Blog Tour + #Giveaway: The Lost Eye of the Serpent by Jeremy Phillips @jphillips2323 @yaboundtourspr

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Blog Tour + #Giveaway: The Lost Eye of the Serpent by Jeremy Phillips @jphillips2323 @yaboundtourspr

The Lost Eye of the Serpent
by Jeremy Phillips
Genre: YA Mystery
Release Date: August 6th 2016
Limitless Publishing

Summary from Goodreads:

It may sound crazy, but Jonathan Delacroix is certain his sister Rose really is Sherlock Holmes...

Girls are not detectives. But in the summer of 1893, in the small western town of Hope Springs, Rose Delacroix is bound and determined to prove them wrong. When the famous Emerald Serpent Jewels are stolen from the Delacroix family hotel and the blame lands solely on her older brother Bill, Rose recruits Jonathan as her Watson-like counterpart to solve the case.

Proving your brother innocent is difficult when the evidence keeps stacking up against him...

Before Rose and Jonathan can properly start their investigation, another robbery is committed. The rusty revolver purported to have once belonged to Wild Bill Hickock has been stolen from the general store and found hidden amongst her brother's belongings. With Bill in jail, and the owner of the Serpent Jewels planning to sue the Delacroix hotel, Rose knows she has to find a lead, and soon.

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An Interview with Jeremy Phillips

What inspired you to write The Lost Eye of the Serpent?

My inspiration was simple. I thought about what kind of a story I myself would want to read, as a mystery reader in the Young Adult genre? What sort of story would I myself find compelling? That was perhaps half of my inspiration.

The other half, was the idea of being able to discuss some important social ideas in the story, in an indirect manner. By which I mean, the fact that Rose is an almost proto-Feminist character. Her thoughts on the rights and capabilities of women are pretty well accepted in our world today, but in the 1890's, not so much. Just the thought of her becoming some type of a police officer or detective, would have been absolutely inappropriate for her time and place. With this story, I get to discuss some of that with the reader and help them see more about the world we live in.

When or at what age did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I was always a big reader as a child, so for me it was a natural extension from that to want to write. Definitely by the time I was in high school, I had aspirations to want to write books. So, that's been 30 years ago now. But I enjoyed it then, and I enjoy it now.

What is the earliest age you remember reading your first book?

I remember reading some Dr. Seuss stuff, sometime before kindergarten. My mom read to me a lot, and so we spent a lot of time with that. I'm sure that played a part in my developing interests.

What genre of books do you enjoy reading?

Oh, I like to read everything. I am very omnivorous with this. I love the genre stuff, the Fantasy stuff, the Mystery stuff. But I like to read most everything, if it's well written.

What is your favorite book?

This is always a hard question. I love so many of them. I just finished re-reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which I do love. There's a movie coming out next year of this, which I am hoping will be done properly. We'll see.

You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?

Another very tough question! My favorite author, if pressed, would have to be Vladmir Nabakov. The man had such a way with words; he could turn a phrase better than most. If you've only heard of him for Lolita, then you owe it to yourself to read some of his other works. Bend Sinister, Invitation to a Beheading come to mind. The guy has some good, tough to read stuff, but I enjoy the challenge of it.

When writing a book do you find that writing comes easy for you or is it a difficult task?

I think it's a little bit of both. Sometimes it's very hard, like when I'm just starting out with a tale. Or when I am slogging my way through a revision. But then when you've got the thing going along right, when it's all dialed in and just flowing away out of you. That's a damned fine feeling.

Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?

Oh yes, I love dogs. I have a couple Labradors around, and of course I take breaks from whatever I'm doing sometimes, writing or whatever other work, to spend time with them.

Do you have any advice for anyone that would like to be an author?

Stick with it. Always remember that the only way to write is to put your butt in that chair and do it. Writing is the only art that I know of, where people like to talk about it more than they like to actually do it. That's because they get stuck, which is something that I do, too. Often. They get stuck with the hard part, and can't see their way through to the fact that you have to treat it like a JOB and just sit there and do the work, if you want to get the chance to experience that easier, fun part where the work flows out of you like magic. Which it eventually does, in time.