Virtual Book Tour: Seed by Shelly Campbell

 

SEED
Shelly Campbell

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GENRE:  Horror/Dark Science Fiction

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BLURB:

Glitching between dimensions wasn't supposed to be my life, but sometimes you have to dance with the darkness.

I should be dead. Shot twice through the chest. But the Embassy saved me because I’m a one-of-a-kind freak who blips to worlds they can’t reach. Now I’m their personal mule, raiding collapsing planets to fatten their coffers. Lucky me.

And things have gone from bad to worse. My old team is being held hostage, my family’s in danger, and the darkness hunts me across realities. My one shot to end this living hell? Take down the Embassy, save Charlie, and torch the whole rotten system. Simple, right? One misstep though, and we’re toast. Alien breach. Apocalypse. End scene.

If I fail, the darkness won’t stop until it swallows us whole.

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EXCERPT:

I used to be David. 

David had a big family. Wanted to join the army. Always got stuck cleaning out the soft serve machine at his after-school job because everyone else despised the chore. But now he’s gone and I’m all that’s left. A dead animal under glass, gutted and hastily stitched together—you know the kind where the taxidermist didn’t get the eyes quite right? That’s me. Sad display in an Embassy trophy case.

But I’m not just for show. My captors use me well.

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Author Interview

Tell me about yourself. Where are you from?

SC: I’m a lucky one. Wife to a hubby who’s my best friend, Mom to two boys who tower over me and have big hearts to match, working part-time at a job that treats me well and finances my hobbies, living tucked against the Rocky Mountains close to lakes to paddleboard in with lots of friends and family close by. It doesn’t get much better than this, folks. I’m extremely fortunate.

What genre do you read? Who's an author you read? Name your top 5 authors.

SC: I’m on a bit of a sci-fi kick right now. Love Martha Wells, Essa Hansen, Darby Harn, Al Hess, Andy Weir.

What book are you reading right now, and what do you like about it?

SC: Right now, I’m reading Bad Cree by Jessica Johns. It’s one of those reads you savor because it’s full of beautiful imagery and achingly deep connections. I know I’m going to have a book hang-over once I’ve finished it, so I’m trying to make it last. 

Favorite sports.
SC: My boys play hockey and baseball, so I spend a lot of time watching both. Let’s call it a tie.

Favorite thing about your state you live in.
SC: Well, I’m a Canuck, so I don’t live in a state 😊 I love the natural, wild beauty of my province. The mountains and the lakes, and the valleys filled with wildflowers. It’s lovely how even when it gets warm here in the summer, the evenings are always cool. It’s mostly sunny here and I’m a solar charged kind of gal. I need my vitamin D!

How long have you been writing?
SC: I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. My debut was published in late 2020 and Seed is my eighth novel.

What is your writing process like? Are you more of a plotter or a pantser?

SC: I’m a mix of both. I like to start with a roadmap—a sparse one. Sometimes my characters and I follow the path I’ve charted out and sometimes we go crashing through the bush instead. Either way, it’s a road trip!

How did you come up with the ideas for your series?

SC: The Dark Walker series started with a short story prompt that simply said: ‘There is a locked door. Your character finds the only key. What do they find on the other side of the door?’ I imagined a door to another dimension, kind of like Narnia, but if it were horror instead of fantasy. What if you couldn’t seal the door once you opened it and all sorts of awful things—hungry things—wanted onto your side?

How do you celebrate finishing a book?

SC: With cheesecake or chocolate cake and maybe a rum and coke.

What would you tell a writer who is just starting out? What program do you use for writing? What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book? What’s your writing software of choice?

SC: Read. Read. Read. Not just books on craft. You can overload on those. Read books that you love and then reread them with an eye for what made you love them. What hooked you? You can’t write if you don’t read. Words don’t come out if they don’t go in 😊 Watch movies. Play video games. RPG games. Anything that has good storytelling. Go to art museums. Watch plays. Listen to live music. Just take in the arts. They are the stuff life is made of and what we turn to when life gets tough.

I use Microsoft Word for writing. Just a simple word processor works best for me. Anything with spellcheck and a decent thesaurus does the trick.

How do you organize everything and finding the time to sit down and write?

SC: I suck at organizing. Life is busy. I work. Kids have homework and sports. I spend a lot of weekends at markets selling my books in person. And I’ve got hobbies other than writing too. I write whenever I get a chance and I don’t feel guilty when I’m not writing. It’s a well, creativity is. And sometimes it needs time to refill.

As an author, what would you choose as your spirit animal?

SC: I’ve never thought about it, really. I love birds. My canary is my little kindred spirit and writing buddy. Does that count?

Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing? 

SC: My Writer’s Alliance group. We found each other online and have been good friends for years even though most of us have never met in person. They are my stalwart supporters and my best cheerleaders. Can’t forget my publishers. They believed in my writing enough to support it wholeheartedly and I’m forever thankful for that!

How do you name your characters?

SC: I often peruse popular baby name lists around the year my characters were born. Sometimes there’s just a name that suits. Boring, I know. But it works for me.

Can you describe a typical day in your writing life?
SC: You mean after I procrastinate, clean the house, doom-scroll, and stare frozen at a blank laptop screen for a little while? I’ll usually spend a bit of time reviewing my previous chapter, take a glance at my outline to refresh my mind as to what I want the next scene to accomplish, and then I  start writing. Hyper-focus mode kicks in and, before I know it, the kids are home from school and I’m terribly hungry and grumpy because I’ve forgotten to eat or stretch or go to the bathroom. Oops. Not a writing routine I’d recommend to others 😊

SC: Thanks so much for having me on the blog. I really appreciate you helping me launch my book to new readers. 

AA: You're welcome. Anytime!

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

At a young age, Shelly Campbell wanted to be an air show pilot or a pirate, possibly a dragon and definitely a writer and artist. She’s piloted a Cessna 172 through spins and stalls, and sailed up the east coast on a tall ship barque—mostly without projectile vomiting. In the end, Shelly found writing and drawing dragons to be so much easier on the stomach. Shelly writes speculative fiction ranging from grimdark fantasy, to sci-fi and horror. She’d love to hear from you.

http://www.shellycampbellauthorandart.com

https://twitter.com/ShellyCFineArt 

https://www.instagram.com/shellycampbellfineart 

https://www.facebook.com/shellycampbellauthorandart

https://www.tiktok.com/@shellycampbellauthor

https://www.amazon.com/Seed-interdimensional-Science-Fiction-Horror-ebook/dp/B0F79Q1GML/ref=sr_1_1

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