Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Clichés and Contest!




One of my favorite bloggers, Michael Offutt, is a talented writer and illustrator.  He has an EPIC blog tour going on now.  He’s offering a free short story.  You can also win bookmarks and signed books.  You can even win a $50 Amazon Gift Card!  Read on to find out more. 

The tired clichés that I break in Oculus by Michael Offutt

There are many clichés in fiction, so I set out to break a few of them in my writing. I do kind of wonder if it will annoy readers or not. Thus far, the reception has been great. Anyway, I’ve compiled a list of things that I tried to do differently with Oculus. Here they are:

1)    All jocks are stupid. In Oculus, Jordan is a jock, yes, but he’s also incredibly smart as well as loving.
2)    All gay guys are really promiscuous and sleep around. Jordan is happily monogamous with his boyfriend, Kolin.
3)    All gay guys are effeminate like Kurt in Glee. Not true.  The only difference between Jordan and a straight guy is who he sleeps with at the end of the day.  That’s just his identity, and he’s comfortable in his own skin.
4)    Every Excalibur story has basically been told. Not true. I think by the time I get done, people will say, “I never thought of this angle on the whole Excalibur myth.”
If you would like to check out more about my books, please visit my page below:

6 signed copies being given away tour wide, open to international shipping Rafflecopter code a Rafflecopter giveaway Link to grab code http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YmExMTJmZmM0NTczY2U4Y2JhMWU1MGJkZGZiMWE4OjE2Mw==/

Also each stop can give away a bookmark, also open to international shipping. Please choose a winner and send me the name, email and mailing address.



Oculus
Michael Offutt

Genre: Sci-fi

Book Description:

Autumn has arrived in New York, and Jordan Pendragon attends his first classes as a freshman at Cornell. Born with a brilliant mathematical mind, he balances life as a research assistant with that of a student athlete.

But Jordan also has a quest. He must find the Black Tower, a monolithic edifice housing a thing that defines the very structure of the universe. Jordan believes it is buried somewhere in Antarctica under miles of prehistoric ice.

October finds Jordan earning a starting position with the Cornell hockey team. But a dark cloud gathers over his rookie season. Unexplained deaths, whispers of a cannibal cult, a prophecy, and a stone known only as the Oculus, cast a shadow over his athletic ambitions. It is the start of a terrifying journey down a path of mystery, murder, and to a confrontation with an Evil more ancient than the stars.

Free short story that's a lead-in to this book series: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/236636


 
About the Author:

Michael Offutt writes speculative fiction books that have science fiction, LGBT, and paranormal elements. His first book, "Slipstream" has received some critical acclaim and was published by Double Dragon in the spring. The sequel, "Oculus" came out in November 2012. He has one brother, no pets, and a few roots that keep his tree of life sufficiently watered. By day, he works for the State of Utah as a Technical Specialist. By night, he watches lots of t.v., writes, draws, and sometimes dreams of chocolate.

Michael Offutt graduated from the University of Idaho in 1994 with a Bachelor's degree in English.

He keeps a blog and would appreciate a visit or two even if all you want to do is say hi.





Twitter: @MichaelOffutt





One lucky commenter will win a bookmark.  Good luck!  
Visit Michael's blog and leave a comment
to be included in the $50 drawing!

42 comments:

  1. Congrats Michael! Wishing you all the best with your books!

    ReplyDelete
  2. All the best- you've have some amazing success already!

    Theresa, you are always so good at hosting other authors- thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always appreciate a writer who breaks through cliques. I love to do that. It makes for more interesting and thought-provoking characters and stories. (...at least, I think so...)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always appreciate it when a cliche is turned on its head. Can't wait to read Oculus.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My cubicle partner at my last job was nothing like the dude from Glee. He did like to party though.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Breaking through clichés can be a real breath of fresh air.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Karen: Thank you.

    @Shelly: Thanks for the well wishes.

    @S.A. Larsen: :)

    @Liz: O really?

    @Alex: Interesting.

    @Elise: I agree.

    You guys should leave a comment on my blog so that I can count you in the $50 drawing. Oh well. I think I'll have to just keep track of all the names on a separate word processing document.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael, I just updated to let people know to go to your blog. Hope it makes it easier.

      Delete
    2. I think there's too many one percenters that follow me on twitter, Theresa. I can hear their groans when I say, copy and paste the tweet and then leave a comment and that enters you in the drawing.

      By one percenters, I mean people who wipe their ass with $100 bills like P.T. Dilloway below my comment.

      Delete
  8. He might be happily monogamous but he does kiss that Joel guy. I'm just saying.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Way to blast those cliches out of the water, Michael! I'm excited for you and the Oculus book tour!

    Jai

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love breaking cliches. It's just so much fun. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sounds awesome! Smashing cliches is so much fun.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congrats Michael! Your book sounds really good. And Theresa, Happy Holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I like a good retelling on the Excalibur myth. :) Congrats, Michael!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yay, Michael! I've been looking forward to this sequel. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would say you're a diamond in the rough, but you already knew that.

      Delete
  15. Congrats, Michael! And you definitely break the cliches. Can't wait to read book three!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL I'm on like Chapter four. I figure at this pace I should have it done by 2014. So I hope you don't mind waiting...

      Delete
  16. Sounds like an interesting book! And I like your list, especially the part about Excalibur. There's a reason (actually, there is more than one) that people continue to be fascinated by that story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the title "neurotic". I used that once on a card in one of those sit around groups at work where we use one adjective to describe ourselves.

      Delete
  17. Yay Michael! All the best with your new book. It sounds great (I pretty much like all stories with Excalibur).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do too. Especially since Bradley James looks so hot in Merlin. Holy cow...and they cast him shirtless in every episode.

      Delete
  18. Michael is so awesome! I love how he defies the stereotypes! I wish him so much luck and success with his book.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Huge congrats to Michael, he really is amazing. I love how he breaks cliches. I have to remind myself sometimes that cliches need to be broken!

    ReplyDelete

  20. I really liked your article as it is very interesting to read thank you

    ReplyDelete
  21. I really like that you address stereotypes like dumb jocks and promiscuous gays. Taking such unfair images and flipping them upside down can reveal real truths. Good for you and Oculus!

    ReplyDelete
  22. All sound like good cliches to break. Best of luck with your book, Michael.

    Hi, Theresa :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Always a good thing to break the old cliches. Some scary stuff in this story, though. This is why I'm a reality contemporary story writer, but as I said, always good to rid one's work of cliches.

    Great job, Michael, and thank you Theresa for helping us all to become aware of this great writer's work.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Theresa and Michael - it's great to read more about Michael's writing .. so thanks for posting up - good luck to you both in 2013 -

    I'll be broadening my reading horizons via the Kindle and getting my act together .. new genres, anthologies et al ...

    Happy Christmas and New Year ... cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete