Ambulatory Cadavers Audiobook

Super excited to release the audio version of Ambulatory Cadavers! It's out now! Available on Audible and soon on amazon and itunes! And! I have promo codes! The first five people to leave a comment on this page will get a free code to download the new audiobook, which has been narrated by the wonderful Melika Jeddi. Plus, a download code for M Lauryl Lewis's zombie apocalypse book, Rotten (see previous post for more info). That's two free zombie audiobooks! Just comment below to win :) A refresher: Two cousins. One on the verge of a great discovery... and excessive power, wealth, and infamy, the other on the verge of an odious marriage. Lyra will stop at nothing to achieve her father’s dream of dissolving Parliament into anatomical sludge, and to search out the farthest reaches of science and the arcane arts. That is until her own dreams begin to awaken, jolted by the electric sparkle of an artist’s eyes. Lacking a strong constitution, Alice can only run from her problems, that is, until she collides into the company of a strange young man of questionable occupation and discovers her cousin’s terrible plans. The dead are about to rise, the Lords are about to fall, and things are about to get creamy. High society will never be the same again. Amazon ebook link: http://amzn.to/2w4YNMo Audible link: https://www.audible.com/pd/Ambulatory-Cadavers-Audiobook/B081RH9KQ3 And here's a little about the narrator:  Melika Jeddi is a professional audiobook narrator and aspiring author. She especially loves narrating books with a cast of colourful characters, as she enjoys coming up with the various voices. Obsessed with all things nerdy, she dreams of one day publishing her own fantasy trilogy, but in the mean time she thoroughly enjoys reading other people’s books, with a particular interest in graphic novels. In her free time, Melika runs her own small online business selling custom book packages, as well as a bespoke crochet service. www.mymarvellousbooks.com https://www.facebook.com/MyMar... https://www.facebook.com/MyMar...

Rotten by M. Lauryl Lewis. Audiobook release

As my own audiobook for Ambulatory Cadavers releases, I wanted to share more zombie audiobooks! This is a new audiobook release by fellow Zombie Author, M. Lauryl Lewis.

ROTTEN: Book One - Infection

The undead. The reanimated. Monsters that walk the earth once Hell is full. Zombies. Call them what you want. No one was prepared for the end of the world to bring the impossible; the dead were never actually supposed to rise. War, plague, natural disaster maybe - but the dead rising to eat the living? That was never supposed to become reality.

It began with sniffles, coughs, and fever. Once sick, the end came soon, but so did the beginning. Just as quickly as the sick begin to fall, so does Poppy’s world. As she loses everything she holds dear, she faces her new world head-on. Accompanied by strangers, she tries to make her way to safety, soon to realize that safety no longer exists.

ROTTEN takes place in the same universe as the Grace Series. Get ready to follow Poppy and Ellis as they cross paths with a few names you might recognize. While the two series will eventually merge, you do not need to read one to follow the other.

written by M. Lauryl Lewis, narrated by Tabitha Wood


E-book: http://bit.ly/RottenBookOne

On Audible: http://bit.ly/RottenOneAudio

About the Author: M. Lauryl Lewis lives in the foothills of the Cascade mountain range with her husband, three sons, five dogs, and three cats. She loves cooking, gardening, reading, and can be found riding her motorcycle on sunny days. Formerly a registered nurse, she retired in 2013 to focus on writing. She’s an advocate for pet safety and childhood cancer awareness. M. Lauryl has been a fan of the horror genre since she was very young. The living dead are by far her favorite creatures from the depths of hell.


Website: http://zombieauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLaurylLewis/

Blog: http://zombieauthor.com/riding-purple

Twitter: @MLaurylLewis

Amazon Author Page: http://bit.ly/AuthorMLaurylLewis




About the narrator: Tabitha Wood (AKA Tamara Bracht) lives on a hobby farm in rural Minnesota where she and her husband raise and butcher their own chickens and pigs. In her spare time, you can find her gardening, reading, doing arts and crafts, and hanging out with the family pets that consist of 2 Great Danes, 1 Yorkie, 4 cats, and 1 snake named Ernie. She is an avid reader and absolutely enjoys narrating books. She has been married to her husband for ten years, has 2 boys ages 21 & 23. She has a heart for and is a strong advocate of, people who are differently abled.


Narrator website:
https://tabithawood.com/


Find her on Facebook @tabithawoodnarrator

Giveaway (Because you deserve it)

Find some cool authors and their newsletters and you could win 100 dollars on amazon.
I know what I would do with that (either old movies or fabric...hard to decide, actually).
Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Unity Book Tour, Author Interview Exchange

As part of the UNITY BOOK TOUR, bringing three publishers and their authors together from around the world, we have this fun author interview exchange! I get to interview an author from another publisher and that author interviews me! So, I'd like to introduce you to Jacob Devlin! A fellow myth and fairytale fan, it seems! He's with Blaze Publishing, which is based in the U.S.

He's going to tell us a bit about himself and if you want a chance to win a copy of his book, just leave a comment here.

And be sure to head over to Jacob’s blog where I'm being interviewed! authorjakedevlin.com/blog

Author Jacob Devlin

So hi. What’s your name and what do you write?

Hi! My name is Jacob Devlin. I write YA/upper MG fantasy books, usually with some sort of fairy tale or mythical twist involved.

When did you start writing and why?

I've enjoyed writing ever since I was little, but I got serious about it in grad school and wrote as a creative outlet for some of the emotions I was feeling when I lost a friend to brain cancer. What I found was that I was so "in my element" writing novels that I didn't want to stop, ever. The body and soul just required it.

What were the biggest challenges about becoming a published author?

To quote Captain America . . . patience! Querying, and the wait time that followed, was so ridonculously demoralizing. I was prepared for rejection. The real torture was waiting for the rejection letters that didn't even come. Sometimes I'd be holding out hope for a particular agent, a few months would go by, and I'd be like, "just tell me it's hot juicy garbage so I can move on already!" But the reality is that they don't have time to write rejections for everybody. So you have to learn to identify that moment where it's time to boot up and move on.

Shout out your publisher and tell us how they helped you on your creative journey.

Blaze Publishing has been great working with me through my first trilogy. They've forced my characters to grow, and strangely, I've felt myself growing with them.

Where can we find out more about them? 

I'd check out their website (blazepub.com)!

What are you working on right now?

I'm between drafts of THE HUMMINGBIRD, the final book of my fairy tale fantasy trilogy. While I wait for revisions, I'm working on a totally separate project involving a dragon, a reality TV adventurist, and a train wreck!

Who is your most favourite character you’ve written and why do they speak to you so much?

While it's always incredibly hard to answer this question, I'm always going to have a huge soft spot for Pietro, the Peter Pan of my story. The trilogy takes some dark turns, but Pietro brings the charm and comic relief. He's also fiercely loyal to his loved ones and is exactly the kind of friend you'd want beside you for a road trip or war against an evil queen!

Do world events and politics influence your writing?

Up to this point, I've opted to leave a lot of today's politics out, because don't we need an escape sometimes? That's not to say I'll never draw from the political environment or current events, but I choose to leave that separate right now.

How important are places you have visited and where you live to your writing?

I have the travel bug, and my characters do too! I loved writing about an actual Renaissance Faire I went to in Maryland, where I discovered fried mac-and-cheese on a stick, and Renaissance jail! I love working different places into my writing.

Share with us your favourite line from your most recent release.

There's a simple piece of dialogue directed at Prince Liam: "The white knight has a shadow after all." His series arc is pretty turbulent and this is where his demons start kicking in.

Tell us five things that you love in life.

1. Breakfast for dinner! Especially Apple Jacks.

2. Comfortable shoes.

3. Movie theaters.

4. Traveling! Sightseeing, eating local food, exploring.

5. Music.

Tell us five things that you hate in life.

1. Those fake-out voicemail greetings. (Hello? What? Yeah? PSYCH LEAVE A MESSAGE LOL HA) STOP. IT!

2. Scorpions. Hell's rejects.

3. Losing at Scattergories.

4. Cancer.

5. Jerkish, entitled behavior.

What book started your love of reading?

I can't remember NOT having a love of reading. I was really into the Bailey School Kids in my elementary school days! A Wrinkle In Time and Harry Potter followed closely after that.

Tell us about your most recent release.

It's part of a series in which your favorite fairy tale characters and their families come together to fight off an evil queen and face their demons along the way! In the most recent installment, the main characters have to fight their way out of Wonderland. Along the way they're meeting the Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Hearts, all with their own new twists!

Where can we buy it?

You can order it through your local Barnes and Noble, Blaze Publishing's website, or Amazon!

Where can we find you on social media?

Twitter/IG: @jacob_devlin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjakedevlin/

A Giveaway! With zombies!

   I am giving away three copies of my horrifying (and delightful) Ambulatory Cadavers, a Regency Zombie Novel. So get ready to sink your teeth into a brain! I mean a book. Figuratively, I hope. Since tooth marks would not be very attractive on a book cover and saliva has sanitation issues.
   This was such a fun book to write. All of the characters are my favorite characters, they just appeared to me on the page so real and often ridiculous. It's got it all: science (?!), Balls, art, zombies, gore, and even some romance. I could copy and paste the blurb here, but I'm too lazy, so I'll just state briefly that there are two cousins. One timid, one bold. One evil scientist, one reluctant fiancee. Oh, and a spy, and an artist and then a zombie with character, named Test.
   Reviewers say that it is a literary romp!
   So enter for a chance to win, I'll be signing the copies and probably slipping a little something extra into the packages (just some original art cards 😉). Did I mention I painted the image on the book cover?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Ambulatory Cadavers

by McCallum J. Morgan

Giveaway ends May 12, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

A Hole in the Sea Release Day Anniversary!

   A year ago today!
   The winners of the giveaway are listed on the rafflecopter widget in the last post. Congratulations!!! I'll be emailing you later today. If you still haven't read A Hole in the Ice, you can get it here! And if you didn't win, you can get A Hole in the Sea here.
   Here is the blurb I wrote for it:
   Parsifal and Balder are trapped on the arctic ice after Lady Vasille and Lord Keazund vanish into the Sea. The magical Compass shows Parsifal dire warnings of storm and mermaid. Unable to resist the hole in the ice, the two friends find themselves cast adrift on an otherworldly Sea. A Sea filled with myth and dangerous monsters. Guided by Dioktes, a strange old man of doubtful motives, they come to the Port, a floating city of wreckage ruled by a desperate rabble. Lady Vasille has designs upon the Port and upon all of the Sea. If Parsifal isn’t careful, he and his friends will be caught up in her schemes once more. But it’s hard to be careful when you’re trying to survive.

   I wanted to share some special material here, but all I found was the full lyrics for Fou's Lullaby, which you can download for free! The song as recorded only uses two of the three verses I wrote (although the original, as it appears in the book, only has one verse). Here they are:

“My dreams, my dreams die, oh,

Their glory, bright, dies slow,

As the winter winds blow,

They are covered o’er with snow.

I miss them, miss them so,

Chasing them, I will row,

My boat down river’s flow,

I’ll never see them again, I know.

Oh, my love’s gone, I’ll never taste wine.

Yes, my love’s gone, I’ll never hear song.

Oh, my dream’s gone, to love now is wrong.

My dream’s gone, where art thou, love of mine?

For dreams, for dreams, I sigh,

To take me now, to fly,

Where sorrows draw not nigh,

Sadness cannot climb so high.

I whisper, whisper ‘why?’

So fleet, they flicker by,

No matter how I try,

They slip away and won’t say, goodbye.

Oh, my love’s gone, I’ll never taste wine.

Yes, my love’s gone, I’ll never hear song.

Oh, my dream’s gone, to love now is wrong.

My dream’s gone, where art thou, love of mine?

Flowers newly blossom,

When Spring time sweetly comes,

A new dream softly hums,

And in my breast, heartstrings strum.

Whatever they may say,

I know that they won’t stay,

When autumn has its sway,

They will fade away, away, away.”

   The song available for download was written (with my lyrics) and produced by Matthew McLin and performed by Skye Palmer.

Weather Casters Compass Rose--Watercolor and acrylic

Davy Jones--Oil

Tan Noz--Oil

   And some other additional items of interest:
   A guest post from last year, shortly before A Hole in the Sea was released: On Clara Gillow Clark's Blog!
   And a guest post from two years ago: A post about myth on Page Burner!
   I figure it's related material that my newer followers probably aren't acquainted with.

   And thank you everyone who entered for humoring me with you great answers of why you like fiction. I was going to to an additional prize for my favorite, but I couldn't pick one.
   So instead, just comment on this post to win a signed copy of A Hole in the Ice! (I'll put your names in my top hat and pull one out). Open until Monday (Jan 30th) (US only, please).

A Hole in the Sea Book Birthday Celebration

   To celebrate the first book birthday of A Hole in the Sea, I am going to give away three signed paperbacks of A Hole in the Sea. I'm also going to slip a small original painting into each copy! I created these three (wildly contradictory) depictions of the monstress, Wilma Jones, using watercolor and pen. She's one of my favorite (somewhat minor, but important) characters.

