[The Raie’Chaelia Blog Tour] Author Guest Post by Melissa Douthit + 2 Giveaways!

Read my review of The Raie’Chaelia [here].

(1) E-Book Giveaway!

Be the first to comment on this post (with your name & your favorite fantasy book) and win an ebook copy of The Raie’Chaelia!!! It’s that simple. First come, first serve!

Author Guest Post

I asked Melissa which books she read when she was a kid and what are her reading habits. Read on to know her answer!

When I was young, and before I was introduced to Robert Jordan’s novels, I read a lot of Jack London and John Steinbeck.  In fact, I loved the Call of the Wild so much that I named a puppy of mine Buck.  We had assigned reading by these authors in school – Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, The Call of Wild and more but I think once I was introduced to the authors, I read almost every book they wrote.

 My love affair with these two authors hasn’t ceased.  When I was working at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab back in 2004-2008, I took BART trip to Oakland where I visited Jack London Square.  You see, there is a bar there that I wanted to visit.  It is an old bar that has been around for over a hundred years.  It is called Heinhold’s First andLast Chance Saloon and IMHO, it is the most important establishment at the square.  Why?  Because it is a bar that Jack London visited when he was kid and it is where he first began to conceive his ideas that went into his books.  The bar, tables, and chairs are still made of the original wood.  Even the clock on the wall, that reads 5:12 all the time since 1906, is still the original clock.  It fell from the wall on the morning of Wednesday April 18, 1906 at 5:12 am (the morning of the great San Francisco earthquake) and stopped working.  The owner of the bar at the time, hung it back up and just left it there never fixing it.  The bar itself, and the floor, slant downwards because of the shifting of the soil during the quake and it is still that way.  When you walk in, you feel like you are stepping back in time a hundred years.  The feeling is unbelievable.  When Jack London frequented the location as a kid (he didn’t drink, just visited), he met interesting characters – seafarers that would come in with the tide and then leave with it when they were done drinking.  One of the men he knew became the inspiration for the main character in Sea-Wolf.  The owner of the bar at the time actually fundedLondon’s first year atBerkeley, whereLondon studied literature.  The reason the bar is called the First and Last Chance Saloon is because during the prohibition,San Francisco was a dry city butOakland wasn’t and those who would take the ferry into the city to work in the morning would stop in for their first drink and then their last drink when they came home.  I love this bar!  It is one of the most historical places in the Bay Area.

 After I left LLNL, I went to work (luckily!) in Monterey with the Naval Postgraduate School.  It was a stroke of luck as there is the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.  I went on several occasions.  It is a great place.  If you are ever in Monterey county, it is definitely worth the visit.  I miss Monterey!  I remember during the two years I lived in Monterey, I would look out into the bay during a cloudy day and feel what Steinbeck must have felt when he wrote The Pearl.  The pearlescent glow of the water is stunning.  Then, I would take a walk on Cannery Row and imagine the scenery in the book that was inspired by it.  It was really then that I realized how lucky I was to be able to walk in the literal footsteps of the authors whom I loved so much as a kid.

About the Author

Melissa Douthit grew up in North County of San Diego, California. After graduating with a Computer Science degree in Southern California, and working for a summer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico, she moved to the Bay Area to work at NASA Ames Research Center for a year and then at Lawrence Livermore National Lab for another four years. From there, she moved to Monterey, California, to work at the Naval Postgraduate School on a government project for two years. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, working with the Army Corps of Engineers on another government project. Since high school, she has been a voracious reader of books of all genres, with an emphasis in fantasy and science fiction. Her literary work is strongly influenced by her professional experience and includes many elements of her scientific background.

 Website: http://melissadouthit.com | Twitter: @melissadouthit

(2) E-Reader or $100 GC Giveaway!!!

Contest hosted by the Author – Free e-reader or $100 gift certificate

Enter a drawing and win a free e-reader of your choice or a $100 gift certificate to your favorite store by answering the following question:

How did Heinhold’s First and Last Chance Saloon get its name?

To answer the question go to this link and fill in the information (place answer in Message field):

http://melissadouthit.com/contact-me-2/

Contest ends September 10, 2011.  Winner will be announced September 12th on Melissa Douthit’s Blog.

Please contact Melissa if you have further questions on her giveaway.

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Check out the blog tour schedule and find more reviews, interviews [I], guest posts [GP] and giveaways [G]:

Aug 1, Maria @ Bookchilla [GP, G]

Aug 3, Irena @ This Miss Loves to Read [GP, G]

Aug 5, Myranda @ My{reads}da [G]

Aug 8, Sabrina, Suzanne & Ashi @ Cup of Tea Reviews [G & I]

Aug 10, Darlene @ Peeking Between the Pages [G & GP]

Aug 11, Tessa @ From The Bookshelf of T.B. [G & I]

Aug 12, Cindy @ oodles of books [G]

Aug 15, Cierra @ Books Ahoy [G & I ]

Aug 17, Lyn @ Hywela Lyn [G & GP]

Aug 19, Rebecca @ Everything to Do With Books [G]

Aug 22, LiLi @ ChicaReader [G & GP]

Aug 24, Rabiah @ Confessions of a Readaholic [G & I]

Aug 29, Julie @ Manga Maniac Cafe [G & I]

Aug 30, Ariel @ The Librarian’s Bookshelf  [G]

Aug 31, Rida @ Raindrop Reflections 

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.: maria :.

“giving up is the ultimate tragedy.”