Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The Occasional Diamond Thief by J.A. McLachlan Guest Post Excerpt & Giveaway

YA Bound Book Tours is organizing a Blog Tour for: The Occasional Diamond Thief by J.A. McLachlanThis tour will run from May 18th to May 29th. Check out the full blog tour schedule below:

The Occasional Diamond Thief
Release Date: 05/15/15
EDGE Publishing

Summary from Goodreads:
What if you learned your father was a thief? Would you follow in his footsteps, learn his "trade"? If you were the only one who knew, would you keep his secret?

When 16-yr-old Kia is training to be a universal translator, she is co-opted into traveling as a translator to Malem. This is the last place in the universe that Kia wants to be—it’s the planet where her father caught the terrible illness that killed him—but it’s also where he got the magnificent diamond that only she knows about. Kia is convinced he stole it, as it is illegal for any off-worlder to possess a Malemese diamond.

Using her skill in languages – and another skill she picked up, the skill of picking locks - Kia unravels the secret of the mysterious gem and learns what she must do to set things right: return the diamond to its original owner.

But how will she find out who that is when no one can know that she, an off-worlder, has a Malemese diamond? Can she trust the new friends she’s made on Malem, especially handsome but mysterious 17-year-old Jumal, to help her? And will she solve the puzzle in time to save Agatha, the last person she would have expected to become her closest friend?

Kia is quirky, with an ironic sense of humor, and a loner. Her sidekick, Agatha, is hopeless in languages and naive to the point of idiocy in Kia's opinion, but possesses the wisdom and compassion Kia needs.


Buy Links:

EDGE Publishing has a Thank you Gift for anyone who buys the print version of the book.  If they send an email to events@hadespublications.com with their Amazon receipt, they will receive a copy of a short story that features Kia.

 Praise for The Occasional Diamond Thief by J. A. McLachlan
*** "J. A. McLachlan is a terrific writer -- wry and witty, with a keen eye
for detail. I've been following her work with interest and delight since
2003. In a world where young-adult fiction is booming, The Occasional
Diamond Thief propels McLachlan to the front of the pack." -- Robert J.
Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of FlashForward


"The story is full of humor, danger, fun, and adventure. This is Science
Fiction anyone would love." -- J. Jones, VINE VOICE

"Flawless--The Occasional Diamond Thief was one of those rare stories
where I found myself hanging onto every word. McLachlan delivers a
fast-paced, unpredictable story with perfectly-executed twists.
Descriptions were succinct and epigrammatic with no room for boredom. It
felt so real, it was almost like being in the theater with a surprise
treat at the end. Much like the theater, once the credits have started to
roll and the crowd starts to thin, there was a snippet at the end that you
do not want to miss." -- BittenbyBooks.com

"Loved it! I haven't read a heroine I loved this much since Katniss
Everdeen. McLachlan's Kia is smart, tough and hilarious, and pairing her
with serene, forgiving Agatha left me laughing long after I finished the
story. The settings were vivid, the plot raced along, and the themes kept
me turning pages. McLachlan combines her love of science fiction, ethics
and good, old-fashioned storytelling in The Occasional Diamond Thief, and
the results couldn't be better. I loved every page." -- Amanda Darling,
Screenwriter


"J. A. McLachlan is a remarkable creator of worlds, a remarkable creator
of character, a master of suspense. In short, a remarkable storyteller.
You don’t have to be a young adult to love this book." -- Sheryl Loeffler,
Writer, A Land in the Storytelling Sea

About the Author
J. A. McLachlan was born in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of a short
story collection, CONNECTIONS, and two College textbooks on Professional
Ethics. But speculative fiction is her first love, a genre she has been
reading all her life, and The Occasional Diamond Thief is her second in
that genre, a young adult science fiction novel, published by EDGE Science
Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. After over a decade as a college teacher,
she is happy to work from home as a full-time author now.




Hello, I’m J. A. McLachlan, the author of The Occasional Diamond Thief. I’m so pleased to be meeting you, and I’d like to thank Deal Sharing Aunt for having me here today. This blog tour is part of my online launch of The Occasional Diamond Thief, and I’ll have something different at each stop – book excerpts, author and character reveals, vlogs, reviews and blog posts – for you to enjoy. You can find The Occasional Diamond Thief in print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1770530754/edgescienceficti
and in ebook form:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NF9NYJM
And you can find me at: http://www.janeannmclachlan.com

Short Story Excerpt:
This is Part Four of The Temporary Salarian Translator, a short story about Kia, the protagonist in The Occasional Diamond Thief – part one of this complete short story can be found on: http://bookloverslife.blogspot.ie/  part two of this short story can be found on: www.elsieelmore.com and part three can be found on: http://dalenesbookreviews.blogspot.com
PART FOUR
(Kia and her friend Jaro are acting as student translators at an inter-planetary event thrown by the Salarians. The event involves some nefarious gambling, including which of two desert girls dropped into a deep tub of water will drown first – although this event is taking place elsewhere, it is portrayed on a giant screen in real-time at this event.)

