Clockwork Menagerie by Karen Kincy | Birthday Celebration & Giveaway

Happy Birthday!

Karen Kincy

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to—

Oh, wait, I’m sharing my birthday? Right! This September 1st means I get one more year and one
more book. Clockwork Menagerie, a companion novella to my Shadows of Asphodel series, comes out today. The story follows the archmage Konstantin into Russia during the bitter winter of 1914. If you know Konstantin, you won’t be surprised when he gets into trouble with technomancy, clockwork beasts, and a certain handsome airship captain.

Since today happens to be a double birthday, we need cake. Myself, I’m partial to chocolate mint cake with a rich glaze, which my mom bakes upon request. Konstantin, on the other hand, lives and works in Vienna, Austria. He loves the famous sachertorte, chocolate filled with apricot, though he’s secretly the most fond of strawberry torte for his birthday cake.

Who doesn’t love birthday presents? Konstantin daydreams about all the mechanical trinkets and upgrades he could acquire for his laboratory. He hopes that someone will research the latest in technomancy equipment and buy him something cutting edge and dangerous. Though sadly none
of his friends will buy him a gift that might literally blow up in his face.

As for me, I’m pretty bad at guessing about birthday presents. I keep telling people they can always get me more books, but they point to my swaybacked bookshelves and mutter something about me having “too many,” which is obviously impossible. Konstantin would agree with me, though he tends to read more nonfiction than fiction.

When is Konstantin’s birthday? That’s a secret in the books, but I’ll go ahead and tell you it’s February 13. The day before Valentine’s Day, which means blackmail material for more presents. Not that Konstantin would ever do anything so diabolical—he limits his schemes to bigger and better experiments, never mind that they often backfire.

Happy birthday, Clockwork Menagerie, and go party with readers!

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Clockwork Menagerie (Shadows of Asphodel, #2.5), by Karen Kincy

Genre: Historical-fantasy romance

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Date of Release: September 1, 2015

Cover Artist: Eugene Teplitsky

Find Online: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

Description:

A companion novella to the Shadows of Asphodel series, from Konstantin's point of view.

1914. Konstantin would love to hide in his laboratory and dissect the clockwork dragon captured from Russia, but the Archmages of Vienna have other plans. He finds himself shipped off to St. Petersburg as the scientific attaché to an ambassador. His orders? Look, but don't touch. Of course, he considers this an impossible request with so much enemy technomancy to explore.

To make matters worse, Konstantin has to work with the dashing zeppelin commander Himmel, a man who should also be untouchable. They can't act on the smoldering attraction between them without risking it all. Faced with an illegal relationship and a devious rival technomancer, Konstantin might not return from this mission in Russia without conquering the forbidden.

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About The Author:

Karen Kincy (Kirkland, Washington) can be found lurking in her writing cave, though sunshine will lure her outside. When not writing, she stays busy gardening, tinkering with aquariums, or running just one more mile. Karen has a BA in Linguistics and Literature from The Evergreen State College.

Find Karen Kincy Online:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY:

Dragon Steampunk Necklace (found here on etsy)

Open to US 

Ends Sept. 16th

Prizing is provided by the publisher. Hosts are not responsible. Prize is shipped directly from the etsy seller. If there is an issue a similar item may be used to replace it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

Cover Reveal: Dead New World (Adult Action Dystopian)

I'm excited to be a part of the cover reveal for Dead New World by Ryan Hill, an Action Dystopian that releases October 13th by Curiosity Quills Press.

Description:

Zombies aren’t mindless anymore.

Before the world fell into chaos, the undead existed only in the imagination. Now, more of them walk the earth than living. Zombies move about freely, while humans entomb themselves inside concrete barricades to stay alive.

All that, while the leader of a powerful cult - known only as Reverend - becomes the next threat to the rebuilding United States. Believing zombies to be God’s latest creation, making humanity obsolete, he wants to give every man, woman, and child the chance to become one. With his combined army of humans and zombies, he may well get his wish.

Best friends Holt and Ambrose went up against the Reverend once. Holt lost a foot and a zombie bit Ambrose…though he survived the virus, only to become a human-zombie hybrid, reviled by the living and unwelcome among the dead. When the Reverend kidnaps the woman Holt loves, the race is on to save her from a fate worse than death.

Add on Goodreads 

Enter the Goodreads Giveaway!

 
Excerpt:
I tried to get a good look at him, but the lack of light made it impossible. “They said most people don’t last a day after being bitten. You’ve made it four. I guess I should congratulate you.” Surviving this awful disease longer than most. What a terrible silver lining. I bet he wished the virus would get it over with and turn him.

“Yeah, lucky me.” Ambrose coughed into his bed sheets. “Maybe they’ll give me a prize, like some bacon or something.”

“What… what does it feel like?”

Ambrose shrugged. “Kind of like being sick. Had a fever at first, then some numbness over part of my body.”

“Is it getting any worse?”

“No.” Ambrose sniffed. “Some parts still feel like me, others… like these gray parts, nothing.” He pointed at his arm where the skin had turned a sickly gray. “They’re dead, I guess.”

Nancy loudly cleared her throat. “We need to get you back to your room. They patrol this place pretty regularly, especially when we have… guests.”

I nodded to her, then turned my attention back to Ambrose. “I have to go. I’m sorry. I wish it was me in there, instead of you.”

Ambrose stepped up to the window. The light from the hallway revealed his face. For the first time, I got a glimpse of what his loyalty to me cost him. I froze, unable to take a breath for a long beat. One of his eyes remained normal, but the other took on that awful redness. Patches of dead skin were all over his face. The guilt rising up seemed almost too much to bear. What kind of hell had I sent my friend to?

About the Author:
Growing up, Ryan Hill used to spend his time reading and writing instead of doing homework. This resulted in an obsession with becoming a writer, but also a gross incompetence in the fields of science and mathematics. A graduate of North Carolina State University, Ryan has been a film critic for over five years. He lives in Raleigh, NC, with his dog/shadow Maggie. Ryan also feels strange about referring to himself in the third person.

Find him at: www.ryanhillwrites.com | Facebook | Twitter @J_Ryan