Tag: Awesome Jones

+Blog Book Tour+ Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan, the writer who took genre-bending to a new level!

Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan

Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan

Published By: Seventh Star Press (@7thStarPress) 10 March, 2014
Official Author Websites Site | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads
Available Formats: Softcover, E-book
Page Count: 456

Converse via: #AwesomeJones, #AshleyRoseSullivan, #superherofairytale & #7thStar

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Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the “Awesome Jones” genre-bending fantasy-comic release tour from Seventh Star Press. The tour is hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media who does the publicity and blog tours for Seventh Star Press and other Indie and/or Self Published authors. I am a regular blog tour host with Tomorrow Comes Media and was thrilled to bits to see this novel being offered for review. I received a complimentary copy of “Awesome Jones” direct from the publisher Seventh Star Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Interest in Reading Awesome Jones:

When I see a writer like AshleyRose Sullivan who not only dared to embrace a genre-bender story as it alighted inside her heart but dared to have the confidence to find a publisher who recognised her vision is not only awe-inspiring it is the foundation of how each of us needs to remember to ‘own our muse, own our work, and carry-on forward’ until our stories reach the hands of the readers who believe in us too.

– quoted from the Author’s Guest Post on writing Genre-Bending Stories

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

  Book Synopsis: 

The only thing Awesome Jones wants is to be a super hero. Until he falls in love.

Despite his colorful name, Awesome Jones is a painfully average man who dreams of being a super hero, just like the ones who patrol his city. It’s been that way since he was a little boy, raised by his grandfather after his parents’ death.AshleyRose Sullivan

The day Jones starts his new job as a file clerk at Akai Printing Company he meets secretary Lona Chang and everything changes. Lona sees something in Jones that no one ever has and the two quickly become inseparable. But when the perfect pair’s domestic bliss is threatened by a super-powered secret from the past, Awesome Jones has to make a choice. He must decide whether he should play it safe or find the strength to live up to his name and risk everything he’s come to love to save the day like he always dreamed.

  Author Biography:

Born and raised in Appalachia, AshleyRose Sullivan has a BS in Anthropology and an MFA in Creative Writing. She lives, writes and paints in Los Angeles with her husband and their many imaginary friends.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comOn analog technology & the heart of the story:

An appreciator of the hidden world of typewriters via the typosphere (yes, there is such a thing! it runs counter-current to our regular blogosphere where typecasters post their typewritten blog posts!), I cannot even fully explain how wicked happy I was to see there were ‘typewriters’ clacking about in ‘Awesome Jones‘! Long live analog! I will always grow a smile of a whisper towards the joy in finding old world tech knitted into the stories I love to read! And, the blessing here is that this isn’t a historical fiction novel! This is a modern alternative world in which ordinary people are attempting to determine if their ancestral roots are strong enough to transcend their present lives. That in of itself is an accomplishment worth reading!

What I truly was unsure about what to expect when I read this novel, is how I would feel about being connected to a story whose heart was hinged to the stories of my youth. I always am quite eager to re-examine my past, especially when it comes to books and the bookish culture which are attached to certain volumes, authors, and stories. The fact that this particular novel gave me back my joy of comic superheroes and the style in which comic stories are told is pure bliss. The heart of the story harkened me back to remembering why I loved The New Adventures of Super-Man as much as I had! Lona and Awesome remind me so very much of Clark and Lois! Their connective spirits give you something to chew on rather than running on presumption. Nothing is cliché nor is anything predictable. Honest choices are threaded through the narrative, and I appreciate the choices the author made whilst creating it!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comMy Review of Awesome Jones:

You are immediately drawn to Awesome Jones as a character because of his introverted confidence in understanding his place in the world and how his everyday life is lived as a bachelor. He has a particular way of attending to each of his needs as well as his wants. From the order he reads the newsprint to the manner in which he eats the takeaway food he orders! He is a man of prediction not contradiction, of sincerity and of genuine curiosity for the bits of the everyday world that is not readily known to him; as he has more or less led a bit of a sheltered life. Not that he would be one to feel sorry for what he lacked in experience (such as having a pet; a dog perhaps?) but artfully steered his mind towards self-awareness and self-education practices which gained him the knowledge of what was absent. He’s the type of bloke you might overlook if you had not taken a keen interest to want to know him. He’s a bit understated, but that is part of his charm!

He’s the type of bloke who purchases flowers to know when they have arrived into their own full essence of splendor. One sniff of their delicate petals and the aroma which follows their mirth, and he knows how long it will take the bloom to reach its maturity. His knowledge for canines through the adverts he reads about their change of ownership lends him an eagle eye viewing of his sidewalk companions as he walksabout his business. He denotes which dog matched to which owner is either most akin to its nature or a reflection of its owner’s personality and thus, rendered differently than most.

Lona Chang took Awesome by surprise, not only for her growing affection and respect of his character, but for being endeared to him as a companion. The two took to each other quite readily, but it was how they fit into each other’s pocket that I felt bemused about the most whilst reading the story! You see, they were the near-identical half of the other, and I refer to it being ‘near-identical’ as although they each read the newsprint release of breaking news, they differed on a category or two. Little unbeknownst differences out of a sea of common threads which helped knit Awesome Jones and Lona Chang together in the bliss of conjoined living. She was quite methodical herself, yet Awesome took the cake for exacting out his observations, and for being near computeristically perfect in his actions. Whilst the two were together, they not only complimented each other in synced harmony but they cancelled each other out on their eclecticism.

