Title: Following Zippy
Author: C.B. Burdette
Published: July 2014Word Count: 67,000Genre: Young AdultSynopsis:
At fifteen most guys only have to worry about the style of their shoes, or mustering up the courage to talk to the pretty girl sitting across the room. Gabe Perkins isn’t most guys. After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, he begins to make friends with a girl so ethereal that he starts to question his own sanity.Excerpt from Following Zippy:
“Look at those fish,” she said, diverting her attention towards the creek.
“What about them?” I asked her.
“They’re just swimming along. Living. Breathing. I wonder,” she said as she nudged her shoulder against mine, “If they know what purpose they serve.”
“Well, they probably don’t.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because, they’re fish?”
“Don’t think so low of the marine species.”
“Zippy, they’re little minnows. They’re so little they probably only live a few months. Why worry about their place in life.”
“I don’t know. Something of the simplicity of them is nice though, you must admit.” She gleamed ear to ear, “Imagine, if you were a little minnow, swimming down the creek.”
“Oh, crap.”
“What?”
“I have no clue. Do you really think there’s something out there that really cares about this little fish. Or even, you know, something out there that is looking down at us, talking about us like we’re little fish. Just tiny little minnows swimming down a stream, unsure of what fate lies ahead of us?”
“I do.”About the Author:
C.B. Burdette grew up a gypsy at her parents hands. With a dad in the Air Force, she was able to experience life on the road, soaking up culture. After spending 6 years working as a model, she realized that the industry wasn’t much of what she was looking for in life. More often than not, C.B. felt like Jo Stockton in Funny Face and escaped into the world of film, where work is based on something more than beauty, something she could truly emote through. Between spending 12 hour days on set, and tending to her daughter and cat, C.B. escapes real life through writing fiction.
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Following Zippy
Ohhhhh the story of Zippy.
This book has been my book baby, the one I've dedicated my time and love to since January. I've spent probably hundreds upon hundreds of hours working on this little sucker. Edits upon edits....and just when I thought I was through and sent it to beta readers, I realized how much more editing was necessary. I was almost appalled that I'd sent the beta copy to readers. Though it had been edited copious times, when I reread it there was so much more to give.
Alas, after about ten more edits (after the previous 20+, with the beta copy), I feel completion.
Finally the story seems to be complete, on many layers. Finally I'm ready to get this baby out there.
I wont give away too much, as I want much to be desired, but I will leave you with a few things to marinate in:
1. Have you ever questioned your place in the world?
2. Do you feel it necessary to find your place in the world?
3. The possibility of something bigger than yourself, something more deeply rooted than your two legged being who's only existed a mere few decades, some ulterior being or force pushing you forward in the world? Pushing you forward, simply because your little string of a life somehow intertwines into a big yarn ball of the world? The possibility of your life, being a mere piece of a puzzle.
I dare you, contemplate on this a little...Feel free to post here, or just diddle it away in a notebook...That is until you're able to wrap your sweaty little hands on Following Zippy (which shouldn't be but a month or two coming ;)
Dearest,
C.B
Hard Copy or Digital....that is the question.
Ahhh to be hard copy, or to be digital...that is the question.
Sitting on my end of the computer screen, after having released my eBook format of Death by Numbers before the print copy, I can't help but wonder what the preference of reading format a book is to the reader. Of course, statistics are now showing (at least through some studies based on Amazon) that eBooks are really selling just as much, if not more than the in hand versions of books.
Both have their benefits. It's much easier to carry ten digital books in one lightweight device, than it is to carry around ten paperbacks...or hardbacks (yikes! I think I just threw out my back thinking about it). Isn't there something comforting in flipping through the pages of a book in hand, though?
Personally, I prefer to have a print copy of a book. Even though eBooks do tend to be cheaper (and more profitable for at least self published authors, mind you!), I just enjoy seeing the book on the shelf. For the ones deemed 'to-read' in my head, it gives me more of a need to read them, as if they're begging me to pick them up; rather than if they're just sitting in a digital file. I also tend to enjoy eye-balling my previous reads that are collecting dust. They become somewhat of a trophy, each one conveying a sense of nostalgia for a world once traveled.
Anywho...what's your preference? I'm sincerely curious.
The Gender of Writing
Similar to my tendencies of indecisiveness of whether or not to blog, I've had the constant battle of whether or not to upload a photo of myself for the corner "About Me" section.
Every author blog I've yet to stumble upon has the all too familiar author headshot sitting in the corner, starting at the reader on the other side of the screen. I'm sure that this gives some sort of personalization with the reader. When people can look at a photo and go 'Ah, that's who wrote this', I'm sure it gives them a sense of connection. I do have to wonder though, to what cost? Isn't the best part about reading a book the mysteriousness of story telling? Doesn't that somewhat become shaded over with some invisible haze when we find out the gender of authors?
Being that this is a worry of mine, I keep my pen name to a neutral, unrelated to gender, name. I can't help but fathom how one's writing becomes depicted in the subconscious dwellings of our mind when we become aware of an author's gender. I feel it can put limitations on writers. "Women know best of this subject, and men prevail in writing on those topics" are things that come up, even nowadays, generations after gender equality has been legally established. Even in modern times we have stigmas as to what's right for either gender.
Though, I'm not sure how long it could last, I like remaining gender neutral. I wouldn't want someone judging my work for how a male or female writer should write. Quite honestly I don't want it to be judged at all, but would rather it be a story to take someones mind off the everyday hassles of life. Then again, what is life without some sort of judgement. It's one of the main things as a modern society we do have to dwell upon. Turn on the television and you'll see judgements happening left and right.
Of course, I don't have any pieces of work floating around quite yet. At the moment I lack the need to be judged, however when they are out there, I'd hope for at least a minuscule amount of time that they could be judged for what they are, rather than for whom wrote them.
Your gender anonymous,
C.B. Burdette
P.S. I'm not completely insane. I do in fact realize that the majority of people reading this at the present time are well aware of my masculinity/femininity as you all are friends and family. Eventually there shall be others ;)
Giveaway Details:
There is a tour wide giveaway. Prizes include the following:
2 signed print copies of Following Zippy
Giveaway is open for US, Mexico, Canada, UK shipping destinations.
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