Cover Reveal: Heartkeeper by B.T. Lyons, Interview & Giveaway

Thank you Mostly Reviews for hosting the official cover reveal of Heartkeeper by B.T. Lyons and a giveaway for an ARC! One thing that makes this cover extremely exciting is that the artwork was created by the author herself! (To see more of her art, check out her art page on her website.)

The novella of Heartkeeper was featured in Clean Teen Publishing's break through anthology, Wonderstruck and has received numerous outstanding reviews. When B.T. Lyons accepted our invitation to submit a full length novel for this fantastical story, we were so pleased. All of us at CTP are super excited to have such a talented artist and writer on our team!

HEARTKEEPER by B.T. Lyons

Book One in the Heartkeeper Saga

(Middle Grade- YA everyone)

Release Date: July 6, 2013

Book two: Heartbound will release on July 12, 2013

“People of the Field, of the Cave, of the Forest, and of the Mountain, and all the places and habitats in between, our race is able to gather here tonight because in time past we found that we were not the warden of the Earth, but the Earth was our warden, our sustainer, our parent...”

Mankind has survived the near-collapse of life as they knew it, now living in harmony with the world around them. Adain, a young Tenderfoot of this Future Earth, is about to take part in his Heart Chase – the search for a companion animal spirit that will act as his companion and conscience for the rest of his life. Success in the Heart Chase and surviving the subsequent Trials over the year ensures his place amongst the People as an adult, but failure means his certain death...

...and his whole future lies on the Heart of a mouse.

Heartkeeper is the first book in the “Heartkeeper Saga”, an epic adventure of friendship, challenges, and danger as humans struggle to regain their foothold in a new world that is no longer theirs to control. Can they survive in balance with the Earth, or will the Earth decide they no longer belong?

Interview with B.T. Lyons

1.) Describe your book in three words.
Magical, entertaining, thought-provoking (does that count as one word?)

2.) What inspired you to write “Heartkeeper”?

I saw a post that Clean Teen Publishing had put up on WritersCafe.com advertising their “Wonderstruck” contest right around the time of my college finals. I was looking for something fun and challenging to do between study sessions, and decided to try to write a novella in two weeks based upon one of the five images they provided for inspiration. “Heartkeeper” was directly inspired by a photo of a boy holding an illuminated jar, and the image became the two main characters of the book: Adain, a boy coming of age, and Fenjine, the spirit of a mouse.

3.) Where do you usually write?
My disaster area of a desk is located in my living room, piled high with papers, soda cans, and various knick-knacks and toys ranging from Star Wars to World of Warcraft to Pokemon. I never quite grew up. I do the vast majority of my writing on my desktop computer, though if I am on the road I will write on my laptop.

4.) What do you always have with you while writing?
I always have something to drink, Mountain Dew and chocolate milk being my usual poisons. I also always have by me a Pomeranian named Atticus and a Rat Terrier named Mushu either sitting at my feet or pawing at my leg begging me to stop writing and to get off my tuckus and give them more cookies.

5.) What are your top three books/series of all time?
The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende, Watership Down by Richard Adams, and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I have first editions of The Never Ending Story and Watership Down, and an uncorrected proof copy of Good Omens that are some of my most prized possessions.

6.) What are your favorite movies and TV shows?
I actually watch very little TV, preferring to relax with video games during my downtime. My current addiction is Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I adore animation and usually have a Disney or Hayao Miyazaki movie playing in the background while I am writing.

7.) What should we expect from you in the future?
Right now my primary focus is on the third book in the “Heartkeeper” series; Heartbound, which is Book 2, is already finished and is being prepared for release. Heartsworn is the title of Book 3 and I hope to have it finished this summer. The whole series will run either five or six books … maybe seven, depending on how much trouble the characters decide to get themselves involved in. You never know what characters are going to do, and I'm constantly having to call them back in from their adventures and lecturing them to try to stick to a single plot line. Unfortunately they have been getting better and better at convincing me that what they want to do is much more exciting and relevant than what I had asked them to do originally.

Author Bio

B.T. Lyons was born in 1973, growing up in Boylston, Massachusetts, and lived her early life working on the family goat farm and learning wilderness survival skills in the surrounding woodlands. She is a jack-of-all-trades, having worked as everything from a zookeeper to bookstore manager, to a horror theme park actress, to a radio personality, to a builder of utility trucks. In a current fit of happy mid-life crisis, she is a history major at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD.

She shares her home with her husband and her thirteen-year-old daughter, as well as a rat terrier, a Pomeranian, a ball python, and a rotating guest list of foster animals from the local humane society. B.T. is a rabid video game addict, and also enjoys drawing and creating various Neolithic-style handcrafts as her other hobbies. Her role models include Jim Henson, Jackie Chan, Hiyao Miyazaki, and Bill Cosby, and she is inspired by authors such as Richard Adams, Tad Williams, and Ray Bradbury.

Connect with B.T. Lyons:
Website / Facebook Page / Goodreads / Twitter / Blog / Clean Teen Publishing Page

Giveaway Time

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