Danita Minnis

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Martha Dunlop will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

The Starfolk Trilogy

by Martha Dunlop

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GENRE:   Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

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BLURB:

Destiny calls. Soulmates draw closer. One woman stands in the way.

Beth trusts her psychic senses. So when her birthday visit to a daytime TV talk show takes a weird turn, she knows something is wrong. Amelia, the celebrity on stage, is oddly fixated on Beth and the man with the microphone is hauntingly familiar. Things become even stranger when she buys a tarot deck, and they are all pictured in the cards.  

Jonan has waited an eternity to be with the woman who haunts his dreams. When he finally sees her at the TV studio, he hopes life with his soulmate is within reach. But as Amelia refuses to let go of their past together, his hopes fade.

Amelia stands between Beth and Jonan. Spinning tales of supernatural threats to her adoring fan base, she builds a personality cult through fear of the paranormal. As her power grows, she does her best to scare Beth away from Jonan and plans to reclaim him for herself.

United by a destiny that spans lifetimes, Beth and Jonan are determined to stop Amelia’s fear-mongering. But Amelia has more than one card to play. Even though they are fated to be together, Amelia’s destructive nature may once again tear them apart.

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Excerpt:

Beth sighed and slouched down in her front-row seat at the TV studio. If she’d known she was going to be subjected to this drivel, she wouldn’t have come. She’d been here for two hours already, and not one of the stories had been genuine. Her so-called friend and flatmate had a lot to answer for. She was pleased Laura loved her new job, and it had been obvious her friend’s enthusiasm about the chat show was overblown, but this was worse than she’d expected.

She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned. Laura was standing off to the side of the set, waving her clipboard at Beth. She shifted on her mile-high spikes. Her feet must have been so uncomfortable, but Laura had been determined to make an impression today. Her eyes were bright as she scanned the set, drinking in her world. This job was her triumph. Beth couldn’t fault her enthusiasm, she just wished Laura had left her out of today’s charade.

Seated on the dais, Katherine Haversham waited for a moment, eyebrows raised, bright red lips pursed.

‘Thank you for staying with us over the break. I know this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Model and It girl Amelia Faustus is here, live, on Deep and Dark to break her silence over the horrific out-of-body attack that took her from the media spotlight. After weeks of fear and soul-searching, she has decided to step back into the public eye. Amelia, welcome. Tell us what happened.’ Katherine leaned forward. ‘Start from the beginning.’

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Author Interview

Hi Danita, thank you so much for welcoming me onto your blog!

1. How did you choose your genre? What made you write this book?

I read tarot, and do Reiki. I love crystals, sage, meditation, the lot. When I started talking about this online,people told me about their experiences with intuition and the paranormal. You’d be surprised by how many people live with heightened intuitive senses, but most don’t talk publicly about it. And there aren’t many fiction books that focus on that either. So I wanted to write characters who had exaggerated versions of these experiences. My main character, Beth, has always known she was psychic, but kept it very much to herself. She’s kept herself distant from everyone apart from one friend who is so self absorbed she doesn’t pay much attention to what’s going on in Beth’s world, and she’s not close to her family. She’s used to people who take from her and deplete her energy. So when she meets Jonan, the man with the violet eyes, she’s as wary as she is fascinated. But Jonan brings her into a new world, where people are like her, and they have been waiting for her for a lifetime. Finally she has a community. But around her, things are falling apart because of the power grab of one celebrity, Amelia, who is controlling people through fear using stories of paranormal attack. But as Beth gets to know Amelia, she realises there is history between her and Jonan, and everything might be more connected that she realised. I started writing The Starfolk Arcana in 2016, whilst watching the beginning of the rise of personality cults. This played heavily into the Starfolk books where I explored the rise of a fictional personality cult and the way charisma, celebrity and indoctrination might persuade people to follow, and believe, something outrageous.

2. Writers write what they know, and must observe the world. Are you a first born, middle or last child and how does this shape your view of the world?

I am a first born child and my sister is a lot younger than me, so I had nine years of being an only child before she arrived. I think this increased my independence.

3. Where is your favorite place to write?

I have a writing room in the garden. It is basically me as a room! It has my desk, lots of books, pictures of my book covers on the wall, a meditation corner, and my exercise equipment. This is my favourite place to write and I have been surprised at how much more I can accomplish with a dedicated writing space, separate to the house. My dog also loves it out here and has a number of favourite sleeping spots, particularly next to my desk and hiding behind the spin bike.

4. How do you feel about killing your darlings, and what do you do with the remains?

Well that would be telling! You would have to read the books to find out. That said, I have killed off characters in my books, and there may be more of that to come. Of course, I won’t tell you who, which room it was in, or whether it was done using the candlestick or the lead piping!

5. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them?

I have so many favourite authors and I have chatted to many of them, online at least. But I would really love to ask Diana Gabaldon about creating Jamie Fraser. With that one amazing character, she has secured a devoted (can I say obsessed?) fandom for a huge series of enormous books. I know this, because I am one of her fans and follow the story avidly. I would love to know how she set about creating Jamie and whether he was consciously plotted, or whether it was a moment of magic.

6. Inquiring minds want to know…tell readers something about you that no one knows.

I am a fiddle player and I played in a folk band at the party after the premiere of the first Lord of the Rings film. It was a great, celebrity infused night and we were all excited to be there. But of course we hadn’t seen the film yet and weren’t familiar with most of the actors. One of the organisers pointed us in the direction of a particular room and told us Liv Tyler was in there. We all rushed through, and then realised none of us knew what Liv Tyler looked like! I would have had a much greater appreciation of it all if I’d been able to see the film first!

7. You are stranded on a deserted island with only a back pack for company. What three items are in yoursurvival pack?

Ooh, that’s a tricky one. I’m assuming I can’t charge anying or get any kind of signal? In that case, there would have to be a book in there, and a really long book. Following the theme of the earlier question, I think Outlander would be a great one to take. I’d have a photograph album filled with pictures of everyone I love, and I’d have a notebook so I could write an amazing story about being stranded on a deserted island with only a back pack for company!

8. If you could have one super power in your existence, what would it be?

It would have to be the ability to heal: myself and others. Imagine how untouchable you would be if you could heal yourself and the people you loved and keep everyone strong and healthy? The characters in my Starfolk books are pretty powerful. They are able to do energy work, divine what’s coming, and communicate directly with their guides on the other side, but when their loved ones are in hospital, injured or ill, there is nothing they can do except wait.

9. Favorite snack?

Since all the lockdowns, I have become obsessed with going out to coffee shops. So a coffee and a sandwich or cake from a local artisan coffee shop would have to be my favourite right now. They’re also great places to read or write when I need to get out of the house for a bit, and my local coffee shop has allowed me to put bookmarks out by their noticeboard!

10. Indy 500 – Do you know how to get where you’re going or do you drive the speed limit?

I always stick to the speed limit. My characters though, they’re much more outrageous than me.

Thank you so much for welcoming me onto your blog. It was lovely to chat with you and your followers!

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Martha is a dreamer and lover of stories who likes nothing better than spending her days getting to know the characters in her head.

She is a tarot card reader and reiki master and loves to chat about reading, writing and all things mystical on social media, as well as posting pictures of her fellow pack member, Bertie the Cavalier.

A fiddle player, Martha fell in love with traditional music, particularly Irish, and is also teaching herself to play the Irish Bouzouki. She played her way through her English degree at York and remembers that time as much for the music as the books.

Martha is the author of three books: The Starfolk Arcana, Starfolk Falling, and standalone Wild Shadow.  She is currently working on Book 3 of The Starfolk Trilogy, Starfolk Rising.

You can keep up with Martha’s news, book releases, and extra content at www.marthadunlop.com, or on her Amazon page, https://www.amazon.com/Martha-Dunlop/e/B08HN73S3D.

You can also find her on social media at:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarthaDunlop

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaDunlopStories/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marthadunlop/

Headshot by Gene Genie Photography, www.genegenie.photography

The book will be $0.99 during the tour.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway