K.I.A. by Alexander Charalambides - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Alexander Charalambides and his new book, “K.I.A.”!  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 $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Alexander and to increase your chances of winning!

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

K.I.A.

by Alexander Charalambides

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GENRE: Thriller/NA

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BLURB:

Hildegard lives in a real-life dollhouse, surrounded by prop houses and actors who play friends, teachers and foster parents. Only one man ever seemed real, and after his disappearance, she’s had enough playing along. As Hildegard makes her final preparations to run away from home, a swarm of black clad soldiers appear, controlling the police and swarming across her home town. She can evade them for now, but after learning their mission, she decides to play along one last time, following them to Truman Academy, a lonely building on a freezing aleutian island. Hildegard knows it for what it is: just another prop, but not everyone feels the same way. Through the hell of endless drills and marching, Hildegard befriends the stealthy Grace and bloodthirsty David, and enlists them in an effort to unravel the plan of the man called G and his monstrous menagerie of inhuman soldiers.

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EXCERPT ONE:

“Bacteria again,” David says. “A biological weapon?”

“I don’t know.” Islet slurps the last of his soup. “I only sequenced part of it, and they keep the different teams apart.”

“Is that what they’re going to launch from the Silo?” Grace asks.

“You knew?” Islet asks.

“We found out about the Mobile Silo a while ago,” I say. “We saw blueprints for it, orders for parts, too.”

“Well, that’s what they’ve been doing for days now,” Dr. Islet says. “Hauling down the tanks of bacteria, assembling missiles.”

“They’re going to launch.” Grace stands up as she says it.

“Right,” I say. “There’s not going to be any placement in special forces. Or graduation.”

A few students stand up, like Grace. A few gasp. Most don’t seem surprised. “If I had to guess, I’d say that once they launch, they won’t need us. It’ll be a massacre.”

“You think so?” Islet pushes his glasses back up his nose. “It could be, we’ve been getting weapon shipments with the missile parts and replacement components for the Mobile Silo.”

“Stop saying we,” David grunts. “Unless you’re with them.”

“No, no, I’m not.” Islet waves his hands back and forth. “You’re right.”

“We have to stop them,” Grace says. I can’t help but tally up the numbers. At the very least the baggers outnumber the students two to one. Almost certainly more, not counting KU Giant. Then there’s the equipment discrepancy, and the differences in energy from eating and sleeping. I know there are vehicles, too, I’ve seen plenty of personnel carriers and jeeps with mounted guns, as well as the helicopters that are always coming and going.

“Uh, Hildegard,” Grace says. “We were sort of hoping you’d come up with something.”

I only wanted to find out what happened to Cooper. To be honest, I think I might already have lost my chance. It can’t be my priority anymore. By the sound of it, it’s not just the students that are in danger.

“There’s only one way we can get enough supplies, weapons, and bodies to stop the launch.”

“Okay,” Grace says. “What’s that?”

“This should be good.” David leans back on the walls of the cabin. All the students stare at me.

“We have to take over the school.”

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GUEST POST:

Evolution of My Writing Habits and How I've Grown Into a Better/More Experienced Writer

To discuss how my writing’s developed, and continues to develop, I have to begin by talking about how I started.

Thankfully, that won’t take very long because the majority of people who write professionally get started in the same way.  I was encouraged to write in school, and then stuck with it because it was fun. I think even people who pick up writing later in life can trace it back to early encouragement.

Not everyone gets the same education, at least, beyond grammar and spelling, but education in writing beyond school is usually having enough analytical ability to understand and emulate the writers you admire and the best parts of the stories you love. As I consume more and more storytelling, I try to analyze the what and why of the stories I like, as a result my understanding increases and, I hope, my writing improves.

Being really specific, I studied creative writing at university level, which gave me a great foundation to build on. After I graduated I read two really good books I’d recommend to any aspiring writer; Stephen King’s On Writing, which lays out the patterns and habits you need to be productive, and John Truby’s The Anatomy Of Story, which is so insightful and comprehensive it transcends genre and medium.

Naturally, my writing has changed a lot. The contrast between my first book Black Blade and my second, K.I.A. is pretty obvious. Moving from one to the other I made a conscious attempt to streamline my descriptive language.  I feel like the atmosphere of the latter suffered and doesn’t have as much depth as I’d like it to.

My approach, as it stands now, focuses on writing as a vehicle for plot, and pins potential success on the story I tell, rather than the language. Not that I try to avoid rhythm, metaphor or atmosphere, but they take second place.

Not everyone really likes the idea of language being secondary, but I think it has its place, so anyone who is thinking of writing, I’d suggest you give it a try.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Alexander Charalambides was born in London and grew up in Berkshire in the UK.

He studied Creative Writing, and graduated from the Open University.

As a freelance writer Alexander enjoys storytelling just as much as editing and analysis, but often takes time off to enjoy wind surfing, do the sickest of motorcycle flips, wrestle with deadly animals and lie about his hobbies.

In 2008 he moved to the USA and now lives in New Hampshire’s beautiful White Mountains with his family and two dogs, Gwynne and Gimli.

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CONNECT WITH ALEXANDER:

Website:

http://alexandercharalambides.com

Blog:

http://alexandercharalambides.com/blog

Newsletter:

http://alexandercharalambides.com/newsletter

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ajcharalambides

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/ajcharalambides

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16767064.Alexander_Charalambides

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36507053-k-i-a

Amazon Author Page:

http://amzn.to/2CfHJGh

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:

http://amzn.to/2EyBr9T

Amazon Paperback:

http://amzn.to/2G8JLdk

Barnes and Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kia-alexander-charalambides/1127483281

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Alexander will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC 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.