Seed by Shelly Campbell

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Shelly Campbell will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books! Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I’ve always liked to plunk realistic characters into unrealistic worlds. That makes horror, fantasy, and science fiction a natural fit for me. They’re the types of books I was drawn to as a kid, and they still draw me in now. As an adult, it’s not lost on me that sometimes it’s safer to examine real world issues through the lens of ‘What if this was happening in a world far, far away?’ With all of the technologies and horrors that are happening in the world, sometimes it can feel like we’re living in a horror or sci-fi story, but I’m still drawn to these types of fiction, because they’re still an escape. And it’s cathartic, because I can write characters who tackle excruciatingly hard issues that I feel helpless tackling in real life. My main characters are far braver and wiser than I am, that’s for sure.

What research is required?

ALL THE RESEARCH!!! Kidding—kind of. It’s really easy to fall down the rabbit hole of research and forget that you have to eventually stop world-building and start making this world feel lived in. I love reading realistic sci-fi, but I’m not smart enough to understand any of the complexities of general relativity, astrophysics or quantum mechanics. I did read up a bit about relative velocity and time dilation--and it made my head hurt. Some of the concepts about how differently time passes in the dimensions my main character travels between are based on the physics of what happens to relative time when objects are travelling at close to light speed. I am the furthest thing there is from a scientist. Let’s hope I didn’t butcher it too badly!

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

Sometimes it’s okay to be invisible. Quiet people can save the world too.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

I have a beautiful writing nook set up in my master bedroom, with a little desk, a lovely window to look out, inspiring art, the coolest retro-typewriter-looking keyboard ever, just a beautiful set up, really. But most often my writing happens when I find myself plunked in a recliner chair with my laptop on my lap or curled over my phone in a car waiting to pick up kids from sports practices. I rarely write in my beautiful little writing nook. Perhaps it just needs a comfier chair?

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I’m a plantser. Plottser? A mix of both. I will write a bare-bones outline so that I know generally where my books are going and how I’d like them to end. Then I start writing. Sometimes my characters and I follow the path I made, and sometimes we go crashing through the bush instead. Both are fun.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

An old comfy couch. That’s what’s beside the comfy recliner I’m currently nesting in. Even now, I’m not using the beautiful writing nook!

Anything new coming up from you? What?

I’m currently working on book 3 in my Sol Survivor series. It’s a YA solar flare post apocalypse set in near future Canada with a main character who has ADHD. If that sounds up your alley, you can check out book 1 Knowledge Itself or book 2 Madness of People.

Do you have a question for our readers?

What was your last favourite read and why? I’m always looking to add to my TBR pile!

Thanks so much for having me on the blog. I really appreciate the chance to connect with new readers.

You are so welcome! We are happy to have you here.

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.

Read an Excerpt

Heaviness blankets me. A childish part of me wanted to hang onto the idea that I was an instrumental part of saving the universe. More than that though, I’d hoped that Cory slipped me his wedding ring so he could save me. For a single stupid moment, I thought this was about me. Why do I keep doing this? Falling for the idea that people care about me for who I am and not what I can do for them? The only people who loved me like that are my family, and I can’t ever reach them again without inadvertently siccing the darkness on them. I take a deep, hollow breath before asking, “What do you want, Cory?”

About the Author

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.

Website: http://www.shellycampbellauthorandart.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShellyCFineArt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shellycampbellfineart
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shellycampbellauthorandart
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shellycampbellauthor

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

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