Halith Virtual Book Tour July 2011

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Join Kirsten Kelly, author of the young adult science fiction/fantasy book, Halith (PCW Books), as she virtually tours the blogosphere in July on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About Kirsten Kelly

Kirsten Kelly lives in Miami, Florida where she enjoys kayaking, fishing, and travel. Like her characters, she lives for good friends, good food, and the next adventure. You can visit Kirsten Kelly’s website at www.pcwbooks.com

To find out more about Kirsten visit www.pcwbooks.com

About Halith

Can one ever recall the very moment when the first step of destiny was taken? Retrospect can make this possible; or in 462 BC, the aid of a powerful relic can bring the needed clarity. However, for Halíth, it might have been but a slip of the tongue; a fleeting lack of sensibility…

Or one Bitter Black ale too many…

Sixteen-year-old Halíth, known by her friends and comrades as stubborn and reckless, rarely listens. Choosing joy and youth, she tends to delve into her wellspring of purity for her own brand of truth. Often she closes her ears to whispers of destiny, even when they speak her name. In a fit of passion, she runs away in the deep of night, with nothing to her name, to a place she can barely recall the way to: Nordanshire Abbey. There, she hopes to reunite with only woman she has known as a caring mother figure: Mother Superior Almara. Yet, her idyllic fancy of a peaceful hamlet life is dashed. In a harrowing incident, young Halíth discovers that bandits have invaded her holy land. The world, as she knew it, would be forever altered, and Halith is the key for her land’s survival.

Read an Excerpt!

PrologueOverheard in the Grey Griffon Inn, night on midsummer 462

My tale is not of harrowing fare, and please do not thing me wayward to shun my fortune or my station, for they are things I never chose. But if you do not know the ways of the human heart or how embers burn in a girl child- but are never allowed to flame-then how could you not judge me any better than petulant?
I did not steal away from home in peevishness. I ran away because my uncle, the King of Nordania, offered my hand this very midsummer to a wealthy sheep farmer. And as I heard these words from my secret hiding spot in his antechamber, my heart spoke to me: He thinks you are worth no more than the price of a mutton.
That fat, insipid merchant suitor only wanted to buy his way into royalty. So, in those hours before I would become property, before my uncle could pronounce my fate to my face, I stole away in the deep of night with nothing but the clothes on my back, a few coins, and a bite of cheese.
But why run to Nordanshire Abbey, you ask? Nay, I did not trade one prison for another. You see, I spent four years in that abbey-from the age of eight until twelve. Despite an austere life of discipine, I have only glad memories from that place. The sisters were kind to me, and even doting at times.
But how did I come to be there at such a tender age? Nay, I am not an orphan. I am the daughter of Lady Auralynn, the herbalist in Elmwood Forest. Do you know here? Yet, I never knew my father, not really. He was just a fable to me until his men came one night to take me into fosterage.
I was so little, and I recall that it was a peculiar night-the night of the blue moon. All the villagers had barred their windows and lit prayer candles to ward off its evil potent, and in that eerie, cobalt glow, a gallant man came to our door.
His visit alarmed my mother, even though she knew him and introduced him as Sir Flecken-my father’s loyal page. They drank mulled wine and scoffed at the simple superstitions of farmers-how they thought that blue moon a sign of the end of Aessyra-and spoke of prophesies and things I did not understand. Yet they eyed me often, always speaking of marriage, and it made me squirm.
When Flecken told my mother that my fosterage was the will of my father, I was overjoyed, for I liked the hulking, wordly man. He was the kind of man I dreamed my father to be-a brave and noble warrior. I was not sad to leave my home. I wanted to go with Sir Flecken on any road, hoping-witha young child’s fancy-that it would ride into battle and glory. I so loved the hereos’ tales!
Alas, this was never to be. Sir Flecken delivered me to Mother Superior Almara in Nordanshire Abbey, and for four years, they tried to temper me into a disciplined woman who would make a good wife. I learned to spin wool and sew, and I learned my letters. Like a priestess, I learned silence, but ever my heart cried.
After I left the abbey, I spent the next four years in the court of my uncle, King Elemond, as a disregarded bastard niece whom he wanted to be rid of. I knew no love from any of hisit? household, except from my little cousin, Athena. It broke my heart to leave her that night. I put her to bed with a lie on my lips and went out into the deep of the night-a princess without a family or a home. Do you now thing me childish? I do not even know who I am or what I am meant to be.
Forgive my ranting. My head is aswoon. I have had far too much ale. Did you not know that this was the first time I have ever tasted it? If you bend your ear closer, I will tell you a secret, and you must not tell a soul. You see, my father is a very great man. He is the High King, and one day I shall meet him, for some nights, he calls to me in my dreams.

Here’s what reviewers are saying about Halith!

“Kelly’s writing is fluent, warm, and friendly. A lot of it is written poetically with beautiful image and clever naming conventions. She draws the reader into Halith’s heart from the moment the book opens”
-William Greenleaf, editor, and author of Timejumper

“To make a greater difference in the world, a girl has to rail against the standards of the world. “Halith” tells the story of a sixteen year old girl of Aessyra, a land on the brink of an all-consuming world. Sent off to a fosterage, she leaves on her path to the way of the warrior, and must make her own way to find her father, the high king, and make her mark for peace. “Halith” is a riveting fantasy, highly recommended.”
-Midwest Book Review

Halith Virtual Book Tour Schedule

TBA

Kirsten Kelly’s HALITH VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on July 5th and end on July 29th ’11. Please contact Tracee Gleichner at tgleichner(at)live(dot)com if you are interested in hosting and/or reviewing his book or click here to use the form. Thank you!

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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