Riptide Publishing Presents – Lisa Henry, Heidi Belleau, And The "King of Dublin" Blog Tour

Hi! We’re Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau, authors of the new post-apocalyptic romance King of Dublin. We’re touring the web talking about Ireland, the post-apocalyptic genre, a behind-the-scenes look at our book, and even a sneak peek or two! And what would a blog tour be without a contest? We’re giving away two ebooks and a souvenir from Ireland to one lucky commenter, so read on!

Thanks so much to The Novel Approach for having us, and to all you readers for following along. And now without further ado, today’s look at King of Dublin!

Hi, I’m Heidi Belleau! Today on the King of Dublin tour, I interview my co-author Lisa Henry to get the inside scoop on our latest novel, out now from Riptide Publishing.

The first book by you that I read was The Island. It was such a tense, twisty thriller that I instantly became a fan–of the book, and of you. A few months later, I was asking you to co-write! What can other fans of The Island look forward to in King of Dublin?

Lisa: Thanks! I guess King of Dublin is an extension of The Island in terms of non-con. Vornis was king of his little island, and made the rules where the outside world couldn’t intervene, and Boru is the king of Dublin in a world where there are no longer any rules. King of Dublin is more explicitly violent, though — Ciaran doesn’t get to escape into his head the way that Lee did in The Island.

Tell me a little about co-writing. I know you and JA Rock have a really awesome, productive co-writing relationship. How does writing with me differ from writing with JA? (I won’t ask you to pick favourites though!)

Lisa: JA and I had no idea what we were doing. No idea. We had a Word doc that we emailed back and forth. And then you came along and showed me instant chat and plot planners and Google Docs, and wow, we could write in the same document at the same time. Everything you showed me I took straight back to JA and pretended I discovered it on my own. So thanks for that. :)

But the main difference is both of us working on the document at the same time. JA and I still prefer to scribble behind each other’s back, mostly working offline and then uploading to the document. You and I tend to only work when we’re both online and can see what the other person is doing. Which is great fun, because sometimes words magically appear on the screen and I get to go, “Oooh! That’s unexpected!”

Let’s talk about King of Dublin. Who was your favourite character to write? Who did you relate to most?

Lisa: Rabbit was actually my favourite character to write, because he was full of optimism and humour and had a few lighter moments. When it comes to relating to the characters, I think I probably related most to Ciaran. In an actual apocalypse I’d hope to be more like Darragh — steadfast and hard-working, but I think I’d be the one crying over the books as well.

King of Dublin takes place in Ireland. Have you ever been there? What landmark from King of Dublin would you most like to visit?

Lisa: I have actually never been to Ireland. Like a lot of Australians, I did a big backpacking trip once. Started in Istanbul and worked my way west. Totally ran out of time and money in London, dammit. But I would love to go to Ireland — mostly to see the library at Trinity, actually. My mother raves about it. But my family is Irish, so does a tradition of storytelling, bullshitting, and drinking count?

You’re such a bubbly, pleasant person to work and associate with. How do you get into the headspace to write the dark material you do?

Lisa: Writing is like cheap therapy for me. My day job can be quite stressful, and nothing relieves that stress like coming home and torturing a character. It works all that frustration right out! For me, it’s the lighter stuff that’s often more difficult to write.

Now for the evil question: without spoiling our readers too much, what was your favourite part of the book to write?

Lisa:Any scene with Boru. The fun thing about Boru was that a scene didn’t have to go from A-Z. It could go absolutely anywhere, and Boru could have absolutely any reaction because he’s insane. Like Ancient Roman emperor level insane. Terrifying characters are always fun to write, but when they don’t have to follow the rules they’re even better.

Contest:

Thanks for following our tour! To celebrate our release, we’re giving away a great pair of prizes! Up for grabs are: a book from BOTH of our backlists (that’s one Lisa Henry title and one Heidi Belleau one!) and a King of Dublin-themed souvenir from the National Irish museum, mailed straight to your door! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way for us to contact you, be it your email, your twitter, or a link to your facebook or goodreads account. Please put your email in the body of the comment, not just in email section of the comment form, because we won’t be able to see it otherwise! Two weeks after King of Dublin’s release, on March 8th, we’ll draw a winner from all eligible comments! Be sure to follow the whole tour, because the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win this awesome prize!

About King of Dublin

Twenty years after a deadly pandemic ravaged the world, Darragh Fearghal Anluan and the people of his village have carved out a hard but simple life in the Irish countryside. But with winter comes sickness, and Darragh must travel to Dublin in search of medicine. What he finds there is a ruined city ruled by a madman, where scavenging is punishable by death . . . or conscription.

Ciaran Daly came to Ireland with aid and optimism, but instead was enslaved by the so-called King of Dublin. After months of abuse from the king and his men, he has no reason to believe this newcomer will be any different. Except Ciaran finds himself increasingly drawn to Darragh, whose brutish looks mask how sweet and gentle he really is.

The tenderness Darragh feels for the king’s treasured pet is treason, but it’s hardly the only betrayal brewing in this rotten kingdom. Rebellions and rival gangs threaten the king’s power, but not nearly as much as Darragh and Ciaran—whose only hope for freedom is the fall of the king.

You can read an excerpt and purchase King of Dublin here.

About the Authors

Lisa Henry lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

You can visit Lisa her website, at Goodreads, or on Facebook or Twitter.

Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, Canada. She now lives in the rugged oil-patch frontier of Northern BC with her husband, an Irish ex-pat whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write.

Her writing reflects everything she loves: diverse casts of characters, a sense of history and place, equal parts witty and filthy dialogue, the occasional mythological twist, and most of all, love—in all its weird and wonderful forms.

When not writing, you might catch her trying to explain British television to her daughter or sipping a drink at her favourite coffee shop.

She also writes queer-flavoured M/F as Heloise Belleau.

Chat with her on Twitter using the handle @HeidiBelleau.
Browse her website at HeidiBelleau.com or HeloiseBelleau.com.
Check out her books on Goodreads.
Follow her Facebook and Tumblr accounts.
Or contact her using good old-fashioned email: heidi.heloise.belleau@gmail.com