Cherished (Beholder, #3)
by Christina Bauer
Published by: Monster House Books
Publication date: May 30th, 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
For Elea, there’s never been a better time to turn away from witch life. The Tsar is in exile. The Vicomte is dead. And Rowan? Falling for him only broke her heart. Instead of casting spells, Elea spends her days running Braddock Farm and enjoying the flirtations of the very handsome and non-magical Philippe. Everything is going perfectly, except for one problem.
Someone’s trying to kill her.
Shujaa is a Changed One, a Creation Caster mage whose mutated form makes him invincible in battle. Now that the Tsar and Vicomte are gone, Shujaa wants to rise and rule. To do so, he must eliminate all those powerful enough to oppose him, and Elea is top on his list. Anyone who offers her aid quickly ends up dead.
In the end, there’s only one person who can keep Elea safe while helping her defeat Shujaa: Rowan. Like it or not, Elea must team up with her old love. With Philippe along for the ride, Elea plans to team with Rowan without losing her heart this time. But that’s when all her plans fall apart…
Monster House Books is celebrating the launch of the ebook version of CHERISHED!
As a result, the first two books in the series are specially priced for a limited time!
To find out more, visit: http://monsterhousebooks.com/blog/cherishedpromo.
As a result, the first two books in the series are specially priced for a limited time!
To find out more, visit: http://monsterhousebooks.com/blog/cherishedpromo.
GUEST POST
My Favorite Author: Everything I’ve Learned About World Building, I Got From JRR Tolkien
By Christina Bauer
My book, CHERISHED, tells the story of a woman who wants to be a farm girl but ends up as the most powerful Necromancer in the realm. It’s book three in my Beholder series (if you aren’t familiar with the series, there’s a quick trailer right here.) In any case, I’m now doing an author tour to celebrate the launch of CHERISHED, and I’ve been asked to share my thoughts on my favorite author by the awesome folks at SO FEW BOOKS. In my case, my favorite author is J R R Tolkien and the reason is because he taught me everything I know about world building.
To provide some context, I’ve loved building worlds since I can remember. I outlined my first when I was six. It was a little universe based on Candyland where the bad guy lived in a chocolate castle. Yum! However, I really got into it after reading Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien as a teenager. Here are my big takeaways from LOTR that I use to this day:
1. Characters. For every character, build out their history through their grandparents, minimum. Yes, all four. Who were they? What races did they come from? What lands? Tolkien did this and gave them all similar-sounding names, just to make it easy to track (or confusing as Hell, based on your POV.) Aragon son of Arathorn, Gimli son of Gloin, the list goes on and on.
2. Magical Races. For every magical race of beings, they get a homeland and history that goes back at least 500 years, preferably 2000. Why did they settle where they are? What are they afraid of? Who do they trust? For example, Tolkien built up a lovely hatred between elves and dwarfs before you read page one.
3. History. If you write fantasy, it’s a good idea to start obsessing about the Middle Ages. It will save you an ass-ton of time. Case in point: the Rohirrim were inspired by Tolkien asking the question ‘what would’ve happened if the Anglo-Saxons had horses, so they didn’t get their asses kicked by William the Conqueror?’ Good question, really.
4. Language. You don’t have to invent whole languages for your magical races, but they should have their own names for things, ways of swearing and exclamations of joy. Bonus points if you can think of pet names in their language/history that don’t sound cloying.
5. Outlining, outlining, outlining. LOTR was originally written as a single book. Before publication, it was broken up into three parts. Reading it for the first time, I loved the feeling of a greater story through the first two books. In my own writing, I try to go at least two books forward in my planning before I finish the outline for my current novel. Even if I don’t go further than the book I’m writing, I think readers can sense the texture of the story both ahead and behind them, and it helps to make a more immersive world experience. Thanks, JRR!
Check out the rest of the Xpresso Book Tours
Blog Tour for "Cherished (Beholder, #3)" HERE!
Thanks for hosting today, Jen! :)
ReplyDelete