Goddess Fish Promotions has organized a Virtual Book Tour for THE DUTY BOUND DUET - DUTY OF CARE - THE CARETAKERS by Sydney Jamesson. The to...
The Duty Bound Duet - DUTY OF CARE - THE CARETAKERS
by Sydney Jamesson
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GENRE: Mystery/Suspense (Psychological)
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BLURB:
DUTY OF CARE:
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EXCERPT:
AUTHOR INTERVIEW:
If you could have one paranormal ability, what would it be?
I think paranormal abilities fall into three categories… The good, the bad and the downright weird! I think I’d like to be blessed with the good kind and have an ability whereby I could touch people and tell them what’s wrong with them. Obviously, I would need to develop an off-switch; the last thing I’d want to do would be to surround myself with suffering and have to endure it again and again. I know there are more exciting paranormal abilities but being able to fly, reading people’s minds or having the strength of fifty men, really don’t appeal to me. I know of a few friends and family members who’ve had serious illnesses diagnosed too late and died needlessly. Having that kind of ability might enable me to stop that from happening!
Having said that… Being a vampire and living for hundreds of years, might be fun too but I can’t see me sucking out the blood from someone’s neck … eek!
What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?
Many of my wonderful reader have been with me since I first published book one in The Story of Us in 2013, so they know me pretty well. I’ve even met some of them on book signings in Birmingham, London, Edinburgh, Vegas and Sydney, Australia. One thing they may be surprised to know is that I teach English full-time. I try to get reluctant writers—usually boys— to think imaginatively and express themselves in a range of creative forms; I also encourage teenagers to forge a love of reading that will stay with them long after they leave my classroom. In this age of texts, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Twitter, PM’s, DM’s and emojis it’s vital that the youth of today develop a love of the written word in all its wondrous forms; to experience complex sentences peppered with punctuation and to know what it is to escape into different worlds at the flick of a switch, the swipe of a finger or the turning of a page. Teaching for me has been a vocation for over twenty years … and now, there is the writing of novels.
When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature do you start with?
I have to hear their ‘voice’ first. The physical description comes later for me. Once I hear them, then I can picture them in my mind’s eye and add that description to the page. I love characters that are flawed, emotionally and sometimes physically too; they serve as reminders of our humanity and our vulnerability. We all have imperfections but are perfect in our own special way. My characters have to possess the essence of something special which will drive the story forward like jet fuel. That something can be intuitiveness, kindness, intelligence, loyalty, possessiveness, hatred, despair, revenge or redemption. When these essences emerge, like a genie from a bottle, then the real drama begins.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I must confess to being a little of both. I don’t sit down to write and wait for a spark to ignite a story smoldering inside me. Usually, something comes to me at night or first thing in the morning when the world is asleep. I make notes and then embellish those notes.
The beauty of writing is that it’s not an exact science; characters don’t always follow a set plan. If they are well drawn, they deviate from the original plot—and that’s when the real fun begins.
Did you learn anything from writing this book? If so, what?
While carrying out research for THE DUTY BOUND DUET, I made some shocking discoveries about sex trafficking, human slavery and the sickening involvement of children. So stomach churning were those discoveries that I had to step away from some accounts and tell myself that, in bringing these horror stories to light, I was performing a service, of sorts. I was giving the kidnapped and the gaged a voice; getting readers unconnected with and unaware of the Dark Web and the seedy activities going on down there is the electronic bowels of the digital world, to experience the brutality of it for themselves. In doing so, readers would be better informed. With that information comes knowledge and power—the power to bring about change.
If what I have written prompts one mother to have a talk with her daughter about the possibility of abduction, kidnapping and the presence of charming young men on the internet preying on innocent young women, then I have accomplished what I set out to do.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Sydney Jamesson is a USA Today bestselling author by night and an English teacher by day. She is nocturnal by nature and loves nothing more than staying up late, listening to music and being inspired to write. She has always written creatively; in her home is one enormous wastepaper basket full of discarded phrases, opening lines and pieces of dialogue that have hit her like lightning in the middle of the night. Her USA Today bestselling trilogy, THE STORY OF US sold worldwide, and she has been thrilled to continue Ayden Stone's and Beth Parker's epic love story in The Story of Us Series: Into the Blue, featuring Blue Genes, Blue Hearts and Blue Moon.
DUTY OF CARE:
THE CARETAKERS:
UNIVERSAL LINK: viewbook.at/THECARETAKERS
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GIVEAWAY:
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Sounds like an intense read. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat hearing about your book. Thanks for sharing and for this giveaway also.
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