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The Sounds from the Hills Go Away When the Sun Goes Down
“Ya know, it’s my understanding that the success rate of funerals is impeccably high.”
The Sounds from the Hills Go Away When the Sun Goes Down is the latest book by author Dave Matthes. I very much enjoyed the style and tone of Dave Matthes’s writing. The story is about what Matthes describes as “an examination of the present moment during a fragment of time in the lives of several of what society considers downtrodden, gutter-decrepit, low-living, and expendable, taking place in a corner of the world most only have fleeting nightmares about.” In the story, we follow several characters. Wendel Trope battles his anxiety attacks with alcohol, Jerry, the owner of the run-down hotel where the story takes place, Bush Betty, a prostitute, and Lotus, a young girl struggling with her past. This collection of characters creates a strange community that holds each other up. The relationships between the characters were one of my favorite parts of this story. The peculiar and subtle interaction of people who haven’t known each other long but are connected by struggles and traumas.
The morbid humor of the book fits perfectly with the setting and the characters. That being said the subjects of this book are pretty dark, including a suicide early on, so if you find yourself triggered by these kinds of subjects this might not be the book for you. The way Matthes deals with these emotional subjects throughout the book is done with a gritty artistic class. He is not afraid to talk death, addiction, and mental illness, subjects that are often considered taboo to speak about. Matthes deals with them in a relatable and real way. They are apart of peoples lives, even if society would prefer to ignore it. The matter of fact tone of the book allows life to stand on its own two feet, not shied away from or glorified. This story was a whirlwind to read as it took me on an emotional roller-coaster. The story itself really captures the moment in time aspect where there doesn’t need to be a grand arc because it is simply a fragment in the lives of people. I very much enjoyed reading this intense book and look forward to delving into more of Matthes’s extensive collection of works. I would definitely give this book five stars and would highly recommend it.
Pages: 350 | ISBN: 1975607597
The Ghetto Blues
![The Ghetto Blues by [Brooks, Tammy Campbell ]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51OI1KQ7OtL.jpg)
The Ghetto Blues by Tammy Campbell Brooks unexpectedly won my heart. The book’s full title is The Ghetto Blues – An Autobiography of Tammy Campbell Brooks’ Trepidation, Tragedy, and Triumph, and it follows the life of Tammy from childhood through adulthood. In the opening pages of the prologue, Tammy’s daughter writes, “In this book, you will go through different stages of emotions from tears, laughter, happiness, and joy of growing up in poverty and impoverished environments, but not letting the circumstances define you.” As I began the book, I was skeptical that I would experience all these emotions, but as I concluded the final chapter, “Bells Will Be Ringing,” I found that Tammy’s daughter had been entirely right all along.
Typically, authors are referred to by their last names in reviews, but after reading Tammy’s story, I feel it only right to call her by her first name. Tammy’s story was incredibly challenging for me to read at the beginning because it is so disparate from my own experience in suburban America. Growing up in the projects of San Antonio, Tammy had an upbringing that is almost unbelievable for most readers – gunshots, emotional and physical abuse, poverty, extreme hunger – but she avoids writing about her experiences in such a way as to say, oh woe is me! Completely the opposite, Tammy describes herself as driven and dedicated. Even though she experiences setbacks and succumbs to vices that will have readers wanting to call her up and say, what were you thinking?!, she does not let her weaknesses or mistakes define her, and she is always striving for the best out of herself.
Tammy’s autobiography is written in an almost spoken format, and not at all how Strunk & White might have preferred. While the typos and grammatical errors irritated me at the beginning on the book, I came to realize that if it had been written like Faulkner, for example, it would not have truly been Tammy’s autobiography. Her story is edgy and uncomfortable, and sometimes painful to read. It is the opposite of polished, but it is honest and eye-opening. That said, the book would have benefitted from some additional editing to correct some of the simple spelling errors and word usage errors. Those glaring errors are the only reason I would give the story four stars instead of five, because Tammy’s story is undeniably a full five stars.
Describing Tammy to someone who hasn’t read her autobiography feels almost as if she must be fictional: how could one woman overcome all those challenges thrown at her? Not only is Tammy an inspiration, but she was also eye-opening to me. I knew nothing of the ghetto lifestyle in the projects that she describes, and her story reiterates the age-old adage of “don’t judge a book by its cover.” At the conclusion of her autobiography, my overwhelming emotion was one of thinking that Tammy’s story would be amazing to share through radio or podcast. The courage and strength that it took Tammy to share her and her family’s story with readers should not be underestimated, and I hope that many readers have the opportunity to learn from her experiences.
Pages: 257 | ASIN: B07BFKCQZ9
Lost in my Imagination
J.M. Buckler Author Interview
Stillness of Time follows the adventure of Elara and Cyrus as they try to make their way on a mysterious planet which holds secrets they may not want to learn. Where did you want to take the characters in book two of your Seeker of Time series?
In Stillness of Time, I wanted to whisk my characters away from Earth and let them loose on an emotional roller coaster in a new world. The book series as a whole is about self-growth and discovery, but Stillness of Time is where the characters begin to face challenges that test their mental and physical endurance. In book two, Cyrus is more emotionally sound than Elara. I wanted the reader to see how their relationship evolved when things took a turn for the worst. Every character faces a struggle in Stillness of Time and the ending is the tipping point that sets the ball rolling for the third book in the series.
One thing that stands out to me in Stillness of Time is the creativity embedded in this world. What was your inspiration for creating such an imaginative world?
My inspiration for creating an imaginative world stems from my love of the unknown. As an only child, I would play in my room or the outdoors lost in my imagination. I would visualize far off places and pretend that I could travel to them in the blink of an eye. I always wondered if there were planets like ours with people like us living on them, and I would spend hours daydreaming about the ‘what ifs’ in life.
In your novel I picked up some inspiration from other science fiction novels that I thought played well in the story. What were some of your sources of inspiration for this book?
My inspiration for this story came from within. I enjoy science fiction but funny enough, I have never read any science fiction books other than my own. I do appreciate a good sci-fi film though and LOVE Star Wars.
Will there be a third book in your Seeker of Time series? If so, where will the story go in the next book?
Passage of Time is the third book in the Seeker of Time series and is set to release in the fall of this year. So far, it is the longest and most intense book in the series. The adult content gets kicked up a notch and the combative scenes will leave the readers on the edge of their seats. Characters are faced with their toughest challenges yet, and the final battle with Zenith takes a twist that readers will never see coming.
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“I had to believe the good in life always prevailed. I had to believe that in the end, the truth would triumph.” Mystery, danger, and heartache are all things Elara must face now back on Aroonyx. Jax continues to reveal dark secrets that challenge her and Cyrus’s trust, pushing them farther than they ever thought possible. Can they keep their identities hidden from Zenith and the Collectors? New and mysterious friends help the twins through their darkest hours while enemies lurk around every corner. Eventually, Elara and Cyrus discover things are not always as they seem. Unsure of their fate, the twins form an unbreakable bond that over time will be put to the ultimate test. Elara’s relationship with Jax evolves to a whole new level, only to be challenged during a life-changing night. Presented with a difficult choice, Elara is forced to make a sacrifice that alters the course of her future forever. Does she have the strength to accept this new fate? Can you truly love someone enough to let them go? Stillness of Time is the second installment in the Seeker of Time series. Filled with danger, adventure, romance, and heartache, the plot twist and turns around every corner, sending the reader on an emotional roller coaster that leaves them breathless, longing for more.
The Possibility of Redemption
Sara Butler Zalesky Author Interview
In Darkness, There is Still Light follows the life of professional cyclist Loren and the physical and emotional challenges she faces. What did you want to focus on in book 2 of the Wheeler series?
With so much of the conflict in Wheeler having to do with racing and Felix, for the second novel I wanted to bring the conflict closer to home – the relationship between Loren and Graham. Feelings between them developed quickly (too quickly) and being separated yet again makes her realize that perhaps she doesn’t know him as well as she thinks.
The second prong of the story was the possibility of redemption, but I’ll leave that statement with a quote from my Muse. “Every villain is a hero in his own mind.”
Loren continues to develop into a dynamic character that grows as the story progresses. What was your inspiration for Loren’s character and the challenges she faces?
Loren’s character has developed over the many, many revisions but in all honesty, she reacts the way I would react to situations thrown at her. I’ve had Black Moments in my life, and much like how Graham steeped in his emotions over what happened to her to add to his acting performance, I did the same.
Loren faces a series of traumatic evens in her life. What were some obstacles you felt were important to her characters development?
Loren holds on to her pain; it’s a security blanket and like any crutch, it’s difficult to let it go. Trust issues and lack of boundaries hold her back, both personally and professionally. She needs to rediscover who she is in order to move forward. In Darkness is the beginning of her healing.
Where do you want to take the story in book 3 of the series and when will that book be available?
Book 3 is outlined and will bring back the excitement of the cycling races of the Women’s World Tour, beginning with the Strade Bianche in Italy. I hope it will be ready for release in early 2019.
A streak of bad luck for Loren, old friends resurface but are now competitors. A former flame of Graham’s could make trouble for the couple. Another man steps into Loren’s life. Is he just a friend as he claims, or does he have ulterior motives?
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
![In Darkness, There is Still Light (Wheeler Book 2) by [Zalesky, Sara Butler]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51iBATikc1L.jpg)
‘Atherton Leaves Her! Has the Actor’s Whirlwind Romance with the Pro Cyclist Run its Course?’
Loren Mackenzie knew the headline in The Sun was an exaggeration, but the World Champion time trialist still felt the sting. As her pro cycling season draws to a close, Loren looks forward to taking a break from training and a reuniting with her boyfriend, Graham Atherton. However, rumors and innuendo begin to swirl around them, and secrets they have kept from each other shake their relationship to its foundation.
A trip to New York City affords Loren a bittersweet reunion with a love she thought was lost. But, echoes from the past ripple into the present and reliving the fractured memories of her childhood has left her afraid to dig deeper. The monsters that dwell in the dark corners of her mind are all too real.
Meanwhile, obsession and greed churn into a storm on the horizon, threatening Loren and those closest to her. When the tempest hits and the winds settle, what is uncovered tilts the axis of her world.
Loren must find the strength to believe that even in darkness, there is still light, there is still hope; there is still love.
Tell Us The Aftermath
Douglas Wells Author Interview
How We End Up is an intricate contemporary story that follows the lives of three strangers and shows how people can intersect at life changing moments. What was the initial idea behind this story and how did that transform as you were writing the novel?
I used to walk the beach in a park near my house. The park gets numerous visitors, mostly families, and I would frequently walk by young children playing in the surf. This area is known for its rip currents, and there are always news stories about people being caught in one and having to be rescued. It occurred to me that one day I might have to jump in after someone, particularly a child. Fortunately, I never had to. It got me thinking about how these rescues are often called “miracles,” but the story stops there. It did not, of course, tell us the aftermath, so I began formulating a story that shows us how they were brought together and tells us what happens to these people over a long span of time.
I felt that this novel was about the characters and how people change over time. What were the driving ideals behind the characters development throughout the story?
The central male character, Jackson, rescues nine-year-old twin girls. Although they they are twins, I saw them as being very distinct from each other, and I imagined they would lead dissimilar lives. Not only are their sexual orientations different, but one is worldly and self-destructive, while the other begins as a bit naïve, which leads them both to disastrous circumstances. Jackson, who achieves literary fame by writing about the rescue, suffers from a case of hubris, which results in his star falling. Their personas and their relationships, particularly their romantic entanglements, are affected, often negatively, by both the inner conflicts of the three characters and by chance. I see this as something we all endure. Some things we decide upon by choice, while others are left to happenstance and over which we have no control. All of these experiences lead to “how we end up.”
When you first sat down to write this story, did you know where you were going, or did the story develop as you were writing?
The “skeleton” of the story was apparent to me from the start, but as I continued writing, the details—specific events, relationships, and the consequences of the characters’ reckless behavior—appeared. This is pretty much my writing modus operandi in general. For me, writing is a discovery process.
What is the next book that you are working on and when can your fans expect it to be out?
My next book is about a character who leads five different lives, each detached from the others. It is somewhat experimental, maybe, but this is all I presently can say about it. If fortune smiles upon me, I might finish it within 6-8 months; after that, I would think publication would follow in about the same amount of time.
Author Links: Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Website
![How We End Up by [Wells, Douglas]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51iiGSuWh9L.jpg)
BEING RESCUED IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING SAVED.
