The Apocalypse Gene Tour & Giveaway

Authors Suki Michelle & Carlyle Clark are currently touring with Bewitching Book Tours to promote their newest release, The Apocalypse Gene.  

Giveaway details at end of post.

Global pandemic is raging.

Olivya Wright-Ono's once loving home has been converted to a hospice for the dying. Her ability to see auras forces her to witness, with agonizing detail, the vibrant colors of life consumed by malignancy.

The beautiful and troubled, Mikah, is an elite Empath in the ancient Kindred clan, led by the brooding, ever-morphing, monster named Prime. Mikah has learned a terrible truth . . . the plague is linked to Kindred origins. When Olivya sees evidence of disease creeping into her mother's aura, she has no one to turn to but Mikah. Can he unearth the Kindred secrets and find a cure?

Can she trust this boy whose power allows him to manipulate her very emotions? With her mother's life, and that of the world, in the balance, Olivya and Mikah embark on a quest to stop the Pandemic, only to discover it is far, far more than a mere disease . . .

Links:

Goodreads         Amazon             Smashwords 

Amazon Kindle

Excerpt:

Hot with fury, Mikah slammed the wall with his fist, hardly noticing the pain of torn knuckles. They'd heal in minutes anyway. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. He strode across the room and shoved the computer monitor to the floor, swept his arm across the shelves, scattered artifacts, books, graphic novels, puzzles. Prime. That cold hearted ghoul. That monster and his freakin' songbirds.

            "Damn you, Prime," Mikah said out loud, glaring at the ceiling. "Damn you to hell."

            It was almost funny, wasn’t it? Cursing a demon to hell? He wanted to wrap his fingers around Prime's stalk-like neck – if it hadn't already morphed into some other nauseating configuration – and choke the life out of that lumbering nightmare.

            Prime's shuffling footsteps above stopped. The birds went silent. Mikah froze. Not two minutes ago, Changarai had reminded him that Prime can hear his thoughts. Had Prime heard Mikah speak his name? Felt the disgust in his words?

            Mikah licked his lips. Prime was listening. He just knew it. A minute crept by. The ceiling didn't creak. Mikah was sure that Prime could sense waves of loathing coming from below. He was up there probing Mikah's mind, tasting his hatred.

            Okay. Stay calm. Rein it in. Control yourself. Mikah sat on his bed and began to recite the litany he'd learned as a child, the names of Prime and his five Storied Siblings. Maybe Prime would think it was a fluke, that he'd heard Mikah say his name as part of a memorized lesson. Maybe he'd think Mikah was showing diligence to his studies.

            "Prime," Mikah said, loud enough to be heard. "Tiamat Draconus, Kali Medusa, Scylla Kraken, Phoenix Roc, Sphinx." Breathe. Breathe. He began again at the beginning, "Prime, Phoenix Roc, Tiamat Draconus, Kali Medusa, Scylla Kraken, Sphinx."

            He looked up at the ceiling, said it again, even louder. "Prime, Phoenix Roc, Tiamat Draconus, Kali Medusa, Scylla Kraken, Sphinx."

            After the sixth time through, Prime's footsteps began again. Scrape. Clunk. Scrape.

Clunk. Scrape. Clunk. Different than the shuffling gait from before. Had Prime morphed again? Maybe he hadn't heard Mikah say his name at all, but stopped walking as his body jerked and twisted with yet another change. And what was making that clunking sound? Had one of Prime's legs suddenly become heavy, the other weak?

            Mikah paced the room, glancing at the ceiling with every turn. Adrenaline pumped through his bloodstream. At last, the elevator doors squeaked open, and the monster began his descent to his sub-cellar lair. The freight elevator creaked and shuddered. When it reached the level of Mikah's room, waves of psionic power rolled from behind the walls, jagged and hot. Prime's laughter.

            Mikah held his breath, gripped the edge of his desk, shut his eyes as the elevator passed.

Olivya . . . soon.

 

About the Authors:

Suki Michelle is a life-long Chicagoan, happily divorced and still good friends with her Ex. She lives and writes with her soul-mate, Carlyle Clark. She has one beautiful daughter, Bree, who is the first reader and critic of The Apocalypse Gene, and without her input, it wouldn't be nearly as cool! Suki's other children are of the four-legged type, Dahlia, the German shepherd; Kilala the lazy calico chub-cat; and Koney, the tortoise-shell demon cat from the Seventh Ring. 

