Reaper's Rhythm Blog Tour - A Teaser Post!

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I'm currently helping with a blog tour to promote the book Reaper's Rhythm, by Clare Davidson, who is nice enough to follow me on Twitter. Today we have a teaser post! A picture of one of the characters: Charley, the main character's sister, whom everyone says committed suicide. But did she?

And we also have a snippet, to go along with the picture:

"An oversized photograph of Charley stands on an easel at the front. I freeze and stare at her charming smile, unable to squeeze a breath out of my lungs. I recognise the photo. It was taken the evening of her year 11 prom. She was wearing a peach ball gown with a sequined bodice that wrapped tightly around her torso. The skirt splayed out like a waterfall. Her blond curls were piled on top of her head and her makeup was expertly applied to accentuate her angular cheek bones and her full red lips. It’s exactly how I remember Charley: beautiful and confident."

And, there you have it! As I said in the last post, I've been reading the book myself... It's pretty good, and I'm enjoying it. The official release is Friday. You should check it out! And if you're not convinced, you'll have more proof next time.

About Reaper's Rhythm:

When everyone thinks your sister committed suicide, it’s hard to prove she was murdered.

Kim is unable to accept Charley’s sudden death. Crippled by an unnatural amnesia, her questions are met with wall after wall. As she doubts her sanity, she realises her investigation is putting those around her in danger.

The only person who seems to know anything is Matthew, an elusive stranger who would rather vanish than talk. Despite his friendly smile, Kim isn’t sure she can trust him. But if she wants to protect her family from further danger, Kim must work with Matthew to discover how Charley died – before it’s too late.

  

About Clare Davidson:

Clare Davidson is an independent writer, based in Lancaster. Clare is a high school teacher, mother and character-driven fantasy writer. Clare was born in Northampton and lived in Malaysia for four and a half years as a child, before returning to the UK to settle in Leeds with her family. Whilst attending Lancaster University, Clare met her future husband and never left. They now share their lives with their young daughter, a cranky grey cat and an insane white kitten.

She published her first novel, Trinity in July 2012. Trinity is a young adult, fantasy novel, which currently has seventeen five star reviews on Amazon UK.

Her second novel, Reaper’s Rhythm, is due to be released on the 26^th July 2013. Also aimed at a young adult audience, Reaper’s Rhythm is an urban fantasy with a dash of mystery.

Ways to connect with Clare Davidson:

Website: http://claredavidson.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClareMDavidson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClareMDavidson

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6445758.Clare_Davidson

New releases mailing list: http://eepurl.com/zpjGf

Reaper's Rhythm by Clare Davidson - Cover Reveal

Hello there, friends! So it's been awhile, but I have news! Faithful readers may recall that, back in October, I had the opportunity to do a guest post over at the blog of author Clare Davidson. Those of you who don't remember, it was a piece on character creation and development, and you can check it out here. Well, Clare is just about to release her new novel, a Young Adult Urban Fantasy called Reaper's Rhythm. Here's the blurb:

"When everyone thinks your sister committed suicide, it’s hard to prove she was murdered.

Kim is unable to accept Charley’s sudden death. Crippled by an unnatural amnesia, her questions are met with wall after wall. As she doubts her sanity, she realises her investigation is putting those around her in danger.

The only person who seems to know anything is Matthew, an elusive stranger who would rather vanish than talk. Despite his friendly smile, Kim isn’t sure she can trust him. But if she wants to protect her family from further danger, Kim must work with Matthew to discover how Charley died – before it’s too late."

I've been reading the book myself the last few days, and it's pretty good so far. Not only that, but through the magic and camaraderie of blogging, I have the honor of helping her promote the book.

Yep, I'm one of the stops on her blog tour, so over the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting some cool content related to Clare and Reaper's Rhythm. Today we begin with the cover reveal! So here it is, the cover of Clare Davidson's upcoming YA novel, Reaper's Rhythm!

*drumroll*

There you have it! Tune in next week for more blog tour adventures!

About Clare Davidson: 

Clare Davidson is an independent writer, based in Lancaster. Clare is a high school teacher, mother and character-driven fantasy writer. Clare was born in Northampton and lived in Malaysia for four and a half years as a child, before returning to the UK to settle in Leeds with her family. Whilst attending Lancaster University, Clare met her future husband and never left. They now share their lives with their young daughter, a cranky grey cat and an insane white kitten.

She published her first novel, Trinity in July 2012. Trinity is a young adult, fantasy novel, which currently has seventeen five star reviews on Amazon UK.

Her second novel, Reaper’s Rhythm, is due to be released on the 26^th July 2013. Also aimed at a young adult audience, Reaper’s Rhythm is an urban fantasy with a dash of mystery.

 

Ways to connect with Clare Davidson:

Website: http://claredavidson.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClareMDavidson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClareMDavidson

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6445758.Clare_Davidson

New releases mailing list: http://eepurl.com/zpjGf

Splitting Sequels...

I find it somewhat distressing, this recent trend of film adaptations of books being split up into multiple parts. First there was Harry Potter: All the other books, they just cut subplots out left and right in order to fit everything into the allotted 2 1/2 hour time frame. But the final book... They decided there was just so much stuff, they couldn't possibly cut it, or fit it all into one movie, so we got Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 1, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2.

Then along came Twilight, announcing that, wouldn't you know it? The final book of THEIR series is just too big and grandiose to fit into one movie too! So they released The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - part 1, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - part 2.

After that was The Hobbit. Peter Jackson said right from the beginning that he planned to split the film up into two parts. But then, all of a sudden, not long before part 1 was released, he announced that, try though he might, he just couldn't cut this epic saga down to two films, so he would have to make it into three. It didn't matter that Mr. Jackson previously managed to fit each book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy into just ONE movie apiece, even though they're all longer than The Hobbit. The Hobbit is different, and requires a trilogy all its own.

And now, I've just been on IMDb and discovered another addition to this ever-growing trend. Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy, is going to be split into two parts as well. They haven't even begun pre-production yet, and they already know they need more time for this book than one movie will allow. Even though one movie is fine for the first and second books, it won't do for the third.

What distresses me about this trend is not the blatant Hollywood Greed that it demonstrates, wanting to squeeze that extra bit of profit out of their series. I'm in marketing, so I understand the compulsion. If it's something I want to see badly enough, I'll gladly pay for it again. If not, then I won't even pay for it once, so what does it matter to me?

No, what irks me about it is that there's no room for this kind of doubling up on the book end of things. If I write a trilogy of books, Hollywood can sell at least four movies from it. But I only get to sell three books! If I want to sell a fourth book, I have to start from scratch and write another book! Which Hollywood can then turn into two more movies! Where's the justice in that?

Fortunately, I've come up with a solution. I'm going to start work on a new Young Adult trilogy. I'm going to call it Sequel Splitters. The individual books won't have titles, because by the time they get to the film stage, they'll all be called by the name of the first book anyway. New Moon and Breaking Dawn are still the Twilight Saga. Catching Fire and Mockingjay are just the Hunger Games books. Heck, I'm a big Harry Potter fan, and even I just refer to them most of the time as "the fourth Harry Potter book, the fifth Harry Potter book," etc. So why come up with extra titles if no one's going to use them?

No, the first book is just going to be called "Sequel Splitters: Part 1." The second will be "Sequel Splitters: Part 2." Then the third book I'm going to cut in half and release the two halves a few months apart. "Sequel Splitters: Part 3 - Part 1" and "Sequel Splitters: Part 3 - Part 2."

Then, when Hollywood gets around to adapting them, they can split BOTH final books into two movies. "Sequel Splitters: Part 3 - Part 1, Part 1," and so on. They may decide to throw in a Roman numeral or a "The Final Chapter" or something, to keep things from getting too convoluted, but I rather hope not.

But whatever they decide to call them, the result is the same: Four books and six movies out of one trilogy. Publishers and producers alike will be practically when I try to sell them on this. It can't fail! We'll all be rich! I just need to...


Wait, what's that? Plot? Characters? Actual words written on the page? Spoilsports.