There are those who can’t see, and those
who don’t want to see, but we are all blind sometimes
Ace is seventeen years old; bright,
beautiful and blind. He shares his life between a progressive school which is
teaching him to be independent and capable of living a full life; and home,
where his family seem determined to prevent him from doing so.
Over protective parents and spiteful,
jealous brothers, are enough to try the patience of a saint. So far, Ace has
let them get on with it and sailed through his life, marking time at home and
only truly living at school. However, that can’t last, and with his last year
of school coming up and the spectre of having to fight to attend university
hanging over him, it’s time to take a stand.
Fortunately, a ring of the doorbell one
afternoon, radically changes his life and, with a new boyfriend at his side,
Ace s ready to take on the world.
Ace has never been one to let his blindness
get in the way if he could help it and he has lots of things that help. Here
are a few of his favourite things, which you can find in the story and which
are actually available out there for anyone to find.
Telephone
One of Ace’s brothers’ favourite
occupations is to buy him outrageous clothes and possessions. Not being able to
see what he’s wearing or using, Ace knows no better and provides his brothers
with countless hours of hilarious entertainment at his expense.
Until he meets Haze, Ace has no idea that
the phone he uses is a pink, Disney Princess™ one. One of the first things Haze
does for Ace is take him out shopping and one of the things they bought is a
new phone.
The phone was something like this
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with large buttons, small screen and screen
reader.
There are even more specialised phones
available which Ace could have gone for but, as far as I’m aware, these aren’t
available on the main street
The screen reading feature, where the phone
‘talks’ to you and ‘listens’ to you, is the most revolutionary thing for Ace.
He can now access many of the features we take for granted, that were closed to
him before; things like setting alarms and reminders, browsing, reading texts,
and many more. He’s so delighted with it he’d have been happy to spend a whole
afternoon playing with the features.
Books
Ace loves to read, and Haze gets quite a shock
when he takes a look at the bookshelf.
Ace’s books are bigger and heavier than
‘normal’ books and have neither words nor pictures, at least none Haze can see.
The books are written in Braille, which is a system of raised dots,
representing letters, numbers and punctuation. It was developed by Louis
Braille (1809 – 1852), who was himself blind, as a teaching method for his
blind students.
Braille is used for everything from public
signs, to books, to menus to music annotation. It is generally worked across a
‘cell’ of six dots in three rows of two. In each cell one or more of the dots
are raised and it is the pattern of raised dots that makes the letter, number,
word etc.
Ace’s favourite books are Harry Potter
Computer
Ace’s computer is a lifeline. Not only does
it allow him to conduct research, do schoolwork and keep up to date with what’s
going on in the world, but it allows him to keep in touch with his friends via
Skype. Haze meets Ace’s best friend, James in this way, and boy do sparks fly.
Ace’s computer has a number of special
features, such as the screen reader, and also a special braille keyboard
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Ace finds a very sensual way of
demonstrating how everything works, which gets Haze a little hot under the
collar.
With all his technology and specialist
knowledge, however, there is really only one thing that opens the world, both
real and cyber, to Ace, and that’s his own courage and confidence in himself,
which he has with plenty to spare. With his heart and Haze’s ferocious
protectiveness, there seems to be very little they can’t achieve together.
Blurb
Ace
is blind and Haze is damaged. They live in different worlds and not everyone is
happy when they become boyfriends. Haze is struggling with the after effects of
a traumatic event in his past that has left him at the mercy of an
uncontrollable rage. When Ace’s brother steps up his campaign of torment
against Ace, they’re all in danger from Haze’s outbursts, though it isn’t until
things get completely out of control that the healing can really begin. But
with Ace unseeing and Haze perched on the edge of a cliff, will either of them
survive long enough to benefit?
Excerpt
While the computer was starting up,
Ace took off his glasses and put them on the table, rubbing his eyes.
“They make my eyes ache after a
while. They’re really heavy on my nose.”
“I’m not surprised, they’re…er…big.
Why do you wear them all the time?”
“I don’t know. I suppose…because
I’m not quite so much of a freak with them on as without them on.” He tilted
his face up and seemed to regard me thoughtfully. There was something about the
way the sun touched his face and made his hair glow that made me shiver.
In the midst of all the golden
light his hair was not so much white as the palest spun gold and his pale skin
seemed to be even more translucent, almost iridescent. He was fey, like some
faery creature only partly in this world. I bit my lip, trying vainly to stop
my mind taking me down dangerous roads. This was definitely not the time to be
having those kinds of thoughts.
“Can I…touch you?”
“What? Uh…um…what do you mean?” I
jumped half out of my skin at the sound of his voice and even more so at what
he said. Had he read my mind?
“Your face. Can I touch your face?
I can’t see what you look like but my fingers can tell me if you’ll let me
touch you.”
“Oh. Of course.”
I stood perfectly still as he got
up from the chair and stood close in front of me. His long white hair fell
across his face, I had an urge to brush it out of his eyes, except of course
that would have been stupid.
It was strange how pretty his eyes
were up close. They weren’t colourless after all. There was a ring of pale
violet around the milky pupils and a much darker violet around the outer edges
of the irises. They were stunningly beautiful, and I couldn’t take my eyes off
them.
I was still staring at them when
his cool fingers brushed against my cheek. The touch was gentle and hesitant
but still startled me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
startle you.”
“You didn’t. It’s just…” I tore
myself away from studying his face. “I was just surprised by how beautiful your
eyes are.” I could have bitten off my tongue. What a stupid thing to say. For
God’s sake, I just met the boy. What the hell was I doing?
“They…they are?” The objects in
question opened wide and a hesitant smile touched his lips. “Really?”
“Oh yes.”
He blushed delicately. “No one has
ever told me that before.” Biting his lip, his face turned reflective. “Most
people just say they’re weird if they can bring themselves to look at them. I
get the impression that most people avoid doing so. That’s one of the reasons I
wear my glasses all the time.”
“Then most people are blinder than
you are.” Bloody hell! That was totally unlike me. I was far too ordinary to be
that bold. But it was awesome to see the smile break over Ace’s face and light
it up.
“Hold still,” he said softly and
brushed his fingertips across my cheek again. A shiver went through me and I
closed my eyes as he continued his exploration of my face.
When he had finished with my face,
he touched my hair and let it slide through his fingers. His face changed
subtly, and I shivered again.
“You’re beautiful, Haze,” he said
as he let his hand fall.
“If you think that, then your
fingers are as blind as your eyes.”
For a moment he seemed shocked then
he grinned. “Do you have any idea how many people would be scared of saying
those things to me?”
“What things?”
He shook his head. “You’re a breath
of fresh air, Hazel Fennell. I haven’t felt so…light, in years.”
“Light?”
“Yeah…”
Bio
Cheryl was born
into a poor mining family in the South Wales Valleys. Until she was 16, the
toilet was at the bottom of the garden and the bath hung on the wall. Her
refrigerator was a stone slab in the pantry and there was a black lead
fireplace in the kitchen. They look lovely in a museum but aren’t so much fun
to clean.
Cheryl has
always been a storyteller. As a child, she’d make up stories for her nieces,
nephews and cousin and they’d explore the imaginary worlds she created, in
play.
Later in life, Cheryl
became the storyteller for a re enactment group who travelled widely, giving a
taste of life in the Iron Age. As well as having an opportunity to run around
hitting people with a sword, she had an opportunity to tell stories of all
kinds, sometimes of her own making, to all kinds of people. The criticism was
sometimes harsh, especially from the children, but the reward enormous.
It was here she
began to appreciate the power of stories and the primal need to hear them. In
ancient times, the wandering bard was the only source of news, and the
storyteller the heart of the village, keeping the lore and the magic alive.
Although much of the magic has been lost, the stories still provide a link to
the part of us that still wants to believe that it’s still there, somewhere.
In present
times, Cheryl lives in a terraced house in the valleys with her son and her two
cats. Her daughter has deserted her for the big city, but they’re still close.
The part of her that needs to earn money is a lawyer, but the deepest, and most
important part of her is a storyteller and artist, and always will be.
ISBN# 978-1-60820-8937 (print) $14.99
MLR-1-02013-0162
(ebook) $7.99
Release
Date October 2013
Cover
Artist Deana C. Jamroz
. 288 pages / 79,000 words
Thanks for stopping by, Cheryl, come back any time!
Until next time, take care!
♥ Julie
