(The Variant Series #2)
Publication date: February 11th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Alexandra Parker might be the most powerful Variant the world has ever seen—but even that won’t get her out of finishing her junior year of high school.
The challenge of keeping her abilities under wraps during class is daunting enough, but throw one surly, sandy-haired Jumper into the mix, and things can get downright complicated.
Declan’s new job? Watch over Alex while she’s at school and do everything in his power to keep her from losing control. But as sparks of every kind begin flying between Alex and her new bodyguard, she's left feeling more unstable than ever.
When avoiding her abilities results in a surprise visit from her parents’ killer, Alex’s worlds collide with a bang that nearly levels Bay View High.
With her freedom now squarely in the Agency’s crosshairs, Alex will be faced with the fight of her life... and a decision that could forever alter the course of her destiny.
The challenge of keeping her abilities under wraps during class is daunting enough, but throw one surly, sandy-haired Jumper into the mix, and things can get downright complicated.
Declan’s new job? Watch over Alex while she’s at school and do everything in his power to keep her from losing control. But as sparks of every kind begin flying between Alex and her new bodyguard, she's left feeling more unstable than ever.
When avoiding her abilities results in a surprise visit from her parents’ killer, Alex’s worlds collide with a bang that nearly levels Bay View High.
With her freedom now squarely in the Agency’s crosshairs, Alex will be faced with the fight of her life... and a decision that could forever alter the course of her destiny.
--Amazon: http://www.amazon.
--Smashwords: https://www.
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Guest Post:
On
Creating Characters for the Variant Series
When I sat
down to write the story of Alexandra Parker and her strange,
Variant-filled world, I realized fairly quickly that the novel would
be just as much about Alex,
as it would be about her newfound friends.
At first,
Revival
(the first novel in the series) had no plot. Not even a rough
outline. There was no destination for the story and there were no
real characters to speak of. All I knew about the book that Revival
would eventually become was a single moment, pulled from a scene that
takes place a few chapters into the tale—an image of a young girl
running through a burning bookstore, a wall of flames licking at her
back as she fled down the aisle with no way out.
I didn’t
know who Alex was, back then… but I knew a
lot about the guy she’d
find waiting for her at the top of that black spiral staircase in the
far corner of the store.
Declan
O’Connell—the blonde-haired, blue-eyed jumper
who was equal parts bad boy and smartass—was a character I’d been
forming in my mind for a long, long time, but had yet to find a home
for. Going into the project, Declan was the only character that I
knew inside and out. Or at least, the only one I thought
I knew.
As the
story progressed, Declan’s character grew and matured in my mind,
pieces of his backstory falling into place and revealing the source
of his bad attitude and surly disposition. By the time I wrote the
last page of Revival,
I understood Declan in a way I never could have imagined during those
opening chapters.
The truth
is, I don’t create my characters so much as discover
them as I work their stories
onto the page.
All of the
characters in the Variant series came to me in varying forms of
completeness. A name here, a face there, a quirk or two to
distinguish them, an important bit of backstory that forever changed
their life or altered their personality… And often, I didn’t know
what a characters would do or say in a situation until I’d put
them in that situation and let the character speak for herself.
In the
case of Declan’s younger sister Kenzie, I had a crystal clear image
of her physical appearance before I even decided on her name. In
fact, her name was chosen because it was the only
name I could think of that fit the picture in my head.
But
Kenzie’s personality?
Well, I
think it’s fair to say that I was not
expecting the girl who
eventually showed up on the page. Kenzie was a pleasant surprise, but
a surprise nonetheless. My early thoughts about the girl she might
turn out to be ended up completely
different from the caffeine-addicted teen that eventually worked her
way into the story.
For me,
that journey of discovery—of learning to understand my characters
better as the
story
progresses—is one of my favorite things about writing. By allowing
the characters to develop naturally, I’m just as surprised as the
reader is by who and what they eventually turn out to be. It’s an
enjoyable process and something I honestly can’t get enough of. The
further into the Variant series I get, the better I get to know these
characters—and the more I grow to love them.
----
Resistance Excerpt
Kenzie drummed her fingers idly on the
top of her desk. Slouched in her seat, she stared unblinking at the
black hands of the clock mounted to the wall above the whiteboard.
All around the room, students waited in small groups for the bell to
release them and their weekend to begin.
Three minutes until the final bell.
Three minutes, and she’d be free.
Three minutes,
thought Kenzie, and I’ll be
on my way toward my next coffee fix.
That bell really needed to hurry itself
up.
She had places to be.
Kenzie sighed. The longer she went
without a fix, the harder it was to silence the thoughts emanating
from the sea of humanity around her.
Caffeine meant focus.
Focus meant an easier time of keeping
the walls up and the voices out.
She wondered, briefly, what telepaths
did
before the discovery of caffeinated beverages. The thought made her
shudder. Control without stimulants in the bloodstream was possible,
of course. But it was far from a pleasant way to go. Especially in
populated areas.
Wham!
Kenzie jolted upright, the sudden
movement causing her desk to bang into the back of the seat in front
of her.
Something had just slammed into her
mental walls with enough force to send a stab of pain through her
temple.
What the crap was that?
Around the room, the steady flow of
conversation dried up.
It wasn’t just Kenzie. That pulse had
hit everyone.
Even the norms.
Kenzie got slowly to her feet.
A funny thing happens when norms
experience Variant abilities firsthand. Instead of seeing the
supernatural for what it is, nine times out of ten, they will
translate their experience into something that better fits the rules
of their reality.
The brilliant light of a jumper’s
teleport becomes a camera flash, the telekinetic movement of objects
through the air gets blamed on a strong gust of wind, and mental
assaults are automatically translated into something external.
“Did you hear that?” asked a
freckle-faced blonde from across the aisle. “Sounded like a sonic
boom, or something.”
“Yeah! I heard it, too!” said
another. “Wonder what it was?”
She supposed the better question was not
what was it,
but who was it?
The wave came again, this time with
twice the strength behind it. Kenzie grabbed for the back of her seat
to keep from losing her balance.
Fear.
The wave wasn’t a thought, it was a
distilled emotion. Someone, somewhere, was absolutely terrified.
Judging from the nervous expressions on
the faces of the students around her, that fear was not only being
broadcast to the rest of the school, it was also creeping its way
into their subconscious.
Kenzie sifted through the residue of the
psychic onslaught in an attempt to identify the source.
The second she caught a glimpse of that
all too familiar thought signature, she cursed—loudly, to the
surprise of the students standing stock-still beside her—before
sprinting toward the door.
Halfway down the locker-lined hall the
ground began to shudder, the floor practically roiling beneath her
feet.
Earthquake?
she wondered.
But this was Florida. Florida didn’t
have
earthquakes.
Declan appeared at the other end of the
hall, running in her direction.
“Where is she?” called Kenzie.
Her brother ducked through a swinging
door just ahead of her.
The girl’s bathroom?
Kenzie followed him in.
“Oh my god.”
Alex was on her knees in a shallow sea
of water, dripping wet, her hands clutching the sides of her head.
Water flooded the room. The porcelain
sinks lining the wall lay shattered and in pieces on the ground. A
large, spherical indentation was blasted into the wall behind Alex
and what could only be burn
marks scorched onto the
ceiling above.
As Kenzie watched in amazement, strands
of water began swirling around her friend, encasing her in a
glittering sphere of liquid before losing form and crashing back down
around her.
A shimmer of light rippled across Alex’s
body, distorting her appearance like a mirage on desert sand.
“I can’t…” Alex was sobbing.
“There are too many, Declan. I can’t make them stop!”
Declan edged as close to Alex as he
dared, his expression grim.
Alex finally lifted her head to look at
them.
Kenzie took an involuntary step
backward. She had seen the way a jumper’s eyes changed color, the
brilliant violet light causing their eyes to glow brightly in the
moments before and after they teleported, but Alex’s normally gray
eyes were now shifting colors with every beat of her heart.
Violet.
Ruby.
Azure.
Black.
Alex collapsed.
The rumbling in the floor intensified,
sending Declan into action. He sloshed through the water, reaching
down to grip Alex under her arms.
“Get the door,” he called over his
shoulder.
Kenzie held the door for Declan as he
dragged Alex into the deserted hallway.
“Take my arm,” he ordered,
maintaining his hold on Alex. “Let’s
go, Kenzie.”
Terrified of being this close to Alex
during a meltdown, but knowing her brother would leave her behind if
she didn’t act fast, Kenzie lurched forward and grabbed Declan’s
upper arm.
They jumped with the sound of the final
bell ringing in their ears.
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AUTHOR BIO
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