Guest Post by Author – Vera Nazarian, The Cobweb Bride

The Cobweb Bride

At the Heart of a Fairytale

by Vera Nazarian

I must warn you, Cobweb Bride is a fantasy that’s a little bit different from so many books being written now.

For one thing, it is written in a more traditional “vintage” style. There’s a breath of the nineteenth century nostalgia, and a bit of creepy darkness found in the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, and reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. There is also a sense of many layers, ornate imagery, and a richness of history that can be found in fantasy that fully partakes of the world storytelling tradition.

For another thing, Cobweb Bride is not fast paced. Instead, as any profound mystery, it starts out slow and immersive, and compels you onward into its trap of enchantment. First, it firmly anchors you with wonder, as it illuminates the universe in a glittering mother-of-pearl palette of ethereal colors, using “paint” that is slightly touched by faerie magic, so that snowflakes sparkle like stars, and stars cascade down like snowflakes, until you forget what it is that’s falling, in this alternate Renaissance world blanketed in deadly Winter. And then, the action speeds up, drawing you deeper into the funnel, closer and closer to the scary-beautiful thing at the heart of the fairytale….

This is also a modern-day fable. And at its center is the ancient myth of Persephone and Hades in the Underworld. But don’t be fooled. You will not encounter the myth in its ordinary easy trappings. Instead, you will have to dig deep and search underneath things, and peek inside dark corners, to find it. Because… you are looking for shadows. And here, in this fairytale, shadows are not what they seem.

This is a story of Death—Death, the gentleman, taking on grim, elegant, human form. Death, the irresistible lover, searching for his lost bride. Death, the capricious stranger with control over all of us mortals. Death’s choice—to stop all dying until his Cobweb Bride is found and brought to him—sets in motion a series of world-altering events, like dominos falling.

This is the story of Love—Love of a young peasant girl, love of a granddaughter for her dying grandmother, love of grieving parents for their undead daughter, love of a fair maiden for a brave knight, love of a son for his broken father, love of a princess for a villain, loves of peasants and aristocrats, emperors and witches. In fact, if you draw closer, you will find that there are so many forms of love exemplified in this story that it too is at the heart of the fairytale….

In the absence of Death,

In the presence of Death,

Only one thing remains,

It is Love.

Finally, this is an epic. An ensemble cast of characters, with intertwining lives and pseudo-history, in the tradition of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, and with just as much “death,” but death that is treated in an entirely different humane manner—because there is no true dying in this fairytale and all the dead remain as active characters throughout—and with sympathetic main characters that serve as permanent anchors throughout the story.

So what then is really at the heart of a fairytale such as Cobweb Bride?

It is you.

Come, take that first step upon glittering virgin snow, and sink inward!

About the Author

Vera Nazarian is a two-time Nebula Award® Finalist and a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She immigrated to the USA from the former USSR as a kid, sold her first story at 17, and has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, honorably mentioned in Year’s Best volumes, and translated into eight languages.

Vera made her novelist debut with the critically acclaimed Dreams of the Compass Rose, followed by Lords of Rainbow. Her novella The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass with an introduction by Charles de Lint made the 2005 Locus Recommended Reading List. Her debut collection Salt of the Air with an introduction by Gene Wolfe contains the 2007 Nebula Award-nominated “The Story of Love.”

Other work includes the 2008 Nebula Finalist novella The Duke in His Castle, science fiction collection After the Sundial (2010), The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration (2010), and four Jane Austen parodies, Mansfield Park and Mummies (2009), Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons (2010), Pride and Platypus: Mr. Darcy’s Dreadful Secret (2012), and Pagan Persuasion: All Olympus Descends on Regency (forthcoming), all part of her Supernatural Jane Austen Series.

After many years in Los Angeles, Vera now lives in a small town in Vermont. She uses her Armenian sense of humor and her Russian sense of suffering to bake conflicted pirozhki and make art. In addition to being a writer, philosopher, and award-winning artist, she is also the publisher of Norilana Books.

Vera’s links:
Official website:
http://www.veranazarian.com/

Norilana Books:
http://www.norilana.com/

Cobweb Bride Mailing List:
http://eepurl.com/vodcT

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Norilana

Facebook (author page):
http://www.facebook.com/VeraNazarian

Facebook (personal)
http://www.facebook.com/Nazarian

Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/veranazarian/

Blogs:
http://www.inspiredus.com/
http://urbangirlvermont.blogspot.com/
http://norilana.livejournal.com/

Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/186145.Vera_Nazarian

LibraryThing:
http://www.librarything.com/author/nazarianvera

Shelfari:
http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1628414/Vera-Nazarian/

Red Room:
http://www.redroom.com/author/vera-nazarian

SFF Net Newsgroup:
http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=xover&group=sff.people.vera-nazarian

Austen Authors:
http://austenauthors.net/

Vera Nazarian’s Amazon Author Central page
http://www.amazon.com/author/nazarian

The Official Book Website:

http://www.norilana.com/cobweb.htm

Kickstarter page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2027984632/cobweb-bride?ref=live

COBWEB BRIDE
(Cobweb Bride Trilogy, Book One)

by Vera Nazarian

Release Date: July 15, 2013

Publisher: Norilana Books

Imprint: Leda

Trade Hardcover
(First Edition)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-112-6
ISBN-10: 1-60762-112-6
$24.95 US / 18.00 UK

Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-113-3
ISBN-10: 1-60762-113-4
$14.95 US / 12.00 UK

Ebook (multi-format)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-114-0
ISBN-10: 1-60762-114-2
$5.99

THIS GUEST POST WAS ORGANISED BY

Book Trailer ‘The Fallen Stars’ by Stephanie Keyes

Hello everyone! I am very excited about hosting the Trailer Reveal today for fellow Love A Happy Ending Lifestyle author, Stephanie Keyes’ second book, The Fallen Stars.

Read on for more information about the trailer and the book!

The Trailer

The Fallen Stars from Stephanie Keyes on Vimeo.

The Book

The Fallen Stars by Stephanie Keyes

Release Date: April 12th, 2013 |

Pre-order Your Copy | Add to Goodreads

When all is lost, he will have to make the ultimate decision.

Kellen St. James was just your average seventeen-year-old prodigy, until he eighty-sixed the Lord of Faerie and proposed to the Celtic Goddess, Calienta. But then everything in Kellen’s life gets turned upside-down when he and Cali end up on the run from a seriously irritated group of faeries. The worst part? They have zero idea why they’re being hunted.

Book Review : No Such Thing As Immortality

I’m in love with … A VAMPIRE! 

Never thought I’d say that, but Nathaniel Gray from Sarah Tranter’s novel ‘No Such Thing As … Immortality’ has stolen my heart. He is Mr Darcy with fangs.

‘I will protect you until the day I die … forever!’

A vampire does not have to feel any emotion not of his choosing. And Nathaniel Gray has spent two hundred years choosing not to feel. But when he accidentally runs Rowan Locke off the road, he is inexplicably flooded with everything she’s feeling, and that’s rage, and lots of it.

He is consumed with the need to protect Rowan at all costs including from himself. To Nate, what is happening is unthinkable and is pretty much as unbelievable as the existence of faeries. 

But you see, ‘There is no such thing as …immortality.’

My review

As you can probably tell from above, I absolutely adored Nathaniel Gray, the 250 year old vampire, from Derbyshire.

Quirky? Yes.

Humourous? Most definitely.

Intense? Oh yes.

Sexy? Hell, yes!

The supporting cast were great too, each with their own personality traits, Elizabeth was very sweet but had hidden depths and James’ dry sense of humour really made me laugh at times.

Nate and Rowan had a great relationship, very intense and the chemistry between the two sizzled right off the page.

Sarah Tranter has a very distinctive style of writing, one which I found refreshing and captivating. I’m not one for vampires, but I really bought into the whole idea. The plot was exciting and at times had me on the edge of my seat, I really didn’t know what was going to happen. This wasn’t just a love story, it had action and adventure in it too and a smattering of humour throughout.

A most excellent read and I am already looking forward to the next book in the series.

LINKS

Sarah Tranter website

Twitter @sarah_tranter

Facebook : Sarah Tranter

Publishers ChocLit

AMAZON.CO.UK

Book Review of London 2012 : What If…? by Ian C P Irvine

Contemplating having an affair, bored with work, and convinced there must be something more to it all, James Quinn is a man just about to enter a mid-life crisis. James leads a successful life. But is it the right life? Instead of a Product Manager in Telecoms, should he have been a plumber, an Olympic athlete, or an artist? Life, as they say, isn’t a practice run. This is it.

Then one day, during the normal underground commute to work in London, he looks up from his book and doesn’t recognise the station name on the Jubilee Line, …and in a split-second, everything changes.

Emerging onto a platform at “New Cross Gate North”, a station that shouldn’t exist, James finds that Canary Wharf has vanished. Gone. And so have Selfridges and mobile phones.

Is the grass really greener on the other side or should he try and find a way back to his old life?

(See Amazon for a fuller description)

My Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It is a thought that must have struck us all at one time, ‘What if…?’ or something we have idly contemplated but for James Quinn it became more than that.

Think ‘Life on Mars’ meets ‘Sliding Doors’ with a touch of Dan Brown thrown in for good measure. Loved the idea of what might have happened to James had things been different and how he dealt with his new life. The whole concept made me really wonder whether his new life was better than his old life – which one should he choose? I found myself  sympathising with his dilemma, especially as the longer he spent in his new life, the higher the stakes became.  The scenes between James and his father, I found very poignant and touching.

I thought the old professor from university was a great character. I can’t say physics was ever my subject, but there was enough in here to make the theory plausible and understandable, without it going right over my head.

There are some fun differences in James’ new life – one which brought a wry smile was the trains running on time,  always with somewhere to sit and commuters enjoying their journey. Anyone having experienced the rush hour commute into London would understand. 🙂 Other little things were threaded throughout the novel which, again, had me wondering ‘what if?’

I can’t comment too much on the ending, as this would be a terrible spoiler, suffice to say, I have spent all day thinking about it.

There are some great questions at the end to ponder and would make excellent talking points for book clubs.

So, all in all, a really thought provoking read that invokes compassion, understanding, me almost shouting at James at times and a fair bit of day dreaming on my part. Am now off to ride the Jubilee Line, after all, I know how to get back! 😉

London 2012 What if…? can be bought as two separate books or as an Omnibus edition, it was the latter I chose to read.

Links for Ian C P Irvine

Website www.iancpirvine.com/

Facebook : www.facebook.com/ian.irvine.3705

Twitter : @IanCPIrvine

Amazon.co.uk link HERE

Amazon.com link HERE

Vampire State of Mind – Jane Lovering

Description

Jessica Grant knows vampires only too well. She runs the York Council tracker programme making sure that Otherworlders are all where they should be, keeps the filing in order and drinks far too much coffee. 
To Jess, vampires are annoying and arrogant and far too sexy for their own good, particularly her ex-colleague Sil, who’s now in charge of Otherworld York. When a demon turns up and threatens not just Jess but the whole world order, she and Sil are forced to work together.

But then Jess turns out to be the key to saving the world, which puts a very different slant on their relationship. 

The stakes are high. They are also very, very pointy and Jess isn’t afraid to use them – even on the vampire she’s rather afraid she’s falling in love with …

My Thoughts

I must admit I don’t know a lot about vampires and Otherworlders but this being the second vampirey book I’ve read recently, I’m starting to get the hang of it all.

I really enjoyed Jane Lovering’s style of writing, it’s witty, direct and sometimes ‘smart-mouthed’. It is also fun and fast with lots going on right from the get-go.

The plot gradually unfolds with surprises along the way – I wasn’t ever sure what was going to happen next.

Sil was a great character and I loved the chemistry between him and Jess, the tension between them was portrayed really well and I looked forward to scenes with both of them in.

An exciting climax to the end of a fast paced novel laced with humour.

Vampire State of Mind is published by ChocLit who kindly sent me a review copy

Links for Jane Lovering

Blog http://www.janelovering.co.uk/

Twitter : @JaneLovering

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/jane.lovering

The Dark Man’s Son – Meg Whitlock

She claimed the muggers were demons, but of course Jason didn’t believe her. At first.

When a mysterious woman appears in a dirty alley to rescue Jason Latimer from a pair of muggers, he tries to write her off as a garden variety lunatic. But he can’t shake the memory of her intense green eyes that seemed to flash gold, or the glowing sword she’d worn on her hip.

She calls herself Alex (no last name) like she’d made it up on the spot, and she offers Jason her protection. From what, she can’t or won’t say. He refuses, and that night he dreams of a dark man with the same offer. His black eyes flash blood and garnet, and he smells of burning things. Jason refuses him, too.

A chance meeting brings Alex and Jason together again, and she tells him of the Guardians: two immortal beings created near the beginning of time with the express purpose of fighting for mortal-kind’s soul. She is Light, and the man from Jason’s dream is Dark. Jason must choose, because Lucifer, for reasons purely his own, has unleashed the armies of Hell to hunt Jason down.

But there are things about Jason that not even he knows, and he’ll face hard truths and bitter choices as he struggles to find his place in a world redefined. Will he rise to the challenge, or, when the time comes, will he falter?

From Renaissance Florence to the French Revolution, from World War II to the modern streets of New Orleans, The Dark Man’s Son is a riveting journey filled with unforgettable characters, wry humor, dark twists, and a touch of romance.

My Thoughts

The Dark Man’s Son  is broken into three distinctive times, the present day, various historic times and ‘From The Journal’. I must admit at first I wasn’t quite sure if this would work, but taking each era at a time, I was able to follow what was happening. Gradually, a vivid back drop to the book was being unfolded.  Looking back, I think it actually worked extremely well. Drip feeding back stories of the central characters and especially the technicalities of being a Demon , a Guardian, a vampire, a Prince from Hell or indeed Lucifer himself, weren’t things that could easily be explained in a couple of sentences.

Part One of the novel shifts between times and the individual stories told gradually reveal to the reader how the lives of the central characters are linked.  The connection wasn’t obvious but was threaded in very well so when it became apparent it was totally plausible.

It was at Part Two the story really took off for me as the main characters, Jason, the mortal one, Alex the Guardian of all things good and Cassius The Dark Man really came into their own.  There was great chemistry between these three.  I loved Cassius’ dry and sarcastic caustic humour, he had some great lines – in fact, being a sucker for a bad guy, he was my favourite character in the book.

Without giving anything away, Part Three sees things really hot up and the story come to an unexpected conclusion, leaving way for the sequel.

Meg Whitlock’s writing is good, clear and hugely entertaining in all the right places. I felt the tone suited the genre, with an atmosphere I would expect and although I know nothing about Guardians, Angels , Demons, Vampires and other such ghouls, I was easily drawn into the story.

This is not my usual genre of reading but I did enjoy it and would imagine anyone who does read this type of book would be pleased they had.

Meg Whitlock can be found on Facebook, Twitter and her own blog www.blogbymegw.blogspot.com

Love in the Wrong Dimension – Anette Darbyshire

The Blurb

Do ghosts fall in love? Jemma Haley is about to find out…. Love In The Wrong Dimension is a modern romantic ghost story.

Jemma is a trendy young woman enjoying her twenties and partying hard in London’s fashionable Camden Town.

One hung-over morning, she makes a pact with her best friend Alice, setting off a train of events that will ultimately lead to her destiny.

After an untimely accident she wakes and realises her life has changed for ever – she is a ghost…

Terrified, she goes to find Alice in the hope that, using her psychic abilities, her friend can tell her what to do next. Instead of making contact with Alice though, Jemma meets Tom, an attractive but elusive ghost, who tells her that she’s trapped in a dimension for ghosts who weren’t meant to die.

She vows to find a way out, but is torn when she develops feelings for Tom, whose own reasons for being there are darker than she could ever have imagined.

The story is moving, mysterious and romantic and will keep you guessing until the last page.

Might eternal love be possible after all?

My Thoughts

What a lovely ghost story – I really enjoyed this book.

I think I liked it so much because it wasn’t just the story of one person/ghost, Jemma, but it was the story of other ghosts too, how they came to be where they were and what was holding them there – trapped in the wrong dimension.  It was also the story of the living too. The people that were left behind, how they came to terms with what had happened to their loved ones and how they found peace.

I enjoyed the love stories both of the living and the dead and really warmed to the characters.  The story has a good plot and I wasn’t entirely sure how it would end.  I found the writing rolled along in an easy to read style and pulled me effortlessly into the story.

Think I fell a bit in love with Tom but seeing as he’s a ghost I will have to settle for the equally lovely Jack.

Anette can be found on Twitter @AGDarbyshire and Facebook

Anette has her own website http://anettedarbyshire.com/about/

An Audience with an Author … Darlene Jones, ‘Embattled’

Yesterday saw the launch of ‘Embattled’ by Darlene Jones

Today Darlene is my guest blogger and gives a summary of her novel

Em’s life is taken over by beings “out there somewhere.” They’ve chosen her to be their agent on Earth, to make the changes they want for the planet. Flung into battle, Em has no idea what is happening to her or why. She just knows that strange words are coming out of her mouth at the most inopportune times, and that she often has blood on her hands, literally.

As for the celestial beings controlling her? Well they have a few problems of their own. Yves, her controller, is a rookie on his first assignement. Of course he messes up.

And let’s not forget the love triangle! Two humans, one supreme being…!

EMBATTLED will appeal to any reader who loves a good adventure love story that has elements of the magical and enough depth to provoke thought and discussion of current issues in our society.

EMBATTLED by Darlene Jones  www.emandyves.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/EMBATTLED-ebook/dp/B005ZLLR4M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321841288&sr=1-1

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/102614

Darlene has her own blog and  is also on Twitter and Facebook

Darlene is also a Featured Author with Love A Happy Ending