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Does Not Play Well With Others - CASKETS FROM COSTCO #Excerpt by Kelly Wilson @LiveCheap #Memoir

7:30 AM | Labels: , , ,

Does Not Play Well With Others


I’ve always had really good friends. Except one.

It wasn’t until the Christmas season of 2006, after I had been in counseling for a good five months, that I formally met my new friend: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I have attempted for years to make fun of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is a dangerous game. It’s similar to poking fun at the largest, scariest bully at your school and assuming you won’t get beat up.

For me, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is like a good friend – I refer to “PTSD” as a “she.” I’m not sexist; this is just how I see her in my mind’s eye. A necessary girlfriend, but with chronic PMS. A temperamental – and even volatile – friend who does not play well with others and whom I dearly love.

It’s a strange relationship.

I would like her to have a different name. The acronym “PTSD” is labor-intensive to say. People love their acronyms, especially in education – the RTI data for ELL is required for the IEP, which is then used during SST. When I taught elementary school, I used to collect acronyms and put them on Bingo Boards, one to a square, then mark off each one as it was said in a staff meeting. Five in a row was a BINGO, awarded with a cold, frosty beer (after work, of course).

A pastor at a church I once attended loved acronyms so much that one appeared in every sermon. Taking his lead, I proposed the new Young Marrieds Group be called “CULT” – Couples Under Leadership Training. Nobody went for it.

PTSD doesn’t do her justice in a descriptive way either, like when women say that their “Aunt Flo” has come to visit – if you’re female, you know exactly what this means. PTSD has been called a lot of names, like Battle Shock, Combat Exhaustion, Shell Shock, and Battle Fatigue. But these don’t quite describe the kind of friend I’m talking about – one who will tell you that in fact your butt does look fat in those jeans, or that the hair on your upper lip has grown in a little too thick.

Maybe a name based on actual symptoms would work. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder survivors experience a variety of the following:

the memory or memories of a traumatic event (seems obvious, I know)
this event involved intense fear and the feeling of helplessness
intrusive recollections of the event, or elements associated with the event
distressing dreams, flashbacks and hallucinations
triggers (sights, smells, sounds, calendar dates or seasons of the year) that bring on psychological and/or physical distress

But how does all this information translate into real life?

For me, it’s mostly about triggers. I can’t go into a maternity ward without severe stress since both of my children and I almost died while staying in one. Certain smells or tones of voice will send me over the edge, along with feeling out of control, and there are many others.

My triggers occur during the holiday season more than any other time of the year. In December 2006, my husband and I found ourselves on a rare date night, free of our two young boys, ages four and one at the time. We decided to spend it doing one of the activities we loved best – wandering.

We arrived at Fred Meyer and browsed the fake display trees covered with dazzling colored lights and ornaments for sale. We held up ones we thought were particularly funny or tacky, like the Santa doing the hula while wearing sun glasses.

“Ugh,” I said. “Santa.”

“Why don’t you like Santa?” Jeff asked.

I shrugged. We had this conversation every year. I had never been able to explain it, just like I could never explain getting sick every Christmas.

We wandered separately for awhile through the rows of shiny dishes and sparkling decorations. Jeff and I met up again, surrounded by fuzzy stockings and satiny tree skirts.

“Hey, look at this!” he said, turning around to face me.

Jeff’s face was covered by a mask of white felt beard, eyebrows, and a Santa hat. His eyes peered out anonymously.

“Oh,” I said. My stomach churned. I felt like I was falling, unable to breathe, reeling in murky water, drowning.

“What? What is it?”

“My dad,” I said.

“Your dad?” Jeff removed the mask. His expression was a combination of confusion and concern. After all, I had not seen my biological father in over ten years.

“He used to dress up as Santa for Christmas.”

“Oh.” Jeff frowned. He watched me for a moment. “Let’s go home.”

I wiped sweat from my forehead as we shuffled toward the car. I felt feverish, clammy, and panicked.

The next day, I explained what had happened to Hannah. She nodded with understanding. “That’s very familiar.”

“Really?”

"Oh, yeah. You had a trigger. You’re dealing with a condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

“Oh.” I felt relieved. My panic from the night before had a name. “Wait. What does that mean?”

"Well,” Hannah said, “it means that you had – and will continue to have - an intense emotional reaction about past trauma.”

“Oh. But past trauma is past, right?” “Not necessarily.”

“And that’s the best name they can give this terrible experience?” I asked.

“Apparently.”

So, yeah, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder needs a new name, one that adequately describes her. One of my suggestions is:

Previous Overwhelming Trauma, Smothering Memories Overpowering Knowledge, Emotional Rollercoaster = POTSMOKER

That’s better. Easy to remember and simple to say. But it does discriminate against actual pot smokers, because smoking pot doesn’t necessarily mean you suffer from PTSD. Back to the drawing board.

What about other forms of figurative language to help explain PTSD symptoms through comparison in the form of a simile or metaphor?

Scared Shitless Disorder (does this mean that when a trigger occurs, one actually poops one’s pants right then? Or does it refer to constipation as a result of the trigger?)

Panic Attack – I know this is an actual disorder, and I believe it’s very aptly named. The idea that the panic is attacking you – brilliant!

Deer in the Headlights Disorder – not a great acronym, but it’s pretty descriptive.

Maybe describing it in a song would help. As a mother of young children, I understand the importance of song lyrics when helping kids learn and process information. Why couldn’t there be a song that PTSD survivors could sing to help explain the disorder? Memory from the musical Cats seems like the most appropriate:

Memory
Terrifies in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was non-triggered then
I remember the times of overwhelming fear
For me, the memories live again
Midnight
I have many distressful dreams
Reliving the trauma
I awake in a sweat
In the flashbacks
I’m right back in the thick of the shit
Sometimes I just want to forget

That’s a good idea, but the song is a bit morose. Clear, but depressing.

I thought about inserting a couple of vowels in between the P, T, S and D – maybe PiTSaD – but it simply sounds like a melancholy armpit. That doesn’t really serve as an explanation of the disorder in any way.

Maybe there are events or conditions that won’t be mocked. Maybe they’re too serious, like the scariest bully in school. Plus, I think PTSD would prefer I suffer through saying each consonant over and over. And even as unrelenting as she can be, I’m grateful to her friendship.

Without her, I wouldn’t be able to heal.

About the Author: Kelly Wilson is a comedian and the author of Caskets From Costco, a funny book about grief that is now available in print and ebook formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes. Read more and connect with Kelly at www.wilsonwrites.com.


Caskets From Costco
For twenty years, Kelly Wilson thought that she had been marching through the stages of grief in a straight line. She had been following the formula, crossing each processed grief experience off her list.

Except that Kelly was totally deluded. And she didn’t discover that until Jim, her beloved father-in-law, died. She found herself drying off from her shower the morning after his death, really hoping that he couldn’t see her naked. Or, if he could, that he was averting his eyes.

From that moment, Kelly's path through grief resembled a roller coaster, spiraling and twisting and turning, circling back around. Echoes of past trauma, including childhood abuse and cheating death, would no longer be ignored. She somehow needed to get from the beginning to the end of this grief adventure, and she doesn't have a good sense of direction.

But what is always present during a journey through grief, regardless of the path chosen?

Hope.

Caskets From Costco is a funny book about grief that demonstrates the certainty of hope and healing in an uncertain and painful world.

Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Memoir, Humor
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with Kelly Wilson on Facebook & Twitter

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@MargaretWestlie on the Narrative of "Anna's Secret" Opening Like a Flower #HistFic #AmWriting #Mystery

8:30 AM | Labels: , , ,

I have been steeped in the stories about my ancestors since my birth. They may have even seeped into me through the walls of the womb. Anna’s Secret is a story I’ve heard many times from various people. The latest version was from my Uncle Harold. He said that one of our own people was suspected of the crime of murdering Anne Beaton with a turnip hoe. It was said that she was no better than she should be and was doing a little marital wandering with someone in the community. For a long time the smithy was suspected. He was in custody for a period but was finally exonerated and left Prince Edward Island for good. Ultimately the authorities decided that the crime was perpetrated by a woman and was in fact, a crime of passion. This last was pronounced with great relish. They never found the person responsible. It seems that Anne had greatly riled a wronged wife, and probably several.

The story caught my imagination and I began to wonder: what if she wasn’t who they thought she was? What if the reason for her murder was entirely different? What if the murderer was discovered? Who would it be? Her husband? The wronged woman? The man she was said to be involved with? There was a lot to play with here. In a technical sense, how close to reality could I be without offending descendents? Not too close, I decided. Anyway, it’s more fun to write what pops into my mind and see how it plays out.

As I wrote, the narrative opened like a flower as I examined the individuals who I decided were involved. Who were they? What relationship did they hold to Anna and to her family and to each other? How did Old Annie figure into it? After all she was a daft old woman who had to be transported to gatherings in a wheelbarrow because she couldn’t be left alone. Most of the time she didn’t know anyone and lived in her mind very far in the past with people she knew in her youth. What did she have to do with Anna’s murder? After all, she and Anna had been life-long friends.

And what did it do to the community? Their sense of safety was shattered and people took to locking their doors, some even in the daytime. This was in a community that never locked its doors even in my grandmother’s time. I remember this from my childhood. The only time the door was locked was if they were going to be away for an extended period because, what if someone needed something and they weren’t home to give it to them? I remember my own mother telling me a story about an old man who peddled goods and trinkets door-to-door. He was a little simple as they say here. They woke up one morning and discovered him asleep on the lounge with a blazing fire in the stove. After the murder, people were afraid to walk out alone at night.

As the story progressed it took awhile for me to realize who the real perpetrator was and the denouement was almost as much a surprise to me as it will be to you.


Anna Gillis, the midwife and neighbour in Mattie’s Story, has been found killed. The close-knit community is deeply shaken by this eruption of violence, and neighbours come together to help one another and to discover the perpetrator. But the answer lies Anna’s secret, long guarded by Old Annie, the last of the original Selkirk Settlers, and the protagonist of An Irregular Marriage. Join the community! Read Anna’s Secret and other novels by Margaret A. Westlie.
Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre – Fiction, mystery, historical
Rating – G
More details about the author
 Connect with Margaret Westlie on Facebook & Twitter

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Richard Parry on Characters Wanting to do the Right Thing @TactualRain #AmReading #AmWriting #Fantasy

12:00 PM | Labels: , , , ,


You ever seen one of those villains in a movie that cackles with glee, rubbing their hands together at the downfall of the heroes?  Just being a bit of a dick?
The thing is, people are dicks all the time, but only super rarely do they wake up in the morning and say to themselves, “You know, it’s Tuesday: I’m going to be a dick today.”
If we start from there, it gives us our first hint on how to make our characters more real.  Start with them being human, and having human drivers.  People are “evil” or “good” because they want to achieve a set of outcomes that we perceive — through our own lens of morality — to be good or evil. Hitler?  Giant dick, right, I know.  But he didn’t wake up wanting to be a dick: he wanted to change the world and put Germany at the top.
When I write my stories, I start with the people.  I need a motley cast of people, good and evil and the run in between, to tell the story with.  They’re the stars of the show, and they need to have motivations for getting up in the morning.  Those motivations need to be real.
I try and start with my characters wanting to do the right thing, whatever that might mean for them.  In Night’s Favour, Val’s idea of the right thing is no more or less advanced than putting one foot in front of the other, going through the motions.  He drinks himself to sleep, lives on cheap take-out, and has just one friend.  Elsie’s view of the right thing is to save her daughter’s life, and in the process change the world with a revolutionary new medicine.  Which one of them is good, and which one is evil?
The consequences of their actions and how we interpret them makes them believable.  Val’s just an ordinary guy who gets the chance to be less ordinary, to change it all.  If you were him, what would you do?  Elsie’s needs for her daughter trump all others.  If you had a daughter who was dying, is there anything you wouldn’t do for her?
Good and evil is subjective, but it’s the motivations that make people in stories real.  They become our heroes and villains, our saints and sinners, because of how we see them.  We relate to them because, on some level… Well, we understand where they’re coming from.

Valentine’s an ordinary guy with ordinary problems. His boss is an asshole. He’s an alcoholic. And he’s getting that middle age spread just a bit too early. One night — the one night he can’t remember — changes everything. What happened at the popular downtown bar, The Elephant Blues? Why is Biomne, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, so interested in him — and the virus he carries? How is he getting stronger, faster, and more fit? And what’s the connection between Valentine and the criminally insane Russian, Volk?
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre – Action, Thriller, Urban Fantasy
Rating – R16
More details about the author
 Connect with Richard Parry on Facebook & Twitter

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Craig Staufenberg on Approaching Your Book Cover without Doubt @YouMakeArtDumb #MG #SelfPub

9:30 AM | Labels: , ,

Why Book Covers are So Important

There’s marketing, of course, but I don’t want to get too hung up in that. For me, my book cover was so important because it gave me a way to like my book again.

In general, I like what I write because I write things that I’d like to read. But the process of soliciting feedback, editing, and otherwise sitting with your book in an analytical way can drive away a good chunk of that affection. Especially when you’re about a year deep into the project and you aren’t feeling quite the same rush you did when you blazed through the first draft. And after you’ve been grappling with how seriously to take the 1 out of 40 beta readers who ended up hating your book and tearing it apart. I faced this scenario with my book, and I was having a very, very hard time liking my book right when I was finishing it up and getting ready to publish it.

But working with a good friend of mine to design the book’s cover pulled me out of this funk. The process and the final cover design helped me like, and then even love, my book again.

Why? Because instead of worrying about the text, I got to sit back and work with her to create a piece of art that was beautiful in its own right, but which also tapped into the book’s overall theme and tone.

What’s more, I got to bring someone else in to help work on the book with me. So I wasn’t just sitting by myself worrying about whether everyone was going to hate what I wrote. Instead, my friend and I just chatted on the phone, sent a lot of emails with pictures of book covers we liked, and talked about art. And then we talked about what we liked about the book, and why it resonated with the two of us. And suddenly I had this great avenue for thinking about, and appreciating, the book, while remembering why it meant so much to me in the first place.

Even better, I was able to give my friend a great opportunity—she got to design her first book cover from scratch. She’d worked on many book covers before mine, but she didn’t get to take full ownership of a cover design before. So no matter how I felt about the book, I knew that putting it out there would at least help my friend take a step forward in her career.

And ultimately, the whole process gave me something to love about the book that didn’t come from me. It’s always hard to feel totally positive about something that you made with your own two hands. Even if you like it, and even when you fall in love with it again, you still look at it and see the seams. And hear everything negative anyone has ever said about it. And think about all the worries, and concerns, and anxieties that went into it. But I can look at this cover that my friend designed and love it unconditionally. And that means there’s at least something about this book that I can approach without doubt.

The Girl Who Came Back to Life

When you die, your spirit wakes in the north, in the City of the Dead. There, you wander the cold until one of your living loved ones finds you, says "Goodbye," and Sends you to the next world. 

After her parents die, 12-year-old Sophie refuses to release their spirits. Instead, she resolves to travel to the City of the Dead to bring her mother and father’s spirits back home with her. 

Taking the long pilgrimage north with her gruff & distant grandmother—by train, by foot, by boat; over ruined mountains and plains and oceans—Sophie struggles to return what death stole from her. Yet the journey offers her many hard, unexpected lessons—what to hold on to, when to let go, and who she must truly bring back to life.

Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre – Middle Grade
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with Craig Staufenberg through Facebook and Twitter

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Kari Nichols on Outlining & General Sense of Direction @TheKariNichols #WriteTip #AmWriting #Fantasy

10:30 AM | Labels: , , , , ,

How to Write by the Seat of Your Pants: Outline or No?

I’m an outline person. I like to start each book by writing a very general outline of events. That way, I know where I’m starting, what direction I’m heading in, and where I plan on ending. Now, that’s not to say that the outline is set in stone. I often change large pieces of the outline because I realize that a character makes more sense within the realm of his or her experiences if I head in a completely different direction than I had planned out. But that’s the great part of an outline.

It’s not a concrete pathway for the story. It simply provides a general sense of direction to get from the beginning of the journey to the finish line. I know there are people who refuse to write outlines for their stories because they feel it limits the depths of their imagination while they’re writing. But the important thing to remember if you use an outline is this: there are a hundred different paths you can take and decisions you can make in life to get from point A to point B.

Why would writing a story be any different? The outline helps me to have direction … but that’s it. If you use an outline, don’t be afraid to stray if you come up with a crazy twist or a fun side story that can connect if you change the original plan. The goal is to the write the best version of the story possible. For me, beginning with an outline helps me attain that goal.

rogue

“We stand united, Family of Immortals. Plagued by life. Cursed by the hand of God …”

Rogue was born into an immortal family whose wealth is marked by a trail of blood. But when he meets the unnervingly familiar assistant of his next target, an unexpected rush of emotions begins to unravel his carefully laid plans.

Lissie lives a mundane life filled with work … and little else. She hasn’t taken a risk since she moved to New York City after college—seven years ago. But when the mysterious Matthew McCloud walks through the door of her office, she finds herself diving head-first into a whirlwind romance she never saw coming.

Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Urban Fantasy, Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with Kari Nichols on Facebook & Twitter

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Roland Hughes Shares His Thoughts on the Publishing Industry #AmWriting #AmReading #SelfPub

3:00 PM | Labels: , , ,

This has been a popular interview question for the past few decades.  It is one of those goto questions interviewers use to pad the time/space.  In theory it allows a writer to spout off about what is wrong with the industry, but a traditionally published author who isn’t looking to be out in the cold any time soon can rarely afford such a venting.  While it may be filler on for the interview, it has been a question which has created heated debate within the ever shrinking walls of traditional publishers.  One needs a frame of reference to understand any answer though.
Long before my great grandfather was even a gleam in the eye traditional publishers used to invest in a new author.  An author was nurtured and promoted.  The publisher built a franchise around the author.  These people were few and they were cherished.  A publisher endeavored to produce a product high enough in quality for it to still sell many years/decades after the author was no longer.  Basically they wanted that product to still be in demand up until the day the last copyright extension ran out.
Our current industry has basically Walmartized publishing.  Gone are the days of mega advances and mass marketing campaigns.  Your own personal press agent isn’t going to happen unless you either outsell Stephen King or hire them yourself.  There was a great article in the Writer magazine talking about public relations people.  One traditionally published author found out the publicist assigned to their work promoted 40 different titles each week.  Given a standard work week of 40 hours you can guess just how much publicity each title got.  That advance?  Well, if you get one don’t expect to quit your day job and write full time.  In fact, you will need your day job to help fund your own marketing efforts so bank that vacation time if your company will let you cash it out instead of forcing you to take it.
Now we are at a tipping point.  The pervasiveness of businesses allowing writers to upload work and make it available in numerous electronic markets has pulled writers with resources out of the slush piles publishers receive daily.  It has also changed the stigma.  When I first started writing computer books it was considered a mortal sin to self-publish.  The industry rule is that no publisher would touch you if they found you put out even one title without using a dignified publishing house.  Not any more.  There are various tracking services tracking actual reported sales numbers, not free downloads but the ones which actually sold and the retail price range.  Now we have numerous stories of publishing houses pursuing indie authors who sell above X units over a given time frame.  Some jump, but more and more do not.  In fact, a growing number of authors who “made it” working for a traditional house are jumping ship to self-publish and get a larger share of the money.
This tipping point is quite fragile.  A butterfly flapping its wings on a continent far away will determine which way the industry goes and that determination isn’t far off.  The pervasiveness of the downloadable book services is also the problem with them.  I have yet to find one which has any requirement a work have had professional editing, let alone multiple rounds of professional editing.  I am seeing a growing number of people who purchased reading devices post rants about how they are not going to download anything (free or otherwise) which doesn’t come from a known publishing house because they are sick and tired of wasting their time on titles rampant with spelling/grammar/plot line/insert-error-type-here errors.
So.  If one or more of these pervasive services wakes up and smells the iced tea brewing (coffee is nasty!) they will wipe the slush from their servers and institute professional editing requirements.  Paying for professional editing will remove most of the free and 99 cent titles from their stores.  One simply cannot spend thousands of dollars on professional editing and give the work away.  Once a vendor takes their cut of the 99 cent fee an author has to have a run away hit to break even.  Simple economics ensure there won’t be much on the virtual shelves which suffers from poor editing.
Then we will see if people come to the realization an industry cannot survive giving it all away for free.  If they do, traditional publishing houses will cease to exist or will be down to just a handful who now specialize in taking wildly successful electronic titles to print markets.
What is more likely is that people will be too addicted to “free” stuff to pay a fair price.  They will continue to suck down low quality free stuff until they overdose on it and leave the reading world forever.  When that happens we will see a dramatic shrinking in the size of the eBook market.  The physical print market will then either stabilize or begin growing in size because that will be the last place people can toss a stone and hit a quality product.

“John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars” is one big interview. It is a transcript of a dialogue between “John Smith” (who, as the title of the book implies is the last known survivor of the Microsoft wars) and the interviewer for a prominent news organization.
Buy Now @ Amazon & B&N
Genre – Dystopian Fiction
Rating – PG
More details about the author

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Storytelling Redefined with HJ Lawson @hjlawson1 #AmWriting #AmReading #YA

7:30 AM | Labels: , ,

Storytelling Redefined

I listened to a Joanne Penn podcast on www.thecretivepenn.com about Wattpad, a new social platform for readers. Wattpad has 24 million users, the majority are readers, with only 10% authors. Average session length is 30 mins, and 85% read via mobile devices.

It is a very popular site for teenagers, fan fiction is hugely popular, search One Direction on the site and you will see hundreds of stories. It has been described as the YouTube of writing because of the way it enables authors to share their work with the world. Wattpad also has a global growth. US, Canada and UK are the largest, the Philippines stands apart. Wattpad is the #1 app and it is driving the physical bookselling bestseller lists.

Authors can upload either the completed or working version of their books for readers to read. It is not possible to upload a book as one single file; it has to be done on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Then your followers get notified the moment a new chapter is shared. The notification appears on the phone, tablet or computer. Then the best part; followers make comments and vote for your work.

I interviewed Bruce Elgin, on my website www.theindiejourney.com about his experience on Wattpad. Bruce’s novel Schism has been read over 117,922 time, has 4521 votes, 1732 comments and was selected for the Wattpad feature story.

I asked Bruce - Have you found Wattpad a useful platform for your work? Bruce replied: I love Wattpad.  I am a total dork for Wattpad.  How else can a writer get fans from every corner of the world?  When I started on Wattpad I was brainstorming ways to get the word out about Schism.  I had some casual fans from Voodootown, but didn’t know who most of them were.  But, on July 18, Schism will be a featured story on Wattpad and hundreds of thousands of people (who already love to read!) from every corner of the world are going to check it out.  And for everyone that votes for even one chapter, I will know who that person is and can thank them personally.  Add to that the ability to talk with readers as they read and we’re looking at a brand new paradigm of reading.

I asked him if he have you seen an increase in your book sales, from launching it on Wattpad, if yes by what percentages? Bruce: Yes!  It’s small so far, maybe a 30% increase, but with Schism being featured, I think the bump will get much bigger.

I have posted chapters of my first novel War Kids on Wattpad, and found that the readers are very supportive and they have given me useful comments. It is great to have a direct connection with the readers.

photo

Hayley Lawson is the author of War Kids. She has written a young adult contemporary novel set in Syria; a story about the Syrian Civil war though the eyes of children.

She was born in Lancaster, England. Growing up in a single parent household with five other siblings; was hard, and also character building.

As a young child she found a passion for drawing, and continued this into adulthood, graduating from the University of Central Lancashire, England with a BA(Hons) in fashion design.

At aged twenty seven, Hayley and her husband packed up their belongings for a lifelong dream to move to California. Her America dream was complete with the birth of her daughter. Her love for traveling, continued after the birth of her daughter traveling around America with the family, and the best travelled dog.
A new job positioned opened up New York, and the family decide to relocate to Long Island, NY, which is where she currently resides.

On August 21 she was moved by the images of the Syrian conflict, and embarked on an unlikely journey of writing her first novel.


warkids

All profits from the book will be going to the save the children charity.

When fourteen-year-old Jada wakes up in a hospital, the last thing she thinks is that her life has completely changed forever. But when the very real civil war forces her to flee from every open space, she must use the firearm skills her father taught her to reunite with him and protect herself. Armed with a single gun and a key to an unknown locker, Jada crosses Syria on a journey with a group of children called the Fearless Freedom Fighters. With the leader, Zak, they mount a plan to rescue their fathers while they try to cope with the merciless murders of their families. As Jada and Zak lead the group together, love blossoms, but with soldiers hot on their tail, they need to stay vigilant in the face of war.

Reviews from Wattpad

Very interesting story, very powerful. I can really feel the emotion...Peter

This book really touches my heart because there is so much truth is in this book. The detail is so brilliantly displayed, its beautifuly written. There are pretty intense chapters, its good... scrap that its excellent. Loe the work ...although I am upset. I know this is a fictional story, but I just can't help but feel extremely bad for all the lost lives especially the innocent and young ones...Saddy

A REMARKABLE BOOK, DEMANDS TO BE READ Goodreads review from Joe Eliseon

Buy Now @ Amazon | Smashwords | CreateSpace
Genre - Young Adult 
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with H J Lawson on GoodReads & Facebook & Twitter 
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