A warm welcome to author Naomi MacKenzie stopping by our blog today
Welcome to Love Bytes Naomi 🙂
Author Name: Naomi MacKenzie
Book Name: Lodestones
Release Date: September 8, 2015
Publisher: Duet Books, the YA imprint of Interlude Press
Cover Artist: Cover Design by Buckeyegrrl Designs Cover and Interior Illustrations by Abby Hellstrom
Pages or Words: 226 pages
Blurb:
On the eve of a new school year, several groups of college students cross paths as they seek out a secret end-of-summer lake party—including Robin and Charlie, two inseparable friends who discover of the course of the twenty-four hours that their relationship is something much deeper than simple friendship.
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance, Young Adult
Today I’m very happy to be interviewing Naomi MacKenzie author of Lodestones.
Hi Naomi, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hi! It’s great to be here.
I’m from eastern Canada, now living in the Toronto area. I’m a photographer and wannabe makeup artist, and I spend my time searching the city for vegan bakeries and whining about the lack of proper beaches. Lodestones is a coming-of-age story about a whole mess of students who spend 24 hours looking for an end-of-summer lake party.
Was there a basis for you story?
A previous experience or something else?The idea for the party came from experiences I had in high school. I grew up in a rural area and attended a small town regional high school. It was common practice to throw parties at lakes and rivers, or even at parents’ hunting cottages that were only used in the fall. It was easier to get away with parties like that, even though most of them were technically illegal, seeing as they tended to be on government land. I attended—and even occasionally “hosted”—many such parties. So the basic premise of the story started with that aspect of my life and grew from there.
What skills do you think a writer needs?
A good work ethic, a vast imagination, a basic understanding of grammar, and the willingness to give up space in their heads for their characters to live. Also patience. So much patience.
What for you is the perfect book hero?
Someone interesting, flawed and human. I’ve never been a fan of cookie cutter heroes. I know it’s been popular in the past to have a blank slate protagonist so that the reader may project themselves onto that character, but I find it a terrible bore. Give me mistakes and flaws and awkwardness and morning breath, but ultimately a good heart. Those are my favourite sort of characters.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
For me, staying motivated is always a challenge. I love beginning new projects. I’m easily distracted away from what I’m writing by shiny new ideas and plots. I can’t work steadily on more than one project at a time and accomplish anything, so I have to force myself to focus until I finish.
Tell us about your favorite childhood book.
.Anne of the Island, which is the third Anne of Green Gables novel. It’s famously known as the one where Anne and Gilbert finally get together, but it has so many other fabulous aspects on top of that. Anne goes away to university in Nova Scotia and learns and meets amazing new people and grows so much as a person. One of her childhood friends passes away, and another has a baby, and she learns about true, deep love. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve read it. I grew up dreaming of renting a house with a group of close girlfriends like Anne does in the book. Alas, it is something I never did. I’ll be forever sad about that.
Larry holds up the flyer to study the map Florence drew. Barry is leaning to look at it, too, when it’s ripped from between Larry’s fingers.
A greasy man in a campus security uniform stands over them with a pinched expression. His faded nametag reads: Ron Anderchuk. “Another one,” he all but growls. “Where in heck did you get this, boys?”
Barry tries his best to look innocent. Which isn’t all that hard, since he knows nothing.
“Found it on the ground,” Larry lies.
“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” the security guy says. “Extra trouble for littering.” He glares hard at the paper for nearly a minute before looking back at them. “You do know parties like this are illegal, don’t ya, boys? And frowned upon by this here establishment.” He raps his knuckles on the table. “I think it best you stick around here this weekend. That would be best, don’t ya agree?” He widens his beady eyes while he waits for their assent.
Barry looks to Larry. Seeing him nodding, he mimics the gesture.
The security officer’s answering grunt sounds disbelieving. He mutters as he walks away; the flyer with their map is gripped in his fist.
“What are we—”
Larry holds up his hand, stopping Barry’s question in its tracks. “Not to worry; I have a photographic memory. I’ve got the map in here.” He taps a fingertip against his temple.
“Even after all of that? And we do have another problem, if Florence is to be believed.”
Larry hums and strokes his chin. He picks up Barry’s tray and they walk to the windows. The orientation officers are indeed spread across the entire expanse outside, handing out pamphlets and organizing games of lawn bowling and oversized croquet. The entrance to the student parking lot is completely blocked.
Barry should throw in the towel, admit defeat and convince Larry to do the same. And he would, if not for one thing. The one detail that has roped him into the excitement over the lake festivities fully and completely is Kate Zimmermann, captain of the Dicaroon Seadogs field hockey team. Barry was looking through the school’s website while Larry was plotting behind him and he caught sight of her picture. He informed Barry that she was one of the girls who was carrying the van’s bench seat into her dorm room and invited him to the party early that morning.
Barry is in love with Kate Zimmermann. He has been since seeing her on the Dicaroon University website the previous summer. Well, he’s in love with the image of her and her red hair and blue eyes and adorable freckles that are so voluminous that they connect on her face. He has dreamed of red-haired kids calling him Daddy and hitting balls with sticks. Possibly. And she’s throwing the party, so even if Barry will never get up the nerve to speak to her should he live for a thousand years, he has to go. For his future dream-wife.
“Well, then,” Larry says. He sets Barry’s lunch tray down on the bussing station and rubs his hands together. “I guess we are in need of a foolproof plan.”
“A stratagem,” Barry says. He feels immediately foolish for being such a huge dork.
But then Larry grins at him. “Ooh, yes, I like that. A stratagem.”
Buy the book:
About the author:
Naomi MacKenzie is a writer and photographer from the eastern coast of Canada. She considers herself a Maritimer first and a Canadian second, or so she told the standardized testing people in essay form during the eleventh grade. She enjoys vegan baking, walks in the woods and, contrarily, hiding from the sun. Lodestones is her first novel.
Where to find the author:
Connect with Naomi MacKenzie at http://naomimackenzie.com/; on Twitter at @_naomimackenzie and on Facebook at Naomi MacKenzie.
Tour Dates & Stops:
8-Sep Bayou Book Junkie, Mikky’s World of Books
9-Sep Hearts on Fire, Boys on the Brink Reviews
10-Sep Inked Rainbow Reads, Amanda C. Stone
11-Sep Velvet Panic, MM Good Book Reviews
14-Sep Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, The Novel Approach
15-Sep BFD Book Blog, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Prism Book Alliance
16-Sep V’s Reads, Divine Magazine, Happily Ever Chapter
17-Sep Wake Up Your Wild Side, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
18-Sep Molly Lolly, Love Bytes
21-Sep My Fiction Nook, Jessie G. Books, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My
Rafflecopter Prize: 1 – $25 Interlude Press Gift Card, 5 e-copies of ‘Lodestones’
Thanks for having me over today!
Hi, Naomi! Good luck with the release!
Thank you! 🙂