E.J. Wesley's Winter Thrills and Chills Tour, Guest Post and Giveaway!

I'm hosting a stop on  E.J. Wesley's Winter Thrills and Chills Tour for his Moonsongs Series.  This tour is running January 6-17 and consists of reviews, interviews, top tens, guest posts and of course, giveaways!  Be sure to check out the tour page for the full list of stops.

~Book 1 - Blood Fugue~

“Some folks treated the past like an old friend. The memories warmed them with fondness for what was, and hope for what was to come. Not me. When I thought of long ago, my insides curdled, and I was left feeling sour and wasted.”

Jenny Schmidt is a young woman with old heartaches. A small town Texas girl with big city attitude, she just doesn’t fit in. Not that she has ever tried. 

Life has pummeled her heart into one big, lonely callus. She has no siblings, both parents were dead by sixteen, and her last grandparent—and caretaker—was in the ground before she turned twenty-one. She’s the last living member of her immediate family. Or so she thinks…

“We found my ‘grandfather’ sitting at his dining room table. An entire scorched pot of coffee dangled from his shaky hand. His skin was the ashen gray shade of thunderclouds, not the rich mocha from the photo I’d seen. There were dark blue circles under each swollen red eye. A halo of white hair skirted his bald head, a crown of tangles and mats. Corpses had more life in them.”

Suddenly, instead of burying it with the dead, Jenny is forced to confront the past. Armed only with an ancient family journal, her rifle, and an Apache tomahawk, she must save her grandfather’s life and embrace her dangerous heritage. Or be devoured by it.

Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble| iBooks | Goodreads

~Book 2 - Witch's Nocturne~

After receiving an ancient tribal journal from her grandfather, Jenny is sent on a mission of discovery in an attempt to unravel clues to her family's monster hunting past. The journey becomes more than academic when she is asked to confront a coven of dangerous witches who plan to cast an insidious spell on the plains of West Texas.

Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords | iBooks | Goodreads

 ~Book 3 - Dark Prelude~

 

Jenny Moonsong recently inherited the title of "monster hunter" and an ancient tribal journal/how-to manual passed down by her Apache ancestors. Unfortunately, a lot of on-the-job training is required to be a monster hunter, and unlike her computer repair business, this gig could literally kill her.

Dark Prelude finds the feisty protagonist, Jenny, searching for her best friend Marshal's missing father in the midst of a freak, West Texas winter storm. To survive the frigid night, she'll have to deal with a hated town rival, face a monstrous creature no Moonsong hunter has ever encountered before, and undo a mysterious curse. Can she keep everyone alive? If not, who will pay the ultimate price?

Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Goodreads

~Book 4: Dragon's Game~

Jenny Moonsong recently inherited the title of "monster hunter" and an ancient tribal journal/how-to manual passed down by her Apache ancestors. She has already faced a werewolf, witches, and a troll. But nothing could prepare her for her latest confrontation...

Dragon's Game, Moonsongs Book 4, finds Jenny out of her rural West Texas element, searching for an evil witch in an urban Houston nightclub. After attempting to help a handsome and mysterious stranger out of a jam, she finds herself on the run from a ruthless gang who are even more dangerous than they initially appear.

Forced into a twisted game of life and death, Jenny must navigate the complexity of a budding relationship, and somehow survive a night filled with unexpected horror and paranormal mystery.

Dragon's Game is approximately 14,000 words or 45 pages of humor, horror and paranormal mystery. It is the fourth volume of the Moonsongs Books, an ongoing series of New Adult, urban fantasy novelettes by author E.J. Wesley.

Amazon  |   Barnes & Noble |  Goodreads

~Book 5- Vampire's Ball~

Jenny Moonsong recently inherited the title of "monster hunter" and an ancient tribal journal/how-to manual passed down by her Apache ancestors. Being a girl of action, she has found herself particularly capable when it comes to battling the werewolves, trolls, and other supernatural denizens lurking in the Texas night. Until now.

Vampire's Ball, Moonsongs book 5, finds Jenny and her best friend Marshal in their most harrowing adventure yet. Traveling by boat to an extravagant masquerade party located at a Galveston Island mansion, Jenny must parlay with an ancient vampire in order to secure the release of the dragon princes, Isis. The unexpected return of an old "friend" turns the evening into chaos, and leaves Jenny and company once again fighting for survival amidst a sea of supernatural foes.

Vampire's Ball is approximately 12,500 words of humor, horror and paranormal mystery. It is the fifth volume of the Moonsongs Books, an ongoing series of New Adult, urban fantasy novelettes by author E.J. Wesley.

Amazon  |   Barnes & Noble |  Goodreads

~Moonsongs Anthology~

The Moonsongs Anthology 1 collects the first three Moonsongs books--a series of New Adult paranormal-horror-action novelettes--in one exciting volume. Follow Jenny and her best friend Marshal on their dangerous quest to unlock the secrets of her past.

