Invocation by Aileen Erin [BLITZ]

[Days of Iron and Clay - Book 1]

From USA Today Bestselling Author Aileen Erin comes an all-new action-packed, romance-filled paranormal series.

There are three things I know without question.

One: demons are real.

Two: humans make awful mistakes that get them in demonic trouble more often than you’d think.

And three: I’m the only one who can help them.

I straddle the line between the mortal and spiritual realms every day. People might think they’re two different places, but they’re not. They lay on top of each other. It’s messy, and that’s why so many people need my help. Since I was little, I’ve been called all kinds of names—unusual, abnormal, even insane. Which is fitting, since they keep throwing me in to mental facilities. I’ve been in and out of them my entire life.

But no matter what people say, no matter what I’m risking, I will always help those in need.

Because there’s an endless war carrying on all around us, every minute of every day. One that can’t be seen by mortal eyes. But I can see it, the spiritual battle for mortal souls, and I’m working hard to make sure my father is on the losing side. He — Astaroth, Satan’s general— is why I can do this. He’s why I’m not normal. I can’t have friends, a life, or a boyfriend. I won’t be selfish enough to drag someone into this fight. But I’m not lonely. Not exactly. I have my mom. She’s my rock, my best friend, my partner. She helps me do what needs to be done, and she’s never afraid when it feels like I’m always afraid.

Because I hear my father whispering my name each night, his taunts echoing through the spiritual realm. He’s hunting me, and I know the day will come when I must face him again.

Every portal I open could be the one that finally pulls me back to Hell, and I wonder if I will brave enough, strong enough, good enough to fight him.

My name is Samantha Catherine Lopez, and I am Nephilim. This is my story.

Fans of the Alpha Girls series will love this new series set in the same world, with a few familiar faces, but you DO NOT have to have read a single word of the Alpha Girls series to enjoy Samantha’s story.

⇛The Book⇚

$4.99 at Time of Posting!

Dark Fantasy | Fantasy | Romance | Young Adult

Published: March 19, 2024

Length: 413 Pages

Tour Provided by Xpresso Book Tours

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⇛Guest Post⇚

Here are Ten Things Every Aspiring Writer Should Know!

Don’t sweat your first draft. Just write. Don’t stop until you hit the end or risk revising your first few chapters until you eventually give up.
Your first draft won’t be your best draft. So, it’s a good thing that it’s not the final draft. It won’t be perfect. Just get the ideas down.
You can’t revise a blank page. You need something there. The sooner you get something down, even if you think it’s not good enough, it’s better than nothing. It’s just the start. Again, this isn’t your final draft. It’s just a sketch.
Tips 1-3 are all about your inner editor. That’s the voice in your head telling you that you suck or you can’t do it. That voice is a jerk. The quicker you can ignore it, the better off you’ll be.
Best tip for shutting up your inner editor: Morning pages. It’s a tip I got from The Artist’s Way. You get out a blank paper and write—brain dump, stream of consciousness, laundry list of what you need to do, all your anxieties. You do this for 15 minutes or until you feel like your mind is clear and calm. And only then do you start your writing time.
Never end your day of writing at the end of a scene or an end of a chapter. Always write even just 2-3 more sentences. This will leave you in the middle of something with a clear goal the next time you sit down to write.
Learn to love editing. It’s essential for becoming a fantastic writer. If you get your ego involved and start to think that your first draft is gold, then that’s as good as you’ll ever get. Please refer back to number 2—your first draft is YOUR WORST DRAFT.
Find a critique group or developmental editing that loves your style of writing and/or genre. Then, let them read your work. This is the key part: When they give you notes, remember that they love you and want you to be great. SO, LISTEN TO THEIR NOTES.
Once you understand the root of their notes, you can throw their exact problem-solve away. You don’t have to do what they say. But writing is a weird thing. Sometimes the things you think are super clear on the page just aren’t. Listen to why they’re not connecting to the character, why they’re bored with a scene, or why they can’t “see” the action, and then if you don’t like their fix, you can come up with your own way to solve it.
Teach yourself and your critique group/editor the SANDWICH METHOD for giving notes. Start with something nice. Something you LOVED about the work. Follow up with things that bumped for you + WHY + THINGS THAT COULD FIX IT. (This is called CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. If it doesn’t have the why or the fixes, then it’s not helpful.) Then, finish up with a reminder about all the things that you enjoyed about it, and an encouragement to keep going. Anyone who doesn’t give feedback like this isn’t worth listening to. So, if you find yourself getting feedback that is more hurtful than it is helpful, go back to number eight.

I could keep going all day, but those are the first ten things I could think of! I hope they help any writers out there reading this!

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Aileen Erin is half-Irish, half-Mexican, and 100% nerd–from Star Wars (prequels don’t count) to Star Trek (TNG FTW), she reads Quenya and some Sindarin, and has a severe fascination with the supernatural. Aileen has a BS in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She lives with her husband in Los Angeles, and spends her days doing her favorite things: reading books, creating worlds, and kicking ass.