Book Title:
Dream On
Author Pen Name: M. Kircher
Tagline: Love is dangerous for Emily, even in her dreams.
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old dreamwalker, Em, might have to choose—leave her mother forever in the dreamworld or save the life of hot, rebel Gabe.
Emily Dal Monte and her mother, Lily, are special. They’re humans with a glitch in their genetic code that allows them to explore the fantastic, and often terrifying, world of their dreams for as long as they choose to remain asleep. But when Em’s father is killed in a tragic accident and her distraught mother loses herself more and more in the dreams of her crumbling mind, Em is forced to support the two of them the only way she knows how, by writing down her mother’s amazing dreams and selling them as books. Enter Gabriel Sobel, the handsome punk newcomer at Em’s high school who realizes Em is the daughter of his favorite, reclusive author. Gabe can’t figure out why Em keeps brushing him off and makes it his mission to find out what’s really going at the Dal Monte household. He stumbles upon their shocking family secret just as Lily takes a turn for the worse. It’s up to Em, Gabe, and one very nosy book editor to hop from one
extraordinary dream to the next to find Lily and convince her to wake up before she loses her mind…and before Em loses her first chance at love.
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Excerpt 1:
Tiny shafts of sunlight stream down from the treetops above us, forming small rings that illuminate the red pine-covered ground below. It’s weird how quiet it is here. There are none of the sounds you’d normally associate with a forest, like the scurrying tread of small animals or the soft breeze rustling through the trees. Everything is completely still.
I rest my forehead against the warm bark of the tree and try to calm my racing thoughts. How do I get us out of this mess? Mom and Evan aren’t here with Gabe and me. At least, as far as I can tell, they aren’t here, and we don’t have any time to find them. Evan and Gabe need to wake up now, or they could die. It’s so simple, yet so complicated. Do I save Gabe’s life? Or do I continue to risk killing him and try to save everyone? If I pull Gabe out, I could risk losing both Mom and Evan inside this dream. I have no idea if Mom’s recognition of me was a moment’s clarity, or something more lasting. I might never be able to locate her and Evan again.
A sob rises in my throat. I can’t help it. I’m so tired and overwhelmed, and we’re all so deeply in trouble. Despite my best efforts, the sob escapes, and then I can’t seem to stop another one from bursting out of my mouth. And then another one. Huge, wrenching cries tear through me, and I double over, my face in my hands, as the tears stream through my fingertips.
It’s all just too much.
I hear Gabe come to stand beside me, and before I can protest, he draws me back into his arms. I can’t seem to stop crying. I’m so embarrassed, but I just can’t stop.
His rough fingers catch the bottom of my chin, and slowly he tilts my face up toward his, so we’re gazing into each other’s eyes. My breath hitches, and it’s not just from all the crying.
“I’m sorry, Em,” Gabe whispers, his soft words loud in the silence surrounding us. “But there’s no one I’d rather be with right now than you.”
Excerpt 2
Gabe and I stagger through a patch of what must be wild flowers, whose size and shape are so extraordinarily and exotically beautiful they don't even look as if they'd be from planet Earth.
"Mom," I call out again, but the only answer I receive is the haunting sound of her singing. And just when her voice seems so loud I could swear she's just around the next bend, Gabe and I hit a wall of solid green. The barricade is so high, and so dense, there is literally no way to get through. The wretched thing seems to stretch for miles in either direction. We've hit a total dead end.
Then the singing stops.
The almost transparent Gabe blinks at me. "What happened to the music?" he asks in a faraway voice.
I snap my fingers in front of his face. "Gabe, stay with me," I order him loudly, and it seems to have some effect. His eyes clear, and he becomes a bit more solid looking.
"I don't feel right, Em," he says, and he gulps.
"Yeah, I know." I sigh.
Then Gabe jerks oddly. With a confused expression on his
face, he holds his hand out into the air — the hand we can still see. Little drops of water plunk down onto his skin from the greenery above. Plop. Plop, plop, plop.
"What the...?" I mutter and squint up into the dense ceiling of plants. "It's raining." I throw up my hands in frustration. "Of course it's raining, when there's no sky, or clouds, or flipping atmosphere." I kick the wall of magnificent shrubbery in front of us as hard as I can. "Blast," I yell. "Blaaaaaast!"
"Em, hey. It's okay," the foggy Gabe insists.
He's trying to calm me down, but right now I don't want to calm down. The rage that has bubbled inside for over five years now is finally starting to erupt. It's the rage — and hurt, if I admit it to myself — of an abandoned twelve-year-old girl.
I whirl around, and the fear of losing him almost chokes my throat closed. "No! It's not okay, Gabe. Nothing is okay. Mom was supposed to be here, and she's not. So now what? What's the plan? You're dying, and so is Evan, wherever he is. Your body is shutting down out there, and I can't help you without sacrificing the other two. And I can't help them without sacrificing you." I can taste the desperation and hopelessness rolling off my tongue. I have to admit, it feels good to let things out for a change. My emotions have always been bottled up inside so I could take care of Mom, but now that my life has completely fallen apart, I have nothing to gain by staying quiet.
About the Author
M. KIRCHER graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts from Gordon College. She devours YA, science fiction, fantasy, and romance on a regular basis and is immensely happy to pour her time and energy into creating stories for other people to enjoy. Bob Ross and J.R.R. Tolkien tie for her two favorite people of all time.
M. Kircher lives in Connecticut with her husband, energetic son, and new baby girl.
Connect with the Author
Why do I write YA?
I write sci-fi and fantasy because I genuinely love to be sucked into another world. Even as a child I gravitated more toward fantasy and science fiction than anything else. I enjoy using my imagination and creating pictures in my head of what I think scenes and characters look like.
And there’s also something about YA fiction that just grabs me, even as a thirty-year-old crone. I think that we’re all about sixteen inside, no matter what age on the outside. The adult world sucks the wonder out of us, but reading a young adult novel can put us right back into that season of life. The emotions that teens feel are so strong and they have such a zest for living. When you’re a teenager you truly believe that you can change the world – and you can!
When we become adults, we forget the amazing power we have to effect change - and so we stop trying. I hope that more teen novels inspire young people to hold onto that attitude of hope and courage as they enter into adulthood. The world needs some changing!
5 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- Be ready to learn – Every writer wants a long and successful career, and one of the key components to longevity is the ability to take in constructive criticism. Don’t hold your work too dearly; figure out ways to improve it and try out different techniques in order to grow your talent. Listen to your beta readers when they give you feedback. Listen to those readers who post reviews, both good and bad—sometimes bad reviews can teach you the most!
- Treat people with respect - When receiving any kind of feedback or dealing with other writers and readers, make sure you treat them with kindness and respect. You might be bristling from a nasty comment, but nothing is classier than a proper, “Thank you so much for your opinion. I really value your input.” Readers and bloggers really care about their fiction and it behooves you as a writer to listen to them with grace and aplomb.
- Always read the guidelines– I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit the “submit” button and then realized I formatted a query exactly how an agent or publisher requested not to! So now I’m a complete fiend about reading submission guidelines thoroughly. It just makes sense to follow an agent’s rules when asking them to read your work.
- Meet your deadlines – If a blogger asks you for your press kit by Friday at noon, make sure it’s in their Inbox by Friday at noon. This is so simple, but I can’t tell you how many compliments I’ve gotten simply because I turn my work in on time.
- Marketing is the other part of the writing gig – Whether you sign with a huge publishing house, an indie, or you decide to self-publish, consider marketing something you must address every work day. Keep up on your social media accounts, continue making new review requests for at least a year after your book is released, try purchasing ads through different sites, and listing your book in as many places as you can.
What does the writing process look like for you?
I’m this crazy neat freak, so whatever room I’m going to be writing in must be clean. I will literally spend twenty minutes making sure everything is in place, before I’m able to sit down and write. Something about clutter makes my mind hazy, but a clean room is a nice, calm place to create. I’m so weird J
I’m in no way a “pantser” either. I must completely outline a book or a novel, before I begin writing it. The outline is messy, and peppered with typos and grammatical errors, but it prevents me from getting writer’s block. I have to have everything organized before I can let my mind drift over into the creative chaos it takes to actually write a story. For me, having a basic structure in place actually sets me free to be creative. I know that many other writers work much more effectively when they wing it, but I figure it’s whatever gets the job done for each person.
One time I decided to start writing a novel without finishing my outline, and I totally regretted it. I got to the middle of the story, scratched my head, and went, “Uh, now what happens?” Having an outline is just part of my Type A/Free Spirit personality mishmash, but it’s what works for me.
Where did you get the inspiration for the character of Gabe?
Gabe’s character is a bit of a mish-mash of my husband, the types of guys I always seem to be attracted to, and the fictional hunks I dreamed about in high school. I didn’t date much back then (nerdy, private school girl here!) and so it wasn’t until I got to college that I began to realize I was drawn to the emo-musician-bad-boy types. Thankfully, my husband turned out to be a musician that was a decent human being, so I lucked out there!
Gabe is that guy who is cocky and rebellious, but who hides a heart of gold. I wanted him to be smart, in addition, and also an avid reader. Gabe’s home life is lonely—his parents are successful scientists—and so he uses stories to help him forget about his sorrows. I think most readers can identify with this tendency; escaping into a good book is such a delight when times are tough.
I had Gabe and Em struggle to like each other at first, with irritation giving way to an intense connection—just like how many of us are attracted to our polar opposites. Gabe is both a leader and someone who knows the value of gentleness when the situation calls for it, and he truly wants to take care of Em. I’m really quite happy with how he turned out as a character, and I think he’d definitely be someone that sixteen-year-old me would date!
Five Words to describe “Dream On”
- Fantastical – Em and her mother Lily are dreamwalkers, people with a glitch in their DNA who have the power to control their dreams and stay asleep for as long as they desire. Em, Lily, Gabe, and Evan (the main characters in the story) spend a good deal of their time hopping from one fantastical dream to the next. They explore worlds that are completely white, with ghost-filled castles and curious owls, desert marketplaces run by monsters, rooms that explode into swarms of bees, deep caves made entirely of diamonds and abandoned tunnels with giant snakes. Some of the dreams are fantasies and some are nightmares…now all they have to do is figure a way out!
- Fragile – To the rest of the world, Emily Dal Monte appears to be a strong teenage girl. After all, she’s had to take care of herself and half-insane mother since she was twelve years old. It isn’t until Gabe comes into Em’s life, and discovers that she’s a dreamwalker, that Em begins to realize how hurt and angry she really is. Gabe helps Em to let her guard down and begin to repair her relationship with her even more fragile mother, Lily. But will Lily find the strength to put herself back together and save them all?
- Passion – Em and Gabe start out having a tempestuous relationship. He invades her privacy and learns her closely guarded secret and she can’t stand how arrogant he is—and how much his good looks make her go all fluttery inside. But as a serious of dangerous events unfold; Em and Gabe discover a fiery love that only death has the power to quench.
- Terror – A nightmare is something most of us of try to forget, but for Em, nightmares are a way of life. Sure, she can control how long she stays in the dreamworld, but she must first complete whatever dream she’s in so that she can leave. So if Em falls asleep and finds herself face-to-face with her dead father and a mother who’s trying to drown her, she must suffer through every terrifying second until it’s time to wake up.
- Vibrant – The dreamworld enhances a person’s senses. Food tastes richer, smells are more intoxicating, colors are so bright that they sometimes hurt your eyes. Dreams can be so sharply beautiful you almost want to stay in them forever, but what if their vibrancy made you forget about your life out in the real world?
Giveaway
$25.00 Amazon Gift Card
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