Today I am so pleased to welcome Alexis Hall to Joyfully Jay. Alexis has come to talk to us about hisย latest release, Sand and Ruin and Gold. He has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving Alexisย a big welcome!

SandRuinGold_TourBanner

Hello, and welcome to my fourth ever blog tour (I really do have to stop counting), celebrating Riptide Publishingโ€™s release of Sand and Ruin and Gold.Yay! Thank you so much to Jay for joyfully hosting me. And, to you, dear reader, for stopping by. If youโ€™d like to come with me and keep me company on my virtual wanderings, you can find a full listing of when and where I am here on Riptideโ€™s tour page.

Iโ€™m trying something a little different with this blog tour. Since Sand and Ruin and Gold is a short story, and I tend to feel that explaining short stories takes the fun out of them, instead Iโ€™m going to be posting, well, a completely different story. Itโ€™s set in the same world so I guess you could call it a kind of spiritual sibling. If you like it, youโ€™ll probably like Ruin. If you donโ€™t โ€ฆ then โ€ฆ um โ€ฆ you probably wonโ€™t. Sorry.

This is Part 2. Part 1 was posted by Smart Girls Love SciFi on the 22nd youโ€™ll be able to find Part 3 over at the Prism Book Alliance on the 25th. If you get story lost (not that all those who wander are lost) you can catch up on the RP tour page which, once again, is here, or you can swing by my blog where Iโ€™ll be attempting to keep track of everything.

Oh, and thereโ€™s a giveaway. Nothing very dramatic Iโ€™m afraid, as I donโ€™t have any mermaids in my possession right now, but if you want to enter the Rafflecopter below, Iโ€™d be delighted to offer a book from my backlist, in either hard or soft copy.

Draconitas Part 2

โ€œIf youโ€™re not careful,โ€ snapped the yellow-eyed man, โ€œIโ€™m going to start taking this lack of enthusiasm personally.โ€

โ€œYouโ€™ve just told me thereโ€™s no meaning to anything, and that youโ€™re planning to rape and murder me. How much enthusiasm are you expecting?โ€

โ€œWell, my gosh.โ€ His brightly burning, inhuman eyes widened. โ€œI said Iโ€™d fuck you. I didnโ€™t say it would be without your consent. Havenโ€™t you looked at me? Iโ€™m glorious. I have to beat them off with sticks.โ€ He sighed. โ€œItโ€™s just weโ€™re currently at low ebb of sticks, and people to beat them off with.โ€

โ€œSo, if I donโ€™t want you, you wonโ€™t . . . take me?โ€

โ€œIf,โ€ retorted the yellow-eyed man. โ€œIf.โ€

โ€œAnd the, ah, eating thing?โ€

โ€œWhat a spoilsport you are. But all right. Ifโ€”and, once again I do mean ifโ€”you can avoid boring me into conniptions, and youโ€™re terribly, terribly nice about my treasure, I wonโ€™t shred your flesh and drink your blood and crunch upon your bones. Howโ€™s that?โ€

The dragon was watching him expectantly, so the prince felt obliged to say that it seemed a reasonable compromise.

โ€œAm I not magnanimous?โ€ Now the yellow-eyed man was all smiles. โ€œAm I not generous and kind and wondrous?โ€ He paused, scowling suddenly. โ€œYou know, while my resources are inexhaustible, itโ€™s still more fun when you do it.โ€

โ€œDo what?โ€

A jet of steam seared the still air. โ€œIncipient conniption warning. Praise me, you clueless lummox.โ€

โ€œOh! Um . . . yes. You are, indeed, generous and . . . kind, andโ€”โ€

โ€œYes, yes, I know I am. I just said I was. Try a different word. Or better still, several of them, in a pleasing order.โ€

The prince very much did not wish the suffer the consequences of a conniption, but he was neither accustomed to articulating his thoughts, nor having someone to articulate them to.

โ€œIโ€™m waiting,โ€ said yellow-eyed man.

โ€œI . . . I have not skill enough your worth to sing,โ€ he blurted out. โ€œFor we which now behold these present days, have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.โ€

โ€œBravo.โ€ The dragon clapped his hands, nails clicking together. โ€œIโ€™m deducting a point for lack of originality, but I respect your taste. Not entirely untalented, that one โ€“ though he had some significant flaws as an artist.โ€

โ€œFlaws?โ€

โ€œWell, he barely wrote about dragons for one thing. It was all boys and kings with him. Shall we go?โ€

โ€œYes.โ€ If endearing himself to a monster was his only hope of survival, then that was what the prince would do. It seemed no more ludicrous, just then, than allowing himself to be chained up in a templeโ€”no, a follyโ€”to prove his suitability as a ruler. โ€œBut one more question?โ€

โ€œIs it about me?โ€

It hadnโ€™t been. โ€œOf course, oh magnificent one.โ€

โ€œGo on then.โ€

โ€œDo you,โ€ asked the prince, thinking quickly, โ€œhave a name?โ€

โ€œI have as many as there are stars. And how I am known among my people, you could not vocalise.โ€

โ€œIs there a translation?โ€

โ€œNot exactly. Our language is not limited by linearity the way yours is. We are named, in a sense, from the entirety of ourselves. And, as I have told you I am wildly admired. I supposeโ€”โ€ the yellow-eyed man blushed prettily, and entirely falsely โ€œโ€”I suppose some close approximation of the simplest idea of what I am among my kind might be . . . Surpassing Fair. Yes. That will do nicely. If you wish, you may call me Surpassing Fair.โ€

โ€œIt suits you.โ€ The prince felt himself getting warm and awkward. He was not used to this kind of talk. โ€œYou are very beautiful.โ€

โ€œYes. Yes, I am.โ€ The dragon let out an odd sound, rich and languorous, full of pleasure. He arched his spine, running his fingers through his hair, his body all serpentine lines and subtle definition, undeniably sensuous. โ€œHow I adore flattery. It is the basest of manipulations, but it still feels so good. But, come, my lair is some way to the north, and it will be dark before long. That will not trouble me, but you may be eaten by grue.โ€

He set off down the hill, and after a bewildered moment, the prince hurried after him. โ€œWeโ€™re walking? I thought you would . . . I donโ€™t know . . . sweep me up in your talons and fly.โ€

Surpassing Fair gave him an unreadable look. โ€œThe truth is, love, Iโ€™m . . . well . . . Iโ€™m old. That kind of drama is for dragons who have known fewer moments. And the last time I did it, I accidentally ate someone while scratching my nose. Do you want to risk it?โ€

โ€œIโ€™m happy to walk.โ€ The prince fell into step beside the dragon. โ€œJust how old are you, anyway?โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s a very rude question, you know.โ€

โ€œBut itโ€™s about you.โ€

Surpassing Fair smiled, but it faded swiftly enough that the prince feared conniptions. However, the dragon only shrugged, cast him a swift glance from pale eyes, and said softly, โ€œAs old as all things.โ€


Blurb

SandRuinGold_400x600Once upon a time . . . thatโ€™s how the old stories always begin.

Once upon a time there was a king of a fallen kingdom. He was just and he was beloved. Or so the numbers said. One day, he gathered together the greatest, wisest minds in all the landโ€”not sorcerers, but scientistsโ€”and he bade them fashion him a son. A prince. A perfect prince to embody his fatherโ€™s legacy.

The scientists each brought the prince a gift: beauty, strength, ambition, intellect, pride. But they must have forgottenย somethingย because when he saw the mermaids dance at the Cirque de la Mer, he ran away to join them.

For a year, he trained them, performed with them, thought he was happy. For a year he thought he was free. But then Nerites came: A merman who refused to be tamed. A captive from another kingdom. A beast in a glass cage.

The old stories always end with happy ever after. But this isnโ€™t one of the old stories. This is a story of princes and monsters.

You can read an excerpt and, yโ€™know, cough, buy the book if you want at Riptide Publishing.


About AJH

Alexis Hall was born in the early 1980s and still thinks the twenty-first century is the future. To this day, he feels cheated that he lived through a fin de siรจcle but inexplicably failed to drink a single glass of absinthe, dance with a single courtesan, or stay in a single garret. He can neither cook nor sing, but he can handle a seventeenth century smallsword, punts from the proper end, and knows how to hotwire a car. He lives in southeast England, with no cats and no children, and fully intends to keep it that way.

You can also find him all over the internet, on his website, Facebook, Twitter, BookLikes, and Goodreads.


Giveaway

Alexis has a tour wideย giveaway going on for one of his backlist books. ย Enter throughย the Rafflecopter link below. ย 

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