Saturday, October 26, 2013

Stealing Fire

 
Title- Stealing Fire
By-Susan Sloate
Expected Publication Date- late August 2013
 
 

Blurb-

“How do you recognize your soulmate?

In glittery 1980’s Los Angeles, Beau Kellogg is a brilliant Broadway lyricist now writing advertising jingles and yearning for one more hit to compensate for his miserable marriage and disappointing life.


Amanda Harary, a young singer out of synch with her contemporaries, works at a small New York hotel, while she dreams of singing on Broadway.


When they meet late at night over the hotel switchboard, what begins will bring them each unexpected success, untold joy, and piercing heartache ... until they learn that some connections, however improbable, are meant to last forever.

STEALING FIRE is, at its heart, a story for romantics everywhere, who believe in the transformative power of love.”


STEALING FIRE was a 2012 quarter-finalist in the amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
Contest.
 

Links-


 
 
 
 
 
Excerpt #1
 
Six-year-old Amanda wandered over to the table and picked up the album cover. The name of the show, The Life and Times, was printed in bold letters across the top, with a pencil sketch of a black top hat and neatly folded white gloves in the middle. A splashy yellow sun, its rays streaming diagonally, filled the rest of the cover. She forgot about it, though, as the record began to play.
     She loved it instantly.
 
     “Again, Mommy, again!” she said excitedly when the first song ended.
     Her mother shook her head. “Listen to the rest first.”
     Amanda sat down on her favorite soft footstool near the big brown rocker and listened. She loved it all.
     There was one song especially that she liked. It was about blowing bubbles. She didn’t understand the verse, but she sang along with the chorus:
“… Bubbles bursting, bursting bubbles …
Breaking dreams with every blow.
I’ll remember each dream burst
Till the final bubbles go.”
     She didn’t really understand the song, but it seemed sad to her.
     As with most show scores, Amanda asked to hear the record again and again. A few months later her older sister Josie, tossing a ball carelessly around the room, smashed the record.
     Amanda cried and asked her mother to please buy it again, please. Her mother explained regretfully that the show had been a `flop’ years before. There were no copies around, and Josie hadn’t meant to smash it; it was an accident. “Stop crying now, Amanda,” she said sharply.
     She listened to her mother and stopped crying. But she never forgot the song about bursting bubbles.
 
Author Interview
 
What would you have done differently if you were the main character of your book?
I WAS the main character in my book! I never could figure out, for the longest time, why I wrote across different genres and dealt with all kinds of different situations. Then I finally realized not long ago that every heroine of mine, on some level, is me. STEALING FIRE’s Amanda is the very young me--and the story of the impossible love affair, while differing in some details, is really the story of what happened to me when I was 25. I did meet a fascinating and magnetically attractive older man who was as drawn to me as I was to him. We did get involved. There was a lot of pain. And the connection did last.
So I’d have to say, I wouldn’t probably have done anything different - because what Amanda does to cope is what I did to cope. It was all I knew how to do.
What was your inspiration behind this book?
As I said, it happened to me--not detail for detail, but definitely the general outline of it. And while it was going on, I didn’t understand what was happening, so because writing things down has always been the way I coped with emotional issues, I started to write these pages--on the typewriter--many years ago. I had no thought that it was a novel. I was just writing to try to understand the situation and to make the pain go away. I ended up with 275 pages, written in wild disarray, with whole sections missing while others were written with no connecting passages. It was too many pages to throw away, at that point, and when I wanted to enter the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest in 2007, that was the book that was closest to finished. So I spent a week cutting, rewriting and cobbling together a cohesive manuscript. Earlier this year, I finally polished it and finished it. And here we are.
Why did you become a writer ?
I’m not sure you choose to become a writer; you’re really born with that sensibility, or discover it later in your life. You think in stories and narrative connectives. I just knew that I loved being read to early in my life, loved to read on my own later, and started writing down my own stories around the age of six or seven. It was something I knew I would always do; it was just a part of me.
What I did learn over the years, though, was that I had to trust that the stories I wanted to write were going to have value for SOMEBODY. For a long time, when someone said they didn’t like my ideas, I would just curdle, and hide the work away. It’s ridiculous. At this point in my life, I’m going to trust that there are readers out there who want to read what I want to write, because I want to tell the stories in my heart, whether the publishing gurus think they’ll sell or not. Luckily, we live in a brand-new era for publishing, and it gives me lots more freedom to experiment with my own interests and my own voice.
As a reader and writer I think it is important to get to know your fans and make a connection with them as an author who takes the extra step to hear what their fans think and want in their continued writing is continued success and key to selling more books .Do you agree with that ?
Yes. Writing is an act of communication, and good writing draws a response from the reader. The most urgent response I’ve had from readers usually involves asking me to write a sequel to a certain book. That’s fabulous, because it means they’re so invested in the characters that they want to go on with that relationship. I also learned that readers bring to your book their own experience and point of view. So what you write mildly they may react to as though it’s emotional hot sauce. As long as you’re aware of it, it’s fine.
 
Do you have a favorite author or authors?
 
Tons!
Dick Francis (probably my all-time favorite--the best mystery writer on the planet). Max Allan Collins--meticulous historical research, wonderful stories beautifully written. Noel Streatfeild--best English theater stories ever. Daphne du Maurier--the mistress of mood; fabulous, evocative and romantic. Ayn Rand--brilliant and unique. Robbie Branscum--one of my closest friends ever, and an Edgar-winning writer of marvelous young-adult stories. Simply the best natural writer I’ve ever known. She’s the one who urged me to finish STEALING FIRE; she loved it and wanted to read the whole thing. It’s partially dedicated to her.
 
Other writers have written one or two books I love, but the authors above--I’d read anything they wrote; they’re that good. Newer authors like Nancy Bilyeau, who wrote THE CROWN, kept me turning pages without stopping. And Robin Maxwell writes superb historical fiction.
Do you like to write your books in a continuing series ?
 
Some, yes. Some lend themselves to a series. STEALING FIRE is of necessity a single title; there’s nowhere left to go with the characters after the ending. But in November I’m re-publishing FORWARD TO CAMELOT (with my co-author, Kevin Finn), which is an alternate-history thriller about the JFK assassination. And I’m taking my heroine and a couple of other characters from that book and putting them into a new novel which I plan to publish in 2014. There’s definitely potential for that to go on and on. I’m also working on three series which are planned as series books: all three are for the young-adult market, so we’ll see how they go.
If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why?
 
Jake from MANHUNTING, an early novel by Jennifer Crusie. He takes wonderful care of you, he’s smart and kind and sexy and funny and totally dependable, and for a romantic hero, he’s surprisingly real!
What kinds of books do you like to read in your spare time ?
Historical fiction. Y/A fiction. Mysteries, when they’re well plotted and I can’t figure them out! I also love nonfiction books on history, politics and biography; I learn so much from them. And true crime stories. I know they’re bad for me, but they do fascinate me! I also read a lot of self-help books (which is useful, because I just wrote a self-help NOVEL with my partner, Ron Doades--it’ll be published this fall). I especially like books that use prose well; I HATE trying to wade through a book full of typos and bad usage - life’s too short!
Do you cry  when writing sad scenes?
I cry at just about anything, including Hallmark commercials. Usually I’m too caught up in the writing process to cry WHILE I’m writing the scene, but I’ve re-read scenes that I’ve written years later and choked up. That makes me so happy -- it means the scene works for the reader, which is so important!
Did you have a Cover Designer ?
 
Not one that I work with again and again. But I really appreciate all the hard work put in by all the graphic designers on my books; they make such a difference!
 
Who is your fictional boyfriend or girlfriend crush ?
Probably one of Judith McNaught’s heroes from her 80’s books (the 80’s were a good era, let’s face it--lots of good movies, good books and good music!)
If you were able to dine and have a one on one with your favorite writer/author who would it be ?
 
I think I’ll choose someone who’s not known for writing, though he did write his autobiography (so that counts, right?) Desi Arnaz--the man who produced I LOVE LUCY and invented the TV rerun--is one of my heroes, and his life was amazing. He’s the person I’d most like to dine with. And his autobiography, titled A BOOK, is just terrific, and surprisingly humble.
Do you re-read your favorite books ?
 
ALL THE TIME! I still have a full set of Nancy Drew mystery books, along with Connie Blair and Donna Parker (fans of these old series will know what I mean). Wonderful stuff! I also constantly re-read the books I bought as a child in the Scholastic Book Club. I’ve read them so much I can repeat all the words without reading them. But I always get something out of reading them again.
Do you ever get in a reading slump like your readers do ?
Not sure I know what that is. Do you mean reading too much of the same genre, or the same subject or author, and getting tired of it? Sure. I just put it down and go on to something else. Believe me, at any given time I’m always five to ten books behind in what I plan to read!
 
What is the funniest book you ever read ?
 
TWO LUCKY PEOPLE by Tony Kenrick. I picked it up at a supermarket checkout counter in 1981 and just roared with laughter when I read it. And I’ve re-read it at least every six months since then. WONDERFUL stuff! Have no idea why that never became a movie!
About The Author
Susan Sloate is the author or co-author of more than 20 books, including Realizing You(with Ronald Doades), a recent self-help novel, and the 2003 #6 Amazon bestseller, Forward to Camelot (with Kevin Finn), which took honors in 3 literary competitions and was optioned by a Hollywood company for film production.

She has written young-adult fiction and non-fiction, including the children’s biography Ray Charles: Find Another Way!, which was honored in the 2007 Children’s Moonbeam Book Awards. Mysteries Unwrapped: The Secrets of Alcatraz led to her 2009 appearance on the TV series MysteryQuest on The History Channel. Amelia Earhart: Challenging the Skies is a perennial young-adult Amazon bestseller. She has also been a sportswriter and screenwriter, managed two recent political campaigns, and founded an author’s festival in her hometown outside Charleston, SC.

Stealing Fire was a Quarter-Finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and combines autobiographical experience with her lifelong love of the musical theater. She is proud to be distantly related to Broadway legend Fred Ebb, the lyricist for Cabaret,Chicago, All That Jazz and New York, New York.
 
Visit Susan online at http://susansloate.com.

 

Links-
 




 
 
My Review

Stealing Fire



 

 
 

 

 


Stealing Fire by Susan Sloate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**** I received an ARC for an honest review ****

Ok let me just say that this is the first book that I read from this author.

This is the type of book that I was not expecting but I end up like in it, This book is about May-December romance, fill with passion, regret, suspense, tension, conflict and a unexpected delights. I really enjoy this book so much I couldn't put the book down.

I love the characters, and love it how this story turned out to be.

Stealing Fire is a love story that will go to well with all romantics at heart. I have to say this book had me on a emotional roller coaster ride, reading through everything that the characters where going through at the moment.

Amanda Harary is a young idealistic singer who has dreams of appearing on Broadway, while she has a day time job in a hotel in New York City. she is thoughtful, self-sacrificing, and humble but she has a little problem she has stage fright.

Beau Kellogg is a brilliant lyricist but now he is reduce to writing advertising jingles. He is old, angry and he was a jerk but Amanda saw him charming, and that's when he decide it that he was gone be a better man for her.

I really enjoy this book and I hope that when you read it that you get to enjoy it and fall in love with it as much as I did. THANK YOU AUTHOR SUSAN SLOATE for introducing me to this amazing characters and this great book.

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