Fallenwood Blog Tour! (+$25 Amazon GC)

Title: Fallenwood

Author: Leslie D. Soule

Series:  N/A

Pages: 158

Date Published: March 3rd 2011

Publisher:  N/A

Format: Kindle

Genre:YA Fantasy

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours
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Synopsis:
Fallenwood—a land where magic is the life force, dragons are sages, and wizards good and evil battle for supremacy. When 16-year-old Ash is thrust into the middle of Fallenwood’s power struggles, she is also forced to face her own inner battles. Life on Earth was hard enough on Ash, who is locked in grief for her stepfather. Now, the fate of Fallenwood rests on her shoulders. She must destroy the Great Crystal—the catalyst for all the land’s magic. As the kingdoms prepare for war, Ash must look inside to find the power to save the world, and herself.

~Guest Post!~
How to Find Scholarly Sources for Research

So this is a topic I thought I’d write about because even with my M.A. in English, I find it difficult to find reputable sources sometimes, and it does take quite a lot of searching to dig down through all of the information out there. While the world wide web makes information accessible, we have to ask ourselves whether much of it is reliable information that we are accessing. When I was writing papers for my classes, I was able to use JSTOR to look up articles, and found it to be an excellent source of information, particularly on topics where not much information was available. You have to pay to access certain articles though (I spent a small fortune in research), and you have to be affiliated with a college. Thus, I made sure to print out a copy of the articles I’d accessed, to be sure that I had them in case I wanted to do any further analyses in the future.

In general, I find that print is always the way to go – easy to cite, copy, and to analyze in order to find the author’s basis for their arguments. With online articles, sometimes there is not even an author name to attribute the writing to. Most libraries have a section for scholarly journals. They call this section Periodicals in order to confuse you.

Another way to go is to find authors who are known for doing a lot of research on the topic you are interested in, and reading what they have to say on the subject, first. For example, I really like author Jared Diamond. He’s a professor, and he puts a ton of research into his books. So when I found myself writing a paper on the collapse of the Easter Island society, I had a stack of books on the subject, and found that none of the conclusions presented held a candle to Jared Diamond’s extensive scientific research on the subject. In short, I believed him, above all others, because of the thoroughly convincing depth of research he’d done. He made himself look so much more reputable because of the sources he cited and the lengths he went to in order to research the subject. That should be the aim of your work as well – to find reputable sources to base your research on, so that you in turn appear reputable as well.

It is important to entertain various views on the subject, which you can then dismiss with proof if you so choose. This is a way to show that you are not just dismissing ideas because you do not like them. I was impressed with an episode of Digging For The Truth, when they brought a man on who believed that the pyramids were built by Atlanteans. They didn’t discredit the man outright, but showed through the proof of the stoneworkers’ own carvings, that the idea didn’t hold much weight. This was a respectable way to go, in my opinion.

Although I lament the lack of publicly-available online sources of scholarly information, I have faith in your abilities! Now go forth, study, and be good!

~Try an Excerpt!~

The monk held up a hand. “That’s quite enough. She’s coming with me.”  

“You can’t do that,” the fire-haired royal servant sputtered. “As stated in Section 6 point 8, Subsection B of Article 1 dash 9, no one who is not a servant to the royal throne of any kingdom is permitted to…”  

“She’s still coming with me. You can argue about it ‘til the realms reconnect if you want, but that’s how it’s going to be.” His voice was powerful, yet soft and reassuring. 

A bright flash seared the woodland clearing, lighting up the night, revealing the towering forms of pines. To Ashley’s amazement, floating inches above the cloaked man's hand was an orb of fire. The flaming orb swirled beautifully, shades of red, orange, yellow, and white as though it were a living thing. The heat of the flame warmed the night air, and the sphere levitated as though dangled from a string.  

Ashley was mesmerized. 

“I said she’s coming with me,” the monk repeated, the fireball suspended menacingly and persuasively in ether.  

The man in black gritted his teeth, spat at the ground, and stared at the monk. “So that’s how you want to play it, eh, Will?” 

Will shrugged. “Nothing personal, Rupert,” he answered casually. “It’s just that I prefer to greet our guests and show them around myself. 

That’s all.” 

Rupert grumbled under his breath. He turned and walked toward his horse, a large black Andalusian.

~Meet Leslie!~ 

My name is Leslie Soule (pronounced "soul" like that part of you that is innate). I am an author who loves to try new genres and Sacramento, California is my hometown. I have an M.A. in English from National University and am a member of the English Chapter of the Sac State Almuni Association, and the Sacramento branch of the California Writers Club (as of June 2014).

Leslie will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.

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