Guest
Post: The Joy of Online Book Clubs
by
Margo Bond Collins
In
addition to writing novels, I teach online courses in college English—primarily
writing classes. This means that almost all of my work is done from home. I
tend to be more introverted than extraverted, so generally, I’m happy with my
current job situation.
But
I used to teach traditional college classes, and I miss discussing books. I
miss discussing the characters and their motivations, the way a plot moves, the
wording an author chooses. I miss interacting with other people about the
novels that I love to read.
And
this is why I love belonging to online book clubs like Rave Reviews: it allows
me to talk books with other people who love to read! And in this case, I love
discussing books with other indie authors; it gives me the opportunity to
discuss how they deal not only with reading, but with writing and with
marketing, too. I belong to a lot of book clubs online, but Rave Reviews is
quickly becoming my favorite.
Read
on for a sneak peek into my new release, Fairy,
Texas, and my first novel, Waking Up
Dead, both published by Solstice Shadows Publishing—then swing by Rave
Reviews and join us for a great discussion!
__________________
Fairy,
Texas Blurb:
Fairy,
Texas. A small town like any other.
Laney Harris didn't want to live there. When her mother remarried and moved
them to a town where a date meant hanging out at the Sonic, Laney figured that
"boring" would have a whole new meaning. A new stepsister who
despised her and a high school where she was the only topic of gossip were bad
enough. But when she met the school counselor (and his terminal bad breath),
she grew suspicious. Especially since he had wings that only she could see. And
then there were Josh and Mason, two gorgeous glimmering-eyed classmates whose
interest in her might not be for the reasons she hoped. Not to mention that
dead guy she nearly tripped over in gym class.
She was right. Boring took on an entirely new dimension in Fairy, Texas.
_____________________________________________
Excerpt
Fairy High could have fit into one
wing of my old school. The three-story, red brick building looked like it had
been around for at least a century—it actually had carvings over two of the
doorways that read “Men’s Entrance” and “Women’s Entrance.” I was glad to see
that none of the kids paid any attention to those instructions.
“Counselor’s
office,” I muttered to myself. At least I wasn’t starting in the middle of a
term—though given the fact that there were fewer than 500 students in the
entire high school, I didn’t think I was going to be able to go unnoticed, even
in the general bustle of the first day back from summer vacation.
I
walked through the door marked “Men’s Entrance,” just be contrary, and faced a
long hallway lined with heavy wooden doors. The spaces in between the doors
were filled with lockers and marble staircases with ornate hand-rails flanked
each end of the long hallway. Students poured in behind me, calling out
greetings to each other and jostling me off to the side while I tried to get my
bearings. None of the doors obviously led to a main office; I was going to have
to walk the entire length of the hallway. And people were already starting to
stare and whisper.
God.
I hated being the new kid.
I
took a deep breath and stepped forward. I made it halfway down the hall without
seeing anything informative—all the doors had numbers over them and many of
them had name plaques, but neither of those things did me any good since I
didn’t know the name or office number for the counselor. I was almost getting
desperate enough to ask Kayla, but of course she was nowhere to be seen.
I
turned back from scanning the halls for her and caught sight of the first adult
I’d seen—and almost screamed. As it was, I gasped loudly enough for a guy
walking past me to do a double take. The man standing in the open doorway was
tall, over six feet, and way skinny—so emaciated that it looked like you ought
to be able to see his ribs through his shirt, if his shirt didn’t hang so
loosely on him. He had white hair that stuck out in tufts, thin lips, a sharp
nose, and pale blue eyes that narrowed as he watched the kids walk past—and all
the kids gave him a wide berth without even seeming to notice that they did so.
He stood in an empty circle while students streamed around him in the crowded
hallway.
But
none of that was what made me almost scream.
For
a moment, just as I’d turned toward him, I could have sworn that I’d seen the
shadow of two huge, black, leathery wings stretched out behind him.
_____________________________________________
Waking Up Dead
Blurb:
When Dallas resident
Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead,
when she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex,
she went to Alabama. Now she's witnessed another murder, and she's not about to
let this one go. She's determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes
to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake
up dead in Alabama?
_____________________________________________
Excerpt
When
I died, I expected to go to heaven.
Okay.
Maybe hell. It’s not like I was perfect or anything. But I was sort of hoping
for heaven.
Instead,
I went to Alabama.
Yeah.
I know. It’s weird.
I
died in Dallas, my hometown. I was killed, actually. Murdered. I’ll spare you
the gruesome details. I don’t like to remember them myself. Some jerk with a
knife--and probably a Bad-Mommy complex. Believe me, if I knew where he was,
I’d go haunt his ass.
At
any rate, by the time death came, I was ready for it--ready to stop hurting,
ready to let go. I didn’t even fight it.
And
then I woke up dead in Alabama. Talk about pissed off.
You
know, even reincarnation would have been fine with me--I could have started
over, clean slate and all that. Human, cow, bug. Whatever. But no. I ended up
haunting someplace I’d never even been.
That’s
not the way it’s supposed to work, right? Ghosts are supposed to be the
tortured spirits of those who cannot let go of their earthly existence. If they
could be convinced to follow the light, they’d leave behind said earthly
existence and quit scaring the bejesus out of the poor folks who run across
them. That’s what all those “ghost hunter” shows on television tell us.
Let
me tell you something. The living don’t know jack about the dead.
Not
this dead chick, anyway.
_____________________________________________
Buy
Waking Up Dead:
Paperback
from these booksellers:
Amazon:
_____________________________________________
About the Author
Margo Bond Collins is the author of a number of novels,
including Waking Up Dead, Fairy, Texas, and Legally Undead (forthcoming in 2014). She lives in Texas with her
husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. She teaches college-level
English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys
reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of
her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and
other monsters.
_____________________________________________
Connect with Margo
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/author/margobondcollins
Waking Up Dead Book Trailers:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j_TmvpxxBwhttp://youtu.be/KUBg83s4BOU 100%
RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB is pleased to announce a new Facebook "Question of the Day!" In an online Scavenger Hunt, participants will need to find the daily answer SOMEWHERE on the many Blog Tour Host sites! Please LIKE our FB page and play along:
Margo's question & answer on THIS site:
Rave Reviews Book Club: What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Margo Bond Collins: The very best advice I ever got was just this: keep writing new things. Always have a work in progress. Finish writing a piece, do a quick edit, and submit it somewhere for publication. Then move on to the next project. Don’t wait to hear back—that way lies madness! If it’s rejected (and often it will be; that’s the nature of writing for publication), don’t let it get you down. Just send it out again and go back to your work in progress.
During his high school years, he was a member of the football, basketball and track teams, involved in various non-athletic activities such as school yearbook production and photography, and won numerous awards for his artistic creations. Bruce graduated Valedictorian in 1984.
