Hey Readers, Ethan here with another great blog tour stop for you. Today I'm hosting a guest post and a giveaway from another one of the authors from Clean Teen Publishing. Today we're blasting Minutes Before Sunset by Shannon Thompson! Here's a bit about the novel, the author, an awesome guest post, and a giveaway:
Title: Minutes Before Sunset
Series: The Timely Death Trilogy #1
Author: Shannon A. Thompson
Published: July 28th, 2015
Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Content Warning: Violence, Adult Language
Recommended Age: 13+
Synopsis: Two destinies. One death.
“Her kiss could kill us, and my consent signed our death certificates.”
Eric Welborn isn’t completely human, but he isn’t the only shade in the small Midwest town of Hayworth. With one year left before his eighteenth birthday, Eric is destined to win a long-raging war for his kind. But then she happens. In the middle of the night, Eric meets a nameless shade, and she’s powerful—too powerful—and his beliefs are altered. The Dark has lied to him, and he’s determined to figure out exactly what lies were told, even if the secrets protect his survival.
Jessica Taylor moves to Hayworth, and her only goal is to find more information on her deceased biological family. Her adoptive parents agree to help on one condition: perfect grades. And Jessica is distraught when she’s assigned as Eric’s class partner. He won’t help, let alone talk to her, but she’s determined to change him—even if it means revealing everything he’s strived to hide.
About the Author:
Shannon A. Thompson is a twenty-three-year-old author, avid reader, and habitual chatterbox. She was merely sixteen when she was first published, and a lot has happened since then. Thompson’s work has appeared in numerous poetry collections and anthologies, and her first installment of The Timely Death Trilogy became Goodreads’ Book of the Month. As a novelist, poet, and blogger, Thompson spends her free time writing and sharing ideas with her black cat named after her favorite actor, Humphrey Bogart. Between writing and befriending cats, she graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in English, and she travels whenever the road calls her.
Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Blog | Instagram | Pinterest
*****
Guest Post
*****
Guest Post
How To Make Your Paranormal Novel Stand Out
First and foremost, I
strive to create my own creatures. I’ve written an in-depth post about this
called Writing
Tips: Creating the Paranormal, but I’ll try to sum up some of the points
here. In The Timely Death Trilogy, I created shades and lights, both of which
have their own dynamics, some similar and some very different. For instance,
lights can shift from their human form at any time, while shades have to wait
until the sun sets. Lights have the power of illusion, while shades can turn
into the darkness. Lights also live in their own dimension, but shades are
stuck in our known world. (All of which is explained why in the last book, Death
Before Daylight.) I based a lot of the lights off of the Black-Eyed
Children, which is one of my favorite legends. It also started in Missouri, and
The Timely Death Trilogy takes place in Kansas. With thousands of myths and legends out there, I wish we saw more of
them used in paranormal stories, not to mention in fantasy, sci-fi, and
dystopian literature. (Not that I have anything against vampires and
werewolves, but I LOVE how many legends we do have and am equally saddened that
we don’t see more them used). As a reader myself, I rejoiced at my recent read,
Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley. She
used a real legend that very much affects are culture today, but it was a
legend most have never heard of before, and that was great!
With creating new creatures comes another task: Creating your world and culture. (And
in The Timely Death Trilogy’s case, I had to find a way to not only create a
new world, but also blend it in with our current one.) I wrote a blog post
about this on my website called—The
Timely Death Trilogy Explained: World-Building and More—but I can try to
summarize some of the details. A major theme in The Timely Death Trilogy is
identity. Why? Well, the lights and the shades—despite having magical powers
and bodies—are regular humans when they shift out…and since their faces change
(and so do their names), no one knows who anyone is in their other lives. Your
best friend could be in the Light, while you could be in the Dark, and you
wouldn’t know. That’s where rules come into play. Talking about who you are is
strictly forbidden. Genetics, therefore, become a big deal, because there are
half-breeds, and humans with shade/light parents, and full breeds. Beyond that,
there’s also an entire culture that comes along with the creatures. One we see
almost immediately is the Naming—where thirteen-year-old shades receive their
Dark name. This is how Eric, the protagonist, is known as both Eric Welborn and
Shoman.
I could go on and on
about creating unique creatures and worlds and cultures, but I find it’s a
journey every writer has to take on their own—mainly because it’s different
for everyone, but also because it’s more delightful when there are surprises to
meet you along the way.
*****
Clean Teen Publishing Links:
Giveaway Details:
There is a tour wide giveaway. Prizes include the following:
- A bookmark swag pack, winner’s choice of any Clean Teen Publishing eBook, and a $15 Amazon gift card.
Giveaway is International.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Huge shout out to the author and the team at Juniper Grove Book Solutions for allowing me to participate. Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time, Happy Reading!
-Ethan
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