Thursday, September 3, 2015

Available Now! Mia Kerick's "A Hard Day's Night"



Today I'm welcoming Mia Kerick and featuring her newest eBook, A Hard Day's Night. A fan of her work since I read Beggars and Choosers, I am really happy to help share her latest YA title with readers! 

Hello, Cia and friends, and thank you for welcoming me to your blog in promotion of my first novella, “A Hard Day’s Night.”

A stereotype can be defined as “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996). 

They serve several purposes in our lives, not all of them bad.

Stereotypes:

*help people to quickly process new information

*help us to organize our past experiences

*help people to make predictions about others’ behaviors.

Although the term has strong negative connotations, and for excellent reasons, most people rely on them almost daily to help them function in society. Creating stereotypes allow us to create generalizations, which reduce the amount of processing our minds must do when we encounter a new person. Our brains simply do not have enough power to cope with the amount of information in the universe without categorizing other people.

However, generalizations have a dangerous side, which is their potential to be distorted.

Stereotypes:

*lead to the belief in exaggerated differences among groups

*lead us to focus on the information that supports the generalization and ignore that which doesn’t

*allow us to think that unfamiliar groups do not have much diversity

People often have preconceived notions, or believe in stereotypes, about what it means to be a LGBTQ person. They think they can identify whether or not a person is gay based on the things they like, how they look and dress, and how they behave.  This leads to misconceptions that can be dangerous and painful.

In “A Hard Day’s Night”, Lennon and Fin have developed a series of stereotypes that they believe are true for all gay men. In fact, they so believe in the truth of these stereotypes that they think if they do not fulfill these stereotypes, they cannot be gay men. These stereotypes include the beliefs that all gay men groom themselves in certain ways, enjoy certain types of foods and activities, and possess specific behavioral traits.

Fin sets up a pre-planned day, during which the two teens together explore these gay stereotypes. In other words, they audition themselves for the role of “gay man” by shopping for what they consider to be proper “gay” clothing, going to a hair salon for fancy beautification techniques, indulging in foods they believe you must be gay to enjoy, dancing and singing, among other things; some of which they enjoy, and others of which they actually despise.

The end result of Fin and Lennon’s hard day and night of “gay exploration” is not what they expect, in fact, the two boys learn something about gay stereotypes and a great deal about themselves.

Get to know two teenage boys as they get to know themselves in a more deep and meaningful way. Check out “A Hard Day’s Night” by Mia Kerick and enjoy Beatles references, memories of John Lennon, humor and romance, all tied up in two boys’ 24-hour journey of self-knowledge.





a subdivision of CoolDudes Publishing Pty LTD



Author: Mia Kerick
Publisher: YoungDudes Publishing
Format: Epub, Kindle, Mobi, PDF
Price: 2.99
Pages based on PDF: 79
Format: Novella
Genre: Gay Romance
Publication Date: 1st September, 2015
BISAC Audience: 13+
BISAC Subject: Teen, Gay, Romance





Theme
Having written six young adult books that involve questioning religion or gender identity. In “A Hard Day’s Night” Lennon and Fin question their sexual orientation, thinking that only if they fulfill specific gay stereotypes can they be gay. So, where each of the main characters questions something about being LGBTQ, the exact nature of their confusion is different.

However, the stakes are very high for each boy.

The story is simplistic in its telling, with brilliant humor and characters who are normal in exceptional circumstances; to experience being gay for just one day.

What is important to note, though, is that it isn’t so much the actual things that they do—stereotypical activities that gay men enjoy—as much as the time spent together intimately examining their feeling and emotions, that allows the two boys to accept the reality of their sexual orientation.

The formal experience—“we are going to spend 24 hours seeing what gay life is like”—allows the two boys to stop hiding and to open their hearts and minds to the possibility that they could be gay as well as that they have feelings for one another. It is not important exactly what the two young people do together, but that they set aside the time to examine themselves and as such, it is a plot and goal oriented series of events that bring the two friends together.

Blurb
High school senior Kalin (Lennon) Macready knows several facts for certain: John Lennon is his hero. Beaumont Finley Danforth (Fin) is his best friend. And—this is the complicated one—he feels more for Fin than mere friendship.

For weeks, Lennon pesters Fin, who like Lennon admits to questioning his sexual orientation, for a commitment to spend twenty-four hours together exploring “the gay side of life.” Fin reluctantly agrees. Each boy will seek to answer the daunting question, Am I gay? Lennon pre-plans the day, filling the hours with what he assumes “gay life” is all about: shopping for fashionable clothing, indulging in lavish dessert crepes, boogying to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off”, and yes, listening to show tunes.

However, Lennon quickly realizes that in creating his plan he has succumbed to the most common and distorted of gay stereotypes. Can he be gay and not fit them? And more importantly, is it possible that spending one very hard day and night together will help Fin accept that he’s gay, too? If so, maybe Lennon has a shot at winning the heart of the boy of his dreams.

“A Hard Day’s Night” is an amusing young adult contemporary romance about two boys who seek to discover if they must fulfill stereotypes to be together.

In the end, maybe all you need is love.
 

Contest
There is also a grand prize of three Beatles jigsaw puzzle memorabilia to be won by one commenter. The winner will be chosen from all stops.  There is only one winner. We have only one set of three puzzles.  Photo is included.  We use giveawaytools.com to establish the winner. 


Sample Chapter
Prologue 

“Fin and I have managed to get locked into what I will refer to as a repetitive pattern of affable behavior, and, in my opinion, it’s working out splendidly. We are the dearest of friends.”
Scratch that. Starting over.
And since I know it’s well past time for some brutally honest self-talk, I sit up in my bed, and by the warm glow of my Yellow Submarine nightlight, study my frayed picture of John Lennon. To complete the visual, it’s the photo from Mom’s retro record set, The White Album, that I pinned to the wall beside my bed and have worshipped regularly since I was in the seventh grade. Behind those round wire glasses, the man’s piercing eyes don’t lie—John was a brutally honest sort, often to his detriment. After all, back in 1966 didn’t he assert that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ? Now, that is certainly calling it exactly as he sees it.
Not that I necessarily agree with the sentiment, I respect that kind of directness in a person.
I owe him this much.
Out of respect for John, I revise and reissue my previous assertion.
“The Finster and I are stuck in a rut of pleasant compatibility…an unusually deep rut, at that.”
This attempt at telling-it-like-it-is is definitely an improvement, but it’s still not right on the money, and I’m nothing, if not specific.
I prop up my pillow and lean hard against the creaky antique headboard (call it like you see it, Lennon—the headboard is just plain old), with the certain knowledge that I’ve completely outgrown this flimsy, twin size bed of my childhood.
So maybe it’s more like this….
“Fin and I each have one leg semi-submerged in a muddy ditch, and we’re in it well past our knees. This is the kind of murky and dark, seemingly bottomless, pit that will suck the rubber boot right off your foot with a single, hollow, slurping sound, and then belch with satisfaction.” For the third time I speak aloud in an effort to make my declaration official. “It appears that the two of us are gonna be stuck here in this mucky BFF-swampland for the long haul—bootless and slowly sinking into the sludge—unless, of course, I act decisively and with haste. And with great vigor—because, to accomplish the task I have in mind, I’m most likely going to have to shift into full-hyper-dunk-mode, possibly coupled with the drama-queen-approach. Neither of which poses a problem for me, other than that they require an excessive expenditure of energy.”
That was most definitely a mouthful, but an accurate mouthful.
And all I need is one day. Just one gay day.
Thankfully, ever proud of the open-mindedness he hides so well from his ultra-conservative family, Fin has granted me my greatest wish. On Saturday, March 21st, Beaumont Finley Danforth II (IMHO this BFD is a Big Fucking Deal) is mine for the day to do with as I please. I sincerely hope that a single day is sufficient to help Fin figure out what I already know.
Um, Lennon…maybe now is not the right time to start suffering with a debilitating bout of self-doubt.
Confidence is of key importance in this endeavor.
No, I do not have any worries, and yes, I do have twenty-four feminine-side-exploring, team-switching, relationship-igniting hours to make my homeboy see the rainbow-hued light.  Starting bright and early tomorrow morning.
On that note, I’ll get started with my beauty sleep. I sure hope I’m gonna need it.
I wiggle down so I’m flat on my back with my feet sticking six inches over the end of the bed, pull the covers up to my chin, and listen to my mental arrangement of “Imagine” until I fall asleep.

Author Biography and Image
Ms. Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five non-pedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty-two years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.
Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young people and their relationships, and she believes that physical intimacy has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping.
She is thankful to CoolDudes Publishing, Dreamspinner Press, Harmony Ink Press, and CreateSpace for providing her with alternate places to stash her stories.
Mia is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights, especially marital equality, which is now the law of the land in the United States—woot! woot! Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

Links


Goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6474518.Mia.Kerick

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Mia-Kerick/e/B009KSTG9E/ref=sr_ntt_srch_link_2?qid=1410298098&sr=8-2

 

YoungDudes Publishing (a subdivision of CoolDudes Publishing), is proud to release this unusual book that celebrates two teenage boys’ acceptance of their sexual identities with plenty of obvious humor, but with an inner core of poignancy.

We feel certain you’ll be glad you chose to review it.

Regards

Louis J Harris Louis
CEO
CooldudesPublishing
http://www.cooldudespublishing.com
  
YoungDudes Publishing is a subdivision of  CoolDudes Publishing PTY Ltd
CEO – Louis J Harris

1 comment:

  1. Hi Cia!! I missed this on the day you posted! SO very sorry! I am going to promote it like it happened today!! THANK YOU for having me!!!

    ReplyDelete

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