Voice Virtual Book Publicity Tour August & September 2011

Voice

Join Joseph Garraty, author of the horror novel, Voice (Ragman Press LLC), as he virtually tours the blogosphere August 1 – September 30 2011 on his first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About Joseph Garraty

Joseph Garraty Joseph Garraty is an author of dark fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He has worked as a construction worker, rocket test engineer, environmental consultant, technical writer, and deadbeat musician. He lives in Dallas, Texas.

His latest book is the horror novel, Voice.

You can visit his website at www.josephgarraty.com.

Connect with Joseph at Twitter at www.twitter.com/JosephGarraty.

About Voice

Voice Local rock band Ragman is finally taking off. Stephanie Case’s flamboyant performances and scorching guitar work have started attracting crowds, and singer John Tsiboukas—aka Johnny Tango—is delivering the best performances of his life. After months of playing to dead rooms, it looks like success is at hand.

The thing is, there’s something wrong with Johnny’s voice. Until just a few weeks ago, he couldn’t hit the right pitch if you painted a target on it and let him stand real close. Now he sounds amazing. . . and strange things happen every time he sings. Lights burn out. Whole rooms become cold and hushed. People get violent.

For Johnny and Case, Ragman is a ticket out of a life of meaningless, dead-end jobs and one lousy gig after another, but as the weirdness surrounding Johnny begins to turn into outright nightmare, they find that the price of stardom might be higher than either of them could ever have imagined.

Book Excerpt:

“Get in,” Douglas said.
John stared, openly gawking at the sleek black car parked at the curb. He didn’t know from cars, but this one was forty years old if it was a day, and yet it was so pristine it glistened in the moonlight. It had a hungry look to it, poised to leap though it wasn’t even running yet. “This is your ride?”
“Yeah. Nineteen-seventy Charger. They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Get in.”
The car started with a throaty growl, and John barely got in before Douglas peeled away from the curb. The lights of Wichita Falls, Texas, faded in the rearview mirror, and in a surprisingly short period of time, they were in the middle of nowhere. No streetlights, no house lights, no lights of any kind other than the stars and a fat, pale moon. This country seemed somehow slippery in time. Away from the road and the power lines, it could have been yesterday, or a hundred years ago. Maybe two hundred. Perhaps the illusion would disappear in the daylight—there’d be a tractor in the fields, airplanes overhead, something—but right now he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had invaded an earlier era. The few houses they passed with their electric porch lights seemed to shrink against the surrounding darkness.
John’s cell phone rang, and he jumped. He took it from his pocket, looked at the small screen. Danny. John turned the phone off.
“Where are we going?” he asked at last.
Douglas’s face was ghostly in the light from the dash. “You’ve heard of Robert Johnson?”
“Yeah. Blues guy.”
“The blues guy. He inspired Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix—all those guys. You know the story they tell about him?”
“Sure. Everybody knows that one. He went down to the crossroads and sold his soul to the devil.” John tried to laugh, but it died in his throat.
Douglas nodded. “He was nobody once, just like everybody else. Just a kid living on a plantation who wanted to play the blues more than anything else. He worked like hell, but it came slow.” His mouth twitched in a smile that was gone a second later. “You know how it is.
“He heard stories, though. If you wanted something bad enough, you went down to a certain crossroads at night, and you waited. There was a price to pay, of course, but there’s always a price to pay.”
“Nobody gets out alive,” John muttered.
“Yeah.” Douglas pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, separated one from the pack, and stuck it in his mouth. He offered the pack to John, but John waved him off. Douglas pushed the round knob of the car’s cigarette lighter into the dash. Wow, John thought. You don’t see those anymore.
Douglas continued, his hoarse voice sharp over the rumble of the engine. “So, one night, Robert put his guitar in the case and went for a long walk. Down to the crossroads. He waited around, and before too long he heard the sound of footsteps on the packed dirt behind him.
“He turned around, and there was a man there—a big man, in a black suit. The man didn’t say anything. He simply held out his hand. Robert put the case on the ground and took out his guitar. He looked from the guitar to the big man’s hand and back, and then he handed the guitar over.
“The man in the black suit tuned the guitar. He played just six notes, one for each string, and twisted the tuning pegs until each string seemed to sing all by itself. Then he handed the guitar back and walked off down the road.”
The lighter popped out of the dash, and Douglas lit his cigarette. The tip glowed redly in the darkness.
“When Robert woke up the next morning, he was the best blues player the world had ever known.”
“Cute,” John said. “He didn’t exactly live happily ever after, though.”
“Nope. He died when he was twenty-seven.”
“Like Kurt Cobain,” John said.
“And Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.”
“And Jim Morrison.”
The man grinned. John shuddered and stared out the window. A possum glared up at him from the side of the road, its eyes reflecting an eerie, baleful yellow-green, its thick, grotesque rat tail curling around behind it. What the hell am I doing here? he asked himself without much conviction. This guy’s nuts.
The possum slipped off into the ditch. The car streaked by, and Johnny tried not to look into the darkness after the creature. He was suddenly convinced there would be other things out there looking back.
“So we’re going to Mississippi,” John said. The sarcasm tasted like dust in his mouth.
“No. There are other places where the world is thin. I think I know all of them by now.” Douglas stared forward still, his eyes shrouded and blank. “But we are going to the crossroads. How’s that grab you, Johnny?”
John turned back to the window. Douglas was nuts, he knew. But suppose John took him seriously. Suppose they were headed to the crossroads. How did that grab him?
The coffin was inevitable. Even at twenty-two, John knew that. You lived your allotted span and then they dumped you into a hole. And after that? He found it difficult to credit an eternity full of harps and angels and hosannahs. Nothing in the world he’d seen suggested that such was likely, while the alternative seemed evident in every headline, every atrocity, and every petty act of duplicity around him every day. John had never believed much in God, and he didn’t see any reason to start now. The devil, though? That guy had his hand in everything. Might as well take it when it was offered and get the most you could out of your threescore and ten.
Or even one score and seven?
Yeah. Even that.
“Just drive,” John said.

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Voice Virtual Book Publicity Tour Schedule

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books kk Monday, August 1

Book reviewed at Cafe of Dreams Book Reviews

“I am going to honestly say that Voice by Joseph Garraty is one of my favorite reads thus far this year.  Mr. Garraty emits eerie and creepy horror all over the place with his story.  He also achieves this without overplaying the “gore” card, which for me is a HUGE plus.  Yes, there are a few graphic scenes, but mildly so and not over-the-top like many horror stories can go.  Also, just to give you an idea of how much I loved this book, I received a copy of it for free for the Pump Up Your Book! tour, in exchange for my review.  However, I found myself purchasing a copy for my Nook Color just so that I could read it in bed.  Yes, I was that hooked!!”

Tuesday, August 2

Interviewed at Cafe of Dreams Book Reviews

“That’s a big part of what the story is about for all the characters, not just Johnny. Each of them has to decide what sacrifices to make–and how much to force others to sacrifice for them–if they want to make it. In some cases, that can look an awful lot like selling one’s soul.”

Wednesday, August 3

Guest blogging at Literarily Speaking

“And if I’m there, I’m grinning like a fool—because in these dark, out-of-the-way places, despite the grime and the horrifying bathroom, despite the drunk who won’t stop pawing you and the sound guy who turns you up until you feed back like crazy or turns you down until you can’t hear anything, and despite the fact that you’re about to bust your ass for two hours for six bucks, you never know when something magic might happen.”

Thursday, August 4

Interviewed at Blogcritics

“Do something, even if it’s wrong.” My dad used to tell me that, and I think it’s applicable to every day of my life and not just my writing. Whatever you’re going to do, do it, without allowing yourself to feel afraid that you’ll screw it up somehow. That fear will keep you from doing anything at all, and it must be ignored.”

Friday, August 5

Book reviewed at Reading, Reading and Life

Voice is not your typical horror book but it is one that you should not miss.  Another tired morning was had by me at work after staying up well into the wee hours to see what was going to happen next.  I hope there is a next book and I hope we don’t have to wait too long to get our hands on it!”

Monday, August 8

Book reviewed at Books and Things

“We follow the band and Johnny to the inevitable conclusion, but the horror is what comes along the way and the unexpected parts in the end. What these parts are, I will not divulge… *evil laugh* (which is appropriate in this case) but I will say that if you are looking for a horror rock and roll book, you have found it.”

Wednesday, August 10

Book reviewed at Reviews from the Heart

“The story line is great and definitely keeps the suspense and thrills going to the end. Definitely on the creepy side.”

Thursday, August 11

Interviewed at Beyond the Books

“Find a writing partner or a good editor. It’s critical to realize that, by the time you finish writing a novel, you’ve totally blown your objectivity. You might think it’s the best thing since the invention of the written word or you might think it’s totally irredeemable, but you’re probably wrong either way. Get a second opinion from somebody you trust who “gets” your work. You’ll be glad you did.”

Friday, August 12

Interviewed at Review From Here

“I think a lot of horror relies heavily on the bad guy and shock value to carry the story, but I tend to lean pretty far in the other direction. For me, the more believable the characters are, the more unnerving the story.”

Monday, August 15

Book reviewed at Must Read Faster

Voice comes out of nowhere as a great work of horror fiction! It had all the creepy, gut-clenching, teeth rattling, and heart pounding elements that I haven’t seen in a book for a long time! I loved Joseph Garraty’s style of writing. It’s simple and elegantly creepy!”

Tuesday, August 16

Interviewed at Working Writers

“Read everything! I write speculative fiction, but I’ve incorporated influences from crime and literary authors into my work at times, and I can’t even count the oddities that have crept into my work from random nonfiction, ranging from statistics textbooks to sociological treatises to impenetrable physics tomes. There’s always something new to learn.”

Thursday, August 18

Interviewed at The Book Connection

“I typically get up a couple of hours before work and write. It’s a quiet time, with none of the distractions of the evening. Some days I’ll sneak a little writing in at the end of the day, if I can. Hmm. It sounds so unhealthy when I put it like that. . .”

Friday, August 19

Guest participant at Literarily Speaking August Book Panel

“There are all kinds of bad reviews, and, depending on what kind of bad review I get, I don’t usually mind so much.”

Tuesday, August 23

Guest blogging at Writing Daze

“There are lots of music references. If you’re into rock music, you’ll recognize tons of bands and inside jokes.”

Wednesday, August 24

Book spotlighted at Book Marketing Buzz

Thursday, August 25

Guest blogging at Literal Exposure

“The popular image of a writer is that of a person holed up in a room (preferably a lonely writer’s garret), pounding on a keyboard, squeezing out one painful word at a time, and pathologically avoiding the outside world. In truth, you do have to do that sometimes—but if that’s all you do, your writing will suffer for it. Writing is fueled by living, as much as imagination.”

Monday, September 5

Book reviewed at Mad Moose Mama

“The characters are all remarkably written and believable in each of the roles set before them.”

Tuesday, September 6

Guest blogging at The Story Behind the Book

“As a writer, though, what attracted me to writing a story about a rock band is the personalities. Rock musicians have obsessive, driven, intensely creative personalities, and as a result, the average four-person rock band is a seething cauldron of personality conflicts, strange tensions and raging egos.”

Thursday, September 8

Interviewed at Book Marketing Buzz

“I think the best thing to come out of it has been meeting a lot of interesting people who are crazy about good books. Not only have I made some friends that way, but my own reading list has expanded quite a bit!”

Monday, September 12

Interviewed at The Hot Author Report

“I get up early, usually a couple of hours before I have to leave for the day job. It’s quiet, uninterrupted time, and I’ve been way more productive doing that than I would have expected, given that I don’t consider myself a morning person. Still, having a fixed time slot in which to work tends to make one focus. Sometimes I’ll stay up late, burn it at both ends, but that depends on what’s going on.”

Wednesday, September 14

Book reviewed at Life in Review

“I highly recommend this book. If you’re a rock and roll fan, you will especially appreciate this one. There are some really great characters and a great dynamic between the characters in this story. Case was my favorite character and I was rooting for her the whole way through. This story is very dark and creepy with plenty of mystery and suspense. It has plenty of twists and turns along the way. It’s not overly gory for a horror novel. It’s more of a dark, creepy, psychological type of horror. If you’re a rock & roll fan looking for a chilling read, then definitely check this one out!”

Thursday, September 15

Guest blogging at Beyond the Books

“Like one of the main characters in my novel, Voice, I play guitar in a local rock band. Also like that character, I’ve played a lot of crappy gigs. The similarity ends there—I’m generally a nice guy, and Stephanie Case is, well, neither of those things, and that’s just for starters. But the lousy gigs? That’s something that ties all rock musicians together. Every time I meet a new musician, we get to trade horror stories….”

Wednesday, September 21

Guest blogging at The Book Bin

“Feedback is great. As an author, I love it. Even if it’s bad, as long as it’s constructive, I can almost always learn something from it and make the current book or the next one that much better. So, when I set out to get published, not only was I all starry-eyed and excited about the prospect, but I was totally undaunted by the idea of rejection. As long as I got feedback telling me what needed fixin’, I figured it was all good.”

Friday, September 23

Book reviewed at Donna’s Blog Home

Monday, September 26

Book reviewed at Review From Here

Interviewed at Examiner

Tuesday, September 27

Guest blogging at As the Pages Turn

Interviewed at Broowaha

Wednesday, September 28

Interviewed at The Writer’s Life

“I’ve been writing in some form or other most of my life, ranging from short stories to song lyrics, but I only really started to tackle the novel form about six years ago. At the time, I didn’t really intend to write a novel, but the story I had in mind simply wouldn’t fit well in anything smaller, and before I knew it I had 70,000 words, and I was hooked on the form. So much potential for telling good stories! “

Friday, September 30

Interviewed at American Chronicle

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Joseph Garraty’s VOICE VIRTUAL BOOK PUBLICITY TOUR will officially begin on August 1 and end on September 30  ’11. Please contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com if you are interested in hosting and/or reviewing his book or click here to use the form. Thank you!

If you would like to book your own virtual book tour with us, click here to find out how!

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