Storytellers On Tour Presents: Rise of One by Dixon Reuel

Today marks the official kickoff of the Rise of One Book Tour presented by Storytellers On Tour, and throughout the week we’ve got a great lineup helping us feature Dixon Reuel’s Paranormal Post-Apocalyptic/Occult Fantasy novel! We’ve had vampires, and we’ve had zombies, but never both! Her Blood Brute series is one that I’m very much looking forward to learning more about. I can’t wait to hear what our hosts have to say in the coming days, so be sure to keep an eye out for some incredible content.

Dixon was kind enough to stop by to have a chat about how Rise of One came into fruition, how humans have stripes, and what lies ahead. So, keep scrolling for the tour schedule, more info about the book, the interview, and the giveaway to snag yourself a copy!

The Tour

We’ve enlisted a group of wonderful and talented bloggers and Bookstagrammers to help us feature Rise of One. This is what we have going on, so make sure to check out each and every one throughout the week for some brilliant content, including reviews and more.

JANUARY 31ST – THE WELCOMING
Whispers & Wonder
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FEBRUARY 1ST
Sadie’s Spotlight
Grim Reader Online (IG: @grimreaderx)
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FEBRUARY 2ND
Off the TBR
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FEBRUARY 3RD
Beneath A Thousand Skies
@alazyeggreviews
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FEBRUARY 4TH
booksnbites
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FEBRUARY 5TH
Her Scribbled Thoughts (IG: @herscribbledreviews)
@theenchantedshelf
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FEBRUARY 6TH – THE ENCORE
Queen’s Book Asylum

For more about this tour visit Storytellers On Tour.

AVAILABLE AT

The Blurb

Ready to Meet Your Next Favorite Dark Fantasy, Horror Series? Then Keep Reading!

As zombies roamed, the earth went quiet. It is as if every critter knew that the only way to stay safe was to lay silent.

Rise and his coven were running out of fresh blood to feed on. With only one human – albeit pampered beyond belief – at their disposal, there wasn’t enough food to go around. He must find other human survivors if they want to avoid succumbing to the blackness of oblivion.

When the human survivors he rescued were infiltrated by Warwolves, an ancient order of vampire hunters, Rise soon realizes the danger he brought upon his kind. With the full intent to survive, Rise must purge all threats to his vampire race.

The world, although decimated, is ripe for rule. If he wished to set history on a new path, he must triumph — starting with the rise of one individual.

Will Rise triumph?

Will he fall victim to the brain-dead that abound?

Or will the Warwolves succeed in finally ridding the earth of his kind?

Find out for yourself in “Rise of One”.

“Rise of One” is the first installment of the Blood Brute Series by Irish award-winning and best-selling writer Dixon Reuel.

In this gripping page-turner, readers will:

• Come alive as every twist and turn take you on a brand new path towards a damned world filled with famished vampires and ruthless zombies
• Yearn for more as Rise and his coven fight for the survival of their kind — whatever it takes
• And so much more!

Meet the Author

Irish award-winning poet, Eve Power writes as Dixon Reuel and is the author of the Post-Apocalyptic Paranormal series, Blood Brute.

Dixon lives in Dublin, Ireland and holds a First in History & Early Irish Studies and another First in Creative Writing. She is a lifelong nerd and devoted hobbyist of cosplay, video games, and other surely worthwhile pursuits.Dixon cannot stand monkeys or phone calls, and to receive a phone call from King Kong would definitely be her greatest fear.

WEBSITE: www.dixonreuel.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by for a chat, Dixon. Since we already have your official bio, care to tell us about yourself in ten words or less?

Tall Irish nerd who’s a geeky, reclusive writer-hag!

Give us an idea of how Rise of One came to fruition.

7 Days to Die is a PC game that I’m very fond of.  It’s a realistic, open-world crafting/survival game that really captures the ‘you versus the zombies’ sensation in a haunting and genuinely lonely way.  While playing 7 Days about two years ago, it came to me… how would vampires survive such an environment? How would they handle people—their food source, really—being turned by zombies?  And from there, Rise, Cypriot, and all of coven at Owl Court developed.  Then, of course, there was an actual global pandemic!  So adding to the core idea of Rise of One was the real-life experience of lockdown and imagining what that could be like in a claustrophobic, unhealthy environment.

Can you share with us something about Rise of One that isn’t in the blurb?

The human Cypriot, his obsession with plants stems (pun intended!) from a desire to fill the house with greenery so he doesn’t feel as vulnerable.  If he can grow lush greenery in his bedroom and throughout Owl Court, he feels less exposed to the whims of the (now desolate) world.  And we find out why Cypriot loves plants so much in the first place during Rise of One’s final scene!

Was there any specific research you’ve done or inspiration you’ve pulled from for this story of yours?

Humans have stripes!  I had learned about Blaschko Lines years ago and always wanted to incorporate them into a piece of fiction.  While the stripes on a human can’t be seen by the naked eye, I made it so that the Blaschko Lines of a vampire rise to prominence when they’re exposed to sunlight, become angry or hungry.

What do you hope your readers take away from Rise of One?

That you have to try.  That you have to take chances that everybody around you might bellyache at you for, but you have to find your own north star, chart your own course through life.  If you can’t live with yourself and your decisions, who else are you going to live with?

What comes first, the plot or the characters?

I think the ‘spark’ comes first, that initial germ of a new idea.  It’s usually where a new character and new plot idea intersect, so I’d have to answer both?  The characters must drive the plot & not just ‘go through the motions’, but the plot serves as the loom on which the characters are woven.

Do you have a favorite character you’ve written? If so, who? What about them sets them apart from all the others?

As a fellow writer, I do have a soft spot for Salter and huge plans for her character throughout the rest of the Blood Brute series.  I like too, that she’s unafraid to tell Rise about matters he’s uncomfortable hearing. I like her quiet resilience and how she stays away from those she finds irritating or that are unhealthy for her (so… from everybody, really!).

What do you think makes a good story?

That from the very first line on the very first page, you can tell that the writer knows what they’re doing.  I’m not talking about huge dramatic openings with sex and ‘splosions on the first page, I’m referring to hearing an authoritative, creatively-commanding voice from the beginning really makes me switch of my ‘writer / critique’ brain and settle into a  story.

If you could go back and change how you approached writing your debut novel, what’s the one thing you’d do differently?

I would have embraced plotting, story structures, beat sheets much earlier.  I didn’t realize until I was finished with Rise of One that it’s so much easier to tell a tale once there’s underlying deep structure to it.  That, of course there’s no rules in writing, but there is theory that you need to respect.  I’m a knitter and crocheter; you can’t tell me a piece of Irish lace isn’t beautiful and creative—well, that has a (usually written) pattern that someone follows to produce the piece.  Pattern, structure, plotting, they’re essential, not something to abandon and wear that abandonment stubbornly like a badge of honor. 

Writing can be a stressful pursuit. Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

Small, tiny, seemingly insignificant habits (i.e. write for X minutes every day) do compound over time, through repetition, into huge pay-offs.  We’ve all seen those writers on Twitter waffle on about writing 5,000 words in a day, but I feel that’s not consistent at all and is a fast track to burnout.  Think long, long, long term—hopefully you want to be a writer forever!  Writing for 20 minutes every day will pay off so much more than 5K here, 10K there, written only when you’re in the mood.

Ok, let’s see what kind of person you truly are.

Coffee or Tea?
Coffee before noon, tea all day, all times, 24/7!
–
Winter or Summer?
Autumn!
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Physical books or Ebooks?
Both! Especially a paperback *and* eBook of a particularly great title!
–
Mountains or Oceans?
The sea! Like King Haggard from The Last Unicorn, “There’s not many things I can stand for very long, except the sea.”
–
Beer or Wine?
An Irish coffee now and then during the festive season, otherwise no thanks!
–
Books or Movies?
Oh, both!
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Cowboys or Aliens?
Okay, but how about cowboy aliens in space?
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Pie or Cake?
It’s all good, once they go in my mouth!
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Rural or Urban?
Middle of nowhere, fecking off into the wilderness-rural!
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Work hard or Play hard?
Balance both!

Thank you again for taking the time have a chat, Dixon. Tell us what lies ahead for you!

Thanks for having me! 2021 is turning into a busy year: I’m writing & publishing Books 2 and 3 of Blood Brute, and I’m getting married in June! So, plenty of wedding planning while writing about zombies and vampires, oh my!

The Giveaway

Enter to win yourself an ebook copy of Rise of One by Dixon Reuel! Five copies are ready to find their forever homes!
(Ends February 7th, INTERNATIONAL!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

That’s all I got for ya! Be sure to keep an eye on the official Rise of One tour page over at Storytellers On Tour (https://www.storytellersontour.online/2020/12/30/tour-schedule-rise-of-one-by-dixon-reuel/) to see what the other bloggers and Bookstagrammers have to say!

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Happy Reading!
🖤