Hey guys! So today (a day late… oops!) I’m participating in the blog tour for Hazel West’s new book, The New Emperor’s Concerto. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Hazel on some projects lately, and I’m excited to read more of her writing! You can check out the full official tour schedule here. Also, her short story prequel for this book, The Butler’s Story, is free on Amazon this week during the tour, so go check it out! Also, make sure and go to the bottom of this post to read an excerpt from the book. Now, on to the post!
Synopsis
The year is 2228 and the world is on the cusp of World War Four. London is rife with anarchists and secret plots. It looks like dark days are coming for the British Empire. Darker than any that have been seen for decades.
But luckily England has some help.
Sir Lysander is the King’s Righteous Man-and all that entails. He’s the king’s right hand, and a red one at that, the man who stands in the shadows and does what needs to be done for the protection of his country.
Eidolon is a phantom, the anarchist group Apophis’s top retrieval expert. They need something, he gets it, no matter the consequence. Even though he’d secretly prefer to be in his flat with his cat and a good book.
They’ve been butting heads for a while, but in times like these loyalties are known to change and right now, any help is good help. They just didn’t count on being the only thing standing between England and the start of the next world war.
Goodreads | Amazon Kindle | Amazon Paperback | Smashwords
Author Bio
Hailing from Purgatory (aka, Florida) Hazel is an indie author, book wyrm, and coffee connoisseur. She typically enjoys writing books with an unconventional flair, probably with a bit of folklore and mythology, most definitely with a lot of siblings or brothers-in-arms. When she’s not writing, she manages an Etsy shop, drinks a lot of coffee, listens to music, haunts conventions, or just holes up like an eldritch horror and binges her favorite shows—for inspiration. If you meet this rare creature on the street, she has been known to respond to the offer of coffee and old bookstores. But it’s probably best you try to contact her online first.
Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | Ko-fi*
*Anyone who donates or subscribes to Hazel’s ko-fi this month will be able to see an exclusive sneak peek of the next book in the Concerto universe, Requiem in Red.
Live Chat
Hazel and Claire are doing a live Q&A on Thursday (tomorrow!) so be sure and check that out on Instagram!
Instagram Photo Challenge and Giveaway
Speaking of Instagram, there’s also an Instagram Photo Challenge going on!
The winner gets a signed copy of the book or the awesome swag pack below! Along with that, you can also enter this giveaway to win the same goodies.
Tour Schedule
Excerpt
This was one of the labs, he saw instantly as he entered, long tables filled with glass and metal, beakers and vials, and things he couldn’t guess the use for. He could see some glass on the floor, but no sign of life.
He stalked into the shadowed room, his dark clothing keeping him hidden save for the metallic glint of the king’s crest he wore on the breast of his waistcoat, telling of his occupation. That, however, was enough for the second man in the room.
A ghostly shape appeared out of the shadows with a roundhouse kick, slamming the gun out of Lysander’s hand.
He leapt back, regaining his footing, and blocked the next punch thrown at him with his forearm, before kicking out and gaining a grunt as his heavy boot connected with his opponent’s hip.
“Intriguing,” Lysander said mockingly. “I was told you were a ghost and had begun to believe it myself with all the times you’ve evaded me in the past. But it seems you are only a man of flesh and blood like all of us. What a disappointment.”
A wicked smirk appeared on the face of the other man as he ducked backwards into a beam of ambient light from a skylight. A shock of unnaturally white hair fell over his pale eyes, giving him an otherworldly look despite his obvious corporeality. He gave a small bow.
“What a shame that I must disappoint one such as yourself,” he said. “I must say I am honored that King John would send his very own lapdog after me.”
Lysander lunged forward, and the other man skipped aside as if made of the shadows that crowded the majority of the room. Lysander stumbled into a metal table in his haste, hearing lab equipment crash to the floor. He cursed, wishing he’d had the foresight to bring his night vision gear. He heard a chuckle and spun around to see his opponent standing on another table, a gun in his hand. Lysander marveled at how he had gotten up there so fast and seemingly without any trouble. Perhaps he was a ghost after all.
“So sorry to cut this short, old chap, but I really must be going,” the pale man said and reached up.
Lysander dove for his gun on the floor, only to hear a shot ring out, and send his own weapon skittering across the floor. He leapt back and spun around, seeing the other man grabbing hold of a line with an automatic winch. He saluted Lysander as he was lifting off the floor and through the broken skylight.
So don’t forget to go check out the other posts in the tour, the giveaways, and of course the book itself! Have a wonderful day my friends, and if you’ve made it this far down the post, I offer you virtual cake as well!
Ashley Bogner is a nerdy author who lives in Utah with her nerdy theologian husband who may possibly own more books than she does. She is a homeschool graduate who wrote her first “novel” when she was in fifth grade (which was really a thirty-page story about talking cats she is grateful no one will ever read). It’s a rare occasion when she isn’t writing—she works as a technical writer at her day job and writes novels in her spare time.
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