Sunday, July 31, 2016

Featured Author: D.R. Perry

Welcome Today's Featured Author
D.R. Perry!!!

Bearly Awake: Providence Paranormal College Book 1

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Bobby Tremain’s life used to seem charmed, but since his dad’s crippling accident, he has an avalanche of problems. He’s the first in his family to have a shot at college, also the first to head north of Louisiana. An early snow calls his Bear to hibernate a week before finals, but he needs to pass or he flunks out of Providence Paranormal College.

Lynn Frampton’s loneliness is almost more than she can take. She went to college on the other side of the country to get away from the persistent curse of unpopularity in a small town. Once at college, Lynn’s prickly personality has pushed everyone away yet again. At least she’s at the top of her class.

Bobby needs Lynn’s help to stay awake and pass his exam, and she discovers she needs companionship more than she’d ever imagined. Lynn’s all set to transfer to a school back home, but Bobby thinks she’s his mate. Can he keep awake long enough to pass, and more importantly, convince his love to stay?





Excerpt: 
“Think fast!” At the sound of Lynn’s voice, I reached out, plucking a thick stack of rubber-banded index cards from the air. A stinging in my pinkie made me wince. The hibernation urge had me off my game. Usually, I could catch just about anything in human form, and most things in bear. That’s another thing I wouldn’t be able to do this weekend. Let my bear out.
“What are these?” I blinked bleary eyes. The top card had one word on it, but the wide band across the middle blocked too much of it to read.
“My Ecology flash cards.” She switched on and moved a wireless mouse, waking her laptop up. Then, she pulled open a drawer to reveal a USB keyboard. She plugged it into a port, then pulled up an audio app. “Shuffle them.”
“Why do we need cards if you’re setting up your computer?” I sat on the bed to use the nightstand as a card shuffling surface.
“Study aids.” Lynn looked over her shoulder and smiled. “I’ve got all kinds. Trust me, I’m a Valedictorian.” She dropped a wink and I laughed.
“Can you get more specific for the sleep-deprived among us?” I pulled the band off the cards carefully so they wouldn’t go flying.
“This music ought to help keep us awake.” I couldn’t help but sigh with relief. Study tunes were like a last-minute pardon from listening to recordings of Watkins’ lectures. With a few sweeps and clicks, a wailing voice backed by heavy metal thunder poured out of her speakers. I recognized it.
“Iron Maiden?” I had to think for a moment before trying to shuffle them. There were so many, I had to split the deck a few times and shuffle the sections. These cards were serious business. Once they’d been thoroughly mixed, I gathered them together and held them out to Lynn.
“When you want to stay awake, there’s nothing quite like music that chases down your eardrums like a hell-hound.” She took the flash cards back from me and smiled. “Let’s do this!”


About D.R. Perry:
D.R. Perry lives in Rhode Island, where all her books are set. Although she's not a native New Englander, once up north she got so inspired she couldn't leave. A wild Northern Muse attacked. D.R. used Typing; it was Super Effective.

D.R. writes all kinds of things. Mostly, they have strange and unusual elements. Not strange isotopes or Strontium or anything like that, but creatures who are people or people who are creatures. Beware of the Attack Poetry and rampant puns. Keep off the grass, or the song parodies may bite.

She lives with her husband, daughter, and dog in the Ocean State, which she loves to remind people is not an island and not Long Island. D.R. is well aware that her home state has both of those things, but isn't defined by them. Maybe she likes it here so much because it reminds her that she's also more than the sum of her parts.

D.R. hopes you have as much fun reading her books as she did writing them.


Interview With D.R. Perry:
1. Can you tell us a little about your book?
Bearly Awake is a novella that starts a whole series of Paranormal Comedy books. The books all take place in a college which recently opened admissions to anyone, including humans, shifters, faerie creatures, and vampires as well as people who use magic and have psychic abilities. 

2. When did you know you wanted to write a book?
I've always wanted to write a book. It took me an awfully long time to do it, but it was worth the wait!. Bearly Awake isn't the first book I wrote, and definitely won't be the last.
3. For the  Providence Paranormal College series, do they need to be read in order or can they be read as a standalones?
You could read them on their own, but there is an overall story to the series which makes more sense if you read them in order.
4. Which of your characters would you like to meet in person and why? 
I'm worried I'd freak out like a mad fangirl if I met some of them. But I think I'd want to sit down and chat with Nox Phillips all about her ancestors. She's the Kelpie from Book 3, Of Wolf and Peace.
5. Do you work with an outline, or just write?
A little of both. I basically have a couple of sentences to tell me what's going on in each chapter. Sometimes, writing the chapter before that makes me go back and change trajectory, however.
6. Do you have a favorite spot to write?
Anywhere I won't get disturbed. Not the band, or disturbed in the head, I mean by other people coming up and asking me for things. That can be my office, a coffee shop, a library, et cetera.
7. Do you have a favorite food or drink you must have nearby when writing?
Coffee, water, tea, in that order.
8. What’s your favorite summertime activity?
Walks at dawn and dusk. Honestly, I prefer Fall and Spring.
9. What writing projects are you currently working on?
I'm always working on the next book. PPC 5 just came out, that's called Djinn and Bear It. I'll be working on book 6 now, also contributions to the second volume of The Longest Night Watch charity anthology for the Alzheimer's Association. Remember how I said Bearly Awake wasn't the first book I wrote? That's the first book in a Historical Urban Fantasy series, which is almost ready to go. Oh, and I have a secret sci-fi project in the works, too.

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