BEACON by Angela Brown

Pick Your Status

Thanks for having me Cathrina J If it’s okay, I’d like to do something a little different. This means we’ll need visitors to get ready to comment below.

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Beacon, my YA urban fantasy dystopian, is a story of self-discovery for the main character, Macie Breen. She didn’t get to choose being a registered citizen of The Colony. And because her parents disappeared when she was so young, she didn’t get to choose to be a ward of The Colony either. Now that she’s close to graduating high school, she’s hoping, wishing, dreaming of revoking her registered status to become an unregistered. But… would you? If you could choose your citizen status in The Colony, what would it be? Here are a few pros and cons of each status.

Registered:

- Shelter is provided, a home to fit single, family or housing for wards without guardians.

- Must give blood every three months once you qualify (girls upon breaking first blood and boys by age thirteen).

- Clothing is provided.

- Clothing is restricted by Colony regulations. The standard wear for outlying townships includes cargo pants, thermal shirts and combat style boots.

- You must maintain your CCT, a Colony Communications Tag that is suctioned to your ear.

- Rules are provided for your protection and must be followed, especially the sunset curfew. No one outside after the sun goes down, except officers on patrol.

Unregistered:

 - You must find or build your own shelter. You can use materials left over by The Colony revamp and citizen exodus to the capital city of Bliss.

 - Any plumbing or electrical use must be pre-purchased or bartered via services to the local township. Any uses provided are secondary to registered citizens and occasional lack of access is expected.

- You can choose to wear what you want to wear.

 - You are not required to provide a blood offering every three months.

- The Colony rules do not apply while within designated unregistered areas, unless otherwise noted.

 - You will not have a CCT.

The one thing both have in common is that everyone has a duty, big or small, to work to sustain the welfare of where they live.

Okay, so which would you choose?

Remember, this isn’t about right or wrong answers or either status being better than the other. This is just a fun activity for all of us to enjoy.

For me, I’m stuck on the fence. If this had been asked of me when I was much younger, I probably would have said I’d go unregistered. The main reason is that I’m so terrible with giving blood. Not that I don’t want to, but I had a few bad experiences when doing so lol! But lately, I’ve been spoiled by many of the conveniences in life so being registered seems attractive. And I’m not afraid of working to earn my keep, no matter which status I go with, although if I’m forced to kill a cute animal so I can eat meat, I may end up a vegan lol!

 Beacon

by Angela Brown

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BLURB:

Tsunamis reduced the USA into a shell of itself, called The Fold. Surviving humans and vampires joined forces to form The Colony, where registered citizens do as they're told.

They donate blood quarterly and dream of being chosen as Attendees for the Jubilee celebrations, that is, everyone except Macie Breen. With high school graduation near, she’s anxious to ditch the rules in hopes of starting a new life with Thane, an unregistered and also her best friend. 

Her hopes fizzle when Macie is selected as an Attendee, forever registered. Any future with Thane…impossible. Being chosen comes with another unexpected price. 

Truths about The Colony blaze into ashes and lies when she discovers the vampires haven't kept their part of the bargain. Worst still, Macie’s life unravels as her stint in the city of Bliss forces her to face daunting truths about who, and what, she really is.

Excerpt:

The corner of Thane’s lips curved in his infamous smirk. “I’m here to protect you from you, silly.”

The elevator dinged our arrival to our floor. Thankfully, floors for the Attendees were guarded by other Surreption agents, to prevent citizens from accessing them by surprise––and to keep out the expected rebel against Bliss.

I fell silent, thinking about Thane’s answer. Any other day, it would have been a joke. We’d ha, ha, ha, laugh it off as Thane being the smartass he was. I’d punch him in the shoulder. He’d feign pain and we’d move on. But now, what if he was right? Not just keeping me from taking my anger out on some pink-haired guy making fun of me. But from whomever—or whatever—I really am. What if it was the world that needed protection from me?

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Born and raised in Little Rock, AR, Angela now calls Central Texas home. She's a lover of Wild Cherry Pepsi and chocolate/chocolate covered delicious-ness. Steampunk, fantasy and paranormal to contemporary - mostly young adult - fill her growing library of books. Mother to a rambunctious darling girl aptly nicknamed Chipmunk, life stays busy. Her favorite quote keeps her moving: "You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6476148.Angela_Brown

Angela Brown in the Pursuit of Publishness blog: http://publishness.blogspot.com/

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Angela-Brown/e/B009JJEX60

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaLBrownWrites

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALBrownwrites

Buy Links:

Evernight:  http://www.evernightteen.com/beacon-by-angela-brown/

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Beacon-Ripped-Ties-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00PXHHUX0

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