Tasha's Thinkings: Blood Isle/Calasade Blog Tour

Today I welcome author Mark Stone to my blog to talk a little about himself and his new book, Blood Isle.

Blood-Isle-Illustrated-Novel-Calasade-Series

Blood Isle: Calasade Series virtual book tour featured by Happy Geek Media

Hello, Dear Reader.

You’ll have to excuse me if what you read comes off as odd. I’ve never before done a guest post.

Mmm, what to write?

That’s always the question for us authors, most anyway, though a lucky few don’t actually think of ideas; they just seem to magically come to us, delivered by some transcendent and invisible hand that reaches down deep inside and pulls out tales worthy of your time.

Perhaps spiritually is a better way of putting this type of writing process, for that’s how writing is to me—a divine experience, a dual existence in which my physical presence presides here on Mother Earth while my essence is alive and well within the borders of Calasade, the Greco-Roman Fantasy world wherein most of my stories take place. That world often seems more real to me than this, which it should when you consider I spend most of my time in that mystical, passionate place dark and gritty and lovely and horrifying and mystifying.

Calasade is everything that life should be. Or perhaps it is everything that life was in the time of Ancient Rome with the paranormal thrown in for good measure. I hope I have developed Calasade in such a way that it becomes as real to you as it is to me, that you are as equally fascinated by its past, present, and potential future.

Something I would like to note before signing off on this rambling: I am an Independent Author. I could have had the publishing contract; in fact, I did, but it soon became apparent to me that I would have to sacrifice my vision if I went the traditional route. That was something I could not do and subsequently got out of my contract.

You see, I refuse to compromise on Calasade, on either its beauty or ugliness. The publishing company wanted me to tame certain aspects and go in a direction that wasn’t true to the people of Calasade. That is not to say publishing companies are evil. Gatekeepers are in fact sorely needed. All one has to do is look over the state of Indie publishing to know gatekeepers losing control over what populates bookshelves also meant the loss of certain standards of quality. There are (sadly) countless examples of amateur attempts consisting of poorly formatted and grossly unedited books, badly penned stories by authors who care only for making money and nothing for their craft, and covers so horrendous, they make you want to scratch out your eyes.

My books are none of those things (something I hope the art included with this post proves). My intent is to offer a product that equals if not surpasses those of the big publishers. More important to me than making a quick buck for minimal effort is pride and I strive above all else to be proud of Calasade.

The art is from Calasade: Blood Isle, an illustrated Fantasy Romance. Blood isle is available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. It is also at Barnes & Noble for Nook and (for most other reading devices) at Smashwords. Blood isle is about a broken man addicted to drink and gambling who gets a final chance of redemption when he is tasked with rescuing a kidnapped slave girl.

Sincerely,

Mark Stone

http://www.authormarkstone.com Calasade: Blood Isle Illustration

Blood Isle, Calasade Series

by Mark Stone

Genres: Greco-Roman, Illustrated, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Mythology, Romance

248 Pages

Release date: May 18, 2015

Calasade is a Greco-Roman Fantasy world that was in development for over five years. The world of Calasade has enough in common with Ancient Rome and borrows enough from Greek and Roman mythology that it will seem familiar, but also offers plenty of its own lore so that it is something new and different, the latter especially true when the world of Calasade and its tales are compared to fantasy taking place in worlds based on Medieval Europe.

A love of fantasy tropes intertwined with the unique helped bring Calasade and Blood Isle to fruition. You will find neither the knight in shining armor nor the never-do-good evil sorcerer.

The people of Calasade in Blood Isle are not so different than us in that they belong squarely inside the gray box of existence. As such, each and every one is capable of heroic acts one moment and dark ones the next depending on what's at stake and the means available for acquiring their goals.

Blood Isle is an illustrated novel. While part of a series, it is like all Calasade stories and can be read as a stand-alone. Thank you for taking the time to check out Calasade: Blood Isle.

Amazon/Goodreads/B&N/ALIBRIS

Follow the Blood Isle Tour here

May 18th: Happy Geek Media Launch/Unique Excerpt/Illustration

May 19th Wren Michael's Blog Spotlight/Illustration/Playlist

May 20th Flight of the Dragon Character Profile/Illustration/Unique Excerpt

May 21st Ivy Trellis Books Review & Illustration

May 22nd Photography, Poetry & Indie Authors Illustration & Playlist

May 25th DRC Promotions Unique Excerpt & Illustration

May 26th Tasha's Thinkings Guest Post

May 27th The Writer's Journey Author Q&A & Illustration

May 28th Desafio in the City Unique Excerpt & Illustration

May 29th KP's Cafe Review/Playlist/Illustration

May 30th Happy Geek Media Review & the Works

Author Mark Stone of Blood Isle
and the Calasade series

Mark Stone splits his time between the United States and Spain with his greatest inspiration, his wife. Having written award-winning Flash Fiction, he is now a novelist writing tales mostly of Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery. He will sometimes get a wild hair and venture into other areas—namely, Weird Western and Historical Fiction. Look for the latter in the near future. Most of his stories are based in Calasade, a fantasy world heavily influenced by Ancient Rome.