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Friday, March 29, 2024

Blog Tour- THE QUELLING by @c_l_lauder With An Excerpt and a #Giveaway!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE QUELLING by C.L. Lauder Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: THE QUELLING

Author: C.L. Lauder

Pub. Date: January 16, 2024

Publisher: River Grove Books

Formats:  Paperback, eBook

Pages: 362

Find it: Goodreadshttps://books2read.com/THEQUELLING

When you’re Stained, patches of skin glisten like liquid starlight, and sooner or later, his creatures find you.

When Kyjta accidentally brands herself with an alien fluid while plotting revenge, she knows her fate is sealed. As one of the Stained, her markings glisten star-bright, and the creatures sent by the Rhemans to scavenge for bodies will have no trouble finding her.

One night, while sheltering during a raid, Kyjta forms an unexpected pact with a Rheman rebel to protect a young girl, Calipsie, who’s fallen into her care. Days later, when Calipsie is taken, Kyjta abandons precaution to go after her. Facing impossible odds and allied by a Rheman she’s not sure she can trust, Kyjta must not only rescue Calipsie, but also face the Rheman overlord who’s taken a disturbing interest in her.

 

Trailer:


Excerpt:

1

KYJTA

It’s cold down here. Cold and miserable, and I wish I hadn’t come.

But wishes are like curses, as my mother used to say. I should have  asked her what she meant. I thought we’d have time. I was wrong. There’s a girl nearby. She’s not the only one; about a hundred of us  are crammed into this dank, subterranean space, but she’s the one who  has my attention. She’s small and thin. Silently crying. I could probably touch her shoulder if I stretched out my hand. By now, Helacth’s  ghoragalls must be circling. Hideous, winged creatures with shards of  bone protruding from their moulting black feathers, and long limbs  perfect for snatching up anyone left wandering around in the dark.  I’m sure she’s scared. She has no family. None that I can see, anyway. I  could put an arm around her and warm her scrawny arms. I could rub  the chill out of her bare legs. She isn’t dressed for the cold stone floor. I lean my head against the wall and do my best to ignore the painful jut of an old man’s hip bone in my side. How long until morning?  It’s impossible to tell. Some people are sleeping, gently snoring. The  young girl must be tired but has nowhere to put her head. I could  offer her my leg, but it’s not my way.

The walls are hypnotic, not your typical cellar walls. They’ve been  strung with zionate; the ceiling too. The delicate threads overlay each  other in a crazed, haphazard pattern that shimmers in the lamplight.  The protective canopy makes us invisible to Helacth’s ghoragalls.  Not us, exactly, but our Stains: glimmering silver-gold markings that  brand the lot of us. The Rheman overlord’s ghoragalls may be merciless abductors who attack us in the dark, but at least they’re blind. It’s  when you’re stained that they can find you. Day or night, inside or  outside, they know where to look. Except where zionate is at work.  Something about the shimmering strands disturbs their sense of our  Stains, and we go unnoticed while it shields us.

The young girl is from the north. Skin the colour of polished dark wood, hair bright as the setting sun. She wears it in a braid that crowns  her head. How old is she? Eight or nine alignments? Maybe. Too  young to be on her own. Too young to be here. She turns and catches  me looking. Sniffing, she lowers her long copper lashes and wipes at  her eyes. I lost my mother young, so maybe I don’t have a caregiver’s  nature. There are other women here, though, older than me and experienced, women with children of their own. Why don’t they comfort  her? Isn’t that what mothers do?

The floor is hard and icy cold. I shift uncomfortably, nudging  my boot past the town carpenter’s ample bottom. She treats me to a  pointed look, and I smile, but my eyes send a different message. She looks away. It’s not that I scare her. I’m just a girl, nineteen alignments and a rawhide sack of bones. But she won’t want to offend  me. I might be wearing a field hand’s clothes, but she knows me as  something more than a farm girl. I am my father’s daughter, and she  has no alternative but to hide her scorn if she values his deliveries.

I wish I hadn’t come.

Wishes are like curses. Wishes are like curses.

I should have asked my mother for the meaning. Not knowing  bothers me, and the words stick in my head.

If only I hadn’t been at the market when the warning bells chimed.  These people scare me about as much as the wraith-like ghoragalls whose pouches are full of Stain. I remember the day many here got  their mark. There was a stampede to get away. The ghoragalls flew  low on skeletal wings that spanned the sky. The sun was bright, and  then it wasn’t. The shadow raced across the baked earth, sweeping  people up like scattered dust. I fell, and the rest kept running. Some  ran over me, digging heavy heels into the backs of my hands, spraining my fingers, tripping over my legs; but they didn’t stop.

They didn’t stop for me, and they’re not going to comfort the girl. She’s not crying any more. She has hiccoughs. The irregular  spasms look painful, contorting her tiny frame. They say a good scare  will chase them away, but she’s had one of those already. ‘Hey. Girl.’

She turns her violet eyes on me, shimmering and luminous. ‘You play Top It?’ I pull a set of shells out of my pocket and splay  them across my palm.

She nods, her expression serious.

‘Come over here. I’m bored as a monolith.’

She crawls over on hands and knees, not minding who she bumps  along her way. When she reaches me, she squats. Her feet are bare.  They must be freezing. Her expression is a little hilarious. She’s wide eyed and solemn enough to lead a death march.

I distribute the shells. The young girl picks each up in turn and  examines it. I let her go first, but I don’t let her win. That would be a  false lesson. She’s good, though. Smart. She’s definitely played before. ‘Who taught you?’ I ask.

‘My brother.’

So there is someone to look after her, at least.

‘Your Stain looks like a fez; anyone told you that?’ Someone must  have. The silver-gold marking at the back of her neck is a perfect silhouette of the tiny blue birds that swarm over the meadows. ‘Yours is like—’ she stalls, suddenly shy.

‘Like I’m crying. I know. Unfair, isn’t it?’ I chuckle softly so she  knows I’m not offended.

‘I’m Kyjta,’ I tell her.

‘Calipsie,’ she says.

We play five rounds. She wins one when I topple the stack, and I  take the other four. Now that I have all my shells, I slip them into  my pocket.

‘If you’re tired, you should try to sleep.’

I straighten my legs and flatten my shawl over the stone floor. It’s  a makeshift bed that will offer little protection from the chill, but  it’s better than raw skin against frozen masonry. I tap my thigh where  Calipsie can rest her head. She looks uncertain but then crawls forward  and snuggles up like a forest animal on a nest of reeds.

I return to resting my head against the wall at my back, giving the  radiant zionate mesh covering the opposite wall my attention. Don’t  ask me how the House of Judgement figured out that zionate blocks  whatever attracts the ghoragalls to our Stains. Sion Ignoti worked the  Parched Lands and probably tweezed all this from the wings of giant  satermijtes, cart-sized desert insects that scavenge the dunes, preparing  for his retirement. It used to be the stuff was only good for brooches  and trinkets. He couldn’t have known it would be our first defence  against the ghoragalls. Not that the beasts are the enemy. They only  serve their master, Helacth, the Rheman overlord, and the reason I’m  cowering in a basement with a small stranger curled up in my lap.

My world, Aurora Saura, used to be home to only two sentient species. My people, the Aurora Saurins, populated the habitable  climes of Fareen and Sojour, while the Tarrohar kept to the equatorial Parched Lands. Only the most intrepid explorers ever made it past the Tarrohar into the Ice Realm of Thormyth, south of Sojour. Everything changed the day the Rhemans landed their ships.  There were six in total, and they scattered them across the three continents. Three ships in Sojour, two in Fareen, and the last in Thormyth  which Helacth occupies.

The Rhemans are not people; they are creatures. Just like the  Tarrohar are not people. Both species are parasites. They use my people to fully experience the world. Their methods may differ, but the  outcome is the same. My people suffer under their control.

With the Tarrohar, at least, there can be no deception: the monster  is as plain as the victim it rides. Rheman control is more nefarious— they’re invisible, hidden inside your body, controlling you. They  could be anyone. They could hide inside your own mother—you  wouldn’t know. I favour the monster I can see, but that doesn’t make  the Tarrohar any less repulsive. It’s not that I’d opt for having an  eight-legged sack of organs suckered onto my back over being quelled  by a Rheman. The sight of a Tarrohar turns my stomach, all squishy  tentacles and shiny translucence—like a pudding that’s sat too long  in the heat. It’s just that, with the Rhemans, you can’t see it coming.  A Rheman travels from person to person with no visible sign. You  won’t know they’re there until your consciousness is pushed aside.  Probably not even then. We call it being quelled. The Quelled are  my people, Aurora Saurins just like me, but under Rheman control.

I close my eyes and try to listen for the sea. I can almost feel the  sun on my back, if I sit very still. The cold walls burn. I wish I could  just get up and leave. Not just this place, but this place: Merrocha,  my hometown in Sojour, and everything it represents. Past. Memory. Pain. I want to go somewhere new. Somewhere the ghoragalls can’t  follow me.

The Rhemans landed in 4036, the same alignment I was born.  Some might call that an omen, but I call it palm’s luck. The Hands,  our guiding deity, dole it out, and I’ve had more than my fair share.  I’ve never lived a life out from under Helacth, and I’ve stopped  wondering if I ever will. The Rhemans came here looking for bodies because they didn’t have enough of their own. Now that I’m  marked, my body is theirs for the taking. With my Stain, I’ll be  taken. One day—probably soon—a ghoragall will swoop down  from the sky and carry me to the Ice Realm, where I’ll behold their  mother ship and forfeit my mortal shell. It’s a fate I accept.

Wishes are like curses, and I did this to myself.

A shift in the light catches my eye. Movement at the top of the  stairs. Calipsie stiffens. I thought she was sleeping, but the girl is  smart. A young man and an old woman descend the stairs. I know  the man. More of a boy. A farmhand called Merrick, who used to  do part-time work on the farm. I lower my head and let my shaggy  curtain of hair hide my face. All I need now is another reminder of  my mistakes.

Peering through my mess of blondish hair, I watch Merrick lead  the old woman down the stairs, making sure she doesn’t trip. The  woman’s skin is milky white and sparkles like starlight. It isn’t right  how Merrick holds her by the hand while supporting her at the  elbow. Merrick is a labourer and not a bit gentlemanly. He’s built like  a farmyard elvakan, and she like one of the fez that flutters over the  meadow. It’s like watching two different species caring for each other.

It’s all wrong.

I lean into Calipsie, my field hand’s cover-ups scrunching in the  eerie silence.

‘Sit up,’ I say quietly.

She twists in my lap, her enormous spectral eyes fearful. She rises  and quickly shuffles forward.

Merrick and the old woman reach the bottom of the stairs. He’s  only a few alignments older than me, but you’d think him older to  look at him. His face is all hard angles—parts pleasing, others brutish and sun scuffed. He’s fit, though, beneath his farmer’s shirt. It’s  a terrible cut, but I can see the triangular jut of his muscled torso  through the ill-fitting material.

Merrick leads the woman to a wobbly stool, which Sion Viandti  vacates for her. Viandti owns a textile shop, and that gives him title  of Sion. In Sojour, any man past his middle alignment and without  title is belittled in private and snubbed in public. There’s a thriving  market for the smallest sliver of earth. No one wants to be branded  with the opposing prefix of Hok, meaning a man without standing.

The shopkeeper doesn’t look pleased to see Merrick. Once the  woman is seated, he pulls him aside.

‘It’s past curfew. What are you doing here?’ I can’t really hear  Sion Viandti from my position at the back of the room, but I think  that’s what he says. Merrick is facing away from me, so I don’t get  his response.

‘The rules are there for a reason,’ Sion Viandti continues. ‘It’s a  disgrace,’ the shopkeeper says, eyes darting toward the older woman  with the starlight skin. ‘What use would they have for her?’

I stare harder. Merrick doesn’t seem himself. I’ve watched him take  a scolding before, and he always stuffs his hands in his pockets and  studies the floor. Not so today. He’s engaging with Sion Viandti, trying  to explain something to the old man. He might even be succeeding.

I settle back against the wall and motion for Calipsie to get comfortable. I don’t want to think about Merrick. The fact he’s here is bad enough. The last time he got a scolding in front of me was when  he lost his job. My stepfather was angry. He caught Merrick lurking  around the farmhouse, peering in at the windows. Sion Cromenk,  my stepfather, hadn’t an inkling of what I’d done to make Merrick  follow me around. If I was ever found out, my days of moonlighting  as the potion master’s delivery agent would be over.

Boots stomp on the floorboards above. The focus of the room  shifts. A heavy clunk resounds as the wooden trapdoor to the basement impacts the floor above. Light streams down the stairwell.  Calipsie goes rigid, her eyes wide. Then, like a plague of insects funnelling through a breach in a wall, the Quelled rush in. I lose count  of their number because, screaming, everyone around us surges to  their feet. Their momentum lifts me as I try to hang on to Calipsie.  Most rush for the stairs, thinking they can make it past the Quelled.  I stand firm, battling the tide, too scared to attempt an escape.  Outside, the ghoragalls are surely circling. The thought of those waxy  talons sliding under my arms sickens me, and I don’t trust my legs.

The Quelled seem so much less terrifying. Some are even familiar.  I see a boy I spent a summer with when we were small. Though he’s  quelled, and not the kid I recall—a Rheman is controlling him— his face is still that of my old friend. The boy—the Rheman—leaps  the balustrade and lands with astonishing balance, scattering the  crowd. The Rheman clamps its arms around the meaty torso of Sion  Turbotol, who’s twice the boy’s size and wrought from hard-earned  muscle. In no time, the Rheman has the larger man tucked under  one arm and wrangles him up the stairs. I’ve heard stories about  Rhemans bringing superior strength to the Quelled—the bodies they  occupy—but I never believed them. I guess I should have. I do now.

When Calipsie wraps her arms around me, I realise how badly  I’m shaking. She doesn’t notice. Her eyes find mine, and her upward gaze is expectant. She trusts me to find a solution. That’s what adults  do. Find solutions to impossible problems. But I’m no adult. Still,  I search the room. There must be some way out. Calipsie has faith  in me, and that faith creates an obligation. If it weren’t for the tug  of her slender arms around my middle, I might take my chances on  the stairs.

On both sides, people pummel us, trying to get away from the  closest Quelled. This one is tall with greying hair—probably some  kid’s grandfather. It wears a floor-length, maroon frap, typical of merchants from Oblix. I pull Calipsie low to keep her out of its sights,  and when I look back, it’s bundling two of the Stained toward the  stairs. They’re screaming for help, kicking and biting it, but resisting  is pointless. The Quelled don’t feel pain. Being unconscious, they’ve  no means to experience it. The Rheman is running things, and pain  doesn’t translate to them.

Someone has given us away. We might be safe from the ghora galls down here, but we’re never safe from the Quelled. Five more  rush down the stairs and the cellar’s occupants fall back, crushing  Calipsie and me into the cold webbing of zionate strands crisscrossing the walls.

Whether guided by the Hands or pure desperation, my eyes hunt  for Merrick. He stands out from the crowd, not because he’s Merrick  and we share an uncomfortable history, but because he’s successfully  fighting back. His right arm is locked around the neck of one of the  Quelled, and he uses the other to free one of the Stained.

I grab Calipsie her by the arm and use the crowd’s momentum  to work my way forward. It’s not easy, we’re constantly shoved off  course, but the throng is thinning. Some were taken; others have  escaped, or if they’re unlucky, they’ve been lifted away by one of the  ghoragalls as they fled the shelter. By the time Calipsie and I reach Merrick, he’s managed to free the man and is searching the room for  his next challenge. I step up and meet his gaze.

Merrick squints at me, his expression a little wild. Then, his attention shrinks down, and he sees me.

But he doesn’t recognise me.

‘Need something?’ Amid the chaos, it looks genuinely curious. It . . . Because whatever I’m talking to, it isn’t Merrick. I’m still clinging to Calipsie’s arm, but I’ve tucked her behind 

me. The creature glances down, sees her, and waves its hand in the  air, tilting it quickly back and forth in an Aurora Saurin gesture that  means ‘Are you okay?’

I look down and find her waving back at it. With a grunt of  admonishment, I push her firmly behind my back. She should let me  establish this Rheman’s motives before we join hands and prance our  way across the Parched Lands.

‘You’re Rheman,’ I say.

The creature looks briefly apologetic, then launches at us. I’ve  made a mistake. A staggering force pushes us backwards, Calipsie wailing as we collide with Sion Uberick. The alchemy master col lapses into a chair, taking our weight. Winded and reeling, I suck  down air, scanning the room for an escape route.

One of the Quelled leaps off the balustrade and lands precisely where Calipsie and I were a moment ago. It lunges for us,  but Rheman Merrick grabs it by the arm and jerks it backwards.  The Rheman controlling Merrick is trying to protect us, I realise, launching to my feet. Rhemen Merrick and our attacker circle each  other, and the people fall back, clearing the area. I grab a chair, my  knuckles white around two legs of the makeshift shield. The attacking Rheman is broad-shouldered and wears a teal tunic edged in  silver. It swings like a fighter, but Rheman Merrick ducks and then brings a knee into Teal Tunic’s side. The attacker retaliates by grasping Rheman Merrick in a brutal chokehold. Without thinking, I  raise the chair and slam it down on Teal Tunic’s back. Teal Tunic  doesn’t even flinch. It pauses to scowl at me though, and Rheman  Merrick strikes back, head-butting it on the chin.

‘Get the child to safety! The latrine. Go!’ Rheman Merrick demands. I was so focused on getting up and out that I never thought of  going down.

Teal Tunic rises behind Rheman Merrick.

I shout a warning, then grab Calipsie by the arm. If we can get to  the latrine, we can take to the tunnels that serve as the town’s waste  works. I fight the crowd’s momentum, forcing my way to the back  of the room, but progress is slow. When we’re partway there, I look  back. Rheman Merrick has gotten the better of the attacker and is  sweeping the crowd, looking for us. Our eyes connect, and I wave  it toward us just as the mass swallows Calipsie and me. Through the  crush of bodies, I catch another glimpse of it, unnervingly steady  on its feet, immune to the pummelling tide of people it leaves in  its wake.

Passing all the desperate faces makes me uneasy. I should tell them  how we plan to escape, but I can’t risk it. If they panic, the crush of  bodies might kill more than the Rhemans can carry away. Calipsie’s  behind me and barely able to keep on her feet with all the shoving.  If everyone were headed for the latrines, she’d never make it. I pull  her closer, urging her to keep up. We struggle against the crowd until  Rheman Merrick pushes in front of us, clearing our path ahead.

Calipsie tugs my arm, and I turn back to check on her. She’s fighting our progression, looking back the way we came.

‘What is it?’ I shout.

‘My brother,’ she says. ‘He’s outside, waiting for me.’

I scan the stairs. They’re swarming with the Quelled now. The  Rhemans are empty-handed on their way down, but they carry armfuls of Stained going back up the stairs.

‘Is he stained?’ I yell to be heard over the screaming chaos. ‘No,’ she says. Her eyes are wet, but she’s holding herself together. ‘Then he’ll be fine,’ I lie. If he isn’t stained, the ghoragalls are unlikely 

to carry him away, but I can’t say the same for the Rhemans. I tug on  her arm to get her moving and point to a small door. ‘Over here.’ We travel down a short flight of narrow steps. When we reach  the landing, there’s another door on the right. Behind it, we find the  latrine. We struggle to close the door with the three of us inside.  The room is gloomy, lit by a pitiful basking lamp that sheds no  more light than a candle. The smell is fetid, but I expected that.  Rheman Merrick wastes no time, pushing between us and gripping  the wooden seat. It comes away with a splintering crunch. Rheman  Merrick sets it against the wall and turns.

