Thursday, June 12, 2014

Interview & Giveaway - The Complete Check Your Luck Agency by K.S. Augustin



The Complete Check Your Luck Agency

by K.S. Augustin 

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BLURB: 

Sometimes life is stranger than fiction. 

After the tragic death of her parents, and with nothing left tying her to the United Kingdom, Ursula Formosa returns to her homeland and a job with the eccentrically-named Singapore firm, “The Check Your Luck Agency”. 

What begins as an attempt to stave off boredom turns into a new way of life as the scales drop from Ursula’s eyes and she tentatively enters a realm that contains vengeful ghosts, toyol, demons, pontianak and curses, not to mention old-fashioned fraud and larceny. As she befriends bomohs, mediums and a young woman already centuries old, Ursula’s ideas of friendship expand into a fresh view of the world that surrounds her. 

But she isn’t going to be left to ease into things. A criminal mastermind, who is also a powerful sorcerer, is gathering mythical creatures to help him possess every living soul in Singapore, and he isn’t about to let the members of The Check Your Luck Agency stand in his way! 

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Excerpt:

“So you can’t feel anything?” Shariff’s voice sounded very faint even though I knew he wasn’t more than one wall away.

My second thought was that the ghost wasn’t bad looking. He was slim but looked fit, with broad shoulders that filled out the thin v-necked t-shirt he wore. His hair was short and sandy coloured. His fingers were long and a little knobbly-looking. He had a pair of casual khaki trousers on. Pale bare feet. He wore glasses.

“No,” I croaked, then tried again in a louder voice. “No, I can’t feel anything.”

The spectre didn’t like that. I could tell by the way his face tightened. Deny me, would you? he seemed to be saying.

He made the slightest movement with his right index finger, just a flick where it rested against his leg, and a cupboard door beside me swung open then slammed shut.

Footsteps approached and the ghost of the previous occupant faded as Shariff entered the room. There was a frown of concern on his face.

“Is everything okay?”

“I, er, I was just checking the cupboards,” I told him, my voice trembling. I coughed a few times. “The shelves are a bit dusty and some of the locks are sticking.”

He eyed me intently. “Should I tell Gerry that someone’s been pulling his leg?”

There was a frozen moment between us. If I told Shariff even a little of what I’d seen and felt so far, I knew it would start the process of opening me up to a world I had denied for decades. For my own sanity, I couldn’t do that to myself, not even for the sake of furthering a relationship with a handsome young man.

“Sorry,” I told him, clearing my throat. “I couldn’t feel a thing.” 

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Let's Learn a Little about K.S. Augustin
 
What is your writing environment? 
I have a few spots set up around the house, each one equipped with a spare power cord, extra keyboard, close-to-hand dictionary and thesaurus (yes, I have multiple copies of these!) and table space to hold a glass of alcoholic lubrication. As I write on an older, rugged laptop, it also means I can write in my swimming pool, while sitting on one of the underwater benches! I have a floating table and everything. Hey, it's warm one degree north of the Equator!

Who is your perfect hero and why?
 
I don't have heroes. World War Two fighter ace, Gregory Pappy Boyington, once famously said: Show me a hero and I'll prove he's a bum. I tend to agree.

What authors have caught your interest lately and why?
In addition to being a writer, I'm also Chief Editor of the online magazine, Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly. I love the job, a part of which is reaching out to other communities of writers from around the world. At the moment, I'm caught by the Finnish speculative writing community and am reading stories by Tiina Raevaara and Jenny Kangasvuo. Their works are magical, fantastical and very lyrical.
 
What type of book have you always wanted to write? 
I've always wanted to write a heart-pounding international thriller. The more conspiracy theories the better!
 
Top 3 things on your bucket list?
What an interesting term. I had to look up what it meant, which is things you want to do before you die. I hope I got that right! Okay, here are my three: 
       Spend a year living and working at an Antarctic research station
       Trek through Inca sites along the western coast of South America
       Live on a river barge
 
How did you get the idea for this particular novel?
From listening to stories that people have told me. The entire atmosphere of south-east Asia is steeped in magic and superstition and the locals believe very strongly in otherworldly manifestations. In fact, only this morning, I was reading in the national newspaper about Bigfoot tracks being found about a hundred miles from where I currently live! It seemed natural to take some of these stories and weave them into a larger tapestry of strange paranormal happenings.
 
What is your favorite scene in your new release?
The heroine of the book, Ursula, is a fish out of water, coming back to a homeland that is not quite as she envisaged it. It's no surprise, then, that she adopts a large stray cat that she calls Pretzel. However, Pretzel is not what he seems and, in one nocturnal supernatural encounter, he ends up saving her life. I really liked writing that scene.
 
What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?
I normally plan out my writing for the next two or so years. At the moment, I have two space opera series on the go. I'm finishing edits on Book 3 of one series and plotting out Book 4 (PERDITION) and have just finished plotting out Book 2 of the second series (QOLARI DIPLOMATIC CORPS). All three books should be out between July this year and January 2015. I'll also be reworking several rights reversions, which will be released over the next eighteen months.  And I need to find time to sit down and plan a new fantasy series. I'm expecting the first book of that series to be out in the second half of 2015.
On the magazine front, Issue 3 of Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly will be out on 15 June, so the team and I are rushing around getting that ready as well, in addition to planning Issues 4 and 5.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?
Read.
 
What would you consider a perfect date?
That's a difficult one because a perfect date is so dependent on other factors, and is often decided upon in retrospect. You may find that sitting on a grassy slope sharing fish and chips on a blustery autumn day overlooking a boat harbour was more perfect than that evening eating foie gras at an exclusive but noisy French restaurant. You never know till after the fact.
 
What is one interesting fact about you that readers dont know? 
I'm shorter than I sound.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

KS "Kaz" Augustin loves writing human stories, whether set on Earth or out among the stars. Malaysian-born, she has travelled a goodly portion of the world and lived to tell the tale! Her urban fantasy release, The Complete Check Your Luck Agency, consists of five books, exploring the myths and legends of the melting-pot that is south-east Asia. Come for the food, stay for the monsters! (Ghosts included at no extra charge.) 

As if all that's not enough, she's also Chief Editor of the free online quarterly magazine, Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly. http://www.scifiromancequarterly.org/ 

Kaz's website is at http://www.KSAugustin.com and a list of her books can also be found at http://www.SandalPressOnline.com She occasionally tweets as @SandalPress

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The Complete Check Your Luck Agency is available from: 






 
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Giveaway:

The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.  The more you comment, the better your chances of winning!  Follow the tour HERE

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me here, Sue. There are so many other great books around. Wow!

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  2. I love the idea of you writing in the pool. Fun interview thank you.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really enjoyed getting to know a little more about you! Always nice to read about the author!
    amybowens34@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really enjoyed your interview. I think this story sounds really exciting and fun.

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  5. Interesting places to write

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

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  6. Love the sound of this book! Sounds just like my type!

    ReplyDelete