Labors of an Epic Punk

Labors of an Epic Punk

by Mark and Sheri Dursin

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GENRE:   YA Fantasy, Myth Retelling

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BLURB:

Mac is an epic punk. No wonder: after his dad went off to fight in the Trojan War and never came back, Mac spent his childhood evading his mom's scumbag suitors—all one-hundred-and-eight of them. Of course, he turned out this way—a moody, friendless sixteen-year-old who blows off work, alienates everyone at school, and pulls pranks. But when he trains a flock of birds to defecate on the headmaster, Mac (short for Telemachus) goes too far. The administrators give him an ultimatum: prove that he's truly the son of Odysseus by doing something heroic—or get out. A school story that just so happens to take place 3,000 years ago, Labors of an Epic Punk is a tale of friendship and transformation, regret and redemption, and a reminder to us all that even heroes need to survive adolescence.

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EXCERPT:

No one on the field that morning had any idea that all Hades was about to break loose.

Well, one person did.

The stands were over-crammed with students, all chirping away about their summer travels, each one trying to out-fabulous the other. But Mac wasn’t talking to any of them. (No surprise there.)  Instead, he just stared at the empty stage in fist-clenching anticipation. For the entire morning, the entire summer, the entire two years he’d wasted at this gods-forsaken school, he’d been waiting for this moment. His moment of glory, of genius. The moment when he’d finally and irretrievably cross The Line— that hard-to-define boundary between tolerable and intolerable. Between a week of detention and expulsion. All he needed was for Headmaster Gurgus to blow on that shell.

Just when he thought he couldn’t wait any longer without throwing up, Mac heard the band play the opening notes to “Yielding Never,” Pieridian Academy’s absurdly overblown fight song. The Opening Ceremonies were officially underway. From his seat high up in the stands, Mac watched intently as the members of the so-called Grand Procession marched onto Garthymedes Field: the entire faculty and staff, wearing shiny red gowns and smiles full of phony reverence; followed by the honored students, also in ritualistic red, condescendingly waving at the crowd; followed by a grotesque, nine-headed Hydra. 

Lastly, waddling ten paces behind the Hydra, in all his roly-poly, four-hundred pound glory, was Headmaster Gurgus.

A Word From the Authors

1. Did you always want to be an author?

SHERI:Yes! When I was in eighth grade I was a member of the Young Authors Club in junior high school.  My first book was a children’s story called The Garden Party. I can still remember so clearly how proud I felt to have created something of my own.

MARK:Absolutely. I was always writing stories—except, when I was in elementary school, my stories also incorporated illustrations, since I also like to draw cartoons. As I got older, I concentrated on just the writing, without the illustrations. I’ve written articles for newspapers and websites, but I also liked writing fiction—mainly short stories. I even started two or three novels, but it never got beyond a few chapters. Labors of an Epic Punkis the first major work I saw through to the end. 

2.  Tell us about the publication of your first book.

MARK:Our original hope was to publish our book traditionally, but we dealt with rejection after rejection like so many other writers do. We came very close to giving up before ultimately deciding that our story was worth sharing. Making the decision to self-publish was the toughest and yet most exciting decision we made. 

3. Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

SHERI:Some of my favorite YA authors are Sarah Dessen, Adam Silvera, and Rainbow Rowell. My favorite fantasy author is Juliet Marillier.

MARK:I guess I have to give a shout-out to Salinger, not only because Holden Caulfield is the quintessential literary teen and because Catcher in the Ryeis the book that first inspired me to become an English teacher. And of course, I have to give props to John Green.  I just love the wit and humor he injects into his books. 

4. What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

MARK:I know I’m going to mangle this, but I once read this quote that the best part about writing is to have written. That’s how I feel.  I love where we are right now—having an actual book that we can hold in our hands and say, “We did this.”  And I guess the worst part is having the discipline to sit in the chair and write the darn thing. Actually, that’s not fair: there are a lot of exhilarating aspects of the creative process—but there are also long stretches that are tedious and unrewarding and decidedly NOT exhilarating.  Writing is hard work—no way around it. 

SHERI:The best part is hearing from our readers. The worst part is marketing! It’s relentless and never ending and totally counter to all my introverted ways. Striking a balance between writing new content and marketing existing content is something we’re still working on.

5. What are you working on now?

SHERI:We’ve already begun work on a sequel! There’s a new adventure in store for our five main characters based on some mysteries and clues we’ve planted in Labors of an Epic Punk. The adventure in book two will involve the search for Andie’s father and we’ll introduce some quirky new characters (and some dangerous ones!) And we promise some romance is in store for Homer!

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

For many years Mark, a high school English teacher, and Sheri, a freelance writer and blogger, wrote independently. No matter the writing project—newspaper articles, retreat talks, college recommendation letters, fan-fiction, blog posts on spirituality or 80s pop songs—they tended to work alone. Separate rooms, separate computers. But raising their twin sons helped them discover an important truth: All Good Things Come in Twos.

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

Mark and Sheri Dursin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway