NBTM: Sins of the Father by Lisa Beth Darling

Sins of the Father

by Lisa Beth Darling

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GENRE: Family centered drama

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BLURB:

As Hannah recovers from emergency brain and heart surgery, memories of the past overtake her dreams with such clarity they cannot be denied. As the last of the painful family secrets come to light it's up to her brother, Doctor Richard Mason, and his unconventional methods to help her confront the ugliness.

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Excerpt:

"If this doesn't work, she should sue you." Spaulding intoned as he turned on the hall light and advised Mason of the room's layout.  "Ok, look, the room is sort of 'U' shaped, the bed is in the middle of the room, Sister Cynthia built a fire in the hearth at the foot of the bed and there's a chair in a corner that's out of the way."

"Good. You wait until I start to walk in. You come in right behind me and get to the chair. Try not to let her see you."

"Oh, of course," Spaulding said in a mocking tone, "we wouldn't want her to think there was someone there to actually help her."

"Exactly." Mason returned in a deadpan voice. "There never was so why should there be now?"  He fiddled with the tie at his neck, smoothed his hair back one more time before putting the pipe to his lips and lighting it.  He stoked it hard filling the area with thick sweet smoke.  "Show time."

Hannah was in a light doze on the bed when the door opened.

The room was glowing a soft red/orange and she could only see the silhouette of someone standing in the doorway with the hall light behind them.  It looked like a man, he had a cane in one hand and…

A swirl of sweet smoke came from his mouth and drifted toward the ceiling as it wafted into the room.

"D-d-…Daddy?"

"What'r you doin', girl?"

Part of her told her that he was dead….buried….long fuckin' gone.  The other part told her she couldn't deny her own eyes and ears.  It reminded her that she hadn't gone to his funeral, hadn't seen his dead body, and watched it lowered into the cold, cold, ground.  Maybe they lied to her. Maybe he was alive and coming into her room.  "Tttt…tired, Daddy."  Hannah pulled the covers all the way up to her chin as she watched him make his way into the room. "I---I—I, don't…feel…well. Sick."

"Lazy's more like it, ain't that right, girl?"

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AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

It was in the 4th grade when Lisa Beth Darling discovered she was a naturally gifted writer. For her very first creative writing assignment, the teacher asked the class to pen a story about a baby bird's first flight and read them to the class. Putting pencil to paper, Lisa was instantly whisked away by a force she couldn't explain. When they were finished, all of the children read their happy stories to the class. Not Lisa. She got up and told of how the baby bird flew too high, hit a plane, crashed to the ground and died. She told of how the mama bird and daddy bird cried of how even God was upset sending the rains pouring from the sky. The class was speechless when she finished all they could do was stare at her. The teacher kept her after class told her the story was very good but it was different from the others. She asked Lisa if she'd ever heard of Icarus and had she based her story on him. Lisa had yet to encounter Greek Mythology or hear a whisper of Icarus. As Lisa left the classroom the teacher again told her how good the story was but suggested she might want to write something happier next time. Perplexed,  Lisa turned and asked her teacher: "Why?" The teacher had no answer. Luckily for us, Lisa never took that teacher's advice.

Today she brings us complex multi-layered stories rich with the trials and tribulations that make up the world in which we live. Not one to be pigeonholed into any single genre, Lisa's stories revolve around the intricacies of couples from range the intimacy of lovers, to mothers and sons, and brothers and sisters.

Lisa Beth Darling is 49 years-old, lives in her hometown of New London, CT with her husband of nearly 30 years, Roy.  She is the author of more than fifteen novels along with several short stories and non-fiction books.

Author web links: (web, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads, etc)

Website: http://www.lisabethdarling.com  

Blog: http://lbdarling.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lb_darling

Facebook: http://facebook.com/lbdarling

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1577311.Lisa_Beth_Darling

Purchase Links:

Kindle/Amazon (paperbacks available on Amazon)

http://amazon.com/author/lisadarling

Nook

http://barnesandnoble.com/c/lisa-beth-darling

iBooks

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/lisa-beth-darling/id411650358?mt=11

Smashwords

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lisadarling

Interview with Lisa Beth Darling

As a kid did you write or make up stories?

Yes, in fact I wrote my first novel in 7^th grade. My friends loved it, they mimeographed it and gave it to other people. It was rather hot and adult for a 7^th grader, it got me in trouble with my Guidance Counselor but I didn't back down. I just said I wouldn't pass any further pages around on school grounds. She agreed because, in large part, although I was only 12, she really liked what I was writing.

Where does most of your Character inspiration come from?

The Muse, there is no other creative source. All characters, stories, songs, poems, works of art, and ideas of great inspiration come from The Muse.  In the case of a writer, we get to pair what The Muse wants of us with bits and pieces of things we already know. Then we take The Muse's hand and jump into the abyss to see where it takes us. It's much fun.

Do some qualities of your characters come from real people?

Yes, they do. Writers draw on all types of things to keep a story evolving and moving forward after The Muse has drafted them into writing it. We're great observers of human behavior, in fact, I think we observe others quietly from the shadows almost as much as we write. Then we squash it all together to make putty that fills in some of the gaps of a given character's personality or motivation.

What was the inspiration for your book?

I started writing the Sister Christian series a few years after I made contact with my birth family and discovered I had three brothers. I was raised an only child so the idea that I had siblings was rather new to me, growing up I often wished I had a sibling but then I'd go to my friend's houses and see how they interacted with their siblings and went home happy I was an only child. The idea of the brother/sister dynamic always interested me even when my friends were shouting at each other over nothing. This series and a lot of its contents, planted deeply in the fertile ground of a writer's imagination, grew out of those two situations.

Sins of the Father is the second installment in the series, in it Doctor Richard Mason and his newly discovered sister, Hannah Rice are still getting to know each other. Except now, as we open, Hannah is debilitated having suffered a massive stroke at the end of Genesis, the first book in the series. She's on her way to recovery but the process is slow and as her body heals her mind begins to remember the details of her horrific car accident thirty years before. Dark family secrets are uncovered and in Mason's own reckless way he forces Hannah to face them.

What is your favorite spot to write?

At home, at my desk, where everything I could want or need is within easy reach. My office is filled with all types of kitchy objects from the 60s through the 80s; KISS dolls, The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Star Trek dolls, a Spock cup from when I was 5, Twinkie the Kid, all kinds of things like that. It's very comfortable and, you know, just so 'me'.

What advice would you give budding writers?

Don't give up. Write your story freely from the heart, don't edit as you go along and even if you think something sounds utterly stupid write it anyway—you may find it plays well at some later point. Refine your story. Read your story from beginning to end, that's important if it doesn't make you laugh, cry, get excited, chances are it won't do it for anyone else. When you're ready, try the Traditional Publishing Route. I think everyone should try it just to see what it's really like. Don't submit to every publisher out there, do your Due Diligence, do your research before hitting 'submit'. If that doesn't work out for you don't get discouraged just go and learn about self-publishing, it isn't that hard, the publishing part that is. The getting it out there so people see it and maybe buy it part, that's a bear. But stick with it. Eventually you'll find your audience.

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Lisa Beth Darling will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn host.

a Rafflecopter giveaway