Monday, August 22, 2011

Echo Falls by Jaime McDougall

Echo Falls
Kindle Price:
$2.99
Available from:
Amazon US Kindle
Amazon US Paperback
Author's websites:
www.inkyblots.com


Running from a nightmare stalking her every move, Phoebe Martin arrives in Echo Falls hoping she has finally found a safe place to stop. But trouble has a way of catching up and soon the signs are there.

After a vicious attack in an alley, policeman Aidan O'Bryan is left with Phoebe as his only path to understanding why the Echo Falls werewolf pack - his pack - is being attacked. When another pack member is killed, Phoebe is forced to confront her past before she loses Aidan and everything she has come to love.

Love and duty become one as Aidan strives to prevent Phoebe from becoming the next victim. But with Phoebe just as determined to protect Aidan and her new home, secrets from her past threaten to tear them apart.

Will love give Phoebe the strength to trust Aidan and face her fears, or will her past destroy her future?

Bio: Jaime McDougall is a citizen of the world, currently loving life in beautiful country Victoria in Australia. She loves eating sushi, kidnapping her husband and naming her pets in honour of science fiction authors. (So far, a cat named Asimov and a puppy named Brin.)

A love of fiction has always coursed through her veins and she told stories as a child even before she knew how to write them. Settling into one genre was never her style and she has plans for novels in women’s fiction, urban fantasy and more – all with a touch of romance.

She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: High School: The Real Deal and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus Chronicles. She has also enjoyed writing a column called ‘The New Australian’ in local newspapers as well as various articles online.

Excerpt 

She pushed forward to sit on the edge of her bed so she could use her bedside table to help her stand. The pain in her thigh shot like lightning up her side to her shoulder, sending her back down to the bed. She sat there trying to catch her breath as her white-knuckled grip on the knife made her fingers start to tingle.

“You’ll rip your stiches.”

She spun around. Or, at least, she tried to. The bandages and injuries beneath them pulled again and a pathetic little whine escaped her lips. Tears welled up in her eyes and she let out a hissing breath as she turned her back to him.
Great. As if she needed to look any weaker in front of an intruder. An intruder who’d made breakfast. At least he wasn’t in a hurry.

“You’re not in good enough shape to be moving around like that.”

She held the knife, ready to use it, as the owner of the voice moved closer and finally came into view. He placed a tray with a hearty breakfast on it – complete with a steaming mug of something sweet-smelling – on the end of her bed. He plucked a mug of steaming black coffee off the tray and then stepped back, eyeing the knife. She looked at the tray and then at him, frowning. He didn’t look overly alarmed at her wielding a weapon.

She bit her bottom lip, her stomach demanding food. He’d even cut up some fruit, which meant he must have bought groceries. She looked down at her clothes and then back at him.

“You’ve seen me naked,” she said, the words coming out more like a croak as she brought her hand up to her throat.

The corner of his mouth jerked up, his lopsided smile making him look a lot less threatening. He sat down in the blue camping chair in the corner of the room.

“Drink the tea. It has honey and lemon to help your throat.” He gestured at the mug as if he made tea and breakfast for knife-wielding women every day. “And I tried not to look.”

She hesitated but her stomach won out. After all, an intruder who made her breakfast couldn’t be all bad. Maybe that’s just how they did it in Echo Falls; breakfast and a robbery.

Interview with Jaime McDougall

What will readers like about your book?

I think readers will like how Echo Falls isn't about how 'oh my, these characters are werewolves', if you know what I mean. Echo Falls is about a group of people who are dealing with a problem. They just so happen to be werewolves and it just so happens to be a werewolf problem. The fact that they are supernatural is integral to the story, and yet it is also secondary to the story of Phoebe and Aidan.

Why did you self-publish?

The road to decide to self-publish was a long one. I debated for a long time, but in the end, a friend helped me to realize that self-publishing provided me with everything I wanted: a short wait from completion to available for sale, complete say over my cover art and the option for ebook only or ebook and print book. The freedom and options are excellent.

What is your writing process?

As much as I would like to claim some daily writing routine, my writing is more squeezed in here and there when I get my backside in a chair to do it. I spend a lot of time letting the ideas simmering in my mind before sitting down and trying to get in about 2k words a night (on good nights).

How long does it take you to write your first draft?

Usually about three months for the first draft. I could cut that down if I were more firm about life not intruding, but I have yet to get to that point.

What inspired you to write this particular story?

I had chapter one stuck in my head for a long time. At that point, I didn't know Phoebe well or why she wanted me to tell her story, but then I started watching a lot of documentaries on wolf packs and became fascinated not only with pack structure but with the thought that werewolves were humans who had a more interesting passionate side than the rest of us.
       

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