Thursday, April 10, 2014

Spotlight: Excerpt from The Unwanted by Jeffrey Ricker





The Unwanted
Jeffrey Ricker

Genre: Gay YA fantasy

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Date of Publication: March 18, 2014

ISBN: 978-1626390485
ASIN: 1626390487

Number of pages: 264
Word Count: 91,556

Cover Artist: Sheri

Bold Strokes Books      Indiebound    Amazon       


Book Description:

Jamie Thomas has enough trouble on his hands trying to get through junior year of high school without being pulverized by Billy Stratton, his bully and tormentor. But the mother he was always told was dead is actually alive—and she’s an Amazon!

Sixteen years after she left him on his father’s doorstep, she’s back and needs Jamie’s help. A curse has caused the ancient tribe of warrior women to give birth to nothing but boys, dooming them to extinction—until prophecy reveals that salvation lies with one of the offspring they abandoned.

Putting his life on the line, Jamie must find the courage to confront the wrath of an angry god to save a society that rejected him.

Excerpt:

I managed not to think about Billy until I walked out of the building at the end of the school day, and there was his Mustang parked at the curb.

Just keep walking, I told myself, determined not to let him get to me, mentally or physically. My bus was across the parking lot. I started to veer around Billy’s car. He lowered the passenger side window.

“Get in,” Billy said.

Wow, bossy was my first thought. No way in hell was my second. When I made no move toward his car, he leaned closer to the passenger side window. “Please. Get in.”

Wait, did he actually say “please”?

“Really? Why, did you miss a spot?”

I pointed at my face. My nose and eye were still bruised. He had the decency to look away, at least.

“Look, I’m sorry, and I’ll explain everything, I promise. But can you get in now?”

I’d have to be out of my mind to get in a car with Billy Stratton. Right? I crossed my arms. “If you’ve got something to say to me, I don’t see why you can’t say it while I’m standing right here.”

This time, he rolled his eyes. “Would you stop being a fricking drama queen? Look, your bus is gone, so I might as well drive you home.”

This was true. I turned to see the last bus pulling out of the parking lot and turning left out of sight. Way to go, Billy. It was either ride with the bully or walk home. I didn’t think he’d try to run me over if I opted to walk, but I decided not to press my luck.

Billy usually drove too fast—everyone in the school had heard him lay rubber at the driveway to the parking lot. With me in the passenger seat, though, he was almost too careful pulling onto the road. The radio was off. Neither of us had spoken for about a minute. Once we were on the straightaway from the school to the highway, I couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“What do you want?” I asked, trying to sound tougher than I felt and hoping I didn’t sound as scared as I was.

At the same time I started to say, “Why did you hit me?” Billy blurted out, “I’m sorry I hit you.”

“You’re such a—wait. What?”

“I said I’m sorry.” He gripped the steering wheel harder. “You want me to say it again?”

“No, I’m just—I mean, why did you hit me? Why—I never did anything to you. Why couldn’t you just leave me alone?” I felt like I was stumbling all over the place, though I was trying to keep myself still, as if he’d pounce if I moved too much. I squeezed my eyes shut and willed this all to not be happening.

I opened my eyes when I heard gravel under the tires and felt the car slowing down. Billy pulled over but left the engine running. He took one hand off the wheel and placed it on the armrest between the seats. Outside, iron-gray clouds closed out the sky overhead. The air felt tentative, like a storm was coming.

“Look,” Billy said. “I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m sorry. I really am.”
“Yeah, yeah, you already said that. But I still don’t get why you did it. Do you know how hard it’s been some days just getting out of bed and going to school, knowing that you were going to be there? Wondering what you were going to do to me next?”

I have a bad habit of talking with my hands when I get worked up. Usually I can keep it under control, but control was in short supply at that point, and I must have looked like I was conducting an invisible orchestra.

“I think I do know,” Billy said quietly.

It started raining. Fat, heavy drops came down so hard they bounced off the hood and the windshield. Though he turned on the wipers, they had a hard time keeping up with the downpour.

“Then why did you keep tormenting me? Was it just fun for you? Did you even think about how it made me feel?” He tried to say something, but I was on a roll now. I cut him off. “Wait, of course you did. That was the whole point, wasn’t it? To make me feel like total shit? Because it’s so easy for you to walk around this school like you’re king of everything—”

“Easy?” he practically shouted. “You think it’s easy? You’re the one who makes it look easy.”

What the hell did that mean? I wanted to ask, but he was already facing the windshield again. He put the car in gear and pulled back onto the road.

“I really have no idea what you’re—”

Before I could finish the sentence, the sky cracked open and a bolt of lightning struck on my side of the street, splitting a tree and sending leaves and wood flying. Billy jerked the wheel to the left instinctively, and the tires squealed on the wet pavement. He somehow managed to get the car under control, but I still felt as if my heart was beating between my ears.

“That was close,” he said, right about the same time another lightning strike flared directly in front of us. It hit the roadway and flung gravel and asphalt into the air. Pebbles smacked against the windshield so hard the glass cracked. The road in front of us dropped away.

“Jesus!” This time Billy wrenched the wheel harder. The car fishtailed. We went hydroplaning across the road and barreling toward the trees on the opposite side.


This was not the way I expected my day to end.

About the Author:

Jeffrey Ricker’s first novel, Detours, was published in 2011 by Bold Strokes Books. His second novel, The Unwanted, will be published by Bold Strokes in 2014. His writing has appeared in the anthologies Paws and Reflect, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction, Blood Sacraments, Men of the Mean Streets, Speaking Out, Raising Hell, The Dirty Diner, Night Shadows: Queer Horror, and others. A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he is pursuing an MFA at the University of British Columbia.










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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Interview and Giveaway The Hazel Tree by Julia Debski






The Hazel Tree by Julia Debski

Please share a little about yourself, your genres, any other pen names you use.

I was born in Warsaw, Poland, I speak French fluently, I have two dogs, two horses, and three black and white cats! Lately, when I’m not writing I am either at my new job at Starbucks (the same location where I wrote the majority of The Hazel Tree), with the horses at the barn, reading, or spending time with my best friend, Sam. I’m going off to college in the fall, even though I don’t know where yet, and after that a move to England if possible. Ideally, I would love to be a novelist and live off my writing, but we all know it isn’t likely. I have a few career options though, such as an editor, translator, and event planner.
The Hazel Tree is fantasy, romance, and young adult, and I really do love those genres. I’m a huge fan of mythology, folklore, and the supernatural, so I will continue incorporating those into my writing. The romance genre, not so much. I wouldn’t say it is a guaranteed thing for every novel. But fantasy and young adult for sure.

I don’t currently write under any pen names, though that may change in the next couple years.

Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.

Well it isn’t ‘upcoming’ per se. The Hazel Tree was released in October 2013. This book tour is sort of re-promoting it because I’ve added a chapter, and 5,000 words of bonus content throughout.

The Hazel Tree combines the elements of the classic childhood fairytale, Cinderella, with darkness and the struggle for freedom. It has elements taken from the original fable, and ancient mythology. It is pretty badass.

I wanted to write my own twisted fairytale retelling with an additional supernatural twist. That’s how The Hazel Tree started out, as a retelling of Cinderella with werewolves. I also wrote it because I wanted to read a book like it. Also, I wanted to point out something I find is sometimes ignored in these big classic fairytale endings– good always wins, but at what cost?


Have you ever based your book or characters on actual events or people from your own life?

Not in The Hazel Tree, but I recently wrote a short story in which all the characters were based on friends and family members, with the unnamed protagonist being based on myself.

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

I (apparently) talk and babble like a baby in my sleep. (And sit up suddenly at random intervals.)

Which romance book or series (or other genre, if you don’t write romance) do you wish you had written?

I wish I could have been the one to write Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings, or something just as magnificent. Anything similar to them would just be seen to be a poor attempt at a copy – think of the huge vampire phase we went through after Twilight.

Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that you haven’t tackled yet?

I would like to try writing horror. I’ve read Steven King and some other lesser known authors who were very ‘hardcore’ horror - and I don’t think I could write that. My favorite is Jen Archer Wood’s Point Pleasant. It’s about the Mothman. (Note: don’t look it up at nighttime.) I loved her style of writing which was suspenseful and scary, but not too much. I’d like to write like her.

If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?

I have an idea for the sequel to The Hazel Tree, though it will be for a couple of years before I write it – I have college coming up to focus on. It would center around the aftermath of the Alpha’s actions (mentioned in the epilogue) and Judice coping with new experiences after what happened to her. I would dive into the themes and morals of the story, but I think it would give too much away. If you read the book though, what I said above will be more than enough information.

What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled upcoming releases or works in progress?

I’m working on a collection of short stories focusing on the different types of extraordinary relationships between humans in ordinary situations, and how it correlates to their environment. I didn’t start writing them with that concept in mind, but that seems to be the reoccurring theme with them! I also just started writing my new novel Along Shiloh. I’ll have more details in a few months, but in the meantime you can check out the Pinterest board for it here. (http://www.pinterest.com/julponey/along-shiloh-novel/)

What book are you reading now?

Love & Misadventures by Lang Leav and Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb. Love & Misadventures is poetry, and Witchstruck is about a witch in Tudor England. They are both great!

What is in your to read pile?

Well, according to my Goodreads to-read list, over 200 books! But here are the three I’m planning on reading next.

-        These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman
-        Secret Letters by Leah Scheier
-        How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster


The Hazel Tree
Julia Debski

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

ISBN: 1493510789

59,990 words
282 pages

Cover Artist: Julia Debski

Available at Amazon and  BN

Book Description:

The Hazel Tree revisits a classic Cinderella tale of abuse and sought after freedom from the confines of a cruel life.

Ivy Lune is not your ordinary girl for within her blood flows the secrets of an ancient species of werewolf; a secret that also foretells of a great war and a struggle for ultimate supremacy.

Ivy lives a life of isolation torment at the hands of her aunt and cousins for the majority of her life. Mistreated and neglected, she longs to escape the shackles of her prison-like life. And in that longing, she learns the truth of her identity. She learns her place in a long line of events that were set into motion many years ago. She finds intimacy and belonging in a much larger family.

All the while, unknown to her, there are dangerous forces are at work; old blood ties and murderous plots threaten her chance at happiness beyond her current life.

The Hazel Tree is a tale of mystery and romance set against a supernatural backdrop of terrifying and awesome power.




About the Author:

Julia Debski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1996. Her family moved around a lot during her childhood before finally settling down in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It wasn't until the 8th grade that she found her passion for writing. It was thanks to a particularly inspiring English teacher and a story that needed to be told. So she began to write, and she never stopped.

Four years later she found herself with nearly a dozen started novels and short stories. As junior in high school she was introduced to Greg Wilkey, a self-published independent author of four novels. He soon became a mentor to her as she worked to write and self-publish her own novel. After two years of hard work, and a nearly a year of mentorship The Hazel Tree was published in October 2013.



Twitter: https://twitter.com/juliadebski  (@juliadebski)





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