Showing posts with label guest post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guest post. Show all posts

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Chasing Harmony by Melanie Bell

 


New from author Melanie Bell is this timely coming of age story. Read an excerpt from Chasing Harmony and then download your own copy! Read about her writing routine and then follow the tour for even more. Best of luck entering the giveaway!

Monday, July 10, 2023

Theo & Sprout by Joseph Gergen

 


Welcome to the tour for Theo & Sprout by Joseph Gergen! Read an excerpt and then download your copy so that you can see why reviewers keep giving this one five stars. The author also shares his thoughts on introversion and dialogue. Enjoy the read and follow the tour for even more! Best of luck entering the giveaway!

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Bittersouls by L.A. Morton-Yates

 


Fantasy was made for YA readers. You've gotta check out Bittersouls by L.A. Morton-Yates! I have an excerpt for you as well as a sneak peek into the next project! Then download your own copy and visit the rest of the tour for even more fun. Best of luck entering the giveaway!

Friday, May 19, 2023

Imaginary Friends by Chad Musick

 


Magical realism naturally goes hand-in-hand with YA lit. Today you can check out an excerpt from Imaginary Friends by Chad Musick and then read about his journey to becoming a writer. Follow the tour for more and be sure to enter the great giveaway!

Monday, September 12, 2022

The After Times (The Bean Books) by Christine Potter


 Author Christine Potter is here to tell us all about her YA fantasy Bean series! You can read an excerpt from The After Times, as well! Be sure to let her know what you think in the comments section and then follow the tour for more. Best of luck in the giveaway!

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

The Signs We Missed by Lena S. May with Playlist


 

Here's another contemporary YA to get your brain working and to really get you in the feels. Read an excerpt from The Signs We Missed by Lena S. May and then download your own copy. Be sure to leave questions and comments as you follow the tour. Best of luck entering the giveaway!

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Juche Box Set (Books 1-4) by Adria Carmichael

 


Fans of YA dystopian will want to get their hands on this box set. Check out Juche from Adria Carmichael. I love box sets because you don't have to wait in between books! And this series is dystopian with a twist. Read an excerpt and then explore the setting with the author. Be sure to let her know what you think in the comments as you follow the tour for more. Best of luck entering the giveaway!

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

The Story Behind The Undine's Tear by Talena Winters

 


The Undine's Tear is the first installment of Talena Winters' new YA epic historical fantasy series, Rise of the Grigori. Find out how the title came to be and take a sneak peek inside. Download your copy and then follow the tour for more as well as bonus chances to enter the giveaway!



She's destined to save the world . . . if she doesn't destroy it first.

Calandra’s destiny is also her doom. As the most powerful healer since the woman who sank Atlantis, she’s been raised to restore the Heartstone that protects her island from humans . . . before she goes Mad like her mother and all the powerful undine healers before her. When she learns she needs both male and female magic to succeed, she becomes desperate—there hasn't been an undine male born for over three thousand years. Instead, she's being pressured to use the siren mind-bond to enslave her childhood friend, the one man she's sworn to risk a death sentence to free.

When Calandra discovers a cryptic message that shows her exiled mother was not only sane but pregnant with a boy, she questions everything she’s been taught to believe. But revealing the horrifying truth of the bonds could tear her island apart—and concealing it could unleash the Earth’s oldest, most destructive enemy. With insanity looming, can Calandra find her brother and save the Heartstone, the man she loves, her people, and the world . . . before she loses control and destroys them all?

The Undine's Tear is the first book in the mind-blowing young adult epic historical fantasy series Rise of the Grigori. Packed with complex characters, lush world-building, gritty action, and impossible odds, this intricately woven tale presents mermaids like you’ve never seen them before. Join Calandra in a search for redemption that will threaten the very fabric of the universe. Dive into the adventure today!

Read an excerpt:
Osaze looked between them with fear in his eyes, then turned back to Calandra.

“Redeemed. That’s what the queen did to me before, right? Is that what you mean by ‘help’?” He clutched Calandra’s arm. “Please don’t do it again, Calandra. I—I think I would rather die than have that happen again.”

As soon as Osaze touched her, a wave of desperation and fear crashed through her. She put her hands to her ears as though she could physically block out the sudden onslaught of emotion. Is it happening already? Is this the Madness?

When Osaze’s hand fell from her arm, the emotions subsided. She slowly lowered her hands, staring at the boy. Those feelings . . . they had all come from him? Why had she felt them so strongly? Did it have something to do with the Heartstone?

“It’s okay, Osaze. It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

He shook his head and buried it in his hands. “That would be better. It’s worse than anything you can imagine.”

Calandra stared at him, stricken. As a rule, undines treated every living thing with respect. She had always been told that Redemption meant saving the men from themselves, cleansing them of impurities they could not purge on their own. But how could it be right to do something to these men that they hated so much?


Buy on Amazon

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The Story Behind the Title of The Undine’s Tear

Have you heard of mermaid tears?

Growing up far inland with not many trips to an ocean, I hadn’t—not until I started doing the research for the book that became The Undine’s Tear.

In lore and fantasy, a mermaid’s tears often have unique magical properties—such as the mermaid tear Blackbeard was after in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which was a key element in his pursuit of the Fountain of Youth. Perhaps this mythological meaning is why sea glass, which is often green, blue, or aquamarine in colour and has been worn smooth by time and tide, was given the name of mermaid tears. These mermaid tears are often treasured collectibles of beachcombers and look very pretty displayed on a shelf.

Before publishing my book, I had intended to call it The Mermaid’s Tear, but a poll of my readers suggested the word mermaid would deter the boys in the room from picking it up. That wouldn’t do, since this is not your typical mermaid book—and, to date, has been enjoyed by many of the male persuasion!

Besides, I had long since decided an entire race of sea creatures wouldn’t be named only for the females. So, much like people are known as humans, I opted to call my merfolk undines (UN-deens), a word referring to the Greek water elemental creature. Since elemental magic is the undines’ inheritance, this seemed kind of perfect.

As for the tear the story is named after—it’s not a drop of saltwater, nor a bit of sea glass, but instead a teardrop-shaped dark green (black) opal that, in the culture of the undines, works like a flash drive to store messages and data, as well as serving as a beautiful piece of jewelry.

And the message that Tear contains is going to change the way the undines look at the world forever—in fact, it could affect the very future of the cosmos.

But that’s a story that would take a whole series to tell…


Talena Winters is addicted to stories, tea, chocolate, yarn, and silver linings. She writes page-turning fiction for teens and adults in multiple genres, coaches other writers, has written several award-winning songs, and designs knitting patterns under her label My Secret Wish. Master of the ironic GIF response. She currently resides on an acreage in the Peace Country of northern Alberta, Canada, with her husband, three surviving boys, two dogs, and an assortment of farm cats. She would love to be a mermaid when she grows up.

https://www.talenawinters.com/

https://www.instagram.com/talenawinters

https://www.twitter.com/talenawinters

https://www.goodreads.com/talenawinters

https://facebook.com/talenawinters.artist

https://facebook.com/mysecretwishbyTalena

http://pinterest.com/talenawinters




Talena Winters will be awarding a hardback copy of The Undine's Tear (Rise of the Grigori Book 1) and also The Sphinx's Heart (Rise of the Grigori Book 2) to a randomly drawn winner (International Giveaway) via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Shadow and Sword by N.K. Carlson

 


NK Carlson has a new YA fantasy out now and you get a sneak peek inside! Plus he tells us about his journey to becoming a writer. Download your own copy and then follow the tour for even more plus bonus chances to enter the giveaway!



The word was just below a whisper, yet in sixteen-year-old Reith's ears, it rang louder than he could have ever imagined. Reith had his life in order: apprentice under his mentor, Master Chronicler Vereinen, and follow in his footsteps. Until a shadowy figure appeared in his village, burning everything to the ground, including Reith's future. Now Reith's mentor is missing and Reith is on the run from the mysterious Shadow.

Reith adventures through magical forests, ancient ruins, and the lands of prejudiced elves to find his mentor, learn the secret of his sword, and unravel the mystery of the Shadow. Will Reith discover the truth or will the Shadow continue to fall over all of Terrashonen?


Read an excerpt:

Reith walked to the edge of the stairs and knelt to look at what was in this slot, reaching in and pulling out a long, shiny box. This box looked to be wood overlaid with gold, silver, and copper triangles, each alternating, coming together to form a pattern. The box was about five feet long, a foot wide, and three or four inches tall. On the side was a golden clasp, which he opened.

Reith was dazzled by the sunlight striking the metal inside. In the box sat a sword in a scabbard. Its hilt looked like it had been woven together from three different metals, just like the box. These three twisted together into a metallic braid. The cross guard was similarly woven together. A soft, leather grip covered part of the handle for ease of use. Diamonds adorned the hilt and the pommel. The scabbard was black leather with lines of the three metals inlaid upon the edges.

He lifted the sword out and held it in his hand. The grip was warm, as if someone had just set it down. It felt light, like it was part of his arm and not a foreign object. The strangest thing though was that it felt like it was vibrating in his hand, as if he had just clashed it against another warrior’s blade.

Reith lifted it to his face and saw that the edge was sharp, as if it had just been sharpened and shined the day before. He slashed the air in front of him experimentally, and the sword hummed through the air. Strange as it seemed, he felt like he was meant to have this sword.


Buy on Amazon

(affiliate link included) 


Your journey to becoming a writer

Blink… Blink… Blink…

The cursor materialized and disappeared over and over while the word counter remained at zero. I was in high school facing yet another essay that I had no motivation to write nor particular passion about the subject matter.

This scene happened several times in middle school and high school. Most writing assignments were big research papers or essays about uninteresting topics. I’ll be honest with you: I hated writing in middle school and high school. I would have rather sat a million tests that write papers.

But my loathing for writing was not always so. I had good experiences before then. In elementary school, the highlight of every year was receiving a blank white book to fill with a story or non-fiction work. We could choose the topic and write about anything we wanted. After writing a draft of the story, we workshopped it with our teacher and then we were given the greenlight to write and illustrate our blank white books. I loved those projects.

But then the freedom to be creative was taken away, replaced with boring drudgery of research papers and silly essays about trying to persuade the school board to not implement a uniform policy, which our teachers lied to us about to get us sufficiently angry to write our essays. How messed up is that?

And so I went to college. It was 2011 and blogging was all the rage. I had some friends start blogs, so I jumped in and started one. And I started writing about topics I cared about. In doing so, I found that I actually really liked writing. I enjoyed the process. I liked writing when I was writing about things I actually cared about.

Midway through college, I decided I wanted to try and write a novel. I started one, worked on it for a bit, but only got a few thousand words in before I got bored of it and gave up.

Then I had another idea, got really excited about it, and wrote a few thousand words, and gave it up after growing bored again.

I graduated and started grad school and had another idea for a novel, which I started, wrote a few thousand words, got bored, and abandoned.

Are you sensing a theme?

And then I had the idea for Shadow and Sword. I believed in this idea, but more importantly, I believed in myself. I would not let myself give up. If I was going to write a novel, it was now or never. So, over a period of four months, I wrote the first draft of Shadow and Sword. I finished it! And I knew from that moment that I had it in me to be a writer. Of course, it took a lot of work to rewrite and edit it, but I had the knowledge that I had started a novel and I had finished it. I was officially a writer.



N. K. Carlson is an author living in Texas. Originally from the Chicago area, he graduated from the University of Illinois before studying at Logsdon Seminary, where he graduated with a master of divinity degree. He has published two books.

The Things that Charm Us and the Smelly Gospel (which was co-written with Drew Doss) both came out in 2020.

His love of writing began in elementary school when each student was given a blank white book to fill with a story. In college, he took an interest in blogging and writing novels.

Website: https://www.nkcarlson.com/

https://medium.com/@nkcarlson

https://www.facebook.com/nkcarlson

https://twitter.com/N8Carlson



N. K. Carlson will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Thursday, April 14, 2022

The Secrets That Kill Us by Phoenix Blackwood

 


Today we welcome Phoenix Blackwood to the blog. They are sharing their journey to becoming a writer as well as an excerpt from The Secrets That Kill Us. Remember to leave a a comment or question as you follow the tour! Best of luck in the giveaway!



At sixteen, Liz had already trudged through hell and back. Having bounced from one foster home to another most of her life, she finally finds herself in a stable home. But stability poses its own challenges after a life of unsteady fooling, and Liz grapples to find a way to be still. Her past still plagues her in this new world. Everything feels wrong, she is at odds with her own body and mind, and struggling to survive.

Liz finds an unlikely friend in Alex, a girl who may not share Liz’s troubled past but strives to understand, even though it means becoming a pariah at school. With Alex’s help, Liz searches for the strength to confront her demons, and the two see each other through addictions, transitions, and the dangerous consequences of coping.

Unable to let herself trust and love, even in this new space with new support, Liz’s trauma begins to drag her under. Some secrets kill, and some truths fight to stay hidden. Unearthing them all will require Liz to trust others despite a lifetime of learning just how dangerous that is.


Read an excerpt:

High school wasn’t much different than middle school, other than things being less sticky and more dingy. I’d made it through freshman year by the skin of my teeth, and now the daunting task of sophomore year stood before me, halfway accomplished. The guys were a lot more obnoxious, graduating from senseless teasing to aggression in order to fulfill their newfound need for overbearing toxic masculinity. I rolled my eyes as I walked past a group of guys pushing each other around, proving my point. At least I wasn’t the new kid this time. I’d somehow managed to keep up with the class and graduate. I'd made it through a year and a half of high school without being held back. It was still a constant struggle. When I got to my locker I squinted at the paper I’d been given for the code, bringing it closer to my face. Contacts weren’t cutting it, I really needed to wear my glasses. But damn, did I hate them. After a few different attempts I managed to get the right numbers and threw the books I didn’t need in. They made a loud slam as they hit the back of the locker.


Available on Amazon

(affiliate link) 


Your Journey to Becoming a Writer

I didn’t start out wanting to be a writer. In fact, when I was in school, English was one of my least favorite topics and I hated the lessons. When I was in highschool, I started diving a little into the world of creative writing, actually writing out the scenes that I played through in my head, but didn’t do anything with the writing. I always told myself I’d write a book eventually, but at the time was invested in what was essentially an early version of The Secrets that Kill Us into a webcomic. I even drew a couple pages, but that was as far as I ever got.

When I was younger, my dream was to become an animator for Pixar. This dream slowly fell away as I realized how much I hated working with animation programs. I transitioned from that idea to an illustrator, whether it be for books or concept art for movies or games. This dream lasted into college, where I found that I just didn’t like my artistic process when it was on a deadline. That, coupled with learning how competitive the art world is, was enough to scare me off. I shifted to the idea of psychology and becoming an art therapist.

That’s a dream I still hold in my head, but a couple years ago writing came back into my life in a very real way. I picked up Jennie Wood’s A Boy Like Me at Boston Comic Con one year and it sparked something in me that made me want to tell my story. The story of Secrets had never really left my head, and I finally decided that it was time to get it out on paper. So I started writing a little bit every day, delving into the world and exploring the characters as the story unfolded. Unfortunately, life happened and I put it down for a little while. Another book came along, Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, and it was the kick in the pants that made me want to start writing again after a very long stint of depression.

And so, I wrote – and finished – The Secrets that Kill Us. Through writing this story I discovered how fulfilling it was to write a story that people would see themselves in, and it left me craving more. There will be many more projects to come, and I’m hoping I’ll have success with them, but most of all I’m hoping that I can make at least one person feel like they belong in a time when they’re struggling to find their place.


Born and raised in New England, Phoenix has always been a creative – whether it’s painting or writing. From a very young age, Phoenix has envisioned and created characters, writing them into existence and exploring them through visual arts. Having graduated to first-time short story author, Phoenix is embarking on a journey towards novel writing as they finally bring characters they’ve known for years into the world. Phoenix is neurodiverse and intersex and hopes to bring more representation to both topics with their writing. They believe in creating relatable characters that people can find themselves in and empathize with.

Website: https://t.co/UEEMwVpdtV




Phoenix Blackwood will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Love Me Please by Chris Bedell

 


If you're looking for a read to keep you on the edge of your seat, then check out Love Me Please by Chris Bedell. Today he's sharing with us thoughts on how he created his fictional world as well as an excerpt. Be sure to follow the tour for more! Best of luck in the giveaway!



Colton should be like every other seventeen-year-old, hanging out with friends, procrastinating on homework, and dreaming about which colleges he should apply to, but Colton’s focus when he gets home every day is on how violent his alcoholic mother will be. Will he be her ashtray again or worse?


Tripp has the perfect life – handsome, from a wealthy family, and is the football player everyone wants to date. Tripp just wants to date one person – Colton, but he can’t seem to break through that tough exterior and get Colton to trust him.


A friend’s party opens the door for both to potentially get what they want, but it’s that same party ends with Colton’s best friend dead. Caught between wanting to finally find happiness with Tripp and discovering what happened to Declan, Colton discovers that he isn’t the only one who’s kept secrets. How well did he really know Declan and can he trust Tripp enough to let himself believe he’s worthy of being loved?


Read an excerpt:

The door creaked. A guy with spiked hair stood by the bedroom’s entrance.

“Sorry. Thought this was the bathroom.” Tripp tugged at the sides of his varsity jacket.

“No worries,” I mumbled.

Tripp furrowed an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

“I’m fine.” I grabbed my Margarita, then chugged the rest of it. The tequila’s distinct taste burned my throat while I licked my lips, savoring the sweet and lime flavors. I squashed my cup, letting it fall onto the ground.

Tripp’s jaw twitched. “You don’t seem fine.”

“The bathroom is down the hall.” I shuffled towards the bed before sitting on it.

