Guatemala Paula Loves to Read: Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway: Arlya by Jack Lowe-Carbell

ARLYA

Jack Lowe-Carbell

Thriller

Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Publication Date: February 5, 2024
Page count: 360 pages

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SYNOPSIS:

Arlya, a small town in Southern Ontario, is rocked by a gruesome crime. Four friends must work together with Detective Dylan Grey to find a pattern, a bike, a clue, and a sister before it is repeated.

James and his three best friends, Owen, Tommy, and Mike, have just finished school for the summer. The plan is the same as every other year: they are going to build the biggest fort yet, deep in the Dhoon Woods. After stumbling across a tiny, seemingly unimportant wooden hut, a series of crimes take place and their plans change.

Arlya falls into itself. Doors are locked, curtains drawn, bikes are put away, strangers invade, and kids are off the street. In the first week of summer vacation, a dark and disturbing family history is uncovered; friends turn on each other; a storm rolls through town; and a monster is hiding just out of sight, smiling its toothy grin and crawling through the corn.

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READ AN EXCERPT:

Leah looked around with her flashlight. She hated lying to her mom. The light from the phone allowed hazy shadows to slither through the trees. She thought she could see eyes just on the outskirts of the light.

She could see eyes.

One eye.

A red one.

It blinked beside a tree. Leah whipped the flashlight in its direction. She stood pointing the light; the eye was gone. She thought she saw the colour of pale skin. Her entire body flexed, her muscles twitched, and her eyes began watering.

This was not right.

Crack

Leah ran through the last section of trees to the riverbed. It was getting darker, but the sky was still light enough away from the trees. The river bubbled. She looked at the white stones around her.

She wiped furiously at her eyes and sat down on a rock. She kept turning back and forth from the trees to the river. She looked across and squinted. She could see the orange spray paint signalling the start of their path to the fort. On the other side of the water the white rocks looked like skulls.

Was that her own breathing? she wondered.

Yes.

Was it?

She wanted James here.

No, she wanted to be at home, right now—Snap snap snap—Someone was walking toward her fast.

She tried to find the eye. She pointed the flashlight but couldn’t make out anything but a vague shape dancing back and forth behind a thick tree trunk. She tried to smile.

Why wasn’t he saying anything?

GUEST POST:

Please welcome the author of today's featured novel, ARLYA, to the blog today!

Guest Post by Jack Lowe-Carbell

I wanted to take some time to talk about what it's like to share something incredibly personal with the world. Being a writer requires sharing parts of yourself more than an average person would. While it may have nothing to do with you, the story, the poem, it is still your words, your thoughts, and for a lot of people, including myself, that is terrifying.

This fear of mine only amplified when it was time to share my novel. As I was writing it, I didn't think about it all; I just loved crafting this world and these characters. I loved having it be my own. Then I was ready, I thought. It was done, edited, and it was time to share. When I tell you I was shaking when submitting it to be published, it would be an understatement. I left my desk ten times to go sit down on my bed, breathe, call my mom, have her tell me it's time, and then I finally clicked send.

It was terrifying but so exciting because it was time. I was ready. I just had to dive in. For anyone feeling that way, I get it, but I believe if you make something that you love, it will show. People will notice. Just be sure it is for you before it is for anyone else, then after that, you can worry about everyone else because obviously you have to sell the damn thing. Don't even get me started on that topic.

Anyways, enjoy the journey. There were times I wanted to be done and just get it out, but having it just be my own was so much fun. Treat each step as new and exciting and savour it because, after that, you won't get to write that story again. Ever. It's sad but nice, a little slice of your life bound between two covers.

Be scared, be terrified, because it means you love it, but then when you have called whoever you need to call, have cried, gotten over the shakes, send it out because people are waiting to hear what you have to say.

Thank you for reading my rant, everyone.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jack Lowe-Carbell is a 26-year-old writer living in Vancouver, BC. Arlya is his first novel, and it is based in his hometown, Ayr, ON.

Thanks to his dad, who read him horror stories when he was far too young, Jack has always loved the genre. His next novel is a tale of horror based in Garibaldi Provincial Park.

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

Jack Lowe-Carbell will award a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway