I’m
very pleased, today, to have a special visitor here at A Novel Friend thanks to
Terri Bruce’s Blog Tour! Ian, the cowboy from Terri’s newest release, Thereafter, took a few minutes out of
his adventures in the Afterlife to chat with us!
Thanks
for stopping by my blog here, Ian! Terri and I do a lot of talking about
horses, so I was excited to meet the cowboy she’s been talking about. I know Thereafter
has just come out, so a lot of people might not have read it yet. Can you tell these folks a little about
yourself in the book?
Well, it’s gonna sound mighty
strange, but me and a bunch of other folks are stuck by this river in the
afterlife—we’re all dead, you see. And there’s this woman, Irene Dunphy—well,
she comes along with a plan to spring us all. So I end up fallin’ in with her
and this other fella—Andras—and we set about trying to get on out of there.
Before
you ended up where you are now, what was your life like?
I worked on a horse ranch in
Kentucky. Weren’t much excitement—it was sun up to sun down back breaking work.
It was hot, it was dusty, and the only good part was headin’ to Ms. Lydia’s
Dancing Girls Emporium on Saturday nights.
Being a horse
person myself, I’m curious to how horses are in the Afterlife. Can you tell us
a little bit about that?
Well, I don’t rightly know, now that
you mention it. I ain’t never seen many horses running around the afterlife.
There’s a few, now and again, with some of the older folks, them that died in
way back times, but otherwise, ain’t too many. God only knows how Irene ended
up with a horse—she don’t strike me as much of a horse woman, prancing around
in that little nothing of a dress she wears and all.
What were some
of your favorite pastimes or hobbies before?
How has that changed?
Outside of Ms. Lydia’s, there
weren’t much time for much else in the way of hobbies. When I got hitched to
Irmaguard, I had to give up Ms. Lydia’s, which was a damn shame. But Irmaguard,
God rest her soul, was a sure-fired jealous woman so there wasn’t any help for
it.
What did you
think of Irene when you meet her? How
does that change as you got to know her?
Oooo-eeee! I was looking over this
vista, admiring the view, and all of a sudden this woman, well, more of a blur,
really, comes flying at me like a bat out of hell. I didn’t know what she was
doin’. She tackles me, and the next thing I know I’m flat on my back, lookin’
up into a mass of red hair, the most beautiful brown eyes, and the sweetest
little mouth I ever did see. She wanted to take off right after, but I sure
wasn’t lettin’ her out of my sight that easy. Then I found she was fixin’ to
find a way across the river, and then I certainly wasn’t goin’ to let her out
of my sight! I been stuck there by that river for a couple hundred years and
was mighty sick of it, I can tell you.
Something I
always like to ask folks I interview is this: What is a question you want me to
ask? And what would that answer be?
Well, now, that’s a toughie. I
guess, I wish you’d asked when I wish I would have lived; I can tell you that
Irene told me a bit about the future and it sure did sound good. I wish that’s
when I’d been born. Life sure does seem like a lot more fun.
No
problem! And shoot, thanks for havin’ me!
Find out more about Ian,
Irene, Andras, and Terri by picking up
Thereafter! Here are the details!
Book
Details:
ISBN:
978-0991303625
Cover
Price: $14.95
E-book Price: $4.95
Jacket Copy:
Nothing in life is free. Turns out, nothing in the afterlife is, either.
When recently-deceased Irene Dunphy decided to “follow the light,” she thought she’d end up in Heaven or Hell and her journey would be over.
Boy, was she wrong.
She soon finds that “the other side” isn’t a final destination but a kind of purgatory where billions of spirits are stuck, with no way to move forward or back. Even worse, deranged phantoms known as “Hungry Ghosts” stalk the dead, intent on destroying them. The only way out is for Irene to forget her life on earth—including the boy who risked everything to help her cross over—which she’s not about to do.
As Irene desperately searches for an alternative, help unexpectedly comes in the unlikeliest of forms: a twelfth-century Spanish knight and a nineteenth-century American cowboy. Even more surprising, one offers a chance for redemption; the other, love. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to have either if she can’t find a way to escape the hellish limbo where they’re all trapped.
Nothing in life is free. Turns out, nothing in the afterlife is, either.
When recently-deceased Irene Dunphy decided to “follow the light,” she thought she’d end up in Heaven or Hell and her journey would be over.
Boy, was she wrong.
She soon finds that “the other side” isn’t a final destination but a kind of purgatory where billions of spirits are stuck, with no way to move forward or back. Even worse, deranged phantoms known as “Hungry Ghosts” stalk the dead, intent on destroying them. The only way out is for Irene to forget her life on earth—including the boy who risked everything to help her cross over—which she’s not about to do.
As Irene desperately searches for an alternative, help unexpectedly comes in the unlikeliest of forms: a twelfth-century Spanish knight and a nineteenth-century American cowboy. Even more surprising, one offers a chance for redemption; the other, love. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to have either if she can’t find a way to escape the hellish limbo where they’re all trapped.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
You
can win stuff,
too, by leaving comments!!
Launch
Party Blog Tour Giveaway – May 1st – May 31st
2
$50 Amazon gift cards
5
signed paperback copies of Thereafter (U.S./Canada Only)