Thornton Berry Shire Press, Home of the Benjamin McTish Series: KALARTHRI by, H.M. CLARK

Today we have a virtual tour from
Fire and Ice Book Tours introducing
H. M. Clark and her book
Kalarthri, a YA Fantasy.
This looks like a really good read to me,
so enjoy a look around,
and don't miss our special guest post from
our author, she's got some good tips.
And last but not least, we have a perk today,
so make sure you include your name in the giveaway.
Enjoy your visit from Pressed Leaf Publishing.

Virtual Book Tour Dates: 2/27/14 - 3/6/14

Genres: Children's/YA Fantasy

Blurb:

"The Kalarthri" will take you into a world where Action, Adventure and Friendship will meet you head on and take you for a wild ride to save something most precious- the life of a friend.

Kalena awakes one morning to find her world changed forever....

The Imperium Provosts of the Great Suene Empire have come to take Kalena away from her family and friends.

All because she is Second Born.

The Second Born Rule declares that all second born children above the age of five become indentured to the Empire for a period of thirty years to serve wherever the Empire sees fit. After the thirty-year period, the Kalarthri (as the indentured are called), are then pensioned into retirement by the Empire.

Kalena is different in that she has a special gift that is much sort out by the Imperium Provosts. Her mind has the ability to accept the special 'living' crystal that is implanted into her head to enable her to partner a Hatar'le'margarten (Hatar) in the Military Flight Corps. Kalarthri who are in the Flight Corps are indentured for life.

Taken to Darkon, Kalena is paired with one of the giant, feathered Hatar'le'margarten. But when Kalena accidentally injures one of her Wingmates, there is a race against time to find the one man who can help them.

And Kalena and her New Hatar Partner, Adhamh, are determined that they will be the ones to find him.

Excerpt:

“Wing Lieutenant. Where do you think you are going with that girl?” the Captain’s voice was hard and emotionless and Kalena moved closer to Gwidion. She did not like this man.

Gwidion snapped his feet together and made the Captain a small bow.
“We are heading for the Mess Hall Sir.”

The Captain stared at them a long moment.

“Has she been tested yet?” he suddenly asked.

“No Sir. Not properly.”

“Do you think it wise to let her near other Hatar Kalar until you are sure she cannot hear them?”

Kalena felt the hand on her shoulder stiffen. She clung tighter to the Wing Lieutenant.

“Test her for me now Kalar.”

“What? She has only just undergone the Krytal.”

“Talk to your beast now and let us see if she can hear you!” The Captain said leaving no room for argument.

Gwidion opened his mouth to say more but thought better of it.

“Very well.”

He looked down at Kalena and she could not help but smile up at him.

“Kalena, I’m about to talk in mind voice. If you can hear me can you repeat it for the Captain.”

Kalena nodded as Adhamh’s voice flooded through her head.

‘Remember. Pretend you do not hear them.’

‘I remember Adhamh.’

Gwidion eyes remained on her but they suddenly unfocused and Kalena heard the familiar whisperings in her mind.

‘Kalena, if you can hear this tell the Captain that he is a fart faced maggot off of a horses rear that needs-‘

‘Gwidion! Be respectful.’ A female voice said sternly.

‘Sorry Jolar but he is.’

Kalena tried not to show any reaction on her face. If she had said what Gwidion had said her father would have washed her mouth out with lye soap.

“Well?”

The Captain’s voice cut through Gwidion’s mental chatter. Kalena shrank back behind Gwidion.

“Kalena, did you hear anything? I did not hear you repeat my words.”

Suddenly she felt her arm gripped by fingers of iron and yanked forward and Kalena found herself face to face with the Captain. His thoughts were jumbled and confused but full of anger and fear. Kalena immediately blocked them from her mind.

“Answer the lieutenant Kalar.”

Tears started to trickle down her cheeks and Kalena tried to stop herself from blubbering. Dimly a roar was heard from outside and she heard Gwidion talking urgently with the Captain.

“-you are upsetting her and her new Hatar partner. He feels her fear through the link.’

The Captain seemed not to hear the Lieutenant’s words.

“Did you hear him?”

