Promo Post: Top 10 Pirate Words and Phrases - Blacksouls (Blackhearts #2) by Nicole Castroman

Book info:

Title:  Blacksouls  
Author:  Nicole Castroman
Series:  Blackhearts #2  
Genre:  YA Historical Fiction
Published:  April 11th, 2017

Synopsis:
 
Nicole Castroman brings the dangerous pirate ports of the Caribbean to life in this vibrant sequel to Blackhearts—the reimagined origin story of history’s most infamous pirate, Blackbeard.

Edward “Teach” Drummond is setting sail to the Caribbean as first mate on the most celebrated merchant ship in the British fleet—until he rebels against his captain. Mutiny is a capital offense and Teach knows it could cost him his life, but he believes it worth the risk in order to save his crew from the attacking Spanish ships.

Sailing on the same blue waters, Anne barely avoids the Spanish attack, making it safely to Nassau. But lawless criminals, corrupt politics, and dangerous intentions fill the crowded streets of this Caribbean port. Soon, Anne discovers that the man entrusted to keep the peace is quite possibly the most treacherous of them all—and he just happens to hold Teach’s fate in his terrifying hands.

Life and death hang in the balance when Teach and Anne are given a dangerous mission. It’s a mission that will test their love, loyalty and devotion, forcing them down a path neither one could have ever imagined.
 
I loved the first book in this series, Blackhearts, so when the opportunity to be a part of an Irish Banana tour for book two arose, I took it! Now, I actually ended up that I'm going to be on two tours for it, so look for my review on another tour later this month.  My idea for this post was something I thought would be fun, pirate words and phrases!  Who doesn't love that, not to mention Talk Like a Pirate Day in September, this year on September 19th.  Of course we know a lot of them from movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, but others are just famous.  So I looked up to find what I felt were the 10 most well-known and my favorite pirate phrases or words.  Have fun reading through them, and when you've finished, you'll not only be ready for this year's Talk Like  Pirate Day, but you'll be in the mood to read Blacksouls as well.

1.  Ahoy! - An energetic greeting to yer fellow mate...like hello.

2. Arrr!! - An interjection that can mean many different things:  Yes, I agree, I'm happy, or many other things!

3.  Avast ye! - Stop and pay attention.
 
4.  Booty - No, I'm not talking about your backside, but in this case it is a pirate's treasure.

5.  Davy Jones' Locker - Mythical place at the bottom of the ocean where the evil spirit of Davy Jones (not the singer from the band The Monkees) brings sailor and pirates to die.

6.  Dead men tell no tales - It means take no prisoners and leave no survivors, that way there won't be any witnesses.

7.  Jolly Roger - This is the famous pirate flag with the skull and cross-bones.  It was usually put up to convince someone to surrender.  The cover of this book looks like one!

8.    Matey - A friendly greeting towards someone who could be a friend or shipmate.

9.  Shiver Me Timbers - An expression of shock, surprise, or annoyance, kinda like saying, "Oh crap!"

10.  Walk the Plank - It's the act of punishment where they usually blindfold the prisoner and then force them to walk on a board jutting out from the side of the ship until they fall into the sea and are left to die.

So, are you talking like a pirate now?  :-)

About the author:

Nicole was lucky enough to come with her very own best friend...she has a twin sister who can read her mind and finish her sentences for her. 

At the age of 13, she went to Europe for the first time and it changed her life. She loves learning about different people, languages and cultures and speaks fluent German. She knows enough Spanish to get herself into trouble and can still read the Cyrillic alphabet from when she studied Russian.

She received her B.A. from Brigham Young University and has lived in Germany, Austria and two different places called Georgia. One is located on the Black Sea. The other is the state of Georgia where she now lives with her handsome husband and two beautiful children who continue to amaze her.

And just for fun, here's a picture of me with the author two weeks ago at Apollycon in Orlando, Florida.

 

Spotlight Post: Bookburners by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery

Book info:  
Title:  Bookburners  
Authors:  Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery
Series:  Bookburners #1.1-1.16  
Genre:  Urban fantasy
Published:  January 10th, 2017

The critically acclaimed urban fantasy about a secret team of agents that hunts down dangerous books containing deadly magic—previously released serially online by Serial Box, now available in print for the first time!

Magic is real, and hungry. It’s trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, and only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. She joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad—Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum—and together they stand between humanity and the magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label.

Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code in a fast-paced, kickass character driven novel chock-full of magic, mystery, and mayhem, written collaboratively by a team of some of the best writers working in fantasy.

An Excerpt from Bookburners Episode 1: Badge, Book, and Candle

He set his hand on the book’s cover. Sal hadn’t noticed before how the leather was discolored: most of it matched Perry’s skin, but a crimson bloom spread beneath his fingers. She heard a sound she couldn’t name: a footfall, maybe, or a whisper, very soft. Goose bumps chased goose bumps up her arms.

“Perry, who are the Bookburners? Do you think someone’s following you?”

“I thought you didn’t want to know.”

 She leaned over the couch, over his shoulder, and checked through the blinds. Street still bare. Red Toyota pickup. Honda Civic. Garbage. E-Z Carpet Cleaner van.

