Taste Blog Tour: Guest Post & Giveaway

Taste
Author: Kate Evangelista
Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal
Release Date: April 30, 2012
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press

Description:

At Barinkoff Academy, there’s only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.

When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneathBarinkoffAcademy.Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.

  

Watch the Book Trailer:

Song Credits: “Hunger” © Noelle Pico.

Full Download available at http://sheisnoelle.bandcamp.com

Zhamvy Mythos

by Kate Evangelista 

Before I discuss how the Zhamvy mythos evolved, I first need to share with all of you the genesis of Taste.

As many of you might have read from several interviews, I used to teach high school. And at one of the schools I used to teach at, there is this practice of ringing a bell in the afternoon to signal to the students still on campus that they have to wait by the gate to be picked up by their parents. This meant no students should be on campus at a certain time.

The practical reason for this has to do with the nuns who run the school being at prayer and cannot be disturbed.

In my head, something happened on campus at night that the students during the day shouldn't know about. I imagined corpses rising from the ground and going to school. This is the beginning of Taste.

When I'm writing something new, I keep the research to a minimum to avoid cross contaminating my creativity with information already out there. This meant I didn't really look into the zombie myth as much.

At the time I was writing Taste, vampires were all the rage. Twilight was hot. So, I thought to myself that I wanted to go a different route. Zombies came to mind since they weren't the trend. I guess, since Taste took a while to reach readers, the trend of Zombies over took me. *laughs*
But I digress.

To be honest, I never thought of the Zhamvy as zombies. They are more like a race of apex predators. In real life, humans are the apex predators because nothing eats us. So, I thought: what if there are creatures that are very similar to humans but live off human flesh? That's how the Zhamvy were born. They are essentially the hunters of humans. An evolved, better, more long-lived version of the humans.

But, as with many great civilizations, something happened that forced them underground. I would spoil the story of Taste here by mentioning what that thing is.

So, if they are not zombies, then where did the idea of zombies come from? You might ask.
The basic definition of a zombie is an animated corpse. Now, depending on who you believe, these creatures attack and eat humans. At least that's what happens in some capacity in every zombie apocalypse movie.

The walking dead.

Well, in Taste, the Zhamvy essentially become the walking dead for a different reason. Their civilization is dying, and the only reason they've held on for so long had to do with the underhanded tactics of Dray, the Zhamvy bent on saving them and the humans too.
I love the Zhamvy. Their society is based on a caste system without the extreme prejudice that usually comes with castes. They segregate themselves based on their hair and eye color, and they are bred for specific tasks. Through Luka's and Demitri's descriptions, I've had the privilege of exploring their world, which I hope you will do to by reading Taste.

At the end of day, the Zhamvy were born from the simple idea of ringing a bell in the afternoons. When I'm asked what inspires me, I always say anything and everything. If you're open to everything, anything can inspire you. If it weren't for my experience of teaching, I wouldn’t have come across the ringing of the bell. And if it weren't for that, Taste would never have been written.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. To learn more about the Zhamvy, please grab your copy of Taste. It's not your typical paranormal romance. I really want you to meet Demitri, Luka, Dray, Calixta, Yana, and the rest of the Zhamvy. Happy reading! 

Thank you so much for stopping by today Kate and sharing a bit of Zhamvy history and myth with us!

When Kate Evangelista was told she had a knack for writing stories, she did the next best thing: entered medical school. After realizing she wasn’t going to be the next Doogie Howser, M.D., Kate wandered into the Literature department of her university and never looked back. Today, she is in possession of a piece of paper that says to the world she owns a Literature degree. To make matters worse, she took Master’s courses in creative writing. In the end, she realized to be a writer, none of what she had mattered. What really mattered? Writing. Plain and simple, honest to God, sitting in front of her computer, writing. Today, she has four completed Young Adult novels.

Author Links:

Author Website: www.kateevangelista.com

Twitter: @KateEvangelista

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Evangelista/165693410143202

Find Taste on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13484226-taste

Crescent Moon Press page for Taste: http://crescentmoonpress.com/books/Taste.html

Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

The Book Depository

 

  Giveaway: (1) Print copy of Taste & (5) ebook copies of Taste

 

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January 7 Guilty Pleasures  My Library in the Making 
January 8  Read Your Writes Book Reviews The Revolving Bookcase  A Dream Within A Dream 
January 9 The Readers Roundtable Young & the Restless  What's On the Bookshelf  Lebooksquirrel 
January 10 Fade Into Fantasy The Solitary Bookworm  My Life With Boys and Books  Storey Book Reviews 
January 11 The Book Whisperer  High-Strung  Book Bitches Blog 
January 12 Heart Braking Reviews  Moosubi Reviews!   Open the Page 
January 13 Bookittyblog   Just Me,Myself,and I  Smardy Pants Book Blog 
January 14 Sugar and Spice Book Reviews   The Reflections of a Bookworm   Cover2CoverBlog 
January 15 My Life Beyond Labels   Escape2Books  Dizneeee's World of Books  
January 16 Reality Bites! Let's Get Lost!  Bookworm Brandee  Shh Moms Reading