Book Name: Ordinary People
Author Name: E E Montgomery
Author Bio: E E Montgomery wants the world to be a better place, with equality and acceptance for all. Her philosophy is: We can’t change the world but we can change our small part of it and, in that way, influence the whole. Writing stories that show people finding their own ‘better place’ is part of E E Montgomery’s own small contribution.
Thankfully, there’s never a shortage of inspiration for stories that show people growing in their acceptance and love of themselves and others. A dedicated people-watcher, E E finds stories everywhere. In a cafe, a cemetery, a book on space exploration or on the news, there’ll be a story of personal growth, love, and unconditional acceptance there somewhere.
Author Links: You can contact E E Montgomery at eemontgomery11@gmail.com, on Twitter: @EEMontgomery1, or at her web site and blog: http://www.eemontgomery.com/.
Cover Artist: Maria Fanning
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Blurb:
When Queensland Police Force Constable James Laramee raids a hotel room, he finds Vinnie Canterbury on top of a naked, dead man, covered in blood. Vinnie promptly vomits all over James’s shoes.
Thanks to a cocktail of horse sedatives and Hendra vaccine, Vinnie’s memories of his ordeal are fractured. Finding the culprits and the reasons behind his abduction will be a challenge. With his apartment trashed, his building set on fire, and his clothes, phone and wallet gone, Vinnie needs a place to stay. To his surprise, James not only takes him in, but also lets him cry on his shoulder. It must be true love. Vinnie has plans for his future with James all mapped out, and he hopes he can get James on the same page.
Excerpt:
His bed was stripped to the mattress. The shredded mattress. Foam stuffing bubbled up between the slashes like pus weeping from an infected wound. He tore his attention from the bed to find his sheets and duvet scattered all over the floor. In pieces. He whimpered.
“I just bought that set.” He pressed his fingers against his lips. Even in his shock he recognized the inanity of his comment. His gaze was drawn to the freestanding full-length mirror beside the windows. Black writing marred the polished surface.
NEXT TIME DO WHAT YOU’RE TOLD FAG OR THE SAME WILL HAPPEN TO YOU.
He turned to see Laramee beside him, his hand again clamped on Vinnie’s arm. “What was I told?” he whispered. “I don’t know what I was told.”
It was too much. He flung himself at Laramee, buried his face in the warm, slightly harsh fabric of his uniform, ignored the button digging into his forehead, and burst into tears.
“I don’t even know your name. I can’t sob all over you if I don’t know your name,” he wailed.
Buy Links:
E.E Montgomery was so kind to answer a few questions for us 🙂
L.B Tell us a little bit about yourself?
E.E :I’m very lazy. I also like to achieve things. It took me some time but I finally worked out that those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. I just have to work out the easy way of doing things for the best results. Organisation is the key. When I focus, I’m completely focused, so I try to achieve as much as I can during that time, because as soon as I stop, I stop completely and become distracted by anything that floats by. I’m currently trying to bring a little more organization into my writing because I think it’ll speed the process, but I have to be careful not to organize myself out of the chase. I write because I have to find out what happens. If I plot too carefully, I know how the story is going to end and I lose interest in it.
How did you come up with the title for this book? and could you tell us something about it ?
On the surface, Vinnie is an ordinary person. He works five days a week, cleans his house, waters his garden, and visits his mother in a nursing home every month. He’s just like thousands of other people out there—on the surface. Like everyone else in the world, there are layers to Vinnie that people don’t see immediately. Some of those layers impact on how he lives his life; some of them impact on how he sees himself. One day, Vinnie’s life spirals downwards, but that’s the day he meets the very ordinary James who, extraordinarily, sees the real Vinnie and likes what he sees. Both Vinnie and James are ordinary people—and yet they’re not. With all of that swimming in my head, there was no other choice for the title.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
This is probably the most difficult question you could have asked. I read so much, I’ve long since left behind any notion of a favorite author. Authors whose work has stayed in my head for a long period of time include Isaac Asimov, Raymond E. Feist, Suzanne Brockman. What I like about their work:
- Isaac Asimov. I’ve been reading him since I was five and never tire of his imagination and easy-to-read style. I have friends who say his writing is simplistic and lacks emotion. They’re probably right, but I love the simplicity of his writing. Simplicity doesn’t mean badly written or boring. I also don’t read his work for an emotive link, although if you remember the era he grew up in, and the kind of person he was, you’ll quickly find the emotion in his stories. Some of them are quite erotic in their own way. I’m simply blown away by the way he saw possibilities and extensions of reality in a time that was at the very beginning of the information age. His stories fascinate me.
- Raymond E. Feist. This man can get my heart pounding with just a few finely-wrought sentences. If I want to have a sleepless night, I just have to say two words: Faerie Tale.
- Suzanne Brockman. I like the way her books have more than one storyline happening at the same time. Often there’re three or more, but only one is completely resolved by the end; the others become the focal storylines of other books, sometimes threading through a few books before that happens. The intricacy of it all intrigues me.
Other authors I keep going back to are: David Eddings, Raymond Carver, Franz Kafka, Sylvia Plath, Josh Lanyon, Denise Rossetti, K.A. Mitchell, Ian Irvine, Mary Calmes. There are more but I can’t think of them right now.
If you could go anywhere, all expenses paid, where would you go?
Antarctica would have to be first choice. I love wide, open spaces, silent places that whisper or howl, that creak and groan with the growth of the world but are empty of humanity. I’d love to experience that on a large scale, just once.
The Australian outback offers something similar but it’s more familiar to me. I’d like to sit in the shadow of The Devils Marbles, and feel the moisture leach from my skin while I listen to the colors change with the setting sun. Of course, I’d be likely to be bitten all over by ants and other crawly things there, hence Antarctica being first choice.
The days are 25 hours. How do you spent that extra hour?
The first few weeks, I think I’d sleep. After that, I’d like to think I’d spend it writing or walking, both things I always wish I did more.
Can you share something about your works in progress and what is coming?
I submitted, not long ago, Book 4 in the Just Life series and am waiting to hear if that’s sold. I’ve also just submitted a SF novel that’s very different to anything I’ve sold so far. To start with, it’s not M/M.
My current WIP is another SF novel that’s based around the ethics of terraforming planets. There’s a domineering evil-scientist, a sweet young man who’s always suppressed who he is, and another man who has survived horrors and abandonment. He’s been so busy surviving, he’s never considered putting a label on who or what he is.
I have three other SF novels in various stages of editing and notes for four more books, one of which is close to research stage. It’s a paranormal. I can’t write fast enough to keep up with the ideas.
Tour Dates & Stops:
7/3 – Emotion in Motion
7/10 – Smoocher’s Voice
7/17 – Prism Book Alliance
7/24 – MM Good Book Reviews
7/31 – Velvet Panic
8/7 – Because Two Men Are Better Than One
8/14 – Decadent Delights
8/14 – Hearts on Fire
8/14 – Love Bytes
8/21 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
Rafflecopter Prize: One of three e-copies of Ordinary People
Everyone of Montgomery’s stories that I have picked up, I have really loved. And this one was great too.