Danita Minnis

Helen will award a $25 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/05/name-before-masses-tour-blood-destiny.html

Helen Harper Interview

Do you ever wish you were someone else? Who?

No, I really don’t ever wish I was someone else.  There are many elements of other people who I deeply admire: for example, the tenacity that JK Rowling showed in getting her books published in the first place, as well as her determination to hold onto a lot of the decisionmaking process when the Harry Potter series took off.  When I was a teenager, I was desperate to be like Kate Adie, who was a very visible war correspondent for the BBC, but I didn’t ever want to be her.  I think that where I am today and the life that I have now is a result of my choices and my decisions, both good and bad, and that I need to own up to that.  If there’s something in my life that I am unhappy with then I strongly believe that it’s down to me to change it.  Wishing to be someone else or to have someone else’s life is, in my humble opinion, a cop out.
What did you do on your last birthday?

It was very quiet!  I don’t remember doing very much at all, just a few drinks with some friends.  I regularly do bootcamp in the mornings before I start work, and it’s a tradition with them that, if it’s your birthday, you have to do the same amount of burpees as you have years; I think I pretty much managed to side-step that as well and sneak off before anyone realised!

 

 

Do you have any tattoos?  Where? When did you get it/them? Where are they on your body?

I have a tattoo of a dragon on my right shoulder.  Given that my current Blood Destiny series features dragons, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the two were somehow related, however I had it done back when I was a university student (which was too long ago to admit to), and mainly because I just liked dragons.  I did tell several people that it was because I was born in the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which is true, but that wasn’t really the reason I had it done!

At the time, I thought that I’d been very cautious about getting the tattoo done, and that I’d considered the advantages and disadvantages very thoroughly and was sure that I’d never regret it.  Typically, I now do wish it wasn’t there anymore.  I suppose I’m fortunate that it’s on my back so I rarely, if ever, have to see it.  That’s not to say that I dislike tattoos on other people: I lived in Japan for several years and was frequently awe-struck at the very high level of artistry that went into the genuinely unique designs some of my friends had done.  It’s just that the one I have is somewhat ordinary, which somehow seems to defeat the purpose of having a tattoo done in the first place.

 

BLOOD DESTINY SERIES by Helen Harper

Blurb

Mackenzie Smith has always known that she was different. Growing up as the only human in a pack of rural shapeshifters will do that to you, but then couple it with some mean fighting skills and a fiery temper and you end up with a woman that few will dare to cross. However, when the only father figure in her life is brutally murdered, and the dangerous Brethren with their predatory Lord Alpha come to investigate, Mack has to not only ensure the physical safety of her adopted family by hiding her apparent humanity, she also has to seek the blood-soaked vengeance that she craves.

 

Excerpt

I jogged along a small brook until it curved upstream towards the hills, then hopped over it and headed towards where I knew John would be.  I finally found him crouched in a clearing, not far from the edges of the moor.

“You sound like an elephant running through those trees,” he complained.

I put my hands on my hips and raised an eyebrow.  “Is that the thanks I’m getting for interrupting my run to come and investigate the over-energetic dalliances of some bunny rabbits?”

“That was one time.”  He straightened up.  His salt and pepper beard and bald head, along with the laughter lines around his eyes, hinted at the wisdom and experience contained within that smart mind of his.  John had been alpha in Cornwall for thirty-two years, and was universally liked and respected by the pack, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t still have a little fun.

“So what is it this time?  Don’t tell me, I’ve got it, a sheep has gotten lost on the moor and its bleating is terrifying the farmers.”

He held out his palm.  There was a small shiny black object resting in the middle.  “I wish that’s what it was,” he said grimly.  “Take a look at this.”

I picked it up from his hand and rolled it through my fingers.  It was almost entirely weightless, and very smooth.  There was also something else.  I held it up to my ear and heard an odd chiming sound.

John looked at me sharply.  “You can hear it?”

“Sure,” I said surprised.

“Describe it to me.”

“You mean you can’t hear it?”  I was puzzled.  Compared to my own hearing, John could hear a leaf drop from fifty paces away.  “It’s like bells.  Only not, it’s more continuous than that.  Like a never-ending echo of a chime.”

He pursed his lips, clearly unhappy.  “It’s a wichtlein’s stone.”

“A mine fairy’s?  They knock three times and a miner drops dead?”

“You’ve been reading too many fairy tales.  Wichtleins do sometimes hang around old mines and tease the men that work there, but more often than not they are true harbingers of evil.  I don’t think one has been seen in the British Isles for more than a century.”

 

Blurb

After escaping the claws of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the Brethren, Mack is trying to lead a quiet lonely life in Inverness in rural Scotland, away from anyone who might happen to be a shapeshifter. However, when she lands a job at an old bookstore owned by a mysterious elderly woman who not only has a familiar passion for herbal lore but also seems to know more than she should, Mack ends up caught in a maelstrom between the Ministry of Mages, the Fae and the Brethren.

Now she has to decide between staying hidden and facing the music, as well as confronting her real feelings for the green eyed power of Corrigan himself.

 

Blurb

Mack begins her training at the mages’ academy in the hope that, by complying, the stasis spell will be lifted from her old friend, Mrs. Alcoon. However, once there, she finds herself surrounded by unfriendly adults and petulant teenagers, the majority of whom seem determined to see her fail.

Feeling attacked on all fronts, Mack finds it harder and harder to keep a rein on her temper. Forced to attend anger management classes and deal with the predatory attentions of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the shapeshifter world, her emotions start to unravel. But when she comes across a familiar text within the walls of the mages’ library, which might just provide the clues she needs to unlock the secrets of her background and her dragon blood, she realises that her problems are only just beginning…

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Helen Harper is an English teacher currently living abroad in Malaysia. As a long time reader of urban fantasy, she finally bit the bullet and began to develop her own series of novels.

Helen has always been a book lover, devouring science fiction and fantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland. “I always loved the escapism provided by those genres,” states Helen. “No matter how bad life gets, you can always find a route out, even if only temporarily, in the pages of a good book.”

The growth of urban fantasy fascinated her – the mix of reality and fantasy along with strong heroic female characters appealed from the very beginning, and inspired her to write her own.

Facebook Author page:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-Harper/101590660022586

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarperFire

Amazon.com buy links:

Bloodfire http://www.amazon.com/Bloodfire-Blood-Destiny-1-ebook/dp/B00AU43ZXK

Bloodmagic http://www.amazon.com/Bloodmagic-Blood-Destiny-2-ebook/dp/B00AU0O00G/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

Bloodrage http://www.amazon.com/Bloodrage-Blood-Destiny-3-ebook/dp/B00BQEFTPK/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

 

 

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