Tuesday, July 08, 2025

Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Seed by Shelly Campbell


SEED
by
Shelly Campbell


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by
Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Horror/Dark Science Fiction
Publisher: Eerie River Publishing
Publication Date: June 13, 2025
Page count: 252 pages

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SYNOPSIS:

Glitching between dimensions wasn't supposed to be my life, but sometimes you have to dance with the darkness.

I should be dead. Shot twice through the chest. But the Embassy saved me because I’m a one-of-a-kind freak who blips to worlds they can’t reach. Now I’m their personal mule, raiding collapsing planets to fatten their coffers. Lucky me.

And things have gone from bad to worse. My old team is being held hostage, my family’s in danger, and the darkness hunts me across realities. My one shot to end this living hell? Take down the Embassy, save Charlie, and torch the whole rotten system. Simple, right? One misstep though, and we’re toast. Alien breach. Apocalypse. End scene.

If I fail, the darkness won’t stop until it swallows us whole.

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ENJOY AN EXCERPT

I used to be David.

David had a big family. Wanted to join the army. Always got stuck cleaning out the soft serve machine at his after-school job because everyone else despised the chore. But now he’s gone and I’m all that’s left. A dead animal under glass, gutted and hastily stitched together—you know the kind where the taxidermist didn’t get the eyes quite right? That’s me. Sad display in an Embassy trophy case.

But I’m not just for show. My captors use me well.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

At a young age, Shelly Campbell wanted to be an air show pilot or a pirate, possibly a dragon and definitely a writer and artist. She’s piloted a Cessna 172 through spins and stalls, and sailed up the east coast on a tall ship barque—mostly without projectile vomiting. In the end, Shelly found writing and drawing dragons to be so much easier on the stomach. Shelly writes speculative fiction ranging from grimdark fantasy, to sci-fi and horror. She’d love to hear from you.

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AUTHOR GUEST POST:

Please welcome Shelly Campbell, the author of our featured book, to the blog today!

Pros and Cons of Writing in my Genre(s):

Hello and thanks so much for having me on the blog! Before I start talking pros and cons, I do have to caution that I have a hard time choosing which genres to write in. I didn’t initially consider myself a horror writer—although all my stories tend to run a bit dark. When querying Gulf book 1 of the Dark Walker series, I wasn’t sure which type of publisher would be a good fit for the series. Let’s just say, I’m a bit of a wanderer and one of the cons of writing in my genre is I just can’t seem to pick one genre! I predominantly write speculative fiction with a darker tone. The Dark Walker series would be best classified as horror/sci-fi.

Let’s start with the pros. The majority of horror authors I’ve had the pleasure of meeting are just the nicest, most down-to-earth folks ever. Perhaps because writing horror is cathartic. When darkness brushes up against us, we just pour it back out onto the page. It’s really therapeutic. So, the people I get to call colleagues are some of the kindest, most empathetic and accepting human beings I’ve ever met. 😊

It’s also fun to write in a genre that isn’t tied to real life rules. I can play in other worlds. Make new rules. I can plunk realistic characters into unrealistic situations. That’s my favourite part about writing whether I’m tackling fantasy, sci-fi or horror.

Also, I get to attend lots of cons (which isn’t a con at all.) The people I meet at these events are diverse, unafraid of expressing themselves, and they come from all walks of life. Some of the most interesting and inspiring folks I’ve met have been at comic cons.

As far as the cons of writing in my genre(s). Well, I do have a very small readership compared to other genres. Sure, fantasy, sci-fi and horror are seeing a resurgence in books, T.V. and films, but sometimes I’ve had people quite blatantly insinuate that I’m not a ‘real’ writer because of the genres I like to play in. Outside of my writing circle, I’ve had several people ask me excitedly what I write only to raise their eyebrows and politely change the subject when they hear my answer. One acquaintance, upon hearing that I write horror, actually sighed and said ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’

You know what? That’s okay. I’m certainly not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and neither are my books, but luckily readers always need more books, and though my pool may be a smaller one—I love my readers to bits and feel very lucky that there are folks out there who enjoy the words and worlds that come out of my head 😊

The second big con of writing in my genre(s) is writing in them as a woman. For some reason, my work is often shelved as YA. This isn’t uncommon for female authors. And while I do have one series that is intended for young adult readers, even my really dark stuff that tackles subjects some adults have a hard time grappling with, I’ll often find shelved in the young adult section of bookstores. I’ve had parents tell me their kid is reading my grimdark fantasy series and when I express cautiously that those particular books deal with some heavy adult themes sometimes the response is ‘Oh, but my child reads far beyond their grade level! They’ve been reading adult books for awhile now.’ Wonderful. Honestly. Great for them. But it’s not their reading comprehension I’m concerned about. My books can be disturbing. Most of them I wrote intending them for adult audiences. 

That said, when I was young, I read plenty of books with adult content well aware that they weren’t written with my age group in mind. And, if the content was boring, or I felt it was too disturbing or graphic, I just skipped those parts. No big deal. I believe young readers are adept at choosing content that resonates with them and that censorship of books is getting to a ridiculous point. I’m not saying I’m upset if a young reader picks up my not YA books and finds something in them that resonates for them. I’m saying it’s a bit odd that somewhere along the line, the assumption keeps getting made that because I’m a woman, every single story I write is YA.

Obviously, the pros of writing in my genre(s) far outweigh the cons because it’s still the playground I’m happiest playing in. And there’s such a broad spectrum in horror, fantasy and sci-fi that I don’t suspect I’ll be bored of it any time soon. Keep feeding your imaginations, folks! 

Cheers and thanks again for having me on the blog,

Shelly


GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

Shelly Campbell will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.


Virtual book tour services provided by






10 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for featuring SEED today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks like a very good book and I look forward to reading it.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:39 PM

      Thanks again, Sherry!

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  3. How do you connect your emotions to your story?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:41 PM

      Sohamolina! Hello again. I rely a lot on showing physical sensations characters feel while they are experiencing emotions. Shaking hands. Dry throat. All the things our body feels when we’re feeling things. I find that helps me connect my emotions to the character’s a bit better! Thanks.

      Cheers,

      Shelly

      Delete
  4. The book sounds fantastic. I love the genre. Great cover, too. Sets the tone.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:54 PM

      Thanks again, Pippirose! Appreciate you following the tour.

      Cheers,

      Shelly

      Delete
  5. This looks really good. Thanks for sharing

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:21 AM

      Thanks again, Michael!

      Cheers,

      Shelly

      Delete
  6. Anonymous1:22 AM

    Thank you so very much for hosting me on the blog. Much appreciated!

    Cheers,

    Shelly

    ReplyDelete