Guest Post and Giveaway Featuring Two Copies of "Slayers" by C.J. Hill

C.J. Hill's new book Slayers was released in September and the reviews for her YA dragon story make this sound like a story to put on the TBR list. So when I was asked if I would host a guest post and giveaway (TWO copies!) I thought "Slayers" would be a great title to feature.

~SQT



Fiction is rife with secret identities. It partially makes sense. If you were Peter Parker you wouldn’t want Spiderman’s enemies knocking you off while you slept, or while you hung out with Mary Jane. I don’t why Superman ever bothered with the Clark Kent identity. It seems to me if you can fly around the world and your chest deflects bullets, you wouldn’t care so much. Maybe he spent time as Clark Kent to keep too many female groupies from throwing themselves at him.



But this isn’t a blog about the peculiarities of Superman. It’s a thoughtful look at why we love secret identities. The teens in Slayers have them. It makes sense. If the dragon lord knew who they were, he would wipe them out. But there’s another reason I used secret identities. In the world, we’re constantly categorized. Right now I can list several categories I fall under. I’m LeRoy and Kathryne’s daughter, I’m my kids’ mother, I’m Guy’s wife, I’m an author, I’m also unfortunately the crazy cat-lady in the neighborhood. I could go on. And on. And on.





(Yes, this is really me, trying unsuccessfully to pose with my cats. It’s clear they would rather eat than pose, which is just one more reason that you see very few supermodel cats.)



All this categorizing is worse for teens. They get put in a social stratum in high school and heaven help them if they try to change. Their position is as firmly cemented as the handprints outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. It’s easy to feel that we will never be anything special, never be noticed, never be anything important. But inside, we all know there’s more to us than the categories we belong to or how others see us. Inside each of us is a seed of greatness and untapped potential. We know it, even if the seed seems dormant. That’s why we connect to the superheroes in stories who walk, hidden among the crowds of average people.



Our powers aren’t flight, or speed, or wall climbing prowess. (Although I do have hopes that someday someone will invent the Batmobile and all those nifty gadgets on the Batbelt. I would totally wear a mask with pointy ears if could have the matching car.)

Still, we do have powers. Sometimes powers that we don’t know about until we’re put to the test. We have the power to overcome adversity, the power to change ourselves, the power to do more than we thought we could, the power to stand up for what we believe. I could go on. And on. And on.



So hidden identities have been and will continue to be written and read about. We love these stories because we know they’re really written about us.



~C.J. Hill







Slayers

Dragons exist. They’re ferocious. And they’re smart: Before they were killed off by slayer-knights, they rendered a select group of eggs dormant, so their offspring would survive. Only a handful of people know about this, let alone believe it – these “Slayers” are descended from the original knights, and are now a diverse group of teens that includes Tori, a smart but spoiled senator’s daughter who didn’t sign up to save the world.



The dragon eggs have fallen into the wrong hands. The Slayers must work together to stop the eggs from hatching. They will fight; they will fall in love. But will they survive?



Just add your information to the form below to enter (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick TWO winners by Wednesday November 2nd. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. This contest is being sponsored by Authors On The Web and C.J. Hill so entries are limited to the U.S and Canada.



Good luck!

**Contest Closed**