Karina Halle's Come Alive Blog Tour info!!!

Hey everyone!!!  It's that time again!  One of my favorite authors, Karina Halle, has another book release!!!  

I am not part of the blog tour but I AM helping spread the word for the best book I have read all year!  That's right, Come Alive is AMAZING!!!  The Megans over at The Book Asylum and Reading Books Like A Boss have put on a wonderful blog tour so make sure to check it out!!!  

Come Alive 

Experiment in Terror #7

By Karina Halle

Release date: June 23, 2013

Genre: Romantic Suspense/Horror
Age Group: General adult 17 +

Available on Amazon and Smashwords

Book Description:

It’s one thing to bring the woman you love back into your life. It’s another to try and keep her there. For Dex Foray, convincing Perry Palomino to open herself to their burgeoning relationship has been more challenging than hunting ghosts, battling demons and stalking Sasquatch combined. Add in the fact that the only way they can keep their Experiment in Terror show running is to take on a third partner in the form of the mysterious Maximus Jacobs — all while investigating a sinister voodoo sect in New Orleans — and you’ve got the perfect Southern storm and a recipe for disaster. Luckily, Dex has never been one to back down, even when his life –and heart — are on the line. 

Come Alive is told from Dex’s POV.

About the Author

The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with). 

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse. 

Karina is represented by Scott Waxman of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency

For more about Karina Halle, please check out these links:

Consequence of Sound

Experiment in Terror
Karina Halle on Wordpress
Experiment in Terror Facebook
Karina Halle Facebook
MetalBlonde on Twitter
Karina Halle on Goodreads

Please check out the link for the blog tour schedule by clicking      --->here!

But what??? There's more???  You could possibly win cool stuff so make sure to check the tour stops!!!

Now you have all been so patient with me rambling so how about a little treat???

An excerpt from Come Alive!!!

I whipped around and pulled out the elevator’s STOP button. The elevator lurched then came still.
“What are you doing?” she screeched, wild-eyed.
“Nothing you need to worry about, baby,” I told her, placing both hands on either side of her head and kissing her hard, hard enough that she was flattened against the wall. We didn’t discuss it, but we naturally played our relationship cool in front of Jimmy. Now I was making up for lost time.
I bit her lower lip, pulling it between my teeth. She moaned and I smiled.
“You ever had sex in an elevator?” I asked, taking my mouth to her sweet neck and alternating between wet licks and fierce sucks. I didn’t care if she ended up with a million hickeys. The more the better.
“No.”
“Anywhere in public?”
“Does a Canadian national park count?” she whispered, sounding both turned-on and uneasy.
“No, it doesn’t,” I murmured, my hands cupping her breasts now. “Sounds like something we have to fix, doesn’t it?”
“Isn’t this illegal?”
I pulled away and looked at her. “Elevator malfunction. Living it up while I’m going down.”
She smiled and then arched her back to give me more access to her fantastic breasts. “You can’t use Aerosmith as an excuse.”
“I can do anything I want,” I grunted, pressing my erection into her hip.
“My goodness,” she exclaimed at the pressure.
I grinned, my hands folding down her bra and rolling her nipples between my fingers.
“I told you. I’m always hard for you, I’m just good at hiding it. Which, actually, isn’t easy when your dick is the size of your leg.”
She laughed and lowered my head to her breasts, my mouth yearning, searching.
“Hello?” a voice said from behind me.
Startled, I turned around, expecting someone in the elevator with us. I was probably expecting it to be inhuman as well.
But the voice repeated. “Hello? Are you okay? Is this car two? I have reports you have stopped.”
Shit. It was the security on the speaker. In some elevators, pulling out the stop button just stops the elevator. I guess in this one it alerted security. Cockblockers!

ONE MORE THING!!!  You can check out all my past blog posts tagged Karina Halle by clicking here.

The Devil's Metal tour ~ Guest Post

The following is an interview that Dawn Emerson did with famous tour manager, Jacob Edwards. This interview was nixed from the original 1974 article that Dawn wrote on Hybrid for Creem Magazine.



Dawn: Hi Jacob, thanks for taking a few minutes to sit down and talk with me.

Jacob: Aww, cut the crap Dawn, you’ve been hounding me all day. Can’t even sit on the bloody crapper without seeing your smiling face there.

Dawn: Yes, well, anyway, I know you’re a busy man…

Jacob: Then why are you interviewing me right now? You know the bus leaves in 30 minutes and I have no idea where the hell Robbie went.

Dawn:  I thought I saw him take that short, blonde chick around the corner.

Jacob: Well that’s no surprise. I guess if I need him I can go check the rubbish bins in about 10 minutes.

Dawn:  I promise this won’t take as long as that. But that brings up a question: You’ve been seen as one of the more vocal and intimidating tour managers out there-

Jacob: Is that so?

Dawn: Uh huh.  I was wondering how you manage keeping the boys in Hybrid alive and well.

Jacob: I’m keeping them alive, for now, I suppose. Keeping them well…that’s another story.

Dawn: It must be challenging to let them have their freedom without compromising their performance.

Jacob: As a tour manager, your first job is to manage. If that means I have to find them the prettiest trollops in arse-crack Minnesota in order to keep them in line, then that’s what I’m going to do. If keeping them obedient means letting them snort a kilo of coke up their nose every now and then, then that’s fine with The Cobb. Managing is about keeping the balance. I keep the balance.

Dawn: You keep the balance? Care you elaborate on that?

Jacob: Now you’re just being nosy.

Dawn: I’m a journalist. It’s my job. Just as it’s your job to be evasive.

Jacob: Right. Well, every band, whether it’s Hybrid, Wishbone Ash or someone else, they all have a tendency to over indulge in the bad and ignore the good. It sounds like simple math and it is…I just know that you have to have equal amounts of good and bad in order to keep a band alive. Or, at least successful.

Dawn: So Robbie can go bang the chick around the corner as long as it doesn’t interfere with his singing the next day.

Jacob: Exactly. There’s nothing wrong with them gang-banging groupies in a bathtub full of baked beans if it helps their performance.

Dawn: Hold on…who gang-banged groupies in a bathtub full of baked beans?

Jacob: A good manager never tells. Now if you’ll pardon me, I’ve got some managing to do.

Dawn: Wait, one last thing. Throughout the tour I’ve noticed a sense of urgency and despair from Sage Knightly. He’s yet to open up to me in any way and definitely avoids my many attempts at an interview…I was wondering if you could shed some light on that.

Jacob: Sage? Sage has some issues he’s working on. They aren’t really mine to comment on.

Dawn: What kind of issues? I know that the last album was almost entirely influenced by him and wasn’t perceived as well as the others. Does he feel like he’s let the band down or does he feel like the band is holding him back?

Jacob: I guess you could say both. I wouldn’t go about getting your expectations high about him, though. Sage is always the quiet, mysterious guitarist and that’s the role he’ll play to the bitter end.

Dawn: Who says the end has to be bitter?

Jacob: Welcome to rock and roll, Dawn.

Book Blurb: 

It’s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best damn music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she’s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid.

At first the assignment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she'll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage’s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places – they’re going straight to Hell.

And Dawn has a backstage pass. 

Additional info: the Devil's Metal is a New Adult Paranormal Romance

Author Info:

Karina Halle is a music journalist and all around wino who resides in beautiful British Columbia. When she's not rocking out or taking a nap, she can be found writing her ghost-hunting Experiment in Terror Series.


Links :

Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

Giveaway 1 : a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway 2 : a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Devil's Metal tour ~ Review

The Devil's Metal

By Karina Halle

5 out of 5 STARS

It’s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best damn music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she’s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid. 

At first the assignment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she’ll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage’s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places – they’re going straight to Hell. 

And Dawn has a backstage pass.

***

Additional info: the Devil's Metal is a New Adult Paranormal Romance

Author Info:

Karina Halle is a music journalist and all around wino who resides in beautiful British Columbia. When she's not rocking out or taking a nap, she can be found writing her ghost-hunting Experiment in Terror Series.


Links :

Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

 ...The road to hell is paved with good intentions...

(Unknown)

Karina Halle has become one of my favorite authors not only for her writing style but her strong character developments and fantastically written plots. She's an auto buy for me and I'm so happy to read something new straight from the mind of this creative genius.

Ever wonder what it would be like to be on a tour bus with men of mass sex appeal, alcohol, drinking and demons at every stop?  No?  Well take a dive into The Devil's Metal and see what it's like through the eyes of a small town girl named Dawn as she goes on tour with Hybrid to write an article for Creem Magazine.

The characters... Dawn is a great lead character. She's authentic and deals with everything that is thrown at her with a strong spine. So much crazy stuff happens but she keeps her cool. Sage is a mystery but a great one at that.  Sage is, well, something else entirely. Not paranormally speaking. He's just this sexy, dark and mysterious puzzle that slowly unravels. His page time with Dawn is fantastic and eagerly had me flipping pages to see what would happen next.  But first how about a quick tease from the book to describe Sage...

I kept my eyes moving and settled on the last person on the bus. The person sitting at the end of the long couch.
Sage Knightly.
He was leaning against the wall with a book in hand, his long, black-jean clad legs sprawled in front of him. On his feet were his trademark flip-flops, his wide upper body in a wide-collared black shirt that was unbuttoned halfway, a peek of his scruffy firm chest popping through. Tattoos drifted out of the sleeves and onto his forearms. He was looking at me with all the intensity in the world, and in my numb state I couldn't read any expression on his face. His gray-green eyes were clear and piercing, framed dramatically by his low, strong brows. Black curly hair fell softly on his forehead and onto the sides. His dimpled chin was strong, his bottom lip was full with an upper lip that curved sweetly. His skin was bronzed and looked more exotic in person, alluding to his rumored Hispanic ancestry.
He was the man on my wall.
My musical hero.
My musical crush.
And he was on the bus, sitting there, right in front of me.

The cast of characters is varied and they all add different layers to this book. I enjoyed all of them immensely. Even the creepy ones. Those are the ones you have to watch out for.  Well, Jacob too.  I'm definitely keeping my eye on him. ;)

The plot... From the start the plot is set at a great pace. We aren't overwhelmed with too much information and are given just enough to give us clues for what is to come and keep us on the edge of our seats. The scenes flow from one to the other very smoothly and set up a wicked pace for the last half of the book. The horror elements are laced in with fantastic imagery and build-up to a terrifying speed.

Another highly enjoyable part of the book is all the music. Music is a passion of mine and I love how this is not only rich with decade inspired fashion and language, but how authentic all the music aspects are. The clubs, the tours, the fans... I was thrown into a decade long since passed and I loved every minute of it.  Extra bonus was the insight on what it is to be a female music journalist.  I'm sure it's not an easy road but one Dawn handles surprisingly well with her integrity intact.

I just have to finish by saying two things.
The last two chapters. HOLY CRAP! Seriously! Grab onto your seat 'cause it's a wild ride! Karina finished the story arc perfect in my opinion and left a few lingering questions as a great segue for the sequel. Fantastic. I couldn't have asked for a different conclusion.
Second thing I want to say? Holy hell Batman hot steamy sexy times! Whew! She knows how to write a sex scene without being too crude or having it be unbelievable. The scenes were perfect and complimented the story completely.

If you are in the market for something new and unique, this book is for you. It's sexy and terrifying all at the same time!  Give it a try today!

Please check back Thursday for a guest post from Karina Halle for The Devil's Metal tour!  You can also check out my Karina Halle tag for all my reviews and guest posts.

Giveaway 1 : a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway 2 : a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dex-Files Blog Tour ~ My Interview with Maximus

Hey everybody!  I just wanted to say thanks once again to Karina Halle for letting me host this blog tour for her!  I love this series and it has been a pleasure to coordinate this and review it.  I also want to thank all the bloggers who participated!  This was a lot of fun and all these lovely ladies made it really easy for me! Please check out the blog tour main page for links to all the participating bloggers reviews and/or teasers.  


To wrap up the tour, I want to share with you my interview with Maximus.  Yeah, I flirt shamelessly with the big guy.  I have no regrets. ;)  Don't forget to enter for the US/Canada Giveaway at the bottom of the post!  



Dear readers:  I have tried my hand at ghost hunting before, staying in haunted hotel rooms, snapping photos at random in the middle of the night, leaving beef jerkey out in hopes to taunt "the butcher" into action... No such luck.  I feel some people are more sensitive to spirits then others.  I don't appear to be lucky (or unlucky) enough to have the ever loving crap scared out of me like we see happen to Dex and Perry all the time on their show Experiment in Terror.  Yes,  I'm a Shownet junkie.  So what better way to find out more than with an interview with a ghost whisperer by the name of Max featured in the Webisode Red Fox?  He was kind enough to agree to meet with me for coffee so I could ask him some questions.

*Drinking an extra chocolaty iced mocha, plugging away on my laptop, I shadow descends upon the table.  Looking up, then up, then up some more, I push my glasses up my nose and get a view of a ginger Elvis minus the horrible jumpsuit. This one wears plaid*

Hi! My name is Emmy! You must be Max.  It's nice to meet you!

Pleasure to meet you Emmy. Aren't you a pretty little thing. Oh, and it's Maximus if you don't mind.

*Blushes profusely* OK Maximus it is.  So tell me, what is it that you do?  Is ghost whisperer the term you would call yourself?

I reckon that makes the most sense, though I'm forever blaming Jennifer Love Hewitt for ruining that title for me. Actually, I reckon if I had to be more specific, "ghost listener" would be a more appropriate term. I can pick up on the feelings of the dead, their thoughts before they died but so far I haven't been able to communicate with them. Maybe one day. For now, I just lend the dead an ear.

What do you do with the information you learn from the dead?  Do you help the spirits themselves or is it more closure for loved ones?

Generally I pass the information to the spirit's loved ones. They are the ones who usually hire me to do this. They want to know the truth and I give it to them. I guess I can be seen as a guide of sorts. I'm not only helping the ones they left behind but I'm helping the spirits. Many of them are lost and reckless in the darkness and once I can pass on their message, they seem to go. In a way, I guide them toward the light. Pretty cool, huh?

Wow!  That's a pretty special talent you have there!  When did you first notice this gift?

Uh, well let's just say a very long time, darling.

Hmmm... Ok.  Let's backtrack a little if you don't mind.  Though you are proving to be a man of mystery, I'm going to try to get to the bottom of you. You have such a.... strong accent.  Where are you from?

Louisiana.

What was your major in college?  Any extra curricular activities?

I majored in Film Theory. My activities? Playing bass. Listening to ghosts. Talking to fine ladies like you.

*Clears throat*  Oh. Oh, ok.  Film Theory, I'm saving that topic for later but now you've sparked my curiosity.  *taking a long look at his clothing and pompadour*  So, do you play a stand up bass?  What kind of music do you play or listen to?

I listen to all kinds of music and believe it or not, I can play all kinds of music too. But I stick to the bass. There's something very raw and...sturdy about it. Real thick sounds. Hit you hard. Wouldn't you say? I don't play the stand-up but that would be fun one day. Maybe if I could find a jamming partner.

Well, there is something desirable about music that you can feel deep down in your bones, that makes you move to a rhythm you feel calls to you.  Are you in the market for a jamming partner?

Sure. What can you play?

Me?  Oh, I've tried my hand at the guitar off and on for about 15 years. It's that dreaded F chord that gets me.  I need to build up my strength in my fingers.  But I love to sing.  Not that I'm good.  Tolerable though.  I'm very theatrical.   If that sounds like something you're interested in, we could jam.

Do you like to be up on stage?  Performing for the masses with all eyes on you?

Don't be so bashful, little lady. I reckon we'd make mighty fine partners. For jamming..amongst other aspects.

I do like to be on stage. I'm not really a performer but I'm such a big fellow that the eyes can't help but come my way. 

*Big smiles*  Hmmm... Maximus, you have so many talents and such a commanding presence. *shrugs*  I'm not usually so bashful.  You have a way with words.  Are you a lyricist as well?

No not at all...I usually leave that to the singer.

Back to Film Theory...  Have you pursued the use of your degree?

Only recently as a matter of fact. It's kind of a hokey way of doing things and not really what I envisioned myself doing after NYU but I just started doing some projects for this website called Shownet. Don't worry if  you haven't heard of them...most people haven't.

*sigh*  I love Shownet!  That's how I got your name.  The Experiment in Terror webisode for Red Fox?  Wow!  That was some seriously crazy stuff.  Well, what little video coverage there actually was for us to see.  OK Mister Evasive, I'm setting myself up for this one but will try anyway.  What kind of projects are you working on?

Actually I had nothing to do with the Red Fox episode. Sure, you can see me in it sometimes and if it wasn't for me, they wouldn't have even filmed it at all but *shrugs* that's life.

Right now I have a few projects up my sleeve. I've been negotiating with Jimmy Kwan, the Shownet CEO, about possibly taking over the Experiment in Terror show since it seems to have died a miserable death, but there's just been talk. That's it.

Don't be so modest!  You should take credit for your connection with Red Fox.

*leans in*  What's all the drama?  Did something happen with the hosts of the show?  They have such great chemistry on screen.  Not that you wouldn't be a great addition. *winks*

I'm not too sure. I don't usually involve myself with other people's problems. *winks back*

Well, we all have our secrets.

Surely a show like that would benefit greatly with a skill like yours since you appeared in Red Fox.  I'm sure many would tune in to see you in action.

I've never had a paranormal experience myself but do know people who have.  How do apparitions appear to you?  Is it like a residual feed that you see that helps you in your line of work?  Can you hear them?

Sort of. I basically see them as they were and hear them as they were. It's like a faded imprint. It doesn't last very long either, so I have to be sharp.

Since you won't indulge in how long you have had this ability, can you at least tell me your experiences on learning to deal with it and how you use that information?

It's just so unique and would frighten me.  Are you bombarded or is it just when you seek them out?

Er...both. I can be bombarded. And I've had to seek people out too.

Well Maximus, I think you've revealed as much as you're willing to so I'll wrap this up.

If you were stuck in the Twilight Zone and had to repeat the same day over and over, what album, book and drink would you have everyday?  Let's throw in one more part, where would you be?

I reckon I'd have an ice cold Coors, a copy of Lestat, Led Zeppelin IV...and where would I be? Would saying "home on the bayou" be cliche? Because that little lady is heaven to me.

I had a swell time with you, Emmy. Thank you.

No, thank you!  It's been a pleasure. And maybe I should give you my number, you know, just in case you want to add anything.  *winks and hands him a business card* Bye Maximus!  *saunters out of the coffee shop*




So what did you think of our favorite douchecanoe?  Pretty evasive if you ask me.  ;) Just what is he hiding??? Leave a comment below!

 Enter for a chance to win one of the EIT books autographed by Karina Halle!  (Oh yeah, a Twinkie wallet too!)

Check out Escapism From Reality for the blog tour International Giveaway!

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Dex-Files Blog Tour ~ Review & Giveaway!!!

