It's Raining Books: The Avant Champion by C.B. Samet

Monday, May 20, 2019

The Avant Champion by C.B. Samet

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. C.B. Samet will be awarding an Avant Champion tote bag, world map (11x17), prequel novelette, and bookmark (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

FUN AND SURPRISING FACTS

#1
I used to ride horses. I grew up on thirty beautiful yet sweltering and humid acres in southern Louisiana. No one can guess my origins because I have no southern, owing to my Yankee parents and travel in my youth. But on these acres, we had Dolly and Dolly’s Daughter, affectionately called Dee Dee. Dee Dee was part Arabian and had the spirit to prove it. But we belonged to each other. Every day after school I’d shuck of my back pack, change my clothes, and race to ride her. I trusted her enough to ride bare back, and she trusted me for an apple a day. When I asked her to run, she ran. When I asked her to kneel, she knelt. I still have a framed photograph of that roan colored mare and her powerful, muscular body. My favorite movie growing up was Man from Snowy River, and I imagined I had a connection with Dee Dee the way the main character had with his horse.

After I left home for college, I rode other horses—a barrel-racing gelding named Blue, a tyrannical thoroughbred named Baby, and a persnickety paint named Blaze. I’ve never bonded with one like I did Dee Dee. So when you read about horses in my fantasy series, know that I speak from experience about the joy of riding and the fulfillment of friendship they bring.

#2
The most books I have in my library are written by Nora Roberts. She is, after all, America’s top writer. Not only is her writing engaging, but she writes in many different genres—romance, romantic suspense (Shelters in Place, Come Sundown), paranormal romantic suspense (Blood and Bone series), and fantasy romance. As J.D. Robb, she also writes thriller. In every Robert’s book, I know what’s in store—strong female characters, an engaging plot, suspense and intrigue, and a happily every after. I seek to bring these elements to my novels. I’m not defined by a single genre, but by a theme: “she needed a hero, so she became one.” –Robin Reed

#3
I am a certified firefighter 101. During college, I wanted experience as a first responder for emergencies, so I volunteered for the local fire department. I completed the course, had my own gear, and could operate a hose. The men who trained and supported me were a great group of friends. I went on to paramedic school to further my medical education before ultimately going to medical school. I’m now a practicing physician, which I often hesitate to add to my author biography. I’ve had people give skeptical glances or questioning stares when they hear I’m both a physician and a fiction writer, as if my medical training was supposed to somehow strip me of my imagination. In any case, you will find in all of my series, some element of medicine. But my first exposures to medical emergencies began as a volunteer firefighter.

An EVVY award-winning epic fantasy adventure. When Marrington Castle is overtaken by a dark and ancient evil, Abigail Cross finds herself in the precarious situation of protecting Queen Rebekah. Charged with a quest to summon the Avant Champion, can she save the kingdom or doom everyone to everlasting devastation?

Read an Excerpt:

I could hear the confused murmurs of the drivers. Then, the dismissive humphs presumably accompanied by dismissive shrugs.

The carriage began to move forward again, encroaching on some dreadful fate. Even as the lanterns around us illuminated once again, I felt engulfed in numbing darkness.

Paul?

The Queen gazed impassively forward, then with a faint disinterested yawn, spoke. “I think we’ll take a walk for the remaining distance. I’ve not stretched my legs all night.”

One of the guards snapped his fingers, and the carriage halted.

Walk? Out there? With those things?

Despite my quivering knees, I followed the Queen out of the carriage. I had been conditioned over the last several months to follow orders, so it was less of a struggle than it might have been.

When the guards began to follow us, she stopped them with a faint flick of her wrist. “We’re on the castle grounds. We’ll be safe here.”

I wanted to contradict her but my throat seemed to have convulsed shut, the way vocal cords spasm when liquid threatens to erroneously enter the windpipe. It was all I could do just to breathe.

They bowed and climbed back into the carriage.

Floating in a world of confusion, I walked beside her stiff figure. How could we possibly be safe? I started to turn, wanting to look back and see Paul safely sitting in his carriage, though I knew he wasn’t there.

“Don’t,” she snapped in a hushed tone. “Your brother is dead now, and you will be as well if you let on that you saw anything.”

I stiffened, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other while the starry night spun dizzyingly around me. “I don’t understand, mum,” I managed to whisper.

She pursed her lips disapprovingly. “It’s obvious we’re under attack. They are already on the grounds.”

About the Author: