Been thinking about you...

I've been thinking about the Leftover Son, its Portrait of an Unlikely Affair series, and you--my readers and future readers --a lot these days. 

I've been trying to figure out how to 'pitch' these six books to people. 

I've been thinking about the characters, their challenges, their struggles, their relationships...It's fascinating. 

It's action packed. It's good. 

And I know that.

But the rest of you don't.

And how do I, as an author, not a marketeer (I'm creating words here) or an advertising sensation, get that across to others?

They say, you first offer a hook. A tag line.

OK. Here it goes: "He is a weapon. She is his humanity."

And then I have to bombard you with its genre: In your best internal movie trailer announcer voice read "A dual-narrative high-stakes closed door/sweet military romantic suspense thriller with psychological realism, contemporary fantasy, and cinematic pacing."

Of course, you're going to say that genre doesn't exist because, duh, no books are multi-genre. (Here I'll just give a shrug. I don't make the rules. The book is what it is.)

And then I'm supposed to say, "For fans of Jack Carr's Terminal List, Tom Clancy novels, Nora Roberts novels, David Bladucci's Ames Decker or Will Robie novels, Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series, and JoAnn Ross's Shelter Cover series....."  

I know. I know. "But Em, some of those authors aren't like the others." And so the conundrum heightens.

And I'm also supposed to add that there is fantasy in some of these novels too, if you like alien-like weirdness.  

Oh, and then I have to tell you about the characters, their history, and then make it all relatable and offer light shareable memes and all that, but I can't ask you to read it. 

Nope. Not yet. 

Because I have to make you *want* to read it. 

I have to *tease* you. 

I have to give you a huge ol song and dance, show, with dinner and drinks afterwards. And that will either get you so blasted excited about it, you'll buy it without thinking. 

Yeah. OK. Sounds fun huh? 

The problem is, sales are great. But they mean nothing if you don't read it. 

If you purchase but never read this book, you'll never get embroiled in the tale that it tells -- The deadliest weapon in the world is known as 249 and belongs to a secret military that you'll never know. He was raised to be that way. He is the only survivor of the world's most effective, violent, and trained unit that battled against an enemy no one wants to report about, no one wants to know about. Not even units in this secret military wants to absorb him when his team was sent to slaughter. And despite his unstoppable persona, he has one little flaw in his 21 years on this Earth -- He has a very rare terminal disease and that seems to be the only thing that has a chance in killing him.

But he doesn't mind.

You see, while this secret military, known as The Liberty Creek Law Firm (or the Firm for short) is doing what it can to keep him alive for his knowledge, his training as tragedy seems to follow him, 249 has another little secret -- He was never supposed to be put in this program that made him. His estranged father, Thomas Ridley, happens to be a high ranking officer in this secret military.  And Thomas Ridley has guilt over what his son has become. 

But here's where it all gets interesting. Thomas Ridley has a life beyond the Firm, a life that is kept from the secret and classified world he works in. Here, in this "real" life, he is a judge, a father, and a husband. And 249 -- Well, 249 is known as Brian Ridley and is seen by his stepmother and his stepbrother as 'troubled.' As mentally unstable. You see, Brian does not speak to them or socialize with them because they rejected him as a toddler. Yes -- there is a whole heap of family drama in this one! Even some things that will trigger a lot of people. But Brian has been kept away from his father's family for years. But today, today Thomas is bringing Brian 'home' to his small Hallmark Channel-like town because this 'town' is actually an underground military base. 

Yeah, we see the tropes with this one? 

So, when Thomas is bringing Brian home, Thomas's stepson, Connor, is also coming home because he has work an hour away. And Connor isn't coming alone. Connor is bringing with him his girlfriend of five months, Avonlea Stone, a young woman who is anything but typical. She is essentially the world's most famous face as she is a generational celebrity, an actual movie star, from a family of movie 'royalty.' She suffered a very traumatic event the year before so she isn't feeling the whole 'notice me' celebrity vibe right now. She would like to sneak away to have this rite of passage of meeting a common family in a common way, and isn't into the high-demands of celebrity world right now. She loves the freedom wealth and status give her, but what she'd give for someone to see her as a person, not as a star. 

And they are all flying into the same small airport at the same time. 

And this is in book one. The series goes on for six books so far as we follow Brian navigating a world that isn't so black and white as the top-secret one he is accustomed to as he makes an unexpected friend in Avonlea. And we have Avonlea, who takes interest in helping a young man she barely knows (and the step-brother of her now ex-boyfriend) see a doctor who is specializing in this rare terminal disease. We learn Brain's background, how he got to be who and what he is, and why he is the way he is. We meet his family, we explore Thomas's guilt, we meet Avonlea's family, and we blend the two together to send him into what he considers his most important mission yet. And then we jump from 1995-1997 to twenty years into the future where Brian meets a new foe, a new enemy, and it is definitely something the world does not know about. We find what happens with crushes, unrequited love, love that won't give up, and honor with loyalty. We see both Avonlea and Brian in new roles, with challenges none of us ever want to face for ourselves or loved ones.

And the thing is, with the turn of every page, you're going to get completely enamored with it. You're going to hate characters. You're going to love characters. You're going to shout at the book. You'll shed tears. You're going to go through every emotion you've got. 

And when it's over.

You're going to think about them. You're going to miss them like friends. You're going to want more. 

And then you're going to tell me that this series NEEDS to be a movie!

But then I'd ask you, "Yeah. True. But only if they follow the book and don't ruin it like they do most book to movies or books to TV shows." And then I'll think about what you said. And then figure one of these days, I'll get an agent to look at movie rights.

But you're never going to know all of this, if I just have a colorful and clever ad that makes you "buy" it but never "read" it. 

So yeah. I've been thinking a lot about my Portrait of an Unlikely Affair series....

Which by the way, you can find on Amazon in all formats if you're curious about it now.