#AuthorInterview with Lou for Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail Author R.L. Baxter #RickyBaxter @ZooloosBT #BlueLunarAndTheApexGrail #Fantasy #BlogTour

Q&A with Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail Author –
R.L. Baxter

Q&A By Lou – Bookmarks and Stages

It gives me great pleasure to interview R.L. Blue Lunar about his book – Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail as part of the Zooloo blog tour. Let’s give a warm welcome to Ricky Baxter.
You’ll discover his inspiration and what he particularly likes about the fantasy genre, discover the heroes, where you can follow him and more. Ahead of the interview, let’s find out a bit about him and then check out the cover and discover the blurb.

About the Author

Ricky Baxter is a London born, fantasy author of novels and short novellas. He is an avid blogger, giving advice and thoughts to fellow creators from all walks of life. Starting out as a composer after graduating with a Ba(Hons) in music and multimedia, Ricky worked for many independent short film directors, gaining notable IMDB credits. Since then, he has embraced his earlier passion for writing fictional stories.

Blurb

In a world where the gods have long deserted mortals, a powerful sorcerer emerges from a 100-year-old prison. Releasing an army of beasts, he enters a path of destruction while searching for an ancient relic.

Tasked with challenging the darkness, a pure and naive-hearted boy named Luke embraces his destiny to defeat the wizard – for the promise of a better tomorrow.

Equipped with a divine armour, fashioned by the most powerful goddess, Luke will journey across the land in pursuit of the dark sorcerer, making unforgettable allies and bonds along the way. However, as a long-buried tragedy slowly comes to light, the boy will question everything he believes in… including his destiny.

Without further ado, let’s head to the first question.

1. Who or what inspired you to write novels?

I was actually inspired to write novels thanks to my secondary English teacher. At the time, I was heavily into gaming, films and TV shows but I couldn’t find a way to create my own stories. One day, my English teacher tasked the whole class to write their own story! I believe the assignment was named “Original writing”, and it changed my life forever. I wrote my first story ever and it was named “Rei’s great adventure”, a story about a boy who could transform into a tiger. I received an A+ for my work, which surprised both myself and teachers. Since then, I have been writing ever since and I probably will continue to keep writing forever!

What do you particularly like about fantasy and what made you choose this genre to write in?

I love fantasy for the sheer fact that it isn’t the real world. As amazing as the real world is, I adore fantasy because it provides a wonderful escape/break from our lives for but a moment. To have characters, laws and history that is wildly detached from our own is wonderful. At the same time, I love who certain parallels can be found between fantasy and our reality as well. Problems such as war, love and friendship are just as vital within fantasy as it is the real world. As such, fantasy has always been my genre of choice, as I can get to tell stories that we all can somewhat relate to, yet in an amazing world of make-believe. I especially chose this for Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail for that very reason.

Who are the heroes of your book and how did they emerge to write about?

The three heroes of my story are: Luke, Aurora and Umbra. Luke is the main hero, being a boy tasked with saving the world. He is naive , kind and thoughtful. At times he can live in his own thoughts, causing him to be overly critical of himself and hesitant. He possess a divine suit of blue armour that allows him to do what no normal person can. My idea for Luke came from childhood TV shows such as power rangers, where the heroes could transform into a powerful version of themselves. Aurora is a master female swordsman. She is strong and focused. Born with a mysterious golden eye that allows her to heighten her skills, many fear her for being different. As such, she tends to not trust others easily. I thought of Aurora upon watching an anime named Claymore. Within that anime, there was a character named Teresa who was almost perfect in every way, to the point of being envied and hated by her comrades. Lastly is Umbra, a boy who claims to be a vampire, although he has no problem being out during daylight. He possesses the uncanny ability of immortality which he almost never explains. He likes to laugh, rub people the wrong way and is seen as the joker of the trio. However, his smiles belie a seriousness to him which he keeps hidden. Umbra was thought due to the need to create a mystery character that is somewhat hard to fully trust.

What’s your process of creating a fantastical world?

That’s a great question! I typically imagine just enough of the world to get started, without knowing everything about it. For example, in the case of Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail, I knew enough that it was a world with lands yet to fully be explored, and that a blue moon orbits the world. From there, I create as I go along, in many ways seeing the world through the main character’s eyes. This not only helps to get the story moving, but also keeps a level of excitement from an author perspective, for of course the last thing I would want is to grow bored of my own world. Essentially, I create the laws of the fantasy world (gods, mortals and demons etc) and then allow my imagination to do the rest. In many ways, I’d like to think that the creation of fantasy worlds take a certain kind of faith in the imagination.

In your bio it states a wide and varied career, it says you started out composing music. What genre did you compose and where can people find it?

Yes I used to compose music! In fact, I am quite the piano player. I used to compose orchestral background music to short films in my university days. I absolutely adored composing piano and string pieces. You can find music to a past short film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVrjap6n_c

Where can people follow you and find out more about your book?

You can find me on on Instagram @authorricky

I am also on Amazon and good reads at Ricky Baxter

Thank you for having me!

#BookReview By Lou of Normal Rules Don’t Apply By Kate Atkinson #KateAtkinson @alisonbarrow @TransworldBooks @DoubleDayUK #NormalRulesDontApply #ShortStories #OutNow

Normal Rules Don’t Apply
By Kate Atkinson

Review by Louise (Lou) – Bookmarks and Stages

I am so excited to share my review of the latest book by Kate Atkinson – Normal Rules Don’t Apply. I savoured it and from today it can be yours as it is Publication Day. It’s a book of excellent short stories. Discover the strikingly gorgeous cover, the blurb and my review below.

The first story collection from Kate Atkinson in twenty years, Normal Rules Don’t Apply is a dazzling array of eleven interconnected tales from the bestselling author of Shrines of Gaiety and Life After Life

In this first full collection since Not the End of the World, we meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep; a secretary who watches over the life she has just left; a man whose luck changes when a horse speaks to him.

With clockwork intricacy, inventiveness and sharp social observation, Kate Atkinson conjures a feast for the imagination, a constantly changing multiverse in which nothing is quite as it seems.

I love, love, love the title. The whole idea of being told ‘Normal Rules Don’t Apply’ is exceedingly appealing. The themes are powerful and striking, through life and death. The writing is absorbing, twisting your mind in all directions, full of different concepts, some perhaps already pondered and some perhaps not. The book from the off, has a certain aura and presence about it, saying “read me” and the plots of each short story, even more so. Kate Atkinson, I think it is fair to say, is as skilled at writing short stories as she is, her novels.

She creates seemingly normal worlds from the edges and then delve deeper into “Normal Rules Don’t Apply” and you find that you’ve got more than you bargained for because within the seemingly familiar is a touch of magic and fantasy. You discover that it is true, they do not apply. Readers are whisked into other worldly things, from certain characters doing the unexpected or certain events being unexpected. Nothing is as it first seems from story to story, propelling you from page to page and a desire to read more and more.

Atkinson has the skill to quickly hook a reader in, especially in the economy of words in a short story and reel them in and leave you wanting to read the others and before you know it, you’ve read them all and then sit still for a moment and think, before, just knowing that you’ll then dip in and out of them again.

There is life and death and strange goings-ons in Waitrose in The Void and ghostly occurrences in Blithe Spirit. Romance could be in the air for the “Indiscreet Bourgeoisie” with music filling the air and intriguing ideas, as well as something chilling too. Classic Quest 17 – Crime and Punishment will make you sit up and think about life and death, disease and medications. Puppies and Rainbows is more thought-provoking and deep than the title suggests with mental health being one of the subjects. This is just a few of the short stories, I have mentioned that all culminate quite wonderfully and fittingly, when the last title poses the question – What If?

This is a book that is sure to swirl round many minds, even after the very last page has been turned.

Thanks to Alison Barrow at Transworld books for sending me a gorgeous proof copy to review from, in exchange of an honest review.

#Review By Lou of The Heart of Pangaea By Lindsey Kinsella #LindseyKinsella #LoveBooksTours #Fantasy #BlogTour

If fantasy worlds and dinosaurs, with a dose of family life are your bag, then take a read of The Heart of Pangaea. Find out more in the blurb and my review.

Blurb

Robyn has a vivid imagination, even for a twelve-year-old. Vivid enough to create herself a companion—but Ed isn’t your ordinary imaginary friend. Ed is a Dimetrodon, an ancient beast from a forgotten age.

When her mother falls ill, Robyn and Ed delve into her subconscious, to the prehistoric kingdom of Pangaea, in search of a cure. But in a world of dinosaurs, pirates, and ancient magic, can they even save themselves?

The Heart of Pangaea brings the wonders of palaeontology to a magical, fantasy setting.

Review

Palaeontology seems to be a emerging in a few books recently, from crime fiction to fantasy. It’s a fascinating world, after all, people are infinitely interested in dinosaurs and fossils from eras gone by. Robyn, the main character in this book is too. It’s an imaginative world that she creates, conjuring up an imaginary friend – Ed, a creature that walked the earth long ago. Her mum falls seriously unwell with a disease so many adults get and this sends her on course to find a cure. This in-turn puts her own life in danger in the fantastical world she lands in, as she travels back in time to to when the world was in what was called “Pangaea”, estimated at some 300 million or so years ago, when continents were vast and Africa, India, South America, Australia, and Antarctica created the Pangaea continent, long before it is thought humans walked the earth.

The book is adventurous as well as dealing with significant health issues, but in a way that is definitely aimed at the young adult market, done in a sensitive and yet bold way, which is good since so many people have an unwell adult in their family at one time or another. The fantasy element brings fun, magic and adventure as well as a realism that people want to be proactive in helping a loved one.

The pace moves quite well to capture young minds and I would say certainly 12 years plus would be able to enjoy The Heart of Pangaea.

#Review of Terciel and Elinor -The Old Kingdom 1 By Garth Nix @garthnix @bonnierbooks_uk #Fantasy #YA #YAFiction #ChildrensFiction

Terciel and Elinor -The Old Kingdom 1 is a fantasy book for older children that are about ready to cross-over to YA as well as well into the YA audience, especially from 13. It’s a good escapist book into a whole fantastical world. Discover the blurb and review and what other authors are saying below, thanks to Bonnier books for the proof in exchange for a review.

Blurb

The long-awaited new novel from multi bestselling Garth Nix, set in the Old Kingdom, now in paperback! For fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo.

In a land where the dead will not stay dead, eighteen-year-old orphan Terciel is learning to wield a mighty and terrible power: necromancy.

For he is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, the latest in a ancient line of necromancers tasked with protecting the Old Kingdom and preventing the Dead from crossing over to the realm of the living.

Across the Wall in Ancelstierre, where magic does not usually work, Elinor, nineteen, lives a secluded life. But when destiny intervenes, she finds herself on a path to love, danger, and an adventure into the dominion of the dead…

She does not know that she is deeply connected to the Old Kingdom until destiny places her on a path of magic, romance and a fight against the Dead who will not stay dead.

Review

The world building is very good and ensures you, the reader is submerged into it, rather than just looking in from the perimeter. Not all fantasy books engage like that, but Garth Nix has managed to do it.

Elinor is an interesting character. She has a mysterious mark on her head and ends up on a journey of discovery as she is no ordinary girl as she increasingly finds out she can do magic.

Her mother is also ailing, which is hard on her, but Terciel comes to her aid. She then ends up on an adventure of a lifetime, that she wasn’t expecting from her secluded life.

Throughout the book, there are sprinkles of humour here and there, which lifts the mood from the darkness of the dead, who are determined not to remain dead. It also has its poignant moments through the magic realms, that keeps it just a bit grounded, which works in its favour.
It is a book teens can settle into, be intrigued by and be transported into a different world, but also find something familiar within, making it relatable as well as adventurous in the realms of fantastical magical powers. It’s a book they can relax into and allow its escapism qualities to wash over them as they soak up the immersive story.

#Review By Lou of Heart of the Sky By D.H. Willison @dhwillison @TheWrite_Reads #TheWriteReadsOnTour #BlogTour #HeartOfTheSky #BlogTour #Fantasy

Heart of the Sky
By D.H. Willison

Heart of the Sky is a fantasy book with heart and layers that go beyond wild magic. Find out more in the blurb below and then my full review.
Thanks first to The Write Reads for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the author – D.H. Willison for the book.

It takes great courage to stand against a ferocious mythic monster.

It takes far greater to stand WITH one who’s at her most vulnerable.

Tremors rock the land. Wild magic and creatures from the abyss ravage a formerly bountiful forest, while a creeping magic ailment spreads among the harpies. A fragile peace between harpy and human teeters on the brink.

Darin and Rinloh, oddest couple in all the land. They must become the oddest of heroes to save the land.

Heart of the Sky. A charming blend of whimsy, terror, and a lot of heart.

Review

The Heart of the Sky is a book in the Ariva series (others will be reviewed soon). The book is well-conceived, mixing human and non-human life. It is a book of relationships and how complex they are. Darin and Rinloh are not exactly what you might say, your typical or perfect match. Their relationship is challenging and complex. One is human and the other is a harpy, whose natural instinct is to, well, perhaps, consume humans. So, this adds a degree of intrigue to see how it pans out for them.

There is much trepidation in the lives of our intrepid main characters, not just with the unnatural bond they have for each other, but with a magic creeping in that has consequences. The book shows how things can live side by side with some form of mutual understanding and peace to some degree or another, but also how there is a fragility that is within what looks like a good bond.

So, this book is more than magic and fantastical creatures, it has layers and some are quite deep, amongst the whimsical. The balance feels quite good though. This makes it an attractive book to read.

#Review By Lou of. Awakening By David Munro – part of #AdventuresInTime Series #DavidMunro #Awakening #Fantasy #TimeTravel #Nostalgia

Awakening
By David Munro

Thanks to David Munro for inviting me to review Awakening – Book 3 of Adventures In Time. It’s entertaining with a dose of nostalgia and sadness. There’s a lot of good reading to be had in this novella. Check out he blurb and review below.

Blurb

James Carsell-Brown is a time traveller. He finds himself in 2014 where he meets an attractive lady. Unknown to him, she is the ghost of a young woman who took her own life in 1916. By fate, James is thrown back in time to before the gruesome act occurred and begins to investigate. Can he prevent the suicide? Is time on his sideor his enemy?

Review

Meet Charlie Carsell-Brown. It’s Saturday, 1967 and a beautiful summer’s day with a great dose of nostalgia of sweets, comics, tv and films. It doesn’t shy away from the issues, that have had consequences today, such as Dr. Beeching and his massive reduction in railway routes. If you weren’t around then, it is an entertaining education.

Charlie has plans to go on his travels – heading to Glasgow, then further north to Crianlarich to Inveraray and onto Ardrishaig. The book also takes readers to Edinburgh.

Then readers will meet 8 year old James, who is rather lost, but meets Rosalind and Edward, which becomes full of intrigue as a mysterious coach house also comes into the fore, where adventures occur. The cemetery is particularly fascinating, where a woman haunts it…

The book as a whole is full of nostalgia, but not all through rose-tinted glasses. It has the good and the bad, some of which is still felt today. It is a journey through popular culture, time travel and a slight political edge here and there. The people you meet along the way and the places you go are of interest.

The ending is strong and powerful and in someways, thought-provoking.