Carlyle is a burly dude from San Diego. He can look menacing at a glance, but as soon as he opens his mouth, pure intellectual. They are eternally grateful for the day they met at an on-line writer's workshop. They've been together for four years. On the outside. Suki and Carlyle are totally disparate. On the inside, they are the REAL Neo-Twins. You'll have to read The Apocalypse Gene to find out who the Neo-Twins are, but here's a hint: They are twisted devils with mirror-melded auras. 

As writers, Suki and Carlyle have complementary skill sets. Lyle is plot master and edgy dialoguer. He is a huge fan of Japanese anime, and he draws upon this to choreograph fight scenes. Suki enjoys painting a character's emotional landscape and writing vivid descriptions. They both have wild imagination.

Suki and Carlyle treasure every opportunity to share their work. 

Twitter:  @Suki_Michelle

Website:  http://www.TheApocalypseGene.com

Blog:  http://www.TheApocalypseGene.com/cy-chi

Facebook FanPage:  http://www.facebook.com/TheApocalypseGene

Giveaway: One lucky reader will win an ebook copy of The Apocalypse Gene.  

1) Open internationally.

2) Contests ends at 11:59 p.m. 08 February 2012. 

3) Leave a comment with your email address in order to be entered. 

Guest Post: Exposing Children to a Variety of Literature Genres

 

Growing Readers - Exposing Your Children to a Variety of Literature Genres

by Rivka Kawano

As adults who would consider ourselves “readers” we love to consume books like sweets. And of course who wants to eat just ice-cream all day when there is cake, chocolate, truffles, fudge, cookies, and more! While we all have our favorites - variety is the spice of life as they say.

So how do we teach our children to love all different kinds of books? If we want them to love reading more than one genre of literature as adults, we can set the stage by reading books with many different styles now.

Story Books

Want them to love the next great novel? Then make sure you read books that are not just strings of words such as many children’s books devoted to things like shapes or colors. Find true stories that include drama, tension, and resolution such as “The Little White Owl” by Tracey Corderouy.

Poetry

Stories are great, but children can begin to appreciate great poetry at a young age too. Try reading some of the classic to your infant. Babies will love hearing the rhythm and cadence of your voice as you read. As they get older introduce children’s poetry books complete with illustrations.

Picture Books

Aren’t all kids books picture books? Well, yes, and no. I am talking about books that are only pictures. David Weisner has drawn some great ones. These allow you and your child to tell your own stories, and really develop different ideas.

Different Styles

Take a minute to flip through a few books and choose lots of different kinds for your kids. Mystery, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, you can find a corollary to just about every genre in some kids book or another. Can you recognize the early patterns of your favorite? Share it with your child - and help them learn the literary terms in the process.

Read Aloud

Children’s books are great - but definitely don’t stop there! Children are never too young to start hearing books from all different “reading levels.” My boys are 4, 3, and almost 2, and have been loving listening to “The Hobbit” at night when they are going to sleep. Granted, we started with “Moby Dick” and that was just too much for them, which brings us to the next point.

Follow Their Lead

Never, ever, shove books down your kids ears so to speak. If they are not ready for that book yet, try something else. If it is too scary, try something else. If they are bored, or don’t want to read any more that day, or are wiggling and not listening, try something else. If they want to read a different book - let them! Your favorites might not be theirs and vice-versa. That is okay. Ideally, you will be able to find lots of books that you both enjoy. But remember, if you want them to love reading it has to be fun - for them! Make reading a wonderful time for snuggling and talking and learning together. Not just about the books, but about each other. Over time they will be interested in trying more new books. And someday they will be old enough to give you recommendations.

Author Information

Rivka Kawano is a mother and avid book reader who has read more books than she can count, and now loves sharing them with her three children too. You can read her children’s book reviews and ideas at www.BeautifulBooksforChildren.com. Visit her Facebook page to learn about live reading events and monthly book give-aways.

Young Adult Giveaway Hop

Young Adult Giveaway Hop

The Young Adult Giveaway Hop is hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer & Down

the Rabbit Hole.  As usual, the goal of these hops is to visit as many blogs as you can and discover new friends, new blogs, find new books to read (as if most of us need new books to add to our TBR piles, but who can fight those addictions, eh?), and generally just have fun scanning and reading through the book world.  I know I use these hops as an excuse to visit and comment and lurk.  Fun, fun, fun!!

Contest:  $10 Choice of book to the Book Depository.

Rules: 

1) Fill in the form HERE. 

2) Open internationally.

3) Contest runs from 27 January 2012 to 11:59 pm 31 January 2012.

Good luck everyone!

For more fun contests, check out the other sites here:

World Book NIght 2012

Sign Up to be a giver for World Book Night 2012!!

Book-loving volunteers are needed to fan out across America on April 23 to give 20 copies of a free book away to people in your community.  The idea is to give the books to light readers or non-readers in your community in order to encourage reading.  Run by World Book Night, they will send you a box of books for FREE, as long as you register by February 1st, 2012, and try to deliver it to your door or as close as possible to where you live.  You may have to pick up your box at certain designated locations, and this is dependant on where your live.  Details are available upon registration.

The idea again, is to promote literacy.  Some of the titles available are The Hunger Games, The Lovely Bones, Wintergirls, The Book Thief, plus many others. 

World Book Night was first held in the U.K. last year and was a 'smashing' success. While World Book Night is hoping to expand into other countries in the future, unfortunately it is only available to U.S. residents at the moment.  I am somewhat disappointed at this as I live in Canada, but I can assure you that the moment it comes to Canada, I will one of the first to sign up for such a great cause.

For more information and to register, go to http://www.us.worldbooknight.org.

Review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

The Future of Us

by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
Release Date: November 21st, 2011
2011 Razorbill
Hardcover Edition; 356 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-59514-491-1
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Source: Review Copy from Publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary
It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail,his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future. 

By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present.

My Thoughts
The Future of Us was an enjoyable read, if anything for the great trip down memory lane.  Although I was way past high school, even in 1996, I do remember the advent of the Internet in the workplace and the changes it brought to the job, and since I am a teacher I was thinking of the moments when the Internet was first introduced in school, and the impact it had on everyone, and the job.


I really thought the idea of this novel was fabulous.  The idea of two teenagers discovering Facebook in 1996 would have been crazy and catastrophic, and the authors could have had so much fun with the storyline.  But this is where is all stopped because as much as I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, the many references to pop culture grew old very quickly and I wanted to focus a lot more on the storyline.  The story was rather interesting at first as Josh and Emma discover they are looking at something from the future, and finally realize it's their future selves.  They both quickly learn that any action/reaction they have in the present will have repercussions in the future.  For Emma this is a good thing as she is not happy with her future and spends a large portion of her time trying to change her future, while Josh is quite clearly happy with his and gets angry at Emma for changing everything.  I have to tell you, the constant focusing on their own futures rather got on my nerves.  Or maybe it's because I am too nosy as I know for a fact I would have spent a considerable amount of time looking up as many people as I knew in order to discover their futures.  There was mention of this fellow student who promised to commit suicide if he wasn't a millionaire by age 30, and did they look him up?  What is wrong with these two people???  What about lottery numbers, for heaven's sake!!!  Or mutual funds and stock market numbers?  Gosh, the possibilities are endless.


I enjoyed Josh as a character far more than I enjoyed Emma.  To be honest, as the book progressed, I grew more annoyed with Emma and didn't really care for her a whole lot by the end.  I actually found her to be somewhat shallow and selfish as a person, someone who cared more about appearances than true character, having boyfriends because of the way their hair looked.  One of her decisions to dump a guy was based on the fact he shaved his head, and she mourned the loss of his hair.  The final straw for me was when Emma kissed Josh knowing the crush he had on her just to see how her future would change.  And then she got mad at him when he called her on it.  I was not overly impressed with her reaction.  I did however, like the interactions between Josh and Sydney and found Syd to be the more interesting character.  There just seemed to be a bit more depth to her and while there were hints at some previous hurts, nothing really materialized.


The writing style actually flowed quite smoothly considering it was a joint effort and I was surprised at that as the collaborative thing doesn't always work.  My main concern with the plot was the many interesting threads that were started, but then didn't go anywhere such as the one about Josh's brother, Sydney's relationship with Rick, Emma's sister Rachel, and so on.  These were far more interesting that the shallow behaviours exhibited by Emma in her quest to date Cody.  I just think if some of these more gritty threads had been developed, it would have been a different, more developed, deeper story.


Verdict
The Future of Us was interesting in that I got to go back and remember a few things about the 90s.  There were some compelling moments in this novel and definitely some concepts and ideas that could have been developed and written about in more depth and with detail.  The novel does carry a great message about choosing your own future, and being careful about the choices you make; only you can change your future so make the best of it.   While I had trouble identifying with the main characters as well as the plotline, it won't stop me from reading another book by either of these authors as I did like their writing styles.

Interview: Robert Radcliffe, author of 180 Degrees

Please welcome Robert Radcliffe, author of 180 Degrees, who took the time to answer questions with regards to his new non-fiction book, an inspiring autobiography of a once homeless kid addicted to drugs, turned sober, self-made millionaire by the age of 30.

To start off, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?  How did you become interested in writing this story?

I went from being a daily-using drug addict and occasional ‘big shot’ dealer to, eventually, a homeless junkie living on the streets. Today I am a completely sober, self-reliant, self-employed husband, father, and self-made millionaire. I wrote 180 Degrees because a friend convinced me it was my duty to tell my story; and by doing so could save a life. 

Can you tell us a little about your book? How difficult was this for you to write? 

It took a few years to write 180 Degrees and it wasn’t easy. However, I have realized after a long time that sharing my story is in fact a great way to share my lesson’s learned. For years I hadn’t even considered writing an autobiography and it wasn’t until an acquaintance of mine turned on the light bulb one day by reminding me that a book like this would not be for me, rather it would be to help the millions of people that are struggling with the nightmare of addiction.

What was your greatest challenge while writing this novel? 

With my wife, sons, and real estate career it was hard to find time to sit down and focus on writing. I got all my writing done early in the morning, sometimes even starting at 3AM.

What was the pivotal point in your life? And how did this change your life?

Many factors contributed to changing my life from being a drug addict to a successful business man. The trials, tribulations and consequences of addiction caused my life to spiral downward till I hit rock bottom. The moment I decided I actually wanted to change my life and get sober was the pivotal turning point.

As a teacher, I often see students who become addicted to drugs or alcohol.  What would you say to these students in order to motivate them to turn their life around? 

Read my story and you won’t want to experiment with drugs or alcohol.

Can you share with us any projects that you are currently working on or plans for the future? What can fans expect next from you?

My goal is to reach as many people as possible with my story, but I’m not sure what the future holds.

Favourite authors? Role models?

Some of my favorite authors include Rhonda Byrne, Napoleon Hill, Robert Kiyosaki, David Schwartz, Og Mandino, Anthony Robbins, Stephen R Covey, and Peter Lynch. You can check out my reading list here - http://www.the180blog.com/p/reading-list.html

If you could anything in your life over again, or do anything over again, would you? Or would that change the person you are now too much?

I wouldn’t change a thing about my life, it’s made me who I am today.

What do you like to do when you are not writing or selling real estate?

Meditate. Jog. Read. Surf. Check in with friends.

Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?
I hope you enjoy reading 180 Degrees! It is currently available on Kindle for only $3.99. Be sure to check out the 180 Degrees website (http://www.the180blog.com/), it includes behind the scenes views and helpful resources. 

Author Information

Robert abandoned the deadly path that drug abuse and drug dealing was leading him down. After considerable struggles, at the age of twenty-two (March 11, 1991) Robert was able to turn his life around "180 Degrees.” Robert soon realized that sobriety and hard work provided him inner peace and prosperity beyond his highest expectations, resulting in becoming a self-made millionaire by the age of thirty. Eternally grateful to everyone who helped him become and remain sober, Robert felt an
overwhelming duty to reach out to addicts like himself and hopes his story will inspire others battling addiction to find their own success.

Once achieving monetary abundance, Robert has been an active citizen and philanthropist. Deeply concerned for the well-being of young adults, Robert has been the speaker for drug and alcohol abuse classes at high schools, juvenile detention centers, recovery hospitals and rehabilitation centers. Also, he is a panel speaker and secretary at many twelve-step meetings.

In 1998, Robert was a Co-Founder of the Golf Tournament benefitting Habit for Humanity Charity at the Malibu Country Club. In 2000, 2001 and 2002 Robert sponsored the Charity Tennis Tournament benefitting Spinal Muscular Atrophy at the Riviera Country Club. And in 2003 and 2004 he co-sponsored the Tennis Tournament benefitting Chrysalis, which took place at The Riviera Country Club. 

Some of Robert's business accomplishments include real estate office manager, agent coach, and has been the key note speaker at over fifty company office meetings, participated in agent training videos, and he has been featured in print and on television. With over twenty years experience in real estate, he is considered one of the nation's leading agents.

Now, at the age of forty, Robert is a successful business man and loving family man residing in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two sons.

Take a look at this video: