Fabulous and Brunette: #postapocalyptic

Showing posts with label #postapocalyptic. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

If the Sun Spares Us by Brenda Marie Smith - Book Tour - Blurb Blitz - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Brenda Marie Smith and her new book, “If the Sun Spares Us,” 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 $50 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!! Also, come back daily to interact with Brenda and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

If the Sun Spares Us

A Braving the Light Novel

Book Three

by Brenda Marie Smith

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GENRE: Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

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BOOK BLURB:

Two years ago, a solar pulse destroyed modern life. Bea Crenshaw organized her starving, suburban neighbors into a farming community. But now Bea’s gone, and her grandchildren must carry her legacy forward.

In the post-apocalyptic pressure cooker of Austin, Texas, 19-year-old Keno and his younger cousins struggle to ensure their community’s survival even as they’re forced to relocate to safer grounds. Northern Lights that don’t belong this far south grow increasingly intense, making Keno fear what harm the sun will cause next.

Even worse, a marauding militia called the Raiders is closing in, led by a deranged woman who preys on teenage boys. Despite Keno’s debilitating flashbacks from a firefight, he and his wife have a new baby to protect. Though Bea is dead, her spirit desperately searches for ways to shield her grandkids. When Raiders target two neighborhood members, the only hope lies in the community’s strength, Keno’s ingenuity, and the family’s fierce love for one another.

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EXCERPT ONE:

In the next second, thick neon bands of green light shoot into the sky like they’re spewing straight out of the earth at the horizon, the aurora pulsing and soaring hundreds of feet into the air toward the stratosphere. This is nothing like the tame Northern Lights we’ve had off and on over the past year, but crazy-bright and thick and enormous. None of it belongs in Texas. I stare at the lights, getting dizzy from their movement and intensity.

The guys out on the street whistle and shout… I close my eyes to get my bearings.

Residual streaks of light burn my eyeballs and flash across my eyelids, then mutate into the recurring, overly-vivid memories I can’t shake: flaming, screaming boys, falling fiery trees, bursting Molotov cocktails, strafing assault rifles—a hand slaps across my mouth and covers my nose, and Richie’s behind me, yanking me to the ground, hissing, “Shhh! Shhh! Don’t scream.”

“The End of Days is upon us, and we’ve got work to do!” shouts the woman from the street. “Head back north.” The feet start tramping around. “Jonesie, north’s the other way.”

Richie’s pressing so hard on my mouth and nose he’s gonna suffocate me. My tears run over his hand. Flaming bodies still flash before my eyes while green lights burn in the sky overhead…

I grab his hand to yank it off, but he presses harder. I panic. Dude’s gonna kill me.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Brenda Marie Smith is attracted to stories where everyday characters transcend their limitations to find their inner heroism. She lived off the grid for years in a farming collective where her sons were delivered by midwives. A lifelong community activist, Brenda has managed student co-op housing, produced concerts, and raised a small herd of boys. She and her husband live in Kyle, Texas. They have more grown kids and grandkids than they can count.

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CONNECT WITH BRENDA:

Website:

https://brendamariesmith.com

Blog:

https://brendamariesmith.tumblr.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/BrendaMarieSmithAuthor

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/bsmithnovelist

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/brenda_marie_smith

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJlLSnORIyoaygvZ1j49ZKw

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7328277.Brenda_Marie_Smith

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197502295-if-the-sun-spares-us

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2SHb1M8

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/455da3b

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3ZxMRBM

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/If-Sun-Spares-Us-Braving-ebook/dp/B0CG82STQ2

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/If-Sun-Spares-Us-Braving/dp/B0CGTHY55H

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Brenda 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 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.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Temptation Trials Rebellion by B. Truly - Audiobook Book Tour - Exclusive Audiobook Excerpt - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host B. Truly and her new audiobook, “Temptation Trials Rebellion,” 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 B. Truly and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

Temptation Trials Rebellion

The Tempted Book Series

Book Two

by B. Truly

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GENRE: Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic Romance Audio Book

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BOOK BLURB:

Can love defeat the greatest temptation ... lust?

