John Geers will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC, a signed copy of the book, and a stuffed tiger (US only) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Emerge Beyond Circles
by John Geers
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GENRE: Fantasy
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing? I was inspired by other authors. We used to have a great locally owned book chain here in the Milwaukee area. They regularly had authors of all kinds do author talks. I went to dozens of them. Hearing the story of how a book was written was as fascinating to me as the book itself. It wasn’t long before I wanted to be part of that process.
2. How did you come up with your idea for your novel? The original nugget came in a dream. The other 98% came from careful consideration of what I wanted to include in my novel. It contains themes of love and loss from my own life. Then I included the elements of story that I love most. I constructed it in a way that I would love and I feel like I succeeded.
3. What expertise did you bring to your writing? Ha! Expertise? The only expertise I contain is hard work, perseverance, and a pretty good brain. My advice…don’t wait to be an expert to write anything.
4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio? I am single…ladies? Beside that, I love to learn. A serious and energized curiosity lives inside me, just as it does for all authors.
5. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why? I would be Draconis. He is a Siberian tiger and companion to the main character. He is loyal and strong. I value that.
6. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book? I will tell you that this story explores the very origins of love and the struggle to obtain it. If you like stories that move along with big scenes and real characters, you will love my book.
One thing I love is the guiding tenet of the eternal Siberian coven, “For love to bloom, these three endure: sacrifice, perseverance and suffering. But the greatest of these is suffering.” A play on the well-known love verse from the Christian bible.
7. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing? I took a year of classes in a graduate creative writing program as a prestigious university. I learned what to do, “the rules”. It is valuable to learn the rules if for no other reason that it feels good when you break them. My novel breaks some rules but it is exactly the book I set out to write.
8. Do you outline your books or just start writing? I spent four months of daily work outlining this novel before I wrote the first word. That paid off because I had a complete understanding of my characters and the plot. Because I understood my characters so well and where they were headed, writing dialogue was much easier and more effective.
9. How do you maintain your creativity? The only way to maintain my creativity is to feed my curiosity. I read a lot. I watch a lot of documentaries. I travel a lot. I go outside a lot. I make careful observations of all these and they are the fuel for my creativity.
1. What or who inspired you to start writing? I was inspired by other authors. We used to have a great locally owned book chain here in the Milwaukee area. They regularly had authors of all kinds do author talks. I went to dozens of them. Hearing the story of how a book was written was as fascinating to me as the book itself. It wasn’t long before I wanted to be part of that process.
2. How did you come up with your idea for your novel? The original nugget came in a dream. The other 98% came from careful consideration of what I wanted to include in my novel. It contains themes of love and loss from my own life. Then I included the elements of story that I love most. I constructed it in a way that I would love and I feel like I succeeded.
3. What expertise did you bring to your writing? Ha! Expertise? The only expertise I contain is hard work, perseverance, and a pretty good brain. My advice…don’t wait to be an expert to write anything.
4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio? I am single…ladies? Beside that, I love to learn. A serious and energized curiosity lives inside me, just as it does for all authors.
5. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why? I would be Draconis. He is a Siberian tiger and companion to the main character. He is loyal and strong. I value that.
6. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book? I will tell you that this story explores the very origins of love and the struggle to obtain it. If you like stories that move along with big scenes and real characters, you will love my book.
One thing I love is the guiding tenet of the eternal Siberian coven, “For love to bloom, these three endure: sacrifice, perseverance and suffering. But the greatest of these is suffering.” A play on the well-known love verse from the Christian bible.
7. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing? I took a year of classes in a graduate creative writing program as a prestigious university. I learned what to do, “the rules”. It is valuable to learn the rules if for no other reason that it feels good when you break them. My novel breaks some rules but it is exactly the book I set out to write.
8. Do you outline your books or just start writing? I spent four months of daily work outlining this novel before I wrote the first word. That paid off because I had a complete understanding of my characters and the plot. Because I understood my characters so well and where they were headed, writing dialogue was much easier and more effective.
9. How do you maintain your creativity? The only way to maintain my creativity is to feed my curiosity. I read a lot. I watch a lot of documentaries. I travel a lot. I go outside a lot. I make careful observations of all these and they are the fuel for my creativity.
BLURB:
Two
couples from Madison, with entwined destinies, both seeking love, are connected
by a single element: the ancient Siberian witch, Thuban-Pol. Her magic will either
be their savior or their ruin.
Thuban-Pol is the latest in a lineage of Siberian witches. Their eternal aim is to guide humanity to true love. Their guiding tenet, “For love to bloom, these three endure: sacrifice, perseverance and suffering. But the greatest of these is suffering.”
Since the dawn of humanity, they have summoned countless couples, inflicting suffering with the intention to grow true love. They have never succeeded…but now they have their best opportunity in two couples from Wisconsin.
If they succeed, love will finally bloom for all of humanity, if the suffering inflicted on these couples doesn't kill them first.
Thuban-Pol is the latest in a lineage of Siberian witches. Their eternal aim is to guide humanity to true love. Their guiding tenet, “For love to bloom, these three endure: sacrifice, perseverance and suffering. But the greatest of these is suffering.”
Since the dawn of humanity, they have summoned countless couples, inflicting suffering with the intention to grow true love. They have never succeeded…but now they have their best opportunity in two couples from Wisconsin.
If they succeed, love will finally bloom for all of humanity, if the suffering inflicted on these couples doesn't kill them first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Slivered gray wood covered the outside. Macabre scenes
carved like tattoos stretched from ground to gutter and marched around each
corner in a black parade.
Clint stepped close to the dark images and put a finger to
one. "It's soft and squishy, like driveway tar in summer, but it doesn't
stick to my skin. Weird." His finger went to his nose, and he said,
"Interesting. Hey, sniff this stuff."
Lucy pushed her nose forward and sniffed the carving.
"Yum, smells like…" she let the scent tumble around her brain,
"like peppermint and something else I can't place, but definitely
peppermint."
"Check out these carvings of animals," he said.
Real and imagined creatures prowled midst the gray slivers.
Indigenous animals were well represented; the snowy owl, Arctic fox, caribou
and ermine. Along with these were animals too strange to be from this age. Some
warned. Others offered a wry smile of welcome. A serpent barred vicious fangs
stained crimson, dripping pregnant bulbs of creamy poison. A grizzly bear
smothered the head of a besieged she-wolf with one massive paw while tonguing
the cheek of its pup. Wild caribou ran in stampede along the edge of a deep
ravine, flirting with the abyss.
Woven among the animals were humans. Black eyes. Black
bodies. Black forms. Black illuminated. A child held the face of its mother. A
man raised a silver sword over the broken body of his slain foe. A son leaped
into the arms of his father, reminiscent of the Prodigal Son, but on this wall,
soaked in black, the anguish and joy were fresh. Sex was here too. Bodies
engaged in all variety of forbidden acts, twisted and beautiful.
As the black parade marched on, frozen poses of pain pinched
Lucy, forcing her tight against his chest once more.
A man groped the ground with orange coals where eyes once
took in the world. A woman with a flapping tongue, split like the Serpent,
hissed a song to the full blood moon. A young man pled for mercy, torn fingers
lost in the gnashing teeth of his lover. A man pounded the ice above his head.
A child wailed in the jaws of a terrible beast, eyes begging for a hero, a call
for rescue swallowed by winter. A family huddled tight, defying flames that, in
real life, would be their end. A woman slumped with blood and afterbirth at her
feet, her ashen eyes stone, silence of mother and child scattered across
eternity. A wrinkled face echoed hope, sealed behind tortured lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
John Geers drew inspiration to begin his
debut novel from a dream he experienced.
Hours spent in the caffeinated air of his favorite coffeehouse
proved to be the perfect place to complete Emerge Beyond Circles.
John is a middle school literacy educator, where he inspires and
is inspired by the writers of tomorrow. He is the founder and facilitator
of his school’s Creative Writing Club. He is also a columnist for the online
magazine Elephant Journal.
He loves a good story, being on the water, and witty puns. He
can be found hiking the wilderness, biking big hills, sipping dark coffee, and
looking for a chair in the mall.
LINKS:
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
John
Geers will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC, a signed copy of the book, and a
stuffed tiger (US only) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the
tour.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Angel's blog. I hope you have a great tour. Allana Angel
ReplyDeleteInteresting interview and excerpt. Hope your tour is successful!
ReplyDeleteGreat post - I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing:)
ReplyDelete