Martyr Blog Tour + GIVEAWAY

Today OS&B is happy to receive the Martyr Blog Tour hosted by Me, My Shelf, and I! Author A.R. Kahler stopped by the blog to visit and chat about books that have influenced him as a writer. While I have yet to read Martyr, it definitely looks like a book I will be checking out! 

MARTYR: The Hunted Book One
Author: A.R. Kahler
Release Date: October 28th, 2014
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Genre: Young Adult

Amazon || B&N 

Synopsis:

Three years have passed since magic destroyed the world.
Those who remain struggle to survive the monsters roaming the streets, fighting back with steel and magic—the very weapons that birthed the Howls in the first place. Tenn is one such Hunter, a boy with the ability to harness the elements through ancient runes. For years, the Hunters have used this magic to keep the monsters at bay, but it's never been enough to truly win the war. Humans are losing.
When Tenn falls prey to an incubus named Tomás and his terrifying Kin, Tenn learns there's more to this than a fight for survival. He's a pawn in a bigger game, one with devastating consequences. If he doesn't play his part, it could cost him his life, his lover and his world

Guest Post:

I fell in love with Harry Potter over a decade ago, right when it was released to America (thanks to my grandmother, who was a huge advocate of reading and continually checked the Scholastic catalog for new books for me to devour). I was twelve and still eager to believe my owl had gotten lost in the cornfields of Iowa, or maybe that the American version of Hogwarts accepted students later in their life. I read it a few weeks before my thirteenth birthday and prayed that was the case.

Due to some family and school issues, I wanted more than anything else to be taken away—taken to a place where I'd have friends and a purpose and an escape from reality. Hogwarts became my spiritual home. Harry's schoolmates became my companions. His world enticed me to explore my own.

I'd always been an avid reader, but HP was the first book that truly ensnared me, truly made me wonder what if?...

And those two little words are what got me started writing.

You always hear that phrase, books giving 'a sense of wonder' and for me, HP took it a step farther. It didn't just make me look at the world with wonderment; it made me begin to ask my own questions. It made me want to explore those questions. Perhaps most importantly, it made me want to create something that would instill that feeling in others. I wanted to write books that made people ask, what if?... So I did. I wrote the beginnings of a book about a boy transported to another world to defeat an unnamed evil. I wrote short stories and long stories (though for some reason, never fan fic) and poems and none of them were all that good. But Harry Potter lit the spark, and I've kept the flame going for the last fifteen years.

Sure, my current works are a little, um, darker than Harry Potter. (Secret: I'm planning on delving deeper into Middle Grade later on.) Not that I think I could follow in HP's footsteps, but I'd sure like to try. I don't really care about the fame—I care about reaching out and sharing this spark with other kids. I want people to read my works and wonder what if...

What if I was powerful?

What if I was important?

What if I could change the things I don't like?

What if people cared?

And I want them to explore that and maybe find their own spark to carry out into the world.

Because that's the hardest part of being a kid. You have all this messed-up stuff going on in the world and in your head and you don't feel you can do anything about it. So you find a way to cope. You escape to a world where your actions influence the world around you. You become the hero. And maybe, just maybe, that helps you face what's going on outside the pages. Maybe it helps you see something bigger.

For me, Harry Potter will always be that book. When my life feels like it's falling apart, I'll read Prisoner of Azkaban. When I feel helpless, I'll read Order of the Phoenix.

And when I need to remember why I'm doing this, I read Philosopher's Stone. It was the beginning, and it will carry me through to the end.

Some books feel like coming home.

I want to share that feeling with as many readers as possible.

About the Author

Alex is many things, but first and foremost, he’s a Sagittarius.

Born in Iowa and educated across the States, he’s taught circus in Amsterdam and Madrid, gotten madly lost in the Scottish wilderness, received his Masters in Creative Writing from Glasgow University, and drummed with Norse shamans. Sometimes he also walks about on stilts. Or sews. Or hammers tiny pieces of metal into pretty shapes. 

When he’s not writing or climbing in the rafters, he’s probably drinking coffee. And seeing as he currently resides in Seattle, there’s coffee aplenty.

Website: http://www.arkahler.com/

Twitter: @ARKahler

Giveaway:

Must be 13+ To Enter | Ships in US Only.

One winner will get a signed copy of 'Immortal Circus: Act Two' and 'Immortal Circus: Final Act'

+ Martyr swag, including stickers, bookmarks, a signed bookplate, and trading cards.

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