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Excerpt from Of Sound Mind and Someone Else’s Body by William Quincy Belle w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #SciFi #Romance @wqbelle

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. William Quincy Belle will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Science Fiction with (gasp) sex!

Alan Maitland is a successful businessman on his way up the corporate ladder. Life is good, but life is also full of the unexpected. A scientific experiment goes awry, and Alan’s mind is transferred to the body of Hana Toussaint, a high-class escort. Suddenly, he must not only contend with a new identity, but with the eye-opening experience of living as a female: how to walk in high heels without falling; how to put on a bra without dislocating a shoulder; how to deal with makeup without poking out an eye; and how to get along in a society which in many ways is still male-dominated.

When Alan discovers that Hana has taken over his body, the two of them must work together to find the scientist who can reverse the experiment and give them back their respective lives. Along the way, they must cope with living as each other and learn what it’s like to be a member of the opposite sex. And as their adventure goes on, Alan the woman must figure out his growing feelings for Hana the man.

Alan faces the biggest challenge of his life which Hana sums up with one decisive question:

“Are you man enough to be a woman?”

Enjoy an Excerpt

After their small breakfast, Alan and Hana set about getting ready, selecting clothes for one another.

“I start with moisturizer,” he said examining the various items laid out on the bathroom counter.

She stood behind him, looking at herself in the mirror and adjusting her collar. “That’s right.”

He picked up the bottle of moisturizer and unscrewed the top. “This hadn’t been on my list of required life skills, but I’ll be able to say I’m a truly well-rounded man.”

“Well-rounded? You missed me having my period last week!”

He stopped and wrinkled his brow.

She half smiled. “Are you man enough to be a woman?”

He gave his head a shake then continued his morning ritual.

Hana pulled the looped tie over her head and mimicked Alan’s earlier movements by tightening the loop and getting the tie in place. “I’m getting the hang of this.” She pulled her collar down and raised her chin to give the knot a final adjustment. “All set.”

She watched him go through the steps of getting ready for another day as a woman. “You’re doing fine.”

Before going out the door, Alan paused in front of a mirror. He smoothed out his skirt and leaned closer to check his makeup. He looked himself in the eye. What am I doing? Am I getting womanlier?

Hana held open the door, and the two of them left to meet their fate.

About the Author:

William Quincy Belle is just a guy. Nobody famous; nobody rich; just some guy who likes to periodically add his two cents worth with the hope, accounting for inflation, that $0.02 is not over evaluating his contribution. He claims that at the heart of the writing process is some sort of (psychotic) urge to put it down on paper and likes to recite the following, which so far he hasn’t been able to attribute to anyone: “A writer is an egomaniac with low self-esteem.” You will find Mr. Belle’s unbridled stream of consciousness floating around in cyberspace.

Web site: http://www.williamquincybelle.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamQuincyBelle

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wqbelle

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/William-Quincy-Belle/e/B01M1IQ69G

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYWXM4E

a Rafflecopter giveaway

11 thoughts on “Excerpt from Of Sound Mind and Someone Else’s Body by William Quincy Belle w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #SciFi #Romance @wqbelle

  1. Have you ever gotten stuck writing a particular scene and if so, how did you work your way through that?

    1. I’m tempted, Ms. LaRocca, of humorously explaining how I handle difficult situations by saying that I drink.

      In reality, I take a break. Go for a long walk. Set things aside and do something else. Even I’m busy elsewhere, I’m still cogitating. Sometimes I like to ruminate*, but it’s usually cogitating that gives me the right answer.

      So yes, I’ve gotten stuck, but so far, I’ve always managed to find a way out of my mess. Besides, if I get really, really stuck, I know I can always fall back on deus ex machina.

      * That’s a joke. The two words are synonyms, and who doesn’t like a little synonymic humor once in a while?

      1. Great answer! A long walk, especially in the early evening, helps me as well. I’m tempted to say that a mixed drink or two doesn’t hurt either.

    1. I consult lists of baby names. I take two existing people and mix up their names. However, I always Google the resulting designation to make sure I haven’t inadvertently referred to a well known person. I don’t want to get sued! 🙂

  2. I am enjoying these tours and finding all the terrific books my family is enjoying reading. Thanks for bringing them to us and keep up the good work.

  3. Of Sound Mind and Someone Else’s Body

    Currently 4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon

    Interested, but not yet committed to reading the book? Visit my web site for a longer excerpt. (Warning: This may be a tad explicit. Of course, now that I’ve said that, it’s even more tempting to go look, right?)

    Still wondering? Here’s what reviewers are saying.

    5 Star Review: One would like to believe this
    “That two sane rational people would react in a sane rational way to finding themselves in another body especially one of the opposite sex. Much of the genre that involves body/mind swaps is strictly erotic in nature as if every person swapped can’t wait to have sex. Mr. Belle’s work is far from that even though one of the protagonists is a professional escort. Sex plays a role in this decently plotted story but only as a sideline to some interesting philosophical questions. Questions that are approached with both humor and an open-minded desire to question societies hangups. Food for thought in a book about a bodyswap. Who would have thought? Then again in the end this is a thought piece wrapped in a sci-fi story that is just plausible enough to be believable. An entertaining and enlightening read.”

    5 star review: The mind switch trope but with nuanced exploration of the sexes
    “When I first started this book, I expected it to be just another mind switch story so common in sci-fi. But the author has carefully chosen his switchees – Alan, a rather self absorbed rich guy, and Hana, a high class escort. Alan goes to bed, and is suddenly wakened in a position he finds repulsive. He panics, grabs his purse and runs home. He makes his way back to his condo, and meets with Hana,, now in his body. Over the next few days they experience life in different socioeconomic conditions than their wont. Even more significant, they experience being “the opposite sex”. They both need to readjust their pre-conceived notions. Hana opens Alan’s mind to looking at the world differently, and they both learn that some of their assumptions about men and women may have been mis-founded. For Alan, it’s eye opening being looked at like a piece of meat. And Hana learns some painful physical lessons.

    I was very pleasantly surprised at the way the author turned a rather trite science fiction cliché into an entertaining novel.”

  4. Thank you for participating in this book tour. Being an indie author is an uphill struggle.

    According to Wikipedia, there are 2.2 million new books published each year, 300,000 in the U.S., 150,000 in the United Kingdom, 20,000 in Canada. The book review section of The Washington Post states they get 150 new titles each day. Each day! What are the chances of anyone getting noticed? Even if somebody has written the next classic, there’s the harsh reality of statistics. Having the public choose any particular book out of the annual American field of 300,000 strikes me as being the equivalent of winning the literary lottery. Congratulations, E. L. James: over 70 million copies of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy sold.

    By the way, the above is about new books published each year. According to Google, there are over 150 million books in existence! Literary lottery, indeed!

    There’s a lot of junk out there, which means the public is leery of investing their time in anything unknown. Who wants the literary equivalent of bad movie? “I want two hours of my life back.” Cheers to the risk-takers who brought E. L. James to the forefront.

    I appreciate you taking the risk.

    All the best to you in your world. 🙂

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