Once Upon A Twisted Time Virtual Tour

Once Upon A Twisted Time

An Anthology of Dark Adult Fairytales
By: Tara Stogner Wood, Trish Marie Dawson, Lindsay Avalon, and Miranda Stork

Genre: Fairytales/Paranormal

Publisher: Moon Rose Publishing

Date of Publication: 31^st October 2012

Number of pages: 250

Word Count: 76,000

Cover Artist: Miranda Stork

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/6IAdJ6ihdmw

www.moonrosepublishing.com

Book Description:

Think you know your fairytales? Think again. These aren’t your normal happily-ever-after. Within these pages, a murderous Little Mermaid gets her revenge, the Cinderella doesn’t really want to wear the slipper, Snow White is up to her eyes in industrial experiments, and the Beauty is in fact the Beast.

This collection of four novellas will surprise you, make you gasp in horror, sigh with relief, and sit on the edge of your seat. And most of all…they will make you rethink everything you think you know about dark fairytales…

Song of the Abyss-Lindsay Avalon

Princess Nerissa had envisioned a perfect wedding to a handsome prince. Instead, she fell into a nightmare. When her new husband tries to murder her just hours after pledging his life to her, she must flee towards the sea. Caught in transition from woman to selkie, she is trapped by the dark waters she hoped would be her salvation. Now her destiny becomes that of luring young men to their death…until one comes along that reignites the spark of love inside her. However to ensure her future, she must first face her past. Revenge must be taken…for both her life, and the life of the young man she now loves.

Miss Cavendish and the Spark of Salvation-Tara Stogner Wood

In a city toiling under the iron fist of the Spiegel Syndicate and its monopoly on coal, Miss Georgina "George" Cavendish is on the brink of a breakthrough that could change the world forever. There's just one thing standing in her way, her aunt - Xenobia Cavendish. Threatened by her efforts, the Syndicate procures the services of a notorious assassin with a past tied to her own, known as The Huntsman, to dispatch the brilliant scientist. But once he gets a glimpse of the headstrong beauty, will he be able to do the job, or will Georgina sway him to The Cause? And will George find the breakthrough she needs in time, or is New London Town doomed to forever lie under the dark shadow of her aunt's factories?

Hawke and the Beast-Trish Marie Dawson

Some curses last forever, and some can be broken with the whisper of three little words. Isabella Rose Woodward fell in love with a witch's son over a century ago. Her punishment for breaking the young man's heart was a beastly one. Every month she turns into a different creature, aging on the full moon when her curse allows for a brief return to her human form. Her only salvation is to find a man that will love her as she is…be it adorned in feathers, fur or scales. Has she found this love with the handsome Jasper Hawke? Or will a mysteriously determined Hunter find her first, and snuff out the life she so desperately seeks? A life of normalcy, where she loves and is loved in return… just as she is.

Reborn City-Miranda Stork

Nyx has one mission in life; bring down the brainwashing of New Omsk’s citizens, and release them from their mundane lives of toil. The year is 2355, and the world is a new place. A Governor is in charge of every city in the world, and humanity is attempting to rebuild itself after recovering from a war that nearly killed it. But this Governor has set his eyes on the intrepid little hacker, Nyx, and he will stop at nothing to get her. But perhaps he needs her more than he ever dreamed he would…as do his citizens.

If you enjoy some interesting and dark twists to your fairy tales, then you need to check out this one. Full of interesting plot twists, sensual scenes and things that go bump in the night, then this might be one to take with you for the long hours before you fall asleep... The cover art alone made me want to fall within its pages and discover the secrets within...

Writing my first novel-Lindsay Avalon

A year ago, if someone told me I’d be publishing a novella in an anthology and preparing to publish my first novel, I’d have called them insane. I had just caved into my sister’s prodding and agreed to do NaNoWriMo again after failing miserably in 2010. My husband was going to be gone on an away rotation for medical school for most of the month, so I figured why not?

I started off rather slowly, not really able to formulate a coherent plot at the beginning of November. Then one day I decided I was overthinking things and just started to type. Shortly thereafter, Breaking the Nexus was born, though at the time I had no idea what to title it. I did some bizarre things with my style in an effort to ensure I’d hit the 50k mark including overuse of character names, eliminating contractions, and doing all sorts of other little tricks to pad my word count. At the time I didn’t notice what I was doing, I was happy to win NaNo that year. Fast forward to June when I had a few friends, none of whom were authors, read Breaking the Nexus. They all told me it was brilliant, amazing, etc so I set about trying figure out how to self-publish.

Then I had authors read it. Let’s just say the concept was brilliant but the execution, not so much. I think I handled my first wave of brutalization to my baby quite well. I thanked the readers, pouted, cried, pouted some more because I could agree with the criticisms, swore I’d never finish Breaking the Nexus, and generally made a fool of myself to my husband. This was all in the span of a few days, by the way. He pointed out that if I wanted to be a writer, to stick with it and snapped some sense into me. Faced with the daunting task of wanting to rewrite my entire book (a step up from wanting to burn it in a fit of despair), my newfound writer friends mentioned the idea of a Halloween anthology of twisted fairy tales.

I’m a chicken. I leapt at the chance, telling myself it would help me spread the word about Breaking the Nexus to do the novella first. In reality, I was chicken and wanted to distance myself from what I initially perceived was a failure. I was also an idiot, but it was the best decision I ever made to do the novella. I learned that I’m not an abject failure at writing at all. The entire time I worked on Breaking the Nexus, I held myself back. With Song of the Abyss, I cut loose, stopped trying to plan every little detail, and just let the words flow. Instead of fighting myself over plot points and language, it felt natural. I amazed myself.

Working on this novella taught me so much about my writing. Now the only time I struggle is against my need to use adverbs (I use them all the time in speech…so hard to remove them from writing!). This has been an amazing journey in a short time and now that I’m revisiting Breaking the Nexus, I see it in a whole new light. I read my writing and think: “What was I doing here?” I’m able to keep the basic concepts the same, but rewriting it in my new voice. Taking those criticisms was harder than most things I’ve done in the past, but the difference it has made is immeasurable.

I’m still learning the craft but I have found a fantastic support network of friends, without whom I’d have probably quit long ago. If there’s any advice I can give to someone wanting to become an author, it’s this: Find your support network and learn to take criticism. When someone tells you your writing can be improved, they’re not insulting you; they want to help you. It sucks to find out you’re not perfect but if I hadn’t listened to the comments, hadn’t taken a leap of faith and signed up to do a twisted fairy tale, I would ever have discovered my true passion isn’t in my day job as a programmer. It’s to be an author.

About the Authors:

Tara Stogner Wood-

Tara Wood divides her time between creating domestic bliss and creating hot paranormal romance with the occasional side of kink. When not playing June Cleaver for her hubby and daughter, she can be found at the local Starbucks slamming back Frappuccinos and plotting out her next idea. Or she’s watching the BBC. Tara resides with her wonderful and tolerant family in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. She is currently at work on several projects, one of them being the next book in her In Blood series.

Trish Marie Dawson-

I was born and mostly raised in San Diego, California where I live now with my  family and pets. I’ve been writing short stories and poetry since high school after an obsession with Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’. After over fifteen years of crazy dreams and an overactive imagination, I began my first book ‘I Hope You Find Me’ in December of 2011. When I’m not writing, I am homeschooling my amazing daughter and mildly autistic son, reading whatever I can get my hands on, or enjoying the Southern California sun. As a strict Vegetarian, I hold a special place in my heart for animal rights and dash into the backyard weekly to rescue lizards and mice from our mini-lab/aussie shepherd/cocker spaniel mixed dog, Zoey…who is always getting into some sort of trouble.

Miranda Stork-

I was born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire in 1987 and have lived in various places around Britain, including Newcastle and Glasgow.

My writing is inspired by various writers, including the vivid characters of Charles Dickens, the imagination of Stephen King, and the gothic imagery of Anne Rice.

My love of horror began at an early age, when I was only three or four. I could read proficiently at the age of three, and devoured fairy-stories, but I always had a bent towards the darker stories, such as the Brother's Grimm's tales...Red Riding Hood was always a firm favourite, although I always felt sorry for the wolf, despite him having tried to eat everyone!

Lindsay Avalon-

I am a wife, a mother to an adorable mini schnauzer, a programmer, and now an author. I love reading romance because no matter what may be happening in my life, I can always count on my books to end happily ever after. My sister drilled into me an appreciation for fantasy and mythology, something I try to bring to my books. After hearing me complain a few too many times that I had “nothing” to read despite the hundreds of paperbacks scattered around the house, my husband began suggesting I write my own stories. When I finally took his advice I discovered that although I enjoy my day job as a software engineer, my true calling is to be an author.