Mundie Moms

Monday, August 31, 2015

SMOKED by Mari Mancusi / Blog Tour: Author Guest Post | Enter To WIN!





Hello and welcome to today's blog tour stop for SMOKED, the third book in Mari Mancusi's Scorched series. Today I'm thrilled to have Mari on the blog to share a list of her favorite dragon books. Enter for your chance to win a copy of SMOKED! Check out the giveaway at the bottom of the post. 


Favorite Dragon Books
By Mari Mancusi


There used to be this commercial for a hair-growth company for men. The man in the commercial became famous for his line, “I’m not only the president, I’m also a client.”


I always think of that when it comes to my own writing career. As in, I’m not only a writer of a dragon fiction—I’m also a huge fan.


That’s the great thing, actually, about being an author. You can choose to write books based on what you like to read—or what you would like to read more of but can’t find enough. You can take elements from various fandoms and mash them together into a work of your own imagination. When I started writing the Scorched series, I had already been a reader of fantasy fiction for years and was excited about the idea of creating a dragon mythos of my very own.


I’m often asked, now, what other dragon books are out there that I would recommend for others to read. There are so many great entries—it’s really hard to narrow them down, and a lot of them depend on what you’re looking for in your particular dragon fiction. Some people like a traditional tale, set in a fantasy kingdom. Some like a twist, with dragons invading our every day life, like I tried to do with Scorched. Still others may prefer dragon shape shifters like Julie Kagawa’s Talon series or Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina.


For this blog, I was asked to narrow it down to three recommendations. Not an easy task. So I decided to award winners in three unique categories.


Best Standalone:


HERO AND THE CROWN
Robin McKinley
This was a book I picked up from the Scholastic Book Club, back when I was a kid. I hadn’t read any other books by Robin McKinley at the time, but when I saw the cover and read the description I knew I had to have it. It’s about a princess who takes it upon herself to become a dragon slayer, inventing a burn salve that will protect her from the beasts’ fire. She is so determined and so kick-ass—I remember thinking that she was the coolest girl in the world.


Best sci-fi/fantasy mash-up:


THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN
Anne McCaffrey
This series began back in the 1960s and, at this point, consists of twenty something books. It deals with a society of people on a far away planet who have genetically engineered dragons to help fight a deadly thread that falls from their skies and destroys crops and kills people every so many years. (The dragons can burn the thread with their flames.) Each dragon is bonded to a rider at birth and the rider and dragon have a telepathic connection and can talk to one another. There are also mini dragons called Fire Lizards that are just so cute! And there’s some time travel elements as well that are particularly inventive and cool. This series can seem a bit daunting at first if you’re new to it, seeing as there are so many books, but it’s well worth the time and effort to give it a try. I would suggest starting with the omnibus edition of the first three books to whet your appetite.


Best non-fantasy setting:


TEMERAIRE
Naomi Novik
Imagine an alternative history of the Napoleonic Wars where soldiers use dragons to take down the enemy. This is the set-up for the long running Temeraire series, written by Naomi Novik. In this series you get plenty of action and intrigue from the war backdrop, but also a sweet, heartfelt story of a Captain and his unexpected friendship with a very special dragon. With so many dragon stories set in far off, medieval’esque kingdoms, this series is refreshingly unique and really, really cool. And the bond between Captain Laurence and Temeraire will tug at your heartstrings and make you both laugh and cry.


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ABOUT THE BOOK
By: Mari Mancusi
Published by: SourceBooks
To Be Released on: September 1st, 2015
Series: Scorched #3
Pre-Order from: Amazon | B&N IndieBound 
Add It To Goodreads

Once upon a time the world burned.
Until a girl and her dragon smothered the flame.
But the spark that ignited the apocalypse never went out.
And the scorch is about to begin…

When Team Dragon rescues Emmy from the government lab, they think the future is finally safe. But they soon discover that Emmy has a secret—a secret so dangerous it could trigger the very apocalypse Connor and Caleb were sent back in time to prevent.

As a dragon hunter, Connor has committed his life to saving the world. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to complete his mission…even if it meant betraying his brother and losing Trinity’s heart. Even if it meant doing the unthinkable.

But a desperate choice meant to prevent The Scorch, may be the spark that sets the world aflame once more.

The epic conclusion to the genre-bending Scorched series, which Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of the Blue Bloods series, called  "A heart-pounding, twisty, time-travel fantasy.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mari Mancusi is a two-time Emmy award-winning television producer and author of novels for adults and teens. A graduate of Boston University, she now lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and young daughter. When not writing or producing she enjoys traveling, snowboarding, reading fantasy novels, and her favorite guilty pleasure: video games.

THE GIVEAWAY
Thank you to SourceBooks, I've got one copy of Smoked to giveaway to one lucky reader! Open to residents in the US / Canada only. To enter, please fill out the form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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