BooksChatter: ☀ The Eighth Day: Eden [1]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour to Celebrate the Release of The Eighth Day, a Dystopian Fantasy by Sally Mitchell (12 April 2016, Matador , 275 pages).

This is the first book in the Eden series.

Don't miss our interview with author Sally Mitchell.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the Prologue first two chapters with Amazon Look Inside.

Author Sally Mitchell will be awarding a $10 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 (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

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

Synopsis

Welcome to Mendacia; The city of lies. Saved from a divine apocalypse, its citizens now starve. They are trapped beneath a fire-lit sky and surrounded by a molten river, all to pay for the sins of their ancestors.

The gods cursed the original generation with eternal life so that their skin would rot and their pain would always remind them of their own horrific crimes.

These demons now serve the tyrant emperor, Malum Dolus, who uses them to terrorise the citizens, all in the name of maintaining order.

One woman, Vita Dulcas, has had enough of his evil ways, but what could she possibly do to help the citizens? They love Malum and they hate her, suspecting her of witchcraft after her survival of deadly snake bites. All she can do is stay invisible.

That is until she finds herself backed into a corner and all she can do is fight. Suddenly, she has more power than she could have ever imagined and it becomes clear she is Mendacia’s last hope.

If only she could make the citizens see the truth.

Teaser: Excerpt

PROLOGUE

TERRA SANCTA – 200 BC

It was a relentless and self-destructive ritual, yet Minerva lived for hope. One day the saviour would return to the lands and rid them of the demon plague. She just needed to find a way.
      Maybe tonight.
      A breeze offered its welcome refreshment causing her ragged skirt to dance across her crooked toes. Her bare feet were shredded with thorns, a gift from the starved earth of the jungle, earth that was once quenched, bright and alive. Eden.
      Scents of moss and exotic plants had snaked up her nostrils in those long distant days. The sounds of life had cawed and screeched overhead and she could easily recall the cool kiss of dewy vines upon her ebony flesh. Now, lingered a brittle ghost, starved, dry and lifeless; a hunting ground for the damned.
      With a sigh, she gazed up to the sky through withered branches, her cataract-frosted eyes an illusion to disguise her perfect sight. Everybody needed an advantage in this world and she had discovered the deception of frailty. The demons sought strong and healthy beings, people whose bodies they wished to possess; this way she stayed invisible to them. A necessity, she concluded, should her gifts be of use to anyone.
      Minerva let her eyes rest on a star that shone brighter than the rest, the Seraph Star; a hypnotic blue giant that seemed close enough to touch. She cocked her matted grey head to direct an ear skywards and she listened. Tonight though, the stars remained silent.
      ‘Stubborn ol’ fools,’ she grumbled, shaking her fist towards the sky. ‘You be sorry when there nothing left.’
      She shuffled in her spot searching for a solid base. Satisfied, she clapped her hands at arm’s length, pushing out her pink tongue through a mischievous, toothless grin. ‘Now you gone and done it. I thought you have learned be now.’ She chuckled.‘Or… you be testing me? Clever! Clever! But de time for games has passed. I be needing answers. I fear the end is too close.’
      She clapped her hands once more, the action reverberating through her body with a vibration of blue energy. She opened her mouth to let it smoke through her lips, curling its way around her like a python. It picked up speed, a whirlwind stirring the hem of her skirt.
      Soon enough her skirt flapped like a rag in a storm, lashing at her bare knees, but Minerva failed to notice, too engrossed by her task. The blue fog extended to the nearby branches, ripping the weak ones free with a snap. Minerva raised her head and arms towards the sky and the charged energy followed her lead, lunging for freedom like an electric tornado. There she remained a crooked blue blur in the eye of a storm, eyes trained on the Seraph Star.
      She held it there for a few moments, frozen as she narrowed her eyes to focus and then a shriek of her delighted laughter shattered the night. She pulled the energy back inside her, the force knocking her from her feet.
      They listened, actually listened this time. Her toothless grin stretched across her entire face. A solution had been offered, but as her mind caught up with the ecstasy in her heart, her smile receded. But at what cost? She sank back on the dirt.
      She could not defeat the demons alone; there were too many of the vile creatures and their savage pets. No, only one chance remained. The world needed the saviour to return. An infant, taken to be protected by the stars and only able to return to a human donor. A freshly deceased body.
      Despite the thousands of dead taken by sickness and malnourishment, Minerva had never been able to find a match. Soul to match body. The one rule. The star child had only been hours old when she was taken, which left Minerva with two options. Prize a body from his grieving mother, or kill an infant herself. Her lips curled in a snarl. The mere thought of it. She was no demon.
      Tonight though, she had been enlightened. An infant’s form, a poor soul who never made it beyond her mother’s womb, was nearby. There her body rested, untouched and pure. She battled with her wills, tightening her lips with worry. Was it too cruel? A mother to give birth to a child that wasn’t her own? But this was the best opportunity yet, a way to bring the star child back without harming another.Surely it would be crueller to let the mother look upon the lifeless form of her newborn? Minerva remembered the pain of losing a child, something no mother should endure.
      She nodded. She would do it. The world needed a saviour and the mother deserved a child. As if reading her thoughts, the brittle jungle burst into sound; distant screeches of the demon pack. Hysterical squeals of delight that betrayed the undead’s motive of massacre. They were headed towards a camp that the mother and infant inhabited. Minerva tensed. She turned and sprinted in to the ruthless undergrowth. The race was on.

The Eighth Day
Available NOW!

About the Author

I was brought up in a small country village in North Yorkshire, UK. I had always been brought up to work hard and to push myself, skills which came in useful for writing the Eighth Day. I suppose it also helped that I’ve always been a huge bookworm with a love of all things fantasy and all things romance. Pride and Prejudice is my all-time favourite.

Granted those genres are miles apart but I find something incredibly romantic about escaping to a world that has been lovingly created by an author. I enjoy trying to connect with them through their imagination, wondering where they were and what they were doing when they developed such magical worlds.

Writing my own novel was the best experience I’ve ever had career wise, and it makes the struggles I have faced in my past careers all worth the while.

After losing my career as a nurse following a car accident, I began a promising psychology career, even winning an award for my undergraduate degree. However, I became a single parent three years ago and sacrificed another dream to set up a laundry and ironing business, which enabled me to be at home with my son.

Despite many commitments, a further relationship breakdown and 3 family bereavements, I was determined to develop a rewarding career and make my little man proud.

That’s when I decided to begin a writing career and I developed the Eden Saga. Such a path enabled me to stay at home and give him all the extra support he needed whilst also having something for myself.

I’m now the happiest I’ve ever been, I’m closer to my son than ever and I’ve finally released my novel as an e-book which is available on all major platforms.

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