Darlene's Book Nook: The Sacrificed Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway with Jordan Link

Monday, May 20, 2013

The Sacrificed Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway with Jordan Link

Hi, everyone!

I am pleased to participate in the Blog Tour hosted by Entranced Publishing for Jordan Link's The Sacrificed.

About Jordan:

Jordan Link is currently contracted with Entranced Publishing for her novel "The Sacrificed", which will be released on May 6, 2013. She won first place in Jack L. Chalker's Young Writers Contest of 2012 for her short story “The Bubble”, and attended Balticon 46 last year. She earned an honorable mention on December 3rd for the Young Voices Foundation Short Story Contest and will be published in their anthology "Oh, the Stories They Tell!" which will be available on Amazon. Her early love of reading inspired an equivalent passion towards writing, and she plans to continue doing so.

CONNECT ONLINE WITH JORDAN:
Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Welcome to Darlene's Book Nook, Jordan!

Jordan has written a guest post, so I will now turn the floor over to her!

Following Trends

by Jordan Link

Thanks for allowing me to appear on the blog! Following trends is something that most authors have considered, at one time or another. Lately, dystopian fiction and urban fantasy has made a move on the Young Adult literary world. Books like The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments have shot to instant popularity among teen readers. So the question is, should authors try to follow trends?

The answer is subjective. The Sacrificed is pure dystopian literature, the story of a girl who finds herself entrapped on the lower half of society, while the ones above her thrive and kill without a second thought. Or punishment, for that matter. I chose the genre for the novel because I love writing fantasy, especially dystopian, and because I too found myself engrossed in this year’s popular novels. I don’t recommend that an author strays from their niche, whether it is mystery or realistic fiction. If readers like your work, they will return for more.

Another thing I have observed is the flood. After the Twilight series became explosive internationally, vampire fiction has appeared more frequently throughout the market. But soon, authors began to find that their vampire fiction had no place in the market. There were literally too many vampire novels for each novel’s unique traits to shine through. Authors soon found themselves self-publishing, and turning to vanity presses for help.

So the moral of the story is: you don’t have to follow the latest trends. If your literature is worth reading, or even if one person thinks it is, the novel will sell itself. Writing is an art, just like music. Not everyone can play the piano.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Jordan!

Two lucky winners will win digital copies of The Sacrificed!

TITLE: The Sacrificed
AUTHOR: Jordan Link

PUBLISHER: Entranced Publishing
PUBLICATION DATE: May 6, 2013

FORMAT: E-book, 180 pages

GENRE: YA Fantasy

Emerald Hayden lives in the City of Centsia, a half-winged among the other walkers. She has no family, friends, or food: only a grim future filled with tiresome labor in the upper level’s factories.

But everything changes when she meets Dusk, a winged from the place that she previously scorned. He opens her eyes to a new possibility: the possibility of the unity of winged and walkers, of freedom, and of love.

Together, they decide to challenge the upper level’s supreme, winged council. But when a friend betrays them, they must choose whether to sacrifice their beliefs and save their own lives, or to remain along the thin line that divides the city in two. Success could mean liberty; failure, death.

Buy Links:

Kobo / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Book Excerpt - Chapter 1:

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD EMERALD dove behind the green-glass building and held her breath. There was a certain stillness that night, the kind of stillness that sent street-walkers clamoring into their houses and wherever else they could possibly hide. But Emerald was curious, as always.

There were so many questions in the city of Centsia and very few answers. Why were the people, the walkers, forced to roam the streets, scavenging for food and water, while the winged were worshipped, their feet scrubbed by the Accused? As much as the walker adults tried to comfort their children during youth, assuring them of a better life through the use of both fairy tales and lies, the facts were the same: the kingdoms surrounding Centsia would never interfere, not as long as they wanted the Black Eagles to remain isolated from their own affairs.

Emerald Hayden was a half-winged by blood. As she continued to stifle her own breathing with the coarse palms of her hands, she wondered why she had never even considered the actions of the lands outside of Centsia. If someone from foreign ground was watching her story, peering through some mystical orb or dimensional mirror, they might assume she would be treated better, that she would be accepted into both worlds, both winged and walker. They were wrong, very much so; she was hated by the walkers for what she could have been and by the winged for what she was not.

No wings braced Emerald’s back. She was forced to saunter through the same streets as the vile walkers, born to die, looking forward to only Kingdom’s Day, which provided a glimpse of the world outside the city.

