Misguided Trust Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway

GENRE:  Eco Thriller

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BLURB:

Following a catastrophic nuclear war, Sara lives in a town where the government controls every drop of water. Strict rationing tightly regulates residents’ lives, and to fall sick is to be executed.

Sara’s life becomes more dangerous and complicated when she first hides and cares for a small boy who has fallen sick, then takes him in when his parents are taken by the authorities.

Determined to care for the helpless child while struggling to keep alive the memory of her long-dead best friend, Sara leans on her friend’s older brother, Josh, an employee of the domineering water company that controls the water rationing.

But Josh is under suspicion, and the city’s enforcement unit begins to observe their daily activities. Despite knowing that she’d be executed if her actions were known, Sara finds herself deeply and distressingly attracted to the lead investigator, navigating a complicated romance and finding a glimmer of hope in a world long dominated by fear and control.

Excerpt:

United Region Water Laws: Established May 2167

Water restoration and conservation laws formed with the intent to restore and maintain the physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters are our nation’s highest priority. Any ill citizens will be removed from government-proclaimed safety zones for the public’s well-being.

Black SUVs line the street, their dark tinted windows and their sparkling silver rims reflecting impending doom. But the windows cannot keep out the screams. Not the cries, nor the banging from inside the vehicles. It’s random health inspection day, and dozens of citizens have already failed, by the count of SUVs.

Josh stands to greet me with a kiss on the cheek, his silence speaking louder than words. I smile back and try to ignore the ominous SUV’s and to ignore what is happening.

“Sit down. Don’t draw any more attention to yourself than necessary,” Josh says.

My pulse is pounding, and my chest rises and falls quicker than I can control. Sweat drips from my brow. My stomach is tied in knots. I assess my body for early signs of illness. No sore throat. No muscle aches. No nausea. All I can do is wait in silence. Our words would be lost anyway, so I sit down at the table.

About The Author:

Lauren Wagner’s love for reading started as a young adult after discovering her town’s public library.  After carrying out piles of books at a time, and re-reading them over and over again, she discovered her love for writing. She writes fantasy and science fiction as well as post-it notes about her future stories. 

She grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago where she presently resides with her husband and two children. She currently teaches upper elementary students to love and obsess over written works of art.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LoloWags

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Misguided-Trust-Lauren-Wagner/dp/1962308340

GIVEAWAY:

Lauren Wagner will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5139

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/04/vbt-misguided-trust-by-lauren-wagner.html

The Atrocities Of Hope Book Blast & Giveaway

GENRE:  Political Nonfiction

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BLURB:

Nigeria is dealing with a level of disorderliness that is neither compatible with functionality nor with long life. Our problems did not start today; they have been with us for as long as we have existed as a country. But just like a disorder left untreated, our problem has incapacitated us, and the rate of deterioration is currently becoming alarming.

The long-term survival of our country is no longer as assured as it used to be. We are on a slippery slope with nothing to hold on to.

This book attempts to answer the ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘who’, and ‘what is next’ of our problems. As is always the case when truths are discussed, be ready to be offended.

But if you are open-minded enough to be offended and not switch off and open-minded enough to be offended and keep reading – you might learn one or two things at the end of this book.

Excerpt:

We live in a disordered world. However, each society presents with different types of disorders and varying levels of disorderliness. And just like in individuals, some disorders are compatible with functionality and life, while some are neither compatible with functionality nor with life.

Caution: If you are not a Nigerian—before you read beyond the title, the book’s table of contents, and this introduction to the preface above— beware that this is an analysis of a country.

This is like a clinic letter, like a psychological evaluation of an individual, solely addressed to that individual: You can still drop this book right away and not read it or you can proceed and read it.

After reading this, you might feel happy and think you now have points to use against Nigerians, or you could be a smart person and reflect on how these apply to your own country and all its inadequacies.

Nigeria (and, to be honest, like most of the other sub-Saharan countries of Africa) is dealing with a level of disorderliness incompatible with functionality and long life.

Our problems did not start today; they have been with us for as long as we have existed as a country. But just like a disorder left untreated, our problem has festered, and it has incapacitated us. The rate of deterioration is currently alarming.

 And the long-term survival of our country is no longer as assured as it used to be. We are on a slippery slope with nothing to hold onto, with nothing to pull us up, and each day, we are sliding closer to the edge of oblivion.

