Thursday, August 16, 2012

The Fire of Dawn Blog Tour!

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Today we sit down with author V.V. Aku, of The Fire Of Dawn. She is going to let us in on five things we don't know about her!

AND...not only is she here to share her self-wisdom, but one lucky winner will get a copy of her new book, The Fire Of Dawn!! How awesome is that?!

So before we get started let me introduce you to V.V. Aku and her new book!

Author Bio:

V.V. Aku has always believed in beautiful stories. She found the man of her dreams and her way in complex China, and wrote a fairytale of her own: The Fire of Dawn-a scintillating tale about strength, self-discovery, and a girl who dared to follow her heart.
Born and raised in The Netherlands, V.V. Aku (Veerle Ackerstaff) soon discovered that the world was a place worth exploring. After graduating high school, she set out to travel the globe until she finally touched down in China. On the border of Tibet she met Anzi Aku, a wild Black-Yi man who lives at the foot of the Himalayas. She has joined his clan and tries to find her place among the tribe and its shamans. When she’s not researching the clan’s mythology on vampires, she shamelessly gives in to the compulsion to write about the countless characters that haunt her dreams.

V.V. Aku is the author of The Fire of Dawn and Black Dusk. She has been the creator of stories since the age of three, and has a Post-Graduate Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults from The University of Cambridge ESOL. After nearly a decade of working as an English language teacher and TEFL trainer in China, Thailand, The Netherlands, and the UK, she now devotes all her time to writing, her family, and practicing Kung Fu. The Fire of Dawn is her debut novel. You can catch up with V.V. Aku on Facebook, Twitter, Blog, or her Website.

About the book:

The Fire Of Dawn
By V.V. Aku
Published April 12th 2012
Pick up your copy at Amazon, Smashwords, or Create Space today!
Synopsis borrowed from Goodreads:

It’s the last day of the summer holiday in The Hague when Leah Koopmans’s carefree life as a teen is brutally flipped upside down. Her pale skin turns a dazzling gold, her senses heighten, and her muscles possess an uncanny strength. But with these exhilarating new powers comes a thirst that can only be quenched by one thing: human blood.

While her body craves for fresh victims and her heart drowns in guilt, she meets inhumanly handsome Max Machiavelli, who claims that Leah is an immortal like him. Infatuation ignites into blistering passion when Leah joins his coven in Amsterdam. But as the mysteries shrouding her sudden change to immortality unravel, she quickly learns that her aversion to taking life isn’t the only thing that sets her apart from this group of herculean strangers.

From the picturesque canals of Amsterdam to Corsica’s limestone cliffs and the untamed Siberian wilderness; from first loves to fierce battles, The Fire of Dawn is an extraordinary tale packed with romance, betrayal, and bloodsucking suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very last page.

And now on to the guest post:

 Five things you don't know about V.V. Aku:


5 Things you didn’t know about me.



1.        Like most teens, I made my parents’ life a living hell. I hated the fact that I couldn’t be free. I saw school as prison and the years of mandatory education as unjustified jail time. Above all else, I yearned to spread my wings, turn eighteen, and explore the world. The first thing I did after graduation? I bought an open ticket to Asia and I haven’t lived in the Netherlands since.


2.      My life with a Himalayan tribe in China is no secret. But what most people don’t know about my marriage to wild, Black-Yi man Anzi Aku, is that I never said, ‘I do,’ or ‘Yes, I’ll be your wife.’ His family presented my parents with tokens of silver and expensive liquor. Normally, they would have offered my dad a dozen goats, a yak, and two horses, but realizing that these animals wouldn’t fit in their suitcase back to Holland, Anzi’s family kept it low scale.


3.       I absolutely adore animals of all kinds. I’m not a diehard vegetarian, but I never thought I would be able to endure seeing an animal suffer until I moved to China. It has been one of the biggest culture shocks I’ve had to deal with, but an important part of integration and acceptance into my husband’s Black-Yi clan. My first duty as his wife was to shave a freshly slaughtered pig (after I had nearly tore the ears off my head listening to the hog’s terrified squeals) after which the village shaman ceremoniously cut the poor animal into pieces and put me in charge of cleaning its intestines and stuffing them with blood, meat, and mushrooms.


4.      Another part of Black-Yi integration was looking like a true Black-Yi women. Soon after I started my life in the mountains of northwest Yunnan, Anzi’s family began insisting that I not only dressed like one of them, but also tried my best to be seen as one of them by their ancestors. In order to complete this trying endeavor I needed to sacrifice the virgin skin of my forearms. The shaman’s wife gathered herbs and ash then took a bunch of needles and began tattooing round dots on both of my arms. The dots represent coins which I will take with me to my afterlife.


5.      Four months ago, my husband and I found out that I was pregnant. Although we were both ecstatic, my pregnancy discomforts soon kicked into high gear. With a sudden supernatural sense of smell, life in China became unbearable. Everywhere I went, I wanted to gag on the foul blend of garlic, ginger, spices, stinky feet, unbrushed teeth, and days-old sweat. But this prenatal torment was trumped by one other. Chinese food became the most disgusting thing to eat in the world.



Want to find out more silly facts about me and my life in China. Join me on Facebook.com/VVAKU or read my blog on www.fireofdawn.com/1/feed

And because V.V. Aku is so awesome one lucky winner will get their own eBook copy of her new paranormal romance book, The Fire Of Dawn! This giveaway is open internationally!! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment answering this question:

If you had a life of immortality what would you do with it?

Then fill out the Rafflecopter form below!
Don't forget to leave your answer to the question above in the comments section of this post.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

43 comments:

  1. I'd love to read this series and then pass it on to my granddaughters to read.

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  2. Do all those things I was to afraid of before!

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  3. I would like to thank you for a fantastic book giveaway, that i would love to have the oportunity of reading and reviewing! Also, being of a popular genre once read i would then send it to my friend who i know would love to read it to.
    Thank you x

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  4. Spend as many years as it took to become a published writer.

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  5. If I had a life of immortality, I would love to travel the world!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

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  6. If I had a life of immortality, I might actually be able to read all the books I've got on my TBR list!

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    Replies
    1. Ya know then your TBR would prolly just get longer. I swear that thing is a never ending list that's only purpose is to mock me. Lol

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  7. I neglected to mention that I am blown away by the courage and adventurous spirit of your featured author, V.V. Aku. What an incredibly awesome young lady she must be! I would be honored to shake her hand, but I'll be content just to admire her from afar.

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    1. Have you read her blog? OMG at the things she has done in her life. I can't even imagine doing half the things she's done.

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  8. If I was immortal I would spend it getting as rich as I could

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    1. Can you imagine to never wan for anything ever again? I think I would go crazy and buy the how mall. Lol

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  9. If I was immortal, then I would travel, alot, and swim across the ocean, without the fear of dying.

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  10. If I was immortal I would experience everything I ever wanted without the fear or limitations.

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    Replies
    1. Can you imagine a life like that? It would be awesome!!

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  11. Oh, and if I was Immortal I'd be reading all the books I could handle. And also try to learn where we come from from the beginning.

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  12. If I were immortal, I'd make sure to travel every corner of the world, and try every kind of food. :) I would also try my best to read EVERY book possible!

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    1. Oh WOW the food we could eat! It's a good thing immortals can't gain weight or I wold be HUGE! lol

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  13. I would travel all over, and enjoy youth, and that I would feel good, young, carefree forever, and read all I could. I would strive to be a "good" immortal. :)
    I am a new follower by the way. :)

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  14. I would also love to travel the world. I have been to nine countries outside of the US, but there is still so much and seven to ten days is not enough time. I would want to live in several for a much longer period of time.
    Jenn

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    1. WOW you've been a lot more places than me! I've been to Canada and Jamaica...that's it. lol I need to hang out with you :-)

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  15. :) Might catch up with some reading!! :)

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  16. Loving people, because I would got time to understand them better, now it's just hard for me to love someone.

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    1. That's a good point. I've never thought of that. Although I'd prolly have the problem of loving people that were mortal and be heartbroken everytime thier mortality caught up to them.

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  17. Damn near everything. Life is messy; the more you live, the less you can avoid.

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    Replies
    1. Life is BEYOND messy. Hopefully with immortality we'd finally be able to figure out how to clean it up! Lol

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  18. I would love to travel the world.

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    1. This is a very common want. I say we all drop what we are doing, get together, and just start hopping from country to country. lol

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    2. Alright where should we start? Tahiti? Scotland? Pick the airport and I'm there! Lol *i wish*

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  19. I'd eat whatever I want.

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  20. Be kind to all, world peace! Thanks for the giveaway!

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    Replies
    1. Your answer makes me think of John Lennon "Imagine"

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  21. I would travel the world and explore every nook and cranny of it. I would also read everything.

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    1. I think that's what the majority of us would do. It would be so awesome to have all the time in the world to read and see every country!

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  22. I really don't want to have immortality as I would not like to have to go thru the pain and suffering of having to watch loved ones get older, get sick and in time die, while I never have that chance.

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    1. I'm really surprised that youre the first person to say this. I expected more people to bring it up. While I'd love to see the world and have all the good that comes with immortality, losing the people I loved would be hard.

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