Lona and Awesome were intricately entwined by their common share of loss, as they respectively never knew their proper origins. They were each raised by loving parents who adopted them as their own when their biological parents had died. They attempted in their own way to resurrect a connection fate did not allow to solidify whilst their parents were alive. In their shared ambiguous loss, they each sought ways in which they could formulate a way to connect themselves through a passion of their parents; even if the only true connection they had were fragmented pieces of their parents personal effects. These tangible reminders were a weight of a burdened yoke which toyed with their emotional well-being.

When Awesome Jones grapples with the choice between the life he’s formed together with Lona and the life he’s dreamt of living, they each have to put to test the strength of their love for each other. I sided with Captain Lightning (one of the main superheroes focused on in the story) on the outdated rules and regulations of The Guild (apparently superheroes are organised more than you realise!). He’s put in a most difficult position because as you can well imagine, he goes from knowing a scant amount about his ancestry and then, in one large dose of revelation he gets far more than he bargained to learn! I would imagine that if you wake up one day and your entire essence of who you are as a person is chucked out for this alternative version; a version you knew nothing of and had no idea of how to accept, there would be a period of adaption to adjust!

This is when I found myself reading at such a lightning clip as to beg my eyes to move faster down the page, as I had my hand at the ready for turning into the next scene! Again, I love the pace of Awesome Jones as you get to the point where you want to see him succeed. You want him to develop self-confidence and believe in his own truth. There are always forces against you in life, and there is always a chance that your going to falter in your confidence on your own behalf, but part of what endeared me to this story is that the main characters believed in each other. It did not matter what the outcome of their lives would be as far as where their place in the world would fit, as if they had each other they could overcome just about anything crossing their path.

This is why I selected this quotation to be the first I quote from a Seventh Star Press novel. You can read their love and their hope for each other inside the words Lona is giving to Awesome.

“I love you, and I’m proud of you, no matter what. I see something inside you, something bright and brilliant. Not like your parents. Not like anyone. Just you. There’s something different about you, Awesome Jones. Just keep training. And if none of this works — if you never develop stronger abilities — it’s ok. Eventually they will catch The Echo and we’ll go back to our house and find new jobs and read the paper. We’ll make a life together no matter what.”

– Lona talks to Awesome, page 276 from “Awesome Jones”

The very foundation of their relationship is trust and honesty. Giving each other the space to grow as individuals but remaining steadfast and strong as a couple. They endeavour to face everything as a unified team and in their choice to remain strong in hope, they are able to conceive of a path that keeps them united in the future. The mystery of how their future knits together holds you right in place with the narrative. Observing their everyday life and world as one incidence after another places their love in jeopardy will keep you up long into the wee hours of the night! And, for that I feel blessed to have stumbled across Sullivan’s writings as they give us all a fairytale to absorb in a day and age that has nearly forgotten how to write one! This is a story full of old-school superheroes with a bit of a modern alternative twist! These are the superheroes you want to read more about and learn more about their history. Sullivan has found a way to tap into their framework of existence and present a palpable story that you will not soon forget.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comOn the uniqueness of AshleyRose Sullivan’s deft hand in giving a reader a bit of bliss:

I had not even realised there was a distinctive difference in the manner in which the typesetting & style layout of Awesome Jones was presented to the reader in the softcover edition, until of course, I re-read the passage in her previously published Guest Post: On Writing Genre-Bending Fiction that I noticed quite readily how unique this particular novel is from the crowd of fantasy offerings! As I had lamented below her essay, I felt that perhaps my experiences in year’s past in reading stories of various mediums might have tipped my hand and arsenal of memory for stream-lining straight into the narrative itself rather than being curiously aware of its ‘format’. Rather instead of noting any outward appearances of nonconformity, I was celebrating the wicked sweet fast pace of dialogue intermixed with reflective streaming conscious thought narrative!

I liked how you could soak into the inner core of what Awesome Jones was thinking whilst seeing what he saw as he moved through his hours. He was a simple bloke, uncomplicated and true to who he was without being gracious on the details when he was around others. He’s the kind of bloke who did not take himself seriously but wanted to make a good impression on the validity of his strengths and on the merits of what he could accomplish.

Even when the narrative turns malicious to acquaint the reader with the villain of the story, such as on page forty-five and forty-six, Sullivan has this ingenious way of giving you the gruesome details of a crime with the deft hand of a writer who wants to hold back just enough bits of his character to keep you hanging in the balance of when his full form is front and center within the action! She doesn’t cross the line for me as far as Crime Fiction analogies are concerned, as I am a cosy mystery reader and the bits she includes fall under that umbrella moreso than Hard-Boiled. Anyone familiar with the Coffeehouse mysteries by Cleo Coyle will be able to handle the suspenseful climbing arc inside Awesome Jones! (either those OR any episode of “Castle”!)

