{"id":2690,"date":"2020-08-11T21:01:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T04:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2020-08-09T08:58:43","modified_gmt":"2020-08-09T15:58:43","slug":"addison-brae-dark-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/11\/addison-brae-dark-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Addison Brae’s newest: Dark Energy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dark<\/a>How Characters Find a Place to Call Home<\/strong>
\nMany authors invent heroines who return home to family and childhood friends. Other novels center on characters who yearn to create new homes as far away as possible from where they grew up. These characters are usually escaping bad memories.<\/p>\n

Gillian, the heroine in Dark Energy, opted to leave her small-town childhood home of Sugar Creek, Missouri behind. She secured a scholarship to Harvard, graduated early, and headed to Dallas for warmer weather and a fresh start. As a mama\u2019s girl, her world crashed when her mom lost her battle with breast cancer, which threw her dad into the bottle. Luckily the bar was only a block from their house, so he could stumble home safely. Gillian could mix the best martini of any 12-year-old.<\/p>\n

While creating Gillian\u2019s character, I researched middle-America towns near metropolitan areas that fit Gillian\u2019s roots and found Sugar Creek. Visual mapping and websites helped me locate her schools, part-time job, the newspaper where her father was the editor, home, and the bar in the next block.<\/p>\n

I also visited Sugar Creek to make sure this town works, and the charming town does. Sugar Creek has a Moose Lodge, town gazebo, and shady streets lined with pre-WWII homes. Best of all is the Kross Lounge & Restaurant. It\u2019s exactly the place I picture as the local bar where Gillian\u2019s dad was a regular. It\u2019s a place where everyone truly knows your name, which is why I got strange looks from everyone there. I ate lunch at the bar and chatted with the bartender who had worked there for 19 years. When I told her why I was visiting, she nodded and agreed she would likely be the one who made sure Gillian\u2019s dad made it home.<\/p>\n

Blending fiction with real settings and situations helps create relatable characters. Most people who\u2019ve worked hard to start over in a fresh place will understand why Gillian might call her new Dallas neighborhood home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Blurb:<\/strong>
\nCybercrime doesn\u2019t talk. It creeps in and destroys lives right under Gillian\u2019s nose when a cryptojacking scheme lands her boss, Pinkie, in jail. Gillian had just started over with a new career, boyfriend, and confidence after escaping a vicious murder investigation that shattered her ability to trust. Then Pinkie\u2019s arrest leaves her struggling to run his two bars while also unraveling the conspiracy.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Gillian will not let her mentor and friend go down for something he didn\u2019t do. Neither will Jon, the most talented musician on the bar\u2019s stage and the perfect boyfriend…until his good fortune sends her reeling. Gillian forces herself to trust the cops, people who hurt her, and known criminals. Will it be enough to free Pinkie and save her life?<\/em><\/p>\n

Links:
\n<\/strong>Read more about Addison Brae on her website<\/a>, Tirgearr Publishing<\/a>, Amazon<\/a>, and BookBub<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can find Dark Energy<\/em> (Return to Becker Circle) on Amazon US<\/a>, Amazon UK<\/a>, Amazon Canada<\/a>, Amazon Australia<\/a>,<\/strong> Smashwords<\/a>, Apple Books<\/a>, Kobo<\/a>, and B&N Nook<\/a>. A portion of the author proceeds will go to Staff Meal<\/a> to help provide meals and other aid to restaurant workers in need during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Excerpt:
\n<\/strong>I rest my forehead on the window and breathe to gather what little nerve remains. People stroll the sidewalk like tonight\u2019s a regular Saturday night. Cars drive past like nothing has changed. The neon that traces the perimeter of the high rise across the street cycles through a rainbow of colors. Inside, the crowd hum creeps back. A shaker and clanking bottles sound from the bar.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure this is a little misunderstanding. Pinkie will be back tomorrow. Thoughts race through my head. They\u2019re only words, not answers. Certainly, they\u2019ve made a mistake and arrested the wrong person. What do I do right now? Face this head on?<\/p>\n

Ignore it? Tell patrons, \u201cthanks for being part of the Pinkie\u2019s Too grand opening. The band starts shortly, so order another round and enjoy!\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Pinkie\u2019s Too without Pinkie? The answer is entirely up to me to figure out.<\/p>\n

First, get through tonight. Start the band. Keep food and drinks flowing, so customers stay happy and don\u2019t ask questions. Talk to each crewmember individually and make them feel secure. We can\u2019t afford to lose anyone else. Then hope Pinkie is back here tomorrow, laughing about how the feds are so useless they couldn\u2019t play dead in a cowboy movie.<\/p>\n

Before I talk myself out of it, I turn and face the music. Teran is the first person I encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, what a shocker.\u201d He shakes his head. \u201cNot what I\u2019d expect from Pinkie. I can open and close, you know, help you manage, handle the books, whatever you need to cover until he\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUhm, thanks, Teran. I\u2019ll let you know.\u201d I can\u2019t even process what he\u2019s saying, so I keep walking.<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am,\u201d a patron says as I pass their table. \u201cIs everything okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

No, everything\u2019s not okay. The cops just yanked my friend, my mentor, my boss out of the bar on opening weekend. \u201cI\u2019m sure it is. Thank you for asking. How\u2019s everything?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood so far,\u201d the customer rattles back. \u201cHope whatever that thing was works out.\u201d I slip into automatic mode. Greet table after table. Tuck away the terror, mistrust, and unanswered questions in a safe place where no one knows they\u2019re there.<\/p>\n

This is exactly how I survived the five years at home before Harvard after Mom died, and Dad drowned deeper into the bottle. My teachers, Mom\u2019s friends, and people around town asked the same question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs everything okay?\u201d Considering I was twelve when it started, and Dad was the only one I had to take care of me, my answer was always yes. I carefully compartmentalized my sadness and fear of the future so everyone would believe Dad and I were the perfect little family.<\/p>\n

Bio
\n<\/strong>\"Addison<\/a>Addison Brae lives in Dallas, Texas on the edge of downtown. She has been writing since childhood and continues today with articles, video scripts and other content as an independent marketing consultant. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary young adult fiction. When she\u2019s not writing, Addison spends her time traveling the world, collecting interesting cocktail recipes and hosting parties. She\u2019s still addicted to reading and enjoys jogging in her neighborhood park, sipping red wine, binge-watching TV series, vintage clothing and hanging out with her artistic other half and their neurotic cat Lucy.<\/p>\n

Connect with Addison Brae on Instagram<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> and YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Characters Find a Place to Call Home Many authors invent heroines who return home to family and childhood friends. Other novels center on characters who yearn to create new homes as far away as possible from where they grew up. These characters are usually escaping bad memories. Gillian, the heroine in Dark Energy, opted … Continue reading “Addison Brae’s newest: Dark Energy!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,4,1377,1],"tags":[1484,1486,30,1487,1485,874,282,1488],"class_list":["post-2690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-information","category-book-topics","category-new","category-uncategorized","tag-addison-brae","tag-becker-circle","tag-contemporary","tag-cybercrime","tag-dark-energy","tag-new-release","tag-romantic-suspense","tag-sugar-creek"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9wA33-Ho","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2690"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2700,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions\/2700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}