Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Blog Tour Stop for Byzantine Gold/Contest



Byzantine Gold by Chris Karlsen

A sunken warship from the Byzantine Era carrying an unusual cargo of gold has been found off the coast of Northern Cyprus. News of the valuable cache has attracted the attention of a terrorist cell. They plan to attack the recovery team’s campsite and steal the artifacts. On the Black Market, the sale of the relics will buy them additional weapons.

Charlotte Dashiell, an American archaeologist, and her lover, Atakan Vadim, a Turkish government agent, are scheduled to be part of the recovery team that brings up the artifacts. While en route to Cyprus, they find themselves caught in the crosshairs of Maksym Tischenko, a Ukrainian contract killer bent on revenge. Charlotte, Atakan and Tischenko share a grim history. As a result, Tischenko is a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal—seeing them both dead.

Teaser Excerpt:

Charlotte answered on the fourth ring. Caller I.D. showed “restricted.”

“Hello.”

“They are called, Angelique tulips. You admired them in the hospital garden in Paris.”

Charlotte froze, holding her breath as she listened to the nightmare voice, remembering how his Eastern European accent rounded certain sounds and how he stressed the last syllables in his words. Called became cawl-d.

Tischenko.

“Everything in time,” he said and hung up.

Charlotte dropped the phone on the table. She turned to Atakan.

The shock must’ve shown on her face. “What is wrong?”

“That was Tischenko,” she said, finding her voice. “The flowers are from him. He was watching me in Paris when I was at the hospital. He—”

Atakan didn’t wait for her to finish. He rushed into the living room, grabbed his gun from the bookshelf, and ran out of the apartment.

Charlotte followed as he flew down the four flights of stairs to the street.

“Stop.” Catching up to him on the sidewalk, she hooked his elbow with her hand. Fearful an armed Tischenko hid nearby, she positioned herself in front of Atakan, thinking to shield him. “We can’t stand here. He could be anywhere taking aim at you right now.”

“Go back inside.”

“Not without you.” She tugged on his shirt, pulling him toward their building. “Atakan please, let’s leave. Call the Director.”

Atakan shoved her behind him. Silent, his eyes searched the dark doorways of neighboring apartment buildings and parked cars.

“Atakan please.”

“Get inside.”

She stepped in front of him again. “We stay here together or we leave together.”

An eternity of seconds passed. Neither moved or blinked.

They both jumped and turned at the bellow from the horn of a passing truck. Thankfully, the driver was waving to another coming the opposite direction. He never saw the man in the sling pointing a gun at him.

“Please,” she repeated.

Atakan nodded. He stopped at the building’s entry door and took a last look, surveying the street. “He moves us around like pawns in a private game.”



Contest Information: Chris will award one randomly drawn commenter at every stop an ebook copy of Golden Chariot, and one randomly drawn commenter will be awarded a $50 Amazon gift card during the tour. A $25 Amazon gift card will be awarded to a randomly drawn host.

Leave a comment with your email address included to be entered to win this great prize.

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:



About the Author:

Chris is a retired police detective. She spent twenty-five years in the law enforcement with two different agencies.

The daughter of a history professor and a voracious reader, she grew up with a love for history and books.

She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Near East, and Northern Africa satisfying her passion for seeing the places she read about.

A Chicago native, Chris has lived in Paris, Los Angeles, and now resides with her husband, and five rescue dogs in the Pacific Northwest.

http://chriskarlsen.com/

http://pinterest.com/chriskarlsen/byzantine-gold/

Book video:











19 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thank you for hosting

Lena said...

I like your choice of actors for your characters, it's great that you have the story in pictures. :)

lennascloud AT gmail DOT com

Gala said...

Sounds delicious, thank you for sharing the excerpt!

galaschick78(at)gmail(dot)com

Chris Karlsen said...

Good Morning,
I'd like to than Dawn for showcasing Byzantine Gold. I look forward to talking withe everyone.
I hope everyone is having a great day.
Chris Karlsen

Chris Karlsen said...

Hi Lena,
Thank you for joining me again. It is fun and a challenge to put the story in pictures. You have to try and reveal as aspect of the character with little or no words and just a picture.
Chris K.

Chris Karlsen said...

HI Gala,

I'm glad you liked the excerpt. The scene evolved from a fun moment in the kitchen between Charlotte and Atakan to the tense end. The call from Tischenko wasn't in my original outline. But it felt right as the scene played out on the page.
Chris K.

MomJane said...

What an exciting excerpt. This book sounds awesome.

Ami said...

Charlotte doesn't have it easy, what did she do have that guy stalking her?

shadowrunner1987 at gmail dot com

Chris Karlsen said...

Hi MomJane,
Thank you for joining me again. I'm glad you found the excerpt exciting. As I mentioned to Gala earlier, that part of the scene was a spur of the moment inclusion.
Chris

Chris Karlsen said...

Hi Ami,

Tischenko's main target is Atakan but he's more than willing to come after Charlotte as well. Mostly what his goal is here, is to let them know he's watching. He knows where they are and what they're doing and they can't say the same regarding him.
Chris

Chelsea B. said...

Sounds like none-stop action! I'm looking forward to it!

justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

Chris Karlsen said...

Hi again Chelsea,

Hope you had a good day. The story does have a lot of action. I tried to keep the tension up high.
Chris

Catherine Lee said...

Poor Charlotte! I enjoyed Golden Chariot--so well-written. I'm looking forward to reading Byzantine Gold.
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

bn100 said...

Nice cover and video.

bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

Chris Karlsen said...

Hi Catherine,

Thank you for joining me again. Thank you for the nice words about Golden Chariot.
Yes, Charlotte has a lot going on in Byzantine Gold too. I did give her a messy time.
Chris

Chris Karlsen said...

Hi bn,

Good talking with you again. I was very happy with the cover and trailer also. I was allowed a large amount of input for both.
Chris

Mary Preston said...

Your travel must be invaluable as regards your research.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Chris Karlsen said...

Hi Mary,
It is. Travel has inspired stories for me and enabled me to make them richer.
Chris

Vidya Ravi said...

Thanks for the giveaway..liked your first novel.

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