DOWN virtual tour | Spotlight, Guest post, Excerpt & Giveaway {Riptide Publishing}

Seven thousand meters below the ocean’s surface, the crew of the BathyTech 3 mineral mining facility has found something remarkable: a rock-like sphere of unknown material and origin.

For Mo Rees, the discovery calls to his inner explorer and adds color to his dull miner’s life. Even better than the promise of new knowledge is the unexpected connection he forges with Dr. Armin Savage-Hall, leader of the team brought down to study the thing.

For Armin, the object is the find of a lifetime. It could prove his controversial theories and secure his scientific reputation. And Mo is a fascinating bonus.

Then crew members start behaving strangely. Worse, they start to change: their eyes glow purple, their teeth sharpen. Then the violence begins, the brutal deaths. As BathyTech descends deeper into chaos, the surviving crew works desperately to find the cause of the horrors around them. What they uncover could annihilate the human race. And they can’t stop it.

Grab your copy of Down from Riptide Publishing today!

Guest post with Author Ally Blue... 

Hi everyone, I’m Ally Blue and I’m here to talk about my latest novel, Down. Thanks so much to TTC Books and More for having me here today!

If y’all have been following my blog tour thus far, you’ll already know that unlike my previous books, Down isn’t a romance but a horror novel. Which is cool for me, since I’m a lifelong fan of horror. It was a different experience, for sure. Writing horror is not at all the same as writing romance. One thing that was the same, though, was the overall process. You’ve heard of plotters versus pantsters, right? Planning out the book versus just starting to type and seeing where you end up? I’ve always been mostly a plotter. I start out with a high-view outline to give me a path to follow, so I don’t end up writing myself into a corner. Then I use that outline as a framework to construct a fleshed-out story. That goes for horror as much as romance. And within that framework is where my inner pantster stretches her legs and starts throwing surprises at me.

Just like with every other book I’ve ever written, Down ended up veering off the path I’d planned for it. In fact, I think it probably went off-road more than my romance books ever did. For example: my original thought was to have the Big Bad be “mind weeds” that basically took over a person by replacing them—not their physical bodies, but their personality, even their thoughts—with its own. It was a pretty odd concept, really, and in the end it was too hard to get across in a way that I thought would resonate with readers and be truly scary. So the Big Bad became something more physical. Well. Kind of. You’ll have to read it to find out!

Even though I always go off track in all my books to varying degrees, there’s always some central idea, or theme, or something that remains the same throughout, from the initial idea-spark through the final published book. For Down, it was having the story take place at the bottom of the ocean, in the depths of a trench. The Peru-Chile Trench, in this case. The deep sea has always fascinated me, and setting my first horror novel at the bottom of a trench, cut off from sunlight and the world above, was what I wanted from the very beginning. The cold, the dark, and the isolation were perfect for the kind of story I wanted to tell.

This book was probably the hardest experience of my life as an author. But it was also one of the most rewarding, because I absolutely love the end result. I think Down is one of the best things I’ve ever written. I’m super proud of it. I hope everyone who reads it loves it like I do!

Thanks for hanging with me, everybody. Happy reading!

And thank you Ally for stopping by and sharing your new release with us today. 

Excerpt from Down... 

May 2137

BathyTech 3 deep-sea mineral mining pod

Bottom of the Peru–Chile Trench

Chapter One

Mo thought he knew the dark. He’d sought it out all his life. Made himself intimate with it. Explored cellars and caves and forgotten places where the sun didn’t penetrate and dead things decayed in the corners.

Then he’d gone down, and learned what darkness really meant.

Nothing blotted out the light quite like seven thousand meters of ocean.

The unrelieved blackness with its nightmare creatures called to the explorer in him. The part that wanted to uncover long-lost secrets and learn what no one else knew.

Which was why, when the scientists upside had asked the thirty-person crew of the BathyTech 3 deep-sea mineral mining rig to help find out what was pinging their mapping scans down in Richards Deep, Mo had volunteered to guide the science team into the deepest part of the Peru–Chile Trench to look for it.

His boss, Jemima, scowled when he told her. “I don’t want any of my miners skipping off on some stupid geek mission. I need every one of you on the vents.”

“It’s one shift. You’ll hardly even miss me.” He answered her death glare with a grin. “C’mon, Jem, don’t be like that. Think of it as a political move.”

Jem rolled her eyes, and Mo stifled a snicker. Pod 3 was the first of the BathyTech mining rigs to incorporate scientific research into its operation. To say that the scientists and the miners didn’t always get along would be a gross understatement.

“Fine. But for the love of Pete, ask me before you volunteer for this shit next time.” Jem pushed herself out of her chair and crossed to the refrigerator on the other side of the miner’s lounge. She opened it and pulled out a pouch. “Beer?”

He held out his hands. “Lay it on me, Big Mama.”

That earned him a sour look. She couldn’t weigh more than forty-five kilos soaking wet, and the top of her head only reached Mo’s armpit. The nickname irritated the crap out of her. She tossed him the beer anyway, then dug another one out of the fridge for herself. Mo tore the tab off the top to activate the polymers, marveling for the umpteenth time at the transformation from a soft-sided pouch to a solid bottle that felt exactly like real glass. He always got a kick out of breaking the empty bottle and watching it change back into a flexible pocket. It reminded him of entropy, decay, and dissolution.

She plopped into the chair, tore open her pouch, and took a long swallow the second it solidified. “So when’s this geek crew comin’ down?”

“Tomorrow. Early.” Mo gulped beer, savoring the tingle of bubbles on his tongue. “They’re sending an outside team instead of BathyTech scientists.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Yeah?”

“Yep.”

“How come?” She scratched her chin. “In fact, how come our guys couldn’t go get whatever the hell this thing is?”

“They tried. I heard they sent Rover out, but it wouldn’t pick up the thing. Acted like it wasn’t even there.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.” He took another swallow of his drink. Licked his lips. Did it again because he knew damn well she was dying for more details and he was having way too much fun not giving her any. “Mmm. Good beer.”

She shot him a tight smile. “You’re an asshole.”

“Yep.” He raised his bottle to her.

She flipped him off.

** Read the entire excerpt or learn more about this book and this author through the 'Down' page over at Riptide Publishing! 

Ally Blue is acknowledged by the world at large (or at least by her heroes, who tend to suffer a lot) as the Popess of Gay Angst.

She has a great big suggestively-shaped hat and rides in a bullet-proof Plexiglas bubble in Christmas parades. Her harem of manwhores does double duty as bodyguards and inspirational entertainment. Her favorite band is Radiohead, her favorite color is lime green and her favorite way to waste a perfectly good Saturday is to watch all three extended version LOTR movies in a row.

Her ultimate dream is to one day ditch the evil day job and support the family on manlove alone. She is not a hippie or a brain surgeon, no matter what her kids’ friends say.

Connect with Ally:

·Website: allyblue.com

·Twitter: @PopessAllyBlue

·Tumblr: therealallyblue.tumblr.com

·Facebook fan page: facebook.com/pages/Ally-Blue/98548113963

·Facebook profile page: facebook.com/AllyBlue.author

·Group blog: fictionwithfriction.com

·Goodreads: goodreads.com/PopessAllyBlue

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