April 28, 2010

Guest Post: Copycat - Blog Tour: ARSON by Estevan Vega

You may have heard about a book that's revolutionizing the YA blogosphere with all kinds of praise. This great book is called ARSON and will be available next Tuesday, May 4th.
Arson

Praise for ARSON:


"Arson was such a heartbreaking and emotional read. Estevan's way with words blew me away." -- La Femme Readers, 4.5 Stars 

"The story is unique and compelling. Arson is told from a 3rd person narrative but Vega's direction and character shift is easy to follow." -- The Book Vixen, 5 Stars

"Arson is a story that deals with many issues that young adults face: peer pressure, uncertainty, family conflict and insecurity.  In addition to being a story that is all-consuming and incredibly human, Arson does have elements of suspense and psychological terror." -- Cafe of Dreams, 4 Stars 

"Vega does not do things half way: even the characters who utter only one line of dialog have distinct personalities." -- Mrs. Magoo Reads, Grade A- 

About Estevan Vega: He is currently a college student in Connecticut, and has been writing since he was a teenager... With a curiosity for the supernatural, as well as a feeling of discontentment with humanity's complacency, Vega’s story-lines dwell somewhere in between fiction and reality, a place where the world is as blurred and irregular as human choice and consequence.
 
Guest Post: Copycat

What makes us who we are? In essence, what is our “essence”? 
 
      Some probably think it’s the heart, that ferocious locomotive just chugging away on the inside of us, pushing us to be kind and sympathetic when that maniac jerks out in front of us on the Interstate. Then again, it could be our cells, our DNA, or the blood crawling around in our skin. Or, are we nothing more than souls trapped within bodies that still haven’t found a way to cheat death? And what about the six billion lives surrounding us? After all, there are those who believe that who we are cannot be defined simply by looking into one person’s life, but by peering into the sum of existence. Trying to figure out who we are as individuals, then attempting to explore the complexities of the entire human sum is in fact what every writer is trying to do, right?
      From birth, we’re told to be original, to come up with something that hasn’t been done before, but it doesn’t take the wisest man alive to tell us that there’s nothing new under the sun. We can see that for ourselves.  Remakes. Second chances. Divorce. It’s all been played out like a bad record. Have our words become mere expressions, poor mirrors of true feelings and emotions? Have our jobs become sinecures and are we just creating newer clones incapable of thinking for themselves? It’s like art has been reduced to half-naked, lip-synching girls. Most of our movies, in their struggle to shock and entertain, often leave us with a bitter taste in our mouths. Is this what we are, bleached and phony replicas?
      It leaves me to wonder if any writer has anything new to say. It is every writer’s desire or “will” to be something original, to stand out in some way after all. But it’s curious: what will they carve as my epitaph? What few words might sum up this life, and in my attempts to define humanity, what, in the end, will define them? Can you picture it? An entire row reading the same thing: CLONE. Another reading: LIAR. Another still reading: COPYCAT. Perhaps it is the will that forces us to make something of ourselves, even if it has been done before in some fashion. Sometimes we need to be reminded; sometimes we need to acknowledge what has come before in order to pave way for something new, or shall I say, recycled.
      If nothing else can truly define us, then maybe our essence is the human will. The thing carrying us when we don’t want to go any further. The angel on our shoulder. The part of us begging to finish that manuscript we’ve been working on for far too long but never completed. This is who we are. Our souls must be moved by something, and our hearts must beat for a purpose. Otherwise it’s all meaningless.
      I think writers have a much larger job than most give them credit. It’s our job to not only entertain but also to remind and to remember the reality, as well as what is most good in the human painting, this scarred and confused assembly line crafted from the darkest natures. Therein rests some semblance of hope.
      The past had the prophets, mystics, and scribes, a lot like we have rock stars and celebrities and writers who try to make sense of it all. In a way, if we are to be remembered we must write about our generation, about our struggles, hopes, and failures. Though souls may live on, memories can be forgotten by some, and then the dust calls it all back.
      Funny, even in death we are recycled. I guess the only question you have to answer in the end is: who are you?

Where can you buy the book?: 

3 comments:

  1. The guest post is very inspirational. Thanks for having her. It's great!

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  2. haha...dahlia...I'm totally a dude. but thanks for checking out the post. i forgive you.

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