Blog Tour: ‘Slumbering’ by C.S. Johnson

Welcome to the Slumbering blog tour! Here we have another gorgeous book, this time the first installment in a wonderful YA series, called The Starlight Chronicles by C.S. Johnson. Read on for exclusive content and a chance to win a print copy of the book!

Slumbering

Publication Date: December 2014

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy/ Satire

Sixteen-year-old Hamilton Dinger leads a charmed life. He’s got the grades for the top of the class, the abilities of a star athlete and Tetris player, and the charisma to get away with anything. Everything seems to be going along perfectly, including his plans to ask out Gwen Kessler, as he enters into tenth grade at Apollo Central High School. Everything, that is, until a meteor crashes into the city, releasing the Seven Deadly Sinisters and their leader, Orpheus, from their celestial prison, and awakening Hamilton’s longtime dormant supernatural abilities. Suddenly Hamilton finds reluctantly allied with his self-declared mentor, Elysian, a changeling dragon, and Starry Knight, a beautiful but dangerous warrior, as they seek to protect the souls of Apollo City from the Sinisters and their evil intentions. Can Hamilton overcome his ignorance and narrow-mindedness to see what is truly real? Can he give up his self-proclaimed entitlement to happiness in order to follow the call of a duty he doesn’t want? More importantly, will he willingly sacrifice all he has to find out the truth?

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Excerpt

Maia, the Sinister of Sloth, and Orpheus, are attacking Hamilton’s school, and Starry Knight makes her first official appearance.

“Maia, you have done well up to this point,” a new voice called out from the sky. “Why do I have to come to your rescue now?”

I didn’t have to look up to know who it was now. Everyone and his brother had shown up. Why not Orpheus too?

“Orpheus!” Maia cried out. Her fro-like hair whipped around as she turned her attention to the newcomer.

Hovering in the sky just above the school was a dirty-looking man wearing a black cloak-like outfit. The long robes mostly disguised a wrinkly, repulsive body, but didn’t do anything to contain the smell. The rotten-eggs aftershave wasn’t going to get him a girlfriend any more than the comic-con outfit.

“Yes. Yes, it’s me,” Orpheus replied, confirming my suspicions. “What seems to be the problem?”

“It’s—”

“A what? A block in your brain?” he asked as he floated over to her.

I smirked, briefly forgetting the imperative nature of the situation. He might smell bad, look horrible and not be a nice guy, but I liked his insults.

“No—look!”

Everyone looked back toward the angelic warrior. I didn’t blame Orpheus for getting angry a second later.

“What?” Maia gasped. “She’s gone?! I swear, Orpheus, there was a person standing up there a moment ago!”

“You’re not supposed to be afraid of people—you’re supposed to attack them.” Orpheus sighed.

I suppose people will wonder why Gwen and I didn’t just run away. You have to understand that this was not something you get to see every day. After years of reality TV shows, you should know by now the power a dysfunctional family has over its audience.

So it was only when Orpheus looked down at us that we snapped back to normal fear mode.

“Let’s just hurry up and get these two, and be done for now. You know we need their Soulfire.”

Soulfire? Okay, so reality TV had just turned into science fiction. Or maybe fantasy?

“Psst! Dinger!” I looked over and saw Mikey beckoning me from behind some brick columns. I almost rolled my eyes; Mikey wasn’t seriously stupid enough to think a brick wall could fend off these evil magician-electrician people, was he?

But better to be behind a wall than out in the open. I grabbed Gwen by the wrist and pulled her along behind me as I ran for cover.

I flinched as Orpheus suddenly appeared directly in front of me. “Augh!” I screeched to a halt, falling over; Gwen followed in suit.

“Hammy!” Gwen cried out as she landed hard on her right side. There was a snapping noise, and horror sneaked into me as I saw Gwen’s hand bent back on her arm. I felt sick.

And Orpheus wasted no time.

He grabbed me by the wrist. A strong stinging sensation flew up my arm, my teeth clenched in severe, excruciating pain, and I struggled not to scream (loudly). I trembled as Orpheus laughed. It was the same cold laugh I remembered from my dreams.

Why do my dreams only come true when it means certain death? No, it’s never for true love or winning the championship title.

I went back to being concerned for my life as another sizzle of power crept through my body, setting my nerve endings on fire. “Stop it!”

“You’ve been enough trouble!” Orpheus cried out, laughing. “I’ll burn your body and suck out your soul, and then we’ll see how much trouble you cause!”

Orpheus and I were too caught up in his moment of glory and my moment of life-altering agony to see the arrow. It sliced through the air and dug into his left eye, squirting what looked like a stream of runny black acid all over his front. The force of impact and injury rattled him enough to let me go.

“Augh! Ouch!” Orpheus cursed loudly. He clenched his teeth as he jerked the arrow out a moment later; the eye popped out along with it, nearly making me vomit on the spot. And while the flood of pain stopped drowning my body, I was still physically reeling from the forceful shadow of his power.

“You see? I told you!” Maia called out. “She just moved!”

Orpheus looked over with his remaining eye to see the warrior with the violet eyes staring down at him. I followed his gaze as I fell to my knees, trying to recover.

She narrowed her gaze. “Let him go!” she called out. Her voice was strong. I was just about to ask her for her name when she added, “Your battle is with me, not these children.”

Children?! Children?! Anger blistered through me as I squirmed, trying to get out of the ugly weirdo’s grip. My earlier pain was nothing compared to the rage fueling me now!

The Starlight Chronicles

About the Author

Author-CS-Johnson

C. S. Johnson is the award-winning, genre-hopping author of several novels, including young adult sci-fi and fantasy adventures such as the Starlight Chronicles, the Once Upon a Princess saga, and the Divine Space Pirates trilogy. With a gift for sarcasm and an apologetic heart, she currently lives in Atlanta with her family. Find out more at http://www.csjohnson.me

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