Category: Harmony Ink YA Press

Tom Early on Writing, Characters, and his new release ‘The Final Season (Seasons Rising #3) 

The Final Season (Seasons Rising #3) by Tom Early

Harmony Ink Press
Published June 11th 2019

Cover Artist: Sadie Thompson; Cover Design by Paul Richmond

Sales Links:  Harmony Ink Press | Amazon

 

✒︎

 

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview with Tom Early

How much of yourself goes into a character?

  • Fay is fun. He was one of the first characters I’d ever written, and he is, at this point, rather like who I might be if my time past high school went very differently. The rest are their own, with aspects from other people I admire or am intrigued by that I went and snagged like a magpie and built a character around.

Do you feel there’s a tight line between Mary Sue or should I say Gary Stu and using your own experiences to create a character?

  • I’m not sure it matters, really. If it’s enjoyable to read, what’s the point in saying a character is too perfect? (That said, if the character is enjoyable to read, that probably isn’t a problem).

Have you ever had to put an ‘in progress’ story aside because of the emotional ties with it?  You were hurting with the characters or didn’t know how to proceed?

  • For sure! Characters often have minds of their own, and when I hit a hard scene, they like to scatter and hide until it stops smarting. I have to tempt them out sometimes to finish the scene; it’s a fun time. Usually if it happens, it’s about a week for them to come back, but I’ve hit patches with a hard ending that I had to put aside for months, and eventually realized I was being told this needed to be rewritten.

How do you choose your covers?  (curious on my part)

  • This series has had all the covers done by my childhood friend, who’s credited on the inside cover of the book. They work with me to make covers that we feel accurately reflect the core concept of the book! And wow, what wonders they’ve made…

Do you have a favorite among your own stories?  And why?

  • I’m proudest of The Final Season, because I wasn’t sure if I could write it. It gets at a feeling I’ve had very strongly for a while, of… the sense that just because you have been on a path for a long time, doesn’t mean that you are bound to it. Especially if the actions or expectations of others are what placed you on that path to begin with. It isn’t giving up to realize you aren’t who you are when you started on an ambition. And that’s okay. This last book is about that feeling.

What’s next for you as an author?

  • Good question! I have a fun book called The Kingdom and the Crow, which is YA Fantasy, and follows an assassin named Jasper who’s having a bit of an identity crisis in the middle of a world-ending conspiracy. I don’t know what will happen with it yet, but I’m hopeful. I’m also working on another novel that more or less is my take on deconstructing some of the story beats of the Ancient Greek concept of a “Hero’s Journey”. It is, unsurprisingly, a romance. A witchy one. We’ll see what happens.

If you write contemporary romance, is there such a thing as making a main character too “real”?  Do you think you can bring too many faults into a character that eventually it becomes too flawed to become a love interest?

  • Good lord, no. I believe it was Patrick Rothfuss in one of his books that said it is a beautiful thing to love “because”, but a rare and powerful thing to love “despite”. I think some of the greatest love stories out there include characters who are terribly flawed, but find ways to be loved, and to love, and to find a measure of peace despite it all.

   

Ever drunk written a chapter and then read it the next day and still been happy with it?  Trust me there’s a whole world of us drunk writers dying to know.

  • Oh my. Yes. Several. The Final Season has one. Not much of it survived, but parts of it exist near the beginning. They tend to be a little bit more embarrassing than I usually am able to write.

 

If you could imagine the best possible place for you to write, where would that be and why?

  • The Edinburgh Botanics is a lovely place to write! Big garden, lovely café, quiet and surrounded by nature. I like ambient noise and people around me when I write, so quieter but active places like that are my favorite.

 

With so much going on in the world today, do you write to explain?  To get away?  To move past?  To widen our knowledge?  Why do you write?

  • I write for me, and to help others like me. We could all use more of ourselves in stories. And we could all use the reminder that no matter what, it’s worth it to keep trying.

 

What’s next for you as a writer?

If you find out, please do let me know. I’m terribly curious.

 

Sequel to The Doorway God

Fay is no longer a boy haunted by the spirit of Winter—he is now the embodiment of the cruelest Season. If he thought access to the immense power that grants him would make his life easier, he couldn’t be more wrong.

 

The return of the Seasons is tearing Gaia—the magical realm that mirrors Earth—apart as factions form to either take advantage of the shift in power, fight against it, or use it to spur societal change. Terrifying enemies emerge to face Fay and the other Seasons, even as the Seasons plan their own battle strategy.

 

Fay, Sam, Tyler, and their friends and allies are facing a final test unlike any other. To survive the chaos unleashed on his world, Fay will have to choose what to hold on to and what can be sacrificed.

About the Author

Tom Early is a native Bostonian, coffee addict, and gay disaster. When he’s not off doing weatherly things for work, he can be found writing, talking about his characters with anyone who’ll listen, and giving impromptu lectures on the importance of representation in genre fiction, especially fantasy. There is a nonzero chance that he is actually a dog.

Jeff Adams on Writing a Teen on the Run in “Netminder (Codename: Winger #4)” (guest post, excerpt and giveaway)

Netminder (Codename: Winger #4) by Jeff Adams

Harmony Ink Press
Published May 28th 2019
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson

Buy Links:

Harmony Ink Press |  Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Google Play  | iBooks  |  Kobo 

Jeff Adams on Writing a Teen on the Run in “Netminder (Codename: Winger #4)”

High school hockey player/computer genius/covert agent Theo Reese has been through a lot in the Codename: Winger series—from going on his first field mission, being injured in the line of duty and wondering who he can trust. In Netminder, the final book in the series, he’s forced to institute emergency protocols that he and his parents never thought they’d use.

He ends up on the run and cutoff.

Writing Theo on the run was interesting. He’s an agent with limited experience who has to be careful with every move because he has no idea what might happen. At the same time, he’s needs to find shelter for the night where he can try to figure out his next move. Of course he’s also a teenager without all the experience of an adult agent so he must work to keep his emotions in check.

The on-the-run element makes Netminder the most action packed installment of the series. Theo’s on a mission from the very start of the book—even if he doesn’t realize immediately what that mission actually is.

If you’ve been reading the series, I hope you find the conclusion satisfying. If you’re considering starting the series it’s a great time because Tracker Hacker, which is book one, is on sale during June 2019 for 99cents for the ebook. You’ll find that deal at all ebook outlets.

Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt that features Theo attempting to get a hotel room just a few hours after he took off from home on his bike.

Excerpt

The hotel looked decent. Surprisingly, it had a bike rack near the front door, which was even under an overhang. Now I wouldn’t have to talk them into allowing me to bring the bike to the room, so it didn’t get further soaked.

I took off the helmet and hung it off the handlebars. Looking around, I tried to take in everything as I ran my hand through my hair to dry it out as best I could. I pulled the lock from my pack and secured the bike.

Putting on my best confident look, I slung the pack over one shoulder, took my helmet in hand, and went for the door. The lobby was warm and made me shudder. I hadn’t realized how cold I’d become.

“Good evening, how can I—” The woman at the front desk stopped short as she looked up and saw my disheveled state. “Goodness. You got caught out in it. How can I help you? Checking in?”

She looked unsure, but at least she wasn’t telling me to get out as I dripped on the tiled floor. “I hope you’ve got a room. I was out cycling, trying to beat the storm and failed.”

I tried not to let my teeth chatter and sound like it was normal for someone to be on a bike on a night like this as if they were headed somewhere even farther away. It didn’t help that I looked my age. Some of my classmates could easily pass as college age, but I looked like a high schooler. Usually I didn’t care, but tonight I needed to sell being older.

“I have some rooms available, yes.” She continued to sound unsure. “I’m sorry, but I have to ask, are you over eighteen? I can’t give a room to a minor.”

I smiled, wanting it to look like I got this all the time. “Oh, yes, of course. Let me get you my ID and credit card.”

Dropping my backpack to the floor so it would only add water to the existing puddle, I retrieved the wallet with my fake driver’s license and the cards. The Massachusetts driver’s license identified me as Jason Robert Karr, age eighteen, along with a MasterCard that would get me through this transaction. Before I stood I slipped my regular wallet into the pack since I didn’t know when I’d be Theo Reese again.

I handed over the cards.

She studied them and then smiled apologetically as if sorry for doubting. “Do you have any room preferences, Mr. Karr?”

“Anything with a hot shower is fine.”

She nodded and clicked away on her keyboard. “Checking out in the morning?”

I hadn’t considered that. If I stayed here, I’d have a base of operations and Wi-Fi. If I wanted to get farther from Boston, I should arrange a new ID. Renting a car was tough if you were under twenty-five. I had to figure that out tonight.

“Two days, please.”

She studied her screen. “We can accommodate that.” She typed more, talking as she went. “Are you on a bike trip or something? I saw you ride up.” She gestured at the doors where my bike was visible.

“Yeah.” I wasn’t going to debate the cover she created for me. “It’s been great. Until tonight.”

She smiled and nodded as she ran the card key over the device that coded it for my room.

“You’re all set. Second floor, room two twenty-five. Elevators are just down the hall on your right. We have a continental breakfast served from six to nine. If you need anything tonight, there are vending machines on each floor and there are a couple of places that deliver as well. Can I do anything else for you?”

“Is there a laundry room? It’d be great to dry these things out.” I gestured at my wet clothes.

“Oh yes, of course. On the third floor in the corner.” She pointed. “If you’ve got some cash, I’ll give you some quarters.”

I dug five dollars out of my wallet and traded it.

“Thank you. I wouldn’t have thought of that right off.” She smiled again. I guess somehow I’d charmed her. “Thanks so much for your help.”

Blurb

After a summer that was nothing like he’d planned, teenage secret agent Theo Reese is back to school and to work with Tactical Operational Support’s IT department. His world turns upside down arriving home from hockey practice to a major security breach.

On the run, he soon discovers the TOS network is down and he’s cut off.

As he uses his unique skills to find out what’s happened, Theo discovers the evil agency Blackbird is responsible. A nemesis from Theo’s first field mission is out for him and will stop at nothing to force Theo to help Blackbird realize their goal of taking global control of the internet.

Getting help from some unexpected sources, Theo must stop the internet takeover while trying to keep those closest to him safe.

Author Bio:

Jeff Adams has written stories since he was in middle school and became a published author in 2009 when his first short stories were published. He writes both gay romance and LGBTQ young adult fiction…and there’s usually a hockey player at the center of the story.

Jeff lives in northern California with his husband of more than twenty years, Will. Some of his favorite things include the musicals Rent and [title of show], the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey teams, and the reality TV competition So You Think You Can Dance.

He also loves to read, but there isn’t enough space to list out his favorite books.

Jeff is the co-host of the Big Gay Fiction Podcast, a weekly show devoted to gay romance as well as pop culture. New episodes come out every Monday at BigGayFictionPodcast.com.

Learn more about jeff at JeffAdamsWrites.com.

Giveaway

Tell me your favorite book or movie featuring an extraordinary teenager? Leave a comment before end of the day on June 5. Two commenters, picked from random, will win an ebook copy of a Codename: Winger book of their choice.

 

A MelanieM Release Day Review: ​ Alcatraz! (Repeating History #4) by Dakota Chase

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Repeating History: Book Four

In their further efforts to recover the historical artifacts lost when they set fire to Merlin’s office, Ash and Grant go back to the early 1930s, where they must infiltrate Alcatraz Prison and secure a locket belonging to Al Capone. They find themselves at odds when Ash plays the role of a prisoner, while Grant is a guard. Capone takes a liking to Ash, whom he sees as a younger version of himself, and places Ash under his protection.

Before they can return to their own time, the boys must help foil an escape from the Rock, expose a corrupt and dangerous guard, and secure the pendant.

Dakota Chase continues the incredible YA fantasy series with a jump back into time to the infamous prison island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay.  A series that started because two boys with at odds social backgrounds were both in juvenile criminal court with three strikes against them, which most likely meant prison with the judge presiding over their cases.  But instead, in an strange, perhaps even mystical toss of the coin, both Ash and Grant were sent to the Stanford School for Boys .  To learn to “straighten up ” their act so to speak.  Instead by accident , when arguing with each other, they set fire to their history teacher’s office and destroyed it and all his collection of relics.  He wasn’t pleased considering it had taken him centuries and more to collect all those mystical artifacts and that he turns out to be none other than the Merlin!

Now both Ash and Grant are tasked with going back through time and finding, collecting, and bringing back each and every one of the relics lost in the fire or suffer the consequences.

And if they happen to learn something about history, humanity, and even themselves, growing a bit in the process….well. who is to say if Merlin had that planned all along.  It certainly hasn’t occurred to either of them yet.

Of the two boys, Ash is still the most angry, tilting at windmills, feeling put upon by fate and Merlin.  He has so much growing and maturing to do.  We still need to find more of where all this heat, and angre is pouring out from.  Grant with  his upper class upbringing has also made many adjustments, both to Ash, his attraction to Ash (both are gay), his situation at the school,  and the situation that got him there.  Think more hacker, less anger.  Still neither boy, and they are typical teenagers in so many ways (thoughts, dialog, and actions) have yet to understand the full consequences of their actions.  Here it will start to come home.

Dakota Chase’ research, no matter what the subject, and its incorporation into the storyline, has been flawless over the series to date.  That continues here with Alcatraz.  From the stomach churning boat journey across the Bay, the meeting by the guards, the motions through the gates into prison hell, you actually feel like you are walking into Alcatraz as it must have existed during the days of Al Capone’s “stay”.  The details are chilling, vivid, and, cuts to the bone of the matter of what it was like to be a prisoner or lifer in Alcatraz.  That includes men there solely because they loved other men.  What is shocking is that the prison wasn’t closed until 1963.  I have seen those cells personally.  You can’t believe any human beings were ever put into cells like those.  And the author has used great discretion here in the day by day existence of these men. This is a YA novel afterall. No sex and graphic violence, still real and alive.

Part of the joy of these stories is the discovery with Ash and Grant of the roles they are meant to play in finding said relic, how they need to retrieve it, and then get back to their time period.  So I won’t go into that here.  Again the characterizations are superb, the writing tight, and the storytelling  moves swiftly from start to finish.

No, here my only complaint (small one that it is) is the length of the quest and the swiftness with which they completed it.  I think that’s probably due to the location, who their “companions” were there, the seriousness of the boys situations, and , frankly, the need for the author to pull them out of there before realistically something would happen to them.  They had to get in and then get out.  Unlike the other stories where both Ash and Grant became parts of a “community”, where we almost fell in love with some of the people in the past, here we are dealing with seriously criminal elements, including Al Capone  who even at his most benevolent is still a murderer.  So it was much harder to feel engaged for the population there unlike all the other stories where there was an enormous  pull on your emotions and you wanted to know what happened to them after the boys returned.

For Ash and Grant, whether they fully acknowledged it or not, this story was them seeing what could have happened to them had they not been sent to the school.  They both might have ended up in prison.  For Ash this trip was a revelation about how poor judgement  sometimes comes truly with a high cost.

Time and the next story will see how much this personal growth will be carried forward by both of them. I can hardly  wait.

Cover Artist: Tiferet Design.  I am so in love with these covers.  They have both a retro feel that wouldn’t be out of place in a Hardy Boy adventure and yet still seems so fresh.  It’s as great as the story!  Kudos!

Sales Links:  Harmony Ink Press | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st Edition , 180 pages
Expected publication: May 14th 2019 by Harmony Ink Press
ASINB07PDRQH71
Edition Language English
Series Repeating History #4

Series:

The Eye of Ra

Hammer of the Witch

Mammoth!

Alcatraz!

