Friday, May 23, 2014

#Giveaway & Guest Post! Time travelling to Ancient Egypt. What would you do? by Terri Herman-Ponce




Terri will be awarding a digital copy of IN THIS LIFE (Book 1 of the Past Life Series) to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop during the tour, and a Grand Prize of a $50 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
  

BLURB:
   
Hidden memories. Buried secrets. Resurrected revenge.
   
Psychologist Lottie Morgan knows something is wrong when she relives memories of a lover she's never had. At first she attributes them to fever-induced dreams. But when the fever disappears and the visions don’t, Lottie realizes something else is going on.
   
Then she meets Galen. Their first encounter is as intense as it is eye-opening, and his revelation that they shared a passionate relationship thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt entices Lottie into wanting to learn more about her past. Her decision, however, comes at a price. Galen may hold the answers but he could destroy the devoted, lifelong relationship Lottie has with her current lover, David.

It also could mean her death—again.
   
Someone is protecting millennia-old secrets, determined to keep them buried while exacting a revenge on Lottie for a mistake made a very long time ago. A mistake she could be destined to repeat.
   
Take a trip to mysterious ancient Egypt, where Lottie becomes caught between two lifetimes, two men, and long-buried deceptions. Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony and Macavity-winning author, calls this paranormal suspense "Inventive, original and thought-provoking; this mystically romantic mystery will instantly intrigue."


Excerpt One:
The restlessness I’d been feeling surged through me again, stronger this time, and I didn’t like the way it felt. Something seemed off, and I wasn’t sure if it was with David or with me. Remnants of last night’s sleep started trickling in, and then a connection clicked into place.

“I had a dream last night and I started remembering it in the bathroom.” I closed my eyes, trying to remember more. “I was in a room with a servant who was waiting on me. She was preparing me to meet someone. A boyfriend.” No, that wasn’t quite right. “A lover.”

I felt a tingling uneasiness as I said the word.

“A lover?” David asked.

I opened my eyes, saw David’s grin and recognized the bait for what it was.

I grinned back. “The lover wasn’t you.”

His grin widened and then faded away. “That still doesn’t explain your behavior in the bathroom. You looked like a statue.”

“I’m tired, David,” I said, sliding down under the covers. “ The human mind is capable of doing unusual things when a person is under stress, like when they’re sick, and the gods only know I’ve been feeling a lot of that these past few days. Forget about it. It’s not a worry.”

David paused. “Is that your professional assessment?”

“Yes.”

It looked like David wanted to say more but he got up and walked to the windows that overlooked the backyard instead. I wasn’t sure what was going through his mind but I knew him well enough to know not to pry. It always backfired whenever I did. So I let him have his moment, toyed with the toast, and then passed on it in favor of some tea. My cell phone rang as soon as I put the mug on the nightstand, and I answered it on the second ring.

“Tough night’s sleep, Lottie?” The voice on the other end was male and one I didn’t recognize. “You shouldn’t tell your boyfriend about your other lovers. Especially those you dream about.”

“Who is this?” I asked.

“I’m disappointed you don’t recognize me.” He laughed, the sound crawling over my skin like a snake over sand. “I’m the man you dreamed about last night.”

Blogger note: After this excerpt,you'll need to read this book,like me!


 GUEST POST!


Q:Time travelling to Ancient Egypt. What would you do?



A:Wow. This is a hard question!

I’ve had a love affair with Ancient Egypt for a very long time now. I know it’s a romanticized view of the time and those amazing people, but there’s something about the life they lived that is both awe-inspiring and perplexing to me.

When you think about Ancient Egypt, you think pyramids and hieroglyphs. When you think Ancient Egyptians, you think gold jewelry and linen sheaths and funeral complexes filled with priceless treasures. But there’s so much more to it all than that. Of course, if I could go back in time and visit, I’d certainly want to go as who I am today and with the 21st century knowledge I carry. I mean, I may have a romantic view of the time but I’m also pragmatic. Living in the desert and under very limited circumstances (not to mention with no technology or electricity!) was tough, and sometimes deadly.

But there’s something about the simplicity of Ancient Egypt that grabs me. More so, there’s something about the science they developed and used to understand the night skies surrounding them. You see, I also have a fascination with the cosmos. I’m by no means an expert, but I think the Ancient Egyptian night sky would be the first thing I’d be drawn to if I went back in time. I know it sounds odd, because there are so many historic and amazing structures standing there that probably deserve as much attention (if not more so), but I’d love to see the stars and constellations as they saw them. Without light pollution and without obstruction and in their purest form possible.

Because my brain isn’t geared toward physics or heavy duty math, the one thing I’d love to do is connect with the people who studied those ancient night skies. The Ancient Egyptians studied astronomy because the stars helped them tell time, and it gave them an idea of when to plant and when to harvest. They also used their mathematical skills to identify “the stars that know no rest” (Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, and Venus) and carried an incredible interest in Orion, which represented Osiris, their god of rebirth.

So, yeah. I suspect that if I could go back in time to Ancient Egypt, it would be in wide-eyed awe of the night sky that we, unfortunately, can no longer see. And it would be with loads of questions as to how these people identified their cosmos, how they came to understand zodiac and constellations, and how they came upon such advanced calculations despite having what many call a ‘primitive’ culture.

Oh. And I’d probably ask how they built those pyramids, too.

What about any of you? If you could travel back in time, to when and where would it be?

Thanks so much for having me here today, to talk about my love of the Ancient Egyptians and the re-release of In This Life, Book 1 of the Past Life Series. I thoroughly enjoyed being here!



AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Terri looks for any opportunity to make stuff up. She thinks anything that can’t so easily be explained is worth an extra look and often makes a great story. She loves red wine, scotch, sunrises, Ancient Egypt, the beach—and a host of other stuff that would take too much real estate to talk about. The youngest of five children, Terri lives with her husband and son on Long Island. And, in her next life, if she hasn’t moved on to somewhere else, she wants to be an astronomer. Terri’s fascinated with the night skies almost as much as she’s fascinated with ancient Egypt.

Terri is a member of member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, and you can read about her at http://terriponce.com/.

If you love social media, you can also find Terri on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Terri.Ponce.Author and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TerriPonce. Come visit. She’d love to hear from you!

Links:



17 comments:

  1. I have enjoyed the tour thank you & look forward to catching up with your book.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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    1. Thanks, Mary, for stopping by and saying hi and sticking by my side through a good part of this tour!

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  2. Thank you for the chance to win :)
    jslbrown2009(at)aol(dot)com

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    1. Hi, Lisa, and thank you SO much for saying hello on this last stop of my blog tour. Whew! What a whirlwind! I appreciate your company today. :)

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  3. Hi there, and thank you SO much for hosting me today! I look forward to chatting and meeting some new people. It's always a fun thing! :)

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  4. Its been a great tour. I have enjoyed learning about your book.

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

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    1. Thank you, Rita. I had a great time sharing my book with everyone along the way! :)

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  5. The SKY!!!! Terri - I wouldn't have thought of that, but that would be really awesome. The chance to see a truly dark night sky without all the light pollution we have almost everywhere these days would be amazing!

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    1. Oh, Irene. It would be a dream could do if I could ever see the heavens like that. Just the idea of it gives me goose bumps.

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  6. Egypt is so evocative! I don't know if I'd want to go too far back in time...modern medicine is a non-negotiable for me!

    vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com

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    Replies
    1. Well, yeah, modern medicine. A small bump in the time travel road, eh?

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  7. Thank you for the opportunity to win!
    pokergrl8 at gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. Always happy to share my stories, Amanda. :)

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  8. And same to you, Thomas. I love it when people are excited to find new stories. :)

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  9. I can't wait to read this book - thanks Terri! Great post today!
    rushtond123@hotmail.co.uk

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  10. Thanks for this giveaway.It's a nice book! :)

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I love comments. I appreciate every one of them! So Thank you!