A Word Please

Do you love your ereader? If so, then we need to wrap it up with a cool cover and fill it with ebooks!

My BestsellerBound author friends and I have a total of 12 ebooks to give away, as well as 2 ebook covers!

The prizes are split into two packages, with two winners each receiving 6 ebooks and an ereader cover. Here are the prize packages: (For more information on any of the titles, click the cover.)

This giveaway is international, open to everyone 16 and older anywhere in the world. Enter between Friday, April 12 and midnight EST Friday, April 26. Please use the below Rafflecopter form for entries. The winners will be announced here, and also notified via email.

* Each author is solely responsible for sending their title to the winner. *
** Winner will be able to choose preferred format. **

Good luck!

Thank you to all my author friends for your participation and support!

Thanks for reading.

literature blog

I’ve got two fun guests today! We’ll be talking about author Susan Helene Gottfried’s new book King Trevor. This is the sequel to her first novel, Trevor’s Song. You’ve probably guessed that one of my guests is Susan, this book’s author. The other guest has come strapped with attitude, so be prepared. His name is Trevor Wolff, otherwise known as King Trevor. By the way, for those of you unfamiliar with Trevor, he’s not called ‘King’ because he’s true royalty. He’s a rock star and the ‘King’ bit is all about his ego.

Before we get too involved with Trevor, here’s a brief introduction to his creator:

Susan Helene Gottfried is the author of ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 1, ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 2, Trevor’s Song, ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 3, and King Trevor.

A tone-deaf rocker-at-heart, Susan worked in retail record stores, in radio stations, as stage crew, and as a promoter while earning two college degrees in creative writing.

You can connect with Susan in the following places:

Website: http://westofmars.com
Blog: http://westofmars.com/blog
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/WestofMars or @WestofMars
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WestofMarsFans

Now for a look at the book:

The aftermath of his onstage collapse has taken its toll on Trevor Wolff. He’s become a virtual shut-in, dependent on the people around him to help in his healing. To make matters worse, he might have hung up his bass for good.

This is not the Trevor Wolff way.

When Mitchell hatches a plan to turn Trevor into the official King of ShapeShifter, it sounds like bunk. However, when Mitchell finds the perfect building to repurpose, the Big Idiot hires the best architect around—the brother-in-law he’s never met. Trevor can’t help but smell secrets that awaken the person he used to be.

After all, there’s nothing Trevor Wolff likes more than intrigue—except maybe a chance to square off against his arch-nemesis: Mitchell’s wife, Kerri.

On to the fun part – a chat with Trevor and Susan. For those of you yet to meet Trevor, this is not him in a foul mood. This is him on a normal day.

Despite your status as King, much of this story revolves around Kerri. How do you feel about sharing your spotlight with her?

I’ll never like sharing anything with her, especially books with my name on them. And Mitchell. And the fucking dining room table. Or the table in the kitchen. Or… well, anything. That covers it, doesn’t it?

I do love your restraint.

Your illness and recovery process have prevented you from touring. Do you miss it?

Do you get paid to ask stupid questions? Of course I miss it; it was all I did for years. Now, there’s no one around to chase around with our rubber snake, or smack with one of those sticky hands, or … yeah. Go read the books. You can see the sort of fun I used to have. Wouldn’t you miss it?

Actually, I’m not getting paid to ask questions, stupid or otherwise. Maybe that’s the problem.

I’m sure you received lots of get well cards and gifts from fans. Do you have a favorite? Did anything stand out as funny or unusual?

Mitchell wouldn’t let me see anything that made it past management. Talk to him about it.

Leaving out your own music, what are the top 5 favorites on your playlist?

Bands you’ve never heard of because Trevor Wolff lives in a parallel universe that exists simply so Susan can make shit up without anyone getting pissed that she fucked up the details.

Ah, yes, how could I have forgotten?

Each of the characters in both Trevor’s Song and King Trevor has a distinct personality. What is your approach to character development?

I let them run around my brain and interact and come alive. Maybe I’m actually schizophrenic, but I doubt it. After all, the only thing I do that they tell me to is write down their activities.

Seriously, that’s the approach. I take a real-life situation or experience and drop my characters into it and say, “Go. What do YOU do?” Instead of putting myself on the characters, I like to step back and watch them do their thing.

You’re also a super talented professional editor. I know from experience that you keep all your suggestions true to the specific characters and storyline. I’m not an editor, but occasionally when I’m reading a story I find myself saying things like, I wouldn’t have gone that route. Do you find it difficult not to interject your own thoughts on where a story should go or how a character should react?

No, not really – I’ve been hired to do a specific job, so I focus on doing that job. However, I also work as a paid book reviewer for one of the big, long-time media outlets such as Kirkus or Publisher’s Weekly. When I read those books, I often yell at them. Not that it’s the book’s fault, but sometimes, all you can do is shoot the messenger.

You know I have to ask: Do you foresee a third book for Trevor?

Not at the present moment, although you’re not the first or last to have asked that question!

I think it will depend on how sales go. Right now, the books aren’t selling enough to justify the time spent on more Trevor instead of new characters, who will pull fresh people into my world.

If you could spend the day with any one rock star, who would you pick and why?

Okay, steel yourself for this answer. Most people automatically assume I am going to answer this by picking James Hetfield, the lead singer/rhythm guitarist of Metallica. After all, the Mighty Metallica is, far and above all else, my favorite band. Ever. I may even like them more than my own fictional creation, ShapeShifter. Maybe.

But to spend a day with someone? Dude. Gotta be Axl Rose.

Why? Because he’s effing nuts and equally as brilliant (I think). Because I want to know if the reality matches the version of W. Axl Rose that, over the years, I’ve created for myself.

I love Axl in all his craziness! But spending an entire day with him? I must be getting old because the prospect scares me a little!

Anything else you’d like to say?

On behalf of Trevor, I’d like to thank you, Darcia, for hosting us today!

Thank you, Susan and Trevor, for hanging out with us here!

Here are Susan’s books on Amazon, in both print and Kindle format:

Thanks for reading.

Visiting us today is author and rocker Susan Helene Gottfried. Reading about her fictional band ShapeShifters is like being handed a backstage pass with unlimited access. Her characters are fun and gritty and love to rock!

Let’s get to know Susan:

Susan Helene Gottfried walked away from a career in the music industry in order to write books, so it makes sense that most of her fiction revolves around rock bands. Once you get those record stores, radio stations, and fellow roadies and promoters under your skin, they never leave.

When not writing, Susan captains the team at Win a Book, a promotional site for authors and book bloggers — and readers like yourself.

Visit her online at http://westofmars.com
***

Just in case anyone is wondering, yes, that’s an octopus in Susan’s hands! She tells me it belongs to uber-literary-agent Janet Reid.

Now a little about Susan’s new book Trevor’s Song:

Fame and fortune have destroyed many a rock star, but Trevor Wolff has bigger problems when his best friend, Mitchell Voss, commits an act of monogamy with sexy artist Kerri Broadhurst.

ShapeShifter band dynamics will never be the same with this new woman on the scene, and the distractions of two girlfriends and a world tour aren’t enough to keep Trevor from feeling like his carefully constructed world is crumbling around him. The pesky little illness he’s been hiding from his bandmates isn’t helping, either.

Trevor is determined to drive Kerri away so life can run properly. He’ll do whatever it takes, or die trying, and not just because if he doesn’t get well soon, time might be up for old Trevor. The last person he expects help or sympathy from is Kerri herself, but he may have to make common cause with his enemy if he’s to survive the fallout from the secrets he’s been hiding.
***

Susan took a little time out from her crazy life to answer my questions. Here’s how our chat went:

The story of Trevor’s Song began as blog posts. Those posts are now within two short books titled The Demo Tapes. Can you tell us a little about that?

Actually, the novel came first. I began the blog (The Meet and Greet at West of Mars) to help build my readership for the novel. I was convinced that I’d have this huge following and that publishers and agents would come knocking on my door, demanding to publish the novel.

Unfortunately, along the way, I learned that agents and publishers were steering clear because (according to them), books about rock stars historically don’t sell well, no one wants to read about a man, and a couple other reasons that may or may not have been valid.

Yet at the same time, I had this readership — granted, only a couple hundred, not the thousands I’d dreamed of or that the publishing industry demanded — who wanted to read this background stuff I was filling the blog with. They wanted it in perspective. On a timeline, starting with the day Mitchell and Trevor meet and going forward from there.

My original intent had been a total vanity thing for The Demo Tapes. But my readers demanded I make them into something more and to work to build my audience even more. I’m glad they wanted this. It’s been a great ride.

I don’t agree with the assumption that books about rockstars don’t sell. Then again, I don’t agree with a lot of the assumptions made my mainstream publishing companies. I, for one, love to read about rockers. My two favorite things, music and books, in one place!

Will people need to first read The Demo Tapes in order to understand the characters and plot in Trevor’s Song?

Heck, no! The Demo Tapes books are meant to be supplements. Food for the groupies who can’t get enough of the boys.

Frankly, I wish more authors would do this sort of thing. With self-publishing what it is these days, when a reader connects to a character or a set of characters they simply love, why deny them the chance to spend more time together?

I agree and love the idea!

Where did the band’s name – ShapeShifter – come from?

Trevor, of course. His name is Trevor Wolff. He’s a man who, as a kid, used to dream of shapeshifting into a wolf and ripping his father’s throat out. Dad could be a bit… abusive, you see.

Trevor seems to be the heart of ShapeShifter. He’s a complicated character, at times difficult to love which makes us love him even more. Is his character based on anyone you know/knew?

If Trevor’s based on anyone, it’s me! He’s my hidden inner core, the part of me who always knows how to one-up someone, who knows how to point out the truth and make you stop and think. He’s terribly ugly (or so HE says, although I’ve got to admit he’s not the pin-up boy his bandmates are) yet he gets all the girls.

And I do mean he’s my HIDDEN inner core. I can’t do half the things that Trevor gets away with. I’ve tried.

I won’t ask exactly which of the things you’ve tried, though I’d love to know!

Who is your favorite character and why?

Ooh, hard to pick between Trevor, Mitchell, and Kerri. You don’t see as much Kerri in The Demo Tapes as you will in Trevor’s Song. Trevor’s the bad boy everyone loves. Mitchell is handsome, moody, sexual, tender. He’s the ultimate romance hero. And Kerri? She’s cool incarnate. Nothing flusters her, as you see in Trevor’s Song (repeatedly, in fact). She’s this amazingly supportive spouse who manages to maintain her own career. Yet she makes sacrifices, big ones, for Mitchell and his life — and never regrets a single one of them.

What are you working on now?

Well, Demo Tapes: Year 3 is in the works. I’d been hoping to get it out around this time, but the summer intruded and I wound up spending an incredible amount of time with my kids. We had a blast, too. Talk about sacrifices you never regret!

I’m also working on the follow-up to Trevor’s Song, as I do leave the reader hanging a bit at the end (of course, common sense will tell you what happens, at least in a general sense). And I’ve got another book in the works that’s set in the fictional city of Riverview, where the band comes from.

Not enough? I’m also working on something totally, completely different. But have no fear. ShapeShifter will make a cameo, although as the plans are right now, if you blink, you may miss them!

Before I sign off, let me thank you for having me here today, Darcia. I love meeting new readers and spreading word of the Trevolution.
***

Want to get to know more about Susan and her books? Her website/blog has all sorts of craziness going on. But it’s crazy in a good way and you won’t ever get bored! Here’s the link: http://westofmars.com/

Trevor’s Song should be available on Amazon soon! Also, Susan has a message for anyone interested in purchasing her books: I have print copies of all three books here in the house for anyone who’d like an autographed copy (they make great gifts!) — and would like to point out that I’ll sell anyone in the US or Canada a print copy of Trevor’s Song for $20, postage included.

A huge thank you to Susan for hanging out with us today! Feel free to post comments for Susan here and/or visit her website!