Welcome to Realm Explorers!  In this weekly series, we visit a variety of unique worlds created by talented science fiction and fantasy authors.  Enjoy your travels!  And don’t forget to read to the bottom of the post to find out more about each author and see how to purchase the featured book.  
(This one is temporarily on sale.  Get it at 99 cents for three days only!)

Author’s name: C.E. Wilson

Title of book and/or series: To Nowhere/Standalone
Brief summary of the story:
From the moment Lyris is treated to coffee by a beautiful stranger, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever. In her enthusiasm to start at a new school with a new boyfriend, Lyris is almost able to look past his oddities. Almost. The way he eyes up her striking red hair. The way he loves that she’s seventeen. “The perfect age.” And the way he’s gone from all but begging to show her a specific room in a specific house to making her swear never to even think about it again.

When Lyris doesn’t take his strange warnings seriously, she finds that nothing could have prepared her for what lay behind that door.

Suddenly, Lyris finds herself in a world no one would believe. A world where she’s only a few inches tall and giants aren’t creatures from fairy tales. Where humans are no longer the dominant race, but pets auctioned off to the highest bidder. Lyris understands the true danger of such a place, but there seems to be one person on her side. Her kind and surprised captor. And while Brindt appears to be sweet and trustworthy, he also straddles the line between seeing her as an equal and a cute animal.

Lyris has to get home… before the one person she can turn to becomes the one person who can’t let her go.

Brief description of the world or location you created for this story:
The world that Lyris finds herself in is a place that I don’t think too many humans would want to visit. It’s very similar to our own world in many respects, but it has one pretty large difference (pun intended!) – it is a land where humans are no longer the dominant race, and rather are pets kept by sixty-foot giants. Very Brobingnagian. 😉 Only in this world, unlike Jonathan Swift’s, pet humans are pretty commonplace thanks to other humans called Targeters. These are the ones who pick and choose certain humans and sneak them through the portals to bring them back into the world of giants.
If we were to visit To Nowhere as tourists, what would you recommend that we see or do there? I would strongly recommend not visiting if you enjoy having your independence or being seen as a person. Giants in this world are always looking for a cute new pet and if you’re not careful, you may end up thrown in a cage and played with by giant children… just like your pet hamster as a kid. If you do find yourself there, be sure to try the bluemelon.
What dangers should we avoid in To Nowhere? I would avoid the giants if at all possible. Not that you could. Once you’re trapped in this world, odds are the best you can hope for is a kind owner who might see you as an entertaining pet. Good luck.
Is there a distinct or unusual type of food or meal that we might be served in To Nowhere? There are a lot of blue foods in this world. Bluemelon and starfruit especially. Plus, humans might find it odd that the giants in this world do not eat meat. In fact, they find it disgusting and primitive that humans do.
What types of plants, animals, or sentient races might we encounter in To Nowhere that we don’t see on Earth?  Haha, I’m pretty sure people don’t see sixty foot giants roaming around on Earth. Ahh! But that would be so cool if we could!
Is there any advanced or unusual technology in To Nowhere?  If you haven’t described it already, please give some examples. Collars for pet humans play a very special role in this world. By wearing a collar, humans are able to actually communicate with giants, if the giant is interested that is.  The issue is that they’re expensive and it’s easier for giants to treat humans as pets if they aren’t able to understand what these cute little living dolls are actually saying, so few humans are allowed the privilege of wearing one. They are a neat little device used to manipulate the throat muscles so when a human speaks a sentence, a giant can clearly understand them through an earpiece. But like I said, few humans are allowed such an honor as to speak with their giant owner.
Are there any other unique cultural practices that we should be aware of if we visit To Nowhere? Redheads are considered the most valuable type of human. Red hair is extremely rare among giants in To Nowhere, so any redheads who come along are much sought after by wealthy giants. There used to be interest in brightly colored haired humans, but once they found out the color was fake, they lost interest.
What, if any, “hot-button” or controversial topics do you touch on in your book? It’s not so much a controversial topic – most people would agree that slavery or ownership of one sentient being by another is wrong.  What is dealt with here is more the idea of dehumanization – if you are able to see another creature as being less than human it opens the door for a lot of things that are normally considered monstrous. In this book, since human beings are so much smaller than the giants and are rarely able to communicate with their captors, it makes sense for the giants to keep humans as pets. Crazy huh? And kind of scary. I touch on this issue a lot in my books including my older book “The Promise” and my upcoming release “The Boy with Words.” I love to talk about overcoming differences in a world where some crazy physical or social factor creates a schism. Usually, I tackle size, but there’s nothing I love more than when two characters overcome their differences to trust and care for one another.
Author Autobiography:  
C.E. Wilson is currently living in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband, daughter, two dogs and two cats. She loves horror movies and shoujo manga. She is at peace when it rains and enjoys the fall because of football and all things pumpkin. Her favorite subject to write about is size difference, but enjoys trying her hand at all things fantastical.
Where, and in what formats, can we purchase your book?  
Amazon Kindle ebook (on sale for just 99 cents from September 6-8):  http://www.amazon.com/To-Nowhere-C-E-Wilson-ebook/dp/B010WC51UY/ref=pd_sim_351_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0TSNEVE1VY903W2TKXEB
Smashwords ebook Formats:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/563861
Paperbacks coming Fall 2015!!!!!!!!!
Where can readers connect with you online?
Writing on the side: http://cewilson5.deviantart.com/
Reading on the side: http://www.goodreads.com/CEWilson
And general shenanigans: http://www.facebook.com/people/Ce-Wilson/100003313330557
                                          http://twitter.com/cewilson1

I hope you all enjoyed the trip to To Nowhere.  Questions about the world or the book?  Ask them in the comments and the author will get back to you!  

Click here to read other posts in the Realm Explorers series.

Please join us again next Monday for a trip to another world, in Realm Explorers Part LXIV!
-Annie Douglass Lima
On Tour with Prism Book Tours.
Sweet Mountain Rancher (Those Marshall Boys, #2)Sweet Mountain Rancher
(Those Marshal Boys, #2)
by Loree Lough
Adult Contemporary Romance

Paperback & ebook, 385 pages (large print)
September 1st 2015 by Harlequin Heartwarming

HE CAN SAY NO TO EVERYONE BUT HER…

Nate Marshall used to be a yes-man… until being so agreeable cost him dearly. But Eden Quinn has a way of getting him to reconsider his “just say no” policy. Which is how a bunch of troubled teens end up at his ranch for the weekend. Nate can’t help but be attracted to the woman who keeps them in line.

This cowboy knows Eden’s no damsel in distress, yet hers isn’t a one-woman job. If she must do everything on her own, how can he help her… let alone get her to fall for him?

The First Book in the Series

Once a Marine

Yes, it’s true: Once upon a time, best-selling author Loree Lough (literally) sang for her supper, performing before packed audiences throughout the U.S. Now and then, she blows the dust from her 6-string to croon a tune or two for the “grandorables,” but mostly, she just writes. (And writes.) Over the years, her stories have earned nearly 100 industry and “Readers’ Choice” awards, 7 movie options, and over 80 4- and 5-star reviews.

There are more than 5,000,000 (yes, that’s FIVE MILLION) copies of Loree’s books in circulation, and in September of 2015, she’ll have 108 books (fiction and non-fiction for kids and adults) 72 short stories, 2,500+ articles in print. To date, she has received 50,000+ letters from fans (a carton of books goes to Meredith P. in Joliet, IL — which she has elected to donate to her local library –for writing the 50,000th letter)!

Loree loves sharing learned-the-hard-way lessons about the craft and the industry, and her comedic approach makes her a favorite (and frequent) guest of writers’ organizations, book clubs, private and government institutions, college and high school writing programs both here and abroad.

A writer who believes in “giving back,” Loree dedicates a portion of her income to Soldiers’ Angels, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, and other worthwhile organizations.

She splits her time between her home in the Baltimore suburbs and a cabin in the Allegheny Mountains, and shares both with her real-life hero Larry, who rarely complains, even when she adds yet another item to her vast collection of lighthouses, wind chimes, and “wolf stuff.”

Have you ever wondered how freelance writers make a living? By writing to-the-point articles, turning them in on time…and learning how to resell what they’ve submitted, that’s how. Below, a peek at the method I used to rack up more than 2,500 articles under my byline:
How to Sell and Resell (by Loree Lough)
Be informed…
  1. …by learning as much about the publications you’ll contact before you query them.
  2. …by reading masthead so you’re sure to direct your query to the appropriate editor. (NOTE: Don’t count on Writer’s Market!)
  3. …to make sure you know who reads the publications.
  4. …to make sure the publications’ audiences are different.
Be specific…
  1. …and never write a query that’s longer than one page.
  2. …by providing a clear overview of what you’ll write about.
  3. …and let the editor know you understand the publication’s rules by mentioning the proposed article length.
  4. …and name the department(s) your article best fits.
Be persuasive…
  1. …by including writing samples and/or credentials that highlight your skills and the reason you’re qualified to write the proposed article.
  2. …by providing a short list of other publications where your work has appeared.
  3. …by listing potential sources you’ll interview.
Be prompt…
  1. …when an editor shows interest in your article, reply as quickly as possible.
  2. …nail down the deadline, amount you’ll be paid, and approximate print date.
  3. …submit the article on time with a cover letter (see below).
Sample Query…
Date
Your Name
Home address
Phone/cell
email
Publication Name
Editor’s name
Publication Address
Re: Proposed article “Vet Turns Dreams into Reality”
Dear Editor’s Name (Do not precede with Mr./Ms.)
Young Blaize McCrandall’s life changed forever one summer day, when he found a barely-alive rabbit on the side of the road. Gently swaddling the wounded creature in his t-shirt, Blaize carried it home, where his dad explained why the animal would have been better off right where Blaize had found it. The teary-eyed eight year old convinced his dad to let him at least try to save it. Convinced the local vet to donate tiny splints and antibiotics…and how-to-use them advice, too. And after a month of tedious, round-the-clock care that cost Blaize baseball games, movies with his pals, and field trips to the zoo, the time came to turn Whiskers loose. “Would you believe,” he recalls with a grin, “the ungrateful thing bit me before he hopped away, never to be seen again?”
I’d like to propose a 1,000 word story for your “Right Here In Town” about how Blaize McCrandall—son of a disabled Vietnam vet and an alcoholic Avon lady—turned his dream of becoming a veterinarian into reality….
By dint of drive and determination, Blaize worked construction, waited tables, dog-sat, and performed janitorial duties (and more) to earn his degree, then put hard-earned skill to use, building the clinic where he still practices veterinary medicine.

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9/6 – Grand Finale

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