I thought I would start this tour stop out with an excerpt from this fine author I have featured before on this blog. This tour was sponsored by-
Excerpt from Nacreous, Harmony Run Series, Book four…
For
the rest of the walk I tried not to let fear creep over me, but the more I
thought about Nata coming, the harder it was. Still, Takara had said we’d be
okay. Help was on the way. I just had to believe.
We
were led down a series of hallways and through somewhat familiar doors until
finally we were pushed into a fairly large interrogation room. I recognized the
set-up from my last trip here. But this room was larger. There were chairs
lined up in a long row, twice as many chairs as there were people and a bright
solar light illuminated the chairs in an otherwise dark, concrete room. My eyes
instinctively searched the ground, checking for holes or iron bars like the
last room I’d been questioned in. Either there weren’t any holes to lock people
in here or I couldn’t find them. Part of me knew they’d be located in the dark
corners, away from the light and though it should have made me more afraid, the
hole was beginning to concern me less as I thought about the impending arrival
of Nata.
Hands
pushed me forward, and I was shoved into a metal chair. Glancing in either
direction, I noticed that Marcello was right next to me on one side, and the
crazy man was right beside him on the other side. But there were still six more
empty chairs to my right.
Before
I could wonder about the empty chairs any longer, the door opened and tension
filled me anew. Was it Nata? She was here?
Surprise
and relief replaced my tension as a tall man with light brown hair, Officer
Eric Collins, our secret ally from the Elizabeth Guard, spared me a quick
glance as he entered the room. Maybe Takara had sent him here. I closed my eyes.
“Marcello, maybe Eric is our help. He’ll
help us get out of here,” I said
excitedly.
“I’m not sure about that,” Marcello
replied.
I
opened my eyes and glanced towards Marcello, noting his alarmed expression. I
snapped my head back to the door, expecting to see Nata. Why else would
Marcello’s eyes have seemed so fearful?
But
as my eyes settled on the doorway it wasn’t our evil dictator who was entering
the room. It was a group of more prisoners, six to be exact, staggering into
the room with another Droid Dog behind them. Their mouths weren’t covered with
tape like our own, but their hands were cuffed.
The
second prisoner in line stopped dead in her tracks as our eyes met. A drumming
sound filled my ears. No. This
couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t Nata, but it was worse.
The
Authority had arrested my mom.
*Excerpt compliments of Winter
Goose Publishing*
Thanks so
much for stopping by the blog tour. If you read any of the books, I’d be
flattered if you left a review and connected with my page on Facebook, where
I’ll keep you updated on future books. J
~Sarah
People
occasionally ask me why I write dystopian fiction. I like writing dystopian
because it is a release of all of the crazy things running through my mind.
Dystopian allows you to explore questions like…What if the government became a
dictatorship? What if people weren’t allowed to go to school? What if teenagers
could save the world because their parents have lost hope? What if?
I
admit I have an overactive imagination. (I’ve seen every episode of The Walking
Dead, and even though I know zombies aren’t real, I still check my closets and
look under the bed for zombies after each and every episode). Anyhow, I think
my parents had a lot to do with how I write today. One of their favorite dinner
table conversations growing up was deciding which of their children, (there are
three of us), they’d pick to be stranded on the infamous deserted island with,
if they had to be stuck there with only one. They usually chose my sister
because of her internal GPS system and leadership skills. They often decided on
my brother because he has MacGyver-like qualities, and they were sure he could
build a hut out of sand or something. And they never chose me. Though they
often laughed and said they’d take me if they were interested in being
entertained.
Another
usual at our dinner table was Dad asking if the “bad guys” were to enter our
house at that exact moment, what item in the room around us could be turned
into a weapon. My siblings were very talented at this. Surprise, surprise. Me,
not so much. I usually panicked. (I’d think of a hiding place so they could do
the fighting).
Another
family favorite? Dad’s strategy talks about how when you enter a room, you
should look around immediately, assessing the situation and room for possible
exits, windows included, were any emergency to occur.
I
think my parents came by it honestly. My mom’s dad was a WWII vet who fought in
the Battle of the Bulge. He’d rush his family to the basement when it thunder
stormed, never having recovered from the war or the memories of bombs and
explosions. My dad’s parents took us on a family vacation to the Caribbean
every year, and they’d try to split up flights between my aunt and my dad’s
side, just in case there was a crash. They wanted some of the family to survive
to take care of the family business. That always freaked me out. I’d worry the
entire flight. (About not only crashing, but trying to figure out what was
wrong with my family). J
My
family always had movie night growing up. Every Sunday. We would either go see
one at the theater or rent one and watch it in our basement. The genre of
choice was always action, usually a thriller. I remember watching scenes where
someone would go outside to investigate the “strange noise” in the night, and
my family would be yelling at the screen. (If we were home. They were well
behaved in theaters. Mostly). They’d yell for the character to go back inside.
Of course, the character never would. My brother would always be the first to
point out the girl character who was going to get killed by not reacting rationally. He’d yell at the screen as
she tried to start her car but couldn’t even get the keys into the ignition
because her hands couldn’t stop shaking from fear.
I
was sitting in my driveway last week, trying to start my car. I couldn’t get
the key in properly, and I started to panic. The more I panicked, the more my
fingers fumbled and I couldn’t get my key in. I could hear my brother’s voice
in my head saying, “Hurry up, Sarah. You’re gonna die. The bad guys are going
to get you. Start the car!” After a moment, I started laughing at myself.
Eventually, I pulled it together and managed to insert the key properly to
start the car.
Anyhow…Why
do I write dystopian? I think you get the point. I guess never getting chosen
for Survival Island, never quite figuring out what to make a weapon out of, and
just those what if conversations in general really stayed with me. I promise
you right now, that if you were to go to either one of my parents’ houses or my
siblings’, you’d find emergency supplies in their basements complete with
water, food, and back up power supplies in case of an emergency. I barely have
my fridge stocked right now by the way. My plan is to head to one of their
houses when the world ends. I just hope I make it there in time…I guess it
makes sense that I never was picked for that island.
I
smile affectionately when I think of my childhood and when I think of my
family. True, they may have scarred this introvert for life, ha, ha, ha, but
they have to be credited for inspiring me to write some of the dystopian
stories I write today. Thanks so much for stopping by the blog tour. If you’d
like to risk getting inside of this head a little bit, all four books are on
sale right now for only $1.99 each on Kindle. If you read any of the books, I’d
be flattered if you left a review and connected with my page on Facebook, where
I’ll keep you updated on future books. You just never know what this dystopian
writer will come up with next. J
~Sarah
Sarah Elle Emm is the author of the HARMONY RUN SERIES, a
young-adult fantasy and dystopian series, released in May 2012 by Winter Goose
Publishing. (PRISMATIC, May 2012, OPALESCENT, February 2013, CHATOYANT,
September 2014, NACREOUS, August 2015) Her debut fiction novel, MARRYING MISSY,
was published by Bird Brain Publishing in October 2011. Sarah is a graduate of
The University of Evansville, she has lived and worked in Mexico, Germany,
England, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and has traveled extensively beyond. Sarah
lives in Naples, Florida with her family. When she’s not walking the plank of
her daughters’ imaginary pirate ship or snapping photos of Southwest Florida
scenery, she is writing.
About the Books:
Rare glimpses of birds are the only reminder of the freedoms Rain Hawkins once had. Now segregated into a mixed-race zone within the United Zones of the Authority, under tyrannical rule of President Nicks, Rain is forced to endure the bleak conditions set upon her. The possibility of a way out arises when Rain discovers an organized resistance called The Freedom Front, and learns that she, along with many other multi-racial people, has special abilities. Determined to overcome her situation, Rain sets out on a mission with the resistance that will fill her life with wonder, romance, and the undying hope for a better world.
Goodreads I Amazon
Still enslaved in a mixed-race
zone within the United Zones of the Authority, Rain Hawkins is part of a secret
resistance preparing to take on the tyrannical President Nicks before plans to
kill the mixed zones across UZTA are executed. When unsettling dreams and a
mysterious voice begin to haunt the dark nights, Rain fears someone more
powerful than she has discovered the resistance and their secret abilities.
With a known Authority spy on her heels, and her boyfriend, Jabari, suddenly
acting strange, Rain doesn't know who to trust and if the voices calling to her
are friend or foe. As conditions across all of the zones get worse and the
stakes rise, Rain embarks on a quest for answers that will put the people she
cares about most in more danger or take them one step closer to the truth and
their eventual freedom.
In the wake of an interrogation
led by the UZTA's dictator, President Nicks, Rain Hawkins and her friends must
deal with the consequences of their defiance as the countdown continues towards
the execution of the mixed-zone citizens across the United Zones of The
Authority. The Freedom Front faces new challenges as Rain's cousin, Calista,
prepares for her impending relocation to the pure zone, and Rain sets out to
solve the mystery surrounding her mother's torment while being followed by an
officer of the Elizabeth Guard. As she uses her abilities to dodge The
Authority and follows the strange clues from her dreams, Rain is determined to
persevere, to secure the future she and Jabari have been fighting for, and to
earn The Freedom Front's ultimate goal of liberation.
After two members of The Freedom
Front are arrested and interrogated by the UZTA’s tyrannical President Nicks,
Rain Hawkins and her friends face the alarming reality that their plans to
liberate the mixed zones across the United Zones of The Authority might not
come to fruition. While the resistance movement is growing outside the walls of
the zones, the president’s forces are strengthening and putting citizens
everywhere in more peril than ever. When Rain receives warnings that her
cousin, Calista, has agreed to support plans to kill the mixed zones, and that
her life could be on the line at the upcoming pure zone initiation ceremony,
she must decide where her loyalties lie and if all of her allies can be
trusted. As The Freedom Front use their abilities to unravel the mystery of the
ceremony, The Authority captures some of their friends, forcing TFF to either
go into hiding, or plan a rescue mission that could jeopardize everything
they’ve been fighting for.
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