   I used rafflecopter to do this because it's so handy and picks a winner for me, but I don't really care for the entry options. So I tried to get around that by making the main way to enter into a simple question: Why do you like fiction? You can be as brief as you like in answering the question: even just type one letter. It's the option that gives you the most entries and you can follow me on facebook and twitter, if you like, for a couple extra entries ;)  Hopefully it works.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

   The winners will be selected and announced next Saturday, the 28th, the day A Hole in the Sea was officially released!
   It was my second book, sequel to my debut A Hole in the Ice, and I feel like my writing grew a lot in the process of writing and editing it. I also feel like Parsifal's journey was much more defined, it's the next step in his development and it was exciting to watch him grow (these characters are very real to me and writing each new book is like relaxing into them and letting them tell the story).
   I also got to explore my mythical Sea and create some of my favorite characters: the mad woman, Fou, the mysterious power hungry old mariner, Dioktes, and the monstress Wilma Jones, as well as Davy Jones and Captain Caspar.

Captain Caspar

Davy Jones

 











We also get another look at the mermaids and we meet the Weather Casters!

Weather Caster

Mermaid

 

















Here is  the official blurb for the book:
   As the chase continues into the extraordinary seascape of a mysterious ocean, where sea monsters reign, deadly mermaids hunt, and pirates skulk, Parsifal learns that staying alive on the high seas is no easy task; especially when being hunted down by the vengeful and determined Lady Vasille. 
   As beautiful, deadly, and driven as ever, Lady Vasille will stop at nothing to retrieve the compass and the power it contains. 
   In this fantastically wrought, nautical fantasy adventure, McCallum J. Morgan transports the reader into a truly magical realm. 
And here is my Amazon Author Page where you can find all of my books! And book one is still ¢99 on Kindle if you haven't taken the first leg of the journey.
   Thank you all and good luck!

My oil painting of the Scylla

Book cover by Little Bird

The #OctoberFrights Giveaways!

Better make sure you've entered these ;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, there is a giveaway here, where all you have to do to enter is comment!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Last Day

   So...we arrive at the end. Every end is a new beginning, no?
   I want to thank everyone who stopped by my posts, read them, commented, entered giveaways, shared, etc! Merci beaucoup.
   I've really enjoyed this blog hop but the horrifying, dribbling, and chilling terror of October is only half over! On Halloween my horror-comedy will be unleashed and I will be signing books and handing out candy in my local bookshop. I will be sure to blog about that, and hopefully I'll get some more sneak peeks and bonus content posts in before then! So stay tuned. In the meantime, you can pre-order the ebook of Ambulatory Cadavers.

    And be sure to check out the blog list at the bottom of this post and follow, follow, follow! There are some great blogs and scary-good authors.

   Today I just have a little film review and giveaway. I love old horror movies (70s or 60s and on back to the genesis of film). I got started on them because of Christopher Lee and his portrayal of Dracula, and then I got hooked on Hammer and so on...then I found Metropolis and fell in love with silent films.

   WHITE ZOMBIE (1932)
   Directed by: Victor Halperin
   Starring: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Joseph Cawthorne
 
   This film is the original zombie movie, the introduction of the Haitian tradition to America. Now, the first zombie movie of the modern style, with the whole apocalypse thing is Romero's Night of the Living Dead. White Zombie is much more stylish. It was filmed over the course of eleven days on a tiny budget on leftover sets from Dracula and Frankenstein. I think Bela's performance as Murder Legendre is almost better than his Dracula.
   The zombies are slow and silent, undead slaves. I think they're great.
   The story begins with a young couple arriving in Haiti to get married at the home of their benefactor, M. Beaumont. The first scene is a burial in the middle of the road, 'where people pass all the time,' to discourage grave robbers.
   M. Beaumont wants Madeline for himself and hires Murder Legendre to use his powers to steal her. Murder gives him a mysterious powder. You can guess where it will go from there.
   The plot is fairly simple, but gorgeous photographed, with a few wild but clumsy fade effects and great acting by Bela and the adorable Madge Bellamy. The sets are gorgeous, with a spectacular castle that is obviously a painting (I LOVE painted backdrops), but somehow incorporates moving surf crashing on the shore. The music is a little average, except in two spots, the chanting at the beginning and a weird hummed number that gives an amazing mood to the scene where the drugged Madeline goes to the gothic balcony and heatstroke-suffering Neil senses er form the camp on the beach.
   All in all it captured my imagination and I give it 5 of 5 stars!

   Now the GIVEAWAY! Just comment with your favorite horror movie or old movie recommendation and you'll be entered to win a blu-ray copy of White Zombie!
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Ambulatory Cadavers Art and Giveaway!

   The October Frights Blog Hop continues!
   Today we have art and a giveaway!
   I had a post on here about the drive to write and how it's like being a host for some alien intelligence that compels you to write (here it is, if you want to check it out). Writing isn't the only thing I'm a host for. I have an alien compulsion to draw, too. Often it seems to be another facet of the writing compulsion: I have to draw what I write. I like to be able to see my characters and how they dress, since I usually write stories set in another time period, and with Ambulatory Cadavers I had to see them especially clearly, because they would appear on my book cover.
   I've always loved the Regency period. I studied fashion plates and illustrations of the clothing of that period before designing the cover. It had to be authentic.
   Test was of course the most important character to design, being the zombie representative of the book. I think I was sketching ideas in April 2015 when I was writing the first draft. I wanted something decayed but cartoonish, like Plants vs. Zombies. But also somewhat classy and dignified. I think I found the right balance.

Katie M John is the wizard who framed my painting. Wonderful isn't it? And drippy. She is wearing a matching velvet bonnet and spencer: the short jacket popular during the Regency era.

Oil portrait of Test

   The compulsion never ends: I started out testing my new ink dip pens and before I knew it, I had the whole cast of Ambulatory Cadavers. These were really fun to paint: fast and furious.

Asa Crimpton--Artist and Medium. As a professional artist, it is perfectly acceptable for him to view naked women.

Charles von Hopenheim--Not much up in the skull, but lots in the heart, although most of it is futilely directed at his cousin, Lyra.

Creamey--A strange young man of questionable occupation. Is his nose broken or does it have naturally graceful curvature?

Lyra von Hopenheim--Avid scientist and social rebel. Sometimes a coup d'etat is the only answer.

Test--He's really very handsome actually...in a way. But he will eat your hydrangeas. They make a lovely garnish for brains.

Alice Crawft--Lyra's cousin. Doomed to an odious marriage. She enjoys edifying poetry, painting, and the pianoforte.

   If you like these ink dip pen and watercolor portraits, you're in luck, because I'm giving away a set of 5x7 prints! That's six altogether: Alice, Test, Lyra, Creamey, Charles, and Asa. Also, I'm giving away a print of the painting that was used in the book's cover.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, here is a preorder link for Ambulatory Cadavers

An InLinkz Link-up

"A Hole in the Sea" Cover Reveal

It is with great pleasure that I present to you the cover of my second book, the sequel to A Hole in the Ice and book two of The Weather Caster Saga. The team at Little Bird Publishing House have created a gorgeous cover that really captures the essence of the book and I hope you like it as much as I do.

The story takes up where A Hole in the Ice left us, on the arctic ice. The danger of the mermaids is not over. Parsifal and Balder are lured into the hole in the ice and into the Sea…that mythical body of water where ships go when they’re lost at sea, where sea monsters surge up from the deep to destroy, where the mermaids live, and where Lady Vasille hopes to conquer. But she’ll need The Compass. Parsifal and Balder meet Dioktes, a secretive old man who desires power for himself, and Fou, a bedraggled woman who has lost her mind somewhere in the Port. The Port, let’s not forget that, the floating city constructed of old flotsam and wreckage, prowled by small gangsters by day and hideous monsters by night.

Parsifal must fight—to keep The Compass safe—to save Balder—to survive. Who’s on his side?

I’ve done a couple of oil paintings of things in the book. Here I have Davy Jones, the sea monster. He used to be a Weather Caster, like Vassilissa, but he was transformed as a punishment for rebellion. He used to be called Dèvid.

And here is Dioktes’ vessel, the small boat/ship that somewhat resembles the Mediterranean xebecs. She is called the Scylla.

And now for the fun stuff!

I’m giving away two signed paperbacks of A Hole in the Ice, two ebooks of A Hole in the Ice, and two of my custom A Hole in the Sea charms that feature my four-clawed crab drawing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And you can preorder A Hole in the Sea on amazon

And reviewers...if you want an advance review copy of one or both of these books, just ask in the comments below ;)