Wonder Guy VBT

Blurb:

Greg Roberts has been in love with the girl next door since they were both twelve, but Gloria Torkinson is engaged to marry someone else. Greg can only respect her choice in the matter - until his fairy godmother pops in with a different idea. As a mysterious, masked superhero Greg can appear to Gloria in a whole new light and win her love. But super-heroing is trickier than Greg knew, creating its own problems and uncovering inimical forces in his world that he never suspected. He'll have to discover the true hero in himself before he can set things to right and win at love.

Excerpt:

She rejoiced and despaired again immediately, falling free toward the earth below. Her stomach lurched, dropping even faster than she fell through the air. The wind dragged at her hair and clothes, stopping her breath. The pervasive drone of wings fell silent and empty husks of giant mosquitoes filled the air, falling with her. The sharp black point of the Calder sculpture’s support rushed to meet them. Gloria screamed.

Strong, gentle arms scooped her up, and she threw her arms around the hero’s strong neck, burying her face in the warm crook below his clean-cut jaw, trembling in relief.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s gonna be okay.”

They swooped through the air, but this was totally different than flying in the grasp of the giant insects. She lost all fear of falling. Wonder Guy cradled her gently against his solid chest, one strong arm hooked under her thighs, the other holding her tightly to him. She clung fiercely, arms clutched around his neck. How could she feel so--contented? blissful? happy?--in the midst of this craziness? Her face pressed close to the bare flesh where his lower face and jaw emerged from his mask. His scent filled her like the breath of home, human, familiar and safe. She checked the urge to nuzzle him, to nibble her way up to his ear. She relaxed, molding herself to the solid wall of Wonder Guy’s body so warm against hers.

Naomi, thanks so much for stopping by. So, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?

Thanks for having me today, I'm delighted to be here! Are people really interested in author bios? I think it's more fun to offer up half a dozen bio-bits -- four true and two false -- and see if people can guess which are the truth. We can choose a winner for today's prize from among those who get it right!

Naomi Stone is married to a senior business administrator and living in St Paul, MN.

Naomi Stone lives like a gypsy, moving from Minneapolis to Wyoming to Bloomington to New Brighton this year alone.

Naomi Stone has hopped a freight train and hitch-hiked from coast to coast.

Naomi Stone's alter ego created a Discordian coloring book.

Naomi Stone is a student of kung fu.

Naomi Stone has taught drawing and portraiture classes through Community Ed.

I know the answer, I'll let you know after the winner is announced :)

How did you get started writing?

I was always a daydreamer, inclined to make up stories in my head even before I ever learned to read or write. I'd dream about participating in adventures with my favorite tv characters. I continued dreaming after learning to read and write. I'd dream about traveling through time to visit Alexander the Great, or the Beatles before they were famous. I'd dream about having special powers and abilities, like the power to transmute elements and understand and speak every language I encountered.

I read piles of library books every week. The adventures I read in books were much like the daydreams I invented for myself. There was a natural home for daydreams and it lay between the pages of books. It took me many years to take my dreams seriously enough to start writing them down and learning the craft of doing it well, but the dreams were a part of me; they weren't going away. Sharing them with other readers who enjoy the same kind of romantic, magical stories was the best thing I could hope to do with them.

What was the inspiration for your book?

Wonder Guy is the first full-length novel in my series of stories 'from the files of the Fairy Godmothers' Union; True Love Local.' In these stories the fairy godmothers use their powers to help good people find true love despite all kinds of misunderstandings and misconceptions and other obstacles on the course that never does run smooth. Greg Roberts is a good-hearted nerd in love with the girl next door, who takes him completely for granted until his fairy godmother steps in. I've been involved in f/sf fandom for many years and have known many socially awkward guys who could use a clue or two when it comes to their love lives. They were the main inspiration for this story - along with my own experiences as a young woman confused by the difference between being loved and being the center of attention.

What’s the one genre you haven’t written in yet that you’d like to?

I'd like to write science fiction, but am afraid my scientific-technical chops just aren't up to it.

Still, I have so many ideas for more stories in the genres I'm already writing, that I don't see this as a real problem. I've got ideas for a set of five more novel-length Fairy Godmothers' Union stories. I've got lots of room for adding to the Team Guardian (superhero romance) series and more stories planned to follow my dark fantasy for middle-grade readers, 'The Winter Knife' although it's as yet unpublished.

The latter is dear to my heart and I'll need to find some time soon to focus on finding a publishing home for it. The books I read at that age made a huge impression on me and this is a story that gets to the heart of issues that troubled me for years. I'd like to share it with kids who can get the benefit that much sooner.

Are there any genres you won’t read or write in? Why?

I won't write erotica because I get as bored by pages-long sex as I do by overlong car chases and fight scenes. I want to get on with the story.

I can't see myself writing horror either, at least not the kind that features gore and violence. Life can be scary enough for me without any of that. I've faced eye surgery, homelessness and bankruptcy and lived in penny-pinching poverty and all of these things have terrified me. If I find a way to make a horror story out of that, maybe I'll make an exception.

So, what are you working on right now? Got any releases planned, or still writing?

I just released a new collection of Fairy Godmothers' Union short stories, More Wishes, and Champagne Books just released the second in my series of Team Guardian novellas.

I plan to use this year's NaNoWriMo to produce the first rough draft of the next of the Team Guardian novellas, Shining Hope. These stories are all set about ten years in the future, following the explosion of a 'probability bomb' that disrupts reality on the quantum level and endows a lot of people with strange new powers. The members of Team Guardian police the rogue Talents in the population, while finding love within their ranks.

Alright, now for some totally random, fun questions. Favorite color?    A range of violet to dusky purples, usually.

Favorite movie?

It's hard to name a single favorite, but I consider Romancing the Stone and Groundhog's Day to be among the best movies ever.

Alright, you have one superpower. What is it?

Reverse-entropy. When something breaks, I can make it revert in time to the state when it was whole. When someone is injured, likewise. I can reverse the event, restoring the person to wholeness, make worn rags like new cloth, reverse the progress of a cancer or a disease, reverse the damages of aging. The application of the power would have to be very localized and specific to be useful, of course. I wouldn't want to reverse someone's memory while reversing the effects of age on their organs, for instance.

You can have dinner with any 3 people, dead, alive, fictitious, etc. Who are they?

Hmm. A lot of people throughout history didn't speak English, so that lets out Leonardo da Vinci and many other Renaissance artists. I'm not sure I'd even understand Shakespeare's English. Possibly Jane Austen, but she was very mannerly and might find me entirely gauche. I'm trying to think of people with whom the admiration could be mutual.

For all that, I'd like to meet George Lucas the head of Disney Pixar for a chance to pitch the movie version of Wonder Guy, and I'd like to include my own character, Al-Marid, the sexy and powerful djinni who is the hero of my first novel, Spirited. I hope Al-Marid would like me, since there's some resemblance between me and his heroine, and it's always nice to have a powerful djinni as an ally.

Last question: Which of your characters are you most like and how/why?

The heroine of Spirited, Amelia Swenson has a fair bit in common with me. This was my first full-length novel and I wanted to take advantage of my own experiences as an artist and in life, to make her as believable and sympathetic as possible. Like Amelia, I got my degree in art and have a lot of experience with drawing and creating abstract expressionist sculptural pieces (see www.dreamspell.net/crafts/) and I have a lot of experience participating in a diverse, friendly and creative community of other aspiring artists, writers, actors and musicians. On a more personal note, like Amelia, I've had to deal with the disappointment of knowing I'll never have children of my body, and have survived a relationship as difficult as Amelia's with her former husband.

Naomi will be awarding a Somewhere Rainbow, a Jewelmark wearable-bookmark by Craftswoman, Laramie Sasseville featuring carnelian, citrine, blue Amazonite, blue zircon, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and a free download card for her previous release, Spirited, to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop. The Jewelmark has an extra-long ribbon, allowing it to double as an ascot. So the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.

November 4: Brooke Blogs

November 5: Snarky Mom Reads...

November 5: Unabridged Andra

November 6: The Pen and Muse Book Reviews

November 7: Simply Ali

November 8: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews

November 8: Reviews Unleashed

November 11: You Gotta Read Reviews

November 12: Room With Books

November 13: Kit 'N Kabookle

November 13: Magic and Mayhem

November 14: Long and Short Reviews

November 15: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess

November 18: Harlie's Books

November 19: Musings and Ramblings

November 20: Welcome to My World of Dreams

November 21: Straight from the Library

November 22: Sharing Links and Wisdom

Author Bio and Links:

It all started when my parents had to go and teach me to talk. Then they sent me to school where I learned to read and write. I learned to read and pretty soon I fell in love with books and stories. I loved fairy tales and tales of magic from the very start. Even before that I loved to daydream; I daydreamed myself into adventures with my favorite TV characters. I dreamed up adventures crossing time and space on my own, meeting characters out of history and stories. Books gave me the sense that there was a home waiting for my daydreams, a place where they belonged.

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