THE RISE OF AREDOR // Relaunch Tour, Interview, Excerpt, & Giveaway

SO I TOTALLY MISSED WRITING A POST LAST SATURDAY AND I AM SO SORRY. Test week had just ended, there was a church event I had to attend, there was a book signing I really wanted to go to, and so BASICALLY LIFE JUST TOOK OVER. #rude

But, on the plus side, I got to meet and hang out with a certain lovely author (Lord willing, more on the book signing in tomorrow's September Highlights 🙂), and have a little bit of breathing room on Sunday before school started up again. 😸

Anywhozens, on to the real reason why I'm with y'all this Friday! 🎉🎉

Today, I am positively thrilled to be sharing The Rise of Aredor and The Wildcat of Braeton, both books by author Claire M. Banschbach! You might've heard of these already, as they've each been out for a couple years... but now they're officially being relaunched, with splendid cover touch-ups and re-edits! I'm proud to present...

THE RISE OF AREDOR

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Book I

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Lost in a foreign land and separated from his family, Corin does his best to survive as a slave in the household of a Calorin lord. With newfound friends he fights for survival in ambushes and wars. For one act of bravery, he is awarded his freedom and returns to a home that has been invaded and ravaged by the Calorin armies. When Corin sets foot on Aredor's shores, he has one goal in mind: find his family. He is driven into the forest, where he is reunited with childhood friends. From the shelter of the woods, they begin a spirited rebellion against Corin's former cruel master, who now holds sway over Aredor. Follow Corin's path in his quest to free his imprisoned brother, find a father who has vanished, and ultimately free his country in The Rise of Aredor.

THE WILDCAT OF BRAETON

The Rise of Aredor, Book II

His term of service to Lord Rishdah now complete, Aiden returns to his home in Braeton. As he travels he hears rumors that trouble plagues Braeton. Clan Canich is being attacked from within. He arrives, determined to save his father, his brothers, and his Clan from the treachery of one man.

A year has passed since the Calorins were driven from Aredor and Corin is struggling to rebuild his country. Despite the peace, a fear haunts him that the Calorins aren’t far away. The Hawk Flight takes to the forest again to defend the borders against a possible attack from the neighboring country of Durna and its Calorin ally. 

As Aiden and Corin struggle to adapt to their new lives they know one thing for certain -- war is coming to the North!

INTERVIEW

Hi, Claire! Welcome to the blog! I'm so terribly thrilled to have you here! First off, would you mind sharing a little bit about yourself? Hobbies; personality; coffee, cocoa, or tea?

Hi! I'm so excited to be here! I qualify as an INFP, but really I'm a giant dork who laughs at everything and hopes something incredibly epic will happen every day. I'm also a pediatric physical therapist, so the humor level of a five-year-old helps there. 😉 My hobbies are basically reading and recently attempting to embroider stockings for my nieces and nephews (I said dork, right?). And I don't really drink hot drinks. So very un-writerly of me. But I do enjoy iced tea.

Have you always been a storyteller? How did you get into writing?

I guess I'd never really thought of myself as a storyteller when I was younger, but I did like coming up with little short stories. I think we have a few written down somewhere. And I've always been a daydreamer. I credit getting into writing with the release of the LOTR movies and some very poorly written fanfiction.

From where did the first spark of inspiration for The Rise of Aredor come?

I've always loved Narnia, and The Horse and His Boy is still my favorite book, so it kind of kickstarted the inspiration for the story. It took a year or two of living the adventures in my head before I realized that I could make up my own world and characters and thus began the story.

If you could pick a favorite character from your series, who would it be and why?

So there's another question really similar to this in another interview, so I'll give a different answer, because I actually have several favorites. Mera is one of the secondary characters and becomes a love interest in the second book. She's a healer and has a quiet, no nonsense way about her. And she and her lucky guy are adorable together, just saying. 🙂

Thank you so much for your time, Claire! Would you mind sharing a short snippet from The Rise of Aredor, before you go?

Thank you so much for having me! Absolutely! And for this snippet, Corin goes by Hamíd during his time in Calorin.

EXCERPT

"Emeth, bring the stallion!" Lord Rishdah called.

The guard with the double swords took the reigns from the son and led the horse over. The stallion was limping badly on his right front foot and, as it came closer, Hamíd saw the ragged edge of the hoof and small cuts littering its leg.

"His shoe came loose and he went and tore it off. Fell and cut his leg up a bit too," Emeth explained.

Hamíd spared a brief nod as he went up to the horse to better examine it. He ran a hand down its leg and the stallion shied away. Hamíd caught at its bridle and stroked its forehead in reassurance.

"Hey now, easy, boy. You're in no shape to be dancing around like that," he murmured in his own tongue. The stallion snorted, gradually settling down as he continued to talk gently to it.

"He likes you. He usually doesn't settle down that easy."

Hamíd jerked his head up in surprise. Emeth had spoken Rhyddan, the northern tongue. He saw now that Emeth was fair-skinned like him, with wavy black hair and sparkling green eyes.

"You are far from home." Hamíd broke free from his initial shock.

"I could say the same for you." Questions were evident in Emeth's words.

Hamíd risked a glance at Balkor. The anger in the lord's face promised punishment later. Hamíd turned back to the horse and reverted to Calorin, "If you'll bring him to the forge, sir, I'll take care of him there."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Claire M. Banschbach is a native West Texan. She discovered a deep and abiding love for fantasy and science fiction at a young age, prompting her to begin exploring worlds armed only with an overactive imagination and a pen while obtaining degrees in Kinesiology from Texas A&M and physical therapy from Texas Tech University.

She talks to fictional characters more than she should while struggling to find time for all their stories. She currently resides in Arlington, Texas, where she works as a pediatric physical therapist.

Blog // Facebook // Goodreads // Twitter // Instagram

KINDLE SALE

Today and tomorrow only, readers can snag The Rise of Aredor ebook for only 99¢ on Amazon!

GIVEAWAY

Claire has kindly decided to throw a giveaway, in honor of the relaunch bash! This giveaway closes October fourth, 2017. Winners will receive ebooks of the duology, as well as notecards of the series artwork. The grand prize winner will receive a paperback set of the books and one notecard of choice.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TOUR SCHEDULE

• Sept 28
• Daley Downing – Series review
• Rachael Ritchey – Series spotlight & Interview
• Deborah O'Carroll – Series spotlight & Interview
• Kelsey Bryant – Series spotlight
• Shannon A. Hiner – Series review
• Sept 29
• CB Cook – Series spotlight
• Liv K. Fisher – Series spotlight & Interview
• Laura A. Grace – Video Reviews!
• Emily Kopf – Review for The Rise of Aredor
• Shannon A. Hiner – Interview
• Sept 30
• Hazel West – Interview
• E. Rawls – Guest Post – Anatomy of Writing
• Gabriellyn Gidman – Interview
• E. Paige Burks – Series spotlight
• Sarah Addison-Fox – Series review
• Faith Blum – Spotlight for The Wildcat of Braeton

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Thank you so much for chatting with me, Claire! And Dragons, take note that Claire will soon be releasing a short story on her blog, to share a little taste of the Aredor universe with you! 🙂

How are you, my dear Dragon? (I feel as if we haven't talked together in ages!) Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa? Have you ever visited the world of Aredor?

❤,

Blog tour images provided by
the author. Banner background
recovered from Pixabay.