The Seren Stone by Lisa Shambrook Release

When Loren and her siblings’ lives change in an instant,
and dragons fill the skies above,
they will need to face danger with courage, and a little cowardly lechrad…
The Seren Stone by Lisa Shambrook

Today, April 5th, sees the release of The Seren Stone, a fantasy tale that puts Loren in a time and place she knows she shouldn’t be with no way to get home. How would you feel?

This was never meant to be an epic adventure… all Loren did was try on a family heirloom pendant and then she and her younger brother and sister were vaulted into a future they couldn’t recognise – with dragons!

Imagine Loren’s fear and sense of responsibility as the decisions she takes throws them into a situation that puts her siblings into mortal danger…

This book is a fast paced, descriptive journey into an unfamiliar world which suits readers of all ages, from children to adult. As an autistic author emotions are something I work with daily and that comes through in my writing. Courage and self-belief in the face of fear is also something I fight with, but Loren needs to face her crushing fears and with help from a few dragons and a little lechrad – she might just do that!

The Seren Stone, published by BHCPress, is available in all your favourite bookshops:

BHC Press – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Barnes & Noble – Waterstones –
Indigo – Kobo – Google Play – Apple

Available as ebook, paperback, and hardback as bookshops offer.

The Seren Stone will test your courage as you fly on dragon wings
 and fight for survival in an unfamiliar land…

The Seren Stone by Lisa Shambrook

Dead Lake by Miranda Kate

‘Sometimes it pays to be tricky…’

I’d slipped out of my own writing and editing, and hadn’t read a book in ages, then Miranda sent me Dead Lake to beta read and I got lost in it! It reignited my own words and a desire to write again. Dead Lake has been out for a while now, and I’m still thinking about it.

From Monday Feb 14th Dead Lake will be on sale for 7 full days – up to and including the 20th of February. The price will be 99p/99c.

Seriously, if you like fantasy, crystals, forests, magic, and a heroine with bite and attitude, then you need to read this…

Tricky is searching for her lost Obsidian gemstone… © Lisa Shambrook

I really loved Tricky, the main character, and I knew I would, but I got caught up in her confidence and sass, and appreciated the times her vulnerability shone through. So, I asked Miranda what she loved about Tricky, and about writing her character:

Miranda said: I love her humour, her honesty, the way she flirts with any good looking man, and also her wily nature. She’s everything I want to be: confident, sure of herself, and lives her life on her terms.

She always makes me smile. She’s that inner part of yourself only you don’t dare let others see, because they might be offended. It’s like letting a part of me escape every time I write about her.

I agree, this is exactly how I saw her too!

Here’s my review:

‘Sometimes it pays to be tricky

Damn and blast! That rancid piece of excrement, Carter, has had her ransacked out of Clancy!

Tricky returns to her cottage to find it turned upside down. An action that means she’s got three days to leave the district or face punishment. Randolf Carter, head of the district, is spreading lies and suspicion about her kind, making life difficult. But it wasn’t just an ordinary ransacking – they were searching for something.

Using her gifts, Tricky traces the energy left by the men and spies another creature’s energy among it: a jackdaw. Swift and wily, it’s pinched her precious gemstone, a piece of black obsidian. But at whose bidding? Communicating with birds is a rare ability and she knows all who possess it.

Tricky wants her stone back, but coming up against people like Carter won’t be easy, especially when he’s got one of her kind in his employ. But she’ll handle it, oh yes she will. She’ll just have to be careful and a little bit tricky. Good thing she is then, isn’t it?

Adept at working with energy and time as well as communicating with trees, Tricky is lured into something bigger than ownership of a gemstone, and finds out that sometimes it pays to be a little bit tricky.

Dead Lake is a dark paranormal fantasy novel set a few hundred years from now in a post-apocalyptic world. After a massive shift of the tectonic plates decimated the world and its population, life on the remaining landmass has returned to simple living, with money, rulers and religion no longer tolerated.’

If you’re looking for a great book and a bargain,
you’ll not go wrong with Dead Lake and Tricky!

Why Do You Read?

I read because there are so many stories out there,
so many lives I’ll never be able to lead,
so many worlds in other peoples’ imaginations that I want to visit,
and my soul has a need to discover the words other people write.

I read for the same reason I write. I have to. My own imagination is vivid. I have worlds inside my head, and dreams that need to escape, and these are the very reasons I read. If I have these amazing visions in my head that need to breakout onto paper, then I want to read the imaginations of those around me, I want to know their stories too.

Pinterest

As a writer and author the reasons people read fascinate me, for several purposes: firstly, I’m curious, and perhaps a little nosy! Secondly, as an author, I want to write books people want to read; and thirdly, it’s a subject that seems to divide.

I belong to many communities: family, church, online, book-club, local, neighbourhood – and everyone has a different reason for reading…

George R. R. Martin – Tyrion – Game of Thrones

I asked my family and got different responses. My son only used to read short fiction because it was easy and he struggled with a tendency towards dyspraxia and dyslexia. My husband reads about things he’s interested in, ‘both fact and fiction’, and both my daughters read ‘to escape reality’, and ‘to escape into another world that’s better than this one.’.

Lisa Shambrook World Book Day 2014

I’ve got friends who love biographies, but not fiction, others who want to read to learn, and some who read just for the sake of reading. Some readers want absorbing stories but shy away from horror or sorrow. There are others who yearn for an emotional response, who need to commit and feel the emotion; those who want to be scared by horror, or weep amidst a tragedy, and whoop with delight as characters rise and triumph, and some who just need to escape.

So, I thought I’d ask you, the reader – why do you read?

Samuel Johnson – Blue Harvest Creative

Lastly, why do you read the books you do, do you choose because you love a specific genre, or author, or do you love an eclectic mix?

Do you stick to traditionally published works, or love to discover more from up and coming indie authors?

(If you read my latest author interviews, you’ll discover some of my favourite books from the last year…)

What books sit side-by-side upon your bookshelf? Tell me the books that have affected you the most, and tell me why you love them!

Source

A-Z Book Survey…

Following in the wake of Ang over at Ang Writes and Eric over at Project Gemini, I thought I’d answer these twenty-six book related questions in the A-Z Book Survey, which was created by Jamie over at The Perpetual Page Turner…go take a look now and see why she started this!

By Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

Author(s) You’ve Read The Most Books From: 

Garth Nix, JRR Tolkien, Harlan Coben (and we might leave my childhood preference for ‘The Famous Five’ and ‘Malory Towers’ by Enid Blyton out of this!)

Best Sequel Ever:
‘Lirael’ the sequel to ‘Sabriel’ in the ‘Abhorsen’ Trilogy from Garth Nix…I didn’t think it could get better, but ‘Lirael’ blew me away!

Currently Reading:
‘Dead Sea Games: Exiled’ J. Whitworth Hazzard…can’t wait for the next one either.

Drink of Choice While Reading:
Water or something like Blueberry juice.

E-reader or Physical Book?
I love both. I didn’t think paperbacks could ever be bettered, but the accessibility of ebooks and the ease of storage is making a difference to my buying habits. I love my Kindle, but still love the feel of a paperback in my hands…I love flicking pages…

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:
I was way too shy to have dated in High School…

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:
I wasn’t going to read ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar, but when I did I loved it and it made me cry…I avoid the movie at all costs though.

Hidden Gem Book:
‘I am David’ by Ann Holm, I owned it as a child, and meant to read it, but didn’t ‘til I was in my twenties…I adored it. I also have to add ‘Ella-Minnow-Pea’ by Mark Dunn a brilliantly original book where letters of the alphabet are removed from the community in the book and subsequently removed from the text too! And…’What I Was’ by Meg Rosof, a twist that I wished I’d thought up myself…wonderful!

By Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

Important Moment In Your Reading Life:
Funnily enough, probably the first Harry Potter as when I’d finished, I suddenly thought, hey, I could do this too, and I began writing.
Second is when I was 11 my teacher read us ‘Over Sea, Under Stone’ by Susan Cooper, and I was hooked. ‘The Dark is rising Sequence’ the whole collection from Susan Cooper totally changed my reading habits, one of my most read and thumbed through books!

Just Finished:
‘The Selkie Sorceress’ by the lovely Sophie Moss.

Kind of Books You Won’t Read:
I generally don’t rule anything out, but I’m not a fan of erotica.

Longest Book You’ve Read:
Probably ‘The Lord of the Rings’ if you count them as one book…which takes me to 1069 pages in my omnibus version, though it is set up as six books…the appendices, which I have also devoured takes it to 1172 pages…

Major Book Hangover Because Of:
Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’…just kept me thinking…

Number Of Bookcases You Own:
At least six…all packed. I grew up in a home packed with bookcases and books…I could browse anything anytime!

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:
As a teen my favourite book (series) ‘The Silver Brumby’ by Elyne Mitchel and it still delights me even to this day!

Preferred Place To Read:
Curled up on the sofa, or in bed…

Quote That Inspires You/Gives You All The Feels From A Book You’ve Read:
“Have I gone mad?” “I’m afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are.” – Lewis Carroll from ‘Alice in Wonderland’

Reading Regret:
Watching movies of The Book before reading The Book…or even the other way round, only a handful of movies manage to work!
Oh, and reading ‘New Moon’ in the Twilight saga…barely got through it without wanting to strangle Bella or myself. Also see above comment about movies…

Series You Started And Need To Finish:
I read Christopher Paolini’s ‘Eragon’ and enjoyed it, then ‘Eldest’…got a bit bored by his extended descriptions…and have both ‘Brisingr’ and ‘Inheritance’, but just haven’t found the time or inclination to delve…
…and in need to read the latest ‘Artemis Fowl’ by Eoin Colfer, as I love those!

Three Of Your All-time Favourite Books:
‘Loser’ by Jerry Spinelli…a beautiful book, which I love because it reminds me of my own style.
‘Lirael’ Garth Nix, I love the ‘Abhorsen’ Trilogy.
And it has to be ‘The Hobbit’ followed by ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

Unapologetic Fangirl For:
Narnia and Middle-Earth, and anything by Garth Nix.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:
I’m excited for imminent releases by my indie author friends…there are several on the horizon!

Worst Bookish Habit:
Flicking pages with my thumb as I read…

By Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

X Marks The Spot: Start At The Top Left Of Your Shelf & Pick the 27th Book:
‘The Hobbit’ JRR Tolkien…

Your Latest Book Purchase:
‘Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire’ by Paul Ramey…which I loved. I have a £25 Amazon voucher sitting patiently, but my list is so long, I still need to decide what books to buy with it!
The first book on my next to purchase list is ‘Acid’ by Emma Pass.

Zzzzz… Last Book That Kept You Up Way Too Late:
I stayed up way past ‘lights out’ to finish ‘The Selkie Sorceress’