Welcome to my first participation in a Blog Tour, so far I’ve been enjoying it very much. I was lucky enough to be today’s tour stop for “IA: Initiate” by John Darryl Winston. The Blog Tour is running this week (March 21-25) and you can find the participating bloggers and schedule here.
You can find “IA: Initiate” at Amazon.
IA: Initiate is origin story and a hero’s journey that follows thirteen-year-old orphan Naz Andersen and his nine-year-old sister, Meri. They live in a present day alternate Detroit/Chicago-like city known as the Exclave where they are surrounded by poverty, gang violence threatens every corner, and drug dealers rule the streets. Naz thinks he is ordinary except that he hears voices, has nightmares, and walks in his sleep.
The most important thing in the world to Naz is protecting Meri and getting her out of the Exclave and into the prestigious International Academy. But Naz has a secret, one that he is oblivious to, and only Meri knows. When Naz becomes the target of a notorious street gang he begins to discover the voices in his head, the nightmares, and sleepwalking are actually telekinesis and telepathy at play, a gift from his father of whom he has no memory.
Interview with the Author
John Darryl Winston was kind enough to answer some of my questions. Enjoy the responses of this very talented author:
Tell us a bit about yourself. For instance, how did you start writing?
Writing can mean so many different things, but I’ll try to put them all in a nutshell as one. I started creating stories and telling them to people (parents, siblings, and friends) as far back as I can remember, but never wrote anything down. I hated reading and writing in general. Once I realized writing things down came with telling stories, I decided I wanted to write screenplays, as film is my first true love. When I became a parent and teacher I started writing stage plays for my kids and students. But I only started writing in the novel form about 4 or 5 years ago.
How did you come up with the idea for “IA Initiate”?
There are several things that I can point to that led me to the IA series. First there was “Superman the Movie” with Christopher Reeve. I was never into Superman before that. It was the origin part that sucked me in. Then it was “Batman Begins,” again the origin part. I began to toy with an origin story of my own with the premise, how believable it could be, thinking again about the tagline to the Christopher Reeve movie “You’ll believe a man can fly.” I wanted to write an origin story that brought the imagination into play but felt truly possible. Hence my tagline, read it and believe.
What do you like most about your character Naz? Is there some trait in him that you identify with?
What I like most about Naz is he’s so flawed, and I’m never quite sure what he will do next. He wants to do the right thing, but like us, he’s not always sure what the right thing is. So we get to go along with him on his journey and ask ourselves, what if?
Do you think the Exclave anticipates what may come in our future?
I think the Exclave like Gotham or Metropolis is the here and now, more or less. I had one publisher who was reading my manuscript call into question the authenticity of the Exclave setting. He felt that a middle school in such a downtrodden place would never have a basketball team much less a chess club. Of course he’s probably never been to Marcus Garvey Academy in Detroit. Welcome to my world.
What is your ideal place for writing?
My ideal place to write is some place unfamiliar that’s not too quiet and not too loud, a place where I can sit back and silently observe, or not, life in motion. I’m a people-watcher and much of my inspiration comes from that pastime.
Do you have a special process to get inspired or get in the writing mood?
I don’t have a goto process but there are some things I’ve done in the past and may or may not try in the future. I like to take extremely hot baths in complete darkness with a tape recorder running and talk to my characters. Sometimes when I’m exercising the muse approaches me. Then there’s the old glass of wine or two to get the juices flowing, but I avoid that when I can, afraid of developing a vice or bad habit. And then there’s trusty meditation.
What are your next projects?
Three projects: The first is “IA: Union,” the final book in the IA trilogy which has me frustrated right now. The second is a sci-fi called “Ultima Humana,” about the last human along time from now on a planet not too far away, lol. The third is a sci-fi called “Patriarch” about a scientist who has found a way to endow his son with supernatural powers in a natural way. Sound familiar?
What would you recommend aspiring writers?
I would recommend aspiring writers to read, Read, and READ some more: books by great authors, not-so-great authors, and everyone in between. Read in and out of the genre you intend to write, and read critically and analytically, always having a highlighter around to mark that book up until it’s unrecognizable.
Any tips or writing recommendations?
Get some craft books. “On Writing” by Stephen King and “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White is a good place to start. Develop a thick skin and find people you can trust to be critical of your writing. That’s all for now.
More about the author…
John Darryl Winston is a recording artist, turned educator, turned author. He dates his love of storytelling back to reading the bible with his father and sisters and later when he first saw Superman The Movie as an 11th grader in his high school auditorium. He got the idea for his debut series while piloted a Boys’ Read program as a Detroit Public School teacher. He is the founder of the Adopt an Author program, which has as its mission to create an atmosphere where boys and girls learn to love reading and writing.
He has written songs with and for Grammy winner David Foster and record mogul Clive Davis. He has been a recording artist on Arista and Polygram records, and has written and/or produced songs for Gerald Levert, Jordan Hill, Gerald Alston, and many others.
He’s a graduate of the Recording Institute of Detroit, The Motion Picture Institute of Michigan, and Wayne State University. He has his MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University and will be graduating, June 2016 with his MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes. He lives in Detroit with daughter, Marquette and plans to buy an African Grey Parrot when he conquers his irrational fear of birds and name him or her Tony or Toni.
You can find more information about John at:
Website / Facebook / Twitter
My Review
Those who know me are aware I’m a slow reader. Few books grab me well enough to finish in a couple of days, the norm is usually a couple of weeks, but “IA: Initiate” was one of those exceptions. I finished the book in a couple of days because it had the flow and pace that allowed me to devour the book without noticing.
Naz, a thirteen-year-old boy, lives in the Exclave along with his nine-year-old sister, both are orphans and live in a foster home. Sleepwalking might not be the only problem Naz is facing, he lives in a dangerous part of the city, and he can’t remember much of his early past. But he’s convinced of one sole objective: to protect his little sister from anything and to take her away from the decadent Exclave.
As the story develops, we learn Naz’s untrusty and insecure nature might be a result of his past and of the deaths of his parents. The story develops in parallels between fragments of Nobel Prize winner Dr. Cornelius Andersen and his achievements in the fields of neuroscience. Usually, when novels display two parallel stories at the same time in different time settings, one tends to distract from the other without intertwining properly. This was not the case. The author manages to increase the mystery and flow of the story as he narrates both of them. As we get to know the past of Naz and his sister, we also start to realize the implications of their world, the Exclave, and some possible explanations for Naz’s behavior.
I enjoyed reading the book. The characters were compelling, likable, and complex enough to want to know more about them. The story offers so many possibilities that I felt it was natural to have a series of books derived from this first part. I’m certainly eager to continue with the next books. Winston is very talented, and in his writing not only, I was able to understand the Exclave and the rest of their world around it; but also I delved into the story with eagerness to know as much as possible from the potential turn of events.
Giveaway
John is offering e-copies of “IA: Initiate” to the 5 winners of the following Rafflecopter. Click here to enter it.
