Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Robyn Singer and her new book, “The Order of the Banshee,” 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 $10 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Robyn Singer and to increase your chances of winning!!
Thanks for stopping by!! Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!
The Order of the Banshee
The Ricochet Trilogy
Book Two
by Robyn Singer
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GENRE: Sci-Fi Space Opera
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BOOK BLURB:
It’s been five years since Yael and Molina reunited. Yael is one of the richest and most infamous thieves in the universe and a member of the Order of the Banshee. She is rising through the ranks of the elite organization with her wife and her ride-or-die best friends, Aarif and P’Ken, at her side, and she’s even running her own school for thieves. Molina, former captain in the universe’s premiere peacekeeping organization, the Sunrisers, is happily married to Yael and tells herself that’s enough.
Their seemingly perfect lives are interrupted when they receive news of the death of Molina’s father. When Molina returns home for his funeral, she reunites with her former friend and now enemy: Kaybell, the emperor of the Cykebian Empire. Kaybell, eager to mend the relationship, informs Molina that her father was murdered and offers to help Molina find those responsible and bring them to justice.
While Molina and Kaybell hunt the people responsible for her father’s death, Yael is hunted by an invincible assassin – one with a terrible secret. These two seemingly unrelated events are more connected than Yael or Molina could possibly imagine.
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EXCERPT TWO:
“Yael, you must get up and shower,” P’Ken declared, standing right over me, both hands on her stick.
“Seriously, you’re starting to stink pretty bad,” Aarif followed, standing right next to her.
“Waaaaaaaah!” I cried, curled up in a ball in my bed. “I miss my Moli!”
The past few days had been absolutely miserable. For security reasons, I couldn’t contact Molina while she was on Cykeb, and living in the school without her around was too weird. As much as I’d been staying in bed, I couldn’t even sleep in such a big one without her. My only comforts had come from my endless supply of beer, instant ramen, and gummies, the bottles, cups, and bags they’d come in all over my bed and floor.
“She’ll be back soon. And then you can make up for lost time.”
“For now, however, you promised Shun you’d spar with her today, and a thief of your distinction shouldn’t be gaining a reputation as a lying thief.”
“Come on, let’s get ready for the day.”
I groaned for an extended period, rubbing my temples. “You’re not my parents.”
“Obviously not,” P’Ken rolled her eyes. “My child will never be allowed to make their room a pigsty.”
Aarif plopped down next to me, shaking the mattress. “We may not be your parents, but we are your family. We want to help you.”
I shook my head. “You can’t.”
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GUEST POST:
Fierce Female Lead Characters: How to Create Strong Role Models in Books
To write a strong, memorable, and interesting female character who can also serve as a role model is seen by some as a difficult tightrope to walk. For many, primarily male, writers, it’s challenging to make a leading lady strong, independent, and capable, while also still giving her relatable flaws, internal struggles, and silly, fun moments. To them, a “strong independent woman” must be always capable, always cool and in control, morally correct, and completely removed from their womanhood. As a result, those characters are bland and forgettable, and all feel the same. None of this has ever been a challenge for me, to be honest, and I hope this is evident in The Order of the Banshee, a high-intensity space opera in which all three of my badass POV characters are women, and in which four of the seven main supporting characters are women.
The central protagonist of The Order of the Banshee, like in the previous book in the series, The Sunrisers, is Yael Pavnick. Yael was specifically designed to be everything I would have loved in a hero as a kid. She was a child prodigy unlike any other who dreamed only of joining the intergalactic peacekeeping group, The Sunrisers, but despite her unsurpassed marks, she was deemed “mentally unfit” because of her Autism and ADHD. She fell into depression but ultimately found a new use for her talents, and a new calling, as she became one of the most notorious thieves in the universe. When in action, Yael is cocky and unstoppable. Her intellectual genius and physical prowess make nearly every other character in the series pale in comparison, and she knows it. At the same time, however, she is a complete goofball obsessed with board games and professional wrestling, an admitted functional alcoholic, and, because of her disabilities, she possesses virtually no social skills. She loves her wife, students, and found family so much, and she enjoys helping out random strangers, but she’s still a bad person. While she does have limits and goes out of her way to try not to kill, she’s a high-profile thief and one who takes little issue with working for absolute monsters and leaving destruction and chaos in her wake. And while Yael isn’t a girly girl, generally running around in a leather jacket and jeans and living like a slob, she doesn’t reject her femininity either. She wears makeup, she enjoys frilly dresses, and a major component of her arc in The Order of the Banshee is her realizing she wants to be a mother. Would I say Yael makes a good role model? In some ways yes, in some ways no, but that isn’t really the point of her. Even so, her core ethos that good and bad don’t matter and the most important thing is that everyone should be free to live their lives however they want, is one I hope reaches everyone who reads this book.
