Author, Bluff Tour, Lenore Skomal

Bluff Tour

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Bluff Cover“To the medical world, I was a host body, surviving only to bring a new life into the world. And while I wanted to die more than anything in the world, I never wanted this. No, I never wanted to cease to exist. This was the worst death of all.”

Jude Black lives in that in-between, twilight place teetering on death but clinging to life in order to bring her baby into this world. Only she knows the circumstances surrounding her mysterious fall off the bluff that landed her in the hospital being kept alive by medical intervention. Only she knows who the father of her baby is. In this poignantly crafted literary novel, the mystery unfolds and the suspense builds as the consequences of Jude’s decisions threaten to reveal everyone’s deceptions, even her own.
BLUFF offers a sensitive look at essential questions such as the value of human life, the consciousness of those in a coma and the morality of terminating life support. At the core is the story of a tragically misunderstood woman who finds peace, acceptance, understanding and even love on her deathbed.

My Review:
The book up for review is “Bluff” by Lenore Skomal.

I was at my favorite mom and pops diner when I started reading this book. Soon I heard an ah hum as I looked up at the waitress who had placed my food down and was waiting for me to acknowledge her. The first chapter had me so engrossed every thing around me had disappeared into a void. To me that is a heck of a way to start a book. I came close to emailing Lenore to tell her this in fact.

The book’s main character is Jude who has fallen off a bluff near her home. Ending up in the hospital with massive trauma and broken bones she lays in a coma. The plot thickens when doctors discover she is pregnant. Something that is a mystery due to the fact she is a lesbian and has clearly shown she is not interested in men.. She tells her dearest and only friend Frances prior to the fall her condition but that is all.

Throughout the book while Jude is in a coma you can still hear her thoughts as she observes the ongoings around her. From this you get a sense of who she is and her thoughts on the people who come to visit her.

The doctors decide to keep Jude on life support so the baby can come to term and be delivered. This is a slipper slope since the hospital is supported by the church.

Who is the father? Does he know about the baby? Did she fall or was she pushed? The questions keep popping up making me unable to put the book down.

There are numerous characters in this book. Normally when this happens I have to start writing them down so I don’t get confused. I did not have to do this once for this book. Each character was developed so well that they stuck in my mind easily. That was a major kudo for this author.

The various twists and turns fill this book. Some you see coming while others come upon the reader without any warning. That also made the book very enjoyable. You just never knew what was going to be on the other page when you turned to it.

Novel Publicity Blog Tour Notes

Wanna win a $50 gift card or an autographed copy of Bluff?

  1. Leave a comment on my blog. One random commenter during this tour will win a $50 gift card. For the full list of participating blogs, visit the official Bluff tour page.
  2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest! I’ve posted the contest form below, or you can enter on the tour page linked above.

Lenore Skomal

About the author: Lenore Skomal wants you to eat her books. Her passionate desire is to touch your heart, inspire you, and luxuriate in the world of the written word. She is an award-winning author with the single goal of resonating with others. Winner of multiple awards for blogging, literature, biography and humor, her catalogue spans many genres. With 30 years of writing experience, 18 books published, a daily blog and weekly newspaper column, the consistent themes in her work are the big issues of the human experience and adding depth and voice to the intricacies involved in living a multi-dimensional existence. She has won many Society of Professional Journalist awards, the Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference honorable mention for best fiction, Writer’s Digest 73rd Annual Fiction Contest, New York Public Library’s Best Books for Teens 2003, and most recently, the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Award for humor for “Burnt Toast.,” her first anthology of her award winning humor columns. From journalism, to literary fiction, to humor and biography, her writing is consistent, if not in genre, then in message.

Connect with Lenore on her website,  Facebook, GoodReads, or Twitter.

Get Bluff on Amazon.

