Today we are thrilled to welcome the amazing Miss Jordan Castillo Price to Love Bytes!
She talks to us about phones 😉 , shares an excerpt of her new release Meatworks and offers a Giveaway!
Welcome Jordan!
For over ten years, I lived in a dead zone. That’s not nearly as much fun as it sounds. The landscape wasn’t filled with gray grass, fog and bare trees. There weren’t ghosts and zombies wandering around. It wasn’t spooky at all—it was a pain in the ass, because cell phones didn’t work.
Good thing I’m not a big phone-talker. I used to have a job where all day long I would call people and try to collect on their overdue college tuition. Day after day I was sighed at, lied at, yelled at and cried at. Every day someone told me I was ruining their life. Four years of hearing such things took its toll, and even now, many years later, the telephone remains my least preferred method of contact.
The downside of my phone phobia is that I want the characters in my stories to be realistic. And unlike me, realistic people know how to use cell phones.
Cell phones are the bane of fiction. So often, a conflict can be resolved by simply clarifying a misunderstanding. Now, with most people reachable at any time of the day, why not call and clear up that little misunderstanding? Fiction is interesting when characters are out of their element—but now they’ve got 24/7 access to Google and GPS and email.
Disabling cell phones seems to be the most logical thing to do as a writer, but how many times is the “dead battery” excuse gonna fly?
In Meatworks, cell phone technology never
happened. It wasn’t strictly necessary to eliminate cell phones, since it would’ve been perfectly realistic to have the main character, Desmond Poole, never bother charge his phone. But having robotic technology develop in place of the communication technology of cell phones and Internet gave me some interesting ways to add conflict and suspense to the story.
Which isn’t to say traditional phones don’t have some interesting uses….
It was the summer between seventh and eighth grade, our last big-shot year before starting all over again at the bottom of the totem pole at Riverside High, where freshman initiation sent two of our gang to the hospital and nearly cost me a tooth. The summer of my big, shining moment. These were the days before scanners, when pay phones and vending machines and video games took coins. Not only had I discovered a working pay phone at an abandoned gas station down by the river, but I’d filed down a metal slug just right so it could trip a credit and buy us a phone call, then bypass the chute and fall through the coin return, primed for our next victim. Biggie’s voice had dropped by then—thanks to one hell of a growth spurt, he’d grown into his nickname. When he pranked someone with that new voice of his, he didn’t sound like some kid random-dialing the phone. He sounded like a grown man.
The premise of the crank calls wasn’t exactly genius. Biggie would speak some made-up foreign language, and he’d babble at the sap on the other end of the line to see how they’d react. Most of ’em hung up. But some (you’d be surprised how many) hung in there to try and make sense of the call. Some of ’em were good Samaritans who encouraged the poor “immigrant” on the other end of the line to go call the cops. And sometimes, as Biggie’s twisted pig-latin pleas grew more frantic, more intense, the sorrier schmoes would get so worked up, we’d have them in tears, at least until one of us couldn’t contain our glee over making an adult cry. Once our stifled giggles told them they’d been duped, they’d slam down their receiver in disgust, usually before Biggie could sing out his coup de grâce, “Psych!”
While phones still exist in current-day Meatworks, they’re more like a voicemail system on steroids. Because people scan into their cars and their destinations, the phone “knows” where they are, which allows their phone calls to follow them around. Impractical? No doubt! But it makes for some really fun storytelling—and for me, the story’s what it’s all about.
BLURB:
Desmond Poole is damaged in more ways than one. If he was an underachiever before, he’s entirely useless now that he’s lost his right hand. He spends his time drowning his sorrows in vodka while he deliberately blows off the training that would help him master his new prosthetic. Social Services seems determined to try and stop him from wallowing in his own filth, so he’s forced to attend an amputee support group. He expects nothing more than stale cookies, tepid decaf and a bunch of self-pitying sob stories, so he’s blindsided when a fellow amputee catches his eye.
Corey Steiner is a hot young rudeboy who works his robotic limb like an extension of his own body, and he’s smitten by Desmond’s crusty punk rock charm from the get-go. Unfortunately, Desmond hasn’t quite severed ties with his ex-boyfriend, and Corey isn’t known for his maturity or patience.
Meatworks is set in a bleak near-future where cell phone and personal computer technologies never developed. In their place, robotics flourished. Now robots run everything from cars to coffee pots. Taking the guesswork out of menial tasks was intended to create leisure time, but instead robots have made society dependent and passive.
Desmond loathes robots and goes out of his way to avoid them. But can he survive without the robotic arm strapped to the end of his stump?
