INTERIM releases tomorrow!

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WARNING: Interim is a Mature YA/New Adult crossover standalone that contains graphic language and violence, including gun violence. If school shootings are an especially sensitive subject for you, then I urge you to refrain from reading this book.


"GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS"

He sank to the ground, wiping the perspiration of hard work from his forehead, listening to Peter Gabriel’s fading words about war. He adopted the song as his anthem when he first heard it played on his father’s stereo a few years ago. It was a weird night of nostalgia, and Mr. Stahl sat in the center of the living room surrounded by the music of his happier past. Gabriel was among the artists, and Jeremy hung back in the doorway to the living room working hard to decode the lyrics.

Maybe he got it wrong, but he heard a story of warring children. Mean children. Children out to harm with words, with deeds. Children out for blood in the war-ravaged hallways of Any School, USA. He fought a war there every day. He fought a war at home, too. And instantly, his idea of justice was born.

He stole the CD and put the song on repeat every night before bed so that he would never forget his mission. Those kids needed to play nicer, he thought, growing more confident in his plan, his purpose. Metal could stay a flying fist. Metal could silence an ugly word. Flesh was weak; metal strong. And he would be the boy who wielded the metal—eradicating the abuse for good.

copyright S. Walden, 2015

INTERIM Teaser #4

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INTERIM Teaser #3

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INTERIM Teaser #2

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INTERIM Cover Reveal

By the time Interim hits the digital shelves, it will have been over a year since I've published. It feels really good to get back out there, and I'm glad it's this story I'm sharing. Jeremy waited a long time, and I'm so happy I finally mustered the courage to tell his story.

WARNING: Interim is a New Adult standalone that contains graphic language and violence, including gun violence. If school shootings are an especially sensitive topic for you, then I urge you to refrain from reading this book.

(Cover by Robin Ludwig)

Release Date:

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Genre:

Mature YA/NA Crossover Suspense/Psychological Thriller with a Romance Twist

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Description:

~A lot can change in the space between devising a plan and carrying it out. That space is called the INTERIM.~

High school seniors Jeremy Stahl and Regan Walters aren’t friends. Not even close. He’s a picked-on, picked-apart loser outcast. She’s a cool kid running with the popular crowd. It’s unlikely they’d ever speak to one another. Too bad he’s madly in love with her. But what does it matter, anyway? He’s got no time for love. Only revenge.

Meticulously detailed in the pages of his battered red notebook is his master plan: April 14, 9:30 A.M., two guns, eighty rounds of ammo, backup knives, eleven victims. He’s finally ready to answer every single taunt, jeer, and flying fist—unwarranted abuse that’s spanned six years of his lonely life. He’s justified. He’s ready. But he never readied himself for her.

Regan finds his journal. She reads it, and when he discovers her intrusion, he has to switch tactics. She’s a liability now.

Better fix that.

Teaser:

Who was he? What was his purpose? He knew it once. Once, a long time ago, he decided to be a hero. He decided to avenge himself and all the other kids who were helpless against abuse. Once, a long time ago, he learned the difference between justice and mercy. He learned when justice was required. He learned when mercy was allowed. Once, a long time ago, he faced himself in the mirror and saw a stranger—a better boy than he could ever be. A boy with a mission. A boy with convictions. And he reached out to take hold of that boy, through the looking-glass, falling into a wonderland where righteousness ruled supreme and evil was destroyed with the pop pop! of a gun. The world made sense to him. Then. 

New Year. New Perspective.

I made a few promises (not resolutions) at the start of this year, and one of those promises was to be kinder to myself. I tend to set unreasonable expectations in every aspect of my life, job included. In fact, I’m probably the hardest on myself when it comes to my writing. Sometime last year, I realized that the one thing I love above everything in the world aside from my husband and dog became something I loathed. My ridiculous expectations distorted the reason I write, and it wasn’t long after that writing stopped altogether. I gave up. But a real writer doesn’t do that, does she? Isn’t it impossible for her not to open her computer and type something? Isn’t that the definition of a “true” writer?

Writers write to tell the stories in their hearts. It’s as simple as that. Or should be. But when you’re competing for space and relevancy in an ever-expanding self-publishing world, the motivations to write start changing. If you don’t meet the goals you set for a particular title, you start second guessing the story: Was this important? Did I choose the wrong point of view? Did I offend someone? (Note: you will ALWAYS offend someone with your writing. Nothing you can do about it.) You start second guessing your characters. You start second guessing your genre as you scour Amazon’s Top 100 list and discover that no one’s writing about high school shootings. You take a step back. You try to anticipate what your audience will like. You try to make your audience happy. You allow too many people to involve themselves with your work, giving you confusing feedback that turns into white noise. You say to yourself, “She doesn’t get me at all, but she’s my audience, so I need to change.” You don’t even take into consideration all the people who DO get you—who DO understand and appreciate and love your work. Distortion is scary. It’s what stands us in front of the mirror and forces the words “I’m fat” out of our mouths when we are clearly not fat. And so with each book, you move further and further away from . . . you. And then you wake up one morning to discover that you hate telling stories—that part of you that was your heartbeat. You hate it because you’re trying to please everyone instead of writing what's in your heart.

It took the better part of last year to recognize all this. One enlightening phone conversation with an industry professional helped refocus my lens and give me a clear perspective once more. It was a conversation that centered on a story I’d tucked away for over a year—a story I’d been too afraid to tell because it’s risky and controversial and ugly and all the things that, up until LoveLines, had defined my writing. Fringe writing. That’s what I’m calling it. Those stories that hang out in the margins—right on the edge of potential greatness and amazing catastrophe. The stories people are too scared to read because they don’t know if they’ll get their happily-ever-afters. The stories that reflect true reality, making them too realistic. The stories that sometimes offer no escape.

My stories aren’t pretty or safe or commercial, and they will most likely never be wide-reaching. And that’s okay because someone needs to tell Jeremy’s story. And once I committed to him, all my initial motivations for writing returned. None of them were new, but I felt like a brand new person. I remembered why I write. I write to tell what I hope are good stories. I write because it is a part of who I am. That’s the point of it all. That’s perspective. And with my old-new perspective came a joy for storytelling again—a reason to open my laptop. Sure, I realize I’m taking a huge risk, perhaps riskier than Brooke or Cadence’s stories. But hey, I gave myself a year. It’s time.

(Expected release: Spring 2015)

. . . and here's your first teaser: