Thank you so much for visiting by Bibliophilia, Please for my stop of the 2014 Debut Author Bash! Today, I'll be featuring M.G. Buehrlen and her debut novel, The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare.
Guest Post
M.G. Buehrlen
When I set out to write about Alex Wayfare, the main character in The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare who has been on my mind since I was 16 years old, I had no idea the storyline would eventually involve time travel.
Here’s what I did know: This character in my mind kept waking up in different time periods, she couldn’t control this phenomenon, and she always ran into the same boy in each one. What I didn’t know was how or why this was happening to her.
I’ve always been a huge fan of the theory of time travel. It’s definitely my favorite sub-genre of science fiction. And I’m a huge history buff. I’m particularly drawn to the past more than the future. If I had one superpower, it would be to travel back in time and explore history, walk the streets of Victorian London, defend a castle in 13th-century Scotland, explore the architecture of the Byzantine Empire.
Obviously I don’t have this superpower (or do I?), so Alex has become my vessel. Through her, I can experience any time period I want. But Alex needed a reason to wake up in these past time periods. She needed a way to travel at will.
I knew I didn’t want to use a time machine or magic to send her back in time. I wanted to come up with my own unique form of time travel that I, personally, hadn’t seen done before. After several months of long, hard brainstorming (fueled by gallons of coffee), her mode of travel came to me. My love of Dante’s Inferno was the inspiration behind it.
Alex’s soul has the ability to enter the space between Life and Afterlife called Limbo. Within this space, which is an endless sea of black, are millions upon millions of Soulmarks: wispy, bright, blue-white shafts of light. They are the marks made by souls as they passed from Life to Afterlife. Everyone’s history is written on their individual Soulmark, like personal accounts of their time spent on Earth. Most people only have one Soulmark, since they’ve only lived one life. Alex, however, having been reincarnated fifty-seven times, has fifty-six Soulmarks in Limbo. When she takes hold of one, her soul can travel back in time and embody one of her past selves. From there, she can relive history. She can fight with gangsters in 1920s Chicago, or rob a steam train in 1870s Missouri.
There are limitations to her traveling, of course. And there are rules that must not be broken, for fear of changing the past and resetting the future. But you’ll have to read to find out more about that.
Dun dun DUN!
M.G. Buehrlen
When she’s not writing, M.G. Buehrlen moonlights as a web designer and social media/creative director. She’s the current web ninja lurking behind the hugely popular website YABooksCentral.com, a social network for YA (and kids!) book lovers. The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare is her debut novel.
M.G. lives nestled away in Michigan pines, surrounded by good coffee and good books, with her husband and son and three furbabies. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.
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About The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare
Title: The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare (Alex Wayfare #1)
Author: M.G. Buehrlen
Publisher: Strange Chemistry (Angry Robot)
Release Date: March 4, 2014
One girl. Fifty-seven lives. Endless ways to die.
For as long as 17-year-old Alex Wayfare can remember, she has had visions of the past. Visions that make her feel like she’s really on a ship bound for America, living in Jamestown during the Starving Time, or riding the original Ferris wheel at the World’s Fair.
But these brushes with history pull her from her daily life without warning, sometimes leaving her with strange lasting effects and wounds she can’t explain. Trying to excuse away the aftereffects has booked her more time in the principal’s office than in any of her classes and a permanent place at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Alex is desperate to find out what her visions mean and get rid of them.
It isn’t until she meets Porter, a stranger who knows more than should be possible about her, that she learns the truth: Her visions aren’t really visions. Alex is a Descender – capable of traveling back in time by accessing Limbo, the space between Life and Afterlife. Alex is one soul with fifty-six past lives, fifty-six histories.
Fifty-six lifetimes to explore: the prospect is irresistible to Alex, especially when the same mysterious boy with soulful blue eyes keeps showing up in each of them. But the more she descends, the more it becomes apparent that someone doesn’t want Alex to travel again. Ever.
And will stop at nothing to make this life her last.
