Mirror X by Karri Thompson‏

Mirror X by Karri Thompson

BLOG TOUR

November 17 – 21, 2014

Cassie Dannacher wakes up in a hospital over 1,000 years into the future after her space capsule is retrieved from space. She soon learns that 600 years prior to her arrival, the earth was struck by a plague, killing over half of the world’s population. Naïve and desperate, Cassie, who longs for home and is having trouble adjusting to the new, dictatorial 31st century government, is comforted by Michael Bennett, the 20-year old lead geneticist at the hospital where she was revived.
But why is Cassie in genetics’ hospital in the first place, and why do several of the people around her seem so familiar, including Travel Carson, the hot and edgy boy she is fated to meet? Soon she discovers there is a sinister answer to all of her questions – and that they want something from Cassie that only she can give.
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I was filled with too much turmoil and betrayal to even r

aise my voice. “You should have told

me from the very beginning, Michael. All that talk about

training and career opportunities was a

big lie.”

He bent forward, his eyes aimed at the gray floor as

I watched his back rise with each

breath.

“I’m sorry, Cassie. Until you were told about the proj

ect, we had to keep you from asking

questions we weren’t ready to answer. They were going to wa

it another week, but I couldn’t lie

to you one more minute.”

I folded my arms against my chest and sighed. “I’m being f

orced into doing something I

don’t want to do, and I’ve been manipulated and deceived by peo

ple I thought I could trust.”

“We needed to wait until you were stronger. You were too vu

lnerable.”

“And I’m not vulnerable now? Look at me.” I said, rais

ing my frail arms and letting them

drop limply to the bed.

“We’re all vulnerable. We’re desperate. And we’re running ou

t of time.”

Excerpt
I was filled with too much turmoil and betrayal to even raise my voice. “You should have told me from the very beginning, Michael. All that talk about training and career opportunities was a big lie.”
He bent forward, his eyes aimed at the gray floor as I watched his back rise with each breath.
“I’m sorry, Cassie. Until you were told about the project, we had to keep you from asking questions we weren’t ready to answer. They were going to wait another week, but I couldn’t lie to you one more minute.”
I folded my arms against my chest and sighed. “I’m being forced into doing something I don’t want to do, and I’ve been manipulated and deceived by people I thought I could trust.”
“We needed to wait until you were stronger. You were too vulnerable.”
“And I’m not vulnerable now? Look at me.” I said, raising my frail arms and letting them drop limply to the bed.
“We’re all vulnerable. We’re desperate. And we’re running out of time.”

Growing up in San Diego, California, Karri Thompson spent much of her years at the beach, reading novels, tanning, and listening to music. At SDSU, she earned a BA in English, MA in education, and her teaching credential. As a wife, mother, and high-school English teacher, she began writing novels, giving all of the compelling plots and unique characters in her head a home. Victorian literature rocks her socks, and when she’s not writing, jogging, going to concerts, or watching her son play football, she’s reading Dickens.

Find her at her website

The Empress Chronicles Blog Tour

In this dazzling first book in the EMPRESS CHRONICLES series by the author of THE MOMENT BEFORE, one courageous girl seeks keys to the past to unlock the future…
When city girl Liz is banished to a rural goat farm on the outskirts of Portland, the 15-year-old feels her life spiraling out of control. She can’t connect to her father or his young girlfriend, and past trauma adds to her sense of upheaval. The only person who seems to keep her sane is a troubled boy who is fighting his own demons. But all of this changes in one historical instant.
*
One-hundred fifty years earlier, Elisabeth of Bavaria has troubles of her own. Her childhood is coming to a crashing end, and her destiny is written in the form of a soothsaying locket that has the ability to predict true love. But evil is afoot in the form of a wicked enchantress who connives to wield the power of the locket for her own destructive ends.
*
When Liz finds a timeworn diary, and within it a locket, she discovers the secrets and desires of the young Bavarian princess who will one day grow up to be the legendary Empress of Austria. It is in the pages of the diary that these two heroines will meet, and it is through their interwoven story that Liz will discover she has the power to rewrite history—including her own…

Readers of books like Rachel Harris’s MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY will love THE EMPRESS CHRONICLES
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Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
Thanks so much for asking! THE EMPRESS CHRONICLES is the story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria's teenage years when she frolicked through the Bavarian forest recording secrets in a tiny leather journal, and the present-day Liz who, while battling her own inner demons, discovers the journal along with a locket that has the power to rewrite history and both young women make alarming discoveries about humanity and the power of words. I intend it to be the first book of a series.