‘Who’s first?’ it asks.

We can’t drop Calipsie into the dark, foul-smelling hole; I don’t  know what’s down there. I clamber onto what’s left of the seat. One  of my feet rests on a crumbling wall of rocks, while the other bal ances on a section of distressed wood.

I hold my hands out to it. ‘A little help?’

The Rheman hesitates.

Like every kid in my generation, I’ve been taught never to touch a Rheman. When they make skin-to-skin contact, their essence,  being—whatever it is—can transfer across to you. When that hap pens, you lose control. Your body becomes their body. If you’re lucky,  they’ll transfer away again, and you’ll get your body back, but you  won’t remember any of what was done while you were quelled. ‘Are you helping us or not?’ I demand.

Rheman Merrick takes my hands and lowers me into the sewer. I’m  not exactly heavy, but I’m almost of age and have done nearly all my  growing. Still, my weight seems trivial to the creature. My feet touch  down with a wet slap, and I stare up at the square of light above. Then Rheman Merrick leans down, holding the basking lamp in one hand.  It must have snapped it off the wall. I take it and look around. The tun

nel is dank and grim, meandering off in two directions. I set the lamp  down to help lower Calipsie to the floor. I’ve no idea when the sluice  water will flow, but we need to be out of here before then.

Rheman Merrick leaps down and lands with a splash. The putrid  mess splatters my legs, but I don’t complain. I still don’t know what  I’m dealing with. The creature has been friendly until now, but that  could change.

Rheman Merrick drops to one knee, squatting before Calipsie.  ‘You did all right in there. Being small has its advantages.’ I shuffle on the spot, keen to be on the move. ‘We can’t go  uphill; it’ll take us deeper under the town,’ I say. ‘We should head  to the farms.’

‘I know where there’s shelter,’ it says, standing. ‘We can get  cleaned up. Maybe even have a meal.’

A banging door echoes from somewhere nearby, and the creature  looks up, its expression suddenly hostile. With a quick gesture for us  to follow it, Rheman Merrick sets off down the tunnel toward the  farms. At first, we run, then we slow to a fast walk. It’s quiet except  for our feet slapping the putrid waste coating the floor. For a long  time, no one says anything. When Calipsie finally speaks, she strikes  bone with her question.

‘If you’re Rheman, why’d you help us?’

The Rheman’s response is quiet, and its words send a chill  through me.

‘Some of us are tired of being someone else’s nightmare.’ ‘Who are you really?’ asks Calipsie.

‘My name is Kranik,’ the creature says. ‘What do they call you?’ Calipsie shares her name and then introduces me. She doesn’t share  my reservations about the Rheman, and I can hardly scold her here. ‘What about your body?’ asks Calipsie.

‘This body belongs to Merrick,’ Kranik says.

Interestingly, it can name the owner, and correctly too. Calipsie goes quiet, probably plotting her next line of interrogation. ‘I’m just borrowing it,’ Kranik says, filling the silence. Maybe it 

thinks it owes us an explanation. For a fleeting moment, I pity it. ‘Your Asaurin is very good,’ I say, surprising myself. The Rheman  has had nineteen alignments to learn Sojour’s continental language.  It probably speaks perfect Farich too.

The creature—Kranik—nods. ‘Thank you. Communication is  essential. Change is impossible without understanding.’ I feel annoyed. No one would need to change if its kind hadn’t  invaded our world.

‘It’s not much farther,’ Kranik says, picking up the pace. The tunnel gets narrower the farther we get from the city, and I  have the clawing sense that the walls will crush us. Sharing the tight  space with a Rheman isn’t helping.

‘Can we take the next outlet?’ I ask. The smell alone is nauseating. ‘But your Stain . . .’ it says.

‘I don’t care about my Stain,’ I snap. How much worse can it  be outside, with the ghoragalls circling, than being trapped underground with a Rheman?

‘And the girl?’