I've had the great pleasure of coordinating this blog tour this week for Karina Halle and the release of the The-Dex Files.  Please check out Escapism From Reality for the blog tour kick-off with her review and an International Giveaway!  Also check out the tour home page for calendar of events.  One of my favorite series out there, The Dex-Files is an intimate glimpse into the multifacted character of Dex Foray.  I loved every minute of it. 

The Dex-Files 

(Experiment in Terror #5.7)

By Karina Halle

5 out of 5 STARS

Release date: August 13th, Metal Blonde Books 

"And with madness comes the light..."

When I started this, I knew I was going to gain a new perspective of one of my favorite and tortured characters to ever grace my kindle. Is that dramatic?  Yes.  Is it how I feel?  Absolutely.  But what I did not expect was the larger puzzle unravelling that you will see if you just pay attention. I will not go into detail. This is too great an addition to the series to spoil anyone with my perceived revelations of the bigger picture.  But I got my eyes on you Karina, and your wicked ways.

My perspective of Dex Foray:

I’m a hypocrite because I can’t stand weakness in others, even though I’m born of weakness myself. I dish it out and then laugh when they try and dish it back. Like I’m above it. And sometimes I think I am.

I’m a hypocrite because I hunt ghosts and I’ve pretended all
this time that the ghosts haven’t been hunting me.

And I’m a hypocrite because I judge people. I judge the fuck out of everyone I meet, from their music tastes, to their jobs to their lifestyle choices. I judge them but fuck them if they dare judge me. They think they understand this monster in me, the monster in all of us. But they don't.

The prologue is a deeper look into the young Dex we got a sneak peak of in Old Blood.  The times they are a changing for this young one and I wanted to just give the lil guy a hug.  So young and scared.

In After School Special, Dex is 15 and a ladies man already.  Yeah, he was a slut.  Not going to sugar coat it.  We also get to see what a trouble maker he was and what was happening at home.  I had an "Oh shit" moment for sure.  The riddle starts to unravel.

Dear Abby:  Dex is in college.  Max joins the band and soon, Dex is dating Abby.  Just another little sliver in that crazy cranium of Dex's.  And all the while, I'm only 24 pages in and have already been astounded by this look into this amazing character.

Big Dumb Sex: I should not have enjoyed this as much as I did.  I was properly scandalized to say the least.

Fuck trouble.  I wasn't asking for it.

I was inviting it.

Butterfly Caught:  Red Fox!  This was such a fantastic book and things were still so new and fresh between him and Perry.  They're practically still strangers.  Max is back on the scene and we hear of a Dex Foray special.

Seriously people,  I could not put this down.  I wanted to know more about Dex, needed it.  To know what the hell he is thinking.  He's so complex.

... At the same time, I wanted to draw her out and make her strong, like a diamond from coal.

Digging the Grave:  During Dead Sky Morning...  So much was happening in that book.  My heart was breaking to read his inner thoughts.  Just one of many times that it would happen in this novella.

When Good Dogs Do Bad Things:  It was really hard not to jump to this chapter when I first got my hands on this ARC.

Then I threw caution to the wind and did the thing I'd been dreaming about doing.

You now what scene I'm talking about.  Karina brings out a whole new definition to the term Slip N' Slide and I couldn't appreciate her pervy mind more if I tried.  I make no apologies people.  I like getting to know the dirty side of Dex.  Every side of Dex is worth knowing.

It was a mistake, even if it was the most unregrettable mistake of my life. 

She Loves Me Not fast forwards to Lying Season.  This was a very poignant moment in discovering the depth of Dex Foray.  I can't even quote what I want to from this because it's so profound, so telling, and so heartbreaking.

Mr. Self Destruct: In all of the EIT books, this was the most difficult part to read.  My emotions change like a reflection upon a fun house mirror.

 Bailout:  This is an amazing insight into the future of Experiment in Terror in this glimpse from Into the Hollow.  This series has already taken us through many highs and lows, taken us to the darkest corners of Karina's imagination and the progression of the series looks just as emotionally gripping.

Karina also provides a soundtrack for the The Dex-Files with her use of song titles for most of the files.  Just one more reason for me to love this series.  “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ~ Berthold Auerbach

Overall, this series is one of my favorites and calls to me on many levels.   Possibly defined as a newer genre or category called new adult, it's generational yet timeless all the same as we see the characters encounter personal demons.

Enter below for a chance to win an autographed book from the Experiment in Terror series by Karina Halle!  This Giveaway is open to the US and Canada.  Also included is a wallet I embellished with a Twinkie.  ;)

Please check out Escapism From Reality for a chance to enter an International Giveaway for the Dex-Files Blog Tour!

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For more about Karina Halle, please check out these links:

Consequence of Sound

Experiment in Terror
Experiment in Terror Facebook
MetalBlonde on Twitter
Karina Halle on Goodreads

My reviews and tags related to Karina Halle and the EIT series:
~ Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror #1)
   (Free: Nook, Kindle & Smashwords)
~ Red Fox (Experiment In Terror #2)
~ The Benson (Experiment in Terror #2.5)
   (Free on Smashwords)
~ Dead Sky Morning (Experiment in Terror #3)
~ Lying Season (Experiment in Terror #4)
~ On Demon Wings (Experiment in Terror #5)
~ Old Blood (Experiment in Terror #5.5)
~ My interview with Karina Halle


Check back Saturday, August 4th for my interview with Maximus! ;)

Random Shenanigans ~ Karina Halle and the Dex-Files Blog Tour edition

Hey everyone!!!  So I've been busy coordinating the Dex-Files Blog Tour and I am so excited!!!  So this is my pre-tour post to give you a heads up!!!  (Yes, all the exclamations are important.)  I was hooked, devil horns and all, at the very beginning by what Karina started with Darkhouse.  The story arc is unique with great character development.  We have Perry, real yet flawed.  Maybe more relatable due to her flaws.  It has been amazing to see the transformation of her character throughout the series.  Also a big part of the EIT series is DEX!  What can I say about Dex?  Hmmm...  He can be obnoxious and over confident yet knows when to say the right things.   Well, he often says the wrong things most times too, but hey, that's one thing I love about him.



About Karina:

The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).


Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently splits her time between her apartment in downtown Vancouver and her sailboat, where a book and a bottle of wine are always at hand. 


Darkhouse is her first novel and the first one in the Experiment in Terror Series. Things only get better from here on in.


What is The Dex-Files you ask?  It's a companion novel (#5.7) in the Experiment in Terror series all told from Dex's POV.  Read below for the synopsis on Goodreads.

Expected Publication: August 13th, 2012


The truth is out there...


The Dex-Files is a compilation novel that accompanies the Experiment in Terror Series and is not to be-read as a stand-alone. In the Dex-Files we find a variety of scenes and chapters from the enigmatic Dex Foray's POV from books #1-6 in the series. Some of these scenes have been previously published, albeit from Perry's POV, while other scenes are completely new.


In addition to it not being a stand-alone, the novel also contains some major spoilers and should be read only by those who have read all the published books in the series. 


Book #1 - Darkhouse
*Lighthouse Meeting
*Pie Scene
*Jenn and Dex


Book #2 - Red Fox 
*Bar Scene - extended
*Playing Nurse


Book #3 - Dead Sky Morning
*Strippers
*Truth or Dare
*Tent Scene


Book #4 - Lying Season
*Lunch With Friends
*The Big Question
*The Xmas Party


Book #5 - On Demon Wings
*A Phone Call

Book #6 - Into the Hollow
*Bailout

Calendar of events:

Monday July 30th ~ 

Sinfully Delicious Book Reviews  ~ Opening shenanigans Review  (US/Canada Giveaway)

Escapism From Reality ~ Review (International Giveaway)

Tuesday July 31st ~ 

The Bookish Babes ~ Review

Reading the Paranormal  ~ Review

Supa Girl Books ~ Teaser

Wednesday August 1st ~

Hackaroo's Reviews ~ Review

What The Cat Read ~ Review

Readers Confession ~ Guest Post or Teaser 

Thursday August 2nd ~

Supa Girl Books ~ Review

Little Read Riding Hood ~ Review

Pawing Through Books ~ Teaser

Friday August 3rd ~ 

Getting Naughty Between the Stacks ~ Review

What The Cat Read  ~ Guest Post

Unputdownable Books ~ Teaser

Saturday August 4th ~ 

Pawing Through Books ~ Review

Attack The Stacks ~ Review

Sinfully Delicious Book Reviews  ~ Interview with Maximus

I will be updating my Dex-Files Blog Tour page at the top with links for all the blog posts once they have been made. 

OK!!! Enough from me for now!  Oh, just one more thing... Check out my tag for EIT and Karina Halle for past reviews and other random shenanigans.

~~~~EMMY

Emma Silver's Blackbrooke Blog Tour ~ Character Interview with Cassius Godwin

Blackbrooke by Emma Silver:

I live in Blackbrooke and you would have had to be living under a rock to never have heard of it before now. This town is different to most others…Humans aren’t the only residents…”

The residents of Blackbrooke share their town with the Creatures, or Crits as they are known. Grotesque, roaming the streets at night looking for food, their presence means humans have to live by the Rules, keeping them indoors and forbidding them of basic desires.

The most important Rule?

Don’t be a ‘walk out’!

Straight-A student, Liberty Connor, hates the Crits and the endless Rules she and her tight knit group of friends have to live by.

Planning her new life on the Outside with her boyfriend, Gabriel, Liberty whiles away her days waiting to turn 18, so they can leave and be free. That is, until the world she thinks she knows begins to unravel…

Her friends start to walk out. So she’s told. However, something’s not right. Things don’t add up.

Liberty faces a race against time to discover what’s going on with the Creatures of Blackbrooke.

Is it them she has to fear, or something much closer to home?

Blackbrooke is a Young Adult horror novel that has you on the edge of your seat.

Please check out my review for Blackbrooke. 

But without further ado, I was lucky enough to get an insiders scoop on Blackbrooke by interviewing one of its residents, Cassius Godwin.

The Interview:

Emmy~ Thanks for meeting with me for this interview Cassius.  Denzil was kind enough to give me your name when I walked into Tales from the Crits. I tell ya, it's quite the process getting a daypass into Blackbrooke and I dont think I'll want to return anytime soon...  It's a bit creepy here for me to be honest but the history here should be documented and spread world wide.  I've read official reports but I want an insiders scoop. Are you willing to share?

Cassius~ Wow, I'd share if I knew. I really would. All I know are the ten rules we have to recite. We have a lot of teenage walk outs, the golden age seems to be seventeen when they decide its all too much but...I don't know, I don't buy it. That many teenagers so depressed they step outside and let the Crits eat them? I mean, for all we know, the Crits are harmless. People might be running out into the night and sneaking out of Blackbrooke. The adults bang on about all of the reasons why it happens but they don't have a clue. Or if they do, they're not letting us in on it. Sorry, I wish I could tell you more...

How many generations of Godwin's can you trace back here in Blackbrooke?

Since the dawn of time. Probably since the bloody dinosaurs. No, my mum used to be into geneology and did some research but the town records are scarce and my grandparents died young. The weird thing is that my parents were the last surviving kids in their families so I'm pretty much the last Godwin. There's only me to carry on the name. No pressure! I'll probably be the reason the Godwins die out because I doubt I'll ever get married or have kids.

Have there been walk outs in your family?

Yes. My sister walked out when she was seventeen and my mum the year later. 

I'm sorry to hear that.  Do you have close friends?

I have one friend I'm quite close to, Xiang. He's great. He's quiet like me and sometimes gets a hard time because some of the lads think he's weird looking and he isn't very good at sports. Apparently if you excel at sports, you're some kind of god at Blackbrooke Academy. It's pathetic.

Day in and day out in a small town where everybody knows each others dirty laundry has to be difficult.  Is it hard growing up around the same people?  Or does growing up around families with similar issues bring the community together?

It depends on the day as to how I feel about this. It's good that most people are used to me now, you know, with the hair and stuff, so a lot of them don't give me a second glance. However, in the Academy there are a few kids that give me a hard time. I'm an easy target so when they're feeling a bit bored, I get it in the neck.

I think, on the whole, people in Blackbrooke are quite close knit. I know everyone who lives on my street and have a couple of friends at school who I spend time with. We hear about a lot of crime on the Outside but it doesn't happen here. Humans are on the same side so I suppose the Crit dodging unites us.

I don't mean to be so bold but since you brought it up, what is your story?  With the "hair and stuff"?

Heterochromia. My eyes are different colours which you've no doubt noticed. My pale skin and white hair is all linked apparently. Some lack of pigment or something, I don't know. I'm past caring. Nothing's going to change it and the whole of Blackbrooke thinks I'm a freak and that's the way it'll always be.
 

Do you think you'll ever leave Blackbrooke?

Sometimes I think there's nothing I'd rather do but then...I don't know, I get scared. Everyone knows me here - they know I look different so as long as I avoid the tourists, I rarely have to face that freaked out look when people first see me. On the Outside, I imagine spending the rest of my life explaining my condition and I find that quite a depressing prospect. 

Do you feel like there is a secret in Blackbrooke?  Do you ever question the status quo?

Everyday. I think the Rules are put in place more to control us than to protect us. All that stuff about girls wearing their hair up and...fornication, it just smacks of a town that wants to keep its kids pure. And then they kid us by saying we'll be in 'grave danger' if we break them. I don't think it matters, half of the lads in my classes drone on about sex with their girlfriends and they're fine. And with the hair rule, are you telling me that if a Queen decided it wanted to scalp a kid, a couple of hair pins would stop it? No way.   

These rules sound strict and a little absurd.  Heaven forbid someone would want to *cough* let their hair down.

 Do you like to follow the rules or are you a rule breaker? ;)