What inspired you to write it?
When I was born, we lived in an apartment a few blocks from the Hofburg Palace, so I guess you could say that my “sponge” years were filled with grand sights and history, and I soaked it up. Years later, when I returned to Vienna to visit (we left for the U.S. when I was six), I became enchanted with the Sisi story, and worked to find a narrative that offered more about her roots—one that explored her whimsical youth.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover?
I offered some ideas to my publisher, Diversion Books, and they hired an amazing cover designer (who remains a secret), who came up with the cover.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
I would want a Polish actress named Agata Trzebuchowska to play Sisi. And Shailene Woodley for Liz. For Cory, definitely Jamie Blackley. Willow could be played by Lauren Lee Smith.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I like both contemporary and light fantasy books – books that blur lines and venture into uncharted territory – both as a reader and a writer. I like to be immersed in the “what ifs” of everyday life.

What made you want to become an author?
So I could find a home for my daydreams and fantasies. I’m always inventing narratives when I eavesdrop on conversations of strangers. It’s nice to have a legitimate place to put those imaginings.

How do you come up with character names?
I often change them during drafts. Once a character is fleshed out a bit, the name often just arrives. Like a stork, bringing a baby in its beak.

Name one of your all-time favourite books?
WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson

Who, or what, inspires you?
I’m often inspired, creatively, when I walk the hills behind my house. Or when I travel. Or by the beauty of the natural world or a rich conversation, or an unusual person I happen to meet.

Where is your favourite place to write?
My 10 X 10 office just off my garage.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
THE SPECTACULAR NOW.

Name two of your favourite authors.
Junot Diaz and Antonya Nelson

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
Raymond Carver, David Foster Wallace, and Beatrix Potter. They all fascinate me, and I’d love to hear them in conversation.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
My grandmother’s uncle was a Habsburg portrait artist.

Who would play you in the movie about your life?

photo credit: Ana Gremard via photopin cc

Jodie Foster

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
The last two houses I lived in were both last-owned by persnickety widows who died within a few years of selling their houses. I often feel them spying on me from their respective graves.

What are your (writing) plans for the future?
Well, I want to keep going with my Empress books, and also write a few books that focus on millennial characters.

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
Hiking in Wales

Favourite myth / fairytale?
Snow White and Rose Red

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A famous horsewoman or a mother of nine. I also toyed with the idea of becoming a veterinarian for a brief time – or a studier of animals, like Jane Goodall. I always wanted to be a writer, too.

Suzy Vitello is a proud founding member of a critique group recently dubbed The Hottest Writing Group in Portland, and her short stories have won fellowships and prizes (including the Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Award, and an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship).

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Opal's Song Cover Reveal

Opal's Song 

Coming 2013 - Release date to be announced 
A horrific accident on a rain slicked mountainside and permanent paralysis from the waist down.
25 year old Lily Wade has to relearn simple, everyday activities just to live a seemingly normal life.
Opal—a precocious child in her rehabilitation group—teaches Lily about living joyfully after surviving an immense tragedy and how to find peace within the pain.
To keep a promise made, Lily must dust off her once beloved cello and connect with the music she’s kept locked inside a velvet lined case for nearly a decade.

