The Cerebral  Writer
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Links

WORLD-MART: Elitism and the Role of Corporate Power

11/28/2014

0 Comments

 
This October marked three years since I first published World-Mart. While it’s by no means been a national bestseller, it’s had a respectable run for an indie novel, sparking political debate and making readers take a closer look at their views on Corporate America. I think I knew it had made its mark when it received the following review last year:
What a load of propaganda. This book is nothing more than the authors [sic] rant/social commentary on how she hates success [sic] for a business she disagrees with, loathing of America, and her undying love for the global warming theory. I believe that she had every right to express her views in her thinly disguised “novel”, [sic] I love the 1st Amendment. I hope she is not offended when I express my 1st Amendment rights as well when I say, “TOTAL CRAP!!!!!!!!!”
Picture
I have to respect those who still believe in the American Dream. They’re not too different from George, WM’s hapless protagonist who doesn’t question the corporatocracy until it fails him personally. What readers such as the above reviewer fail to recognize, however, is that the American Dream has been overtaken by a force far larger than any one business: Where it used to be perfectly acceptable to strive to keep up with the Joneses, we’ve delved into a climate in which we must constantly strive to one-up them instead. This comes at a great cost, not only to us as individuals but to our nation as a collective unit.

To examine this more closely, we must look at the “us versus them” mentality that arises from such an attitude. The belief that we need the newest and the best of all things arises from a desire to walk among society’s elite—to emulate the socialites, to be like those of power. With this comes a similar attitude: As long as I’m okay, the rest of the world can go to hell. What we don’t address often enough is the fact that most of us are not among the elite and therefore constantly teetering along the edge of success and ruin—and many who are among the elite couldn’t give a damn (as long as they’re okay).

Take, for example, the recent story of a Texas teen who got a slap on the wrist for killing four people while driving drunk. His defense? He has “affluenza.” Apparently, since he is “the product of wealthy, privileged parents who never set limits for the boy,” he deserves special treatment. He’s rich, he belongs to the elite, and therefore the rules the rest of us must abide by don’t apply to him.

Does it really matter that this type of mindset is tolerated? According to a forthcoming publication in Perspectives in Politics, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,” the indications could be more profound than you’d think. Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin I. Page of Northwestern University write, “The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.” Even more importantly:


As to empirical evidence concerning interest groups, it is well established that organized groups regularly lobby and fraternize with public officials; move through revolving doors between public and private employment; provide self-serving information to officials; draft legislation; and spend a great deal of money on election campaigns. Moreover, in harmony with theories of biased pluralism, the evidence clearly indicates that most U.S. interest groups and lobbyists represent business firms or professionals. Relatively few represent the poor or even the economic interests of ordinary workers, particularly now that the U.S. labor movement has become so weak.
Basically what they’re saying here is that the elite take care of the elite, with the interests of the common American falling to the wayside. Corporate America protects the interests of corporations, not the individuals who compose its bottom rungs, and yet there is a prevailing belief that if we, the individuals among those bottom rungs, support the higher rungs long enough, we too will find our place among the privileged and the powerful.

So, when I look back on that angry review, the one that accuses me of “loathing … America” for forewarning a bleak future under corporate rule, I do so with a heavy heart—not because it’s an unfavorable review but because it’s proof positive that there are people who still see the binding of government and corporations as a good thing. There are people who truly believe they’ll somehow get ahead by supporting massive empires that could care less about the common worker. There are people who buy the propaganda that not being self-serving, that not going into debt to outdo the Joneses, that sticking up for the little man is somehow un-American.

And that, to me, is just plain sad.

About World-Mart:

George Irwin remembers a time before the Big Climate Change, back when the airlines were still in business and people still drove their own cars. The world has changed much over his lifetime, but he still believes in the American Dream. When an alleged terrorist act lands his wife in the hospital, however, George stumbles upon a Corporate secret that could mean the end of all civilization.

In the spirit of good old American consumerism and this festive Black Friday, World-Mart will be reduced to $0.99 at Amazon today through Sunday.
0 Comments

MIND OF THE BEAST: The Meshing of Tropes

11/21/2014

4 Comments

 
Today, guest authors Brian and Juliet Freyermuth are here to discuss literary tropes in promotion of their new novel, Mind of the Beast. They will be giving away a $20 Amazon gift card to one random reader, so make sure to enter using the Rafflecopter box below. For more chances to win, leave a comment and stop by other participating blogs throughout the tour. Click here for a list of links.
Picture
Picture
Meshing Tropes:

Once upon a time, genre fiction only used a single trope. You could count on Bram Stoker not adding werewolves to his Dracula book. Mary Shelly stuck to her Frankenstein. But as long as you stay within the rules of the world you create, mixing up tropes can add to the experience, as well as give us authors more room to play. It’s fun creating a magical underworld filled with vampires, deities, trolls and other creatures within cities like Seattle.

One big advantage to mixing tropes is when thinking long term. A single story can get away with a single idea or thread, but a series needed to be broad enough that the action doesn’t become stale. Some of the great urban fantasy series have shown that you need to introduce new tropes as you write, or else it becomes the same rehash over and over again. Boring. Patricia Briggs mixed werewolves and fae in her Mercy Thompson series. (If you haven’t read her series yet, we highly recommend it.)


The basic premise for the Sundancer series is simple. What if the supernatural entities of the world changed based on their belief?  A vampire one decade could be like the Dracula of old, while a modern day vampire would resemble something different, all based on popular belief. Because of this premise, we’re able to delve not only into popular mythology, like vampires, but we also have the deep well of ancient mythology to pull from as well. Demon Dance deals with angels and demons, while Mind of the Beast deals with everything from ancient Celtic forest gods to voodoo, to even what it means to be the precursor to the ancient gods.


One of the characters in our story, Felix is a nice guy who has an affliction; he’s a vampire. He is limited by popular belief but doesn’t have as many constraints as Dracula. For starters, he drinks bagged blood, and he can even go into the sun for a few minutes without turning into a human shaped tiki torch. He also likes to play role playing games. He does have the job you would expect necessary for a vampire though, an assistant to the Medical Examiner. What better place for a vampire to work than the morgue?


However, there is a minefield you need to be wary of. While it’s great to think “I can put anything I want in here! Woo-hoo! Bring on the cowboys and aliens!” you need to be careful. The world you are creating still needs rules.  Most people in the real world live by rules, even if those rules only reside in the deepest depths of their subconscious. A world of random tropes and occurrences becomes a big mess, and the reader suddenly cannot grasp what you’re trying to say. (With the exception of the master, Douglas Adams. He gets away with it just fine). 


For the Sundancer Series, even though we deal with different tropes from fantasy, mythology and religions, there are still rules to how the world works. There is a system on how magic works. There are rules on belief that affect the supernatural. Our world has groups like the Watchers, who protect society from knowing about the supernatural side of things. They don’t take sides; only make sure that the public remains ignorant.  All these help make our world relatable to our readers.


It all comes down to building your world and making sure it’s believable. As long as you make your tropes consistent within the world and part of the larger story, you can give your readers an experience filled with all the advantages of each trope, mixed with adventure and wonder.


More about the novel:

When a vampire asks Nick St. James to investigate his friend’s murder, the answer should have been easy, right? NO. Okay, not so easy. How do you say no to a friend like Felix?

Besides, with Thelma by his side, what could go wrong? She’s got that, umm … cute pink backpack of Voodoo magic. Of course it hurts that she manages to look good even when she accidentally conjures and gets possessed by a drunk loa. No, it won’t be at all distracting to have her along.

Since no good deed goes unpunished, a crazy man with starry eyes jumps out of the shadows at the victim’s apartment and pummels them. Their attacker doesn’t just beat them up but also infects them with some bad mojo that’s killing Thelma and making Nick angry … angrier.

If the trail to the suspect—the Green Man—is any indication, they’ll be killed before the poison finishes the job. The old gods are more dangerous than helpful. The Watchers—even the one who seems to have a brain—are always a hazard. And what’s with the all the minions? Who has minions anymore? Not to mention the rapid progression of the infection that quickly upgrades Nick’s condition to ‘blind-rage-filled.’

Why couldn’t Felix have just asked Nick to help him move?


Excerpt:

She shot him again, but he continued toward her. Two bloodstains formed on his ratty shirt. He swung at her, but she quickly shifted to the left.

It was my turn. I punched him from the side and sent him flying into the desk across the room. Sounds of the monitor shattering and wood splintering filled the air as I rushed toward him.

Another sound of gunfire rang out but didn’t stop him from getting to his feet. He barreled toward me like a freight train. The gunshots slowed him considerably, but it didn’t stop him. Pain radiated through my chest as his fist made contact, sending me into the wall between the two rooms. A crack traveled up the wall to the ceiling, and plaster rained down around us.

More shots sounded as I got back to my feet. Two more holes opened in the man’s shirt. He was almost to Thelma when I grabbed him from behind. I used all my enhanced strength to lift him and toss him toward the kitchen. His body flew through the open door, smashing the wood of the frame in the process.

On the counter was the third gnome, his hands covering his speak-no-evil lips. I grabbed it and swung for the man’s head. It contacted with a sick thunk, and blood splashed across the gnome’s face. The bastard wouldn’t go down! I snarled and swung again, but this time he grabbed my wrist in midair and twisted it before tossing me to the ground.


