City of Hope and Ruin
by Kit
Campbell and Siri Paulson
GENRE: Fantasy
(with
LGBTQ romance)
BLURB:
Every night the
monsters hunt.
A city that is the whole world: Theosophy and her companions in the City militia do their best to protect the civilians from the monsters, but they keep crawling from the Rift and there’s nowhere to run. Theosophy knows she’ll die fighting. It’s the best kind of death she’s seen, and at least she can save lives in the meantime.
They say the Scarred carve you up while you’re still alive.
A village in the shadow of a forest: Refugees from the border whisper about the oncoming Scarred, but Briony can’t convince her brother to relocate his children to safety. Briony will do anything to protect them. She owes them that much, even if it means turning to forbidden magic.
When Theosophy and Briony accidentally make contact across the boundaries of their worlds, they realize that solutions might finally be within reach. A world beyond the City would give Theosophy’s people an escape, and the City’s warriors could help Briony protect her family from the Scarred. Each woman sees in the other a strength she lacks—and maybe something more.
All they need to do is find a way across the dimensions to each other before their enemies close in.
A city that is the whole world: Theosophy and her companions in the City militia do their best to protect the civilians from the monsters, but they keep crawling from the Rift and there’s nowhere to run. Theosophy knows she’ll die fighting. It’s the best kind of death she’s seen, and at least she can save lives in the meantime.
They say the Scarred carve you up while you’re still alive.
A village in the shadow of a forest: Refugees from the border whisper about the oncoming Scarred, but Briony can’t convince her brother to relocate his children to safety. Briony will do anything to protect them. She owes them that much, even if it means turning to forbidden magic.
When Theosophy and Briony accidentally make contact across the boundaries of their worlds, they realize that solutions might finally be within reach. A world beyond the City would give Theosophy’s people an escape, and the City’s warriors could help Briony protect her family from the Scarred. Each woman sees in the other a strength she lacks—and maybe something more.
All they need to do is find a way across the dimensions to each other before their enemies close in.
EXCERPT:
Briony edged out from behind the
tree, shuffling slowly backward, making sure she hadn’t attracted anything’s
attention. There was another crack. She took refuge behind a sizeable bush as a
large group of something moved out of the dark and mist. Briony put one hand on
Poes to calm him and pulled him closer. Poes’s light coat sometimes made him
painfully obvious.
As the group got closer, Briony
could tell they were human. She narrowed her eyes, keeping hold of Poes.
People, this deep in the forest? Hardly anyone came in here, especially not
this deep. Her mother had made sure she and Jael knew the forest’s ways, but
their land backed up to it and Briony needed it for her medicinal draughts.
Most people in Westenaedre avoided it unless absolutely necessary.
There was something unnatural about
their movements. As they got closer, Briony could make out their features
through the gathering dusk. Her breath caught in her throat. People they were,
yes, but their faces were covered by some sort of horrific mask that hid their
features and gave them insect-like appearances. Tubes twisted from the masks
into metallic canisters on their backs. Now she could hear their breathing as
well, rough and much too loud. Every whispered tale from the refugees flitted
through her head. The Scarred. But they shouldn’t—couldn’t—be here. They were
still at the border.
What did it mean that they weren’t?
AUTHOR BIO:
It
is a little known fact that Kit was raised in the wild by a marauding gang of
octopuses. It wasn't until she was 25 that she was discovered by a traveling
National Geographic scientist and brought back to civilization. This is
sometimes apparent in the way that she attempts to escape through tubes when
startled.
Her
transition to normalcy has been slow, but scientists predict that she will have
mastered basics such as fork use sometime in the next year. More complex
skills, such as proper grocery store etiquette, may be forever outside her
reach.
Kit can be found cavorting about the web at her
Siri Paulson writes all over the fantasy and science
fiction spectrum, including (so far) secondary-world fantasy, urban fantasy,
steampunk, Gothic, historical paranormal, and YA with spaceships. She is also
the chief editor at Turtleduck Press.
Siri grew up in Alberta, Canada, but now lives in an old house in Toronto. By
day, she edits non-fiction for the government. Her other current passion is
contra dance, a social/folk dance done to live Celtic and roots music. Her
favourite places in the world are the Canadian Rocky Mountains and a little
valley in Norway.
Siri's short fiction and the anthologies she has
edited can be found on Turtleduck
Press.
Multi-region buy link:
The book is on sale for $0.99 on Kindle or
Nook the day of the tour.
Giveaway:
$50 Amazon or B/N GC
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.
3 comments:
Thanks for helping us get the word out!
A great excerpt.
This sounds amazing
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