The Legendary Mo Seto by A.Y. Chan

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

If you could keep a mythical/ paranormal creature as a pet, what would you have?

If I could keep a mythical creature as a pet, I’d choose a qilin. The qilin is a majestic, gentle creature from Chinese mythology, often depicted with the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, and the scales of a fish, and is known for its wisdom and protective nature. Having a qilin as a pet would be like having a guardian that brings peace and good fortune wherever it goes. It is also said that a qilin can look into a person’s heart to see how pure their spirit is, so my pet could double as my own personal walking lie detector!

How do you keep your writing different from all the others that write in this particular genre?

How I write is that I focus on adding humor and making sure every character, no matter how minor, has a distinct and memorable arc. I love creating characters with their own quirks and personal journeys, which makes them feel real and relatable. It's important to me that readers can connect with each character, laugh at their antics, and root for them along the way. I try to balance humor with heart, making sure my stories are both entertaining and meaningful.

What are the best and worst pieces of writing advice you ever received?

The best writing advice I ever received was to "write the story only you can tell." This piece of wisdom has always resonated deeply with me. It’s a gentle reminder not to write to trends, but rather to draw from my own experiences, perspectives, and imagination, crafting stories that are uniquely mine. It encourages authenticity and helps me stay true to my voice, ensuring that my stories are rich and genuine.

When it comes to the worst advice, it's hard to pinpoint any. I know this might sound like a cop-out, but I truly can't think of a "bad" piece of writing advice I've received. Every bit of advice I've come across reflects a writer's personal journey and what worked for them. Writing is such a diverse and individualistic craft that advice fitting one person might not fit another. But that doesn’t mean it is bad advice; it just means it’s different. There's always something to be learned from any piece of advice, even if it’s understanding what doesn’t work for you. This perspective has taught me to value all insights, using them to refine my own writing journey.

Are the experiences in this book based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Many of the experiences in The Legendary Mo Seto are drawn from my own real or imagined experiences. Like Mo, I started training in martial arts as a child and participated in competitions. The emotions, challenges, and triumphs she faces are reflective of my own journey in the martial arts world. Additionally, Mo's cultural background and family dynamics are inspired by my own experiences growing up in a Chinese household. I feel that these personal touches help bring authenticity and depth to my story.

Mo Seto, martial arts movie star! Has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? Too bad there's a height restriction to audition. But 12-year-old Modesty (Mo) Seto has never let her height get in the way before, not when she became a black belt, or when she fought the meanest boy in her class, and she’s not going to let it stop her this time! Now if only she can figure out a way to grow five inches and fool everyone at the auditions…and find time to search for her missing father (who just might be harboring a dangerous secret of his own). Join Mo on an adventure (and audition) of a lifetime and find out if powerful things really do come in small packages!

Publishers Weekly calls THE LEGENDARY MO SETO “Adrenaline pumping”, Kirkus Reviews says it “Packs a punch”, and Booklist calls it “Remarkably relatable.” Leap in and join the fun!

Read an Excerpt

I tap the arm of a boy next to me. He’s around my height, though he looks like he’s probably a good couple of years younger. “What’s everyone looking at?”

The boy cocks his head toward the crowd and frowns. “There’s a poster about auditions for a Cody Kwok movie, but—”

Cody Kwok? Cody Kwok! Aaaaaaaah! Every thought inside my brain disappears, except for the words “CODY KWOK” in capital letters, surrounded by flashing lights.

I need to see that poster.

I crane my neck, but it’s no use. What would Cody Kwok do? Cody wouldn’t let buildings or bridges or trains or nuclear explosions stand in the way of what he wanted—let alone a few people.

“Nacho, meet me out front. I’ll be right back.” Slipping through cracks, under armpits and between legs, I duck, crawl, and push my way through until I’m standing in front of Cody’s magnificent face. I’d recognize it anywhere. His black eyes are narrowed, and his lips are curled, as if daring his opponent to strike. His fists are held in a classic fighting stance.

“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.”

Below the picture are the words:

CASTING CALL FOR THE PROTEGES
PRESENTED BY FLYING FIST STUDIOS
Inviting all young martial artists to participate in our open auditions to star alongside CODY KWOK in his next movie.
Sign up for an audition spot on Sunday, July 7
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Auditions begin Saturday July 13.

Sign-ups are—I double-check my phone—in a week.

About the Author:

A. Y. Chan grew up in Canada’s Greater Toronto Area reading all the middle grade and young adult books she could get her hands on. To this day, those remain her favorite genres. After achieving her black belt in Taekwondo, she explored other martial arts, such as Wing Chun, Hapkido, and Muay Thai. These days, she continues her martial arts training some mornings, writes in the afternoons, takes long walks to muddle out plot points, and falls asleep reading.

Book Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Legendary-Mo-Seto-1/dp/1665937327
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-legendary-mo-seto-a-y-chan/1144226905
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-legendary-mo-seto-ay-chan/20699961

Twitter/X: https://x.com/AYChanWrites
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aychanwrites>
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aychanwrites>
Website: http://www.aychanwrites.com
Simon & Schuster Author Page: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Legendary-Mo-Seto/A-Y-Chan/The-Legendary-Mo-Seto/9781665937320

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The Rise Up Trilogy by Henrik Wilenius

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will award the winner's choice of an audiobook set via Spotify or a digital book set of THE RISE UP TRILOGY. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Why do you write juvenile fiction? What draws you to it?

I never thought I was going to be an author, although my two older brothers, my sister, my father, my grandfather and my great uncle were writers. In my early twenties, I founded an art servicing company, selling contemporary art, and after an initial success, I ventured out to real estate development and market researched. But something was not right. By living the high life, I was neglecting my spiritual needs. I decided to radically downsize and went back to university to study philosophy, because I was obsessed with the question of why it is so hard for us to expand our understanding. And when I found the culprit, I became a writer. It was supposed to be an essay on Rhetoric by Aristotle, but only after half an hour of writing, I knew it was going to be a full-length manuscript. End of Restlessness, a philosophical study into my own coming-of-age, was published in 2001in Finland. Soon I realized that if I really want to relay my understanding, I needed to write fiction, young adult fiction, because that’s the genre where the post-modernism doesn’t reign, and grand narrative is accepted. In other words, I can tell stories where my characters evolve as spiritual beings. And I’ve been on that road ever since.

What books were your favorite as a youth and why?

When I was a kid, I loved books about faraway countries. At the age of twelve I stumbled upon Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. It takes place about two thousand five hundred years ago during the time of Siddhartha Gautama, aka Buddha, the namesake of the protagonist. There are a lot of similarities between this fictional character and Buddha, at least enough to get me excited about Buddhism. This book really changed my life. I became aware of the spiritual world and the need to explore it further, and to do that, I needed to work on my self-discipline, which I began by quitting candy and chocolate for year. I have continued this exercise in one form or the other all throughout my life. It also very much affected how I look at the world. I realized that it’s not important how different I am from the other people, but what I have in common with them. This new-born fascination made me delve into different cultures and religions since my early teens and all the understanding I gained over the years through people I met was what turned me into a writer in my thirties.

What book is on your nightstand currently?

I loved to read several books at the same time. In the Kindle on my nightstand, you find these following five books opened right now:

The Golden Road by William Dalrymple about how Ancient India transformed the world. It discusses the ways in which India's ideas and influences spread throughout and shaped Eurasia
Leto v Pionerskom Galstuke by Silvanova Katerina and Malisova Elena. It’s a Russian language coming of age series that takes place in a youth camp in Ukraine during the soviet times.
Yo soy una senora by Jaime Bayly. It’s a Spanish language collection of short stories by Peruvian Jaime Bayly.
Secret City: The Hidden history of Gay Washington by James Kirchick.
Him by Sarina Bowen. A new adult series about two gay ice hockey players.

What reality show would you love to be on? Why?

I love the gay Japanese Netflix reality show Boyfriend, and I would love to be on the panel (if I spoke Japanese) commenting what’s happening in the house. It’s the only reality series I ever watched. What draws me to this particular program is how natural and genuine the male contestants are and vulnerable they appear which makes them so interesting to me.

Favorite TV show from your childhood?

We didn’t have TV when I was growing up. My parents didn’t allow it. All my family was very big in reading, and the only time we could have TV (a rented one) was during the ice hockey world championship games.

Who was your teenaged crush? Why?

My teenage crush was my best friend. We just clicked so well and had so much fun together. I never dared to take it further and show my true feelings because I was afraid to lose him. He was very touchy feely and would sometimes French kiss me in front of our friends just to shock them. We would sometimes sleep in the same bed and cuddle or walk outside hand in hand. He didn’t care if people thought he was gay (which I assume he was not), and he used that excuse to get out of the national military service. Maybe he was also rehearsing different roles as he became a successful actor in Finland and Sweden. Our relationship was the real-life model for the one between Hashim and Alex.

Favorite class in high school. Why?

