Blog Tour: The Gathering by Bernadette Giacomazzo (Guest Post + Giveaway)

Title: The Gathering
Author: Bernadette Giacomazzo
Series: The Uprising, #1
Publication Date: March 31, 2018

Synopsis: The Uprising Series tells the story of three freedom fighters and their friends in high — and low — places that come together to overthrow a vainglorious Emperor and his militaristic Cabal to restore the city, and the way of life, they once knew and loved.

In The Gathering, Jamie Ryan has defected from the Cabal and has joined his former brothers-in-arms — Basile Perrinault and Kanoa Shinomura — to form a collective known as The Uprising. When an explosion leads to him crossing paths with Evanora Cunningham — a product of Jamie’s past — he discovers that The Uprising is bigger, and more important, than he thought.

About the Author: With an impressive list of credentials earned over the course of two decades, Bernadette R. Giacomazzo is a multi-hyphenate in the truest sense of the word: an editor, writer, photographer, publicist, and digital marketing specialist who has demonstrated an uncanny ability to thrive in each industry with equal aplomb. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and many, many more. She served as the news editor of Go! NYC Magazine for nearly a decade, the executive editor of LatinTRENDS Magazine for five years, the eye candy editor of XXL Magazine for two years, and the editor-at-large at iOne/Zona de Sabor for two years. As a publicist, she has worked with the likes of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit record label, rapper Kool G. Rap, and various photographers, artists, and models. As a digital marketing specialist, Bernadette is Google Adwords certified, has an advanced knowledge of SEO, PPC, link-building, and other digital marketing techniques, and has worked for a variety of clients in the legal, medical, and real estate industries. Based in New York City, Bernadette is the co-author of Swimming with Sharks: A Real World, How-To Guide to Success (and Failure) in the Business of Music (for the 21st Century), and the author of the forthcoming dystopian fiction series, The Uprising. She also contributed a story to the upcoming Beyonce Knowles tribute anthology, The King Bey Bible, which will be available in bookstores nationwide in the summer of 2018.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Guest Post: Real World Inspirations

In the process of writing The Gathering: Book One of The Uprising Series, I drew a lot of “real world” inspiration. There are too many elements to list here, but here’s a list of my favorite – and most obvious – inspirations.

Trash and Vaudeville 

Trash & Vaudeville is legendary fashion store based, originally, in the Lower East Side of New York City. Its fashion director, Jimmy Webb, is a legend onto himself, and he’s dressed some of the biggest names in rock’n’roll. You can never leave Trash & Vaudeville without looking like a punk rock god, and that’s in no small part thanks to Jimmy.

CBGB 

I wasn’t around in NYC for the 1970s halcyon days of CBGB, but I was around when the final curtain fell on that hallowed stage. I watched, with horror, as the venerated rock venue became a John Varvatos. I recoiled with disgust as Target set up a fake CBGB to promote its debut on the Lower East Side. I curled up my lip as leather jackets – once free, and used to keep the bitter NYC cold out of our skin & bones – were marked up to $500 because safety pins were “ironically” placed in them as a fashion statement. For all that “red states” bitch about New York City – that we’re full of “coastal liberal elites” – nothing could be a symbol of the working man, a will to win based solely on grit and talent, and the champion of the underdog like CBGB. To watch it become commodified beyond recognition was a horrifying joke.

NYC Subway

The NYC Subway system is the conduit between what seems like totally different worlds. No two neighborhoods in NYC are exactly alike, and the Subway is the only way you can really go to all these different worlds without ever really leaving New York.

The Gangs of New York of the 1970s 

The New York City of the 1970s was a completely different city than the city you see today. There was a classic film called The Warriors (and yes, that’s where I got the name of the ‘native’ tribe that Pualani is a part of) that featured all of the different gangs of New York, such as the Savage Skulls, Black Spades, Ghetto Brothers, Deadly Bachelors, Javelin, Dirty Ones and the Tomahawks. The Ouroboros are a conglomerate of all the legendary “gangs of New York.”

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

-Kristen ♥