Celestial Plague Virtual Advent Calendar

Hi all!

For three years now I have made virtual advent calendars for Elemental Dragons, Mute and Years. It’s time for the advent calendar to come back in a brand new universe for the fourth year in a row! This time it will focus on Celestial Plague, with twenty-four facts over twenty-four days. The following subjects will be posted:

The Apocalypse

Sarjs

SARJ Virus

Powers

Each topic will get six days each.

As with last year - I’m doing another giveaway for day 25, Christmas Day! One of the following ebook versions will be won:

Blood and Water

Venom and Earth

Glass and Ice

Cinder and Fire

Mute

Years

Nirvana

Heaven

Purgatory

Hell - to be claimed on release day in April 2024

If you would like a chance at winning one of my ebooks, please read the rules below and go to my Facebook page: Jessica Turnbull Author.

If you’re not sure what to look out for, check out some of the previous facts that have been posted:

I hope you have fun if you participate! Next year I’ll be doing a calendar for the Curse of Anubis series! Here is my Facebook page again so you can participate: Jessica Turnbull Author.

That’s it for this week! Good luck to everyone who enters, see you next week.

My First Ever Book

Hi all, 

When I was 10 or 11 years old I started writing my first book and managed to finish it in a few months. It was a complete rewrite of my favourite book at the time, Into The Wild. Of course it's a Warriors book! I wrote the book with the same plot and characters, only to include my own character into the mix as well. 

I remember being so proud of it at the time and excitedly showing it to my family. I hand wrote the entire thing and even redrew the cover! My grandfather was the only one to read it through and he shared my excitement even though looking back the book was awful. I was still proud of myself for doing it and it proved that I could write a book if I really wanted to. Of course, it would be almost a decade before I wrote my next book, an original one called Blood and Water. 

The Warriors rewrite wasn't great, as I just moulded the story around my own character. She was a cat who could shoot thunderbolts out of her paws. She was best friends with the main character and helped him with all aspects of the story. Technically it was my first FanFiction too! I think the main character was called Thunderheart but I can't quite remember. 

I did start writing the sequel too, which followed most of the same story as Fire and Ice. I don't think I got around to finishing that one though. I think a wrote a few chapters and made the cover. While most of my family thought it was just silly children's writing, my grandfather was always there to support me. He helped me weave maths into the story so I could learn while I wrote and made it fun. I know he loved the fact that I carried on writing into adulthood and I'm so glad that he got to see three of my books published before he passed. He was probably also glad that he didn't have to read about Warrior Cats anymore! I hope that he's proud of how far I've come with my writing now. 

That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week! 

PS; check out this book bundle full of free post-apocalyptic books!

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

My Favourite Book Formats, Ranked

Hi all, 

I thought it would be fun to rank some book formats and see which one comes out on top for me! I know everyone has their own preferences when reading and now you can see mine. 

5 - Audiobooks

I know a lot of people love having audiobooks as they can read on the go without having to physically look at a book. I've tried them a few times but I always find myself getting distracted or missing key parts of the book. Maybe I just need to find the right narrator and book length. But for now, these are at the bottom of the list for me. 

4 - Oversized books

These books are usually for coffee tables or sprucing up bookshelves. Depending on what kind of books they are, I can love them. Currently my favourite one is about mythology across the world. I like to pick it up occasionally and have a skim through while I'm chilling on the sofa. 

3 - Paperbacks 

I do love a physical book. But, paperbacks aren't my preferred choice. They're great to read without staring at a screen and I have plenty on my shelf. They just don't have it on number one. 

2 - Ebooks

When ebooks first came out I thought I'd never like them. I just didn't think they could be as good as a physical book. Well, I was wrong! A lot of the books I read nowadays are on my Kindle and I absolutely love it. I can take it anywhere and read as much as I want. It makes reading on the go so much easier. 

1 - Hardcovers 

In my eyes, nothing beats a hardcover. The weight is perfect, the smell and the colours always pop on the covers. Although I don't mind dust jackets, I do prefer ones without them. I was so excited when Amazon offered me the opportunity to have my books published in hardcover. I jumped on that option straight away and ordered one of each to decorate my bookshelf with! 

I know that not everyone will agree with my list as we all have different opinions and preferences. But I still think it's great that there are so many different options for reading out there, there is something for everyone. What would be your number one choice? Let me know in the comments. 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week! 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

A Giveaway for National Author’s Day

StoryOrigin Review

Hi all, 

I last did a review post about Infostack and I wanted to do another. This time it's StoryOrigin. It's a platform where you can do newsletter swaps with other authors, join group promos and even send out review copies. I first joined when it was free and stuck with it when they added a payment system. It is now a core part of my newsletter as it brings me new fans and new eyes on my books. 

Newsletter Swaps

You can swap either free reader magnets or books available to buy. I do a mix of both to keep my newsletter going and generate a few sales. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to grow my newsletter so quickly. You can swap with other authors by genre so you can see who would be a great fit for your newsletter. You can also see their open and click rates to decide if you want to swap with them. 

Group Promos

I love creating and participating in group promos. They bring lots of new eyes to your books and are so much fun to organise. I love creating themed ones, such as dragons or monsters. I mostly use them to promote my Kindle Unlimited books, but I have done a few sales ones which have done quite well too. 

A group promo banner I created for a StoryOrigin promotion

I haven't used the other features yet, such as review copies. I do want to use it to gather more reviews at some point though. The dashboard is easy to use and you can keep all your links in one place. It's easy to upload reader magnets and create universal links for all of your books. Without StoryOrigin, I would be struggling a lot more with my newsletter. I know a lot of people compare it to Book Funnel, but I haven't tried that one so I can't comment on it. 

If you're looking for somewhere to build up your newsletter, I would recommend StoryOrigin. I've been using it for years and can't see myself without it. 

Do you like these reviews? If you do, let me know and I'll do some more! 

That's it for this week, see you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these giveaways!

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

A Giveaway for National Author’s Day

Hell Cover Design

Hi all!

This week is the cover reveal for Celestial Plague #4: Hell. This is the final book in the Celestial Plague series and as with previous covers, it has been designed by Deranged Doctor Design. They have created all of my covers so far and I love every single one of them! Without further ado…

• The MC of this cover is Jenna, the last character to get a cover.

• This is my favourite cover out of the whole series!

• DDD came up with the colour scheme and I think it fits absolutely perfectly. I originally wanted this book to have a red colour scheme but I think the orange is even better.

• The typography remains the same as the other books.

• The Rot is displayed in its full glory on this cover. You can tell by the decayed trees that are everywhere. The light in front of Jenna can either be a fire, the sun or even one of Shari’s portals.

• Jenna’s power are gills, which aren’t shown on the cover.

• Jenna also follows the hoodie trend! I like that all the main characters have worn hoodies across the covers, it links them in a way.

Hell will be available in April 2024 with a complete collection following in June or July. I’m sad that this series is ending but I can’t wait for you to read the final entry in the Celestial Plague series.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week

PS; don’t forget to check out the book bundles from this month!

A Giveaway For National Author’s Day

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

What Dragons Hunt

Hi all, 

This week I'm going to write about something that was suggested in the comments - what dragons hunt. Now, most of the hunting is not done by Western Dragons as they have their food killed for them in farming. Other dragon species do hunt to survive, so I thought I would go over a mix of them here. 

Farm Animals. 

Farm animals mostly fall victim to Wyverns. These dragons hunt in packs and pick one animal to bring down. While this is most often cows, they have been known to go for sheep and pigs too. There have even been a few instances of Wyverns completely destroying chicken coops to get to the animals inside. Western Dragons do not hunt these animals as they are not allowed to. 

Deer. 

A favourite amongst most kinds of dragons is deer. These animals can be taken down by one dragon and the amount of meat can keep them fed for a day. Western Dragons hide in the undergrowth and pick a target before striking. Their prey is then dragged back to their nest for consumption. This is know due to the amount of deer bones found amongst dragon lairs. 

Goat. 

This is a favourite amongst Amphiptere. As they live high in the mountains, food can be scarce. So they've learned to hunt goat to perfection and the meat can sustain them for almost three days before they need to hunt again. 

Rabbits and Birds. 

Due to their size, rabbits aren't hunted often by dragons. They don't have much to sustain them and often it requires more energy to hunt them than what they get back. It's the same with birds, they aren't worth the effort unless a dragon is desperately hungry. 

Whales, Orcas and Sharks. 

