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Sunday, August 21, 2011

FF–The Bear and the Travelers by Sophie Littlefield

**Today on Dark Faerie Tales Kirsten Miller’s take on 1001 nights and win All You Desire**

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Cass Dollar has survived the end of the world – twice. First she lost everything that mattered to her when her baby daughter was taken away from her, due to her alcoholism. That was the end of the only world she cared about. Then the country fell to famine and war, only to be overrun by zombie-like cannibals named Beaters. Cass gets her daughter back in AFTERTIME, the first book in the series, only to battle new evils in REBIRTH.

Sophie decided to immerse Cass in a fable called The Bear and the Travelers, it's a great fable but I hadn’t heard of it before so here’s the description from Wikipedia:

“The Bear and the Travelers”:
Two friends walking through rough country are suddenly confronted by a bear. One of the travellers saves himself by scrambling up a tree while the other throws himself on the ground and pretends to be dead. The animal comes close and sniffs him over but then leaves, for bears are reputed not to touch dead meat. Then the man in the tree came down to his comrade and jokingly asked what the bear had been saying to him. "It was some good advice," said his friend; "he told me never to trust someone who deserts you in need."

Now Sophie’s take on it!

“I’d hoped we’d be done by now,” Cass said, irritably. Raiding was best done in the dark. The thin beam of her headlamp was not enough to rouse sleeping Beaters, but the dawn – evident in the pink at the horizon – would wake them from their nests, triggering their skin-lust wanderings, sharpening their senses.

“Relax, Cass. Henderson said it was a yellow house and this is the only yellow house around, far as I can see.”

They’d spend the night looking for the usual stuff – medicine, nonperishable food, warm clothes. It had been a while since she’d gone raiding, and she wouldn’t ordinarily have teamed up with Zed, who took too many risks and used drugs recreationally that could have been better used to stockpile for the needs of the rest of the people on the island. But her daughter Ruthie had outgrown her boots, and Cass was desperate to find her a new pair: there was still plenty of winter ahead, and the cold and damp would seep through Ruthie’s old sneakers.

Cass had hit the jackpot, finding a pair of boy’s snow boots that were just a little too large. With extra socks they’d be perfect. Cass and Zed had retraced the path already taken by the other raiders – the boots had been left behind by those who had no use for them. Now Zed wanted to follow up a tip about a tool shed behind the yellow house – he had no interested in the tools themselves, but they could be traded for the things he did want.

They circled the yellow house, which was in fair shape for Aftertime, the roof intact, the porch still standing. They’d rounded the corner and were standing in the dead-grass yard between the house and shed – really, it was a small detached garage – when there was a sound, a scraping that sounded like wood on wood.

“Shit,” Zed muttered, as Cass’s hand went to her blade and she crouched down, listening for the source of the sound.

A second sound, the tread of feet, sounding like it came from the porch in front. They hadn’t checked the house for nests – ordinarily the Beaters preferred a shelter with an opening, but maybe the door had been propped open, it had been too dim in the early morning light to see.

Cass and Zed both looked around frantically for shelter, but there was none to be had. The house was several hundred feet from the nearest neighbor, and after that it was just fields and farm roads.  There were no trees to climb, no junked cars to scramble into.

Zed ran for the garage and threw himself inside. Before Cass could follow she heard the sound of a bolt being slammed home.

Zed had left her to fight alone.

#

Half an hour later he emerged, looking more pissed off than sheepish. He found them on the porch, where the squatter had brought out a jar of tea. There was no Beater nest inside the house, only the humble home of a woman who’d rather take her chances alone than join the ragtag community on the island.

Zed didn’t bother greeting the squatter, whose name was Cheryl. She was probably close to forty, though her weathered face looked ten years older, and her wiry, muscular frame at least a decade younger.

“She got anything worth taking?” Zed asked Cass, not even bothering to address the woman. His pack was already loaded with tools he’d stolen from her shed.

“Only good advice,” the woman said softly. Before Zed could react, she’d drawn the gun from her waist and had it pointed at him. “Now you return what’s mine, or I’ll drop you where you stand.”

“She told me that a friend who deserts me when I need him isn’t a friend at all,” Cass added.

#

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Sophie would like to offer one of you a signed copy of Rebirth the second book in the Aftertime series!

The end of the world was just the beginning

Civilization has fallen, leaving California an unforgiving, decimated place. But Cass Dollar beat terrible odds to get her missing daughter back—she and Ruthie will be happy.

Yet with the first winter, Cass is reminded that happiness is fleeting in Aftertime. Ruthie retreats into silence.

Flesh—eating Beaters still dominate the landscape. And Smoke, Cass's lover and strength, departs on a quest for vengeance, one that may end him even if he returns.

The survivalist community Cass has planted roots in is breaking apart, too. Its leader, Dor, implores Cass to help him recover his own lost daughter, taken by the totalitarian Rebuilders. And soon Cass finds herself thrust into the dark heart of an organization promising humanity's rebirth—at all costs.

Bound to two men blazing divergent paths across a savage land, Cass must overcome the darkness in her wounded heart, or lose those she loves forever.

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository 

Interested in winning this book?

  • This giveaway is open to US & Canada only

  • To enter, just leave a comment sharing a good advice!

You can to earn an extra entry (1) by spreading the word, please provide link in a second comment

tweet: #FantasticFables Read @swlittlefield 's take on the Bear & the Travelers | Win Rebirth http://www.tyngasreviews.com/2011/08/ffthe-bear-and-travelers-by-sophie.html #giveaway PLZ RT

Ends September 7th, 2011.

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Sophie grew up in central Missouri, daughter of a history professor father and an artist mother. She earned a degree in computer science and made very little use of it. After living in Chicago for ten years, she and her husband packed up the kids and moved to Northern California in 1998.

