Gloria Oliver - Unveiling the Fantastic: Virtual Tourist - Assassin's Creed - Odyssey 8/13/21

Friday, August 13, 2021

Virtual Tourist - Assassin's Creed - Odyssey 8/13/21

Table of Contents

News/Musings	StoryOrigin Swaps
Assassin’s Creed – Odyssey	B&N Sale from Zumaya
Free reads for reviews	Strong Women – Strange Worlds

Greetings!

It’s been hot, hot, and hot lately!

Hope you are keeping cool.

News/Musings

My new exercise regimen had been progressing well until this week. My insides bloated like a balloon Sunday (not sure what set that off!) and while that’s been fixed, it left my muscles/intestines super sore so I’ve had to abstain from playing Ring Fit.

There’s always something! DOH!

Hopefully, I can get back on it on Monday.

The Amazon AMS experiment continues. Results have been mixed, but I am still tweaking it. I also took advantage of Amazon’s new A+ Content, which lets you add blocks to your product page. I did several book mockups for my publishers, so I am hoping they can put those in there on my other titles. If you are curious as to what I am talking about, scroll on down at the Black Jade page. Feel free to let me know what you think. (Or maybe even what you’d like to see there!)

Extra stuff I’ve shoved in here:
1) One book info swaps from StoryOrigin.

2) Two still open opportunities for you to get free books if you leave reviews of them in exchange.

3) The continuing Zumaya Publications B&N ebook sale. (Lasts until 8/31/21). It includes some of my titles!

4) Info on the next Strong Women – Strange Worlds virtual readings!

Scroll on down to get all the deets.

Story Origin Swap

Story Origin Swap

The Deliverer’s Destiny by Sara Jolene

In a world ruled by tyranny, four teens are brought together to embark on a harrowing mission – to find the son of a god.

“Sometimes some must die in order for the rest of us to survive.”

Ever since the condemned rebelled, the world of Desmond has been shrouded in darkness. Having ripped the throne away from the Creator Himself, King Motch keeps a firm-taloned grip on his subjects, aided by a ruthless, gifted being known as the Veiled Lady. Families are torn apart as parents are forced to give up their children to be raised by pitiless trainers who groom the children to become brain-washed warriors. All who fight back are dead. In a strict society built on the blood of the people, hope is a rare term.

Yet it is still had.

Against all odds, four lives are entangled. A timid boy brought from another world, a princess warrior on the run, a young soldier haunted by death and duty, and a slave boy with mysterious gifts – they are brought together to fulfill words spoken long ago: that a Deliverer would come and find the Creator’s son, who, in turn, would save them all.

Thrown into the fight of their lives, the four must work together to bring about a change in a dark and dangerous world. The mission the Deliverer has been given is a necessary one, a foreseen prophecy spoken of long ago.

Therefore, Motch knows they are coming.

And, as we all know, dragons love playing with their prey.

Assassin’s Creed – Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the 3rd Assassin’s Creed game I’ve played. I couldn’t play some of the older ones as they spun too fast or refresh rates were so low they caused motion sickness. But the last three, Black Flag, Origins, and Odyssey have been fine. Yay!

So far, though, my favorite has been Origins. While Odyssey still has awesome graphics, voice acting, etc. they’ve tried to introduce a war component that doesn’t work but also seem to have lost sight of what a ‘hero’ is. It’s possible, they are trying to make the main character not be a true hero until the end, but I won’t know until I get there. (Several missions for townspeople are straight-up assassinations, and she takes their word on the facts rather than verify anything.)

The war aspect comes from the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens. If you want to clear the maps, it will shift which is in favor in an area. But after actually triggering two war events, I no longer took the steps to do the war fights as they are just a clone of the previous one. The terrain stayed the same and you are already in the middle of battle. There didn’t seem to be a point in doing them.

One new twist is that you can be a male or a female character. But some of the dialogue/results didn’t get separated, so it makes for some awkward situations.

But the depictions of Ancient Greece are fantastic!

20210812120007 6595c4b8 me

View from the statue atop Kephallonia. Kassandra has been living here ever since the tragic day she left Sparta.

20210812120010 4f3252ec me

As always, the character has an avian companion. This time it is Ikaros. Here is another view of Kephallonia from his aerial point of view.

20210812120012 bf5a3060 me

This is Kassandra. She works as a mercenary. Eventually, she will leave Kephallonia and start discovering what has happened to her family.

20210812120013 f1ffc401 me

Here’s a closeup of Ikaros. Phoibe is an orphan and Kassandra’s friend.

20210812120014 657daf51 me

Up in the hills of Kephallonia.

20210812120023 c65e78ea me

Aerial view of the coast of Kaphellonia. The annoying message will go away in later pics.

If you want to see more of these, you can find the picture album of the ones I’ve already uploaded here.

August 2021 Barnes and Noble eBook Promotion!

For the month of August 2021, Zumaya will be having a 30% off promotion on already discounted select ebooks over at Barnes & Noble.

Use Promo/Coupon code “BNPZUMAYA08” at checkout for your 30% off already discounted ebook pricing.

**US ONLY**

Below is a list of the ebooks in the promotion.

FindYoutNewFavorite08.2021

First set of the two Books for Review campaigns from StoryOrigin. Click the banner or here to get to the full list of books page. I have two titles in this promotion. All sorts of genres are represented – including fantasy, young adult, crime, and more.

Take some time in the sun and review a historical fiction book

Yep, this one is for historical fiction! Click the banner or here for a full list of books included.

Strong Women – Strange Worlds

The next Strong Women – Strange Worlds virtual readings are set for 8/19/21 at 5 pm EST. Check out the graphic below for the participants. Here’s the pre-registration link. They’ve now added a little time for those who don’t need to rush off to do a Q&A with the participating authors. Nice!

Strong Women - Strange Worlds 8/19/21

Happy Friday! May you have a fabulous weekend.

Gloria

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)