Man Or Monster: An Army Of Angels

“One word kept jumping out at me, a word with enormous implications for me. That one word changed everything. If it was true, I was little more than Frankenstein’s monster.”

An Army Of Angels carries on with plot threads from the earlier book Chasing The Wind in this new short story by the author Norma Beishir. The first book, a novel drawing on themes of love, science fiction, religion, and dark forces, brought together two characters in a life changing journey. This short story picks up with hints and links to that earlier book, while introducing new characters in their own right. It’s meant to be the first aspect of a larger work from the author, and while the storyline has a logical conclusion, there’s room for much more to come.

We first meet Alex Stewart as he deals with the aftermath of the death of his father, Joseph Sadowski, an arrogant and vindictive scientist who he’s been estranged from. He wants nothing to do with his father’s legacy, and yet while going through personal effects makes a discovery that shakes his world to its foundations: he is not a regular person, but a clone of another man.

Alex goes into a tailspin of self destruction, unable to paint, burning his way through inherited money, ending up working odd jobs, living the life of a nomad for years on end. He drifts from place to place, trying to find out the truth about himself and the man he was cloned from, believing himself to be an abomination. Finally he meets Robyn Cantwell, a compassionate young woman who spends her time helping the homeless when she’s not working at animal shelters. There’s a connection between them, and Alex finds himself trying to deal with his growing feelings at the same time as he tries to keep himself at a distance.

It helps to have read Chasing The Wind first, obviously. This picks up plot threads from that book and hints at more to come. The story focuses on the relationship between these two people, very different characters. Strong characterization is its bedrock. Alex  is a sympathetic character from the outset. The clear estrangement he feels about his father is understandable from the glimpses we get about Joseph in flashbacks and journal entries. His father is a monster, and Alex’s reaction to the truth about his existence fits perfectly with that. He withdraws from the world, lives a ghost of a life, and his hesitation about being involved with Robyn is a logical turn of events. Alex is a tortured soul, but not because of a situation of his own making. It makes him compelling.

Robyn herself is automatically sympathetic to the reader. There’s a compassionate and empathetic quality to her personality, and a lighter touch. From the way she lives her life, the reader sees her as a genuinely decent person. And her brothers (a handful in and of themselves) provide some much needed comic relief.

The story has a natural pace to it, and a skilful touch in the writing. It’s somewhat condensed, but that’s merely for a short story format that comes to an end at the right spot. It deals with a tortured soul who has run away from the world, and the woman who coaxes him out of his shell. And it hints at a darker story yet to come. It leaves the reader wanting more, and I look forward to seeing where the author goes with the story of Alex and Robyn.

Have a look at what Norma had to say about An Army Of Angels at her Wordpress blog. And you can find the ebook through her author's pages at Amazon, and over at Smashwords.

From Marketing Chimps To Creative Freedom

It's a busy day in these parts. Today you can find me guest posting at Lyn Fuchs' blog Sacred Ground, where I wrote about the Gatineau Hills here in the Ottawa Valley. As well, my dear friend, partner in crime, and fellow mischief maker Norma Beishir and I are trading blogs. You can find my guest post at one of her three blogs, Beishir Books.  Norma is the author of Alexander's Empire, Chasing The Wind, Angels At Midnight, The Unicorn's Daughter, and more, both in the traditional publishing industry and now as an independent. She's taking the reins here to talk about her experiences in the industry, her transition to indie writer, and the sort of material she wants to write these days. Norma is known for her fondness for Dove chocolate (it seems that she'll take bribes in that) and for the odd movie superheroes (it must be Chris Hemsworth without a shirt)...

Take it away, Norma!

I've been singing the praises of self-publishing for so long, people are probably wishing I'd learn a new song. But I am a wholehearted advocate of authors taking full control of their careers. These days, conventional publishing has little to offer authors who aren't occupying the top spots on their lists. Rarely do they get advances anymore. Or anything resembling promotion. The new or midlist author is left to do their own marketing, publicity and promotion, while getting far less in royalties than their self-published counterparts.

What does the new or midlist author get from conventional publishing? Prestige, to a degree. I'd rather have creative control!

I was a lead title author at Berkley. I got five and six-figure advances. I got advertising in major publications like Redbook and Good Housekeeping...but the Berkley marketing chimps didn't really know what to do with me or my books. Why? My novels don't tend to fit into specific genres. Berkley marketed them as women's fiction. To be honest, I've never really been clear on what "women's fiction" is. Is it romance? Glitz? Chick lit? All of the above?

Marketing chimps have limited vision. Just ask William. Give them a genre-specific project and they'll run with it. But my novels are hybrids. For example: Alexander's Empire (which they published as Dance of the Gods) was a romance...and a mystery...and a family saga. Angels at Midnight--romantic suspense/glitz/adventure; The Unicorn's Daughter (originally published as A Time for Legends)--international intrigue/espionage/thriller/romance.

The marketing chimps were clueless.

Then there were the projects I really wanted to do, the ones Berkley rejected: a romantic adventure set in Kenya...a disaster tale involving seismologists in Asia...projects Berkley rejected because they weren't "glamorous."

Long, ugly story short: with Chasing the Wind, I eventually realized things had not changed. They still didn't know what to do with my books. It's a supernatural thriller. It's also a love story. The male protagonist is a modern prophet...yet the first thing I was told to do was to drop that element from the story. That would have meant a whole new plot. No way!

I finally realized I didn't belong in the world of conventional publishing. It wasn't an easy reality to face. Pride is the deadly sin I have the most trouble with, and I knew how that was going to look to the people I'd known coming up in the business. But then, pride had never gained me anything. It had only cost me in the end.

Now...I wouldn't go back for any amount of money. I write in any genre I choose. I'm re-releasing my backlist with new packaging and in some cases, different titles. I'm marketing them under the genres they best fit.  I'm crossing over characters--those I wrote about twenty years ago are connecting with characters from Chasing the Wind. Secondary characters from An Army of Angels have found their way into a planned series of romantic comedies. And the projects that were rejected for their lack of glamour may yet see the light of day. The marketing chimps would never have allowed me such creative freedom.

Think about that when choosing which publishing route you want to take.