Friday, January 29, 2016

Friday Reveal Team: Ashes in the Sky


Today Jennifer M. Eaton and Month9Books are revealing the first chapter for ASHES IN THE SKY, which releases March 15, 2016! Check out the gorgeous cover and enter to be one of the first readers to receive a eGalley!!

A quick note from the author:
Hello alien fans!

I have to admit that Fire in the Woods was meant to be a stand-alone. When approached to write a second novel, I really had to scratch my head. I mean, the story was over, right?

Well, apparently I “left them screaming for more” as everyone always says.
I really didn’t want to deal with the direct aftermath of book one, so I decided to fast forward a few months: to a time when things should be settling down for poor, exhausted Jess. All she wants to do is get her life back to normal again, and to do that, she needs to get back to school.

Unfortunately for Jess (and maybe fortunately for us) it will be a little while before our girl has anything close to a normal life again. So enjoy Jess’s first day back at school after saving the world. Here is chapter one of Ashes in the Sky: book two of Fire in the Woods.

Alien Kisses!
Jennifer M. Eaton


Title: ASHES IN THE SKY
Author: Jennifer M. Eaton
Pub. Date: March 15, 2016
Publisher: Month9Books
Format: Paperback & eBook
Find it: Amazon | B&NGoodreads
After inadvertently saving the world, eighteen-year-old Jessica Martinez is ready to put adventure behind her and settle back into the familiar routine of high school.

Though when she's offered an opportunity to photograph the inside of an alien space ship, Jess jumps at the chance. After all, she'd be crazy to turn something like that down, right?

Spending time with David on the ship has definite advantages and the two seem to pick up right where they left off. But when Jess discovers a plot to sabotage David's efforts to establish a new home for his people on another planet, neither David's advanced tech nor Jess's smarts will be able to save them.



ASHES IN THE SKY is an action-packed, romantic Sci Fi adventure that will leave readers screaming for more.


