Virtual Book Tour: Saving Casey: Liza O'Connor

Today please welcome author Liza O'Connor, who has bravely answered my infamous Rick Reed questions and is going to talk about her new release, Saving Casey.  Liza will award a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Other random commenters at blog stops will receive: $5 Amazon GCs, tattoos like Casey's, or offer to place tattoos like Casey's on a jpg picture supplied by winner.

Liza Responds to the really, really, really, hard

Questions

1)    You’re marooned on a small island with one person and one item of your choice—who is that person and what item do you have?

Barack Obama and a firestarter. Here’s why.

 I ran through a great deal of scenarios with various people. It turns out I need my computer AND an Internet connection, so it doesn’t matter who I’m with, I’m not going to be happy. I’m going to be hungry and grumpy in short order. So I turned to getting rescued as quickly as possible. (That’s called thinking out of the box—if you don’t like the game, change it.)

Now the choice was easy:  Barack Obama. Seems like a cheerful, levelheaded, pleasant fellow. And being the President, I expect a massive search and rescue would occur within seconds of him disappearing.

So why did I choose fire? To build a massive bonfire to aid in the rescue. And while we wait, sitting by the toasty fire, I can have a fascinating conversation with someone I would otherwise never meet.

Then when I return to my home and log in, I can tell everyone about my time with my new friend Barack. They, of course, will not believe me.

2)    Which musical would you say best exemplifies your life – and which character in that musical are you?

I was beginning to think my life really didn’t mimic any musical. But then I found one. Urinetown.  It’s a satirical musical that attempts to achieve a great many things at once, all the while, bordering on the nonsensical.  I am none of the characters. I am the musical and all those voices are within me.

Urinetown satirizes the greed of capitalism, the inability of people to be socially responsible, bureaucratic idiocy, corporate incompetence, and dirty local politics—all the while singing ridiculous songs and being silly. And it ends badly, but everyone leaves laughing. In other words, it’s rather like my blogs.

3)    Take these three words and give me a 100 word or less scenario using them:  internal, condensed, wait

My internal sense of humor cannot wait to be condensed like milk and canned for the masses—bought, stored, and consumed.

4)    You’ve just been let loose in the world of fiction, with permission to do anyone you want. Who do you fuck first and why?

First of all, I prefer the phrase ‘getting frisky’.

For one, no censoring bot will tag it and remove my answer. Secondly, it sounds more fun.

To me, ‘fuck’ is for cursing.  And I don’t want to curse with or at John Cusack. He’s reported to be intelligent, edgy, and charismatic. To me, those are far more important than a six pack.

5)    What is your idea of how to spend romantic time with your significant other?

Do a fun, life-endangering activity, such as jumping out a plane (with a parachute) or rafting down a class four river that revs up the adrenaline. At the end of said adventure we’d take a quick shower and get frisky.

6)    When you start a new story, do you begin with a character, or a plot?

I actually begin with a dream where my muse gives me a scene or two with a vague plot. So when I wake up,  I focus on the characters , teasing facts out of them as they meet each other. Once I understand who they are, I set them free to interact and the story goes where they want to take it, which is almost always in a different direction than my original plot concept.

7)    If they were to make the story of your life into a movie, who should play you?

The comedienne, Erinn Hayes (Dr. Spratt- Children’s Hospital,  Guys with Kids,  It’s a Disaster – Indie film). She has the range to play both the crazy and serious parts of me.

  8)  Who’s your favorite horror villain and why?

Hannibal Lecter—He’s such a soft-spoken, gentle psychopath. However, I would be reluctant to accept a dinner invitation from him, in fear I’d become the main course.

9)    Do you have an historical crush and if so, who is it?

Ernest Hemingway.

 Besides being a fabulous author, he was also easy on the eyes and a bit of a rake.  A great bit of a rake. He was a rake’s rake.

  10)                    Is there a story that you’d like to tell but you think the world isn’t ready to receive it?

That probably describes ten of the novels I’ve written. Sometimes my characters go off in a direction that either skirts or downright tramples our current mores and laws.

However, I was once told the plot of my current novel, Saving Casey, was ‘unpublishable’ because it begins with the suicide of the main character and entertains a budding romance between a 17 yr old girl and a 30 yr old guy.

However, with careful handling of these matters, the book has been very well received. While my main character does kill herself in chapter 1, she awakens in chapter 2 in the body of a 17-year-old troubled teen.  Thus, it is the old woman’s soul in a teen’s body who has fallen for her security guard. However, he is as honorable as they come, so while he does love her, nothing happens until they become older. There’s also one other forbidden topic, but I don’t want to spoil the story for you.

The good news is that Saving Casey’s current success makes me hope that with deft handling, I can bring my other ‘forbidden’ novels to light as well.

Saving Casey

by Liza O’Connor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Eighty-year-old Cass wakes up in the body of a troubled seventeen-year-old girl named Casey, which all believe has survived a suicide attempt. Cass intends to turn the girl’s life around, only it’s harder than she expects. All Casey’s troubles have now become Cass’s and someone wants her dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT :

EXCERPT : Troy admits he loves Cass

Any chance you’d be willing to go to a different doctor to get another treatment on your face?”

“I really like Dr. Grey.”

“I know, but we can’t take the chance. You’d visit a doctor in Montana after office hours.”

“Does he have the equivalent experience and skills as Dr. Grey? Because I already have nightmares where I’m blind and irreparably scarred.”

“He won’t touch your eyes. He’ll just work on the cheeks.”

“And if I’m scarred, causing little children to scream at the sight of me, will you still love me?” She expected him to flounder with his response because it required him to actually admit he loved her, something he’d refused to do. To her shock, he replied at once.

“Absolutely.”

“No hesitation?”

“Nope.”

“So explain why you’ll love me without hesitation if I’m hideously scarred, but won’t even kiss me when I’m just ghoulishly tattooed?”

“Simple. Dan wouldn’t mind if I’m the only man in the world who still thinks you’re beautiful. But as long as millions of better alternatives exist, Dan would never forgive me for stealing your future.”

She hated it when he nailed the truth. If she were really seventeen, she would agree a hundred percent. Sighing heavily, she muttered, “I’ll see the doctor.”

“He’s not going to leave you scarred, Cass.”

“I hope not, but if he does, I’m holding you to your word.”

“You have it.”

She smiled at the turn of this conversation. “So you think I’m beautiful?”

“Inside and out,” he replied. “We need to change the conversation now.”

“Why? I like this conversation.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Adventure Bio:

I live in Denville, NJ with my dog, Jess. We hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, I learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. I’m an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through my entire life, my first love has and always will be writing novels. I love to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.

SAVING CASEY BUY LINKS

Bonobookstore: http://bonobookstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_54&products_id=79

Amazon Link to Saving Casey:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A7KRSOO

Barnes&Noble Link to SC: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saving-casey-liza-oconnor/1113795362?ean=2940015849295

Video links:

Saving Casey Trailer: http://youtu.be/WxcaMP0Dgzc   

Abridged My Crappy New Life series: http://youtu.be/p6QzYsxJ7jQ

Liza links:

Blog and Website: http://www.LizaOConnor.com

Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/liza.oconnor.90

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Liza0Connor

 Special note:  Saving Casey will be reduced from $5.99 to $2.99 for the duration of the tour (March 5th-April 11th) at Amazon, B&N, DP/Bono, ARe, Coffee Time Romance, BookStrand and Smashwords. Don't forget about the prizes she's offering too. Comment often for more chances to win!