Improbables
Jonathan
Charles Bruce
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Booktrope
Date of Publication: February 22,
2016
ISBN: 978-1-5137-0653-5
ASIN: B01BH86AWU
Number of pages: 334
Word Count: 107,360
Cover Artist: Ashley Ruggirello
Book Description:
Abigail Wren’s new life fresh out
of college is dull, even with her (almost) dream job at the local newspaper.
The only real excitement she can get is found between the pages of an endless
stream of paranormal romance novels she can’t help but love.
Then, on a snowy night in
December, Abigail catches a glimpse of what could only be described as a
werewolf. Enamored with the possibility, her investigation leads her to
discover a paranormal population—improbables—harmoniously living in the midst
of humanity. Between making eyes at a perpetually grumpy werewolf and hanging
out with a vampire with a lust for life (and liquor), Abigail’s life takes a
shaky step out of the ordinary and into the fantastic.
Just outside of the sleepy town
of Whitewater, however, a force of rage is building. Born of hate and delusion,
a living cataclysm threatens to devour everyone in its path—human or
improbable.
Excerpt
from Chapter Three:
The
trip back to the office was short and uneventful. Parking her car was also
characteristically nondescript. On her way to the front doors, Abigail realized
that the entire car ride had been on autopilot. Along with that realization
came the panic associated with losing a chunk of one’s precious life to
monotony. And along with that came a sudden worry that she might have flattened
a child without realizing it.
No.
Surely that would have been memorable—right?
Right
in the middle of a panicked mental recap of the events from picking up her book
to arriving in the parking lot, she slammed face-first into a surprisingly warm
wall of a person. She rebounded, only now taking in the red-and-black flannel
shirt she had plowed into. Her hands shot out in an attempt to keep balance. A
moment later, she felt someone’s hands on her forearms.
“Easy
there,” came a gruff voice. Pulling herself out of her daze, Abigail looked up
at the person she had run into, who was now also, kindly enough, keeping her
upright. He was scruffy, a mop of brown hair bleeding into a full (if short)
beard worried with the occasional silver strands. His eyes were an intense
green, which, coupled with the red in his shirt, gave his appearance an
unintentionally festive look. He was pale, but that was nothing out of the
ordinary, considering Abigail had forgotten what the sun looked like in the
weeks she’d been calling the Pacific Northwest home.
He
was cute. In a ruggedly handsome way. Like a grizzled lumberjack.
Perhaps
cute was not the word for it.
Abigail
giggled, suddenly overtaken with the silliness of what just happened. “Thank
you,” she said, certain she was coming across like an idiot. “You can let go
now.” She smiled. The man obliged, returning a tight-lipped smile that seemed
to err on the side of suffering-the-eccentric.
“Sorry.
Didn’t mean to…” he began before clearing his throat, “exist where you wanted
to exist at the same time.” He looked every bit as awkward as she felt, which
made her own discomfort slightly less overbearing.
She
swallowed sheepishly. “It happens.” She suddenly felt the need to clarify what
she meant, so she gestured back and forth between the two of them. “Existing at
the same time and all.” She realized that the gesture didn’t seem to quite work
in the situation, so she let her hand fall at her side as she averted her gaze.
About
the Author:
Jonathan Bruce began writing what
amounted to terrible Star Trek: The Next Generation fan fiction when he was
four… provided that you accept that “forcing other people to write what he
said” is the same thing as “writing”. Although the original manuscripts are
lost (or perhaps destroyed), we can rest assured that his prose has improved
significantly since then. After high school, he began writing and directing
plays which gradually improved depending on whom you ask. He discovered his
love of a good fight scene after writing a Dracula knock-off which took a 19th
century classic and made it less about Victorian yearning and 300% more about
stabbing things in the jugular.
He has a Master’s Degree in
History, thanks largely to his thesis focusing on MUSIC, a Milwaukee-based
school desegregation campaign during the 1960’s. He also enjoys
discussing/making fun of pop culture of the 20th century and reading books of a
non-historical nature. In his off moments, you can catch him writing for fun or
making inane movies about nothing in particular.
Thank you so much for the spotlight!
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