Fly in the Ointment:

I was so excited to read this genre-bending story where comic-fantasy cross-over and layer upon each other to create a wholly new experience for the reader of print books. (or e-books as this is available in that medium as well; I simply only read books in print) Yet. Imagine my disappointment to find only a scarce few illustrations in the opening chapters, than the near-full of the middle part of the novel is nothing but text. Until towards the last half of the novel the illustrations resume! I was most distressed. I was a bit beyond let-down. I wasn’t even sure what could have caused the misunderstanding — as from all counts of what I knew of the novel going in to reading it as much as ahead of even requesting it for review (as I’ve known about this book since late 2013!): bespoke of the combination of illustrations and words which converge into a wicked sweet read!

The illustrations that are included are wicked awesome, don’t think for one minute they’re not! They added to the allure of reading a genre-bending comic-fantasy as I’m about to seriously consider this superhero fairytale truly is by essence of its character. Yet, for me, what began to unravel a bit of its heart is the absence of the illustrations themselves. Perhaps there was a layout issue or a formatting issue when the novel went to be printed, but to be truthful, there must be a way to circumvent this for the next Awesome Jones, right?! Where the illustrations can take ring-side seats to the action of the character’s dialogue and narrative voices?!

Please note at the time of posting the Author’s Guest Post and the commentary I added before and after Sullivan’s essay I had not yet begun to read ‘Awesome Jones’. I picked up reading the novel shortly thereafter and although as you can see I readily absorbed into the world of ‘Awesome Jones’, part of me was hungry for a bit more of its comic-minded essence!

 Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Blog Book Tour Stop, courtesy of Tomorrow Comes Media

Awesome Jones
by ashleyrose sullivan
Illustrator/Cover Designer: AshleyRose Sullivan
Source: Publisher via Tomorrow Comes Media

Genres: Action & Adventure Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Genre-bender, Superhero Fiction



Places to find the book:

Series: Awesome Jones, No.1


Also in this series: Intangible, Beneath Creek Waters


Published by Seventh Star Press

on 10th March, 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 456

Awesome Jones Virtual Tour via Tomorrow Comes Media

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Check out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Tomorrow Comes Media Tour Host

 and mark your calendars!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Be sure to jump over to my tour stop for “A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court” an Editor Interview as I am hosting a reader poll to determine what is the favourite fantastical character in fantasy! Be sure to leave a comment in those threads on a recommended title and/or author!

Coming up next is my Author Interview for “A Mage of None Magic”,

also a new release of 7th Star!

Stay tuned!

Watch my tweets!

And return back to this blog!

What do you love about genre-bender fiction!? What kinds of stories do you wish were bent together more often?! Which authors and books would you highly recommend reading more than once to get their full effect!? What are your thoughts on Sullivan’s gift and vision for uniting comic superheros & fantasy fiction narrative!?

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and TCM Tour Host badge were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and were used by permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Selected Quotation of the novel “Awesome Jones” was used with permission of Seventh Star Press.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Related Articles:

Superhero Fiction – (en.wikipedia.org)

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, Adoption, Alternative History, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Castle, Comic Book Illustrations & Story, Creative Arts, Crime Fiction, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Fairy Tale Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Fly in the Ointment, Genre-bender, Graphic Novel, Illustration for Books & Publishing, Indie Art, Indie Author, Seventh Star Press Week, Superhero Adventure, Superhero Fiction, Tomorrow Comes Media

+Author Guest Post+ Genre-bending stories attract me due to their dexterity to become fully realised in two separate schools of thought. This was the basis of my topic for AshleyRose Sullivan!

Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , 1 Comment

Guest Post by ParajunkeeAshleyRose Sullivan

Proposed Topic: Genre-bender stories are a new favourite discovery of mine as they endear you to purport your mind to jump straight out of the expected and into the realms of where the impossible lives free. How did you conceptually perceive the format of Awesome Jones and how did you take the conception of this unique story into the finished style that it is now? Did you storyboard out ideas for the components of the comic sections before you wrote the narrative? OR did they organically fuse together as you wrote?

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com I originally revealed my intentions to read ‘Awesome Jones’ during my most recent contribution to my Feature: Jorie’s Box of Joy! Whereupon I revealed that I have a particular attachment to a certain ‘kind of superhero’ as much as I have an affinity for wicked comic illustrations; well, perhaps I did not quite go into as much detail in this last regard but it was floating through my mind to disclose! You see, I have always appreciated original art and illustrations when it comes to books, comics, graphic novels, and all formats of story-telling (including the Story Boards for motion picture!) where a sketch artist, a graphic designer, an illustrator, a painter, or digital illustrative artist is needed to bring to life the characters, setting, and world set within a story itself. I cherish original art as much as I cherish original stories — aside from the film adaptations of literary works, of course! There is a particular essence to an original artwork coinciding with that of the fictional world by which it is representing!

I have nodded a keen awareness towards my preferences in today’s flash in the fire world of book covers, where I extoll the virtues of publishers like Seventh Star Press & ChocLitUK who go the extra mile to ensure that their cover-art and/or inside illustrative plates are not only ORIGINAL and EXCLUSIVE to their stories but they create art which is a living representation of the STORY inside their volumes of creative work! You can well imagine how wicked sweet it was to see the cover-art for ‘Awesome Jones’ for the first time! I had this inertia of excitement well up inside me, wondering about the marvels of what was awaiting my eyes to drink in!