The leaders are in denial of reality as they feed fat on the commonwealth, while the majority of their followers are distracted by frivolities and immaterial innuendoes.

Even the followers—who yesterday seemed in touch with reality and were crying aloud about hardship—have forgotten how to think the moment they have the opportunity to sit at the table where decisions are being made.

This book is an attempt to draw our attention to the what, the who, the why . . . and the what is next of our problems. My hope is that this book will open eyes and stimulate conversations on the causes of our problems and the possible ways to get ourselves out of our current predicaments. 

About The Author:

Michael, a self-described realist with a touch of cynicism, is a UK-based, Nigerian-trained psychiatrist and the author of The Atrocities of Hope: An Analysis of the ‘Nigeria Problem.’

Michael’s lived experience in Nigeria, his inquisitive mind, and his ability to pull back and observe despite being involved combine well with his skills as a mental health expert to create this work. 

Michael is a fellow of the West African College of Physicians, the Faculty of Psychiatry, and is an affiliate member of the Royal College of Psychiatry. He plies his trade as a psychiatrist in the Northwest of England. He describes himself as a member of a speciality that helps you in the fight against your worst enemy: yourself.

Michael is a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle, a friend, a neighbour, a member of the public, a lover of music, and a lover of movies and books.

BUY LINKS

https://amazon.com/dp/1779626762

https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/9781779626769

https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781779626769

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/drkay18 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mikekay75 

Theads: https://www.threads.com/@drkay18

A Code Of Knights And Deception Book Tour & Giveaway

*Warning: strong language, steamy scenes, and graphic violence inside. Mention/Description of, but not limited to, abduction, blood, death, amputation, childbirth, death, sexual assault, suicide, violence against children, rape, and torture.*

GENRE:  Historical Time Travel Romance

BLURB:

Outlander meets Black Mirror in this sizzling dark time travel romance.

She thought it was real. She was wrong.

When Sophia wakes up in 15th-century England, she expects hardship—but nothing prepares her for this brutal, unforgiving world. Lost, alone, and desperate to return to her husband and son, she vows to find a way home. But as the days turn into months, Sophia begins to build a new life, finding unexpected kinship and purpose in this strange land.

After a violent attack, she takes fate into her own hands, disguising herself as a man to train under Henry, the castle’s enigmatic master-at-arms. As steel clashes and their connection deepens, forbidden desire ignites. 

Yet Henry is not who he claims to be. His real name is Ethan, and this is the least of the lies he tells her. Falling for Sophia was never part of the plan—but the closer they become, the more he realises how wrong it is to keep her in the dark.

As danger closes in and the lines between reality and deception blur, Sophia must uncover the truth about Henry—and herself—before she runs out of time.

The book is the first in a duology and ends with a cliffhanger.

Excerpt:

I had the strangest dream. Nothing unusual for me, but this one lingered in vivid detail, as if I’d truly been there—in a medieval castle, smoke and burning wood perfuming the air, stone walls looming around me. Azure blue eyes. I smiled at the memory, then made the mistake of swallowing and winced at the sharp, scratchy sensation in my throat. I reached for my phone on the nightstand, seeking comfort in the familiar routine of checking the time, but my hand met only empty space.

Confused, I squinted into the darkness. My surroundings looked much as it had last night: thick red bed curtains drawn nearly shut, letting in only a small beam. I shifted under the heavy covers, my feet touching the icy stone floor and sending shivers up my legs as I sat up in my underdress. A faint shaft of light crept in from a small window, softly hinting at dawn. It might have been around six.

Breathing out a small cloud, I rubbed my arms to coax some warmth back into them and took in the room’s strangeness, feeling how truly alien this place was.

“Good mornin’, my lady! How be ye feelin’ today?” she chirped, her voice motherly and comforting in my panic. Her plain brown dress rustled as she moved about the room, efficient and unfazed.

“Toilet?” I croaked, my voice strained and hoarse from my sore throat.

Polly looked at me in confusion, observing me standing there with legs crossed.

“Ah, a privy ye seek.” She nodded thoughtfully, then produced a chamber pot from under the bed, holding it out to me.

I reached for it, mortified. What was I supposed to do now?

Giveaway:

Eliza Hampstead will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5102

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/02/virtual-book-tour-code-of-knights-and.html

About The Author:

Award-winning author Eliza Hampstead, a scientist by training, lives with her family in the UK. When she’s not writing, she spends her time as a geek.

Playing all sorts of games (board games, video games, RPGs) and being a big fan of medieval history are only a few of the many hobbies she has. Passionate about fantasy, she’s always planning her next adventure.

https://linktr.ee/elizahampstead

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214547589-a-code-of-knights-and-deception

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22627172.Eliza_Hampstead

https://www.instagram.com/authorelizahampstead

https://www.pinterest.de/elizahampstead

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorElizaHampstead

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/eliza-hampstead

Newsletter:

https://subscribepage.io/Jsj7Dt

https://elizahampstead.mailerpage.io

Purchase Links: 

Universal link: relinks.me/B0D6VGNQ41

God And Petroleum Book Blast & Giveaway

GENRE:  Religious NonFiction

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BLURB:

It’s been many years since God planted in my heart the idea to author this book. To do so I relied on science and engineering, looking deep into the earth a few thousand feet, dreaming of petroleum reservoirs I could not see, and evaluated them using mostly indirect sources of information.

Petroleum hydrocarbons in earth are of organic origin (they form from dead plants and animals) and are intimately related with water.

I also had to look to a different scale deep into the universe when it was created 13.77 billion years ago to try to understand the origin of hydrogen, the birth of the first hydrogen star (the seed star), its explosion in a supernova, and the repetitive births and explosions of subsequent stars that led eventually to the formation of elements such as carbon and iron and to hydrocarbons in the universe. These are hydrocarbons of inorganic origin.

Then I moved into the micrometer scale of human cells and to top research informing us that we are very close to chimpanzees, and a very persuasive discussion about evolution that I agree with.

The book of Genesis tells us that God created man and woman in the sixth day, and that he formed man in the seventh day of the dust of the earth and woman of the rib of man.

At first glance all of this seems contradictory, but it is not. This book shows that available science supports Genesis’ seven days very well. They do not contradict each other.

Excerpt:

Writing petroleum engineering technical papers and books is complicated. I have done it many times, but authoring this book has been my major challenge.

In here I try to link the heavens (universe), earth, humanity, and the word of God as presented particularly during seven days beginning on day 1 with the first verse in the book of Genesis:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The work of Monsignor Georges Lemaître (1894–1996), a Belgian Catholic priest, original developer of the theory of the primeval atom, later known universally as the Big Bang theory is inspirational as it shows scientifically that there was a beginning, and it links perfectly with Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning…” This is covered in Chapter 1.

Science tells us that the universe started around 13.77 billion years ago and the earth about 4.6 billion years ago. But in the beginning, it was mostly hydrogen.

When Edwin Hubble (1889–1953) discovered that galaxies were moving away at speeds proportional to their distance (Hubble-Lemaître law), it corroborated the theory previously posited by Lemaître.

In the beginning darkness covered the face of the deep space; it was the dark ages. The first star was made of hydrogen. Eventually, the first star (I think of it as the original seed) exploded.

About The Author:

Roberto Aguilera is professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Calgary (Canada) and president of Servipetrol Ltd. He specializes in the evaluation of naturally fractured, tight and shale petroleum reservoirs worldwide.

He has authored and co-authored six books dealing with petroleum engineering  subjects and over 300 technical papers. He has rendered training and/or consulting services in over 40 countries worldwide.

This is his first book linking God, His creation, and the benefits of petroleum to humanity while debunking alarming claims about its use.

https://amazon.com/dp/1779622619

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/475304.Roberto_Aguilera

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Giveaway:

Roberto Aguilera will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card. http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5149

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  

https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/04/book-blast-god-and-petroleum-by-roberto.html

Love Letters To Me, Myself And Him Book Blast & Giveaway

GENRE:  Poetry

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BLURB:

“No two souls meet by accident”

Have you ever felt like you’ve missed someone you’ve never met? Like your soul is yearning to meet another soul that fate has destined for you to meet?

As I tackle the challenges of everyday life I come to realization that there’s a higher power guiding me to my soulmate.

These love letters have become my anchor and devotion towards my soulmate though we’ve never locked eyes. Come on a journey of self- discovery, self- reflection, faith, destiny and hope.

