Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Virtual Book Tour w/Giveaway: The Siren Wakes by J.A. Hayman

 

The Siren Wakes
by J.A.Hayman
GENRE: Science Fiction/ Thriller

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J.A.Hayman will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Please visit GoddessFish.com to follow the tour, remember the more you comment better your chances on winning.

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BLURB:

Alex Nicholls wakes in a field with no recollection of how he got there. With his identity pulled into question he is forced on the run from the corrupt government who believes he is sick. He is led on a journey to discover the truth behind his identity and the truth behind the sickness which haunts him.

Buy Link:

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Excerpt:

In the corner of my eye I spotted something behind Terry. There was a man. A man walking by. He looked just like me. It was like looking in a mirror, and my mind struggled to comprehend how this could be possible. He glanced at me before scurrying off into the stairwell. I stood up in a daze and walked to the corridor. Terry protested, but I just ignored him. I reached the empty stairwell perplexed.

Feeling inexplicably drawn to the man, I ran out into the stairwell. I felt like I had to find out why he looked just like me; was this some sort of bizarre prank? The man was gone. I looked down the middle of the staircase, but he wasn’t there. I sprinted up the stairs toward the roof, leaving Terry floundering in the stairwell entrance, unsure what to do. My footsteps thudded as I paced upward, anticipating what could be happening, but when I threw open the roof door, I found the roof to be empty. There was no way the man could have gone anywhere else, but he simply wasn’t there. Terry caught up to me. “You...okay there, man?” he said, panting. He wasn’t the most interesting man I knew; however, he was kind, which meant he was decent friend material, not to say I wouldn’t ditch him if someone else swooped into my desolate life. I was confused. I was sure I had seen someone a moment ago, but no one was out on the roof. I gave a nervous laugh, scratching at my palm. “I thought I saw something.” Giving him a meek look, I returned to the stairwell. Maybe I was just tired and seeing things. Could have I fallen asleep for a moment and dreamed it? It’s hard to determine a dream from reality; in a dream everything seems to make sense, only upon waking do you realize the absurdity of it all.


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Q & A with J.A. Hayman


What books/authors have influenced your writing?

Ray Bradbury was a huge influencer of my work. Personally I believe that Fahrenheit 451 is one of the best books ever written. Ray’s view of the future is incredible and doesn’t seem too far off where we are heading. I suppose that Stephen King was a huge influencer of my writing… I have been a long time fan of his and he initially inspired me to write a novel of my own. Station Eleven; The Machine, The Devotion of Suspect X and Dying of the Light have heavily influenced my writing. I love the way the authors managed to weave their stories and plot and surprise you so well. I think Emily St. John Mandel’s world building is incredible and I love James Smythe’s ability to write these awesome plot twists that you wouldn’t expect.

Tell us something you hate doing. Why?

I hate flying. I will still get flights if it is important… but at any opportunity I would take a different mode of transport. I have never liked flying and the whole experience for me is very protracted and irritating. My last flight to Canberra was full of crying children and someone sat in my seat.

What's your pet peeve?
Personal space is my pet peeve. I hate when people invade personal space and have no sense of it… it’s so obnoxious! It is probably just the introvert in me speaking but I can’t understand people who have no sense of personal space. If you are closer than an arm’s length to me… you are too close my friend.

When you are in writer mode, music or no music? If music, do you have a playlist?


I pretty much always listen to music when writing… but what I listen to completely depends on what I am writing. When I was writing ‘The Siren Wakes’ I was predominantly listening to surreal sounding music; the Interstellar OST and the Inception OST. For my latest WIP ‘Into Ashes’ I have been listening to the Zankyou no Terror OST which is beautiful, some Johnny Cash and some Vaporwave to get into the right mood for the novel.

Have you ever had one character you wanted to go one way with but after the book was done the character was totally different?

When I started ‘The Siren Wakes’ I intended the two brothers- Noah and Eric to be a lot more 2 dimensional. Noah was the good brother and Eric was the evil brother. As the story progressed the characters became a lot more morally grey as I felt it added more realism to the story. In the final book I think Eric is actually a lot more morally sound than Noah. Eric does some horrific things, but I wanted the reader to question whether Noah is as good as he is made out to be.






AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Native to the UK, I was born in the Garden of England in the early 90s.
I was creative from a young age, always wrapped up in my own world and fantasies. I was a big reader from a young age, reading Les Miserables and Lord of the Rings while I was still in primary school.

I was fortunate enough to be able to travel a lot in my youth, from Hong Kong to Houston I experienced the world and gained a greater perspective of the world outside my small woodland village I grew up in.

In secondary school I was told I was too cynical to be a writer and was put off writing for many years. Instead I pursued a degree in Physical Geography, gaining my Masters degree in late 2015. University gave me time to really discover myself as a person. Allowing me to pursue my passions and dreams to their fullest. I want to share my stories and ideas with the world. As a child I hungrily devoured fiction and now I will help feed the minds of others.

Social Links:

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14 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading both the excerpt and your guest post. Thanks

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  2. Enjoyed reading the post. Personal space is a pet peeve of mine too.

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  3. I'm in complete agreement: Fahrenheit 451 is most definitely one of the best books ever written.

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  4. Really enjoyed the synopsis of the book and I also like the cover. Book sounds like an intriguing read.

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  5. I'm not into flying, either!

    --Trix

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  6. Great post! I am with you on the personal space thing - definitely a pet peeve of mine as well.

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  7. Sounds like a great read, thank you for the interesting Q&A!

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  8. Congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)

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  9. It's taken me till now to work out what OST stands for - doh!

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  10. I like the sentiment that you're feeding 'the minds of others'.

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  11. I laughed when I read that you were steered away from writing. My school guidance counsellor suggested that I should work in the field of nuclear energy! I mean, WTF? I teach & advocate for people with intellectual +/- physical disabilities and love it!

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