The Overkill Blog Tour--Thrall is BACK!

Overkill Blog Tour and Cover Art Unveiled for Steven Shrewsbury's Latest Gorias La Gaul Adventure!

 

Seventh Star Press is proud to unveil the cover art and illustrations created by award-winning artist Matthew Perry for Steven Shrewsbury's newest Gorias La Gaul novel, Overkill, as well as announce the dates and sites for the Overkill Blog Tour.  A pre-order window for a limited edition hardcover is also being opened in advance of the book's official release.

(Illustrations by Matthew Perry from the first edition of Overkill)

The Overkill Tour is being hosted by Babs Book Bistro, and will feature 25 blog sites over 25 days, beginning April 20th and running through May 14th .  The tour will feature a number of activities, from interviews, to reveiws, guest blog posts, and contests/giveaways.

Overkill is the second novel featuring the iconic sword and scorcery figure Gorias La Gaul, following the debut of the character in the novel Thrall, released in late 2010 from Seventh Star Press.  Gorias La Gaul is also featured in two short stories, Author and Finisher of Our Flesh, and Insurmountable, both available in eBook format in the Blood and Steel: Legends of La Gaul collection in the Seventh Star Singles catalog. 

The story told in Overkill takes place in an ancient time, before a great flood wiped clean the earth, destroying everything upon it.  Before the deluge, in a time now forgotten, the world was a place of warriors and witches, conflicts between kingdoms, and, until their extermination, dragons.  In this world, men may live centuries, fallen angels have begotten terrifying spawn, and sometimes, the best hope can be found in a brothel.

In the land of Transalpina, a new religion spreads, and important men are dying mysteriously, slain by what can only be the fire of dragon breath.  Summoned by the Queen Garnet, the legendary warrior Gorias La Gaul
returns to the place where he once saved the queen's young granddaughter from treachery and enslavement. The Princess Nykia is gone, and soon others may try to claim the throne.  The queen has little choice but to turn to the only man who ever told her no.

With the aid of one of the queen's elite guard, the battle maiden Alena, and the young palace servant Orsen, the old mercenary will face pirates and traitors, monsters and foul magic in the quest to find the missing heir and learn the truth behind the disconcerting murders.

Overkill will be released in softcover and Kindle versions during the third week of April.  The novel is now available for pre-order in a beautiful hardcover edition that is strictly limited to 75 copies. 

The limited hardcover edition will be signed and numbered by Steven Shrewsbury and includes a bonus illustration from Matthew Perry not included in other editions.  It will be accompanied by an assortment of collectibles, including a set of glossy art cards, bookmarks, and magnets.  The limited edition hardcovers will also be bundled with the eBook version (provided as a direct ePub file for users with Nooks, iPads, or Sony eReaders, and gifted as a Kindle file for Kindle users).  Those interested in securing one of the 75 limited hardcovers can place a pre-order at: http://seventhstarpress.com/documents/pre_orders.html

The Overkill Blog Tour Dates and Participants Are As Follows:

April 20  Watch Play Read
April 21   SpecMusicMuse
April 22  Splash of Our Worlds
April 23   Edi's Book Lighthouse
April 24   Sci-Fi Guys Book Review
April 25   Jess Resides Here
April 26   Book Den
April 27   That Book Place Blog
April 28   Urban Fantasy Reviews
April 29   Evie Bookish
April 30   Eva's Sanctuary
May 1     Azure Dwarf Horde of Sci-Fi & Fantasy
May 2     Darlene's Book Nook
May 3     Ginger Nuts of Horror
May 4     Ali's Bookshelf
May 5     The Magick Pen
May 6    Book and Movie Dimension Blog
May 7    The Cabin Goddess
May 8     Bee's Knees Reviews
May 9     I Smell Sheep
May 10   Once Upon A Time
May 11   Ritesh Kala's Book Review
May 12   Goatfairy Review Blog
May 13   Fantasy Book Review
May 14   Babs Book Bistro




Contact: C.C. James
Public Relations, Seventh Star Press
ccjames@seventhstarpress.com


Seventh Star Press is a small press publisher of speculative fiction located in Lexington Kentucky

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson

I see this book as an urban fantasy coming of age of a young wizard.   It is set in immediate post-Katrina New Orleans.

DJ, Drusilla Jaco, is a Green Congress wizard.  She is chafing at her restrictions on being a young, junior sentinel guarding New Orleans.   Ms. Johnson does an excellent job creating DJ’s character, filling her with angst, life and temper.   Katrina weakens the boundary between the Beyond and now.   The Beyond is the home of the bulk of the mystical fantasy world.   Elves, vampires, weres of all types, pixies and the historical un-dead populate the Beyond.   Reminiscent of Tinkerbell, it appears that the historical undead can be reanimated by the strength of their believers.

Vague reference is made to the co-existence of some groups of supernatural’s and the acceptance of that co-existence by the Elders.   The Elders are a governing body of the strongest wizards who have accepted or co-opted the responsibility for keeping the bulk of the supernatural’s in the Beyond.  

The plot centers on DJ coming to grips with her abilities and emotions while battling historical un-dead, a serial killer and a pseudo-religious deities.   There is a lot of action and DJ often finds herself staring at the sky and wondering what just happened.   Ms. Johnson crafted a believable character who exhibits appropriate foibles for a  young person struggling to find their identity in a very confusing, colorful and dangerous environment.

I’m hoping this is the first in a series as it was very well done and introduced some very likeable characters. 

I highly recommend the book.

Body of work of <a type="amzn"> Suzanne Johnson</a>

Web sites:        http://www.suzanne-johnson.com/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Winner of Sela & Redheart by Jackie Gamber

Congratulations to 

Denise from Oregon

Winner of two great eBooks!

Thank you to all who participated, come back often for there are frequent GiveAways.  

Thank you for reading my blogs!

In The Lion’s Mouth by Michael Flynn

This is the third book in a series. In my opinion it did not stand alone well. Shellie, one of my favorite bloggers, disagrees with me. (See opposing view point.) I suggest reading the first two, The January Dancer and then Up Jim River before reading this book. Donovan, the protagonist, seems to be a key piece in the Spiral Arm politics. The black ops teams of the Confederation and the League each hope to use him for their own ends. 

I was never able to get into this book. I suspect that a better back story would have allowed my interest to be piqued. I found the characters and their put upon dialects confusing. Again, I blame this on not having read the prior two books. The plot apparently spans the three books and more books are supposedly forthcoming.

Donovan’s multiple personalities were the most interesting aspect of the book. It is a scenario that would seem to be a major plus for a black op agent. 

The black op talents were interesting as was the premise that if the “boots” (regular military) became involved it would be a disaster for all. The Hounds and the Shadows each perceived themselves as elite, surgically precise solutions to political difficulties.

I suspect readers of the first two books will be happy with this book. 

Body of work of Michael Flynn</a>

Site: http://m-francis.livejournal.com/

Wednesday & Thursday April 18  & 19 Only!

Sela

by Jackie Gamber 

This is a Great Dragon Story
See my review

Get Free book

See my review of Redheart Jackie's first dragon book.

 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Sela by Jackie Gamber GiveAway (sequel to RedHeart)

Three Winners of both Sela and it's predecessor Redheart eBooks in either Kindle or ePub format.

See my review of Redheart Jackie's first book in the Leland Dragon Series.

See my review posted on March 11th and the Winner on March 23rd, here!

Every comment gets an entry.

Giveaway runs from Apri 15th to April 22nd 2012.

Sela by Jackie Gamber

This is the sequel to Redheart, Jackie’s first book in the Leland Dragon Series. 

I first posted my review on Redheart at  Book Review: Redheart by Jackie Gamber on Blogcritics which will theoretically get me more traffic on my posts.  I still don’t know if that is true.   Sela is every bit as good as Redheart and deals with the coming of age of some young dragons.  

The cast of characters and location are familiar in this book.  Leland is the province where Kallon Redheart, a red dragon, resides.  The province is in a drought and tensions between dragons and humans are at an all time high.  Fordon Blackclaw, the Dragon Council Leader, is using the tensions to further his personal ambitions.   Riza Diantus epitomizes or perhaps symbolizes the plight of the woman in un-enlightened cultures.  That is making the assumption that we live in an enlightened culture which isn’t always guaranteed.   Equal opportunity often seems to be a cliché not realized in our tumultuous economic environment of today let alone in a rural agriculture set in a medieval style setting.  

Jastin, the dragon hunter, returns as merciless as ever and the wizard, Orman is here again.  

There are new characters as well.   Drell and Sela are second generation characters who bring new viewpoints to a tumultuous story.

There are dragons of all colors.  Desert dragons and mountain dragons, good dragons and bad dragons, the book are infested with dragons.   That is one of the reasons I loved it.  

Gamber has created loveable and despicable characters.   She imbues them with real feelings, emotions and frustrations.   Jackie Gamber brings alive dragons and adventure with colorful, involved storytelling.   Once again, the warm characters and very believable emotions produce a book that will be remembered and cherished.

I highly recommend the book, it was an excellent sequel and I look fervently for  the next chapter in the tale.

Body of work of <a type="amzn"> Jackie Gamber </a>

Web site:  http://www.jackiegamber.com/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.