The Rheman has a point. If we’re stumbling around outside in the  dark, we’ll be begging to join Helacth’s army of Quelled.

‘Where are we going?’ Not knowing is making me crazy. ‘Nortjie Farm. I know the owners,’ says Kranik.

Most of Sojour could say the same. The farm is run by Sion Chaffrot  and his sister Maisi. It’s one of the largest in all of Sojour. Thinking  about it, I haven’t seen either of them at the market for an age.

‘And you think they’ll be there?’ I ask, making an effort to keep  the worry from my voice.

‘They’re both home,’ says Kranik.

‘How can you be sure?’

‘The Sion had an accident,’ replies the Rheman. ‘He’s unable to  walk.’

 

 


About C.L. Lauder:

C. L. Lauder grew up in South Africa before immigrating to the United Kingdom, where she attended the University of London to complete an MA in Creative Writing. She now lives at the foot of a lush mountain in Hong Kong with her husband and two rapidly lengthening sons, who all enjoy their newfound proximity to nature, especially the sea.

 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

 

 



Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a THE QUELLING box with a book and swag, International.

Ends April 23rd, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

3/25/2024

@darkfantasyreviews

Excerpt

3/26/2024

Lady Hawkeye

Excerpt/IG Post

3/27/2024

#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

IG Post

3/28/2024

A Dream Within A Dream

Excerpt

3/29/2024

Two Chicks on Books

Excerpt/IG Post

Week Two: 

4/1/2024

YA Books Central

Excerpt/IG Post

4/2/2024

The Momma Spot

Excerpt

4/3/2024

Callisto’s calling

IG Review

4/4/2024

Country Mamas With Kids

Review/IG Post

4/5/2024

jlreadstoperpetuity

IG Review/TikTok Post

Week Three: 

4/8/2024

A Blue Box Full of Books

IG Review/TikTok Post

4/9/2024

Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's

Review/IG Post

4/10/2024

Confessions of the Perfect Mom

Review/IG Post

4/11/2024

@fiction._.fuss

Review/IG Post

4/12/2024

@evergirl200

IG Review

Week Four:

4/15/2024

The Guild

Review

4/16/2024

Books and Zebras

IG Review

4/17/2024

Fire and Ice

Review/IG Post

4/18/2024

Destiny's Path

Review/IG Post

4/19/2024

Writer of Wrongs

Excerpt

4/19/2024

Review Thick And Thin

Review/IG Post

4/20/2024

Fyrekatz Blog

Review/IG Post


Thursday, March 28, 2024

Blog Tour- RESONANT: THE COMPLETE SERIES by @dbandry, @SkyePatridge, @Ale_Aragon With Excerpts & A #Giveaway! @thevaultcomics

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the RESONANT: THE COMPLETE SERIES by David “DB” Andry, Ale Aragon, & Skylar Patridge Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: RESONANT: THE COMPLETE SERIES

Authors: David “DB” Andry, Ale Aragon (Illustrator), & Skylar Patridge (Illustrator)

Pub. Date: April 2, 2024

Publisher: Vault Comics

Formats:  Paperback, eBook

Pages: 264

Find it: Goodreadshttps://books2read.com/RESONANT-THE-COMPLETE-SERIES 

In a terrifying dystopian world,true horror arises and chaos rules when humankind's moral defenses fall and our worst impulses run wild. RESONANT is a post-apocalyptic horror story where Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD meets THE ODYSSEY, by way of THE WALKING DEAD - for fans and readers of Bird Box, Y: The Last Man, A Quiet Place, Road Warrior, and The Walking Dead.

NOW IN SERIES DEVELOPMENT FOR BET+ with Gerard McMurray as executive producer, director, and writer
Adapted for television by CBS Studios, Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, and Gerard McMurray

RESONANT: The Complete Series FOREWORD BY GERARD McMURRAY!

OUR WORST IMPULSES UNLEASHED.
A decade has passed since the first Waves hit, unleashing humanity’s darkest impulses and plunging the world into chaos. Paxton, a single father of three, must venture from the secluded haven they’ve built to restock the medicine his chronically-ill youngest son needs to survive. When the somewhat routine trip goes awry, Paxton and his children—now separated—will battle everything in their path to reunite.

