Happy Tuesday!!!
Only a few more days until the Friday night scary-fest! Woo Hoo! I can't wait! I just love Halloween!!
In the mean time, I've got a interview and a new romance for you guys to take a peek at. It's something a little different that I think you might just enjoy.
Check it out!
Goddess Fish Promotions is organizing a Virtual Book Tour for THE TITHE by Elle Hill, a Sci-Fi Paranormal Romance available now from Soul Mate Publishing.
****GIVEAWAY ALERT****
Elle will be awarding a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Elle will be awarding a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
*******
Thanks for welcoming me to your blog, Nancy. I admit I’ve never
written erotic romance, but I have enjoyed reading it.
What is your biggest inspiration?
Anything that moves me inspires me. I can just as easily find
inspiration in a pop song or in a discussion with my romantic partner as I can
reading a really good book. Most recently, the main character of Dean Koontz’s
novel, Innocence, inspired the story
arch of the novel I’m currently writing.
Where did you get the inspiration to write The
Tithe?
If I tell you, you have to promise not to judge me, although I
see from your blog you’re also a fan. I got the idea from, ahem, Katy Perry’s
“E.T.” song. Yeah, seriously. Listening to it for the first time, I thought,
“Wouldn’t it be cool to write a book that blurs the line between angel and
demon, scary and sublime?”
10 Things we don’t know about you.
- I hate
mornings.
- I used to
co-run an animal rescue. It’s how I ended up with way-too-many animals.
- I got
engaged in July.
- I was born
and raised near Boise, Idaho.
- My favorite
color is red.
- I have a
Ph.D. in sociology.
- I am
certifiably arachnophobic.
- My oldest
sister and I went to college together, took the same classes, and
graduated with the same degree on the same day. She was summa cum laude,
though, and I was merely cum laude.
- I hate with
a fierce passion talking on the phone.
- I’m lactose
intolerant. Rest assured, though, that doesn’t stand between my true love,
ice cream, and me.
5 Things you love about being an Author and 5 Things you hate.
LOVE
- I get to do
what I love best!
- Writing
stimulates my greatest impulses: to express myself, to evoke critical
thinking and feelings in my readers, and to combine words in new and
creative ways.
- I suck at
painting and photography, but for some reason, words and grammar make
sense to me.
- Call me
shallow, but there’s something kind of neat about saying, “Yes, I
researched that for my third novel…”
- I get to
play god in my own, made-up worlds.
HATE
- The pay
sucks.
- Once people
learn I write, I am forever their proofreader and literary agent.
- The
literary market is flooded with books during a time when fewer Americans
are reading.
- Can’t… stop…
proofreading others’ letters, emails, tweets, and posts. Forgive me.
- Did I
mention the pay?
5 Thing you didn't know about being an Author but now do.
1. The importance of book covers.
2. That being talented isn’t enough to ensure you sell a lot of
books.
3. The joy of holding one’s published book.
4. After submitting to an editor, it may well take more than a
year before the book is published.
5. How essential it is to have other people read the novel and
provide feedback before it’s published.
What research went into The Tithe?
The
Tithe almost exclusively features characters with varying physical,
emotional, and cognitive abilities, so the bulk of my research involved
investigating the causes, effects, and experiences of various dis/abilities. My
main character, Joshua Barstow, has a condition known as Charcot Marie ToothSyndrome. I extensively researched this condition, made a page-long
cheat sheet, and hung it by my desk throughout the year I wrote this novel.
Also, my two main characters live with chronic pain. I researched chronic pain,
read forums about how to cope with it, and used my own experiences to round
everything out.
Why did you pick paranormal romance genre?
I went into paranormal romance with eyes happily open. Science
fiction, fantasy, horror, and romance are the genres I read, and my ideas for
new books plop quite naturally into their waiting arms. That said, this is my
first science fiction romance novel.
What's in a name?
I’d decided on the name of this book before I’d even ironed out
the plot. All I knew was that people with disabilities were going to be
sacrificed in order to maintain a utopia. I had Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
in mind when coming up with The Tithe.
The hardest part about writing is…
Picking up the next day. I have a scheme that sometimes works,
sometimes not. I try (this is the hard part) to stop during an exciting part of
the scene. Then, when I come back the next day, I can jump right in to the
excitement. Good advice that’s sometimes quite hard to follow.
A day with Elle Hill behind the scenes.
I get up, give one of my cats his insulin, sit down in front of
the computer, and get to work. I answer student emails, read and research for
my classes, and prepare class discussions. I leave the house to teach, come
back, talk baby talk to my cats and dog, plunk back in front of the computer,
open my writing file, and let my fingers do the thinking for a couple of hours.
My fiancé comes home, we eat dinner, I medicate the cats and dog, and I may
either bond with my family or go back to writing.
It’s a small but ridiculously happy life.
Ideal writing space.
I bought my first house a few months ago, and for the first time
in my life, I have an office. I’m tickled fuchsia! I packed the room with my
desk, a bookcase, my work materials, and various cat toys (in a vain attempt to
get the cats not to lie on my keyboard while I type). Take that, add coffee,
and I, per Virginia Woolf, now have a room of my own.
Where do ideas come from?
Shi-Shi, the fat muse of inspired writing, of
course!
Thanks again for letting me share my ideas.
Have a gorgeous autumn.
My pleasure Elle.
Now let's move onto the good stuff.
THE TITHE
by Elle Hill
Every
seven years, the towns sacrifice their sick and disabled. No one has ever
survived the angels’ harvest. Until now.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisXmRJre0m7oGocGpKJY7tdOeOu2nrAULp2emvsQbr4pWOL4-0HLYY6aOifedrWIbHU07RJkj0lJYs-Jmdp2Wcm0wquq3jIeiTe1AApOK3EE_ztZcLNB9ueCDUhmM2BNDXIOzl5KWY-Z4a/s1600/Cover_TheTithe.jpg)
No
one knows exactly what happens to these seventy Tithes, but everyone knows who:
the “unworkables,” those with differing physical and mental capacities. Joshua
Barstow, raised for twenty years among her town’s holy women, is one of these
seventy Tithes. She is joined by the effervescent Lynna, the scholarly Avery,
and the amoral Blue, a man who has spent most of his life in total solitude.
Each
night, an angel swoops down to take one of their numbers. Each night, that is,
except the first, when the angel touches Josh… and leaves her. What is so
special about Josh? She doesn’t feel special; she feels like a woman trying to
survive while finally learning the meanings of friendship, community, and love.
How
funny that she had to be sacrificed to find reasons to live.
EXCERPT
Josh shook her head. “It sounds so sad.”
“It wasn’t. You can’t have sadness unless you know
happiness. I knew neither.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
Finally, in a voice mere decibels from a whisper, Josh
asked, “What about now?” Shameless, she knew, but maybe voicing the question
would exorcise it.
“Why are you asking a question you already know the answer
to?” he asked in his inflectionless voice.
“I don’t,” she insisted.
“Everything changed when you touched me,” he said.
After a confused moment, and with many darting glances, she
asked in a low tone, “In bed?”
“In the hallway. You touched me, and my life cleaved into a
before and a now. Before, I existed, and it was fine. I was content. And then,
you. Everything cracked open, and I felt as if I’d just reminded my senses to
function. Now, everything feels so raw. Sometimes just the passing of time
abrades my skin. Being with you is exquisite and real. And painful.”
Very carefully, Josh put her hands on her knees and leaned
forward. She stared at the wall opposite them, against which Taro no longer
pressed himself. In she breathed, and out. In and out.
Josh straightened her posture and rubbed her calf with her
other foot. “What can I do to make it hurt less?” she asked him.
Blue’s lips thinned into a smile. “I don’t want it to hurt
less. Every second that scrapes my skin is another one I spend with you.”
AUTHOR BIO
Born in Idaho
during the height of disco, Elle Hill now chicken-pecks at the keyboard while
rocking out to Donna Summer and KC and the Sunshine Band. She worked in Idaho
for several years as a secretary and journalist before moving to California and
selling her soul to academia. After receiving her PhD in Sociology, Elle Hill
became a not-so-mild-mannered college instructor by night and a community
activist during the remainder of her waking hours. Always a journalist and
writer at heart, one of her favorite pastimes includes publishing commentary on
the political and social state of the world; some of her thoughts are posted on
her blog at ellehillauthor.blogspot.com.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7icfcaWtVNIWkkPnhfJylpO0r7f1EQg98FGsGqUmoeYTFj2yj6bKNZOzk65pRV2ijRoIv9eR0PPggvOVZulF2LyrHqxG8pu3_sSzXyaYvZ7tDDL8arziJBU_mvE5ZXkfLCcHzlQK4tkEj/s1600/THe+Tithe+-+author+pic.jpg)
Elle welcomes
visitors to her website at www.ellehill.com. She also urges everyone to become
a superhero and adopt their next non-human companion from a local animal
shelter.
Where can you find Elle???
FOLLOW THE TOUR!!!
The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:
ENTER HERE!!!
Thanks for stopping by Elle and the best of luck with THE TITHE.
Cheers,
Cheers,
Nancy
Thank you, Nancy, for letting me share my ideas and peddle my wares. And thanks to all of you for taking the time to read about _The Tithe_. :)
ReplyDeleteAnytime Elle!
DeleteEnjoy your tour.
I enjoyed the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary! I'm so glad you liked it.
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the five things.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Rita. I enjoyed divulging Elle-related minutiae. ;)
DeleteThanks for sharing your inspiration, I believe you can find it anywhere
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! :)
DeleteLoved your comments. I really, really want to read this book.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, and yays galore! I hope you'll email me (elle@ellehill.com) with your impression when you have.
DeleteSuch a fun interview!
ReplyDeletevitajex(at)aol(dot)com
Thanks, Anon, and good luck winning some loot! :)
DeleteInteresting info
ReplyDelete_The Tithe_ is a little hard to classify. I'll definitely take "interesting." :)
Delete