Announcements: LTUE + Citadels of Fire ARCs Available!

Happy Monday, Everyone!

I hope you all had a safe, fun, and productive weekend. I was super-busy, but I still managed to get some stuff done. 

I have two announcements today:

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1) The LTUE Conference is at the end of the week--Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I'm going to be there for sure on Friday, and I was planning on Saturday, too, though that may change between then and now. (My work schedule is suddenly up in the air.) But, if you're going to be in the Provo/BYU area, come on over and join us. I've never attended before but I hear it's an amazing conference and I'll be at the mass autograph signing on Friday. I'd love to meet you! (Visit this website for more info!)

2) My historical fiction novel, Citadels of Fire, which is slated for release in May of this year, now has ARCs available. I'd love to send a free, digital copy to anyone who'd be willing to give me an honest review. My publisher, Jolly Fish Press, is also putting together a tour. 

Below is a letter (also generated by my publisher) with a link to sign up for the tour if anyone is interested. Below that is the Goodreads description of the book.  If you'd like an  ARC, email me at lkhillbooks@gmail.com with what version you'd prefer (mobi, epub, pdf) and I'll be happy to send it to you.

This was actually the first full-length novel I ever wrote and I'm super excited for it to finally see publication. Thanks for all your support, guys! It means the world to me.

Have a fantabulous Monday! 

Dear Blogger,

When considering the history of our world, there are few periods more brutal and majestic as that of medieval Russia. Filled with murderous Tsars, terrible wars, and towering kremlins, a well-written story set in this tragic yet beautiful time and place is exactly what readers didn’t know they needed. 

Citadels of Fire is the answer, and there has never been a historical fiction like this. 

Written by L.K. Hill and releasing May 27, 2014, Citadels of Fire is a powerful account of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The story is experienced through the eyes of a palace maid and a foreign boyar who must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall. 

I’m confident this story will intrigue and entertain you and your readers, so I’d like to request your review and/or endorsement. 

Should you be interested, a printed or electronic Advance Reading Copy of the book is available for your review. The eARC is available as a pdf, mobi, or epub file. Please let me know which format you prefer.  

We also invite you to participate in the Citadels of Fire Blog Tour. The tour will last from May 20th, 2014 to June 20th, 2014. Should you be interested, visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Uj3lu54ikyw3jPsH7cuP-dYcXGumpsBrBu8tvQPDE8Q/viewform and fill out all the necessary information. We will provide a blog tour banner, giveaway, and additional information on the book (including a press kit) as the tour nears. 

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Regards,D. Kirk CunninghamHead PublicistJolly Fish Presskirk@jollyfishpress.com801-380-4503

In a world where danger hides in plain sight and no one aspires to more than what they were born to, Inga must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth. 

As a maid in the infamous Kremlin, life in 16th-century Russia is bleak and treacherous. That is, until Taras arrives. Convinced that his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident, he returned from England to discover what really happened. While there, he gains favor from the Tsar later known as Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit upon the throne of Russia. Ivan allows him to take a servant, and to save Inga from a brutal boyar intent on raping her, Taras requests Inga to stay in his chambers. 

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian Imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

View on Amazon     View on Goodreads

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Chronicles of a Harry Potter Fan by Thomas Sailer

Hello Everyone! Today please welcome Thomas Sailor, author of Chronicles of a Harry Potter Fan. 

 For many years, Thomas Sailer was active in the virtual Harry Potter fandom: After he had developed a huge fancy for the story in autumn 2004, he started to help out on the renowned fan portal 'Emma Watson Empire' the next spring; and it did not take long until he advanced to the site's representative.
Two years later, he founded the 'Knight Bus,' a widescale directory for Harry Potter websites. And finally, he even tried to mobilise fans from all countries by means of an organisation.
During his years as an active member of the fan community, he has accomplished quite a lot and made contacts to fans and website owners from all over the world. However, what he has basically intended with his activity, did not happen to become real. 
In this book, he talks about his work in the international fandom, his motives and how the Harry Potter story has influenced his life. When first released in November 2012, the original German version of the book caused a stir within the fan community: Although it has never been on a bestseller-list, there appeared to be several reports about Thomas Sailer's story on many fan based websites from all around the world.

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Ann-Marie Meyers: Up in the Air + Patriotic Courage in the Face of Helplessness--A True Story

Hello Everyone! Today is the day before Independence Day so check out my true story of patriotism in the face of helplessness below! Meanwhile, please welcome Ann Marie Meyers to the blog. Her first novel, Up in the Air releases July 6. She's here to talk about finding your target audience. Make sure to click on the link below that to enter her Rafflecopter giveaway. Then check out my review of her book below. 

Ann Marie Meyers grew up in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. She has a degree in languages and translates legal and technical documents from French and Spanish into English. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and super energetic daughter. Meyers is an active member of SCBWI and facilitates a children's writing group twice a month. Welcome, Ann Marie!

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Blood Moon Blog Tour: Review + Guest Post

Today will everyone please welcome Teri Harman to the blog! She's the amazing writer of the new, bewitching novel, Blood Moon and is here to talk about book promotion, especially for a first time author.

Promoting a first book is an intimidating task. It’s hard to strike a balance between useful, effective advertising and blatant, shameless, annoying self-promotion. I have found that the best way to promote your first book is to get other people to do it for you.

1 – Get to know your local, independent bookseller

I know it’s all digital, all the time now, but a good Indie bookshop with employees who care about you and root for you can still have a huge impact on helping your first book succeed. Shop in the store, talk to the employees, get to know them and let them know what you are doing with your writing. Ask for advice – these people really know the book business.

2 – Have a blog/website with your name as the web address

Most of us have blogs now (if you don’t, start one now!). One small piece of advice that can make a huge difference is to have the name of your blog be YOUR NAME. Don’t try to come up with something clever or cute, just YOURNAME.wordpress.com or even better YOURNAME.com. If it already exists, use AUTHORYOURNAME.com. This makes it so much easier for people to find you in a web search. And you want it to be easy for people to find out about you and your new book.

Also, be sure your blog looks professional and is very easy to navigate. It should only take seconds for people to find out about your book and where to buy it.

3 – Do book reviews on your blog and/or participate in blog tours

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Fairy Godmothers, Inc. + Top Fairy Godmother Qualities By Jenniffer Wardell

Hello Everyone!

Please join me in welcoming Jenniffer Wardell to the blog today. She's the author of the delightful YA novel, Fairy Godmothers, Inc., the story of a world where fairy tale endings are as common as death and taxes, but they take more drama to pull off than they ever appear to. Thanks so much for being here today, Jenniffer!

My Review

I read an ARC of Fairy Godmothers, Inc., last week, given to my courtesy of Jolly Fish Press in exchange for an honest review.

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Pitch Green Blog Tour--Guest Post and Review

Hello All! Today I'm happy to host fellow JFP authors, The Brothers Washburn, who are promoting their fantastic new YA horror novel, Pitch Green. I've recently read this in preparation for the tour and LOVED it!

Trona is a small, smoggy,  insignificant town in Colorado. Besides a booming chemical plant, the only thing that characterizes this dismal town is dirt, sagebrush, and an enormous abandoned mansion.
Seven years ago, as Camm herded a pack of trick-or-treaters past the mansion, her young neighbor Hugh disappeared, becoming just one of many children who have vanished  from Trona over the years . Now a senior in high school, Camm is still haunted by the tragedy and is sure the answer to the mysterious disappearances lies hidden in the decaying mansion. Joining forces with her best friend, Cal, who also happens to be Hugh’s older brother, Camm naively begins a perilous search for the truth.
As things spiral out of control, and others die, Camm and Cal discover it will take all their combined ingenuity to stay alive. An unseen creature, lurking deep within the bowels of the mansion, seems to have supernatural powers and is now hunting them. Unless they can make sense out of the few pieces of the puzzle they manage to unearth, the monster will certainly destroy them, and like so many others before them, they will be gone without a trace.

Review

I received a copy of Pitch Green through my publisher, Jolly Fish Press for review. I read it in preparation for the tour, but I confess, I didn't really know what it was about. Because of that, I picked it up with no expectations whatsoever. What I found was a delightful, well-written, YA horror story. I breezed through this novel with no trouble at all, and always excited to read more.

Camm is a typical teenage girl, dreaming of life at a big Unversity to, in part, escape her small town. Children have been disappearing inexplicably for years, including the younger brother of her best friend and boyfriend, Cal. When things get interesting and mysterious, Camm takes it on herself to investigate what never seems to have been investigated. What she finds is a twenty-year-old secret, separably entwined with her small town's history.

