Rogue's Angels Present: Hostile Takeover by Cristelle Comby

Please welcome Cristelle Comby author of Hostile Takeover

Cristelle Comby will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

Hostile Takeover

by Cristelle Comby

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GENRE: Urban Fantasy

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INTERVIEW:

1. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

Not everyone knows it, but history is filled with hundreds of different mythologies, and each one is bursting with a plethora of monsters and legends. It’s a fascinating subject. 

Now imagine if all these legends were real, if all these gods were alive… somewhere. That’s the idea I’ve been toying with for a few years now.

2. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

I am passionate about mythologies. That started out when I was in school and we studied Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt. I’ve read many books on the subject, and I’m delighted to have to read some more as part of the research I have to do for this series.

3. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I’m currently editing the second book in the series, and I’ve started outlining the third one. So you can look out for some more Vale Investigationnext year.

4. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?

Though question. I guess I wouldn’t mind being Candice Kennedy, the news reporter. She’s smart, doesn’t take no for an answer and she stands for what she believes in.

5. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

The best one is “You’re the only one who can kill your dreams,” and that is so true. I can’t remember any bad advice… but, the general misconception of writing being easy comes to mind. Or the one that says all self-published books are bad, which is very untrue. There are amazing books and really horrible ones on both sides of the publishing fence.

6. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I always outline; it’s a very important part of my writing process which takes me several months. I forbid myself to write so long as the outline’s not finished. Long ago, I made the mistake of writing as ideas come and ran of ideas in the middle… that book still isn’t finished.

7. How do you maintain your creativity?

I take my time to write, and usually publish one book per year. Some people are more productive, but between my day job and my personal life, that’s the natural pace for me. 

8. Who is your favorite character in the book? Can you tell us why?

Why, I love them all!!! I’m a very character-focused kind of writer. To me, their emotional growth is more important than plot. Actually, the plot is a tool I use to take my characters from emotional point A to emotional point B. 

Now, if I really had to choose a favorite—and I mean it, like my life depended on it… I guess it would be Zian, the tech wizard and hacker. He’s funny, in a very endearing way. And he has a lot of potential.

9. Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?

Angels, so long as I feed them quality Swiss chocolate. 

10. Anything else you might want to add?
On my website, I have two prequel novellas that you can download for free. “Redemption Road” is a prequel to the Vale Investigationseries—it’s the story of Vale and Death’s first encounter.

The second is “Personal Favour” and that one is set in my series of cozy mysteries The Neve & Egan Cases.

BLURB:

P.I. Bellamy Vale isn’t your everyday investigator. Moonlighting as Death’s earth-bound envoy, he specializes in the weird, wacky, and slightly unhinged. 

When a mysterious beast savagely mauls random residents of Cold City, the police assume that these are the killings of a rogue wolf. But experienced private investigator, Bellamy Vale, is unconvinced.

Ordered by Death herself to investigate, Vale has no choice but to obey, for his boss is not someone to disappoint—if he wants to keep breathing, that is. 

With friend and computer hacker Zian, nosy journalist Candice Kennedy, and homicide sergeant Melanie Ramirez by his side, Vale has no choice but to end the killings or face the wrath of the demon who holds his life in her hands.

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EXCERPT:

I was having a bad day.

The ugly thug facing me readied himself for the next swing. “What did you say, bastard?” His red-splattered knuckles were ready for the next round; my body wasn’t.

“I’m haffin a fah fay,” I managed to repeat through a mouthful of saliva and blood.

That made Julian Ragazzo, former welterweight boxing champ and top bodyguard to the city’s prime Italian Mafia family, smile. His wet beard glistened with sweat beads around stained teeth. Glad one of us was happy.

I took stock of the damage Ragazzo had already done. Broken nose, check. Split lip, check. Swollen eye, check. Broken rib, double check, and the list went on and on. It could have been worse. The injuries, though painful, weren’t enough to put me in the hospital. Sure, I’d hurt for a week or four, but I’d live to tell the tale outside of a body cast. I knew that, and Ragazzo did, too. This was a game we’d both played before … not that I’d gotten any better at it.

I caught a reflection of myself in the glossy surface of a cabinet door. My messy mop of brown locks was matted with blood on one side and the five o’clock shadow had a hard time concealing a fast-bruising chin. One eye was swollen shut and the other had a pale blue, haunted orb dancing amidst a sea of red veins. I was a mess, and not a hot one.

I closed my good eye and waited for the next blow. The bodyguard didn’t disappoint. A second later, he delivered a power punch and I saw stars. It didn’t help that I was tied to a chair and my already sore shoulders screamed in protest at the added strain. In a noise that only I could hear, my body cried out, ‘How in all the hells was this part of the plan?’ Fair question—it wasn’t.

In truth, there may have been a few glitches here and there. Like those two extra guards at the office building’s back entrance, plus that wrong turn I took on the fourteenth floor. Yeah, okay … the plan was just as screwed as I was.

Ragazzo followed up his haymaker with another kick in the guts. It would have ripped a scream out of me if I’d had any breath left for it. Instead, my lungs just took in short, choppy gasps I couldn’t control.

“Well, well, well … look what the cat dragged in,” taunted an Italian-lilted voice.

I recognized the lazy drawl and opened my good eye to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough, Alonzo Vitorini, Cold City’s resident wannabe kingpin, stood near the entrance in a dark-green pinstriped suit. Shit, looking at his ugly get-up hurt worse than any of Ragazzo’s blows.

Vitorini sauntered into the room, smiling as he noticed my stare. “Like the suit?” he asked, doing a little pirouette to show off this walking insult to fashion.

I wasn’t going to reply, but the second my eye caught sight of the finishing touch, a pair of black-and-white spectator shoes, my mouth kicked into gear on its own.

“Al Capone called,” I wheezed out. “He wants his brogues back.”

Vitorini laughed, the corners of his muddy-green eyes wrinkling. Not sure if he was laughing at the crack or the fact that he was going to kill me for it in another minute or two.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where she still resides.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.

She is the author of the Neve & Egan Cases series, which features an unlikely duo of private detectives in London: Ashford Egan, a blind History professor, and Alexandra Neve, one of his students.

Currently, she is hard at work on her Urban Fantasy series Vale Investigation which chronicles the exploits of Death’s only envoy on Earth, PI Bellamy Vale, in the fictitious town of Cold City, USA.

Links:

Official Website: www.cristelle-comby.com

Twitter: @Cristelle

Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Cristelle-Comby/e/B00EAWEODS/

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Cristelle Comby will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2734