A warm love bytes welcome to author E.J Russell who is joining us today to talk about new release “The Thomas Flair”.

E.J talks about the research for her novel and brought a wonderful giveaway!

Welcome E.J 🙂

When I was researching The Thomas Flair, I may have watched many hours of men’s gymnastics competitions. (Okay, I did, but hey—I’m a fan!) One of the things I learned was that the US men’s national team trains at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, so I wrote that into the book. Then I paid an unexpected visit to Colorado Springs in early December on family business, and while I was there, I took the opportunity to take a tour of the USOPTC. Because how could I resist?

Our tour guide was a charming Paralympic swimmer who was engaged to an Olympic shooter. As she took us around the campus, she shared a lot of information which I frenziedly wrote down in my phone. For instance, the Center used to be an air force base, and the original barracks (located behind the cafeteria) still remain, but they’re used by “campers”—non-Olympians/Paralympians who come to the Center for brief training camps.

Olympians/Paralympians live in the dorms located on either side of the cafeteria, in two-person suites with private bedroom/bathrooms and a shared living room, but no kitchen.

The Sports Science Center has a commercial-grade kitchen that’s used for demonstrations. When we were there, I wanted to linger because a video featuring figure skater Jason Brown cooking was playing on a monitor.

The first floor of the Sports Science Center is where the gymnastics training facilities are located. The outer gym features a basketball court and the warmup area. But I zeroed right in on that door across the court—because the US men’s team was in there practicing!

In fact, as our guide was letting us look around, Donothan Bailey, the gymnast whose looks were my inspiration for Tony Thomas, walked out of the training room and across the basketball court. I snuck a picture of him, but I can’t share it, because permissions. But here he is on pommel horse at the 2019 US championships.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB4rYM6OF2Y

I peeked in the door, but I couldn’t really gawk at the guys practicing as much as I would have liked (because I didn’t want to be a creepy old stalker lady).

I did catch a glimpse of six-time US champion Sam Mikulak though. Squee! I’d hoped to see my personal favorite from the team—Yul Moldauer, who was my inspiration for Sol, but no luck. You can check out Yul’s floor ex routine from the 2019 championships here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5ZbBCqh4eQ

One of the things our guide emphasized was that any athlete living at the USOPTC is there to train— period—and they can be kicked out at any time, so they don’t screw around. Maybe somebody should have mentioned that to Sol and Tony before they tried out the Thomas-Ashvili for the first time. 😉

It’ll take more than medals to mend their relationship.

Diabetic gymnast and team alternate Sol Ashvili had one thing on his agenda when the 2016 Rio Olympics wrapped up—confess to his teammate and best friend Tony Thomas that he’d been in love with him for years. But Tony took a major deduction in Sol’s heart when he jetted out of Rio and turned his back on an almost-finished college degree, international gymnastics meets… and Sol. The first two Sol could forgive—barely. The last? Not a chance.

Tony’s crowd-pleasing, no-holds-barred, high-octane gymnastics style stole its nickname from a legendary gymnastics move—the Thomas Flair. After the 2016 Games, he vaulted into a career as an internet celebrity, specializing in extreme sports and risky stunts. When Tony decides to battle his way into competition shape to earn a spot on the 2020 Olympic team, he has to survive the most extreme risk of all: facing Sol again.

For the sake of the team and the reputation of US men’s gymnastics, Sol and Tony must leave the past behind and get a grip on working together. And as the Games draw closer, they realize that being more than teammates might be the only way they can truly fly high and stick the landing.

 

Buy links (Amazon/KU exclusive):

Amazon US

Amazon Universal

 

About E.J.

 

Multi-Rainbow Award winner E.J. Russell—grace, mother of three, recovering actor—holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she’s spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer, and business intelligence consultant (as one does). She’s recently abandoned data wrangling, however, and spends her days wrestling words.

 

E.J. is married to Curmudgeonly Husband, a man who cares even less about sports than she does. Luckily, CH loves to cook, or all three of their children (Lovely Daughter and Darling Sons A and B) would have survived on nothing but Cheerios, beef jerky, and satsuma mandarins (the extent of E.J.’s culinary skill set).

 

E.J. lives in rural Oregon, enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.

 

Connect with E.J.:

Newsletter: https://ejrussell.com/newsletter

Facebook group (Reality Optional): https://www.facebook.com/groups/reality.optional

Website: https://ejrussell.com

 

Follow E.J. on:

Bookbub: @EJ_Russell

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/author/ej_russell

Instagram: @ej_russell_author

Facebook author page: https://facebook.com/E.J.Russell.author

Twitter: @EJ_Russell

E.J brought a fabulous giveaway with her for our followers 🙂

Have a chance to win one of two backlist ecopies by this author!