I’ve always been a great history buff. It fed my curiosity towards different cultures and gave me a solid base to reach out to people as I was able to show my respect to their culture through knowing their history. But then again, I was interested in everything in school, and I was good in all the subjects. Only thing that didn’t excite me was naming plants or animals (birds), and I’m still bad at it.

The Rise up trilogy is a coming-of-age story about Hashim, Alex and Maryam, three best friends on the threshold of adulthood. Before they can find their place in this world, they must come to terms with their past and learn to confide in each other as they are confronted by intolerance, ignorance, and corporate greed that threaten to rob them of their future. Inspirational, harrowing, intense and deeply moving, this trilogy presents a ray of hope amidst terrible hardship, misfortune and loss.

Book One: Catch You if You Fall

High school best friends Hashim, Alex, and Maryam must confront real-life issues that loom for Gen-Z today, including the climate crisis, corrupt politics, and racial and gender equity.

When Hashim turns eighteen, he receives a grant from his Mosque that will send him to an Ivy League in New York. His devout Muslim family couldn’t be more proud. And to support their young son on his journey, they arrange a wife for him. There’s only one problem: Hashim is gay.

Hashim’s best friend Alex is struggling with a difficult home life, a non-present father, and financial issues that prove particularly painful when all his friends are planning to go off to college and leave him behind.

Standing confidently alongside these two boys is Maryam, a headstrong Muslim girl who bucks her traditional roots by becoming a vegan activist.

It doesn’t take long until certain evil forces start to draw these three even closer, as their futures and the wellbeing of their community and the world is threatened. They are called to act.

Book Two: Merry Farm

In the second installment of the Rise Up Trilogy, best friends Hashi, Alex, and Maryam stumble upon a huge government coverup. When more people get sicker and sicker, and nothing about the outbreak makes news, it becomes clear the corruption goes up high.

As the three attempt to expose and stop a tragedy that could kill thousands, they end up framed as the bioterrorists responsible for this exact crime, and a team of hitmen is dispatched to hunt them down. As they grapple with their own growing pains, Hashi, Alex, and Maryam hurry to outrun the disaster, prove that they are innocent, and do what they feel is right.

Book Three: Collusion

Now a well-known activist, Maryam, along with her two best friends Hashim and Alex, is chosen by the President of the United States to draw up a proposal to help fight climate change, mere weeks before superstorm Roxanne makes landfall in the Northeast.

After the President’s Future Rescue Advisory Board hears their climate proposal to set heavy taxes on meat, dairy and carbon emissions, and someone leaks it to the press, chaos spreads across party lines. A few months since they stopped a deadly virus in its tracks, the three uncover a conspiracy on the highest level of the legislative branch.

While the deadly hurricane wreaks havoc along the eastern seaboard, destroying the U.S. Naval Command in Norfolk, Virginia, and hitting New York City with devastating force, Maryam, Hashim, and Alex grapple with forces beyond their control in the government.

How will their stories unravel? What do their futures hold as they mature into adults in a world that may not accept them? Find out in this last book in the Rise Up Trilogy.

Read an Excerpt from COLLUSION:

“Yes, let’s talk about protecting the American way,” Maryam responded to the reporter. “Let’s talk about the Norfolk Naval Station in his home state of Virginia. We were there only a few days ago. All it takes is some rain and high tide, and a large part of the base goes underwater. And many of the piers were out of operation for that reason. Like Norfolk, many other U.S. navy bases have been built on lowlands by the water, and most of them are literally sinking into the sea as we speak.”

Hashim bit down a smile from the sidelines. Maryam was going head on. She had seen how well it worked with the President when Alex did it.

“But Senator Stevenson and his colleagues refuse to talk about the biggest national security risk of our time, because it’s caused by climate change. Senator Stevenson with his fellow climate change deniers in the Senate are blocking all the attempts to fund any initiatives to address the issue. So I truly wonder what or who is the real threat to the American way?”

About the Author:

Henrik Wilenius is the author of the Rise Up Trilogy, a young adult coming-of-age story about Hashim, Alex and Maryam confronting real-life issues like climate change, corrupt politics, animal cruelty and racial and gender equity.

The Rise Up Trilogy is now available also as an audiobook and a weekly serialized audiobook podcast on all the major platforms.

Previously, Henrik as published two books (an autobiographical coming of age book and a YA novel) by a major publisher (WSOY) in Finland before switching to English and self-publishing. The Rise Up Trilogy was inspired by his fifteen-year stint as a volunteer in a Red Cross Youth Shelter and by his vegan activism.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVJ1TNFG
Buzz Sprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2264640
Website: http://www.henrikwilenius.com
TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/henrikwileniusauthor
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/@henrikwileniusauthor

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