Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Release Tour Kickoff - Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella

Right here, right now - we're kicking off the release tour for Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella! The tour runs today through November 4th, with lots of giveaways and a Grand Prize at the end.

Because Genesis takes place in Greece at around 200 B.C., we'll be exploring various aspects of the time - fashion, food, beliefs, culture, society, etc. and how they tie into the book.

I had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit while researching for this story and am excited to share the tidbits I found. Of course, Genesis is just a novella and a work of fiction, so we're barely scratching the surface on the tour and in the book. But hopefully you'll learn something new and have fun along the way.

The Ancient Greeks celebrated most events with festivals and I thought about calling this tour a "festival" but there's just one problem - women generally were not permitted to attend festivals. Men had all the fun! Their festivals could last a day or a week and included lots of food, drink and merriment. That part hasn't changed much, right? Thank goodness we women can now celebrate, too!

I hope you'll grab your favorite drink and come along on the tour. Food will be served (which actually began last week with this interesting visit from Jordan and Eris, two characters from the novella). And, as I said, lots of prizes, including Soul Savers swag, ebooks and a Grand Prize of signed books, swag and other goodies. For more details on the tour, visit the tour page.

Up for grabs now: Soul Savers Swag Pack. Just comment below to be entered by either sharing something you already know about Ancient or Hellenic Greece or asking a question about something you'd like to know. Be sure to include an email address so we can contact you if you win! Don't forget that your comments here (and on each stop) gain you entries for the Grand Prize, too.

Good luck! Have fun!

12 comments:

  1. How did the Ancient Greeks preserve their olives? I know many of them were used for oil, but how did they preserve them otherwise?

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  2. TOTALLY want to enter but I am ON the blog tour *sighs* I will just live vicariously though all the winners! hehe...

    THIS SERIES IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. What is the difference between Ancient and Hellenic Greece? I love greek mythology, but i don't know about this. I hope its not a stupid question, but as I try to tell my kids, No question is a stupid question if you don't know the answer!!

    GFC Michele Luker

    I'm SO excited for this tour!!

    http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=162708730488337&id=100000279517109

    jmluker at winco dot net

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  4. That is a very good question and for some reason it made me forget what I was going to ask. Now I really want to know what the difference is between Ancient and Hellenic Greece?
    Very good question Michele.

    Charissajackson@yahoo.com

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  5. I wish my daughter was home as she could give me an earful of ancient greece and then I would sound smart as I posted here! Honestly, I am embarrassed to say I get the Greeks and Romans mixed up all the time! I do know some about the Greek gods but only because of reading Percy Jackson books...LOL! The longer one is out of school, the less one remembers! LOL!

    books4me67 at ymail.com

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  6. Sarah - Good question! I haven't come across their preservation techniques yet, but tomorrow is Foodie Friday on my blog, so I think I'll look that up. Thanks for the idea!

    Everyone else - Hellenic Greece is the last few hundred years before the Greek empire fell and the Romans took over (about 150 BC). Ancient Greece spans such a long time period - most sources say about 8th century BC even to the beginning of the Middle Ages - and includes Archaic, Classical and Hellenic. The Hellenic period followed Alexander the Great and focused a lot on democracy, education and culture. The Greek culture (and power) spread during this time to Persia and the near East, as well as into Rome.

    I don't really differentiate between the two when talking about the book (because most people DON'T know the difference). I do think it's important to remember that so much can and surely did change in the nearly 1,000 years of "Ancient Greece," and Genesis takes place during the most recent part, when I'm sure life was more advanced and civilized, even with all the wars.

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  7. Loved the highlight! Thanks for the giveaway :)

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

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  8. I love this tour! I'm from Greece and We still celebrated many events with festivals but of course women have permitted to attend the festivals(with a lot of food ,drink and dance).
    About the olives, is exactly the same way we use today. We put the olives in a bowl with water, salt and little oil. Are maintained for long.

    artgiote at gmail dot com

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  9. Hi, Diana! Thanks for sharing that! As for the olives, all I could find is that they might have used vinegar. So thank you for letting us know. ;)

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  10. How much research did it take to write this and your other 2 books? Congrats on the release!!!

    Cynthia Garcia
    shygrumpychica1@hotmail.com

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  11. I do not know much about Hellenic Greek culture, but I remember they tended to fight a lot of wars like in the movies 'Troy' and '300'. Do these war-like tendencies play a role in your book?

    sophiarose1816@gmail.com

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  12. Cynthia, this one took more research than the other two. The other two take place in today's world, which of course I'm familiar with the culture, and in Florida, where I live, so I'm familiar with the landscape, geography, local culture, etc. Genesis, on the other hand, needed much more research just to understand what regular life was like.

    Sophia, wars do play a big role in Genesis, on multiple levels.

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