Gina Harris and Anne Key on Writing, Characters, and their new story Lone Star in Jersey (author guest interview)

Lone Star in Jersey by Gina Harris and Anne Key

Harmony Ink Press

Published April 30th 2019
Cover Artist: Tiferet Design
Sales Links: Harmony Ink Press | Amazon

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview with Gina Harris and Anne Key

Has your choice of childhood or teenage reading genres carried into your own choices for writing?

Anne: When I was a teenager, I devoured every horror novel I could find. I grew up in the 70s and 80s when the horror genre was exploding, and there was a foil decorated novel waiting on every corner. I don’t write a lot of horror now (but when I do, it’s SCARY, y’all), but what I learned from all those books is to be true to your voice. Then you can tell the story you need to.

Do you like HFN or HEA? And why?

Anne: I am a HEA girl, all the way. I believe, you know? I believe in miracles and magic and happily ever after and in forever. It’s my job to build a place where other people can believe too.

Is there such a thing as making a main character too “real”?  Do you think you can bring too many faults into a character that eventually it becomes too flawed to become a love interest?

Gina: We’re all human and every one of us is flawed, but no one is too flawed to be loved! I guess a character could seem “too real” but It’s my job as an author to make sure that the reader sees the good in that person. If it’s not obvious, or if they start the story kind of unlikeable, then I have to show their intention or their growth, something so the reader can see they are capable of loving and being loved.

If you could imagine the best possible place for you to write, where would that be and why?

Gina: Take me to the beach! I don’t even need a private getaway, I like people watching on the beach. Just sit me somewhere that I won’t get sand in my laptop and my iced tea won’t get cold and I’ll be good. I’m so inspired by the sound and the energy of the waves and the sunshine. I even love the beach in a storm.

Blurb

Lone Star in Jersey

After his transition, Eli Green is stoked to finally have a body that matches the boy he’s always been. Freshman year was rough, so he’s moving to a new school a town over, where no one has ever known him as Elizabeth.

Samantha Moore has always been one of the bright and beautiful in her Texas high school: varsity cheer and advanced math. But when her momma dies out of the blue, Sammy’s familiar world dies too. Suddenly she’s living in New Jersey with a father she barely knows, thousands of miles from everything she understands.

After running into each other (literally) on the first day of school, Eli is fascinated by Sammy, who sparkles brighter than the bling on her jeans, but as their relationship deepens he knows he has to be honest with her, but he doesn’t know whether he can trust her with his secret. Sammy’s still grieving, the boy she likes is hiding something, and she isn’t sure she gets that. If that’s not enough, secrets her family has kept for years are rising to the surface, and she’s about to lose herself in all the drama.

Buy Links

About the Authors

Gina Harris: is caffeinated. When she’s not drinking coffee, she is on the beach or in a boat. Occasionally she can even be found writing. Gina holds a Bachelors in Theater Arts from Rutgers University so, as an author, her strength lies in creating relatable, human characters who are flawed, but step up when you need them most. That unassuming but brilliant girl in your math class. The shy boy who is fantastic on his skateboard. The best friend that doesn’t need to ask because he just gets you, and the new friend that wants to be something more.

Gina is the author of I Kiss Girls, a sweet YA romance about a lesbian girl in a small, suburban town whose best friend, a straight guy, always gets the girl — until one day, he doesn’t. Gina lives in the suburbs of New York City with her wife and children.

Anne Key: Anne Key recently left her beloved Texas and now lives with her amazing wife in the New Mexico mountains, spending her time writing the kinds of books she wants to read, playing with her basset hounds, and making stuff that wants to be art when it grows up. She’s been writing and illustrating for decades, exploring media from poetry to sculpture, from romance novels to weaving.

She believes in ghosts, in cowboys, in forgiveness, in happily ever after, in magic, and in love at first sight. Mostly, she believes in experiencing your own personal joy wherever you can.

 

Social media

Gina and Anne share a website at: http://www.eastmeetswestya.com/

Gina

Twitter https://twitter.com/ginaharrisya

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ginaharriswrites

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6438158.Gina_Harris

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ginaharrisya

Tumblr https://eastmeetswestya.tumblr.com/

Anne

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/batortuga

Tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/blog/annekeywrites-blog