“Please, Sal. They would have nabbed me on the way. They did not. Ergo, I wasn’t followed.”

“What the hell is going on?”

Someone knocked on her door.

“Shit,” Perry said.

“Jesus Christ, Perry.” She grabbed her phone off the living room table. “Who is that?”

 “Aiden. Probably.”

 “Mister Brooks?” The man on the other side of the door was unquestionably not Aiden—too old, too sure, too calm. An accent Sal couldn’t place twined through his words. “Mister Brooks, we’re not here to hurt you. We want to talk.”

“Shit,” Perry repeated, for emphasis.

Sal ran to her bedroom and returned with her gun. “Who are you?”

“I’m looking for Mister Brooks. I know he’s in there.”

“If he is, I doubt he’d want to see you.”

“I must talk with him.”

“Sir, I’m a police officer, and I’m armed. Please step away from the door.”

“Has he opened the book?”

 “What?” She looked into the living room. Perry was standing now, holding the book, fingers clenched around the cover like she’d seen men at bay clutch the handles of knives. “Sir, please leave. I’m calling 9-1-1 now.” She pressed the autodial. The line clicked.

“Stop him from opening the book,” the man said. “Please. If he means anything to you, stop him.”

 “Hello. This is Detective Sally Brooks,” and she rattled off her badge number and address. “I have a man outside my apartment who is refusing to leave—”

Something heavy struck the door. Doorjamb timbers splintered. Sally stumbled back, dropped the phone, both hands on the pistol. She took aim.

The door burst free of the jamb and struck the wall. A human wind blew through.

Later, Sal remembered slivers: a stinging blow to her wrist, her gun knocked back against the wall. A woman’s face—Chinese, she thought. Bob haircut. Her knee slammed into Sal’s solar plexus and she fell, gasping, to the splinter-strewn carpet. The woman turned, in slow-motion almost, to the living room where Perry stood.

He held the open book.

His eyes wept tears of blood, and his smile bared sharp teeth.

He spoke a word that was too big for her mind. She heard the woman roar, and glass break. Then darkness closed around her like a mouth.

© 2017 Max Gladstone, with permission from Saga Press

 
 Author Bios:

Max Gladstone:
MAX GLADSTONE has been thrown from a horse in Mongolia, drank almond milk with monks on Wudang Shan, and wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat. Max is also the author of the Craft Sequence of books about undead gods and skeletal law wizards—Full Fathom Five, Three Parts Dead, Two Serpents Rise, and Last First Snow. Max fools everyone by actually writing novels in the coffee shops of Davis Square in Somerville, MA. His dreams are much nicer than you’d expect. He tweets as @maxgladstone. Bookburners, which he wrote with Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery, is available from Saga Press in January.

Margaret Dunlap:

Before joining the Bookburners, MARGARET DUNLAP wrote for ABC Family’s cult-hit The Middleman in addition to working on SyFy’s Eureka. Most recently, she was a writer and co-executive producer of the Emmy-winning transmedia series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and co-created its sequel Welcome to Sanditon. Her short fiction has previously appeared in Shimmer Magazine. Margaret lives in Los Angeles where she taunts the rest of the team with local weather reports and waits for the earthquake that will finally turn Burbank into oceanfront property. She tweets as @spyscribe. Bookburners, which she wrote with Max Gladstone, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery, is available from Saga Press in January.

Mur Lafferty:

MUR LAFFERTY is the author of The Shambling Guides series from Orbit, including the Netfix-optioned The Shambling Guide to New York City and Ghost Train to New Orleans. She has been a podcaster for over 10 years, running award-winning shows such as I Should Be Writing and novellas published via podcast. She has written for RPGs, video games, and short animation. She lives in Durham, NC where she attends Durham Bulls baseball games and regularly pets two dogs. Her family regrets her Dragon Age addiction and wishes for her to get help. She tweets as @mightymur. Bookburners, which she wrote with Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, and Brian Francis Slattery, is available from Saga Press in January.

Brian Francis Slattery:

BRIAN FRANCIS SLATTERY is the author of Spaceman Blues, Liberation, Lost Everything, and The Family Hightower. Lost Everything won the Philip K. Dick Award in 2012. He’s the arts and culture editor for the New Haven Independent, an editor for the New Haven Review, and a freelance editor for a few not-so-secret public policy think tanks. He also plays music constantly with a few different groups in a bunch of different genres. He has settled with his family just outside of New Haven and admits that elevation above sea level was one of the factors he took into account. For one week out of every year, he enjoys living completely without electricity. Bookburners, which he wrote with Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, and Mur Lafferty, is available from Saga Press in January.

Purchase links:

•  Amazon
• Indiebound
• Barnes and Noble

5 True Ghost Stories - Promo Post and Giveaway: The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics

 Book info:

Title:  The Women in the Walls   
Author:  Amy Lukavics
Genre:  YA Horror/Paranormal
Publish Date:  September 27th, 2016
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen

ABOUT THE WOMEN IN THE WALLS:
Lucy Acosta's mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They're inseparable—a family. 

When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she's ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother's voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin's sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.

LINKS: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

ABOUT AMY LUKAVICS:

Ever since she was little, Amy was especially intrigued by horror books and movies. Raised in a small mountain town in Arizona, she sustained herself on a steady diet of Goosebumps, Fear Street, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books before discovering Stephen King in her mother's bookshelf.

Amy lives with her husband, their two precious squidlings, and an old gentleman cat by the name of Frodo. When she isn't writing, she enjoys cooking, crafting, and playing games across many platforms. 

LINKS: Website | Twitter | Tumblr




I was so excited to get to be a part of the tour for what sounded like an extremely scary story.  I have always been fascinated with ghosts and the paranormal.  I remember going to the public library when I was in middle school and checking out all the books on true poltergeist and ghost stories that I could find. As I got older, I enjoyed fiction books, as well as movies on the same topics.  In more recent years I have been a fan of the tv show Paranormal State, even getting to meet some of the crew, such as Ryan Buell and Sergey Poberezhny.  I've also gone and stayed at a haunted bed and breakfast, the Mason House Inn, where I learned more about research and contacting spirits and other paranormal activity from Chris Moon.  For my stop on the tour, I've gathered five real ghost stories, or other evidence people use for paranormal activity, such as EVP, since today's book that I'm promoting is about spirits speaking to the characters.

1.  EVP - Electronic Voice Phenomenon:

EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomenon are sounds found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices that have been either unintentionally recorded or intentionally requested and recorded.  One website that has several samples of recordings of these voices is the Association TransCommunication.  If you go to their website HERE, you can click on some of those recordings and listen to them and see what you think!

2.  The Spirit Phone:

I mentioned a paranormal research class I took with Chris Moon above.  Chris uses something he calls for short, "Frank's Box", or more technically, the Spirit Phone, to communicate with spirits.  According to Chris's website HERE, this is a device made based on Thomas Edison's telephone to the dead that can be used by someone who is a psychic medium for two way conversation with the spirits.  I have been present at one of his sessions.  While I don't know for sure what I heard, there were definitely some things that were pretty creepy and sounded like they could be what he suggested.  This is not necessarily the same as EVP, as you hear the voices as it goes for the most part, instead of going back and hearing them on a recording later on.

 3.  The Sallie House - Atchison, Kansas:

No, it doesn't look that scary from the picture, but the Sallie House in Kansas is well-known among the American paranormal community.  When I met Ryan Buell from the Paranormal Research Society, he told me of having visited the house, and having been scratched and knowing that it was not a "friendly" spirit in the house.  There is one website that is run by a couple that rented and lived in the house at one time.  It is called the Official Sallie House website, and does have lots of information, both history of the house, as well as evidence of investigators - including some EVPs.  If you are brave enough after reading about the activity there that you would still like to go visit the home yourself, the Atchison Tourist group has a way you can sign up for self-guided or guided tours, or even overnight stays HERE!

4.  Ed and Lorraine Warren's Occult Museum:

 
Okay, if you are a scary movie lover like I am, then you've probably seen the two Conjuring movies about Ed and Lorraine Warren.  Or if you wanted Paranormal State, then you saw Lorraine working with those investigators several times.  In the first The Conjuring movie, at the beginning you learned about a possessed doll named Annabelle, which then got it's own movie, which I don't believe that was based on any true story though.  While in the movie the doll is what you'd think of for a scary movie's creepy doll, in real life it is the Raggedy Ann doll that you see in the picture above.  The Warrens have worked on many big name cases besides the ones that have been shown in the movies, and they put most of the items that came from those cases kept in a museum that is basically in a room off of their house.  You are able to go visit that museum, and even participate in different events to learn more about their different cases, including the infamous Annabelle.  If you're interested in learning more about the Warrens, their cases, or their museum, you can go that website HERE.

5.  Exorcists/Exorcisms:

One thing you also see in a lot of movies is exorcisms when a priest will try to get a demon out of a person that they are possessing.  There are many famous movies about this, and many of those are actually based on true stories.  Examples are The Exorcist (which has more than one supposed story it is based on, see other one HERE), The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and now there is even a documentary about more modern day situations called The Exorcist in the 21st Century.  Exorcisms are not widely practiced, and the Vatican doesn't really publicize that they are something they condone.  I haven't watched the documentary I listed above, but am definitely interested in seeing it now that I've found out about it through my research for this post.

So, are you interested in reading this book now?  How about hopping along to some of the other posts on the tour for some other interesting posts:

Tour Schedule:
Week 1:
9/5: Adventures of a Book Junkie - Review
9/6: The Forest of Words and Pages - Q&A
9/7: No BS Book Reviews - Review
9/8: Fiction Fare - Guest Post
9/9: Fangirl Confessions - Review

Week 2:
9/12: The Fake Steph - Inspiration Board
9/13: Bookish Lifestyles - Review
9/14: The Irish Banana Review - Fast 5
9/15: In Wonderland - Review
9/16: Lisa Loves Literature - Ghost Stories - YOU ARE HERE  

GIVEAWAY:

• 3 Finished Copies of THE WOMEN IN THE WALLS (US Only) 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway