@GoddessFish Interview & Giveaway: The Complete Check Your Luck Agency by K.S. Augustin

The Complete Check Your Luck Agency


Check Your Luck Series, Book 1
K.S. Augustin


Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Sandal Press
Date of Publication: February 19, 2014
Number of pages: 658
Word Count: 46,000

Available at the following retailers:
Amazon     BN     Kobo     OmniLit     iTunes

Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.

After the tragic death of her parents, and with nothing left tying her to the United Kingdom, Ursula Formosa returns to her homeland of Malaysia and a job with the eccentrically-named Singapore firm, “The Check Your Luck Agency”.

What begins as an attempt to stave off boredom turns into a new way of life as the scales drop from Ursula’s eyes and she tentatively enters a realm that contains vengeful ghosts, toyol, demons, pontianak and curses, not to mention old-fashioned fraud and larceny. As she befriends bomohs, mediums and a young woman already centuries old, Ursula’s ideas of friendship expand into a fresh view of the world that surrounds her.

But she isn’t going to be left to ease into things. A criminal mastermind, who is also a powerful sorcerer, is gathering mythical creatures to help him possess every living soul in Singapore, and he isn’t about to let the members of The Check Your Luck Agency stand in his way!

Excerpt: 

“What made you take a job with Fiona Li?”

“I think it was Fiona who chose me,” I laughed. “She had the craziest ad in a newspaper one weekend, and I was mulling my options at the time. It was a fortunate confluence of circumstance, as she’d say.”

“You mean you didn’t train to become a paranormal investigator?” he asked with a smile. It dented his cheeks, giving him dimples to go with those liquid eyes, smooth voice and engaging manner. I swallowed. I was in serious trouble.

“I don’t see myself as a paranormal investigator,” I corrected him.

I knew Fiona’s views on the Agency’s work and my own differed markedly, but I wasn’t going to lie to the smooth-skinned, extremely handsome man seated across the table from me.

“I’ll admit I’m the sceptic of the company,” I began. “In fact, in every case I’ve handled in the past six months, not a single one ended up being attributed to supernatural causes.”

“Not one?” He was clearly incredulous.

“I certainly haven’t seen them,” I demurred. “So far, ten out of ten times, the ‘bad luck’ dogging our clients has been down to greedy relatives, unscrupulous business practices or malicious ex-lovers.”

“Not one case of hauntings or possession or things that go bump in the night? Not one instance where you’ve seen something you can’t explain?”

Yes! Tell him!

I looked him straight in the face. “No. Nothing like that at all.”

Interview: 

Today, we welcome KS Augustin to Musings and Ramblings. Let's all give a great big Geeky welcome!

Let's start with some writer specific questions before moving into the fun stuff. That way everyone can really get to know the person behind the writer. We will finish things off with round of Think Fast. Ready for the interrogation to begin?

Writing Specific

1. Is your writing style more plotter or pantser?

Definitely plotter! If it's a series, I start with a general arc across all the books. At book level, I do an initial synopsis, then I fan out the synopsis into chapters. When I have the first and last scenes committed in my head, as well as maybe three or four interim scenes, I sit down and begin writing!

2. How do you deal with Writer's Block?

Well that's the great thing about being a plotter, I don't really suffer from Writer's Block. I suffer more from Interval Fatigue, where I know there's going to be a great scene two chapters further along, and now I just have to put all the in-between stuff in so the reader knows what's going on! Aargh. It's terrible because I'm a basically impatient person and I have to force myself to slow down and complete the set-up.

3. What one thing do you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

That writing fiction is much harder, with fewer financial rewards, than writing non-fiction. (I was a non-fiction writer for almost fifteen years before I sold my first piece of fiction.) You just have to grit your teeth and keep plugging away.

4. What do you like to do when you are not writing?

Cooking! And reading, but now that's become more of a professional thing. It's as if I can't turn off my internal editor. But cooking is a joy. It's creative, it's giving, it's one way of telling my family that I love them and I appreciate how much support they give me. The book I'm promoting today (ahem), The Complete Check Your Luck Agency, has lots of descriptions of south-east Asian food because I consider the appreciation of good food a critical part of my life.

5. How did you choose the genres you write in?

I think the genres picked me! LOL I grew up on science-fiction and fantasy, so it was natural that I would see things through that lens. I just love “what-if” scenarios and a picture of a gas nebulae can choke me up the way a sandy white beach can't.

Fun Stuff

1. What was the name of the last book you read?

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi. The prose is so razor-sharp and intense you can cut yourself on the pages. And each character is so separate, so well-defined that there was absolutely no problem identifying with any of them. Even Birke, the ostensible villain. The fact that the protagonist is non-white and non-heterosexual just add to the overall interest.

2. Tell us 2 positive and 2 negative character traits you possess.

Positive – dependable, driven. Negative – impatient, arrogant.

3. What is your biggest pet peeve?

Oh, I have heaps of those! LOL But, for the moment, it's journalists who can't spell. How am I supposed to take their articles seriously when they don't even know how to express themselves professionally?

4. You are going to be stranded on a deserted island and bring 3 luxury items. What would they be?

My husband! Believe me, he's a luxury. A man who gets up and makes breakfast for the family every morning? Who does the laundry? Who loves cooking? Who finds the slightest excuse to celebrate something? Definitely, he's coming with me!


A high-quality still. Because I believe that alcohol is a food group.

5. What would we find in your refrigerator right now?

Because I live one degree north of the equator, I can't keep lots of foods in the pantry, where they'll spoil or get infested by weevils. So, although it may sound strange, here goes: three types of soya sauce, Italian coppa, half-a-dozen different cheeses, a tub of miso paste, aubergines, cabbage, brussel sprouts, carrots, beans, broccoli, fresh ginger, Thai tom yam paste, blachan, dried anchovies, sesame oil, worcestershire sauce, homemade curry powder, cream, organic eggs, every type of Tabasco sauce you can think of!, Bovril, homemade bread, fresh parsley and coriander, Korean gochujang, peanut butter, fresh full-fat yogurt and milk, sour cream, sun-dried tomatoes, butter, ghee, tomatoes, pet food and, of course, a bottle or two of wine!

Think Fast

1. Elvis or Sinatra? Sinatra
3. Mountains or Sea? Mountains
6. Summer or Winter? Winter
7. Coffee or Tea? Tea
9. Car or Truck? Truck

Thanks for coming by and spending some time with us. Any final words of wisdom to pass along?

Thanks for hosting me, Judy. I hope your readers find the book different but interesting. Those questions were a lot of fun. Whew!

Giveaway: 


K.S. will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

So follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.

Book Tour Info: 
Don't forget to check out the other stops on the Book Tour:

May 19: 

Room With Books
May 20: 

Our Wolves Den
May 21: 

Deal Sharing Aunt
The Write to Read
May 22: 

Mixed Book Bag
May 23: 

Sharing Links and Wisdom
May 26: 

Book 'Em North Carolina
May 27: 

Musings and Ramblings
May 28: 

Andi's Book Reviews
May 29: 

Lessons from My Reading
May 30: 

Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
June 2: 

fundinmental
June 3: 

Long and Short Reviews
June 4: 

Queentutt's World of Escapism
June 5: 

Kit 'N Kabookle
June 6: 

Let's Get BOOKED!
June 9: 

The blog of C.R. Moss
June 10: 

Tina Donahue Presents
Uttley's Take
June 11: 

The Crafty Cauldron
June 12: 

Booklover Sue
June 13: 

Queen of All She Reads

Author Bio:

KS "Kaz" Augustin loves writing human stories, whether set on Earth or out among the stars. Malaysian-born, she has travelled a goodly portion of the world and lived to tell the tale! Her urban fantasy release, The Complete Check Your Luck Agency, consists of five books, exploring the myths and legends of the melting-pot that is south-east Asia. Come for the food, stay for the monsters! (Ghosts included at no extra charge.)

As if all that's not enough, she's also Chief Editor of the free online quarterly magazine, Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly. http://www.scifiromancequarterly.org/

Kaz's website is at http://www.KSAugustin.com and a list of her books can also be found at http://www.SandalPressOnline.com She occasionally tweets as @SandalPress

To connect with the author online:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads