Voices by R.E. Rowe
(The Reincarnation Series, #1)Publication date: February 27th 2015
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Goodreads: Click
In a small town in Arkansas, two lives that seemingly have nothing in common will converge and change each other forever. A brilliant but tormented street artist and an ex-track star whose career was cut short by a heart condition.
Aimee DeLuca had a promising athletic career before her heart gave out during a high school track and field contest. Aimee struggles to find her way after spending time with a deceased grandmother during a near death experience. Reizo Rush is a street artist whose torment fuels his desire to add color to the gray walls of the city. But Reizo’s tagging and the two voices only he hears land him in perpetual trouble with both his teachers and the law.
During a chance encounter, the two quickly find out they have much more in common than love. When they stumble upon a century-old storm cellar hidden underground on Aimee’s uncle’s ranch, they unearth a cellar full of artifacts and a hundred-year-old Will. Once the news of the discovery leaks out, a drug-dealing teen and a mysterious soul named General are determined to bury the truth along with anyone who gets in their way.
Chapter One : ~Aimee~
Forty-three
minutes without a heartbeat—a little longer than a sitcom. About
the time it takes for first period at Theodore High. It’d been five
years since I’d seen Grams. She looked amazingly happy, considering
she was dead.
After
waking up from heart surgery, the first words I uttered in the
recovery room were “Did my team win?”
“Miracle,
miracle,” a nurse whispered. I guess she thought I’d have brain
damage.
Another
nurse cried. A male nurse asked me if I’d experienced anything
strange. He said some patients have what they call a
“Near-Death-Experience”—NDE for short. After all, I’d been
officially pronounced dead before the doctors brought me back to
life.
I
told him, “No, nothing worth mentioning.” Lying was easier than
telling the truth. There’s no way I’ll ever talk to anyone about
those forty-three minutes—especially not Mom or her boyfriend,
Hank. What would I tell them? “Hey, remember when I was dead? Well,
I hung out with Grams on a bright day at Uncle Pete’s pond.”
Not
a chance. I’d get tagged a wacko and locked up at Willowgate, just
like the crazy kid from school.
The
nurses told me it’d been a miracle that I had survived with only
chest compressions until I arrived at the ER. I agreed, of course,
but I knew different. Grams had said, “It’s your choice, dear.
Stay here or return.”
Being
a track star and honor student, I wanted to return.
And
so I did.
I
blink away these thoughts and slurp in a mouthful of milky flakes
while peering at the track star on the cereal box. The glint of
excitement in the athlete’s eyes is familiar. But the feeling of
adrenaline and winning races is a distant memory.
Gardenia
perfume invades the kitchen as Mom scurries in and fills up a travel
mug with coffee. She smiles while sinking a teaspoon of sugar into
the mug. “Aimee, aren’t you excited?”
I
place my bowl in the dishwasher and nod. “I guess. I’m mainly
looking forward to painting at Uncle’s pond.”
Mom
takes a paper sack out of the refrigerator and hands it to me. It’s
been part of our daily routine for as long as I can remember. She
sends me into the world each day with a kiss and a packed lunch.
“Uncle
Pete will pick you up early, but you’ll still need lunch. The
artist must be fed.” She winks.
“Thanks,
Mom.”
Her
cell blasts some upbeat tune from the ancient past. “Let’s go.
I’m presenting closing arguments in court this morning.”
I
swim in Mom’s flowery wake as we walk out the door and into the
garage.
Mom
answers her cell, connecting it to the car’s hands-free device.
“I’ll be at the office in twenty minutes.”
As
usual, I push in my ear buds to avoid listening to lawyers’
ramblings while we drive. Hopefully, junior year will be better if I
get a car, like she promised.
Mom
raises her voice. “I’m ready . . . I know, I know . . . it’s
our responsibility.”
I
gaze out the car window. My pulse quickens and my stomach churns.
Even with the music distraction, I still feel Mom’s emotions.
I let my mind drift as she navigates morning traffic.
Cancer
took Grams’ life five years before my NDE. But when I saw her that
day, she looked beautiful, like in the framed picture Mom keeps on
her bookshelf. “It’ll be hard, darling,” Grams had said.
“But I hope you’ll decide to return. There are still
things for you to do.”
A
couple of years later and I still have no clue what “things” she
meant.
I
glance at Mom gripping the steering wheel and feel her nervousness
and anxiety. It must be a big legal case for her today.
I
remember the day I left the hospital. It was a shock, feeling the
energy from things around me. It’s like suddenly feeling hot in an
air-conditioned room or feeling chilly when it’s ninety-degrees
outside. It’s hard to explain, exactly, how I can feel excitement
coming from saw grass swaying in the wind and strength emanating from
oak trees baking in sunshine. I’m not psychic or anything, but my
intuition is off the charts. It sounds ill and delusional, which is
why I’ll never talk about it.
The
first day back to school after my heart surgery was the worst. I
quickly realized the people around me were crushing me with their
emotions. Feelings of worry, excitement, anger, love, and hate
swirled the school hallways from my classmates and hung over my head
in class. Trying to concentrate on schoolwork while being flattened
by so many emotions all at once was impossible in the beginning.
At
first, my friends had been supportive when I needed my space. But
soon they realized I’d changed for good. Gossiping about Kelly’s
ridiculous shoe purchase and texting about Sharon and Roger hooking
up after a Friday night football game became boring. Going to a pep
rally to wait for the crazy kid to attack another mascot turned into
a ridiculous waste of time. What’s the point of rushing around,
worrying about what people think, or worrying about saying something
stupid? All the little things used to stress me out. Not anymore. Now
people do.
Mom
drives the car up to the curb and stops in front of Theodore High
School in the heart of Franklinville, Arkansas. Waves of anticipation
and excitement from kids walking through the school gates roll over
me.
I
hesitate before pulling out my ear buds and fight the overwhelming
urge to run. I’d usually pretend I was sick and ask Mom to take me
home, but today is the last day of the school year.
I
can do this.
A
man’s voice from Mom’s office blasts from the car speakers.
Mom
mouths to me, “I’ll call you later.” Then she leans over and
kisses me on the cheek, exactly like she always does.
At
the start of freshman year, I’d been the girl who set track
records. I was the popular girl with friends, the fashion
trendsetter, and the designated shoulder to lean on.
I
was all of that before I died.
But
I was none of it after the doctors brought me back to life.
Interview with R.E. Rowe
When
you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
I
love to read, listen to podcasts while working out on my treadmill,
and read about the latest scientific discoveries. I'm basically a
geek inventor at heart. I'll see a problem and work out how to solve
it. An interesting part of inventing is that it requires world
building. The inventor solves the problem by imagining the world with
and without the invention. I apply some of these same techniques to
my novels. I'd say the world building process is my favorite part of
developing a story.
How
do you discover the ebooks you read?
I'm
on the mailing list of a number of websites specializing in getting
the word out about new ebooks. Sometimes I will do keyword searches
on Amazon to search for a particular genre I'm interested in reading.
Or I'll look at the top books in the book categories I'm interested
in at that moment. I also use goodreads to learn about what my
friends are reading.
Do
you remember the first story you ever wrote?
I
do remember it. I was a freshman in high school. I wrote a short love
story. I shared it with a few of my friends. They encouraged me to
write more, but I became side-tracked with football and karate.
Fiction took a back seat for a lot of years. Early on, I focused on
non-fiction writing. Mainly science and technology papers and patent
applications. I received my first patent when I was 20 years old for
a tester device to test out circuit boards from avionics systems.
US4472677. I told you I was a geek!
What
is your writing process?
I'm
part plotter and part panser. I used to love to start off with a
concept without a plan. My writing took me all over the place.
Sometimes it was super cool. Other times it was very frustrating.
After writing a bunch of novels and tossing them in the recycle bin,
I decided to start off with a short synopsis. That soon turned into a
basic outline. Then I decided it was time to establish my cast, my
plot, and setting before writing. Next, I blend all of that together
into a story that I want to read. This is important since I will most
likely spend months in that particular world with those characters.
For example, in the Reincarnation Series, I start off with a tagger
who hears voices and an ex-track star who experienced a near death
experience. I defined the world and the challenges they'd face. I
even detailed out the world: See Hack -or- Carmina's Notebook and
Carmina's Diagrams. From that point, I let my imagination take over
and write. Sometimes I adjust the outline if my characters insist. So
I guess you could call me two parts plotter, one part panser.
Do
you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on
you?
I
enjoyed Hardy Boys when I was young. Then Issac Asimov Robot series
books. A little later, I read Larry Niven's Known Space books and
fell in love with science fiction. After reading all of his books, I
was hooked on reading. Eventually, my reading journey broadened to
many different Genres. I soon found that I could enjoy any genre if
the writing was good. I'd have to say that reading as much as you can
is far better than any how-to class on writing. Reading the work of
others, writing, and discovering one's voice is more fun than
inventing!
How
do you approach cover design?
There
are a number of great cover designers out there I use depending on
the type of cover I need. I recommend looking at covers of released
books. Decide what style you like, then figure out what you want it
to convey about your novel. Do some research to figure out who
created it. Sometimes there will be credits given in the front matter
of the book. For most of my covers, I use one particular cover
designer I really like. (you can find her info in the front matter of
some of my books). Other times I will use 99designs.com
to run a contest for a new design. This is what I did for Carmina
(book 4) in the Reincarnation series. See if you like it. You can
find the cover reveal on my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/RickERowe?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
What
are your five favorite books, and why?
That's
not a fair question. My fav keeps changing as I read awesome work
from authors. So let me answer that by sharing the titles of my most
recent favorites. 1) The Coldest Girl in Cold Town - I never really
liked vampire stories until this book. The writing is so awesome it
drained all my blood (in a good way). 2) Shiver - I never really
liked werewolf stories until this one. I was immediately sucked into
a world that was both romantic and exciting. 3) The 5th Wave - cool
sci-fi story. More specifically, I really enjoyed the journey of the
book's protagonist, Cassie Sullivan. 4) The Universe According Verses
Alex Woods - who wouldn't like a story about a kid who gets hit in
the head by a meteor. 5) The Rithmatist - I found the world very
different and super cool.
What
is your e-reading device of choice?
I
don't limit myself to one e-reading device. I use my iPhone, Kindle
Fire, Kindle Voyage, iPad, and reading apps on my lap top. It just
depends where I am and what I'm doing. It's a tool that allows me to
read. So if I'm on the beach, it would be a Kindle Voyage. (small and
easy to read in the sun) Reading at a coffee shop, it could be either
the Fire or iPad.
Where
did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I
grew up in the SF Bay Area. I'd say I started to enjoy novels in my
20's after four years in the US Air Force. I loved to go to
bookstores and hang out. I also took some teaching classes and
discovered UC Berkeley and the surrounding area. It felt good to be a
geek. Natural. Exciting. At that time, I read mostly technical books.
But occasionally, I'd read science fiction novels. I suppose you
might say, the more reading I did, the more I wanted to read. These
days, I probably consume a novel per week. I used to update
goodreads, but now I just use goodreads to discover other new books.
Reading is just as important to writing to me.
What's
the story behind your latest book?
I
started the series off with two simple questions that have been
explored over the ages. 1) Why do innocent people suffer? 2) If the
afterlife is so awesome, why are we here? These simple questions
sparked a ton of other questions. I started reading everything I
could on the topic. I soon discovered hundreds of near death
experiences and realized there was a common experience in most of
them. I found professional studies on the topic of NDEs. I discovered
the story I wanted to write and quickly realized it would span over a
number of books. But most important to me, I wanted to write the
series without focusing on any existing belief systems. After all, I
was writing fiction. So, I spent time building the world using a
variety of inspired ideas. An author friend of mine suggested I share
the world. (Hack, Carmina's Diagrams and Carmina's Musings). I
dreamed up a bunch of interesting characters and let them lose in my
fictional world. Each book explores key aspects of the two main
questions. For example, book 1 is all about innocence. Then book 2
takes off in a fun, fast paced paranormal thriller and doesn't look
back. I promise all lingering questions will be answered in line with
the fictional world. So I encourage readers to stick with it. There
may be some questions that linger from book to book. But in the end
those questions will be answered. It was so fun to write! Check out
the book trailer to get the overall concept of the series. Maybe it
will be a movie someday! hint hint
When Rick isn't dreaming, you'll find him trying to discover why, figuring out how, uncovering ancient mysteries, writing a crazy fun middle-grade or young adult novel, inventing something seriously cool, or learning something new. He enjoys participating in science camps, writing conferences and talking to groups about creative topics such as the process of inventing, building worlds for science fiction and fantasy stories, and the importance of dreaming big.Rick is a lifelong inventor and a named inventor on over one hundred patents. He has degrees in Avionics Systems Technology, Computer Science and an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology. His experience includes a wide range of engineering, technology development and management roles ranging from aerospace systems to gaming systems. He is a proud member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Delta Mu Delta Honor Society, and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
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