Kalena shook her head; her voice did not want to work.

Suddenly the Captain backhanded her across the face. She would have collapsed if not for the Captain’s iron grip on her arm. Her face stung like fire and she felt Gwidion shift behind her.

“Answer me in an appropriate manner, Kalar”

“Damaging State property is not setting a good example to the men Captain Jerant.”

The Captain released his grip and spun around in surprise. The two infantrymen immediately turned and smartly saluted. Kalena jumped back to Gwidion’s side and she felt him place a protective hand on her shoulder as he guided her back behind him.

“Provost Marshall Brock,” the Captain stammered.

The Provost Marshall’s eyes flicked across everyone present in the hallway, lingering longest on the red mark that now rose across Kalena’s face.

“I think you need to come to my office and explain your actions to me Captain. You know there is a ban on children undergoing the Krytal.”

The Provost Marshall then swept past them and continued along the corridor without waiting to see if

his request would be followed. Captain Jerant stood a moment glaring hard at both Kalena and

Gwidion before turning swiftly to follow the Provost Marshall.

Today we have a special guest post from out author…looks like she has a few good tips to share, enjoy!

The Procrastinators Guide to Story avoidance

Nice catchy title, and oh so true in my case. (Case in point – me writing this blog post is a good example – I should be finishing Howling Vengeance).

I also have a horrible habit of going off topic, (yet another symptom of procrastination), so I’ll try my hardest not to do this too much.

Let’s get straight to the point here. Writers generally drop into procrastination mode when either of the following conditions occurs:

Coming up to the point in their story where there is a difficult scene to plot out and write
Characters write themselves into a situation that the author does not know how to get them out of
Your Manuscript is in the editing stages of the second and third drafts (and everyone definitely wants to avoid that)
Any other situation that a writer can find themselves in that makes doing the dishes right at that very moment a high priority task.

Now, this blog is supposed to be about story avoidance. That means, whenever any of the above conditions occur, you must immediately go and find something as far away from the object of avoidance as possible.

Avoidance strategies can be either very simple or extremely extravagant. Strategies that I use regularly are:

House cleaning – it does help getting your mind off the hurdles in your writing and then gives you time to look at things from a fresh perspective and can actually be helpful in the long run.
Baking – This does the same thing as house cleaning except you get cakes, biscuits and cookies at the end of it.
Research – This can be anything ranging from historical to scientific or basically fact finding in general. This again can be helpful in both finding plots and ideas for future stories, or for finding examples that can get you out of your writing quandary.
Taking the family on a day trip – This also does the same thing as house cleaning, except that you also get to exposure to daylight and spend quality time with your family.
Television – Um, television really is the procrastinators’ friend. I never get anything useful done when the TV is on. Unless I’m watching something in connection with point 3.
Internet – Same point as Television. It is an incredible tool for procrastination. But it can also help overcome your issues by going to relevant blogs, websites, and friendly communities that might help you by discussing issues or reviewing the piece of work or idea that is troubling you. There are many of these writing communities around; it’s just a matter of finding one that suits you and your genre. Also be aware when trying to find a writing community that there is a difference between constructive criticism and being downright mean.

I could make this list a lot larger, but I think I have procrastinated long enough. I hope that I have given some good tips to successful procrastination methods and I would love to hear what works well for you and what doesn’t.

Happy Procrastinating

-H. M. Clarke

Buy Links:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

In a former life, H M Clarke has been a Console Operator, Public Servant, Paper Shuffler and an Accountant (the last being the most exciting.)

She also has a degree in how to blow things up and then write about why it blew up. In her spare time, she likes to lay on the couch and watch TV, read and tell ALL her family what wonderful human beings they are.
She keeps threatening to go out and get a real job (Chocolate Test Taster sounds good) and intends to retire somewhere warm and dry – like the middle of the Simpson Desert. For the time being however, she is an Aussie in Ohio and dreams about being warm…

Connect with the Author:

Official Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

Giveaway:

Win one of four signed print copies of The Kalarthri. Giveaway dates: Jan 02 – Mar 06, 2014 – The giveaway is restricted to the US, UK, Canada and Australia.