INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTHOR
Connie Lacy is the author of VisionSight: a Novel, The
Time Telephone, and The
Shade Ring. All three are available in ebook and paperback on Amazon,
and in paperback at BarnesandNoble.com.
VisionSight is about a young woman who inherits the
gift of future sight – a gift she views as a curse. The
Shade Ring is set a
hundred years in the future when oceans have risen fifteen feet. The Time Telephone is about a teenage girl trying to call through
time to save her mother from a bomb blast.
In her writing she often draws on her
experiences as radio reporter and news anchor covering a variety of stories.
She lives in Atlanta with her husband and
their goofy dog, Pistol – so named because he’s a real pistol. She has three
grown sons who’ve flown the coop and three grandchildren.
Connie always creates a multi-ethnic cast
of characters in her fiction.
Title: VisionSight
Author: Connie Lacy
Genre: Magical Realism, Contemporary
Release Date: 17th October 2015
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Jenna Stevens sees the
future. But only when she looks into her loved ones’ eyes. And it’s driving her
crazy because she can’t prevent all the misery and heartache lying in wait.
She quickly decides the gift of “vision-sight”
she inherited from her mother is actually a curse. So she distances herself
from everyone she cares about, throwing herself into her acting career and the
arms of a young director.
But she’s haunted by her visions and begins
drinking as her life spirals out of control. VisionSight is the story of a
young woman’s search for courage as she tries to figure out how to help the
people she loves. What she doesn’t realize is that she must save herself as
well. A heartfelt novel of secrets and unexpected love.
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Title: The Shade Ring
Author: Connie Lacy
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action & Adventure, Romance
Release Date: 30th April 2015
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A romantic, action-packed story set in the near future…
The year is 2117. Oceans have risen fifteen feet and it’s 120 degrees in Atlanta as Neave Alvarez graduates with a degree in Climatology. But it’s a field she’s forced into by a domineering father who drags her into his campaign to launch a solar shade ring into space. The goal is to block the sun’s rays and cool the oceans.
But Neave begins to have doubts during an expedition to sunken Charleston. That’s where she meets the first man who’s ever vibrated her molecules, only to discover he’s a clone – a clone who asks infuriating questions about what her scientist parents are really up to.
Her quest for the truth plunges her into a dangerous world of political intrigue and dark family secrets where it’s hard to tell who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy. She wrestles with the meaning of family, whether clones have a soul and whether one more scientist can really make a difference in the fight against rising seas.
Set against the backdrop of runaway global warming, The Shade Ring is a compelling tale of a young woman’s pursuit of justice. And there’s also her search for true love, even though she doubts it still exists anymore.
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Title: The Time Telephone
Author: Connie Lacy
Genre: Magical Realism, YA, NA, & Adult
Release Date: 17th August 2015
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A time travel story with a twist…
17 year old Megan McConnell’s notebook is filled with poetry about the loss of her mother, killed in a bomb blast covering the war in Afghanistan. But moments after her mom's funeral, an antique phone rings in the farmhouse where her mother grew up. When Megan answers, the operator tells her it’s a time telephone that she can use to call her mom in the past. Which launches her on a high-stakes quest to save her mother’s life and salvage their relationship.
Her dream is that her mother will come home instead of gallivanting around the globe, year in and year out, as a foreign correspondent. This is a coming of age story about a teenager dealing with feelings of rejection and abandonment. But can you change someone you love? Megan is going to find out.
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW
What is your name, where were you born and where do you live
now?
My name is
Connie Lacy. I was born at Ft. Campbell,
Kentucky while my father was stationed there in the Army. I’ve been living in Atlanta for a long time
and think of it as home.
Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to
be?
When I was 8
years old I thought I’d like to be a hair stylist. At 11 years of age I wanted to be an
astronomer. When I was 14 I thought I’d
like to be a lawyer and live in a high-rise apartment in New York. But I gravitated toward journalism in college
and worked for many years as a radio reporter and news anchor. I started writing fiction when I was in junior
high. But it wasn’t until last year that
I finally self-published my first, second and third books.
What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to
summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
My latest book
is “VisionSight: a Novel.” It’s magical
realism for women readers. It’s about a
young woman who inherits the ability to see the future when she looks into her
loved ones’ eyes.
Which of your books were easier/harder to write than the others?
My first book,
“The Shade Ring,” was a real challenge.
It’s Sci-fi – Climate Fiction – and is set a hundred years in the future
when runaway global warming has caused a fifteen foot rise in sea levels. I did a ton of research preparing to create
the world of 2117. I actually love doing
research. The only problem is sometimes
I have to tell myself to quit researching and get on with writing.
What can we expect from you in the future? ie More books
of the same genre? Books of a different genre?
Right now I’m
working on two sequels to “The Shade Ring.”
Book 2 will be published this summer and Book 3 will come out in early
2017. After that, I’ll be working on a
novel about a high school girl set in the 1960s.
Do you have a favourite character from your books? and why are
they your favourite?
I like the
protagonist in each of my first three books.
But I’m most partial, I think, to 17 year old Megan McConnell – the main
character in my second book, “The Time Telephone.” She’s determined to try to save her mother,
who’s a foreign correspondent, by calling her in the past. She has to deal with feelings of abandonment
but… without giving too much of the story away… she learns a lot about life and
love.
Where do you get your book plot ideas from?What/Who is your
inspiration?
Ideas pop into
my head. The idea for “The Shade Ring”
came from all the media coverage of global warming. I started wondering what a hotter world would
be like and developed a character who actually gets sucked into efforts to deal
with climate change. The idea for my
third book, “VisionSight,” came to me while watching my son’s high school
soccer game. I was wondering what a
group of teenagers several rows in front of me would look like in thirty or
forty years. And it occurred to me that
I could write about a character who can see the future.
Do you basic plot/plan for your book, before you actually begin
writing it out? Or do you let the
writing flow and see where it takes the story?
With all of my
books I come up with a basic idea or a character I want to write about and then
make tons of notes – pages and pages of ideas and possible scenes – until I
know where I’m going with it. Before I
start writing a manuscript I know where the story is supposed to go, including
how it ends. Of course, sometimes once
I’m writing, a character may not do exactly what I had planned. But the ending is always what I aimed for.
Have you ever based characters on people you know or based
events on things that have happened to you?
I draw on all
kinds of experiences and people in my own life.
But I never lift a real person and write him or her into a novel. I do borrow traits or habits and write them
into characters, including certain parts of myself. I think a good many writers do that. And I’ve taken some events from my life and
included them in stories but the specifics are so transformed and altered that
not even my family members recognize them.
Where can
readers follow you?
Blog: www.connielacy.com
Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/ConnieLacyBooks
Goodreads author page: www.Goodreads.com/ConnieLacy
Twitter: @cdlacy