Green-eyes turns the girl away from her. She doesn’t want to look in her face as she lets her die, I think, caught between disappointment and understanding. She slides her arm around the girl’s neck, holding her head above the water one last moment…
And she begins treading water. Her feet kick slowly now. Her free arm pushes through the heavy water wearily. The other girl is a dead weight, pulling her down, but she doesn’t let go. She isn’t letting go. I was wrong. Green-eyes only knocked her out so Thin-lips wouldn’t drown them both.  Green-eyes is trying to save her life.
Is there anyone I’d risk my life for? Probably not if I had a chance to think about it first. Jaro comes over and stands beside me. Together we watch Green-eyes tread water, weak with exhaustion, holding up the girl who would have drowned her. She has another hour to go.
“Smart,” a voice says behind us. “She’s going for the bonus. Unless that girl dies, they can’t pull her out, and she only has an hour to go.”
“That’s one translation, Lerah,” Jaro says.
I walk away without acknowledging Lerah.
In the far corner, I see a crowd and head that way. Whatever has drawn so many there will surely take my mind off the desert girls. When I get closer, I’m disappointed to find it’s only a game of dice. I’m turning to leave when I notice, beside each player’s pile of tokens, a small silver figurine.
This isn’t just a dice game, it’s Salarian Die. The twelve players seated round the table have reached the third and final level. The three dice they’ve been rolling are being scooped up by one of the operator’s assistants. Several other Salarians follow her, pausing beside each player, giving each one time to decide whether to proceed to the next level or leave now and forfeit all his or her winnings. Half of the players are blocked from my view by the people crowding round the table to watch, but I can see that two of the players, both with large stacks of winnings on the table in front of them, have moved their little silver figurines into the center of the table and accepted a single Salarian die from the table assistant.
I stare at those dice, as fascinated as everyone else in the crowd around the table. Four of the six squares show an image of the little figurine with one to four black dots beside her; the fifth square shows only the figurine; but the sixth face on the die has a bag of gold. Whoever rolls that will win one quarter of the table’s total earnings, a huge sum; whoever throws the die and doesn’t win will bind himself into slavery, unless he can buy off his debt.
The next player stands up abruptly before the Salarian reaches him, and shoves his winnings into the center of the table. He waits impatiently as she takes a small key from her sealed pocket and unlocks the band placed around his left wrist when the game began. As soon as it’s off, he pushes his way through the jeering crowd on his side of the table while the Salarian drops his wristband and figurine into a pouch at her waist. 
I remember this game from our lecture. No one at this table is going to die in front of me, but I still feel a little sick watching the next woman move her silver figurine to the center of the table. She doesn’t have as large a pile of winnings as the two men. The whistles and cheers of admiration from those who are observing, risking nothing themselves, disgust me, as the Salarian assistant hands the woman a single die. Her hand trembles as she takes it.
It appears all the players have made their choice now, whether to play the final round or not. I can see several empty places in the section of the table visible to me through the crowd. The smart ones, I think. My opinion is not shared; when the operator leads a round of applause for those who remain, I don’t see anyone else who isn’t clapping. Oh, one person. There’s a Select of the O.U.B. standing near the table, a silent, unsmiling witness.
The Salarian operating this game nods at the man nearest her, an Iterrian, to begin the final round. He leans forward, speaking into the mic one of the Salarian assistants is holding toward him. His voice is amplified as he states his name and swears that he freely accepts the terms of this game. The operator glances at the Select, who nods—the oath is legally-given and binding. The Iterrian picks up his die. He rolls it between his hands as though warming it up, then cups his hands outward, shaking it between his palms. He keeps shaking it, until the operator clears her throat. He gives it one last shake and throws it onto the table.
Over and over it rolls; the silver figure on five of its sides appears to be running across the table. One dot, two dots, three, four… the figure trembles as the die balances on one corner…
I’m holding my breath and I don’t even know this guy...
The die falls backward and lands with the figure and two dots face up. Two years of servitude.
The Iterrian laughs, a thin sound, hysteria covered by bravado. He pushes his pile of tokens to the center of the table—enough to buy back his freedom. The Salarian operator glances at one of her assistants, who produces a key and removes his wristband as people begin to clap. The man bows to her, and to the now-cheering crowd who slap his back and call their approval as he makes his way through them, leaving the game behind. A unique night, an unusual night, a night to talk about the rest of his life.
The next man, a Kandaran, swears the oath and reaches for his die as soon as the Select nods. He shakes it quickly and throws it, as though it burns his hand. The figures summersault across the table and stop abruptly, one turn short of the bag of gold.
There is no clapping this time; no one moves or speaks. The Kandaran player sits staring at the silver figurine face-up on the die. No dots: life servitude. There aren’t enough tokens on the entire table to buy his way out of that. The Salarian assistant standing beside his chair bends and asks him to go with her, her quiet voice clear in the hushed silence. She is not the one with the key; his wristband isn’t coming off, now or ever. If he tries to run, it will kill him with a single electric shock. He stands, looking stunned, and follows her through the crowd that parts silently on either side of them.
The operator turns toward an Edoan woman at the table. I vaguely recognize her, she’s from a large trading family; I think my brother trained under her father for two months.  What’s she doing here?
She speaks calmly into the mic, smiles at the Select, then picks up her die confidently, shakes it firmly and rolls it onto the table. It comes to a stop with four dots showing clearly around the figurine. The Edoan lady pouts prettily at not receiving the bag of gold. With a sigh she pushes her winnings into the circle. Reaching behind her neck, she unclasps her gold chain and lifts the heavy, diamond-studded collar from her graceful neck, placing it on the table. I have a little experience with diamonds, and I calculate that this one is easily worth four years of a queen’s life, let alone a wealthy trader’s spoiled daughter. Apparently the Salarians agree because her wristband is unlocked and removed. She nods to the hostess, noblesse oblige, and sweeps away through the awestruck crowd.
The Coralese lady leans into the mic. Her face is pale and her voice breaks as she states her name, so that she has to repeat it. This isn’t just a game of dice to her.  She knows her life is on the line…


… to be completed soon on: http://livinginabookworld.blogspot.gr


Author Links:
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