Exclusive Excerpt
1
Dad’s brow creased. “You don’t have to do this, Jess. We can turn around now and go home.”
His fingers rapped on the limousine’s armrest as we pulled up to the entrance of my normally quiet school. Outside, police officers and several uniformed security guards held advancing reporters and camera crews on the sidewalks.
“Relax, Major,” Elaine said, across from me. She pulled out a compact and touched up her lipstick. “Two months after single-handedly saving the world from an alien invasion, Earth’s teenage savior returns to finish high school.” She snapped the case shut. “This is the public interest story of the year.”
Dad’s nose flared. “Yes, she’s supposed to be going to school, but you’ve made it a media circus. Why’d you have to schedule a press conference in the auditorium?”
She slipped her lipstick back into her designer purse. “They would have been here anyway. The best way to calm a stalking fox is to invite him in for tea.”
“Tea? I’ll give you tea.”
I held up my hand. “Dad … ” I didn’t have to finish. I never did. Their arguments were always the same. Father protects daughter, while the publicist pushes media exposure as far as she can legally get away with—and me stuck in between.
Elaine wasn’t all that bad, as far as publicists went. Not that I’d known any other publicists, but she’d been by my side since my very first press conference, and the hundred or so more over the past two months. She could be pushy, but she understood the power of a pint of Death By Chocolate ice cream at the end of a long day, which totally earned her brownie points in my book.
Dad’s gaze returned to me. “We just got back. Do you really need to do another press conference?” The deep lines around his eyes added to the weight of my own exhaustion.
I shifted in my seat, my hands clammy against the leather interior. “If we go home, they’ll just show up here again tomorrow. Let’s get this over with. Maybe then things can get back to normal.” I grabbed his hand. “I can do this.”
Dad pressed his lips together. Of course, he knew I could do it. But knowing and wanting me to answer another set of invasive questions were two different things, and I loved every stubborn inch of him for it.
Elaine fluffed my hair and adjusted the collar of my shirt. “Show time.” She knocked twice on the window, and the Secret Service agent outside opened the door for her. She glided through the crowd with a practiced grace.
Camera-palooza erupted outside. Dang, there weren’t this many photographers when I met the president.
Dad stepped out before me, an imposing figure in his combat uniform. Having an over-protective father did have its advantages. No one was getting by this bodyguard. No one.
I closed my eyes and clutched the charm on my necklace. My mother’s strength seeped into me, giving me courage. You’ll be fine, I heard her whisper. You’re my strong little girl. Always have been.
“I’ll try, Mom.” I opened my eyes and shuddered. You would think I’d be used to the feeding frenzy by now. This was the longest fifteen minutes of fame ever.
Steadying myself on the limo door, I stood.
“Jess, look over here.” Flash.
“Miss Martinez, how does it feel to be back at school?” Flash.
“Jessica, to your right.” Flash. Flash.
The faces and camera lenses blurred. My mind filled with the phantom sounds of alien weapons. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to ward off memories of blinding lights and screaming voices.
It was over. The aliens had left, and I was alive. We were all still alive.
The Secret Service closed in around us as Dad placed his hand on my back, guiding me to the front entrance. With a well-rehearsed smile, I made my way forward, hoping to avoid a repeat of tabloid-gate when the worst-of-the-worst photos of me turned up on the cover of the National Daily.
Dad moved beside me as we stepped over the threshold. I slipped my fingers into his hand and squeezed. One more press conference. Just one more. I could do this.
We made our way through a throng of reporters, students, parents, and teachers to the auditorium. Hundreds of voices jumbled into one chaotic roar rebounding off the lockers.
A microphone appeared in front of my face. “Ms. Martinez, how did you—”
Dad pulled me to his chest as two Secret Service agents pounced on the guy. The reporter and the agents sunk back into the crowd, disappearing like a stone thrown into water.
“There will be question and answer time after the presentation,” Elaine called as we passed through the auditorium’s stage door.
I exhaled, rubbing my arms. That had to be the worst crowd ever.
Dad circled the area behind the curtains and checked the cracks and crevices backstage. The Secret Service agents had long since given up on trying to convince him that the government pre-secured all of my speaking engagements. I used to joke about their paranoia, until someone actually found a bomb. Those guys in ugly suits quickly became my best friends.
“Did you practice your speech?” Elaine asked.
I raised an eyebrow. “No.” You’d think she’d stop asking me that. I hadn’t memorized one yet. Why would I start now?
I pulled aside the curtain and scoped out the auditorium. A sea of smiling, wide-eyed faces filled the room. Camera crews and reporters intermingled with the student body.
Going back to high school was supposed to help me get my life back.
This fiasco was not getting my life back. But maybe if I answered everyone’s questions now, they wouldn’t keep asking later.
Hey, a girl could dream.
Elaine patted my shoulder before heading out past the curtains. Her heels clopped across the wooden stage as she passed a huge poster of National Geographic’s “The Night the World Stood Still: Special Edition.”
Steven Callup’s cover photo was one of those shots every aspiring photographer dreamed of catching: perfect lighting, engaging subject, active backdrop, and undeniable emotional tone. I wasn’t drooling over this masterpiece, though; because the photograph featured me.
The flames over my shoulder were in crisp focus and flawlessly mirrored in my dark hair. The mottled hues of a fresh sunrise blended perfectly with the devastation in the background. And my God, the expression on Dad’s face as we embraced … the love in his eyes.
That night would haunt me forever. Something incredible had happened, and it had nothing to do with an alien invasion. That cover immortalized the moment for the world to see: a year after my mother’s death, my father finally opened up and started to feel again.
I released the curtain, ready to face my peers, knowing that no one gave a rat’s ass about me or my dad.
They only wanted to know more about David.
I mean, I totally got it. An alien guy crash lands on Earth and has to escape before his people wipe out humanity. Heck, I’d be interested, too. But the clincher was that David changed his people’s minds because of me. I was the heroine in the story of the millennia, whether I liked it or not.
I cringed, thinking of how many people had contacted me for the movie rights. Ashes in the Sky, they wanted to call it. What kind of idiotic title was that? Ridiculous, all of it. The world almost ended right in front of me. I didn’t need to see it again on a big screen.
As Elaine announced my name, and the audience applauded, I wondered if anything would ever be as it was before David’s people arrived.
I took my place behind the microphone and squinted into the harsh auditorium lighting. I’d been in that audience dozens of times, but never on stage. The faces looking back at me were familiar, but distant. Awestruck.
This place was my school. My safe haven. Having the media here was wrong.
I gritted my teeth and gripped the sides of the lectern. This assembly would be the absolute last time I talked about what happened to me in public. Ever.
A mop of perky, blond curls caught my attention from the third row. My BFF Maggie beamed as she gave me a thumbs-up. Part of me relaxed, knowing I had a friend near.
Maggs was the only other person who’d known about David before the Army started chasing us. She even risked her own rear-end helping us escape. She’d talked her way out of a grounding from her father, the general, thank goodness. Damn, he must have been ticked when he found out what she’d done.
Taking one last breath to steady myself, I edged closer to the mic. “You’d have to be dead not to know what happened two months ago. So I’m just going to open it up to questions.”
Hundreds of hands shot into the air.
One of the moderators handed a microphone to a bubbly girl with a blond ponytail. “Is it true that the alien looked just like Jared Linden?”
And, it starts.
“Yes. David mimicked an advertisement and looked just like Jared Linden’s character in that movie Fire in the Woods.”
Okay, that was only half of it. The truth was far too embarrassing. David pulled Jared Linden’s features from my mind. He didn’t look exactly like Jared. Just the hotter parts. The rest was an amalgamation of other cute guys he’d yanked out of my brain. There was no way I would admit to that, though.
A tall kid in a black band tee stood. “So what really happened out there? They were going to annihilate us. How’d you get them to change their minds?”
I cleared my throat. A flash of David’s smile and the warmth of his touch sent a shiver down my spine. “Luck was totally in our favor. If David’s plane hadn’t crashed, we never would have met. It didn’t take long before he realized the human race was worth saving.”
A teacher handed a microphone to a girl wearing glasses. “How long will it take them to terraform Mars?”
Ugh. I tried to think of David’s new home like Seattle or Los Angeles, but it wasn’t. It was Mars. As in: not Earth. Talk about your long distance romance.
“I have no idea how long it will take them to make Mars livable. I do know that they are running short on supplies, so I’m hoping it will happen pretty quickly.”
A girl in a cheerleader uniform flagged down the lady with the microphone. “Everyone says you and the alien were doing it. Inquiring minds want to know. Was he any good?”
Camera flashes singed my eyes as a teacher tried to pull the mic away from the girl.
“No,” a reporter shouted. “Let’s hear the answer.”
The audience murmured, shifting like hyenas waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting foal. Beside the stage, Dad’s face became an unnatural shade of crimson.
Crap.
“Well?” the cheerleader asked.
I wiped the sweat from my palms, remembering the shockwave that raged through me when David’s lips covered mine. The tabloids had reduced our relationship to supermarket trash, and Rah-Rah Girl probably wouldn’t know a real emotional connection if it bit her.
David and I shared something so deeply intimate it transcended everything. No one could possibly understand. I wasn’t even sure I understood. All I knew was that I was in love, and I’d probably never see him again.
I blinked, realizing the room had gone quiet, awaiting my answer about doing it.
My hands fisted, but I forced a smile and rustled up the rote response Elaine had prepared for me. “I heard that rumor, too, but David and I were only friends.” A sickly gash sliced through my heart. The thought of living the rest of my life with him on another planet was akin to living in the desert without water.
Was he out there somewhere, longing for me as much as I yearned for him?
My stomach fluttered. I hated how people’s stupid questions dredged up feelings I’d worked hard to suppress. I had to get off that podium.
A kid in the back stood. “How does it feel to know that six million people died while you were out there hugging dear old dad?” He pointed over my shoulder to the huge magazine cover behind me. “How does it feel to know the death count is still rising?”
It was? “Umm—”
“When did you know they were hostile?” someone else shouted.
My heart thumped against my ribcage. “I, uh—”
A reporter snatched the microphone. “Do you honestly believe they won’t come back and finish us off?”
The rumble of voices intensified. Cameras flashed as dozens of voices drowned one another out. So much for school being my safe haven.
Elaine gripped my shoulder and pulled me from the dais. “Thank you,” she said. “That’s all the questions we have time for today.”
She scooted me past the curtains, Dad following close behind. The volume in the auditorium escalated. “I’m sorry,” she said. “We should’ve been ready for that. Next time—”
“There’s not going to be a next time.” I thrust my chin in the air. “That was my last public appearance. I’m already behind in school, and I need to graduate this year. I just want to get back to my classes and put this all behind me.”
She grinned in that syrupy way adults do when they are about to condescend your butt. “We’ll talk about this later, honey.”
Dad’s gaze seared through her before he offered me a nod of approval.
No, Elaine. We would definitely not be talking about this later.




Corporate Team Leader by day, and Ranting Writer by night. Jennifer M. Eaton calls the East Coast of the USA home, where she lives with her husband, three energetic boys, and a pepped up poodle.

Jennifer hosts an informational blog “A Reference of Writing Rants for Writers (or Learn from My Mistakes)” aimed at helping all writers be the best they can be.

Beyond writing and motivating others, she also enjoys teaching her dog to jump through hoops—literally.

Jennifer’s perfect day includes long hikes in the woods, bicycling, swimming, snorkeling, and snuggling up by the fire with a great book; but her greatest joy is using her over-active imagination constructively… creating new worlds for everyone to enjoy.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter Facebook | Goodreads





Giveaway Details:


1 winner will receive an eGalley of ASHES IN THE SKY. International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

The Undead Road Tour: Interview with David Powers King

I'm excited to be part of the paperback release party for David Powers King's The Undead Road! David was kind enough to stop by and answer a few of my off-the-wall questions. 

And great news, the ebook of The Undead Road is on sale January 25-29th for .99 cents in the Kindle store! Don't forget to pick up your copy!


Title: The Undead Road: My Zombie Summer: Part One
Publisher: Dashboard Books / CreateSpace
Ebook Release: January 2, 2016
Paperback: January 26th, 2016
Cover by Steven Novak
Edited by Reece Hanzon

Blurb:

Nothing brings the family together like a zombie apocalypse …

Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Barnes would rather watch a zombie movie than shoot a real one, but he has no choice if his family wants to survive the end of the world. Their plan? Drive across the infected United States to a cabin in the Colorado Rockies without a scratch, but their trip takes a complicated detour in the middle of Nebraska when they find Kaylynn, a girl who can handle a baseball bat better than Jeremy can hold a .45 Berretta. And when they stumble into a sanctuary, Jeremy soon learns that Kaylynn is stronger than she looks—a deadly secret lies inside her.

After the radio picks up a distress call from Kansas City about a possible cure, Jeremy’s parents go with a team to investigate. They never return. The only way to find their parents is for Jeremy and his sister Jewel to rely on a dangerous girl who might just turn on them at any moment.


Praise for The Undead Road:

"For me, zombie stories are never about the killing. They're about the survivors and how people deal with the apocalypse. To this undead end, David Powers King has come up with the most original spin on zombies I've ever read." - Michael Offutt, author of Slipstream and Oculus

Contest Details:

Visit davidpowersking.com and leave a comment and/or tweet about The Undead Road (at least once) for a chance to win a free ebook. One out of every 10 comments and tweets is a winner! Make sure you tag the author so he will see your tweet.

And here's a pre-made text to make it easy for you!

"Nothing brings the family together like a #zombie #apocalypse..." #scifi #horror amzn.to/1RT8xly .99 cent #kindle! @DavidPowersKing


Be sure to stop by the other tour hosts for this week to read other guest posts and interviews with David. Here's the Blog Tour Schedule below:

Blog tour hosts:

Alex Cavanaugh Jan 25th
Donna Hole Jan 25th
Chemist Ken Jan 26th
Elana Johnson Jan 26th
Nick Wilford Jan 26th
Tara Tyler Jan 27th
Kristin Smith Jan 27th
Lidy Wilks Jan 28th
M.J. Fifield Jan 29th

About the Author:


David Powers King was born in beautiful downtown Burbank, California where his love for film inspired him to be a writer. He is the co-author of the YA fantasy novel WOVEN, published by Scholastic. An avid fan of science fiction and fantasy, David also has a soft spot for zombies and the paranormal. He currently lives deep in the mountain West with his wife and three children.


Interview with David Powers King

Q: What was your inspiration for The Undead Road?
A: I’ve always wanted to write my own zombie story, but it wasn’t until I saw the first episode of The Walking Dead when it finally clicked. This book is also semi-autobiographical, meaning it’s based on how my twisted mind thought about things and perceived the world when I was 15.

Q: Can you share with us a favorite line from your book?
A: “Finally!” Jewel cried. “I gotta take an epic pee!”

Q: Are you working on any new projects?
A: Currently working on Part Two of My Zombie Summer and a sequel to WOVEN.

Q: What has been the most surprising thing about publishing (or writing) so far?
A: Just how difficult it really can be—and I mean publishing. Who knew post-publication would be such a challenge? But I love it, and I wouldn’t trade where I am right now for anything else.

Q: If you could time travel to any point in the past, when would it be and why?
A: The 1920s to late 1930s. That’s kind of my ideal golden age (if you’ve seen Midnight in Paris, you’ll know what I mean). If it’s good enough for Indiana Jones, it’s good for me.

Q: Favorite breakfast food?
A: Anything with eggs in it. Well, almost anything …

Q: If you could only wear one T-shirt with the same slogan on it for the rest of your life, what would it say?
A: Have you seen any zombies? You’re welcome.

Q: What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
A: I’m deathly afraid of bees, even though I’m not allergic to them. You hear that buzzing?

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: The ability to rewind time, but without the risk of creating a rift in space time.


Thank you, David! Best of luck with The Undead Road. I think it looks like a great read! Who doesn't love zombies? :)

Monday, January 25, 2016

Snow Day=Revising

Well, we survived Snowmageddon 2016 as it is now being called on Twitter. Here in NC, we aren't really equipped with all the snowplows and salt necessary for quickly getting the roads cleared and everyone back in school. Which means, that even though the roads are clear in my neighborhood, a lot of the rural areas aren't. So, it's another SNOW DAY!!! Woohoo!

After a morning of chores and forcing my kids to work on Scouts and piano and math facts and reading, etc. (nope, can't get out of school work around here!), they are now free to do what they want, and I get to do....

REVISING!

Yaayy. Not really.

So, I've just settled in for some #amrevising with a cup of cinnamon apple spice herbal tea (yum! It totally smells up the entire room!). And yep, this mug is one I got during my NYC trip a few weeks ago. I just had to have it.


I usually write here, but in an unmade bed and without all the pillows, of course.



But since I actually took the time to make my bed today, I will be writing here. It's a futon in our room and I love being able to prop my feet up on the ottoman. And it's a great place for my tea!

As you can see, I LOVE pillows! :)


So, with a little soft Classical Romance Radio in the background, compliments of Pandora, I will commence my revising and hope that inspiration hits me so that I can nail these revisions.

Where do you like to write?

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