Rafflecopter Link

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YzE3YzI0YTkzYTJkODQ0ODQxZDUwNTUwMTQ3OTkxOjUw/

Amazon Parrot, Blog hop, Jasper

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

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JasperPic

 Jenny, http://jennysblogspot.com, thankyou for tagging me in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. For those of you who don’t know, the goal is for me to answer a list of questions about my book, and then at the bottom of the post, I’ll tag five more authors, who will answer the same questions next week. Here we go. Sounds like fun right?

What is the title of your book? Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rainforest Adventure

Where did the idea for the book come from? It came from my Amazon parrot Jasper who has been a member of our household since 1999. He is 18 years old.

What genre does your book fall under? A children’s fiction chapter book.

Will your book be self-published or represented under an agency?I am in the process of submitting to traditional publishers in hope someone will love it as much as I do.

 How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?It took me three months.

 Give a one sentence synopsis of your novel:

Jasper the Amazon parrot spends his day exploring the secrets of the rainforest with his partner in crime Charlie, a spider monkey.

What other works would you compare your story to? To be honest I can not think of any. When I was researching books to nail down my age group nothing came within my view.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?  My bird Jasper was my inspiration. To the outside world he is well just a bird. But he is more than that. In this book I got to share with everyone the true personality of my buddy in a way that people might not possibly imagine.  His Jasperness shines through in the pages written.

What else might pique the reader’s interest?

Here is a short piece from the book:

The next day, movement broke the silence within the nest just enough to wake up Jasper. He heard his mama coaching the other egg to crack. She nudged and nudged, but the egg remained uncracked. Jasper saw his mom continue to stare at the egg and then he heard her sigh.

“What’s wrong with it?” he asked his mother.

“I don’t know, son. There could be a few reasons. Maybe I did not sit on it enough to keep it warm. Maybe it does not have a baby inside. I am not sure,” she said.

Jasper did not know what to say to his mother. While he did not know what it would be like to have a brother or sister, it would have given him company for the times his mother was out gathering food and supplies. What he did know was that she was sad. Maybe that was what he was feeling on the inside of his tiny body.

Sally came to where Jasper sat and gave him a big hug. “ It was not meant

to be. A lesson we all learn as we grow older, Jasper.”

It is time to tag five authors so they can take a turn at answering the same questions. For those I tag, you all need to answer the same questions and then put your answers a week from today which would be December 17th. Tag five more authors at the bottom of your post and let the hopping continue. I wanted to again thank the authors who helped me during NaNoWriMo 2012 who posted on my blog while I did that frenzy.

Jo Ann Mason

http://cerridewnspeaks.blogspot.com

Michael D. Fowler

http://themikebehere.wordpress.com

Lynn Thompson

http://lynnthompsonbooks.blogspot.com

Merry Farmer

http://merryfarmer.net/

Victoria Treder

http://tredalong.com/

Character Development, Characters, Creative Writing, Knows My Name, People

What’s In A Name?

4 Comments

nametag

 

I had never really given it much thought into how I go about naming my characters. It took me by surprise when members of my writing groups mentioned how they took time to research their names and meanings. My eyes were open as I realized how serious they were with this.

For my children’s book the main character is called Jasper in real life and I molded his personality from what I knew of him. The other names I just picked out of thin air. My book “ A Woman of Color” is based on true people though the names have been changed to protect their identity. But again I did not spend time in deciding what alternatives to use. When I write I toss in a name and keep on going.

So now I have these questions. Do you take the time to pick your character names? If so how do you go about it? What is the process? How do you start? Does it really matter?

Even as I research into this topic my mind set is still not big on picking any particular monikers for my writing. Maybe it is just me? Perhaps I am doing something wrong in not taking greater care of my characters. I am more focus on getting the story out on paper as the hook is developed, the plot unfolds and all is nice and neat at the end. To me being a good story-teller matters a bit more than the names I attach to the people involved in my novel.  As I asked more questions I am left wondering as the answers just don’t seem to connect the dots in how I process my writings. I want to understand how much does this impact my MS.

So to my viewers out there if you take time to naming your peeps can you give me some insight into this? I want my book to not only be read by others I want it to stand up and shine and be taken noticed. That is what we all want right?

The Musings of A New Englander