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Please welcome our guest today, author Victoria Marshal! Read on for more information about this debut author, her book and a review. Victoria would love to hear your reaction to the book and/or her interview. Please leave her a comment to let her know you stopped by!

Victoria Marshal is the author of Bookended By Beauty Queens. She lives in Minnesota with her family. Bookended By Beauty Queens is her first book.

Bookended by Beauty Queens

Angie Palmer likes her life just the way it is–private. She has no desire to entangle herself in complex friendships, and her relationship with her two beauty queen sisters is safely distant.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always go as planned.

When disaster strikes her Grandmother, Angie takes her into her home. A life with Grandma comes a world full of changes, and new friends, including Val, a drag queen with hopes of being the next US-Gay Beauty Pageant winner. Angie is determined to keep Val at a distance. Val has an instinct for knowing what is in Angie heart.

Just as Angie gets comfortable with Grandma living with her, a budding friendship with Val, and a new romantic interest, everything takes an unexpected turn. Val becomes the victim of a violent crime and ends up in a coma. Angie begins a struggle against Val’s family who wants to remove their son from life support.

Suddenly her private life becomes very public, and her world becomes a media circus. Angie is caught in a clash between religious beliefs and gay rights. Through many twists and turns, Angie discovers a new appreciation for family, friends, and love. In the end, Angie learns that a life filled with people to care about is never too crowded.

Interview:

KD: What prompted you to write about the unusual topics in Bookended by Beauty Queens?

VM: Bookended by Beauty Queens started out with me wanting write a generational piece about Angie and her Grandmother coming together to learn from each other, with a little romance for Angie thrown in. But like the tag line says life doesn’t always turn out the way you planned and neither does writing.

When I started writing Bookended by Beauty Queens, the whole country was focused on the Terri Schiavo case, and I was trying to understand what was happening. How could people who really knew nothing about the circumstance feel so passionately about what this woman and her family. Val initially came into my story as a tool to draw the character of Angie out of herself and act as a bridge between her and her Grandmother. Then he ended up being a conduit for my understanding of the whole right to life campaign.

I always tell people I don’t know what I believe until I write about it.

I didn’t want to make the story a retread of the Schiavo case, so instead of being a battle between a husband and her wife’s family, it became a struggle between a gay man’s right to life and his disapproving family.

I’m a little nervous about how the book will be received. There are a lot of hot button issues in the book. Unfortunately, for the sake of story you have to choose a side. This might make the book hated by people because they disagree fundamentally with the choices the characters make.

KD: What does your family think of your writing? Are they supportive or do they think you are going through a phase or being selfish?

VM: I’m so blessed to have the most supportive family in the world. I know a lot of other writers who feel guilty about the time from their family and I’ve heard stories of husbands who ridicule their wife’s for wanting to write. I find that painfully sad.

It’s funny that most of these stories are women who are not being supported. I think it’s because male writers don’t crave that validation the way women do. We want people to tell us it’s okay to do this. So for all you women out there who are aspiring writers – IT IS OKAY! We do so much for others that when we take time to do something for ourselves those that have had us at their beck-and-call feel slighted, but trust me they will get over it. And if they don’t who cares. Taking time for yourself make you a better mother, wife, and person all the way around.

KD: Do you have other novels in the works? Tell us a little about what else you are planning to write about.

VM: I have a romance in the works, but I thought Bookended by Beauty Queens was going to be a romance. (LOL)So yes. I’m a slow writer though so hopefully there will still be an audience and a market for me when it’s finished.

KD: Tell us a little about your early background. What was it like growing up? Were you a good student in school?

VM: I was a lot like the character of Angie. I was the smart one surrounded by pretty ones. Good in school. I didn’t like to cause a lot of trouble. I always had my nose in a book even during the summer months when no one was making me. I was a complete dork and I think I still am. J

Blog: http://victoriamarshal.wordpress.com/
Website: http://www.victoriamarshal.com/
Publisher http://www.beforethefallbooks.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Marshal/158538437540547
Twitter: @VMarshalWriter
Purchase link: http://amzn.com/0983713723

Review:

Bookended by Beauty Queens by Victoria Marshal is a fast-paced, tension-filled read full of characters you will fall in love with despite yourself. Angie has a quick wit and a sharp sense of humor. She knows what she wants and yet life isn't coming through with any good options for her lately. Still, Angie is not the sort of person to become bitter. She's open-minded and tolerant and maybe even a bit too generous when it comes to forgiving her sisters their faults both petty and large. When her grandmother's apartment burns down she gladly takes her grieving grandmother in.

A chance meeting with Val, a vivacious drag queen, on the subway introduces Grandma and Angie to a new world of friends. And just as these three sympathetic misfits are developing their unique support system, disaster strikes Val in the form of a hate crime that puts Val's life in danger. Both Angie and Grandma stand by Val, but Val's parents do not. The personal and public stakes deepen for Angie as she tries to understand the crime, fight the rigid attitudes of Val's family as well as fend off the salivating media and polarized public. With wonderful characterization that will keep you rooting for Angie, Grandma and Val as well as scenes both tense and tender that will have you gnawing your fingernails and crying into your makeup kit, Ms. Marshal succeeds in crafting a truly enjoyable and satisfying story that is well worth your time to read.

Thanks so much for visiting Write About, Victoria. Best of luck with Bookended by Beauty Queens and we hope to be seeing more of your work soon!

Comments (4)

Book Trailer for Perpetual Light

Written by Kat Duncan

Monday, 13 February 2012 09:43

This is an awesome book trailer for a great release that is coming soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFvUj3IBzlA

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I DOn't Remember by Nelson V Brasil

Write About Welcomes Debut Author Nelson V Brasil!

I Don’t Remember

By Nelson V Brasil

In one night, in one fire, Roger Amarante’s life changed forever. He lost everything, and more importantly, everyone he ever loved. But what he doesn’t remember can’t hurt him, right?His seven-year stint at the Faja Rasa Retirement home has left him confused and empty to say the least. He doesn’t know why he’s there, who he is, or what has happened. He hates the nurses with a passion, and has not uttered a single word in the whole time he’s been there. When he meets an over achieving college student with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, his life once again changes forever.

Michael P onte is searching for the heart he apparently lacks, so that he could achieve his childhood dream of becoming a Fire Fighter. When he crosses path’s with a disgruntled, beaten down mess of a man, his heart is tested.Will they have the strength to conquer what they fear is impossible?Some hurdles are harder than others to overcome.I DOn’t REMEMBER will elicit a full circle of emotion that will spark hopefulness and hopelessness, and trigger thoughts you didn’t even know you had.

About the Author:

I was born Nelson Vieira Brasil in San Jose California on August 12th 1984. Being the first generation in my family born in the United States. I am full-blooded Portuguese, my family hails from the small island of São Jorge, Açores. The Açores islands can be found in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, there are nine islands in all, and they are all a part of Portugal.

I grew up in San Jose constantly surrounded by my many uncles and aunts. To this day, most of my uncles, aunts, and cousins are within a 5-minute drive f rom my house. We get together during the week for dinner, and sometimes during the weekend for birthday parties, or to just play some cards. I love my family, and would be lost without them.My parents are at the top of my heroes list. Both come from humble beginnings. Both have menial education, but have flourished to great heights in their lifetime. I would consider my parents to be great successes. They came to this country with little to nothing, and have worked and earned everything they own. They raised two children the right way, instilling values, and morals in them. They taught us the difference from right and wrong, and gave us the trust and confidence to make decisions on our own. They always encourage us to reach for our dreams, and would stop at nothing to support our means to achieving them. If I can become half the success my parents are, I will be happy.

Now that family and all that jazz are out of the way, let me tell you about why I write. I write because it brings me joy. It allows me to openly express my emotions and inspirations. It alleviates my stress, and empowers my confidence. It gives me an outlet to vent frustrations, or to praise successes. It allows me to let it all out, instead of bottling it up inside. I’ve been writing poetry and short stories since middle school. In high school, I began thinking that I wanted to write fulltime or at least become an English teacher so that I could be around reading and writing all the time. As I began college, I continued to write, and finally, began writing my first novel. The pride I felt from finishing my first novel is inexplicable. Then tragedy struck, my clumsiness caused me to tip over a glass of water onto the keyboard of my laptop. I lost everything on my hard drive. To say I was devastated is an understatement. I felt like I lost an arm or a leg. But with encouragement from family and friends I set out to write the same novel. Î DOn’t REMEMBER, is finally in print. Hopefully it is the first of many more to come.

Aside from writing, I enjoy doing many othe r things. Some of which include watching movies, reading, playing and watching sports, going to the lake with friends, gambling, and playing music. There many other things I enjoy doing but I won’t bore you with the rest.My goal is to keep writing, even if I don’t sell a single book, it doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is that I write, and publish my works.My wish is that my writing brings out an emotion from the reader. Any emotion, happiness, sadness, anger, as long as it brings a rise to someone then I feel as though I have accomplished my goal.

Write About Review:

This novella is a fast read, even if it is a little confusing at times with quick shifts in the points of view. It would have benefitted from a bit of polish to the grammar and spelling before publication. The story's strength is in the emotions carried by the prose and in the bleak characterizations presented by the author. Each character has his own prickly reality and the author does an excellent job of portraying people who are living lives of inner desperation. The main characters are two men and a woman. The two men have big dreams. One is young and untried, but determined. The other is older, scarred and hurting. The woman is a nurse with a vendetta against the older man who is a mental patient she has failed to help. The author sets up an inevitable clash of very strong and intriguing personalities. Whose spirit will be the first to break?

Although I found it hard to believe that neither the nurse nor the volunteer at the nursing home would welcome their patient's first words in seven years, the story moves beyond this milestone without any such reservations and shortly brings the volunteer, patient and nurse even closer together. There are brief glimmers of nobility as well as pure evil behind the nurse's strange words and behaviors. Gradually, with the volunteer's help, the patient begins to recall the memories of his tragedy. His catharsis complete, he is able to develop a loving relationship with the nurse and a fatherly relationship with the volunteer. But there is yet trauma and tragedy awaiting all three of these hapless characters as they attempt to mend the rifts that have torn their lives apart.

The author uses stark analogies that contribute to the overall mood of the shocks, reversals and unponderables of life. The author's style is elegantly simple with tensions and conflicts drawn out to their fullest. Overall, this story was full of profound emotional stresses delivered in fast-paced, unsettling action and drama.

Thanks for joining us with your debut book! Click the tour link below to visit Nelson V Brasil's website and download a free excerpt of I DOn't Remember.

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