Read-Along Excerpt“Figures,” Emily whispered, looking down at her now completely healed wrist. “I can feel the girl’s leftover brain. She’s very smart. She even knows about the Civil War that happened in America. So how can she possibly think that America doesn’t forsake the lives of their own people?”
Gabriel nodded. “This is a strange moment in time down there. As Michael explained to you and Matthew in the lessons, the war that just passed was fought to save people, people who were persecuted because of the color of their skin. There was a reason, young one, for the bloodshed.”
“So...you’re saying war’s okay if the right side wins?”
Gabriel took a deep breath. “You’re thinking in terms of black and white, Emily. Remember, the human world is not that way. Only up here are there no gray areas; down there everything constantly changes.”
Guest Post
The Voices in Your Head
I know…right? It sounds like an ad for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is coming to Blu-Ray!” But for this blog, I am actually speaking about the writer’s mind. I work and talk with writers on a daily basis and the one thing it seems we all have in common is the fact that we have hundreds of voices talking inside our heads at any given moment. Albeit, some are the voices of our kids screaming at us that whatever we just said is “Not fair!” Other voices are our co-workers who are mumbling and grumbling (just like we are) about the job. And even others, are from the good-cop/bad-cop living inside each one of us telling us what to do and what not to do. But the others…oh, yeah…those tons of others…those are the characters we can’t seem to get to shut up (even though we really don’t want them to). They are the ones taking us to different locations, filling us in on what their next steps should be on the pages of the next novel; they, in fact, become our best friends.
Matthew and Emily have spoken to me for a good, long time. Emily’s deep voice mutters a lot and actually sounds like me, but Matthew is always far more helpful and entertaining. When I first heard him at the age of thirteen, he was that voice that was trying to help me through a difficult time. And as I aged, he kept right on talking. At the time, I had no idea The Angel Chronicles would come out. The first time I even wrote about the angel/warrior team it was in a diary entry as a kid, so I had no inkling that their adventures would become a tale to be told.
Leah Tallent is also a person in my head. She’s the head librarian of the NYPL that’s the ‘star’ of the Tallent & Lowery adventure series that I write. I never knew when I first heard her - which was after I first walked into that stunning library and decided that no matter where I went in the world I WOULD come back and beg the owners of that place to let me live in their basement until I died a quiet death from reading - that Leah would give me the really cool puzzles that she’s ended up giving me. When 13 - the first Tallent & Lowery book comes out December 1st - I will finally have Leah in my hands - just like I have Emily and Matthew now. That will be one of the most heart-wrenching things for me, because the voice in my head will become completely real.
When I talk to writers, they sound like the ‘kid on Christmas morning’ and it is a total rush. I know how they feel. And when a writer begins to talk about the voice in their head that they’re concentrating on - it can be anyone from the ‘hot guy’ that we all long to have walk into our house with a bouquet of flowers, to the poet, the independent woman, the teen with a crush on her favorite demon or monster…you name it, they’re in there.
This is actually one career (and maybe the only one) that allows us to claim all those voices in our heads. With this career, we can have a whole bunch of personalities, but without the need to pick up a cleaver and take out the neighborhood.
I am so thrilled with all these people talking to me - although it does make me zone out every once in a while at the wrong times (you know…when you’re supposed to be listening to your boss?), but, hey, what can you do? And in Book III, the ‘voice’ premise will be a huge part of Emily and Matthew’s life, so I look forward to addressing that when my fingers next hit the keyboard for them.
So if your husband, wife, child, or even if the dog tilts his head and looks at you funny, just know that you should be very grateful for those voices. They make writers (and readers) who we are. And if you don’t disappoint them, they won’t disappoint you. Just think, one of these days maybe we’ll all have coffee in the NYPL and bring our characters along for the ride. Or…we’ll find ourselves face-to-face with Nurse Ratched and then we’ll know that we were wrong all along - and that we really are crazy!
Until Next Time, Everybody,
Amy
About the Book
The Beloved Angel/Warrior Team from Until Next Time Returns!
When Matt and Emily are sent on their second mission they have no idea how truly dark human nature can become…
Emily never wanted to face humans again. With the heartache that went on down below, she’s still trying to figure out how to save souls that don’t deserve saving. The only one she wants to see again is Jason - the young man she fell in love with who became the soulmate she simply can’t forget…
Matt was trained to protect and defend the souls down below. Longing to feel the heartfelt emotions that come from being human, Matt wants nothing more than to have just one life - one chance - to live and love the girl of his dreams…
The powerful team find themselves in a brand new century, living in the Gilded Age of New York City. Emily takes over the body of Anya, a young Russian girl who arrives on Ellis Island after a hideous tragedy. There she meets up with a strangely familiar young man by the name of Drew Parrish, who helps Anya survive in an unknown world of luxury, snobbery and…obsession.
What Anya’s inner angel doesn’t know is that the soul she loves is also back. This time around Jason goes by the name of Max Carrow. Once a quiet and kind boy, he’s now part of the ‘Four Hundred Club,’ and wants nothing more than to be among the most admired as he climbs the shaky ladder of society’s elite.
As two worlds merge, Emily and Matt struggle under the weight of their “Gilded Wings.” Not only will they have to figure out who they should fight to save, but they must also face a romantic choice that could destroy them both.
***
Gilded Wings: The Angel Chronicles, Book 2 can be purchased at:
Kindle
Nook
iBookStore
Smashwords
Price: $2.99-$4.99 ebook
ISBN: 9780985792220
Pages: 275
Publisher: Tribute Books
Release: November 1, 2012
About the AuthorAmy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.
Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.
She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.
Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico.
Links to connect with Amy:
The Angel Chronicles Web Site/Blog
The Angel Chronicles Facebook
Web Site
Blog
Goodreads
#GildedWings
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Until Next Time