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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Virtual Tour & #Giveaway for Permanent Spring Showers by Scott D. Southard


Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Tour, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, for Permanent Spring Showers by Scott D. Southard.   Please leave a comment or question for Scott to let him know you stopped by.  You can enter his tour wide giveaway, for a 10 Amazon/B&N GC, by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You can also follow the rest of his tour by clicking on the tour banner above, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.




Artists, Sex, and Inspiration: The Importance of Passion in Permanent Spring Showers by Scott D. Southard

Vince is a charismatic young painter. He can lose days lost in inspiration. His hands are usually covered in paint or clay, and his clothes may be stained with work and sweat. And yet, even then he still looks good, because of the charisma and passion and inspiration propelling him forward. Vince has an energy most of us can only dream of.

Vince lives each day to the fullest. Carpe diem has nothing on Vince. Life is almost as much a work of art as the creations that drive him. A day with Vince is a day lost in ideas, theories, deep conversations, and art. It could almost be considered a mini-vacation from the stress of everyday life.

Vince is sexy, with his intense eyes and unwavering convection on everything. Many women in the new novel Permanent Spring Showers are fascinated with him (as well as one of the men). Some act on it, some regret that they acted on it, and others won’t even admit to dreaming about him. Still it is there.

For Vince, sex and love is a tool. It is another device in his toolbox to bring out the inspiration in his own work. As Vince says to one woman obsessed with him (Viv) in the book:

“I’m unpredictable, I shout, I expect things at all hours. You can forget about respect, nothing will be equal, I’ll order you around. I’m like a baby that has to be monitored. I’ll have no courtesy for anything you may want or need. And when I’m done with you—and mark my words someday I will be done—it will be like you no longer exist for me. I will throw you out, and it could happen anywhere, in front of anyone. I will treat you, oh, so bad, Viv.”

That is Vince and he is trouble.

(Oh, and did I mention he is pretending to be British? Because he is.)

~~~~~~

Romance is never clean. 

While books and movies may like to present everything as a yes/no situation, in real life it is more like a scale, and no one is ever on the same spot on it.

When I decided to create the novel Permanent Spring Showers I wanted to deal with this reality, giving as many different aspects of relationships as I could through my cast. And all of the extremes are there from a marriage of convenience to a character so blind in love that he would change his personality for his obsession. That last character is named Marty and his love life is falling apart. His girlfriend is Viv, the very one that Vince talked to in the above quote.

Yes, love in Permanent Spring Showers (like in the real world) is never clean.

~~~~~~~

Permanent Spring Showers begins with an affair. Professor Rebecca Stanley-Wilson’s husband admitted to having an affair… and it was with one of her own college students.

Blame it on a desire for revenge (or way too much alcohol), she then has had one of her own. Unfortunately for her, her affair was with Vince, one of the great upcoming painters of his generation. The ramifications of that one torrid evening will not only be felt across her life but over the entire art world, because that night will inspire one of the greatest works of contemporary art. The novel follows three months in the lives of everyone associated with that painting.

This is a novel with lies and betrayals and surprises. One of the things I adore about the book is that one character may say something and it might mean something different to everyone else in the same room. That is Permanent Spring Showers.

~~~~~~~

Vince is not the only artist in the novel. There is also a struggling author (Jenn); she is in the process of creating her own literary genre, which works out of outright manipulation. She has no problem playing with a person’s emotions, as long as it helps her story.

While I would hate for anyone to think that I am judging or saying something about all artists in the characters of Vince and Jenn, I am saying something about passion. And passion—be it in love or in lust or in art—can drive us to some drastic decisions. It can make an artist (like Vince with his paintings) or it can break one. Of course, to see how all that turns out you will need to check out the book.

I hope you enjoy Permanent Spring Showers.

Permanent Spring Showers
By Scott D. Southard

Publisher:  5 Prince Publishing and Books, LLC
Release date:  February 4, 2015
Genre:  Romantic Comedy
Length:  472 Pages
ISBN:  978-1631120817
ASIN:  B00T74HH0Q




About the book:


Professor Rebecca Stanley-Wilson is having a very bad season.  The ramifications of one torrid evening with one of the great upcoming painters of his generation, will not only be felt across her life but over the entire art world.

Sexy, funny, and very surprising, Permanent Spring Showers is the tale of one very memorable springtime and how it impacts a group of unique artists and dreamers.


From the the hopeful Olympian with the failing marriage to the writer who is creating a new literary movement (through outright manipulation) to the romantic wondering what he did wrong to drive away the love of his life, each tale walks the line between reality and fantasy. And waiting at the end of the line is a very important painting... and possibly the revolver used in the Lincoln Assassination.



EXCERPT



Yes, for the first time Marty was embarrassed that she was his sibling; a weird change he had to take note of. “But we all agreed with the story, Mary. You were the only one, the only one. The Benedict Arnold.”

Mary shrugged her shoulders, not hurt at all by the pronouncement. “You know I was right to do it.”
         
“No, you weren’t right.” Marty quickly walked over to stand in front of her, the size of Gordon almost blocking Marty’s view now of the cottage. “We all agreed. You nodded your head too.”

“It was a fake nod,” she said defiantly, as they began to once again argue like children.
         
“You can’t fake a nod.”
         
“I did.” Mary said, letting go of Gordon and walking towards Marty, not giving an inch.          
         
“Look, I can do it now.” She nodded. “And here’s another.” She did it again. “I could go all day.”
         
“How can any of our friends trust you, trust me anymore?”
         
“Because of my nod?”

“Your nod of lies, yes. I’m guilty by association with your nod.”
         
She pointed at herself. “I own my nod.”
         
“If that was only true. Your nod affects all of us. It is the plague of nods.”
         
“Marty,” a voice said simply to their left, interrupting their argument. They both turned together, perfectly in unison to face Jenn. She did not look at all happy to be seeing them, and in her black with the rain and the clouds of smoke in the distance, she almost looked like a specter of death.  

AUTHOR Bio and Links:


Scott D. Southard is the author of A Jane Austen Daydream, Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare, My Problem With Doors, Megan, 3 Days in Rome and Me Stuff in addition to his latest release, Permanent Spring Showers. His eclectic writing has also found its way into radio, as Scott was the creator of the radio comedy series The Dante Experience. The production was honored with the Golden Headset Award for Best MultiCast Audio and the Silver Ogle Award for Best Fantasy Audio Production. Scott received his Master's in writing from the University of Southern California. Scott can be found on the internet via his writing blog “The Musings & Artful Blunders of Scott D. Southard" where he writes on topics ranging from writing, art, books, TV, writing, parenting, life, movies, and writing. He even shares original fiction on the site. His blog can be found at http://sdsouthard.com. Scott is also the fiction book reviewer for WKAR's daily radio show Current State.


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18 comments:

  1. I loved reading the excerpt from the book! I am looking forward to reading more. Thank you for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I hope you like the book! I am very proud of the work. It is definitely something different and fun and surprising.

      Cheers!

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  2. What book do you wish you could have written?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, there are so many!

      I guess I would be drawn to the works that inspires me. Like A Christmas Carol by Dickens or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Lewis. (If I wrote The Lord of the Rings there would be a lot less poetry, and no Tom Bombadil. LOL.)

      Whenever I sit down to write a book, usually I am thinking about the kind of things I like to find in my own reading. I like to be surprised, experience something new. I want something smart, but also fun. My hope is Permanent Spring Showers will be that for other readers as well.

      Thanks for the question!
      -Scott

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  3. This sounds like a very interesting book, I loved the excerpt. Putting on my TBR list. Thanks for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I hope you will check it out!

      Cheers!

      Delete
  4. Thanks for sharing my work on your site! I hope you and your readers enjoy the post and excerpt and consider checking it out.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Replies
    1. Thank you!

      I hope you'll consider checking it out. Cheers!

      Delete
  6. Really fascinating excerpt. I really enjoyed it.

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  7. The premise sounds engrossing! I can't wait to read it! Thank you for sharing and for the contest!

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  8. Thanks Betty! That is awesome. I hope you like it.

    Cheers.

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  9. interesting title. Thanks for the giveaway

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I hope you will check it out (even if you don't win! LOL).

      Cheers.

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  10. I have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it.

    ReplyDelete