ASIN: B00E4WTEP2
Series: Steel Roots
Publisher: Seventh Star Press
Pages/File Size: 274pages/908KB
Formats Available: Paperback,E-Book
BLURB supplied by Tomorrow Comes Media
Born in a boxcar on a
train bound for Georgia. At least that is what Papa Steel always told AB'Gale.
But now, fifteen years later, the man who adopted and raised her as his own is
missing and it's up to AB'Gale to find him. Aided only by a motley gang of
friends, AB'Gale train hops her way across the United States in a desperate
attempt to find her papa and put her life and family back the way it was. Her
only guide is a map given to her by a mysterious hobo, with hand written clues
she found hidden in her papa's spyglass. Here is the Great American Adventure
in an alternate steampunk dystopian world, where fifteen-year-old AB'Gale Steel
learns that nothing is as it seems, but instead is shrouded in secrets and
mysteries ... and that monsters come in all shapes and forms.
The Boxcar Baby is the first book of the
Steel Roots series.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Hollywood and raised in San Diego,
CA, J.L. Mulvihill has made Mississippi her home for the past fifteen years.
Her debut novel was the young adult title The Lost Daughter of Easa, an engaing
fantasy novel bordering on science-fiction with a dash of steampunk, published
through Kerlak Publishing. The Boxcar
Baby, the first novel of her Steel Roots Series, was released by Seventh Star
Press in the summer of 2013.
J.L. also has several short fiction pieces
in publication, among them "Chilled Meat", a steampunk thriller found
in the Dreams of Steam II-Of Bolts and Brass, anthology (Kerlak Publishing) and
"The Leprechaun’s Story", a steampunk urban Fantasy found in the
anthology, Clockwork, Spells, & Magical Bells (Kerlak Publishing)
J.L. is very active with the writing
community, and is the events coordinator for the Mississippi Chapter of
Imagicopter known as the Magnolia-Tower.
She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators (SCBWI), Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA), The Mississippi Writers
Guild (MWG), as well as the Arts Council of Clinton, and the Clinton
Ink-Slingers Writing Group.
Author
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/Imagicopter?ref=hl
GUEST POST
J L Mulvihill and writing in the Dystopian World
Hi
Jean, thank you for having me on your blog.
So why Dystopian genre? Well
because that is what being a teenager is all about. Your whole life is in turmoil and the world
is coming to an end and everybody hates you and nobody understands you. It’s true, I have two teenage daughters I
know this is true. Really though I do
understand because I was a teenager once too and I do remember feeling like
that at least part of the time.
I
think that teens or rather young adults want to read something along the lines
of these feelings they can identify with.
Ok, so maybe our government is not really as bad as the one I have in my
book and the children don’t end up in workhouses or brothels if they are too
poor to go to school, well at least not in America right? My point is there is a feeling of hopelessness
and struggle mixed with the emotions of loyalty and determination with this
genre. These emotions no matter what
setting they are placed in, I believe, are feelings that a lot of people
including young adults can identify with and that is why so many people read
stories that take place in dystopian worlds.
I
remember watching the movie Logan’s Run, I never read the book though it is on
my list, but when I watched the movie I felt a passion inside. I remember getting excited and anxious for
the key characters, when they learned who they really were and where they came
from. Their struggle to understand the
how and the why. They wanted to live,
they didn’t want to break the rules but they wanted to live and it just wasn’t
fair.
Maybe
I am just a rule breaker and this is my way of being able to legally break the
rules. After all the only way to survive
in a dystopian world is to break the rules that bind you to that world. In my Novel The Boxcar Baby, the world is not
fair and the characters have to break the rules to survive, not quite like
Logan’s Run, but another reality. Writing in a dystopian world especially
steampunk gives you carte blanche. I
have very few rules to follow in my writing and I find it so much easier and
the words flow so much better when I am not restricted to rules.
I
think it is always fun to read in the dystopian genre and some of my favorites
are: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; The Time Machine by H. G. Wells; 1984 by
George Orwell; The Stand, The Long Walk, as well as Running Man by Stephen King;
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; Farnhams Freehold by Robert Heinlein; The
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau; and more recently I enjoyed reading The Hunger
Games by Suzanne Collins. Some of these
are classics and some fairly new in literature but still ring true to the
dystopian effect. I like to feel the character overcome the obstacles and make
a change in their world. I could read
books that deal with everyday life and characters overcoming daily obstacles
but it’s not the same magnitude of the feeling I get when I read and write in a
dystopian genre.
I enjoyed my
time here and thank you again for allowing me to share my thoughts on your
blog. I hope you have the time to read The Boxcar Baby and when you do
friend me on Facebook at the Steel Roots page and let me know what you
think. If you are interested in obtaining a signed copy of the book my
next event will be taking place in Louisville, MS at the Backwoods Comic
Festival. Cibo (pronounced Chi-Bo); Italian Restaurant in Louisville, MS
will be the food vendor there and serving Hobo Dogs honoring The Boxcar
Baby. Their Hobo Dogs are wrapped in bacon and then deep fried southern
style, yum!. If Louisville, MS is too far out of your way, I’d appreciate
it if you could give Cibo a like on Facebook to let them know we appreciate
their support and good food. After Louisville I am scheduled for
CONtraflow in New Orleans October 18-20 and then November 15-17 I will be
attending the Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention.
Until next time remember, “No
matter where you go, there you are,” Confucius.
J L Mulvihill
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