Five Corners: The Marked Ones

Today, my blog features author Cathi Shaw. She is the author of Five Corners: The Marked Ones, a YA fantasy which became available from January 30th from Ink Smith Publishing. To promote her novel, Cathi is making a promotional virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. This tour will run from March 16th until April 11th.

I'd like to encourage you to read the blog and make a comment, as the author is giving away a $50 Amazon/BN gift certificate to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Please use this Rafflecopter code to place your comment:  http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e43482/

Some interesting facts about the author

1. How would you spend ten thousand bucks?

I would give half of it to a charity (my favorite being the Epilepsy Awareness Squad: www.easquad.org) and I would use the rest to travel somewhere I haven't been before.

2. What are 5 things within touching distance?

My coffee cup, my laptop, my iPhone, a box of Kleenex and a plant.

3. Do you have a crush on anyone?

Yes. I adore Johnny Depp. He's beautiful. 

4. What is your least favorite word?

Moreover.

5. What part of the writing process do you dread?

Writing the first draft – it’s just so frustrating because I think I know how the story goes and then I have to slow down and type it all out (it’s already written in my head). But while writing Five Corners, I had some surprises from the writing process. The story actually came out completely differently from what I had “written” in my head. My daughter, Caitie, would come home from school and I’d say, “You’ll never believe what Kiara did today!”

More about the book and it's author

Blurb

Growing up in a sleepy village untouched by distant wars and political conflicts, it was easy for Thia, Mina and Kiara to forget such horrors existed in the Five Corners. That is until the dead child is found; a child that bears the same strange birthmark that all three sisters possess. A Mark their mother had always told them was unique to the girls.

Kiara’s suspicions grow as their Inn is soon overrun with outsiders from all walks of life. Strangers, soldiers and Elders who all seem to know more about what is happening than the girls do.

After Mina barely survives an attack in the forest, the sisters are faced with a shattering secret their mother has kept from them for years. As danger closes in around them, the sisters are forced from their home and must put their trust in the hands of strangers.  With more questions than answers, Kiara finds herself separated from everyone she loves and reliant on an Outlander who has spent too much time in army. She doesn’t trust Caedmon but she needs him if she has any hope of being reunited with her sisters and learning what the Mark might mean.

Excerpt

Kiara stared at the small body laid out in the family's tiny kitchen. She didn't know the child but that didn't stop her heart from jerking in her chest as she looked at the perfect little girl lying in the wooden box. She was dressed in what were obviously her best clothes: her dark hair had been carefully combed and braided. She was only six years old.

Kiara felt her own mother watching her closely. She forced her gaze away from the small lifeless form. Brijit murmured softly to the parents and then moved to Kiara's side.

"Come away from here, Kiara," her mother said firmly.

But Kiara couldn't stop herself from looking back at the child, noting how someone had twined a pretty scarf around her neck, concealing the ugly slashes that she knew were hidden beneath the colorful material. The result of a blade taken to vulnerable flesh. This poor girl had had no chance against her assailant.

Brijit tugged on her arm insistently. "There is nothing more for us to do here," she whispered in a hushed undertone. "Let’s go and give the family some peace."

Kiara felt a sudden wave of shame wash over her. She suddenly wondered what she was doing here?

Don’t try to deny it, she told herself vehemently, you know why you’re here.

She had seen the Mark on the child's shoulder. She resisted the urge to rub her own shoulder where an identical Mark was hidden beneath her tunic. It was something she’d believed she only shared with her sisters. But this child proved different.

And there was no question that this child had been assassinated.

Author bio and links

Cathi Shaw lives in Summerland, BC (Canada) with her husband and three children.  She is often found wandering around her home, muttering in a seemingly incoherent manner, particularly when her characters have embarked on new adventure. In addition to writing fiction, she teaches rhetoric and professional writing in the Department of Communications at Okanagan College and is the co-author of the textbook Writing Today.

Twitter: @CathiShaw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMarkedOnesSeries

Tumblr: http://themarkedones.tumblr.com/

Buy links for book:

PUBLISHER:   http://ink-smith.com/product/five-corners-the-marked-one/

AMAZON:   http://www.amazon.com/Five-Corners-The-Marked-Ones/dp/1939156246/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391810627&sr=8-1&keywords=FIVE+CORNERS+CATHI+SHAW

BARNES AND NOBLE:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/five-corners-cathi-shaw/1117922571?ean=9781939156242