Haha! After everything I've just said, I do actually follow the Rules. It's not a purposeful thing because I'm scared, it just because I don't really have any reason to break them. There have been some nights where I've sat on the step at the back door of my house until its gone dark but that's as close as I've got to being a rulebreaker. I'm a bit boring really..

Are there certain rules you want to break or feel like are just too strict?

Well, it makes little difference to me but if things were different then I'd say Rule 8 is probably the most harsh. You know, the sex rule. It not so much the age thing, it's just the fact that its seen as this forbidden and dirty act that will have some devastating effect on your family and the whole of Blackbrooke if you do it. Like I said, I'm not buying that its to do with the Crits smelling the pheromones on us, I think its a power thing.

Wow.  These rules sound really intense.  Lets get to a less serious (and creepy) topic...

I've seen some of the school kids around town and noticed you don't wear the uniform, are your skinny jeans, tie and coat a fashion statement? A way to rebel? Or are you trying to impress the ladies?

Oh...god...no! That's not the case at all. Not really anyway. I was a really small kid and went from barely five feet to...I think I'm 6 ft 2 or something...yeah, I grew really fast and Blackbrooke had no school trousers that fit me. I was still really skinny, and they had to have them specially made so, as long as I was reasonably smart, they let me wear what I wanted. By the time the trousers arrived, I'd grown again so everyone just gave up. A letter was sent to my dad about it around a year ago but he's not bothered. Get some stick from the teachers from time to time but weirdly none of the other kids seem to comment. Probably because the way I look makes me stand out anyway...

Is there anybody special in your life?

What, you mean like a girlfriend or something? No. I...hang on...this is just going to be printed online isn't it? If that's the case then no one in Blackbrooke will ever see it. You must have heard our internet connection is practically non-existent. Okay, seeing as there's no danger of anyone I know reading it, there's one girl I like but she's not interested in me. She used to be, but not in that way. We used to be friends when we were kids and she's pretty amazing. Never going to happen though. She's got a boyfriend.

Oh Cassius, I just met you but you seem like quite the catch.  Don't sell yourself short!  The world is full of opportunities and you never know what might happen.  So let's get hypothetical, shall we?

If you could leave Blackbrooke and go anywhere for vacation, where would you go?

I don't really have a specific place in mind. But I like the idea of either heading somewhere remote where there is no one around for miles, maybe near a lake or up in the mountains somewhere. Either that or a big city that's bustling with people. Somewhere I can hide away, or blend in with the other freaks.

So not to be morbid but I have a bucket list.  Mine includes sky diving and choreographing a flash mob to Train in Vain by The Clash...  What kind of crazy things would you like to do assuming you ever leave Blackbrooke?

Train in Vain, that's cool. It's from the London Calling album, right? Yeah, my dad has that. He plays the guitar and is really into his punk. Sorry going off track! You can't judge me or laugh by the way, because they're going to seem really lame compared to yours. You have to remember that we don't get to do much in this town. With that in mind, I'd like to try out a music festival - the idea of people camping outdoors at night and watching bands all day amazes me, and I'd like to watch the sun come up on a beach. Is that cheesy? I just like the thought of feeling safe being outside when its dark.

Hahaha.  Yeah, that's London Calling.  Way to make me feel old lumping me in with your dad!  I'll have you know I was born after that album was released.  But honestly, those are great items for a bucket list.  Keep on dreaming and maybe someday you'll get out there and try for yourself!


I'm a bit of a nerd so forgive me for this next question but I am a Twilight Zone fan and it inspired this question.
If you were stuck in the Twilight Zone and had to repeat the same day over and over, what album, book and drink would you have everyday?

Okay, the book is ridiculous...when I was really little, my family had this really old car that my dad refused to scrap. Every weekend he'd be out, underneath it, covered in oil and shouting his mouth off at the thing. Anyway, he had the workshop manual for it and would make me stand next to the car and read out parts of it as he worked. I was about six and couldn't say half of the words, let alone understand them. My friend, the one I mentioned before, used to help me sometimes because she could read better than me and my mum and sister would come out and laugh at the pair of us, banging on about things like 'carburetors' and 'gaskets'. I've still got the book and it still smells like motor oil and...I don't know, I just have good memories whenever I see it.

I can't choose just one album! That's harsh. Okay, let's see...I have quite ecletic taste so I'd have to flip a coin for either The Who's Quadrophenia or Endtroducing by DJ Shadow. They're not really my favourites but I can completely lose myself when I put them on. As much as I love it, I don't think I could listen to Never Mind the Bollocks by Sex Pistols over and over again!
Drink...hmm...I've started having a drink with my dad sometimes in the evenings but I can't say I've developed much of a taste for it. Weird as it sounds, and pathetic, my old friend's mum used to make us fruit punch in the summer when we used to play which was great. 

I love DJ Shadow!  I totally get the "losing yourself" comment with his music.  It's just music you feel deep in your bones and let it take you away.  Oh wow, Never Mind the Bollocks on repeat would earn me a padded cell for sure.

Thanks very much Cassius for sitting in with me for this interview.  The adults here are tight lipped, well, except for Denzil, but I wanted a youthful perspective on Blackbrooke.

~~~

For more information on Emma Silver, check out these links:
Emma's Blog
Emma on Facebook
Emma on Twitter
Blackbrooke on Twitter
Purchase Blackbrooke on Amazon

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