OGRES from @taratylertalks Cradle Rock #MG #Fantasy

Tara Tyler asked me which beast I wanted to highlight for her blog tour, and I knew I wanted ogres! Ona is a little different from most MG/YA heroines, and that's why I like her. Now I give it over to Tara, for her take on ogres.

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I like ogres. I even married one! But seriously, they're great. They're strong, fun to mess with, and if you don't mind the smell, they can be very sweet to be around...

Here’s how a knock, knock joke would go with an ogre.

Knock, knock
                            Who’s there?
Interrupting Cow
                            *scratches head* Int-
Moo.
                             Inter-
Moo.
                             Who?
Never mind.

See what I mean? Fun!
And here are some famous ogres…
Well, Shrek of course... And from Ella Enchanted…



I’ve enjoyed ogres ever since I read Piers Anthony’s Xanth series. In book #5, OGRE, OGRE, Smash is part man and part ogre, and he goes on a journey with some young maidens. He protects them and falls in love with one of them, which is against all his ogrish instincts. It’s probably my favorite book in the whole series. The Xanth books had a big influence on my own beastly concept of ogres in Beast World.

My Beast World, ogres are the classic, stereotypical dumb jocks and bullies, tall and strong, and have horrible hygiene and no sense of smell. They are the soldiers who survived the harshest chemical enhancement testing, at great cost to their intellect. But some are smarter than others. Like Ona. She doesn’t fit in with the other ogres because she’s more intelligent and prettier and on the smaller side. That’s why Gabe likes her, she’s different than all the other beasts. But that’s when the trouble starts in Broken Branch Falls. One of the fun parts is how Gabe tricks the ogres on the football team to do his bidding.

In Cradle Rock, Ona is back with her curiosity causing major problems for the gang and another crisis for the adults. I hope you’ll join them on this hilarious, nefarious, precarious adventure!

Thanks Sharon, for spreading the word and having me here!

WELCOME BACK TO THE FOREST!

CRADLE ROCK, Beast World Book Two

by Tara Tyler

Gabe the goblin just saved his town Broken Branch Falls from splitting apart. He also revealed that humans--horrible creatures of myth and legend--may actually be part of their history! But seriously? Nah!

Now Ona, Gabe’s girlfriend, is headed thousands of miles away to Camp Cradle Rock for Spring Break seeking evidence of humans. Gabe knows better than to tell a stubborn ogress she’s crazy, so he’s letting her go and spending the break at the beach like a normal teenage beast. And he’s determined to have a good time without her, whether he likes it or not.

But when Gabe hears Ona went missing, he and his friends set out for the wilds of the west to find her, no matter what dangerous creatures get in his way. Not even humans.

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Goodreads

Check out the Book Trailer!

Tara Tyler has had a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After moving all over, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her three active boys and Coach Husband. Currently she has two series, Pop Travel (techno-thriller detective capers) and Broken Branch Falls (fantasy adventures). To squeeze in writing, she economizes her time aka the Lazy Housewife. Make every day an adventure!

Talk to me!
Author Blog ~~ @taratylertalks ~~ Facebook ~~ Housewives Blog


I'm also giving away signed copies of Broken Branch Falls and Cradle Rock, some Beast World swag, and a $20 GC!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How To Celebrate the Autumn Equinox

Although it's still pretty hot outside in my neck of the woods, autumn is officially here! At 9:21am CT, the sun will be directly over the equator, marking the official transition from light to dark. If you're a fan of The December People Series, you also know that this is an important day to fall wizards. Families of fall wizards often share a meal on this day to give thanks for the harvest. And unless they are farmers, it's a symbolic harvest. It's a time to give thanks for the fruits of our labor and the relationships we've built. Yes, it is wizard Thanksgiving!

Whether you're a fall wizard or not, consider taking some time today to celebrate the autumnal equinox. Here are some ideas.

• Focus on balance in your life - The autumnal equinox is when light and dark are in perfect balance. Channel this balance in your own life. Are you spending enough time doing things that make you happy? Are certain parts of your life sucking up more energy than they deserve?

• Focus on balance in your body - Notable fall witch, Jess Oppenheimer, is a yoga instructor. In yoga, balance is key, and it's a great way to harness the balancing powers of the equinox. Consider some of these balance poses.

• Celebrate the harvest - Many of us live in a perpetual time of plenty. We don't need to celebrate the harvest anymore because we can go to the supermarket any day of the year and pick from an overflowing feast. You may not feel rich, but if you have regular access to food and clean water, you should take time to reflect on your blessings.

• Celebrate the season - Fall wizard, Patrick Vandergraff, has never ordered a pumpkin spice latte. He feels like it's a little too expected. But that doesn't mean that you can't take the time to relish fall treats today. Don't be ashamed, get something pumpkin spice flavored. Have an Oktoberfest beer. Enjoy all those things you've been looking forward to about fall.

• Spend time in nature - Magic is always best channeled outdoors, especially in quiet reflection when you're quiet and peaceful enough to actually notice it. Go for a walk. Look at the green leaves one last time before they fall. And if you're in a warm climate, it's not to late to plant a fall garden!

• Think about the future - Fall wizards are all about the future. Like squirrels who hoard nuts for winter, fall wizards are always looking ahead to what is next and getting prepared. Powerful fall wizards can even see the future, or at least glimpses of it. Even if you don't have that ability, the fall equinox is a good time to reflect on what's next.

• Make a change - I love all the season changes, but in Texas, summer to fall is especially glorious because we're finally getting a change from the brutal temperatures. Seasons changing reminds us of the beauty and power in change. This is a great time to make that change you've been thinking about.

• Let go of something toxic in your life - Look at a nice big deciduous tree outside. All those leaves are about to shed. Think about all the leaves you've collected on your own branches, and think about how much lighter you would feel if those leaves all cascaded to the ground. There is nothing wrong with acting like a tree and letting some things go.

• Let go of your fear of aging and death - I know that's a tall order, but consider this famous quote from John Burroughs, “How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days. When leaves die and fall, they do so in beauty and grace." Every season in life is beautiful in its own way. The seasons also remind us that life is an ongoing cycle. Fall and winter allow the earth to shed its old leaves to prepare for a re-birth. There is no reason not to believe that our bodies work the same way.

Have a happy fall equinox and lovely fall season!

#CoverReveal for Cradle Rock by @taratylertalks #MG #Fantasy

I had a lot of fun with Broken Branch Falls and I'm excited for Cradle Rock! Review coming later! Check out the cover and trailer...

CRADLE ROCK

by Tara Tyler

Release Date: December 1, 2016

Welcome to the forest.

Gabe and his girlfriend Ona are headed in opposite directions for Spring Break. After finding out humans might be a real part of their history, Ona is determined to dig up evidence of them in the mysterious mountains at Camp Cradle Rock. Being a logical goblin, Gabe tries to talk her out of it, but there's just no reasoning with a stubborn ogress.

When Ona goes missing, Gabe and his friends fly to Cradle Rock to search for her and discover a village of trouble, igniting an age old war. His physical skills may be lacking, but Gabe won't give up. With the help of his diverse group of friends, he will find a way to save his girl and maybe all beastkind. Humans, bah!

And here's the book trailer! With sketches from my super fantastic inside illustrator, Laura Kramer.

A Taste of Death and Honey Trailer #booktrailer #trailerreveal

Only three more days until A Taste of Death and Honey! Enjoy a little taste (pun intended) with the trailer:

It's also now on Goodreads, so please add it to your TBR!

Here is an early review:

Sharon Bayliss mixes authentic modern day life with a creative, unique magic world that sucks you right in. Fantastic, clever dialogue and shocking twists kept me turning pages all night. It’s a nail-biting read that will plunge you deep into a world of magic and intrigue. But this isn’t just a tale of magic and adventure or just a tale about good and evil. In A Taste of Death and Honey, Ms. Bayliss captures what makes life and love real. What makes it worthwhile. And how light and darkness work together to create balance. The love shown throughout her book is love the way it is in the real world: messy, imperfect, and not easily understood. But authentic. The kind of real love that grabs you by the throat and won’t let you go. It’s the intensity and depth of her story that still resonates inside my heart. I won’t forget her characters any time soon. - Amy Bearce, author of  The World of Aluvia Series

A Taste of Death and Honey comes out on 6/9/16!! If you're new to the series, you can get caught up by reading Destruction (Book One) and Watch Me Burn (Book Two), both available on Amazon and Audible. 

Thank you for your support!

  

A Taste of Death and Honey Cover Reveal! #coverreveal

The time has come!! I'm happy to present the cover of book three in The December People Series, A Taste of Death and Honey. I'm so thankful to Curiosity Quills Press for their amazing work. I think it's stunning! And just the right amount of creepy. What do you think?

This book will grab you by the throat, challenge your mind, and turn your heart inside out. Sharon Bayliss delivers a powerful, emotional punch with her third book in the December People series. - Amy Bearce, author of  The World of Aluvia Series

When Samantha’s parents died, she lost everything. Her home. Her friends. Her hope. Then a life-loving spring witch at the children’s shelter fills her life with light and joy once again.

But like the springtime, Samantha’s happiness doesn’t last forever. Her friend dies violently in front of her, the victim of a mysterious killing spell. Furious and grief-stricken, Samantha resents her own weak spring magic. She doesn’t need life and renewal. She wants revenge…and death.

Homeless and alone, Samantha seeks shelter with her old friends, the Vandergraff family, and finds an unexpected ally in the powerful winter solstice witch, Evangeline. The girls’ anger and eagerness lead them to cast a killing spell before knowing the truth behind Samantha’s friend’s death or the identity of her killer. 

Once the spell is cast, they can’t take it back, and they must fight to stop their own curse before it takes away everyone they love.

A Taste of Death and Honey comes out on 6/9/16!! If you're interested in reading it early and writing a review, please sign up here. And if you're new to the series, you can get caught up by reading Destruction (Book One) and Watch Me Burn (Book Two), both available on Amazon and Audible. 

Thank you for your support!

  

Sign up for the A Taste of Death And Honey blog tour and release day blitz!

Spring is finally here! And A Taste of Death and Honey (Book 3 in The December People Series) is finally coming on 6/9/16! I need your help to spread the word. I'm having a cover reveal, blog tour, and release day blitz. I'm also interested in recruiting some early reviewers. Because I appreciate your help so much, if you sign up for any of the above, you'll get an exclusive swag pack (first 30 people) and will be entered to win the prizes below.

• TEN signed copies of A Taste of Death and Honey
• Bag of lily bulbs
• Adult Coloring Book: Butterflies and Flowers : Stress Relieving Patterns
• Burt's Bees Essential Everyday Beauty Gift Set
• Raw, Unfiltered Texas Honey Bear
• Lindt Lindor Truffles Milk Chocolate Spring Time Limited Edition

To enter, you just have to participate in the release day activities. You get one entry for every item you complete below, and five entries for every review (of any December People book) posted between 5/1/16 and 7/1/16. You can even win more than one prize! And if you're one of the first people to sign up, you will definitely at least get a Taste of Death and Honey swag pack!

Thank you!!

We Must Let Go in Order to Grow... Spring Guest Post from WildCat Magic

In honor of the spring, I'm happy to present a guest post from WildCat Magic!

Sometimes dreams die, and we must recover the creative energy bound up in our regrets in order to nourish the seeds of new priorities. Read about a new magical tool to do this below.

Magical Practice: Look - Feel - Turn - Rise! Where have you buried your bitter disappointments, failed attempts, missed opportunities, might-have-beens, lost hopes, broken dreams, unfulfilled desires, rejected gifts, unrequited loves, and half-mourned relationships?  We are all mortals, dear ones, and all have shadows in our past.  In order to release the creative power bound up in our regrets, we must dig deep into these dark and dirty places. We must have courage to see our failures for what they are, feel the pain of their consequences, and let the emotion turn (as emotions always do), in order to rise up again and create something new. Tomorrow is indeed another day!   This magical process -- Look, Feel, Turn, Rise -- is a powerful tool I encourage you to try, and repeat as often as you need to, "a thousand times," to free up your power to create!   LOOK! To begin the process, find a mirror you choose to use as a magical tool (or you can use an astral mirror in your imagination), light a candle, and place a second unlit candle nearby.  Listen to the recorded trance journey to visit Persephone, Demeter, and your ancestors, who also suffered disappointment in their lives, and may wish to aid you in rising again. Travel to a sacred place to meet them, look into the mirror, and have the courage to face the truth of the ending of a dream. FEEL! Allow yourself to feel as much of the emotions that arise as you are willing to feel at this time. Acknowledge your pain and validate it as a proportional response to your loss.  Persephone and Demeter and your other Allies, both human and Divine, are here to witness and support you.   TURN! When you feel the emotion shift, light the second candle.  All is not lost!  While the consequences of our choices are real, it is our attachment to outcomes that causes us to suffer when things don't work out the way we had hoped they would.  Let go... this dream may be dying, but the future is still full of possibilities... Feel the love in your heart that is your creative life force, your own Divine Spirit that is always connected to the Wild, True Love of the gods.  You have much left to create out of LOVE. Feel your sap rising! RISE! Celebrate your rebirth!  Listen to an inspiring song, dance, and sing along.  Reach out to your community and be open to seeing new possibilities to co-create.  You may enjoy this song, (re)created as a chant by Amy and Swan for the recent Reclaiming LA Ostara ritual: Rise Up! It is Spring, and the soil is ready for new seeds to sprout -- it is time to rise up and recreate ourselves, one more time!   Here's an inspiring quote to get you started on the process ... It is official. I did not get the life I wanted... Sometimes [our dream and our destiny] are one and the same, and sometimes they're not. Often our dreams are just a path to our destinies. .. While you [have your] head down, sweating, cursing, stressing, furiously working with broken tools [to build your dream], ... [Love] is busy building your destiny. And there is as much beauty in your destiny as there was in your dream. Let go and believe that whatever it is, it will be beautiful. (Paraphrased from Carry on Warrior by G. Melton) Love and Magic, WildCat WildCat has been teaching magic for many years, working with a variety of goddesses and gods. Trained as a Witch in the Feri and Reclaiming traditions, she is true to her WildCat name, drilling for spiritual experience in the places between charted territories, and her practice and teaching draw upon a number of traditions. She loves the consciousness she has developed and the ecstasy she has felt practicing magic. She gets a kick out of sharing her experience and co-creating new and powerful transformational magic in each class. For her, magic is an important ethical act as well as exciting -- "what we do between the worlds changes us and all the worlds!" Check out WildCat's current offerings on her website:www.wildcatmagic.org, and sign up for her monthly newsletter.

Participate in the Taste of Death and Honey Lily Challenge

It's spring time! Which means flowers are blooming and book 3 in The December People Series, A Taste of Death and Honey, will be coming out soon (June 9th). To celebrate, I am hosting a very special kind of contest, a lily growing challenge. All you have to do is get a lily to bloom using magical or Mundane gardening methods, and you will get a signed copy of A Taste of Death and Honey and an exclusive swag package.

Here is how it works. I send you a lily bulb in the mail. Get it to bloom before the summer solstice (June 20, 2016), post a picture with the hashtag #tdhlilychallenge, and I'll send you your prize!

I don't think I'm allowed to ship plants overseas, so I'll have to restrict this North America, planting zones 3-9. I will close the contest after ten entries.

Thank you for participating! Sign up below:

Purchase deeply discounted books and audiobooks to support @traviscoccp! #AmplifyATX

Like many authors, I have a day job! And unlike many authors, I really love my day job. :) I'm fortunate to get paid to do something I love to support a cause I'm passionate about--writing grant proposals and impact narratives for the Center for Child Protection in Austin, Texas.

The mission of the Center for Child Protection is to reduce the trauma to children during the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children. Time after time, I've seen our staff take on the most severe and devastating cases of abuse and neglect in Travis County. And time after time, they provide hope and healing in cases that might seem impossible. I am consistently inspired by their courage, patience, and high-quality care.

From now until 3/8, donations made to the Center through the Amplify Austin page will be matched by the St. David's Foundation, so it's a great time to give! You can simply make a donation on my Amplify Austin page, and/or you can participate in my sale below. I'm donating the items, so 100% of the cost of the item will go to the Center for Child Protection during Amplify Austin.

Thank you for your support!!

SALE ENDS ON 3/8!

Signed paperback copy of The Charge $5 (U.S. shipping included!)

Destruction Audible Audiobook $10

Watch Me Burn Audible Audiobook $10

Destruction Digital Book (.mobi, .epub, or .pdf) $3

Watch Me Burn Digital Book (.mobi, .epub, or .pdf) $3

Seeking #audiobook reviewers for The December People Series! #NowOnAudible

 &

Now on

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO BOOK ONE

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO BOOK TWO

I'm looking for reviews of the audiobook version of Destruction and Watch Me Burn! If you're interested, please fill out the form below.

If you accept a free review copy, you must be willing to write a review of the audiobook on Audible.com. Book bloggers will be given priority. Otherwise, it will be first-come, first-served. If selected, you will receive your free review copy in the form of an Audible claim code. Codes are limited!

Thanks for taking the time to listen and review!