This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Maria DeBlassie will be awarding a free ecopy of Hungry Business to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Telll us about your current book in 10 words.
That’s a tough one, but here is my quickie summary for my short story, Hungry Business: Dating. It feels like the zombie apocalypse of the soul.
E-Reader or print? and why?
I love both! There’s nothing more soothing than the weight of a worn paperback in my hands or the smell of old books, as cliche as it sounds. But I do love the e-reader because it allows me to carry so many books when I’m out and about or wanting easily switch back and forth between reads. Gone are the days of lugging around two books (the one I’m about to finish and the one I’ll start next) or falling asleep surrounded by a pile of books. Still, there’s such magic in hardcopy books. Plus I’m a sucker for a good pulpy book cover!
One book at a time or multiples?
I read several books at a time—I can’t help myself! I have a pile of non-fiction books (history, criticism, philosophy) that I’m always in the middle of, plus a handful of fiction books I’m working through, typically in romance, fantasy, Gothic, and urban fantasy genres. I like variety and find that when I need to pause in the midst of one story, I have others to turn to that nourish me in different ways. I do have rule though that I have to finish a few books before I start others, otherwise I’d be reading a hundred books at a time and never finishing anything!
When do you do most of your reading?
I love to read before bed. It’s a nice way to transition from my waking life to the dream world. A good story prepares me for a good night of dreaming.
Favorite place to read?
I have this little book nook in my apartment by my writing desk. It’s framed by my bookshelf stuffed to the hilt with books of all shapes and from genres. Nestled there are two golden velvet reading chairs. I grew up reading in those chairs in my family home and was over the moon when my parents gave them to me a few years back. There’s nothing like sinking into one of those chairs under a knitted blanket, surrounded by my stories, with a new paperback and an hour of reading before me. Throw in a pot of tea and I’m in heaven!
Re-reader or not?
I am a major re-reader! I love returning to stories that have soothed and healed me in some way. Their medicine never fades and every time I return to those stories, I find new things to ove about them. There’s also something deeply comforting about lingering in a fictional world where you know the story inside and out. It allows you to pick up subtleties you might have missed the first time around or revisit old friends. What would make you not finish a book?
I used to feel guilty about not finishing books, but now I let myself abandon ones that don’t speak to me. My reading time is precious, so I only spend it with books that nourish me. The big thing that makes me put a book down is if it’s too dense or plodding. I’m a professor by day, with tons of stuff to read and grade, so my recreational reads need to pull me in from the first page. They don’t have to be action-packed, they just have to have their own flow, their own magic. You can tell when a book doesn’t have that spark of inspiration!
Keep books or give them away?
I’m a hard core book-hoarder!
Looking for love can be deadly…
You know how it goes. You go out, hoping to meet someone. You wade through your fair share of brainless automatons, lifeless bodies, and ravenous undead good at passing as human.
The more you go out, the less hope you feel and the colder your body gets. But you keep at it. All you need is one beating heart to match your own before yours stops pumping altogether. How hard can it be to find one living, breathing human in a city full of bodies?
Dating.
It’s hungry business.
CW: Assault
This one looks a little better, you think optimistically.
You sit across from each other at the dinner table. The white tablecloth is as smooth and unblemished as his collared shirt. He has dressed for the occasion, taking care to hide the evidence of his affliction as best he can (though truly there is only so much he can do with a missing ear and half a brain). Still, the tuxedo and carefully applied makeup are enough to create the illusion of pumping blood beneath his pallid, blush-stained cheeks—in the right light. Which is another reason why you chose this place. Candlelight can hide a multitude of sins.
His manners are studied and smooth, as if he has spent a lot of time practicing more human-like movements and behavior. You admire a man who makes that kind of effort. He watches you as much as you do him, as if he is trying to remember what it was like to be alive. When you reach for your wine glass, so does he—only his thick decaying fingers almost crush the stem, whereas your nimble live ones carefully bring the dark red liquid to your mouth. You try not to notice how he stares at your lips—stained now from the wine—wondering, perhaps, how you taste.
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The book is $0.99 during the tour
Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Business-Short-Maria-DeBlassie-ebook/dp/B08L48MVHD
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for chatting with me! It was lovely!
ReplyDeleteinteresting cover
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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