✍The First Page: The Key to Circus-Mom Highway by Allyson Rice

 

 

 The Key to Circus-Mom Highway

by Allyson Rice

Contemporary Fiction/Women's Fiction

In an attempt to secure an unexpected inheritance—and hopefully find a few answers—two estranged sisters and their newly discovered brother embark on a comically surreal trip through the Deep South to retrace the life of the mother who abandoned them as infants.

On a Tuesday afternoon, sisters Jesse Chasen and Jennifer McMahon receive a phone call notifying them that their birth mother has died, leaving behind a significant inheritance. But in order to obtain it, they must follow a detailed road trip she designed for them to get to know her—and that includes finding a brother they never knew existed.

For the next week, this ill-assorted trio treks across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to meet their mother’s old friends, from circus performers to a juke joint owner, each of whom delivers a shocking vignette into the life of a young mother traumatized by loss and abuse. Along the way, these three siblings—Jesse, whose fiery exterior disguises a wounded, drifting musician stuck in a rut; Jennifer, whose carefully curated family life is threatened by her husband’s infidelity; and Jack, whose enigmatic Jackie, Oh! persona in the New Orleans drag queen scene helps him escape the nightmares of Afghanistan that haunt him at night—must confront their own demons (and at least one alligator). But in chasing the truth about their real mother, they may all just find their second chance.

This uproarious debut novel is a reminder that sometimes, the family you’d never have chosen may turn out to be exactly what you need.

"This breezy, charming tale incisively shows a family's bittersweet facets.” –Kirkus Reviews

A "feverish, entertaining novel" –Foreward Clarion Reviews

“In this rollicking family dramedy, debut author Rice sends three lovable siblings on a zany yet touching road trip… Rice’s sharp observations of society’s absurdity verge on the satirical… Fans of family drama, road trips, and non-stop laughs will love this cross-country adventure.” –BookLife

Release Date: Paperback: November 27, 2022; Kindle: January 3, 2023

Publisher: The Total Human Press

Soft Cover: 978-0982185544; 270 pages

Amazon:https://amzn.to/3XHsOiU 

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-key-to-circus-mom-highway-allyson-rice/1142037363?ean=9780982185544

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-key-to-circus-mom-highway 

Target: https://www.target.com/p/the-key-to-circus-mom-highway-by-allyson-rice-paperback/-/A-87939489

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62003645-the-key-to-circus-mom-highway 

 

 

                      

Twenty-two-point-four miles, one Bud Light, and a third of a bottle of Fireball later, they had just passed through Alamo and were approaching Glenwood. Jennifer was trying to concentrate on anything other than Sy’s unfortunate singing. She was focused intently on the map on her phone. It was only 113.8 more miles to Savannah, though that wasn’t much comfort to her considering that the relatively short drive from Milan had been the Longest. Twenty-two-point-four-miles. Ever. Sy’s driving had become more “freeform” in direct correlation to his impressive alcohol consumption; and his off-key singing was boring a hole through the temporal lobes in Jennifer’s brain. Especially after he insisted on replaying the theme from Bonanza seven times in a row (for luck).

Allyson Rice is a writer, an award-winning mixed media artist, and a producer with Atomic Focus Entertainment, currently splitting her time between Los Angeles, CA, and Rehoboth Beach, DE. She’s a graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Communication. After spending many years as an actress on stage and on television, she left acting and spent the next decade running yoga/meditation retreats, women’s retreats, and creativity retreats around the country. After that, she pivoted to focus once again on her own creative work. In addition to her writing and art, she’s also a photographer (her work was most recently chosen for an exhibition at the Soho Photo Gallery in NYC).


Some random bits of Allyson trivia: 1) She’s been skydiving, paragliding, bungee jumping, ziplining through a rainforest, and scuba diving with stingrays; 2) she has an extensive PEZ dispenser collection; 3) she played Connor Walsh on As the World Turns for seven years; 4) she’s been in the Oval Office at the White House after hours; 5) she’s related to the Hatfields of the infamous Hatfield/McCoy feud; and 6) her comedic rap music video “Fine, I’ll Write My Own Damn Song” won numerous awards in the film festival circuit and can now be seen on YouTube https://youtu.be/7Xe3nuVDkC4.


Also available from Allyson Rice is her line of women’s coloring books (The Color of Joy, Dancing with Life, and Wonderland), and The Creative Prosperity PlayDeck, an inspirational card deck about unlocking and utilizing your creative energy in the world. She’s currently at work on her second novel and her fourth women’s coloring book. But she is most proud of being mom to musical artist @_zanetaylor.

Website: www.allysonrice.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CircusMomHwy

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

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

https://www.instagram.com/allysonriceart/

https://www.instagram.com/officialallysonrice/

My e-commerce site:

https://www.allyson-wonderland.com

The First Page & Interview: THE SHADE UNDER THE MANGO TREE by Evy Journey

 

THE SHADE UNDER THE MANGO TREE

by Evy Journey

After two heartbreaking losses, Luna wants adventure. Something and somewhere very different from the affluent, sheltered home in California and Hawaii where she grew up. An adventure in which she can also make some difference. She ends up in place where she gets more than she bargained for.

Lucien, a worldly, well-traveled young architect, finds a stranger’s journal at a café. He has qualms and pangs of guilt about reading it. But they don’t stop him. His decision to go on reading changes his life.

Months later, they meet at a bookstore where Luna works and which Lucien frequents. Fascinated by his stories and his adventurous spirit, Luna volunteers for the Peace Corps. Assigned to Cambodia, she lives with a family whose parents are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide forty years earlier. What she goes through in a rural rice-growing village defies anything she could have imagined. Will she leave this world unscathed?

ORDER YOUR COPY

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFMR9SG

 

 

Prologue

Ov’s thin upper body is slumped over his crossed legs, his forehead resting on the platform. His brown, wiry arms lie limp, the right one extended forward, hand dangling over the edge of the platform. Dried blood is splattered on his head, and on the collar, right shoulder, and back of his old short-sleeved white shirt.

It seems fitting that he died where he used to spend most of his time when he wasn’t on the rice fields—sitting on a corner of the bamboo platform in the ceiling-high open space under the house. It’s where you get refreshing breezes most afternoons, after a long day of work.

The policeman looks down at Ov’s body as if he’s unsure what to do next. He lays down his camera and the gun in a plastic bag at one end of the platform untainted by splatters of gelled blood.

He steps closer to the body, anchors himself with one knee on top of the platform, and bends over the body. Hooking his arms underneath Ov’s shoulders and upper arms, he pulls the body up, and carefully lays it on its back. He straightens the legs.

He steps off the platform. Stands still for a few seconds to catch his breath. He turns to us and says, “It’s clear what has happened. I have all the pictures I need.”

He points to his camera, maybe to make sure we understand. We have watched him in silence, three zombies still in shock. Me, standing across the bamboo platform from him. Mae and Jorani sitting, tense and quiet, on the hammock to my left.

Is that it? Done already? I want to ask him: Will he have the body taken away for an autopsy? I suppose that’s what is routinely done everywhere in cases like this. But I don’t know enough Khmer.

As if he sensed my unspoken question, he glances at me. A quick glance that comes with a frown. He seems perplexed and chooses to ignore me.

He addresses the three of us, like a captain addressing his troop. “You can clean up.”

The lingering frown on his brow softens into sympathy. He’s gazing at Jorani, whose mournful eyes remain downcast. He looks away and turns toward Mae. Pressing his hands together, he bows to her. A deeper one than the first he gave her when she and Jorani arrived.

He utters Khmer words too many and too fast for me to understand. From the furrowed brow and the look in his eyes, I assume they are words of sympathy. He bows a third time, and turns to go back to where he placed the gun and camera. He picks them up and walks away.

For a moment or two, I stare at the figure of the policeman walking away.  Then I turn to Jorani. Call him back. Don’t we have questions? I can ask and you can translate, if you prefer. But seeing her and Mae sitting as still and silent as rocks, hands on their laps, and eyes glazed as if to block out what’s in front of them, the words get trapped in my brain. Their bodies, rigid just moments before, have gone slack, as if to say: What else can anyone do? What’s done cannot be undone. All that’s left is to clean up, as the policeman said. Get on with our lives.

 

 

Welcome to the blog! The first page is perhaps one of the most important pages in the whole book. It’s what draws the reader into the story. Why did you choose to begin your book this way?

Why begin this way? To entice readers, of course. But also to give them some kind of framework in which to understand and  interpret the story. There’s something ominous in this scene. And it suggests a lot not only about what might have happened, but also about the setting and the characters. I hope all that amps up the sense of anticipation. My choice also shows what is the most important theme—to me, at least. The novel has an overarching theme and three or four sub-themes.

I don’t often write in a linear way, with events happening chronologically. I’m aware this frustrates some readers, especially romance readers, not so much mystery readers who’re often presented a crime scene instead of someone preparing to .commit the crime.

In the course of writing your book, how many times would you say that first page changed and for what reasons?

Good question to ask me because I agonized about the beginning from the time I finished my first draft. It seems I changed it countless times. One of my developmental editors thought I should focus on the heroine’s (Luna) journal and begin with a scene where the heroine’s grandmother explains why it is important for her to write one. It was better than the first beginnings I played with, but I still wasn’t too happy with it. I knew Luna’s growth is what’s most important to me and the final defining experience in achieving a higher level of maturity is her years in a foreign country with a deadly past is

Was there ever a time after the book was published that you wished you had changed something on the first page?

The book, by the time of this blog tour, has just been launched. Not enough time yet for reflection, much less of regrets. Anyway, right now, this is the best beginning of all the ones I’ve thought of or tried.

What advice can you give to aspiring authors to stress how important the first page is?

Your book cover and book blurb are like your calling card. They could attract someone to pick up the book and, maybe open it to read the first few pages. But will they like what they read and be eager to buy it and keep on reading.

 

Evy Journey, SPR (Self Publishing Review) Independent Woman Author awardee, is a writer, a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse who, wishes she lives in Paris where people have perfected the art of aimless roaming. Armed with a Ph.D., she used to research and help develop mental health programs.

She’s a writer because beautiful prose seduces her and existential angst continues to plague her despite such preoccupations having gone out of fashion. She takes occasional refuge by invoking the spirit of Jane Austen to spin tales of love, loss, and finding one’s way—stories into which she weaves mystery or intrigue.

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The First Page: Gil by Darin Gibby #fiction #baseball

Title: GIL
Author: Darin Gibby
Publisher: Keohler Books
Pages: 301
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Baseball

Some gifts come with a price.

Twenty years before, high school coach Gil Gilbert gave up his dream to play professional baseball so he could marry his pregnant girlfriend, Keri. When he miraculously discovers that he can pitch with deadly accuracy and speed, he must choose between his successful career and comfortable family life or his chance to play with the Colorado Rockies during a player’s strike. Gil stuns the pitching staff with 100 mph fastballs and is offered a contract.

After joining the Rockies, the world soon learns that Gil is a supernatural phenomenon and the Rockies keep winning. But Gil soon faces stiff opposition, including a frivolous lawsuit, a father who feels his son’s calling to pitch is to save souls, and threats from the striking players. As the season progresses, Gil discovers that his unexpected gift is the result of a rare disease, and continuing to pitch may hasten his own death.  While Keri supports his decision to keep playing, she is fearful about her husband’s bizarre health condition.

Gil must decide what price he is willing to pay to live his dream.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 The First Page:

GIL HURLED THE baseball as hard as he could at the

backstop. He needed to blow off steam and calm himself before

he did something stupid, or regrettable. He picked up another ball

from the fluorescent-orange five-gallon bucket, and concentrated

on his form.

He was consumed with frustration, and was venting with the

baseball instead of with his fists or mouth. He tried concentrating

on his form instead of his woes. Gil could control his pitches,

but not his destiny. He was good, but not good enough. At age

forty-four, Gil knew he was well past his prime and was trying

to accept the inevitability of unfulfilled dreams.

He reached again into the bucket beside him on the mound

and grabbed another ball. Focusing his form, he hurled another,

and then another. Arm back; elbow bent, he told himself. He

threw once again, then he looked up, and saw his buddy and

assistant coach, Peck, making his way over to him from a series

of disjointed brown brick buildings, the campus of the Prairie

Ridge High School Coyotes.

“First strike I’ve seen you throw all night. What gives, Gil?”

Gil kept his foot lodged against the rubber on the pitcher’s

mound then stooped down and plucked up another baseball.

With a quick windup, another of his pitches cut the thin Colorado

air and hammered the fence.

“Okay,” Peck interrupted, stepping between the mound and

home plate. “That’s enough, Gil. We need to talk before you ruin

a whole bucket of balls—and your arm. With these budget cuts

we’ll be lucky if we get enough for the season.” He turned and

made his way to the backstop, tugging on two balls lodged in the

wire lattice. Peck yanked one out and ran his fingers across the

torn leather.

“Holy crap,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head.

“What’s got you so pissed off?” Peck asked.

Gil slid the back of his worn leather glove across his brow.

“I’ve got my reasons.”

“Like?”

“All my life I’ve worked so hard, tried to do the right thing,

and look what it’s gotten me.”

About the Author

In addition to a thriving career as a novelist, author Darin Gibby is also one of the country’s premiere patent attorneys and a partner at the prestigious firm of Kilpatrick Townsend (www.kilpatricktownsend.com). With over twenty years of experience in obtaining patents on hundreds of inventions from the latest drug delivery systems to life-saving cardiac equipment, he has built IP portfolios for numerous Fortune 500 companies. In addition to securing patents, Gibby helps clients enforce and license their patents around the world, and he has monetized patents on a range of products.

Darin’s first book, Why Has America Stopped Inventing?, explored the critical issue of America’s broken patent system.  His second book, The Vintage Club, tells the story of a group of the world’s wealthiest men who are chasing a legend about a wine that can make you live forever. His third book, Gil, is about a high school coach who discovers that he can pitch with deadly speed and is given an offer to play with the Rockies during a player’s strike. Gil soon discovers, however, that his unexpected gift is the result of a rare disease, and continuing to pitch may hasten his own death.
With a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree, he is highly regarded in Denver’s legal and business community as a patent strategist, business manager, and community leader. He is also a sought-after speaker on IP issues at businesses, colleges and technology forums, where he demonstrates the value of patents using simple lessons from working on products such as Crocs shoes, Izzo golf straps and Trek bicycles.
An avid traveler and accomplished triathlete, Darin also enjoys back country fly-fishing trips and skiing in the Rocky Mountains. He lives in Denver with his wife, Robin, and their four children.

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