The Order of Time Series

 Let's say hello to Scott P. Southall today. Scott's doing a virtual Name Before the Masses tour for The Order of Time Series, a middle grade fantasy/mythology/ancient history available January 20th, 2022 from Seaview Press. This tour will run every Tuesday and Thursday for 15 weeks starting on November 16th, 2021. 

Scott is giving away a $50 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Please use the following link to place your comment:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3965/

Blurb

About the Series

 

Picture two twelve-year-old fraternal twins who are like night and day. She is a smart and highly organised MMA fighter. He’s not a fighter, he’s a lover of history, art and Star Wars. Despite their differences they are one formidable team. Together Anastasia and Edward Upston travel through time and navigate ancient civilisations, angry gods and mythical monsters in their quest to protect the integrity of human history.

 

About The Order of Time

 

Anastasia and Edward Upston are eleven year old twins who are different in almost every way. Despite this they are inseparable and he best of friends. They tackle the highs and lows of sixth grade together whether they are fending off bullies at the elite Blake Academy or examining rare antiquities at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Then: life gets complicated.

 

They discover that their friend and mentor, Dr. Gregorian, is part of a secret society called the Order of Time. It turns out that time is not fixed, it’s a fluid continuum where changes to the past can create ripples all the way through to the present. It unwittingly falls to the twins to travel back through time to ancient Egypt where they must overcome deadly assassins, evil high priests and vengeful gods in order to prevent disaster. Together Anastasia and Edward must navigate all obstacles to preserve the past and find their way back home.

About The Order of Time and Odin’s Door 

The orange light bathed the snow-covered fields as the fiery globe began to dip below the horizon. It was strange that something so beautiful could signal the arrival of something so evil. One thing twelve-year-old twins Anastasia and Edward Upston knew for sure was that when mortals were caught between two bickering gods nothing good would come of it. Surviving the Viking Age may be the hardest thing they ever do, if they can…

Excerpt from The Order of Time

They started to leave when the room suddenly lit up with a strange purple light coming from under a closet door.

“Why is the closet glowing?” asked Edward, his voice trailing up an octave. “Maybe we should get out of here. 

“What if Dr. G’s in there? You know he always locks his door, but it was open tonight. Maybe he’s still here. He might need our help,” Anastasia said emphatically.

The light was getting brighter by the second. Now Edward could also hear a low humming noise.

“Stop being crazy, Anastasia! This is the part in the movies where you yell at the screen for the characters not to open the door. We are not going to open that door.”

“I’m not being crazy. If Dr. G is in there and needs help, we’ll never forgive ourselves.”

Edward looked at her pleadingly, but she wasn’t giving in. His shoulders slumped in defeat. Oh god, please don’t let there be a monster or anything really scary in there. Anastasia dragged him over to the closet door. The light pouring out around the cracks was incredibly bright and the humming was getting louder. She gripped the large, brass doorknob, took a breath, and opened the door.

Author bio and links

Scott is an American author and banking executive who lives in Sydney, Australia. He grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and attended Georgetown University. While he loves his job as a global banker, his true passion is making up stories with his children. His debut novel, The Order of Time, reached #1 in its category on Amazon and was the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal Winner in the Children’s – Mythology/Fairy Tale genre.

Following are Scott's answer to a couple of questions:

Q: Any weird things you do when you’re alone?

A: This is the kind of question that is asked because most people do something weird when they are alone. For me I sing. I sing a lot. I sing loudly. I don’t sing particularly well but I make up for it with enthusiasm (at least that is what I tell myself). I have an abnormal habit of remembering song lyrics that I hear word for word. When coupled with the fact that we have bluetooth microphones at home (for the kids of course), no singing artist’s work is really safe from me.

Q: What is your favorite quote and why?

A: “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” - George Eliot. I really love this quote. I believe that we are all capable of successfully reinventing ourselves multiple times during our lives. No one is stuck doing something for the rest of their life because that happens to be what they studied at college or it’s the field in which they got their first job. Just about anything can be done (except for professional singing) through a combination of passion and hard work. I’ve been fortunate enough so far to have been an accountant, management consultant, banker, author, illustrator (with my latest book), husband and father. I have loved all of these roles for different reasons. My sincerest hope is that I will enjoy many more roles before my time is up.

Q: Who is your favorite author and why? What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

A: I find “who is my favorite author?” to be an exceedingly hard question. I have a lot of books which fill the shelves across two houses. I also have boxes of books under the stairs which I just don’t have the room for but I can’t bear to give away. Lack of space is the primary reason why I transitioned to ebooks in the last ten years.

My favorite authors are all tied to the two elements of good writing which I enjoy most: world building and story telling. When I think of world building I think of authors who transport you to another place altogether. By the time your done reading their books you feel like those worlds or settings are like neighborhoods where you used to live. They become that tangible and familiar.

Great World Builders

·         Patrick Rothfuss

·         Anne McCaffrey

·         Susan Dennard

·         George W. Martin

·         Anne Rice

When I think about great story tellers I think of authors who get me heavily invested in their characters and keep me turning the pages with anticipation. While world building leans heavily into fantasy for me great story telling can be any genre.

Links:

https://www.scottpsouthall.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-southall-6bab5a4/

https://www.instagram.com/scottsouthallauthor/

https://www.facebook.com/scott.southallauthor

https://twitter.com/SSouthallAuthor

The book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour. 

https://www.amazon.com/Order-Time-Scott-P-Southall-ebook/dp/B07Z3XWJQ 

https://bookawards.com/book-award/the-order-of-time

https://readersfavorite.com/2021-award-contest-winners.htm#the-order-of-time