Author Guest Post | Celebrating the sequel to “Blue Spirit” with the release of “Restless Spirit”, Ms Chris explains the ‘cosplay’ side of Skye!

I am wicked happy to bring a lovely guest feature to my readers, celebrating a lovely Urban Fantasy series, I had become smitten with reading last year! It isn’t often I find a series that tickles my humour to such an accord of hilarity whilst grounded by a heap of heart and friendship at the same time! I love seeking out ‘lighter reads’ with a sophisticated edge of humour or satire that brings you such an uplift of joy to be reading, you simply do not want to part company any time soon with the book in your hands!

This is how I felt when I first picked up the first volume of the Tipsy Fairy Tales: Blue Spirit! I was overjoyed to find a wholly realised world inside that not only reminded me of the short story (by which I first met Skye with Minnie) but it drew me into this alterverse so warmly lit by it’s inhabitants it was hard not to smirk as you read the story! It wasn’t all aces though – there were some really wicked characters (here, this isn’t to refer to being ‘awesome’ but overtly dangerous!) up to absolute NO GOOD and then, there was Skye – centred on the action and trying to sort her way through it all!

She’s incredibly quirky, has her faults (who doesn’t?) but at the end of the day, it’s seriously good fiction which can bring you into an upturnt smile, a hearty laugh and a joyful reprieve in a world that is not altogether ‘unlike’ our world but is quite mysteriously bent towards the fantastical! I’ve been so wicked eager to read this new installment – to get my hands on the next Skye & Minnie adventure, as what happily drew my eye into this series is the depth that Ms Chris knits into her story’s heart. She puts a lot into the adventures of Skye than you first realise, and there is a lot more to Skye than what is presented. She’s a complicated girl and has a complicated past; I know there will be a riveting conclusion to this trilogy as she has a lot of growing left to do after this particular tale of her story concludes, but at the forefront is a girl whose willing to do whatever her friends need and be the heroine of her own story!

What’s not to love, right!?

I wanted to feature a guest post that highlights the quirkiness of Skye and the joy of conventions on behalf of the author; I’d love to attend more cons myself in the future, as I positively love reading about the Steampunk & SFF ones inasmuch as I know I want to hit the book world circuit of book fairs, fests and cons, as well! I know there will be BEA and Library convention out there I will one day attend! Til then, I get to live voraciously through those lovely spirits who tweet or instaphoto their lives for us to see ‘what it’s like ahead of being there’ ourselves!

On my connection to Ms Chris (aka E. Chris Garrison):

I first discovered the style of Ms Chris’s story-telling when we both appeared on the Star Chamber Show, which is a weekly podcast on BlogTalkRadio sponsored by the publisher Seventh Star Press. Since our first encounter with each other, we’ve developed a friendship I am blessed to have and I appreciate getting to know a bit more about an author whose not only developing a unique style in the world of Fantasy but is receptive to the thoughts readers have as they gain impression by reading the stories themselves.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Ms Chris through our respective blogs, the twitterverse, the podcast world, and privately. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time. For more information, I disclosed a bit more on my first 10 Bookish, Not Bookish Thoughts (read No.7!).

When Skye McLeod is asked by her pal Phil Jenson if she wants to cosplay at his game company’s booth during Big Con Weekend—and get paid for it—she jumps at the chance. Besides, Skye’s hit a rocky patch with her girlfriend Annabelle, who wants her to stop drinking and act more responsibly.

Then Skye gets a call from paranormal detective Rebecca Burton for another job; something big is going on at the convention, and she needs Skye to be her eyes and ears there. So now Skye’s getting paid to have fun—twice!

Then The Night Duke, a creep from Skye’s live role playing days, shows up and uses some weird mojo, seemingly turning pretend zombies into real ones. After barely escaping an attack, Skye learns the fairies and trolls within the magical realm are getting restless, and her old friend, the Transit King, is in the middle of it.

Skye decides to once again enlist the aid of her fairy companion “Minnie.” For Skye to enter the magic realm, she needs to get tipsy. Then she’ll just have to control the powers within her and contain the outside forces that threaten to spin into chaos. How can she possibly screw this up?

Guest Post Topic: Being an author who loves attending conventions, was this part of the impetus behind having Skye find herself in a heap of crazy woe whilst attending a convention herself? What was your favourite part of bringing your personal love of conventions into the story-line? Is the cover art reflecting the Cosplay aspect of the convention?

And if so, which character did Skye want to represent?

You know, one thing I haven’t said much about Restless Spirit was, the second book in the series was supposed to be Mean Spirit, which was supposed to start off with Skye in rehab.

I remember this, as I was trying to sort out why Skye would be full of so much angst – until I started to draw back to mind why her life was complicated and the issues she had sorting out her emotional baggage. I knew there was a firm grounding in your crafting of Skye to show all her worts not just the adventurous side of her nature, but to dig a bit deeper and draw out more of the complexities that make her ‘her’ – thus, it stands to reason there would be a more dramatic side of her story emerging!

I won’t give spoilers about that book, but it occurred to me that if I wanted there to be a trilogy of books about Skye, she needed to get in even more trouble than in Blue Spirit, so I knew there had to be another book in between. One with wilder hi-jinks and drunken antics, and above all, higher stakes. She needed to burn some bridges, and also see the consequences of recklessness. I very nearly called the book Reckless Spirit but decided it was more about Skye’s restlessness with her lack of clear purpose or direction in her life; as it was about her trying to prove her worth in our world, while being beset by overwhelming danger from the fairy and shadow worlds.

Yes, I can see how some might argue that point – about how Skye can go off on an adventure without thinking of the plausibilities of her actions or what might become a result of some of the behaviours she engages inside – however, one thing that you’ve always maintained with Skye is her willingness to recognise certain aspects of her life and world. She has a ‘check’ inside her in regards to knowing a bit more about her limits; not always mindful of responding to that self-check as she has Minnie for a stronger note of conscious but you can tell as you read her stories, Skye feels responsible for certain things but perhaps, hasn’t quite learnt the greatest lesson of all, yet.

So, I thought, what better place to get into trouble than the biggest gaming event in Indianapolis, Big Con (which is based on another, less fictional major game convention). And yes, this author is a gamer, too.

And my love of the energy of the major convention and the chaos contained within the few days it runs every year seemed like a great setting for the book because of all that I’ve seen happen in and around it for the decades I’ve been going.

Gamers have the most fun, I think! I love how you’ve built this whole story around gaming and a convention that celebrates the art of gaming! I’d love to go to a Gaming convention if only to find new games to play! It’s been half an age since I’ve found new board games or card games to soak my teeth into and of course, there are other games out there too, that are equally as challenging that I haven’t even had the chance to explore! I love the camaraderie of gamers, too. I can well imagine the boisterous bursts of joy  that happens when everyone gets together!

The best part of bringing Skye to Big Con was thinking back to all my years attending such a convention, finding actual magic among the make-believe of our world, and superimposing real monsters in a place where they might actually fit in among the cosplay and grand displays of gamers and the game companies putting on the show. As an example, I saw the convention’s annual “zombie walk” as a wonderful opportunity for things to go horribly wrong when the fake undead silliness turned all too real for Skye and her friends.

Thousands of con-goers wait for the grand opening of the Gen Con 2014 dealer hall. Is it such a stretch to imagine a zombie horde erupting from this mass of humanity?

I can definitely see your point – Zombies could easily integrate into a crowd and take everyone unawares! I must admit, your the first author whose written a story I’d entertain reading that involves the ‘undead’ as technically I’m the least Zombie interested girl you could meet! lol When it comes to following Skye’s antics and adventures, even Zombies I suppose are par for course of what I might find inside a Tipsy Fairy Tale! lol

The cover shows Skye in a more traditional fantasy setting because although she dressed in fantasy garb as cosplay as part of her job working for a game company, she found herself in actual ancient tunnels deep below Indianapolis, facing monstrous trolls, little scrappy goblins, and an ancient evil, personified by the glowing red eyes lurking behind her.

Such an interestingly constructed troll! I had to look at this photograph several times before I saw everything that there was to see inside it! I even liked the troll hitching a ride so to speak! I love found art and recycled art – especially in life sizes such as this one – it must have been incredible to see up close like you had to take this photograph! Wicked awesomesauce!

Anne Rosario did a wonderful job with the artwork for this book, I found it to be as beautiful and inspiring as the one she did for Blue Spirit.

I completely agree! I love the artwork of Ms Rosario! She has such a beautiful scope of fantastical artwork – I love perusing her Instagram feeds, as you can find such a lot of her style and heart as an illustrator being showcased! In fact, she created a spur of the moment fairy, I thought you’d love as it was such a delicate wisp of a creation and yet, it had such a lot of depth, too! I love Fantasy artwork because it shows the magical side of our world that is just out of reach or sight but always present.

Quick sketch : Sketched an amanita porphyria mushroom with a faerie curiously taking refuge (drew last night before hitting the bed). Used: #coloredpencils #prismacolor #verithin on a very cheap toned paper notebook ($1) #art #artph #mycology #mushroom #sketch #toned #pencil #faerie #fantasy #illustration #annerosario

A photo posted by Anne Rosario (@annerosarioart) on Sep 13, 2015 at 7:03pm PDT

Converse on Twitter: #TipsyFairyTaleSeries & #7thStar

This blog tour is courtesy of:

 Thank you, Ms Chris for giving me and all my dear hearted readers such a lot of bookish joy knowing a bit more about the Cosplay aspects of “Restless Spirit’ and the real-life inspirations behind setting this story at a convention! I look forward to reading all the lovely spooktastic surprises that are definitely awaiting me in this sequel!

Follow the rest of the blog tour for wicked insightful reviews & more guest features:

My review of ‘Restless Spirit’ was delayed due an epic migraine – do return on the morrow, as I will be focusing on revealling my ruminative thoughts on behalf of this lovely sequel to a book I truly could not put down it was so wicked fun to read! I look forward to seeing your thoughts on behalf of this series and be sure to give a nod of a s/o to the author in the comment threads below if you are a convention goer yourself or love her series!

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I appreciate your visit & hope you will return soon!

Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.

{SOURCES: Book Cover of “Restless Spirit”, author photograph of E. Chris Garrison, author and illustrator biographies, book synopsis, blog tour badge, TCM Host badge and Seventh Star Press badge were provided by TCM (Tomorrow Comes Media) and used with permission. All photographs were provided by the author and credited as E. Chris Garrison whilst used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets are inserted due to codes provided by Twitter. Instagram photo inserted due to codes provided by Instagram. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Writerly Topics Banner and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.

Comments on Twitter:

? #GuestPost feat. @ecgarrison via #TipsyFairyTale #blogtour About #cosplay & #Fantasy book series (https://t.co/NLQ2OyCLo0) ? @TCMPublicity

— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) September 28, 2016

I LOVE being a guest on @joriestory's book blog! She is warm and wonderful and insightful, I always know I'm in good hands. <3 https://t.co/VyHYbgXieu

— Chrissy Garrison (@ecgarrison) September 28, 2016

#Author Guest Post | "Restless Spirit" and cosplay by E Chris Garrison #amreading https://t.co/l7XIcQlOOo via @joriestory

— Christina Philippou (@CPhilippou123) September 28, 2016

Thank you, Ms Olsen! @KakiOlsenBooks Such a kind compliment to receive! ? I had a heap of fun w/ this guest post! @ecgarrison @TCMPublicity

— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) September 29, 2016

Skye, main character of @ecgarrison 's Tipsy Fairy Tales, & the world of #cosplay & #gaming! @joriestory https://t.co/UPASpqnO8h

— Seventh Star Press (@7thStarPress) September 28, 2016