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Guest Files Guest Posts

Meet Damian Ward (the Blood Angel Series)

Greetings everyone and thanks for stopping by. Today I’ll be adding a special insert into my Character Files with the help of a guest consultant, a.k.a. author Nina Soden. Today we are going to get to know Damian from the Blood Angel Series.

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Before we delve into this character, let’s learn a bit about our guest consultant, Nina Soden. She has bachelor’s degrees in Theatre and Military Science making her great for this profiling position, but she’s not all work and no play. Nina has a love for all things art, including poetry, theatre, and film.

Learn more about Nina Soden here:  BLOG | AMAZON AUTHOR SITE

Without further ado, let’s see what this guy, Damian, is all about.

nomaleBasic Stats

Full Name: Damian Ward

Birth Date: May 24, 1993

Sex: Male

Height: 6’

Weight: 165 lbs. – Slender build with a chiseled face

Eye color: Silver/Grey

Hair color and length: Brown / Short

Language(s): English – Although he suffers from selective mutism due to a trauma he suffered as a young child.

Preferences

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Food: Steak

Favorite Book or Movie: Lord of the Rings (book and movie)

Favorite Music: Alternative

Favorite Pastime: Reading

Other likes: History

Biography:

As a young child Damian watched as his father’s life was brutally taken from him. Damian only survived because of his burning anger and growing hopes to one day seek revenge against the man—no, monster—that had killed his father. He struggled with selective mutism from that day forward, until he met Alee and learned a new form of communication. Their telepathic connection was only the beginning of Damian’s awakening. Soon he learned that his family’s bloodline held secrets that he never dreamed existed. With his new gift of transformation, Damian was able to see the world through new eyes with a new sense of purpose and strength. What he did with that power was devastating, but everyone makes mistakes—Damian learned from his. In Revenge, the soon to be released final installment of the Blood Angel Series, we learn that Damian, once Alee’s best friend, just might be her worst enemy and only person she can really trust.

Damian’s purpose in the Blood Angel Series

The Blood Angel Series focuses on Alee Moyer, a young girl who discovers there is more to life than anything she could have ever imagined. Having been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia at a young age she spends most of her childhood in and out of hospitals. However, soon after her father’s death she learns that her real affliction isn’t something that is covered in the medical books. She is the first surviving dhampir in history, part vampire and part witch, and her life is about to change forever. Damian, although he has his own struggles and challenges to overcome throughout his childhood, is thrown into Alee’s life mid high school and although they don’t know it at first they were born to be enemies that won’t be able to survive without each other.

How does Damian feel about his/her book peers?

Damian’s sole focus is revenge, until he meets Alee and starts to experience feelings he has never had before. He learns to open up, develops closer friendships, and even begins his transformation from a mere human to a powerful lycanthrope. Although Damian and Alee share a strong connection, it isn’t until it’s too late before he realizes that what he is feeling is love. His best friend, Kyle, quickly becomes his rival when Kyle and Alee start dating. Victoria, Damian’s twin sister, is the only one he can turn to as their world begins to change around them and the reality of what it means to be a lycanthrope settles in.

About the Blood Angel Series

Awaken (book 1):

Awaken is set in a world very much like our own, yet Atlanta isn’t just an ordinary city and Alee Moyer isn’t just an ordinary girl. Having barely survived her childhood it will take the death of her father for the truth of her true bloodline to come out. Even if it means losing her life, or at least her identity she won’t be able to escape her true destiny as the first surviving Dhampir in history. Surrounded by a new world where the horror films she grew up watching have become reality and the most unlikely characters have become her lifeline, Alee will struggle to find herself and her purpose.

Beginnings (book 2):

Having lost her family Alee has been thrown into a new life and new world. Camouflaged by the mundane happenings of a high school existence she would never have guessed what was happening below the surface in, “The Underground”. She’s a Dhampir, the first in history, but with that power also comes danger. Will Alee be able to survive her destiny or will it prove more powerful than she?

Revenge (book 3):

Having died in her father’s arms only to awaken in a pool of blood surrounded by the corpses of the mutilated, her true love among them, who could blame her for what she did next? Wouldn’t you seek REVENGE?

Part horror thriller – part tender romance and filled with magic and paranormal delights – the Blood Angel Series will leave readers wanting more!

Awaken (book 1): http://amzn.com/0985885300 | http://wp.me/P1Ft9W-4K

Beginnings (book 2): http://amzn.com/B00D3G7RWM | http://wp.me/P1Ft9W-7J

Revenge (book 3): http://wp.me/P1Ft9W-bR

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Well now, that was fascinating. I am very pleased with this special insert to the Character Files from the ToiBox. I think my guest consultant, author Nina Soden, did a wonderful job and I wish her all the best with Damian and all the other characters from the Blood Angel Series. Be sure to pick up your pre-order copy of Revenge today, before its release in late August.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books Guest Posts

Review: The Reader of Acheron

The Reader of Acheron Review

By Jaq D. Hawkins

Amazon

Traditional Fantasy as it should be. The story begins with a wizard’s apprentice learning his letters, but the mood soon turns dark as the reader is brought into a world where reading is forbidden and a collusion of renegade magicians is formed.

