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Tuesday 24 March 2015

Blurb Blitz & Giveaway - Fire Above by C. H. MacLean



Fire Above
Author: C. H. MacLean
Genre: Fantasy

Book Description: 
I love her so much, I'd risk anything.

She and I don't have names. We're just slaves, after all. But our hearts don't care, and we're lucky, we have a chance at a scrap of happiness in our terrible lives. My father is the Queen's pet.

But when my love discovers the lords' newest atrocity, she lashes out, does the unthinkable, and attacks one of them. Her courage is heroic, but now they have stuffed her in prison, getting ready to slaughter her.

With nothing to lose, I dare to dream of a life far from the lords. I fight for our freedom, and escape to the woods with my love. We can do no less than free all of our people in the effort.

Our flight through the woods is only the start of our journey. The lords’ flaming attacks, their deception, the loss of so many of my people—I don't know if I will survive, or if I even want to. But for my love, I will do almost anything, even battle the fire above.

Buy Links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24871128-fire-above



Excerpt

As I entered the village, my heart dropped and my feet turned from trusted friends to tripping enemies. The lord was waiting by my brother's hut. Carry a package. When they’d said from our village, I’d had a feeling. From my brother’s hut, what else could it mean?

I plodded forward, dreading the next moments. It was an honor to be Chosen, right? Father had been Chosen, and look where he was now. Pet slave to the Queen herself.

I watched the lord push open the door and obediently followed her inside. She looked around, wrinkling her nose. It looked like a regular hut to me, with its dirt floor, cooking pit in the center, sleeping mats to one side. Neater than most, in fact. My brother's mate spun as we came in, my nephew on one hip. I saw my niece peep out from the sleeping mats out of the corner of my eye. Behind the lord’s back, I winked at her and tipped my head to get her to go back to hiding. She did.

My brother's mate's brown eyes shone black in the dim light. She flicked her eyes at the lord, and then at me, wide-eyed.

The lord peered at her and said, “That child is Called.”

My brother's mate's face flashed with fear and went slack. I dove toward her, managing to catch my nephew before his head hit the floor. Luckily, I bumped his stiff mother back into the wall instead of forward, so she shouldn’t be too injured. My nephew started screaming, and I couldn't tell if he had an injury or was just scared.


About the Author
To young C. H. MacLean, books were everything: mind-food, friends, and fun. They gave the shy middle child’s life color and energy. Amazingly, not everyone saw them that way. Seeing a laundry hamper full of books approach her, the librarian scolded C. H. for trying to check them all out. “You'll never read that many before they expire!” C. H. was surprised, having shown great restraint only by keeping a list of books to check out next time. Thoroughly abashed, C. H. waited three whole days after finishing that lot before going back for more.

With an internal world more vivid than the real one, C. H. was chastised for reading in the library instead of going to class. “Neurotic, needs medical help,” the teacher diagnosed. C. H.'s father, a psychologist, just laughed when he heard. “She's just upset because those books are more challenging than her class.”  C. H. realized making up stories was just as fun as reading, and harder to get caught doing. So for a while, C. H. crafted stories and characters out of wisps and trinkets, with every toy growing an elaborate personality.

But toys were not mature, and stories weren't respectable for a family of doctors. So C. H. grew up and learned to read serious books and study hard, shelving foolish fantasies for serious work.

Years passed in a black and white blur. Then, unpredictably falling in love all the way to a magical marriage rattled C. H.'s orderly world. A crazy idea slipped in a resulting crack and wouldn't leave. “Write the book you want to read,” it said. “Write? As in, a fantasy novel? But I'm not creative,” C. H. protested. The idea, and C. H.'s spouse, rolled their eyes.

So one day, C. H. started writing. Just to try it, not that it would go anywhere. Big mistake. Decades of pent-up passion started pouring out, making a mess of an orderly life. It only got worse. Soon, stories popped up everywhere- in dreams, while exercising, or out of spite, in the middle of a work meeting. “But it's not important work,” C. H. pleaded weakly. “They are not food, or friends, or...” But it was too late. C. H. had re-discovered that, like books, life should be fun too. Now, writing is a compulsion, and a calling.

C. H. lives in a Pacific Northwest forest with five pets, two kids, one spouse, and absolutely no dragons or elves, faeries, or demons… that are willing to be named, at least.

Author Links:


***GIVEAWAY***

$30 Amazon / B&N Gift Card.

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29 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Mai! I love what the book cover designer came up with.

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  2. This book sounds terrific. Great interview and contest! I loved this part of his bio: C. H. lives in a Pacific Northwest forest with five pets, two kids, one spouse, and absolutely no dragons or elves, faeries, or demons… that are willing to be named, at least.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Betty! It used to read five cats, but we lost one and gained a dog, so pets it is. ;-)

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  3. Very different writing style. Refreshing.

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    1. So glad you find it refreshing, Salisa.

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    2. You are most Welcome. Is the real book cover, I mean the printed one, as colorful as the one I am seeing on my computer. Or is it just because of my computer. I can't decide, I've been staring at that book cover for over five mins. Sometimes when it printed it is not as vibrant as I see on the comp.:S

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  4. I think the cover is spectacular

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  5. I like the colors on the cover.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thank you, Katarzyna! I love how the designer evoked menace over idyll.

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  7. I really look forward to reading this amazing story. Loved the excerpt

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  8. Thanks for sharing your story about how you fell into writing

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Shannon. Feels good to share it.

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  9. Very eyecatching cover...enjoyed the excerpt...very different way of writing but I think I like it. I liked the part about the author...interesting.

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  10. I love this synopsis and excerpt! I really want to know why they were taking the guy's niece away. And how they reference others in the community, if they have no names. Say you want to talk about a neighbor getting in trouble, one that's not usually a troublemaker. Do they have to get into a bunch of descriptives and keep going until the other person(s) gets it? Are they given numbers? Just very curious about how life in this world as a slave would be.

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  11. What a wonderful cover! It is simple beautiful! Good excerpt! I can't wait to read more!

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  12. What a wonderful cover! It is simple beautiful! Good excerpt! I can't wait to read more!

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  13. I enjoyed the excerpt of Fire Above, I would like to read more. Thank you

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  14. I really enjoyed the excerpt and I look forward to reading the book.

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