I'm so excited to have the Over The Rainbow Blog Tour stopping by today! Below you'll find out more about this YA book by Brian Rowe, an excerpt, and a giveaway...
Over The Rainbow
by Brian Rowe
August 6th, 2013
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Purchase: Amazon / B&N / CreateSpace
A modern re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz!Zippy Green never meant to fall in love with a girl, but when she does, her ultra-conservative father tries to send her to anti-gay camp. At the Kansas City airport, however, she hides inside a giant suitcase and sneaks onto an airplane headed not to the camp, but to Seattle, where her online love Mira lives. Halfway through the flight, the plane barrels out of control and crashes into the ground, knocking her unconscious.When Zippy awakens, she finds that most of the passengers have vanished. She doesn’t know what’s happened, but she’s determined to find out. She begins a quest on foot toward Seattle, and along the way, she meets a teenager with a concussion, a homeless man with a heart condition, a child without a shred of bravery, and a terrier named Judy. Together the group discovers that more than two-thirds of the world's population have mysteriously disappeared. But that's only the beginning...All Zippy wants is to find her Mira, but before she can she has to contend with two outside forces. The first is her homophobic father, who does everything in his power to keep her from the girl she loves. And the second is extinct creatures of all shapes and sizes, including living, breathing dinosaurs, which have replaced the missing population.
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Excerpt from Over The Rainbow
“So
why were you going to Seattle, Frankie?” I asked, when he caught
back up to me after taking another tumble.
He
tried to brush the dirt off his pants but didn’t do a good job of
it. “To spend the summer with my dad.”
“Oh,
are your parents divorced?”
“Yeah.”
“I'm
sorry to hear that. How's your dad with the whole gay thing?”
He
scratched the area around his nose ring, then set his hands back to
his sides. “He's all right. We talk about it a lot, he's trying to
understand it. He doesn't allow me to bring guys over, which sucks,
but, still, it could be worse.”
“A
lot worse,” I blurted out. “Could you imagine if your dad tried
to send you to anti-gay camp?”
Frankie
shook his head in disgust. “I still can’t believe that. That’s
so wrong on so many levels.”
“I
know, right?”
“It’s
shameful. I hope I never have to meet your father. I would beat that
man, so help me God.”
I
lightly chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that. Even though you’re
a foot taller than him, he’ll still scare the shit out of you,
trust me.”
“I
don’t care if he’s Satan. Don’t let me get in the same room
with him.” Frankie kicked a rock out in front of him a good thirty
yards. Sweat dripped down his cheeks; a small pool of it formed on
his upper lip. “How come it’s almost the new millennium and
people still think the way your dad thinks? I mean, the time of
acceptance isn’t ten years from now, or twenty years from now, it’s
today.”
“I
agree. Where do you live the rest of the year? Kansas City?”
“No,
that was just for my connecting flight. I live in Orlando.”
“Oh
cool! Are they more accepting there?”
“I'd
imagine it's better than Kansas,”
Frankie said. “But there’s still a lot of haters out there. I
don’t know if we’ll ever be able to rid the world of them, but we
can hope, can’t we?”
“Yeah.
I guess.”
“I
haven't been impressed much with the guys in Florida. My last
boyfriend dumped me over the telephone. The telephone,
Zippy! Can you believethat? Couldn't even tell me to my face.”
“Really?
That doesn’t shock me at all. It’s 1999. It’s all about
breaking up over AOL.” I paused, and said, “Wait, so you’ve had
a boyfriend before?”
“Two.
And one FWB.”
“FWB?”
“Friend
with benefits,” he said. I gave him a blank stare. He snickered.
“You are new
to this, aren’t you?”
I
sighed. “You could say that. I’ve never even kissed a girl.”
“Really?”
He made a pouty fish face. “Well, you’re still young. Don’t be
like me and rush into something you’re not ready for.”
We
walked for another hour. I kept glancing in every direction, but
there was still no sign of life anywhere. I considered screaming for
help, but decided to wait until I saw someone, or something, moving
about.
“How
long are you going to stay?” I asked Frankie. The silences between
us were awkward, to say the least, and I liked to keep the
conversation going. I was interested in his story, and liked talking
about him more than me. “In Seattle, I mean. The summer, you said?”
“Yeah,
until Labor Day. That's when my senior year of high school starts.”
“You’re
still in high school?” My jaw dropped a little. “Like me?”
“Yep.”
“Damn.
I’m sorry.”
He
shot me an awkward glance. “Why?”
“I
just feel things will get better after high school, for both of us.
Don't you agree?”
“Of
course,” he said. “One more year.”
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Brian Rowe
Brian Rowe is a writing fiend, book devotee, film fanatic, and constant dreamer. He's written nine novels, dozens of short stories, five feature-length screenplays, and hundreds of film articles and essays. He is one half of the blog Story Carnivores, where he reviews the latest in books and film. He is currently pursuing his MA in English at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is hard at work on his next novel.
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4 comments:
It's hard to pick a favorite character because I love them all but if I have to pick, I would go with the scarecrow. He's a really bright guy but lacks confidence and I know a lot of people like that. I guess he just pulls at my heart-strings. LOL
My favorite character is the Wicked Witch of the West because villains are fun and because I like the character Elphaba from Wicked.
I love the cowardly lion! He kind of reminds me of myself:(
I liked Glinda just because she was the good witch. But I really like Toto too because he's cute.
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