What I loved about this story is that it drew me in right away, instantly transported into a fantasy world where the parameters were clear even as I learned each detail of the world as I went along. This is a mark of well-written Fantasy fiction. It has all the testosterone-laced marks of the sword & sorcery genre; mercenaries, a runaway slave, renegades who hide their ability to recognise letters and that sort of mock-medieval feeling to the imaginary world.

I noted that it held my interest more than a better-known classic fantasy novel (big 6 published) that I’ve been reading at the same time. There is hope, we do have a new generation of Fantasy writers who can tell a story that is both intriguing and full of action. We just have to sift through the self-published slush pile to find these gems. I will be keeping an eye on Walter Rhein.

Rhein can write a good battle scene. Just enough description to make the movie play in your head. The book finishes on a note that leaves the door open for the inevitable sequel, but with an interesting world established, I may well have to read it. I can see this series developing as it goes along and look forward to reading more from this author.

This review has been posted to Amazon US and Amazon UK.

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If you enjoyed this review, why not check out more from Jaq D. Hawkins? See what she likes to read and learn about her own writing. Go ahead and click the images provided to add these books to your Amazon wish lists or purchase.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Excerpts Guest Posts

Dance of the Goblins by Jaq D Hawkins

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Book Title: Dance of the Goblins -new expanded 3rd edition

Series: The Goblin Series

Author Name: Jaq D Hawkins

Publisher: Golbin Publishing

Reading Level: mid-grade to adult

Genre: fantasy

Content Rating: PG

Available Formats: paperback, ebook, audio- coming soon.

Number of Pages: 241

Purchase Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords (all e-formats) |
Lulu (paperback)

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The Blurb

They say that the earth shifts on its axis every 200,000 years…

When the planet shifted, most of the surface dwellers were destroyed. The few pockets of survivors were left without technology and little supplies, but they built a simple feudal society on the rubble of the city.

Meanwhile the creatures in the deep places moved closer to the surface, taking over the old underground transport tunnels abandoned by the humans. Their own Shamanic way of life had survived only by staying out of sight of the humans who habitually killed what they did not understand.

Five generations of humans passed and the descendants of survivors settled into a way of life that was simple but satisfying, until one day a man wandered into one of the old tunnels…

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Excerpt

The man alternately fought his bindings and tried to appear aggressive to the goblins, as much as a captive with arms and legs bound might do. He puffed out his chest, shouting threats one moment and in the next he would shrink from the prodding, looking pathetic. Haghuf had little taste for such sport, and had just about decided to retreat quietly and leave them to it when the human suddenly saw him standing in the arch of the cavern opening, quiet and still as the stone.

‘You! Are you the leader here?’ shouted the man with all the authority he could muster. Haghuf didn’t answer right away. Slowly, he strolled towards the man, looking at him curiously as if he had never seen such a creature before. In truth, he had seen very few up close in his lifetime. He preferred to keep it that way.

Everything in the room seemed to stop as Haghuf examined the prisoner, crouching down slowly to look him in the eye as was the custom among goblins when engaging an enemy. The human’s chest heaved with quick, shallow breaths. He licked his lips nervously, caught up in the moment of suspense while he waited for an answer. Haghuf turned his head to look at the creature sideways, first one way then the other. Then at last he spoke in his low, gravely voice, slowly and deliberately in the man’s own tongue.

‘We have no leader. We are all one kind here.’

The human’s eyes darted from one goblin to another. His expression exposed his utter bewilderment at the concept of a leaderless race.

‘But surely someone must be in charge?’ he cried, almost desperately. Haghuf again took his time in answering.

‘We are not like you. We do not glory in having power over our own kind.’ Haghuf turned to walk away. Then as an afterthought added over his shoulder, ‘Or imagining that we do.’

‘What shall we do with him?’ shouted one of the goblins.

‘Kill him,’ Haghuf answered flatly, just as he passed back through the arch.

Haghuf chuckled to himself as he walked out of the side cavern. It didn’t matter to him whether the goblins behind him took his suggestion or not. His amusement came from the knowledge that to the human who could not comprehend non-authority, it would have sounded like an order from a superior.

Click here to see a 5 star consumer review of this book by Diane Rapp.

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The Author

image provided by author

Jaq D Hawkins is a published writer with 10 books in publication in the Mind, Body, Spirit genre published by Capall Bann Publishing, as well as four Fantasy novels in print and E-book; The Wake of the Dragon, Dance of the Goblins, Demoniac Dance, and, Power of the Dance, published by Golbin Publishing.

Information on all titles can be found through her website at http://www.jaqdhawkins.co.uk

Samples from various projects occasionally appear on her blog at http://indiewritenet.com/jaqdhawkins/

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords