Hey lovelies! It
gives me great pleasure today to host Dan McClure and his new books, “The
Adventures of Grant Scotland”! For other
stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner
above or any of the images in this post – except the Available at Amazon picture.
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 Dan and to increase your chances of winning!
These books are ALL on sale throughout
the month of January! See below for the exciting Kindle Countdown Sale Dates and for more details.
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous
giveaway!
The Adventures of Grant Scotland
by Dan McClure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
Fantasy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURBS:
Spy
for a Dead Empire
(Adventures of Grant
Scotland, Book One)
AELFA, THE GRAND CAPITAL of the once mighty Aelfan Empire, has fallen. Barbarian war parties and
nomadic tribes harass the retreating and broken legions that once overawed
them. All that stands against them now is the city of Zyren, the last bastion
of Aelfan rule.
Acting as a spy
for Zyren is Grant Scotland, a man leading a double life because his own had
been taken away from him by the very people he serves. An unwilling recruit
into the business of clandestine missions and deceit, he searches for anything
real to cling to as the world around him devolves into insanity. And when an
old friend shows up asking him to help save his family by delivering a mysterious
book to a shadowy figure, Grant's two lives collide and he is thrust into an
even stranger world than he had known; one where ancient magic is wielded by
deadly players who compete against one another for a prize greater than simply
the rotting carcass of a dead empire.
Spy
for a Troubled King
(Adventures of Grant
Scotland, Book Two)
AMONG THE ASHES of
the mighty Aelfan Empire, the House of Gregyan seeks to forge a new kingdom—one
where both Huthan and Aelfan alike can prosper. But old prejudices and ancient
traditions and an exiled enemy threaten the peace. Caught between compassion
for his home and allegiance to his fallen empire, Grant Scotland finds himself
trapped in the turbulent machinations of enemies and friends. As he works to
uncover mysteries about his father’s treachery and confront new threats to his
future, he moves perilously close to revealing his identity and losing
everything.
Spy
for a Wayward Daughter
(Adventures of Grant
Scotland, Book Three)
AS THE GREGYANS MARCH TO WAR and his handler takes a trip to Zyren, Grant Scotland, spy errant
of the Aelfan Empire, gets ready to pursue a lead on finding a man who might be
able to tell him the truth about his father's treason. Old friends, new enemies
and hidden dangers soon confront him on his quest, but when he enters the dark
world of another family's intrigue, he finds that not even the frontiers of the
Aelfan Empire are far enough away to escape the dangers of fortune and fate.
The
Unlikely Spy
(Adventures of Grant
Scotland, Volume One)
The Adventures of
Grant Scotland series is an entertaining mix of fantasy, mystery and espionage
featuring a hero whose many faults provide almost as much challenge to him as
the formidable obstacles he must face as he attempts to impose sanity upon a
world rapidly descending into chaos. Collected in this volume are the first
three books in the series: Spy for a Dead Empire, Spy for a Troubled King and
Spy for a Wayward Daughter.
Spy
for a Greedy Villain
(Adventures of Grant
Scotland, Book Four)
RACIAL TENSIONS IN AELFA simmer and threaten to boil over when the harbormaster is found dead and
the Huthan oppressors threaten to crack down in the Lower Docks. As Grant
Scotland finds more questions than answers in the journals of Berthul Magnussen
about his father’s treachery, he is drawn into a murder investigation, a
kidnapping plot and the nefarious machinations of the city’s biggest crime
lord—Mr. Quinn. In order to stop Quinn’s plans and save the city from being
thrown into open revolt, Grant prepares to take his biggest gamble yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT FOUR:
Spy
for a Greedy Villain
(Adventures of Grant
Scotland, Book Four)
I
gave him a brief recap of my espionage activities over the past few months,
which included reports on the growth and temperament of the One God followers,
the coming and going of any Huthan notables and the operations of Doogan and
Quinn. At last I followed up with a summary of the harbormaster investigation
and finished with the discovery of a ghost in the Lower Docks.
“There’s
no such things as ghosts, Scotland.”
“I
know, but I haven’t worked up a better nickname for him yet.”
“I’m
sure you’ll think of something. I have every confidence in your ability to
accomplish inane tasks of trivial importance.”
“Everybody
has to be good at something.”
“And
while your limited mental capabilities will no doubt be severely taxed in that
endeavor, I’ll do some checking into what could make a man entirely concealed
in plain sight.”
“You
mean invisible. You can just say invisible.”
“Were
I interested in being as lacking in attention to details as you, I could use
the word invisible, but luckily for the both of us I am not. Complete
invisibility is impossible. Not even the greatest Aelfan wizards were ever able
to accomplish such a feat. But, there are several ways a man can remain
unnoticed. Take me for instance. For the eleventh time in a row you failed to
spot me before I spotted you.”
“How
am I not surprised you’ve been keeping score? At any rate, he didn’t sneak up
on me, I’m telling you I looked right through him.”
“Except
his boots. Unless in addition to invisibility you also believe in the existence
of a sentient pair of boots?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Regarding Grant Scotland
First let me say
that I have no idea where story ideas come from or what inspires me to write. I
can’t speak for every author out there, but I know I’ve heard others say the
same thing. We have no clue why or how characters and dialog and plots creep into
our heads, even when we’re doing things as mundane as making some eggs, but
they do. That being said, I can tell you exactly where I get my ideas from.
Bear with me. As
with life, hopefully everything will make sense by the end, but probably not.
The origin of the
name is pretty simple, although the exact eureka moment wasn’t saved for
posterity. Maybe it doesn’t stick in my memory because it came together fairly
simply. My middle name is Grant. I knew I wanted to use that either as my nom
de plume or as a character name. I was leaning in the direction of the latter,
but at some point in time while I was thinking about USA’s Burn Notice, I
remembered Bruce Campbell once had a show called “The Adventures of Brisco
County, Jr.” After that, the character’s name and the series name just locked
into place.
As near as I can
tell, the actual character traits of Grant Scotland first began forming in my
mind somewhere in 2009 and 2010. The first thing I knew about him was that he
would be a Philip Marlowe kind of character, except one with more problems and
less talent. I was at a pretty low point in my life and it’s possible I wanted
my protagonist to be just as hard-luck as me. It’s romantic to think that I
wanted to write my way out of my own situation, but that isn’t how it happened
at all.
Over the next
couple of years, I kept wondering about him and started focusing my reading
habits around the kind of man I was imagining. I spent a lot of time with
Dashiell Hammet’s Miles Archer, Robert Parker’s Spenser, Glen Cook’s Garrett
and, of course, Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe. The noir detective motif isn’t an
uncommon one, so there was some other source material as well, but those were
the biggies.
At some point in
time I realized just how overdone such characters are and decided mine wouldn’t
be a detective – well, not a professional, anyway. I think it was about that
time that I decided I’d throw a spin on the noir detective theme and make him a
spy. I wasn’t up on my espionage reading, so I began digging into some LeCarre
and Fleming and… meh. Wasn’t too impressed. I wanted gadgets and disguises, not
drawn-out suspense. I wanted Sydney Bristow from Alias. I wanted movie-theatre
James Bond or TV Michael Westen. The last one especially appealed to me because
of the theme in Burn Notice of a spy with no country, no organization and
almost no friends. You couldn’t get much more hard luck than that!
If you look
carefully, you’ll notice I pay homage to Burn Notice with an occasional “When
you’re a spy…” opening to a paragraph describing something Grant’s doing or
planning. I couldn’t resist.
So I had Grant
fleshed out pretty nicely. This was somewhere in 2011 or 2012, maybe? All in my
head, at this point, by the way. There wasn’t anything to write. How could
there be? I still had no world for Grant to inhabit. No plot for him to
unravel. I knew I wanted to write fantasy, because it’s a very flexible genre
for a new writer and it’s always been one of my favorites. That was when I
decided to re-read Glen Cook’s Garrett, P.I. novels. The best way for a writer
to start is to imitate the writers he admires. So, I treated it like an
exercise and began taking notes on Cook’s books as if I was intending to write
them myself. As I did that, I also began to sort out the things I liked and the
things I didn’t.
I’ll cover Grant
Scotland’s world in another post, because I have a fair number of thoughts
about fantasy world building, as do most fantasy writers, I’m sure. For now,
I’ll just say I wanted his world to be as close to our own Dark Ages as
possible, to emphasize the hard-luck theme. Once that was decided and once I
had diagramed a couple of Cook’s plots – which I definitely recommend doing for
any aspiring author – then I knew I was ready to start writing stories of my
own.
So did I make it
clear at all about the where and how of inspiration? Does it make sense?
Probably not, right? It doesn’t make sense to me, either. All I can say is,
there’s some kind of thing that started banging around in my head one day. I
don’t know what to call it and I don’t know how it does what it does. I just
know that it’s still going. I hope it never stops, because it seems like the
longer it bangs around, the more ideas it picks up and sticks together. Or
maybe it just knocks them into a place where I can stick them together. I don’t
know. That’s about the best I can come up with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Writing stories
infused with the smoky charisma of classic film noir mixed with the
pulse-pounding excitement of adventure fantasy and the cagey class of
suspenseful espionage, Dan McClure brought the best parts of all of our most
cherished pulp together and added his own signature brand of wit. He currently
lives, writes and works in and around beautiful and historic Arlington,
Massachusetts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH DAN:
Email:
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Twitter:
Goodreads
Author Page:
Amazon
Author Page:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KINDLE COUNTDOWN SALE DATES:
Spy
for a Greedy Villain
(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book Four):
Kindle Countdown Deal
1/4 - 1/7 @ $0.99
1/7 - 1/11 @ $1.99
Spy
for a Dead Empire
(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book One):
Kindle Countdown Deal
1/11 - 1/14 @ $0.99
1/14 - 1/18 @ $1.99
Spy
for a Troubled King
(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book Two):
Kindle Countdown Deal
1/18 - 1/21 @ $0.99
1/21 - 1/25 @ $1.99
Spy
for a Wayward Daughter
(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book Three):
Kindle Countdown Deal
1/25 - 1/28 @ $0.99
1/28 - 2/1 @ $1.99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AMAZON 4–PACK BUY LINK:
The Adventures of Grant Scotland
Books 1 – 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPY FOR A DEAD EMPIRE (ADVENTURES
OF GRANT SCOTLAND, BOOK 1) – BUY LINKS:
Amazon:
Barnes
and Noble:
Goodreads:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPY FOR A TROUBLED KING (ADVENTURES
OF GRANT SCOTLAND, BOOK 2) – BUY LINKS:
Amazon:
Barnes
and Noble:
Goodreads:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPY FOR A WAYWARD DAUGHTER (ADVENTURES
OF GRANT SCOTLAND, BOOK 3) – BUY LINKS:
Amazon:
Barnes
and Noble:
Goodreads:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPY FOR A GREEDY VILLAIN (ADVENTURES
OF GRANT SCOTLAND, BOOK 4) – BUY LINKS:
Amazon:
Barnes
and Noble:
Goodreads:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE ADVENTURES OF GRANT
SCOTLAND, VOLUME 1: THE UNLIKELY SPY – BUY LINKS:
Amazon:
Barnes
and Noble:
Kobo:
Goodreads:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFO:
Dan will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and
Noble Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**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.
