Unspent Time Launch Party + Tour Giveaway

Please welcome today's guest author Graham Parke.  Graham is the author of No Hope for Gomez! and Unspent Time.

Keep reading for details on how to enter to win a Kindle Fire and more.

Graham is giving us a sneak peek at his new release Unspent Time with a few (hilarious) sound bite excerpts:

“I'm looking into my past lives. I'm convinced some of them still owe me money.”

“I'm very polite by nature, even the voices in my head let each other finish their sentences.”

“I didn’t actually want to do it,” Kiala told the boy. “The universe just kind of conspired to force me to make a fool of myself. It does that quite a lot, actually.”

“Sadly, my socks are like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike.”

Unspent Time by Graham Parke

Warning: reading this novel may make you more attractive to the opposite sex and elevate your random luck by about 9.332%*
(*These statements have not been evaluated by anyone of consequence.)

From the award winning author of ‘No Hope for Gomez!’ comes a collection of 20 impossible tales. Permeating the cracks between the past and the present is the realm of Unspent Time. Pockets of ‘should have been’s and ‘might have happened’s. Time that was allotted but never spent. In this realm we find the stories that could have been true.

Such as the story of Kiala, whose aunt and caretaker disappears one day, leaving her as the sole Huntress to battle the giant octopi to feed her village. Or the revealing tale of Goki Feng Ho: the ancient Chinese art of decoding the meaning of car license plates. And the heartbreaking story of the man responsible for choosing the colors of the insides of your shoes. As he toils away in obscurity, his work impacts society in ways we’ll never fully comprehend. And let’s not forget the story behind Unspent Time itself, the metaphysical ramifications of which will leave the scientific community feeling mostly indifferent about it for decades to come…

Thank you Graham for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Graham Parke and his books, please visit his website.

**Unspent Time Tour Giveaway**

For the launch of the new novel Unspent Time Graham decided to discount it to $0.99 for today (PC and eBook), give away some exclusive content, and raffle off two Kindles.

All entrants will get:

• An exclusive spin-off novelette (not available for purchase anywhere!)
• Making of Gomez: behind the scenes eBook
• Signature for their paperback or kindle edition
• Chance to win a Kindle Fire or a Kindle Touch

(Prizes can be traded for Amazon gift certificates if you already own them.)
Just email your receipt to nohopeforgomez@gmail.com to enter.  Each purchase counts, so stock up on birthday presents (for people you don't like that much, for instance) The discount ends today, but be sure to send the receipts no later than June 1st.

Coupon code for today: ZB77D
(To use coupon code, visit Smashwords.com)

Please note, this is a tour giveaway.  Winners will not be drawn by From the Shadows.  Please visit the Unspent Time Launch Party page for more details.

Socialpunk Excerpt + Giveaway

Please welcome today's guest author Monica Leonelle.  Monica is the author of Silver Smoke, Tin Soldier, and Socialpunk.

Keep reading for a chance to win a new iPad 3 (or Apple or Amazon gift card worth $500), new Kindle Fire (or Amazon gift card worth $200), autographed hardcovers of Socialpunk by Monica Leonelle, and more.

As part of her Socialpunk Tour, Monica has provided From the Shadows readers with an excerpt from her new release.  Enjoy!

A small, blinking red light from just inside his eyelid reminded him of the news they sent him earlier that morning. The company had cancelled his funding and would shut down his project within three months. According to them, the project cost too much and took up too much space, and the inconclusive results couldn’t be published reputably, now or in the future.

Six years of his work, tens of thousands of lives at stake—and he could do nothing to save any of it. He bowed his head, letting his chin rest on the rim of his breakfast smoothie. The smoothie reeked of powder—crushed pills—but he supposed he had better get used to it. He wouldn’t be able to afford the luxury of real food after they canned him.

He closed his eyes and called up the camera view of one of his favorites, number 3281. She fascinated him; he couldn’t deny it. When he had designed her, her pre-teen rebelliousness lit fire in her eyes. A survivor, he’d thought. He’d meant for her to have it all—to grow up, to get married to the love of her life, and to have a beautiful family of her own someday.

But he had only given her sadness so far. Instead of creating a strict father, he had given her an abusive one. Instead of creating a loving boyfriend, he had given her a friend who could never love her. And instead of creating a strong, proud mother, he had given her a meek one, who watched the whole thing unfold and did nothing about it.

He looked at his last and final creation sitting in the chair across from him—his own son, not awakened yet. The law forbade him to have any children of his own, so this boy would substitute.

But he had done the unthinkable with this creation—he had bestowed on it his own thoughts, emotions, and decision-making processes. He’d given the boy his own mind, his own physical characteristics, his own wants and desires.

Socialpunk by Monica Leonelle

Ima would give anything to escape The Dome and learn what’s beyond its barriers, but the Chicago government has kept all its citizens on lockdown ever since the Scorched Years left most of the world a desert wasteland. When a mysterious group of hooded figures enters the city unexpectedly, Ima uncovers a plot to destroy The Dome and is given the choice between escaping to a new, dangerous city or staying behind and fighting a battle she can never win.


Thank you Monica for joining us here today at From the Shadows.

To learn more about Monica and her books, please visit her website.

**Socialpunk Tour Giveaway**

As part of her Socialpunk Tour, the author is giving away a new iPad 3 (or Apple or Amazon gift card worth $500), new Kindle Fire (or Amazon gift card worth $200), 25 autographed hardcovers of Socialpunk by Monica Leonelle, and more!

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below.   Please note that this is a book tour giveaway.  Winners will be selected May 1st, by the author (not From the Shadows), from participating blogs.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends April 30th.