A warm welcome to author Phil Marcello joining us today at Love Bytes to talk about his new release “Finding Shawn”.
Welcome Phil 🙂

Title: Finding Shawn
Author: Phil Marcello
Series: Dangerous Lives of High School Athletes, Book One
Genre: Young Adult, Gay Romance, Contemporary
Length: Novel
Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing

Synopsis

Shawn and Alex have been friends since first grade.

Alex, the rock star quarterback, appears to be basking in the limelight of his success and his new romance with Pam.  But appearances can be deceiving.

Shawn is the key man in the football team’s solid defense. He’s also the senior class’ most eligible bachelor. But Shawn has no time to get involved with a girl—at least, that’s what he tells his friends.

In reality, he does have a love interest… Tony Valito.

Side-by-side, the relationships between the two couples blossom.  One in the open. The other in secret. That is, until Shawn’s world erupts when the rumor that he’s gay gathers momentum.

In trying to find Shawn, perhaps his friends will end up finding themselves. And everyone will discover how dangerous are the lives of high school athletes.

How I Started Writing

I can’t remember when I first started writing. It seems like I always have. In elementary school I would read a book, appropriate for my age, and then dream up a different ending and write it down. I’d see things happening around me at home or in school and find ways to make that scene more interesting. When others saw a weather balloon, I saw a hovering craft in trouble and about to crash. When some friends flattened a neighbors tire for squealing on them about something, I can’t remember what, I imagined a story line where the neighbor had to rush his wife to the hospital and couldn’t because of the flat. I found drama where none existed and injected humor into the most boring situations. What I wrote was for my own enjoyment. I never thought about publishing them.

Then, thanks to the economic collapse of 2008, I lost my home and business and was close to hitting bottom. I took a minimum wage job at Home Depot to give me a flicker of hope and I started writing again to keep my morale up. Within a few years I was back in my career field as technical support engineer and I had one unfinished novels and a dozen short stories. But this time, I didn’t put my creations on the back burner. I love writing. I love creating characters and bringing them to life.

The unfinished novel, a Young Adult, Sci-fi fantasy is a totally unique story. And it is a joint venture with my brother Dick. It started out as a short story and just continued to grow and grow. Writing a Sci-Fi or fantasy story is grueling work. You have to invent new worlds and new situations.

Finding Shawn started out as a simple straight forward short story. Then it morphed into a Novella. The next book in The Dangerous Lives of High School Athletes series is about a third of the way done. It’s been a real struggle mainly because I fought with myself over keeping the originals characters and growing them into a new situation or starting fresh with a whole new gang. What did I decide? I’ll never tell. I will say that book two is much darker in some ways. One of the story lines involves… Hmm. Never mind.

Like any writer, I’m always evaluating my work. You can’t trust your family or friends to be honest with you. If they love you or care about you, they are going to lie to you in their most sincere and convincing way. So I am looking forward to your feedback. I’d like to know what you really think. I tried to make my characters unforgettable. Did I?

Everybody had forgotten about poor Peter and it made him very unhappy. He scrambled to his feet and started fumbling with his knife. He had to feel around under his oversized jacket and detach it from his belt. He finally grabbed onto it. Yeah, now he had it. And now things would be different. He could now put Ritchie in his place. This moment had been a long time coming. And thanks to the fear that a sharp blade would surely generate, the balance of power would finally shift to his side. But as he snagged the knife, it slipped out of his grasp and fell on the track. “Oh, shit.”

“What’s that?” Bruce said. Everybody looked down.

An elegant pearl-handled Bowie knife lay innocently before them. The stainless steel blade glistened in the sunlight.

A petrified Peter stumbled to get his words out, much like he had done with the knife. “Uh, oh. Geez. It slipped out. That stupid thing. It’s such a pain in the butt.”

Ritchie snarled. He didn’t believe a word of it. Had this been a cartoon, steam would have shot out of his ears. But there was nothing funny about it. He had reached the end of his rope. Peter, the cold, the bridge, the knife, everything. “Screw this. I’m outta here.”

Book Trailer

Buy Links

Don’t miss the March Sale! All Wayward Ink Titles titles are 35% off on the WIP website, 30% off on AllRomance, and 30% off on Amazon

WIP: http://www.waywardinkpublishing.com/product/finding-shawn-by-phil-marcello/
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Shawn-Dangerous-School-Athletes-ebook/dp/B01CFEMTFW/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Finding-Shawn-Dangerous-School-Athletes-ebook/dp/B01CFEMTFW/
Amazon AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/Finding-Shawn-Dangerous-School-Athletes-ebook/dp/B01CFEMTFW/
Amazon DE: http://www.amazon.de/Finding-Shawn-Dangerous-School-Athletes-ebook/dp/B01CFEMTFW/
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-findingshawn-1992515-149.html

Giveaway

Prize: $4.99 WIP Gift Card

About the author

PHIL MARCELLO started writing as a boy in the sixties. Growing up in the projects wasn’t easy, but reading and writing were a couple of healthy vices he picked up along the way. Life happened, but Phil never entirely lost his interest and over the years, he started, but never finished, over a dozen stories.

Fortunately, he saved them all and now has the time and desire to complete them. Phil knows it will take years, but as he enjoys writing and views it as his art form it’s a labor of love he gladly undertakes.

PHIL MARCELLO can be found at:

Website: http://webwriters.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bear.Jcbdraco?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jcbdraco