Win a $25 GC Virtual Book Tour: Lies Ripped Open by Steve McHugh

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Steve McHugh will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The Writer's View

My writing space is an office that I had built at the beginning of the year. It quickly became apparent that writing when my three daughters had access to me was not the most productive thing ever. So, we divided the front room up and gave me my own space. A space with a lockable door.

Apart from my iMac, desk, and chair, my office has lots of books, comics and more models, statues and figures then is probably normal. I’ve got a massive Lego X-Wing and a Lego Arkham Asylum too. Basically it’s a giant toy room.

Fortunately I don’t have to stay in my office alone, as I have my bearded dragon, Kaiju, for company. Admittedly, he’s not exactly chatty or anything, and tends to spend most of his day sleeping or basking. In fact the only time he’s ever excited is when I bring him his daily locusts.

The view from my window isn’t exactly exciting, as it’s basically the alley from the back door of my house to our garden. It does let a lot of light in, so my office gets baking hot in the summer, but that’s about it.

My office is my little space away from the noise and bustle of having three children, the oldest of which is eleven, and the youngest three. Shockingly, they make a lot of noise, and demand a lot of time, so having somewhere I can go to sit and work without constant interruptions is frankly a lifesaver.

Over a hundred years have passed since a group of violent killers went on the rampage, murdering innocent victims for fun. But even back then, sorcerer Nate Garrett, aka Hellequin, knew there was more to it than simple savage pleasure—souls were being stolen.

Nate’s discovery of the souls’ use, and of those supporting the group’s plan, made him question everything he believed.

Now the group Nate thought long dead is back. Violent, angry, and hell-bent on revenge, they have Hellequin firmly in their sights. And if he won’t come willingly, they’ll take those closest to him first.

The battle begins again.

Enjoy an excerpt:

I walked over to the second agent, whose back was toward me as he stood a little further into the park, and placed my hand on his shoulder. “That’s enough,” I repeated, but he spun around and all of the breath left my body at once, followed immediately by pain as it exploded across my torso. I glanced down as a shimmering blade of ice was pulled free from my chest. It was covered in my blood. I dropped to my knees and watched as the magical weapon vanished from view. The pain forced me to abandon my night vision, and the darkness once again took control.

The overwhelming thought that bounced around my head was that neither of the SOA agents had been sorcerers. My attacker crouched beside me. “They interrupted me and my prey got away,” his accent was from East London, but sounded slightly different from many of those living in the city. As if he’d been away from here for a long time, and had not quite remembered how the accent was meant to sound.

I glanced up at him, still unable to breathe; the blade had punctured a lung. It wouldn’t kill me, but it would be a few hours until I was back to normal, and without my night vision I could have been staring into Merlin’s own face and I’d never have known.

The man got back to his feet and kicked me onto my back. “I should make sure you remember your time here, but I’m sure your comrades over there will be able to do that better than I could.”

About the Author:

Steve’s been writing from an early age, his first completed story was done in an English lesson. Unfortunately, after the teacher read it, he had to have a chat with the head of the year about the violent content and bad language. The follow up ‘One boy and his frog’ was less concerning to his teachers and got him an A.

It wasn’t for another decade that he would start work on a full-length novel that was publishable, the results of which was the action-packed Urban Fantasy, Crimes Against Magic.

Steve McHugh lives in Southampton on the south coast of England with his wife and three young daughters. When not writing or spending time with his kids, he enjoys watching movies, reading books and comics, and playing video games.

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