up Season 2 of the Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures—Season 3 will start in 2016. Coming soon are the all-new Blaine McFadden novellas in the King’s Convicts series, that happens before the main action in Ice Forged (available on Kindle/Kobo and Nook). And in December, a Blaine McFadden short story, No Reprieve, debuts on Orbit Short Fiction.

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

In fact, there is so much awesome cool stuff going on that it takes TWO different blog tours to contain it all! That’s where the Full Moon Blog Tour comes in—with even MORE great blogs from 25+ different authors (including me) so just click here or on the graphic to get started!

So what ELSE is going on with the Days of the Dead tour? Here’s the deal—different blogs will post my guest articles on different days. Make the rounds, enter the contests, be entertained and grab some fun freebies! Where? Watch for links for Beauty in Ruins, ESpecBooks, The Qwillery, SF Signal, The Book Plank, Magical Words, I Smell Sheep, Bookloons, Romance Bandits, SFNow, Fantasy Book Critic, SF World, We Geek Girls, SF Bokhandlein, Fantasy Faction, SFX, No More Grumpy Booksellers, Solaris Books and more!

What kind of freebies? First off, there’s The Swaggiest Swag giveaway. If you like bookmarks, swagpostcards and cool free stuff from bestselling authors, this is for you. I’m one of 11 authors who are giving away neat stuff for just the cost of a self-addressed/stamped envelope. Find out more here:

I’ll have three different Goodreads giveaways, one for Iron & Blood, one for Deadly Curiosities and one for The Weird Wild West. There are also giveaways on Reddit, Bookloons, The Full Moon Blog Tour, No More Grumpy Bookseller and Romance Bandits. Sprinkled along with the guest blog posts are links to excerpts for all my books and short stories, plus DOZENS of links to books and short stories by author friends of mine. Enough to keep you reading for quite a while!

Good-EvilWhat are you waiting for? You can get in on all the Days of the Dead fun on a treasure hunt/Trick-or-Treat just by visiting these sites. Check back at www.AscendantKingdoms.com and here to find all the links! And please, “like” my TheWinterKingdoms page on Facebook and follow me @GailZMartin on Twitter! And if you join my Chronicles newsletter, you’ll never miss out on something because Facebook didn’t show everyone the update!

With so much good stuff going on, it’s going to take a week just to get through it all! What are you waiting for? Dive in and help me celebrate the Days of the Dead!

And because Halloween wouldn’t be complete without some Trick or Treating, here are some excerpt links to my stuff and stories by some of my author friends!

Book swag is the new Trick-or-Treat! Grab your envelope of book swag awesomeness from me & 10 authors https://on.fb.me/1h4rIIe before 11/1!

Trick or Treat! Excerpt from my new urban fantasy novel Vendetta set in my Deadly Curiosities world here https://bit.ly/1ZXCPVS Launches Dec. 29

More Treats! Enter to win a copy of Deadly Curiosities! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160181-deadly-curiosities

Treats! Enter to win a copy of Iron & Blood! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/160182-iron-blood

Halloween treat! Read two of our complete haunted novellas FREE on Wattpad The Final Death https://w.tt/1jsKqLL & GraveVoices https://w.tt/1kapSrn

Halloween Loot! Double-Dragon Publishing sampler #1 https://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/sample/DDPSAMPLE001.mobi

Good Stuff!  Double-Dragon Publishing sampler #2 https://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/sample/DDPSAMPLE002.mobi

Win some WeirdWildWest awesomeness! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/138364-the-weird-wild-west

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Coming Attractions!

DaysofDead Banner V1 copy

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

A Night Sky with Moon and Trees

 

It’s almost Halloween! And do you know what that means?  Yeah–Trick or Treat!

And there are some AWESOME treats coming your way!  First is my annual Days of the Dead blog tour!  This year it’s bigger and better than EVER! I’m a guest blogger on over 40 blogs, and there will be at least seven great giveaways! Expect surprises, cool freebies and links where you can download excerpts from my books and from dozens of my author friends.  All that goodness starts October 24 and I’ll have a new post to send you to my guest blogs on all the participating sites so you can grab all the goodies!

Then on October 25, The Full Moon Blog Tour from Broad Universe kicks of with 30 different authors! I’m part of that, too, so keep watching on this blog because I’ll have a post that will help you find the other blogs on the tour AND the three awesome prize packages of gift vouchers/ebooks on our Rafflecopter giveaway!

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There’s also a Goodreads giveaway for The Weird Wild West anthology (featuring a Storm and Fury Adventure story by Larry and me set in our Iron & Blood universe) that runs through Nov. 30! Sign up here

BUT WAIT–there’s MORE!  Now through October 31, you can grab The Swaggiest Swag!  11 bestselling authors including Faith Hunter, John Hartness, Darynda Jones, Stuart Jaffe, Christina Harris, Laura Anne Gilman–and me–are offering you awesome shiny swag for the cost of a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Details here!

swag

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