Friday, September 4, 2015

Book Blast, Giveaway & Interview: Scarlet Ambrosia by David Gittlin @davidgittlin

Scarlet Ambrosia Banner 851 x 315

 

bookblast

 

clip_image002Scarlet Ambrosia--Blood Is The Nectar of Life

David Gittlin

Genre: Paranormal Romance Thriller

Publisher: Entelligent Entertainment

Date of Publication: 4/1/2015

ISBN: 978-0-9882635-2-9

ASIN: B00PBCA0HU

Number of pages: 350

Word Count: 85,000

Cover Artist: Debi Bodett

Book Description:

How does a nice Jewish accountant tell his parents he’s become a vampire? If only that were his biggest problem.

A one night stand, an error in judgment, a wrong turn—words can barely describe the events that thrust Devon Furst into the arms of a beautiful vampire lover.

The violent aftermath of that fateful night threatens to burn Devon’s eternal life down to ashes and endangers the lives of everyone close to him.

Everything in Devon’s life changes in the span of a few hours. When he asks Mathilde de Roche one too many questions, the troubled vampiress has no choice but to offer Devon two terrible alternatives: Death or life as a vampire. For a man aged twenty-eight and in perfect health, death is not an option. Mathilde’s alluring beauty makes the decision and her vampire blood easier to swallow.

Devon must leave behind everyone and everything he holds dear to face a future full of uncertainty, and a five-hundred-year-old enemy endowed with super-human powers.

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/nGNXhQ-pUeI

Available at Amazon BN iTunes

excerpt

This woman was beyond beautiful. She was exquisite—no signs of breast implants or a nose job and no tattoos or piercings marred the natural beauty of her face and body. Her creamy skin felt like the finest silk to Devon’s probing hands. He unclasped her bra. His loins tingled at the sight of her full breasts. He caressed her erect nipples. She moaned.

The foreplay had started slowly with exploratory kisses and caresses. Now he could barely wait to enter her. Devon removed the last fragments of clothing from their bodies. The smell of her perfume, the feel of her body, and the sensation of her soft hands on his buttocks almost made him explode prematurely.

Being inside this woman was like nothing he had experienced before. Devon lost all sense of physical boundaries. The sensual pleasure of joining with Mathilde seemed to fill every cell in his body. He was only vaguely aware of moving inside her. Their rising passion consumed him. She kept repeating something in French. His back arched. He climaxed. The pleasure was too intense for his senses to bear. He lost consciousness.

He woke up next to her on the bed. She stroked his hair with one hand, propping her head up on one elbow.

Feeling embarrassed, Devon shook his head, unable to comprehend the reason for his lapse of consciousness. “I’m sorry if I scared you. It’s the first time I’ve ever passed out during sex.”

“You didn’t scare me, ma chère. It only confirms what I was afraid of.”

“Which is?”

“If we go on having sex, it will kill you.”

He laughed nervously. Had the sex been good enough to cause a blackout?

“I can think of worse ways to die,” he said, covering up for his discomfort.

She kept looking at him studiously.

“You kept whispering something to me in French. It sounded like: ‘Vous êtez celui que j'ai choisi.’ I think that means: ‘You are the one I chose’”

A whisper of red colored her cheeks. “Your French is better than you admit.”

“I don’t understand. We’ve just met, Mathilde.”

“Don’t worry. It’s just a game I play with myself. You remind me of someone I once knew: a handsome, high-minded young man with a sensitive heart.”

“I’m flattered, but it sounds a little more like a fixation than an innocent game to me.”

“Please don’t play the amateur psychologist.”

She pushed him off the bed with a movement almost too fast to see. One second he lay facing her. The next thing he knew, he lay on his back on the floor. Her sudden display of uncanny strength and speed frightened him. Clambering to a sitting position, he began to collect his clothes from the bed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to alarm you. Are you injured?”

“I’m still in one piece.”

“I actually do study martial arts, in answer to your earlier question. Sometimes I forget my own strength. Let me help you with your things. Are you sure I haven’t hurt you?”

He had the impression she was lying. “I’m fine. I just think it might be better to leave now. Who knows what could happen if you toss and turn in your sleep?”

“I apologize for leading you on,” Mathilde said. “I only intended to meet you in the bar and talk with you. I thought of it as a minor indulgence, to take my mind off things for a while. I let my curiosity about you cloud my judgment. Then, meeting you face to face, you had much more of an effect on me than I anticipated. I lost control of myself.”

“Is that something that happens often?”

“No,” she answered curtly. “I’m not that shallow.”

Devon’s thoughts and emotions spun like pinwheels. Part of him wanted to bolt out the door and finish dressing in the hallway. Another part, the accountant, needed explanations; wanted to analyze and quantify Mathilde de Roche. In the end, his own curiosity coupled with her charisma kept him rooted by the bedside.

“I’ve studied martial arts myself. I’ve never seen anyone move as quickly as you just did.”

She continued to regard him with a serious expression for a full minute before responding. “You should leave now, Devon. I won’t be offended.”

authorinterview

Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?

I wanted to play the trumpet or golf professionally. As a young boy, I played imaginary games to predict which dream would come true. Example: if I sink this ten foot putt I’ll become a professional golfer. I never dreamed that I’d become a marketing manager.

When did you first consider yourself a “writer”?

It happened about five years into my career when I started to work in marketing. I noticed that writing was the only thing I liked about working. I quit my day job about ten years ago and I still like to write, but not when it becomes a job. I admire people who like to work.

How long did it take to get your first book published?

My first novel started out as a screenplay. Since it’s nearly impossible to sell a screenplay, I turned the story into a novel. Since it’s harder to write a novel than a screenplay, I thought I’d be in a more select group and have more control over my destiny. Now that more than a million books are self-published each year, I’m not so sure how much control I have. Oops. I almost forgot to answer the question. It took five years to publish my first book because I kept re-writing the screenplay and the manuscript. Plus, it takes a while to figure out the best way to self-publish.

Do you do another job besides writing and can you tell us more about it?

As I mentioned above, I no longer have a regular job. In addition to writing, I’d say my life is a full-time job.

What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarize it in less than 20 words what would you say?

I’m going to cheat a little here since all of the pertinent information about my latest book already appears in this blog (I hope.) Instead, here’s the idea for my first novel: Three Days to Darkness. Ready? Here goes.

Is there literally a prescription for happiness? Darius McPherson has only three days and three friends to save the world from the people and the creatures who would have us believe that a new anti-depressant is the key to the treasure chest of happiness and success. You can read the first chapter and watch the book trailer here.

How long does it usually take you to write a book, from the original idea to finishing writing it?

I can usually complete the preliminary work and first draft in eight to twelve months. I usually do a couple of cover to cover re-writes and then give the manuscript to a professional editor. This process usually takes another eight to twelve months. The whole enchilada takes one and a half to two years. A hard-working author will be writing something new while re-writing another manuscript. I’m not a hard-working author and I can only do one thing at a time.

What genres would you place your books into?

I’m interested in fantasy, science fiction, and the paranormal. I like to write suspenseful, fast-paced stories.

What made you decide to write about vampires?

I’m fascinated by the supernatural powers of my vampire characters. They are very powerful beings with the capacity to dramatically impact the world around them positively or negatively.

Do you read all the reviews of your book/books?

Absolutely, although it would be nice if more of them came from major metropolitan newspapers and trade journals like Publishers Weekly. Maybe some- day…

Do you choose a title first, or write the book then choose the title?

The title usually comes to me in the early stages of writing, preferably before I begin writing the first draft. The title helps me to clarify what the story is about. When I’m passionate about an idea the title and the main characters come to me naturally.

Do you decide on character traits before writing the whole book or as you go along?

I studied screenwriting and novel writing through the writers program at UCLA. My teachers were published and produced professional writers. They taught me to do in-depth character charts for each main character before writing the story. It’s harder to do the work up front but I find it tends to make the characters more three dimensional and believable. Many authors prefer to discover their characters as they write. That sounds like way more fun but I think you have to be unusually gifted to do it successfully.

Are there any hidden messages or morals contained in your books?

Yes, but I wouldn’t use the word “morals.” I’d prefer to describe the hidden meanings as themes or subtexts.

Do you think books transfer to movies well?

Having studied screenwriting, I understand the difficulty of adapting a book into a movie. There isn’t enough room in a movie to capture all of the character backstories and the details of the plot. Novels are written in long hand. Movie scripts are written in short hand. Much of the transition from page to screen depends upon the skill and the interpretations of the screenwriter, the director, and the actors. Also, some books adapt more readily to the screen than others. Movies are, and always have been, a high stakes crap shoot. Studios are much more conservative in what they choose to produce now. I need to stop right here to avoid getting into the quality of the movies coming out of Hollywood these days.

 

 

  giveaway

25 ebook copies in mobi or epub format to the first twenty-five people who sign up via google docs

Enter here: https://goo.gl/nYiOM7

 

abouttheauthor

 

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After a career in marketing communications, David Gittlin wrote screenplays before turning to novels. His first novel, “Three Days to Darkness,” was a recent nominee to the James Kirkwood Prize for creative writing. “Scarlet Ambrosia” is his second novel. He lives a quiet and happy life in Aventura, Florida with his wife, Bonnie.

http://www.davidgittlin.com

https://davidgittlin.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dgittlin

https://www.facebook.com/ThreeDaysToDarkness

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DavidGittlin/posts

https://plus.google.com/+DavidgittlinScarlet_Ambrosia/posts

https://twitter.com/davidgittlin

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