Simply look at the cover yourself and tell me what it brings to mind afterwards in the comment threads!

 Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan

 Book Synopsis: 

The only thing Awesome Jones wants is to be a super hero. Until he falls in love.

Despite his colorful name, Awesome Jones is a painfully average man who dreams of being a super hero, just like the ones who patrol his city. It’s been that way since he was a little boy, raised by his grandfather after his parents’ death.

The day Jones starts his new job as a file clerk at Akai Printing Company he meets secretary Lona Chang and everything changes. Lona sees something in Jones that no one ever has and the two quickly become inseparable. But when the perfect pair’s domestic bliss is threatened by a super-powered secret from the past, Awesome Jones has to make a choice. He must decide whether he should play it safe or find the strength to live up to his name and risk everything he’s come to love to save the day like he always dreamed.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

}: How AshleyRose Sullivan

created her own path as a writer :{

My favorite movies are a little (a lot) weird. Buckaroo Banzai. Big Trouble in Little China. Amelie. The Life Aquatic. Everything Miyazaki. For me, their appeal comes from their endearing characters, their snappy dialogue, and–perhaps most of all–their creative use of genre and trope bending. Buckaroo is all about a super scientist/rock star/martial artist/cowboy and his gang of similarly gifted friends. It’s also a sci-fi adventure love story. And, it’s not in any way ironic. It’s 100% earnest and all I want to do is spend time in that crazy universe. It’s basically the film equivalent to seven layer dip. I can’t get enough of it.

I guess, then, it’s no surprise that when I started writing, I naturally gravitated to twisting and braiding together my favorite genres. With Awesome Jones, I mixed superheroes, fairy tales, alternate history, and art together to form what is essentially a comic book in prose. But, it’s also a love story. It features an alternate version of our history. And it’s full of illustrations. How all this comes together is evident not only in the story but in the format itself.

That formatting seems to be getting a lot of attention with readers so here’s some information about it: The paragraphs are not indented. The dialogue is indented–but it’s not tagged. And then there’s the art. All this stuff came organically as I started writing Awesome Jones. I begin books in 9.5×6” notebooks and this was the novel that started that trend. I hand-wrote the first fifty or so pages and, as I was going, that’s the format that came out. Including the illustrations. Originally they were hand-drawn on notebook paper in the middle of all the text–just as they appear now in the published version.

There have been a few changes. Originally, the dialogue didn’t have quotation marks at all. Just a hyphen preceding the line. Over the years, though, I ended up just changing it to quotation marks. Publishing industry types are incredible sticklers for manuscript format. Double Space. One Inch Margins. Quotation Marks. Indentation. Well, the manuscript I presented to my mentors and professors in my MFA program, my beta readers, potential agents, publishers etc. was single spaced with no indentation and all this weird art and that totally freaked people out. The lack of quotation marks was one point I was willing to concede. It was one less hurdle I was making them jump over. The thing is, once it’s in printed form, it’s single spaced anyway and the lack of indentation feels more subtle than it looks in a Word document or on an 8.5×11 sheet. But, what can I say? People have been typing up manuscripts a certain way for a long time–I shook up the system as much as I could without causing an earthquake of automatic rejection.

(It’s worth noting that when I approached Seventh Star with my crazy formatting, they didn’t bat an eye. They were totally onboard. That’s cool, man.)

The art itself went through several iterations over the seven years that I worked on the book. First, they were hand-drawn. When I started typing up the MS, though, I didn’t have a way to insert the art. So I made text boxes where I could (a lot of the art comes in the form of newspaper articles, postcards, etc.) and because I was doing the art as I was going along, more and more pieces grew into word-based illustrations. Then, a while back, I finally got enough money for a scanner. I started doing art on paper and scanning it in but I didn’t like the look and mostly just left text boxes in as stand-ins. Gradually, I went through a few digital art programs and figured out how to mix my artistic style with the text that needed to go into the art and I did a bunch of rough pieces. That’s where it was when I sent it to Seventh Star. I said, “I can do better versions of all this art but here’s what I’ve got right now.” Or something lame like that. Anyway, I got lucky and my publisher saw the potential in it. So then I spent a few months just re-doing every single piece in the book. And, in case you’re wondering (including the journal entries in the last third of the novel) there are 44 illustrations.

Artwork Credit: AshleyRose Sullivan
Artwork Credit: AshleyRose Sullivan

I’m working on the next Awesome Jones novel now and it’s just as much a braided together genre-bender as the first novel. I’m excited about doing a whole new novel’s art. I went through such a long process before finally settling on the style that’s in Awesome Jones and I’m glad I can skip the learning curve on that this time and concentrate on the art itself. I spent several years on the first novel and I don’t have that luxury now but those years bought me an intimate knowledge of the Awesome Jones world and its characters. So, I’m going into it excited and (mostly) unafraid. My dream is that my weirdo books will land in the hands of the people who will appreciate them the way I appreciated Buckaroo Banzai. Whether that’s five people or five million, my goal is to make someone’s day by saying, “This is the crazy universe where my heart lives. Yours can live here too.”

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Author Connections:

Site | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Converse via: #AwesomeJones, #AshleyRoseSullivan, #superherofairytale

& #7thStarFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comBeing that I had not heard of any of the motion pictures Ms. Sullivan revealed as her absolute top-notch stellar favourites (aside from “Amelie”), I decided it might be best to seek out the Wikipedia pages in case this would be true of my visitors & readers alike! And, can I simply take a moment and reveal that I think its bang-on brilliant that she genre-bent comic superheroes with smashing narrative fiction story arcs!? I was always seeking a wicked good story set around comic superheroes OR a comic which was a bit more bent on story than graphics. I found The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles had run for three editions before going scarce to non-existent when I found my niche. I always fancied the Sunday Comics in the papers, but I always wanted the strips to continue past what was in front of me. This is a bit why I loved Adam West & Burt Ward as Batman & Robin because the entire show was not just slap-stick comedy but it had the air of a comic superhero about it!

I even like when superheroes are re-invented and the genre is bent even more outside its regular scope such as my penchant attachment for “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” which I am *still awaiting!* a sequel which at this point must be a canned idea! Too sad. I love when writers take us on a journey into a new dimension of story craft as much as they heighten how stories can be told as they re-define the art of how a story can be transitioned between dialogue and narrative. IF there were more pulp science fiction films hitting the silver screen like ‘Sky Captain’ I’d be plumb mesmerised more often!

Like Sullivan, I have a quirky side to my motion picture appreciation as I adored Rango” for blending motion-stop action sequences with a clever twist of Weird West(ern) & classic friend-foe set-ups inside of anime characters on the silver screen! The irony is that I had not realised how oft I am in a position to watch a ‘Weird West’ installment as I have over the years grown fond of: The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.; Legend (Richard Dean Anderson & John de Lancie – how could I not watch?); Back to the Future: Part III (my favourite aside the original!); Wild Wild West (although re-watching it lost its appeal); and others I am sure I am forgetting to mention.

My mind automatically started to read the context of the story Sullivan gave inside ‘Awesome Jones’ to the brink that I had to re-read her notation about its quirky style of typeset and layout on the pages! I think perhaps my history of always remaining keenly aware and on the forefront of story as it evolves forward towards new dimensions of immersion for the reader; my mind was able to auto-remember this style from the adventures I had when I was younger and up until now had not yet experienced again. It’s tricky finding your groove,… there is a heap of cover-art illustrations I love in Manga, but as far as the interiors of the graphic novels themselves, I found myself less than agreeable to purchase the books. I am quite curious how to learn to ‘sketch!’ Manga art, as far as monking around and being inky with a medium and range outside of my traditionally classic art training as a child. I want to push the limits of my own artistic skills and wander into new mediums which tie together my past with my present knowledge of how I’ve grown as an artist.

When I see a writer like AshleyRose Sullivan who not only dared to embrace a genre-bender story as it alighted inside her heart but dared to have the confidence to find a publisher who recognised her vision is not only awe-inspiring it is the foundation of how each of us needs to remember to ‘own our muse, own our work, and carry-on forward’ until our stories reach the hands of the readers who believe in us too.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comBlog Book Tour Stop, courtesy of Tomorrow Comes Media

Awesome Jones Virtual Tour via Tomorrow Comes MediaFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comCheck out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Tomorrow Comes Media Tour Host

 and mark your calendars!

{NOTE: Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.}

Be sure to jump over to my tour stop for “A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court” an Editor Interview as I am hosting a reader poll to determine what is the favourite fantastical character in fantasy! Be sure to leave a comment in those threads on a recommended title and/or author!

Coming up next is my Book Review for “Awesome Jones”!

Stay tuned!

Watch my tweets!

And return back to this blog!

What do you love about genre-bender fiction!? What kinds of stories do you wish were bent together more often?! Which authors and books would you highly recommend reading more than once to get their full effect!? What are your thoughts on Sullivan’s gift and vision for uniting comic superheros & fantasy fiction narrative!?

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and TCM Tour Host badge were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and were used by permission. Jorie requested an Author Guest Post from AshleyRose Sullivan through Tomorrow Comes Media of which she received a reply. Her interest in genre-bending stories grew out of seeing more of the field of offerings being uniquely reflected by today’s Indie Authors. Guest Post badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, Alternative History, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Comic Book Illustrations & Story, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Fairy Tale Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Genre-bender, Graphic Novel, Indie Art, Indie Author, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, Seventh Star Press Week, Superhero Adventure, Tomorrow Comes Media

Jorie’s Box of Joy No.3 : High Fantasy, Historical Suspense, and a jolt of inspirational fiction!

Posted Tuesday, 13 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Jorie's Box of Joy | A Feature of Jorie Loves A Story

One of the happiest moments for a book blogger is eagerly going to their postbox & seeing what delightfully wicked print books have arrived for their reading pleasure! I have always held a keen interest in postal mail, being a long-term postal letter correspondent which has given me such a heart of joy seeing envelopes & bundles of love arrive from dear friends around the world. Imagine my new excitement in seeing the books I am reviewing arriving by publisher, author, publicist, or literary agent! Such an exciting new chapter in postal splendor!

