Blog Tour Stop & Giveaway: Guest Post by Vivi Barnes, Author of Olivia Twisted

Welcome to the last stop, my stop, on the Olivia Twisted Blog Tour.  I am extremely excited to have Olivia Twisted author Vivi Barnes here today to do a guest post talking about the kids who live at Monroe street with Z and helping us all to get to know them a little better.  Read on also for details of the giveway (US Only) that has been organised by author and blog tour organisers as well as other bits and pieces to do with this awesome new release.

Now to hand the floor over the Ms Vivi Barnes as she tells about about the Kids of Monroe Street.

In OLIVIA TWISTED, Z and Sam begin “twisting” Liv to their way of life. She’s “unattached” (meaning no family ties) and computer-savvy, both of which makes her the perfect recruit for the gang of hackers living at Monroe Street.

Here’s an introduction to a few of the kids living and working at the Monroe Street Home for Boys and Girls, headed up by Nancy:

Z: One of the oldest kids at Monroe Street, he started up the “online division” when Nancy took him in years before. He’s always felt indebted to Nancy and the home for rescuing him from the path of trouble he was headed toward—fighting, creating malicious programs, etc. Which is interesting, because though Z is committing crime through online theft, he doesn’t see it as anything more than playing Robin Hood—robbing the rich to help the needy (the needy being the Monroe Street kids). He might come across as arrogant and cocky, but it’s a result of a hard life coupled with distrust of people in general. 

Sam: Sam is Z’s partner in crime and bubbly sidekick, though she doesn’t consider herself second to anyone. She doesn’t take much seriously—except for whatever concerns their grim boss, Bill Sykes. Sam’s motivations might not always be honest, but her easygoing, friendly personality makes it hard not to love her.

Jen: Jen is Z’s ex-girlfriend who still lives and works at Monroe Street. Talk about awkward. She hasn’t quite gotten over the guy who stole her heart then broke up with her, and when Z brings Liv to the house, she isn’t exactly receptive. When Bill reprimands Z for the mistakes Jen’s making on some accounts, Z believes she’s screwing up on purpose just to get him back.

Micah: Fun-loving and silly but incredibly talented, Micah is one of the brains of Monroe Street. He lives for a challenge and can create write programs to break through any system. He’s the type of person everyone automatically trusts. Just don’t leave your computer alone with him.

Cameron: He can get through almost any kind of locked door or window, not something used too often at Monroe Street though sometimes it comes in handy. Cameron is tall and built like a linebacker but very sensitive. He has a crush on Sam, but Sam unfortunately doesn’t reciprocate those feelings. She thinks he’s too paranoid about getting caught.

Title: OLIVIA TWISTED
Author: Vivi Barnes
Pub. Date: November 5, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Pages: 352
Find it: Amazon, Barnes& Noble, Goodreads
Olivia
He tilts my chin up so my eyes meet his, his thumb brushing lightly across my lips. I close my eyes. I know Z is trouble. I know that being with him is going to get me into trouble. I don’t care.
At least at this moment, I don’t care.
Tossed from foster home to foster home, Olivia’s seen a lot in her sixteen years. She’s hardened, sure, though mostly just wants to fly under the radar until graduation. But her natural ability with computers catches the eye of Z, a mysterious guy at her new school. Soon, Z has brought Liv into his team of hacker elite—break into a few bank accounts, and voila, he drives a motorcycle.
Follow his lead, and Olivia might even be able to escape from her oppressive foster parents. As Olivia and Z grow closer, though, so does the watchful eye of Bill Sykes, Z’s boss. And he’s got bigger plans for Liv…
Z
I can picture Liv’s face: wide-eyed, trusting. Her smooth lips that taste like strawberry Fanta.
It was just a kiss. That’s all. She’s just like any other girl.
Except that she’s not.
Thanks to Z, Olivia’s about to get twisted.

About Vivi:

Originally from East Texas (the accent comes out more often than not), Vivi now lives in the magic and sunshine of Orlando, FL with her very understanding husband and three kids. She’s an extrovert with awkward blogging tendencies. Her debut novel, OLIVIA TWISTED, comes out November 5, 2013 from Entangled Teen!

You can connect with Vivi on Facebook,Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest. Or visit the official Olivia Twisted site at www.oliviatwisted.com.

She’s represented by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Foreword Literary.

Website

OLIVIA TWISTED TRAILER

A huge thanks to Vivi Barnes for stopping by and giving us the scoop about the Kids at Monroe Street. And thanks also to Rockstar Book Tours for allowing me to be part of the tour! Now read on to see how you can win an awesome t-shirt

Giveaway Details:

Grand Prize: Signed copy of Olivia Twisted and an Olivia Twisted T-shirt US Only

Second and Third Prizes: 2 $10 iTunes Gift Cards US Only



a Rafflecopter giveaway





Tour Schedule:

Week One:

10/28/2013- Fiktshun- Guest Post

10/29/2013- Book Briefs- Review

10/30/2013- The Cover Contessa- Guest Post

10/31/2013- Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews- Review

11/1/2013- Happy Booker- Interview

Week Two:

11/4/2013- Larissa's World- Review

11/5/2013- Kindle and Me- Guest Post

11/6/2013- A Bookish Escape- Review

11/7/2013- Reading with ABC- Interview

11/8/2013- Realm of the Sapphired Dragon- Guest Post

Guest Post: Heather Frost, Author of Seers

Welcome to the next stop on the Seers Virtual Book Tour!

Today we welcome Seers author, Heather Frost who has kindly agreed to a guest post  and the topic:

Creating My Version of the Afterlife

While writing Seers, I got to explore some really fascinating questions and ideas. Figuring out how life after death worked, trying to gauge what horrible traits a Demon had to have in order to qualify for Demonhood, and exploring the motivations for choosing to become a Guardian rather than going on to heaven. Making the rules for immortality was also a fun challenge.

When I decided to write Seers, I knew I'd have a few challenges. But I think one of the bigger ones for me was suddenly becoming a judge. All of a sudden, I had to decide what sort of people would  ecome Demons for eternity. It was kind of daunting, especially because I firmly believe that people can change. And here I was, daring to condemn characters to a perpetual Demon existence. Honestly, I took the easy road on this one. For the most part, I leave it up to the reader's imagination. Demons are those who die with a “corrupt heart”. It's pretty open to personal interpretation, but I knew that I wanted to keep my readers from assuming all lawbreakers were instantly banished from heaven. Acts are important to judge, but the motivation behind the action is equally important to me. And so, I created Toni. He's a Guardian, but he's not really all that angelic. He committed a wide range of illicit acts while he was alive, but I chose to judge him by the intents of his heart. Toni is my line in the sand, s it were, outlining in my mind the major difference between Demons and everyone else.

So, if you died, what would you choose? A life in heaven where everything is perfect and everyone is happy—surrounded by friends and family forever? Or would you choose to return to Earth as an immortal Guardian, where you fight to protect humanity from Demons? In my mind, it's a no brainier—I'd pick family and heaven every time. But I needed characters who wouldn't choose that, and so I needed to figure out what reasons a person might have to turn down eternal happiness for a life of guarding. Since, for me, heaven's biggest draw was family, I felt pretty confident in my decision to make a lot of Guardians orphans. They're the toughened ones, for sure—the ones that learned to
survive just fine without family support. And when they eventually met their deaths, the decision
between joining their family or staying on earth, they picked what they knew; the most comforting fate, in a way. And there are people like Toni. Sure he was an orphan too, but he's got another reason to
choose Guardian life—He likes it here, and he honestly can't imagine being any happier in heaven. (And what thief wouldn't want to be able to go invisible?) Another reason a person might choose the Guardian life is pure selflessness. Some people truly just want to help someone else. And it's a good thing, too—if we didn't have such kind souls on the earth, we wouldn't have as many Guardians to watch over us. Obviously there are many other reasons people chose this life, but at least these motivations gave me something to work with. Another thing I had to figure out was what happened to children who die. There are several different ways I could have handled this, but in the end, I went with the only thing that felt right. Children go straight to heaven, without ever facing the choice. They don't need to choose, because they haven't experienced enough life to want anything other than heaven.

Immortality is a fascinating subject in its own right, and it's been dealt with in so many different ways by so many different authors. My immortal characters have many of the same struggles and perks generally associated with eternal life, but there's something that makes them a bit different. Because in the world of “Seers”, Guardians and Demons maintain the same maturity level forever. This makes it a
lot easier for me to believe the falling in love with a mortal idea, and also just why most Guardians remain happy with their choice to return to earth after death, even if it's a forever kind of deal. It may also help us understand why Demons have an especially hard time being nice.

I had a lot of fun figuring out these intricacies, and the more I explore these ideas for the rest of
the trilogy, the more excited I get. The possibilities really are infinite. 

For more info on Seers, check out http://seersthebook.com, and for more info on author Heather Frost go to : http://www.heatherfrost.com/

To get your hands on your own copy : 

or The Book Depository

Check back later this week for my review and lastly thank you to Heather Frost and Cedar Fort Books for allowing me to participate in this awesome blog tour :)

SapphiredDragon xx

Aussie August - Guest Post from Kim Falconer

 Welcome to Day 19 of Aussie August.  Hope you are enjoying the different authors and books that have been featured so far.

Today we welcome Kim Falconer, author of the Quantum Enchantment series: The spell of Rosette, Arrows of Time and Strange Attractors  and the Quantum Encryption series: Path of the Stray, Road to the Soul and Journey by Night.

Kim has kindly offered to guest post on a pet subject of hers: World building and creating new life.  I hope you enjoy and don't forget to comment and let Kim know what you think.

Creating Souls from Scratch

The inspiration for Road to the Soul came to me three years ago. It was like a match strike, lit by my publisher Stephanie Smith from HarperCollins Voyager wasn’t looking for ideas at the time or even thinking new characters. Far from it!



Stephanie and I were going over the ‘proof reader queries’ for my first novel, The Spell of Rosette. It’s a gruelling process of discussing the copyedit questions like ‘do you want this to be a pub or a tavern . . . a cobblestone road or a cobblestone drive . . .’ ‘Rosette’ was nearly ready to print, save for these scribbles and marks still waiting in the margins. We got to page 131, a moment in the story where Rosette stops to collect herself after a panic attack. She sits under a jade statue of a Were-fey, a winged serpent-like creature leaping out of an ‘angry’ sea.

Steph asked, ‘Kim, why is the sea angry?’
I said, ‘Because it surrounds the Southern Continent which is . . .’ I had to think. ‘In trouble . . .’

‘Really?’ Steph was interested. ‘What kind of trouble?’
‘Big,’ I said to HarperCollins Voyager’s Associate
Publisher. ‘Big, big trouble.’ I couldn’t elaborate. It was all I
had.

‘I see . . . will it appear in future books? This Southern
Continent?’ she wanted to know.
Pause for match strike. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It will!’

And that was it. The story of the lost Southern Continent and a
magical Were-fey named Quillian had begun.

In the end, the Were-fey statue at Treeon Temple wasn’t
depicted in a roiling sea, but the story had gotten a foothold

and there was no stopping it. The deeper answer to the question—‘Why is the sea angry?’—is now answered in the Road to the Soul and one jade Were-fey has come to life in full
Technicolor.

Were-fey are amazing creatures and like most of my ideas, they began with a grain of truth. I wanted to portray a sentient, non-human being with a sharp mind, agile body and Shakespearian wit. This Were-fey had to be adept in four elements--land, sea, air, and time. He had to be special too, so I made him the last of his kind.
I also wanted him to have a very good memory so I reached pretty far back in the evolution

of life for his DNA. In the swamps of primordial Earth, I
found Archaeopterx, the Greek name for ‘ancient wing’
and the perfect reference for the Were-fey. This first ‘bird’
was a sharp toothed, claw-winged, feathered dinosaur
that lived in the late Jurassic period, 150 million years
ago.
With this image I mixed in the Bird of Paradise for a
brilliant plumage and the Loon for underwater grace and
fishy appetite. Thus was born Quillian, a perpetually
hungry, telepathic, highly vocal risk taker, bonded to the
young apprentice Tryn and the pivot on which Road to the Soul
turns.

I had a very clear picture of Quillian in my mind but it wasn’t until my cover artist, Aaron Briggs, interpreted the depictions that I trusted readers would see him vividly as well. I hope they continue to engage with this character
as book two in Quantum Encryption unfolds its epic journey.
Much speculative fiction is full of ‘made-up’ creatures and environments from Tanith Lee’s Silver, Glenda Larke’s myriapedes, Karen Miller’s Vampire Butterflies and Mary Victoria’s World Tree. It’s one of the things I love most about this genre. What are some of your favourite ‘made up’ beings? What makes them so believable? I would love to hear about it.

Comments welcome.

Images

Road to the Soul by Kim Falconer. Cover illustration by my son, Aaron Briggs
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/Road-Soul-Quantum-Encryption-Bk-2-Kim-
Falconer/?isbn=9780732291402
Quillian protecting Tryn from a rogue Lupin, Path of the Stray (illustration by Aaron Briggs)
http://www.kimfalconer.com/aaronbriggs_coverart.html
Archaeopterx the ‘first bird’—a dino with feathers. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/
Loons and cormorants dive down to 45 metres! http://bwfov.typepad.com/
birders_world_field_of_vi/2007/07/underwater-loon.html
The beautiful Bird of Paradise by Tim Laman http://www.arkive.org/red-bird-of-paradise/
paradisaea-rubra/image-G72949.html

Don't forget there is still time to win a complete set of the Quantum Encryption series. Check out the give away here and find out what's been happening and what is still to come in Aussie August by checking the Aussie August Schedule of Events