Fabulous and Brunette: Witchslayer's Scion by L. T. Getty - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway

Hey, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host L. T. Getty and her new book, “Witchslayer’s Scion,” here on FAB!! 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 $25 Online Bookstore Gift Card of Winner’s Choice!! Also, come back daily to interact with L. T. and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

Witchslayer’s Scion

by L. T. Getty

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GENRE: Sword and Sorcery / Fantasy

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BLURB:

Koth’s life was decided for him since before he was born, for his ability to heal wounds by touch is rare even among his people. When an attempted kidnapping turns to sacrificial murder, he embraces vengeance and the sword. As he journeys far from his small isolated village in the north, he learns the truth as to why his bloodline is targeted by strange magic, in a world still rebuilding from a time when dark sorcerers didn’t bother with secrecy.

Koth thinks his quest is straightforward enough--find the men responsible, and kill them--and any who aid them. He will soon learn that those who have both privilege and power, there are few things they lack--and in the pursuit of godhood, their allies can prove even more sinister as mere mortals seek to advent empires and dynasties.

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EXCERPT ONE:

“Something’s wrong,” Una said. “Koth, wait here.”

“Why?” If there was a problem, she should be waiting outside for him.

He sensed inside, his aunt’s thoughts remained hidden from him. Una shouted, and he ran inside the building. He thought there were lights on inside, but he saw no candles.

The tea house was very dark, and he felt a sudden dread—he wanted to leave. Baro barked from the outside. ~Una!~ he thought, before something hit his neck.

He knew at once it was a poison dart, and ripping it out he tried to smell what it was. Seeing metal reflect moonlight and he moved his hand, his skin cut. Moving instinctively out of the way, his next reaction was to purge the toxin that coursed through his body and tried to understand the wound. It was mostly his forearm, deep but he could still use it, the bone unaffected. He’d do a better healing later. He focused on something not unlike a burn before going for the knife at his hip. Striking 85 in the next liquid motion, Koth realized he was attacking his aunt.

She grabbed onto his injured flesh and seared it, destroying, weakening the sinew and the cartilage and causing it to age and die, following up the bloodstream, to find the heart and kill. Koth tried to brace; he couldn’t heal and keep her at bay. He was physically stronger and much heavier, but she was weakening his muscles. He tried to wrench the knife from her.

He knocked the blade to the ground then tried to lock minds with her to find nothing short of blinding pain take him over, wrestling him to the ground and making him drop his knife. She took the dagger and when he tried to force himself up, a familiar sense washed over him. Magic, but not coming from Una.

“Do not kill him yet,” Yeshbel said, “we will bleed him first.”

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GUEST POST:

What's in a Name? The Pros and Cons of Writing Under a Gender-Neutral Name

I always wanted my work to speak for itself, so going by a penname was obvious.

My name is Leia. The most famous Leia you’ve likely heard about is from this series that’s spanned several movies and spin off shows and… oh, you’ve likely heard of it.

The short answer is that almost everyone besides my mother or huge Star Wars fans spells my name wrong unless they have to write it often. I’ve seen Leila, Leah, Leda, Leta, etc. I’m just kind of used to it by now. (And for the record – it’s pronounced either Lay-ah or Lee-ah. It drives some people bonkers that I go by both interchangeably; I’m used to both). My middle name is Anne (Running with the Leta/Leda/Leila; Leanne shows up every once in a while too). So going with initials ‘L.A.’ sounds like a French or Spanish feminine introduction. I went with T for Thomas. It’s my grandfather’s, father’s, and godson’s middle name, and L.T. at the very worst sounds like a lieutenant.

I think I had more of a hang up about being gender-neutral when I was younger, because I figured most of the stuff I enjoyed reading and playing was aimed more towards males than females, but female gamer and geek culture has become more accepted. I don’t really play any video games much anymore (I’m no longer summoned to beat That Boss) and I’m not ashamed to be a woman and I’ll tell anyone who cares that I’m a chick, but not to expect “women’s fiction” so much as “fiction”. I did notice in our early years of selling books at events, people would often expect my beta reader to be the author of mine and vice versa until he had more titles in print. Ron’s first series was called The Dark Lady and his next book was The Queen’s Pawn he had a girl’s face on the cover of his first novel, whereas I had a warrior on the cover of Tower of Obsidian. I think the assumption was that women write about women and men write about everything else.

I can’t rightly answer about the benefits of having a gender neutral name because it doesn’t take much digging to figure out L.T. Getty is a woman. I have noticed some people didn’t want to take me seriously when I was younger, now I think there are some hang ups about what it is women like to read and what I should be writing, but I think that’s more about market trends and where the money in the industry is.

As for picking a pen name: I was tempted to change my last name, but then I realized in most book stores, G’s are eye level, and I’d not be too far from David Gemmell. My other family names are Cante (once again, not the easiest thing to spell for someone hearing it) Mickey and MacLean. I stuck with Getty.

I considered going with a completely different name for other reasons. I signed my first contract around the time I got my paramedic license going back to school, and I was worried whether or not an employer would see me being a writer as a liability. I was more worried about having my work thrown in my face in my field than I ever was about sexism in the world of publishing. My home Province of Manitoba most industries are very tight knit, and even though it’s a large area people in charge of one area speak to other supervisors and managers, so it was more of a concern about being blacklisted because I was perceived in a certain way. Honestly, it was an unfounded fear.

So that’s how I picked my pen name. Fantasy has plenty of writers who start with initials, so it was an easy choice.

I think if you were to decide on creating a nom de plum, the first consideration is if you want to use one or different names if you write across genres. Let’s pretend that I wanted to write to a very different audience, say, picture books. I could use say, Leah MacLean or Leanne Cante. Leah is still not a common name but that’s a common, easier spelling for the audience. Since I’m also clearly not above stealing other names from the family, I’d look at what I have to work with. I have no problem taking from my grandfathers, but for the sake of simplicity (there are multiple Johns’ and Thomas’) let’s ignore them completely and go to the my maternal grandparents. My grandmothers’ names were Marcia and Violet (I also have a Muriel and a Julia in there if we want to go back further) so let’s pretend I wanted to branch out so say, and write some historical romance. I might play around with initials if that’s what I wanted to go with. Say, Julia McKay, or M.J. Cante.

You’re not limited to using family names, but for me that’s a launching point. What’s easy for you to remember? What sorts of names have meaning for you? Also, what’s it look like when you’re signing the book?

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AUTHOR BIO:

L. T. Getty is a rural paramedic from Manitoba. She enjoys writing science fiction and fantasy and generally being creative.

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CONNECT WITH L. T.:

Blog:

http://www.ltgetty.ca

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/dreams-of-mariposa-by-l-t-getty

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6479207.L_T_Getty

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58269585-witchslayer-s-scion

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3LBJXUN

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3F5J97Y

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B096LXWJM6

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/witchslayers-scion-l-t-getty/1139633382

Champagne Books eBook:

https://champagnebooks.com/store/fantasy/843-witchslayer-s-scion-9781771552707.html

Kobo US eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/witchslayer-s-scion

Kobo CA eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/witchslayer-s-scion

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

L. T. will be awarding a $25 Gift Card to an online bookseller (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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.