A Teaser
The headlights of Darren’s extended cab Chevy swung from left to right as he took the switch back curves much faster than normal. Lines of tension formed beside his mouth, and his usually relaxed hands clutched the black leather steering wheel in a white knuckle death grip. Something about the way he pumped the brakes wasn’t quite right, and the momentum of the truck was picking up instead of slowing down.
Lily wanted to ask if everything was okay, but didn’t dare distract him from what was quickly becoming a dangerous situation. Deep ingrained reflex made her tug on the strap of her seat belt to ensure it would hold if the worst case scenario played itself out.
She’d ventured East with her boyfriend to explore and get away from the stifling rules of her parents. They had come into Western North Carolina via the Blue Ridge Mountains and immediately fallen in love with the place. Eclectic Asheville stole her heart with its combination of forward movement and backwards thinking. Only in that particular valley, surrounded by some of the oldest mountains in the world, could one community find the wherewithal to support so many varied lifestyle modalities. From the redneck–hillbilly descendants of the original Scottish settlers, to the new agers, dirty hippies, and flamboyant gays—Asheville catered to them all.
Lily wanted to share the exuberance of the area with her family, but suddenly feared the chance to do so would come at the cost of a glossy wooden box. Tears filled her eyes as she swallowed past a lump forming in her throat. She didn’t want to die.
“Aww, FUCK!”
Darren’s barely whispered expletive caught Lily’s attention as the tail end of the truck swung around. Suddenly they were facing the way they’d come. On any other day Darren would’ve calmly turned the wheel until the truck righted itself. For some reason the beast didn’t respond to his handling. The vehicle continued to spin until something in the front end snapped, and Lily stared in horror. One of the tires flew away from the truck, and in that instant she realized what people said was true—in the moments before death time slows down as the brain processes everything in minute detail.
Bright headlamps illuminated the surrounding forest as the front end of the truck crashed down onto the road. Heavy metal screeching on asphalt filled Lily’s ears only to be replaced with the sound of trees snapping beneath the force of a full sized pick-up rolling down the side of a mountain.
Up became down, and Lily’s insides threatened to come out as she was jerked about behind the increasingly tighter band of her protective belt. If she’d been sitting next to Darren her head would’ve been spared the repetitive abuse of being tossed against the passenger window. Lily didn’t want to scream out her fear, but found she had no control over her vocal cords—her screeches of distress echoed in the confined space until the imploding windshield drowned her out. Shards from the window flew towards them, cutting her neck and face as they tumbled around inside the cab.
Everything stopped all at once. The crashing roll of the truck, the cutting of the glass shards, even Lily’s screams. The Chevy landed on its side with her hanging by her seat belt, staring down at the unconscious form of her boyfriend. The smell of gasoline filled the air and Lily felt the spike of adrenaline wash through her nervous system.
“Darren! Darren, wake up!” She yelled as loud as her constricted lungs would allow behind the crushing force of the nylon strap. “Darren, we have to get out of this truck!”
Darren remained unconscious, and Lily refused to give into the blind panic threatening to take over. Breathing deep she quickly surveyed her position and the quickest escape route. The windshield had completely shattered, making that the only way out of the wreckage as the door above her wouldn’t budge when she tried pushing it open. Grabbing hold of the oh-shit handle, she pulled the weight of her body off the belt and pushed the release button. Blinding heat zipped through her body as she crashed face first against Darren's side and was knocked out cold by the force of their skulls connecting.
****
Something wet trickled down the side of her face just before an excruciating pain exploded behind her eyes, and Lily knew she was about to have the mother of all migraines. She thought to press the heels of both hands against her throbbing eye sockets, but found her body remained motionless against the command. A soft moan beneath her was worrying, though she couldn’t think why. The muscle of her shoulder flexed involuntarily and a jolt of pain flashed down her spine, stopping abruptly in her hips. A deep breath meant to calm her frantic thoughts brought more pain and then the blessed blackness.
****
“Hang in there little lady. We’ve almost got you out.”
Lily whimpered as a sudden shock of agony rippled through her arms and torso, but the sound of someone talking eased her anxiety. She wasn’t alone—thank god. The voice became a life line she clung to with her mind until sweet oblivion pulled her back into its warm embrace.
****
“They rolled down the side of Mount Pisgah. From what I can gather she was pinned in place by her seat belt, until she managed to undo it and then fell against his side.”
The conversation felt a million miles away. Surely they weren’t talking about her. Before she could give it another thought, the air was filled with excited chatter and frantic movements. She wanted to open her eyes and see what was going on, but her lids were too heavy to lift. Moving the muscles of her body required a strength she didn’t possess and fear flooded her thoughts as she cried out in frustration. The air she pulled through her nose tasted strange on the back of her tongue. Oblivion stretched out its arms and Lily went into them without a fight.
Find out more about Opal's Song and it's release by visiting SJ Byrne or Opal's Song on Facebook

A portion of all proceeds from Opal's Song will be donated to help children with disabilities...more information forthcoming.

About the Author 

Living in the mountains of Western North Carolina SJ Byrne is just trying to make her way through the insanity that comes with creativity. Writing is her passion - life is her muse. Keep an eye out for new books due later this year.
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The Lost Soul book trailer

I figured it was about time I created a book trailer for my latest book, The Lost Soul (a couple of months too late but never mind!). Here it is... I hope you like it!

 

If you're tempted into buying a copy (!), here's the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Soul-Raven-Saga-ebook/dp/B007NHUEAO