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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway: Twinfinity: Nethermore (Volume #1) by Chris Podhola

Published: May 26th, 2014
Cover Artist: Llpix.com

Description: 

Whitney Leighton has a secret. She is both blind and deaf but that’s not what she’s trying to keep hidden. Her secret is that she can both see and hear through her twin brother Tommy. They call it piggybacking because she can shift her consciousness into her brother’s mind.

Whitney’s not the only one with a secret; Tommy has one too and it’s Whitney that he’s keeping it from. His secret is that Whitney isn’t who she’s supposed to be. He has dreams of her, but in his dreams she has tattoos, battle-scars on her face, and a formidable look of determination. If Tommy’s dreams come true then Whitney is in serious trouble and so is everyone else. The simple Whitney that is, doesn’t stand a chance against the evil that exists in his sleep, and the world will be thrust into chaos.

The teen twins end up at Camp Tumbling Waters and Lake Amicolola where something is waiting for them. Something as dark as Whitney’s vision and as insane as Tommy’s dreams and IT needs Whitney to escape the prison that IT calls … Nethermore.

GUEST POST
What a Story Should Have 

There are a few things that I, both as a reader and a writer, truly value in a story. I want a good character, someone that I can really latch onto, relate to, hope for, and fear for as the story progresses. I want a character with depth, flawed and believable, but with something at his or her core that makes me want to know more about them. 

And then I want story and plot. Dazzle me with twists, turns, and surprises. Promise to keep me interested and then keep your promise to me, by bringing the main character to the brink of failure, and then finding some creative and interesting way to find at least some degree of success, or to make that character’s failure a better solution than their success would have been. 

I want the writer to be creative, elegant, and maybe even pretty at times, but I don’t want the writer to fall in love with his own words, and try to dazzle me just for dazzles sake. I want him/her to stay on point and if a paragraph seems to be a simple darling that should have been nixed then I can’t help but to wonder why he/she couldn’t bring themselves to do the deed, because it isn’t the ‘darlings’ that keep the readers coming back for more (at least I don’t think so) it’s the characters, the plot, and the story that does that.

EXCERPT



Whitney had been a little surprised by how clearly her course could be directed through her imagination and memory. Every step, and every move had been based on what she remembered from when she was piggy-backed with Kat, but she had been able to lay everything out in her mind with near perfect clarity.

She had been sitting on the bench brooding over her conversation with Kat. She was mad all right, but little Mike had changed her mood. She couldn’t see the fear in his face, and she couldn’t hear if he had said anything, but she had seen his shadow approach the wall and she had waited with anticipation for his shadow to ascend into the air. She might not be able to see it with her eyes, but she would have still felt pride for him as he succeeded. She could see that climbing it was important to him, and Kat had insinuated that it was so important that he had spent a year trying to get himself ready for it. His body appeared to be weak and frail and Whitney had searched Kat’s mind for an explanation for that.

He had an accident when he was younger--a tragic accident that had broken many bones and left him in a wheel chair for years. He was just getting to the point that he could walk again. And, according to Kat’s memories on the subject, climbing that wall was his motivation—his driving force. It was the thing that he talked about last year that inspired him to work so hard in his recovery. He wanted to do it, but he was afraid.

Like she was afraid.

He backed off and someone else was approaching the wall in his place. She didn’t want to sense someone else climbing the wall. She wanted to sense him doing it, and she didn’t think it was right for everyone else to just shrug it off.

When she first got up from the bench and started walking toward the group her intention was to find a way to convince Mike to make his climb. She was only vaguely aware of the clarity with which she could visualize her course. She could see every clump of dirt, every stone that could make her stumble, and she could even remember seeing a Twix candy bar wrapper as she walked by it.

Her mind was more focused on how to convince Mike to make his climb. By the time she got there she had figured it out. She would lead by example.

It was after Kam had put the safety harness onto her and attached the safety line onto the clip on the back when she knew she had to take it off. It was doing its job. It was making her feel safe. There was no danger. The spotters were trained to make sure that she wouldn’t be injured if she slipped. It was crazy, but she didn’t want to feel safe. She wanted every handhold and every foothold to be risky and she wanted to feel the danger of it.

Most of all she wanted to rely on others to catch her if she did fall.

She had been playing it safe all of her life and for once she wanted to leave safety behind her. She had never let herself rely on anyone but Tommy—who she depended on vigorously for help in almost everything and she was done with that too.

She had chosen the members of her net the way she did because she wanted to show everyone that she trusted them even if they didn’t really trust her. She didn’t just want to convince Mike to make the climb. She also wanted to find a way to bring the group back together again. She had divided everyone, and so she’d have to be the one to link them back together again.

She was a couple of levels off of the ground when the idea of the teambuilding element began to form in her mind. The concept was simple enough. You had to trust in the members of the team to catch you if you fell backward into them. That teambuilding element was about a three foot drop into the arms of your team. What if someone did it from the top of the climbing wall? It was a scary idea, but if that didn’t make an impact on the crowd than nothing would.

Whitney ascended the wall. Despite her nearly perfect memory of every hand and foothold her fear was a very tangible and real thing. Slipping off and falling was still extremely dangerous even with the group below her because she might not be able to control how she landed and a broken leg or arm or even both was a probability.

She reached up and grabbed the next handhold, brought her leg up, and hauled herself up another level. She had made it halfway up and she could feel her nervousness increase with her height. She was about fifteen feet off of the ground, and her limbs began to betray her. She was getting tired and her muscles were beginning to tremble despite her desire to remain steady and calm. She was no athlete and it was beginning to show.

This was stupid she thought to herself.

If she fell from that distance and they didn’t catch her she may or may not break a limb.

Just do it now her mind begged.

And she knew she could. She could steady herself, lean back, and fall into the arms of her safety net. She could do that safely and no harm would come to her. Her point would even be made pretty clearly.

But wasn’t Erik’s speech, as corny and predictable as it was, about just that? Wasn’t it about pushing past your fears even though they sometimes seemed like an impenetrable wall?

She could make her leap from that point but if she did wasn’t she still relatively safe? If so then was she really making her point? Wasn’t her point to go beyond safety and to leap when the outcome wasn’t predictable?

She reached up for the next grip-hold and brought herself up to it. Her nerves began to betray her even more. She had never been this tired before in her life. She had already exerted herself beyond exhaustion and she knew, from that very moment, that she needed to start training her body for more endurance. She was never again going to let herself tire out this easily. So much for being lazy, because she knew that those days had to be over.

She was three quarters of the way up but her muscles were aching and she was losing her breath. On top of that she wasn’t sure if making it to the top was even going to be possible. No matter how bad she wanted to get there.

She sucked in a deep breath, gathered her determination, and made two more handholds in quick succession. Her fingers began to throb and go numb. Her leg muscles were screaming at her to stop and her arms felt like rubber bands stretched out to their maximum.

The only good thing was that she only had three levels to go.





About the author:

The author is a 43 year-old United States Air Force veteran of the first Iraq War. This is his debut novel in the Twinfinity urban fantasy series.

He was born and raised in south-eastern Michigan and served his country in California, Germany, and Turkey. 

32 comments:

nurmawati djuhawan said...

thx u for hosting :)

Unknown said...

Sounds awesome! Definitely adding this one to my list! :D

Anonymous said...

thanks for the giveaway! :)

Unknown said...

thank you for this chance!

Bella Martinez said...

The excerpt is very intriguing!

Linda Romer said...

This story sounds exciting and full of fun and mystery. I would like to read this book. Thank you

Cheryl R said...

I don't think I have ever read a book quite like this. It sounds like it could really be dangerous! Thanks for the giveaway!

Anonymous said...

I always love your giveaways. ^_^

Unknown said...

Thanks to all of you for the thoughtful comments and a special thanks to those of you that are considering the possibility of reading it. So far all that have read and commented have commented favorably on its unique approach.

Sample short stories can be found at twinfinitynethermore-novel.com

Natalie said...

This sounds like a perfect summer reading book!

Unknown said...

OMG, FAB. & splendid excerpt. 2 fingers snap. SOS. Help. Pick me, pick me! Your next winner!!! Show me the money!!! It would be a dream come true & means more to me than anyone else to win. Starving artist here desperately needs the Amazon gc to shop & eat again. Winner, winnner. Chicken dinner. A life changing experience. Top of my bucket list. Thanks for the awesomeness, the contest, & generosity. Dear Santa: I have been nice. My X-Mas wish this year is to win this contest.

collenga said...

Totally agree with your thoughts on a great book! This sounds like one I want to read, thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

this sounds great, and i loved the trailor for this!!! Just really gives you a "look" at what it is like and can't wait to read this thank you

Unknown said...

Great excerpt and the cover is really cool. The trailor is great too. thank you

Unknown said...

This book sounds great! Thanks for the giveaway!

Unknown said...

This book sounds really interesting! And the cover looks great.
Thank you so much for the giveaway!

Unknown said...

Thank you for the chance!

steve weber said...

cover looks great.. awesome giveaway too!

Unknown said...

WoW! Thanks to all for all of the wonderful comments. I apologize for not answering them sooner, for it has been a few days since this was featured and I didn't realize that people would still be commenting.

I would like to announce that I have decided to offer Twinfinity: Nethermore at a deeply discounted rate during the remaining of this tour. I want to give as many people the opportunity to read it as possible and I hope the reduced price will encourage people to take advantage of the opportunity. Enjoy!

Elle said...

The book description sounds great! Thanks for the giveaway.

Ricky said...

Thanks again for hosting such a generous giveaway! ;D

Unknown said...

This sounds like a very interesting story, can't wait to read it.

salena said...

This looks like a great read :) I have added it to my TBR list. Thanks so much for sharing & Happy Reading! :)

suzie said...

Sounds great will look forward to reading it

Octaviana said...

The cover is amazing!!!
Thanks for the giveaway!

Stephanie said...

Thank you for the great opportunity! Fingers crossed :)

Judy Thomas said...

The excerpt sounds like an awesome plot line.I can't wait to read it!

Unknown said...

This is a very interesting idea, seeing through the eyes of her brother! I'm intrigued.

Betul E. said...

Sounds really good, thanks for the giveaway

CCAM said...

It was our pleasure to post about this first volume and I cannot wait to read the entire series. Thank you

Unknown said...

And I thank you again, Cremona, for hosting Twinfinity. Mythical books was by far, the most engaging out of all of the stops along the tour. I appreciated all of the comments and if that means that you took the time to read Nethermore, than I feel very honored. I hope you enjoyed it if that's the case. I am currently working on Volume 2, as well as formatting the prequel shorts for publication on Amazon.

Chris

Anonymous said...

This book looks amazing! thank you for the chance!