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Author Interview & Review for Naomi Stone’s Wonder Guy

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Naomi will be awarding a Somewhere Rainbow, a Jewelmark wearable-bookmark by Craftswoman, Laramie Sasseville featuring carnelian, citrine, blue Amazonite, blue zircon, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and a free download card for her previous release, Spirited, to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop.

 The Jewelmark has an extra-long ribbon, allowing it to double as an ascot.  Please click on the link to see how beautiful it is.  Wow!

http://www.dreamspell.net/crafts/sovrainbow.jpg

Wonder Guy

by Naomi Stone

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BLURB:

 

Greg Roberts has been in love with the girl next door since they were both twelve, but Gloria Torkinson is engaged to marry someone else. Greg can only respect her choice in the matter – until his fairy godmother pops in with a different idea. As a mysterious, masked superhero Greg can appear to Gloria in a whole new light and win her love. But super-heroing is trickier than Greg knew, creating its own problems and uncovering inimical forces in his world that he never suspected. He’ll have to discover the true hero in himself before he can set things to right and win at love.

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 Review:

Oooo, I get to fly my freak flag when I review this book.  Woot!  I love a superhero and especially one that gets his powers from his very own fairy godmother.  Yes, you heard me right.  Greg, our hero, has his own special fairy godmother.  🙂  Sound exciting, huh?  It is, trust me.

What do you do when you pine away for a friend that only sees you as a friend?  Oh and throw in that your neighbors and that she is engaged to someone else?  You have your fairy godmother turn you into a superhero.  But has you know, being a superhero has its downside, too.  Your identity has to be secret; you can only use your powers for good and for goodness sake…the girl can’t know either.

I loved this book.  Not only did it have the superhero element, the paranormal element (fairy godmother) but just a good old-fashioned love story between an ordinary guy and ordinary girl and how far the guy would go for the girl.

Ms. Stone mixes up the notion that her world is nothing but fantasy.  She does a great job with her world building.  It does mix fantasy with the real world and its great.  There is plenty of action, suspense and OMG moments that will leave your heart pounding in places.  Again, flying the flag!  Woot!  Plus, the excerpt below reminds me of one Superman/Lois Lane moment that is forever burned into my brain.  😉

One of the other things that I loved about Greg’s story is that its him that needs the fairy godmother.  Usually its the other way around but Ms. Stone nails it with the twist.  Plus, the romance wasn’t forced.  It was a slow build and the ending was extremely satisfying.  I just hope that Ms. Stone revisits this world soon.  I want more of Greg and Gloria and the world that she has built.  🙂

If you like a friends to lovers story with a fantasy/paranormal twist, Wonder Guy is for you.  Plus, come on…with Thor in theaters now…it really should be a simple choice to make.  🙂

recommend-harlies- new

4.5harlies

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Excerpt One:

 

She rejoiced and despaired again immediately, falling free toward the earth below. Her stomach lurched, dropping even faster than she fell through the air. The wind dragged at her hair and clothes, stopping her breath. The pervasive drone of wings fell silent and empty husks of giant mosquitoes filled the air, falling with her. The sharp black point of the Calder sculpture’s support rushed to meet them. Gloria screamed.

 

Strong, gentle arms scooped her up, and she threw her arms around the hero’s strong neck, burying her face in the warm crook below his clean-cut jaw, trembling in relief.

 

“Hey,” he said. “It’s gonna be okay.”

 

They swooped through the air, but this was totally different than flying in the grasp of the giant insects. She lost all fear of falling. Wonder Guy cradled her gently against his solid chest, one strong arm hooked under her thighs, the other holding her tightly to him. She clung fiercely, arms clutched around his neck. How could she feel so–contented? blissful? happy?–in the midst of this craziness? Her face pressed close to the bare flesh where his lower face and jaw emerged from his mask. His scent filled her like the breath of home, human, familiar and safe. She checked the urge to nuzzle him, to nibble her way up to his ear. She relaxed, molding herself to the solid wall of Wonder Guy’s body so warm against hers.

 

Welcome Naomi Stone! Please start off by telling us a little about yourself.

Are people really interested in author bios? I think it’s more fun to offer up half a dozen bio-bits — four true and two false — and see if people can guess which are the truth. We can choose a winner for today’s prize from among those who get it right!

  1. Naomi Stone is a talented illustrator on fantasy themes.
  2. Naomi Stone plays mandolin and sings with a couple different groups.
  3. Naomi Stone married three husbands over twenty years (one at a time) and now lives alone.
  4. Naomi Stone performed at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival for four seasons.
  5. Naomi Stone’s alter ego invented the beaded book garters as seen at www.dreamspell.net/crafts.
  6. Naomi Stone is a distributor of gourmet teas.

Harlie knows the truth!  Woot!  He He!

Is Wonder Guy a single title, or part of a series?

Wonder Guy is the first full-length novel in my Fairy Godmothers’ Union series. Sometimes true love needs a little help. That’s where the Fairy Godmothers’ Union steps in.  The other FGU stories are all short stories collected into two volumes: Three Wishes and More Wishes. The stories are all about the fairy godmothers injecting a little magic into people’s lives to help them past misconceptions and assumptions and other issues that get in the way of true love.

 

What were your inspirations for the story?

My friends. I’ve known a lot of brilliant, socially challenged young men (nerds) over the years. I wanted to write a story in which things worked out romantically for the principled, smart, good-hearted guy. If it takes some fairy-godmother magic and very unlikely events, so be it. When the fairy godmother, Serafina grants Greg Roberts super-powers it’s so he can impress Gloria, the girl next door. Greg has loved Gloria since they were both twelve, but she takes him for granted and plans to marry someone else. Serafina figures she just needs to learn to see him in a new light, to see the inner hero who has always been there and always loved her.

 

 

Please share your setting for Wonder Guy. Have you ever lived or visited there? If so, what did you like most?  

Wonder Guy is set in my home town of Minneapolis. Minneapolis is a beautiful city if only for the parks, the lakes and the wealth of boulevard trees making green all but the most commercial streets. The events of Wonder Guy visit the lakes and parks and the wonderful sculpture garden of the Walker Art Museum. The magical beings in the story also take advantage of some Minneapolis fixtures to create a little havoc to challenge the super-powered hero. Minnie is a dinosaur sculpture that swims in the lakes every summer. Mosquitoes are known as the Minnesota State Bird. Both these subjects turn to deadly adversaries before the end of the story.

 

When did the writing bug first bite?

I won’t say I’m a born writer, because I wasn’t born knowing how to talk, let alone read and write. But if not born that way, I grew up with a vivid imagination and the proclivity to make up stories in my head. Writing is all about taking those daydreamed stories and putting them into words so that other people can enjoy them too.

I didn’t start seriously learning the craft of writing until after I’d already written an award winning short story, had a few published and completed the first draft of a novel. When I started looking into getting the novel published, I realized how much I still had to learn. Learning the craft is an ongoing challenge I’m sure will keep me engaged for as long as I live.

 

Do you have any hobbies or special things you like to do in your spare time? 

Yes. My biggest problem as a writer is how many other interests I have – and at the same time, having a lot of other interests gives me a great fund of many and varied experiences that I can draw on in writing.

In college, I majored in both studio arts and classical archeology. I originally planned to be a writer-illustrator ala Maurice Sendak, but my stories for older readers gained a stronger hold on my imagination than the picture-book ideas and my life has often been too demanding and complicated to allow enough time to do justice by both passions. Even so, I’ve produced a fair amount of artwork and fine-art craftwork in my time.

Additionally, one of my favorite social activities is participating in sing-alongs. There’s a monthly Rise-up-Singing circle I join as often as possible, as well as a monthly filk-singing group. Filk is a kind of folk music of the science fiction fan community. We sing songs based on the books, shows and movies of the sf genre.

My involvement in f/sf fandom is a major part of my social life. I attend conventions, meetings and game parties on a regular basis.

 

What’s the strangest thing you’ve heard or seen?

I’ve watched a lot of television and movies in my time; it’s hard to beat some of the things they show onscreen.

The strangest thing I’ve seen in real life happened one day when I was sitting by the banks of the Colorado River in Boulder. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and fresh breezes. I sat cross-legged under the shade of a Cottonwood tree in its catkin-producing stage, meditating on the nature of perception. It seemed to me that perception must be at least partly a matter of choice. I picked up one of the many white catkins scattered on the lawn around me and focused on it, thinking to try to ‘see’ it as purple instead of white. I’m not sure how long I sat there, but after studying the fuzzy white catkin for a while it seemed to me that the thing was perfect as it was, and I was a fool to think of improving on anything so wonderful.

I looked away, still holding the thing, fiddling with it, turning it this way and that between my fingers. When I looked back, it was no longer the catkin in my hold, but a single small, fuzzy purple feather.

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

It all started when my parents had to go and teach me to talk. Then they sent me to school where I learned to read and write. I learned to read and pretty soon I fell in love with books and stories. I loved fairy tales and tales of magic from the very start. Even before that I loved to daydream; I daydreamed myself into adventures with my favorite TV characters. I dreamed up adventures crossing time and space on my own, meeting characters out of history and stories. Books gave me the sense that there was a home waiting for my daydreams, a place where they belonged.

 

Buy Links at Lyrical Press:

 

http://lyricalpress.com/2013/06/07/new-release-wonder-guy-by-naomi-stone/

14 thoughts on “Author Interview & Review for Naomi Stone’s Wonder Guy

  1. I’m going to say that Naomi Stone married three husbands over twenty years (one at a time) and now lives alone and Naomi Stone is a distributor of gourmet teas are false.

    tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com

  2. Great interview, Naomi! I haven’t heard the catkin story before–how amazing. And what a stellar review–thanks for that, Harlie’s Books! You nailed how I feel about this story, too. I’m a nerd-fan from way back (married one in fact) and this story is one of the best! Congrats, Naomi.

    1. Thanks so much, Lizbeth. It always means a lot hearing the positive feedback from such a good writer as yourself! (PS to all: Liz’s new book, ‘Rescued by a Stranger’ is now available from Avon Impulse.)

  3. Naomi, I love that this book is based in Minneapolis. It’s always been one of my favorite cities. I also adore that your hero isn’t typically alpha male. Score one for the nerds! Great interview.

  4. The catkin story is amazing! Real-life paranormal.

    I like what you have to say about learning the craft. I think Chaucer wrote something like, “The life so short, the craft so long to learn.” I agree!

    Thanks for the interview, Harlie & Naomi.

    1. Thanks for stopping by, Greta. Yes; any artistic endeavor, I think offers a life-time’s worth of challenge for someone who wants to learn all they can of it.

  5. Thanks so much for having me here today, Marika! And for the wonderful review. I’d like to know who your readers would help if they had a fairy godmother’s powers?

So what do you think?

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