Monday, June 20, 2022

Avalon by Ceril N. Domance - Book Tour + Giveaway

Avalon (The Fae Queen's Court)

Ceril N Domace

264 pages
May 18, 2022

 

Book Links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60558109-avalon

https://www.amazon.com/Avalon-Queens-Court-Ceril-Domace/dp/1736430122/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QL67YC6LO61N&keywords=avalon+ceril&qid=1655482117&s=books&sprefix=avalon+ceril+%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C158&sr=1-1

The fae are on the brink of war.

It's been nearly a year since the Battle of Tearmann. With their last legitimate trade routes cut off, the fae increasingly rely on the Corps away teams to get essential supplies. Owen Williams, now a Corps member, has spent the last ten months running the border to get the haven what it needs to survive. But his last mission nearly killed him and his decision to join the corps threatened his fragile relationship with his family—a relationship that was already stressed to the breaking point by his son's death.

But after Percill, a battleborn vampire, reveals the location of a group of the fae captives, the corps leadership makes it clear that there isn't much they won't do to rescue them. When Percill refuses to say more without a guarantee that Owen will be on the team that rescues them, Owen agrees even though going on this mission could shatter what's left of his family.

Success means he gets to retire a hero and go home to his family. However, failure wouldn't just risk the captives, but could end with him held alongside them and separated from his family forever.

 
Author Interview
1. When did you write your first book?
I wrote Haven in my sophomore year of college, mostly between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM. I spent the next few years changing it from something written in a sleep deprived haze by a college student with class in a few hours into something publishable and it came out in April 2021.

2. What sparks your creativity/how do you get your ideas?
My ideas come mostly from the world around me. Haven was the love child of late-night Wikipedia binges about de-extinction and Scottish legends about fairies and humans getting married and having children. Bringing the fae back from extinction turned into 12 unique species and more world-building than anyone sensible would let me shove into a novel. One day I'll release the hidden secrets, just you wait.

Anyway, my list of future projects are a combination of tropes I'd like to see turned on their heads and concepts I've seen played with that didn't quite do it for me.

3. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
When I'm not writing I like playing video games. I'm playing through Skyrim now and hopefully I can actually beat it this time. I own it on three platforms and still haven't beat the main questline, so we'll see how it goes. I'm also playing through Dragon Age Inquisition again because there's nothing like a Bioware dating sim to spice up a boring afternoon. I'm also finishing up a three year DND campaign where my players assumed the roles of a dead pantheon, so that's fun.

As for active hobbies, I enjoy fencing, hiking, and camping.

4. What’s a typical writing day like for you?
I usually write in the evenings. My brain doesn't want to focus on creative stuff right after I wake up, so I have to wait until later in the day to write if I want anything good to come out of it. I'll usually do a few writing sprints to get started and then I'll keep going until I reach a good stopping point. My personal goal every day is 400 words or three pages of edits at the minimum, but I don't beat myself up if I can't hit that goal in a given day.

5. Do you listen to music when writing?
I usually listen to orchestral music when I write. Video game and movie soundtracks are designed to suck you into what you're doing, so I've usually got one of those running in the background while I hammer away at any given scene. The extra bonus to this is that I can fine tune that music to the specific mood I'm going for so I don't end up with a particularly aggressive picnic because I was listening to climatic battle scene soundtracks while writing my family bonding moment.

6. If you could have a dinner party with 3 other authors, who would they be?
Three authors? Ooh, that's a tough one. Tolkien, obviously, because LOTR was a huge influence on me; Patricia Wrede because the Enchanted Forest Chronicles taught me that I can spin tropes on their head and call them out while doing so; and maybe GRRM because he and I share a fondness for realism even if mine is less aggressive than his. Also because it'd be hysterical to see him go after Tolkien for bringing Gandalf back.

7. If you had to pick a celebrity to cast for your main character, who would it be?
Luke Evans as Owen, no doubt about it. He's actually my face claim!

8. If you could travel anywhere in the world to write, where would you go?
I think I'd like a small valley town. Somewhere I could walk anywhere I needed to but was also relatively isolated so I'd get distracted by less.

9. Would you ever write under a pseudonym?
Ceril N Domace is my pseudonym, picked because I jokingly told my DND group that I was about to commission my cover so they had five minutes to come up with any suggestions or I was publishing under my given name. My sister scrambled the letters of my given name around and came back with that and the rest is history.

10. Do you have a favorite food/snack/drink when writing (or anytime)?
I'm a grazer by nature, so having boxes of something I can eat a few handfuls of at a time is essential. I like Cheeze-its and peanut butter M&Ms the best. Beverage wise, I always write with my water bottle on hand so I can stay hydrated while I work.

11. How do you choose your book covers?
So far, my covers have all been scenes from my books. Haven's cover is the moment Owen sees his first dragon and Avalon's is... well, that's a little obvious. For the Fae Queen's Court, I'm using a few concepts over and over again. Namely, Owen in his orange jacket next to a dragon in a blue-ish setting.

12. What’s one thing you’d like to say to your readers?
Thank you for your support! Doing this wouldn't be the same without you and I hope you enjoy Avalon!

Author Bio:

Ceril N Domace is an accountant, the owner of a cat with more zooms than brain cells, and a dedicated dungeon master.

As a lover of fiction works great and small, Ceril has been reading age-inappropriate stories since her father failed to pull The Silmarillion from her grubby little fingers at age five. As a grown-up accountant, her spreadsheet compiling gives her plenty of time to make plans for a fantastic world that isn't plagued by balance sheets . . . and also has dragons.

On the rare occasions she manages to free herself from an ever-growing and complex web of TTRPG, Ceril enjoys taking walks and griping that all her hobbies are work in disguise.

Author Links:

https://www.cerilndomace.com/

https://www.instagram.com/notceril/

https://twitter.com/cerilndomace

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1145148

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/avalon-ceril-n-domace/1141413967?ean=9781736430125

 

Giveaway:

https://woorise.com/travellingpages/avalon-blog-tour

 

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