I have been wanting to blog about my excitement about being placed on certain blog tours and/or in receiving books for review direct from authors, publishers, or publicists. I originally came across a weekly meme on Mondays entitled Mailbox Monday and you could say, that my new feature on Jorie Loves A Story is an extended idea from the original! Except to say, with one minor switch-up! Although I attempt to write down when books arrive by Post, I am never quite as certain when the books arrive as I am always reading the next book in hand! Therefore, please join me as I get excited about the books on my shelf which are next in line to read!

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Chain of Mercy by Brenda Anderson

As I outlined in my Interview with Ms. Anderson the best joy any book blogger can have prior to reading a novel is being clued into the process the writer took towards publication! In this way, I feel double-blessed to not only be a part of my first Author Street Team to help get the word out about their novels and writing style, but to have watched the genesis of Anderson’s journey as aspiring writer to published author! As I start to soak into Chain of Mercy, I will be reflective of how I learnt about her blog as much as how I started to get to know her through the blog posts she shares with the world. In her debut novel, she tackles hard-hitting circumstances that start to have a ripple effect on the people who are involved and engaged in the drama. What I appreciated is finding out that she does not back down from writing about topics and subjects that others might shy away from as I always felt that one thing inspirational fiction sometimes misses the boat to include are honest & real story-lines with characters facing real-life issues in an endearingly honest way. Everyone is going through something at some point in their lives but I believe that if writers stitch in the ability to see that all of life is possible with faith, than a greater good is being served than only writing stories which gloss over the more poignant of narratives.

The book cover of Chain of Mercy is matte not glossy finish, and I like that as it has a different texture to most softcover editions! When I first pulled the book out of the parcel it arrived in I had thought the book cover might have been off-setted to appear as a sepia photograph. There is a Discussion Guide & Acknowledgements section in the back of the novel as well as a Dedication in the front. To me the image on the front of the cover makes me curious a bit more about the phrase of the title ‘chain of mercy’ and how a simple chain with a key fits into the heart of the story?

My review posts on Sunday, 18th of May, whereas my Interview with Ms. Anderson posts on Tuesday, 13th of May!

Chimerical World Vol 1 Anthology by Seventh Star Press
Artwork Credit by: Enggar Adirasa

When Seventh Star Press (an Indie Publisher I regularly review for through the blog touring & social media promotion company: Tomorrow Comes Media; of whom I highly recommend any reader to look into reviewing for as they offer a review to read programme) sets to mind to create an anthology they never fail to impress me with their ability to bring together cutting-edge writers with stories that alight in the imagination of a reader’s soul. My first fantasy anthology read and reviewed (coincidentally!) was on behalf of Chronicles of Ave by Stephen Zimmer. In this selection of mine to read next, after having appreciated a short story by Michael Cross in another Indie Press anthology I chose to focus on my love of faeries & fey folk! (note to the Editor Sandridge, I never did know the right way to have spelt ‘faeries’ so I thank him for the Foreward!) I am not sure how there is a misunderstanding about the personalities of the fey or of how they are not always as endearing as Tinkerbell as let’s face it, she was one particular kind of faerie but not the norm by a long shot! What I appreciate about the fey is there ability to transform our understanding of their culture and habits by presenting their uniqueness through the different writers who pen their stories.

I love seeing the cover art illustrations and designs of Seventh Star Press book covers as they always include full illustrative covers as well as illustrative plates within their releases; with the exception of this anthology which does not have plates inside to correlate with the shorts.

My review posts on Monday, 19th of May, alongside my Interview with Mr. Sandridge, the editor of the anthology!

The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J. Rose

I have truly undertaken reading the Reincarnationist series a wee bit late in the game as far as my book review for The Collector of Dying Breaths is concerned, but I am a determined optimist who believes that as long as their are hours left to read there is time enough to drink through a series which has bewitched my attention for several years now! When I first took note that this particular book was going to go on tour, the only thing I had to sort out was if I could read the entire series in time to tour with France Book Tours OR with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours — I chose the latter as the time schedule fit my reading schedule a bit easier! I am thankful to tour with such beautiful blog touring companies who give their book bloggers & readers the ability to not only discover unknown writers but to review for well-established writers we are just on the brink of knowing ourselves! In this, my gratitude is always theirs for giving us these opportunities! What sparked my interest is the aspect of reincarnation stitched into the series as a whole as I used to collect books on reincarnation when The Reincarnation Library was still in existence, which was a small publisher who curated titles which had fallen out of print and then, re-issued the books in such lovely editions as cloth-bound hardback copies! The titles were both non-fiction and fiction dealing with as many different aspects of reincarnation as you could be happenstance to stumble across! In the series Rose has created, the idea of coming across tools to add one’s memory of past lives is more than tempting to explore!

My review posts on Friday, 30th of May, whereas my Interview with M.J. Rose posts on Monday, 19th of May one day after the Bout of Books 10.0 readathon concludes in which I read the entire Reincarnationist series!

A Mage of None Magic by A. Christopher Drown
Artwork Credit: A. Christopher Drown

Ever since I first heard of this particular tale arriving via Seventh Star Press in late 2013, I have been on pins awaiting its release! I had no idea what to expect since I first read the premise of the tale inside its covers, so when I saw the book emerge out of the book parcel I received (as all three of these SSP titles arrived together!) I was pleasantly surprised by the cover art & the girth of the story! I am always happily surprised to pull a book out of its package and finding rather joyfully that the depth of length is far longer than I had predicted! I love long stories as I love to get to know characters and spend a proper age visiting with them! With fantasy stories, you truly need the length in order to soak into the author’s breadth of work, and I do not think I will be disappointed by Drown’s début! I love the suspense of the shot you find yourself looking into,… from the bloke on the left casting his sights out to sea, and how the lighthouse reflects the light whilst the moon is clearly visible in the upper left corner? Tall ships and a story shrouded in myth! What more could you hope to find in a début novel? I still remember the first Imaginairum Twitter Party in November 2013 when we all came together to chat about writing, creativity, and the pending celebration of a new kind of bookish convention centered on the joy of story-telling in all its mediums. It was in this Twitter Party I had the pleasure of interacting with the author, and sadly I have not seen another Twitter Party engaged with the convention at the time of this writing. I think it would be a great resource to unite writers who want to attend the convention but also with getting in touch with fellow writers, book bloggers, and readers. Conversations always open doors and on that level, I am thankful it opened the door for me to discover a new author of high fantasy!

I elected to post an Interview with the author, A. Christopher Drown instead.

Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan
Artwork Credit: AshleyRose Sullivan

I am not sure about you but whenever I find a genre-bender author who is going to put together two seemingly diverse methodologies of story-telling together I get all giddy with excitement at the prospect of reading their stories! In this particular case, around the time I learnt of A Mage of None Magic, I caught wind of a Press Release for Awesome Jones! And, lucky me this makes my third blog tour with TCM within the same week of hosting the anthology! If all bodes well, in a new-future installment of this feature I will be chattering about Hero’s Best Friend! (the latest fantasy anthology I signed up to tour!) Although I like to dig below the superficial level of all stories, you have to admit: Awesome Jones is a strong spitfire sounding name that begs to have a heroine worthy of Lara Croft OR James Bond! I am an appreciator of old-school comics and action heroes. Think Burt Ward, Adam West, and Christopher Reeves. Subtract every Bond except for Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, or George Lazenby and you know how I roll with my smashingly strong heroes! You could even backtrack through my SFN (Sci-Fi November/Month) posts and see a thread of connection between the iconic pop cultural attachments I am passionate for and the particular bent on original contributions therein that I stand by and defend. As soon as I freed this book from its parcel I *had!* to take a peek into its covers!! I held the breath of excitement Lois Lane from The New Adventures of Super-Man might have held captive as she exhaled a glimpse inside,… comic illustrations beseeched me eyes and an adventurous narrative glistened in reflective light!

My review posts on Thursday, 22nd of May.

Daughter of the Gods by Stephanie Thornton

Normally when I seek out an author I am going to review a book of on Twitter, I am curious to know a bit more about them as a person, as a writer, and technically to see what they tweet about in general! I think that is simply human nature to be ‘curious’! What I happily found whilst visiting the feeds of Ms. Thornton is that she’s a fellow Whovian who *gets my passion!* for Doctor Who! We were exchanging regular tweets in an on-going conversation about all things Whovian, until my personal life started to interfere with my blog life and thus, my tweets started to disappear in regularity! I am hoping she did not think I stopped the conversation full-stop for any other reason, as when I saw The Day of the Doctor (Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special) arrive via my local library, she was one of two people I wanted to tell! (Violet Patterson being the first!) However, since its arrived I have not even had a free moment to watch it and very well could boomerang back into my hold queue! Hence the reason I have not tweeted as I did not want to disappoint either one of them! Meanwhile, this beautiful book arrived which an Egyptian gracing the cover who made me wonder why I ever decided ‘not’ to study Egyptology (until of course I remember what happens when you explore tombs…)! I have been wanting to break out of my rhythm of reading Victorian & Regency historical novels and sink my teeth into eras and epochs of history which used to whet a strong palette of interest as a child and as a young adult. This selection I made is my way of saying there is no time like the present to discover an author who has the knack for bringing the past forward into the present in a visceral way as to leave you wanton for more! And, perhaps I can pick up our Whovian convo as soon as I discover what happens between my beloved Matt Smith and my newly beloved David Tennant! (come now! I cannot be the first Whovian who lost her heart to one Doctor only to be taken by surprise by another?) And, can I just say the Egyptians would *love and adore!* all the Whovian’s who chatter endlessly about which Doctor they prefer over the other and of whom has won the best affection overall!

My review posts on Friday, 23rd of May.

