Thursday, July 30, 2015

Restless Earth and Blessing Sky by Emily Mah Giveaway & Interview


BlessingSkyAndRestlessEarth_BlogTourBanner
Welcome to my tour stop for Restless Earth and Blessing Sky by Emily Mah!  This is a YA/NA high fantasy series.  This is book 1 and 2 of The Sky Chariots Saga. The tour runs July 20 - 31 with reviews, author interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for the full schedule.

About Restless Earth:

RestlessEarth
For over a thousand years, the Tanoa have relied on their Earth Shamen to bring rich harvests, temper stone tools and weapons, and imbue pottery with strength like metal. Now, though, the bloodline has dwindled to one Shaman, Tuwa, who is trapped high in the mountains, holding bedrock together to prevent a volcanic eruption while the rest of her people flee to safety. The only way to save the village is for her to sacrifice herself and buy them the time they need to evacuate.But her grandson, Ahote, refuses to abandon her to die. Rather than do as she asks—marry and bear daughters who might inherit her gift—he sets out to find the one person who might be able to save Tuwa’s life.Kasha is a Tanoa girl in who lives in Solace, a city of the pale-skinned Andalanos. If the Engineers Guild ever discovers her gender or race, they could order her execution—for in violation of the King’s law, Master Engineer Seamus trained Kasha as his apprentice. She is a genius in all things mechanical and earned her master certification when only fourteen years old. Since Seamus’s death, she has been discreetly working his job as the City Engineer.She knows there is no machine or technology that can save Tuwa. In order to complete this task, Kasha must invent a vehicle unlike anything the world has ever seen, and risk exposure and death in the process.
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About Blessing Sky:

BlessingSky
Master Engineer Kasha lives in hiding. As a Tanoa and a woman, she has no legal right to her title, and risks expulsion or even execution if the Guild discovers her identity. For over a year she has served as the City Engineer of the Andalano city of Solace, home to the Winged Riders and their pegasus mounts.Now, though, her people need her. The last of their Earth Shamen is trapped in the mountains, holding back a volcanic eruption so that the rest of her people can escape. It is a job for only the greatest of all engineers, and that happens to be Kasha.But when her kinsman, Ahote, breaks the most sacred law of the Winged Riders, an alliance with him means certain death. Kasha must work alone to solve the most difficult engineering problem of all time before the summer months are done and winter comes to claim the life of the Shaman and the hope of her people.

Restless Earth:


Blessing Sky:

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About the Author:
Emily writes as both Emily Mah (for science fiction and fantasy) and E.M. Tippetts (for chick lit). Her short stories have appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Black Gate, and anthologies like The Dragon and the Stars, Shanghai Steam, and The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth.  Her E.M. Tippetts novels have been on the Amazon Top 100 numerous times, and her novel, Someone Else's Fairytale was semi-finalist for the Best Indie Book of the Year -  Kindle Book Review, and a runner up in Romance for the Best of the Independent Book Awards - eFestival of Words. She is a graduate of the Clarion West Writer's Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy and Viable Paradise Writers Workshop, and she often teaches the unit on self-publishing at the Taos Toolbox Writers Workshop.When she is not writing or chasing small children, she manages E.M. Tippetts Book Designs, her company which offers formatting, cover design, and editing services to authors and publishers.

Interview:

1.  When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I have always wanted to be a writer, since I was a very little girl. I literally cannot remember a time when I didn’t want this career.
2.  How long does it take you to write a book?
That varies a lot, depending on how much I already know about the characters and story before I start. Sequels are not as time intensive as first books, for example. In general, I can get down about 15,000 publishable words of text a month, but that’s averaging!
3.  What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
I’m a full time mom, so I write whenever I find scraps of time. Cory Doctorow once explained to me that he couldn’t get published until he figured out how to write whenever and wherever he could. If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll always have an excuse not to write.
4.  What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Writing with one eye on my kids, probably. Some days it’s literally two words, go check on the kids, three more, etc. You have to keep the narrative flow going in your head for this.
5.  How do books get published?
Do you mean how to my books get published? I started self publishing as an experiment several years ago. At this point I earn an income pretty comparable to my traditionally published friends who are the same point in their careers. It’s a good fit for me. I’m also a former lawyer and have spent enough time around the publishing industry that I know how it works, more or less. It’s not mysterious to me.
6.  Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
After almost forty years of working on a writing career, I get ideas from everywhere. As with anything else, practice equals proficiency.
7.  When did you write your first book and how old were you?
Old enough to hold a crayon? It wasn’t a very good book.
8.  What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Spend time with my family. They come first!
9.  What does your family think of your writing?
My writing is an essential part of me. I don’t waste time with people who aren’t supportive of it, to be honest. My family are all great.
10.             What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Restless Earth is my tenth novel, so the lessons get less and less surprising as you go. Writing short novels showed me yet again that it’s hard for me to write very short. It’s also hard for me to write very long. I seem to have a natural length of 40,000 to 60,000 words, and it’s hard to break free from that!
11.             How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
I’ve written twelve that have been published or are being published. It’s hard to say how many I’ve written total over the years. My favorite is always the novel I’m working on now, because it has to be. Each story needs to be brought into the world with love, or else I can’t expect readers to give up their time to read them.
12.             Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?
Practice, practice, practice. There’s no substitute for writing, in my opinion. I’ve been at this long enough that I’ve seen a lot of careers launch or crash, and every time, the more the person writes, the better they get.
13.             Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
Only occasionally, and by and large they are very nice people who say kind things. I do get the occasional hate mail, and I can only marvel that people have time to waste doing stuff like that. Talk about sad!
14.             Do you like to create books for adults?
Yes, but I don’t write “adult novels” if you get what I mean J

15.             What do you think makes a good story?
The way it is told. “Tell the truth but tell it slant,” as Emily Dickenson used to say. It’s not about having a ground breaking idea, it’s about telling it in a way that makes it new and fresh.
16.             As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
Be a writer. Always!
17.             What Would you like my readers to know?

That I appreciate them reading this interview. Thanks so much!

Website | Facebook | Twitter @EmilyMah | YouTube
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Giveaway:
Three (3) winners will receive signed ebooks of Restless Earth and Blessing Sky by Emily Mah
INT
Ends Aug. 5th
prizing provided by the author, hosts are not responsible in any way.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

1 comment:

  1. I think that's a good point, that if you wait for perfect conditions to write you'll never write. I have that same thing with meditating. :)
    Thank you so much for hosting a tour stop!

    ReplyDelete