Goddess Fish Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway for The Complete Check Your Luck Agency by K.S. Augustin

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Book Tour, hosted by Goddess Fish Promotions, for The Complete Check Your Luck Agency by K.S. Augustin.  Ms. Augustin will be giving away a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter, so please be sure to leave your email address with your comment.  You can follow the rest of her tour here, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.  My review will post tomorrow. 

Me:  You've stated that Science Fiction Romance is your first love when it comes to reading/writing.  Can you share your favorite authors in this genre?  Have you met any of them in person?

K.S.: I have lots of favourite authors in the SFR space, but my top three are Ann Somerville, Cathy Pegau and Pippa Jay. And no, I haven't met any of them in person.

Me:  How many stories do you work on at a time? 

K.S.: I can work on two, as long as they’re both different; say, one's a non-fiction and the other's fiction. If I don't have any ideas for non-fiction, then only one at a time.

Me:  Who has been your biggest writing influence?   Most supportive person when it comes to your writing?

K.S.: My biggest influence was Harry Harrison, author of the Stainless Steel Rat series. My most supportive person would, hands down, have to be my husband, who willingly takes on cooking and kid-wrangling duties so I can get some writing done!

Me:  You've traveled all over the world - are there any places left on your bucket list that you have not had a chance to visit? 

K.S.: Oh man, let me count them! Peru is still high on my list, as is the Yucatan Peninsula. I've got to get down to Antarctica one day. And up north to Iceland. Morocco and Crete are on the list. I'd love to see if there are any remnants of the Mali or Songhay empires in western Africa. Madagascar because...well, why not?

Me: Can you tell us what you are currently working on as a writer?

K.S.: Thanks to the suggestion from one reader, I've actually started outlining a companion cookbook to The Complete Check Your Luck Agency! I love food.

Quick Get to Know You Questions:

1. Favorite color? Grey

2. Favorite beverage? Whisky

3. Favorite Ethnic Food? Well, fish and chips is ethnic for me!

4. Favorite type of movie? Space opera

5. Sandals, boots or heels? As I own a micro-press called Sandal Press, I guess I'd better answer sandals! :)

The Complete Check Your Luck Agency

By K.S. Augustin

Publisher: Sandal Press

Release Date: February 19, 2014

Genre: Paranormal

Length: 658 Pages

ASIN: B00IJZQ106

ISBN: 9780987317483

Buy Links:  Amazon US | Amazon UK | iTunes | ARe | Tomely | B&N

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About the book:

Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.

After the tragic death of her parents, and with nothing left tying her to the United Kingdom, Ursula Formosa returns to her homeland and a job with the eccentrically-named Singapore firm, “The Check Your Luck Agency”.

What begins as an attempt to stave off boredom turns into a new way of life as the scales drop from Ursula’s eyes and she tentatively enters a realm that contains vengeful ghosts, toyol, demons, pontianak and curses, not to mention old-fashioned fraud and larceny. As she befriends bomohs, mediums and a young woman already centuries old, Ursula’s ideas of friendship expand into a fresh view of the world that surrounds her.

But she isn’t going to be left to ease into things. A criminal mastermind, who is also a powerful sorcerer, is gathering mythical creatures to help him possess every living soul in Singapore, and he isn’t about to let the members of The Check Your Luck Agency stand in his way!

EXCERPT

The visit of Deepak’s parents had been four months ago. Deepak hadn’t been sacked. His parents had not returned. True to Asian tradition, Fiona didn’t take the time to have a conference with the staff for suggestions on what to do about the parental problem. As head of the agency, she firmly believed that it was her decision, and hers alone, what happened to the youngest member of our small team. In other words, she ran the company like her personal fiefdom and I could either get used to it or get out. I got used to it.

If it hadn’t been for Deepak himself, I wouldn’t have known anything about how the situation got resolved. He had been chewed out by Fiona of course the moment he showed his youthful brown face in the office the following morning. Eavesdropping on this conversation was less amusing and more painful than the one from the day before. I heard Fiona’s low growling tones and Deepak’s higher pleading voice. Then there was silence and Deepak walked out of the office with a relieved smile on his face.

It took me another month before he finally disclosed what had happened.

“I got a pay rise,” he told me, a white grin flashing on his face. “Now I earn more than my two older sisters.”

“That’s great,” I said. “But what about your parents? Aren’t they keen on you getting a different job?”

“No,” he said with a wave. “They appreciate the fact that I’m out-earning Lakshmi and Shilpa. They’re telling people I go outstation a lot and that I’m training to be a marine engineer. Actually, that was Fiona’s idea.”

And Deepak’s parents agreed to it? Judging by how they had parted, I thought they would have preferred to see my boss burn at the stake rather than take a single word of advice from her. “And what does a marine engineer do?” I asked.

Deepak laughed. “That’s the beauty of it. Nobody knows!”

And the conflict, in very Asian style, was solved.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

KS "Kaz" Augustin loves writing human stories, whether set on Earth or out among the stars. Malaysian-born, she has travelled a goodly portion of the world and lived to tell the tale! Her urban fantasy release, The Complete Check Your Luck Agency, consists of five books, exploring the myths and legends of the melting-pot that is south-east Asia. Come for the food, stay for the monsters! (Ghosts included at no extra charge.)

As if all that's not enough, she's also Chief Editor of the free online quarterly magazine, Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly. http://www.scifiromancequarterly.org/

Kaz's website is at http://www.KSAugustin.com and a list of her books can also be found at http://www.SandalPressOnline.com 

She occasionally tweets as @SandalPress

Don't forget that Ms. Augustine will be giving away a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter, so please be sure to leave your email address with your comment.  You can follow the rest of her tour here, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.