Jorie is pleased to announce a special showcase for an Indie Writer arriving on Jorie Loves A Story during the months of October & November respectively! During the last week of October, there will be serial overview post about the three novels in the Piercing the Veil series: Intangible, Invincible, & Impossible. A fuller expanse of each story will post during my Fantasy track focus on Mondays for Sci Fi November, which is upcoming in a few short weeks! The schedule of the posts are as follows:
30th October, 2014 | Review: Intangible Book 1 of Piercing the Veil
3rd November, 2014 | A *LIVE!* Author Q&A with C.A. Gray
6-8pm MTZ (Mountain) | 9-11pm NYC (EST)
Questions can post ahead starting @ midnight straight
into the chat itself; author will be responding live
10th November, 2014 | Review: Invincible Book 2 of Piercing the Veil
17th November, 2014 | Review: Impossible Book 3 of Piercing the Veil
24th November, 2014 | Piercing the Veil Series Showcase Special
Author Biography:
C.A. Gray is a Naturopathic Medical Doctor (NMD), with a primary care practice in Tucson, AZ. She has always been captivated by the power of a good story, fictional or otherwise, which is probably why she loves holistic medicine: a patient’s physical health is invariably intertwined with his or her life story, and she believes that the one can only be understood in context with the other.She still wants to be everything when she grows up. She moonlights as a college chemistry teacher (she has a degree in biochemistry, with minors in Spanish and Creative Writing), does theater when she gets the chance, sings, plays piano, was once a personal trainer and in coffee shop management. She is blessed with exceptionally supportive family and friends, and thanks God for them every single day!
Read an Excerpt of the latest novel Impossible:
Prologue
Sargon stood on the edge of a precipice. He was somewhere in the Andes mountains, thick fir trees at his back and sheer rock descending to a ravine below. He could not even see the bottom.
In one hand, Sargon held the Philosopher’s Stone. It was blood-red, and cut in a spherical shape. In the other, he held the fragments of a golden sword: Excalibur. He closed his eyes, a blissful smile curling his cruel lips, creasing the jagged scar across Kane’s right cheek.
You’re going to lose, Kane snarled. Peter will destroy you.
You know that is a lie, Kane, Sargon replied calmly. I have the Philosopher’s Stone, and the fragments of Excalibur. I am invincible.
But you don’t know how to reforge Excalibur. As long as they are fragments, you have no hope of fulfilling the prophecy!
Sargon shook his head, still smiling. Kane was right, of course: he did not know how to reforge the sword. Yet. But he knew how to find out.
In a ringing voice, Sargon cried out, “An sprioc, inis dom do speisialta!”
Instantly the Andes disappeared, and the world became silent and luminous. Kane felt himself locked in a rigid lattice structure of purest, deepest red, the light of the sun bouncing all around and through him.
A thousand flashes of the Stone’s memory bombarded Kane at once: the impossible, dizzying, unimaginable heat from the inside of a volcano; the crushing pressure; the explosive force, propelling him down the edges of a mountain amidst running lava.
Excalibur must be reforged, Sargon told the Stone. How can this be accomplished?
Kane felt, rather than heard, the Stone’s answer. He watched without eyes as men slaughtered one another, their blood running like the lava had done seconds before. It was both a memory and a reply.
Blood, thought Sargon with satisfaction. Of course. It is so simple. Had not the Stone required him to spill his own blood in exchange for his immortality?
The red luminescent world disappeared, and Sargon blinked, again standing on the edge of the precipice. Of course, he thought again. He consulted Kane’s memory of the prophecy with a flash: Both shall fall, but the One who holds the blade that was broken shall emerge victorious.
In order to reforge Excalibur, someone must die.
There are three candidates, Sargon thought. I have already taken the body of one; only two yet remain. One will serve the blood sacrifice. Then, with Excalibur restored, I shall kill the other.
Sargon felt Kane’s quiet despair. A cruel smile curled his lips once more.
It is a beautiful symmetry, Kane. Is it not?
When I was first approached by Ms. Bauer to work with her on this Book Blitz and potentially host the author on a series of showcases on my blog, my first thought expressed how this would be beyond wicked cool! My second thought after I had agreed to everything as it worked within my timescape was an internal worry about what I may or may not find inside the novels themselves! As a frequent reader of my blog, you will have noted my sensitivity to *excessive!* vulgarity in literature (i.e. mostly as it pertains to Adult Lit, but in the recent past Children’s Lit is become a minefield for me as well; especially in regards to YA & NA),… if you are a new visitor, take my word for this sentiment or if you desire, you can wander through my various angst filled observations under ‘Fly in the Ointment’.
I , immediately went to Ms. Gray’s website, digging into her beautiful Press Kit (she has one of the best resources for book bloggers & book reviewers; outside of what I found on Ms. Caulfield’s site for her Iceberg Trilogy!), whilst reading everything she had posted about the Piercing the Veil series. I quickly gathered the full essence of her YA Fantasy series being rooted in mythological & legendary lore inasmuch as it was an adventure that you could sense the urgency in needing to read! I caught a murmuring of excitement whilst visiting her website, and tried not to devour it too quickly! By the time I had lined everything up, the one thing I had forgotten to ask about was the ‘language’ I may or may not find inside the series. Lo and behold, as I’ve been burnt a bit over this past Summer (and grievously disappointed) — I elected to be fully honest & re-contacted the author! Ms. Gray promptly informed me that she agreed with me on merit and I would barely find any strong words inside her novels at all! Except for two words I would never blink an eyelash over as I always accepted them as the absolute bare minimum if need be!
The reason I am bringing this up tonight is because I do not want to spend even a second on this topic whilst I am blogging about her books! I wanted to celebrate the fact I found a YA Fantasy writer who writes a ‘clean read’ and one that can be accessible to all readers irregardless of where we stand on the issue itself. (my definition of a ‘clean read’ was disclosed in brief on my review of Moonflower another YA Fantasy novel I was ever so thankful to have found!)
The main reason I was attracted to reading the Piercing the Veil series is due to it’s foundational plot being centered around the Arthurian legend! I still recollect quite fondly when I caught First Knight starring Sean Connery on the silver screen; and how I quite literally told Julia Ormond she was a fool not to say “yes!” quite loudly as for whichever reason, it felt necessary to voice an opinion she’d never hear in reality! Laughs with mirth. I never honestly read the original canon pieces nor did I ever get round to reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. One of a few that have been on my ‘next reads list’ for quite a longer while than most! And, although I will be going into reading this series solely on the memory of what I know of King Arthur from motion picture and the curious tales of his life I’ve learnt from osmosis, I have a pulse of energy inside me because there is something quite special about the premise and the way in which the trilogy has become stitched together by Ms. Gray!
I do hope if your able to come back during the LIVE Author Q&A you’ll have plenty of time between now & the 3rd of November to seek out Ms. Gray’s beautiful website and garnish an idea of what you will want to ask her as much as I hope you will return to Jorie Loves A Story on the 27th of October in order to find out my thoughts on the first book in the series!
IBP Book Trailer for Book 1 of Piercing the Veil: Intangible
via International Book Promotion
This Release Day Blitz & Indie Writer Showcase Announcement is courtesy of:
Virtual Road Map of the Book Blitz Blog Tour:
Be sure to stay attune to the Bookish Events I’m hosting by visiting my Calendar of Events! To see which book will become my next reads selection of choice, visit my AUTUMN TBR List on Riffle!
Please take note of the Related Articles as they were hand selected due to being of cross-reference importance in relation to this book review. This applies to each post on my blog where you see Related Articles underneath the post. Be sure to take a moment to acknowledge the further readings which are offered.
What pulls you into a Young Adult Fantasy novel? What are you hoping to find each time you set your mind & heart to enter into a whole new world of possibilities grounded in mythology, lore, or a world built so real it reflects the author’s vision they wanted you to find whilst you were reading their story?
{SOURCES: Book cover for “Impossible”, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Excerpt of “Impossible”, and all promotional badges attributed to the Piercing the Veil series and/or Royal Social Media were provided by Royal Social Media and used with permission. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. The book trailer for “Intangible” had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.
Related Articles:
Bibliography of King Arthur – (en.wikipedia.org)
This sounds exciting, Jorie! I can tell you are! lol And I love the idea that it’s a “clean read” :D Yay for that!
Hallo Ms. Donna Marie,
Ooh, I know — isn’t it deliriously wonderful!? I am beyond the moon in excitement to not only tweet out snippets of my joy in reading the series (starting this week!) but I cannot wait to feature the author on my blog for these special events!! :) I hope you’ll be able to participate in the Q&A as I know how important Children’s Lit is to you as well! :)
This is fantastic, Jorie! Thanks for hosting. Very much looking forward to the Q&A as well as the reviews! :)
– Caitlin
Hallo Ms. Bauer,
Thank you! :) I was hoping you might drop by today! I had such a wonderful time putting this together for Ms. Gray! I am ever so thankful to be a part of this blog tour & book blitz celebration of her novels! Yes, indeed! As I am as well! I have only had the pleasure of hosting a few *live!* Q&A’s before, and they are such a wicked delight to host! Honoured I can have all the lovely showcases to feature the Piercing the Veil series!