Jus Breathe

 Jus Breathe

by Lynn Carter

 

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GENRE: Women’s (speculative) commercial fiction

 

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BLURB:

 

Their seesaw love affair started when she was five, even though they didn’t meet until she was eighteen. It started the day she heard Daddy slur, “She ain’t mine. You had the nerve to name her Dawn. Look at her! You shudda named her Midnight!” Then Daddy left . . . for good. And the loving music that had filled Dawn’s life went silent. 

            

That was the day that a “Midnight” Duckling invaded the mirror, took up residence in her chest, and controlled her ability to breathe. That was the day she learned to recognize “leaving time” . . . her superpower.

 

Couched in speculation, Jus Breathe is the tale of a young Black woman’s struggle to defy her inner “Duckling” and embrace her true self. Set in New York City during the turbulent sixties, it’s an improbable love story with precarious impulses, secret pasts, and inner demons.

 

Dawn, a survivor, flees her stepfather’s violent home. While struggling to attend college, she perfects sofa-surfing and hones her superpower, her ability to leave a  situation in an instant. 

 

But in the mist of the chaotic uprising that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, serendipity spins Dawn into beautiful Danny’s rollercoaster world.

            

Toxically in love, no longer a “leaver,” Dawn realizes that in order to survive, she must break free of Danny’s dominance. But that Duckling, who has allied with Danny, threatens to squeeze the life-breath from her if she dares to leave . . . that ugly, midnight-black Duckling, she has to kill.

 

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EXCERPT

 

There was pain. It shot up from my jaw to my brain and back down again. Ghostly figures were, moving fast, a blur of white overalls, the smell of wall paint, shuffling feet, a scuffle. 

 

That voice was rolling through my brain—one word, an echo from far away.

 

“Attack . . .”

 

It’s summer. It’s always summer when I slip into those childhood days. The boys have hijacked my Spalding ball, again. I chase them. I sic Sigfried on them. She does her most ferocious growl and a playful tug of war on their shoestrings as I yell, “Attack!! Attack!!” 

 

“Attack!!” 

 

A voice was shrieking that word. It occurred to me that it was my own voice, gradually returning me to the stark reality of the situation; back to ‘moving-in day,’ to what just happened, to the moment that my mother’s new husband’s fist impacted my face; back to Sigfreid lunging at his neck, taking him down, to the painters trying to free him from her grip, trying to get me to call her off. 

 

Dazed, I remained in my head, lingered in the fantasy that my big-boned shepherd could take a man down like that, fascinated that she even had it in her. I think I did call her off or maybe she relented of her own accord. That’s when “that thing” took possession of my lungs, again. Gasping for air, I think maybe all of them, the painters . . . my mother’s husband, were franticly yelling.

A Word With the Author

1.Did you always want to be an author?

 

That depends on how you define the word author. I had read somewhere that an author was a professional writer who got paid for their work. Somehow, that definition stuck with me. So heretofore, I aways considered myself a writer not an author. However, once I signed with BTL I began to think of myself as an author, though I have yet to earn money on this book. (I’m sure the money, no matter how small the amount, is forthcoming.) The question of author verses writer is now settled in my mind because I recently won first prize in fiction, in the  Black Writers Workshop’s Chapter One competition. The prize was $500 and an impressive little metal. 

So yes, I always wanted to be a writer. I enjoy the craft of writing. Now that I’m ‘in the game,’ I guess I want to be an author. But I never write with money as a goal.  That’s not why I write. 

 

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

 

This book, “Jus Breathe” is my first published novel. I have had several short stories and a poem published in the past. One of my short stories “One Wild Ride” was nominated for the Pushcart Award. For a long time a wrote books but never dared to submit them to publishers.

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

 

My book is a woman’s book, but it also has some paranormal or speculative factors. These are important in the story. I find it hard the, find writers I’m familiar with, who fit in this particular genre. However, if I broaden the genre to include women’s fantasy fiction I’d say that 

Zakiya Dalia Harris the author of The Other Black Girl would be a consideration. But I can’t say she’s my favorite in the genre. I didn’t really enjoy the book.

            I think perhaps Margaret  Atwood would be my favorite author in the women’s ‘fantasy’ genre. Aside from the handmaid’s tale, I’ve read other books by her that I’ve enjoy immensely. 

 

 

 

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

 

The best part about being an author is the very satisfying feeling that all those years of study, workshops and classes were worth my investment. When you’re a writer you just want to get your book published. Once you book is published, you just want it to sell well. So I think the worst part of being an author is getting people to read your book  which involves needing to understand all the numerous ways (social media etc.) to promote a book, nowadays. 

 

5.What are you working on now?

 

With regard to a new project, I’m in thinking mode. I have two competing ideas in my head but I can’t get a firm grasp on either one at the moment. What I need is the first sentence. Once I have the first sentence I’m on my way. That first sentence will be the forerunner to a series of ‘shitty first drafts’ that will need to be rethought and redone and figured out. Actually, that is the fun part. 

For now, I’m planning to put my efforts into getting “The Eyes Have It,” the last book that I’ve written, published. The first twenty pages of the book just won first place for fiction in “Chapter One,” The Black Writer’s Workshop’s, writing competition. So, I’m feeling encouraged.

 

 

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Born and raised in the Bronx, NYC, B. Lynn Carter graduated The City College of New York with a degree in creative writing. She’s also studied at the Writing Institute of Sarah Lawrence College.

  

Her short story "One Wild Ride," published in Aaduna magazine, was nominated for the Pushcart Award in 2014. She’s had short stories and poetry published in the Blue Lake Review, Drunk Monkeys, Ascent Aspirations, Enhance Magazine, The Story Shack and the Bronx Memoir Project, among others. Besides “Jus Breathe,” Ms. Carter has written two additional full-length novels. She is also listed in Poets & Writers directory of writers.

 

Social Media: 

Website: lynncarterbxwriter.com

Twitter: iLynzee2u  

Tik Tok: iLynzee         

Instagram; ilyncee

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynn.carter.1004

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

 

B. Lynn Carter will be awarding $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway