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{Virtual Book Tour} Then Like the Blind Man: Orbie’s Story Virtual Book Publicity Tour

Then Like the Blind Man banner

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to bring you Freddie Owens’  Then Like a Blind Man: Orbie’s Story virtual book tour January 6 – March 28!  Freddie will be giving away a Kindle Fire HD at the end of his tour!

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PUYB Inside the Book

 

Then Like the Blind Man 7 Title: Then Like the Blind Man: Orbie’s Story
Author: Freddie Owens
Publisher: Blind Sight Publications
Pages: 332
Language: English
Genre: Historical Fiction/Coming of Age
Format: Paperback & eBook

A storm is brewing in the all-but-forgotten backcountry of Kentucky. And, for young Orbie Ray, the swirling heavens may just have the power to tear open his family’s darkest secrets. Then Like The Blind Man: Orbie’s Story is the enthralling debut novel by Freddie Owens, which tells the story of a spirited wunderkind in the segregated South of the 1950s and the forces he must overcome to restore order in his world. Rich in authentic vernacular and evocative of a time and place long past, this absorbing work of magical realism offered up with a Southern twist will engage readers who relish the Southern literary canon, or any tale well told.

Nine-year-old Orbie already has his cross to bear. After the sudden death of his father, his mother Ruby has off and married his father’s coworker and friend Victor, a slick-talking man with a snake tattoo. Since the marriage, Orbie, his sister Missy, and his mother haven’t had a peaceful moment with the heavy-drinking, fitful new man of the house. Orbie hates his stepfather more than he can stand; this fact lands him at his grandparents’ place in Harlan’s Crossroads, Kentucky, when Victor decides to move the family to Florida without including him. In his new surroundings, Orbie finds little to distract him from Granpaw’s ornery ways and constant teasing jokes about snakes.

As Orbie grudgingly adjusts to life with his doting Granny and carping Granpaw, who are a bit too keen on their black neighbors for Orbie’s taste, not to mention their Pentecostal congregation of snake handlers, he finds his world views changing, particularly when it comes to matters of race, religion, and the true cause of his father’s death. He befriends a boy named Willis, who shares his love of art, but not his skin color. And, when Orbie crosses paths with the black Choctaw preacher, Moses Mashbone, he learns of a power that could expose and defeat his enemies, but can’t be used for revenge. When a storm of unusual magnitude descends, he happens upon the solution to a paradox that is both magical and ordinary. The question is, will it be enough?

Equal parts Hamlet and Huckleberry Finn, it’s a tale that’s both rich in meaning, timely in its social relevance, and rollicking with boyhood adventure. The novel mines crucial contemporary issues, as well as the universality of the human experience while also casting a beguiling light on boyhood dreams and fears. It’s a well-spun, nuanced work of fiction that is certain to resonate with lovers of literary fiction, particularly in the grand Southern tradition of storytelling.

7777

AMAZON

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Discuss this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads by clicking HERE.

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PUYB Meet the Author

 

Freddie Owens 7 A poet and fiction writer, my work has been published in Poet Lore, Crystal Clear and Cloudy, and Flying Colors Anthology. I am a past attendee of Pikes Peak Writer’s Conferences and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and a member of Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop in Denver, Colorado. In addition, I am/was a licensed professional counselor and psychotherapist, who for many years counseled perpetrators of domestic violence and sex offenders, and provided psychotherapy for individuals, groups and families. I hold a master’s degree in contemplative psychotherapy from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

I was born in Kentucky but soon after my parents moved to Detroit. Detroit was where I grew up. As a kid I visited relatives in Kentucky, once for a six-week period, which included a stay with my grandparents. In the novel’s acknowledgements I did assert the usual disclaimers having to do with the fact that Then Like The Blind Man was and is a work of fiction, i.e., a made up story whose characters and situations are fictional in nature (and used fictionally) no matter how reminiscent of characters and situations in real life. That’s a matter for legal departments, however, and has little to do with subterranean processes giving kaleidoscopic-like rise to hints and semblances from memory’s storehouse, some of which I selected and disguised for fiction. That is to say, yes, certain aspects of my history did manifest knowingly at times, at times spontaneously and distantly, as ghostly north-south structures, as composite personae, as moles and stains and tears and glistening rain and dark bottles of beer, rooms of cigarette smoke, hay lofts and pigs. Here’s a quote from the acknowledgements that may serve to illustrate this point.

“Two memories served as starting points for a short story I wrote that eventually became this novel. One was of my Kentucky grandmother as she emerged from a shed with a white chicken held upside down in one of her strong bony hands. I, a boy of nine and a “city slicker” from Detroit, looked on in wonderment and horror as she summarily wrung the poor creature’s neck. It ran about the yard frantically, yes incredibly, as if trying to locate something it had misplaced as if the known world could be set right again, recreated, if only that one thing was found. And then of course it died. The second memory was of lantern light reflected off stones that lay on either side of a path to a storm cellar me and my grandparents were headed for one stormy night beneath a tornado’s approaching din. There was wonderment there too, along with a vast and looming sense of impending doom.”

I read the usual assigned stuff growing up, short stories by Poe, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Scarlet Letter, The Cherry Orchard, Hedda Gabler, a little of Hemingway, etc. I also read a lot of Super Hero comic books (also Archie and Dennis the Menace) and Mad Magazine was a favorite too. I was also in love with my beautiful third grade teacher and to impress her pretended to read Gulliver’s Travels for which I received many delicious hugs.

It wasn’t until much later that I read Huckleberry Finn. I did read To Kill A Mockingbird too. I read Bastard Out of Carolina and The Secret Life of Bees. I saw the stage play of Hamlet and read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle too. However, thematic similarities to these works occurred to me only after I was already well into the writing of Then Like The Blind Man. Cormac McCarthy, Pete Dexter, Carson McCullers, Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Conner and Joyce Carol Oates, to name but a few, are among my literary heroes and heroines. Tone and style of these writers have influenced me in ways I’d be hard pressed to name, though I think the discerning reader might feel such influences as I make one word follow another and attempt to “stab the heart with…force” (a la Isaac Babel) by placing my periods (hopefully, sometimes desperately) ‘… just at the right place’.

Freddie Owens’ latest book is Then Like the Blind Man: Orbie’s Story.

Visit his website at www.FreddieOwens.com.

PUYB Connect Socialize

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

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Giveaway 5

Freddie Owens is giving away a Kindle Fire HD!

  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive the Kindle Fire HD.
  • This giveaway begins January 24 and ends March 28.
  • Winner will be contacted via email on Monday, March 31, 2013.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

PUYB Connect Socialize

 

Monday, January 6

Book Review at Miki’s Hope

Guest Blogging at Confessions of a Reader

Wednesday, January 8

Book Feature at Moonlight, Lace & Mayhem

Thursday, January 9

First Chapter Reveal at Pump Up Your Book

Friday, January 10

Book Review at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews

Monday, January 13

Interview at Blogcritics

Tuesday, January 14

Guest Blogging at The Story Behind the Book

Wednesday, January 15

Interview at The Book Connection

Character Guest Post at The Fiction Enthusiast

First Chapter Reveal at Fallen Over Book Reviews

Thursday, January 16

Guest Blogging at Books-N-Kisses

Friday, January 17

Guest Blogging at The Busy Mom’s Daily

Monday, January 20

Guest Blogging at Secrets of Southern Couture

Tuesday, January 21

Guest Blogging at IceFairy’s Treasure Chest

Wednesday, January 22

Book Review at My Devotional Thoughts

Book Trailer Reveal at R.K. Avery’s Blog

Thursday, January 23

Guest Blogging at Crystal’s Many Reviews

First Chapter Review at Fabulous and Fun

Friday, January 24

Guest Blogging at Krazy Book Lady

Book Featured at Rose & Beps Blog

Monday, January 27

First Chapter Reveal & Book Trailer Reveal at Literary Winner

Tuesday, January 28

Guest Blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner

Wednesday, January 29

Interview at I’m Shelf-ish

Thursday, January 30

FACEBOOK PARTY

Monday, February 3

Character Interview at Beyond the Books

Tuesday, February 4

Guest Blogging at Bookingly Yours

Wednesday, February 5

First Chapter Reveal at The Dark Phantom

Thursday, February 6

Interview at Straight From the Author’s Mouth

Friday, February 7

Interview at The Writer’s Life

Monday, February 10

Book Review at Broken Teepee

Tuesday, February 11

Character Guest Post at Offbeat Vagabond

Wednesday, February 12

Book Featured at I’d Rather Be at the Beach

Thursday, February 13

First Chapter Reveal at Between the Pages

Friday, February 14

Book Review at Deal Sharing Aunt

Monday, February 17

Interview at Review From Here

Tuesday, February 18

Guest Blogging at The Book Faery Reviews

Wednesday, February 19

Book Trailer of the Week at Pump Up Your Book

Thursday, February 20

Book Trivia Interview at As the Pages Turn

Monday, February 24

Guest Blogging at Literal Exposure

Wednesday, February 26

Book Review at Books, Reviews, ETC.

Thursday, February 27

Book Review & Interview at Our Families Adventure

Friday, February 28

Interview at Between the Covers

Monday, March 3

Interview at Literarily Speaking

Book Review at The Most Happy Reader

Friday, March 7

Interview at Digital Publishing

Monday, March 10

Interview at As the Page Turns

Tuesday, March 11

Interview at The Book Rack

Wednesday, March 12

Guest Blogging at My Story, My Way: An Indie Adventure

Thursday, March 13

Guest Blogging at Authors & Readers Book Corner

Saturday, March 15

Book Featured at My Story, My Way…An Indie Adventure

Wednesday, March 19

Book Review at Back to Books

Friday, March 21

Book Featured at Plug Your Book!

Monday, March 24

Book Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Tuesday, March 25

Book Review at WV Stitcher

Wednesday, March 26

Interview at PUYB Virtual Book Club

Friday, March 28

Then Like the Blind Man Virtual Book Tour Highlights at PUYB Virtual Book Club

Pump-Up-Your-Book

 

 


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