Fascinating, fast paced and with shocking
twists and turns until the very last,
HORSE FLESH is a breakthrough debut novel
set to entertain not only horse and racing enthusiasts, but fiction fans
looking for a fresh next read.
Title: Horseflesh
Author: Tina Sugarman
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Release Date: 1st September 2016
BLURB supplied by Authoright
Enter the highly competitive world of
Standardbred horse racing, in this exhilarating debut from an insider. The
story, however, goes far beyond that and touches on universal themes that every
reader will recognise.
You’ll be thrust into the front car on a
roller coaster ride, through triumph and disaster, that begins on page one.
You’ll feel every twist and turn of the story in the pit of your stomach.
You’ll laugh and cry with the rough, tough guys who put on the show, rain or
shine. You’ll empathise with the women who give this world a heart. You’ll meet the cheaters who use horses as
pincushions, who want to win at any price.
You’ll get to know the equine athletes who give their all, whatever
challenges life throws at them. Last, but not least, you’ll feel the
overwhelming sense of community that pervades this world, despite the sharp
edges of a highly competitive sport. If that’s not enough, there’s a backstory
that will keep you on the edge of your seat, which takes you on a journey from
Ontario, Canada to the Rockies, the US, the Caribbean and even the UK. The
icing on the cake is an ending full of surprises that will leave you feeling
well satisfied.
The characters leap off the page: a brilliant
harness horse driver whose drug habit risks costing him everything, his cousin,
a trainer who refuses to compromise her integrity, a mysterious individual
known only as the Scorpion, lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings, the
Director of Racing trying desperately to clean up the industry, his mentor and
best friend who has his own agenda, a low life groom who knows too much for his
own good, the Canadian Mountie who inadvertently gets involved, with unforeseen
consequences, a veterinarian caught between two worlds, young horses unaware of
what’s in store for them and trainers whose livelihoods hang by a thread, who
face a Hobbesian choice if they are to survive. These are just some of the
players in a story where passions run high and where the distinction between right
and wrong, good and evil, is always blurred.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tina Sugarman
has been involved with Standardbred horse racing in Ontario for nearly two
decades, spending summers on a horse farm a few kilometres from Mohawk Raceway,
the premier harness racing track in Canada. She lives in Poole, Dorset with her
husband and their maine coon cat, Juliette and enjoys driving their hackney
mare, Mango, in the New Forest. She
still takes a keen interest in the sport. HORSE FLESH by Tina Sugarman
(published by Clink Street Publishing September
1st, 2016) is available to order from online retailers including Amazon and to
order from all good bookstores.
EXCERPT
At
Iroquois Downs, the fillies for the fourth race were slowly making their way
out onto the track, their flanks gleaming with sweat. Theo made a bee- line for
the 2 horse, Heart of Darkness, who had a startling white star on her forehead
and a long full mane. Along with the glamour came a ton of courage. She’d need
that courage tonight. She was racing against the top three year old fillies in
North America.
“She’s
the best!” her trainer, Jim Mercer, growled as he handed over the lines,
increasing the pressure Theo was already feeling. Theo merely nodded. He swung
himself effortlessly onto the race bike, the place he felt most at home in all
the world.
Out
on the track, the spotlight played on him and Heart of Darkness for a brief
moment. Then the filly took of on him, her neck arched, her feet dancing on the
stone dust track. He glanced at the odds board. She was even money. Suddenly he
felt high, a natural high that was almost as good as the drugs he did on
occasion. The only cloud on his horizon was the $35,000 he owed the mysterious
individual known as the Scorpion. Theo had never met him and never wanted to
either. The name fit him all too well: deadly with a sting in the tail. He
shuddered. $35,000! How had his cocaine habit gotten so totally out of control?
He stifled the thought. For now, he needed to focus on the race ahead. He eyed
the competition, careful not to speak to any of the other drivers. The judges,
who watched their every move, would assume they were plotting to get a long
shot home. Moose’s filly, Gypsy Queen, was the one to beat. But except for the
two outsiders, Jolie Dame and Raiders Moon, it was a strong eld.
The
sky darkened. Two minutes to post! Floodlights were beaming down onto the
racetrack, creating the illusion of a bright sunny day. Seagulls from Lake
Ontario swooped over the in eld and perched on the grandstand roof, their
raucous cries filling the air. Black thunderclouds looked ready to drop their
load as crowds of people clutching their tickets rushed down to the rail,
anxious not to miss the start of the feature race.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Could
you tell us a little about your book Horse Flesh?
After a long career and life-long personal interest in horses and
horse racing this book has always been something I wanted to write and has
taken a few years for me to be finally happy with the finished book.
For readers I really hope that you’ll all enjoy being thrust into the front
car on a roller coaster ride, through triumph and disaster, that begins on page
one. You’ll feel every twist and turn of the story in the pit of your stomach.
You’ll laugh and cry with the rough, tough guys who put on the show, rain or
shine. You’ll empathise with the women who give this world a heart. You’ll meet
the cheaters who use horses as pincushions, who want to win at any price. You’ll
get to know the equine athletes who give their all, whatever challenges life
throws at them. Last, but not least, you’ll feel the overwhelming sense of
community that pervades this world, despite the sharp edges of a highly
competitive sport. If that’s not enough, there’s a backstory that will keep you
on the edge of your seat, which takes you on a journey from Ontario, Canada to
the Rockies, the US, the Caribbean and even the UK. The icing on the cake is an
ending full of surprises that will leave you feeling well satisfied.
Did
you basic plot/plan for your book Horse Flesh, before you actually began
writing it out? Or do you let the writing flow and see where it takes the
story?
I
thought about how many books I had read where many of the secondary players
were difficult to distinguish from one another.
I found I often forgot who was who.
I didn’t want that to happen to readers of my book. However, there were so many larger than life
characters to inspire me in the world I had chosen to write about – a world I
knew so well: breeders, owners,
trainers, grooms, veterinarians, blacksmiths, feedmen, drivers and last but not
least, the horses. And of course most of
the characters did not stand alone. They
had friends and families, too. My
solution was to let the reader travel in the shoes of the major players for a
while as each one takes up the story, telling their part in it in their own
way, revealing thoughts and feelings in a personal and sometimes highly charged
fashion. I reasoned that once a
character had opened up to the reader in this way, they’d be difficult to
forget. Though I had a vague idea about the story I wanted to tell, it was the
characters who sprang to life before I even thought about the intricacies of
the plot. By then, the characters were
firmly in charge, always authentic, never sounding a wrong note, driving the
plot along. The characters are all based
on individuals within the business or certainly experiences I have had being at
the centre of this industry, those who have been involved within horse racing
will certainly recognise some of their traits and who knows maybe someone will
recognise themselves!
Is
there anything else you’d like to share with us about Horse Flesh?
At
its heart, Harness racing is a craft, a rural pursuit that deserves to
continue. There are plenty of good people out there just looking for an honest
way to make a living. I wrote this book
for them and for the horses who are victims of a system that is ripe for
reform. This book is also dedicated to all the horses I have known, but
especially the Standardbred racehorse, whose friendly, trusting nature, in my
experience, is second to none in the equine world.
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