 

Visit Sophie

 

More books by Sophie

Survivors Aftertime Banished

tyngasig_thumb2_thumb

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

Follow Tynga on: Facebook | Twitter

40 People left their mark' :

  1. That was a great trailer! I love the first book, and that was also a great fable.
    Some good advice- don't eat the yellow snow and if the water is brown don't keep it down. Don't drink it!

    I have Rebirth on my list of great new books to read so I cannot wait. Thank you for coming on!

    terilhack at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is such a great series!

    As for advice, this is for all the incoming college freshmen: if you miss class, don't email your prof and ask if you missed anything important. You did. Duh. Check with a friend in the class. (Take a wild guess what I do for a living! lol)

    Reflections on Reading Romance

    ReplyDelete
  3. That was a good story. I liked the advice about friends. That is so true. My advice is to be careful who you lend your books to. I have several that were never returned, now I'm more selective.

    rachaelmccully@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hmm. Advice? Ask if your library has an inter-library loan service. If they don't have a book you want, they can probably get it for you.

    I loved Rebirth and would appreciate a copy of my own. Thanks for the giveaway.

    jendaleen at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Haven't read this, sounds good.
    Tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/Jovial_1/status/105341006098075648

    vsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooh, sounds dark! I like dark books! ;) Ditto on loving how Sophie put her characters in a situation that both matched the fable and the world of the book!

    Hmm, good advice...how about, Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like no-one's watching. And live like there's no tomorrow.

    Thanks for the giveaway opp!


    Smiles!
    Lori
    serena423[@]ahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. "If your eyes weren't open, you wouldn't know the difference between dreaming and waking."
    Blood Promise- Richelle Mead

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. +1 spread here
    http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/128701-ff-the-bear-and-the-travelers-by-sophie-littlefield

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Some good advice is be careful what you leave lying around. Your cat will find just about anything. Thanks for the giveaway!

    sab5723 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I would love to read this book! I love dystopian settings. One piece of advice is never fall for a guy who sweeps you off your feet because he'd be in the position to drop you on your butt.

    angeldream3[AT]gmail[DOT]com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for sharing the wonderful fable. I hadn't heard of that one either, but it had a good message. And this series is different from what I normally read-intriguing. Thank you for the great giveaway.

    mljfoland AT hotmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  12. +1 Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/Rogue237/status/105415919328694272

    ReplyDelete
  13. My advice would be, "Don't wait for the last judgement, it takes place everyday."

    Findjessyhere at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Tweet: https://twitter.com/emma015/status/105417366095142913

    Findjessyhere at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. My advice would simply be "Don't judge a book by it's cover." Seems appropriate, given that we are discussing books at the moment. :P

    Wonderful fable and thank you for the giveaway!

    twiztidsharkie@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. New author and series for me!
    A bird in the hand is worth more than 2 in the bush!

    (\___/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

    alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
    http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  17. Always be yourself- because the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.

    b(dot)cardone(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  18. I had never heard of this fable either, but it is quite wise. My advice is never trust someone who is eager to tell you the bad things others may say about you. Telling you that stuff doesn't help, it just makes you feel bad and causes a fight and the person who passes on the info just sits back and watches everything they stirred up with joy. This book looks awesome.

    eckstein99@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  19. My advice is a hard lesson that I learned: Never EVER lend money to a friend!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    darlenesbooknook at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. +1 for tweeting:

    http://twitter.com/#!/DarleneBookNook/status/105617509578833921

    darlenesbooknook at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  21. I've been wanting to read this series for a while. I've heard such good things about it!

    Advice, be honest with yourself.

    juliecookies(at)gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. I have been wanting to read this series since it came out. It sounds very good. My advise to you is be careful who you trust. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. My advice is to finish college before having children! I am just now going back to school after having 3 kids, and it is SOOOO much harder!

    karywideman@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  24. Let's see, some good advice. If you're afraid of heights, just dont look down.

    jasmyn9[at]hotmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  25. If you live with a man always check before you sit down on the john.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I tweeted
    http://twitter.com/#!/jlindahlj/status/105669291629752320

    ReplyDelete
  27. I'm reading a lot of good advices :) Mine is to always keep a positive attitude. Complaining is like a slow poison.

    Cambonified[at]yahoo[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  28. I hadn't heard of this fable either but wow was it a good one.

    As for good advice Don't give up even when times are tough. Things will always get better.

    ReplyDelete
  29. oops forgot my email

    vampiremistress2010(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  30. Always say something sarcastic at least once a day! It's a rule I live by, though I do break it and say something sarcastic at least five times in a day, whoops!

    miss.smileygirlie@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  31. If you go to someone's house and they don't have any books, don't sleep with them. Great advice :)

    tjotjoc at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  32. My advice would be to always make time for family!

    chibipooh(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  33. How about the classic: "Don't mess in the affairs of Dragons. You're crunchy and taste good with catsup."

    brittanynoelle at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  34. Good advice for writers: Never bring yourself down because someone doesn't like what you write.

    starlightgirl678 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  35. I really dont have any good advice. But I LOVE this series and cant wait for book 3

    Chllybrd(at)gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  36. My favorite advice is live every dat as if it's your last.


    Poisnivyred AT gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  37. Concentrating on your own work, not your colleague's and you will likely go far.

    little lamb lst at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  38. Pray and have faith!

    GFC: kimyunalesca
    kimyunalesca(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  39. Good advice. The Golden Rule is always good to live by: Do unto others as you would have done unto you!

    And don't judge others...what is right for you may not be right for them and vice versa. You don't know their circumstances.

    mmafsmith at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  40. Tweet:
    http://twitter.com/#!/Maria_Smith_76/status/111498456996122624

    mmafsmith at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete