Thursday, June 16, 2016

Straight Browsing from the Library: Song of the Oceanides by J.G. Zimbalist


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour. And... exciting news...the book is now permafree wherever it's sold!

READ THE BLURB


Song of the Oceanides is a highly-experimental triple narrative transgenre fantasy that combines elements of historical fiction, YA, myth and fairy tale, science fiction, paranormal romance, and more. For ages 10-110.

READ AN EXCERPT


Dyce’s Head, Maine.
31 August.

Rory Slocum had only just returned home from Putnam’s General Store and Newsagent when he noticed the girl standing in the heart of the garden. She seemed to be lost in the music of the wind chimes dangling from Mother’s lilac tree. Still, despite the girl’s seeming innocence, somehow he just knew that she must be one of the Oceanides who had been taunting him all summer long.

She must have heard his footsteps in the salty afternoon breeze because she turned to look upon him. What a comely girl too.

A bit of jam and then some! He stopped in his tracks and studied her classical features.

She had plum-black hair, eyes of sea green, bold chiseled planes to her face, fine hallowed cheeks, and a sharp jaw line. How could she be anything but an Oceanide?

Slowly he advanced as far as the fog cannon where he paused a second time. Perhaps he would do something so as to entertain her, and once she realized how amusing he could be, she would tell the others to leave him be. He walked over to the lilac tree. “Look what I’ve got here!” With that he held up his copy of Sir Pilgarlic Guthrie’s Phantasy Retrospectacle.

She must have resented the whole notion that a boy like Rory would even think to approach someone like her. Grimacing, she called to another girl who had just walked up through the gale-torn bluffs. The two of them spoke in a tongue resembling the Byzantine Greek in which the drunken churchwarden sometimes delivered his public addresses.

As giddy as ever, Rory advanced a few more steps. “You know what they call this sort of picture book, do you? Down at Putnam’s, they tell me it’d be un comique pittoresque. Just like the newsagents sell down there in Paris.” Now he pointed to the picture on the dust jacket—the Oceanides’ long flowing hair and the mint-cream linen gowns reaching down to their ankles. Afterward he pointed at the girls themselves standing there in their own creamy-white gowns. “Sir Pilgarlic Guthrie, he’s the bettermost! Everything bang up to the elephant and—”

“Have you any idea how odd you are?” the first Oceanide asked. “And you’ll be beginning your fifth year in school next fall, isn’t that right? They’ll tear you apart, a beanpea like you.”

MEET THE AUTHOR


J.G. Źymbalist began writing Song of the Oceanides as a child when his family summered in Castine, Maine where they rented out Robert Lowell’s house.

The author returned to the piece while working for the Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society, May-September, 2005. He completed the full draft in Ellsworth, Maine later that year.

For more information, please see http://jgzymbalist.com.

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/JG-Zymbalist/e/B01B1ZLE2A/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14930590.JG_Zymbalist

Get the book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Remember.. it's free!!
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY


a Rafflecopter giveaway

19 comments:

  1. To Judith and everyone else at Straight from the Library, thank you so much for hosting! Remember too my ebook is free, and it is available in Kindle, Apple, and Nook forms!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Morning! Raining here in Michigan but hope your day is a sunny one. Thanks for this giveaway

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great to hear from you, James! Never mind the rain; be of good cheer.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for the chance to win :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm. That's a great question. Let's see. How about this? Always follow the golden rule. Love thy neighbor. Never bully or trash anyone in even some petty way because it is the little things that matter. I know all of this sounds corny, but I think of myself as a moralist. And even if my book moves a little bit slowly and is a little bit atmospheric for genre fiction, nevertheless those literary elements inform the book with a certain gravitas that gives the book a serious voice. I want to try to make the world a kinder, gentler place.

      Delete
  5. I'm back, hope you're not too tired of hearing from me. Thanks again for this opportunity to win and have a terrific day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. sounds like a fun one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's a lot of fun stuff, but there's also a lot of serious spiritual soul searching too! I'm really hoping this book says something about the human condition . . .and the Martian condition as well!

      Delete
  7. Thanks so much for the giveaway and have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you James, and let's not forget: Tomorrow is Father's Day. Cool.

      Delete
  8. Sounds like an interesting read. Entering under the name of Virginia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Virginia, I think my stuff will be most interesting for those interested in the vagaries of emotion. It's not the typical action-packed genre work.

      Delete
  9. Sounds like an interesting read. Entering under the name of Virginia

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's who may see this and thank you for the chance at winning this giveaway

    ReplyDelete
  11. Enjoy this beautiful Sunday and thank you for this chance to win

    ReplyDelete