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I positively love receiving books straight from authors in exchange for honest reviews, and the three books I am about to mention next hold a special place in my heart, as two of them were previously only released in e-book format and one I was scheduled to review for a follow-up tour of the first novel which was unfortunately cancelled. Never one to give up hope when one is determined to read a book, I always light a candle that one day all the lovely stories I hope to read will one day alight in my hands. Here is a story of three such stories:

Loves Promises by Sandra Leesmith
Artwork Credit: Lena Goldfinch

I hosted Ms. Leesmith on my blog for a Book Cover Reveal (E-book ahead of Print Edition) as well as for a lovely Green Publishing Author Interview focused showcase where I researched green-minded publishing practices and knitted together the theme of thinking green within the context of the story which contains environmental conservation, preservation, and green building practices. Imagine my pure joy in finding out that the book not only went to print, but I had a spark of inspiration for the author to re-consider the book going into print publication! Seeing the book arrive by Post was a true blessing all the way around, and I cannot wait to soak into the story now that I have felt as though I have followed it from e-book debut to print edition unveiling! I was even blessed with the author’s whose quotation about the novel is featured on the back-cover (Ms. Julie Lessman) to have made a stop during her time on my blog! I had not known of their connection to each other or to Seekerville which is an author group blog that I used to frequent! Thankfully, included in the back pages of this edition are the titles of Ms. Leesmith’s back-list which blessedly are all available in print editions! Including the two books which are connected to this one in a series: Love’s Refuge & Love’s Miracles! The book cover is matte and I must confess I am starting to love the texture differences between glossy & matte! The colours are brilliantly brought to life and I did not notice any variance between the e-book cover & the print edition as the book looks exactly as I thought it would once it was in my hands!

My review is forthcoming this Summer! on the 28th of July, 2014!

Portals, Passages, & Pathways by B.R. Maul

I have equally spent quite a lot of time with Portals, Passages, & Pathways as I was given the lovely opportunity to host the author for both a Guest Post on his inspiration for creating the world of Magnanthia as much as host a Book Spotlight Announcement to get the word out about this in-depth debut fantasy novel! I felt a connection to the premise as it was given to me in consideration for hosting the author on my blog, and from that moment forward I have felt like I took a journey with this book as much as I had with Ms. Leesmith’s! This novel was originally intended only to be released in e-book format, but thankfully made it into print edition, which is why I am ever so thankful to have received a copy for review! The cover art illustration is even more eye-popping in person, and you quite literally feel as though you could just ‘jump through the portal’ and join them! A Table of Contents helps get you oriented a bit, but the best bit of all is the girth: 470 pages! One of the best moments for me as a book blogger is when I can start to become a book cheerleader on an author’s behalf! Where I get excited about their journey & their experiences towards publication as much as being able to rally behind them as they take their first tentative steps out into the world of readership and audience! Which leads me to my next book I want to feature today as it has a story about how it arrived by Post as well!

My review will post in mid-to-late July!

The Dragon's Pawn by Mitchell S. Karnes

I participated in the first book (The Pact) of the Canaanshade Journeys series blog tour with TLC Book Tours and was scheduled to participate in the sequel The Dragon’s Pawn tour as well. Except to say the tour was unexpectedly cancelled, and although tours have become cancelled in the past, this was one of two books I recently contacted the author personally to see what might have caused the cancellation. The other book is Uncovering Cobbogoth in which I will host & review for the publisher Cedar Fort Publishing & Media. On behalf of The Dragon’s Pawn I was first compelled to request this sequel due to a note which was left in the comment threads by the author himself of my original review. There were bits and bobbles of the story as far as general scope, layering, and back-story I was not privy too nor able to deduce from my readings of the first installment to make a clear impression of where the book series was heading or why certain elements of the first book were necessary to be included. From the author’s response I felt compelled as a reader and as a book blogger to request a reading of the sequel, so that I could continue to read the next in the series as a way to become better acquainted with the author’s vision and thereby perhaps reforming my original perceptions therein. The Dragon’s Pawn by Mitchell S. Karnes, is the sequel to The Pact which I reviewed for TLC Book Tours earlier this year, and for which I am blessed to have received to review as it truly is one book that I am especially grateful has come back into my life. Sometimes we find the stories within the books are only half of the message and sometimes certain books need a second reading to better understand their heart.

My review will post on Tuesday, 17th of June.

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Cross-posted with Mailbox Monday (a weekly meme) on Monday, 12th of May where book bloggers & readers alike share their inbound books for review, newly purchased books, or otherwise added to their shelves to read. Conversing via: #MailboxMonday My feature was inspired by Mailbox Monday, however as I am always in throes of reading books for review and/or borrowing books from my library, I am never quite as certain which week the books have arrived!

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A Must Read: The Reincarnationist Series by M.J. Rose via Book Candy Studios

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{SOURCES: Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with edits in Fotoflexer by Jorie. Chain of Mercy book cover was provided by Brenda S. Anderson for both review and promotion; used with permission. A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court, Awesome Jones, & A Mage of None Magic book covers were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media for promotion and review; used with permission. The Collector of Dying Breaths & Daughter of the Gods book covers were provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for promotion and review; used with permission. Love’s Promise book cover was provided by Editing Through the Seasons & Sandra Leesmith for promotion and review; used with permission. Portals, Passages, & Pathways book cover provided by JKS Communications & B.R. Maul for review and promotion; used with permission. The Dragon’s Pawn book cover provided by Mitchell S. Karnes for review and promotion; used with permission. The book trailer for The Reincarnationist series via Book Candy Studios 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. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Tuesday, 13 May, 2014 by jorielov in Anthology Collection of Stories, Blog Tour Host, Book Trailer, Bookish Films, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Earthen Magic, Editing Through The Seasons, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Gothic Literature, High Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Thriller Suspense, Jorie's Box of Joy, Reincarnation, Short Stories or Essays, Street Team for Author, Tomorrow Comes Media