Beyond The Edge by Kallysten (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Today I am very excited to welcome author, Kallysten, with her new book, Beyond the Edge!

As I was preparing for this blog tour, I found myself tempted to approach the closest wall and bang my head repeatedly against it. Honestly, why did I think it’d be a good idea to hop from blog to blog and… *shudders* talk about myself?

There are plenty of options for a blog tour. My favorite, if I can admit as much, is the ‘review’ option, which only requires me to send a copy of the book and cross my fingers (and toes) very, very tightly in hopes that the reviewer will enjoy my story. I’ve turned the fingers (and toes) crossing to a fine art, if I may say so myself. But there are other fun options. Writing flash fiction, for me, is another favorite, because slipping back into my characters’ minds is always a treat. Same thing for character interviews. What author doesn’t like to just let characters give a piece of their mind?

Where my fingers start freezing on the keyboard and sweat starts beading on my forehead is when I’m confronted to the all too important ‘guest post’.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the opportunity and I’m grateful for it, because really, it’s a privilege to be invited into someone’s home (blog) and to be given a few minutes to talk about anything and everything.

The problem is… Now, promise you won’t tell anyone? All right. Here I go. My dreadful secret…

I’m boring.

I don’t have funny anecdotes to share, or amazing trips to describe, and I wouldn’t dare give anyone tips about writing, not when I’m still (always) learning the craft myself. I doubt anyone cares what I have for breakfast in the morning (a cup of milk and a chocolate and hazelnut biscotti, if you really want to know) or what my favorite piece of clothing is (my Cleveland Aquarium hoodie and my zombie-kitten t-shirt, both gift of my Hubby, might just tie for the honor). So when a host does me the kindness of opening their blog to me, mostly it just leaves me in front of a white page with a cursor that mocks me.

Give me a topic, any topic, a number of words, a tone, anything at all and I'll come up with something. It might not be brilliant or even all that interesting, but I'll write it. Tell me 'anything you want' and watch me freeze in horror. If there's one true thing about me it's that I don't believe I have many things worth talking about. That is, after all, one reason why I am a storyteller: so I can hide behind my characters, humans or not, and inside worlds that sometimes resemble our own, and sometimes are entirely different.

Ah, if only I could send my characters to do blog posts and interview for me… Lisa, one of the characters in Beyond The Edge, is a genius at public relations, and she uses her skills to make her and Brett’s club a success – she’d be a great spokesperson for me. Or maybe Leo or Anando… Both of them can charm the pants of anything that moves..!

Compulsive shyness might have been okay for authors in the past, but in the age of the Internet and social media, it’s not a writer’s best friend, far from it. We are expected to have a ‘platform’ (a prospect as appealing to me as wearing platform shoes) and show off our clout with impressive numbers of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ and ‘repins’, and to be funny and/or interesting in 140 characters or less.

Now I do enjoy getting to talk to my readers, answering their questions… or all right, I’ll admit it, teasing them with hints about future stories until they call me evil. I wear this accusation as a badge of honor.

But having an online presence doesn’t come easy to me. In ‘real life’, I’m most comfortable around just one or two good friends. Any more than that and I become that quiet, bookish girl who stands by the walls where she can see everything, who listens to what everyone is talking about, and who smiles a bit absently as she thinks about the next scene or story she wants to write. On the net, I’m a lurker who reads what people say but feels like she has little of interest to contribute - other than my stories.

So because it’s expected, I try to Tweet, and I’m on Facebook, and G+, and Goodreads, and I do book tours, and agonize over blog posts I fear no one is going to read, all the while wishing I was writing my latest WIP instead…

Prove me wrong? Comment and say hi? :)

Beyond The Edge

Buy Now!

As Brett Andrews, owner of the famous club On The Edge, reaches the big ‘four-O,’ he has one request and one question for his two vampire lovers, Leo and Lisa: he doesn’t want them to organize any sort of celebration for him – but he does want to know why neither of them has ever mentioned the possibility of turning him into a vampire.
The question finds an answer, and the three of them share a promise for the year to come. His request, on the other hand, is doomed from the start as they already have plans for the big day: they have a gift for him to match presents he offered each of them, and the party they planned with help from a couple of friends promises to be something special.
Vampire Anando and his human lover Virginia met at On The Edge. They are friends and occasional lovers of Leo, Brett and Lisa. When asked, they gladly accept to host the big-bash birthday party – and the private after-party, too. A good time is had by all, but the last gift is only revealed a few weeks later, to be delivered after nine months.
With both humans in love with vampires, neither expected a child in their future. As for the vampires, they knew for a fact that they’d never become parents. For all five, once the first shock has passed, decisions have to be made. Will this new adventure strengthen bonds of love and friendship, or will it tear lives apart?

Kallysten’s most exciting accomplishment to date was to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and catch!) the love of her life. She has been writing for over fifteen years, and always enjoyed sharing her stories and listening to the readers' reactions. After playing with science fiction, short stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words at paranormal romance novels.

To see her other stories, including free short stories and sample chapters, visit http://original.kallysten.net

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GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to check out the 'big prizes' for the tour, which are $25 and $15 giftcards, over at Kallysten's tour page!