Moonsongs Anthology 1 collects the three previously published Moonsongs adventures: Blood Fugue (Book 1), Witch's Nocturne (Book 2), and Dark Prelude (Book 3).

Available in print & eBook via Amazon  | Goodreads

~About the Author~

Growing up in small-town Oklahoma, there were limits on the amount and types of entertainment at my disposal. Perhaps that’s why I set my imagination free. After collecting degrees in psychology and counseling, life brought me to Missouri, Texas, and Northern California—where I currently read, write, and live. I fill my spare time playing video games, watching movies, planning for the zombie apocalypse, reading graphic novels, and playing with my dogs.

My passion for New Adult literature led me to producing the weekly New Adult Lit Chat on Twitter, and contributing to the NA Alley Blog. I’m also the author of the Moonsongs Books, a series of New Adult, speculative-rural fantasy novelettes.

~Links~

WEBSITE | BLOG | NA ALLEY (contributor) | TWITTER |  NEW ADULT LIT CHAT (founder/producer) |  FACEBOOK | GOOGLE+ |  LINKEDIN |  GOODREADS

Guest Post!

Title: Getting Into The Story - An Author’s Tricks by E.J. Wesley

My favorite part about reading is when I forget that I’m reading at all. Words on the page start to melt with my thoughts, and my thoughts start to flavor the words. Like a delicious cheesy soup coming together, it all just blends until I’m savoring something delectable, not reading.

As a reader, when a story does that to me I’m not always aware of it. I just cruise along with the characters, experiencing things as they do. But as an author, I’m very much aware of what it takes to create those kinds of moments.

At the first level, the senses must be engaged. What are the characters smelling? Hearing? Tasting? Sometimes I only touch on those things, but if I really want to impress on the reader that this is a place or scene that means something—particularly to the characters—I try to go deeper.

Taking a look at the opening scene from my story, Dragon’s Game (provided in the excerpt), I really tried to “jolt” the reader and character with sensory overload:

“I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the flashing strobes pulsing just beyond the dance floor. A host of sweaty, absurdly fit bodies were intertwined there, gyrating to the throbbing dubstep music. Glitter covered everything like a dusting of obnoxious, sparkly snow. A potent mixture of odors hung heavy in the air. Alcohol, body odor, and perfume a combined to create a smell that could only be engineered at places where people gathered to party. The tables surrounding the floor were littered with fluted and flaring glasses containing a rainbow of drinks and twisting straws that glowed in the black lights.”

This was a foreign environment for our heroine, Jenny, and I wanted the reader right there with her as she experienced it.

The next key to immersing the reader is giving them insight into how the character uniquely feels—internally—about the sensory things she’s experiencing. Here’s the follow up to the opening:

“I could feel my lip curling as I navigated around the dancing mob toward the bar tucked into a far corner. This place probably doesn’t even have beer on tap.”

This gives you some insight into how Jenny really feels about her flashy surroundings. While some folks might feel their pulse quicken at the thought of mingling on the dance floor, she’s clearly looking for something else.

It’s the deliberate back and forth between external and internal feeling that subtly nudges the reader into the story world. It works because it’s how we experience things in the real world. We often aren’t aware of the emotions conjured by sights, sounds, and smells but they’re there.

And once you get the reader “feeling” as well as reading, the real fun begins.

Excerpt!

DRAGON’S GAME, MOONSONGS BOOK 4  ~ E.J.WESLEY ~ EXCERPT 1:

I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the flashing strobes pulsing just beyond the dance floor. A host of sweaty, absurdly fit bodies were intertwined there, gyrating to the throbbing dubstep music. Glitter covered everything like a dusting of obnoxious, sparkly snow. A potent mixture of odors hung heavy in the air. Alcohol, body odor, and perfume a combined to create a smell that could only be engineered at places where people gathered to party. The tables surrounding the floor were littered with fluted and flaring glasses containing a rainbow of drinks and twisting straws that glowed in the black lights.

I could feel my lip curling as I navigated around the dancing mob toward the bar tucked into a far corner. This place probably doesn’t even have beer on tap.

Clubbing in Houston’s Warehouse District was definitely foreign territory for me, and lately “the unknown” had been trying to gnaw my face off, kill my friends, or stick a knife in me.  I was less than enamored to feel like a fish flopping around on the dock, instead of swimming unnoticed underneath it.

Don’t get me wrong. Learning that my Apache ancestors had been hunting monsters for generations, and that it was now my job to do the same, was an exciting turn of events in my otherwise mundane life. Since moving in with my grandmother during high school, I’d become a pretty simple, small-town Texas girl at heart—a girl who spent unhealthy amounts of time playing military shooter video games and tinkering with computers. But in only a few months on the job as a Moonsong hunter, my little plot twist had cost me my last living relative, earned me a mortal enemy, and seemingly ended my best—and only—friendship. Not to mention nearly getting me killed a half-dozen times.

No doubt about it, I’d taken my lumps since I started this gig. That’s actually why I’d ventured to Houston. I decided I’d had enough of being a punching bag for the supernatural freaks of the world. It was time to hit back. Hard.

Before I could reach my destination, the last open seat at the bar, a random douchebag stepped out of a pack of dancers, thrusting his hips right in front of me. His shirt was completely unbuttoned, and my purple faux-hawk reflected in his mirrored sunglasses. I tried to step around him, but he moved with me, making sure my arm brushed up against his well-toned torso in the process.

Houston was ridiculously hot and humid, even when you weren’t crammed into a converted warehouse full of fools jumping up and down. I’d channeled my inner Tomb Raider when picking my outfit for the evening, a purple and black, camouflaged tank top and the shortest shorts I owned. Now I was wishing I had a few more layers between Mr. No-Regard-For-Personal-Space and me.

His sweat lingered on my bare arm, grossing me the hell out. He flashed what I guessed was his most seductive smile, but it only made him look like a frat boy trying to sell me life insurance. I wasn’t smiling when I stomped down hard on his foot with my boot. He careened sideways and let me pass.

“What’ll you have?” the bartender shouted as I slid onto the stool with a sigh.

I gestured to the dance floor. “Anything that won’t turn me into one of them.”

He smiled. “Beer?”

I nodded, and wiped off my arm with the cocktail napkin he’d slapped down. I had to suppress a gag when I saw some of Captain Douchebag’s sparkling freak dust had rubbed off on me.

Great, I’ve probably got glitter in my hair to go along with his special brand of herpes.

I was shaking my head like someone with a swarm of bees in her hair when I heard laughter to my right. The sound made me bite my bottom lip. My take-shit tank was running dangerously low, so I swiveled on my stool to face the person.

“Look buddy, I—” The first decidedly non-vodka-advertisement-model-wannabe I’d seen since I’d walked in the joint sat just a few inches to my right, grinning like we were best friends giving each other hell.

He continued to fiddle with a smartphone a moment longer, and then let his mischievous gray-green eyes drift up to meet mine. He beamed again, flashing two broad rows of dazzling white teeth. I wasn’t sure if the black lights surrounding the bar enhanced the color, or if it was the contrast with his very full, very black beard. The tanned skin of his cheeks and brow were wrinkle free. This was a young guy trying to look more mature by sporting some facial hair.

“I take it you don’t care for the place either,” he said, his grin never faltering. His deep voice projected naturally. He didn’t have to shout above the din of the club for me to hear him.

I returned his smile in spite of my shitty mood.

“You could say that,” I yelled over the noise, feeling my cheeks warm as I did.

He leaned back on his stool, stretching a very long set of blue jean-covered legs. His arms bulged as he crossed them over his chest; they were as furry as his face. This dude was the hairiest twenty year old in existence. But damned if I didn’t find something about him mucho sexy. He was more Marlboro Man Light than GAP Clone Bold, and that suited me just fine.

“I’ll get hers, Jim. Can I get the usual?” My new bearded friend slid a twenty across the glass counter in exchange for a tall, frosty can of Lone Star the barkeep had just popped open. He handed the beer over to me. “Name is Jerren, but my friends call me Ren.”

“Thanks.” I paused to take my first sip and collect myself a little.

This was a business trip. I’d come to Houston looking for someone—a very dangerous someone. But I had to admit things weren’t going as planned. I’d been shacked up in a shitty hotel for nearly a week, checking out every dive bar and back alley club her kind supposedly liked to hang out at with no luck. Her kind being witches, warlocks, and various other practitioners of magic, I couldn’t be too careful, or too thorough.

The supernatural beings of the world I’d encountered didn’t carry around member cards or wear club t-shirts. Still, I’d turned over just about every rock on my list, and the most extraordinary thing I’d encountered was a Mexican street performer playing the mariachis while his Chihuahua—complete with a little doggy sombrero—danced on his hind legs.

I had plenty of things that should’ve been occupying my mind at that moment, but all I could really think about was this guy, Ren.

A girl doesn’t forget many firsts in her life. Her first period, her first kiss—even her first haircut that wasn’t mother approved. Not all of them are good experiences, but they make an impression. This one was going in the scrapbook for sure. It was the first time a guy had ever bought me a drink at a bar in my adult life. The gesture left me feeling unexpectedly grownup… and attractive. I didn’t think I’d ever forget it. Or him.

“I’m Jenny,” I replied at last.

Giveaway:

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This tour was organized and put together by CBB Book Promotions.