A warm welcome to authors Kim Fielding & Venona Keyes joining us here on their blog tour for new release “Running Blind”.
They talk about the loss of senses and they brought a fantastic giveaway!
Welcome Kim & Venona

Losing Sense

Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell

What would you do if you lost one of your senses?

 

Losing a sense is like losing a part of yourself, your identity, as Kyle Green finds out when he loses his sight due to a stroke in our book Running Blind. His livelihood was that of a voice over artist (VOA) for anime, movies, books, and commercial narration. Without sight, he could no longer match the voice with the lip movement, therefore he was unable to match the voice and the emotions of the anime characters and the movie stars he dubbed.

 

Like most loss, experts say you need to gain coping mechanisms and new skills to remain independent.

The loss needs to be grieved, which most people don’t grasp. Most skip the support groups or a counselor that could help go through the grieving process of the loss.

 

Each sense has their own set of challenges. In Venona’s other life, she visits a deaf couple weekly. Their house is set up for the deaf: Telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) in which the telephone operator sends the written information from the caller and is displayed on a large screen, vibration of the phone or their chairs when the phone rings or a colored light that blinks, a bright light that blinks when the door bell rings, and a pad of paper for people who cannot sign (and for those of us who are a bit slow). They have the tools to help live their lives to the fullest, whether it’s outings with other hearing impaired couples, or for a cross country trek! This couple is more in tune with touch and vibration. A compensation to help them keep aware, even though they can’t hear.

 

When Venona’s mother was going through chemotherapy, she lost her sense of taste. She was saddened to learn chemo also affected her sense of smell, as taste and smell are linked. Her mother loved to cook and most of all, she loved to garden and shop farmer’s markets. So, the chemo took that joy from her. Though, she found solace in the fact the color of all the fruits and vegetables helped her when she ate. She would imagine what the color tasted like—like tart when she ate a Granny Smith apple, or warm when she had her favorite chicken soup.

 

If you had to choose, which one would it be? Or Have you lost one of your senses? How did you cope?

 

 

Blurb

Kyle Green is on top of the world. He and Matt have been together for ten years, and—as the voice of Ecos, the wildly popular anime character—Kyle is treated like a rock star in anime circles. But in an instant, a stroke leaves him blind. When photographer Matt gets the opportunity of a lifetime, Kyle reexamines their relationship, discovers it has been a safety net rather than a true romance, and sets Matt free to pursue his dream. Kyle’s life and career as he knew them are gone, and he must now find the courage and creativity to draft a new plan.

After being away for fifteen years, Seth Caplan comes home to Chicago to care for his mother and to partner with a small start-up tech company. He and Kyle meet after Kyle’s collision with a child’s sidewalk toy, and they hit it off. Kyle wants to get back into running, and Seth becomes his guide. As they get to know each other, they start seeing each other beyond their three-times-a-week runs. But Seth’s revelation of the dark reason why he left his career in California sends the relationship into a tailspin and leaves both men running blind.

Buy Links:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

 

Kim Fielding is very pleased every “me someone calls her eclectic. Her books have won Rainbow Awards and span a variety of genres. She has migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States and currently lives in California, where she long ago ran out of bookshelf space. She’s a university professor who dreams of being able to travel and write full “me. She also dreams of having two perfectly behaved children, a husband who isn’t obsessed with football, and a house that cleans itself. Some dreams are more easily obtained than others

 

You can reach Kim at:

Facebook—http://facebook.com/kfieldingwrites

Twitter—@kfieldingwrites

Website—http://kfieldingwrites.com/

 

Venona Keyes is a modern woman who believes in doing it all; if doing it all is only in her head. She amazes people that she can be wholly unorganized yet pack a perfect carry on suitcase for a ten day trip to Paris. Ms. Keyes is a believer in the just in time theory, and can be seen sprinting in airports to the gate before the plane door closes.

Venona has experienced love and loss at the deepest level, and is thankful for writing and daydreaming, for it kept, and still keeps her sane. Writing also introduced her to some of the most supportive and wonderful people, to which she will always be grateful.

Venona is a voracious reader, loves her feline boys, volunteers at an animal shelter, attempts to cook everything in her CSA boxes, is an accomplished speaker, is a seasoned triathlete, and enjoys swimming, biking, hiking, skipping, dancing, and her beloved overgrown garden.

You can reach Venona at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/venona.keyes

Website: http://www.venonakeyes.com/

 

Giveaway #1 – All (US & International)

Audio Books, E-Book, and DSP Gift Certificate

3 Audio Books (Treasure, The Downs, and Guarded)

E-book Coming of Age

$20 DSP Gift Certificate

Giveaway #1: Worldwide

 

 

Giveaway #2 – US Only

Manga (Graphic Novels), Audio, and E-Books

Manga:

Traditional Japanese Manga (translated into English): Borders Manga Volumes 1-5 by Kazuma Kodaka

American Manga: Longitudes and Latitudes, Volumes 1 – 3 by True Teargem & Tprinces

American Doshinji: Kindly Assistance (A Sherlock Holmes & John Watson Romance) by Halloween Panda

Audio Books & E-books

3 Audio Books (Treasure, The Downs, and Guarded)

E-book Coming of Age

Giveaway #2: USA only

 

 

 

Giveaway #3 – US Only

Bento Ensemble, Audio, and E-Books

Bento Ensemble

Bento Box

Lacquered wooden chopsticks

Handmade drawstring cloth bag with decorative stitching

Audio Books & E-books

3 Audio Books (Treasure, The Downs, and Guarded)

E-book Coming of Age

Giveaway #3: USA only

 

Oct 31 – MM Good Book Reviews – I Fought the Law

Nov 1 – The Novel Approach – Kyle at Yaoi Con Short

Nov 2 – Rhys Ford – VOA Interview with Greg Tremblay and Joel Leslie

Nov 3 – Mary Calmes – Exclusive Excerpt from Running Blind

Nov 4 – DSP Blog – Siblings

Nov 7 – Divine Magazine – Release Day Exclusive Excerpt

Nov 8 – Gay Book Reviews – The Lord and the Amnesiac Rogue

Nov 9 – Kimmer’s Erotic Book Banter – Kyle and Ecos Short

Nov 10 – Love Bytes – Losing Sense

Nov 10 – Tammy’s Two Cents – Universities

Nov 11 – Sinfully Gay – Running