Picture
About the authors:

After 18 years of marriage, Brian and Juliet Freyermuth decided to try something crazy: write a book together. 

Brian’s writing is not limited to print. For twenty years, he wrote and designed games such as Fallout, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Epic Mickey 2 and Lichdom: Battlemage.

Juliet’s love for writing began with a fourth grade assignment. She has been writing ever since. Her writing took a new direction when she enrolled in journalism and met amazing people. Whether it is an article about anthropology or a hero’s journey in a magical world, she hopes to inspire readers to new possibilities.

When Brian and Juliet aren’t writing, they enjoy reading, watching shows like Persons of Interest and going on road trips with their son, Kyle. For more about their work, visit their website.


Both are on Twitter: Brian ~ Juliet
You can also find them on Facebook: Brian~ Juliet
              
Demon Dance (Sundancer, Book 1) and Mind of the Beast (Sundancer, Book 2) are both available through Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
4 Comments

Book Blast: AEGIS RISING by S.S. Segran

11/14/2014

1 Comment

 
Today, I have guest author S.S. Segran here to promote her new book Aegis Rising. She will be giving away a $40 gift card to one randomly selected reader, so make sure to enter using the Rafflecopter box below. For more chances to win, leave a comment and stop by other blogs participating in this promotion. Click here for a list of links.
Picture
Picture
About the novel:

Over a remote northern forest, a small plane carrying five teenage friends flies into a freak storm. Struck by lightning, the aircraft crashes and the passengers find themselves cast into a life-changing adventure.

In a hidden valley, a mysterious people gaze at the stormy sky as a glowing object with fiery wings disappears behind a mountain ridge. The astonishing sight reignites an ancient prophecy foretelling the arrival of five chosen ones destined to become bearers of light against a dark storm gathering on humanity's horizon.


In a distant city, a secretive organization led by a shadowy figure initiates a sequence of cataclysmic events designed to wreak havoc across the planet, beginning with a remote mining site in northern Canada.


As the three worlds collide, unlikely heroes arise. Armed with powers entrusted to them by the ancient prophecy and the resilience of their life-long bond, the five teens take a stand against a malevolent foe.

Review:  "Astonishingly imaginative and thoughtful. Aegis Rising sets a festive narrative table and makes the reader eagerly anticipate a sequel." -- Samuel F. Pickering, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Connecticut & Inspiration for the film Dead Poet's Society


Excerpt:

(Prologue – 500 B.C.)

Sprinting like a madman, he soon reached his house. Smoke and flames shot out from the roof as he barged through the main door. Fumes and ashes began to choke his lungs. He coughed as he called out to his family.

No answer.

Terrified, Mokun tore through his abode. His eyes teared up so terribly from the smoke that he could hardly see where he was going as the unbearable heat weighed down on him. His heart pounded as he struggled to breathe. He couldn’t find his family anywhere. Then a thought struck him: the cellar! They may have panicked and sought safety below ground.

He ripped off the hem of his tunic and tied it around his nose and mouth. The smoke was so thick he was forced to feel rather than see his way to the cellar. He found the door to the cellar opened and tripped over the steps in his haste, falling to the ground. He pulled himself up and called out again to his loved ones. He got no response and stepped forward. His foot bumped against something and he jumped back. 

With growing dread, he knelt down in the darkness, squinting to make out three huddled shapes. He froze in horror, oblivious to the danger around him. His five-year-old daughters were huddled against their mother, and his wife had her arms wrapped around the twins. They didn’t move.

Copyright © 2013, S.S. Segran. All rights reserved.

Picture
About the author:

S.S. Segran spent a good chunk of her childhood exploring the enchanted forest of a million tales in the mystical land of books. In her early teens, she began crafting intriguing new worlds and conjuring up characters who came alive with the flick of her wand... err... pen. With the publication of Aegis Rising in her senior year of high school, she was surprised by the abundance of time that magically appeared right after graduation. She plans to use this newfound resource to expand the arc of the Aegis Series. Her future plans include studying Cognitive Science at university and helping youths in developing countries realize their potential through the non-profit organization,Aegis League.

When not devouring a book or writing one, S.S. Segran can be found standing behind the cauldron of life, stirring a potion made up of chores, parkour, gaming, drawing, horseback riding and—having recently jumped off a perfectly fine airplane at fifteen thousand feet – perhaps skydiving.


For more information, visit her website, stop by her Facebook page, or check out her YouTube channel.

Aegis Rising is available at Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
1 Comment

Book Blast: COMPUTER LOVE INC. II: GESTATION

11/13/2014

3 Comments

 
Today, guest authors Kurt and Jessica Hansen have stopped by to promote their new book, Gestation. They will be awarding a $50 Amazon gift card to one random reader, so be sure to enter using the Rafflecopter box below. For more chances to win, leave a comment and visit other blogs participating in the book blast. Click here for a list of links.
Picture
Picture
About the novel:

After the sudden deaths of two previous Computer Love Inc. CEOs, Marius takes control of the company. Embracing the talents of his godson, John, and his best friend, Zak, he hires the boys to oversee the Companion Services Division. Marius refines his breakthrough technology, the Brain Machine Download, and as a result, creates his double, M2, as the prototype. Together, they ignite the future of Computer Love Inc. by acquiring an elite team of scientists to expand the company’s technological boundaries. Meanwhile, Marius struggles with the government’s demands for a clandestine initiative - the Secret Service Companion. Between the looming government presence and the overwhelming force behind his new team of inventors, can Marius survive the outcome of his own creations?

Excerpt:

The room remained silent. Ten pairs of eyes were fixed on Marius, not even a single person consumed with a hangnail or discreetly checking messages on his or her unit.

“So then – and please forgive me when I say this, because often it seems that social delicacies elude me; I’m sure you all possess unique and likable personalities, but really – it’s your brains that we’re after here.”

Again Marius paused. By now, some gazes had shifted: faces looked amongst one another, gauging reactions – animals measuring a threat by observing the rest of the pack.

“Have you ever heard someone say, ‘Can I pick your brain’? Essentially, that’s what I’d like to do here.  I need your brilliance, and I implore you to consider this proposal. I would like to perform a Brain Machine Download on each of you in order to capture your intelligence. Is everyone familiar with what the theory of the BMD is, or what it entails?”

If they were not familiar, no one spoke up or raised a hand. Again, the looks flashed around the room – there were a few who wanted to know more, but, seeing that no one else had first spoken up, they remained quiet. Marius had seen it. Even in the wisest, cowardice lives…


Picture
About the authors:

Kurt and Jessica Hansen reside in northern New Jersey. Kurt has worked in the aerospace electronics industry for over three decades and enjoys the outdoors, writing, and composing music. Kurt is easily recognized with a guitar in his lap, a pencil in his mouth, and a piece of paper in front of him.

Jessica graduated from Montclair State University, summa cum laude, with a B.A. in English. Her favorite pastimes include reading, running and spending time with her family. She can usually be found with a book in one hand and a hazelnut coffee in the other.

The Computer Love Inc. series is a collaborative effort between father and daughter. For more about the series, visit Kurt and Jessica's website, follow them on Facebook and Twitter, and check out their Amazon author page.


You can find their books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
3 Comments

Anthony J. Melchiorri: On Immortality

11/10/2014

6 Comments

 
Today, guest author Anthony J. Melchiorri is here to share his thoughts on immortality in promotion of his new release, The God Organ. Anthony will be giving away a $20 Amazon gift card to one random reader, as well as four signed copies of his book, so be sure to enter via the Rafflecopter box below. For more entries, leave a comment and visit other stops in the blog tour. Click here for a list of links.
Picture
Picture
On Immortality:

Dreams of ever-lasting life and living “forever young” have persisted in human culture for eons. Between searches for Holy Grails and Fountains of Youth to today’s thirst for biotechnologically prolonged life, it’s easy to be caught up in the mad pursuit of immortality. Human lifespans, in a matter of decades, have reached historically high averages in developed countries. We’re talking an almost 100% increase in age of mortality compared to just one hundred years ago. But in this unbridled pursuit of life everlasting here on earth, what have we got to lose?

We don’t like to think about the nasty side effects of living even just two or three hundred years without wrinkles, but we’re going to have to face those realities someday. One of the first impacts you might see is the impact on jobs and the economy. The average middle class American saves up for retirement and might need to keep themselves alive for a couple of decades (if they’re lucky and retire at 65). But if biotechnology (or magic or whatever) has granted that individual near-immortality, those retirement plans aren’t going to cut it. That same person needs to work for a much longer period of time and so do all that individual’s coworkers. The normal cycle of get a job, get promoted over a span of decades, and then retire is out the window. Available jobs could be clotted with two hundred year old workers who need the same position they’ve been working at for a century and a half to support their immortal lifestyle.

Besides jobs, the very idea of families may be drastically altered. If great-great-great-great grandma and grandpa still look (and feel) like they’re thirty, what if they want to keep having kids? Medical technology could keep those offspring popping out for years to come. This might at first be a good thing as we’ve heard scares of population declines plaguing countries everywhere from Japan to the Baltics. But an increased demand on Earth’s already diminishing resources could pose enough problems to fill another series of blog posts for the next year.

Culturally, we’d be faced with a host of new challenges. How should prison sentences be altered for someone who might be near-immortal compared to someone expected to die a “normal age?” Would the idea of marriage change if someone realized that at the age of twenty-five they were vowing to spend several hundred years with the same individual, for better or worse? If the worlds of politics, business, science, and arts get clogged by people who have been in their position for hundreds of years, will we see the influx of new ideas and progress that are often catalyzed by an influx of younger generations? Maybe the “cure for aging” is a technology that only the wealthiest can afford—does no one else deserve immortality? I don’t know if there are concrete answers to any of these questions, but they’re all valid concerns that we must learn to deal with as we broach the possibility of enhanced lifespans.

Each day that we slowly unlock the secrets of aging through the development of biomedical and biological sciences, we’re altering the way humans have viewed our mortal lives since we first became a self-aware species. To quote the immortal words of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben: “With great power comes great responsibility.” May the wisdom of good ol’ Ben Parker ring true with us we confront the implications of radically enhanced lifespans in the near-future.



About The God Organ:

The LyfeGen Sustain is an artificial organ designed to bestow recipients with virtual immortality. Instead, its owners are dying.

In 2063 Chicago, a rapidly growing company, LyfeGen, drives a biotechnological revolution that enables people to live significantly longer lives, free of cancer, genetically inherited diseases, and even wrinkles. But these benefits are only available to those people with the money to afford these advanced technologies.

The prolonged lives of the moderately and extremely wealthy is upending the economy as job growth and opportunities stagnate, causing widespread unrest in the general populace. Threatening drastic action, extremist religious groups protest these unnatural artificial organs. Competing companies are desperate to take advantage of LyfeGen’s seemingly grim future as the chaos unfolds.

Caught in the midst of this turmoil, the inventor of the artificial organ, Preston Carter, worries that someone with no regard for human life has betrayed his company and is setting him up for failure. He is not alone in his fears.

Amid the confusion, backstabbing, and all-out assault on the biotech industry, a young bioengineer races to findthe fault in the artificial organ; an investigative journalist delves into a story that will alter her career; a destitute man struggles to make a living in the biotech world, as he turns to desperate measures; and an amateur hacker infiltrates LyfeGen as she roots out the secrets of their technology. With a Sustain organ implanted in his own body, Preston must weather the perilous storm, determined to save his company and the lives of all who once trusted LyfeGen—before he’s killed by his own invention.



Excerpt:

Joel reached out to the glimmering incandescent light bulb and wrapped his fingers around it. It didn’t burn him, even when he clenched it tighter and his mind screamed at him to let go. Instinct was hard to shake. With an unquenchable curiosity, he squeezed the bulb and let out an embarrassing yelp as the glass shattered. Shards projected from his open palm as he rotated and examined his hand. Silver blood streamed between his fingers.

Stepping away from the holofield, he headed back into the main art gallery. He shook his head in quiet amusement and rubbed his hand against his black slacks. No blood actually seeped over his palm and no glass shards were embedded in his hand, but he couldn’t help trying to get rid of the mess. It was just another strange exhibit in the modern art museum, an illusion.

But the pain burning beneath his skull, making his vision swim, was no trick. He fell, his body going numb and his world going black.



Picture
About the author:

Anthony J. Melchiorri grew up in Normal, Illinois. After a regular (it’s hard, but he refuses to make a pun of it) childhood in Normal, he left for the University of Iowa to get a degree in Biomedical Engineering. But he couldn’t give up reading and writing, and there really wasn’t enough of that in engineering (unless you’re into thick, no-thrills books on thermodynamics and polymer physics). He picked up a second degree in English while working on the Biomedical Engineering degree and has since counted himself fortunate for making that decision. Iowa City, North America’s only official UNESCO City of Literature, is a thriving hotbed of writers and readers, with some of the best visiting the city for their renowned workshop or famous authors dropping by to read a story they’ve written and chat. He had the opportunity to meet plenty of great writers and storytellers that inspired him to keep writing, even when he graduated and entered a doctoral program at the University of Maryland for Bioengineering. 

Today, when he's not writing and reading, he's primarily working on tissue engineered blood vessels, gearing his work for children with congenital heart defects. He gets to work with awesome 3D printing technologies and is always astounded by the rapidly advancing technologies coursing through the veins of universities and research settings. Much of his writing has been inspired by those advancements and his conversations with other researchers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and many others interested in our evolving world.



For more about Anthony and his writing, check out his website, follow him on Twitter and Facebook, or stop by hisGoodreads author page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
6 Comments

Michael Hurley: Where Do Ideas Come From?

11/7/2014

9 Comments

 
Today, guest author Michael Hurley is here to promote his upcoming release, The Vineyard. Michael is giving away a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card, so make sure to enter using the Rafflecopter box below. For more entries, leave a comment and stop by other stops in this blog tour. Click here for a list of links.
Picture
Picture
I asked Michael if he'd be willing to share his thoughts on inspiration, and this was his response:

Where Do Ideas Come From?
by Michael Hurley

This is actually a very interesting question for me, because it begs another very important question for every writer. Are you writing genre fiction or literary fiction?

I write literary fiction, which I define to mean novels in which the plot is propelled by characters as opposed to the characters being propelled by the plot. So for me, the simple answer to the question of where ideas come from is that they come from the characters.  

In literary fiction, you invent an interesting character who is conflicted in some way, flawed in some way, tragic in some way, gifted in some way, evil or good in some way, and so on, and you place him or her in a setting where he or she is going to interact with other characters who all have their own idiosyncrasies. The idea for the story then evolves out of the interaction of the characters. I might have a germ of an idea and some sense of the arc of the story when I begin, but it is subordinate to the whims of the characters and is almost always changed by them, before the end. As I write their lives and thoughts and hopes and dreams, they tell me where and how the story will go.    

Genre fiction is very different. Here I am referring to romance, thrillers, science fiction, mystery, and other commercial fiction. Often these are linear tales populated by more two dimensional characters whose inner lives are never fully explored, because they exist primarily to unfold the plot.The highest praise given to these books is that they are “page turners” or “propulsive reads,” because events are literally propelling the story: the fuse is lit, the gun is pulled, the car is crashed, the bodice is ripped, and the priceless jewel is stolen; the robbery scene is followed by the fight scene, the seduction scene, the explosion scene, the chase scene, and so on. 

If you want to get ideas for a story, and you want to write literary fiction, I suggest you head to your local art gallery. Find a painting there that fascinates you and try to bring the subject of the painting to life in your mind. What is she afraid of? What does she hope for? What is she hiding? Whom does she love, and why? What has she lost? How will she find it? What would she do to get it back? As you add layers onto the character’s persona, she will take you to all kinds of fascinating places and through experiences you never could have imagined, otherwise. Before you know it, you’ll have a story you feel compelled to tell the world.



About The Vineyard:

Ten years after college, three very different women reunite for a summer on Martha’s Vineyard. As they come to grips with various challenges in their lives, an encounter with a reclusive fisherman threatens to change everything they believe about their world—and each other.


Excerpt:

Chapter 21

Climbing up the dune, she stumbled from little avalanches of sand that slipped beneath her feet. The boy caught her and pulled her up. His hand was smooth and warm and young. It felt good to her to hold a boy’s hand again.

At the top of the dune, the salt air swept over and around her face and hair. The ocean was shimmering, limitless. There was nothing around them but the sea and the wind and the sand—which is why she had come to this, her new favorite place on the Vineyard. Only today she was going to have to share it with a gangly skinflint of a boy who stood there still grinning at her, the wind tossing a lone, blond cowlick back and forth on top of his head like a bobble-head doll. 

Perhaps he expected another kiss. She assured herself he wouldn’t be getting one. After all, she had grown better at restraining her impulses in the two months since that first ferry ride.

“I thought you’d be married and off on your honeymoon by now,” Charlotte said, glad finally to be back on offense after nearly rolling down the dune. 

She made a point of not looking at him. Teenage boys with racehorse metabolisms and zero body fat were very fond of not wearing shirts, and while the cheerleading squad down the beach probably found that exciting, Charlotte thought it was important that she not appear to agree. 

She kept looking out to sea as she spoke, as if the water were far more interesting than the boy or what he might have to say, which in truth it was not. When the silence became awkward, she turned to see if he were even paying attention. He was staring off at the horizon. She followed his gaze.

“Long story,” he said, finally.

In the pause that followed, it became clear that the story, long or short, was not likely to be told. Charlotte sensed a wound that was something more than shyness. It provoked an unwanted and involuntary surge of maternalism in her. 

“I’m Charlotte,” she said, extending her hand. “I’ve been told I’m a good listener to long stories.”

The boy looked at her and took her hand for the second time. He did not complete the introduction but simply held her hand in his. He wasn’t coy; it just didn’t occur to him that his name was at all important to her.

In his bare feet he was not as tall as she remembered, and he seemed younger. He wasn’t a child, but he couldn’t have been older than twenty-two, if that. Separated from the rough girl who had been hanging on him on the ferry, he looked less like a greaser and more like a California surfer. The difference somehow mattered to Charlotte. It felt weird that it mattered. 

She hadn’t intended to be his company, nor had she asked him for his, but the top of the dune was not wide. When she wandered away the few feet it allowed and spread her blanket, he followed and sat beside her. He offered a half-empty bottle of spiced rum she hadn’t noticed he had been dangling from his left hand. She didn’t usually drink that early in the morning—or to be more precise, she never did—but somehow she sensed this wasn’t the time or the place to accentuate the differences in their ages and manners. She wanted to hear his story, and she wanted him to feel free to tell it.

Still, he said nothing. Instead, he sat next to her and peered out at the sea as if they were an old married couple, silent and content merely to have each other’s company. 

The voices of the others rose and fell periodically on the air, coming from fifty yards away in the direction of skiff down the beach. That the boy’s friends didn’t seem in a hurry to join him suggested that they, too, knew he needed some space. Charlotte could hear them laughing and groaning and grunting, trying to pry the keel of their boat out of the sand with the help of the tide that slowly rose around it. 

She leaned back on the towel and continued to follow the boy’s gaze out to sea. He had an odd intensity about him, as if he were expecting something was about to happen out there—a missile launch or mermaid eruption or something. On the third pass of the rum, he turned to look at her.

“We were supposed to be having a baby,” he said.

“We?”

“The girl and me—the one you saw on the ferry.”

"And . . .?”

“And nothing. She lied to me. I heard about it from one of her girlfriends who called me from back home. Said she couldn’t keep quiet anymore. That she felt it was wrong. She said my girlfriend wasn’t pregnant—never had been. She just made that up to get me to take her away from her old man. Not that I can blame her. He used to beat her . . .”

Charlotte had not forgotten the girl’s blistering right hook, and now she realized where it came from. She must have given the old man as good as she got. 

“ . . . but it was a damned lie just the same.”

Charlotte said nothing, which didn’t seem to faze him. “A damned lie,” he said again, looking back toward the sea.

“Is that why you were getting married?”

“She must have thought so, but I would have married her anyway—baby or no baby.”

“And so now you’re not—getting married, I mean?”

“You can’t build a marriage on a lie,” he said, looking at her with an expression of surprise, which she took to mean that he would have guessed someone so much older would have been a little wiser.

Charlotte let the proverb hang in the air. It was true enough, in theory, but in reality her own marriage and, she had come to believe, a great many others—perhaps even the majority—were rather elaborately built on a foundation of lies. True love was a myth, as far as she was concerned.

“’Think about it,’ you said to me, back then,” he continued. “Do you remember?”

“I do, but I was …” She started to explain her bizarre conduct on the ferry that she realized, as soon as she began, made no difference to anyone now. He cut her off.
 
“Truth is, apart from wondering why you was such a damn lunatic and where the hell you had come from, I didn’t need to think about it. In fact, I was pretty excited about it. That’s what I guess you didn’t know—and how could you. I’m sure I looked like just a punk to you.”

“Still do, actually.” She said this to be witty and cute, which it was not, and which alarmed her, as if her mouth had suddenly detached itself from her brain. She regretted the words as soon as they were spoken. Another lie told to the poor boy. He seemed rather Byronesque to her, in fact, and not at all like a punk, but she didn’t think he would understand why, so she left it. 

“I was excited to be a father,” he continued, indignantly. A tear rolled down. He was struggling to keep his emotions in check. She had had no idea. She felt suddenly even more mortified at her glibness a moment ago.

It was either the best or worst of all possible combinations, depending on the eye of the beholder. Here was this painfully earnest boy, wounded and still suffering at the hands of a conniving and thoughtless girlfriend. Here was this older woman, herself conflicted and out of touch with her own feelings about love and sex and marriage. Between them was a half-empty bottle of rum, and all around them was sunshine and the sea.

© 2014 by M. C. Hurley. All rights reserved.


Picture
About the author:

Michael Hurley and his wife Susan live near Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised in Baltimore, Michael holds a degree in English from the University of Maryland and law from St. Louis University.

The Prodigal, Michael’s debut novel from Ragbagger Press, received the Somerset Prize for mainstream fiction and numerous accolades in the trade press, including Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, ForeWord Reviews, BookTrib, Chanticleer Reviews, and IndieReader. It is currently in development for a feature film by producer Diane Sillan Isaacs. Michael’s second novel, The Vineyard, is due to be released by Ragbagger Press in December 2014.

Michael’s first book, Letters from the Woods, is a collection of wilderness-themed essays published by Ragbagger Press in 2005.  It was shortlisted for Book of the Year by ForeWord magazine.  In 2009, Michael embarked on a two-year, 2,200 mile solo sailing voyage that ended with the loss of his 32-foot sloop, the Gypsy Moon, in the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti in 2012. That voyage and the experiences that inspired him to set sail became the subject of his memoir, Once Upon A Gypsy Moon, published in 2013 by Hachette Book Group.

When he is not writing, Michael enjoys reading and relaxing with Susan on the porch of their rambling, one-hundred-year-old house. His fondest pastimes are ocean sailing, playing piano and classical guitar, cooking, and keeping up with an energetic Irish terrier, Frodo Baggins.


For more about Michael Hurley and his writing, check out his website, follow him on Facebook, or go to his Goodreads author page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
9 Comments

Blurb Blitz: CONFESSIONS OF A SELF-HELP WRITER

11/3/2014

9 Comments

 
Today, guest author Benjamin W. DeHaven is here to share about his new release, Confessions of a Self-Help Writer. He will be giving away five signed hardcover copies of his book as well as a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card, so make sure to enter by leaving a comment and using the Rafflecopter box below.


For more chances to win, stop by Goddess Fish Promotions.
Picture
About the novel:

A ghost, a philanthropist, a con man, a devout Catholic, a gigolo, a savior, an heir, a common man, and an addict are just some of the words used to describe Michael Enzo, who some sources credit with ghost-writing more than 108 self-help books on behalf of celebrities, politicians and business leaders. After failing to make what he considered to be a positive impact on society he began to destroy those closest to him including Benjamin DeHaven, the author of this book, and former collaborator. Defrauding an industry for almost 20 years by exploiting people's insecurities and profiting from them, more than likely these friends contributed more to the field of self-help, while profiting from it, than they will ever know. Believing they could only understand people's problems by suffering along with them, they lived on the razor's edge. If you've ever picked up a tell-all biography of a celebrity or a title from the self-help section at the bookstore, certainly you would question the source.This is an inside look at the mind of Michael Enzo and it is the author's hope that people will start helping themselves again after reading it. Discover what turns someone from preaching salvation towards seeking its destruction. You won't believe this could be true.

About the author:

A Graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, Benjamin DeHaven keeps his heart in Chicago and his soul in New Orleans. He holds a MBA from Tulane and a film degree from Columbia. Once ejected from a community college for arguing Frost cried out for acceptance in Birches, he has since written screenplays, traded futures in Madrid, and was Editor in Chief of the Nola Shopper Newspaper, a free art newspaper and the 2nd largest monthly paper in the New Orleans, MSA. . He also has a "shout out" in a Jay "Z" Song. 

DeHaven, who currently resides in Las Vegas began his writing career with Stone United, a Chicago based Film Company, which works primarily in independent film. As an unknown fiction writer, he feels the best description of himself, is a sarcastic one and is as follows:

Benjamin W. DeHaven was born on a pool table after a Waylon Jennings' concert in 1977. His personal success is outweighed only by his stunning good looks and adherence to unwritten moral guidelines. He has been described as a thinking man's Tucker Max as well as an idiot's Hunter S. Thompson. His goal is to die from an unwavering commitment to be more like Hemingway.

He and Michael Enzo were friends.

For more about Benjamin W. DeHaven and his writing, stop by his website, follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook or check out his YouTube channel. You can also find him on Amazon and Goodreads. Confessions of a Self-Help Writer is available a Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
9 Comments

Congratulations, Coffin Hop Winners!

11/1/2014

2 Comments

 
Congratulations, A. F. Stewart and Julia P.--you've both won electronic copies of Jane, Volume 1: Revival! To redeem your prize, use the "Contact" page and let me know what format you'd prefer. Make sure to leave your e-mail address so I know where to send it.


Congratulations also to Goodreads winners Tiffany B., Nancy S., Fred H., Lucy G., and Shawn E.! Your signed paperbacks with be on their way on Monday.


Thanks to all who entered. I hope you enjoyed the Hop!
2 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Privacy Policy:

    No names or e-mail addresses listed in blog post replies will result in mailing list additions or sharing/sales to other sites via the Cerebral Writer.

    All email addresses, unless added intentionally to the body text of a post or response, will remain hidden from public view.

    Archives

    April 2021
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008


    Categories

    All
    Aftermath
    Animals
    Anthologies
    Awards
    Bestseller List
    Bizarro
    Blogging
    Classics
    Contests
    Critical Analysis
    Dystopia
    Edgar Allan Poe
    Editors
    Excerpts
    Film
    Finding Poe
    Flash Fiction
    God
    Grammar
    Guest Blogs
    Horror
    Humanitarians
    Interviews
    Jane The Hippie Vampire
    Language
    Leigh M. Lane
    Literary Fiction
    Lupus
    Marketing
    Movies
    Muses
    Musicians
    My Books
    Myths Of Gods
    My Writing
    My Writing
    Nook
    Novellas
    On Writing
    On Writing
    Opinion
    Other Great Authors
    Paying It Forward
    Pirates
    Poetry
    Racism
    Redrafting
    Revelations
    Reviews
    Rod Serling
    Screenplays
    Self Publishing
    Short Stories
    Speculative Fiction
    Television
    The Hidden Valley
    The Private Sector
    The Twilight Zone
    This Site
    Trailers
    Urban Fantasy
    Vampires
    Weird Western
    Words
    World Mart
    Zombies

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.