Welcome to my stop on the Book Blitz tour for, Galatine’s Curse by T.J. Green. Got a real treat for you today if you like sword and sorcery and Arthurian legends. Below you’ll find an excerpt, guest post, author Q&A and a GIVEAWAY!
Galatine’s Curse
by T.J. Green
(Tom’s Arthurian Legacy, #3)
Publication date: March 20th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
An ancient sword. A dark secret. A new enemy.
In the third book in the series, Tom has established a new life in the Otherworld, a life he loves. He lives with Arthur in New Camelot, and Arthur is hosting a tournament. Eager to test his sword-fighting skills, Tom’s competing. But while the games are being played, his friends are attacked and everything he loves is threatened. Tom has to find the intruder before anyone else gets hurt.
Tom’s sword, Galatine, seems to be the focus of these attacks. Their investigations uncover Galatine’s dark history and a terrible betrayal that a family has kept secret for generations. But this secret now puts others at risk, including Tom, and he realises that he could lose everything unless he can solve the mystery of his sword’s past.
Galatine’s Curse is the third book in the YA Arthurian fantasy series, Tom’s Arthurian Legacy. If you enjoy magic and mystery, a strong group of characters and Arthurian fantasy, then you’ll love this action-filled adventure.
Buy Galatine’s Curse for your thrilling new fantasy adventure today!
GIVEAWAY!
EXCERPT:
Galatine’s Curse and Craft Beer!
OK, bear with me. This sounds odd, and it is a bit, but this is about how your life filters through your psyche and into your writing.
I live in the Hutt Valley, just outside Wellington, New Zealand, and in case you didn’t know, Wellington is the centre of craft beer in NZ. There are several craft beers breweries, some small and some large! In the Hutt there are three very successful craft beer breweries, Panhead, Kereru and Boneface, and in Wellington there are approximately eight breweries — Garage Project, Tuatara, Parrot Dog, Fortune Favours, Whistling Sisters, Fork and Brewer, Black Dog, and some I’ve missed — sorry. And there are also many craft beer pubs! And I like beer, which is fortunate.
So the beers range from the startlingly hoppy to the not-so-hoppy, malty, fruity, double IPAs, red IPAs, stouts and porters, and then sour beers. And I’m sure many others. So it’s no wonder a few beers have ended up in Galatine’s Curse.
It wasn’t until my mother said something about, “What is it with all these beers?” that I even realised they’d crept in. And one of our favourite haunts and craft beer bars — Hashigo Zake — has become the Smuggler’s Retreat. However, there is nothing dodgy about HZ or its clientele, although the bar is downstairs below street level.
So what beers are in Galatine’s Curse? Arthur’s favourite is the Red Earth Thunder Ale — clearly a red IPA, a bit malty, a bit hoppy. He has a stash at New Camelot.
Tom’s Cervini friends are sipping Dryad’s Pride at the tournament — a porter, very dark with a strong taste — enough to “put hairs on your chest,” as Rek says.
When Tom and co. are in Dragon’s Hollow they end up in the Smuggler’s Retreat, and are overwhelmed with the range of beers on display. Tom ends up sampling Nymph’s Nectar, a pale ale.
Pubs feature strongly too — I’m English. There’s the Quarter Way House in Twice Born, where Red Earth Thunder Ale first appeared — see, it was already creeping in there. The Dragon’s Tale is also in Dragon’s Hollow, but I don’t mention another beer. What a missed opportunity!
So now I know I’m doing it, I’m on a mission to name more pubs and beers. Tom 4 will be fun!
GUEST POST
Magic and King Arthur.
There’s always been a lot of magic in the King Arthur stories. That’s what I love about them. While they are grounded in the reality of this world, with tales of knights, valour, battles, jealousy and treachery, they also straddle the Other with the magic of Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, Avalon and the Lady of the Lake. They are the perfect blend of history and magic, and the mystical other we can’t quite grasp or see, but we know is there. The reality of people and place keep it grounded enough to believe in.
Arthur’s birth is forged in magic and trickery when Uther Pendragon is made to look like the Lady Igraine’s husband by Merlin. Dragons foretell England’s battles and Arthur’s place in them. Merlin moulds Arthur into a king, and obtains the sword Excalibur for him. It’s a magical sword, forged by faeries on the Isle of Avalon and delivered by the Lady of the Lake, her ghostly hand rising from the lake depths. It confers strength, leadership and protects Arthur from blood loss. Merlin, his mentor, is a powerful wizard, and Morgan Le Fay is a powerful witch.
Once he is king, Arthur is the leader we all want. He is wise, patient, strong, and fearless. The many stories tell of strange knights, damsels, beasts, the Grail, dragons and battles. They embody bravery and adventure. But even Arthur is not immune from betrayal by his best friend Lancelot, Guinevere his wife, and Morgan his sister.
Magic surrounds his death, for he is said to be the Once and Future King, destined to return in England’s most desperate hour. On his death, Excalibur was returned to the Lady of the Lake by Sir Percival, and Arthur’s body was carried to the Isle of Avalon, to rest there until he is needed, a potent symbol of a great leader. Consequently endless books have retold his stories, and endless people have looked for his real life origins and the places he called home, and yet we have never really found him. But it doesn’t stop us from believing.
My stories spring from the Other, from imagining what happened if Arthur returned to the faerie realm, and what if some of the original characters with magic were also in the Other. To me it makes perfect sense. Arthur’s world was full of magic and strange beasts, why shouldn’t it continue to be. But of course he needs someone to wake him, someone with a connection, and that’s where Tom comes in.
If love Arthurian legend, you should check out my series.
Author Bio:
T J Green was born in England, but moved to New Zealand 10 years ago. She currently lives near Wellington with her partner and her cats Sacha and Leia. When not writing she does lots of reading, gardening and yoga.
In a previous life she’s been a singer in a band, and has done some acting with a theatre company — both of which were lots of fun. On occasions she and a few friends make short films, which begs the question, where are the book trailers? Thinking on it …
Tom’s Inheritance is TJ Green’s first book in the series Tom’s Arthurian Legacy, the sequel Twice Born was released in February 2017. Galatine’s Curse, book 3, will be released in March 2018. She is also working on a few short stories which further expand the world of Tom in the Other.
Her new project is an urban fantasy series about witches.
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AUTHOR Q&A
When did you first start writing?
I’ve always been scribbling away. English was my favourite subject at school, so I loved the essays where we had to make up stories. At home, I used to start writing little shorts, but never finish anything! During my twenties I stopped writing — distracted by other things, and then 10 years ago, I decided to do my English Degree, enrolling on lots of creative writing papers, and that kick-started my writing again. However, my first book was a slow process. It took 5 years! Fortunately I now write a lot quicker…
Tell us about your book(s) and the genres you write in.
I love magic and mystery, faery tales, myths and legends, and the things we can’t explain. I decided to write a “Once upon a time” story, and that turned into the short story which started off Tom’s Inheritance, my first book. I love King Arthur, and the magic and myth that filled his stories, so Tom’s Inheritance was a revisiting of the King Arthur legend. King Arthur is the Once and Future King who is destined to return, and he was laid to rest on Avalon, the mystical isle that straddles worlds. But what if he woke there, and the Lady of the Lake needed his help?
That idea set the tone for Tom’s Inheritance, the first book in the series Tom’s Arthurian Legacy. Tom is summoned to the Other to wake King Arthur and this sets off a chain of adventures. I weave the old stories and characters into new tales. The next two stories continue their adventures in the Other, with old friends and new enemies, and some of the great characters from the Arthurian legends. All the characters grow and change, and their own stories develop.
In my latest book, Galatine’s Curse, Tom is stronger and more independent, and the stakes are higher. He owns Galatine, the sword that used to belong to Gawain, but it has a dark history no-one knew about, and someone wants it back.
Who’s your favourite character (or least favourite) and why?
I haven’t got a least favourite! I love them all. Nimue is always a favourite — a powerful witch who’s headstrong and volatile — she’s very cool. But one of my new favourites is Bloodmoon. He’s a fey with a mysterious background. Lots of fun and he loves breaking the rules. I loved writing about him, he took the story in new directions!
How much time do you spend writing?
Not as much as I would like. I like to write at least 4 days a week (around work), but sometimes that doesn’t happen, or I try and write for an hour a night if I can’t spare big chunks of time. It’s surprising how much you can achieve if you just get your head down. Unfortunately marketing sucks up my time!
Where is your favourite place to write?
Either in the garden, on the covered deck if the weather’s good, or in my study — a haven of books and solitude.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research?
At the moment I’m planning my new series about witches — urban fantasy I guess — so I Google odd stuff about magic, as well as download lots of magic books!
Who’s your favourite author and/or favourite books.
My favourite author is Lawrence Durrell, who doesn’t write magic or mystery, but he’s a fantastic writer! He wrote the Alexandria Quartet amongst many others, and that’s my favourite. I have a slight Lawrence addiction.
What are you working on now?
I have a rough idea for book 4 of my Tom series (YA), and am planning to start that later this year, but I’m also working on my witch urban fantasy (adult). It will probably be a trilogy, but it currently has no title. That’s something I’ll be working on over the next couple of months, and the first book should be finished by June.
When you’re not writing, what do you get up to?
I love reading — obviously — anything from mysteries, detective series, fantasy, and adventures. I also love gardening, yoga, watching films, and catching up with friends. And wine.
Any fun facts about yourself that you’d like to share?
Many millions of years ago I used to be in a band called Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, and I also used to be in a theatre group in Birmingham. One summer we toured to small venues performing a French farce, and even entered the Ludlow Arts Festival. That was fun! For the last few years me and a few friends have entered the 48 hour film festival in NZ, also madness. Write, shoot, edit a film in 48 hours!
Where can readers go to find out more about you and your writing?
Website: http://www.tjgreen.nz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tjgreenauthor/
Twitter: https:/twitter.com/tjay_green
Pinterest: https://nz.pinterest.com/Mount0live/boards/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mountolivepublishing/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15099365.T_J_Green
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/T-J-Green/e/B01D7V8LJK/
Contact: tjgreennz@gmail.com
GIVEAWAY!
