Guest Author: Merrie Destefano

Merrie DeStefanoToday, Literary Escapism is excited to welcome back Merrie Destefano, who just released her second novel, Feast: Harvest of Dreams.

Halloween is a bad time to return to the woods . . .

Madeline MacFaddin (“Mad Mac” to fans of her bestselling magical stories) spent blissful childhood summers in Ticonderoga Falls. And this is where she wants to be now that her adult life is falling apart. The dense surrounding forest holds many memories, some joyous, some tantalizingly only half-remembered. And she’s always believed there was something living in these wooded hills.

But Maddie doesn’t remember the dark parts—and knows nothing of the mountain legend that holds the area’s terrified residents captive. She has no recollection of Ash, the strange and magnificent creature who once saved her life as a child, even though it is the destiny of his kind to prey upon humanity. And soon it will be the harvest . . . the time to feast.

Once again Maddie’s dreams—and her soul—are in grave danger. But magic runs deep during harvest. Even a spinner of enchanted tales has wondrous powers of her own . . .

Make sure you stick around to the end. We’ll be giving away a signed copy of Feast: Harvest of Dreams, along with an official Feast tote bag, bookmarks and buttons.
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The Dream Police by Merrie Destefano

On the surface, my second novel, Feast: Harvest of Dreams, tells the tale of a broken-hearted creature from another world who falls in love with an equally broken-hearted young woman. It’s a story of forbidden love and supernatural intrigue, with echoes of legendary creatures like vampires, werewolves, shape shifters and fae. Set in the densely forested mountains of Southern California, a group of Darklings have been invited to hunt the local humans during Halloween. But the hunt gets out of control and, before long, the entire village of Ticonderoga Falls is in danger.

This is the story most readers will remember. But there’s another story here, a tale of what can happen if we allow someone to steal all of our dreams. In the book, if a Darkling harvests a human too long, the human will die. This is against the Darkling code of ethics. They all know they aren’t supposed to do it, but despite this, one of them breaks the rules anyway.

Unfortunately, in the real world, this happens on a daily basis. Bullies push others around, breaking rules they know they aren’t supposed to break, causing discouragement and sometimes depression in their victims. This can happen in a microcosm—your best friend suddenly becomes negative and jealous and as a result, she ridicules you on a daily basis, or a in macrocosm—human rights can taken away during a political upheaval and as result, hundreds or thousands of innocent people might be killed or put in prison.

Dreams are tangible, real-life motivators; they’re instrumental in our ability to get from here to there. They’re the invisible matter with which we build our lives. In other words, without dreams, we will perish.

Some dreams motivate us toward life: dreams of family, career and home, for instance. Other dreams motivate us toward self-sacrifice and death: dreams of social/racial equality in a war-raved nation, dreams of peace in an inner-city slum, dreams of finding a cure for Alzheimers or Parkinsons or multiple sclerosis.

In my book, Feast, the main character must find a way to fight off the creatures who attempt to steal her dreams. She realizes this is a life-or-death situation, and she has much to live for—she has a nine-year-old son who depends upon her. Her boy is the dream she is willing to die for in order to protect.

My question for you today is this: Have you ever helped someone else succeed in achieving their dream? Or has anyone ever helped you? I’d love to hear your stories, even if they’re brief.

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Merrie Destefano left a 9-to-5 desk job as a magazine editor to become a full-time novelist and freelance editor. Her first novel, Afterlife: The Resurrection Chronicles, is an urban fantasy published by HarperCollins/Eos, and her second novel, Feast: Harvest of Dreams released June 28, 2011. With twenty years’ experience in publishing, her background includes editor of Victorian Homes magazine and founding editor of Cottages & Bungalows magazine. Born in the Midwest, she currently lives in Southern California with her husband, their two German shepherds, a Siamese cat and the occasional wandering possum. Her favorite hobbies include reading speculative fiction and watching old Star Trek episodes, while her incurable addiction is writing. She loves to camp in the mountains, walk on the beach, watch old movies and listen to alternative music—although rarely all at the same time. For more information, visit her website at www.merriedestefano.com.

Contact Info
Website: www.merriedestefano.com
Blog: http://merrie-destefano.blogspot.com/
Social Media: Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Want to purchase Merrie’s novel?
Afterlife: The Resurrection Chronicles (excerpt) at Amazon or the Book Depository
Feast: Harvest of Dreams at Amazon or the Book Depository

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MDestefano-FeastThank you Merrie for taking the time to stop by Literary Escapism!

Contest Time! Merrie is giving away a signed copy of Feast: Harvest of Dreams, along with an official Feast tote bag, bookmarks and buttons. To enter, all you have to do is answer this one question: Have you ever helped someone else succeed in achieving their dream? Or has anyone ever helped you? Remember, you must answer the question in order to be entered.

As always, there’s more ways of getting your name in the hat (these aren’t mandatory to enter, just extra entries):

  • +1 for each place you post about today’s contest on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, twit it, share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it along with your answer.
  • +1 to any review you comment on, however, comments must be meaningful. Just give me the title of the review and I’ll be able to figure it out from there.
  • +1 If you are currently a follower of Literary Escapism on Facebook and/or Twitter
  • +10 Purchase any of Merrie’s novels (listed above), or any novel, through LE’s Amazon store or the Book Depository sometime during this contest and send a copy of the receipt VIA email for your purchase to: jackie AT literaryescapism DOT com. Each purchase is worth ten entries.

The winner must post a review of the novel someplace. Whether it is on their own blog, Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing or wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just help get the word out.

The contest will stay open until July 21st, at which time I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer and the List Randomizer.

I do not contact winners, so you will need to check back to see if you’ve won.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

6 Comments

  1. Wow, I can’t really think of anything. I guess I haven’t been particularly useful. Haha. Although my husband did dream of being a father one day, and I did most of the work on seeing that through.

    I follow LE on fb and twitter, Bethany Cardone @bcardoo79

    b(dot)cardone(at)hotmail(dot)com

  2. I can’t really think of anything where I helped someone, but I can say that my mother helped me a lot when I was a single mother, working full time and going to school to enable me to get a better job. She watched my son, and encouraged me and I succeeded. I also had a supervisor that allowed me to do two semesters of work experience so I could get credit towards my degree. She had to complete paperwork and keep track of what I was doing towards that credit, and that also helped me to achieve my goal.

    Barbed1951 at aol dot com

  3. I would like to think I have helped someone but if I have it was unknown to me, but thats just as good really as long as they did achieve it. My family has helped me.

    Im a follower

    bacchus76 at myself dot com

  4. Yes, I helped several friends when they were confused in what they wanted to do or weren’t sure they should go on a certain path to their dream job/carrier I had long talk with them, listened to them and tried to help to see, determine and understand what they really wanted deep down. Have given assurance and support to 3 of my friends and all of them are now doing something they enjoy and I am so happy for them :-)

    +1 I’m a FB follower of LE: Stella Ex Libris
    +1 Twitter follower as well: @STella_ExLibris

    +1 tweeted: https://twitter.com/#!/Stella_ExLibris/status/94025370545815552
    +1 posted on FB:http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=183575268371934&id=100000899165880

    Thank you for the giveaway, I would love to read Feast! :-)

    stella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com

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