KYLIE RIPPONS
is a SpongeBob pajama bottom wearing, Dodge Ram 1500 4×4 driving, USDA
certified klutz, coffee-addicted mortal, seeking a normal life despite the
constant harassment of gods and the ability to braid time.
Kylie sees actions and consequences as bright, shining timelines in her
head. Born with the power to gather the strings and braid them into
a new chain of events, she is the weapon of choice for many pantheons
in their never ending wars. But using the ability requires fuel, and
for a mortal, it means a piece of her soul.
One Mesopotamian goddess, the only forsaken Valkyrie, and a rogue, immortal,
Berserker ally with Kylie. Constant harassment forces the group to
take drastic action, and go on the offensive. She must braid time to save
friends, and herself, as the gods drive them into situations in which
she must choose: braid time, save her friends, and lose pieces of her
mortal soul, or become slave to the pantheon of her choice.
Deception by an old friend sends Kylie fleeing to her parents’ home, where
she hid her son, Riot. She’s too late, the gods found Riot and hold
him hostage. Searching for him, Kylie experiences the most devastating
betrayal of all.
Kylie faces her worst nightmare: kill a friend and permanently hide Riot,
leaving him motherless, or become a slave in exchange for his safety,
leaving her soulless and insane.
If only the gods allowed for personal choice.
Excerpt
The headache started, pounding to the rhythm
of my heartbeat. I silently begged to faint, but the power demands payment.
There is no credit card or forgiveness for changing the strings of time. It
doesn't care I only braided a mere twenty minutes. The ledger must always
remain in the black.
“Hey, good
looking,” a masculine voice called.
Bloody hell. I glanced around, hoping
someone else pulled up and captured the guy's attention. No such luck. The
truck and Ferrari remained the only two cars at the pumps. I cursed silently
while ignoring him. The earthy smell surrounded me, filled with green things,
sun and a summer's breeze.
“Do
you ignore everyone?”
I
jumped. I turned to find a tall, muscular, handsome male. Long brown hair
streaked with various shades of silver, and a well-trimmed gray beard carted
streaks of brunette, giving the impression of a mature man. He wore a black,
faded AC/DC t-shirt, shabby blue jeans and black boots. His ice blue eyes
caught my attention and held it.
The last one disappeared, leaving Aki to stand
in the middle, turning slowly, the image of a grizzly bear superimposed over
his form. He fell forward, hands out to catch himself. Blood splashed upwards
in a graceful and grotesque arc, covering his upper body and face. He sat on
his feet, sword laid carefully over his thighs, chin resting on the massive
chest.
“Do not mock me,”
his voice low and tight.
“Mocking you? Me?
Nooo. I genuinely disdain you and all you stand for.” The threads vibrated, the
need to braid becoming almost impossible to resist. The secondary ability
rushed to the surface of my skin.
Come on, you big bastard, touch me, I thought.
“Do
not doubt that I will hurt you for such disrespect!” Spittle landed on my
cheek.
“Can't
disrespect what I never respected in the first place. Thought you guys were
supposed to have a superior intellect.” My palms began to melt the plastic
ties.
Come on, come on, before I lose control.
His
hand wrapped around my throat and squeezed. My wrists popped apart and I
grabbed his forearm, the power sliding over him as the heat from my palms
burned his skin. He jerked, but it was too late.
Author Interview:
Tell us a little bit about Going Thru Hell
Going Thru Hell explores parenthood, and the family we
create. What would we do? Would we kill? Die? Lip service is one thing, having
to actually make the decisions another. I constantly heard, while writing the
book and sending pieces to beta readers, “I’d die in an instant for my child.”
So would I. But you can bet your sweet bippy I’ll try to find a way for
everyone to survive first, I want to watch my kids grow up, explore their
world, I want to be there for their triumphs and failures. If
the only way for them to survive was my death, take me now. And that is the
constant question the MC, Kylie, asks herself.
Where did you get the idea for Going Thru
Hell?
As with a lot of the books over the past two years, the
spark for the idea came from Wild Horse Loop outside of Rock Springs, WY. We’d
head up there, and watch the bands of mustangs for hours. One incident involved
an older stallion and a lead mare with her new foal. The band’s stallion died a
few days earlier, and the new one was sniffing around. A stallion sometimes
kills the very young foals, and the lead mare fought the stallion. She was
bleeding, limping, breathing heavy, but not once did she allow that stallion
near her foal. Three days later, they found the stallion dead from the wounds,
and a new, younger stallion in charge of the band. The foal survived. The lead
mare never stopped limping.
What type of research did you have to do
for GTH?
Tons of research! Oh my gosh! I had to call a cousin in
Hawaii, he’s an astrophysicist, to learn more about the fourth dimension, and
if it was feasible. I also contacted an old professor to talk genetics, and
then spent months looking for a dragon goddess, and the real mythology of
several forgotten gods. My Google history would have likely landed me in the
looney bin LOL
Adult Contemporary Fantasy. It was really the only way it
would work.
Why did you choose that genre?
I write mostly in the Spec Fic genre, although
I have a dark Contemporary Fiction I’m working on. I love playing with
mythology, using the old stories, not what is taught today. It’s fun to come up
with a new twist to old ideas.
What actors would play the characters
in your novel?
Oh! This one is easy! Kylie played by Genevieve Padalecki,
Aki played by Anson Mount (so yummy!), Alicia Coppola is definitely Anahita, and
I always see Brunhilde played by Emma Stone.
If Going Thru Hell had a theme song, what would
it be?
My friend, Joey Francisco, handed over the Kylie’s song: Immortal by Eve and Adam. It is the
perfect fit, and of course, now I have every album LOL
How long did it take your to write your
novel?
When Kylie took over my imagination, it didn’t take long
to get the rough draft out – approximately two weeks to write 66k words. I
already knew the story, it was just a matter of typing it.
What is your favorite type of scene to
write?
Definitely the action scenes. I used to be a Correctional
Officer at a Men’s Maximum Security Unit, and it’s easy to write violence when
you had to live through it.
If you could meet one author, dead or
alive, who would it be?
Margaret Mitchell. I’ve gone through seven paperback, and
one hardback, copies of Gone With The Wind, three VCR tapes (now I’m just
dating myself), and two DVDs. She wrote Scarlett, and the entire cast, with
such realism. They were flawed, making bad decisions, trusting at the wrong
times, trying to survive a horrific moment in American history. She didn’t flinch
showing they were human, with all the foibles and strengths inherent in all of
us.
When did you decide to become a writer?
I’ve been dabbling for years. But early in 2012 we moved
to Wyoming, and the opportunity presented itself to really dig into learning to
write properly. I took that opportunity and ran with it.
How can readers follow you and learn more
about your works?
About
the author:
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