The door clinked after Tripp locked it. He joined me on the bed.

Tripp chuckled. “Something happen?”

I looked away. “It’s a long story.”

“I’m a good listener.”

“Thanks.”

Tripp placed his hands on his lap. “We lost the football game, and I’m still in a good mood. So, I’m sure your problem can’t be that bad.”

Most people might have been pissed at Tripp for making an assumption if they were me. But I wasn’t. Tripp was taking an interest in my life, and that was more than could be said for most people.

Tripp met my gaze. “I promise I won’t judge.”

“I believe you.”

“This is the most we’ve ever talked.”

“So?”

“I just meant you never speak up in class.”

“I don’t have anything important to say,” I said.

He winked. “You’re wrong.”

“Huh?”

“The quiet ones are the most insightful people.” He patted my shoulder.


Available on Amazon

(Affiliate link included) 



Crafting the fictional world of LOVE, ME PLEASE was interesting. While the book is a YA Contemporary novel with a Thriller/Mystery element, as opposed to something that’s strictly character driven, literary fiction, I still wanted to craft a book that had dimensions and layers to it.

Characters is one important element to the story. Too few characters and the story might not be interesting enough. But if you have too many characters, the story might feel overly convoluted. The main character is Colton. Colton’s mother is both homophobic and a physically abusive drunk. But Colton’s gonna need escapes from this abusive home life. One escape was his best friend, Declan (the popular kid). Declan’s death is what kicks off the novel/murder mystery in the book. Tripp is another escape for Colton—he’s Colton’s love interest. And there’s also Colton’s former childhood best friend (Gina) who he’s grown apart from. But Colton does cross paths again with Gina fairly early on in the novel. There are also characters who are important to the mystery—characters I can’t really discuss because that’d be spoilers.

Setting is also important. School, Colton’s home, and his outlet (Tripp’s home) are some important settings. But I wanted to give the book a unique setting. So, I created VERONICA’S (a coffee shop/diner type setting). Every town usually has a spot people flock to. Creating a hangout spot therefore gives the novel depth.

The mystery itself is another important aspect to crafting the fictional world of LOVE ME, PLEASE. I can’t spell out all of the mystery because that’d spoil the book. But I can say that the mystery starts out as kinda this slow burn. But then Colton eventually circles back to Declan’s death. And one thing after another starts unraveling.

Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little about me crafting the fictional world of LOVE ME, PLEASE. Because while fiction doesn’t have to be realistic, the little details (like characters, setting, plot, clues for the mystery, etc.) are what will bring a story to life.


Chris Bedell's previous publishing credits include Thought Catalog, Entropy Magazine, Chicago Literati, and Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, among others. His 2019 books include his NA Thriller BURNING BRIDGES (BLKDOG Publishing), YA Paranormal Romance DEATHLY DESIRES (Deep Hearts YA), and YA Thriller COUSIN DEAREST (BLKDOG Publishing). In addition to his YA Thriller BETWEEN LOVE AND MURDER, his 2020 books include his YA Contemporary I’LL SEE YOU AGAIN (Deep Hearts YA), YA Thriller THE FABULIST (BLKDOG Publishing), YA Thriller I KNOW WHERE THE BODIES ARE BURIED (BLKDOG Publishing), and YA SciFi DYING BEFORE LIVING (Deep Hearts YA). Besides his YA Thriller LOVE HIM/HATE HIM, Chris’s 2021 books include his YA Fantasy CROSSING DESIRES (Spectrum Books) and rerelease of his YA Fantasy IN THE NAME OF MAGIC from JMS Books. Furthermore, Chris graduated with a BA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2016.

Social Media Links:

Twitter: @ChrisBedell

Instagram: @CJohnBedell

Author's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Bedell/e/B086JMTWRY/



Chris Bedell will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, November 26, 2021

A Moment in Time by Martin Dukes


 

Welcome to the tour for A Moment in Time by Martin Dukes! Today you'll not only get a peek inside with an excerpt but also how Martin Dukes would handle it should his book baby be accepted to be put onscreen. Follow the tour for even more!



Alex Trueman has just turned fifteen. He's a typical teenager, a bit spotty, a bit nerdy and he's not exactly popular at school, not being one of the 'cool' kids. His tendency to day-dream doesn't exactly help him to be cool. either! But being cool isn't as good as the talent Alex discovers he has - stopping time.

Yes that's right. Stopping time!

Well, for everyone except Alex, that is, who finds that whilst everyone else is caught in a moment in time, he is able to carry on as normal. Maybe not quite 'normal', after all, he's able to stop time, and whilst that's not exactly as good as a certain 'boy wizard', it's pretty close!

The only trouble is that reality for Alex isn't always what is seems, and being plunged into an alternative can be a bit tricky, not to mention the fact that he makes an enemy almost as soon as he arrives, which tends to cause a problem.

Will Alex Trueman, nerdy daydreamer, be able to return to reality or will he be stuck forever in his alternative? Is a moment in time enough for Alex to discover the superhero he needs is probably himself?

A Moment in Time is the debut novel of author Martin Dukes, and is the first in a series of Alex Trueman Chronicles, which take the reader, along with Alex, into a bedazzling world of time travel, alternative reality and flying sea creatures. His further adventures include the past, possibly the future and definitely a fight to save reality itself.

Read an excerpt:
“What on earth are you doing?” rang Alex’s mum’s voice from behind him, and then “Oh!” as she took in the scene of the accident. The two girls were led past Alex. He gaped. There was something so familiar about that girl, and as she passed their eyes met. There were tears in hers – anguish, shock – and then as she passed by a glimmer of recognition. Alex almost called out, but what was there to say? Then she was gone, her head turned away once more as the crowd swallowed her up. His mum was scolding him, grabbing at his arm, but Alex hardly heard. He remained frozen, watching until the two girls vanished inside the police station. Then he allowed himself to be drawn away back towards the High Street, letting his mum’s complaints wash over him.

“… out of your pocket money,” she was saying. “Great clumsy clot. And running off like that. What on earth did you think you were doing?”

A stranger appeared at Alex’s side, a young man with a struggling goatee beard and a kindly face. He wore an ill-fitting suit. Before Alex could react, the stranger had taken his hand and pressed something into it. Alex glanced down. It was a page torn from a jotter with a name and a telephone number scrawled upon it. Alex looked up.

“Come on,” called his mum impatiently from up ahead.

But the young man had gone. Alex glanced wildly up and down the street. He looked at the paper again. ‘Kelly’ was the name.

Available on Amazon
(affiliate link)




If my book was made into a movie

My first reaction, upon being offered a contract declaring that Netflix was proposing to make a movie of my book, would be delight. How could it not be? In my mind’s eye, I see a period of fist-pumping and dancing around whatever room I was in at the time. I imagine there would be some embracing and hugging going on, too. Naturally, detail is everything here. Had the contract arrived in a letter, and I had opened this letter on a bus, I expect my response would the scaled back accordingly, for fear of giving the impression that I am a lunatic to the public at large. However, were I safely within the bosom of my own family, I imagine that jubilation would know no bounds, leading to a frantic round of messaging and phone-calling amongst friends and acquaintances.

However, I ask myself, would this intense period of celebration quite quickly give way to mature consideration of the circumstances? After all, if Netflix (or some other equivalent) are going to buy the right to dramatize my work for the screen, they are going to wish to impose their own creative vision on it, are they not? At this point, when this thought crosses my mind, a strange clamminess comes upon my hands and a prickle across the brow. I swallow hard. ‘A Moment in Time’ is my baby. I made it. Me. It’s all mine and the thought of other people, complete strangers, coming in and taking my baby away from me is one that fills me with disquiet. I mean, what if they change it so it’s barely recognisable to me? There are so many things to be scared of!

In the first place, when we read a book, there is a creative interplay between the author’s vision and our own. The author sees things in their own head: a view of a city street, an impassioned argument between two characters, for example, and they describe what they see in those words on the page. When we read those words we see within our own minds an approximation of the author’s vision, but crucially, we interpret it in ways that suit our own experience and make of it something that is deeply personal. Reading is as much a creative exercise as writing. It is not as though the writer provides us with a flat-pack wardrobe in a box, with the instructions for assembly. Rather, the writer provides us with materials and guidance, and we assemble from them something that is unique to ourselves.

This is why movies are often disappointing, to those who have first read the book on which it was based. A very obvious example is Jack Reacher, a movie interpretation of Lee Child’s book made in 2012, and starring Tom Cruise as the eponymous Jack. The problem here is that Jack Reacher is a giant of a man, 6’5” whilst the diminutive Tom is a mere 5’7”. I am a great admirer of Tom Cruise’s work, but he was never going to cut it as Jack Reacher. When we read about characters, we see, in our mind’s eye, a vision of those characters that movie-makers may contradict, although few examples are as clear-cut as the one I mention. Sometimes, things work out. Peter Jackson’s vision of the characters in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was remarkably similar to my own, which is one reason why I enjoyed them so much.

With my own book, I have an unimprovably clear idea in my mind of what Alex Trueman looks like. I know this because I used my son, Jack, as a model, when taking photos and video to be used for the cover of the book and for the subsequent marketing. Would my Jack be prepared to reprise his role in Hollywood and project his persona onto the big screen, with all the attendant fame and celebrity? I rather suspect he would.



About the author:

I’ve always been a writer. It’s not a choice. It’s a compulsion, and I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. Lots of childish scribbles in notebooks, lots of rejection slips from publishers and agents testify to a craft long in the making. In addition, it has proved necessary to earn a living by other means whilst those vital skills mature. For thirty-eight years I taught Art and Graphic Design, thirty-seven of them in a wonderful independent girls’ school in Birmingham, UK. For much of the latter part of this career I was Head of Department, which gave me the opportunity to place my own stamp on Art education there, sharing with the pupils there my own love of Art and the History of Art. Over a decade I was able to lead annual visits to Florence, Venice and Rome (some of my favourite places on the planet) as destinations on my Renaissance Tour. These visits created memories that I shall cherish for the rest of my life.

I love history in general, reading history as much as I read fiction. I have a particular interest in the ancient world but I am also fascinated with medieval times and with European history in general. This interest informs my own writing to the extent that human relationships and motivations are a constant throughout the millennia, and there is scarcely a story that could be conceived of that has not already played itself out in some historical context. There is much to learn from observing and understanding such things, much that can be usefully applied to my own work.

Teaching tends to be a rather time-consuming activity. Since retiring, I have been able to devote much more of my time to writing, and being taken on by the brilliant Jane Murray of Provoco Publishing has meant that I am finally able to bring my work to the reading public’s attention. I like to think that my ideas are original and that they do not readily fall into existing tropes and categories.

I am not a particularly physical being. I was always terrible at sport and have rather poor physical coordination (as though my body were organised by a committee rather than a single guiding intelligence!). I tend to treat my body as a conveyance for my head, which is where I really dwell. My writing typically derives from dreams. There is a sweet spot between sleeping and waking which is where my ideas originate. I always develop my stories there. When I am writing it feels as though the content of my dreams becomes real through the agency of my fingers on the keyboard. I love the English language, the rich majesty of its vocabulary and its rhythmic possibilities. My arrival at this stage could hardly be describes as precocious. However, at the age of sixty-two, I feel that I have arrived at a place where I can create work of value that others may appreciate and enjoy.

https://provoco-publishing.com/martin-dukes

Twitter - @MartinDukes5

www.mdukes-wildestdreams.com



Martin Dukes will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Amanda911 by Mark Schreiber

 


All important people and heroes have an origin story, right? Today author Mark Schreiber is going to reveal to us how Amanda911 came to be. You'll also get to look inside the book with an excerpt. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for even more. Leave your questions and comments along the way! Best of luck entering the giveaway!



