Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Miriam
Newman and her new book, “House of Ruin”! For other stops on her 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 $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Miriam
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
House of Ruin
by Miriam Newman
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GENRE: Sci-Fi Romance
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BLURB:
When
the beleaguered citizens of the capitol city of Thelona are swept by plague in
the absence of their ruling class, which has fled it en masse, desperation
finally pushes them to take to the streets. With their city burning, the Lords
of Thelona have no choice but to shoulder the burden of responsibility. In the
absence of their Highest, they turn to Caius, Scion of the House of Bardin. He
has unwittingly placed himself in the path of his ruler’s ambitions and also
endangered his human slave, Lela.
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EXCERPT TWO:
Lela
hoped for a peaceful day next day, since many of their guests had departed, but
at mid-morning she heard Gracchu’s mutter from the front doorway. “Well, here comes trouble.”
The
women were once more scrubbing down the sooty entryway that seemed like it would
never be clean. One by one, though, they
stood to crane their necks and peer out the door. It was so unusual for Gracchu to comment upon
any visitor that she and the others feared some catastrophe, but the tears Lela
felt start in her eyes were those of mirth and she looked at Dinitra
helplessly. The dignified housekeeper was red in the face and took a moment to
collect herself.
“Oh,
go on then,” Dinitra said, giving their mountainous house guard an ineffectual
shove. “Go help her!”
Shooting
her an evil look, Gracchu stomped ungraciously down the circular drive and
through Caius’s iron gate towards which an apparition struggled
Vena
had not lost a single pound since Lela had seen her before Solstice. If anything, the dressmaker had increased in girth,
and the sight of her unequal battle with gravity as she hauled herself up
Camini Hill threw the watching women into gales of laughter. If they had not known her vanity, they would
have had more sympathy.
But
Vena, who had just survived conflagration, was gowned in a vast expanse of
priceless silver brocade. The jewels
encasing rolls of fat at her neck should have guaranteed her death; how she had
made it through the citizenry alive was a question no one would ever be able to
answer. Her towering mountain of
jet-dyed hair was seriously askew, but it too was threaded with real
silver. Teetering on heeled footwear,
she could not have outrun anyone. Lela
suspected sheer bravado and the stunned disbelief of onlookers had preserved
her dressmaker’s life. Probably by the
time footpads had stopped speculating on whether her jewels could possibly be
real Vena had tottered past them and down some bolt hole known only to her.
“Bring
wine,” Dinitra instructed one of the young slave girls. “Plenty.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Creating Strong Female Characters
I have been told my female characters are strong—sometimes too
much so.
I’m
reminded of the editor who rejected my first three chapters because she felt my
heroine was unsympathetic. She was. That was the point. The book was titled Chronicles of Alcinia
and it covered chronicles—a passage of time during which the character would
and did mature. That was pretty much
the point of the book, but it didn’t come across early.
Then
there was my heroine, Rowena, in The Comet.
You loved her or you hated her.
Most loved her. One reviewer
hated her. I was gratified because you
weren’t supposed to totally love her.
She was married against her will to a guy who took her land, took her
and was pretty arrogant even though he was saving her from herself. But apparently this reader loved him so much
that she hated the gal who done him wrong.
I loved that she loved my hero. I
was crazy about him. It was almost
worth the bad review.
I’m
not really sure how to advise other writers to avoid these pitfalls, but I
would say above everything else make sure your kick-ass heroine has a
conscience. She should not hurt people
for the sake of hurting them or be vindictive.
She can be a mixed-up mess like Rowena or a traumatized survivor like
Tia in The Chronicles, but witchiness for its own sake doesn’t cut it unless
you’re writing a villainess. If you are,
have at it! Make her a bad one. In that case, you might want to meet my Muse,
Persephone. I think she visits Hades and
volcanoes in between her drop-in visits on me and if I ever write about her,
there may be Hades to pay.
But that’s another story.
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AUTHOR BIO:
Fantasy
poetry driven by myths and legends has been my passion for as long as I can
remember. I was published in poetry before catching the romance writing bug. I
bring that background to my writing along with a lifelong addiction to horses,
an 18-year career in various areas of psychiatric social services and many
trips to Ireland, where I nurture my muse. My published works range from
contemporary fantasy romance to fantasy historical, futuristic, science fiction
and historical romance. Currently I live in rural Pennsylvania with a “motley
crew” of rescue animals. You can see my books at www.miriamnewman.com.
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CONNECT WITH MIRIAM:
Website:
Website:
Blog:
Blog:
Email:
mrmireland@aol.com
Facebook:
Twitter:
BookBub Author Page:
BookBub Book Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
Kobo eBook:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Miriam will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC
to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is 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.**
Miriam ~ Good morning! Welcome back! It is so great to have you here again! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ally, great to be back!
DeleteWhat books are you looking forward to reading in 2020?
ReplyDeleteGreat cover!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments and cover love. My next two releases this year have required a lot of research reading, so I think I'll he hitting the books for the remainder of this year as opposed to reading for pleasure. I really do love research, though, especially historical. So it shouldn't be too painful!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like a fantastic read.
ReplyDelete