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27 November 2012

A Look At Liza O’Connor & 'Saving Casey' ( @Liza0Connor @decadentpub #SO )

Today we have author Liza O’Connor visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
* I love life-endangering adventures.
* From diving with the great white shark to rafting down a twenty-one foot waterfall, I've done it.
* I can fly a plane, parachute from a plane, and hang-glide out of the way of a plane.
* I have deep sea fished, fly fished and raised fish in the pond I built in my backyard.
* I can kayak whitewater or seas, raft class five rivers, and scuba-dive into the oceans, where once a giant stingray attacked me.
* I have spent grueling hot days carefully unveiling diplodocus bones, riding a suicidal horse up a mountain to fly-fish and almost enticing a dominant male buffalo of a very large herd to run me down. (I just had to get closer for a photo op.)
* Some of these activities, I am actually good at. Others, I was lucky to survive. But all of them make great fodder for my characters to go out there and live life to their fullest.

What book are you going to tell us about today? Is it part of a series? If so, what's the order the books should be read in?
* My first book to be published: Saving Casey.
* Eighty-year-old Cass wakes up in the body of a troubled seventeen-year-old girl named Casey, which all believe has survived a suicide attempt. Cass intends to turn the girl’s life around, only it’s harder than she expects. All Casey’s troubles have now become Cass’s and someone wants her dead.
* Here's a fabulous book trailer, created by Danielle Fine/Definition: http://youtu.be/WxcaMP0Dgzc

How'd you/your muse come up with this story?
Actually, I blame it on all my friends who have teens. I wondered if the teens were ignoring their parents’ good advice on principle or because it’s simply not relevant to their problems. That made me question if our life experiences would help at all if we were in their bodies, living their lives, or if raging hormones simply take over and tramples all that valuable life experience.

Describe the hero in five words.
Protective, loyal, determined, sexy, and honorable.

Describe the heroine in five words.
Stubborn, determined, witty, sarcastic, and alone

Who's your favorite character in the book & why?
* That’s a dangerous question, because if I say my heroine (which I want to say) and my dog reads this blog, then I’ll be in big trouble, because I put my dog, Jess, in the book, in the first and last chapters. Thus, in those chapters Jess is my favorite. In all other chapters, New Cass has to be my favorite. She’s funny, sarcastic, smart, determined, and refuses to be a victim. Although, as time goes along and we know more about Old Casey, I fall in love with her as well. Both are remarkable characters, with a great deal in common with one another. And then there’s hunky, honorable Troy, who loves Cass, but refuses to go there because of their age difference.
* This is an unfair question. It’s like asking a mother which child she loves the most.

What's your favorite line in the story?
I feel like a comedian working the wax museum crowd.

A look into the story
~ Blurb ~
* Having been diagnosed with cancer, Cass Goldman decides to opt out of any futile medical care and end her life. While she has some thoughts on afterlife, she never expects to reincarnate into the body of a seventeen- year-old girl named Casey Davidson.
* When she awakens in a hospital, Cass discovers two disturbing facts. One, she is now inside the body of a troubled teenager, and two, the former owner of this body committed suicide, but only Cass knows that. Everyone else believes Casey has survived, but suffered a complete memory loss. Cass has two choices: to take on Casey’s life and turn it around, or to confess the truth about her reincarnation and end up in a mental asylum. Cass decides to take on the future life of Casey, a frightening ghoul-faced teen with short, black, spiky hair.
* Every person around Cass has an ulterior motive and discovering the truth of Old Casey’s life is more complicated than the ‘new math’ she is forced to learn in school. In addition, Cass has to contend with raging teenage hormones and the prior crimes of Old Casey, which she might not remember, but everyone else certainly does. However, her biggest frustration concerns her feelings for her father’s rugged security specialist who sees her only as a teenager and doesn’t want to explore the mutual attraction between them.
~ Excerpt ~
* Upon settling down on the toilet, she noticed the floor to ceiling mirror facing her and screamed at the sight of the creature within in it. Short black hair spouted about its head, black circles surrounded both eyes and fell like triangular knives down the cheeks. Black lips, stretched in horror as if in a nightmare. Pulling up her pants, she moved closer to the mirror.
* She was a ghoul, an honest to God ghoul!
* The door crashed open and her father stared at her, fear and panic clear in his eyes.
* Touching her face, she looked up at him. “Please tell me these aren’t permanent.”
* His panic remained a second longer as her words filtered into his brain and then he pulled her into his arms. “Don’t worry; we will get them removed—if you want to.”
* “If? Oh, I definitely want them removed.”
* How the hell could she turn around this life if she looked like the walking dead from a low grade monster movie?

Buy Saving Casey here...
Bono Books, a division of Decadent Publishing
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Find Liza here...
Website
Twitter

Thank you for joining us here today, Liza! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

8 comments:

Jenna said...

Great post, Liza! This sounds like such a wild premise! I love the blurb and excerpt. Gonna have to check this out! Is it YA or no? Congrats on your release!

Jenna said...

Oh, BTW--I sucba dive too, though no encounters with sharks, just barracuda! :)

JM said...

The book and your crazy life sound fascinating! Material, indeed. I don't normally read adult, but I may have to try this one out.
Great post!

JM said...

Duh. Meant to say young adult. Jeez!

Anonymous said...

Liza, what a wonderful interview! I had no idea you'd done so much. Congratulations on your release.

D'Ann said...

Wow, you have really done a lot. This book sounds really interesting!

Karen Wilson said...

What a full life to pull ideas from. The books sounds wonderful.

Liza O'Connor said...

I seem unable to respond to each of you individually, so let me respond to all.
The book is labeled Young Adult, but Adults seem to enjoy it greatly and long as you realize you will Laugh and Cry you will enjoy your read. Crying is mandatory.
As to my adventures. If you want to rack up adventures head to New Zealand and Australia. They are happy to risk your life. And then your characters can get up to such mischief. Thanks to all of you for stopping buy. I really appreciate it.