Title: Paper Souls
Author: Allie Burke
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Dark Literary Fiction
Publisher: Booktrope
Release Date: Sept 9 2014
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
From the author of the bestselling genre-defining Enchanters series, comes a new literary tour de force about Emily, a young woman balancing two worlds between her fingertips: the one that is real to her and the one that is real to everyone else…
From the author of the bestselling genre-defining Enchanters series, comes a new literary tour de force about Emily, a young woman balancing two worlds between her fingertips: the one that is real to her and the one that is real to everyone else…
The question is: which one will she choose?
Never romanticizing what it means to be a twenty-something
schizophrenic in a world broken by normalcy and half-baked fairytales, Allie
Burke’s latest novel unites Emily and her world at large spanning from the
streets of Russia, to the sheets of her bed, to the idiosyncratic comfort she
gets from worlds that don’t exist at all.
Woven with angst and darkness, bursting with heartache,
Paper Souls tells of the irreparably damaged and broken, and how they survive.
Excerpt
In that moment that she gazed down at him, taking in his
soft features, Emily truly believed she would never see Brendan again. That
their years of a practically silent friendship would be for naught, because he
loved her, but the universe wouldn’t let her have him. Because the universe
didn’t grant beautiful things like Brendan Tanner. Not to girls like Emily.
Over time, she forgot that she ever had this thought. And once, in the many
years that followed, when she remembered, she wished more than anything that
she had kept it in mind. That Emily Colt wasn’t good enough for Brendan Tanner
and never would be.
You’re never going to forgive me for this, she said. I’m
sorry.
She kissed him. His lips were warm. His mouth on fire.
Emily was on fire.
His hand was on her neck, choking her. She had never been
choked in a sexual situation, or in any situation, before. She invited the
pain. Any feeling was better than the absence of it, and every day she craved
the kind of physical connection laced with the chemistry that currently passed
between them. This physical feeling was the best that Emily had ever had.
He rose from the ground and, with his other hand, he
squeezed her hip. Emily screamed. He was on top of her; the center console dug
into her spine. She unconsciously arched her back, rising to his stiffness. He
groaned, tightening his grip and biting her bottom lip hard.
He pulled away and took her by the hands and pulled her out
of the car. He wrapped her in his arms. Over his shoulder, the moon was full.
Beautiful night, Emily whispered.
You’re beautiful, he replied.
That was the last and only time Brendan ever told Emily she
was beautiful.
Places to find: Paper Souls
Barnes
and Noble (B&N)
Books
A Million (BAM)
When
did you first realize you wanted be a writer?
I didn’t, really. I actually wrote my first book, Violet Midnight, based on my
disappointment with genres and individuality within them; I hopped from
paranormal to YA to general fiction, never finding an Allie-book. So I wrote
one I could read. It turned into a series, so I had to finish it, which was two
more books, and Paper Souls was
written in an effort to express my trapped thoughts regarding a very tough time
in my life that I thought was a tragedy, but actually turned out being a very
valuable learning lesson about life. So I didn’t start writing because I wanted
to be a writer, but, having produced these self-fulfilling projects, people
have told me I’m kind of good at the writing thing, so it’s a thing I do now,
not necessarily a thing I am.
What
is your work schedule like when you’re writing?
I work a 9 to 5, so I’m without a writing
schedule, but thankfully that works for me. I’ve continued writing to have a
creative outlet that will balance out my conservative, corporate job (which I
also love), so I basically write whenever I have time/want to/have something to
say/am pissed off and take the opportunity to pass ranting off as writing.
What
would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don’t know if I have one? I’ve been so shocked
reading some others’ quirks when they are getting prepared for writing, like
they have to have music or coffee or only one shoe on or something, but I don’t
have to have anything to write. Like,
it’s not a ritual to me, not to say I don’t respect all styles and processes of
writing, because I do. Differences in opinions, I guess. But if I had to pick
one: sometimes I speak out loud to myself in my characters’ voices to confirm
that my dialogue sounds natural.
Where
do you get your information or ideas for your books?
I honestly don’t know. I can tell you where I get
them: my car. But I don’t know where these ideas come from; it has been my
experience that they manifest in my own head when music is playing, for some
reason. All I know is that I’ve had this vivid imagination my entire life. I
have always made up these scenarios and people in my head; I just didn’t know
what to do with them until I was in my early-twenties and started reading on a
regular (my parents never gave me books or introduced me to them). I learned
not to share those ideas with people after I shared one of them with my
ex-husband once and he looked at me like I was crazy (no, that’s not why we got
divorced—that’d be an awesome story, though, maybe I should use that), but
yeah, to answer your question, I have no idea—I have no idea where they come
from.
What
do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I like to research things. Not for books I’m
writing, but I’m really into holistic and natural healing, organic foods,
energy work, meditation—stuff like that. My friends call me Dr. Google. I’m a
homebody, or anti-social, I guess, as well as I pretend to be social when I’m
forced into it, so I enjoy reading, drawing, making jewelry, binge-watching
paranormal/science-fiction shows, you know, stuff I can do with my cat.
What
does your family think of your writing?
They think it’s cool, I guess? My family, as a
whole, are not very supportive when it comes to my writing, but there are a few
that are really there for me. My dad finally bought them because he went to a
signing three years after they were published, my mother has no idea what my
books are called, and the rest of the family’s general response is “yeah, hey,
she writes books” kind of thing. Anyway, my grandfather did read the books the
second they came out, hence the dedication to “My grandfather Bud” in Violet Midnight. My oldest brother reads
all the books, and my younger brother shares what he gets wind of on his social
media accounts, so, no more or no less than any other writer/author.
What
was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
That creating lifts a weight that I carry around.
I’m not the best verbal communicator in that I struggle to communicate what I
mean to say; 9 times out of 10 what I’m trying to say comes out the wrong way
and 10 times out of 10 people I know are pissed off at me. It’s different when
I write, though. I guess I have more pages in a book to show what I mean than I
do in life.
What
do you thinks makes a good story?
Individuality.
About: Allie Burke
An American novelist, book critic, and magazine
editor from Burbank, California, Allie Burke writes books she can’t find in the
bookstore. Having been recognized as writing a “kickass book that defies the
genre it’s in”, Allie writes with a prose that has been labeled poetic and
ethereal.
Her life is a beautiful disaster, flowered with the
harrowing existence of inherited eccentricity, a murderous family history, a
faithful literature addiction, and the intricate darkness of true love. These
are the enchanting experiences that inspire Allie’s fairytales.
From some coffee shop in Los Angeles, she is working on her
next novel.
Where to find: Allie Burke
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