{The IMMORTAL HOPE Book Tour continues today at My Bookish Ways, and STRIPPED is live at Kacey's Kreations.}

Good morning everyone! If any of you know me, or have been following the blog tours, you've learned I have a very, very special spot in my heart for dragons. Make that an addiction to dragons. Which means, the fantasy genre pulls me in like quicksand.

So when I saw the blurb for FALLENWOOD, I knew we had to have Leslei Soule on the blog! And I bet you don't have to wonder too much to guess what I asked her to talk about.

Yup. Dragons. Mmm -- happy sigh.

She delivered on the inquiry, and today I'm excited to be able to share her debut fantasy novel with you all.

FALLENWOOD Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Decadant Publishing Release Date: March 2012 Pages: 194 Price: 4.99 Fallenwood—a land where magic is the life force, dragons are sages, and wizards good and evil battle for supremacy. When 23-year-old Ash is thrust into the middle of Fallenwood’s power struggles, she is also forced to face her own inner battles. Life on Earth was hard enough on Ash, who is locked in grief for her stepfather. Now, the fate of Fallenwood rests on her shoulders. She must destroy the Great Crystal—the catalyst for all the land’s magic. As the kingdoms prepare for war, Ash must look inside to find the power to save the world, and herself. BUY NOW

Leslie, please tell us about these dragons!

The Dragons of Fallenwood

Hey there, everyone! This is Leslie D. Soule, and I’m here to talk about my novel Fallenwood, and about the dragons of Fallenwood in particular. I’m writing Fallenwood as a small series. In Book 1, I’ve introduced two types of dragons – the Great Dragon, Illeydra, prophet of that mystical force known as The Eternal that is Fallenwood’s divine power, and the Dragons of the Dawn. I guess these could both be categorized as “good dragons” – the kind that do things like usher in the new day and tell people about their destinies. I haven’t had these dragons destroy things or eat people or any of the things that other, ruder sorts might do. As far as dragons go, they’re fairly well-behaved.

My sequel that I’m currently writing will introduce the other sort of dragons – the “bad dragons” – the ones that go around destroying cities and eating people and causing havoc and burping loudly and such. If Fallenwood was The Wizard of Oz, Illeydra might be the Good Witch and the Crystal Dragons (I’m not giving away anything else until the appointed time!) would be the flying monkeys that belong to the Wicked Witch of the West.

With Fallenwood, I’ve re-introduced the myth of dragon teeth being planted and becoming soldiers. This is an odd, and yet very interesting myth. When I was in high school, I got to read Norse myths like Sigurd the Volsung, in which he slays a dragon, eats the heart and can hear the language of birds. These myths seem to make very little sense – why would eating a dragon’s heart give you the gift of understanding birds and not….dragons? Why would planting dragon teeth give you people and not….baby dragons? In the future, I may need to play with these ideas further. I love the idea of cute little baby dragons clawing their way out of the soil and wanting to be loved and played with. What an adorable thought.

So where was I? Ah, yes – the dragons of Fallenwood. Well, dragons are a classic ingredient of fantasy mythology and I wanted to add my own spin to them. Ordinary dragons are all well and good, but I like dragons that have jobs, like ushering in the new day and giving advice like sages. So I guess that’s what makes mine unique – I can’t even let my dragons lounge around and be slacker types. Sheesh!

Well, thanks for having me here today and listening to my ramblings. If you’d like to enter to win a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble, please leave a comment with your name and e-mail address.

Before we get to the contest in more detail, let's take a look at an excerpt from FALLENWOOD.

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EXCERPT
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The dragon’s eyes glowed, for a flickering moment, with white light.

“Ash,” the dragon continued, “Welcome to Terra Illumina…or as it is more commonly known, Fallenwood.” Then a fierce roaring laugh erupted from the stone, as though the dragon thought the new name a joke. “A dark, difficult, dangerous path lies before you, Ash Kensington.”

Ash’s heart grew heavy. In truth, she knew that she was destined to some terrible, dark fate. For so long, her life was filled with sadness and doubt, and one horrible thing after another. What else can I hope for?

“But Ash, you must not lose hope. Our world needs you..."

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YOU HAVE JUST READ AN EXCERPT FROM FALLENWOOD
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A Bit More About Leslie

Leslie Soule lives in Sacramento, California. Fallenwood is her first fantasy novel. She has received her B.A. in English from Sacramento State University and is currently working on her Master’s degree in English at National University.

Website: http://www.blogger.com/www.lesliesoule.com

Leslie will be giving away a $25 Barnes and Noble GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Enter a comment below and automatically be entered to win. Follow the tour, comment at each stop -- the more times you play the more chances you have to win!

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

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