Book Trailer!

I've created a new video book trailer for The Forgotten Origins! Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Bloodline in Running for Top 50 Indie book of the Year!

[Now on sale for 0.99!]

I was thrilled to find out today that Bloodline made it onto the 'short list' for one of the top 50 Indie books of the year on readfreely. According to their site, some 5,000 books were nominated and to make it in the top 90 (finalist) is cool enough...but to have a chance at being on a top 50 list for a year is a really great opportunity!

SO...I need YOUR help! Please Got to this link and vote for Bloodline! There is NO registration (or anything else) required, to cast your vote. You have the option to enter into a drawing by submitting your email, but you don't have to.

Thank you for your support!

Bloodline Audiobook to be released soon!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I updated this site!

I have been working very diligently on the audiobook for Bloodline, and I'm VERY happy to have it completed! It is currently pending review and then distribution from audible.com. It will likely take at least a week for it be up for sale, but at that time I will make some free codes available!

Descent is still in a giveaway on Goodreads, so if you are a member, be sure to enter for your signed paperback copy! (see the button in the post below)

The trilogy has over forty reviews and a 4.8 rating on Amazon now. It will be exciting to hit the 50 review mark!

I set up an account on a cool website called, The Imagine Film List, where you can suggest a book be made into a movie. I have had numerous readers tell me Bloodline (and the trilogy) would make an excellent movie, so click on this link and check it out and show your support! IF List


Amazon has set up a cool page for the trilogy: Trilogy page  (did you get your copy of Descent Yet?)

Here's the most recent 5-star review on Descent (now with a 5 star rating and 6 reviews)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars FREE COPY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!, December 6, 2014

By 

Stephanie moore - See all my reviews

This review is from: Descent: Forgotten Origins Trilogy Book 3 (Kindle Edition)

One of my top favorite trilogies! Alex is still trying to help find a cure, while trying to keep everyone who she loves safe. Alex and Chris’s relationship changes. “UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL!” This book was my personal favorite. The only thing that I would have liked is for more books!
Tara Ellis is an amazing Author! She executes thoughts and she has well written this trilogy.

Thanks for your support!!

Giveaways for TWO books from the trilogy!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Heritage

by Tara Ellis

Giveaway ends November 30, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Descent

by Tara Ellis

Giveaway ends December 15, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Five Star Reviews For Descent

Descent has been out for just over a month now, and while reviews are always extremely hard to come by (you authors know what I'm talking about), I have so far had five of them on Amazon (all five stars). NO they aren't paid. :)

Actually, two of them run blogs and have read (and reviewed) the whole trilogy now. I am finding that for an Indie author, such as myself, these blogs are an incredible way to promote and get exposure. Goodreads is another great way.

I finally clicked on the 'run a book giveaway' button on Goodreads and went through the motions. Basically, you put up however many copies you want to give away of your paperback (or hardback) book and set the time period, etc. (I also limited mine to the States. You'll want to do this too, depending on what country you're from. Overseas shipping is VERY expensive!) With Bloodline, I ran it for about a month and had over 700 people enter! Of those, about 400 of them added Bloodline to their bookshelves, which then in turn exposed it to all of their friends. (which in some cases, is thousands) So while yes...most of the people entering probably just go for the free books and rarely actually buy them, I think that it did generate a few sales and more importantly, gave me some great advertising. I gave away four copies of Bloodline (extras I already had) and the shipping was $10.00 total. (be sure to go USPS with the book rate) Bloodline is now spread out across the East Coast, being read by people who would probably never have done so otherwise. Who knows? Maybe they'll like it enough to either write a review, read the next book (Heritage) or even better...give the copy to a friend!

Heritage is in a giveaway right now:link

It's been just over two weeks and over 100 people have entered. I just put up Descent also, to give away two copies, and in only four days, almost 80 have signed up. I take that as an indicator that the cover for Descent is maybe the one that grabs the reader the most. I would have to agree. Who doesn't  want to look inside when they see a young, strong girl holding a automatic rifle on the cover? :)

Descent giveaway:link

Here's a link to the reviews for Descent:
Gimmiethatbook:link
A word at a time:link
I'm going to include here, a review from a reader from Goodreads:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great ending to a great trilogy. October 17, 2014

By MissezMathis

Format:Kindle Edition

I'd like to start off first by saying thank you, to the author, Tara Ellis for gifting this book to me in exchange for my honest review.