Both Camm and Cal are great characters. They come across as real kids--and real smart ones--with real problems. They made me smile and root for them constantly. The mystery was well-written, making me turn pages, and the pacing was perfect.

The book would be a bit scary for younger readers--even I shivered a few times--but it's not at all explicit. PG-13 rating in my book.  I never read much YA horror in my day, so I can't say for sure that it's comparable to something like Fear Street, but it seems to me this would be a good comparison. Overall, I found it to be delightful and would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun, creepy read!  Hats off to the Brothers Washburn! I look forward to their next novel with great eagerness. 

Smoldering Inspiration

By The Brothers Washburn

            Berk and I have been asked several times to say what inspired us to write Pitch Green, our scary young adult novel about two teenagers hunted by a fearsome creature that lives in an immense and bizarre mansion that is located in their desolate, desert town.  This is a hard question.  I sometimes feel that the most inspiring thing I come across anymore is a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies, accompanied by a tall glass of cold milk.

            Not the stuff of novels, scary or otherwise.  We have reached this point in our lives where we have seen and done, well, not “it all”; but all of it that we have wanted to see and do.  It is not so much that we are beyond inspiration, but that inspiration has moved on to influence younger, better-looking people than us.

            Perhaps that is the secret of Pitch Green.  It takes place in the deep desert in the real-life mining town of Trona, California.  This is the town of our youth, where we grew up, on the doorstep of Death Valley.  The novel is based on a scary late-night story that has been a part of our lives since we were children.  It is a story we told on scout outings.  We told it to our friends, girlfriends, cousins and even to a few people we didn’t like.  We told it around campfires, on road trips and even in a school class.  This was a story we loved.  And, we loved to use it to scare the crap out of each other.

The Brothers Washburn

            So, while inspiration may evade us now in our white-hair days; we were able reach back, (way freaking back) to those days of yore, (I think it is federal law that says you are not allowed to have “days of yore” until you reach at least 50 years of age) when inspiration was an everyday event--back when inspiration came in a box of cereal, when inspiration was always just around the corner.  It was in the last book I read, in the latest episode of Star Trek or Lost in Space, or in the simple smile of the pretty girl next door.  Oh, to be so inspired again.

            But, I wax sickenly philosophic.  Sorry.  I guess we really were inspired to write this book; but it just so happens that the inspiration came to us a very long time ago--over forty years ago.  It has been sitting, smoldering inside us, waiting to burst into flame when we were all done growing up (if that’s possible), when we could look back and see more clearly.  Some things do get better with age.  In a way, that is kind of inspiring in and of itself.

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Pushing the Limits Read-Along: Week 3

Still participating in the Pushing the Limits Read-Along! Here's my answers for Week 3!

1. In the beginning of this section Noah decides to ignore Echo because he's angry and hurt. What did you think of this? Have you ever experienced a friendship that went awry and they started ignoring you?

A: Yes, definitely. Especially at school age, this is common. I thought it was sad, but not necessarily out of character.

2. Noah has a bit of a false reputation. Everyone thinkgs he's a big druggie and a guy that just randomly hooks up with girls. While some of it is true to a certain extent, we see it's not really him. Have you ever had a false reputation where people draw their own conclusions? Do you think Noah should do something to make people not think that about him?

A: I don't think I've ever had an interesting enough reputation to make people talk either way, and that's always been fine with me. As for Noah, I don't know if he should do something to change it or not, but I don't think he will. He's one who doesn't care what other think, and even uses it as a defense mechanism at times.

3. Ashley finds out she's having a boy and informs Echo she will have a brother 'again'. Echo took this very personally and was extremely upset. Do you think Echo overreacted? Do you think Ashley meant that the new brother would replace her brother?

A: This is hard to answer with a simple yes or no. For a teenager who recently lost her brother, no, I don't think Echo overreacted at all. In fact, I think her reaction could have been much worse. But I also don't think Ashley meant anything by it. She was just talking.

I'm really on the fence about Ashley. On the one hand, she's obviously far from saintly because of the way she entered Echo's family dynamic. That said, I think she now truly wants to be Echo's friend. The only problem with that is that Ashley is very self-centered. (She'd have to be, considering, again, her entrance into Echo's father's affections.) She doesn't dig deep to really get to know Echo or help her. Everything is superficial with her. On the other hand, because she's the 'step mom' and Echo misses her really mother, Ashley is never going to get fair treatment, and sometimes, like when Echo got angry about the "brother again" comment, it's obvious she isn't being vicious, she just didn't realize what she'd said or how Echo took it, so I feel bad for her. If Echo weren't a teenager dealing with SO MANY horrible issues, she and Ashley could probably be civil, if not close. Of course, this is not that story. :D

4. Echo doesn't remember what happened with her mother and for this reason she has troubles seeing her the way everyone else does. She can't seem to not miss her and still wants to talk to her. Do you think she should pursue finding her mom? Do you think it will help her or do you think she would be in danger?

A: I don't think she should pursue her mom just yet. Maybe when she's out of high school and has gotten some more distance from whatever happened, when she's finally remembered everything and allowed her mind to heal, then she could safely confront her mom again. For now, there's a real chance of both physical and psychological danger. The fact that everyone freaks out to the extent they do about her contacting her mom should be a major red flag for Echo, but she just seems to dismiss it as everyone else's overreaction.

5. Noah doesn't trust the people who have his brothers because of his own past situations. He decides to seek out a lawyer himself and try to get custody. Do you think this is his best move? Do you think there are some other options he should consider? 

A: His best option? Hard to say. It's true that he needs to be certain he can take care of the boys. And I don't think their foster parents are as bad as he thinks. Yet, despite all the logical arguments, I'm with Noah on this one. If my parents died, I would move heaven and earth to get my siblings under my roof and take care of them for the rest of my life. I think that of my siblings, too. I'd raise their kids in a heartbeat if anything ever happened. I think keeping a family together (so long as no one's being put in danger) is more important than almost anything else. If he left them with a good family and just saw them a lot, and that worked for him, fine. But if he wants them and they want him and he can prove that he can provide for them, I say let him do it. One hundred percent.

6. Echo finds out that Noah and his parents built houses for Habitat for Humanity. Have you ever volunteered for something like that? What is a cause that you feel strongly about?

A: Hmm. If you can't tell by my answer to #5, family tends to be my biggest cause. Charity through Deseret Industries is another one I give to a lot. And supporting LDS missionaries (especially my brother who is currently serving in Tacoma, WA.--Hi Abe!) :D

How are you liking the book?

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Praise of Motherhood Book Review

Praise of Motherhood is a very interesting book. It's very...different. And I don't necessarily mean in a bad way. I'll admit that when I first started this book, I didn't like it very much. The narrator is very negative and his view of the world is rather odd. If I hadn't already committed to reading it in order to be part of the blog tour, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

That said, I'm actually very glad that I'd committed to the tour, because I'm glad I stuck it out and finished the book. It ended up being very intriguing and very touching.

This book is written in the first person. It is a narrative by a boy about his mother. He starts with getting the news that she's had an aneurysm and getting on a plane with his sister. By the time they got there, she was already gone. The narrative is very stream-of-consciousness. It's almost as though he's rambling about his mom. One thought or memory reminds him of something else so he jumps to that. We get a lot of his own thoughts about things--and they tend to be very negative. Despite all the jumping around, it's not confusing, as you might think. The descriptions of his memories are all very vivid and clear, just not linear.

As for his negativity, it becomes clear about a third of the way through the book that, especially as a teenager, this boy was mentally unstable. He briefly touches on a few meltdowns, a few hospital stays. He even says he was a teenager who contemplated the whole Columbine thing, and he credits his mother's constant love and understanding with single-handedly keeping him from actually doing it. The instant mental illness entered the picture, he became a fascinating character study to me.

Is this book for everyone? No. As I said, it's very different at first. Plus, being a troubled, rebellious teen gives rise to plenty of cussing and some sex talk. I wouldn't give this book an R rating, but expect a solid PG-13, hovering toward R.

Overall I ended up enjoying this book. It was a tribute to his mother, not as the world saw her and not even necessarily as she really was, but as HE, her troubled son, saw her and loved her. While he doesn't by far go into every part of who she was, and that may leave you wanting more, it ends up being a profound, touching tribute to a woman by the only person who knew her exactly like he did.

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