In a post-apocalyptic nation where the land of the free is now run under a dictatorship, there is one factor that holds the key to keeping world order—love. The new Regime controls the emotions of the heart. It’s their most vital law. At the age of twenty-one, every citizen is forced into an arranged marriage. The only way to escape the arrangement is to enter the Temptation Trials—a government-sponsored reality TV show where the loyalties of the contestants are tested by Tempters and Temptresses who are impossible to resist.

Catalina enters the Trials as a Temptress in hopes that she can win the funds to save her brother. Sahara’s been ridiculed in the eyes of the public. By being a Temptress, she’ll be able to have a fresh start. The Regime promises that if she fulfills her role on the show they will wipe her slate clean.

The problem is that the Trials are rigged for failure. In all the prior seasons, love’s rival, lust, has proven to be more powerful. No contestant has ever won the Temptation Trials and been allowed to stay with their chosen partner. Lutheran Eminence, the world’s dictator, has shown that he’s the ultimate matchmaker.

As the Temptation Ball approaches, conflict is at an all-time high. Most couples are too hurt by betrayal to reconcile. With the odds stacked against them, Kincade and Tobias try to mend their relationships, hoping that the greater good will prevail.

Attempting to uncover the true meaning of love may cost the contestants more than they bargained for—it may cost their souls.

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EXCLUSIVE AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT:

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AUTHOR BIO:

B. Truly has wanted to be an author since she was fifteen years old, and she’s grateful to have accomplished this dream. She has very vivid dreams and a wild imagination. She likes to read, watch tons of TV shows, and movies. She is addicted to romance and gets a thrill out of suspense. She writes YA and New Adult and Adult Romance, Urban, Dystopian, Sci-fi, Post-Apocalyptic, Romantic Suspense, and Paranormal genres.

B. Truly has three wonderful children and a husband who defines the person she today. She works full-time as an Ultrasound technologist in Sugarland, Texas.

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CONNECT WITH B. TRULY:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/BTrulysFantasies

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BrandyTruly

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/brandytruly

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandy-truly-a917a9b3

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7276631.B_Truly

Goodreads Books Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59111279-thorn-of-secrets

Amazon Author Page:

http://amzn.to/2wJZ9N1

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AUDIOBOOK BUY LINKS:

Apple Books Audiobook:

https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/temptation-trials-rebellion/id1693664433

Barnes and Noble Audiobook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/temptation-trials-rebellion-b-truly/1143482962

Chirp Book Audiobook:

https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/temptation-trials-rebellion-by-b-truly

Google Play Audiobook:

https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/B_Truly_Temptation_Trials_Rebellion?id=AQAAAECifnw-zM

Kobo US Audiobook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/temptation-trials-rebellion-1

Kobo CA Audiobook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/audiobook/temptation-trials-rebellion-1

Spotify Audiobook:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3yT0JCPoffpDc3Mpj0eR6t

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

B. Truly 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, June 8, 2023

Blackout Trail by Linda Naughton - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Linda Naughton and her new book, “Blackout Trail,” 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 $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Linda and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

Blackout Trail

by Linda Naughton

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GENRE: Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller

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BOOK BLURB:

Doctor Anna Hastings is no stranger to disasters, having spent much of her career as an aid worker in conflict zones around the world. Yet when an electrical phenomenon known as an EMP brings down the power grid, Anna faces catastrophe on a scale she never imagined. She must learn what it means to be a doctor in a world deprived of almost all technology.

As the blackout causes planes to fall from the sky, Anna crosses paths with devoted father Mark Ryan in the chaos at the airport. Mark convinces Anna to travel with him and his seven-year-old daughter Lily to their family’s cabin in remote Maine. There Mark hopes to reunite with his wife, and find a safe refuge from a society on the brink of collapse.

Journeying across a thousand miles of backcountry trails, they will face a daily struggle against nature. Their biggest peril, though, may come from their fellow survivors. As Anna grows closer to Mark and Lily, she resolves to see them safely home. But can she hold onto her humanity in a world gone mad?

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EXCERPT TWO:

I chuckled. “So you and your seven-year-old daughter are going to walk, through the woods, all the way to Maine? I think you need to lay off the scotch.” He met my eyes, and I was struck by the conviction there. “God, you’re serious, aren’t you?” He said nothing. “Mark, come on—do you realize how insane that sounds?”

“Says the woman who traveled around the world to take care of strangers in a war zone.” Mark arched his eyebrows at me.

I blew out a frustrated breath. He kind of had me on that one. “I don’t have a kid to worry about.” Running a finger along the lip of my glass, I asked, “Is this what Lauren would want? For you to drag Lily off into the wilderness on some mad quest to find her? You said so yourself—things are going to get really bad out there. You’d be better off just going with your in-laws.”

“All the more reason I want us all together,” Mark retorted, undeterred by my skepticism. He returned to his seat at the table, fixing me with a determined stare. “I want you to come with us.”

Knock me over with a feather. I stared at him, speechless, for several seconds. “Okay, now I know you’re crazy. You want me to walk halfway across the country with you and your daughter? Mark, you hardly know me.”

“I know enough that I’m willing to take a chance.” Mark shrugged.

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GUEST POST:

Writing a Self-Rescuing Princess

For almost a decade now, my blog Self-Rescuing Princesses has cast a spotlight on strong female characters in media. When I write my own stories, including my latest novel Blackout Trail, I try to practice what I preach and develop my own fierce female leads.

What is a “strong female character”, though? Too often in media, it’s become a shallow trope. A token character, often a love interest, that’s given a scene or two punching someone in the face or shooting a gun to make them seem tough. It’s a very limited view. In her article I hate Strong Female Characters, Sophia McDougall writes, “Sherlock Holmes gets to be brilliant, solitary, abrasive, Bohemian, whimsical, brave, sad, manipulative, neurotic, vain, untidy, fastidious, artistic, courteous, rude, a polymath genius. Female characters get to be Strong.”

So when I talk about a “strong” character, male or female, it means someone who has:

• Agency - They take the initiative and make their own decisions; they’re not there solely as an accessory for the protagonist.

• Relevance - They matter to the plot and contribute meaningfully toward a resolution.

• Depth - They aren’t just a one-dimensional stereotype; they have both strengths and flaws.

And despite my cheeky name for my blog, not all strong characters need to be self-rescuing. It’s okay for them to be vulnerable; to need help; even to be rescued sometimes. It’s just not okay if that’s their sole reason for being in the story.

The main character in Blackout Trail is Anna Hastings, an emergency room doctor with a background working in crisis zones around the world. When an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) knocks out the power grid and causes a global blackout, Anna has to figure out what it means to be a doctor in a world turned upside down.

The first time we meet Anna, she’s braving the aftermath of a plane crash to get people to safety. Afterward, she takes charge of the medical response when she realizes that help isn’t coming. Throughout the story, her courage, resourcefulness, and compassion are on display.

Yet Anna is not perfect. Her nomadic background makes it hard for her to depend on others. When she first teams up with Mark Ryan and his young daughter in a daunting cross-country trek, they don’t always see eye-to-eye. They make a lot of mistakes along the way, and each of them needs to be rescued at various points.

Their strength comes from their perseverance and determination to do the right thing. For me, that’s more interesting than just being a one-note badass.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Linda Naughton has been writing stories for as long as she can remember. She is the author of several novels, children’s books, and the blog Self-Rescuing Princesses. A proud geek and gamer girl, she enjoys sci-fi, disaster movies, and role-playing games. She is a software engineer, paramedic, and mother of two.

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CONNECT WITH LINDA:

Website:

https://www.lindanaughton.com

Newsletter:

https://lindanaughton.com/newsletter.html

Email:

lynn@wordsmythcreations.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/lynnnoton

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/lynnnoton

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5081472.Linda_Naughton

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64647356-blackout-trail

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/45HC7U5

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/43NFCXn

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/45RN5WX

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Blackout-Trail-Post-Apocalyptic-Survival-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0BP696W3W

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Blackout-Trail-Post-Apocalyptic-Survival-Thriller/dp/B0BPJK3YLT

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blackout-trail-linda-naughton/1142813894

Linda Naughton’s Author Website Store Paperback:

https://store.lindanaughton.com/b/FvSuM

Linda Naughton’s Author Website Store Signed Paperback:

https://store.lindanaughton.com/b/FvSuM?variant=167250745801

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Linda will be awarding a $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Some Other Traveller by Lyn McConchie - Book Tour - TWO Guest Posts!! - Giveaway - Enter Daily!!

Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Lyn McConchie and her new book, “Some Other Traveller,” 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 Lyn and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

Some Other Traveller

by Lyn McConchie

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GENRE: Post-Apocalyptic

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BLURB:

When the world’s civilizations collapse from a lethal pandemic, being old can mean you have the experience and wisdom to survive and to see that friends and family do as well. Donal and Sheila McArn are seventy when most of the world is dying, and they must hold the line for everything they know. They may not have long, but so long as they live, they’re going to do their best – and anyone against them had better step back. NOW!

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EXCERPT ONE:

Kaylie died an hour later. Ricky had all his things packed by then, Donal had dug a small grave, and we placed her in that, the teddy bear – a bright pink one that Ricky said she still loved – tucked in beside her. After that, he clung to my hand.

I drove home, and when I would have left the lad with Janet, he clung to me like a limpet, his eyes wide in fear of losing someone else. I put him to bed in the spare room, slept in the bed opposite, and took him with me the next morning. Janet took the accumulated cash, along with a list and several friends, utes, and her car with a trailer. We removed the Black and McMallan animals, several small portable sheds, and salvaged useful items from houses and outbuildings. During which time Ricky was never out of eyeshot, and when my hands weren’t employed, he clung to one of them.

We drove home to eat dinner, I put him to bed, and when he asked, I answered, “Yes, this is your room now. You’ll go to school here once it opens again. The place is called Glen Mhairi. It’ll be your home.” And then the tentative question that almost broke my heart. “Aye, you can call us Grandma and Grandpa if you want. We’d like that.” He fell asleep still trustfully holding my hand, and as I looked at that peaceful face, I knew the truth.

After all those years and with never a child of our own, we finally had a grandson.

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GUEST POST #1:

The Craziest Thing I’ve Done in the Name of Research

I’m 76, and shortly before my 31st birthday, I was crippled in a motorcycle crash in 1977 when an idiot cut through a bend, hit me head-on my side of the road, and I went 40 feet from impact to landing. Before then, I did athletics, played hockey, rode horses and motorcycles, and when I felt like it, casually walked 5-10 miles.

After that, none of it. But when I started writing two of my post-apocalypse books – Another Fire, and Some other Traveller – in 2020, I attended our Viking Festival (my country was settled by people from all over the place), and I discovered something I could still do. So now, and I claimed them as expenses from the IRS, I have a beautiful set of throwing axes carved with Welsh motifs and when the weather is fine, I stroll out and throw my axes. My neighbour is a descendant of Vikings and makes gorgeous weaponry, including axes, knives, swords, shields… So any burglars are now in double jeopardy. My geese will normally get them, but if they sneak past the gaggle, I’m becoming quite accurate…

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GUEST POST #2:

Music That Inspired My Books

I love music, unfortunately I have a voice like a cow with bronchitis, but apart from listening or singing when there’s no one with earshot, I enjoy incorporating it into my books. Many of them have an original song or a rewritten one and now and then, a poem. There are a couple of songs in Some Other Traveller, since for years I belonged to a local Folk Music Society and sang Scottish and Irish songs as well as others, and I know, too, how songs can change from country to country or century to century, so in this book at least one has.

The Key of the Keplian, one of my fantasies, has an adaption of a Comanche chant. The Duke’s Ballad uses an original song I wrote for the book, as does Silver May Tarnish, while Another Fire has quotes from Bryan Adams songs and Meatloaf. Some Other Traveller was inspired plain and simple by Scottish songs and bagpipe music. I find it stirring, and the scene where Jamie Tamman forgets he is eighty and attacks the invaders of his glen, was brought to life for me by the song, “Scotland the Brave.”

Many years ago, I lived on an island here, and when I arrived, my new neighbour came over to ask if I minded bagpipes. I told him on the contrary, I enjoyed them. And his grin was so wide, he risked his ears falling in. I told no more than the truth, I never minded. He played a couple of hours in the evenings and for several hours – after 10:00 am – on the weekends. One of his favourite pieces was “Scotland the Brave,” and I often sang along since no one could hear me, and I found I was singing it again over and over as I wrote Jamie’s scene.

My most recent book in my post-apocalypse standalones is Forever Cornwall set in that beautiful part of England, and in that I have two versions of Trelawny. The original, and a rewrite, “written” by one of the main characters, so as to have the song appropriate to the new Cornwall – Kernow – that’s come out of civilization’s destruction. But to me, humankind marches to music, and in most of my books, there is at least one song.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Lyn McConchie started writing in 1990 and within a year had short stories and poems published. In 1993, her first book – a humorous true-life work (Farming Daze) about her farm, friends, and animals appeared – this was followed by six others in that series. As a joke between them, a long-time friend of Lyn’s, Andre Norton, was given a book Lyn had written set in one of Andre’s worlds. Andre was impressed with the work and took it to her agents who sold it to Warner books. This led in turn to Lyn writing another six books in Andre’s worlds, which were published either by Warner or TOR. Lyn has won seven short story Muse Medallions from the (International) Cat Writer’s Association, and six Sir Julius Vogel Awards for her books. Since the original book, Lyn has seen almost fifty more books appear plus over three hundred short stories, and says she has no intention of stopping so long as she is able to write.

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CONNECT WITH LYN:

Website:

http://lynmcconchie.com/new

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/lyn.mcconchie.397

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lyn-mcconchie

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/66725.Lyn_McConchie

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/387UM1R

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/375a8nw

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3wVCH1m

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Some-Other-Traveller-Lyn-McConchie-ebook/dp/B09TCW1LFB

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Some-Other-Traveller-Lyn-McConchie/dp/1937769720

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/some-other-traveller-lyn-mcconchie/1141107461

Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Some-Other-Traveller/Lyn-McConchie/9781937769727

Kobo US eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/some-other-traveller

Kobo CA eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/some-other-traveller

Smashwords eBook:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1134674

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Night to Dawn Magazine & Books 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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 publisher and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.

Thursday, July 1, 2021

If Darkness Takes Us by Brenda Marie Smith - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hello, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Brenda Marie Smith and her new book, “If Darkness Takes Us,” 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 $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!! Also, come back daily to interact with Brenda and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

If Darkness Takes Us

by Brenda Marie Smith

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GENRE: Post-Apocalyptic Science-Fiction

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BLURB:

In suburban Austin, Texas, Bea Crenshaw secretly prepares for apocalypse, but when a solar pulse destroys modern life, she’s left alone with four grandkids whose parents don’t return home. She must teach these kids to survive without power, cars, phones, running water, or doctors in a world fraught with increasing danger. And deciding whether or not to share food with her starving neighbors puts her morality to the test.

If Darkness Takes Us is realistic post-apocalyptic science-fiction that focuses on a family in peril, led by a no-nonsense grandmother who is at once funny, controlling, and heroic in her struggle to hold her family together with civility and heart.

The book is available now. It’s sequel, If the Light Escapes, is told in the voice of Bea’s eighteen-year-old grandson, Keno Simms, and will be released by SFK Press on August 24, 2021.

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READER REVIEWS:

Check out what readers are saying about this exciting new book!!!

“Bea Crenshaw is one of the most unique characters in modern literature—a kick-ass Grandma who is at once tough and vulnerable, and well-prepared to shepherd her extended family through an EMP disaster, or so she thinks."

~ Laura Creedle, Award-winning Author of The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily

**********

"There is real, identifiable humanity, subtle and sweet and sad, and events utterly shattering in their intensity."

~ Pinckney Benedict, Author of Dogs of God, Miracle Boy, and more

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EXCERPT ONE:

No matter how desperately a mother loves you, she can only put up with so much. And so, the day came when Mother Nature lashed out against us.

I understood where Nature was coming from. My family never listened to me either, which is why I didn’t tell them about the guns I’d bought.

The whole thing started with the train wreck.

On a Friday in early October, the young adults in my family went to the Oklahoma-Texas game up in Dallas—a big football rivalry around here. They dragged my husband, Hank the Crank, along with them, leaving me in South Austin with my grandchildren.

At the time, I was glad to see Hank go. He’d been making me crazy since he retired: hovering like a gnat; micromanaging my coffee-making; griping at me for reading instead of waiting attentively for him to spout something terse. Lord, I needed a break from that man. The three-day trip to Dallas seemed perfect.

I wasn’t a built-in-babysitter type of grandma, and I only saw my four grandkids together as a group on birthdays and holidays. For weeks I’d been excited about spending a long weekend alone with them.

A cruel trick sometimes, getting what you ask for.

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GUEST POST:

Five Reasons You Should Read If Darkness Takes Us:

1.) Where else can you find a train wreck and a solar electromagnetic pulse in the first few chapters of a book?

And there are four children at risk, ranging in age from six to seventeen, with no one but their grandmother to shepherd them to safety and keep them alive when the sun destroys much of modern life in a single instant.

2.) Even with a grandmother as a protagonist, the book is far from boring.

Aside from the train wreck and the solar pulse, the story has an exploding house, a fist fight, a shoot-out, a hair-pulling argument between teen girls, and a car crash, along with teen pregnancy, adultery, divorce, illness, and even death. Laughter, love, and many tender moments are interspersed throughout the story as well. The book will take you on an emotional journey.

3.) It’s an award-winning book with many five-star reviews.

If Darkness Takes Us won the Southern Fried Karma Novel Contest for 2018. It’s told in a contemporary Southern literary voice. People who like the book tend to love it. Here are some snippets of reviews:

"There is real, identifiable humanity, subtle and sweet and sad, and events utterly shattering in their intensity."

"If Darkness Takes Us is a riveting and powerful tale of perseverance in the aftermath of the unthinkable… a gritty but heartfelt literary novel that subverts the usual tropes of the apocalypse."

"Bea Crenshaw is one of the most unique characters in modern literature; a kick-ass Grandma who is at once tough and vulnerable, and well-prepared to shepherd her extended family through an EMP disaster, or so she thinks.”

“Post-apocalyptic fiction is popular because we all have a fear of societal breakdown… and we all want to experience how we, as regular folks, would genuinely handle it. If Darkness Takes Us will march you directly through that dark, self-reflective fantasy but never make you regret it.”

“Smith's characters are deeply three-dimensional, each with an agenda and a set of issues that are stories in themselves. They enable and carom off each other so effectively as the days pass and the plots thicken that when I had to close the book at the end, I felt like I had to be careful not to squish them. I miss them. They live in my head like the others I miss.”

4.) The story presents a dire situation that could happen tomorrow, and the book will help you be prepared.

This may sound like hyperbole, but the novel was published in October 2019, and five months later we were plunged into a pandemic that isolated millions, just as my characters are isolated. Then, in February 2021, we had the Texas Snowpocalypse, where the grid and running water shut down statewide for days during single-digit temperatures, and I found myself using knowledge from the book to survive: heating a two-story house with a fireplace built to be decorative; scrounging firewood from broken tree limbs in the park; flushing toilets with melted snow; sleeping in layers of clothes; using candles for light, and so much more. I had an acquaintance tell me that, after reading the book, she bought a second house and stockpiled it with food and disaster supplies, just as my protagonist Bea did. With all the disasters we’ve experienced lately, it’s a good idea for all of us to brush up on our survival skills.

5.) There is literally no other book like it.

A few other apocalyptic stories have old women as protagonists, but as far as I know, these books are set in the distant future, and the characters are not contemporary. Yet, Bea Crenshaw and her family could be people you know—your aunt and cousins, your mother and siblings, your next-door neighbors. If Darkness Takes Us turns the standard apocalyptic story on its head, and is much more likely to occur than a zombie invasion. It’s a character-driven story focused on one Austin, Texas neighborhood. I love all these other apocalyptic tales, too. I’m simply saying that If Darkness Takes Us is unique.

Thank you for the opportunity to brag on my book. It’s much appreciated.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Brenda Marie Smith lived off the grid for many years in a farming collective where her sons were delivered by midwives. She’s been a community activist, managed student housing co-ops, produced concerts to raise money for causes, done massive quantities of bookkeeping, and raised a small herd of teenage boys.

Brenda is attracted to stories where everyday characters transcend their own limitations to find their inner heroism. She and her husband reside in a grid-connected, solar-powered home in South Austin, Texas. They have more grown kids and grandkids than they can count.

Her first novel, Something Radiates, is a paranormal romantic thriller; If Darkness Takes Us and its sequel, If the Light Escapes, are post-apocalyptic science fiction.

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CONNECT WITH BRENDA MARIE SMITH:

Website:

https://brendamariesmith.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/BrendaMarieSmithAuthor

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/bsmithnovelist

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/brenda_marie_smith

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJlLSnORIyoaygvZ1j49ZKw