Books
The Uprising
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Recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound, eighteen-year-old Evan Taylor must find a way to stop the Uprising, an underground movement committed to destroying the Union, before her homeland is attacked.
After spending the last four months in the Ruins trying to get back to the only girl he’s ever loved, nineteen-year-old Cyrus needs to get past his jealousy over Evan’s involvement with Bryce or risk losing her again.
Together, Evan and Cyrus join with their friends to devise a plan to save both the Ruins and the Union, but when the pressure’s on, bickering and infighting threaten to undermine their goals. New information revealing a weakness in the Uprising is uncovered, forcing them to act quickly or risk losing everything.
With the help of old friends and new allies they set out to make history, but it might just take a miracle for everyone to make it out alive.
THE UPRISING is the third book in THE UNION series, a young adult romantic adventure set in the near future.
Release Date: December 2015
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian Adventure
eBook: Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
Paperback: CreateSpace | Amazon
Cover design by local San Diego graphic artist, Mark Sgarbossa. Go check him out!
Read the first three chapters for free on Wattpad.
Wiki Page created by my teen daughter.
Excerpt
Cyrus
Hot showers, beds that conform to my body, soft clothes, public transportation — there’s a shitload of stuff to love about the Union, but by far my favorite is the beach. I never tire of watching the ocean, struggling to understand it, the way it seems to go on forever. Standing here, feeling the coarse sand beneath my feet and the cool mist on exposed skin, helps me think.
Like an idiot, I figured nothing else mattered as long as Evan and I were together, but every damn thing matters. It’s not safe to stay here, and it’s not safe to return to the Ruins. Not that she’d even agree to that. Hell, I don’t know what she wants. We barely talk and I know that’s mostly on me. I can’t pretend her sleeping with that douche doesn’t piss me off. I want to punch something every time I see him, which is pretty much every fucking day.
“Figured I’d find you here,” Rainey’s raspy voice comes from behind me.
I grit my teeth and turn to face her. “Hey.”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Never thought I’d see the ocean, now I can’t seem to leave.”
She’s quiet for a few moments, staring out at the crashing waves. I’ve stared at them for plenty of hours myself, now I stare at her. She’s pretty, in a rough sort of way. The scar running from her ear to her jaw only enhances her looks. But she’s not someone you’d ever want to mess with.
“Quit staring at me.”
I turn back to the water. “Sorry.”
“Colin went with her. You know, in case you were wondering.”
“Not really.” I wasn’t, only because I chose not to think about it. But if it’d been Bryce, I’d have needed to pound something.
“Are you going to punish her forever?”
Dragging my gaze away from the surf, I glare at her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her eyebrows go up. “Really? You two were this sappy sweet, gag-inducing couple until her ex showed up. Now you’re always in a foul mood, and you barely talk to the girl you supposedly gave up everything to follow.”
“Fine, I don’t like the guy, never have. Why the hell is he here again?”
“We need everyone if we have any hope of doing what you’re planning. We can’t send him packing because he got naked and horizontal with your girl.”
If Rainey wasn’t a girl, I’d have no problem decking her, but she is, so I walk down to the water to get away from her.
Whatever went on between Evan and the douchebag was before she joined the Uprising, but it’s more than that. It’s everything. She had no idea what she was getting herself into and no plan to get out. She nearly got herself killed.
She’s impulsive and reckless, and I don’t know if I can deal with that.
Dream Cast
In Defense of the Platonic Friendship
“…men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.” Harry Burns.
That’s the premise behind the movie, When Harry Met Sally that plays out with hilarious side-effects. Harry later goes on to clarify that it would work if both of them were in relationships with other people, but otherwise platonic friendships between men and women are not possible.
I call BS. There are some great platonic friendships in fiction. Harry and Hermione (even though JK Rowling now admits she should have had them end up together), Meredith Grey and Alex Karev from Grey’s Anatomy, Watson and Holmes from Elementary. Okay, so maybe there aren’t a lot of examples, but that’s too bad. There should be.
Movies and books are filled with examples of straight/gay opposite-sex platonic friendships, but that’s not what I’m talking about because in those cases, any sexual attraction will never be reciprocated. What’s so great about a platonic friendship with a member of the opposite sex is a perspective you’ll never get from your girlfriends (or guy friends if you’re a guy). And let’s face it, your boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/wife will never give it to you straight if s/he thinks your affection is on the line.
With The Union series, I created several close platonic friendships for my protagonist, Evan Taylor. These include Lisa and Colin from the Union and Sonia out in the Ruins. Evan is slow to trust, so I knew her circle of close friends would be small. In The Ruins, Evan’s friendship with Colin evolves and the two become closer, needing each other in order to survive.
It might seem implausible for two teens with raging hormones to keep their friendship purely platonic, but I believe it’s not only possible, but logical. And I think it’s an underserved demographic in young adult fiction. There are a lot of friends-to-lovers stories out there, but that’s not what Evan and Colin are about. Their love for each other isn’t muddied with sexual attraction and all the pitfalls that can introduce.
I met my best male friend thirty years ago this summer. Our friendship developed over years of spending time together in the same group of friends. We saw each other through dozens of new relationships and breakups, marriages, children, and even a couple of divorces. He was there for me when I needed a place to crash after one of those breakups, and I was his best man at one of those weddings.
We were often single at the same time, and I won’t say we were never tempted to see where things might go, but we never acted on it because the friendship was always more important. And although we’re both more settled now with our respective families and don’t see each other as much as we used to, when we do get together, it’s as if no time has passed. Because that’s how it is with best friends, male or female.