A Stop in the Oculus Virtual Book Tour

I am honored for my blog to be a stop on the Oculus Book Tour. Oculus is Michael Offutt's second book and the second book in A Crisis of Two Worlds series.

Goodreads Description of Oculus...

Autumn has arrived in New York, and Jordan Pendragon is a freshman at Cornell University. Gifted in mathematics, he balances life as a research assistant with that of a student athlete.

But Jordan also has a quest. He must find the Black Tower, a monolithic edifice housing a thing that defines the very structure of the universe. Jordan believes it is buried somewhere in Antarctica under miles of prehistoric ice.

October finds Jordan earning a starting position with the Cornell hockey team. But a dark cloud gathers over his rookie season. Unexplained deaths, whispers of a cannibal cult, a prophecy, and a stone known only as the Oculus, cast a shadow over his athletic ambitions. It is the start of a terrifying journey down a path of mystery, murder, and to a confrontation with an Evil more ancient than the stars.

My Humble Opinion...

Michael Offutt’s Oculus picks up where Slipstream left off. Jordan and Kathy are starting their freshman year at Cornell and have brought along their significant others, Kolin and Dylan. They know their futures are uncertain and Jordon is in search of the Black Tower, but they want to attempt normal lives for the time being. Jordan has joined the school hockey team and Kathy has joined a sorority, shooting for typical Ivy League college experiences. But the dark forces of Avalon have followed them back to Earth.

The adventure really beings when Jordan is introduced to one of Kathy’s sorority sisters, Myd, and awakens the stone on her necklace called the Oculus. Jordon discovers the mystery behind his father’s murder and Kathy gets the opportunity to speak with her dead mother, which is all part of something greater that we only get a glimpse of in this book. King Arthur, Merlin, Excalibur, and the Lady of the Lake are more than fairy tales, but secrets that Jordan and his group must unlock to uncover his ultimate destiny and aid in his search for the Black Tower.

There are many pieces coming together that will most likely reveal a sublime picture of the Black Tower itself. From the Horcus to the cannibal cult, from the gruesome discoveries in the asylum to revelations from deceased parents, from the court of King Author to angels and demons, we are given glimpses into very exciting elements to where the series is going. The bloody climax in Hell’s Kitchen is a hell of a rush and my favorite scene in the series thus far. I am also really intrigued with the growing relationship between Jordan and Alex. With Oculus taking place solely on Earth, it may be more approachable, but there also seems to be filler scenes slowing us down from the real adventure. I want to know more about the mysteries plaguing these two worlds!

Oculus is a big setup for Caledfwlch, the third book in A Crisis of Two Worlds series. There are some great revelations in this book, but few resolutions. I think the true adventure is just beginning and I can’t wait to find out how all the pieces fit together and where Jordon’s journey ultimately leads. If you are a fan of Slipstream, then Oculus is a must-read. But if you’re just being introduced to the series, then you really should start at the beginning.

 
A few minutes with the author...

Thanks so much for joining me today! I very much appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your busy day to talk with me.

What is your dream cast for you’re A Crisis of Two Worlds series?

I’m actually not sure. I’ve drawn pictures of Jordan, so I’d want an actor that looks like the guy does in my picture. I’ll include it with this as an attachment.

Who has influenced your writing the most?

Probably William Gibson.

What is your writing space like?

I just have an office with a window that’s right off the kitchen. I use a computer with three big monitors. It’s a gaming computer with two NVIDIA GPU’s, is liquid cooled, and has an i7 processor with RAID linked solid state drives.

Which character do you relate to the most in your books?

Jordan. What he thinks about is basically what I think about.

What is your favorite scene in Oculus?

I like the climax of the book. I think I pulled that off really well, and it has a great “epic” feel to it.

What is the next book on your TBR pile? 

By the time this gets posted it will be Walking Dead: The Rise of the Governor.

What book do you feel deserves more hype? 

Provex City by author Michael Pierce J Seriously, people…if you are reading this, read Mr. Pierce’s book!

What other genres would you like to write? 

Fantasy. I’m posting one on a free online website that has lots of readers. I post about 2000 words every weekend and let it sit for a few days before writing more. I like the fan mail I’ve been getting.

Can you tell us anything about the third book in the series, Caledfwlch? 

LOL sure, but SPOILER ALERT: It picks up where Oculus leaves off. We are introduced to an assassin from the same order as Kolin who goes by the name Genesis (I do love my biblical allegory). He has a neck tattoo of a red rose (Kolin’s is purple), and we find that the tattoos have a kind of magic to them (each color does something). Kolin’s gives him heightened reflexes and extreme touch sensitivity (which is why he’s so good at what he does). I go on to explain that Kolin can even feel a person’s body heat from across a dark room. I explore Kolin’s background: he’s actually a genetic experiment done in a test tube on Avalon for a project that wanted to create a perfect man and a perfect woman in order to start life over with two people that have perfect genes.  Genesis is hired by Charon to kidnap Robbie to be the vessel of the Horcus.  Robbie in the meantime has essentially gone insane because his resurrection permanently “opened a door” that allows him to speak with the dead. The only peace Robbie gets is when he’s around Jordan because ghosts are afraid of Jordan for good reasons. Additionally, Andy has changed physiologically from the Life Green he got injected with near the end of Oculus. He basically can’t die of natural causes. His skin regenerates almost instantly if cut. It also gives him a sex addiction that leads him down a destructive path of self-gratification that ends with him getting the skin off his back flayed off. It’s a very bloody scene. It regrows, but with a strange and picturesque tattoo that covers his whole back. This tattoo whispers to him of Eden driving him to bouts of painting that consume his nighttime hours. There’s very little hockey in the third book. This is intentional because it is apparent to Jordan by the end of Oculus that he cannot live a normal life, or for that matter, the life that he desires to live.

Write a Tweet about Oculus that readers can copy, paste, and Tweet (and RT)! 

I’ll just ask anyone who reads this to tweet this post by clicking on the twitter button. That’s probably easiest.

Thank you again, Michael! It has been a real pleasure to be a part of your tour. Below are links to Michael's blog, Goodreads, and Twitter, and links to get Oculus and Slipstream for yourself. Thank you for reading and be sure to check out the rest of the stops on the Oculus tour (click on the tour badge at the beginning of the post).

Michael Offutt writes speculative fiction books that have science fiction, LGBT, and paranormal elements. His first book, "Slipstream" has received some critical acclaim and was published by Double Dragon in the spring. The sequel, "Oculus" came out in November 2012. He has one brother, no pets, and a few roots that keep his tree of life sufficiently watered. By day, he works for the State of Utah as a Technical Specialist. By night, he watches lots of t.v., writes, draws, and sometimes dreams of chocolate.

Michael Offutt graduated from the University of Idaho in 1994 with a Bachelor's degree in English.

Website: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/books.html

Art relating to books: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/my-artwork.html

Blog: http://slckismet.blogspot.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3099632.Michael_Offutt

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/MichaelOffutt

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slipstream/164452693676933

CLICK HERE to Download Oculus on Amazon!

CLICK HERE to Download Slipstream on Amazon!

Friday Flash Review: Slipstream

For my second Friday Flash Review, I have Michael Offutt's debut novel, Slipstream. And I'm lucky enough to have Michael stop by and share a few thoughts as well.

Goodreads Description of Slipstream...

Jordan Pendragon is crazy good at fixing situations that have gone bad. It's a talent prized by his high school ice hockey team. However, when a car accident puts Jordan in the hospital, he wakes up with more than just an amazing slapshot in his toolbox. Jordan can manipulate space-time and in just a few weeks, he'll depend on it to save his life.

My Humble Opinion...

Michael Offutt’s debut novel, Slipstream, is unlike anything I’ve read. It is a sci-fi mystery, adventure with a teenage protagonist, Jordan Pendragon. The book gets its title from the physical phenomenon of the same name, which Offutt uses as an extraordinary ability to manipulate space-time, giving it to Jordon to discover and learn to harness.

The story begins on Earth, where Jordon, a high school hockey star with an aptitude for physics, learns of his ability with the slipstream. He meets a young British man, Kolin, who is from an alternate Earth, called Avalon. Avalon is a dystopian nightmare of megacities separated by vast wastelands, an insane artificial intelligence who claimed the role of God, and societies obsessed with beauty, youth, drugs, and violence. It’s like a gothic, futuristic Rome meets Las Vegas, which I love so much. The megacities are plagued by technologically enhanced versions of vampires, ghosts, and succubi. I find these surgical modifications quite interesting, a cool adaptation of these common creatures of the night.    

Once in Avalon, Jordan and his twin sister, Kathy, have to help a team of eclectic characters to free the imprisoned half of the AI in order to get home. There are many twists and turns along their adventure and I don’t want to slip up and drop any spoilers. But Offutt kept me guessing as the unlikely heroes battle corrupt and surgically enhanced people, mythologically based creatures, and insane super machines. The multiple fight scenes are intense and really propel the story forward. The creation of Avalon is described with in-depth quantum mechanics and technological explanations, which I found interesting—sometimes slightly over my head—but I feel the length of the explanations slowed down the story at times.

Overall, I very much enjoyed the unique story and descriptive dystopian world of Avalon paralleling our own. Even though the adventure revolves around a teenage protagonist, Slipstream is not classified as YA, which I agree with because it has some graphic scenes and language. Slipstream is the first novel in the A Crisis of Two Worlds Series, and I’m looking forward to Offutt’s next installment. 

A few minutes with Michael...

Thanks so much for joining me today! I very much appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your busy day to talk with me.

Where did your inspiration for Slipstream come from?

I don't really know actually. I just had this idea one day that I wanted to try writing a book again. I have several failed novels that just sit in drawers or in dead computer files. I knew the story I wanted to tell was going to be big. And I have all of these plans in my head of things I want to do and gadgets that I want to use in later books. I wrote a pretty detailed outline. Then I started world-building. I knew from the get go that I wanted my protag to be a hot young hockey player because I enjoy watching hockey on television. But I needed a story that wasn't about sports because I didn't want to write about sports. I just wanted that to be a facet of his personality (the same as him being gay--it's just one facet) and a means to progress the plot. I think I had the whole "show don't tell" mantra in the back of my head so wanted to establish that my protag was athletic without just saying "he's athletic" so being great in a sport was one way to do that. Then I had to decide if I was going to write in first person or third person. That's where the biggest inspirations came from. I turned to the works of great sci-fi authors like Frank Herbert, William Gibson, and Robert A. Heinlein. They all wrote in third person omniscient. So that's what I wanted to do. And I'm most comfortable with that style. I struggled with the whole YA label because I know that YA authors tend to write in first person. I knew that if my book got branded as YA, as soon as a girl picked it up and saw the first line and realized it was third person, that it was probably going to get a pass. So I really tried to impress upon people it was a sci-fi novel first (which has more acceptance of third person omniscient even if the hard sci-fi audience is one of the most snooty genres to write for).

Slipstream has quite the eclectic cast. How did you build and develop your characters?

I knew I wanted Jordan to be smart and that I wanted to use a lot of quantum mechanics because I find quantum mechanics and astrophysics to be fascinating stuff. Making him gay was just because I'm gay and well...write what you know, right? I made Kolin an English assassin because quite frankly, my D&D days taught me that assassins were pretty sexy, and I'm a sucker for an English accent. If you don't think assassins always look sexy, you need to pay attention to some ninja movies or look at the demon hunter in Diablo III. Just way sexier than the barbarian and far more interesting to me. And James Bond can be considered sexy, don't you think? And it's not too far to label Bond as an assassin. He has a license to kill after all. I needed Kathy because I have this whole clever thing that's going to happen in book 3 that has to do with the whole Excalibur legend and the Lady of the Lake. Plus I thought that the story I have for Jordan was too big for just himself. Dylan grew out of a desire to have a quirky paranormal character that could do weird stuff because he has a spirit cat as a companion. And Meteora and Chewy were both based off of World of Warcraft characters that I loved playing with in my guild. Meteora was the best shadow priest I have ever seen and Chewy is one heck of a warlock. Chewy consequently is played by Tomeka (one of my best friends) and a black woman in real life as well as in game. So it wasn't much of a stretch to make sure I had a major character that was black, smart, and beautiful.

What is you’re writing process like? Do you have a routine? Daily/weekly/monthly goals?

When I do write, it becomes almost an obsession. I stay up late, get up early, and work so hard that I actually don't like the feeling it leaves me with. So I actually go for months at a time without writing anything except blog posts because I know when I start my story, I won't want to do anything else, and that's unhealthy. It's really weird to explain, but it's almost like I feel I have to get the story out of me in order to get any sleep. And then I drive myself crazy obsessing over words and edits. I don't plan on writing anymore until the winter. I feel it's okay to be unhealthy in the winter because it's cold outside and there isn't much to do.

Would you like to share anything about what you’re working on next?

I'll be working on the third book in the series. The second book is in the hands of a great editor who will take the rest of the year to pore over it. Then DDP will probably look at publishing it sometime next year or maybe 2014 depending on how backed up they are. I know that it will be called "Caledfwlch" which is the Welsh name for "Excalibur". The second book is called "Oculus".  In case you were wondering, there's Arthurian allegory going on in Slipstream, and it's completely intentional. Since you read it, I'll go ahead and tell you that "Caldefwlch" is the only weapon that has the possibility of killing the Horcus because it isn't from Earth. I'm going with the whole "Forged by God" thing that people talk about when they discuss the sword of legend. I'm going to update it though...it's not going to be some crusty medieval weapon. Jordan will be able to transform it into anything in the Slipstream field--that includes shiny snowboards!

  Do you have any advice for writers dreaming of becoming published?

Network with other writers through a blog. Stop being alone. Writers can help you with advice and by being supportive and with reviews. You want to have friends in the industry who've got your back when the Amazon trolls start rolling in with their one star reviews. It helps to have that padding from twenty or so bloggers who have read your work and given you fair reviews before some jerk cruises in and says "I never read this book but noticed all the four and five star reviews so made a one star one to call attention to it." And trust me...this does happen for real.

Thank you again, Michael! It has been a real pleasure sharing this post with you. Below are links to Michael's blog, Goodreads, and Twitter, and a link to get Slipstream for yourself. Thank you for reading. I'll do my best to stop by your blogs this weekend, and I'll be right back here first thing on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend!

Michael Offutt
http://slckismet.blogspot.com/
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3099632.Michael_Offutt
https://twitter.com/#!/MichaelOffutt

Michael Offutt is a writer of science-fiction books. Depending on when you catch him, he may also be an aspiring writer of epic fantasy, young adult fiction, or a daily non-sequitur. He has one brother, no pets, and a few roots that keep his tree of life sufficiently watered.
Mr. Offutt's mother is a four-foot tall Japanese woman and his father is a six-foot tall white man from Texas with a thick southern drawl. She loves city life and sushi. He loves small towns with run-down pick-up trucks and fried chicken.

When he asked his mother how they got together, she happily responded that when she was working in the United States Air Force back in the '50's, she used her spare time as an office clerk at the Air Force Base to look over personnel records for a husband. He remarks that peculiar behavior like this must have been how people met each other prior to the influence of Facebook and Twitter. It puzzles him whenever he thinks about it, so he chooses instead to just love his stalker mother who speaks quite fondly of the family to the fictional people that live in the basement.

CLICK HERE to Download Slipstream on Amazon!

WOW: Interview, More Pages, & Indie Hop Winners!

I'm excited to share with you today that I've been interviewed by Andrea Teagan @ The Enchanted Writer! So you're mission, if you choose to accept it, is to check it out on her blog. And report back. :)

Andrea also gave Provex City a five star review on Amazon and Goodreads...yay! I still get so excited, like I'm five years old again on Christmas morning. Thank you, Andrea, for the interview and review! I appreciate the support.

Also, you may have seen that I have added a few more pages to this blog. I wanted to organize my flash fiction, reviews, and guest posts. I don't have many of any one of those yet, but I think it's a good start. Feel free to check out what they looked like in the beginning. I'm curious to see what I'll have listed a year from now.

And lastly...and certainly not least...THE WINNERS to my Indie Author Blog Hop Giveaway! Thank you to everyone who participated and welcome to my new followers.

Elizabeth Hyatt

Denise Zaky

Jennifer Mill-Irving

If you're a winner and you didn't get my email, then please let me know. 

Friday, I will have special guest for another edition of Friday Flash Reviews. I will be posting my review of Slipstream with an interview with its author, Michael Offutt. I hope you come back and join us. Next Friday, I'll return to my Flash Fiction, participating in Candilynn's Flash Fiction Contest. Give her a visit, if you haven't done so already.

2012 Debut Author Blog Hop Giveaway Winners!!!

Thank you everyone who participated in my blog hop! I had a whole lot of fun and I hope you did, too. Now, it is the time you've all been waiting for - the time to announce the winners!

So please help me congratulate the winners of my 2012 Debut Author Blog Hop:

WINNERS
Elizabeth K.
Jay

***and both of you should have received an email from me already, so if for some reason you didn't, then please let me know***

 I hope many of you will come back to visit me again for more giveaways, including the one already going: The Indie Author Blog Hop Giveaway. The prize is a paperback copy of my young adult novel, Provex City. Thanks again and I'll see you around the blogosphere!

A Big Thank You and What's Coming Next!

Thank you for the well wishes  to Gwendolyn! I hope she sleeps tonight. It's been a long few days, and I'm trying my best not to get sick, too. But as Barney for How I Met Your Mother says:

Whenever I start feeling sick, I just stop feeling sick, and start feeling awesome instead. True story.

I hope it works. It's all in my head. Sorry If I'm not visiting as much over the next few days, but I will try my best. Now, onto bigger and better things.

Thank you for all the comments for my guest post on Alex's blog (and for leaving some here as well). It was awesome and a little overwhelming, I don't know how he gets to everyone...but I guess that's why he's the Ninja Captain. And thank you for helping make my Provex City giveaway a success! I was privileged to give away 1300 copies, and I hope many of those people will actually enjoy it. :) I almost made it to the Top 100 Free ebooks. My favorite number was #29 for Free Children's ebooks. I couldn't have done it without your help (my help? Yes, your help--I'm pointing at you!).

My 2012 Debut Author Blog Hop Giveaway is still going and has 2 more days, so enter to win a SIGNED copy of Michael Offutt's debut novel, Slipstream!

I received the 7x7 Link Award from C.M. Brown and the Lucky 7 Meme from Julie Flanders, last week. Thank so much for thinking of me and I will post about them next Monday. :)

This week I am also participating in the First Fight / First Kiss Blogfest hosted by Jackie: Bouquet of Books and Dani: Entertaining Interests. I will be using scenes from Provex City because it actually has both, how lucky for me! Tuesday is First Fight, and Thursday is First Kiss.

Lastly, I am doing one more Blog Hop Giveaway starting Wednesday for Indie Authors. I really didn't want to do two giveaway blog hops in a row, but this was my chance to offer the paperback of Provex City. So if you held out because you don;t like ebooks, then this is your chance.

Do I have enough going on? I don't have time to get sick. :) Happy Monday, everyone!

Guest Posting & Giveaways

As promised, today I have a guest post on Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog. Yes, you heard right, the Ninja Captain himself. Thank you, Alex, for giving me the opportunity to be a guest on your blog.  I appreciate any comments you'd like to leave hear, but I don't want to write much so you have time to check out my guest post!

Secondly, I have a giveaway going on right now (see Wednesday's post below), where I am giving away two SIGNED copies of Slipstream, Michael Offutt's debut novel. Please sign up for your chance to win!

And lastly, Provex City is FREE to download on Amazon today through Sunday! It's always great to take advantage of free. I appreciate any support you can offer by telling your friends, tweeting, mentioning the offer on your blog...anything would be amazing. :) Also in the spirit of Provex City, I'd like to show you the button that Carrie Butler just finished creating for me (for being one of her blogiversary winners; and congratulations to her for scoring a contract with Sapphire Star Publishing!). She did an amazing job and I'm proud to pin it to my blog.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

2012 Debut Author Giveaway Hop!

June 7th to 13th
Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & The Non Reluctant Reader

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my giveaway! I'm so excited for the opportunity to participate in this blog hop and offer two lucky winners SIGNED copies of Slipstream, by debut author Michael Offutt, someone I've had the recent pleasure of talking with. You can find him on his blog HERE.

Jordan Pendragon is crazy good at fixing situations that have gone bad. It's a talent prized by his high school ice hockey team. However, when a car accident puts Jordan in the hospital, he wakes up with more than just an amazing slapshot in his toolbox. Jordan can manipulate space-time and in just a few weeks, he'll depend on it to save his life.

When earthlings detonated the first atomic bomb in 1945, something incredible happened. The detonation triggered an extinction level event on a parallel world. A computer program saved humanity and became the ruler of this place. However, its brilliant mind fragmented and became insane.

Jordan's power strands him in this nightmare universe. To get home, he becomes a professional in a sport where athletes are killed to boost network ratings. To survive, he discovers that the most broken among us can be fixed and that love is unpredictable. Near the end, he also learns a startling truth about his own birth. If he fails to fix the computer’s insanity, both Earth and this sister world are doomed.
~Goodreads description of Slipstream by Michael Offutt

Here are the official rules/guidelines for the giveaway:

1. You must be a follower of this blog. Just click the Join this Site box below "Followers" on the sidebar.You may follow through NetworkedBlogs.
2. You can gain extra entries by following me on Twitter, tweeting about the giveaway, and liking my Facebook fan page.
3. This is open to international followers.
4. Even though you don't gain an extra entry, feel free to friend me on Goodreads and comment below because I'd love to hear from you!
5. This contest runs from June 7th - 13th.
6. The two winners will be selected on June 14th via Rafflecopter random selection and announced in this post. You will have 48 hours to respond or I will draw another winner. 

Thanks Again & Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Also, make sure to check out the other blogs participating in this Giveaway Hop, too!

The Start of an Eventful Week!

I hope you all had a fun weekend. I had the opportunity to see American Idiot: The Musical and it was freakin' awesome! If you appreciate the American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown albums, then I know you'll like it,too. The playlist was practically perfect. The only song I was really missing was "Restless Heart Syndrome" from 21st Century Breakdown. There were also a few songs from b-sides that I hadn't heard before. The song I loved was "When It's Time," which had the intro guitar-work of "When September Ends."

The Show has a parental advisory for language, drug use, and sexual situations. If that doesn't offend you, then I very much recommend it. The story follows the lives of three friends in modern suburbia looking for fun and excitement, meaning and purpose, and shows how their lives are ultimately affected by the choices they make. It is powerfully presented and the rearranged music is almost as good as being at a Green day concert. I want to see it again!

I'd like to highlight my good friend James Anderson (that's Mr. Anderson to you!), who has finally decided to jump into the ocean waters of blogging with both feet. He got his blog officially up and running last week and it's off to a great start. He is a professional editor by day and ready to get his fiction career started. His blog will discuss technology, entertainment, writing from an editor's perspective, and will share Friday flash fiction. Please help me in welcoming James to the blogosphere, click HERE to pay him a visit, and don't be shy about following a newbie blogger and a new member of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! :)

Since I mentioned IWSG, I will be posting mine a little early, Tuesday night, because I am participating in a blog hop giveaway starting Wednesday afternoon that goes though next Wednesday: 2012 Debut Author Blog Hop Giveaway! I'm so excited because I have the opportunity to give away a few SIGNED copies of Michael Offutt's debut novel, Slipstream. Some of you may know him....okay, most of you. :) Please enter to win!

On Friday, I will be over at Alex Cavanaugh's blog for my first ever guest post! I hope it's well received. No pressure. So, I won't have a Friday Flash Fiction this week. Sorry, but it will return next week (hopefully with a cool new graphic thanks to James).

Also on Friday (or starting Friday rather), the Kindle edition of Provex City will be free on Amazon! The free promotion will continue through Sunday. Please take the opportunity to download Provex City for the low, low price of FREE! Tell your friends. Harass your family. Tweet, post, recommend, shout from the roof tops! They all must go. :)