The second POV character in The Order of the Banshee is Molina Langstone. The reactions from fans when comparing Yael to Molina have been universal; Yael is instantly lovable and engaging, while Molina takes more time to warm up to and understand. This was by design. Molina was Yael’s childhood best friend and the daughter of the Sunrisers’ supreme general. While Molina was exceptionally talented, she always fell short of what Yael was capable of, resulting in a simmering resentment. The one thing she was better at was masking her neurodivergence, and by adopting the cold, soulless military persona demanded of her, the less talented girl with the powerful father was able to join the Sunrisers and rise through the ranks. By the time of The Order of the Banshee, following a reunion and conflict between them in The Sunrisers, Molina has left the Sunrisers, and is happily married to Yael. Molina may not be able to compare to her wife in intelligence or martial prowess, but she’s still an extremely well-trained leader, tactician, and markswoman, along with having far superior social skills. Her real weakness and struggle comes from her insecurities. Even with years having passed since their wedding today, Molina can’t stop comparing herself to Yael. This is only made worse by her having given up her career for her, and being left with nothing but her to show for it. But whereas Yael says everything on her mind, Molina keeps all her feelings, all her emotions, to herself. Her femininity is a similar case to Yael’s. She’s a career military woman, so being high-femme wasn’t a priority for a long time, but whenever she would get shore leave, she’d happily embrace being a lady in high society. Unlike Yael, I don’t think Molina is a character to emulate at all. She is a character meant to be examined and enjoyed, rather than emulated. Hers is a tragic story, one which displays the dark sides of Yael’s philosophy. In living freely, she hurts herself, and eventually many, many other people with her poor decision. That is the other side of this coin: living your life freely should never come at the expense of others doing so. And that is a takeaway fans should have.
I can’t discuss the third POV character without spoiling the book’s biggest twist, but she and the rest of the female supporting cast all serve to display different ways to be strong and different ways to be a woman. I love all of my female characters, and I’d be lying if I said part of what inspired a lot of them wasn’t a desire to see more female characters with this level of complexity. I hope The Order of the Banshee can show many budding and novice writers what they’re capable of here.
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AUTHOR BIO:
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Robyn Singer is a lifelong New Yorker, and since she was a kid playing with her action figures, all she’s wanted to do is tell stories. She went to SUNY Purchase to get a degree in Playwriting & Screenwriting with a minor in Film and has produced several comic books, but she’s always had her eye on becoming a published novelist.
As an Autistic, bisexual trans woman, diversity and inclusion in stories are vitally important to her, and she seeks to represent as many groups as possible in her work. While she wants to show characters of marginalized groups experiencing joy, she also draws inspiration from real-world problems which bother her.
The Sunrisers (Cinnabar Moth Publishing, November 2022) is her debut novel. Order of the Banshee is book in the The Ricochet Trilogy. Robyn was the author in residence for quester 1 of 20222 for Cinnabar Moth Literary Collections. She writes novels and short stories of all genres and for all ages, and she continues to produce comic books. Her ongoing series, Final Gamble, began publiscation by Band of Bards in 2022.
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CONNECT WITH ROBYN SINGER:
See her ramble about her passions on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/emmalsinger
Follow her Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/emmalsinger
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22705939.Robyn_Singer
Goodreads Book Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/182117828-the-order-of-the-banshee
Amazon Author Page:
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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
Amazon US Paperback:
Amazon US Hardcover:
Amazon CA Kindle eBook:
https://www.amazon.ca/Order-Banshee-Robyn-Singer-ebook/dp/B0CDDSNBTC
Amazon CA Paperback:
https://www.amazon.ca/Order-Banshee-Robyn-Singer/dp/1953971911
Amazon CA Hardcover:
https://www.amazon.ca/Order-Banshee-Robyn-Singer/dp/195397192X
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Robyn Singer will be awarding a $10 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) 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 fabulous community outreach projects and 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.
Thank you so much for hosting today.
ReplyDeleteThis looks fantastic. Thanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting book and I also like the cover.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the excerpt. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete"The Order of the Banshee" is a novel written by Robyn Singer. It is a thrilling story that combines elements of mystery, fantasy, and adventure. The book follows the journey of a young protagonist who becomes entangled in a secret society called the Order of the Banshee, discovering their hidden powers and dark secrets.
ReplyDelete