About the Author:
Author and artist Jordan Castillo Price writes paranormal thrillers colored by her time in the midwest, from inner city Chicago, to small town Wisconsin, to liberal Madison. Her influences include Ouija boards, Return of the Living Dead, “light as a feather, stiff as a board,” and boys in eyeliner.
Jordan is best known as the author of the PsyCop series, an unfolding tale of paranormal mystery and suspense starring Victor Bayne, a gay medium who’s plagued by ghostly visitations. Also check out her new series, Mnevermind, where memories are made…one client at a time.
Author Links:
Facebook Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jordan-Castillo-Price/257078438055
PsyCop Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/JCP.PsyCop
Goodreads Fan Club – https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/134577-jordan-castillo-price-fan-club
LiveJournal Blog – http://jordan-c-price.livejournal.com
Twitter – https://twitter.com/jordancprice
Fantastic newsletter – http://psycop.com/newsletter.html
BUY LINKS:
Rafflecopter Prize : An E copy of JCP newest Release “Meatworks”
MEATWORKS BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
July 7 – Smoocher’s Voice – http://www.smoochersvoice.com/
July 8 – The Novel Approach – http://thenovelapproachreviews.com/
July 9 – Prism Book Alliance – http://brandilynreviewsbooks.com/
July 10 – Love Bytes – http://sidlove.com/
July 11 – Saucy Wenches Book Club – http://thesaucywenchesbookclub.blogspot.com/
July 12 – The Blogger Girls – http://thebloggergirls.com/
July 14 – Gay Romance Northwest Meet-Up – http://gayromancenorthwest.wordpress.com/
July 15 – The Hat Party – http://raineotierney.blogspot.com/p/the-hat-party.html
Hi Jordan, I enjoyed your post. I’m not sure I could live without my cellphone now. But if given a choice of a robot perhaps I’d give mine up. I look forward to reading your new book, great title and book cover. Thanks for the giveaway.
thanks for the giveaway!
I was relatively late on getting a cell phone but I didn’t hesitate to get a smart phone. One of my biggest frustrations is not being able to access stuff from it, I couldn’t do without it anymore. That is probably not the best thing, ha.
Jordan you’re writing is amazing and addicting. You keep me coming back for more! Would love to read this one too.
Love JCP books! thanks for giveaway.
Such an intriguing premise!
i can not wait to read this…read the sample and it was awesome
Great post and thanks for a look at your book. I think i could live without my cell phone…I mostly read books on it anyway. I grew up when home phones were still attached to the wall, so I don’t live and die by my phone.
I enjoyed you post and I don’t have a cellphone!!! I know it’s a shock!!!
ShirleyAnn(at)speakman40(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk
I love JCP books and this one looks really interesting. Can’t wait for more.
Oh I love this background info! Way cool. Enjoying the book so much right now!
Living in rural MN means that we are frequently in the “dead zone” so to speak. Oftentimes my internet access is more reliable than my phone service. At the same time; my calendar, work schedule, contact list, personal notes, books and emails are all stored on my cloud and synced to access everything. What would I do without it??? I have no idea, and am not eager to learn…..
This sounds so intriguing. But I gotta say, I wouldn’t want to live without my phone! I’d be out of touch within a week…. 🙂
would love to be able to permanently shed the cell phone shackle! My theory has always been if I’m out and I’m not out with you, then I dont’ want to talk to you at that moment!
JCP is the best!
I work in early childhood ed. and every time I see a young child playing with one of those older fisher price play phones I can’t help but wonder if they have ever even seen a rotary phone. It is amazing how fast or easily some technology becomes extinct.
please count me in 🙂
This sound good. don’t know if I could be with internet. but I lived for years with out a callphone and now have just a basic that I use in case of emergencies.
I have a cheap cell phone, not a smart phone, and only use it when necessary. I’ve seen way to many people become “addicted” to their smart phone, to the point that they can be incredibly rude.
This sounds great! I would love to be able to ditch the cell phone for a week or so………….my daughters would probably have heart attacks LOL.
Sounds like a interesting read. Thank you for the giveaway!
Sounds like a great read.
Great post! Do kids still make prank phone calls? With caller id and call back it seems kind of dangerous. I was late to the smartphone revolution myself but now I couldn’t live without it. The book sounds very interesting. Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m not a fan of phone calling either. What a creative workaround though! LOL
I am dying to read this book. Thanks for the giveaway!
I live in a village just outside a major UK city, but we might as well be in a dead zone as the mobile signal flickers from 1 bar to none and the broadband is also very slow.
I love JCP books, especially the PsyCop series, so thank you for a chance to win this new book 🙂
I love stories with disabled characters!
Congrats to Barbra!