The Plot Thickens: fiction

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Paul H. Magid - Lifting the Wheel of Karma - Author Interview

My thanks to Paul H. Magid for stopping by The Plot Thickens for an author interview during the blog tour for his book, Lifting the Wheel of Karma.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
The plot is based around Joseph Connell, a gifted high school athlete from Montana, loved deeply by his family, yet tormented by nightmarish visions he can neither explain nor escape.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
The main idea of the plot is that healing is achievable by each and every one of us.

3. When does the plot take place?
It takes place in the modern era.

4. Where does the plot take place?
The story takes place both on a horse ranch in the majestic mountains of Montana as well as deep within the remote Himalayas of India.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
The plot evolved to embrace concepts such as forgiveness, sacrifice, and loyalty, and unconditional love.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
The idea for the plot was a combination of three things:
1) extreme suffering and adversity that I endured
2) what I learned along the way
3) my desire to tell the most amazing story I could possibly tell.

About the Book
Lifting the Wheel of Karma

Book Details:
Price: $15.00 paperback, $9.99 Kindle
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Publisher: Point Dume Press
Published: September 2011
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9780984016068
Genre: Fiction, Spirituality
Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kindle

Blurb:
A Profound Spiritual Journey of Extraordinary Healing and Redemption - a modern tale that harkens back to the myths of antiquity. It takes you on a remarkable journey, while exploring the themes of healing, redemption, forgiveness, sacrifice, and ultimately...peace within.

Joseph Connell is a gifted high school athlete from Montana, loved deeply by his family, yet tormented by nightmarish visions he can neither explain nor escape.

He believes the answer to what threatens to crush him can be found in the knowledge possessed by a mystical old wise man, who lives deep within the remote Himalayas of India.

If Joseph is ever to find the peace he so desperately seeks, he must get this wise old man to reveal what he truly knows, but that will not be easy…for this sage knows far more than he admits.

About the Author
Paul H. Magid

Paul H. Magid started writing his debut novel, LIFTING THE WHEEL OF KARMA, twenty-five years ago while still in high school. It took him so long to complete because he tried repeatedly to abandon it, but the work refused to be forsaken. Eventually he realized that sharing this story with the world was, in fact, his Dharma.

Along the way he has worked as a Wall Street financial analyst, a waiter (not a very good one), a Hollywood Agent Trainee, a real estate developer, a summer day camp director, an award winning screenwriter, and independent filmmaker—including his autobiographical film, A LIFE UNFINISHED, which screened in The Hamptons International Film Festival.

Connect with Paul:
Web Site
Facebook (book)
Facebook (author)

About the Tour

Tribute Books Blog Tours

Lifting the Wheel of Karma Blog Tour Site

Tour Participants:

January 1 (review)
Dad of Divas

January 2 (review)
Crazed Mind

January 3 (review)
Minding Spot

January 4 (review)
Live to Read

January 5 (review)
vvb32 reads

January 5 (author interview)
You Gotta Read Reviews Guest Blog

January 6 (review)
Tic Toc

January 6 (review)
Tribute Books Mama

January 7 (author interview)
Tribute Books Mama

January 8 (review)
Red Adept Reviews

January 9 (author interview)
I Am A Reader, Not A Writer

January 10 (review)
My Favorite Things

January 10 (review)
Knits & Reads

January 10 (review)
Adventures of Frugal Mom

January 11 (author interview)
The Book Connection

January 12 (review)
Book Dragon's Lair

January 13 (review)
Bibliophilic Book Blog

January 13 (review)
Concert Katie

January 14 (review)
My Tower of Books

January 15 (review)
Cheryl's Book Nook

January 16 (review)
Tribute Books Reviews & Giveaways

January 17 (guest post)
CMash Loves to Read

January 18 (review)
Community Bookstop

January 18 (review)
Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

January 19 (guest post)
Community Bookstop

January 20 (guest post)
Splashes of Joy

January 21 (guest post)
A Bookalicious Story

January 23 (review)
The True Book Addict

January 23 (review)
Proud Book Nerd

January 24 (guest post)
Proud Book Nerd

January 26 (guest post)
Ascroft, eh?

January 27 (review)
Whispering Winds Book Reviews

January 28 (review)
Scorpion Stalking Duck

January 29 (author interview or guest post)
The Plot Thickens

January 30 (review)
Celtic Lady's Reviews

January 31 (author interview or guest post)
The Character Connection

Monday, November 14, 2011

Noah Baird - Donations to Clarity - Author Interview

My thanks to Noah Baird for stopping by The Plot Thickens for an author interview during the blog tour for his book, Donations to Clarity.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
My novel, Donations to Clarity, is based around two groups of people. The first are three unemployed friends decide to make money by hoaxing Bigfoot so they can start a Bigfoot tour company. The book is also about Bigfoot and government agents who are hunting him.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
I think the plot is about people; damaged, marginalized people. I’ve always been attracted to misfits. Every character in the book is flawed. It’s a comedic book, so the flaws are outrageous but very real to the characters. It’s a humorous examination of the human condition without the photoshop treatment.

3. When does the plot take place?
It’s a contemporary book. It takes place now.

4. Where does the plot take place?
Upstate New York, near where I live. It’s loosely-based on Owego, NY in Tioga County. It also has elements of Ithaca, NY in it.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
It just did. I intended to write a very different book. During the writing process, this plot thread immediately took over. I went with it. I sat down to write a chapter with a solid plan in my head, but would end up with something very different. For example, while I was writing the chapter introducing the Elvis-impersonating sheriff, I wrote one more line: ‘As far as ________ impersonators, there is exactly one: ________.’ I loved the line so much I couldn’t get rid of it. That one line led my to creating the Julian Lennon-impersonating deputy, which changed the plot.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
I don’t tell a lot of people this, but I feel like we have a connection. The book is an autobiography. I hoaxed Bigfoot so I could open a Bigfoot tour company. I was captured by a Bigfoot because, I can only assume, he thought I was a female Bigfoot. Bigfoot tried to make his sex slave, but I escaped with the help of Elvis. It’s all true.

About the Book
Donations to Clarity

Book Details:
Publisher: Second Wind Publishing
Published: September 2011
Genre: Fiction
Format: paperback & ebook
Pages: 220
Price: $14.95 paperback; $4.99 ebook

Buy Links: Amazon
Kindle

Blurb:
The plan was simple: hoax Bigfoot, then sell tours to Bigfoot enthusiasts. The plan wasn't brilliant, and neither were Harry, Earl, and Patch. The three chemical-abusing friends only wanted to avoid the 9 to 5 rat race, but their antics attract the attention of a real Bigfoot. When the misogynistic Earl is mistaken for a female Bigfoot by the nearsighted creature and captured; it is just the beginning of their problems.

The U.S. Government has a plan to naturalize the mythical creatures living within the U.S. borders. The problem is the plan needs to be carried out carefully. You can't just drop little green men and Sasquatch in the middle of Walmart without warning Ma and Pa Taxpayer. The naturalization program is not ready to be set into motion, and the rogue Bigfoot is bringing too much attention to itself, including a feisty investigative reporter who uncovers the truth of the government conspiracy and two Bigfoot researchers. No longer able to contain the situation, government agents are tasked with eliminating the Bigfoot and all witnesses.

Between bong hits and water balloon fights, Harry and Patch come up with a plan to save Earl and the lovestruck Bigfoot. Where do you hide a giant, mythical creature? In an insane asylum, because who is going to listen to them?

Along the way, the three friends learn Star Wars was a government training film for children, the truth behind Elvis meeting President Nixon, and the significance of the weight of the human turd.

About the Author
Noah Baird

Noah Baird wanted to attend the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, but his grades weren’t good enough (who knew?). However, his grades were good enough to fly for the U.S. Navy (again, who knew?), where he spent 14 years until the government figured out surfers don’t make the best military aviators. He has also worked as a stand-up comedian in Hawaii for Japanese tourists, where the language barrier really screwed up some great jokes. On the bright side, a sailboat was named after the punchline of one of his jokes.

He has several political satire pieces published on The Spoof under the pen name orioncrew. Noah received his bachelors in Historical and Political Sciences from Chaminade University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He knows nothing about hoaxing Bigfoot. This is his first novel.

Connect With Noah:
Web Site

Facebook

Twitter