Blog Tour: Ashes Of Innocence – Phil Price Extract.

I’m excited to be working with Zooloo’s Blog Tours to be bringing you an exciting stop today! I’m hosting an extract of Phil Price’s Ashes To Innocence. Before we get to that, let’s meet the author and have a look at the book in question.

Phil Price was born in Sutton Coldfield in 1974. He lived in various places in the UK until his family settled in Rednal, a suburb on the outskirts of Birmingham in 1979. Growing up with an older brother and sister, he always flirted with reading, his home always littered with books. Then in 1997, Phil embarked on a travel expedition that took him from Greece to Thailand, via East and Southern Africa. Sitting in dusty bus stations in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi with Wilbur Smith and James Herbert accompanying him, his imagination was sparked into life. Since those far-off days, he has never been without a book to read.

Phil started toying with the idea of writing a book in 2009. After writing a few short stories, he caught a whiff of an idea in his head. It started to evolve in 2010 until he had enough to begin his writing journey. Marriage and two children came along, with the story being moved to the back burner for periods of time. However, during those periods of writing inactivity, the story continued to manifest until it just needed one thing. To be written down.

The story was littered with places that had influenced Phil’s life. From the Lickey Hills in Birmingham to the Amatola Mountains in South Africa, with other many other locations, in-between and far beyond.

The book was finished sometime in 2014, left on his computer until a chance conversation with an author friend made Phil take the bold step to publish his story, Unknown.

From there, Phil’s love for the first book spurred him on, creating The Forsaken Series. A vampire/paranormal/horror trilogy, set in our world, and others too. His love of horror and all things supernatural, inspired by authors such as King, Herbert and others, helped create the epic series.

After writing a science fiction novel, titled Zoo, Phil released his first psychological thriller, Ashes of Innocence, a story that he’d kept bubbling away for many years.
Aside from his writing, Phil lives on the edge of a small town in Worcestershire, UK. A wife and two sons keep Phil happily occupied as he steers his way through life, playing the husband, dad and world creator in equal measure
You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and on Instagram

Now that we’ve met the author, shall we take a look at the book?

He was fighting for his country in a far-off land, hoping to make his home a safer place for his family. However, the danger was not where he thought it would be. He had no clue that it would be stalking the streets of Birmingham, looking for easy pickings.
It never entered his head that two young boys could tear his world apart, taking what he loved most. Returning from conflict, John is plunged into his own dark war, trying to keep his family from falling apart.
Twelve years later, his life has become bearable, the monotony keeping him on track. But just as things start to look up, shadowy figures from his past threaten to bring it all crashing down once more.
Taking the one thing worth fighting for.

Published: January 17th 2022. Spellbound Books. Page Count: 431.

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It’s the time you’ve all been waiting for; Extract time!

John leaned against the armoured vehicle in the dusty marketplace as the sun kissed the mountains to the west of their position. He felt sick, waves of nausea washing over him as he stared at the corpse in front of him. It was human, but only just. The head, limbs and genitals had been crudely removed, the remaining torso littered with puncture wounds and smeared blood. Around him, more bodies lay, swarms of flies invading orifices and crawling over cooling flesh in search of food. They were fallen Taliban fighters, cut down by machine gun fire a few minutes before. Around them, haphazard low-rise buildings built of mud and wood formed a ring around the Royal Marines who stood on the baked earth. Many of the walls were pock-marked with bullet-holes, splashes of blood adorning their facades.
He looked away, the lukewarm Afghan afternoon heading into another cold night, high up in the mountainous plateau. Their position was on the outskirts of Marjeh, a few hours’ drive from their base, Camp Bastion. To John, it felt like a million miles away as he looked around the desolate space on the edge of the small town.
A soldier approached, designer sunglasses framing his bearded face. “Heli is five minutes out. Once we load up, we’re moving out, back to base.”
“What a way to go! Being killed in battle is one thing, James. Being tortured and cut up by the locals is something else. Did we really sign up for this shit?”
“I know, John. That’s why the Russians shipped out. They couldn’t handle them. We all know why we’re here though, to liberate the people of Afghanistan from their violent oppressors, blah blah blah. The world has certainly changed. Flying planes into skyscrapers will do that.”
“I preferred the world before 9/11.”
“You’re not alone, mate. I think we’re in for the long haul. Al Qaeda is running
amok, both here and around the world. Even if we kill Bin Laden, another one will take his place. Another nutcase hellbent on carnage. Come on, let’s get our shit together, Captain.”
“Roger that, Major,” John replied, walking around the armoured patrol vehicle as the dull beat of a helicopter drifted towards them. He took one more look at the corpse on the ground, inwardly shivering. I can’t wait to go home, he thought, shouldering his assault rifle.

There we go, what did you think of that? Does this seem like a book you’d enjoy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Don’t forget to follow the rest of the tour, by following the bloggers on the graphic below.