Welcome to the book tour for The Warrior's Progeny by Jeny Heckman! Today's post is a lot of fun, as she imagines a conversation between her characters that would have changed the entire story. Enjoy that and an excerpt from the book. Follow the tour for even more. And then be sure to enter the giveaway!
Colton Stone is a newly traded tight end whose reputation is as battered as his football helmet. When he receives a vacation invitation from his new teammates, he accepts. There he collides with Dr. Lillian Morgan, a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon, and doesn't know what to think.
A widow with two children, Lilly travels to Kauai to attend the wedding of a friend and witness the union she lost three years prior. When she meets Colt, she struggles between letting go of her perfect past for an uncertain future.
Strange events begin to occur, out of the realm of normal consciousness. Black energy touches their world and the couple become pawns of the immortal Greek gods. Is the love between them real, or part of a larger prophecy?
Read an excerpt:
Lilly looked down at the football, lying prone and guilty in the sand, as realization hit her.
“Oh my God, Que! Are you okay?”
She examined Que’s head and neck checking for injuries, with rapid authority. A small goose egg already formed just above her right temple. A tiny cut opened in her eyebrow, from her broken sunglasses now laying in the sand, causing a small bead of blood to well up.
Used to the recklessness of her son and his friends regarding the sport, Lilly turned, gearing up for an impressive tongue lashing to teenagers.
“What in the hell...” she bellowed, turning around and smacking her face into the sweaty muscular chest of a massive redhead. Refusing to let the fourteen-inch height difference and the hundred and sixty pounds of additional weight intimidate her, Lilly balled her small fists on her hips, shifted her gaze up, and narrowed her eyes.
“What in the hell is the matter with you? You’re on a crowded beach with a bunch of young children and families. You’re a grown-ass man. Can’t you catch a football?” When he stared down at her in fascinated disbelief, she continued. “There is a wide-open park just over there,” she said, stabbing her finger in the general vicinity. “Maybe you and your little friends”— she looked over at all the massive men in his group, but continued undaunted—“should go over there and pull your heads out of your asses.”
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In the Heaven & Earth series, the Titans have fought the Olympian Greek gods and lost. Cronus, ruler of the Titans is locked away in Tartarus, in the underworld, while Zeus, ruler of the Olympians rocks his golden throne and has a lot of sex. Cronus decides to manipulate some key people to create a prophecy dooming the gods and releasing the last plagues upon mankind. Themis, an Oracle of Delphi, gets wind of it and inserts a caveat that allows the modern-day descendants of the gods to go on a quest to save the Olympians.
I feel like the whole thing could’ve been avoided if Zeus and Cronus got over themselves and each other and talked it out. I envision something like this.
“Hey dad,” Zeus began, “I know we’ve had our differences, but mom was really angry you ate all her children, and Grandma was super angry you re-imprisoned, the Cyclopes uncles, and the Hecantonchieres clan. Everyone wanted a new ruler, and I stepped in. Can we at least try to figure out some common ground, and make this work for the family’s sake?”
“No, I’m pissed off,” Cronus spat. “This was my kingdom. I had to cut off my father’s penis, to get it for chrissake, but I did it for the family and I was a good leader. I won my place here fair and square.” Cronus ran his thick wrinkled fingers through his hair causing it to stand on end. “What am I supposed to do now?”
“Okay, I totally hear what you’re saying, but try to look at this from my point of view. You have to admit you were getting completely paranoid.”
“Because my dad, said you were going to take over my kingdom!”
“You didn’t have to eat everyone! I mean come on, how would you have liked that?” Zeus looked at his father with large pleading eyes. “I know we can work this out. Heaven and earth are all chill again. The people are happy. These could be the greatest years of your life, relaxing by the pool, playing with your grandchildren.”
Cronus looked out into the dark murky depths of Tartarus. Water dripped somewhere pinging echoes off the rock walls. “I don’t know. What would I do? Could I get out of here?”
Zeus brightened, “Absolutely! I’ll tell you what, how about I give you the Elysium? The only people that get in there are the heroes and other gods. It’s absolutely beautiful there. You can rule the place without any interference from me, at all. Plus, it’ll be way easier on your joints with all that sunshine.”
“It would be all mine?” Cronus eyes his son suspiciously.
“All yours, with just three conditions.”
“What are those?”
“You get on some medication for your depression and psychotic tendencies,” the young ruler counted on his fingers. “You go see a therapist to get out all those unresolved issues, and you don’t second guess my decisions in public once I’ve made them.”
Cronus remained silent, trying to come to a decision.
“Come on, dad,” Zeus said softly, placing an arm around the old ruler’s shoulders. “All this fighting isn’t doing anyone any good at all. Can we move on?”
Cronus looked into his son’s eyes, and recognized the truth in them. “Okay, you have a deal, but if I think you’re doing something wrong, I’m going to tell you.”
“As long as you do it in private, I’ll listen to every word and take it all under consideration.” He raised a hand. “That’s a promise.”
Cronus extended his own hand, but thinking better of it, drew his son in for a hug. Zeus patted the proud old man gently on the back, then leaned into the embrace and closed his eyes.
Thank you so much for joining me today! I truly appreciate your time and also a big thank you to Andi and Books to Light your Fire for hosting me. This was a lot of fun!
She wrote her first book, the Catch, in a few short months but took several years before she gained the courage to self-publish it at her son’s urging, and her love for writing began.
In 2018, Jeny knew her next project would be a series that showed adults could have adventures in the paranormal-fantasy genre too. So, she created the Heaven & Earth series, a story of doomed Greek gods and their only salvation, their modern-day descendants. Her first book of the series, the Sea Archer, was immediately picked up by the New York publishing house, the Wild Rose Press, and won, “Best in Category” from the 2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards.
In the year 2020, Jeny released, Dancing Through Tears, a short story from the anthology, Australia Burns: Volume Two, highlighting the Route 91 massacre from the perspective of one family at the concert, and at Mandalay Bay. She also intends to release, the Warrior’s Progeny, and Dee’s Cornucopia, in 2020, continuing the Heaven & Earth Series.
Jeny lives in Washington State with her husband of over twenty-eight years.
Website: https://jenyheckman.com/
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Jeny Heckman will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAnother great book to discover. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining me today James!
DeleteThank you for hosting me today! What a fun interview!
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi Rita, thanks for coming on today!
DeleteSounds like a fantastic book, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVictoria, thank you, I hope you give it a go!
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