Age of Order by Julian North - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Julian North and his new book, “Age of Order”!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Julian and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Age of Order

by Julian North

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GENRE: Historical Dystopian
Young Adult/New Adult  

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BLURB:

What if the people who thought they were better than you… really were?

In this world, inequality is a science. Giant machines maintain order. And all people are not created equal.

Daniela Machado is offered a chance to escape the deprivation of Bronx City through a coveted slot at the elite Tuck School. There, among the highborn of Manhattan, she discovers an unimaginable world of splendor and greed. But her opportunity is part of a darker plan, and Daniela soon learns that those at society’s apex will stop at nothing to keep power for themselves. She may have a chance to change the world, if it doesn’t change her first.

Age of Order is a novel that explores the meaning of merit and inequality. Fans of the Hunger Games, Red Rising, and Divergent will enjoy this world of deception and intrigue, where the downtrodden must fight for a better future.

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EXCERPT ONE:

I dashed towards the dilapidated collection of storefronts hugging the fringes of the worn avenue, the rusted metal gates firmly closed, lean-to homes piled on their concrete roofs. Makeshift cardboard dwellings crowded the sidewalk. I ran for one of the lightless alleys between the buildings. Lurkers lived in those narrow corridors as surely as rats lived in the sewer, but I’d rather face them than the machines. I leaped towards the darkness.

A finder beam latched onto me as I sailed through the air, the comparative safety of the alley as tantalizingly close as candy in a shop window. I imagined the tight little dot on my leg, hot and hungry. I could almost touch the alley wall. But not quite. The hulking metal slave fired.

A correction pellet sliced through the fabricated leather of my sneaker and bit into my flesh. The force of the impact was enough to screw up my balance too. I landed on one foot instead of two, falling forward. Chewed-up concrete surged towards me. I sacrificed my right palm and left elbow to protect my head, and the viser strapped to my left forearm.

I scrambled to my feet and ran down the alley, my jaws clenched, but the pain wasn’t what was bothering me. I told myself that my shoe had blocked a lot of the pellet. That I probably hadn’t gotten hit with a full dose. That what was coming wouldn’t be that bad.

Liar.

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GUEST POST:

Writing as Therapy

Being an author is a unique profession.

It is mostly a part-time gig. Among those who called themselves authors, only a small percentage are able to earn a living do it. Even New York Times best selling authors have trouble making ends meet (see Hugo Award winning author’s N.K. Jemesin’s Pateron page as an example). Writing is time-consuming, it’s often lonely, it’s frustrating, and all too often the casual criticism that follows a beloved work evokes the pain of having your child belittled. So why do people do it?

I’ve had the good fortune to meet dozens of authors over the past year as I sought counsel on writing and publishing Age of Order. On the whole, authors are a tremendous group of people, far more generous with strangers than I’d ever have dared to expect. I always made it a point to understand the journey of the different authors I spoke to, regardless of whether they were full-time or part-time, traditionally published or indie. I found some common threads: love of creating was the most prevalent. Some of the traditionally published ones admitted to a certain pride in seeing their work displayed on the shelves of the local bookstore (even if it was the same copy languishing there for months). The indies loved the freedom to create what they wanted and the direct interactions with their fans. There is a strong entrepreneurial streak in many indie authors, and I met some fascinating men and women who are even better business people than they are writers. But I didn’t meet anyone who wrote for the reasons I did: therapy.

Like most authors, I’m a part-timer. I came to live in New York City for my “real” job—the one that pays the bills, provides my family health insurance, that sort of thing. I guess I wasn’t quite prepared for what it would be like here. I wasn’t prepared for the judgment and competition associated with placing young children in particular schools. New York City can brutal for self-aware children. It is definitely brutal on their parents. As we went through the process of getting our kids in the schools, I had many difficult days. I had conversations that caused me to pinch myself mid-sentence. I ground my teeth a lot. And I started writing about it.

I’d wanted to be a writer since I was a young child. Life just got in the way. But I always wrote. I just rarely finished manuscripts. When I did, the audience was limited to about a dozen close friends and family. I hadn’t completed anything I wanted people to read. But Age of Order was different. At first I was just writing about emotion. Those feelings became dialogue, and from the dialogue grew the characters who would say those words. Many of them turned out to be high school students--gifted ones-- many from elite backgrounds. Others were not so fortunate. Some were better human beings than others, but all of them were flawed, as we all are. Over about four months, their story unfolded and became Age of Order. By the end, my children were settled in their new schools, and I had book about some very special people and their journey. I felt a lot better about life. So, the next time you are grinding your own teeth, might I suggest you try writing about it?

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AUTHOR BIO:

I’ve been writing since I could grab a pencil (remember those?). Then I had kids. Not much time for writing anymore. Until they started school… in New York City. I’m not from here, and the tumult of that experience inspired me. AGE OF ORDER grew from a diary of injustice. Now I write what I’m feeling, and let the rest flow from there. I hope you enjoy it. 

Please visit my website at www.juliannorth.com and join my book club to receive a free short story set in the same world as AGE OF ORDER.

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CONNECT WITH JULIAN:

Website:

http://www.juliannorth.com

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/539032.Julian_North

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33380504-age-of-order

Amazon Author Page:

https://www.amazon.com/Julian-North/e/B01NH9P9NJ

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:

http://amzn.to/2jWQZdS

Amazon Paperback:

http://amzn.to/2jWKVSP

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Julian North will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.