Guest Post; Emotobooks: The Fusion of Written Fiction and Expressionistic Art

P.E.'s note: I'm an enormous fan of technology and the one thing that is always with me, more than money, ID, or food is my smartphone. I love it, so Emotobooks are a really exciting concept for me. Thank you to Ron Gavalik for writing this guest post. 

Thank you to P.E. for allowing me to guest post. 

As a writer and publisher, it’s always been a goal to bridge the gap between the cerebral gratifications of well-plotted fiction writing and the visual stimulation of illustrative art. The one day I had a mini-epiphany. Insert expressive, emotionally representative imagery in written stories, during moments of emotional consequence. By delivering a visual of what a character feels, the reader becomes more intensely immersed in the story.

Emotobooks are written fiction stories, not comics or graphic novels. The few emotional abstract images woven in the stories are the dream-like visuals each of us experience in the middle of the night.

The term Emotobook is a portmanteau word I conjured as a memorable label for the very first fiction medium for smartphones and tablets. For the first time, readers can now see actual representation of character emotions right on the page for a fun, interactive experience.

Stories are published as EmotoSerials or EmotoSingles. EmotoSerials are monthly-released, continuing stories, much like TV dramas or miniseries that continue until their climactic ends. EmotoSingles are individual experiences.

I launched Grit City Publications in July of 2011, with the first Emotobook series titled Grit City, a seven-part story about Dillon Galway, an idealistic freelance journalist, who scrapes out a living reporting on corruption. Since then, we’ve grown the Emotobooks Catalog into an array of fun genre fiction titles in Sci-Fi, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, and Horror.

Each Emotobook title consists of three creators: the author, editor, and illustrator. It’s our philosophy that three contributors on each Emotobook delivers a richer, more flavorful story. The creators even offer Autograph Cards and suggest mood settings, such as food, drink, and music. This way our fans can achieve a full-bodied experience.

Emotobooks accommodate a new audience, who desire a fast “full story experience” on smartphones, iPods, computers, or tablet readers in about 30 to 60 minutes. They can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers.

Our editors are currently seeking the best genre fiction for the Emotobooks transformation. It’s required that fiction writers read our submission guidelines and the free handbook, How to Create Emotobooks, before submitting. Our publishing model is unique and we require long-term participation from authors for everyone’s success.

Now that you’ve been introduced to the Emotobooks Revolution, I hope you’ll join our Readers Cult and begin collecting the coolest titles. We even offer free Autograph Cards to our fans. What it really comes down to is we write, edit, and illustrate the best modern fiction for our fans. Without you, we wouldn’t be here. Thank you.

Ron Gavalik’s Bio:

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ron Gavalik is a seasoned freelance journalist and fiction author of the successful Grit City thriller series. As Publisher for Grit City Publications, he oversees the Emotobooks Revolution. Ron holds an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and a B.S. in Marketing Communications from Point Park University. When not writing, you can find him in the outdoors of Southwestern Pennsylvania on his trail bike, hiking, or fishing.

 

Guest Post by Author Mary Pauline Lowry

You can read more about Mary Pauline Lowry or buy The Earthquake Machine at www.marypaulinelowry.com

Growing up, I became tired of reading books and watching movies about boys having adventures. I wanted more books about girls doing wild, amazing things. And I wanted to experience life fully myself; I didn't want to have to be stuck “staying safe” and being demure.

I have always been a handful—I know my parents worried about me a lot. When I was 15, I climbed out the window and ran away from home. I made it all the way to Matamoros, Mexico. (I would NOT advise anyone else to try this—most runaways end up in terrible trouble). When I was 21 I joined an elite “Hotshot” crew of forest firefighters and traveled all over the country battling wildfires. After that I got a job in Durango, Colorado as a carpenter’s apprentice. When I was tired of working outside in the cold, I started a job at a domestic violence shelter, helping women and children stay safe.

But no matter where I was or what I was doing, I always read tons of books. They helped me both escape and understand my own life.  And I always wanted to be a writer myself. I wanted to create female characters that would inspire other women and girls to take risks and live life fully. Hopefully I’ve done that with my novel THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE.

***

Mary Pauline Lowry has worked as a forest firefighter, screenwriter, open water lifeguard, construction worker, and advocate in the movement to end violence against women. Due to no fault of her sweet parents, at 15 she ran away from home and made it all the way to Matamoros, Mexico. She believes girls should make art, have adventures, and read books that show them the way.

***

The Earthquake Machine, a fun, fantastical and exhilarating tale, explodes the distinction between Young Adult and adult coming-of-age novels, even as it explores the borders between the United States and Mexico, adolescence and adulthood, male and female, English and Spanish. 


 The Earthquake Machine tells the story of 14 year-old Rhonda. On the outside, everything looks perfect in Rhonda’s world, but at home Rhonda has to deal with a manipulative father who keeps her mentally ill mother hooked on pharmaceuticals. The only reliable person in Rhonda’s life is her family’s Mexican yardman, Jesús. But when the INS deports Jesús back to his home state of Oaxaca, Rhonda is left alone with her increasingly painful family situation. 


 Determined to find her friend Jésus, Rhonda seizes an opportunity to run away during a camping trip with friends to Big Bend National Park. She swims to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and makes her way to the border town of Milagros, Mexico. There a peyote- addled bartender convinces her she won’t be safe traveling alone into the country’s interior. So with the bartender’s help, Rhonda cuts her hair and assumes the identity of a Mexican boy named Angel. 


She then sets off on a burro across the desert to look for Jesús. Thus begins a wild adventure that fulfills the longing of readers eager for a brave and brazen female protagonist.

What are Flames in FLAME OF SURRENDER?: A Guest Post by Rhi Paille

Today I have the awesomely spectacular author Rhiannon Paille here for a special guest post on Flames to promote her new book, Flame of Surrender releasing November 1st 2011.  

What are Flames in FLAME OF SURRENDER?

The flames are pure energy. They were forged from the original dust of the lands and are therefore some of the most complex organisms in the known lands.


My ideas for the flames derived from Eastern Mythology and the Violet Flame of transmutation and karma. In mythology, the Violet Flame is an energy that can erase karma and help a person live a better life. It was considered a thing that was carried with Saint Germaine, and then associated with both Archangel Zadkiel and the goddess Kwan Yin.


The Violet Flame has always been a thing, like a talisman or an amulet.


And I thought, what if the Violet Flame was an entity? What if it was alive inside the lantern Saint Germaine carried it around in? What if it had a voice but it couldn’t speak? What if it was really like a genie trapped in a lamp? What if the Violet Flame was a possession, a slave, one that was bound to its master?


What if there were others? Other flames? Maybe not Violet in color, but Orange, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Pink, and Black? What if each of them were individuals with their own abilities, but what if they all originated from that same idea that they were a possessions?


And then what if they could be used as weapons?


I’ve always been a big believer in “absolute power can corrupt absolutely” and if the flames were anything like The Violet Flame which can basically erase karma and heal any ailment, well that’s pretty powerful. What happens when someone reaches absolute power? They become corrupted. So the flames became these all powerful possessions that could both heal and destroy on a monumental scale.


I began to think about what scale that would be and all I kept thinking was it would have to be nuclear. You know you can’t do anything half assed right? If a character is going to be lethal it’s going to build and build and it’s going to become like a nuclear bomb.


I decided to stay away from colors because of the obvious awkward looks I might get from the spiritual community to be writing a story about the Violet Flame as a dangerous thing. The people who believe in the Violet Flame and do the mantras aren’t interested in my creativity I’m sure, it’ll probably just rub them wrong. Instead I decided to go with crystals, and I stuck to colored crystals like the Indigo Flame became the Iolite Flame, and the abilities that the Iolite Flame has, have nothing to do with what Iolite represents metaphysically. (Still with me? Because people do crystal therapy and different crystals do different things, FYI)


Similarly, the Violet Flame became the Amethyst Flame, and the others fell in line, Ruby, Emerald, Carnelian, Azurite, Obsidian, Quartz, Citrine and Iolite.


And from there the personalities and the abilities grew on their own, each of them being as different as I could make them, though believe me, while traipsing the Metaphysical world there are things that are considered impossible that are not considered impossible in the Fictional world. I have to say that put a damper on things for me, because someone being telekinetic in the Metaphysical community is actually monumental where as telekinesis in the Fictional community is overused. So I’ve had to get more creative with it.


What the Flames have in common:

          They are individuals.


          They are thought of as a thing, not as a person.

          They are able to destroy or repair.


          They are conscious with or without a body.


          They can possess a body.


          They can be merged together to create the ultimate weapon.


To go into further details on the last two points, when Krishani finds Tiki in FLAME OF JUSTICE (the second book in the series) she’s in a lantern and he can talk to her telepathically. The Flames still retain consciousness even when they are separated from the body. They can also be fitted into any inanimate object, an orb, a crystal, a talisman, a pocket watch, a latern, a rock, whatever really, but whatever they are trapped in, they are still alive. Imagine being paralyzed inside your own body and being able to feel, see and hear, but not be able to move or control the things you do. THAT is what it’s like to be a flame inside an inanimate object. All a flame can hope for is that their captor is a good person.


In some instances, Flames can possess a body. If someone is still alive, the flame can enter the body and go into dormant state. This means that they are present, but the original host still has control of the body. If the original host ever dies, the flame would awaken and take over. In some cases the Flame awakens and subconsciously influences the host, which allows the host to then use the Flame’s natural abilities, though free will is still in the hands of the host. So the host can use the flames abilities for good as well as evil. If a body is born without a soul, such as a stillborn, or a sudden death, the flame can enter and take control before rigor mortis sets in. The flame then becomes the host of the body.


All of the above happens a lot in The Ferryman and The Flame series.


And then there’s that ultimate weapon bit. If a master or a captor were to collect ALL of the flames, they would be able to fit them together like puzzle pieces so that they would merge and become one. This is why the Valtanyana are trying to acquire the flames; they want to merge them so that they can control the known lands, and destroy anything that stands in their way. Nothing would be able to stop them if they had the flames.


With the flames being so dangerous on their own, you can only imagine what would happen if they were merged. Total apocalypse, basically, take the universe as a whole and implode it, end of life altogether, billions of years to recreate, etc. etc. It would be the ultimate end of all things.


And that’s what makes the Flames interesting and different. They’re nothing like vampires, werewolves, faeries, mediums, healers, psychics, shapeshifters, or witches. They’re a completely different species that aren’t like anything else in the universe.

About the Author

Rhi was never a normal girl. She tried, but she couldn’t get rid of the visions, the voices in her head, and the hallucinations. When she was on the edge of crazy someone pulled her back and explained it all. She wasn’t insane. She was psychic, really psychic, too psychic. Her life was an urban fantasy wrapped in a paranormal romance and served with a side of horror. To escape her everyday weirdness she began writing fantasy. She frequents twitter and facebook, but if you really want to get to know her you should visit her site: www.rhiannonpaille.com


Her book FLAME OF SURRENDER (The Ferryman and The Flame #1) Comes out November 1st, 2011. Check it out on Goodreads and be sure to add it to your TBR!

The Book

The boy who follows death meets the girl who could cause the apocalypse.

Krishani thinks he’s doomed until he meets Kaliel, the one girl on the island of Avristar who isn’t afraid of him. She’s unlike the other girls, she swims with merfolk, talks to trees and blooms flowers with her touch. What he doesn’t know is that she’s a flame, one of nine individually hand crafted weapons, hidden in the body of a seemingly harmless girl.

Nobody has fallen in love with a flame until now. She becomes Krishani’s refuge from the dreams of death and the weather abilities he can’t control. Striking down thousand year old trees with lightning isn’t something he tries to do, it just happens. When the Ferryman dies, Krishani knows that he’s the next and that a lifetime of following death is his destiny.

And Kaliel can’t come with him. The Valtanyana are hunting the flames, the safest place for her is Avristar. Krishani can’t bear to leave her, and one innocent mistake grants the Valtanyana access to their mystical island. They’re coming for Kaliel, and they won’t stop until every last living creature on Avristar is dead. She has to choose, hide, face them, or awaken the flame and potentially destroy herself.