NUTURE TOUR STOP - Legacy by Denise Tompkins

Very very thrilled to welcome Denise Tompkins. She is touring for her latest book Legacy. I would definitely suggest you people to try it. Well without a further wait....I present before you all the good stuffs.....read on and be surprised.

SUMMARY

When Fate makes you her bitch, accept it and adapt. Or die.

The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1

Looking back on the wish she made on Midsummer’s Eve, Maddy Niteclif should have been more specific. She only wanted to escape the shadowy nightmares that plagued her nights, not to be thrust into a completely altered reality.

If a strangely familiar, sexy dragon-shifter named Bahlin, who causes a never-to-be-mentioned-again fainting spell, isn’t enough to make her question her sanity, his insistence she’s the Niteclif ought to do the job. Prophesied super-sleuth of the supernatural world—a world that desperately needs her help—isn’t a job she’s remotely qualified for no matter what her family tree says.

Catapulted into a very different London ruled by dark mythology, mystery and murder, Maddy makes a few startling discoveries. Paranormal creatures exist. Getting shot really sucks. And her body responds remarkably well to dragon magic—in more ways than simple wound healing.

But in this kill-or-be-killed world, reality bites. And Maddy must choose to go back to what she knows…or stay and fight for the man she knows she can’t live without.

Warning: This book contains a shape-shifting dragon with a Scottish accent, modern and archaic weapons, global inter-species politics that make democracy seem mild, some very steamy sex underground, a severed head, murder, and…oh yeah…a woman caught in the middle of it all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Denise Tompkins lives in the heart of the South where the neighbors still know your name, all food forms are considered fry-able and bugs die only to be reincarnated in aggressive, blood-craving triplicate. Thrilled to finally live somewhere that can boast 3 ½ seasons (winter’s only noticeable because the trees are naked), her favorite season is definitely fall. It’s the time of year when the gardens are just about to pass into winter’s brief silence, and the leaves are out to prove that nature is the most brilliant artist of all.

Clearly, due to the enormous size of her picture, you can tell Denise isn’t as technologically savvy as she’d like to be. (Seriously. She’s not vain. She just couldn’t figure out how to shrink the picture any smaller.)

Denise is married to the love of her life. Both she and her husband are owned by two dogs and three opinionated parrots who keep her in stitches — literally and figuratively. One bird hates broccoli, one scared the pizza man to death upon delivery, and one bird loves to call out and invite stranger to “Come on in!” The birds thoroughly enjoy scolding the dogs. One dog, the mutt, has turned a deaf ear. The Bullmastiff, however, probably needs emotionally reconstructive therapy.

A life-long voracious reader, Denise has three favorite authors. Why three? Because favorite authors are like chips: a person can’t have just one. Her little house was so overrun with books last year that her darling husband bought her an e-reader out of self-preservation. He was (legitimately) afraid she might begin throwing out pots and pans to make room for more books, and he didn’t want to starve.

Along with reading, Denise loves travel, is obsessed with the British Isles, practices photography, enjoys cooking and looks forward to Christmas as an excuse to bake.

Her debut novel, Legacy, is the first book in The Niteclif Evolutions and will be available in both e-book and print from Samhain Publishing.

You can find out more about Denise by following her on Twitter or fanning her on Facebook.

You can also find her through here - http://denisetompkins.net

Exclusive Interview With Denise Tompkins

Q. Tell us something about yourself.
I’m an avid gardener, enthusiastic cook and devilish baker. I am cheerfully owned by three parrots (all of whom speak) that love cartoons and destroy their toys with joyful abandon. They also have two dogs. I live in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, and intend to take up the whole “necessity of mosquitoes” thing with God when I get there.

Q: It is often said that if you can write a short story you can write anything. How true do you think this is and what have you written that either proves or disproves this POV? Short stories are difficult because your arc has to be so tight and concise, character development must happen quickly, and suspension of disbelief must be immediate. I believe that writing short stories is, for me, a near impossibility as evidenced by my 100,000 word novels (Legacy, Wrath, Vengeance, Raising Cain). But I do believe that if you can successfully manage a short story, you should be able to tackle a novel-length project.

Q: How to you research for a book before you begin the writing process?
People don’t realize how much research goes into a fictional story. For me, research is critical and I am an internet guru. I use maps, histories, mythologies, real estate listings, tour guides, and more to make sure that what I’m saying is accurate. I research dialects and slang and, when possible, I speak to people who have been to/lived in the area I’m writing about. This is usually enough to get me started writing.

Q: What is the best part of writing for you?
There are always a few scenes in any given book that linger. They’re the ones you write and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you got it right. There’s an immense sense of satisfaction in that. I also enjoy saving and closing the manuscript after the final edits. There’s a sense of accomplishment like nothing I’ve ever before experienced.

Q: Did you always have in mind to be a writer or it just happened? I wrote my first story at age 6 (my mother kept it). I remember knowing that I wanted to write even then. But life intervened and threw me a few curveballs before I ended up here.

Q: How would you describe LEGACY in a sentence? Maddy Niteclif is forced to either adapt or die after she's thrust into the dark world of mythology, mystery and murder when a fateful wish reveals her lineage to the world’s most famous sleuth.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your book?
Legacy is ultimately a story with several themes, primarily do you do what’s good for the one or good for the many, and is it destiny or free will that dictates the course of our lives? Maddy Niteclif’s life changes forever when she makes a fatal wish on Midsummer’s Eve. She wants her life to be anything other than it is. This wish triggers her Evolution, the change and revelation of her family tree that seems too wild to be believable. She falls in love and finds that it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. Love literally hurts, and the choices she has to make? They hurt worse.

Q: How did the idea of writing LEGACY sprang up in your mind? I lost my job following a failed back surgery. I moped for a while, unsure what to do with myself. My husband bought a laptop and brought it home to me. “Write,” he said. “It used to make you happy.” I fought it for a few weeks until one night around midnight, the swirling ideas for the story coalesced and I got up and wrote the first chapter of Legacy. I never looked back. I’m finishing the third book of the series now and have a new series that’s out for consideration with publishers now.

Q: When you sit down and write do you know how the story will end or do you just let the pen take you? ie Do you develop character profiles and outlines for your novels before writing them or do you let your idea's develop as you write?
I am a total pantser, meaning I write without much structure. I never outline, I never plot. I just sit and write and see what develops. I do make notes as I go, keep a “cut outs” file for discarded words, and generally research topics to death, but as for story structure? It’s a complete mystery to me. I rarely know the ending of a book before it’s finished.

Q: What is your guiltiest pleasure that few know about?
Ice cream cookie sandwiches. (smiles) I am a complete glutton for them. I don’t keep them in the house because I have zero willpower when it comes to them.

Q: In your opinion, what are the best and worst aspects of writing for a living? The best is that it makes me wildly happy. I can’t imagine doing anything else, ever. The worst is the misconception that authors make huge amounts of money. Yes, some do. For the most part, though? It’s a real struggle to call this “making a living.” But would I trade it? Not for anything.

Q: How similar to its principle protagonist and the main cast are you? Each character contains some part of me and my personality. It’s amazing to look at the book and realize that even the darker characters are pieces of me. The most violent, criminally insane characters came from my mind, and that’s a little disturbing. (laughs) The flip side is that I look at the relationship between Maddy and her true love and I’m overwhelmed at the similarities it has to my own marriage. We’re both lucky women.

Q: Can you tell us what sort of surprises we can expect in its sequel since LEGACY is book 1 in “The Niteclif Evolution”?
 The sequel, Wrath, will take every preconceived idea you have from Legacy and break them down into the core focus of the series. Maddy finds that hunting killers is much easier than being hunted by one, and that the struggle between destiny and free will has never been greater. The theme carries on in book 3, Vengeance, as well.

