Black Friday is here and we’re discussing the season with Eric Asher’s Damian Valdis Vesik from This Broken World.
An ocean of darkness lives in the journal of Philip Pinkerton. Ancient things with no place in our world are rising from the Abyss. Ezekiel, the arrogant, mad god has called us into battle. Does he think we can’t touch him, or does he know we can’t? I wish I knew. The world’s only hope lies in a forgotten weapon, the strength of our allies, and one necromancer of questionable ancestry. Yeah, this is going to end well.
Make sure you stick around to the end. We’ll be giving away a signed paperback of choice from the Vesik series.
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Black Friday
I looked out across the sea of people and cringed. Flashes of leather and fur and cries of children pummeled my senses. Someone tripped me and I fell face-first onto the marble battlefield. I softened the blow with my forearm, barely keeping my precious cargo out of the filth. I picked myself up, wincing at the pain in my arm and grinding my teeth.
“You okay?” Foster asked.
I glanced at the fairy hovering over my shoulder, wishing he’d draw the sword sheathed between his black and white atlas moth wings to cut a bloody path out of this hall of horrors.
“Uh, Damian? You’re looking at me kind of funny.”
A third box went down, caught in the clutches of some small creature whose coat seemed stitched from blood and marshmallows, and then a fourth vanished. Only one remained. I shouted, letting the battle cry echo around me as I dove for the last box of ribbon candy. “It is not this day!”
One of my pink-clad foes leapt away from me. I heard her venom-filled whispers. “What’s wrong with that guy, Mommy?”
“He’s probably off his medication like your Uncle Norbert, dear.”
I ignored the taunts of my enemies and their irritated parents as the slick cellophane crinkled beneath my fingers, and raised my prize in victory.
With conquest firmly gripped between my fingertips, I raised the precious cargo clutched in my other hand, and stuffed half the Auntie Anne’s pretzel into my mouth.
“Victory is sweet,” I said around a mouthful of glorious dough.
“It’s a cinnamon and sugar pretzel you nut,” Foster muttered.
“You don’t understand.” I paid for the ribbon candy and turned back to Foster as we walked away. “You don’t show up to a gift exchange without ribbon candy for Zola. It could end in blood.”
“She’s a little more reasonable than that,” Foster said.
“Oh really? Ask Sam about the Great Candy Shortage.”
“What?”
“It’s a thing. Two years in a row we couldn’t find this stuff.” I shook the box. “Two holidays of grumpy Zola. You’ve never seen such horror.”
“I just watched you dive through a crowd of people for a box of candy.”
“It sounds kind of stupid when you put it like that.”
“Indeed.”
I looked back at the battlefield, the conquered people still waiting in lines … the screaming kids … and the vacant display of ribbon candy. I took another bite of pretzel and looked at Foster. “I hate Black Friday.”
“Then why … why do you drag me out here every year?”
I shrugged. “Tradition.” I tore a little piece of cinnamon sugar dough off for him and smiled. “And pretzels.”
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Meet Eric Asher!
Eric is a former bookseller, guitarist, and comic seller currently living in Saint Louis, Missouri. A lifelong enthusiast of books, music, toys, and games, he discovered a love for the written word after being dragged to the library by his parents at a young age. When he is not writing, you can usually find him reading, gaming, or buried beneath a small avalanche of Transformers.
Contact Info: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Tsu | GoodReads | Amazon
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Vesik
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Contest Details
Thank you Eric for taking part in Literary Escapism’s Black Friday!
Eric is giving away a signed paperback of choice from the Vesik series. To enter, all you have to do is answer this one question: What are some of your Black Friday traditions? Remember, you must answer the question in order to be entered.
Have you checked out the other Black Friday contests yet? Check out the Master List to see all the Black Friday giveaways. To enter the main contest, don’t forget to leave a comment below. All Black Friday contests will remain open until December 31st. All giveaways are subject to LE’s Giveaway Policy. Here’s the Rafflecopter widget for the $50 giftcard giveaway.
I’m usually working on Black Friday ????
I try to check out the ads and web specials in the newspaper and web before and on the big day. Now a days, I try not to go to the stores unless there is something very special.
The only Black Friday tradition I have is staying home. No way I’m going to fight the crowds!
I stay home on Black Friday! People are already crazy without sales going on.
Yep. I have way too much common sense to expose myself to those kinds of crazy crowds/drivers – especially when I can barely handle them in my area on REGULAR Fridays. :) I stay home (or go to work) and if I want to shop, I browse online.
Jenna Bird recently posted…Reviewish: Ansible 15717
Staying indoors and as far away from those escaped folk from the mental hospital that venture out on Black Friday.
(I could not get the captcha to show up – must be some technical difficulty on my end – but as a result, I may have submitted my comment more than once. But to no avail – thank goodness, kind of?)
I stay home (or go to work) and if I want to shop, I browse online.
Jenna Bird recently posted…Reviewish: Ansible 15717
Love Eric Asher and can’t wait to read this book!!
I don’t go out on black Friday!
I go to the new releases at the movies on Black Friday because the theaters are typically fairly empty with everyone else out shopping :)
Staying home enjoying the peace and quiet.
Staying at home enjoying the peace and quiet.
Going to Target to purchase DVDs.
Stay at home laugh my ass of of those who almost killed themselves in the stores :D
This is the first year I’ve been aware of Black Friday here in the UK, so no traditions as such. If next year proves to have similar offers, I’ll stay at home away from the crowds and search the internet for some great deals on books!
Our Black Friday tradition is to sleep in and laugh at the crazy relatives that went out to buy items that might be cheaper any other time. It might be a bit mean but that is what we do :)
My traditions is I am one of the crazy workers that wait for the crazy train to start because I am working at Walmart on the day. Over the time I have seen some bizzare stuff and i shake my head in wonderment because seriously it is the same stuff every year.
Going to barnes and noble
hmm NOT going shopping is a great tradition. Ignoring it I guess.
I stay home, don’t go to town unless it’s an emergency, and I watch movies and eat popcorn. It’s a day to just relax and think of all the craziness that is going on elsewhere. In the evening, sometimes I pour a glass of wine and then think of all the great bargains I missed. And laugh, because it was worth the extra money I paid a month ago to not be trampled, harassed or almost have my car tore up.
Hi Eric! Sorry I missed you. Congratulations! I still have some catching up to do with my reading. Favorite Black Friday tradition…ah…I used to spend most Black Fridays in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin where Mom, Dad, and I would wait in line at the local Hallmark store for good deals on wrapping paper, Christmas bears, bows, etc. We would often finish our excursion with hot chocolate or strawberry phosphates back in the day. And Norbert happens to be my father’s name.
I stay as far away from the stores and people as I can get on Black Friday. Yuck!
I tend to hide on Black Friday. I very rarely venture out that day :) I prefer to stay home with a book.