Gina Rae Mitchell

Day Unto Night by TammyJo Eckhart | Spotlight – $25 Giveaway – Excerpt

A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.

Book Details

Day Unto Night by TammyJo Eckhart
Published by Liminal Books on 10/19/2021
Genres: Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Myths & Legends, Paranormal, Gothic Fiction
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 322

A Sumerian child named Ningai survives the murder of her entire family and cries out to her people's gods, who answer her prayer in an unexpected way.

Now, as the first of the Akhkharu, the living dead, Ningai embarks on a journey across the millennia to rebuild what she lost. The best of her offspring must maintain some shred of goodness to prove worthy to their Child-Mother while fighting the deadly impulses of their kind.

Join their journeys across time in a series of interconnected stories from the earliest cities to a brutal future where humans are mere pawns in the hands of near gods.

Like all of us, Ningai and the best of her children will stop at nothing to protect her family. Can they succeed before they lose what's left of their humanity, or will all of humanity become enslaved to the Akhkharu forever?

 

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Excerpt from Day Unto Night

Jack sat up on the roof of what had once been the Library of Congress, looking out toward the ocean, which he could not see, even with his improved eyesight. A century ago, he may have been dismo, thinking about the waves, his board, and the feeling of it all, but now he couldn’t even clearly remember what “dismo” meant.

Only a deep, tiny twinge flickered through his heart when he reached up to caress his buzzed blond hair that resembled his master’s own haircut. He’d changed his hairstyle within a few decades of his transformation into wardum, not because Cornelius had commanded it, as he doubted the Akhkharu even noticed his hair, but because he’d caught the looks and comments other vampires and their servants had been giving him as he’d circulated within the dark venues of the Night Kingdom.

No, there wasn’t much left of surfer dude Jack anymore.

He’d been replaced with someone more focused on the almighty texts that they protected and censored below. Jack glanced down and saw the flicker of light, so he stood, then bounded down the roof and the side of the building to meet his contact below.

No, Jack wasn’t just some vampire’s obedient slave, at least not in these moments.

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Purchase Links for Day Unto Night

Amazon     Bookshop/IndieBound

The Book Depository     Waterstones

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An exclusive guest essay by TammyJo!

The Food Sucks in the Vampiric Future

By TammyJo Eckhart ©2021

 

What makes food good? It’s a combination of factors. But let’s look at it from the viewpoint of the vampires in the horrific future world of Day Unto Night, because in a world they run, they’ll decide what we mere humans can eat and drink.

There are health considerations, certainly. Any vampire worth their hemoglobin will want a steady, abundant supply of blood, so they’ll make sure the humans they feed from get the calories they need to make the tastiest blood possible. Ideally, that would involve calculations based on the biochemistry of the individual, but why would vampires go to that amount of trouble? The calculations will then be based on averages, much like health organizations around the world make recommendations that in turn, your doctors give to you.

The major factor for vampires will be how much blood they can get from one human for the maximum number of years with minimum effort. Get that baby to adult size as soon as possible! Yes, vitamins, proteins, carbs, fats – sure, all of that is good and will make great blood, but growth hormones? Yes, please. Pushing humans into their adult phase quickly means they can supply more blood with less need for care from other humans.

If pushing a human to reach adult size too fast causes emotional outbursts, there are a lot of supplements vampires can give them to keep them calm. They don’t need to know about it – hide it in the food. Sure, you can invest in education and discipline, but food is also a good way to go. Keep some treats around with higher amounts of fat and sugar to use as rewards for cooperative behavior. Don’t forget to withhold some food or use forced feedings if they refuse to follow the rules. But why should a vampire spend too much time on all of this when humans are replaceable? Drain the uncooperative ones, breed the ones who prove they can obey, and over time it’ll all be fine dining for vampires.

One thing that can’t be skimped on is clean water. Waterborne illnesses are a major killer, so vampires will want water treatment systems and sanitation. Once these systems are set up, they’ll have to be maintained. But humans can’t be giving blood all the time, so they can also be used not only to grow the food they require but also to maintain these systems that will keep them healthier. Vampires won’t need constant growth in their human populations; they’ll only have to keep it sustainable.

Sometimes what’s new is appealing to our palates. But innovation in food will probably stop in the vampire future. Once a given menu has proven effective in keeping humans healthy, why would a vampire lord want some chef or inventor to come up with a new type of ice cream or a better way to spice lamb? Just make sure the humans get the calories they need, quickly grown and easily consumed, for a consistent flow of blood.

Comfort foods reflect the culture we grew up with and the memories we associate with those foods. In a vampire-ruled world, human divisions of culture may start to deteriorate, supplanted by the undead civilization. As generations of humans are born into captivity, positive memories of food may turn into folktales of the distant past, with Grandma’s cooking replaced by what the vampire lady gave you for being a good child.

Food choice will entirely disappear. For some of us, having food choice is already limited by our income, health concerns, allergies, or even relationships. Now take that to the extreme. You may get pleasure from a nice cognac, but will you enjoy it if you’re commanded to drink until you can’t stand simply so your vampire owner can get a little buzz from your blood’s alcohol content? The same will apply to anything we might eat, drink, or shoot into our bodies.

If you have no choice, little variety, and no good memories, and if everything you consume is based on the needs and desires of another, wouldn’t you describe that as, basically, sucking? That’s what I think food in the vampire apocalypse would be like. These are dark thoughts and not ones that I had the time to fully explore in Day Unto Night, but I did consider them in my worldbuilding. Thank you, Gina, for letting me share these thoughts today.

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I love to read books through my  Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription. 

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Giveaway!

TammyJo Eckhart will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit more stops on the Goddess Fish tour for extra chances to win!

November 1: Fabulous and Brunette
November 1: Sybrina’s Book Blog
November 1: Sadie’s Spotlight
November 2: Viviana MacKade
November 2: Long and Short Reviews
November 3: All the Ups and Downs
November 3: Literary Gold
November 3: Like Dreamers Do Press – review only
November 4: The Key Of Love
November 4: Andi’s Book Reviews
November 4: Christine Young
November 5: Gina Rae Mitchell
November 5: The Avid Reader
November 5: Booklover-Sue

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Purchase Day Unto Night online from a local book store.

Day Unto NightShop on Amazon Kindle Day Unto NightShop on Amazon Paperback

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