BooksChatter: ☀ℚ Dissident: Forbidden Things [1]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Dissident, an epic fantasy romance by Nikki McCormack (9 July 2015, Elysium Books, 394 pages).

This is the first book in the Forbidden Things series.

PREVIEW: Read the first four chapters with Amazon Look Inside

Check out the book's synopsis, excerpt and Author Q& below.

Author Nikki McCormack will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts, guest blogs, reviews and interviews; also the more comments you leave the higher your chances of being a winner.

Synopsis | Teaser | Author Q&A | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Synopsis

Ascard power can strengthen, heal and create. It also has great potential to destroy, enough to topple entire governments. Indigo’s country places strict limitations on the use of ascard so she must channel her talents into the healing arts or risk severe punishment. An orphan from a disgraced family, trapped by her father’s treason, Indigo struggles to reclaim her place in a society that has driven her into an abusive engagement.

Then a mysterious stranger from a neighboring country contacts her using ascard. He needs help escaping his prison so he can bring an end to his emperor's oppressive rule or die trying. His unshakable devotion to his cause and the passion hidden behind his cool arrogance move her to help him at the risk of being branded a traitor herself.

When the politics of society bring them together a second time, Indigo decides to use her growing powers to help him fight his war. If only she dared fight for her own future with such passion. Perhaps she can find the courage to do so by helping the man she has fallen for win his revolution. She might have exactly the power he needs to succeed.

Teaser: Excerpt

Resolute, he turned and stepped between the pillars.

The sudden pressure on his lungs was welcome. If he understood the prison, he would return to his rooms in the stronghold, the place he was taken from.

His head spun and he stumbled. His knees struck hard on the pale marble floor of his bedchamber. He ended kneeling like a man at worship before the stand on which he kept his sword. The weapon waited there, a seamless blending of Lyran and Kudaness design tempered with ascard. The gentle curve of the blades razor edge glinted in the light, sharp and clean.

A slow smile spread across his lips and he laughed. When the laughter faded, he stood and grabbed the sword belt lying beside the weapon. He had to tighten it several notches past old wear marks. He gripped the pale wood hilt, delighting in the balanced weight of the lethal blade. It felt natural in his hand, an extension of his being. In a life full of frustration, the weapon was simple and pure. There was no doubt as to its purpose and no question of how it would serve him. If only people could be so simple.

He held his breath, listening to the song of the blade sliding into the sheath. It was exquisite. It sang of blood and vengeance.

He stroked the hilt, his gaze drifting to the door leading out of his chambers. “Shall we see who’s home?”

Dissident - available NOW!

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Author Q&A

Have you ever had an imaginary friend?

"I’ve always had characters in my head, but I don’t recall having an imaginary friend. I think I primarily used my stuffed animals or other toys to fill that role. "

Do you have any phobias?

"My only real phobia is a fear of heights, but only above ground. Put me at the top of any rope drop in a cave and I’m more than happy to step off that ledge. There is a peaceful and comfortable feeling while doing rope work in a cave that I don’t get outside of one. Outside of a cave, I pretty much freeze up."

Do you listen to music when you're writing?

"I usually do listed to music when I write. I tend to use Pandora as I’ve built up numerous stations catered to different moods. Some books need a very specific soundtrack. Some books need music without words. Some books just need the right mood and any song—with or without words—will do as long as it fits the mood. Dissident was one of those that worked well with a diverse music selection catered to the mood I wanted for whatever section I was working on."

Do you ever read your stories out loud?

"Always. Reading your work out loud lets you hear breaks in flow and you are also less likely to skim past errors when you’re doing it. I am fortunate in that my husband lets me read him each book out loud, some multiple times, and gives me feedback on them."

Tell us about your main character and who inspired him/her.

"This is a bit of an awkward question. When I wrote this series, I considered it an act of self-indulgence. I didn’t care if it was ever published. I didn’t care if anyone ever read it. I honestly didn’t expect it to amount to much when I started. I only wanted to expand upon a dream I’d had. I was the main character in that dream and, while I think Indigo is different from me in many ways, I’ve had several beta readers say she reminds them of me. I guess that means she was inspired by the me of my dreams. Oddly enough, I also believe she was inspired, in some part, by my horse Cody, who is incredibly resilient and, despite being a half-starved rescue when I got him, has turned out to be one of the sweetest horses I have ever met."

About the Author

Nikki started writing her first novel at the age of 12, which she still has tucked in a briefcase in her home office. Despite a successful short story publication with Cricket Magazine in 2007, she continued to treat her writing addiction as a hobby until a drop in the economy presented her with an abundance of free time that she used to focus on making it her career.

Nikki lives in the magnificent Pacific Northwest with her husband, two horses, two cats, and one slightly crazy dog. She feeds her imagination by sitting on the ocean in her kayak gazing out across the never-ending water or hanging from a rope in a cave, embraced by darkness and the sound of dripping water. She finds peace through practicing iaido or shooting her longbow.

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