Thursday, January 10, 2013

Book Blitz and Giveaway: Obscura Burning by Suzanne van Rooyen




Title: Obscura Burning
Author: Suzanne van Rooyen
Published: December 7th 2012 (Etopia Press)
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | OmniLit
The world's going to end in fire…and it's all Kyle's fault.
Kyle Wolfe's world is about to crash and burn. Just weeks away from graduation, a fire kills Kyle's two best friends and leaves him permanently scarred. A fire that Kyle accidentally set the night he cheated on his boyfriend Danny with their female friend, Shira. That same day, a strange new planet, Obscura, appears in the sky. And suddenly Kyle's friends aren't all that dead anymore.
Each time Kyle goes to sleep, he awakens to two different realities. In one, his boyfriend Danny is still alive, but Shira is dead. In the other, it's Shira who's alive...and now they're friends with benefits. Shifting between realities is slowly killing him, and he's not the only one dying. The world is dying with him. He's pretty sure Obscura has something to do with it, but with his parents' marriage imploding and realities shifting each time he closes his eyes, Kyle has problems enough without being the one in charge of saving the world...


It sounds so good! I definitely want to explore what this novel has to offer to us readers. I love the cover and the synopsis, hopefully when I finally read the book, I'll love it as well. Today I get to share an excerpt and a giveaway. Hope you enjoy and good luck to everyone:)
 

 

Excerpt



Closing my eyes, I imagine New Mexico burning, can almost smell it, the pungent pine, fireball mesquite, and smouldering cacti. I should be worried about the damage the UV’s doing to my scars, but after tonight, none of that will matter.

Just when you think it can’t possibly get any hotter or the mercury will explode, the temperature rises just a few more degrees. Today, Coyote’s Luck lies in a simmering mirage, hotter than any hell imaginable.

The crush of mesquite huddling between the tombstones offers little respite from the sun. Sticking to the dappled shade, I thread my way toward Danny’s grave. I’m not alone.

She looks like a ghost with the white sundress fanning around her legs, her long black hair teased by the warm breeze. For a moment, I think it’s one of the ch’iindi made flesh, until she turns at the sound of my step.

Gabriela, her face a teary-eyed frown. She folds her arms and returns her gaze to the grave. When did she get so thin? She was always so voluptuous, a shorter, less saggy version of her mother. Now she looks more like a sixteen-year-old kid, barely there in layers of cotton.

We stand in silence, both just staring at the grave. The rosaries dangle over the stone, tied in knots around the stems of already dead flowers. There’s a white and blue beaded one, the one that was attached to Danny’s bed, the one he’d kiss at night before going to sleep.

“I miss him so much,” Gabriela says eventually.

“So do I.”

“I blame you, you know.” She casts me a sidelong glance.

“Maybe you should.”

She nods and sniffs and fingers one of the blooms turned brown by the heat.

“Dead, all of it.” She tears the petals from the stalk. “Little Maria, now Daniel.” She turns her dark eyes on me, searching for something I wish I could give her.

“This is killing my parents. Daniel was their only son. They’ll never have more children. Once, I had a brother. Now I’m alone. Sister to dead siblings.”

That’s the most Gabriela’s ever said, to me at least. I’m stunned into uncomfortable silence. There’s nothing I can say that’ll make it right. But tonight, maybe there’ll be something I can do.

“I wish I could make it right.” My words sound so pathetic.

She harrumphs and digs her sandaled toe into the dirt. “Nothing can make Daniel dying right.”

“I’m sorry.” There is nothing else I can say without trying to explain the whole confusing story and Gabriela’s not the type to believe in rifts in reality.

“Tell Daniel you’re sorry. He’s the one who died because of you.” She takes a deliberate step away from me, crosses herself, offering prayers in Spanish to the ether.

“I loved him, you know.” Maybe I am to blame, but she makes it sound like I don’t give a crap that he’s dead.

“Obviously not enough.”

Intense - that's all I can say. The idea of this book sounds so awesome. I wouldn't want to trade places with Kyle, though!
 

Giveaway


Meet Suzanne

Suzanne is a freelance writer and author from South Africa. She currently lives in Finland and finds the cold, dark forests nothing if not inspiring. Suzanne is the author of the cyberpunk novel Dragon’s Teeth (Divertir), the YA science fiction novel Obscura Burning (Etopia) and has had several short stories published by Golden Visions Magazine, Space and Time and Niteblade. Niteblade nominated her short story Where dreams are grown for the Pushcart Prize. Her non-fiction articles on travel, music and other topics can be found scattered throughout the Internet. Although she has a Master’s degree in music, Suzanne prefers conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. When not writing you can find her teaching dance to ninth graders or playing in the snow with her shiba inu. Suzanne is represented by Jordy Albert of the Booker Albert Agency.

Website| Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

8 comments:

  1. Oh wow this sounds really good. I love LGBT novels and this one definitely throws a unique spin at it. Thanks for sharing the excerpt and for the giveaway, Siiri!

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    1. I know, right? It sounds so, so good. I don't know when I'll have time to read it though, but it's definitely on my TBR list.

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  2. Yay thanks for participating, dollface! I seriously love this cover and it sounds like a really good read!

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    1. Heh, thanks for hosting it, Giselle! If it wasn't for Xpressotours, I probably wouldn't know about half of these books:) And I agree 100%!!!

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  3. Hmmmmm. I'm not sure how I feel about this one Siiri! I don't do well with cheating AT ALL, so right off the bat Kyle has some serious groveling to do with me for cheating on Daniel. Poor Daniel. I'm super curious as to how things are going to work out though, and whether one of the two realities he's living is going to win out or if a third one will come into play.

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    1. Yeahhh, I'm not that stoked about the cheating element either, but it sets up the plot in an intriguing way though. Ooooh, I didn't even think about a third reality O_O That's a great idea, Jenny!!

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    2. There's more to Kyle's world than meets the eye ;)

      And thanks for hosting me Sirtsu!

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    3. Oh, really? I'm even more eager to read your book now, Suzanne. You're welcome! Obscura Burning seems awesome and why not share it with other people who love reading:) Glad I could help!

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