Saturday, May 11, 2013

Guest Post: Blood Hex by Erin Butler

I am pleased to welcome Erin Butler, author of Blood Hex, which released March 29th. It is the story of two girls, one boy, that spans four centuries, and a secret curse that sits on all of them and affects all of their lives.  I found the premise to be quite intriguing and believe me, just mention the word curse and hidden secrets in the same sentence, and you've got me hooked.  Take a look:

Two girls. Four centuries. One curse.

Isabella started it—all because a boy fell in love with her—but it ends with Sarah.



They meet in secret, Isabella and Thomas, during the witching hours while the rest of the villagers hide behind locked doors. And even though Isabella's scared, she wants Thomas more. He'll protect her from the night, from his father who'll decide her future, from the paranoia-fueled hunting parties taking away innocents.

Centuries later, seventeen-year old Sarah runs away to an aunt she never knew she had. Her dad? Dead. Her mother? A liar. She wants the memories of a father she never got, but instead, discovers her father's death wasn’t innocent. Everyone—the Wiccans, the townies, even her quasi-boyfriend—are hiding something. The secret the history-rich town will kill to keep entangles Sarah into a centuries old witch curse.
  



Why I Write

The simple answer: Because I need to.

The longer answer:
Since I was little, I've had stories running around in my head. I even have a long-running story about the youngest girl ever to play in the NBA and how she dealt with the fame and the drama. This story started in my head when I was ten years old, and I, of course, was the main character.  I know I was ten because Michael Jordan was my co-star and we went to the Olympics the same year he was actually in his second Olympics, 1992. (If you're wondering, we won gold that year, with a little help from the young female superstar!)

It took me a while to realize I wasn't just daydreaming. I wasn't fantasizing, not really. I was telling a story. Sure, I wasn't writing it down and it was all in my head, but I had it up there. It's still up there just waiting for me to write it down. Will I eventually put it to paper? I hope so. If I don't write about that young girl who wants to change the world playing basketball, she'll still be there, bugging me. Do you remember that song Breathe (2 AM) by Anna Nalick? A couple of verses in that song have always spoken to me:

"2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song.
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me,
Threatening the life it belongs to."
-Anna Nalick

This. A hundred times this. If I don’t write them down, they will torture me. I would go insane until I break. I write because where else will the stories in my head go? They deserve to be shared and if I can write them well enough to do them justice, they should be shared. In Blood Hex, you'll read about Sarah's determination. In my upcoming summer release, How We Lived, you'll read about Kelsey's triumph over grief and tragedy. The books are their stories; I'm just the happy translator.

About the Author
Erin Butler lives in upstate New York where winter is her arch nemesis. She prefers to spend her time indoors reading and writing, but ventures out for chocolate, sunshine, and to perform her librarian duties at a local library. She lives with her very understanding husband, a stepson, and doggie BFF, Maxie. Erin’s dreams of becoming an author started in Kindergarten when she wrote her first story about witches, the eloquently titled, six-sentence page-turner, “The Three Witches”. Now, she likes to write longer works in many different genres. You can visit her online at www.erinbutlerbooks.com.





3 comments:

  1. I like books about curses and secrets too.

    BTW this cover is the same as Michelle Zink's newest. My first time seeing that.

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    Replies
    1. I went and checked and you're right. I couldn't figure out why it looked familiar - A Temptation of Angels.

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  2. Erin, I suspect many of us writers have that very reason to write.

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