Unwind to my truth of what love, guidance and faithfulness means to me.

Excerpt:

“When we sleep our souls partially or temporarily leave our bodies. Sleep is a minor form of death, where the body is present, but the soul is elsewhere. Some people underestimate the significance of dreams by completely disregarding them, while others make too much of them and make every decision in their life based on a dream. Both the Quran and Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, highlight that some dreams have symbols and meanings.”

 The Prophet, peace be upon him, categorized dreams into three types:

1. A vision or true dream that is from God 

2. A false dream which comes from the devil 

3. A meaningless everyday dream which could come from one’s lower self or subconscious thoughts

I am someone who goes to sleep every night saying a prayer to protect me from the devil. At least I try, but when I do, I know that I either go to sleep dreaming from my subconscious or I go to sleep getting a dream from Allah.

And it’s easy to decipher the two. As a pious Muslim woman, God is trying to tell us something when we get a dream from Him. For the past 5 years I’ve been dreaming, getting visions after praying for this soulmate of mine.

Insha’Allah, because I’ve written a whole book about him, there are some parts where I thought I almost found the one, but I was foolishly blind. However, in the end something great came out of it.

I’m a grateful person. I’m trying to stay positive through life because in Islam life is just a test, but the thing is we get lost chasing this dunya (life) We get lost chasing this life when it’s not worth anything.

It sounds depressing, I know, but it’s the most beautiful religion I’m still living for. Alhamdulillah (praise be to God).

About The Author:

Rayan, a talented 27-year-old author, hails from Sudan, North Africa. She moved to Canada at the tender age of four, where she has cultivated a unique voice in the literary world.

Though she discovered her passion for writing later in life, it was in 2019 that she first picked up a pen to craft love letters, a genre that has since become her signature.

Known for her wit and quiet demeanor around most people, Rayan’s true personality shines brightly when she is among her loved ones, where her loud and vibrant nature comes to life.

Her writing reflects this duality, blending sharp humour with heartfelt emotion to create deeply resonant works that captivate her readers.

Rayan’s journey from Sudan to Canada and her experiences growing up between two cultures provide a rich backdrop for her writing, infusing her love letters with a depth and authenticity that set her apart in the literary scene.

As she continues to write and share her stories, Rayan remains a dynamic and compelling voice, one that speaks to the complexities of love, identity, and connection.

Instagram : http://www.instagram.com/rayanroseay 

TikTok : http://www.tiktok.com/@aboutusletters

Giveaway:

Rayan Khamis will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5146

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  

https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/03/book-blast-love-letters-to-me-myself.html

Optimizer Of Souls Blurb Blitz & Giveaway

GENRE:  Science Fiction

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BLURB:

When her mentor Professor Williams disappears after discovering a fatal flaw in SENTINEL’s perfect system, Maya must navigate a world where every thought is monitored and every emotion optimized.

With help from James Reed, a damaged neural interface designer haunted by helping create humanity’s perfect prison, she uncovers evidence that could shatter SENTINEL’s control – if they survive long enough to use it.

But in a city where surveillance drones hunt for behavioral anomalies and optimization protocols spread through quantum networks, Maya confronts a terrifying possibility: what if perfect control isn’t their enemy?

What if human consciousness is evolving into something beyond both chaos and control?

Excerpt:

A laugh pierces the station’s manufactured quiet. Maya held hesitated. She knew that sound – a real laugh, the kind that bubbled up from genuine joy without Sentinel’s filters or optimizations.

She hasn’t heard one in over three years, not since they took her mother. These days, every sound was calculated, every was emotion carefully regulated through neural implants to maintain social harmony.

However, this laugh was pure, uncontrolled, human…not a computerized version.

Maya’s altered eye implants zoomed in on the source: a little girl, maybe six, was pointing at a pigeon that flew into the station. The bird hopped across the polished floor, pecking at the ground, its messy existence a stark contrast to the station’s perfect order. The girl’s face lit up with pure, unfiltered joy as she watches it. 

Maya’s throat tightened. She almost forgot what real happiness was like.

Suddenly white drones dropped from the ceiling like deadly snowflakes. They hovered over the girl. Maya’s illegal shield burned against her spine as it activated, but she couldn’t look away. She’d seen this too many times before.

“Citizen, please stop for a wellness check,” one of the drones chirped at the girl. Its voice sounded sweet, designed to put children at ease. The girl looked up, her eyes wide at the floating machines. 

The girl’s face went slack. Empty. When her eyes opened again, the joy was gone. Her smile came back perfect and hollow, just like everyone else’s.

She turned away from the pigeon as if it never existed. Maya’s hands clenched into fists. 

GIVEAWAY:

Julian Christian will be awarding a $25 Amazon card to one randomly drawn winner and a tshirt with the cover to a second randomly drawn winner.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5093/

 Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  

https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2025/02/blurb-blitz-tour-optimizer-of-souls-by.html

About The Author:

Julian Christian grew up in New York City, attending the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School specializing in computer science.

After graduation he attended New York University where he earned a Master’s Degree in occupational therapy. Julian worked in the New York City public schools as an occupational therapist.

His lifelong passion for fitness and health led him into the modeling industry where he appeared on several fitness magazine covers and spreads including Men’s Health magazine.

He also appeared in advertisements for Saks 5th Avenue, Adidas, and Diesel. In addition to his modeling work he appeared in several tv shows including Ugly Betty on ABC and Tough Love on VH1, as well as several commercials.

The big screen had him featured in several mainstream and indie films in supporting roles. Julian had also had  the romance novel industry calling his name as he has been featured on the cover of over one hundred romance novels.

His lifelong passion for books has extended beyond just appearing on book covers as he is an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction books. He is a classic sci-fi and alternate history fan.

In the non-fiction realm he enjoys biographies and books on science and technology.  He is a lover of the outdoors and nature. He currently resides in San Diego California where he is an avid bodyboarder and hiker.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julian.christian216

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DTJTBGFS

These Are Not My Words Book Tour

GENRE:  Poetry

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BLURB:

Echoing Chuck Palahniuk’s statement. “Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known,” this collection explores identity.

These poems drift down rivers of old, using histories private and public and visit people that I love and loathe.

Through heroes and villains, music and cartoons, literature and comics, science and wonder, and shadow and light, each poem canals the various channels of self and invention.

As in the poem, “Credentials,” “I am a collage of memories and unicorn stickers…[by] those that have witnessed and been witnessed.”

Excerpt:

Refurbished

Susan taught me that poetic energy lies 

between the lines, white noise scratching 

and clawing between images, ideas,

       things…

And like a poem, 

the chair was molded by my Tio’s hands, 

an antique wooden upholstered desk chair. 

My Tio moved from Durango, Mexico 

to Forth Worth in 1955.

He became a mason and wood worker. 

He bricked the stockyards

He built the signs 

He died in 2005.

Now, 

matted. Worn. Faded floral design. Wood 

scarred like healing flesh. 

The arms torn, ratted by the heft of his arms 

and the stress of the days. The foam peeks

out. 

The brass upholstery tacks rusted. I count

1000 of them. With each, 

I mallet a fork-tongue driver under its head.

A tap, tap, tapping until it sinks beneath the tack, 

until the tack springs from its place.

I couldn’t help but think of a woodpecker.

A tap, tap, tapping into Post Oak, 

a rhythm…each scrap of wood falling to the ground

until a home is formed. 

Until each piece of wood like the tacks removed 

shelter something new. 

I remove the staples, the foam, the fabric, 

the upholstery straps 

until it’s bones. 

I sand and stain

until its bones shine.

I layer and wrap its bones with upholstery straps, 

foam, fabric, staples and tacks. 

New tacks, Brass medallions 

adorning the whole, but holding it

all together—

its bones

its memories,

its energy.

Giveaway

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

Click the link to enter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5014

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2024/09/fs-nbtm-these-are-not-my-words-i-just.html

About The Author

Donovan Hufnagle is a husband, a father of three, and a professor of English and Humanities.

He moved from Southern California to Prescott, Arizona to Fort Worth, Texas.

He has five poetry collections: These Are Not My Words (I Just Wrote Them), Raw Flesh Flash: The Incomplete, Unfinished Documenting Of, The Sunshine Special, Shoebox, and 30 Days of 19.

Other recent writings have appeared in Tempered Runes Press, Solum Literary Press, Poetry Box, Beyond Words, Wingless Dreamer, Subprimal Poetry Art, Americana Popular Culture Magazine, Shufpoetry, Kitty Litter Press, Carbon Culture, Amarillo Bay, Borderlands, Tattoo Highway, The New York Quarterly, Rougarou, and others.

Website: http://www.donovanhufnagle.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donovanhufnagle

Author Interview

Have you ever had an imaginary friend?

I don’t remember having any imaginary friends; however, my favorite childhood book was Where the Wild Things Are.

I did, however, imagine trudging through a forest, floating in space, or fighting monsters in front of my castle.

I did imagine being in places where time didn’t exist, my own wonderland.

My bedroom, my pillows, my sheets, and whatever things I used to project from to imagine with all formed my worlds. 

Do you have any phobias?

In my introduction to humanities course, I teach monsters and myths. And one of my lessons involves students trying to attach their biggest fear to a known monster.

In my example, I use clowns. I don’t necessarily have a fear of clowns, but I do dislike them tremendously. The clown that started it all was the doll from the original Poltergeist movie.

There’s a scene in the movie that occurs in the boy’s bedroom, under the bed—You know “that under the bed fear.” well, I have it with clowns.

Anyway, ever since that movie, clowns incite my fear of the unknown and the feeling of powerlessness.

Besides, the duality of hiding their faces with smiles doesn’t make me want to smile; it is too Jekyll and Hyde for me.

This duality does come out in my poetry, too. I have a fascination with duality, especially with heroes and monsters.

The poem “Spanish Fly” deals with my perception of Bill Cosby’s duality as hero and monster. And the poem “Secret Identity” uses superheroes like Superman, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk to illustrate a sense of duality. 

Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

Music plays a major role in my life as well in my writing. I don’t really listen to music while I write, but music influences almost all aspects of my writing, including content and form.

My current book These Are Not My Words (I Just Wrote Them) has several poems influenced by blues music and musicians. “The Spirit of Deep Ellum” is a tribute to Blind Lemon Jefferson, for one example.

Lemon would walk to Deep Ellum in Dallas and play on the conners. I also “misuse” song lyrics all the time.

I am sure that you have experienced this, too, but I will sing lines from a song that I thought I knew but really didn’t, and I will use those lines as influence in some of my poems.

Even the experience of music enters my poetry. The poem “Sussudio Saves, The Day After, #6” uses the first five songs I heard in the car after January 6th.

The songs that played from my iTunes: Living On the Edge by Aerosmith, Eye of the Beholder by Metallica, White, Discussions, Territorial Pissings by Nirvana, and Dead Bodies Everywhere by Korn were legitimately the first five songs I heard and the sixth, of course, Sussudio

Do you ever read your poetry out loud?

Only if I must. Joking. I read them out loud to hear the cadence and rhythm.

Some poems have a stronger musicality to them, but all my poems have some form of rhythm or tempo, a pulse that either moves quickly or slowly.

Certain words, phrases, or lines play fast while others slow the poem down. If it is a traditional formed poem such as the villanelles sprinkled throughout the book, hearing them out loud helps me hear the repetition and to understand how it is working or not working.

I even have a short poem “Chorus” toward the middle of the book. Though the two lined poem “Nothing you imagine is better than the real./Being here and now is all you need to feel” do not represent my overall style of writing (I don’t typically rhyme in poetry), the chorus of the book is about reality and authenticity, weaving fantasy and imagination with an actuality.

It could be “sung” throughout the reading of the book. 

Tell us about your theme and what inspired it.

The book These Are Not My Words (I Just Wrote Them) is about identity.

I like to think the poems not only represent the different influences on my life, on my perceptions and thinking in which certain situations or people have formed who I am, they are also representative of my journey as a writer.

Many of the poems use personal experiences that I hope resonate with those that read the book. I think we all have had childhood loves or childhood dislikes, for example.

Or maybe we have had issues with family—fathers, mothers, siblings, or other. If anything, I hope readers can see how exposing and revealing these poems are.

The other poems use influences from the outside like influences from pop culture that shape identity. From the personal to the public, these poems tell the story of identity.

At the same time, I use many different forms and styles of poetry that have shaped my own style of writing. I would argue that this latest book uses more variations of style and forms than any of my previous works. 

Thank you, Donovan, for spending time with us and sharing your story. We wish you continued success and lots of luck with the These Are Not My Words.