Interview with Heidi Angell

Dear readers,
today on the blog, I am pleased to introduce Heidi Angell. 

"Heidi Angell is a bibliophile, lexicomaniac and wordsmith! She is the author of The Hunters Series, The Clear Angel Chronicles, and The Hell School Series. She also created Royal Prince Vince, and Creative Exercises to Inspire, 

When she is not reading and writing, she can be found spending quality time with her lovely family camping, hiking, swimming, or watching movies.  Learn more about her and her books at HeidiAngell.com"

Some of you may remember her as one of the amazing hosts for the New Year New Books 2016 Tour, but today I want to introduce her to you as the author of "Hell School: Fresh Meat." This post is a part of the tour for her novel. The tour started on Feb 21st and will end on March 21st, and I am so glad to be a part of this event!:Enjoy the interview!

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Ama et Bemma: Heidi, welcome to my blog! I am so glad that you allowed me to interview you!

Heidi: Hello Ama, Thank you so much for having me today! I am excited to connect with your readers. 

A: I bet that my readers are excited about connecting with you, too! So what's your latest news? 
H: I am excited to announce that Hell School: Fresh Meat is available for pre-order, and will release March 18th. *Squee* This has been a long time coming!

Michael Forester, Author of the Epic Fantasy-Poetry "Dragonsong" | Excerpt

Hello readers,

Today on the blog, I am pleased to share an excerpt from Michael Forester's latest novel "Dragonsong." As many of you know, I am a poet, so I instantly appreciate texts that experiment with verse of give generous nods towards traditional forms and styles. "Dragonsong" is an epic fantasy written in rhyming Old English (did your inner nerd just squeal with excitement? Because I totally started smiling like crazy when I first heard about Forester's novel taking on this form).

Forester has ever so kindly given us a special sneak-peak into his novel, and I hoping that you will all enjoy it as much as I have! As a poet, I know that it not only takes time but some extreme skills to pull off what Forester has done. The interwoven rhyme is not off-putting, and it gives way for ones imagination to reflect back upon older epic stories that must have been sung around hearths in the days of old. This skill should be of no surprise since Forester is a graduate of Oxford University. He, as he puts it, "was born with a pen in hand." He is an award winning author and has works already in print. You can learn more about him at the bottom of this post, but as for now, I  hope that you enjoy the novel description and the excerpt!

WEBSITE| TWITTER| GOODREADS| FB FANPAGE

About the Novel:

Genre: Fantasy Poetry

Word Count: 3,200

Rebekah, daughter of Merlin and noblewoman of Albion has been driven to madness by the murder of her lover Vidar. In her torment she bargains with the Prince of Demons to turn her into a dragon. Once transformed, she seeks to take revenge upon her father, Merlin, whom she is fooled into believing is responsible for Vidar’s death. Behind the subterfuge stands Oberon, Captain-King of Elves, who cannot foresee the devastation his jealousy and unrequited love for Rebekah will unleash upon the world of Gaia. Its salvation depends upon Merlin travelling back in time to find a pure hearted warrior, Lady Attie, who, together with Michael, seer of Albion, must take the Sleep Stone from the gates of Hell to persuade the dragon to sleep. But if they are unable to return the Stone to the mouth of Hell in time, the demon army will awaken and ransack Gaia in a war that will destroy its existence. Time is the solution to Gaia’s destiny – but only if the gods of Asgard can find a way to stop it. Dragonsong is a unique epic fantasy that explores fundamental themes of good and evil, jealously and revenge. Woven together with a gripping and powerful plot, the pattern of the language, the musicality of the form and the profound emotions invoked carry the reader to extremes of human experience and capability at both its best and worst. Read an Excerpt Below!

"Five Seven Five: The Boy with Words" by C.E. Wilson || Book Review

65k Words| YA mixed with sci-fi, fantasy, 
dystopian and paranormal 

I think that I will start off this way—C.E. Wilson, I need a sequel for this book to be written immediately.

White Frost lives in a rigid society and has spent her whole life learning about the Creators and the world that they come from. Her world has no moons, no horizons, and no bright colors. It seems dull and washed out. White obviously seeks more; She wants to be a Chosen—a person that can go into the world of the Creators. She, too, wants this freedom. She wants to explore the unknown, but an accident occurs that creates a whirlwind of events that cause her to find out the truth about herself, her world, and the creators themselves. White soon realizes that the world written for her in the scriptures of her society have been a lie, and so much more exists outside the confines of her society.

Interview with Heather Hobbs, Author of "The Trouble with Family" || New Year New Books 2016 Tour

Today on the blog we are continuing our NYNB2016 tour (Click here to see all the tour posts from various bloggers) we are interviewing Heather Hobbs. She's the author of "The trouble with Family," which is a young adult novel that will be published on March 3rd, 2016. I am so excited to share this exclusive interview with you all prior to the release!

In "The Trouble with Family" we meet Molly Anderson.

"Molly Anderson just found out her dad is getting married to a woman she’s only met once.

Fourteen-year-old Molly had planned to spend the summer before high school reading books, eating junk food, and napping. Instead, she’s forced to spend her days juggling four new family members, a grumpy older brother, a crazy grandmother, and Max, the new boy next door. Having lost her mother in a car accident a year before, she’s not sure how many more changes she can take before she hits her breaking point.

Based on an award-winning short story, The Trouble with Family tells the tale of a girl trying to make the most of her summer, not just survive it."

Tia Mitsis Guest Post: "How I Turned an Idea into a Book"

Hello Everyone,

I know that it quite odd to get a post from me in the middle of the week, but I wanted to keep sharing the interviews and guest posts from the authors who are participating in the New Year New Books blog tour! We will have a post this Sunday/Monday, but I really wanted to share Tia's post! 

Tia is that author of "A Greek Odyssey." I hope to share more about her book in the future (and I encourage you to check it out!). As for today, we will be reading her beautiful and inspiring guest post. Enjoy!

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How I turned an idea into a book

This time last year, I was browsing the books at a book fair, looking for some great bargains. I wasn’t particularly thinking about writing – my first book was coming out in March 2015. I was not thinking of writing something new. As I browsed the travel section, I picked up the books about Greece. It’s my heritage, so holds a special interest. I love to go there and love to see it written about in books. All the books were either travel guides or were fictional stories set in Greece as the writer or a hero/heroine dealt with some life issue or another while on a Greek island. Where was mainland Greece (besides Athens)? Did no one want to write about the stunning locations on the mainland, many not well known to tourists who don’t venture off the beaten track?

Author Interview: Ellie Firestone | New Year New Books 2016 Blog Tour

Hello, everyone! Today on the blog we have an interview with Ellie Firestone, the author of the children's book "Super Sporty 8: The Attack of the Pegasi." You can buy "Super Sporty 8" on Amazon (US link...UK link). It's a 12,000 word, Children's Sci-fi novel.

"Sporty and her best friend, Harley, are two young horses who play basketball for Horsecitty's professional team called the Shorthorns. They're also superheroes.
In this adventure, Horsecitty's skies are visited by an unusual sight -- a flock of real live pegasi! From the start, it's clear that they're nothing but trouble -- not only can they shoot lasers from their eyes, but they're led by one of Sporty and Harley's old enemies: the evil Tombulus Mako. Hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered, Sporty and Harley must solve the mysteries of the pegasi and defeat their army before they lay waste to all of Horsecitty ... and the world!
If you like horses, if you like superheroes, if you like adventure and aliens, then you'll love Super Sporty and the rest of the Horsecitty gang."

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New Year, New Books 2016: First Tour Stop!

Happy New Year and welcome to the official start of the 2016 New Year New Books Blog Tour! This tour has been under development for a bit over 2 months, yet the amount of support I have received from across the blogsphere has been overwhelming! I use to participate in many tours and I enjoyed them a lot, but I also wanted to try my hand at this as well. I wanted to create a free bi-yearly tour on top of the tours that I offer through my Author Services. When I started announcing my intentions on platforms like GoodReads, Google+ and Facebook, so many authors and bloggers were kind enough to participate! Unfortunately, I had to turn a few away because far too many signed up, but I am confident that I will host this event again in the summer. Please keep in touch if you would like to participate! 

"Writing Flash Fiction" by Carly Berg || Book Review

*In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, I am letting you know that I was paid for this review* Correction: I refunded Carly, and am instead doing a "fair and honest." My decision to give this book 3-stars has not changed based on this.

Carly not only opens up this book by telling us why she is an authority when it comes to flash-fiction writing, but she lets other writers know that she understands what it feels like to be a new writer. The failures coupled with little success that you hope will one day become a larger success are a part of Carly’s narrative and motive for creating “Writing Flash Fiction.”

The text takes on a colloquial, even conversational, tone. This is good because you feel as if you can more easily relate with the text, but all the extra asides also made me feel as if I was not listening to an authority on the subject matter, but rather a well-written blog post.I am personally not too sure about how I feel about the style of this book.

Berg spends the first few pages breaking down what flash-fiction is. As somebody with little knowledge on the genre, I felt as if I was given a complete and comprehensible understanding of the subject matter. Berg then goes on to make a point that permeates throughout the rest of her text:
“Once you get a routine going, stories happen regularly. We are creatures of habit and when your mind makes that connection between time, place, ritual, and writing, all you have to do is B.I.T.C.H. (Butt In The Chair, Honey) and stories occur. I’ve heard it takes three weeks to make a habit, which sounds about right to me. You don’t have to do it perfectly, just work at it and don’t give up. A routine followed halfway or a quarter of the way still gets you many more stories than you’d have otherwise.”

Elizabeth Joseph | Author Interview

Prologue

This week we'll be sitting down with the author of TWIN REFLECTIONS--Elizabeth Joseph. This interview with Elizabeth causes me to nostalgically  remember that I too was once a young writer. Whenever I meet young poets and novelists, I feel a strong urge to encourage them and to applaud them for taking on this world (quite literally!) of storytelling and poetry. There is nothing more exciting than to see budding, young talent. I hope that you enjoy this conversation I had with Elizabeth!

When and why did you begin writing?

I think around the third grade, which I've noticed is the starting place for a lot of people, because that was when I really remember sticking with writing stories. I don't really remember why. The reason always seems to change based on where I am at what point in life.

New Year, New Books Blog Tour

This year will be a year of many firsts here at Ama et Bemma. I plan on hosting a free blog tour for authors who want to get some more hits for their books via search engines, want more exposure, and want to (potentially!!) get some readers who will want their book! The aim is to drum up some anticipation for books that will be released in 2015; hence the tour name--New Year, New Books!

Name of Tour: New Year, New Books Blog Tour

Dates of Tour: January 4th-11th