BooksChatter: ☀ In the Beginning: Dark YA Retellings of Biblical Stories - edited by Laureen P Cantwell & Georgia McBride

Thank you for joining us for the Release Week Celebrations and Virtual Book Tour for In the Beginning: Dark YA Retellings of Biblical Stories, a Young Adult Anthology by edited by Laureen P Cantwell & Georgia McBride (25 October 2016, Month9books, 249 pages).

Don't miss our interview with author Stephen Clements.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and and details of the stories below. Read various excerpts with Amazon Look Inside.

Author edited by Laureen P Cantwell & Georgia McBride will be awarding one scrabble tile book cover charm (US ONLY), and five (5) digital copies of In the Beginning: Dark Retellings of Biblical Stories (INT) to randomly drawn winners 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 || Author Q&A || About the Authors || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

Synopsis

Eight authors come together to build a powerful collection of dark young adult short stories inspired by the mysteries, faith, and darkness found within the Bible. Old Testament and New Testament, iconic and obscure figures alike are illuminated, explored, and re-envisioned throughout this charity anthology from Month9Books.

The Stories: In the Beginning

|| Daniel and the Dragon || Babylon || Last Will and Testament || The Demon Was Me || The Deluge || Condemned || First Wife || Emmaculate ||

Daniel and the Dragon by Stephen Clements

A troubled orphan named Habakkuk dutifully follows his master, the prophet Daniel, into temples of blood-thirsty demon-gods, battles with unspeakable horrors, and bears witnesses to mind-breaking evil until his master's zealous defiance of the king's law seals their fate.

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Babylon by Nicole Crucial

Far above the earth, in Second Eden, where moments and eternities all blur together, young Babylon befriends Sefer, the Book of Life. As Babylon awaits the moment she'll fulfill her destiny, she and Sefer try to understand the world in which they live.

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Last Will and Testament by Mike Hays

A homeless young boy, Baz, bears the weight of humanity on his shoulders and upon his body. When dark forces test a new-found friendship, Baz’s willingness to bear the ugliness of their world will be shaken. 

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The Demon Was Me by Sharon Hughson

Based on the story of the demon-possessed boy healed by Jesus, this tale provides a glimpse into a post-apocalyptic world where a teenage boy seeks to journey to a better land and yearns to discover the kind of man he's meant to be, only to be hijacked by an evil spirit intent upon chipping away at the hope, faith, and resilience of its host.

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The Deluge by Marti Johnson

A non-believer shares the story of Noah’s ark-building and the deadly downpour that follows. Fear, faithlessness, and the fallibility of mankind collide in a community where second chances aren’t unlimited and a better-late-than-never attitude just might be your doom.

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Condemned by Elle O'Neill

Just sixteen-years-old, Barabbas finds himself pulled out of Routlege Academy and into a reality show competition—against Jesus himself—where the reward for the winner is life.

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First Wife by Lora Palmer

In a first-person retelling of the saga of Jacob, Rachel and Leah, themes of family, deception, guilt, and heartache emerge amidst the first days of Leah’s marriage to Jacob—a marriage mired in trickery a mere week before Jacob was to marry Leah's sister Rachel.

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Emmaculate by Christina Raus

Based on the story of Mary's Immaculate Conception, we enter the troubled mind of Emma, who finds herself torn between her religious upbringing and the purity ring that binds her to her boyfriend and the pregnancy that results from her relationship with another boy.

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In the Beginning: Dark YA Retellings of Biblical Stories
Available NOW!

About the Authors

|| Stephen Clements || Nicole Crucial || Mike Hays || Sharon Hughson || Marti Johnson || Elle O'Neill || Lora Palmer || Christina Raus ||

To tell you a little about myself, I’ve been there, done that, and tried not to get run over or shot. I’m big on travel, having made it to four continents, 18 countries (two of which involved a war), and I’m always going to more. I earned my Bachelor’s and Master’s in Political Science at the University of Memphis. Being a Memphian means there’s a certain amount of dirty you can never scrub off your soul, no matter how much you try.

My greatest literary inspiration was Lord John Julius Norwich, who changed my life forever when I read his Byzantium trilogy as a teenager. His writing was so brilliant, and the subject matter so inspiring, that I’ve been a Byzantophile ever since, and it has shaped everything involving my brain. When I got the pleasure of sending him a copy of To Save A Life, my already large ego expanded exponentially. Here I was, a new author, and my literary hero said he wanted to read my book!

I enjoy good history books, political commentary, and good fiction. I make my own wine, smoke the hookah, and believe you should never trust someone with no vices.

I once drank liquor out of a hobo’s jacket in Transylvania and Red Bull from a Turkish cabbie. I’ve lived.

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Nicole Crucial (Nikki) has spent most of her life in central North Carolina with her family and furry friends. She is a writer, social media aficionado, feminist, and cat lover, among other things. She is also a student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (even though she’s ambivalent about the beach), studying creative writing, communication studies, English, German, and publishing.

In addition to blogging about eclectic topics, she writes short stories, young adult novels, and poetry. Nikki’s work is featured in the 2015-2016 Second Story Journal, Runestone Journal vol. 2, and Month9Books’s In the Beginning anthology.

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Read. Write. Repeat.

I like stories. Reading them, writing them, watching them and researching them. I like stories.

Mike Hays is a husband, father, and microbiologist from Kansas. Besides writing, he has been a high school strength and conditioning coach, a football coach and a baseball coach. He writes from a boy point of view and hopes to spread his particular style of stupid-funny inspiration through his books, blogs and social media.

His debut upper middle grade historical fiction novel, THE YOUNGER DAYS, was released by the MuseItYoung imprint of MuseItUp Publishing in March of 2012 and was the recipient of a 2012 Catholic Writer’s Guild Seal of Approval Award. He is a member of the Catholic Writer’s Guild, has published three football coaching articles, co-authored several scientific papers and is the co-inventor of two US patents.

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Nurtured through a troubled teen-hood by Aslan in Narnia, Sharon Hughson has long appreciated the power of the written word. As soon as she learned to read, Sharon devoured every book she touched. Eventually, she discovered that fantasy stimulated her “creative brain.” The more “real-to-life” a story was, the less she enjoyed it. Reading was her portal to elsewhere.

As the years rolled on, the words beckoned to her. She wrote skits or articles, and still the make-believe stories clawed for escape. To release the beast, Sharon finished her English literature degree and started writing fictional stories.

When she isn’t writing, Sharon works as a substitute teacher in local middle and high schools, and enjoys outdoor activities when it’s sunny and scrapbooking family memories when Oregon sunshine (rain) makes its appearance. She lives near the Columbia River with her husband and three cats.

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Marti Johnson

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Elle O’Neill

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I’m a YA writer and avid fan of fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, and dystopian stories. My debut novel THE MIRRORMASTERS, a YA sci-fi/fantasy, is now available from Clean Reads (formerly Astraea Press). I live in beautiful Bucks County, PA, with my wonderful husband and our mischievous cat. In my spare time, I sing in a praise band, Chalice Sounds.

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Christina Raus is an MFA student with a focus in fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College, where she is working on her first novel.

Her short story “Emmaculate” will be published in the YA charity anthology IN THE BEGINNING (Month9Books), out October 2016.

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Giveaway and Tour Stops

Enter to win a scrabble tile book cover charm (US ONLY), or one of Five (5) digital copies of In the Beginning: Dark Retellings of Biblical Stories (INT).
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