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2014 Debut Author Bash Schedule
The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club – Melissa Landers
YaReads – Courtney C. Stevens
Swept Away By Books – Mary Crockett
Between Printed Pages – Alison Kemper
September 2nd
Two Chicks on Books – Bethany Hagen
Pandora’s Books – Kiki Sullivan
Gorgeous Books – Hillary Monahan
Books i View- Rachel M. Wilson
September 3rd
Fictional Thoughts – Kristin Rae
Beauty and the Bookshelf – Rin Chupeco
The Quirky Reader – Adam Gallardo
September 4th
Books As You Know It – Elizabeth Czukas
Book Briefs – Meredith McCardle
Bibliophilekid – Megan Whitmer
September 5th
My Heart Hearts Books – Philip Siegel
Books and Swoons – Katie Delahanty
Playing Jokers – Jocelyn Adams
Blissful Book Reviews – Lillie J Roberts
September 6th
The Book Tower – Lisa Colozza Cocca
Beauty and the Bookshelf – Kate Asha Boorman
Falling Down The Book Hole – Michelle Krys
September 7th
Reading is My Treasure – Bethany Neal
Ginger Reader 22 – Adi Rule
Pandora’s Books- Jennifer Longo
I Feel the Need, the Need to Read : Christine Kohler
September 8th
Little Bookworm Reviews – Chanel Cleeton
Her Book Thoughts! – Mary Elizabeth Summer
Bookwyrming Thoughts – Christina Farley
Gorgeous Books – Helene Dunbar
September 9th
Bookish – Colleen Oakes
My Book Addiction – Emily Lloyd-Jones
Sweet and Sassy Reviewz – Veronica Bartles
Pond Across the Pond – Jessica Love
September 10th
Adventures in YA Publishing – Joy N Hensley
Never Ending Stories – Erica Cameron
Whimsically Yours – Rachel Searles
September 11th
The Phantom Paragrapher – Skylar Dorset
My Library in the Making – Sashi Kaufman
September 12th
Bookwyrming Thoughts – Kathryn Rose
Adventures in Storyland – Stephanie Diaz
Platypire Reviews – Louise Galveston
Next Page Reviews – Michelle Shusterman
September 13th
Taffy’s Writings – Jessie Humphries
Nocturnal Predators Reviews – AdriAnne Strickland
I Feel the Need, the Need to Read – Kory M. Shrum
Fiction Dreams – Bethan Cooper
September 14th
Pond Across the Pond – Rebecca Behrens
Adventures in Reading – Bethany Crandell
The Phantom Paragrapher – Lisa Doan
September 15th
Fiction Dreams – Sarah Harris
Playing Jokers – Laura Wettersten
September 16th
Ok, Let’s Read – Stefanie Gaither
Platypire Reviews – Lisa Ledochowski Survillas
September 17th
Swoony Boys Podcast – Heather Demetrios
Bumbles and Fairy Tales- AJ Pine
Pretty Sassy Cool – Lauren Magaziner
Book Lovers Life-Trinity Ambrose
September 18th
For The Love – Kristi Helvig
Rockin’ Book Reviews – Annie Cosby
Sleeps on Tables – Kelly Loy Gilbert
YaReads- Emery Skye
September 19th
Pimples, Popularity, and Protagonists – Jaye Robin Brown
Between Printed Pages – Kate Scott
Pop! Goes the Reader – Kathleen Hale
September 20th
Becoming Books – Lynne Matson
Bibliophilia, Please – M.G. Buehrlen
MindJacked- Heidi Schulz
September 21st
Keep it Fictional- Lisa O’Kane
Bibliophilia, Please- PA Warren
Bookcrastinators in Wonderland – Rebecca Yarros
Fiction Dreams – Kimberly Wheaton
September 22nd
Nocturnal Predators Reviews – Stacey O’Neale
Lisa Loves Literature – Jessica Gollub
Teen Scene Reading – A Lynden Rolland
Blissful Book Reviews – Katie Sparks
September 23rd
Skye’s Scribblings – R.C. Lewis
My Book Addiction – Joshua David Bellin
I Feel the Need, the Need to Read – Dawn Brazil
September 24th
Bookcrastinators in Wonderland – Tracy Clark
Platypire Reviews – Kym Brunner
BookLoversLife – Elissa Sussman
September 25th
Allodoxophobia: The Fear of Opinions – Lisa Maxwell
Turning Pages – Kelsey Macke
Sweet and Sassy Reviewz – Annie Cardi
YaReads – Carol Staff
September 26th
Curling Up With A Good Book – Martina Boone
Diane’s Book Blog – Julia Gibson
Bibliophilia, Please – Whitney Miller
Book Lovers Life – Ryan Gebhart
September 27th
Turning Pages – Robin Constantine
The Cozy Reading Corner – Kristen Lippert-Martin
Out of Time – Robin Talley
The Quirky Reader – K.A Barker
September 28th
Diane’s Book Blog – Stacey Nash
The Book Beacon – Sarah Bromley
YA Series Insiders – Nicole Maggi
September 29th
YA Series Insiders – S.L. Duncan
The Eater of Books! – Ryan Graudin
My Not So Real Life – Seth Fishman
Book Lovers Life – Jane Lively
September 30th
Fiction Freak – Sara Raasch
Read My Breath Away – Anne Blankman
Pimples, Popularity, and Protagonists – Linda Vigen Phillps
YaReads – Kate Hattemer
Giveaway
Thanks to the very lovely M.G. Buehrlen, there is a copy of The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare up for grabs today!
Ends at 12:01am CST on October 4th
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare has been on my TBR list for awhile, although I didn't realize she was a debut author! After reading this Guest Post I'm even more excited to pick this book up!
ReplyDeletePatty @ Bookish Wanderlove
What an interesting book! I love time travel stories and have added this book to my TBR list. Thanks for the great giveaway.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting read. I really like time travel books. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDelete