Month9Books Birthday Bash

Book Addicts! It's the birthday of Month9Books! They are turning 2 and they have decided to celebrate it with us by letting us, bloggers, hosting amazing posts with their authors and giving away amazing prizes. 

Lifer

by Beck Nicholas

Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.

Release Date: December 16, 2014

Synopsis:

Asher is a Lifer, a slave aboard the spaceship Pelican. A member of the lowest rung of society, she must serve the ship’s Officials and Astronauts as punishment for her grandparents' crimes back on Earth. The one thing that made life bearable was her illicit relationship with Samuai, a Fishie boy, but he died alongside her brother in a freak training accident.

Still grieving for the loss of her loved ones, Asher is summoned to the upper levels to wait on Lady, the head Official’s wife and Samuai’s mother. It is the perfect opportunity to gather intel for the Lifer’s brewing rebellion. There’s just one problem—the last girl who went to the upper levels never came back.

On the other side of the universe, an alien attack has left Earth in shambles and a group called The Company has taken control. Blank wakes up in a pond completely naked and with no memory, not even his real name. So when a hot girl named Megs invites him to a black-market gaming warehouse where winning means information, he doesn’t think twice about playing. But sometimes the past is better left buried.

As Asher and Blank’s worlds collide, the truth comes out—everyone has been lied to. Bourne Identity meets Under the Never Sky in this intergalactic tale of love and deception from debut novelist Beck Nicholas.

by Beck Nicholas

I’m so happy to be here to celebrate Month9Books birthday. I won’t sing though because I don’t want to injure anyone’s ears.

While I love to write in quiet (silence preferably) music often helps me in the ideas part of a story. A song (or several) can help me work out or capture the mood of a book or a scene. It can help me return to it quickly and pick up where I left off writing and that was particularly true for LIFER.

Below I’ve listed a few songs and their meaning for the book, without giving too much away.

Starships by Nicki Minaj

This song reminds me of Lifer every time it comes on the radio. I think of it as the Lifer anthem for the feel of the book.

Ink by Coldplay

Lifers have a tradition of marking their skin in remembrance of someone who has died. The opening scene is Asher marking her body for her lost boyfriend. When this song plays I’m right there in that scene with Asher feeling the needle go into my skin.

Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead

The first time we meet Blank he is waking in a garden. In the middle of the garden, surrounded my stone and fake bushes is a single living tree, encased in glass.

Pictures of You by The Cure

Asher is grieving. While she has no images of her brother, she’s at one point surrounded by many photos of her lost boyfriend. At first she thinks they’re a treasure but soon, like in the song, she begins to forget every memory but those captured in the pictures. She fears that’s all she’ll have left of her lost love.

Numb by U2

This sums up how Asher feels as the book goes on. She becomes numb to the terrible pain and focused on her goal to find out what happened when her brother and boyfriend died. When she suffers more loss she wonders if she’ll ever feel again.

These songs are a few of those that make me think of LIFER.

Thanks for having me as part of the celebrations and I can’t wait for December when Lifer is out and you can all meet Asher and Blank.

Don't miss any Month9Books author and post!

Jessica Arnold will be hosted by Read for your Future

Vanessa Barger will be hosted by Pretty Little Pages

Lisa M. Basso will be hosted by In Vogue with Books

Sarah Bromley will be hosted by A Book and A Latte

Steve Bryant will be hosted by Jump Into Books

Brynn Chapman will be hosted by A Backwards Story

Nicole Conway will be hosted by Two Chicks on Books

Scott Craven will be hosted by Books and Ashes

Ty Drago will be hosted by The A P Book Club

Dorothy Dreyer will be hosted by Her Book Thoughts!

