Splash Into Summer Hop {Guest Post/Giveaway/Hop}: The Faustian Host (Apocalypse Signs #1) by Dave Becker

The Faustian Host (Apocalypse Signs #1) by Dave Becker

Kindle Edition

Published March 15th 2012 by Dave Becker

Plymouth Rock is bleeding. Day has turned to night. Hundred-pound hailstones level buildings. The small town of Clement seems cursed, and the residents know who's to blame: the new kid, Tony Marino.

After losing his family and his home, 14-year-old Tony is forced to move from Florida to Massachusetts to attend Kalos Academy, an unconventional school for gifted children. Strange things begin to happen the day he arrives, and soon stories of plagues, monsters, and mystical objects surround him. Refusing to believe superstitions, Tony struggles to explain the occurrences logically, until he comes face to face with a satanic cult determined to bring about the end of the world.

GoodReads | Amazon

.

The inspirations for THE FAUSTIAN HOST came from several sources, but began with a single mental image: a stream of blood trickling out of Plymouth Rock. I have no idea where the idea came from, but I began to question everything about it. Why would that happen? What could it mean? And what else would it trigger?

I continued to develop the concept of an apocalyptic plague striking the Boston area, when one day, while writing, I was annoyed by a very loud fly buzzing around the room. I detest flies, and this one refused to land - just buzzed and buzzed and buzzed - driving me insane. Like the blood from the rock, I found myself wondering what it would be like to have millions of flies covering everything. What it would it sound like? What would it feel like? And the plagues kept coming.

Once I'd created a world that was falling apart, I needed a place for the heroes in my story, the kids, to bond and collect the tools needed to fight against the dark forces bent on destruction. I didn't want a boarding school (for fear of seeming too much like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson) but I wanted something out of the ordinary. My solution was to draw on my experiences from grade school.

When I was eight, I was placed in the gifted program. Once a week, ten of us were taken out of regular class to the library where we were given free rein to express ourselves. There were no rules. We would read, draw, write, and work on self-driven research projects which we would periodically present to the other gifted students. It was a truly unique experience, and more than anything else in my entire scholastic career, it imbued me with a love of learning and a belief in myself.

It occurred to me that a school built around a similar philosophy would allow me to expand the students' minds while giving them the freedom necessary to investigate the strange occurrences that plagued their town. So Kalos Academy, a truly extraordinary (albeit fictional) school was born. The teachers were a collection of the brightest minds in the world, and the lessons were designed to be nothing like dry, public school lectures. And some of the strangest, most seemingly irrelevant bits of information ended up being imperative in saving the kids' lives.

An eclectic group of kids placed in an extraordinary school situated in the center of an inexplicable curse - it's an ideal mix for a paranormal thriller. With each new plague, it seems things can't possibly get worse, and then they do. If you're curious about what awaits us all in 2012, check out THE FAUSTIAN HOST. Relax, it's just the end of the world.

About The Author
Dave Becker is the author of The Faustian Host, a new young adult, paranormal thriller. After losing his family and his home, 14-year-old Tony Marino is forced to move from Florida to Massachusetts to attend Kalos Academy, an unconventional school for gifted children. Strange things begin to happen the day he arrives, and soon stories of plagues, monsters, and mystical objects surround him. Refusing to believe superstitions, Tony struggles to explain the occurrences logically, until he comes face to face with a satanic cult determined to bring about the end of the world.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Check out the links below for more chances to win a great book: