From M.K. Hobson, author of the Nebula award nominated THE NATIVE STAR, comes the newest installment in her Veneficas Americana series--THE WARLOCK'S CURSE.
Welcome to my stop on The Warlock's Curse Teaser Tour! This tour is a short tour of excerpts on six different blogs as well as a giveaway of a full set of M.K. Hobson's books and a Tesla Industries pin.
Make sure you go to the first tour stop to read the excerpt and enter the giveaway and then continue on. As you read each piece in order you'll get a very good idea of what a fantastic book this is! Plus you have 6 different chances of winning all three of her books!
Please note that while it says this is the newest installment in the Veneficas Americana series, this is the first in a new duology. So it's new characters and takes place 30 or so years in the future from the previous books and they do not need to be read first. It's the same world, new characters.
Excerpt...
After many adventures, Will and Jenny finally arrive in Detroit late at night. Not knowing where to stay, they ask advice of a surly janitor, who directs them to a hotel that isn't quite what it seems ...
Cold as it was, when they got to the Hotel Acheron they both hesitated before going in. Surrounded by seedy saloons, it fulfilled every qualification of the worst kind of flophouse, clearly catering to traveling salesmen and their hangers-on.
“Maybe it’s not so bad,” said Will, shivering. “It’s probably nicer on the inside.”
Unfortunately, it was worse. The walls of the lobby were stained with old damp and the room smelled of mold and urine and harsh tobacco shake. Jenny stood in the very middle of the lobby, as if unwilling to get too close to any of the greasy-looking walls, as Will went to speak to the night-man.
The night-man was gaunt, his rat-like features deformed by what must have been a protracted childhood bout with Black Flu. The entire left side of his head, from eyeball to ear, was engulfed in a coal-black mass of protuberant cauliflower-textured flesh, shiny and moist-looking.
“By the hour or by the night?” He did not even look at Will, but rather leered at Jenny. His left eye—sunken like a dull ochre bead within the massive doughy growth—glittered suggestively. Pulling silver from his pocket, Will slapped it down on the counter, hard.
Laughing softly, the night-man pulled himself painfully from his chair—he also wore a heavy leg brace supporting a twisted, misshapen leg—and retrieved a room key from the pegboard behind him.
The room they were given was on the third floor, and reaching it required navigating not one but two puddles of fresh vomit. The room had peeling wallpaper with a pattern that suggested leering demonic faces; a swayback bed with a rusted iron frame; and a window that opened onto a brick wall. It was lit by a single, weak electric bulb, and there was a small, disgustingly filthy handsink in the corner. Will didn’t want to say anything to Jenny, but he would bet that the grim parade of down-on-their-luck men who’d occupied this room before them had used that sink for very specific purposes that had nothing to do with the washing of hands. The room was freezing—if possible, it seemed almost colder inside the room than it had been out on the street. Will discovered that the radiator was cold to the touch; someone had turned off the valve. He turned it on and was greeted by the welcome hiss of steam.
“It’ll warm up soon,” he said, glad to find one note of comfort in the otherwise cheerless room.
“At least there’s a b-blanket,” she chattered, climbing into the bed without even bothering to take off her shoes. “Only one though.” She eyed Will with some hesitation. Her next words were colored with false bravado. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing else to do. Come on, pile in!”
When he lifted an eyebrow at this, Jenny made a noise of exasperation. “I can’t let you freeze to death, can I? And we’ve both got all our clothes on.” Making her face grave, she crossed her heart with her index finger. “William, I promise I won’t take advantage of you.”
Without a word, Will climbed into bed beside Jenny and wrapped a corner of the blanket around himself.
“I say, this isn’t a bit like California, is it?” said Jenny, as they shivered against each other.
“Not at all,” he said. “Thank God.”
THE YEAR IS 1910. Eighteen-year-old Will Edwards has landed a prestigious apprenticeship at Detroit’s Tesla Industries, the most advanced scientific research center in the United States. It’s a plum prize for a young man who dreams of a career in the new science of Otherwhere Engineering.
But his father doesn’t want him to go. And he won’t tell him why.
Determined to get there by any means necessary, Will finds unexpected support along the way. His old friend Jenny Hansen—daughter of a San Francisco timber baron—is eager to help him for reasons of her own. And so is his estranged brother Ben, who he hasn’t seen in over ten years.
But running away turns out to be the easy part. On the first full moon after his eighteenth birthday, Will is stricken by a powerful magic—a devastating curse laid upon his ancestors by the malevolent sangrimancer Aebedel Cowdray. Will must find a way to control the magic that possesses him—or the vengeful warlock’s spirit will destroy everything and everyone he loves.
The Tour Stops:
10/26- The Flyleaf Review
10/27- I Read Indie
10/28- Candace's Book Blog
10/29- Forever 17 Books
10/30- Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf
10/31- Katie's Book Blog Release Day!
Signed paperback copies of The Native Star, The Hidden Goddess and The Warlock's Curse as well as a Tesla Industries pin. Giveaway open to US/Canada only. Follow the author in some way for an extra point.
giveaway over
Twitter: mkhobson
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mkhobson
Thanks so much for hosting Mandy! I'm off to tweet facebook and pin!
ReplyDeleteI am loving these excerpts. I can't wait to start this one, though I am thinking I will try to read the first two in the series beforehand:)
ReplyDeleteCute blog! Love the witches legs:))
great excerpts...would love to read these!
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