Jul 29, 2011

Guest Post + Giveaway with Jennifer Estep & Professor Metis

PLEASE WELCOME JENNIFER STEP AND PROFESSOR METIS

Greetings and salutations! First of all, I want to say thanks to Kristen for having me on the blog today. Thanks so much, Kristen!

Jennifer EstepMy name is Jennifer Estep, and I write the Mythos Acad­emy young adult urban fan­tasy series for Kens­ing­ton. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psy­chom­e­try, or the abil­ity to know an object’s his­tory just by touch­ing it. After a seri­ous freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Acad­emy, a school for the descen­dants of ancient war­riors like Spar­tans, Valkyries, Ama­zons, and more.

Touch of Frost, the first book in the series, came out on July 26. First Frost, a prequel e-story to the series, is also available now. The sec­ond book, Kiss of Frost, will hit shelves on Nov. 29.

So today, Kristen asked me to write a post giving a tour of Mythos Academy. Here to be your guide is Professor Metis, the myth-history professor at the academy. Take it away, Metis:

Hello! I’m Professor Metis, and I’ll be your tour guide today. As you can see, we’re standing on the edge of the upper quad here at Mythos Academy in Cypress Mountain, North Carolina. It’s a lovely, picturesque spot with its lush carpet of grass, iron benches, curving cobblestone walkways, and massive shade trees. This is also the heart of campus and where students spend most of their time at Mythos Academy during the day.
Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy, #1) 
Now, if you’ll follow me, we’ll start our walking loop around the quad and stop at each one of the various building so you can get an idea of what’s inside and how it relates to the rest of campus.

The Library of Antiquities: Here we have the Library of Antiquities, which is the largest structure on the Mythos Academy campus. The library soars seven stories into the air, and its architecture is quite unique, as you can see from the various towers, balconies, parapets, and more.

What’s that? Oh, I see someone has mentioned the library’s remarkable resemblance to a creepy Gothic castle straight out of an old horror movie. Well, yes, some folks view it that way, but I think it’s quite lovely.

Now, housed inside the library are hundreds of thousands of books on every possible subject and topic you can imagine – all the better to help the students complete their homework assignments. The library also has an extensive collection of artifacts – things like armor, jewelry, weapons, and more that have been used by various gods, goddesses, warriors, and creatures over the years in the Pantheon’s ongoing struggle against the Reapers of Chaos. As an added bonus, frescoes featuring gold, silver, and sparkling jewels adorn the ceiling.

The gym: Moving on, we have the gymnasium, which is the second largest building on campus and features state-of-the-art training facilities, including several pools, saunas, spas, and more. Of course, the most important part of the facility is the actual gym itself. In there, the floor is covered with heavy mats, and the walls are lined with racks of weapons. At Mythos Academy, gym class is more about weapons training than anything else, and students are graded on how well they can fight. Swords, daggers, spears, staffs – at Mythos, students learn how to use all those weapons and more, along with whatever magic they possess, to prepare them to fight Reapers and protect the world from the Reapers’ evil plans.

First Frost (Mythos Academy #0.5)The dining hall: The students eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the dining hall, which features suits of 

armor, oil paintings, and most impressively, an open-air indoor garden full of grape vines, along with almond, orange, and olive trees. Isn’t it lovely?

What’s that? Oh, you want to know about the menu. Well, Mythos Academy only serves its students the finest foods – everything from veal to lamb to lobster – prepared in various sauces and creative presented by our gourmet chefs. If you want, we can sample one of the chef’s special escargot breakfast omelets. Why are you suddenly looking so green?

The English-history building: Students attend a variety of classes in this building, which also houses my office.

The math-science building: Students also attend a variety of classes in this building. There are some other, er, departments housed in this building, but it’s best not to dwell on things like student deaths at the hands of Reapers.

The statues: Now, I’m sure you’ve noticed that all the buildings on campus feature stone statues of a variety of mythological creatures, like gryphons, gargoyles, Gorgons, dragons, chimeras, and more. Now, I know all the statues look quite fierce and even a little gruesome, but there’s no need to be alarmed – even if you do think that the statues are watching your every move. It’s just, er, a trick of the light.

Curriculum: As far as the curriculum goes, students take classes in all your typical subjects – English, chemistry, economics, calculus, geography, and more. Mythos Academy prides itself on its high academic standards, for our first-year, 16-year-old students, all the way up to our sixth year, 21-year-old students.

Kiss of Frost (Mythos Academy, #2)Of course, one of the classes unique to the academy is myth-history, which I teach. In that class, students learn about the evil god Loki and how he and his Reapers of Chaos tried to take over the world. That led to the long, bloody Chaos War before Loki was eventually defeated by Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, and imprisoned by her and the other gods. We also focus on how students can help the members of the Pantheon in their eternal fight to keep the Reapers from freeing Loki once more and plunging the world into another Chaos War. Once again, it’s best not to dwell on such unpleasant things on such a lovely day.
So that concludes our tour of Mythos Academy. Any questions?

Why are you slowly edging away? I mean, sure, anyone at Mythos can be a Reaper, from students to staff to professors, but it’s not like a group of Reapers are going to attack us out here in broad daylight. Well, Reapers usually don’t attack like that. Why are you running away? Wait! Come back!

Um, thanks for the tour, Professor Metis. What about you guys? Is Mythos Academy the kind of place you’d like to go to? What are some of your favorite fictional settings?

Thank you to both Jennifer Estep and Professor Metis for visiting Seeing Night Reviews and giving us a veyr interesting tour of Mythos Academy :) 

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Jennifer Estep is a USA Today bestselling author who also writes the Ele­men­tal Assas­sin urban fan­tasy series for Pocket Books. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assas­sin code­named the Spi­der who can con­trol the ele­ments of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing peo­ple and right­ing wrongs, Gin runs a bar­be­cue restau­rant called the Pork Pit in the fic­tional South­ern metrop­o­lis of Ash­land. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vam­pires, and ele­men­tals – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.

Books in the series are Spider’s BiteWeb of LiesVenom, and Tan­gled Threads. Spider’s Revenge, the fifth book, will be released on Sept. 27. Visit www.jenniferestep.com for free short stories, excerpts, and more.


NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!
US/CANADA ONLY
Answer the Question from Jennifer Above
Post Answer in Comment Box
Post Email Address for Contact 
GOOD LUCK!

23 comments:

  1. I always enjoy any book that takes place at a boarding school, so I would say that yes, I would want to go to Mythos Academy.
    rickimc[at]aol[dot]com

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  2. Mythos Academy sounds like a good place to visit. (Though I am not so sure about living there.) Favorite fictional places tends to be anywhere where weird and often chaotic things happen.
    starr.k.griggs@gmail.com

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  3. Ricki -- Thanks! Hope you get a chance to check out the book.

    Starr -- That's very true. I like reading about fictional towns where supernatural/paranormal characters live, but I don't know that I'd want to go there. Most of them are too dangerous. LOL.

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  4. I'd love to visit Mythos Academy! Maybe be an exchange student. : ) To have all the myths come to life & get the real version? So cool! : )

    Thanks for the giveaway!
    ambience.of.rain {at} gmail.com

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  5. Maybe I could "study abroad" at Mythos Academy! I'm old enough now I could probably be an exchange grad assistant! :) My favorite settings are anywhere near water or a huge, mysterious, magical forest. Anything can happen there!

    Thanks for the awesome giveaway! So excited!

    -Em
    mcnx06(at)gmail(dot)com

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  6. Mythos Academy sounds like a cool place to visit. I like reading about mythology or anything paranormal or supernatural. I don't have a specific place or location, just where ever my characters are.:). Rhonda. srshmitz(at)comcast(dot)net

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  7. I would love to go to Mythos Academy-- my fave location right now is the Pork Pit hangin with GIN and Finn
    audie@wickerness.com

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  8. It would be cool to go to Mythos Academy. My fav place to go would probly be something like hogwarts or a huge castle!!

    makayla.bailey@hotmail.com

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  9. Christa -- Thanks! Hope you get a chance to check out the book.

    Sash and Em -- Thanks! Forests are great settings, especially in fantasy or fairy tale-type books.

    Rhomitz -- Thanks! And I love paranormal books too.

    Audra -- Thanks! I appreciate that. Glad you are enjoying the Gin books. ;-)

    Makayla -- Hogwarts would be an awesome place to visit.

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  10. I haven't read the book yet, but from everything I have heard I would love to visit Mythos Academy. :)

    Among my favorite literary locations, Rivendell is pretty high on the list.

    Thank you for the chance!

    liedermadchen(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  11. I think it would have been a pretty opulent place to have gone to school at although being out of school now, I don't think I'd want to go back to it heh~~

    snifflykitty@gmail.com

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  12. Lieder -- Thanks! And I think Rivendell would be a really cool place to visit.

    Sniffly Kitty -- I know what you mean. I like learning new things, but I never liked studying for tests. LOL.

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  13. I would love to go to Mythos Academy!

    I would love to go to St. Vladmirs Academy.


    gomezrose61@yahoo.com

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  14. I would like to go to Mythos Academy. It sounds so extravagant! The library sounds really beautiful, with all the sparkling jewels on the ceiling.

    One of my favorite fictional setting is Nalini Singh's New York from the Guild Hunter series. I'd love to see angels flying over the skies.

    angeldream3[AT]gmail[DOT]com

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  15. Savanna -- Thanks! Hope you get a chance to check out the book.

    Amy -- Thanks! That's another series that I've been meaning to try. Everyone seems to love the GH series. I see so many great reviews for it online.

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  16. Mythos Academy sounds like a great place to go to learn. Some of my favorite fictional settings are unique places that are unlike anywhere I've lived. I like Ashland for just that reason, it sounds like regular southern town until you hear about the vampires, giants, dwarves and elementals living there.

    Barbed1951 at aol dot com

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  17. So many YA books take place in boarding schools. This gives the author so much room to bring in off the wall characters and plots. LOVE IT!
    I'm a follower on GFC-Lisa Richards

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

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

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  18. You know, for some reason, I think my favorite fictional places involve supernatural stuff and school. I know, right. What does that say about me? But Mythos Academy sounds awesome and I'd love to go there and to Vampire Academy and Evernight.

    asiangirlconnie@gmail.com

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  19. great giveaway
    follow via gfc
    drakebdog@gmail.com

    would love to go to school with mythological creatures!

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  20. Barbara -- Thanks! Glad you are liking Ashland, and I hope you like Mythos Academy too.

    Lisa -- Thanks! Hope you get a chance to check out the book.

    Urgirlconnie -- Thanks! And some of my favorite fictional places are magical/paranormal too, like Hogwarts.

    Samantha -- Thanks!

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  21. I have a weakness for books that take place at boarding schools.

    Mythos Academy sounds fascinating!

    amanda(at)lettersinsideout.com

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  22. Amanda -- Thanks! Glad the book sounds cool.

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  23. I think my favorite fictional is probably Hogwarts I would love to go there and watch a Quiddich match it spend hours in the library, or get lost in the room of requirement. I'd definitely like to go to Mythos Academy and visit the library of antiquities, although I'd like to go on a day when no one was murdered :).

    eckstein99@comcast.net

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