Ketch-up Day

 

Did you and your sweetie, or kids, or grandkids, or critters have a lovely Valentine's Day?

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Look what I found in the garden. The first spring flower(s) always fills me with hope. 

 What's going on in your neck of the woods, Blogger Buds? Know anyone that's performed a Random Act of Kindness? What does the first spring flower(s) you see represent for you?

 

Virtual Book Blast for Savage Land Book 3, BALANCE OF NATURE

 

Summary

A tribe haunted by the past. Lies that threaten the future. A reason to find the truth.

 

Savage Land is the third trilogy about prehistoric man in the series, Man. Vs. Nature. Savage Land explores how two bands of humans survived one of the worst natural disasters in Earth's history, when volcanic eruptions darkened the sky, massive tsunamis crossed the ocean in crushing waves, and raging fires burned the land. Viral tribes of Neanderthals and early man considered themselves apex predators, but that crown belonged to Nature and she was intent on washing the two-legged blight from her lands.

In Balance of Nature, Book Three of the trilogy, Yu’ung’s Neanderthal tribe hopes to settle at Gibraltar but instead find unexpected threats and lethal challenges. 

Follow the courageous Yu’ung, the determined Kazeb, the mystical Shanadar, and the pawed-and-clawed Canis as they navigate a perilous world of tribal conflict, unexplained visions, and shifting loyalties. Their journey is a testament to the resilience and strength of true leadership in a sweeping saga that ultimately leads to who we are today. 

Balance of Nature trailer: https://youtu.be/b6wG54fV1_0?si=qyi5V6d-DI8o6EuD

 

Excerpt: Chapter 1

 

75,000 years ago

The area we now call Gibraltar

 

Shouts woke the brothers from their sleep.

“A boat—on the Endless Sea! Headed toward us!”

At night? How is that possible? But Kazeb didn’t ask because it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was there.

He and Turk had waited long for this news, Kazeb with excitement, Turk with dread. Without discussion, they raced across the grassland, leapt over crevices, the width familiar even in the dark, and then scrambled up Big Rock’s knobby flank, grabbing tiny ledges with their fingers and toes with a speed mountain goats would envy. The behemoth’s height dwarfed all hills on the peninsula save the distant, towering range that separated it from others.

The brothers summited the crest and crouched behind a thick patch of scrub at the cliff’s edge. The brisk breeze atop the promontory whipped Kazeb’s hair around. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth so tightly he should have broken a tooth, and waited for the vague elongated shadow on the water’s inky surface to reveal its intentions.

Is it them? He glanced at his brother’s square face. Turk thinks it is.

Sun’s steady arrival slowly erased the dark, made the sea shimmer in shades of blue as waves crashed against the coastline. Just below the surface, under the foam, were sharp shoals. Any boat must tediously avoid these, better yet, continue down the shore where there was no risk, unless they knew of the sole safe mooring used by natives and those they shared the location with, like they did with the Tall Ones from long ago.

Turk hissed, “It’s them, Liis.”

The Clan called him Liis, but he preferred “Kazeb,” the name awarded him when he agreed to guide the Tall One Fierce to the sea’s end. That was far beyond anywhere he had ever traveled, but Fierce claimed Kazeb’s knowledge of the area was invaluable.

“We can’t tell who is onboard, Turk,” he said, though who else knew of the hidden cove?

Kazeb rose and scanned a full circle, hoping whoever came on that craft wasn’t looking up here.

“What are you doing, Liis?”

“I need to see if they’re alone, or do more come from other directions.”

Flat grassland bordered one flank of the promontory, water the rest. Sun’s earliest rays colored the sky in pinks and blues. Birds plummeted into the crystalline water. Fish with no desire to be food dove. Farther away, pigs rooted through the stubble and a herd of deer feasted on ever-abundant fresh young shoots, protected by the range of mountains from unexpected predators.

When we finish, that’s where we will go.

He turned back to the shoreless sea. Visible on clear days, a faint brown outline shadowed the horizon, what the Tall One Fierce had called home.

Turk said, “They knew enough to stay in the calm waters when darkness arrived, to avoid the underwater shoals.”

Sun broke above the horizon, telling the boat it was safe to continue. The craft nimbly skirted the shoals, aiming for the spot a similar vessel had beached long ago. Kazeb gripped his spear tighter. Fierce had promised to return once his exploration was completed. Kazeb trusted his word, but the more time passed, the more he wondered if he had been lied to.

“Liis!” Turk interrupted his reverie. “There is another boat, behind the first!”  

Now Kazeb saw it. Both prows plowed through the water, their shapes clear in the sunlight. Shivers ran through Kazeb.

These aren’t like Fierce’s craft … but we have seen no one from that direction either by sea or foot.

Kazeb studied the gaggle of Uprights, their bold stripes, the confident stance of the slender male in the bow of the front boat. All fit his recollections of the Tall One band. His gaze drifted to the back boat, a shorter stockier figure at the prow.

Is he Fierce’s guide? My replacement? But why would he be behind Fierce?

Legs wide for balance, sunlight glinting off flame-red hair, the sturdy figure scanned the Big Rock. To Kazeb’s surprise, his gaze paused at the clump of brush where the brothers hid. He couldn’t see them, of course. Both had mudded their skin and squinted to keep Sun’s glare off their eyes. Still, the figure shouted to One-who-might-be-Fierce and pointed.

Turk gurgled, “Are they looking for us? But why come back here, considering what they did?”

“We don’t know for sure—”

“Who else would it be?” Turk’s voice a strangled yelp.

They argued this question often. The Clan Healer originally thought the deadly illness had been caused by insects or a toxin in the air, but before he died, he admitted an individual could have poisoned the members’ food and water. Who could say?

Kazeb didn’t bother to reply, busy admiring the vessel’s sleek profile, so unlike the Clan’s flatter, smaller ones. The sailors effortlessly beached it at the base of the monstrous rock where the brothers hid.

Voice fiery, Turk hissed, “Our destiny has arrived, why we survive and the rest died.”

 

Book information:

Print, digital, audio soon available: http://a-fwd.com/asin=B0G45MFBWW

Genre: Prehistoric fiction

Editor: Anneli Purchase

 

 

Author bio:

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular prehistoric fiction saga, Man vs. Nature which explores seminal events in man’s evolution one trilogy at a time. She is also author of the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers and Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. Her non-fiction includes 100+ books on tech into education, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics.

 

Social Media contacts:

Amazon Author Page:        https://www.amazon.com/Jacqui-Murray/e/B002E78CQQ/

Blog:                                       https://worddreams.wordpress.com

Pinterest:                                http://pinterest.com/askatechteacher

X:                                             http://twitter.com/worddreams

Website:                                 https://jacquimurray.net

 

 

 

Jacqui has been kind enough to sharing marketing ideas with us:

 

34+ Ways to Market Your Book

 

 

At a recent #IWSG confab, I was whining to online friends about the difficulty of marketing my books. I shared a list of recent efforts I’d made to market both my fiction and non-fiction, to no avail. Ideas included:

 

·         all sorts of SEO on the website to increase traffic, both paid and free

·         a ridiculous amount of money spent on Google’s Adwords

·         Amazon’s version of Adwords

·         Months spent uploading to and fine-tuning Google Play–I thought it would easily compete with Amazon

·         a wide variety of ‘list your books for free on our marketplace’ sort of sites

·         all sorts of changes to my social media platforms

 

I got a long list of great comments, curated them, and started saving other ideas fellow writers had for promoting their work. Often, colleagues said it worked well, but they also noted efforts that got them nowhere except a decrease in their bank account.

 

Here’s the list. Out of these 34+, I hope a few seem interesting!

 

Idea	How	Website	Free/Fee
Amazon KDP	readers pay monthly fee; free to you	Amazon	FREE
Author page	set up an info page with details about your background, books, more	Goodreads, Amazon, your blog, more	FREE
Blog Tour	Arrange a series of blogs to host your book	blogs	FREE
Bookmarks	print bookmarks to give away as promotional pieces	from Vista Printing, Canva, others	FEE
Book Promos	work with online sites to share your book info	BookBub; Rosies	FEE
Book Signings	Arrange with local libraries or clubs; bring books to sell	NA	FREE
Brochures	create digital and print brochures to promote books	Canva, LucidPress, Publisher	FEE
Contests	run a contest where readers share their email to win free books	on your blog, SM, website	FREE/FEE
Cover Reveal	share cover for an upcoming book or recovered older book	on blogs, SM	FREE
Email lists	gather email list of interested readers	platform like MailChimp, AWeber	FEE
Forms	sign up form for street team help, newsletter, and more	Google Forms; more	FREE
Give-aways	Online or at bazaars	NA	FREE
Guest Posts	Appear on blogs, SM of literary bloggers	usually blogs; could be websites	FREE
Influencers	hire a SM personality to spread the word about your books on places like BookTok	find them online	FEE
Interviews	arrange with bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, similar	blogs, podcasts, YT, Rumble, more	FREE
Kindle	Sell digital/print/audio books	Amazon	FREE
Magazine	create a multipage magazine about your books	Publisher; Canva, others	FREE/FEE
Meet the Author	book signings, online events	libraries, SM	FREE
Newsletter	collect emails; send updates on your writing	MailChimp; AWeber, more	FEE
Polls	post poll on interesting topic to collect emails	Google Forms, blog, more	FREE
Post free chapters	publish a free chapter of your book to generate interest	to blogs, SM, website, more	FREE
Postcards	print info on one side, add personal note to the other side	useful for in-person events	FEE
PR expert	hire an expert in the writing field to help with marketing	find these online or word of mouth	FEE
Radio shows	guest interview on recent books or writerly topics	eradio, podcasts	FREE
Social Media	ads on FB, X, other SM platforms	any SM–FB, X, Instagram, etc.	FEE
Teasers	add teaser to blog posts, email, any place you write about writing	blogs, SM, newsletters	FREE
Trailer	create a book video trailer to build excitement for your book	Canva, PowerPoint	FREE
Whiteboard	show how to write a story by sketching on a virtual whiteboard; individual or collaborative	AWW, more	FREE
Workshops	run topical workshops on your area of expertise	through local clubs	FREE to you
Word-of-mouth	chatter among readers/writers to spread the word for each other	NA	FREE
YouTube channel	Videos–long or short form–to promote your books	YT, Vimeo	FREE

 

Any ideas to add? Post them in the comments.

 

READ MY 5 ⭐REVIEW of BALANCE OF NATURE  HERE

 

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