“Sixteen-year-old Iowa schoolgirl Amanda Dizon may be the nation’s most unremarkable teenager, until she falls down a well and finds herself instantaneously transformed from irrelevant to influencer. Mark Schreiber’s sly, rollicking masterpiece, Amanda911, follows Amanda’s escapades and sends up the craven, fame-obsessed virtual culture of today’s adolescents. As insightful as Dickens and as innovative as Heller, Schreiber is the definitive satirist of the social media generation.”—Jacob M. Appel, author of Einstein’s Beach House

Read an excerpt:
Falling down a well was both the best and worst thing that ever happened to my granddaughter.

She was a Disney princess to me, but a comic sidekick to her classmates, who’d never been kissed by a boy—or I suppose by a girl—been asked to a dance, or chosen for any role in a school production that did not conceal her face.

Most people under twenty probably don’t know what a well is.

Haven’t seen one. Probably think it’s just something you say when you need to buy time, like like, or when someone asks you how you’re feeling, although I guess these days everyone says good or OK, or nothing at all, opting for an emoji instead. Do kids even talk anymore, in the crowded loneliness of their bedrooms? Did Amanda even scream when she fell down the well? Or did she just send a screaming emoji?

So, when millions of kids all over the globe saw the headline, they shared via social media:

Girl Plummets Down Well

More than plenty had to Google well to comprehend its meaning.

I’m sure she got at least half a million hits just from image searches that returned a picture of an oil rig in the North Sea. Geez, her international peer group must have thought, or words or emojis to that effect. A girl has fallen thousands of feet smack into a tidal wave. I hope she’s more Kate than Leonardo.


Buy links:
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Origin Story for Amanda911
By Mark Schreiber

Amanda911 began as an essay I wanted to write, but never did, called Superficial Superficiality, about people who want to be famous for being famous, rather than for any particular field of excellence.

The new profession of influencer was really the first time in history people could fulfill that need, and as a result it is often disparaged as empty and exploitive. However, being an influencer is hard work, demanding a specific skill set, and it allows people who do have talent but have previously been silenced by society—by oppression, or gatekeepers, or commercial constraints—to find an audience.

I like humor, so I wanted to write a book that would be funny. But I didn’t want to simply satirize the excesses of social media. I also wanted to write a book for influencers themselves, because when I started there weren’t any influencer protagonists in novels. And I do admire them. So although I wanted to examine the culture critically, I also aspired to write a book that influencers could relate to and say, “Yeah, that’s what it’s like.”

I wanted my influencer to be a teenager because I wanted someone without a history, without a profession or spouse or kids. And I wanted someone who was unpopular. Someone who didn’t want to be an influencer.

When I was in fifth grade my class had an election to send one of us to city council for a day. Several kids campaigned eagerly. I wasn’t one of them. But somehow I received a groundswell of support and was even carried around on the playground. This could have been the beginning of my political career, but I resented even having to dress up for City Hall. Now I reflected on that experience and thought, what if my influencer is carried away like that?

I wanted it to be a girl, plain, sweet, someone everyone can root for. Someone deceptively perceptive and filled with common sense that sees people’s flaws yet at the same time accepts them. My niece Amanda. She’s Costa Rican, one of my ex-wife’s nieces. She was only 12 when I decided to write the book, but I would make her sixteen. Of course my Amanda is very different from the real Amanda. But her sweetness and acceptance of others and being easily overwhelmed by life are imprinted on my character.

Oh yes, and she fell down a hole while playing in the street and woke up in the hospital. She was only five and there was no media coverage, but it reminded me of stories of kids falling in wells or getting lost in the woods that riveted the nation in the days before cable TV. Maybe her family has a farm with a well in the back. Maybe that farm is in Iowa and she falls in during presidential primary season, when all the national media are there.

In real life these horrific stories can last days. Remember the Thai soccer team trapped in a cave? That still gives me the creeps. But I wanted to write a comedy, and I thought with the frantic pace of social media she would only have to be trapped in the well for a few minutes for it to go viral.

When I was five I dug a hole in our backyard. My mom said if I dug far enough I’d reach China. That was a common saying back then and I thought it would be a great metaphor for the book, because in effect Amanda does fall all the way to China, by becoming a star on their PingPong platform.

Of course, everyone would assume she would have her fifteen minutes of fame, and everything would go back to normal. But I felt her normalness would be exotic. She would be special for being ordinary, because when the whole world is on stage, it’s the solitary person sitting in the audience that stands out. Kids in megacities in Asia would be fascinated by her lifestyle, just as she was fascinated by manga and K-Pop. But they would also love her authenticity and sweetness, and that would make her fame stick.

But she’s not articulate. I didn’t want her telling the story. I wanted it framed from a cultural perspective, and that’s when I decided on the grandfather. He’s a failed writer, a bitter cynic who doesn’t even own a cell phone and still uses a manual typewriter. He hates social media, but he loves his granddaughter more than anything. So what happens when she invites him to chaperone her to the Influencer Festival?

If I could answer that question, I could write the book.






Mark Schreiber was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1960, graduated high school at age fifteen and began writing novels full-time. Princes in Exile, which explores a prodigy’s struggle to accept his own mortality at a summer camp for kids with cancer, was published in 1984 and made into a feature film in 1991. It has been published in ten countries, received two awards in Europe and was shortlisted for the Austria Prize. Carnelian, a fantasy, was published by Facet in Belgium. Starcrossed, a rebuttal to Romeo and Juliet, was published by Flux and translated into French and Turkish. His illustrated science book, How to Build an Elephant, was published as an Apple app by Swag Soft. He has written over forty books and received two State of Ohio Individual Writer Fellowships. For the last seven years he has been a digital nomad, living on four continents. He currently resides in Costa Rica.

Website: Amanda911.com

TikTok: @Amanda911

Instagram: @Amanda911

Twitter: @Markschreiber07

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Schreiber


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Wednesday, July 14, 2021

The Importance of Jimmy Bob in The F.I.G. Mysteries by Barbara Casey

 


Get to know the F.I.G. Mysteries series by Barbara Casey and find out why the character Jimmy Bob is so important in them. Enjoy an excerpt and then follow the tour for even more! Best of luck entering the giveaway!


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THE F.I.G. MYSTERIES

Dara Roux, abandoned when she was 7 years old by her mother. Exceptionally gifted in foreign languages. Orphan.

Mackenzie Yarborough, no record of her parents or where she was born. Exceptionally gifted in math and problem-solving. Orphan.

Jennifer Torres, both parents killed in an automobile accident when she was 16. Exceptionally gifted in music and art. Orphan.



THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES: Book 1

Known as the F.I.G.s (Females of Intellectual Genius), three high-spirited 17 year olds with intelligent quotients in the genius range, accompany their teacher and mentor, Carolina Lovel, to Frascati, Italy, a few weeks before they are to graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. Carolina's purpose in planning the trip is to remove her unusually gifted, creative students from the Wood Rose campus located in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they can't cause any more problems ("expressions of creativity") for the headmaster, faculty, and other students – which they do with regularity. Carolina also wants to visit the Villa Mondragone where the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, was first discovered and attempt to find out how it is related to a paper written in the same script she received on her 18th birthday when she was told that she was adopted.


Read an excerpt:
"Ouch! You're standing on my fingers!" This from the petite girl with a long, blond ponytail, wearing a nightgown, most of which was pulled up between her legs and tied into a knot at her waist to keep it from getting tangled on the limb where she was perched. Somewhere above her the sound of a saw and splintering wood filled the darkness followed by a stream of profanity repeated in several foreign languages for emphasis.

"It doesn't look right. It's supposed to have a rim and a dent." Clinging to a 12-foot ladder as she pointed the flashlight first this way and then that, the heavy-set girl wearing a nightshirt buttoned at the neck offered this with a slight lisp.

The girl with the blond ponytail giggled.

"What do you mean—dent?! Let me see that picture." The tall black girl completely hidden aimed her flashlight toward the magazine that was being thrust upwards through the thick branches in her direction.

"And the top is supposed to be rounded—like a button mushroom," the girl in the nightshirt added, the word "mushroom" sounding more like "muthroom."

"That's because it's circumcised," supplied the girl with the ponytail, from which she removed a small twig and a handful of leaves.

"Shekoo, baboo!” More profanity. “Okay. I know what to do." The tall black girl disappeared back into the upper-most branches of the tall plant that was more tree than bush. After several additional minutes, the sawing, crunching, and clipping sounds finally gave way to the more gentle sounds of tiny snips. And then, silence.

"That's it; everybody down."

The petite girl, with the magazine that had been overlooked in the last confiscation and now wedged firmly under her armpit, started the perilous descent first since she was nearest to the ground, followed by the tall girl. The girl in the nightshirt eased her way down the ladder juggling pruning shears, a hand saw, and scissors. Once on the ground, the three girls stood back to admire their work.

"That is one honkin' Peni erecti," said the tall girl causing a fresh explosion of giggles. "Let's get out of here." After quickly rolling down the legs of her pajama bottoms, the tall girl grabbed one end of the ladder and, along with her two friends, lugged it and the other tools back to the shed that housed lawn maintenance equipment. Task accomplished, they returned to their rooms, and to their individual beds, careful not to disturb the other dorm residents, the floor monitors, their suitemates and, most importantly, their slumbering dorm mother, Ms. Larkins. Within minutes, they fell into a deep, peaceful sleep—the sleep of innocent angels.

It would soon be light; and Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women would start another day.





THE WISH RIDER: Book 2

When Carolina and the F.I.G.s return to Wood Rose, Dara decides that she wants to try to locate her birth mother when she learns that she might be living in New York City. Carolina, Mackenzie, and Jennifer accompany her and their search leads them to a secret dangerous shadow world hidden deep beneath Grand Central, constructed in what Mackinzie identifies as chevroned magic squares—N X N matrixes in which every row, column, and diagonal add up to the same number—and cloaked in the discordant B flat minor key music that only Jennifer can hear.





THE CLOCK FLOWER: Book 3

The three FIGs—Females of Intellectual Genius—graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women after returning from New York City where Dara learned why her mother abandoned her all those years ago, and they are now attending universities where they can further their special talents. This means they will be separated from each other and from Carolina, their much-loved mentor and teacher who is “one of them,” for the first time in their young lives. They vow to try living apart for one semester, in the so-called real world that doesn’t include the orphanage; but if things don’t work out, they will come up with another plan—a plan where they can be together once again. Dara is invited through Yale University to take part in an exciting archeological project in China. Jennifer, once again visualizing black and white images and the unusual sounds of another cadence that seem to be connected to Mackenzie, is engrossed in creating her next symphony at Juilliard. Mackenzie, because of her genius at problem-solving, is personally chosen by a US Senator to get involved in a mysterious, secret research project involving immortality that is being conducted in a small village in China—not too far from where Dara is involved with the archeological site. Once there, however, she finds herself facing a terrifying death from the blood-dripping teeth of an ancient evil dragon. Her best friends, the FIGs and Carolina, rely on their own unique genius and special talents to save her as she discovers the truth of her birth parents.




THE NIGHTJAR’S PROMISE: Book 4

Jennifer Torres, one of the three FIGs (Females of Intellectual Genius) who is a genius in both music and art, is the last to leave the closed rehearsal for her upcoming performance over Thanksgiving break at Carnegie Hall when she hears something in the darkened Hall. Recognizing the tilt of the woman’s head and the slight limp of the man as they hurry out an exit door, she realizes it is her parents who were supposedly killed in a terrible car accident when she was 15 years old. Devastated and feeling betrayed, she sends a text to Carolina and the other two FIGs—THURGOOD. It is the code word they all agreed to use if ever one of them got into trouble or something happened that was too difficult to handle. They would all meet back at Carolina’s bungalow at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women to figure it out. As soon as they receive the text, because of their genius, Dara starts thinking of words in ancient Hebrew, German, and Yiddish, while Mackenzie’s visions of unique math formulae keep bringing up the date October 11, 1943. And as Carolina waits for the FIGs to return to Wood Rose, she hears warnings from Lyuba, her gypsy mother, to watch for the nightjar, the ancient name for the whip-poor-will.

In their search for “The Nightjar’s Promise” and the truth surrounding it, Carolina and the FIGs come face to face with evil that threatens to destroy not only their genius, but their very lives.



Find the books on Amazon



THE IMPORTANCE OF JIMMY BOB


One of my favorite characters in The F.I.G. Mystery Series gets introduced in Book 1 – The Cadence of Gypsies. Jimmy Bob Doake is the night security guard at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women, and it is his responsibility to make sure nothing irregular happens during the “witches’ hours,” as he calls late night.

Jimmy Bob managed to complete the 8th grade, but dropped out of school after that in order to help his parents with his younger brothers and sisters. In spite of this, as an adult, he has the soul of a poet; and it is during those late night hours that he pens his thoughts onto paper.

Jimmy Bob provides comic relief to some of the more emotional scenes involving the F.I.G.s and Carolina. But he also offers inspiration and hope because he is such a good and decent person trying to do the best he can with what he has. His old hound dog, Tick, does the same thing in his own way.

Jimmy Bob is very much a permanent fixture at Wood Rose, and I bring him back in The Wish Rider and The Clock Flower, Books 2 and 3, as well as The Nightjar’s Promise—Book 4 in the series. With the problems of campus politics, jealousies among students and professors alike, and rampant distrust of Carolina and the F.I.G.s, it is Jimmy Bob who sees things with a clear eye and pure, nonjudgmental heart. As Carolina and the F.I.G.s’ search for answers takes them to Italy, New York City, China, and the tombs of a Jewish cemetery in Virginia, it is Jimmy Bob and his faithful companion Tick who give the reader a sense of permanence and security—and of acceptance.


Originally from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history. In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service. In 1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and book production.

Ms. Casey has written over a dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IP Best Book for Regional Fiction, among others. Two of her nonfiction books have been optioned for major films, one of which is under contract.

Her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in both national and international publications including the North Carolina Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story. A thirty-minute television special which Ms. Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies. Ms. Casey's essays and other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).

Ms. Casey is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she served as guest author and panelist. She has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003. In 2018 Ms. Casey received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest Georgia with three cats who adopted her, Homer, Reese and Earl Gray - Reese’s best friend.

www.barbaracaseyauthor.com

www.barbaracaseyagency.com


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Monday, April 26, 2021

Dark Creation by Kelsey Ketch

 



Welcome to the Book Tour! 
Today you can check out an excerpt from Dark Creation and author Kelsey Ketch talks more about writing Charissa's story. There's also a great giveaway at the end!

Dark Creation (A Dark Reflections Short Story #2)
By
Kelsey Ketch
Release Date: April 30th, 2021
New Adult Dark Fantasy Short Story



Summary from Goodreads:

Long before Charissa began her murderous rampage through history, she was a young woman living in ancient Alexandria.

Oppressed by society and cursed by the color of her hair, Charissa had hardly seen the world beyond the four walls of her home. So, when her husband leaves for extended military duty, she takes the opportunity to tour the city her brother once loved. Little does she know the Fates have other plans in store for her when she runs into an exotic woman in the Rhakotis District. The encounter will change her life forever.


Read an excerpt:

A soft heat mixed with a sweet metallic scent made my mouth water. My empty gut squirmed and rumbled. My eyes fluttered open only to find the room around me blurred. From what I could tell, I was lying on a piece of furniture covered in pillows, much like the seven couches of my husband’s andron. An image moved above me, and something soft and sticky pressed against my lips. A honey-like fluid rushed into my mouth. I swallowed greedily, letting it nourish my dry throat. As my stomach filled, my senses sharpened. The rhythmic drums vibrated in my ears. The heat and metallic scent interweaved with myrrh, cinnamon, and frankincense, becoming intoxicating.




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Writing Charissa’s Story

To begin, I want to state that my characters, though fictional, become real in my imagination. They have their own thoughts, their own emotions, and their own secrets even I am not privy too. In my mind, they are their own person.

As the antagonist of Dark Reflections, Charissa has not been an easy character to get along with. If the topic is not about one of her bloody victories or conquests throughout history, she remains closed lipped about her past. I always felt this was because she didn’t want to seem vulnerable. Not in anyone’s eyes. And the details of her life in ancient Egypt and with Sekhmet appeared to be her Achilles’s heel. Still, I’ve been wanting to write Charissa’s backstory since Dark Reflections. And when readers’ reviews revealed they wished they could see things through Charissa’s eyes, I figured I could try again with a short story.

It was Sekhmet, who actually started sharing small bits and pieces of the events from her point of view and told stories Charissa shared with her. I wrote these down, but it was still like only having a few random puzzle pieces scattered on a table. They didn’t explain Charissa’s thought line or what her life was like. So, I started my research into Alexandra during the Hellenistic era: how the city was designed, how the Greek rulers blended religions, and what daily life could have been like for normal citizens. I became particularly interested in the social structure, woman’s lives, and the several districts that separated the people and their cultures. Eventually, as I conducted my research and attempted to apply the information, Charissa finally decided to open up. Not about everything from her past, but enough to write about the day she met Sekhmet, a little about brother and father, and of course, the night she was thrown out of Egypt. I could tell she was uncomfortable sharing even that small amount of information. But I think she also felt if I’m really going to write about her, she wanted me to write the story right.

I still don’t know a lot about Charissa’s story. I’m not sure I ever will or if she will reveal a few hints as I continue to work on the other short stories for the Dark Reflections Short Story Collection. But I knew from day one she was a complicated character. At least, now, I understand her a little better than when I was writing Dark Reflections.


Giveaway! 
5 Winners will receive an e-copy of Dark Reflections by Kelsey Ketch! 



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About the Author:

Kelsey Ketch is a young-adult/new-adult author, who works as a Wildlife Biologist in the state of North Carolina. During her free time, she can often be found working on her latest work in progress. She also enjoys history, mythology, traveling, and reading.

For more information, please visit her site at kelseyketch.com.





Author Links:

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