Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Book Spotlight Tour Stop/Giveaway: Cargo of Bones

 


Check out the newest book by Z. Lindsey, Cargo of Bones, today and make sure to enter the tour wide giveaway as the author is giving away a  $25 Amazon/BN gift card + a digital copy of the book via Rafflecopter. Make sure to follow the tour and post on the other stops as it may give you more entries in the giveaway. The tour is sponsored by Goddess Fish Promotions and you can find all the tour stops HERE.


Talking with Z. Lindsey

Tell us about your latest book, who are the main character’s and what can we

expect when we pick it up?

This is the second book in a darkly-humorous fantasy series about Essimore Darkenchyl, a young woman who’s trying to find her place in the oppressive bureaucracy where she works. But this is the first book where she feels like her place isn’t in the, you know, evil bureaucracy. So it’s a pretty typical new adult story about navigating your job, your family, and your magical powers. Also Essie’s a devil. 

 

This book starts when one of her people is murdered and she brings the bones home. Along the way she learns of a terrible plot to kill the god of death … which sounds like a good thing but isn’t, I swear. 

 

Although my books are dark humor, they’re all hopeful in the end, and Essie might not get through this completely unscathed mentally, but she’ll be okay enough to appear in the third book. 



Do you come up with the hook first, or do you create characters first and then dig

through until you find a hook?

This work was all about the character. My wife Érica created her for a D&D game that never happened. Since Érica got pregnant, we couldn’t play D&D, so I told her stories about the character, and they coalesced into these novels. 

 

I like starting with the character first because it helps keep the story focused around the character. In fantasy, where infodumping and tangential side-quests can be a drag on narratives, keeping focused on the character is essential. 



Which of your own characters would you like to have lunch with?

Well, my main character is based on my wife, so I think she’d be pissed if I said anyone but her! And Essie is the most compelling of my characters for a lot of people who’ve read my work. She’s got a bit of the Doctor Who vibe, in that she’s so energetic she’s probably got ADHD, and if she sees injustice, she will leap in and ask questions later. She gets herself into and out of problems with her words, and she’s described condescendingly as a “word wizard” by one of her enemies, so I have no doubt she’d be fun to talk to--but maybe hard to follow from time to time. 



Tell us about what you are reading at the moment or anticipate reading in the future? Any favorite authors you enjoy reading in your spare time?

I’m reading T.A. Barron’s first Merlin book. It’s so lovely. I read Barron when I was a young kid and enjoyed him but didn’t latch onto him. Recently I found his Instagram, and he’s aged into this super cute old man who talks about nature with a big smile and hangs out with Jane Goodall and Harrison Ford. I highly recommend his account. 

I figured I’d give the book another read now that I’m older, and I see his love of nature in his prose. It makes it more than another Arthur retelling, but something that’s really special in a poetic way. Probably as a little kid, I didn’t think there was enough goblin-stabbing. But I’m really enjoying reading it this time. 



Which of your own books would you like to live in?

Oh, man. Nope. None. I’ve been considering writing a cozy fantasy for a long time, but it would have to be in a totally new world, because the world I typically write in is definitely not cozy. I mean, there’s a species of poisonous marmot. It’s not a safe place to be. 



What do you do when you have free time?

I’m a parent, so Not Applicable. 



How do you approach character development in your stories? Do you have any

specific techniques or methods that you find particularly effective?

I try to let it flow naturally. I’m a long time Dungeons and Dragons DM (always the DM, never the player [cries in orc]) so I try to approach writing that way. I propose a situation for the characters, and I don’t always know the best outcome when I start to write it. The characters sort of choose for themselves. 

 

I said this online to someone once--you know the internet--and they were like “THE CHARACTERS DON’T CHOOSE, THEY’RE FICTIONAL.” Yes, I realize that I’m the one doing the choosing, kind internet stranger. What I mean is, I know where characters are at the beginning of a scene, and I have a general skeleton of where they need to go, but whenever I create a challenge for the character, I figure out the response the character would have on the spot. I’m not always sure what that response will be until I sit down and start writing it--and when the response is drastically different than I expect, it might take the story in unexpected directions. 

 

One of my favorite situations with this is Merritt, who is a young half-elf who has been assigned ship’s security guard despite being terrified of his own shadow. But he is a good fighter. He’s scrappy. He’s been trained a little, too. When the characters are captured by the villain in the first book, Merritt attacks him out of nowhere. I didn’t expect it, I had to deal with the consequences, and yet, obviously, I chose to have him do that. I got to that moment in the story and it just seemed like the best option for him.

 

The funny thing is, this simple action put Merritt in a bigger role in the second book, which led to him having an even bigger role in the third book, where he might even be the deuteragonist, all because he chose to be bold without my cajoling. 



What do you believe sets your writing apart from others in your genre, and why

should readers choose to read your books?

Well, first, I want to possibly offend my readers and compare y’all to alcoholics. And what I mean by that is, the majority of alcohol in the world is consumed by a minority of people--the big drinkers. And the majority of fiction books are bought by the big readers. In other words, if you haven’t read a book in ten years, you’re probably not going to start with my silly fantasy book. 

I suspect if you’re the kind of person who loves to read fantasy novels, you’ve also had a personal contest with yourself to see how many you could read in a year. Or something similar. If you’re reading this blog, I bet you read more books than the average person. So if you’re going to read ten fantasy books this year anyway, why not make mine one? 

 

You can read my books and someone else’s. Read ‘em all! My books aren’t special. They’re entertaining, in my opinion. They go places. They get weird. I loved writing them, and most people who have read them love reading them. To once again awkwardly compare books to alcohol, my trilogy is like a mojito. It’s sharp, a little tropical, and not exactly the classiest beverage but certainly not bathtub gin. Just put it on that ol’ Amazon wishlist; I know you’ve already got one for books. 



Can you discuss any upcoming projects or books that you’re currently working

on? What can readers expect from your future works?

The immediate future is more Essie. Her story is a trilogy, so the first step is resolving that. The third book will come out in December. By the third book, Essie isn’t defined by anyone but herself--she’s taken control of her own life, and no longer works for the evil bureaucrats. I think it’s a nice message for a generation that’s been exploited by the corporate world, forced to frame their whole identity on their job, that sort of thing. There’s a lot of catharsis in the third book, although things are also pretty tough for her since she’s on the run for most of it. 

 

After that, I have other stories in the same world. One I’m excited about is a YA progression fantasy set a few hundred years after Essie’s time, in a psychedelic version of Cancun. It’s got some inspiration from The Incal, and it includes a hero who is kind of dopey but lovable (in my opinion) on a quest to save her sister. It was fun to write a sort of Mad Max-style linear plot. Start at point A, go to point B, beat up everyone in between. Once she realizes her sister’s gone, the story takes off and doesn’t really let up. It’s good fun, with a lot of stuff getting wrecked, and bad guys getting their just desserts. It’ll be out in mid-2025.



CARGO OF BONES

Z. Lindsey

GENRE:  Fantasy


Devil bureaucrat Essie Darkenchyl and her friends barely survived the jungle, but now they're going straight to Hell--AKA her hometown!

Excerpt One:

 

 

“What’s happening now?” Two Rabbit shouted.

 

“Looks like some kind of sheep,” Merritt said.

 

Essie’s eyes shot open.

 

“Sheep?” Two Rabbit asked.

 

She still couldn’t move. She was staring at the sky again. Purple storm clouds.

 

“Essie?” the doctor asked. “Are you awake? You hear me? You’re bleeding to death! For Aro’s sake, let down that shield or aura or whatever you’re projecting.”

 

He was just out of sight. They were all out of sight. Essie desperately tried to sit, but it only made the storm clouds choke in on her faster. 

 

“Whoa!” Connie said. “Those are some mean sheep.”

 

“Sand sheep?” Boon asked.

 

Their voices made her head throb. She tried to follow, but couldn’t. It sounded like nonsense.

 

“By Aro—the sheep stepped on that guy’s crotch!” Merritt shouted. “Please don’t say we’re being rescued by sheep.”

 

“That’s if they don’t attack us, too,” Boon said.

 

“Holy Mother,” Two Rabbit said. “I’ve never seen a sheep spit like that.”

 

“Ohhhh.” Essie smiled as much as she could. “Llamas.”

 

Then she passed out.


River Against the Sea, Book 1,  is available at:

Amazon link to the first book: https://www.amazon.com/River-Against-Sea-Z-Lindsey-ebook/dp/B0CH3TW3YD/ref=sr_1_1

B&N link to the first book (for paperback): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-river-against-the-sea-z-lindsey/1144077772 

GIVEAWAY

Z. Lindsey will award a randomly drawn winner a $25 Amazon/BN gift card + a digital copy of the book via Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 

AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

Zac Lindsey is an anthropologist and a linguist who focuses on the Maya people of Quintana Roo. Since childhood, he's had a not-so-secret love of weird, silly, and well-structured fantasy. When other people's parents were reading them picture books, his mom was reading him Terry Brooks. He typically writes hopeful and character-driven fantasy. 

Today, he lives in Quintana Roo, Mexico with his wife, daughter, and various stray cats. 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/z.lindsey_fiction/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550498257222


3 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thank you so much for hosting CARGO OF BONES and interviews its author.

Marcy Meyer said...

I like the cover art. Looks great.

Sherry said...

This sounds like such a good read.

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