As a writer of Young Adult and New Adult genre focused literature, how would you best describe what separates the two from each other and what defines them as being individualistically unique? There are misconceptions about both genres, from what they are meant to include inside the structure of their stories to the age of whom is meant to be reading them. How would you best describe their definitions as literary selections and how did you personally approach writing for this specific market? Can you expand by using your own writings as examples of your own style vs other stories that are being featured in today’s market?
Cover Art Design Credits: Tracy Stewart at Simply Bookish. Tattoo for Asher by Teresa Reasor (author & artist). Ebook Cover Art
}: Book Synopsis :{
Grace Ballard has been in love with Asher Howell for a long time. When she was sixteen, he became her hero, and she fell head over heels for the boy with a ring through his eyebrow, a big heart, and an unending sense of justice. But two years ago he left for college without a backward glance, leaving Grace to wonder if she’d imagined everything.
With no reason to wait for Asher to return, Grace moved on, and Asher’s brother, Adam, stepped in to help her pick up the pieces. But Asher never left her thoughts… or her heart.Now, two years later, tragedy brings Asher home and back into Grace’s life. The boy who left her behind is now very much a man – a licensed tattoo artist, much to his parents’ dismay, and still carrying a major torch for Grace. But two years apart has changed them both, and the things that happened during their separation may create a divide that can’t be crossed.
Asher and his brother both left their mark on Grace’s heart. Will Asher’s be able to stand the test of time?
I must confess, I have been on absolute pins to listen to the next chapters of “Discovering Aberration” as this is seriously the first time I have listened to a novel and become enraptured with an itch to know what comes next! Mind you, if I were to be fully truthful I have only listened to bits of an audiobook in the past, but I never could lay the story out in my mind’s eye properly to continue listening. I had a bit of a disconnect then that I do not appear to be experiencing now; except to say, that as I jot down the thoughts & notes as I listen to Mr. Barrus narrating the chapters, I find myself picking up on things I first feared I might not be able to catch! I am quite sure that if one day I go to sit down with a print copy of this novel, my impressions will eclipse and the entirety of the world will fuse together. I’m still a newbie to ‘audiobook reading’ and I welcome the challenge and the joy to carry-on forward ‘listening’ and seeking out a ‘story’ in a medium I have not yet had the pleasure to experience in length. Besides who wouldn’t want to listen to a dapper author reading his very own work of fiction!? He has a wicked style, no?!
An ancient map stolen. A lost civilization discovered. A terrible secret unleashed.
Thaddeus Lumpen’s archaeology career is near collapse, thanks to the machinations of rivals who would kill to claim a discovery for themselves. In desperation he turns to Freddy Fitzgerald, a rebellious writer who still maintains connections from his days as a street hooligan. For Lumpen to get ahead of his even less scrupulous competitors he must steal an ancient map and forge a path to an island where a lost civilization waits to be found. For Freddy, it’s a chance to sell the story of a lifetime.
But nothing is as simple as it appears from halfway across the world. Old acquaintances become enemies, professional rivalries turn violent, and a notorious gang lord wants his map back. The island itself holds dangers that Freddy and Lumpen couldn’t have prepared to face–and horrifying secrets that might be better left buried. Beset by wild beasts, cutthroat competitors, and dangers darker still, the two men fight not for glory, but their own survival… before the island pushes them past the brink of insanity.
S.C. Barrus writes strange and thrilling literary adventures including the novel Discovering Aberration, a steampunk adventure novel. Born in Canada, he grew up in the Pacific North West where he skipped school in favor of swimming in the local rivers.
Raised on a hefty selection of books, video games and movies, he grew to love story telling from a young age. He received his degree in creative writing from the University of Washington and began writing fiction in 2011.
Throughout the years, S.C. Barrus has been inspired by a wide range of authors and genres. A fan of literary fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy and sci-fi. But perhaps the easiest influences to identify in his writing comes from authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne, H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Louis Stephenson.
I have been wanting to listen to audiobooks for quite a long while now, and although this is technically not a traditional ‘audiobook’ per se, it is an author reading his novel aloud via live video feeds on YouTube! Therefore, its a non-traditional audiobook sequence of events! What drew me into wanting to listen to the story as it evolves each Friday, is the fact that one of his tweets about his book series caught my eye in my twitterverse feeds! I’m always searching for Steampunk authors & titles that I have not stumbled across as I have blogged about my sojourn into this realm previously; specifically my exploits at my local library!
I felt perhaps this might be an excellent way to get to know a new-to-me author & his story! Each Friday, I’m taking the chance on listening to a story I’ve only read the premise about and the author’s note on behalf of his novel on his book’s listing page. Perhaps on Fridays, you will join me!? I cannot be the only nightowl blogger!?
On a side note: I joined his newsletter as an “Adventurer” and cast my hat into the running to win a hardback copy of his novel! I did this the first time I saw his tweets, which was over a week ago!
Considering the fact I am more or less going into listening each Friday night @ 10:30pm PST (technically, this is 1:30am Saturday morning!) a bit blind to knowing about the author, his writing style & voice, as much as his characters and narration makes this quite the exciting treat! In fact, it recollects to mind what it must have been like for generations who grew up listening to radio broadcasts of their favourite fictional heroes and characters! Instead of telecasting via radio signals & waves, we have the age of the internet and the ability to have an author set up live feeds on YouTube! What bookish bliss, eh!? Noting that his inspirational authors include one mutually respected author (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle); one deeply curious about author (Jules Verne); one on the fence about author (Robert Louis Stevenson); one author I’ve changed my opinion of (Edgar Allan Poe: Read my “Mrs. Poe” review); and one author I’m curious about due to what I have heard of his works (H.P. Lovecraft) you may already denote an itching of excitement growing inside me to hear his voice share the opening bits of his Steampunk novel!
The fact that he wrote an unorthodox novel which does not specifically fit within the perimeters of modern tales of his respective choices of genre, delights me to no end! I love it when authors give a rambling narrative voice to their stories, to where we have to read the whole of the novel and story in order to understand the exact heart of what they stitched into their character’s lives! I love character-centered stories as much as I like the deft hand of a wordsmith who has the eloquence to build a world that we want to absorb inside and spend time navigating the finer details and points he has etched into the atmosphere of the world itself. I like slow-moving stories which allow the words to flow through us rather than over us, and have the tangible glistening of an evolving picture emerge out of the well of what is inside the chapters.
I am nearly on the edge of my seat in full expectation of a narrative journey about to begin!
And, of course the mere fact that my dyslexic math skills projected the start time @ 7:30pm EST rather than 1:30am EST, clearly proves my dedication! The YouTube channel designated for tonight’s broadcast has been counting down the hours in earnest since it was a bit past 7 hours left to go! Laughs with mirth. Sometimes you just have to find the cheeky irony in your life!
a professor is in the middle of class, relaying bits of a book and reading to his class when the story begins. given a degree, a grant, and a residency on publication of a book based on the character’s journey to the Orient. bored beyond repair. the status que was found wanting rather than exciting as the opportunity had felt when given. ms. Olivia Newton is a cheeky student with questions that test the Professor’s patience. taxidermy ensembles attached to the clothes in the gathered crowd of students. a curious attention to elephants. survival of the fittest and cunning independence. a battle of classes. (“Gangs of New York” flashed through my mind, which made sense lateron!)
missed a bit when his voice went mechanised. (as i wrote ‘mech’ all I could think of was Midsummer!)
@SCBarrus Your voice is mechanised and breaking up! :( It is not coming through as clear as it was; & then it evened out.. hmm,… wonder ?
an interruption when someone interrupts the class. protesters are in the background in the streets. atmospheric setting. an urgency to know something that is most important. a humble home of a Professor in a mixed neighbourhood of residences.
missed a bit more when he read the words too quickly for me to hear them properly. the quicker he reads the more the mechanised effect happens.
@SCBarrus Slow down — your reading a bit too fast; the action & dialogue is running a bit together; the technology is mumbling it a bit :(
pitched to write a book about his friend. crime lords & black markets. antiques. money to be had. an out of print book. parchment which was actually a map with writing which was particularly precise. an intricacy of details. an island. a key. a lost civilisation. a dead language. a mathematical connection of origin. a gypsy spirit of adventure pulls at the heart of the lead character. an adventure begging for him to embrace. a tempestuous proposition. an implorous consideration. a stolen map from a sailor who was dying & whose belongings thus belonged to a beguiling and foul man.
Chapter 2 Notes:
a back-story history of a particular place. a broad stroke of how one particular country and area progressed forward and slid backwards through time of it’s people. a particular empathsis on how violence threaded through the young persons and grew from there. this chapter is to explain a history of who the Professor’s friend stole the map from and to draw the reader into an understanding of the larger scope of the evolving picture being painted into full view. describing the hierarchy of the gangs and who became the crime lord to be feared by all.
@SCBarrus Your reading of Chapter 2 was still a bit fast, but your voice came through clear and could be understood. Just don't rush! :)
Sharp and crisp descriptions are given to purport his imagery and connective tissues of his novel, allowing the reader to be placed directly into the scene at hand. Sharp as glass, cuttingly convincing, and precise, his narrative voice is glistening with a bluntness and an honesty of where his characters are taking the reader on the journey about to be taken as his narrative bespeaks of a clarity of a writer’s pen for detail oriented story-craft. The manner in which he opens the novel and of which it is thus told, gives me the impression that the blunt strokes are mindful of a bloke’s approach towards relying a particular turbulent slice of history, whereas a lass might soften the edges a bit. The story eludes to being set within the perimeters of an adventurous historical fiction, half fantasy, and equal measures psychological suspense. As I have not yet heard where the dialogue nor the narrative broaches into horror. He does have an eloquent descriptive voice, and for the rougher characters and rougher bits of prose delves into stronger language as it is warranted, but not overtly so, nor unnecessary.
Despite the fact this novel is clearly outside the scope of what I regularly read, I cannot deny that it has me curious to hear more bits and bobbles of its full essence! I am most surely marking down the next ‘Friday Chapter Series’ event, in order to partake of another rousing night of wickedness, rebels, rogues, and the lot most likely found in Captain Jack Sparrow’s crew! I might be a lass who is bent more on the cosier side of literature, but even I found a heap of joy in the revelry of Sparrow & the crew in which boggled the mind half the time of their exploits!
I appreciate the notations he gives to clue the reader in on his classical literature roots of inspiration, and how he attempts to pay homage to the story-tellers that most likely will eventually knit together on my tCC List! I always knew Oliver Twist would be an interesting novel for me to read, and perhaps between now & a fortnight thence when we recommence to listen to Chapters 3 & 4, I can make a bit of headway into the story! I’d learn a bit more about the gangs of the street & the layout of power, and perhaps get my head to wrap around the gist of the story without asking too many elementary questions! I was most appreciative of his kindness and attention to his ‘readers & listeners’!
I do suppose its a sign, that I happen to have a pocket edition of Oliver Twist staring at me from my bookshelf?
Afterthoughts from the Author:
Scuttlters (All I could envision were the pirates from ALL the Caribbean films I adore so much!) were based on Victorian gangs & were based on historical facts, including the crime lord in the story. He showed to camera a deck of cards, which looked most curious! I missed a bit about why the deck was being shown to camera as I was attempting to compose my thoughts; going back and forth between YouTube & my blog! All I could think of in that moment is what a conversation piece that deck would be! I love playing board games & card games; like Hand & Foot or Shanghai Rummy? I’m most definitely a ‘vintage gamer’ both for traditional games and for video games alike! And, technically speaking I’ve been collecting ‘card decks’ since I was quite young! I always wanted to collect & gather interesting decks of cards because I felt that they would help open a conversation when you sit down to play!
Fictitious country in a real world: (artistic license) Franklin P. Fitzgerald (Freddie) and his sidekick friend Thadeus Lumpkin. Early Victorian Era as advanced technology is beginning. (for me, this sort of felt Neo-Victorian rather than straight-up Steampunk, as it has a curious alter-history feel to the world.)
Originally wrote the story without the crime lords, and turnt into a quick story full of satire. Shelved the novel and re-wrote the novel. Twenty pages turned into sixty pages, with research into the time period. Fell in love with the characters and wanted to expand the story. Developed the criminal underworld into the story, and fleshed out a bit too much, to where it had to be cut out. Based on “The Gangs of London” a non-fiction book out of print where the scuttlers were based upon in the story.
Other listeners had trouble tuning in to the broadcast.
Another reader asked about how the first book ties into the second: a complex story he doesn’t want to discuss the plot if we haven’t read the first book as it would be a spoiler for us. PC (I need to ask how to proper have that title spelt!) takes place in the same world, but ten years before the first story. The Scarlets are a gang featured in “Discovering Aberration”, and goes into how the structure of their gang works. A mixture of “Oliver Twist” and “Ocean’s Eleven”. Freddie is not a protagonist, but the sequel after PC has Freddie return.
@SCBarrus Thanks for answering my Qs! How would you explain the story to someone who is approaching it for the first time!?
He gave me an ‘on air’ thank you note of gratitude for tweeting out the word leading through the countdown. He appreciated my tweet about his voice. He listens to more audiobooks than he reads books, and always felt he did not have the voice for it. He’s listening to Harry Potter (Order of the Phoenix, I believe!) at the moment and felt that the voice on there is better than his. (I disagree!) He is going to take a break from next Friday, and join up again the following Friday instead. He’s going to a convention – will note be able to return for a fortnight. If its the convention where we purchased the bowler hat for then I can only hope he looks as dapper as the hat he’s wearing in his author’s photograph! (via his website biography) I personally fell into the Steampunk genre by way of the artwork & fashion long before I entered the fictional worlds set around them! Laughs.
@SCBarrus That's alright! I was composing it as you were talking — and I had no idea you were going to be talking 'to me' as I was tweeting
My goodness! I cannot wait for the next installments of this live author event! I am hopeful that if I made any grievous errors, the author will be kind to let me know either through PM or in the comment threads! I am so happy that I ‘caught’ sight of that tweet about “Discovering Aberration” on Twitter the other week! IF I had not seen it, and I might not have, as I’ve been taking a break again from hitting the ‘Home!’ button! (your aghast I can tell!) There enters a bit of a kismet factor to reading & the discovery of authors & their works. There is a season for everything in life, and I always felt that the timing of stories has a particular curiosity about when they are revealed! For me, I am properly full of gratitude for being caught up in this unique event and for being the winner of a giveaway I did not even know was happening! How delightful! And, may this post inspire you, dear hearts to stay up later than late and listen to the next chapters of this tale that simply bewitches you to listen! Please share your thoughts!
Discovering Aberration Kickstarter Intro via S.C. Barrus
I decided to share this because I should have known to scope out his previously uploaded videos to find out more information about his novel once I had read it originated by a Kickstarter Project! Whoopsie! He mentions a bit about the plot and how it evolves forward! I can say, that listening to his first two chapters was an adventure in of itself, and I do not regret going in ‘blind’ without understanding a few of the finer points ahead of time! Enjoy!
This post is part of:
{SOURCES: Audiobook Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. The intro video for “Discovering Aberration” via S.C. Barrus had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. The Friday Night Reading Series badge created by Jorie in Canva.}
Self-Published: J. Woods (@jwoodsauthor) 30 October, 2013 (e-book version) Official Author Websites: Site | Facebook | Twitter Converse via: #GildedFeathers Available Formats: E-Book (Soft-cover forthcoming) Page Count: 341
Acquired Book By: WhenI was first approached through the Book Blogging Community by self-published author J. Woods to read her paranormal romance Gilded Feathers I was most esteemed! The story sparked the series which followed known as “the Gilded Feathers” and the premise is quite supernaturally enticing! I received a complimentary ARC direct from the author herself, J. Woods in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Author Biography:
J. Woods is a Toronto based writer, mother, and non-conformist. She lives between the space of her green tea and humming laptop when she isn’t chasing after her free spirited daughter. She has studied too many things to count including radio broadcasting and entrepreneurship. Grasping at sanity, she realized writing stories about her insane thoughts was easier than explaining them to a doctor. Not to mention cheaper.
Book Synopsis:
An alluring choice. A fantastical revelation. But what if it changed… everything? Familiar with the art of the nightmare, twenty-two year old university student Cole Evans can’t help but feel a deep connection to the horrifying illusions of her slumber. Irrevocably drawn to obscure fantasy, Cole faces a defiant temptation of romance and her first encounter with the mysterious Drex. Covered in tattoos, she unexpectedly finds herself attracted to his dark magnetism and emerald eyes. Before her life takes an impossible turn. Uncovering Drex’s true Guardian identity, she is forced on a terrifying journey through the stars into his world – one that brilliantly weaves together the struggle of danger and desire. And the impossible reality of gilded feathers.
My Review of Gilded Feathers:
There is an urgency to the author’s opening chapter, where you truly feel empathic towards a character you have only just encountered, without yet knowing a name to the face and feel compelled to protect them outright because they are being violently attacked without cause! Woods finds a way to pull in the audience without having a traditional entrance into the story as you’re led along seeing what the lead character sees in the moment of being cast out in the dark and cold streets where innocent souls are not meant to travel alone. And, yet the opening is just the first portal into how Collette (Cole)’s life is far more unique and layered in mystery than meets the eye!
The one bit I found truly interesting is how Woods chooses to characterise and actualise Cole’s conscience through the symbolism and expression of the devil and angel on her shoulders. To bring out of her head so to speak the thought processes of choosing one action over another and for having a moral marker as a guide-point to know when and where she might be going against her heart and soul. She wants you to understand Cole from the inside-out in order to follow her process of what is happening to her which is not altogether normal or plausible at first. Most of the first half of the book is taken up with the regular goings-on of University life (a la dorm or sorority-type escapades and of girls who are infatuated with their Professors) whilst still providing a glimpse into the mindset of Cole & Chloe and how their friendship works into their dynamic as partners in crime.
The dreams Cole experiences go from brutal physical pain to intense domestic violence by the second attack where she nearly doesn’t escape without injury to both body and spirit. I was having trouble following the story at that point on page 99 as most of what was leading up to that particular moment was her life at the University and sorting out her place within her peer group as much as falling for her Professor. I was at first thinking they might be premonitions or precognitive dreams about other people’s lives but it felt jarring to me to shift from one reality into the reality of the dreams.
I think the story would be better served in the hands of a reader who understands this type of paranormal medium of narrative. I simply could not get my footing to alight where it needed to be in order to best understand the story overall and convey my observations therein. Due to the nature of the story I do not recommend this for young adults as it is is most decidedly adult in content and nature of dialogue.
A notation about YA Paranormal & Adult Paranormal stories:
{a wrinkle or two of a ‘Fly in the Ointment’}
This book blogger has come to the conclusion that she’s a YA Paranormal reader NOT an Adult Paranormal reader, if for the sole reason of avoiding the corrosive language and intense innuendos towards vulgarity, crude humour, and gestures made in the adult side of the paranormal ledger. As I had not had previous knowledge of the main differences between the two branches, I accepted this book for review as well as a few others which are threaded through the categories and Story Vault. To be honest, my own wanderings up until this point were far, far more tame and although contained a heap of heat spun out of love, the less vulgarity of inclusion within a story is the best for me! I’m not a prude, but I’m not a girl who likes to read vulgar words and/or have insinuations that run counter-current to her personal tastes. I erred in this one regard in not realising the differences set to the standard of the two genres, as I suppose I was innocent in thinking that not every paranormal book I’d pick up could possibly have this much vulgarity inside it!
Alas, the books I gravitate towards the most are not only on the cosy side of paranormal (give me ghosts, give me undead spirits who are caught in-between life & death or even humans gifted with parapsychological gifts) but they are the stories which do not make my eyes cringe denoting ‘another’ abrasive expression or word that could quite literally make my great-grandmother question my sensibility! I’d rather read a guttingly honest story with devastatingly horrific drama than any story fitted to the max with words that I do not even use in my everyday life. Words whilst reading them silently still have the innate ability of making my eyes turn to ash as they are read.
Therefore, if I am approached to read Adult Paranormal stories I will whole-heartedly have to turn the offer down on the grounds that I have experienced enough of the genre and have politely moved on. In other words, I will seek out YA Paranormal stories for review instead and keep the few paranormal authors, book series, and stand-alone stories I have thus found to my liking as ones to carry-on forward reading. This is a classic example of ‘to live and to learn’. And, since I am on the subject, I am not even going to broach a breath of an idea at entertaining the notion of “New Adult”! I therefore from this moment onward have updated my Review Policy!
And, despite saying all of that I am still proud of this collage
I made as a surprise for J. Woods:
This book review is courtesy of the author J. Woods.
{SOURCES: Book Covers for the Gilded Feathers series, J. Woods author photograph, author biography, book synopsis, and series synopsis were provided by Ms. Woods and were used by permission. Collage of the Gilded Feathers series & of the series synopsis created by Jorie in PicMonkey. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.}
describe what separates the two from each other and what defines them as being individualistically unique? There are misconceptions about both genres, from what they are meant to include inside the structure of their stories to the age of whom is meant to be reading them. How would you best describe their definitions as literary selections and how did you personally approach writing for this specific market? Can you expand by using your own writings as examples of your own style vs other stories that are being featured in today’s market?
Photo Credit: Mle Jayne Photography 
Author Biography: