"Angelboy Volume 2: Cain" by N. M. Beguesse

REVIEW and EXCERPT

Angelboy Volume 2:
Cain

by N. M. Beguesse

Cain is the second volume in the Angelboy grahic novel series by N. M. Beguesse. The author stops by today to share an excerpt. You can also read my review. Also available: Angelboy: Volume 1 (read my blog post).

Description

On his journey back home, Cyrus - an angel who fell from heaven - gets involved in an intriguing adventure he could have never imagined! He comes across an inmate escaped from the insane asylum, but some things are not as they appear on the surface. Who is the real villain - The salaryman whose soul suddenly took a diabolical turn? Or the corrupt mayor pulling the strings behind the scenes? What ensues is a chase across the city pitting two childhood friends against one another.

Note: suitable for older teens (ages 16+).

Excerpt

Praise for the Book

"This book was absolutely exceptional! It is rated for 16 and up though so there are definitely mature themes and scenes, but I feel like these only add on to the book rather than just be there for shock value."

"Good book. Local author."

"The art is 5 out of 5, hands-down."

"It's absolutely fantastic!"

"The panelling is great and the psychology is intense."

"It's awesome!"

"It's wonderful purely from the art aspect alone, but the story itself is great as well."

My Review

By Lynda Dickson

In the first volume, Cyrus is shot dead and becomes an angel. Now, as he continues on his journey home, Cyrus encounters Lee, who has escaped from a lunatic asylum. And Lee can see Cyrus! When Lee seeks revenge on his nemesis, Cyrus tags along in an attempt to save Lee's soul.

In this volume, Cyrus discovers his talent and perhaps the reason why he was put on Earth as an angel. There is a lot of action and your eyes will be dancing all over the pages trying to keep up! The illustrations are dark, emotional, and full of detail. However, it does get a bit confusing at times, swapping between scenes and points-of-view. As implied in the title, there are parallels with the story of Eve and Cain and Abel. But in the fight between good and evil, the villain is not always who you think he is. Once again, there are underlying themes of tolerance and forgiveness.

I look forward to Cyrus's next adventure.

Warnings: mental illness, violence, coarse language.

About the Author

By day, I'm a normal girl who codes. On the evenings and weekends, I become the writer, artist publisher of Angelboy. When I come home from work in the evenings, I can't wait to create something - whether I'm drawing, writing, painting, or just dreaming, I just can't wait to do it! I love the story and the process so much, my emotions just keeps spilling out my work. I'm serious!

I have a BS in Computer Science from the University of Florida and a Master's in Sequential Art at SCAD. I currently live in Savannah, Georgia.

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"A Perpetual Mimicry" by K. P. Ambroziak

ON SALE for $0.99

A Perpetual Mimicry

by K. P. Ambroziak

A Perpetual Mimicry is currently ON SALE for only $0.99. This is one for the literary connoisseur. Not to be missed! Read my review and some of my favorite lines below.

Description

Almega throws Ani to earth to rot and die in the body of a man. Simon finds him first, and shows him how to exchange his decrepit body for a new one. Ani thinks he is the best guide an exiled angel can have. But Simon is shrewd and wants Ani to help him get back the thing Almega has taken from him: his wings.

When Ani falls in love with Sarah, he does not know she is the key to a banished one's survival and the reason he forfeited his wings in the first place. Ani has to resist Sarah in ways he cannot, and somehow save her from the one creature who wants to use her up: Simon.

Excerpt

Simon was the only being I had heard speak until that moment and I thought I was imagining the voice. But this was no fabrication. As I scanned the horizon, I saw a man coming towards me from across the field.

“Ani!” he called a third time.

He was just a man. There was nothing luminescent about him.

Feeling unprepared for my first meeting with a genuine mortal, I contemplated running away. But as I shuffled my feet, I felt the binding of the ragged leather around them. The two black boots I was wearing gave me the courage to stay, reminding me my true identity was concealed beneath a costume of flesh. I headed in the man’s direction.

Deep lines marked his face and the corners of his eyes were drawn downwards. His countenance was unpleasant and his bottom lip puffed out a little as though his mouth were full. He spat off to the side every now and again as he chewed his bottom lip. Luckily his sour eyes and thick brows gave his face another point of reference. I kept my focus on his stern brow.

“Ya fly home now boy,” he said. “Yer father’s almos’ gone.”

He spat a wad of cud to punctuate his speech. I held my breath.

“Well, what’re ya waitin’ fer?” he said. He gave me a mean stare then spat several more times before looking up at the sky. “Ain’t no rain comin’. I’ll keep an eye on ‘em sheep.”

He pointed a thick thumb at his chest as he spoke and then spat again. I coaxed a nod in an attempt to convince him I understood.

“Better hurry,” he said. “Sarah’s waitin’.”

Sarah? The masquerade suddenly got more complicated. I considered making an exit once again, but Simon’s words ran through my mind: let his instincts guide you. I tried tuning myself into my body’s desires, letting the boy’s intuition guide me. My attempt proved successful when something inside me, an emotion really, made me want to abide by the man’s request. I had a desire to go to Sarah.

The man saluted me as he made his way back out into the sea of sheep. I watched him go and then turned to follow the path from where he came. As I walked into the woods on the border of the pasture, a distinct smell blew through the trees. Smoke. But unlike burnt flesh, this aroma was pleasing. There was a fire burning somewhere deep inside the forest and I could smell the crisp wood as though it were right at my feet. This was not the first time I noticed the intensity of my earthly senses. Ever since I nabbed the shepherd’s body, I had known an increased potency of my faculties.

I followed the scent knowing it would lead me to where I needed to go. I walked through the woods a while before arriving at the origin of the smell. When I found a quaint cottage amidst a clearing of trees, I knew I had arrived. It was the only marker I had seen in the forest and sure enough charcoal puffs of smoke were curling their way out of the roof’s chimney. The modest hut appeared to be fashioned from the trees that surrounded it. It was familiar, for I held a picture of it in my mind. I recognized the little red curtains drawn across the two windows on either side of the door, and I couldn’t help but recall the rows of golden-rays growing along the sidewalls. I quickly realized these recollections were the remnants of the boy’s memory.

I stood for a moment listening to a woodpecker puncture its way into a treetop far above me. Two doves made love with their requited coos, while sparrows chirped incessantly beneath the branches. The symphony echoed up through the tops of the trees, evoking my envy as I stood wingless on the ground. I led myself up the pathway to the cottage. As I got closer, the avian orchestra soon faded into the background and all I could hear was the soft hum of a girl inside. The sound was flawless and delicate, no match for the birds.

I listened, as remembrances flooded my memory. I envisioned what lay waiting inside as I stood outside the cottage. A girl’s face materialized in my mind, a memory of aesthetic perfection. I knew I had gazed on this face before. The oval visage was framed with long unruly tendrils, light brown and soft. I recalled their touch as I imagined them into reality. Her big green eyes were like olives floating in almond casings, and her aquiline nose marked the exact center point of her face. Her perfect top lip was slightly thinner than its bottom counterpart, and her mouth drew downward into a delicate pout. The lips made the shape of a heart when her mouth was closed. I knew this perfect face awaited me on the other side of the door, and just as I reached out to push it ajar, it swung open.

“Ani!” her voice peaked. 

My Favorite Lines

"Two doves made love with their requited coos, while sparrows chirped incessantly beneath the branches. The symphony echoed up through the tops of the trees, evoking my envy as I stood wingless on the ground."

"Water rushed over pebbles, as a palette of colorful wild flowers painted the water's edge."

"I longed to wrap myself around this girl and engulf her soul with mine."

"He was furiously splattering his brush across the canvas as though invoking a spell with his color wand."

"It was as though gazing upon her brought relief to anguish I didn't know I suffered."

"I wanted to tattoo the image of her living face upon the skin of my mind."

My Review

By Lynda Dickson

A fire angel is stripped of his wings, banished from his star, and forced to roam the Earth as penance. He plummets to Earth, landing in the desert where he encounters Simon, another banished one. Simon promises to help him regain his star. Wandering through place and time, our angel occupies a number of bodies and experiences a number of human emotions. First, he takes over the body of a shepherd, Ani, and comes to be known by this name. As Ani, he meets Sarah and discovers that there are worse fates than losing your wings and being banished from your home.

The writer has a fabulous vocabulary; the dictionary feature of the Kindle app certainly came in handy. I even learned a few new words, including: pinions, virescence, pulchritude, Lethean, sidereal, plumule, empyrean, and egregious. We may wonder what all the disparate story lines have to do with each other, but it all becomes clear in the end. A Perpetual Mimicry can be described as an angelic Groundhog Day.

This is one of the best-written and well-edited works I have read. A Perpetual Mimicry is the definition of beautiful writing; it is poetic and lyrical, profoundly moving, and will haunt you for a long time to come. I look forward to reading more by this author.

From the Author

I live in Brooklyn with my favorite person and just received a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the City University of New York. I'm happy (if not lucky) to spend most of my time writing while also teaching part-time. I want you to know that I appreciate the hours you spend reading my words and believe there's no greater gift than your time. Last but not least, I like basset hounds because they're funny looking, I'm bad at twitter, and I binge watch my favorite TV series - I'm talking about you, Sherlock, Vikings, et al.

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"Angelboy: Volume 1" by Nicole Beguesse

REVIEW and GIVEAWAY

Angelboy:
Volume 1

by Nicole Beguesse

You can purchase the paperback version of Angelboy or you can read it FREE online. Volume 2, a work-in-progress, is also available to read online. You can also help Nicole in her publishing journey by making a donation to her fundraiser.

Angelboy is currently on tour with Bewitching Book Tours. The tour stops here today for my review and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

Cyrus Michael is a punkish teen who is murdered for unknown reasons. He returns to the world of the living in a different town in a different form - he's now Angelboy and he wants to redeem his worthless past. In his former life, Angelboy was a coward, but now he's courageous as he battles the devils of people's minds. Angelboy manages to rescue a teen who was shot in a case of mistaken identity and he faces evil head-on.

Angelboy is for older teens (ages 16+).

Excerpts

Review

By Lynda Dickson

Cyrus, a teenage boy, is shot dead for reasons which are not revealed. He wakes up, thanks God that he has survived, and promises to turn his life around ... only to discover that he has in fact died and become an angel. Cyrus finds that no one can see him and resigns himself to spending the rest of eternity on his own. One day he saves a boy's life and finally meets someone who can actually see him. He feels like he's been given a chance to redeem himself, and he sets out to do what he can to help the boy's family.

I haven't read any manga before, so I am by no means an expert. However, as a reader, I found this to be a profoundly moving story and easily accessible. I read it in one sitting. The illustrations are stark, dark, and atmospheric, and they add immensely to the impact of the tale. This is not one for the faint-hearted.

I look forward to sharing more adventures with Cyrus and to further exploring the medium of manga in general.

Warnings: violence, coarse language, gay themes.

From the Author

I draw Angelboy because it’s fun. Many years ago I was in a bookstore when I came across a volume of manga by the all-female Japanese team CLAMP. It was at that moment I understood the storytelling power of manga and how it was so unlike anything I had ever seen before. Since then, I've been studying day by day to draw and write my own manga series. I have a BS in Computer Science from the University of Florida and a Master's in Sequential Art at SCAD.

I am currently living in Savannah, GA.

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Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes (US shipping only).

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The Dracula Chronicles: Bound by Blood (Volume 1) by Shane K. P. O'Neill

Note: This book is suitable for adults only.

The Dracula Chronicles: Bound by Blood

(Volume 1)

by Shane K. P. O'Neill

The Dracula Chronicles: Bound by Blood was released on 1 December 2012. This is actually the third book in The Dracula Chronicles series, and it is published in two volumes. Volume 1 will be FREE from 3:00 am 22 February (EST) to 2:59 am 25 February (EST). Volume 2 is also available. Books 1 and 2, The Gates of Babylon and Descent to Darkness, are yet to be released. Books 4 to 8 are also in the works.
  
Look out for my previous blog post about the Prequel to this series, The Dracula Chronicles: Birth of the Monster. You can also read my interview with the author in another blog post. Please note that this series is adult fiction. The series is historical and set in a brutal age, and is therefore quite brutal in parts. It also has a fair amount of erotica content.


Description

The Dracula Chronicles is the brilliant and terrifying new concept of Dracula. It is an epic journey through the ages where the forces of Light and Darkness struggle for supremacy until the Second Great War, as foretold in the Book of Revelations. This bitter feud began after the creation of mankind. Lucifer’s jealousy leads to the First Great War of the angels. Hundreds of thousands of years on the feud simmers beneath the surface. It plots the course of history as we know it today. Both sides manipulate the major players through the centuries to seek an advantage over the other. 

On a cold night in December 1431 in Sighisoara an old gypsy woman delivers a prophecy to the great Vlad Dracul. She tells him he is about to sire two sons, one an angel and the other a devil. He returns to his fortress just as his wife bears him a son, whom he names Vlad. In the very same moment across the country on the border between Transylvania and Hungary a gypsy girl gives birth to another son, Andrei. The die is cast. The twin souls are born. The young Vlad Dracula becomes the instrument of the forces of Darkness. To balance this, the baby Andrei is blessed by the angels and bestowed with awesome powers.These chronicles are their story.

Book Trailer

Excerpt  

Chapter 14 - November, 1494. Dracula’s oldest living enemy, Vintila Florescu, sits alone at home awaiting death. His son and heir, Victor, has been murdered and his head sent to him in a box.

The men paused to reflect on their conversation.  Florescu had heard enough.  He stepped away from the window and sat down in his chair.  It was the most plausible explanation for what had happened.  But to murder his son and then send him his head?  That was personal and indicated a real grudge.  Could his nephew dislike him that much?  It gave him plenty to ponder. 

He gazed at Victor’s head where it had spent the last four days on the table in front of him.  His tears had long dried up now.  They would do Victor no good.  He was a broken man.  If Death were to call, he would be welcomed.  He sighed hard and then, drinking the last of the wine in his cup, he drifted off to sleep.

His dreams took him back to another time.  He was much younger then.  Dead bodies littered the streets from the fighting.  Smoke hung over the city from the buildings that burned in the aftermath.

A woman stood naked at the gallows.  A rope hung around her neck.  He grinned at her, though she did not seem afraid.  Even then as her moment of death was upon her she showed only strength.  She stared at him, her eyes full of hate.  He hated her as much, but secretly admired her resolve.

Her face remained engrained there in his mind.  He pushed her down naked on her bed.  The bed she had only ever shared with her husband.  He forced her to watch in the mirror, as he took her from behind.  Holding her by the hair their eyes met in the glass.  The first silent exchange of hatred passed between them.

He then sat in a chair.  One after another his men took turns with her while he watched.  He loved every one of her cries though she fought hard to stifle them.  Pound the Draculesti whore his men encouraged each other.  One at a time they did.

Her face remained there.  Purple and swollen it turned as the rope tightened around her neck.  Her legs dangled free, kicking aimlessly against the cold night breeze.  A tongue black and swollen protruded from her mouth.  Her eyes bulged as the noose slowly choked the life out of her.  Yet still they burned into his.

He turned his focus on a man much younger than he.  A son crushed by the image of his mother dangling from a rope.  One who had already brought himself much honour on the battlefield.  Battered and bruised, he looked up defiantly.  On his knees he cursed them, each and every one.

Florescu looked down at the hot coals nearby.  He picked out an iron, its metal red and glowing.  A thousand sparks flew against the darkness when he blew on its tip.  The young man eyed it with fear.  He struggled against those who held him down.  It did him no good.

He pressed the hot iron against soft flesh.  A loud hiss followed by the most horrible scream.  Then silence as the molten iron ate through all in its wake.  Flesh and bone melted into one.  He saw a blinded convulsing body thrown down into an open grave.  It was an image he could not escape.

Review

By aobibliophile™ 
"There is a reason why all things are as they are." - Bram Stoker, Dracula

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, of the House of Drăculești, becomes a pawn in the age-old battle between good and evil. In his attempt to return to Heaven and dethrone God, the fallen angel Lucifer sets his plans into motion. He grants Vlad immortal life as a vampire and commands the Voivode of Wallachia to wage war against the Catholic Church no matter what the cost.

Author Shane KP O'Neill blends facts, folklore and myth and goes beyond them in creating a darker and more plausible account of the Dracula legend.

Spanning centuries, this outstanding debut is rich in detail. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how Vlad Dracula schemes his way and manipulates well-known historical figures in his attempt to bring down the Catholic religion. Niccolo Machiavelli, the Borgias, Martin Luther, Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn are some of history's famous men and woman whom Dracula befriends and wittingly destroys.

This novel is not for the faint of heart so be forewarned. Although the language is very graphic and there are some sexual situations that may shock some readers, they are necessary to the plot. This is a tale of darkness after all yet there is also hope and goodness among its pages as well.

Overall, this an engrossing and entertaining book that will delight readers who love historical fiction, vampires or a combination of both. I was impressed by its scope and I highly recommend it. Moreover, I look forward to reading the next chronicles.

About the Author

Shane O'Neill is the writer of The Dracula Chronicles, a new and exciting series adding a new dimension to the Dracula myth. He has begun the series with Chronicle 3 to give his readers the vampire first. Chronicle 1 will follow to take you back to the beginning.

The author developed a fascination with Dracula from an early age. Like many others he was enthralled by Christopher Lee's portrayal of him on the big screen. It was in his late teens that he discovered Dracula the man and the love affair began from there. An avid historian, he studied the period in which the real historical Vlad Dracula lived, 15th Century Balkan, for many years. It followed from there then that with his love of writing he would always choose Dracula as his subject.

Away from writing, the author has a wide range of interests. He has lived and travelled all over the world. He has a love for all things historical, with a particular fascination for medieval Europe. Anywhere he travels he likes to search out locations with an historical interest.

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