Jackson Levee, a professor and writer, plucks two drowning twin girls from the Gulf of Mexico. Their attractive single mother has her own ideas about how to thank the hero. Jackson and their family go from being complete strangers one day to intimate friends the next. Jackson soars to literary fame after writing about his rescue of the twins, while the girls mature into beautiful but troubled young women. Over the next twenty-five years, everyone’s recklessness in love, marriage, and life produces wild and devastating results, forcing the three of them to struggle as they try to realize their destinies and find balance in life.
Douglas Wells crafts an intoxicating story teeming with passion and exhilaration to danger, addiction, and despair.
Underneath it All, She’s a True Monster
A.J. Macready Author Interview
Redemption details the rise and fall of a line of vampires dominating Clarke’s Summit, which is home to a plague dating back to the 1700’s. What attracts you to vampire fiction?
I grew up watching a lot of horror and sci-fi, although it was some time before I got into reading any of the literature. I think the first thing that attracted me to vampire fiction was the story potential in their great longevity, the fact that they are virtually immortal. Another compelling aspect of vampire fiction is the fundamental struggle they represent between light and darkness, good and evil, and how people can be seduced by their desire for power, immortality, and even sexual desire.
In one scene in Redemption, the vampire Lydia illustrates this for us in how she tempts Mike Gaston with the fact that she has remained beautiful and unaffected by age or disease in over two hundred years. I think this is one reason why the vampire genre has grown “softer” in recent decades, with television shows like Forever Knight and films like the Twilight Series: A lot of people want what vampires have – power, beauty, immortality – and they’re doing their best to try and capture these elements while skirting the darker side of the legend. This is a major factor in why I wrote the Descendent Darkness series as I did. To phrase it biblically, vampirism is “a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.” I wanted to return to the core of the legend: vampires as the living dead, seduced by an inhuman darkness that is at war with the light.
Lydia, an ancient vampire is seeking vengeance on the three remaining members of the town’s founders. I found her character to be well developed. What was your inspiration for her character?
First off, I went with a female because females are traditionally the victims in vampire literature, and I thought it would be interesting to depict one as a master for a change. Frankly, I’m surprised that it hasn’t been done more often.
As to her character, I drew it from the description Richard Gaston provides of her in Redemption, as one who has turned her back on the light and the image of God. She’s not a victim; she actually chose to be what she is. She is the embodiment of deliberate, calculating evil, a force that feeds on the living world like a parasite. Mike Gaston describes her eyes as “thin ice over deep water,” and this is also illustrative of her character. Her human facade is just that; underneath it all, she’s a true monster, and was even before she became one of the living dead.
This is book three in the Descendant Darkness series. What were some new things you wanted to introduce into your series in this book, and what were some thing you felt had to stay the same?
The original title of this book was End Game, and that sums up the approach I took with it. The first book set the stage and lined up the pieces. The second book set them into motion. The third book is all-out war, a fight to the death. With this one, I had to bring all of the various elements I had established together, intersect all of the characters and plotlines, and resolve the whole mess in a believable fashion. That was the main thing that had to change: I couldn’t run independent subplots anymore. Everything had to mesh.
As for what needed to stay the same, well, the best stories are character-driven, and it was my primary task to ensure that established characters continued to be the people readers had come to know, even though they found themselves in new situations.
Will there be a book 4 in the Descendent Darkness series? If so, what would that story be about and when would it be available?
No, the book series is complete. I’ve told the story I wanted to tell and don’t have anything else to add, although I will miss Mike and Holly. It’s amazing how characters tend to grow on you through the writing process. I originally conceived of the series with a truly dark ending, but as the story developed I found that I couldn’t let it go that way. The characters themselves ended up driving the plot.
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![Descendent Darkness: Book Three: Redemption by [Macready, A.J.]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41kHKJvy2DL.jpg)
“Now boast to me again, old man. Tell me what strength there is in you to contend with me.”
After twenty-one years, that which the men of Clarke’s Summit feared most has been realized. The evil they prayed would stay buried for eternity has risen, intent on destroying those who imprisoned it and drawing their loved ones into darkness.
In the war between good and evil, victory can be had only at the price of blood. Now as Mike and Richard Gaston race against the coming night, and those they care for most fall around them, they must prepare to offer the most precious blood of all on the altar of their family’s redemption.
LITERARY TITAN 