Can you resist the Call of the Void?

Collects the entire ten-issue series in a deluxe trade paperback omnibus with a foreword by Gerard McMurray (Director - The First Purge, Director, Executive Producer, and Writer - Burning Sands)

For fans of The Walking Dead, The RoadBird Box, A Quiet Place, Y:The Last Man, and Road Warrior.

"What stands out in RESONANT is how the real horror comes not from the waves, but the other people...The scary moments are amplified by the great character development."
Horror DNA

Top 25 Best Comics of 2021 -- Comics Bookcase

“…an odyssey even more terrifying than Bird Box.” -- The Beat

“…a firestorm of raw emotion, anxiety, and fear that any horror buff is going to appreciate.” – AIPT

“Pick this one up if you like apocalyptic stories and comics that speak to something dark and creepy in all the worst ways, even in the light.” – Black Nerd Problems

 

Excerpts:









 

About David "DB" Andry:

David "DB" Andry is a physical therapist and comic book writer from Sacramento, CA. His works include RESONANT and END AFTER END from Vault Comics and the self-published graphic novel, THE WILD UNCERTAIN. Follow him on Twitter @dbandry for updates and excessive amount of chicken pictures

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 





About Ale Aragon:

Alejandro is the co-creator of DEATH ORB, a sci-fi cyberpunk story, written by RYAN FERRIER and originally published by DARK HORSE in 2018. The same title is going to be translated to Spanish and published through MULTIVERSAL EDICIONES in Argentina along 2021.

Alejandro has been working around the industry over almost a decade, with credits at DARK HORSE COMICS (Death Orb, Eve: True Stories), BOOM! STUDIOS (28 Days Later, Robocop, The Expanse), IDW (Sons of Chaos), VAULT COMICS (Resonant), IMAGE COMICS (Overlook) and lots of other cool projects.

He lives in Rosario, Argentina.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 

About Skylar Patridge:

Skylar Patridge: Comic artist, illustrator, and sometimes writer. Currently working on RESONANT from Vault Comics. Has done work for Image, Dark Horse (REVERSAL), Vault, Black Mask & Scout (VOLUME) as well as a variety illustrations and pinups for comics, anthologies & books.

Home location: New Mexico

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 


Giveaway Details:

2 winners will receive finished copies of RESONANT: THE COMPLETE SERIES, US Only.

Ends April 23rd, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

3/25/2024

Comic Book Yeti

Interview/IG Post

3/26/2024

jlreadstoperpetuity

IG Post

3/27/2024

@darkfantasyreviews

Excerpt

3/28/2024

Two Chicks on Books

Excerpt/IG Post

3/29/2024

#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

Excerpt

3/30/2024

The Momma Spot

Excerpt

Week Two:

3/31/2024

Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's

Review/IG Post

4/1/2024

GryffindorBookishnerd

IG Review

4/2/2024

A Blue Box Full of Books

IG Review/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post

4/3/2024

The Book Critic

Review/IG Post

4/4/2024

Callisto’s calling

IG Review

4/5/2024

Karma Zee Readz

Review/IG Post

4/6/2024

@evergirl200

IG Review

Week Three:

4/7/2024

@sparks_books

IG Review

4/8/2024

Country Mamas With Kids

Review/IG Post

4/9/2024

@stargirls.magical.tale

IG Review

4/10/2024

nerdophiles

Review

4/11/2024

Lifestyle of Me

Review

4/12/2024

Books and Zebras

IG Review

4/13/2024

@enthuse_reader

IG Review/TikTok Post

Week Four:

4/14/2024

Two Points of Interest

Review/IG Post

4/15/2024

@shangread_la

IG Review

4/16/2024

Rajiv's Reviews

Review/IG Post

4/17/2024

@dana.loves.books

IG Review/TikTok Post

4/18/2024

FUONLYKNEW

Review

4/19/2024

Sadie's Spotlight

Excerpt/IG Post


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