Sidekick
Auralee Wallace
Genre: Fantasy/Superhero
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Number of pages: Approx 172
Cover Artist: Danielle Mait
Book Description:
Heroes meets Kick-Ass in this brilliant and hilarious debut about a girl who just wants to save the world...
Bremy St James, daughter of billionaire Atticus St James, has been cut off from the family fortune and is struggling to survive in a world that no longer holds its breath every time she buys a new outfit. To make matters worse, her twin sister is keeping secrets, loan sharks are circling, and the man of her dreams — a newspaper reporter — is on assignment to bring down everyone with the last name St James.
Things are certainly looking bleak for the down-and-out socialite until a good deed throws her into the path of the city’s top crime-fighter, Dark Ryder. Suddenly, Bremy has a new goal: apprentice to a superhero, and start her own crime-fighting career.
Ryder has no need for a sidekick, but it turns out the city needs Bremy’s help. Atticus St James is planning the crime of the century, and Bremy may be the only one able to get close enough to her father to stop him.
Now all she needs to do is figure out this superhero thing in less than a month, keep her identity secret from the man who could very well be The One, and save the city from total annihilation.
Well, no one ever said being a superhero would be easy...
PRFL would like to extend a very warm welcome to Auralee Wallace, author of Sidekick. Auralee, to begin, can you tell us where are you from and where/who gave you your love for writing?
I am from a small town north of Toronto, Canada.
Like many other authors, my love for writing has come from a deep love
of books…like a deep, deep love. Fan-girl love. I remember as a young child
longing to be a part of so many fictional worlds: I wanted to walk through the
wardrobe; I wanted to drink cordial with Anne; oh, and I really wanted to tour the
chocolate factory with Charlie. Writing seems to be the best way, for me at
least, to feel closer to these incredible worlds.
Can you say that your journey to publication was difficult? If so, what
were the hardest moments to get through?
Ha!
Difficult? More like excruciating, torturous, agonizing…okay, I may be getting
carried away. I began my quest for publication by submitting my work to agents.
Not long after, the rejections started flowing in. I didn’t really have a
problem so much with the rejection (okay, that’s a lie - I totally did); it was
the not knowing why I was being rejected– form letters, even when held up to
the light, are not exactly illuminating. Finally, I had a couple of agents take
the time to tell me that they loved my work, but that the whole “superhero”
thing would be a hard sell. It was then a blogger friend of mine suggested I submit
directly to publishers – let them be the judge of its saleability. In
particular, she sent me the link for Escape Publishing. The submission
guidelines stated that they welcomed manuscripts that were “rule-breaking” and
“cross-genre.” Well, Sidekick was
definitely both of those. I joyfully signed my contract not long after.
How do you overcome I-Suck-at This, that little voice in your head that
tells you your writing isn’t good enough?
People overcome this? Seriously? Huh. Okay, well, obviously my shock
gives away the fact that I have not overcome this particular glitch. I will say,
however, that just like Dory in the classic film Finding Nemo, I find the mantra Just
keep swimming to be useful in a number of contexts.
What is your dream vacation?
Ooh, tough one. I would really like to hike the Machu Picchu trail. And
yes, I would absolutely pretend I was Indiana Jones the entire time…and then
probably feel guilty about it because there is some serious post-colonial
subtext to those fantasies.
Describe your writing style in five words.
Zippy. Techni-colorful. Fun. Smart. POW!
What movies are you currently excited to see?
I have three small children, so really, I would be excited to see any
movie with my husband.
What are you currently reading?
Currently I am between books, but my next purchase will be either Doctor Sleep by Stephen King or Divergent by Veronica Roth.
If you weren’t a writer, what other careers would you pursue?
I would go back to teaching college English/psychology. I miss the
students. Yeah…college students are funny.
If you could create a holiday of your own, what would it be called?
Doctor Who Jammies day.
For people who haven’t read your novel, how would you summarize the
plot?
Sidekick is just like Cinderella…if Cinderella wanted to be superhero
instead of princess.
To you, what makes a good story?
I love melodramatic page-turners. I really, really do. I want to gasp
and clutch my chest at the end of every single chapter.
What usually turns you off about a story?
Reactive/passive heroines who are one sandwich shy of a picnic (please
excuse the cliché).
If you could collaborate with any author, who would you choose, and
why?
My first reaction was Stephen King because he is a God, but I can’t
write the things he writes about. I’d give myself nightmares. I would choose
someone literary like Margaret Atwood, but I find I get depressed whenever I
try to write about the serious stuff. So I’m going to go with Janet Evanovich.
She’s a comic genius.
What is on your night stand?
Wow. I nearly gave myself
whiplash just now (yes, I do most of my writing in bed.)
Okay, here goes:
·
Two plants
– close to death.
·
Four pens.
I doubt any of them work.
·
One used coffee
mug.
·
One empty
glass holding a spoon that had peanut butter on it…but I ate that about 15
minutes ago.
·
Two
journals/writer’s notebooks.
·
Two books
on writer’s craft.
·
Charlaine
Harris’s Dead Ever After, which I finished
a long while ago and should probably put away.
·
A clock, a
baby monitor, and a lamp huddled together.
·
And finally,
a used Kleenex my five year old left me this morning.
Hmm, answering this question has
brought something to light. I am not a tidy person…and I want more peanut
butter.
What are two of your pet-peeves?
Huh, I can’t really think of anything. Not a lot bothers me. Wait! I’ve
got at least one! When people don’t remind me it is their birthday! I know this
makes me a terrible person, but it’s true. I am horrible at remembering
birthdays, and I feel awful, awful, awful when I forget them. The people who
are closest to me know that this has become a near pathological fear of mine, and
they seem to find it amusing to witness my horror when I forget, yet again,
another birthday.
I need to buy myself a calendar. Maybe I could put it on my nightstand.
What is your favorite book?
I can’t even…it’s impossible…Jane Eyre? Misery? Something with Harry
Potter? Nope. It’s just too hard. It is
like picking favourites among your children. Can’t be done.
Thank you so much for joining us today, Auralee. We really enjoyed the visit. Good luck and great sales with Sidekick.
About the Author:
Auralee Wallace has played many roles in her life, including college professor, balloon seller, and collections agent. She is now living her dream of writing humorous women’s fiction. When this semi-natural blonde mother of three children (and psychiatric nurse to two rescue cats) isn’t writing or playing soccer, she can be found watching soap operas with lurid fascination and warring with a family of peregrine falcons for the rights to her backyard.
Author Links:
Website | Twitter | Facebook
Tour giveaway details
5 ebook copies of Sidekick
