TITLE: Love, Joy, Heartache & Pain
AUTHOR: John H. Ames
PUBLISHER: Ai Press
COVER ARTIST: Sid Love
LENGTH: 207 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2016
BLURB: A collection of new entwined stories by best-selling Young Adult author, John H. Ames. Love that reaches beyond the boundaries of the physical realm…
Swapatize!
The not so unrealistic detailed account of how my best friend and I swapped bodies for a short period of time. -High school is one of the most excruciating and painful periods of any teenager’s life. To Kyle, it’s hell on earth. Being the target of the jocks made him hate high school more than anything in the world. All he has is his best friend and the center of the jock’s interest, the beautiful Kylie Bursnell. But Kylie is not your typical beauty. She hates the jocks even more than Kyle, especially Lucas Edward Johnson, a jock who is madly in love with her and Kyle’s forbidden dream. After a bizarre and freaky night, they swap bodies and are force to live each other’s live. Can this actually be true? Has Kyle’s dream come true? Will he be able to love Lucas Edward Johnson unconditionally until the end of time? Or is their love nothing but a beautiful dream enveloped in heartache and pain?
The Spirit Indestructible
Brandon Angelo William has it all. He’s hot, popular, shy, humble, and one of the typical and regular guys in high school. But, unbeknownst to everyone, he’s a closeted gay teen who came out to his parents the previous year. They loved and accepted him with open arms so what more could Brandon want? Love. The one thing that his soul and body need. After a late night out with his best friend, Kevin, Brad sees one of the most beautiful guys he has ever laid eyes on. But could the teen in front of him be real? Or is he the legendary hitching ghost that everyone talks about? Brad needs to find out and what he discovers shocks him and changes his young life forever…
The Lake View Psychopath
Jocks beware, he’s here and he’s not scared. Ashton Hall hates his existence at Lake View High. The jocks have made his life a living hell and his friends have completely turned their backs on him. Why? For being gay and dating the love of his life, Austin Young. Almost overnight, they became the center of every joke and every bully’s paradise. To make matters worse, even the school’s coach allows his ‘jock superstars’ to make fun of them.
But everything the night Austin Young is brutally murdered by the jocks and they walk free. Something snaps inside Ashton’s head and the only think he can think of is revenge. Will Ashton come to his sense and let Austin go? Or will he become one of the greatest serial killers of all time?
Love, Joy, Heartache and Pain is my fourth published novel under Ai Press. Unlike my previous work, Love, Joy, Heartache and Pain is a collection of three short stories that can stand on their own, but they can work together as a full-length novel. These three short stories take place in two fictional rival towns in Miami, Florida. For each one, there’s a gay couple that you will completely fall in love with. Let me tell you a little about them and why I wrote these three little stories.
The first short story is very comical. Thus, the funny name, The not so unrealistic and detailed account of how my best friend and I switched bodies for a short period of time or Swapatized for short. Yes, that’s the name for the first story found in the book. This novel stars, Kyle and Lucas. Kyle has been in love with Lucas for ages. So what’s the only thing stopping them from being together? Lucas is straight and in love with Kyle’s best friend, Kylie. Very cliché, huh? Well, it was intentional. When my first novel, Surviving Elite High, hit the stores, several readers complained that it was too cliché and bashed my novel left and right. Well, I didn’t find it cliché and it hurt my feelings to the point that I wanted to stop writing for good. Authors are connected to their work of fiction so it’s very hard not to take criticism personal. If you insult their work, it’s like you’re insulting them. Swapatized started as a part of me rebelling against the readers that criticized my work. I wanted to write the most cliché story ever and slapped them on their faces. As I wrote it, however, it became extremely comical and science fiction. I went with the flow and the end product was really good. I absolutely love Swapatized. It’s very funny, comical, romantic and new. It’s the polar opposite of the second story found inside Love, Joy, Heartache and Pain.
Spirit Indestructible is by far my favorite story out of the three. In this one we meet two new guys that are very unique in every way. Brad is the perfect son and the perfect student. He’s handsome, rich, and very much gay. However, the only ones that know about his sexual orientation are his parents and they accepted him with open arms. So what more could Brad want? Somebody to love. We are all looking for that one special person that will take our breath away and show us the true meaning of love. Brad actually finds that special guy. He just have to live with the fact that he’s dead and ghost lost in time. The Spirit Indestructible is a very touching story that shows us that love is everlasting and eternal. I’ve always been looking for that one guy that would sweep me off my feet and love me no matter what. I think that’s the main reason why I wrote this novel. When I wrote it, I was extremely depressed as well and it showed in the final product. I’ve always struggled with depressions and it somehow translated into the Spirit Indestructible. I’m glad I wrote this sweet little story because the last story in Love, Joy, Heartache and Pain is by far the darkest story I’ve ever written.
The Lake View Psychopath stars Ashton and Austin. These two guys will touch your heart and soul, leaving you wanting more. Austin was murdered by a group of bullies that tormented them nonstop. Sadly, no one looked out for them or provided a safe heaven where they could be free. They only had each other. After Austin was murdered, Ashton was left all alone. So what could he do? Continue being the victim and suffer the same fate? Or finally stand up to them and become a victor? I’ll let you find out on your own. This story is the shortest out of the three, but extremely dark and vicious. The Lake View Psychopath was written in pure, unadulterated anger. I was extremely mad when I wrote it and it showed in the pages of my finish work. I remembered sitting down and having all of these emotions bubbling inside of me, screaming to be let out. So I did. Now that I look at it closely, The Lake View Psychopath is my dark side coming to life. I mean, if I was Ashton Hall, I probably would have done what he did in the name of love and revenge.
I really hope you enjoyed reading this and finding out a little more about Love, Joy, Heartache and Pain. Each story shows a part of me and the weird emotions I’ve been through since I came into this world. I really hope you enjoy these short stories and connect with these guys like I did. If you have any questions, comments or just want to say hi, feel free to stalk me at https://johnhenryamesbooks.wordpress.com/ or email me at authorjha@gmail.com
And there I stood, at the entrance of the school, wishing I were anywhere else but in this goddamn rat hole of hypocrites, liars and backstabbers.
“Move it loser!” Andrew shouted, knocking me to the side.
And then there was Andrew Cooper. He and a couple of his jock friends laughed and teased me as they walked inside the building. Andrew Cooper, the asshole jock, was the main reason why I hated my life at Gelson High. I couldn’t wait for graduation at the end of the year, so he could kiss my white ass goodbye once and for all. I loathed that pathetic little loser with all my heart, body and soul.
“Take comfort in the fact that this is his fifth year here.” A voice behind me caused me to immediately turn around.
And there she was, Kylie Bursnell, in all her glory. Now, since she is my best friend, me, a geeky little loser who’s afraid of a big, muscular jock, many of you may think that might make Kylie either a nerd or a reject from hell. Well, that isn’t the case at all. In fact, Kylie is one of the cheerleaders on the Gelson High cheerleading squad. The girl is a freaking bombshell! Every guy wants her, except for my other best friend, Josh, the rebel of our senior class. That’s the clichéd part of this story. For some reason, he doesn’t like her, or they just don’t click. You may be wondering why a girl like her would even be friends with a loser like me since cheerleaders are mostly shallow, arrogant and mean. Well, she’s not the typical cheerleader, that’s for sure. She is real and down to earth, just like me.
Juan H. Alvarado was born in El Salvador C.A. He currently lives in Belize and began writing in 2008. He posted some of his work on an internet website, and after receiving positive feedback, he completed several full-length novels under his pen name, John Henry Ames. His first completed novel is Surviving Elite High. The story chronicles the life of a gay sixteen-year-old boy as he makes his way through life as an outcast in the shadows of an elite high school where he is tormented by two psychopathic bullies. His passions are writing, reading and spending time with the ones he loves.
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the cover is different and the blurbs are intriguing
Thank you Lee. I hope you read it and enjoyed it.
You did mentioned the three stories are standalobe, but are there any aspects that connect them one another? Perhaps an MC in a story friends with one from another story?
When you read them, you’ll notice that their only connection is the school and two of the main characters are related. Hopefully you read them and enjoyed them. 🙂
I like the cover and it sounds good, I’d like to read it.
Thank you Serena. Hopefully you read them and enjoy them.
Thank you Lee. I hope you read it and enjoyed it.
Congrats on your new book. Looks like an interesting assortment of stories; the body swap sounds like fun, and the murder one is intriguing.