Most walkers carried disease, and almost all of them had been Accused at one point or another. The council always found a reason to Accuse them, whether it was venturing out on restricted days or fighting with the winged, who dropped down occasionally to inspect their inferiors. The walkers reeked of poison and unhappiness; they had no aspirations for their futures. There were no aspirations to be had in Centsia.

The reason behind their imprisonment within the city boundaries had always been work. The winged did not run or maintain their own factories, or even bother to sew their own garments. Their hands would never be dirty, not while the walkers were present.

Now, Emerald pushed all of that aside. She wanted to learn more for herself; true learning couldn’t be found in a musky classroom, where the only texts they received described the endless social imbalance of Centsia and why it was vital to the city’s survival. True learning meant walking the edge between the winged and walker, and Emerald was an expert at that.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she dropped to her knees and peered around the corner.

A winged boy stood there, muttering to a few walkers. It was impossible to distinguish the color of his eyes, or even his expression from her sheltered position, but his features were still rather shocking. His hair was a creamy white, a pigment that Emerald had only ever seen on the heads of other winged. His skin was pasty and faded. She wondered between pounding heartbeats how the winged remained so pale when they spent so many of their days in the sky above Centsia, arcing near the curve of the sun and circling back around again as they went to and from their duties. The boy’s wings, however, were by far his most striking feature. The feathers seemed to form intricate pictures as they fluttered in the midnight breeze. Emerald continued to stare as the boy withdrew something from his pocket.

It was bread.

Immediately, Emerald dropped back, eyes wide and fearful for both the boy and herself. The winged never gave to the walkers. Just that small act of sympathy would be considered a crime. If he was caught, he could be Accused, and there would be no further deliveries of bread from the boy or from any other winged who possessed a similar mindset. She paused at the foolishness of the thought. The winged were never punished or Accused, no matter what they did. Everyone knew that.

Quietly, and even more slowly than before, Emerald inched to the corner and looked past it. There was no sign of the winged boy, and the scene had changed. The walkers were on their knees now, eating the bread with haste. They were all ripe with youth. The whiteness of their teeth and liveliness in their eyes suggested that they were nearing the age of ten. That was good — the young ones died the most, and they were always in need of food. She straightened cautiously and made her way toward the boys, glancing to both sides several times to ensure her safe path. There were often fights over bread, even the most meager amounts.

Without warning, the winged boy reappeared behind the boys. He seemed to materialize from the shadows, his cool blue eyes fixed on her with intensity, his entire face in full view. Emerald shouted in astonishment and leapt back. She stumbled and fell, slamming onto her rear with a thud. She quickly gathered herself and crawled backward on her hands and feet, wishing that she could become invisible to his inquisitive eyes.

To her amazement, the boy smiled. Her clumsiness had amused him. A gasp escaped her lips as she studied him. There wasn’t a day in her life that she’d considered the emotions of the winged. In class, they were taught that a stone heart rested beneath a winged’s skin, beating at an unwavering, melancholy pace. They never smiled or cried or shouted — they were perfect examples of what everyone in society should be. Or so the council claimed.

“I know what you’re thinking,” the boy muttered, drawing closer to the spot where she sat still. The little ones had noticed her. She could see them over the winged’s shoulder as he spoke, exchanging glances, sparing moments between bites to mutter. “I know what they teach you, and I know about the blood sacrifices too. Trust me, Emerald Hayden, not all of us share that nature.”

Emerald’s heart raced. Her lips were parched, inflexible. He had spoken to her. He was one of them, and he had spoken to her. And he knew her name. Praise the Barr, he knew her name! With a confidence she didn’t feel, Emerald replied, “You shouldn’t be here.” As soon as she saw his miffed expression, she wished she could withdraw the words.

But he recovered quickly. “Have you ever seen the Barr from high above?”

Ashamed, Emerald continued to move backward until her fingertips were pressed up against the wall behind her. “The Barr?” Of course she knew what he spoke of, but his question was almost rhetorical. A high wall stood before it, leaving only its peaks exposed to the walkers’ prying eyes . How would she have seen the Barr in the way that he described, as a wingless walker?

He smiled again, those crystalline eyes glowing slightly in the dark. Then, suddenly, those lights were doused. His mouth fell open, and his right arm shot out and pointed to the sky. His wings drew back like a bird’s, illuminating his fear. “Emerald, do you see that? The Eagles are here! The blood sacrifice is upon us!”

To enter the giveaway, please fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Participants:

April 29, 2013 - KA Last