Category SciFi Blog Tour

Oct 15 2016

New Release – Sentient by Dr. Victor Acquista

Today, I’m excited to welcome – Dr. Victor Acquista 🙂 

Dr. Victor Acquista has become a successful international author and speaker following careers as a primary-care physician and medical executive. He previously helped to co-found The Collaborative for Community Health, a non-profit, is a founding member of River Valley Market, a food co-op, and authored a syndicated Health and Wellness column.

His non-fiction and his workshops focus on personal growth and transformation, especially as pertains to health and wellness. His fiction includes social messaging intended to get the reader engaged in thought provoking themes.

Dr. Acquista has a longstanding interest in consciousness studies, is a student of Integral Theory, and strives to do his part to make our planet a wee bit better. He lives with his wife in New Mexico.

Sentient is his debut fiction novel. More info can be found at www.victoracquista.com.

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————— Release day is today Occtober the 15th.

Sentient, an epic tale of humanity’s defeat and resurgence spanning 168,000 years of struggle is a science fiction debut from Dr. Victor Acquista…..

Synopsis

The Mind Warriors of T’rox, intent on being the supreme sentient race in the galaxy, annihilated the home world of Adden, a place where the people had lived telepathically connected in peace and harmony. The species slim chance to survive rests in a distant colony, genetically altered to block telepathy and evade detection by T’rox.

Anyeuros escaped the destruction of Adden, traveling disembodied for 168,000 years before arriving on New Adden, only to learn of the disastrous consequences of the genetic manipulation—violence, poverty, abuse, prejudice.

T’rox is on the verge of collapse, a result of social stagnation and infighting among the clans. Discovery of New Adden, the lost colony, provides a chance to reinvigorate their race with a fresh conquest.

However, discovering their past mission was incomplete, a resulting conflict ensues, but a troubled physicist, his young neighbor, and an artificial intelligence may be the key to defeating them. Heroic misfits and outcasts are woven into three intersecting story lines and will determine humanity’s fate.

Character Quotes

“When we bear triumph or failure alone, we remain alone. Our strength lies in our togetherness. Bonded together, we celebrate our triumphs and we endure our failings. This is the way of our people…this we must not forget.” – Janna, First Colonist, New Adden

“There are limits of acceptability. Weird and eccentric are tolerable but just barely. Once you cross over into crazy, no one wants to have anything to do with you. Sometimes, you don’t even want to deal with yourself.” –Professor Jeremy Strickland, Earth

“When you rise to power on the wings of fear you must depend on fear to remain aloft.”
– Ka ‘Stan, Ghal of T’rox, 5th Epoch

Praise for Sentient

“Sentient is a superb debut, a rollicking sci-fi saga that beautifully combines action and philosophy, visionary ideas, and prescient social critique. In creating an alien world with its own cosmology and rituals, Acquista sheds light on our own struggling little planet, and does so with humor and style. This is a work to be savored.” –JJ Amaworo Wilson, author of Damnificados

Purchase Links

http://mybook.to/Sent

Watch for more links to come!

Want to Feature Victor Acquista?

If you would like a copy of the book for review or to conduct an interview with Dr. Victor Acquista, please contact Erin Al-Mehairi, Marketing and Publicity at Mirror Matter Press and Hook of a Book Media: hookofabook@hotmail.com.

Mirror Matter Press

For more on Mirror Matter Press, publishers of science fiction and fantasy, go to www.mirrormatterpress.com. Immersing Readers in Other Worlds…

 

Oct 12 2016

Sci Fi Blog Hop – Author Interview – Ash Litton

Today’s Author Interview is with Ash Litton. And I love that there’s a unicorn on the cover!

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Do you have any advice for other authors on how to market their books?

Ash: I’m always an advocate for all things in moderation, but the reality of marketing is that you need to A: have a planned schedule, and B: prepare in advanced. Don’t be afraid to have a script – I’ve always written up a rotation of advertising blurbs and run the same blurbs across multiple platforms across multiple days, weeks, or months. I’ve included pictures, too – the cover art by itself, or sometimes a “promo card”, as I call it – to help give a visual incentive for potential buyers to follow the vendor links.

Did you make any marketing mistakes or is there anything you would avoid in future?

Ash: Starting out, I didn’t do any marketing, and I felt the results of that. I think I had the gratuitous buys from friends and family during the first month or two, but after that, I didn’t sell a single copy for at least six months. I switched up my behaviour, started marketing my work through Twitter, and saw the spike in sales. I’ve since found dedicated genre groups on Facebook and have extended my promotions there, and have seen an added increase in sales. It also helps that I’m putting out more material each year. The more you have to sell, the greater the chance you have of making sales.

Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process?

Ash: To a degree, yes. There are groups dedicated to the analytics of covert art and sales projections, but in my own opinion: so long as the cover doesn’t look like a Hollywood “ransom note” with pieces cut and pasted together, I don’t think many buyers are going to care whether the author spent $5 or $500 for cover art services.

Did you do a press release, Goodreads book launch, or anything else to promote your work, and did it work?

Ash: Outside of a pre-sale promotion by my regular methods of advertising, I haven’t done anything so formal, no. I will be considering it with my larger works, though, but until I hammer out release dates for those, then I won’t be able to set up a formal game plan outside of “shop around, see what my options are, and put together a tentative outline of execution”.

Which writers inspire you?

Ash: Quite a few. I was first introduced to Neil Gaiman through the Illustrated Film Script of MirrorMask, when I got a copy of the book to read from the library. Through Neil Gaiman, I found my way to the late Sir Terry Pratchett. I started reading books by Laurell K. Hamilton back in high school, and the same with JK Rowling. I don’t remember how it was that I discovered Jim Butcher, but I was so glad I did.

***

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Ash Litton is a writer and lover of sci-fi, fantasy, and all things fictional. She is the author of No Signal, Thoroughbred, Evening Hallow, and Comeuppance, and works on other Appalachian Dream Tales between her ongoing novel projects.

When she’s not writing, she’s drawing, and when she’s not doing either of those, she’s dreaming up new projects to work on. Born and raised in rural West Virginia, Ash has always wondered what things lay hidden in the hills around her. She attended West Virginia University, where she studied the English language before returning home to her family in rural West Virginia.
You can follow her on her website, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Sep 10 2016

Sci Fi Blog Hop – Author Interview – H T Lyon

As part of the Sci Fi blog hop I’m excited to have a new writer aboard for today, here’s my interview with the fab H T Lyon.

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H.T.Lyon

Bio:

I am aspiring writer of science fiction. A futurist with a keen interest in where our society is heading, I tend focus most of my attention on stories that examine the direction our society is taking or that shows where we could end up. Optimistic my nature, I believe that one day we will look to settle the Solar System as we outgrow our planet and some of my stories examine how this could look. Currently, I have a number of novels underway and some short stories. My aim is to get one of these up and published before the end of the year around the other commitments that exist in my life.

 

Questions –

How often do you write, and do you have a special time during the day to write?

I write when I can. Having Google Docs (and before that One Note) is a great way to make writing portable. I should be able to pick up a device and get writing but I do seem to need some quiet space to get into it. Nanowrimo was a great motivation to get writing. I’d write in my lunchtime and in the evening and whenever I could. I hit the target and it’s the most productive I’ve ever been. I try to write once a day but sometimes only manage once a week. If there was any chance I could make to my writing, it would be to write more often. Style be damned if you don’t have the words to start with!

For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?

Personally, I’ve grown up with paper books so I am more comfortable reading them. I would prefer to be more comfortable with ebooks though. They are more environmentally friendly and also, it would be nice to be more comfortable reading using the platform I primarily intend to publish in. Weight for weight, the ebook has the advantage. You could take one paper book on a long plane flight but for the same weight, 1,000 ebooks. I can and have read books in ebook format and enjoyed them immensely. The main difference I find is that I am a lot faster when reading a paper book.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing as far as content?

The number one challenge for me is injecting personality into my characters. I really struggle there, I want them to pop out and I haven’t managed to get into the space where I can get into the moment and inhabit a character shoes, especially where the character is unlike myself. I do find the best way to get over this is to carry on with the draft and let the actions define the characters. The needs of the plot eventually sorts this out for me! The thing I then need to deal with is their voice. It’s not point the villain and the hero having the same speech patterns!

Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?

The first story I remember reading that had a major impact on me was Lord of the Rings. It was a massive book and I tried several times to follow in my brother’s footsteps and read the damn thing but I could never really get it started. Then one day I flipped to page 119 (I think) and was immediately in the battle for Weathertop from then on, I made it all the way through and had enough context to get through the beginning again! What I took from it was amazement that someone could create a world like that and an amazement that I could get lost in it. I think my friends heard about the book for months after that!

Did you have any ideas about being a writer that becoming a writer changed?

I always thought that writing was a job like being an accountant; people would learn to do it and then become good. Being around writers online has certainly been an education. Even the experienced of us struggle. Its the ultimate creative exercise. You can become better at it but it will always be something that is hard. For anyone standing at the edge and wondering whether to give it a go, I encourage you to do so. It only takes one positive reaction and it all becomes worthwhile.

Aug 9 2016

SciFi Blog Hop – Author Interview – Imogen Keeper

 

For my first interview for the SciFi blog hop. I’m excited to welcome Imogen! 

MY BIO

Imogen Keeper started writing seriously after trying on a few dozen other hobbies, but in a lot of ways, she’s written her whole life. In third grade, she tried to write a mystery, and in fifth, she tried again, with limited success. College brought a passion for literary analysis and art history. So many papers written in those four years.

An MFA in design, and a brief career in Interiors, followed by the hard decision to be a stay-at-home mom resulted in a lady who didn’t enjoy sitting idle, a long-napping baby, and a lot of time on her hands. The result – fantasies finally getting put down on the blank page!

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The release date for The Bonding is 8/12/16….

So, what have you written?

I recently finished a full-length novel called The Bonding. It’s a very steamy sci-fi that was, quite honestly, a blast to write. I made every possibly mistake a writer could make, plot circles, dead spots, and filters. Editing was a disaster, but so much fun.

In so many ways, that was me at my purest, because I wasn’t hemmed in by all the writerly laws that I know about now. I just sat down at my computer and the words poured out. All my beta readers have torn through it. Reading it in a matter of days, rather than the weeks allotted. It’s been called addictive. I just wanted it to be fun, and I think I succeeded there.

Who’s your main character? What inspired you to write them?

I work on multiple pieces at once to keep my mind fresh and my level of engagement high. There are so many characters I love, bouncing around in my head…. How to choose one?

I suppose, at the moment Cara, from a story I’m working on now called The Night Market. I’ve been in her head the most recently. She lives in my take on an Omegaverse, and she’s one of the omegas. Poor thing. In my world they are called Felinas, and they’ve got a rough lot in life. She resists becoming just one more omega with teeth, nails, knives and spit. She’s a fighter, and she’s snarky, and she’s definitely not a pushover. I always feel invigorated after spending a little time in her head.

And then there’s Tam from The Bonding. My favorite creation ever. I’m not sure what it says about me that a gruff, potty-mouth alien came so naturally from my fingers as I typed, but he just poured out. I never had to pause to wonder, what would Tam do? I just knew. Tam curses, and kicks butt, but at his core, he’s just a good guy who loves his lady, Nissa.

When did you decide to become a writer?

I’m not sure I did. I quit working when I was in my 6th month of pregnancy. And I dabbled in every hobby under the sun. I gardened. I baked. I cooked. It was sad. I’m not lying when I say this: for about three months, I planned my menus a month in advance. My husband would come home, there would be music playing that coordinated with the country I’d chosen to cook that night. So Jamaica – reggae. Jerk chicken, mango rice, and black beans. Seriously. The amount of time I put in to finding popular Greek music on Greek night, or choosing what went best with Borscht on Russian night was pathetic.

Anyway, I nearly blew up the oven making wheat bread, and my husband and I had gained some weight, and it was time to say goodbye to cooking.

I painted until there was no wall-space left in our house, and one day just sat down at the computer with Tam and Nissa in my mind. I’d dabbled in their story for years, had the first seven chapters down, and the rest just flowed. As I got more serious, my writing got better, and I learned about plotting, and had to do some major edits. I sat down to write thirteen months ago, and in a lot of ways, I never really stood up again. If a day goes by without writing, I feel twitchy, and nervous.

Any tips on what to do and what not to do when writing?

No. Find a way of telling a good story that works for you, or more importantly, your characters as you write. Forget the rules about what not to do…. I’d have said, “don’t head-hop,” about a week ago, but, recently, I was shocked to read – and enjoy – a story that hopped-heads like lice on a nursery playground.

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

My son, though I’m not sure it’s an inspiration, so much as not having much of a choice. I think with longing of the lazy Sundays my husband and I enjoyed before we had a child. We slept until ten. Now we’re up at seven like clockwork. There’s nothing like a grinning toddler-alarm clock. He’s always happy, and even when I’m so tired, I can barely stand, it’s impossible not to smile when I see how happy he is to see me again.

Link to my blog is –
https://imogenkeeper.wordpress.com/