Guest Post with Author Stephanie Feagan and Giveaway

Today I would like to welcome author Stephanie Feagan to RFTC. Stephanie is celebrating the release of her new book Out of Control and has stopped by to chat.

Author of the RITA winning Pink Files series, Stephanie Feagan has had a love affair with romance novels since she was eleven and discovered there are kissing scenes in Victoria Holt books. She spent a lot of time in her closet with a flashlight, reading as fast as possible to get to the end, only to start a new book and begin the whole Leave-Me-Alone-I’m-Reading cycle all over again. She still stays up until the wee hours to finish books, now courtesy of a lighted e-reader which she believes is mankind’s greatest invention ever.

Stephanie also writes Young Adult and New Adult paranormal romance as Trinity Faegen. A practicing CPA who loves travel, books, new pencils, old keys, and smart guys, she lives in the oilfields of west Texas with her engineer husband and a mean cat. She’d love to hear from you. She answers to Stephanie, Trinity, Hey Lady, and Mom, and can be reached at Stephanie@StephanieFeagan.com or Trinity@TrinityFaegen.com

She’s aware the similarity between her pseudonym, Faegen, and her real name, Feagan, confuses pretty much everyone, herself included. Since so many mispronounce Feagan as FEEgan instead of FAYgan, she thought she’d mix it up when she took a pseudonym and make it easier on people. Now people say FayEEgen, and spell it wrong. Next time she takes a pen name, she’s totally going with Smith or Jones.

Places to find Stephanie:

| Site | Facebook | Twitter | 

A Theme Is A Many Splendored Thing

Themes in novels are elusive when you're up close, but the farther back you get, the more evident they become. It's a little like that light bulb moment when I realized I always gravitate to the appetizer section of any menu. I always want ALL the appetizers and the main courses just seem meh. I never noticed until my daughter pointed it out.

It's difficult for an author to lay her hands on one particular theme that appears over and over in her work until she has a body of work to consider. My body of work is ginormous, some published and much more unpublished, and I can safely say that every story I've told, while they may contain different themes, have one consistent theme - loneliness. In reading, I gravitate to books with lonely characters. Give me a hero or heroine who's alone, who aches for human interaction, and I'm all over that like syrup on pancakes.

Using my armchair psychologist skillz, I'm going to posit that my attraction to One Is The Loneliest Number is because of childhood trauma, like when we moved 300 miles away from my hometown when I was in the middle of 4th grade and my new school was a house of horrors from Day 1 because of Jake Hollingsworth. I still hate Jake Hollingsworth. He made fun of my name and called me George of the Jungle (my maiden name was George), and when I'd come into the classroom, he'd start singing it, and others joined in. I had no friends, no one to run to, nowhere to hide. I walked past Jake once and he poked his finger up my dress and into my backside. I screamed and we went to the principal and I was in as much trouble as Jake. It was a low point in my life, and I was only 9. My parents were deeply unhappy people in an unhappy marriage and my brother was 5 years older than me, distant and way too busy fighting with my dad to pay me any attention. I missed my old school, my friends, my life. I was desperately lonely.

Then, miracle of miracles, I was standing next to the school building during recess one day when a girl came up and started talking to me. Her name was Beverly Funk. She was way tall for our age and a big-boned girl. And her name was Funk, which gained her almost as much teasing and bullying as George. I was so grateful for her friendship, I still to this day want to weep with love for her. We remained friends through the fifth grade, and then there was middle school and Terri Hale. She accepted me into her little clique, then told me one day at lunch that I could no longer sit with them, to go away. In front of the whole world. I cried. I was friendless again.

Life was made worse because my mom made me go to the youth social thing at church every Sunday night. Everyone at my church was rich - except me. They all went to private school and wouldn't spit on me if I was on fire. I usually sat on the steps and waited for Mom to come get me when it was over. Except that one Sunday when a tall, pretty, equally ostracized girl named Laura came to sit beside me. We went back inside and played Yahtzee. A guy who was also public school trash joined us, and we bonded that night. We remained close friends all through high school and college. Laura passed from breast cancer when she was 38, leaving 4 beautiful little girls and a whole host of friends behind, including me.

I've been lonely at other times, even in a crowd. I hurt when I hear the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, and feel pain for all the lonely people. I want everyone to have friends, family, others in their life, because this journey we're on means nothing without sharing. I am never happier than when I'm with my family, eating, laughing, telling stories of our days and jobs and children.

Strange, then, that I draw such comfort from writing, which is a solitary pursuit. And yet, I never feel lonely while writing. I have a whole host of friends right here with me, characters I know and love, who I root for and want to find their happiness. Their companions. Whatever story I tell, there will always be an element of loneliness somewhere in the telling, and no matter how many times I fix it for the characters and bring them the joy of friendship and love, I know I'll keep telling the same story again and again, because I will never quite completely distance myself from that 9 year old kid with no one.

What about you? What themes do you gravitate toward in your reading?

Thanks so much to Danielle for having me here! I hope you'll give Out of Control a read, and let me know if you think my favorite theme is in the story.

Oil rig blowout specialist Blair Drake is finished with men—especially after her disastrous marriage that caused her family to disinherit and cut all ties with her. But when Nick Robichaud, a handsome, roguishly charming oil well fire expert, wildcats into her life, throwing his devil-may-care attitude all over the place, the real sparks begin to fly.

Forced to work together to kill a string of sabotaged oil rig explosions, Nick and Blair discover a plot to cripple the world’s oil supply. Unless they stop the doers, it’ll mean global economic catastrophe. With time running out and their lives on the line, they risk everything to prevent disaster. But nothing can stop the fire between them from burning out of control....

Purchase: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 1 lucky person will win a $25 Gift Care (Amazon or Barnes & Noble)

To Enter: 

• Please answer the question: What about you? What themes do you gravitate toward in your reading?
• Please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

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