Author: Sarah Dalton
Series: Mary Hades
Publication Date: June 2014
Genres: Horror, Young Adult
Series: Mary Hades
Publication Date: June 2014
Genres: Horror, Young Adult
BLURB supplied by Xpresso Tours
Not many seventeen year old girls have a best friend who’s a ghost, but then Mary Hades isn’t your average teenager.
Scarred physically and mentally from a fire, her parents decide a holiday to an idyllic village in North Yorkshire will help her recover. Nestled in the middle of five moors, Mary expects to have a boring week stuck in a caravan with her parents. Little does she know, evil lurks in the campsite…
Seth Lockwood—a local fairground worker with a dark secret—might be the key to uncovering the murky history that has blighted Nettleby. But Mary is drawn to him in a way that has her questioning her judgement.
Helped by her dead best friend and a quirky gay Goth couple, Mary must stop the unusual deaths occurring in Nettleby. But can she prevent her heart from being broken?
The first in a series of dark YA novels, Mary Hades follows on from the bestselling Kindle Single My Daylight Monsters. A spine-tingling tale with romance, readers will be shocked and entertained in equal measure.
Seth Lockwood—a local fairground worker with a dark secret—might be the key to uncovering the murky history that has blighted Nettleby. But Mary is drawn to him in a way that has her questioning her judgement.
Helped by her dead best friend and a quirky gay Goth couple, Mary must stop the unusual deaths occurring in Nettleby. But can she prevent her heart from being broken?
The first in a series of dark YA novels, Mary Hades follows on from the bestselling Kindle Single My Daylight Monsters. A spine-tingling tale with romance, readers will be shocked and entertained in equal measure.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah grew up in the middle of nowhere in the countryside of Derbyshire and as a result has an over-active imagination. She has been an avid reader for most of her life, taking inspiration from the stories she read as a child, and the novels she devoured as an adult.
Sarah mainly writes speculative fiction for a Young Adult audience and has had pieces of short fiction published in the Medulla Literary Review, PANK magazine and the British Fantasy Society publication Dark Horizons. Her short story 'Vampires Wear Chanel' is featured in the Wyvern Publication Fangtales available here:
Sarah's debut novel The Blemished is a fast paced young adult dystopia set in a fractured Britain. It follows the events of Mina Hart, a young Blemished girl who has a dangerous secret, as she tries to escape the dreaded Operation and get out of Area 14.
Sarah mainly writes speculative fiction for a Young Adult audience and has had pieces of short fiction published in the Medulla Literary Review, PANK magazine and the British Fantasy Society publication Dark Horizons. Her short story 'Vampires Wear Chanel' is featured in the Wyvern Publication Fangtales available here:
Sarah's debut novel The Blemished is a fast paced young adult dystopia set in a fractured Britain. It follows the events of Mina Hart, a young Blemished girl who has a dangerous secret, as she tries to escape the dreaded Operation and get out of Area 14.
AUTHOR LINKS
Well I have The Blemished by Sarah Dalton on my computer, I seriously need to put it on my replacement kindle to read it. In fact like some of you guys out there I need more reading hours in a day! I have to admit I'd love to read Mary Hades too!! So many fantastic books waiting to be read!
EXCERPT
(from Chapter One)
The promise of July:
sunglasses and cut off shorts, feeling the warm blades of grass between your
toes, trips to the brook at the edge of the woods, short nights that seem to go
on forever—smothering you with oppressive heat until you wake up gasping for
breath, your hair plastered to the back of your neck.
The long days provide freedom from school and
parents, and often even friends. It’s a time to be alone, to let yourself grow,
to shed another layer of skin as you progress through adolescence. Each summer
tracks your maturity with the flakes of skin trailing your footsteps. Those
layers are childhood husks. You know that when you go back to school, passing
notes in class will become a thing of the past; too immature for us now.
Crushes become relationships. Gossip turns from who snogged who to who shagged
who.
We are in the midst of that rarest of things—a
warm and sunny English summer. It has lasted for almost two weeks and even the
old ladies at the bus stop have stopped talking about the weather. No one wants
to jinx it. No one wants to frighten the sun away. We treat it like a bird in
the garden, tip-toeing our way through the lawn, trying not to startle it into
taking to its wings and abandoning us.
I’ve been waiting for this moment. Since the fire,
my burns have taken time to heal. Now the bandages are off, and I can go out in
the sunshine. I want to enjoy the rest of my summer before it fades into
September and brings the school term with it. The thought of exams and
coursework make my abdomen clench with anxiety. Right now, I want to forget
about all that, enjoy being alive, enjoy my well-earned freedom.
But as soon as the opportunity is within my grasp,
it’s snatched away by those who-think-they-know-best. I find myself pouting
like a little girl, regressing into the stereotypical teen, whinging away at my
parents.
“You’ll enjoy it, Mary.” Mum has her back to me,
folding clean clothes into three neat piles. One of those piles is mine. “It’s
nice to get away from here. There will be plenty of people your age.”
“Camping?”
I say again. “I shouldn’t be going camping with my parents anymore. I’m seventeen.” The words it’s not fair are within dangerous
proximity. I’m a cliché.
She turns towards me and seizes a t-shirt from the
basket. “It’s a static caravan on a campsite. It’s not like you’ll be in a
tent. Discos every night—”
“For children.”
“—entertainment—”
“For children.”
She purses her lips. “The holiday will be what you
make of it.” Her eyes dart to the door and back again. She lowers her voice.
“It’s all we can afford this year. You know, since your father lost that job.”
She mouths the last words as though she’s ashamed to say them.
Dad used to teach at a private school. It was a
good job, bringing in a high salary. But they decided to cut back in the
science department and now he’s had to take a job at a comprehensive school in
Leeds. It’s an hour’s commute and less pay. I see less of him, and he spends a
large portion of his salary on petrol. Mum’s a full time office manager, but her
firm has had a freeze on pay-rises for the last three years, due to the
recession.
“You should be proud of his new job,” I say.
“There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“I am,” she replies. “But
your father isn’t. That’s why it’s easiest to avoid the subject.” A silence
hangs for a moment. No matter what she says, I hear that tone in her voice, the
one that speaks louder than her words.
And if you are still wondering why you
should read this book. . . .
Five ways
Mary Hades is different to your average YA series
I'm pretty
excited about this project. I find Mary the easiest character to write because
she is such a free spirit. However, there's a part of me that's nervous about
this series. I've mixed things up. Mary Hades doesn't follow a formula. ~ Sarah Dalton
Here are
five things you can expect, and five examples that are a little different to
most YA books.
1. It’s
not a trilogy:
At the
moment, the series is open ended, which means I’m planning to keep it going for
as long as I enjoy writing it. To me, this is almost like a long-running
television series, where each book will focus on a specific challenge.
I will be bringing in long-arc storylines at some point, but the first few
books are almost standalones.
2. Each
novel is a snapshot:
Like the
novella that started it all—My Daylight Monsters—each novel, and each story, is
a snapshot into Mary’s life. That means that not all the books will link on
from each other. The first book has a resolution and no cliff-hanger, but it
sets up the rest of the series, because it shows Mary what she wants to achieve
with her life. This is going to continue throughout the series. Think of them
as brief instalments into her very interesting life. Characters will come and
go. Not all of the novels will be set in the same place. There is a lot of
scope for the series. It could go on as Mary goes to University, or a spin off
with different characters could occur. There are no set rules here. Think of it
as an urban fantasy series, but more contemporary.
3. The
novels are short:
The main
reason I write Mary Hades at a shorter length is because the tone is very deep
first person POV present tense. The books are meant to be all-encompassing. I
want the reader to be drawn into Mary’s world, and that is an intense ride.
These sorts of novels are almost always short. Think of the wonderful How I
live Now, or the engrossing Never Let Me Go—they are both short novels and that
suits them very well. The first instalment of Mary Hades will be about 280
pages. On the plus side, shorter novels means I can write the instalments
quicker, so you won’t have to wait long for the next book. And, as the books
are shorter, I’ve decided to charge less for them, so you won’t be paying more
for a shorter novel. However, quality almost always beats quantity. ;)
4. This is
dark fiction:
When I
started writing My Daylight Monsters, I was very influenced by Gothic
literature. That’s a very broad brush. I always loved Victorian Gothics, like
Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Grey. These novels always have a supernatural
element and always have some sort of dark, looming presence. In My Daylight
Monsters, that presence is the hospital, and the deepest fears we harbour
there. In Mary Hades, that looming presence is the Yorkshire moors—of course,
inspired by Wuthering Heights. Other influences could include Daphne Du
Maurier. I had a few scenes from Jamaica Inn playing in my mind as I wrote this
book. Mary Hades is much more grown up than my other novels. In the past, my
books like The Blemished and White Hart have been more suited to younger YA.
Mary Hades is best for older teens and adults.
5. Horror
AND Romance?
Yup, you
better believe it. In the midst of fighting a really scary ghost, Mary manages
a holiday romance. Hey, call me a romantic, but I think a girl needs to take
some time off from her ghost hunting once in a while.
In all
seriousness, I want the books to be scary AND uplifting. There’s a definite
contemporary feel to the writing, and hopefully that ties in
with the romance. ~ Sarah Dalton
***GIVEAWAY***
a Rafflecopter giveaway
***GIVEAWAY***
Prizes - open INTL:
-Ultimate Swag Bag-
-Signed paperback of any of Sarah's books
-3x eBooks of winner's choice
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment