Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway ~ BITTERSOULS by L.A. Morton-Yates

Bittersouls
by: L.A. Morton-Yates
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: December 16, 2022
Publisher: Synthesis Press

A Shade. A Storm. A Soul.

Cursed with forbidden knowledge, 19-year-old Dela must hide her secret from her nomadic tribe or face exile into the frozen wasteland of the Bitters. When she becomes separated from her people during a blizzard, a mysterious and dangerous wanderer named Talon promises to help her find her way back to them. She quickly learns that nothing is what it seems, that her curse may actually be a gift, and that the Bitters are far more dangerous than she could have imagined.

Packed with unexpected twists, Bittersouls is a mixture of survival, adventure, and slow-burn romance that is sure to get your heart pounding.

The Bitters, as it is called by the people who live there, is a land deep in the throes of an ice age. At once beautiful and desolate, it provides for the needs of only those resourceful enough to keep moving and take care of themselves. For most, this means sticking together to share Warmth—a finite yet intangible life-force that every person is born with to keep the cold at bay.

The main character, Dela, is part of a nomadic congregation that navigates the Bitters in a wide migrational loop, taking advantage of the partial thaw of summer in the north, then fleeing southward as winter approaches. Like the other nomadic groups, they never number more than fifty, a precaution against Shades, one of the great terrors of the Bitters, which are said to be drawn to the Warmth of large groups.

But Shades are not the only threat that watches from the blinding white. Bittersouls—men and women who have abandoned society and morality alike—hunt for Warmth by whatever means necessary. Through some unholy ritual, they seem to have learned how to steal it from those unfortunate enough to be separated from their communities, allowing them to survive in solitude long after the frigid wasteland should have claimed them.

But the world wasn’t always like this. According to the legends the congregations tell, the One Flame—the sun—once reigned in the sky. The ancient peoples loved the One Flame, but they were greedy. When Bale, a god-like trickster, offered them the possibility of every person carrying a Flame Within, they followed his every instruction. The result was the splitting of the One Flame, bringing about the current ice age, but awarding everyone the paltry consolation of Warmth.

Though Bale has not been seen or heard from in centuries, it is believed that the Jackals—huge, mysterious, and white—still serve his unthinkable and unknowable ends.

A Storm

On the southern side of the Basin, the titanic peaks of the Skytooth Mountains broke the horizon from east to west. They’d all seen them before, every year on their pilgrimage, but the range never failed to invoke both awe and terror. The pass would be open for a month, at least, and beyond that, they’d find the herdlands where they tracked during the coldest part of the year.

They pitched camp in the lee of the mountains, just out of reach of the worst of a steadily rising wind. They ate their evening meal, speaking softly, each of them feeling a growing uneasiness even before the light descended. With the brilliance of the sunset to the west, it was tempting to focus on its beauty, ignoring all else. But as the Flame Above took shelter below the ice for the night, Dela found herself with the others on the eastern edge of camp, staring in horror at the horizon.

“A storm?” Dela’s eyes narrowed.

“Storm? No.” Hunter Umbar gaped at it. “That’s far too small a word. A squall like that doesn’t scour the Skytooths except for once every ten winters.”

“I remember nothing like it,” Mors said.

“We’re normally far ahead of it,” Minister Dolam muttered. “One protect us, we moved too slowly.”

“Or it came early,” the Carver suggested.

The Minister shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. That storm will close the pass.… We must walk the night.”

Purchase Bittersouls from:

Amazon | Paperback | Goodreads

(Affiliate Links Used)

A life-long lover of the magic of storytelling, L.A. wrote his first story at the age of 7 and has been writing ever since. Speculative fiction, particularly fantasy, has always held a special place in his heart for the uniqueness of the places and the questions it can address. Though veiled by apparent strangeness, he has always seen it as capable of revealing deeper truth about our own reality.

L.A. graduated from Montana State University in 2015 with Honors in Biochemistry and a minor in Music Composition. This helped nurture his critical thinking and research skills which continue to be instrumental to his writing. During his collegiate years, he also met the love of his life, Julie, whom he later married. At once his greatest supporter and his staunchest critic (when he is wrong, which is more often than he’d like to admit), she has been an integral part of his creative process ever since.

In February of 2018, L.A. became the father of his first son, Griffin. His second son, Tiber, was born in December of 2019 and his third son, Malachi, was born in January of 2022. Though life has become considerably busier since he became a family man, L.A. continues to work on writing in what little spare time he can find. He hopes to one day pass on his love of literature to his sons.

Places to find L.A. Morton-Yates:

Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

You can follow the Bittersouls Book Tour here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Subscribe to Read Your Writes Book Reviews: