Tomorrow is World Teachers Day!

Tomorrow is World Teachers Day! Teachers make sure tomorrow happens. Without them all the knowledge and skills the people who came before us worked so hard to develop would be swept away with time. Without them, raw talent would never ripen into the thinkers, doers, and leaders that make the world go round. If you're reading this, it's because someone taught you how.

So let's hear it for teachers!

Source: https://www.grammarly.com/plagiarism-checker

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Drew Karpyshyn

Ten questions for Drew Karpyshyn, sci-fi/fantasy author of numerous books including the Star Wars: Old Republic novels, Mass Effect novels, and the Chaos Born Trilogy, and game writer for BioWare.

  

You’ve written a number of sci-fi/fantasy titles, including both original fiction (The Chaos Born Trilogy, Temple Hill, A Minor Malevolent Spirit and Other Tales) and media tie-in books (the Star Wars: Darth Bane and Star Wars: Old Republic novels, Mass Effect books, and Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal). What drew you to the sci-fi/fantasy genre?

I've always been a fan of speculative fiction: sci-fi, fantasy, horror. I read mostly for entertainment and enjoyment, and I prefer to read stories that can't actually happen in real life.  By adding fantastical elements, I think it actually frees up both the author and the audience to be more open minded and willing to accept things they might otherwise resist or reject.

In addition to writing novels, you’ve written for a number of games, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Mass Effect, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire and the Baldur’s Gate series. How is writing for games different from writing novels?

Writing for games, at least with BioWare, is a very collaborative process. You work closely with other writers, and you need input from other departments - level designers, artists, cinematics. This collaboration can produce a lot of amazing content that wouldn't be possible working alone, but there is a trade-off - you have to give up some creative control. A novel, on the other hand, is a very solitary endeavor. You sink or swim completely alone; you have no support from a team, but you also have absolute creative control. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other; they're just very different.

What’s it been like balancing your original work with your media tie-in work?

For me it's mostly about managing time. I love telling stories in existing universes, like Star Wars, Mass Effect or the Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms setting. It's an honor and a privilege to be part of something beloved by so many fans, and to leave a mark on something with a massive audience. But I also like creating my own worlds, as I did with my Chaos Born trilogy. Fortunately I get to do both, and I hope that my fans enjoy both my tie-in work and my original novels. 

I read your original novel, Children of Fire (Chaos Born, Book I), and I can see why it’s received so much praise! What was the inspiration behind the rich fantasy world you depicted in the book? What drew you to the theme of chaos?

The Chaos Born trilogy is my homage to the classic fantasy works I read growing up, like David Eddings' Belgariad and Terry Brooks' Shannara novels, with a dash of Stephen King-inspired horror thrown in. I wanted to take the basic archetypes in classic Sword and Sorcery fantasy and twist them in subtle ways to give them a fresher, modern feel. And I've always been a fan of "butterfly effect" type fiction, so incorporating Chaos as a powerful but unpredictable source of magic that has rippling, far-reaching consequences seemed like a logical next step. 

Your books are full of unexpected twists and turns. Did you ever surprise yourself when you were writing your book? Characters who took on lives of their own? Plot elements that went in unexpected directions?

I tend to plot my stories out in detailed outlines before I start writing the actual book, so I usually have a pretty good idea of how things are going to go. But even with this planning, I often discover a character who takes on a life of his or her own - someone who grows beyond my initial expectations. And I think the key is to be willing to veer off of my outlines when something like this happens, as long as it makes sense for the story and themes I'm working with.

Can you take us behind-the-scenes on what it’s like writing for broader universes such as Star Wars and Mass Effect?

I've always enjoyed a great amount of creative freedom working with both Star Wars and Mass Effect. Obviously they need to approve your stories and ideas, but for the most part they've allowed me to tell the stories I want to tell. The key to working with an existing franchise is to be able to know what the fans want.  You have to understand the themes and the tone of the books, films and games that came before. You need to understand the history and the stories that have already been told. In other words, you need to be a fan - and fortunately, I am.

Do you have a writing process, or do you wing it? Is it different for original versus media tie-in fiction?

I almost always start with a basic outline of the story and a brief description of the main characters. From there, I slowly flesh out the details - I go from a one page summary to a five page outline, which I then turn into detailed chapter by chapter descriptions of the entire story before I start the actual writing of the novel. That helps to keep me focused on the tale I want to tell, although if something good comes up that isn't the original outline I'm not afraid to work it in. 

Some writers listen to music, some go to coffee shops, some drink beer… Do you have any habits or rituals you must do before you hunker down and write?

I often write at night, in my office with the windows shut and the lights low. With the world outside shrouded in darkness, it's easier to imagine myself inside the fictional world I'm working in. Beyond that, I don't have many rituals. For me it's about sitting my butt down in a chair in front of the computer and putting in the time at the keyboard. It's easy to procrastinate and get distracted, so I need to make sure I bear down and actually write.

The road to publication and a writing career is never easy. Can you share what the early days were like for you? Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

There's no easy answer for this. On the FAQ page of my website - www.drewkarpyshyn.com - I list a few links writers can go to for advice and tips about the craft and about the available markets. Beyond that, the only real advice I can offer is to stay patient. I started trying to get my stories published when I was back in high school, and it took ten years before I finally started making money as a writer. I think that's pretty normal; you need to spend a lot of time and effort learning your craft before it's good enough for someone else to want to pay for it. There are no shortcuts or secrets - it just takes hard work.

Are you working on anything new? What does the path forward look like for you?

Chaos Unleashed, the third and final book of my Chaos Born trilogy, comes out October 13, but I actually finished writing it some time ago. Since then I've released a self-published short story anthology called A Minor Malevolent Spirit and Other Tales and I've started working on two unnamed novels - a historical thriller set in Elizabethan England, and a contemporary sci-fi story set in modern-day Vegas. I've also started working again with BioWare, the video game company where I got my start, as a writer for their online Star Wars MMO. I always keep my fans updated about what I'm working on in the NEWS blog on my website, and you can follow me on Twitter @drewkarpyshyn for all the latest Drew news!

ABOUT DREW

Drew Karpyshyn is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, and the Mass Effect novels Revelation and Ascension, as well as several other fantasy and science fiction novels. He is also an award-winning writer/designer for the computer game company BioWare, where he was lead writer on Mass Effect and the blockbuster Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. He lives in Canada's hinterlands with his wife, Jen, and their cat.

FIND DREW ONLINE

Website: www.drewkarpyshyn.com

Twitter: @drewkarpyshyn

ABOUT DREW'S BOOKS

The Chaos Born Trilogy

  

Long ago the gods chose a great hero, Daemron the Slayer, to act as their agent in the mortal world to stand against the demonic spawn of Chaos. The gods gifted their champion with three magical Talismans: a sword, a ring, and a crown. But the awesome power of the Talismans corrupted Daemron, turning him from savior to destroyer. Filled with pride, he dared to challenge the gods themselves. Siding with the Chaos spawn, Daemron waged a titanic battle against the Immortals. In the end, Daemron was defeated, the Talismans were lost, and Chaos was sealed off behind the Legacy—a magical barrier the gods sacrificed themselves to create.

Now the Legacy is fading. On the other side, the banished Daemron stirs. And across the scattered corners of the land, four children are born of suffering and strife, each touched by one aspect of Daemron himself—wizard, warrior, prophet, king.

Bound by a connection deeper than blood, the Children of Fire will either restore the Legacy or bring it crashing down, freeing Daemron to wreak his vengeance upon the mortal world.

Find them on Amazon (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3)

A Minor Malevolent Spirit

With stories ranging from classic sword and sorcery adventures to contemporary horror to twisted takes on myth, legend and folklore, A Minor Malevolent Spirit offers ten tales of magic, mystery and the supernatural… with a dash of humor thrown in for good measure! A man discovers a demon living in his basement, then hires it to advance his career. A young king in exile challenges a powerful wizard in a battle of wits to reclaim his throne. The Aztec pantheon gathers for an unusual contest to win the favor of the immortal Serpent King. A proud warrior queen plots bloody retribution to avenge her murdered family. Ten fantastical tales promise to deliver thrills, chills and even a few laughs. As an added bonus, author notes for each story will give fans a glimpse into the craft of writing and Drew's creative process.

Learn more about A Minor Malevolent Spirit and Other Tales on Drew's STORIES page.

Find it on Amazon

Find more of Drew's titles on his Amazon page

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Seth Dickinson

10 Questions for Seth Dickinson, author of The Traitor Baru Cormorant (Tor Books, September 2015).

 

Your debut novel, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, recently hit the bookshelves. Can you tell us a bit about your publishing journey?

I feel like I haven't done anything romantic enough to make it a journey! I began writing short stories with intent to publish in college. For a few years, everything I wrote got rejected, and then one year I guess I'd figured out how to word and everything I wrote started selling.

That was in 2012. In 2013, after polishing prose style with short stories, I decided I'd try a novel. I finished it up and found in agent in late 2013, the book sold in 2014, and a year later here we are!

I guess I had some excitement along the way: I spent 2012-2013 in graduate school studying social neuroscience (specifically racial bias in police shootings), and I took a job at Bungie Studios in 2014 to write lore for Destiny.

And I did drop out of grad school to write the novel! I guess that's pretty romantic.

 

The Traitor Baru Cormorant delves into many political themes, such as oppression, colonization, and revolution. What inspired you to write about these?

They're the themes that people I cared about were discussing, they were themes that explained how the world got so broken and how we might repair it, and they rhymed with my own work in psychology — a lot of study of prejudice and power.

I guess, from a different angle, I was inspired by the conversation the Internet's been having over the past decade. People would say 'I want more people of color in books, I want more women, I want more queer people,' and others would reply, 'We can't write about those people in fantasy, they'd be too oppressed to be interesting.'

I hate that argument. For a lot of reasons, one of them being that Earth's history was a lot more complicated and crazy than 'white guys did stuff', but another...it just drove me mad, this presumption that someone facing oppression couldn't be a compelling protagonist. People always find a way to push back.

So I decided to write about a protagonist targeted by intersecting homophobia, racism, and sexism, one who refuses to ever be bound — and who always finds a way, no matter how cruel the situation, to fight back.

While your book is a fantasy, in many ways it reads almost like historical fiction set in a different world. Can you tell us a bit about the world-building in your novel? How did you create the rich cultures your story’s set in? What drew you to the fantasy genre?

I do think it's fantasy, I think that's really important — because one of the core missions of fantasy is creating secondary worlds, right? And every time we do that, we have a chance to pick up Earth's own history and say, look, see this thing? It didn't have to happen that way. It could've been different. It wasn't a necessary part of human existence.

I had a lot of fun world-building for this book! I guess I was guided by three tensions, each one pulling me away from the others —

I wanted a world that felt as rich, complex, lively, interconnected, and surprising as our own. History's nuts. Civilizations rise and crash, people hit fortune or disaster with incredible schemes, ideas spread and die and live again. I wanted a naturalistic sense of length and breadth.

I wanted a world that you could understand, something with the clean, intuitive logic of a game board. I wanted all the economic intrigue, all the piracy and rebellion, to feel as sharp and powerful as swords or sex. So the world had to be readable. It had to offer the reader affordance.

And I wanted a world where nothing mapped exactly to Earth — no people, no cultures, no languages, no races. I didn't want to suggest that anything was biologically or historically inevitable.

I wanted it to be compelling! I wanted everything to hum with tension.

 

Baru Cormorant joins the oppressive Empire’s service in hopes of infiltrating their top ranks and using her power to free her people. What was it like developing her character? How did you get into her head?

The first thing I knew about the story was the ending, so I had to have a character with both the means and motivation to make those choices.

I knew she would be pragmatic, driven, ruthless, and very contained. I think her containment and discipline was really the key to writing her: whenever she wanted to feel or say something, I had to make her elide it, or let it out in code, or just pretend she didn't care.

It was tricky to figure out how to use the negative space around what she didn't say to describe her emotions. I hope it worked!

I really treasure the moments when she gets to be an ordinary person — gets drunk, hangs out, laughs at a joke. It's important to see the human being peeking out from the armor.

 

Your plot is full of unexpected twists and turns. Did you ever surprise yourself when you were writing your book? Characters who took on lives of their own? Plot elements that went in unexpected directions?

I was really confident of the book's operating principle — it would be about sacrificing human warmth and connection in the name of a greater good. Because the plot largely plays by that rule, none of the twists really surprised me, exactly.

But I was absolutely startled by the characters! I really love it when a character begins to claim space on the page and drive action. Duke Oathsfire's halting personal growth, Duke Unuxekome's charisma on the page, the man who'd left something down a well, the woman pretending to be an actress — all surprises. Tain Hu's a magnetic force, of course, but I knew she would be.

I was worried all the Dukes and Duchesses would get confusing, so I tried very hard to be sure all of them got a scene that was their own. I hope it worked!

What was the hardest part about writing The Traitor Baru Cormorant? What were the biggest challenges you faced along the way?

It was a fairly smooth book to write, all in all, because the protagonist drove it so ably, and I knew where she was going. One big challenge was teaching all the socioeconomic complexity and intrigue in a way that was thrilling. I really wanted the book to be fast-paced and gripping, which meant no lectures.

I tend to think that if the reader cares about a character, they'll care about what that character cares about. I don't give a damn about Catholic theology, for instance, but Hilary Mantel makes me care about Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall, and he cares. So I tried to attach important parts of the world to characters who cared about them.

We're all really good at keeping track of gossip and social relationships, right? I think you can tap into that power when writing.

THIS. COVER. *swoon*

 

The cover and title of your book really caught my eye. Can you tell us a bit about them? Is there a story behind Baru Cormorant’s distinctive name?

The cover is entirely to the credit of Marco Palmieri, my editor, Irene Gallo, Tor's art director, and Sam Weber, the artist. Marco had an idea and Irene and Sam made it happen. (I'm assuming you mean the US cover — if you're in the UK it was another crew!)

The name was right for the character, it had a good shape and good presence on the page. But it's really hard to say at parties! A lot of time I get 'The Traitor what? Broom cormorant? Like the bird?'

 

Can you take us behind-the-scenes of what it takes to bring a book from manuscript to published novel? What was the editing process like for you?

So, the first thing you do is try to get an agent. I think that's probably the most nerve-wracking part, because of query letters! You need to write a query letter that sells your book in about three paragraphs. If that letter doesn't sing, the agent will never even look at your manuscript. (I'm sure you know this if you've been through the query process yourself.)

Wrapping up months of work into a couple paragraphs is really tense.

Once an agent offers you representation, you get to do something cool: write to all the other agents who are planning to read your book and tell them 'hey, I have an offer, can you get back to me within two weeks?' And then they all have to scramble to read it (or reject you right there).

The agent you sign with then sends your book out to publishers. Mine went pretty swiftly, since Tor offered a generous pre-emptive deal for Baru Cormorant and two more books (a deal in which you're required to withdraw the book from all other publishers — so hopefully it's a good one). 

The editing process itself went very smoothly. My agent and editor had only a few suggestions, and they weren't hard to implement. Almost all the holdup was on my end, actually! I wanted to restructure the Act 2 — Act 3 bridge and the Act 3 opening, punch up the character work, and revisit a few scenes I thought were weak.

What’s been the most rewarding part of being a published author?

Talking to people who've read the book and who have fascinating, engaging things to say about it! And meeting other authors.

 

Are you working on anything new? What does the path forward look like for you?

Right now I'm working on a sequel and counterargument to this novel — a story that looks at the things Baru derogated or passed over in this story, like friendship, warmth, and the possibility of trust. 

I've also got a lot of fiction in Bungie's Destiny, and I hope that'll continue through next year and years to come!

Thank you for having me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Find The Traitor Baru Cormorant on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and bookstores everywhere.

Visit Seth's website: http://www.sethdickinson.com/

Follow Seth on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sethjdickinson

My twisty, turny, loop-de-loop filled publishing road so far

[excerpted from my interview on Lorna Suzuki's blog]

My publishing road has been one twisty-turny loop-de-loop-filled tangle (and I foresee many more twists, turns, and loop-de-loops in the future). It took me something like 81 queries to land my agent (the talented, fierce, and altogether amazing Lana Popovic)—though not all for the same book or at the same time. I first queried agents with Artificial Absolutes back in early 2012. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I read enough agent blogs, etc., to know what a query looked like (even had a friend of mine who was interning at an agency validate that at least I had the idea right), but didn’t know anything about how the publishing industry or book markets worked. I just scattered a bunch of queries to the wind. Around rejection number thirty, I realized there were some small presses out there that took un-agented authors and started querying them too. Miracle of miracles, Red Adept Publishing wanted my book, and I did my happy dance.

While I love RAP, I still wanted a shot at the big houses. So I started working on a new, unrelated book and posted the opening on Authonomy for feedback. Much to my surprise, a staff member from another small press, Glass House Press, stumbled upon it and liked what they saw, so they asked for a full submission. Problem was, I hadn’t finished the book yet. So I scrambled to get the thing done (the most intense three weeks of writing in my life) and sent it to them. While I was excited at the prospect of working with these guys, I figured while I was waiting for a reply, it couldn’t hurt to try querying agents again. I only sent out a handful, but they were all got immediate passes. I became convinced Glass House was going to kick my poor manuscript to the curb. When they said yes—another happy dance!

With contracts from two awesome small presses under my belt, I thought I was done with the whole querying thing for the foreseeable future. Especially since I was working on series. But the thing about inspiration is that it strikes when you least expect it to. Shortly after Artificial Absolutes came out 2013, I had an idea for a YA sci-fi romance that I really had no business writing but couldn’t let go of. I got the first draft down pretty quickly, but between editing and marketing my other books (not to mention writing sequels), I didn’t get a chance to edit it for months.

I decided to do the querying rounds again around September 2014. It was back-to-school season, and I was feeling energized. I’d spent several months—almost a year, actually—obsessing over publishing blogs, reading potential comps, and fine-tuning my query and manuscript. At this point, my efforts to market Artificial Absolutes and my other books had taught me a lot about the book market in general—genres, audiences, trends, etc. And my online agent stalking… I mean, research… had taught me more about what they sought in a query and what individual agents were looking for. I put together a list of agents based not just on what genres they repped (which was what I did for the last two rounds), but also based on what they said in their bios, interviews, and blog posts.

I also decided to query in waves this time—wait for the first 10 or so rejections before sending the next 10, etc. That way I’d have time to tweak my query, synopsis, and opening pages again. There wasn’t any particular order to my list—I just added agents to it as I discovered them (through Writer’s Digest features, for example). I was fully prepared to send out upwards of 100 queries this round. Luckily, I didn’t have to.

Read the rest of the interview here.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Andrew Joyce

Interview with Andrew Joyce, author of Molly Lee, currently on sale for 99 cents through Monday, September 21.

 

Hi! Welcome to Zigzag Timeline. Can you tell us about your background as an author?

My first book was a 125,000-word historical novel. And in the publishing world, anything over 80,000 words for a first-time author is heresy. Or so I was told time and time again when I approached an agent for representation. After two years of research and writing and a year of trying to secure the services of an agent, I got angry. To be told that my efforts were meaningless was somewhat demoralizing to say the least. Those rejections were coming from people who had never even read my book.

“So you want an 80,000-word novel?” I said to no one in particular, unless you count my dog, because he was the only one around at the time. Consequently, I decided to show them City Slickers that I could write an 80,000-word novel!

 

So I sat down at my computer and banged out REDEMPTION: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in two months. (I had them as adults in the Old West.) Then I sent out query letters to literary agents.

Less than a month later, the chairman of one of the biggest agencies in New York City emailed me telling me that he loved the story and suggested a few changes. They were good suggestions, and I incorporated about 80% of them into the book. We signed a contract and it was off to the races, or so I thought. But then the real fun began: the serious editing. Seven months later, I gave birth to Huck and Tom as adults. And just for the record, the final word count is 79,914.

What got you into writing?

One morning I went crazy. I got out of bed, went downstairs, and threw my TV out the window. Then I sat down at the computer and wrote my first short story. It was soon published in a print magazine (remember them?). I’ve been writing ever since.

What was the first idea you had for your book, and how did the story grow from there?

I had just finished reading Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn for the third time, and I started thinking about what ever happened to those boys, Tom and Huck. They must have grown up, but then what?

Among your characters, who's your favorite? Could you please describe him/her?

This is like asking a parent which of their children they love the most. Let me just say that I have a strong attachment to Huck Finn and Molly Lee.

What's your favorite scene from your novel? Could you please describe it?

It would be easier if I just shared the scene with you.

That was the pinch in the game for me. With a quick look to Tom, I stepped out of the barn. Now, I’ve always been a fair to middling shot with a long gun. And Pap always said there was a devil in us Finns. He said we had an Irish temper that couldn’t be tamed, but I always thought that was a lot of hogwash. However, on that gray morning, I knew without thinking about it that if I pointed that Colt Dragoon at a man, he’d be dead long before he hit the ground.

I stood just outside the barn door, legs spread. The sergeant was so intent on dragging Molly, he didn’t see me. The two privates had their attention in the opposite direction, watching the Lee family. Then I saw Will make a run for the sergeant. The private standing with the family raised his gun and took aim, but he did not fire despite the order to shoot. When the sergeant and Molly got to within a hundred feet of me, and before Will caught up to them, I yelled with hatred in my voice, “Let her be, you pig!”

I didn’t wait for him to answer or to set Molly free; I raised the Colt and shot him right through the heart. Without hesitating, I pulled back the hammer and squeezed the trigger again, shooting the one on the horse in the forehead. He fell off with a thud as he hit the ground. By that time the other one, the one who had sighted Will but did not shoot, had dropped his gun and had his hands in the air. I walked up to him and said, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you this very minute.” He was shaking from head to foot and didn’t say anything. When I got closer to him, I could see that he couldn’t have been much more than sixteen. It took everything in me not to pull the hammer back and squeeze the trigger a third time. Instead, I clubbed him behind his left ear, and he kissed the dirt.

What's your favorite part of writing? Plotting? Describing scenes? Dialogue?

I reckon I’d have to say that writing dialogue is my favorite part of the writing process.

How long does it take you to write a book? Do you have a writing process, or do you wing it?

The way I write is that I have the first sentence and the last paragraph in my head before I start a book. Then all I have to do is come up with 100,000 words to fill in the blank space. That’s the easy part.

I don’t write all day long, maybe four hours a day. And when you take into account the editing, it takes me about seven months to produce a finished book.

What is it about the genre you chose that appeals to you?

I really don’t know. But I do write in all genres. I have 140 short stories that cover everything from the detective genre to science fiction and everything in between.

Are there any books or writers that have had particular influence on you?

John Steinbeck. Listen to this:

"The afternoon came down as imperceptibly as age comes to a happy man. A little gold entered into the sunlight. The bay became bluer and dimpled with shore-wind ripples. Those lonely fishermen who believe that the fish bite at high tide left their rocks and their places were taken by others, who were convinced that the fish bite at low tide."— John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat

Have ever read anything as beautiful? Especially the first sentence.

Did you ever surprise yourself when you were writing your book? Characters who took on lives of their own? Plot elements that took unexpected turns?

I usually have the next day’s writing in my head by the time I go to bed. When I wake up the next morning and go to work, I start to take my characters where I had intended. But sometimes, they’ll decide they want to go in another direction and that’s where we’ll end up. I’m cool with that. After all, it’s their lives.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you for having me.

ABOUT THE BOOK

From the author of the best-selling novel, REDEMPTION: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer comes MOLLY LEE. 

Molly is about to set off on the adventure of a lifetime . . . of two lifetimes. 

It’s 1861 and the Civil War has just started. Molly is an eighteen-year-old girl living on her family’s farm in Virginia when two deserters from the Southern Cause enter her life. One of them—a twenty-four-year-old Huck Finn—ends up saving her virtue, if not her life. 

Molly is so enamored with Huck, she wants to run away with him. But Huck has other plans and is gone the next morning before she awakens. Thus starts a sequence of events that leads Molly into adventure after adventure; most of them not so nice. 

We follow the travails of Molly Lee, starting when she is eighteen and ending when she is fifty-six. Even then Life has one more surprise in store for her. 

Find it on Amazon

ABOUT ANDREW JOYCE

Andrew Joyce left high school at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada and Mexico. He wouldn't return from his journey until decades later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written three books, and a collection of almost one hundred forty short stories that is comprised of his hitching adventures called BEDTIME STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS. He lives on a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his dog, Danny. MOLLY LEE is a followup novel to the best-selling REDEMPTION: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.