These marine animals are hunted by Sea Serpents. Due to their size, they're able to take down their prey solo. Sharks and orcas are what they hunt primarily although they have been known to take down whales too. These dragons are fast and use their speed to their advantage. They then coil themselves around their prey, crushing them and dragging them towards their lair. 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these free books!

A Giveaway for National Author’s Day

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

My Favourite Horror Shows

Hi all, 

With Halloween coming up I thought that this would be the perfect time to talk about my favourite horror shows. I've done lists for zombie shows and sci-fi and it's the perfect time of year for horror! 

The Terror

This is one show that I couldn't binge watch as I had to wait for a new episode every week. But the wait was always worth it! The isolation and fear in this show is spot on. All of the characters are interesting and make you want to find out what's hunting them and if they'll ever get rescued. 

Sweet Home 

This one I found while randomly scrolling through Netflix one day. I thought it looked good so I decided to give it a go and haven't looked back since. The monsters are unique and have amazing designs and powers. I've been waiting so long for season two to drop and I can't wait to watch it! 

Stranger Things 

I absolutely love Stranger Things. The characters, the setting, the monsters, they're all amazing in my eyes. While I love all the monsters, my favourite has to be the one from season two, The Mind Flayer. I can't wait for the next season as I loved the last one, especially it's super long season finale. 

Resident Evil

This only ran for one season before getting cancelled which really sucks. But I loved this show. Although the plot was a bit weird at times I still really enjoyed it. Just seeing the beginning of the virus and how it all ends up was amazing. All of the monsters were great and I really wish there had been another season just to at least try to wrap everything up. 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

The First Draft of Street Rats is Finally Complete!

Hi all, 

If you've been reading my blog for a while then I'm sure you've heard about Street Rats. I originally started writing it in 2021 but I've struggled to get through the first draft. Even with less than 2000 words to write I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

But now, I've done it. 

Street Rats is done! The first draft is written and will now sit on the back burner until I edit it. I hope it won't take me years to get the courage to edit it but I'm so glad that I finally managed to get it done. 

At the time of writing it, I was being bullied and isolated in my job and it was spilling into my writing. The main character, Hailey, was hated for no reason and the other characters shunned her no matter what she did. Because I was feeling like that in reality, those feelings and scenarios spilled into the book. Even though I knew it was happening, I couldn't stop it. It felt like I was trying to justify the actions of the people around me by writing it in a book. But there was no justification for completely ignoring me for hours on end and making me feel terrible for getting stressed about doing the majority of the work. 

Even when I left that job I couldn't bring myself to finish the story. I just kept thinking about how much work it will need editing and how I don't want to revisit those feelings again. I don't know why I suddenly felt like I was able to finish it, but I have. My mental health has never been better and I saw it on my phone one day and just started writing. Now, it's done. 

Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of work to do if I eventually want to publish it. But I love the concept and the world I created. I don't want to let that just sit on a computer for the rest of my life. It might take a bit longer to see this story and I do apologise for that. But getting the first draft done is a huge step and I'm proud of myself for that. I've come to terms with my feelings and what happened to me and I don't feel so bitter anymore. One day I'd love to have this book on a bookshelf next to all my other published works. 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week. 

Purgatory is Now Available on Amazon

Hi all,

This week the third book in the Celestial Plague series, Purgatory, released in ebook, paperback and hardcover. After this, there’s only one book left to go! If you want to continue following Raya, Shannon, Ashleigh and Jenna, then keep reading below…

The world is slowly being swallowed up by monsters and disease.

Ashleigh awakens with no memories of her past and becomes a pawn. The man who created the Sarjs calls himself a god and forces them to do his bidding, including her. She leaves her friends behind to follow him, but a part of her is still in there, fighting to break free from his control once and for all.

As Jenna's injuries worsen, Cindy must find a healer who can save her. However, the cost of her survival is a painful sacrifice that leaves her permanently scarred.

Raya and Shannon go after Ashleigh, only to find that The Rot is spreading. It’s killing everything in its path and making the Sarjs fall ill before they too are consumed by it.

While Shannon and Raya try to stay alive amidst the chaos, Ashleigh and her rogue Sarjs band together to take down the god and reclaim their freedom. But can they take defeat him before The Rot kills them first?

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out the Celestial Plague series and love it as much as I do! See you next week.

Flights of Fantasy

Hi all!

One of my short stories has managed to find a home in an anthology. You can read ‘Flames of the Moon’ in Flights of Fantasy, which is available now!

Dive into a realm where magic knows no bounds, and legends come to life.
From the mystical depths of ancient forests to the soaring heights of dragon filled skies, these tales will transport you to worlds where heroes rise, kingdoms clash, and the extraordinary becomes ordinary.
Whether you seek epic adventures, tales of mystical creatures, or stories of unlikely heroes, this anthology has it all!
Prepare to be spellbound and experience the magic of an entire universe in a single book.
The authors within this book are:
A J Wilson
Alexandra Haverská
A.M. Cummins
Andra Dill
Andrea Barton
Andrew Kurtz
Angela Zimmerman
Anna-Maria Aschmann
Ariel Finkle
Ashleigh Cattermole-Crump
Austin Worley
Barend Nieuwstraten III
Beth W. Patterson
Blake Jessop
Brandon Hingley-Lovett
Brenda Anderson
Bruce Rowe
Cara Twomey
Cassia Hall
Catherine Berry
Charles Reis
Charlotte Langtree
Chris Hewitt
Chrissie Rohrman
Claire Davon
Connor Sassmannshausen
Dale Parnell
Danielle Mikals
David Bowmore
David Green
Dawn DeBraal
Declan Liam McKendrick
Diane Arrelle
DJ Elton
D’mitri Blackwood
D.M. Slate
Dorian J. Sinnott
Edward Ahern
Elizabeth Nettleton
Ella Everly
Ellie A Goss
Emma Kathryn
Erica Damon
Fiona Honor Hurley
Gabriella Balcom
Gabby Gilliam
Gemma Paul
Georgina Stancer
Ian T. Wilson
Isa Ottoni
James Carraghan
Jasiah Witkofsky
J.A. Skelton
Jessica Labbe
Jessica Turnbull
Jodie Francis
Jon Chan
Jordan Eagles
Joshua D Taylor
Joshua Williams
Juliana Amir
Kailey Alessi
Kaitlyn Arnett
Karen Bayly
Kate Campbell
Katie Jordan
Keith Burdon
Kevin Hopson
Kim Plasket
Lauraine S. Blake
Lisa H. Owens
LJ McLeod
L.J. Wynn
L. T. Emery
Luis Manuel Torres
Lynne Phillips
Lynette S. Hoag
Maggie D Brace
Marianne Reese
Marie Sinadjan
Mckenzie Richardson
Meera Dandekar
Melody E. McIntyre
Michelle Ann King
Michelle Brett
Miriam H. Harrison
M. M. Montelione
MM Reynolds
Monica Schultz
M.W. Irving
Naito Diamond
Natasha Sinclair
Nathan A. Jacobs
NC Smith
Nerisha Kemraj
Nicole Walsh
Olivia Arieti
Pat Woods
Patrick Winters
P.L. Glaser
Rachel L. Tilley
R.A. Clarke
R.A. Goli
R. C. Capasso
Renata Pavrey
Rich Feitelberg
S.A. McKenzie
Sammi Cox
SL Kretschmer
Sophie Wagner
Stacey Jaine McIntosh
Stefan Grieve
Stephen Arndt
Stephen E Sorensen
Stephen Johnson
Stephanie Parent
Susan Cornford
Tabitha Baumander
Taya Rune
Terry Hooker
Terry Keelan
Tim Blaine
Toko Hata
Tony Steven Williams
Toshiya Kamei
Troy Deacon
V.H. Stone
Victor Nandi
Vinny Cucuzza
Vonnie Winslow Crist
Ximena Escobar

As you can see, this anthology is chock full of stories from plenty of authors! There are hundreds of fantasy stories to make your way through. I’ve read quite a few of them already and I think they’re all amazing.

I wrote Flames of the Moon on a whim after a writing prompt from my writer’s group. I had a dream about a girl who was given fire magic from a moon goddess and rolled with it. Despite only being 500 words, I really loved writing it. So much in fact that I have ideas to turn it into a book. The moon goddess will still give out fire magic but there will be three other goddesses too. Once I’ve plotted the story out a bit more I’ll share a few more details with you.

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out Flights of Fantasy. See you next week!

PS; don’t forget to check out this awesome bundle of fantasy books before it ends:

Abundant Woo-niverse Giveaways for Magical Realism, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi