Blog Archives
The Element Wielders
The Element Wielders takes place in New York City, where our hero, Paul Flammia, The King of Fire, goes to college. But he’s not your average 17-year-old college student. He can also manipulate the element of fire, as well as turn into smoke, speak several languages, fly, is telekinetic, plays wide receiver for his school’s football team, and is of course a millionaire. Throughout the book, Paul uses his abilities to help get him and his friends through their numerous troubles. Everything from love triangles to mob bosses to invading aliens, so that he and his girlfriend Amie can live happily ever after.
Author Paul Ellison has created an imaginative world within this exciting urban fantasy novel. The magical abilities and other fantasy elements are creative and one of the reasons why I kept coming back to this novel; I just had to see what else Paul Ellison was going to come up with. From the different alien species to the various magical powers, readers will have plenty of things to dive into in this young adult book.
The novel reads like a screenplay, with each character’s name preceding their spoken lines with all the other parts of the narrative written in italics. It takes some getting used to, but once your over that hurdle the story is fun and entertaining.
Ellison does a fantastic job of immersing the reader in this story and moving the plot along at a nice pace; almost so quick that some scenes feel abrupt but the brevity works well in most cases. If you are a reader that is looking for a book that sparks your imagination and lets you fill in the details then this is a perfect novel for you. There are some grand ideas within this story and what seems like a deep backstory and lore that begs to be explored further.
The Element Wielders by Paul Ellison is a creative science fiction story. This visionary teen fiction novel will be a great read for those who are looking for a rollicking adventure story with a unique setup.
Pages: 280 | ASIN: B08V1C497S
Bully Boy
From the very first pages of this thought-provoking young-adult novel author Tom Wade paints a vivid picture of a teenage boy cowed and made miserable by groups of bullies who have victimized him for years. From the first day of the school year, 15-year-old Henry struggles against a system that is determined to keep him down. He gathers the courage to stand up to his oppressors and find retribution, but at a high price to himself. In the end he must make the pivotal decision about his own future — take the ultimate peace that his friends chose or continue to fight.
Henry might be terrorized by bullies, but he has had enough. He begins to stand up to the kids who are violent and abusive as well as to the apathetic adults who are shockingly willing to turn a blind eye. These scenes are heart wrenching but feel authentic. He is a smart kid, and he knows exactly how to push everyone’s buttons, and I enjoyed how sharp his character is. Gradually, readers see Henry change from one of the “meeks” to the biggest bully of them all. He provokes fights to prove his point and he browbeats his teachers into taking action. His character evolution is compelling and makes for an engaging read.
Throughout this enthralling coming of age tale is a simmering undercurrent of menace that will have readers on the edge of their seat. Has the system that failed him created a monster? And, if so, just how big a monster? On more than one occasion, Henry’s musings imply that he has been pushed too far and, just like his nervous teachers, readers wonder if he is going to produce the gun he knows is kept in his father’s desk. The dialogue is another real strength of this book and is used to great effect to both tell the story and build character.
Bully Boy by Tom Wade is an eye opening read that explores contemporary issues in schools with a captivating main character. If you enjoy gripping teen fiction novels that have something important to say, then this is a book you must pickup.
Pages: 294 | ASIN: B0B1NTV8Z3
Fallen Snow Is Just Reality
Fallen Snow follows a woman who must cope with problems she never dreamed of having in a world she never knew existed. What were some sources that informed this novel’s development?
Honestly, there were no immediate sources. Every good story relates to humanity. That’s what Fallen Snow does. Some people think it’s a little bold or dark for a YA novel, but I think it’s exactly what the genre needs. Reading is an escape, but it’s also a good way to learn things about humanity that are better to experience through the life of a protagonist. Fallen Snow is just reality. It’s raw on a level that some people aren’t ready for. Athena pulls back the curtain on real life, causing some people to face the truth about humanity, and others to be relieved that they can finally relate to a character.
Fallen Snow wasn’t written to make a point or solve an argument. Yet it is bold in a way that causes people to stop and think. Maybe it can make someone a little more gentle with themselves or another person. Maybe it can even help someone. That’s the point. Good stories do more than relate a series of events, they make you feel something.
Athena Jackson is an intriguing and well developed character. Was there anything from yourself that you put into this character?
It seems that with many of my characters, I unintentionally reveal a little bit about myself. So yes, I did. Writing Athena was really relieving. She is probably the closest I’ve ever come to being so raw and vulnerable with my audience.
I’ve never gone through exactly what she did (in terms of the physical abuse or pregnancy), but for a long time, I was in a very toxic, co-dependent, and emotionally abusive relationship. Along with other factors, it caused me to develop mental health problems and an eating disorder. Athena is where I think I might have ended up a few years down the road if I hadn’t gotten out of that relationship. She’s very special to me.
What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?
Well, most of the scenes were pretty sad. I remember first writing the hallway scene–the prologue–and I really enjoyed that. I felt confident about how the story would progress from there. I cried a lot writing this book. It was so important to me that I needed to make sure the story was flawless. The hospital scene was very important to me. It wasn’t fun to write, but I poured a lot into it.
This is the third book in the EverGreen series. Do you have plans for a fourth book or are you working on a different project?
Fallen Snow is the last book in the EverGreen Trilogy. My newest novel, Scarlet Whispers, the first book in The Shades of Us Trilogy, was recently released. I’ve already finished writing that trilogy. At some point I may come back and write a companion novel (related to the story, but more of a spin off) between Moonlit Skies and Fallen Snow, but I’m not sure when that will be.
Author Interview: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Less than a year after Lily Rhodes Marx delivers twins John and Mina, Athena Jackson finds herself facing an unplanned pregnancy. With Lily and Rowan’s support, she prepares for the arrival of her baby. Ginger, Drew, Giselle, Omar, Jack, and LeAnne also join in encouraging her as she begins this new chapter of her life. In the midst of her journey, she falls for a man who just might be everything she’s ever wanted. But when all of her plans for the future begin to crumble, Athena will have to cope with problems she never dreamed of having in a world she never knew existed.
A Spirit Quest
Innocence Derailed follows a young woman from her mid-teens to adulthood on a journey of self-discovery in a time when everything was changing for women. Based on facets of your own life, why was this an important story for you to write?
I was a teenager in a rural town in Oregon during the Vietnam War and in the beginning of the marijuana and psychedelic drug scene. It was also in my generation that young girls suddenly had access to the pill –making them sexually liberated and equal to men. To capture that tumultuous time, I wrote this book based on a true story (my own) but in third-person so it would read like a novel. What resulted was a coming-of-age romance novel, a spirit quest, in a grand adventure story. I’ve had much praise from women of all ages and men too, for its raw and real authenticity and I wanted to get people thinking how their lives can change if they seek a spiritual connection of love and integrity.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The novel vividly descrives innocent first love and sex, unwanted pregnancy, miscarriage, and a breakup after being pressured to have an ‘open relationship.’ The protagonist seeks revenge for being cast aside and joins the hippie scene. She goes on an acid trip, survives gale force winds on a sailing ship, rescues a friend who overdoses, and gets lost deep in a jungle cave only to contract a dreadful lung disease. She has hitchhiking adventures from Mexico to Canada all while being called to grow in spiritual maturity.
What is one thing that you hope the reader takes away from Innocence Derailed?
I hope readers consider listening to that small voice in their conscience because it may be God who is quietly offering guidance and love!
What is the next book in the Spirit Quest series that you are working on and when will it be available?
The next book is the series is titled Purity Found and will be available in the fall of this year!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Fifteen-year-old Kate gives her virginity away in glorious romantic innocence. She maps out a perfect life for herself – untilthe rose-colored glasses have to come off and grown-up trials engulf her. After questioning everything she’s learned about God and love, Kate contemplates suicide on a foggy cliff one night but then chooses to ride the 1970 hippie currents of free love and rebellion instead.
While the guys in her class are drafted into the violence of the Vietnam War, she too flees her country for grand adventures from Mexico to Canada. On this turbulent path of self-discovery, she’s pursued by mystical words that drop into her conscience. When Kate faces her destiny, she must choose to settle down in her hometown orfind the courage to follow Spirit where it leads.
This emotional page-turner explores the hurt and wonder of first love and the raw and real experiences of becoming a woman. Innocence Derailedis a stand-alone novel, the first in the Spirit Quest Series, and gives the early background to the author’s narrative non-fiction awarding-winning book, The Celestial Proposal.
The Interplay of Memory and Dream
Skyrmion follows a man who enters a virtual world for the first time and navigates through dangers and dangerous relationships to find his daughter. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The Dreaming Earth by John Brunner had a big influence on me when I read it years ago as a teenager. The idea that you could be transported to another world by a street drug seemed translatable to the realm of virtual reality. Another book that influenced me in my youth is John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle. Despite all of your doubts, in the end, you do the right thing.
Joe Larivee is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind his character’s development?
First of all, I wanted my protagonist to be an ordinary man, not a cop or an ex-military hero, or any of the common tropes in this sort of fiction. I knew he would be conflicted and a tad cynical and have regrets over a past betrayal. And the child of radical parents who have left him with a social conscience. He also loves his daughter very much and tries to do what’s best for her.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I wanted to explore a few themes that have been important to me over the years: utopia v. dystopia, and the impossibility of either one; the role of (social) memory and dream in reproducing our everyday world; and my own indigenous roots, a theme which doesn’t show up so much in this first novel but is a major factor in the full arc of the Sweetland Quartet. Using the realm of virtual reality to address these themes, particularly the interplay of memory and dream, seemed like a natural to me.
This is book one of the Sweetland Quartet. What can readers expect in book two?
I can’t say too much without it being a spoiler for Skyrmion. But it takes place seventeen years in the future in a utopic society on the verge of invasion. It follows Jessie Larivee and her half-sister, Molly Whitedeer, as their family is torn apart by the machinations of New America Corporation.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Joe Larivee believes he has seen the other side, and now he must decide: is Sweetland real, and, if so, does he follow his daughter and lover and escape from the hell Earth has become, or does he stay and fight for the unfortunate ones he has spent his life serving, and, in the process, just maybe redeem himself for the betrayal which eats at his conscience?
Joe Larivee is an Everyman, a single father, a tireless social worker trying to help the growing legions of the poor while keeping his own head above the water, and in 2038 the water is rising fast, fed by global warming and collapse of the ice caps. America is on the verge of war and economic disaster. For the starving many, rumors of a new answer have arrived. It’s Sweetland, a newly-discovered earth-like world. And there’s a novel way to get there — through the virtual reality called New Life.
Fourteen-year-old Jessie Larivee wants to go to Sweetland. There is no future on Earth for children like her. She has been taking virtual training classes at an online university, and she is determined to emigrate, no matter the cost. But she hasn’t figured out how to tell her dad, who is a bit of a luddite. She desperately wants him to go with her, but how can she convince him?
Meanwhile, virtual private eye, Claire Deluna, has been hired to spy on a mysterious corporate upstart by it’s parent company, New Life, Inc. Now she has the big players on her tail, but is it the mob, the government, the Bolivarians, or someone else? More worrying, why are bodies of mostly poor, young people turning up everywhere? And what does it have to do with the Temple of New Life and something called Sweetland?
Pursuing Love Rather Than Fear
Moonlit Skies is book two in your EverGreen Trilogy. What were some new ideas you wanted to explore in this book that was different from book one?
Moonlit Skies is definitely a little darker than EverGreen. It’s not in any way as dark as Fallen Snow, but it’s somewhere between the two. In Moonlit Skies, I really wanted to highlight Jack, because I thought everyone deserved to know about his redemption arc. Many of my readers really love Jack, and I wanted them to know that his life isn’t permanently filled with sadness. I also felt the need to show a different side of Giselle, one that I think is very relatable to many teenage girls who struggle with mental health problems.
I also really wanted to elaborate on the Watchers. Obviously they were included within EverGreen, but I really needed to show the extent to which their radicalism could take them. Cults have always interested me. One thing I’ve found is that they are always motivated by two things: a desire for power, and uncontrollable fear. The Watchers are no different than any other cult. But the hopeful side of the story is that LeAnne is capable of seeing past her family, and pursuing love rather than fear and violence.
Moonlit Skies really delves deeper into the world of EverGreen, and is definitely relatable to a lot of my readers. People can connect their own lives to Jack and Giselle’s. It takes the story to a whole new level.
Your characters are intriguing and well developed. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
A big part of making my characters well developed and intriguing is not taking away their humanity. They are flawed, broken, and sometimes evil people. Each of my characters can be connected to someone or something in the reader’s life. That’s what makes them feel real. I treat them like real people, and I don’t hide their flaws.
Giselle is so relatable to women. She’s insecure, fun, dramatic, and loving. She’s a hopeless romantic with dreams of love and a happy life. Women see themselves in her. I think that’s wonderful.
Jack is the funny, slightly lost friend that everyone has. Maybe you see him as your brother, son, friend, or partner. No matter who he is to you, he’s the kind of person you can’t help but love. Jack will always be an incredibly important character to me, because he’s inspired by someone within my own life.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The EverGreen Trilogy as a whole centers around eugenics. Of course, the series is YA Paranormal Romance, but there are also other meaningful aspects. Mental health is an important theme within Moonlit Skies, as well as loyalty. These themes continue to be relevant in Fallen Snow.
What can readers expect in the final book of the EverGreen Trilogy?
Fallen Snow completes the EverGreen Trilogy in a bold way. It strays from the sweet, innocent nature of EverGreen. EverGreen provides a glimpse at first love, and two people, Lily and Rowan, who have to fight to be together. It is, in many ways, a very pure love story. Moonlit Skies follows the lives of two minor characters in EverGreen, showing that even in a loving, magical community, there is darkness. Fallen Snow then completes the story, showing the most raw aspects of the characters’ lives.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
One year after the events of EverGreen, Jack finds himself lost, both physically and mentally, with nowhere to go. When he unexpectedly meets a few strangers, his life erupts into chaos. Meanwhile, Giselle struggles with depression and insecurity in the weeks leading up to Ginger and Drew’s wedding. Everything changes when she meets a compelling stranger who appears to be infatuated with her. When a terrifying threat begins to loom over Lily, Rowan, and their unborn children, Jack and Giselle will work together in an attempt to save the lives of those they love.
Silent Journey
Silent Journey is an emotionally-charged young adult novel that follows a young deaf teen named Scott Schoeder. Scott is an accomplished gymnast with the support of his father, whom he communicates with using American Sign Language. One day when his father leaves for a prolonged business trip Scott is left to live with relatives that he does not feel attached to. He becomes a bit of a loner and seeks comfort in new friendships. One of those friendships is with a dog that he develops a close bond with. Scott learns of a family secret that involves his father and uncle and sets out to help them reconcile.
I was swept away by this charming story. Scott is a compelling character with surprising depth. Readers will easily be able to empathize with him. He’s the main reason I came back to this book again and again. Author Carl Watson deftly takes readers into the mind of a troubled young man. His struggles will resonate with readers as he is so much more than just some deaf kid, and in this way the novel shows readers that we are so much more than what we see. The reader is able to feel Scott’s loneliness, his communication difficulties, the friendships he forms, and his intense desire to help. All of this is easily conveyed through sharp writing.
This is a delightful childhood adventure story with colorful characters and a engaging storyline. Readers will be laughing one moment and fighting back tears the next. I really enjoyed the ebb and flow of this novel and how freely the emotions flowed. The story explores the challenges that life throws at us while also showing the joy of childhood. Readers will love the sketch art pieces that are scattered throughout the book. They’re sharp and add a bit of flair to the story although I wish they were colored.
Silent Journey is a book I would have loved to have read in middle school. This is a sentimental but fun story that explores family issues and childhood drama in interesting ways. A charming novel I won’t soon forget.
Pages: 142 | ASIN: B08C9DRFPQ
It’s Such Great Escapism
Maids of Maddington: Welcome To The Madhouse follows two women from the servant class, one on trial for loving a noble, the other her friend and defender. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
As a reader, I always like to be transported to another time and place. It’s such great escapism. I deliberated on many different eras in history before finally deciding on Victorian times. And choosing to write about women of the servant class provides so many possible scenarios!
Eliza shows a lot of character and dedication to those she deems her friends. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Along with many people of her class in the Victorian era, Eliza had a tough life. As the eldest child in her family, she was forced to take on a lot of responsibility, but never once questioned this. She had an innate sense of duty and felt obliged to help others—a common trait amongst women, no matter what century they were born in!
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I did a lot of research on the Victorian era, and was horrified to discover how working-class people in the big cities lived. Many of them didn’t even know where their next meal was coming from. So, poverty and the living conditions of the poor were a big focus for me, along with the abysmal working conditions of servants at that time.
What can readers expect in book two of the Maids of Maddington, and when will it be available?
In Book 2, the reader will be thrust forward seven years to 1905. Many of the same characters will appear, with some interesting new additions. Some of the themes will include the Suffragette movement and the London underworld.
It should be available in August, 2022.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
When young Eliza first joins Maddington House, known locally as ‘The Madhouse,’ as an under housemaid in 1895, she finds herself alone in the world of the rich and privileged.
A world where everyone takes what they want and no one takes responsibility…
Enter Annie.
Kind, pretty, vivacious Annie. The housemaid everyone loves to be around. Eliza’s new friend and close confidante.
Annie’s beautiful aura and charming spirit are hard to resist, so it doesn’t come as a surprise when Edward Montague takes notice.
Edward, the only son of the house, is handsome, charismatic, and manipulative, but Annie doesn’t seem to see him for who he really is. Charmed by his relentless pursuit and bold promises, she falls in love with him hard…
Only to crash even harder.
Eliza knew right from the start that their secret meetings and love confessions would not end well, but she never expected her friend to end up on trial because of that man.
As hidden secrets, back-door deals, and scandalous love affairs unfold before the shocked circle of high society and her friend is accused of a horrible crime, Eliza must do what she knows is right: stand by Annie even if no one else is willing to.
After all, her friend is innocent.
It’s someone else that should be put on trial.
LITERARY TITAN 