Writers4Higher Congratulates
author Scott Archer Jones
Thanks for
having me on the blog again, this time to talk about And Throw Away The
Skins.
The first
question your readers will ask is why they should want to read this particular
book. This
is a story of personal triumph, and it takes place in a beautiful place. Its themes include loving that-which-will-kill-you,
religion, the Afghanistan war and how it comes home, scars, bankruptcy,
infidelity, and a village Santa Eulalia de Mérida. Its setting is aggressively
blue-collar and poverty bound–true to New Mexico in general. Its jumping off
point is the Church of a Thousand Pews and its finish is in a mountaintop with
a blizzard coming in.
And
then, I guess, the reader will want to know something of the story shape. The
protagonist, Bec
Robertson, is starting over. She's broke, recovering from breast cancer, and
lives in a rundown cabin in northern New Mexico. Her husband is deployed in
Afghanistan and can't stand to touch her. Her villagers are mountain-crazy and
take advantage of her good nature, and her hawk Amelia can't keep up with the
mice. She lives next door to a dubious veterans' center. As if she hasn't
invented enough problems for herself, she has a love/hate connection with an
unstable Marine. Being Bec is tough–but she lives under the numinous skies of
New Mexico.
All books have a back
story, and this one began with a character invented for a short story. The
protagonist Bec is named after a famous New Yorker/New Mexican, Rebecca
Salsbury James, who rode a motorcycle and taught Georgia O'Keeffe to drive. The
story kept growing to fit my Bec's personality. Bec let me know in a hurry that
she was opinionated, strong, and completely unsentimental. From that point, I
just caused her trouble for four years, and then–bang–we had a book.
Readers also might want
to know something about the author. Rest assured, I'm not a serial killer and I
don't really believe in Atlantis. The book is dedicated to our Labrador
who passed as we were working on final galleys, so I can demonstrate a soft and
squishy side. I'm currently trapped within my sixth novel and first novella up
here in New Mexico's mountains, after stints in the Netherlands, Scotland, and
Norway–plus less exotic locations. I
worked for a power company, grocers, a lumberyard, an energy company (for a
very long time), and a winery. I'm currently the treasurer of Shuter Library of
Angel Fire, a private 501.C3, and desperately need your money to keep the doors
open.
You can get the book at www.fomitepress.com
Or at my author page on
Amazon: Scott Archer Jones Amazon Author Page
We even offer the book
in Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iTunes, and Smashwords.
My website: www.scottarcherjones.com
Facebook: Scott Archer Jones Facebook Page
Thank you, Scott! Writers4Higher wishes you success as you continue your writing career.
Rhett DeVane
blogmaster and head cheerleader for W4H