Now some simple questions and more fun^^

-Your favourite books and author?
I absolutely adore Larissa Ione, Nalini Singh, Diana Gabaldon and Laurell K. Hamilton. My favorite books all fall in their backlist with the exception of the book Watership Down, which is easily one of the greatest books of all time.

-Your favourite band/singer?
I am freakishly in love with Two Steps from Hell. It’s epic classical music, typical of movie scores. It’s my writing music too.

-Twitter or Facebook?
Oh man. If I have to use one, it’s Twitter all the way.

-Favourite place in the world?
Plant me in the UK and leave me forever. I’m begging you. Anybody?

-Last movie you watched at the cinemas?
Larry Crowne, with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

-The last book you’ve read?
I just re-read Hunting Human by Amanda E. Alvarez. Amazing book. If you haven’t read it, treat yourself.

-Have you ever googled yourself?
Disturbingly, yes. In my alternate life, I’m apparently a real estate agent in Nova Scotia.

-If you wouldn’t be a writer, what you would be?
A photographer. It’s one of my passions. My house is decorated with pictures I’ve taken from my travels.

-And last one....print or ebooks?
I was print all the way until my husband bought me a Kindle last year for Christmas. It was a self-preservation move due to the number of books crammed in our little house. Now? I’m totally an ebook girl.

Q: The cover of LEGACY is really awesome. Did you have any inputs in it?
Thank you! I did have quite a bit of input and was fortunate enough to have Nathalie Grey design it for me. She’s amazing. I wanted the dark feel of the book to be conveyed with a faceless woman, Stonehenge behind her with a full moon dominating the sky. She gave me that and so much more. Maddy needed to be portrayed as your everyday woman, not a superhero…or even really superhero material to start with. Nathalie captured the feel I wanted exactly.

Q: What advice would you like to give budding authors or those who want to start writing?
The best advice I’ve ever been given pertaining to my writing is two-fold. The first is my agent. During a conversation where she talked me off a ledge (I had panicked over contract negotiations and the next book due for the Niteclif series), she said, “Just write, Denise. Don’t worry about perfection. Dare to suck and fix it later.” When you write, don’t worry about turning out a perfect first draft. They are more rare than the winning lottery numbers. Instead, dare to suck. Put yourself out there and write for all you’re worth. Edits and revisions exist for a reason. Second, the thing I want to tell new writers is this: agents and editor, even some publishers, will often ask for a partial—usually the first three chapters of your manuscript. Make sure they’re as close to perfect as they can be. But don’t forget the rest of the manuscript. Pages 51 to the end are just as important as those first 50 pages (or first 3 chapters). Don’t neglect them because they are what will make or break an offer. The first fifty pages get you in the door; the rest of the manuscript is the key to getting an offer.

REVIEW

If one day you find out that the supernatural world really exists, i.e., dragons, witches & wizards and the like then what would be your reaction be? Me? I would be a little skeptical at first but if given solid proof…

<<READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE>>

GIVEAWAY TIME

Enter and comment for a chance to win a e-copy of Legacy. To be eligible you must enter via the short entry form and you must comment on the post. This tour will have giveaway opportunities at most every stop and the stops that are giving digital copies are open to everyone! So follow the tour to greatly increase your chance of winning! 

<<CLICK HERE TO ENTER>>

MORE TOUR STOPS

• October 31st – Beverly G. @ Everyone Loves A SiNner
• November 1st – Aubrie Di. @ Flutey Words
• November 2nd – Lindsay H @ Everyday Is An Adventure
• November 3rd – Krystal L. @ Live To Read
• November 4th – Shandy S. @ Mama Knows Books
• November 7th – Wendy Mi. @ Rage, Sex and Teddy Bears
• November 9th – Lena Sl. @ Lena Sledge’s Blog…Books, Reviews and Interviews
• November 10th – Krishna A. @ Journey with Books
• November 11th – Farrah K. @ The Book Faery Reviews
• November 14th – Hywela L. @ Hywela Lyn: Romance That’s ‘Out Of This World’
• November 15th – Lisa Ma. @ A Casual Reader’s Blog