Blog tour: Love's Pale Road by Martin Gibbs
Title: Love’s Pale Road
Author: Martin Gibbs
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Fantasy/Romance (A Dark Love
Story)
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: July 27 2014
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook &
Print
Tag Line: Love is a pale road, for
Death waits at the end.
Blurb/Synopsis:
Short Blurb
Is love blind, or a beast of
convenience?
Bailey, a simple farmer, has been
tasked by a dead man to murder a dangerous warlock. While he follows
the guidance of this otherworldly companion, Bailey finds himself
alone in a scary new world.
Only a few days into the journey, he
falls in love with a stranger, which upsets the best-laid plans of
the deceased. And Abigail appears to have dark plans of her own: How
soon will she turn the tables upon the seemingly-innocent farm boy?
The dead man should have known that
trusting the living would be a losing proposition.
Love is a pale road, for Death waits at
the end.
Long Blurb
Beware the one who will betray you; for
you have given them your heart.
Love is often a beast of convenience:
two strangers meeting and connecting on some chemical and
psychological level; sharing laughs and tears, and maybe bodily
fluids.
But love can be real, when it wants to
be. There are honest moments in the days we spend with our lover,
there are days of sunshine and laugher, and nights of pleasure.
When it wants to be real. Love has its
own designs, as poor Bailey finds out: Tasked by a dead man to
perform a murderous act, he finds himself in love with a stranger. He
was a simple-minded farmer, tending his turnips and his pumpkins,
when the outside world burst in, sending everything he held dear to
the far winds.
And so the poor chap is alone and
scared when Abigail bares her pretty face. Although her family lies
dead—somewhere on the path behind her—Bailey trips headfirst into
the wants of his own heart, takes her hand, and carries her along a
new road.
For Bailey, Love is more than a
chemical reaction: It is a living thing, a living road… a pale
road. A pale, murky, dangerous road.
For Death waits at the end.
Book
Links
Author
Information
Martin Gibbs lives in the snow-covered
paradise of Minnesota, where he writes novels, short stories, and
poetry. By day he is an IT professional, though his passion for
writing has led him down an intricate network of exciting roads.
Gibbs is an avid reader. He favors the
classics: Dumas, Dickens, Tolstoy, Proust, Lovecraft; as well as
Stephen King, Robert Jordan, George RR Martin.
He enjoys cross-country skiing, biking,
and burning béarnaise sauce. He has two very active boys who share
his wild imagination, and a wonderful wife who supports all the
craziness.
Author
Links
Blog
Accessible Chaos
Excerpt
“Safe? Safe? In this
tunnel of Hell? Yeah, Bailey, I really don’t think so.” But she
didn’t look back again. She looked at me, then ahead.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I’m going back. To
Hell with whatever else is back there; I’ll take my chances.” She
didn’t move.
No, she couldn’t leave. “Abby, I
will keep you safe.”
Let her go Bailey. Let her go back.
This is too dangerous for her.
“I can’t let her go! I like her,
Lyn. She’s the only girl who has ever been nice to me.”
It’s a dangerous—
“Stop it!” she hissed. “Both of
you. Whatever he’s saying, I can see on your face, Bailey. I—I’m
very sorry. I had thought maybe this would be some sort of adventure,
and I could forget…” she wiped something from her eye. “That we
would go together, keep each other safe, and warm, and you’d get to
help Lyn save his son.”
“We can still do that.”
“I’m afraid that won’t work out,
Bailey. Demonic bats? Warlocks? The Great Temple itself under attack?
My Gods Bailey, do you even realize how mixed-up all of this is?
Leave the heavy work to those who can do it! Not a young farmer!”
She said a lot more, but I don’t
remember all of it. But I think she was talking about duty. And who
should do the duty. Fa said that you must always put others first and
take care of them. I told her that. That was why Fa was going to the
Great Temple.
“Yeah, but your fa left you in
charge, didn’t he? He may be brave, the bravest man in the whole
world, Bailey, but—”
“He is,” I said. She was starting
to make me angry.
“Fine, maybe he is. Great. Then
let him do this! I’m going back, so you can come
back too.”
“No. Never.”
“What?”
She didn’t understand. Nobody did. Fa
said that it was always their own fault if they did not understand.
How could I make her understand? Lyn wanted her to go back, too; he
didn’t like her—why?—and I had to tell her to keep going.
“Gods, Bailey.” She tugged at her
hair. “Gods! I just—” Abby breathed loudly out her
nose. Like Ugly Nose. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to die,
Bailey. I don’t. Want. To. Die!”
“You will not die with me.”
For the love of—
“You cannot die with me. I won’t
let it happen.”
She smiled then, and I thought for sure
she would stay. Her warm hand touched my face and I smiled back. “So
sweet,” she said, still smiling, but her voice did not sound sweet.
“So sweet, delusional, and crazy. Gods love ya Bailey… see you
later.”
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