NBTM Virtual Book Tour + #Giveaway: Juche 1-4 Box set by Adria Carmichael @AdriaCarmichael @GoddessFish

Juche 1-4 Box set

by Adria Carmichael

GENRE: YA Dystopian

BLURB:

Just when Areum - daughter of a privileged family in the totalitarian state of Choson (North Korea) - thought she was free from her personal prison, her world collapses around her as her family is taken away in the middle of the night to a hell-like camp in the mountains where people who have strayed from the righteous path are brutally re-educated through blood, sweat, tears, and starvation.

There she has to fight for survival together with the family she hates and is forced to re-evaluate every aspect of her life until then: her deep resentment toward her twin sister; her view of her father in the face of mounting evidence that he is a traitor with the blood of millions of fellow countrymen on his hands; and even her love and affection for the Great General - the eternal savior and protector of Choson, whom she had always considered her true father.

Note from the author:

Have you ever wondered what the world looks like when seen through an indoctrinated mind?

This is a topic that has intrigued me for as long as I can remember, so when I came up with the idea to write a book many years ago, I decided to create it from the viewpoint of a victim of indoctrination… which in the end became Areum (the protagonist of the story).

What I try to explore in this story is how deep the indoctrination of a 14-year old girl can run and how much “reality” it can be exposed to before breaking… if it will break at all. As a comparison, the defectors from North Korea who arrive in South Korea are isolated for three months in a de-programming facility called Hanawon before they are allowed to join society where they go through this process in a more controlled (and less brutal) way than Areum.

I hope you will enjoy this slightly different take on the dystopian genre!

Purchase Juche 1-4 Box Set on Amazon

Excerpt:

A loud screech in the sky interrupts me. I look up. A large black crow is circling high above us. Then another crow joins in. The screeching intensifies. Another one joins in, and then another. Before I know it, the whole sky has turned black with a swirling mass of crows, flying in a tornado-like circle right above us. I feel their beady eyes looking down at me.

The mass of crows now forms a funnel, spiraling downward toward us. I scream and put my hands up in defense. But the crows don’t target me. The black moving mass instead completely consumes the living corpse of my dad.

“NOOO!” I scream as I helplessly witness the crows dismembering him piece by piece right before my eyes. They pull his eyeballs out from their sockets. They tear the skin from his arms and legs. I cry and scream. I want to run to him, to help him… but I still can’t move.

Then it’s all over, and the crows disperse and ascend back into the sky, bringing their ear-piercing screech and the pieces of my father’s body with them. What was left of him is now again lying lifelessly on the ground. His face is still turned to me, but he had no more dead eyes to look at me with.

Another screech makes me look up to the sky again. The crows are circling ominously. Faster and faster. The screeching intensifies, cutting painfully into my ears, as they once more swirl down towards me like a tornado. I put my hands up in defense and scream as the first crow brushes against my hair. Another one grabs my arm with its claws. I try to break free, but my feet are still glued to the ground.

I now have crows all over my body, and as the one on my arm penetrates my skin with its beak, I…

Juche 1-4 

Purchase Juche 1 – The Demon of Yodok on Amazon

Purchase Juche 2 – The Weeping Masses on Amazon

Purchase Juche 3 – The Storm of Storms on Amazon

Purchase Juche 4 – Freedom or Death on Amazon

Interview with Adria Carmichael

Do you have any tattoos? Where? When did you get it/them? Where are they on your body?

• Nope, not a single one. Briefly had a tongue piercing back in the day, but got tired of it within a year.

Is your life anything like it was two years ago?

• It’s pretty much the same, but since Covid, I work mostly from home and have no urge to go back to the office. Two years from now, however, I hope I will be able to live off my writing. That would be a major change.

How long have you been writing?

• I got the idea for Juche over 10 years ago, but I didn’t start working on it seriously until 4-5 years ago. It’s been a long journey since I had to learn how to write at the same time as I was actually writing, so I hope the writing process will go faster in the future. I think it will.

What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?

• There are plenty of books and online material with great advice, but what you won’t find there are warnings about how many scammers are out there targeting new authors with big dreams. It’s astounding. So my number one advice would be to do your research and contact peer-reviewed design/editing/promotion services only. If a company is contacting you with big promises about book sales, think twice about replying. Of course, not all are scams, but many are, and if you’re the one contacting, you reduce your risk considerably. It’s not fun advice to give, but there wouldn’t be so many scammers if they weren’t making a lot of money off new authors. I have fallen victim once or twice myself.

Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.

• Well, my book is set in North Korea, but in the books, I only refer to it by the Korean name “Choson”, which is the word North Korean themselves use for their country. They would also never use “North” in the name since they don’t recognize South Korea as a country. For them Korea is Korea, just that the southern part is under US rule through an illegitimate puppet regime. 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Adria Carmichael is a writer of dystopian fiction with a twist. When she is not devouring dystopian and post-apocalyptic content in any format - books, movies, TV-series and PlayStation games - she is crafting the epic and highly-addictive Juche saga, her 2020 debut novel series that takes place in the brutal, totalitarian nation of Choson. When the limit of doom and gloom is reached, a 10K run on a sunny day or binging a silly sitcom on a rainy day is her go-to way to unwind.

Connect with Adria Carmichael

Goodreads ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Twitter ~ BookBub

Giveaway:

$50 Amazon/BN.com GC

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