Amidst the boredom, Ravai asks, “Why does no one talk about villains from the past?”
Welcome to the March 31st stop on the blog tour for Malketh and the Undead by Dave Maruszewski with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
Character Creation
A surprising amount of time, I start off with someone that I know to create characters. Then, I will expand their personality and/or remove other aspects. Other times, I will see what one of the themes of my books produces. If I am going in a certain direction in terms of plot, I’ll need a character to produce that direction or have some sort of effect to produce the theme.
I used one of my son’s friends as the basis for Ravai. As the book expanded, I started to make him a conglomerate of many of his friends. Then, I pared away less interesting parts of their personalities and the things that might feel contradictory.
In my last book, the Dark Beast character was created in order to feed the theme. I wanted portray a person in conflict with himself (without knowing it.) I also wanted to show the physical and mental changes occur to a person when they can’t break free from their anger and passion. The Dark Beast saw the world with keenness, but that is also distorted. So, he couldn’t quite get to the right conclusions.
In my new book, I was almost literal in one case. The book needed a teacher used as an authority figure. I ended up taking an instructor that I used to work with at a former college. I ended up thinking, what would they do or say in this situation? I suppose that it was the easy way out, but it produced what I thought was a good result.
About the Book
Malketh and the Undead
Raven, Romda and Ravai Volume Two
by Dave Maruszewski
Publishing 18 April 2023
BookBaby
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Page Count: 100
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Raven, Romda and Ravai are settling into their new knightly duties well. With the Dark Beast defeated, their normal tasks almost seem mundane.
Amidst the boredom, Ravai asks, “Why does no one talk about villains from the past?”
Romda reasons, “What would be the point?”
There is a point. Even though villains may have been defeated in the past, they may still be around, waiting in the background ready to resurface once again.
Malketh has returned to the kingdom, but something is different about him this time. He is back with an entire army … an entire army of undead soldiers!
“Whether you want to read this aloud to your little one or let them explore this magical world on their own, parents can rest assured that this second installment in the Raven, Romda, and Ravai series will be a playful, whimsical addition to their bookshelves.” –The Book Review Directory
“… the squires are appealing characters, as is their comical banter.” – Blue Ink Review
A great story for the fantasy loving youth, this adventure will appeal to those who like action and humor in an easy reading environment.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
Excerpt
Romda says, “Wait! Don’t do it!”
“Don’t do what?” Malketh muses. “Destroy you like your kings tried to destroy me?” Malketh stops for a second, then talks a little lower, mostly to himself. “You know, you think that the king would send more than three saplings to stop me. I’m a little offended.”
“They didn’t try to destroy you,” Romda interrupts his train of thought. “You brought the dead back without permission, even raising the king’s grandmother. So, they had to stop you.”
Malketh does not believe what he is hearing. “All that I wanted was to be the best and to please our king. For that I am punished? For that I am banished?”
Romda does not let his words faze her. “I think you tried to please yourself first.”
“Bah,” he retorts.
Romda continues, “How did you know what the king wanted? Did you ask him? Or, was it just a way for you to satisfy your own desires?”
These words enrage Malketh, “You are like the rest. You only seek to confine me, to put me in my place. Well, here is your place!”
Before Romda can speak again, Malketh goes into action. With his staff, Malketh makes a motion and calls down lightning upon Ravai and Raven. The smoke clears and he looks around. Everyone is totally unhurt. Romda has her hand extended, holding up the Ring of Reversal.
Malketh brims with anger and says, “You think that ring will stop all my lightning. Let me show you what true power is!” He takes up his staff again and the winds swirl, clouds go around in circles and circles, coalescing to a very bright culmination of power. A large shaft of energy comes tunneling down.
About the Author
Dave Maruszewski is blessed with a great family. He was originally inspired to write stories by his wife and son.
He strives to develop stories with sound moral values that will be enlightening as well as entertaining to youths and adults. The Raven, Romda and Ravai books are targeted especially for children who shy away from reading. His stories are created from an accumulation of experience from careers/backgrounds as a physicist, engineer, teacher, artist, video game designer and software developer.
In between writing stories and running his own company, Digital Tumult (DigitalTumult.com), Dave enjoys video games, watching internet videos and hanging out with his family.
Website | Facebook | NetGalley | Amazon | Goodreads
Giveaway Alert!
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon or B&N gift card.
a Rafflecopter giveaway| Mar 27 | Books in the Hall | Mar 27 | The Faerie Review |
| Mar 28 | Read Your Writes Book Reviews | Mar 29 | Hope. Dreams. Life… Dream |
| Mar 29 | Momma Says To Read or Not to Read | Mar 30 | The Avid Reader |
| Mar 31 | Sybrina’s Book Blog | Apr 3 | Westveil Publishing |
| Apr 3 | It’s Raining Books | Apr 4 | Write. Read. Live. |
| Apr 4 | Sandra’s Book Club | Apr 5 | Fabulous and Brunette |
| Apr 6 | FUONLYKNEW | Apr 6 | Literary Gold |
| Apr 7 | DSDehel | Apr 10 | All the Ups and Downs |
| Apr 10 | The Pen and Muse Book Reviews | Apr 11 | Long and Short Reviews |
| Apr 12 | Kit ‘n Kabookle | Apr 12 | fundinmental |
| Apr 13 | Country Mamas With Kids | Apr 14 | Jazzy Book Reviews |
| Apr 14 | The Obsessed Reader | Apr 17 | Author C.A.Milson |
| Apr 18 | Boys’ Mom Reads! | Apr 18 | Paws.Read.Repeat |
| Apr 19 | Welcome to My World of Dreams | Apr 20 | InkSpired Musings On All Things Literary |
| Apr 20 | Straight From the Library | Apr 21 | Gina Rae Mitchell |
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Happy Monday! Thank you for sharing your guest post, bio and book details, I appreciated you sharing your process for character development and I love the cover art, synopsis and excerpt. Was there any aspect of this book and series that required research on your part?
Happy Monday to you, too! I do research but usually to something that isn’t necessarily integral to the plot, oddly enough. I think I spent a long time reading the differences between a mage and a wizard. To be honest, it’s a pretty simple distinction, but I kept reading hoping to find more. I also will try to dig up old names that aren’t used much anymore. That’s fun 🙂
Thank you for responding to my query, i worry that I would get lost in the minutiae of interesting things with the type of research that you mentioned, lol
Ha! Yes, it is a challenge because it can be as fun as writing sometimes!
Thanks for hosting!
Dave Maruszewski is a new author to me, but I want to thank this blog for the introduction. I look forward to reading this book.
Thank you!!!!
Thank you for having my book today!