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Shadow of the Coalition
The Two Towers Series
Book Two
Jamie A. Waters
Genre: Paranormal Romance /
Science Fiction Romance /
Dystopian Romance
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing
Date of Publication: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77127-810-2
ASIN: B01FNEPYXU
Number of pages: 417
Word Count: 107,000
Cover Artist: SuzieDesigns
Book Description:
The award-winning novel, The Two Towers, continues in Book 2…
What’s stronger? Free will or fate?
It’s been a month since Kayla, a headstrong ruin rat, and Carl, an OmniLab trader, returned to the surface. After she helped to restore control of the towers to those who would look after the best interests of the people, she’d found herself irrevocably bonded to Alec, the new co-leader of the High Council.
Although her heart belongs to Carl, she finds it difficult to resist the strange bond between her and Alec. Caught between learning how to handle her new emerging abilities, mysterious earthquakes, and a strange group seemingly intent on targeting OmniLab, Kayla and Carl are once again swept up in events that threaten to change the entire future of the towers.
Interview with the Author:
What initially got you interested in writing?
I’ve always had a love affair with books, computer games, and anything that happened to capture my imagination. I loved exploring new worlds, meeting new characters and becoming completely immersed in an alternate reality.
I just feel naturally into writing and storytelling. I started writing stories (and really bad Ultima fan-fiction) back in middle school. I continued writing stories just for myself for many years. After I had my son, I wrote stories for him to encourage a love for books, storytelling and reading. I eventually wrote a young adult story for him that ended up being a full-length novel. The realization that I could actually write an entire book astounded me.
How did you decide to make the move into being a published author?
After finishing my young adult novel and realizing – “Hey! I can do this!” – I decided to try my hand at writing something on a more adult level. Initially, I didn’t start out even thinking about getting published. It was more of test for myself. Once the first book in my adult series was finished though, my family and friends encouraged me to go ahead and try submitting it. I did, not really expecting much to come of it, but was thrilled when I got several interested emails and an offer from MuseItUp Publishing.
What do you want readers to take away from reading your works?
Entertainment, mostly. But it’s really up to each person. Everyone is at a different point in their life and everyone is looking for something. My book may not be the right choice for them at this particular point in their life, or it may touch something within them at a time that they needed it. At the very least, I hope they can escape for a little while and come get lost in my head with me – it’s really a fun place to be.
What do you find most rewarding about writing?
Exploring possibilities and connecting with my readers. There are no limits in writing. Whatever your imagination can dream up, you can turn it into a reality. I love talking to my readers and connecting with them about my characters. They come up with ideas and get impressions that completely blow me away. I’ve exchanged emails and met some really amazing people. It’s really humbling and incredible knowing my words and characters touched some part of their lives.
What do you find most challenging about writing?
My characters. They frequently don’t do what I expect. I’ll have an idea about what’s going to happen in a story, but my characters end up surprising me. It ends up throwing my entire idea out the window and most of the time, I feel like I’m just along for the ride. I’m just the narrator and they’re the ones driving the bus.
What advice would you give to people want to enter the field?
Writing and storytelling is more than an art. It’s a passion. It’s a craft. You have to keep developing yourself as a writer, listen and absorb criticism with grace and humor, and keep loving what you do. But most of all… keep writing. Don’t ever give up.
What ways can readers connect with you?
Links to all of my social networking sites can be found at www.jamieawaters.com, including upcoming events posted on my blog. There’s also a contact form if you want to send me a direct email. You *will* get a response back. I love connecting with and talking to my readers.
I’m also going to be at the Authors After Dark Convention in Savannah, GA on August 3-7, 2016. I’ll be sponsoring a breakfast on Friday, doing a book signing on Saturday, and participating in a bunch of the events. I’d love to see some of you there!
Excerpt:
Kayla got down on hands and knees to crawl between the floor and a collapsed ancient wall in Sector 12. It would be a tight fit, but she’d navigated worse in the past. Taking a deep breath, she sucked in her stomach and squeezed through the narrow space.
Getting up, she brushed the dirt off her visor and shone the flashlight around what appeared to have once been a common room. Living room, she remembered. Although, there definitely wasn’t anything living in the room now. A thick shroud of dust and debris coated the surfaces within the room. The remnants of an old fireplace stood in the corner and pieces of broken furniture were scattered on the floor.
Closing her eyes, a deep breath helped to focus her thoughts. Using what she now knew as energy threads, she opened up her senses to explore the hidden world around. The darkness fell away, embracing the energy swirling in the ruins. The energy had the flavor of an almost living thing, inviting her to tap into it. She shivered as it poured in and her blood hummed with the rush of power. Her fingers unfurled as the energy became an almost tangible thing.
She basked in the warmth and excitement of the intoxicating power. As the energy flowing through her increased, it was a little easier to ignore the sense of wrongness and longing she suspected was from being separated from Alec.
It had only been six weeks since she left OmniLab towers. After she helped to restore control of the towers to those who would look after the best interests of the residents, she’d found herself irrevocably bonded to Alec, the new co-leader of the High Council. Even though he was enigmatic and alluring, the shared energy bond scared her more than she wanted to admit. He was likeable enough, but it was an OmniLab trader named Carl who had truly touched her heart.
Her face warmed at the thought of Carl. Even though they’d known each other for almost a year, it wasn’t until she recently joined his camp that she began to see him in a new light. The man had a quick mind and was incredibly devious, two traits she greatly admired.
Living as a ruin rat on the surface was a constant challenge. Survival was sometimes dependent upon outsmarting the OmniLab traders and their crews. Kayla enjoyed the challenges Carl provided, pitting her will against his. He seemed to understand her better than anyone else had in a long time. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he was sexy as hell too.
With a sigh, she pushed away the errant thoughts and focused back on the dilapidated room. The energy continued to flow around her, and she focused on channeling it until the mental image of the room began to shift and transform. The dingy walls became brightly painted surfaces covered with family photographs. A child played on the floor while her parents sat on the couch and watched an antique vidviewer on the wall.
She opened her eyes and stared at the verisimilitude of the ruined room. A wave of vertigo swept over her as the mental image overlapped with reality. Shaking her head, she pushed aside the image but the memory of the past refused to leave completely.
An old photograph caught her attention and she crossed the room toward the cockeyed frame. The glass was cracked and the picture faded, but she gasped at the sight of the image. The family looked exactly like the one she’d imagined. The energy flow spiked, and she swallowed nervously trying to regain control.
Veridian’s voice interrupted over her headset. “Kayla? You okay? Your vitals just spiked.”
“Uh, yeah. Sorry about that,” she said in a rush, not wanting to alarm her scavenging partner on the surface. He’d been monitoring her progress for the past hour. “I just found an old photograph and it surprised me. That’s all.”
Okay, Kayla, keep it together. You know this energy shit is freaky and you haven’t figured exactly how it works yet. Just relax.
A slight vibration under her feet caused her to freeze. The floor felt secure, but vibrations didn’t usually happen without reason. More curious than alarmed, she bent down and pressed her gloved hand against the ground. The vibration grew stronger.
“Kayla, get out of there now!” Veridian’s voice shouted over the headset. “We’ve got seismic activity on the monitors.”
The walls began shaking violently. A rumbling noise grew in intensity. Dust and debris fell around her. She crouched low against the wall, powerless to do anything else. The picture frame on the wall crashed to the floor. There was a loud cracking noise and she threw her arms up over her head as part of the ceiling collapsed.
About the Author:
Jamie A. Waters is an award-winning, science-fiction and paranormal romance writer. Her first novel, The Two Towers, was a winner of the Readers’ Favorite Award in Science-Fiction Romance and the CIPA EVVY Award in Science-Fiction. The highly anticipated second book in the series, Shadow of the Coalition, is scheduled to be released Summer 2016 by MuseItUp Publishing.
Jamie currently resides in North Carolina with her teenage son and two neurotic dogs who enjoy stealing socks. When she’s not pursuing her passion of writing, she’s usually trying to learn new and interesting random things (like how to pick locks or use the self-cleaning feature of the oven without setting off the fire alarm). In her downtime, she enjoys reading on her Kindle, playing computer games, painting, or acting as a referee between the dragons and fairies currently at war inside her closet.
https://www.facebook.com/booksbyjamiewaters
https://plus.google.com/u/1/116233971537364130348/posts
http://www.twitter.com/jawatersbooks
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8073005.Jamie_A_Waters
Tour giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card; and an ebook copy of Books 1 & 2 in the series