Second, I'm going to say that Forgoten Origins is my favorite YA/SCI-FI series of the year!! I really love how the author derived the premise of the series from the Ancient Alien Theory then made the rest her own. I found it it to be extraordinary. It made me, the reader, think. Even after I read the book. I'll probably still think about this book for months to come because to me, it's not too crazy to think, that this might not be far from an actual reality. Alex is finishing off her quest in this last installment. Along with figuring out where & with whom her heart belongs. Alex and ALL the characters have grown and matured. Some have grown together or they've grown apart. It was sad due to the fact I seriously thought that a certain couple would've stayed together but they did not. However, as the book progressed, I could see who was to be with who and the reasons. Which made their character development so enticing. I really had Rihanna's Stay in my head for that couple. It was kind of messed up but they did remain friends. Third Alex & crew are busy saving the world from imminent slavery & doom. It was adventurous, suspenseful, and a bit breathtaking. The undersea dome, Nibiru, and Nator's reaction to seeing a sunrise in over a thousand years, were some of my favorite moments. Page after page you're just enveloped in this tale trying to get to the end wondering if it'll end with that bang it started off with. I really did feel this story was about freedom, keeping our humanity, faith, and last but not least, friendship and family. Nothing in this world is worth giving up all those things or giving up on. A wonderful message for anyone who has been through any type of adversity. You really can do anything as long as you have faith & are fighting that good fight. The Epilogue was pretty awesome. The author could do a spin-off if she wanted to, go into more detail of the world afterwards. Maybe a Novella? I'm just throwing it out there. I do have to say Seth has made it on to my favorite Alpha Male list to swoon over. He's pretty hot. *giggles* All I know is this series has made a definite impression on me and I can never forget it. Truly astounding & truly original. I cannot wait to see more from the author in the future.  

Getting that kind of feedback is amazing! I am so happy with how Descent has been received, and I'm excited to continue working on getting my trilogy out there in front of the readers!

Amazon Link

The Forgotten Origins Trilogy is COMPLETE!

It's been a journey for the past year-and-a-half, but I would most definitely do it all over again!

I absolutely LOVE this story. As a HUGE scifi fan, that prefers dystopic, medical thrillers, it's my perfect storm.

Things have been happening lately, and I'm feeling hopeful that I'm gaining a larger audience. If you happen to be visiting my site for the first time....welcome!

All three books: Bloodline, Heritage, and Descent are available on Amazon: Amazon link to books


I have had several reviews and blog interviews lately! Here is a short list of links to my favorites:

Rabid Reads  (Bloodline Review)

Goodreads   (Heritage Review)

Amazon  (Descent Review)

Gimmethatbook  (Interview)

Books Blogs and Bits  (Interview)


I have been having an amazing time, learning how to reach out to the right audience,and share my story with you. THANK YOU for coming along!!

Sample Chapter from Descent

Descent, Book Three in the Forgotten Origins Trilogy comes out in FIVE  TWO days!!!  (Sept 30)

I know some of you have been waiting for it, so I'm going to entice you a bit more with the first chapter! :)

Here you go!
Amazon Link

ONE

The motorcycle is going too fast. I hold on with all my strength, uncomfortable with the closeness of my body next to Seth’s. Increasingly aware of the muscles in his back pressing into me, I loosen my vice-like grip on his waist and scoot back in the seat as far as I dare. Revving the machine at the exact same time, it bucks under us as Seth expertly maneuvers it around a step curve. Gasping in fear, I scramble to stay on the bike, grabbing at his jacket and plastering myself against him again. My head turned into his back, I can feel him chuckling. I really do despise him.

Although I’m wearing the only helmet, I can still see the roiling clouds hanging over us. Looking up at the underbelly of the returning Nephilim ship, I quickly forget about any physical discomfort. There are much bigger things going on.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to deny the reality of this new turn of events. I’m fearful for Chris, Missy, and my other friends we left back at the vortex. But we decided that I have to get back to the ranch, where I can radio Senator Zane, as quickly as possible. Our horses are magnificent, but still slow by comparison to Seth’s motorcycle. Chris and Nate are the only other ones in our group with limited experience on a smaller dirt bike, and admitted to not being able to handle this one. Since Seth has also never been on a horse, it only makes sense for me to ride back with him, and for Benuk to take my horse. None of us like the arrangement (except maybe for Seth), but it seemed like the only option.

My eyes still closed, I try to let the motion of the bike and the warm summer air sooth my racing mind, as I think back over the events leading up to this day. Could it really be just two months since the Holocene meteor shower? I quickly do the math. It’s now barely mid-June. We gathered on the hill in our small town of Omak, to watch the shower that night in early April. It was the last day of our normal lives.

It’s still hard for me to understand it all, but we now know that there was an ancient virus released from that meteor shower. It was planted there by an alien race we call the Nephilim; the same race mentioned in both the Bible and other ancient texts, like Gilgamesh and Sumerian literature. They came here 8,000 years ago, in a search of resources to fuel their ship. We were the first intelligent life form they had ever encountered, and after a few thousand years of study, they determined we weren’t that intelligent after all. At least, most of them felt that way, but not all.

Around 2,500 years ago, their leader RA convinced the local Egyptians that he was a god, in order to manipulate them. The earth was ripe with the minerals their ship required, but in order to get at it, they needed help. While the Nephilim were strictly a non-violent race, they had no qualms about enslaving a lower life form to do the work and violence on their behalf. So the pyramids were built. Only they weren’t the temples we all thought they were, but mining machines that would eventually lead to the destruction of the planet.

The Nephilim achieved what they considered genetic perfection tens of thousands of years ago, and one of the benefits was a life span of up to 12,000 years. However, it came with the price of half of the women not being able to have children and the ones that could might have only one or two in that long lifetime. They were a dying race.

They also destroyed their home planet with the same mining techniques they were creating here on earth. That’s why they were all roaming the universe on a ship, going planet to planet in search of resources. They never could have known what they were going to find here, or how it would forever change their history.

My great-great Grandfather, Nator, was one of the Nephilim to challenge RA. He didn’t agree with the perception of us humans being equivalent to insects. After a lot of plotting and scheming, Nator was able to convince some other Nephilim to follow him, rather than RA. Along with a handful of Nephume (half Nephilim, half-human), they were able to interrupt RA’s plan of dispersing an engineered virus to turn all of the Israelites into complacent slaves, and organized the slave laborers to instead rise against RA.

The former god left earth, but with the promise to return in 5,000 years to see how things had come along. He gave Nator and the human race a chance to prove themselves. So RA seeded the Holocene meteors with the same slave virus, knowing it would impact earth at the appropriate time. He figured that if humanity were able to achieve the level of intelligence and civilization required to defeat the virus, then he would leave us alone. But if we were still the same warring, greedy, stupid race he left, then the virus would do the work for him. It would turn everyone into an emotionless hive-mind with increased intelligence and physical abilities, ready to do RA’s bidding.

But Nator threw a wrench in his plans. He and his companions stayed behind. They didn’t want to follow RA, recognizing that his mistakes were repeating their races same errors of long ago. They also felt obligated to right the wrongs they were a part of on earth. So they created their own anti-virus, and re-fabricated the pyramids from mining machines, into weapons that would disperse the anti-virus after the meteor shower.

A secret society called the Khufu Bast (meaning pyramid protectors) was formed. These human Egyptians were entrusted with the knowledge of the pyramids, and given thirteen crystal skulls; computers that when placed inside the pyramids at the same time, and activated by the appropriate DNA, would then synchronize to release the antivirus. When RA returned, he would find a race that had seemingly defeated the virus, and then leave us alone.

After creating all of this, Nator and the other Nephilim that stayed behind retreated to a biodome under the ocean with their families. He felt strongly that the Nephilim had already interfered with the human race too much, and he had no desire to live among them. There most of them stayed for 5,000 years, until I discovered a way to reach them.

Well, that was after all hell broke loose. Because then the Holocene virus spread. People changed, including my mom. I eventually discovered that my Dad was a member of the Khufu Bast, and that his murder two years before was all a part of it. He left me clues to where one of those crystal skulls was. I found it, as well as the pyramid it belonged to, near our home in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Long story short, I managed to activate the pyramids and release the anti-virus, but that was only the beginning.

During the five thousand years that Nator was in hiding, a few of his friends decided they didn’t like the quiet lifestyle. In fact, they longed for the technologically advanced one they left behind. They knew that RA would be coming back, and so they left Nator with the intent of being ready to return to RA.

They formed their own organization called the Mudameere (destroyers). This group, over the course of several hundred years, integrated themselves among our society and put a plan in motion. They didn’t care if the anti-virus was released, so long as they got a sample of the Holocene virus first, which they did. It didn’t take them long to mutate it into their own type of virus; one that would once again prepare the human race for a take-over when RA returned, and assure them of being accepted back by their former leader.

Professor Hassan was a friend of my father’s, a member of the Khufu Bast, and a brilliant scientist. He created his own anti-viral meds to this new virus, and managed to get one dose of it to me, before the Mudameere abducted us both.

My heritage was even more convoluted than I realized. One of the defecting Nephilim was Nator’s best friend, and his son was married to Nator’s daughter, who all left the biodome. So my biological dad was a Mudameere and Nephume (part Nephilim, part human). He was killed during a raid by the Khufu Bast, led by a man who found me during the raid as an infant. I came to know him as my grandpa, since he gave me to his son, my adopted father, to raise as his own. I didn’t find any of this out until a week ago.

We hit another large bump in the road, and I’m reminded of my precarious position, as I grab Seth again for balance. Seth. Sighing, I shake my head. He’s also a Nephume, and his Grandfather is one of the friends who betrayed Nator. Up until a couple of days ago, he believed all of the lies fed to him. But as RA and the other Nephilim got closer, we began sharing the same genetic memories of our true past. He realizes now that the Mudameere want nothing more than to return to the ship, Nibiru, with their leader RA. They have no problem with the knowledge that the human race and earth itself will be destroyed; a clear contradiction to what he’d been taught. Seth grew up believing that the virus the Mudameere created would only genetically enhance the human populace, making us a peaceful, intelligent race that RA would then leave alone.

Seth is the one who kidnapped me from my bed a couple of weeks ago, and helped hold me down as their own doctor’s infected me with this new, improved virus. I almost died. But I had the medication that Professor Hassan created hidden on me, and I was able to take it in time. I did change, but only the good stuff. I’m stronger, healthier, and quicker. My skin is flawless, my hair is fuller, my eyes turned violet and I have this strange ability to see angles and mathematical projections, overlaid with my vision when it seems beneficial. I still haven’t quite figured that one out, and it’s often very irritating.

 So here we are. The Mudameere created their new virus and have already started releasing it. I managed to get away from them, and determined that the Professor’s antivirus works, but now he is gone and we have no idea where he is. I got his formula for the anti-virus to Senator Zane, here in Montana, who is also a Khufu Bast. He’s currently working on getting it made. He’s also on his way to a military base nearby, to organize a resistance to the Mudameere and their planned army of Shiners. That’s what we call the people who are changed by the virus, because their eyes shine in the dark due to their night vision. (So do mine)

Seth and I found our way separately here to the Mountain Vortex, a mysterious spot the Senator’s been monitoring, because of its suspected ties to the Nephilim. He was right. It’s a portal of sorts, a way to reach Nator safely tucked away in his Biodome. We were able to activate it because of our Nephume blood, and I met my 11,000-year-old grandfather for the first time. Man, is he tall!

Just like the Nephilim in the bible, they are nearly nine feet tall and very attractive. They also want nothing to do with the human race. While he commiserates with us, he strongly believes that they already righted their wrongs and the rest is up to us. However, they have been monitoring us by allowing a choice few of their own to live among us. My cousin, Benuk, is one them. He’s half Nephilim, so while he’s still tall by earth standards, he can pass for one of us.

Nator agreed to let Benuk come back with us to help in any way he sees fit. It was difficult to find out, after everything we went through to get to him, that my great-great Grandfather wouldn’t help us. Really though, their society under the ocean, while amazing, is rather simple. They have thrown out all of their technology, other than what’s needed to maintain the dome and live as farmers. What could they actually do?

Benuk, on the other hand, has spent the past two hundred years learning about the Mudameere and us and he has a lot of good info. I think he might end up being quite valuable. But first, we have to get word to Senator Zane about what we’ve learned. With the sudden arrival of RA moments ago…it’s all that much more urgent. We don’t know what he’s going to do next.

I’ve barely finished my last thought when there’s a blinding flash of light from the sky over us. A pulsating wave of energy washes over me and the motorcycle instantly dies. Struggling to bring us to a safe stop, Seth manhandles the bike to keep it upright, and I gracefully jump off, landing on my feet like a cat.

Pulling the helmet off, I look questioningly at him. His intense, blue eyes narrow as he turns his gaze from me to the ship, now moving off to the East. “An EMP,” he says matter-of-factly.

“A what?” I question, knowing I recognize the term, but can’t quite place it.

“An electric Magnetic Pulse. I’ll bet they just wiped out all of the electronics in this hemisphere. Welcome to the 1800’s. We walk from here.”

***********

There you go! Not much longer to wait until  you have the rest. Descent is a long one....around 400 pages, printed copy. It's an epic story and it's my favorite of the three in the trilogy.

Tara

Amazon link to all of my books!