Saturday, September 14, 2013

Meet with Arthur Gonzalez

at 9:30 AM
Tell us about your latest book.
 THE PHOTO TRAVELER is about a 17-year-old teen, Gavin Hillstone, whom discovers his ability to time travel through photos and images.

THE PHOTO TRAVELER was created after one of the most important individuals in my life lost his grandmother. He was looking at an old black and white photo and said, “I would do anything to jump into this photo.” In that moment the idea came to me. I thought, Oh my god. What if we could?

Can you imagine having the ability to time travel to and revisit old memories or moments in time!?  AMAZING!
So I developed the story line for my main character, which ends up traveling to distinct periods in history (The Great Depression and The Salem Witch Trials) for certain answers, and has this fierce, radical group of European Photo Travelers after him (called The Peace Hunters).

What marketing methods are you using to promote your book?
I am involved in loads of social media. I am very active on certain platforms for authors, such as Wattpad, which is primarily geared towards the YA community. And I host as many giveaways as possible too!

What formats is the book available in?
Currently THE PHOTO TRAVELER is available in all eBook formats and paperback.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I’m pretty big of forming memories.

Who are your favourite authors?
I’m really enjoying John Green.  I love his style of writing and distinct voice he has.

What advice do you have for other writers?
Success does not come overnight. It takes hard work. If you want it, you must first define your own interpretation of success and be willing to work relentlessly towards it.

What's your favourite quote about writing/for writers?
We are each given a gift my God. It is up to us to determine what that is. What we do with this gift, is our gift back.

What's the best thing about being a writer?
There are no limits. There’s no right or wrong way. If you have a story to tell, no one can tell you that you are wrong. No idea is too over-the-top. On the contrary, the bigger the idea, the better!

Where can people find out more about you and your writing?
They can go to my personal website: www.arthurjgonzalez.com.  They can also sign up to my mailing list under the CONTACT tab.  Also, any one can visit THE PHOTO TRAVELER official website: www.thephototravelerbook.com.
Twitter: ArthurJGonzalez

Anything else you'd like to add?
I’m working on the sequel to The Photo Traveler, titled The Peace Hunter. I cannot express how excited I am about this book! This story takes off in directions I, myself, could not believe!

My children’s novel, Monty and the Monsters, will hopefully be ready by end of summer/end of year. The story is about a newborn human boy, Monty, who’s taken from his world and raised by monsters (in a hysterical monster world I created, called Gloomsbury). Monty is raised by monsters his entire life, carrying the burden of feeling different, but never knowing he is actually a human. His life is filled with isolation and loneliness, constantly being the target of heavy bullying.

On Monty’s 15th birthday, he is informed of the truth of his origin and given the opportunity to venture to his human world; where there, Monty will have to decide if he will stay in the world he was stripped of, or stay with the monster parents he has grown to love, in a world that has always shunned him.

The story is about love, blended family, acceptance, bullying, and finding your way.

My young adult superhero series, tentatively titled LADY ELEMENT (a series meant to break passed the typical male superhero mold, by focusing on a female main character, Charlee, who has developed her abilities to summon the elements. She is on the hunt for her scientist parents whom she discovers have been kidnapped by an underground governmental program, designed to create new strands of diseases for population control. Charlee suffers from body dysmorphia, has a hunky gay best friend, and in a matter of words…is quite fierce.).
The third novel is part one in a still untitled YA series surrounding the end of the world. This story, though, takes place ten years after the fact, where five 5 teens wake to an earth that has evolved into a completely different planet than they remember.

They are forced to resuscitate their kind and reestablish civilization.  But they soon realize why their world ended and discover that earth is still at its mercy.

And then I’m also working on an adult Fiction series surrounding Greek Mythology, The Olympian Chronicles: Hades. Think True Blood with Greek Gods, rather than vampires and werewolves. It’s an edgy, sexy, and modern take on Greek Mythology, with a 21st century twist.

What would our favorite tales look like if they took place in today’s world?


Photo Traveler
Seventeen-year-old Gavin Hillstone is resigned to being miserable for the rest of his life. Left alone in the world after his parents died in a fire when he was four, he was placed in foster care, which for him meant ending up in an abusive home with an alcoholic adoptive father.

Gavin’s only escape is in taking and creating images. His camera is his refuge from the unending torture and isolation of daily life in his “family.”

Until he learns by accident that he isn’t alone in the world after all. His father’s parents are still alive and living in Washington DC.

When he takes the plunge and travels 3,000 miles to find his grandparents, he learns that they—and he—are part of something much bigger, and more dangerous, than he could ever have imagined. Something that has always put his family at risk and that will now threaten his own life, while forever changing it.

He learns that he is one of the last descendants of a small group of Photo Travelers—people who can travel through time and space through images. But his initial excitement turns to fear, when he soon discovers that he and his grandparents are being pursued by the fierce remnants of a radical European Photo Traveler cult, the Peace Hunters. What Gavin has, they want!

His adventure will take him to past eras, like The Great Depression and the Salem Witch Trials. Gavin will have to discover who he really is and must make choices that spell the difference between life and death for himself, for the relatives he now knows and loves, and for the girl he will come to love.
For Gavin, life will never be the same.

Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Young Adult Science Fiction
Rating – PG
More details about the author
Connect with Arthur J. Gonzalez on Facebook & Twitter

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