Dorothy Dreyer will be hosted by Oops! I Read A Book Again

Jennifer M. Eaton will be hosted by Book Briefs

Kit Forbes will be hosted by Book Lovers Life

Janice Gable Bashman will be hosted by All Things Urban Fantasy

Amanda Gray will be hosted by Aspiring Joy

Kelly Hashway/Ashelyn Drake will be hosted by Book Geek Review

Elizabeth Holloway will be hosted by Tales of a Ravenous Reader

Missy Kalicicki and Abi Ketner will be hosted by Once Upon A Twilight

Nicola Marsh will be hosted by ReadWriteLove28

Georgia McBride will be hosted by YA Sisterhood

Jen McConnel will be hosted by A Dream Within A Dream

Jackie Morse Kessler will be hosted by Dark Faerie Tales

Beck Nicholas will be hosted by The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club

Michelle E. Reed will be hosted by Doodle's Book Reviews

Heather Reid will be hosted by Bookish Things & More

A. Lynden Rolland will be hosted by Fiction State of Mind

Kristal Shaff will be hosted by Chicklit vs Fantasy

Pab Sungenis will be hosted by Classy Cat Books

Rachel Tafoya will be hosted by Jessabella Reads

Vicki L. Weavil will be hosted by Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

I always wanted to write. I’ve worked as a lab assistant, a pizza delivery driver and a high school teacher but I always pursued my first dream of creating stories. Now, I live with my family near Adelaide, halfway between the city and the sea, and am lucky to spend my days (and nights) writing young adult fiction.

Win (1) New Kindle with touchscreen (US only) loaded with all our Month9Books titles (US Only)

Win (1) Paperback prize pack of 5 Month9Books Titles (US Only)

Win (2) eBook Prize Packs of 5 Month9Books titles (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Fantastic Flying Book Club: Welcome to the Club, The Star Thief (Star Thief Chronicles #1) by Jamie Grey

The Star Thief (Star Thief Chronicles #1)
by Jamie Grey
400 pages
Publisher: Createspace
Release Date: February 1st 2014

Synopsis:

Stealing another galactic secret will get her arrested, but playing by the rules might just get her killed.

At twenty-three, Renna Carrizal is the most notorious thief in the galaxy. There's just one problem - all she wants is to get out of the business.

But after Renna rescues an injured boy on her final job, she finds herself on the run from the mob instead of enjoying retirement. She unwittingly becomes ensnared by MYTH, a top-secret galactic protection agency who offer her a choice - either help them on their latest mission, or spend the rest of her life on a prison ship.

Forced to work under the watchful eye of handsome but arrogant Captain Finn, Renna learns the former mercenary-turned-hero has a few dirty secrets himself. As Renna works to discover the truth about Finn's past and keep the tantalizing man at arm's length, she unearths a plot to create an unstoppable army. The target? The human star fleet.

Now Renna must pull off the biggest job of her career - saving the galaxy. And maybe even herself.

Jamie Grey spent most of her childhood writing stories about princesses who saved the day and pretending to be a daring explorer. It wasn’t until much later that she realized she should combine the two. Now, as a tech-obsessed gamer geek, her novels mix amazing scientific developments, future worlds, and the remarkable characters that live in them.

Jamie lives in Michigan with her boyfriend and their pets, who luckily tolerate her overspending on tea, books, and video games. You can learn more about her at www.jamiegreybooks.com, or follow her on twitter via @jamie_grey.

How can I choose just one? I guess I’ll have to choose the Harry Potter series, because I can re-read it over and over!

A cup of tea, a quiet house, the cat curled up in my lap and soft music in the background.

Right now, it’s Chuck. I just started watching on Netflix and I’m in love!

Spirited Away

A rainy, coolish day, where I can curl up with a cup of tea and my writing.

It’s Time – Imagine Dragons

Anything Chocolate

Mr. Darcy of course

Magic

Fantasy

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it” Albert Einstein

Video games. A lot. Also TV show. When I get obsessed, I can’t stop watching! 

J.R.R. Tolkien

My husband

Kiss with a Fist – Florence + The Machine

John Lennon

I love that there are so many kindred spirits in this community and that a love for books is so powerful that it brings us all together – writer, reader, or blogger. You guys are the reason I keep writing! 

And a huge thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to stop by and spend some time with me. I’m so honored and humbled by how supportive and amazing you all are!

Hi Jamie! We are super excited to have The Star Thief in our FFBC.

Star Thief is one of those books that just wouldn’t leave me alone. I drafted an earlier version about 4 years ago and set it aside because I just didn’t know what to do with it. But last year, I stumbled across the file and after re-reading, I knew it would be perfect as a New Adult Sci-Fi romance with a few tweaks. After introducing a few new characters (Including the handsome Captain Finn), the words just flowed.

I’d been looking for a good sci-fi romance and I’d read quite a few that I liked but none of them were exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a female Han Solo type, with ambiguous morals and a heart of gold. And of course a steamy romance. So, I wrote one!

The poor girl is always in danger! But it wasn’t as difficult to write those scenes as I expected. It was actually kind of fun to throw her in horrible situations and see how she’d react! But there were times when I felt sorry for her and just wanted to give her a happy ending and had to break her heart instead, so those days were a little tough.

Renna is a tough, complex woman, who’s had a terrible childhood and learned that looking out for herself is the most important thing. She doesn’t trust easily, and is a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of girl. But the best thing about her is that when she does let herself trust someone, she’s loyal to the death and willing to go to any lengths to help them. 

I changed a lot of the middle section of the book to make it flow better, and I’m actually glad I removed a few scenes. I think they bogged down the action and didn’t really help readers connect with what was going on.

Mmmmm. He’s one of my favorite characters! Captain Finn has his own secrets he’s spent most of his life trying to leave behind, but when Renna shows up, she brings everything rushing back. With his job at MYTH, he’s become a fine, upstanding soldier and worked really hard to change his life, but he still can’t quite shake the rogue he used to be. He’s the kind of guy who helps rescues kittens from trees, but plays a wicked game of strip poker. Sexy and sweet.

I do! I use a lot of music when I write, but mostly intsrumentals and soundtracks. For Star Thief, I used a ton of video game and movie sound tracks – Mass Effect, Star Wars, Firefly, etc.

“Renna grinned and cracked her knuckles. Tumbling a new lock was like having sex with someone for the first time. Sure, it was a little awkward learning all the ins and outs, but the thrill of discovery more than made up for it.”

Oh that’s a tough one. I think the scene where Renna and Finn compare scars has to be right up there as one of my favorites!

I love this question! Aishwarya Rai as Renna, Shane West as Finn, Idris Elba as Dr. Aldani and Jayden Smith as Myka.

Currently I’m working on the sequel to The Star Thief – Athena’s Ashes. I’m planning on that being out this summer. After that, I have plans for a short story set in the same universe, and potentially a spin off series that follows some of the minor characters in Star Thief. Whatever I write, it’ll probably be more sci-fi romance! I can’t seem to get enough of that genre right now!

Click here or on the banner to follow the FFBC Tour and see all the stops

• There will be TWO winners
• You must be 13 or older to enter this giveaway
• It's an US/CAN Only & INTERNATIONAL giveaway.
• Each day there will be available a #QOD (question of the day) in each participant blog. You can earn more points by answering the answers.
• For those who don't know how this works, the winners will be those who have participated the most. Meaning, the winners will be those who have more points. No Rafflecopter luck this time, Book Addicts. This is all on you now! If there's a draw, then the odds will decide and this time the Rafflecopter luck would be a major factor deciding if you win or not.

What would you do if you were Renna? Would you be a galactic thief, too?

Win (1) signed copy of Star Thief by Jamie Grey, a star scarf and Star Thief notebook (US/Canada)

Win (1) ecopy of Star Thief by Jamie Grey (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to our beloved team & Jamie Grey for making this event possible.