Today I am so pleased to welcome Zathyn Priest to Joyfully Jay. Zathyn has come to talk to us about his latest release, Inside His Reflection.  Please join me in giving Zathyn a big welcome!

 

Anyone who knows me via Facebook, my Blog, or personally, can tell you I have an addiction to clothes, shoes, and makeup.  I won’t say ‘fashion’ because that implies following a trend.  The only trend I follow is the one my brain tells me will look good.  If that’s teaming up a tuxedo jacket with sequined hot pants, fishnet stockings, and a pair of six inch stilettos, so be it.

Hmm… Not a bad idea for next GRL. *Note to Self* Start looking on eBay.

I’m an author who draws a lot from what life has thrown at me.  The good, the bad, the damn right bloody awful, and put those experiences into fictional characters. Sure, I mix it up a lot, and twist it around with a huge dose of imagination, but many times the roots are planted within me somewhere. While doing this, my main characters each possess aspects of my personality. My new book, Inside His Reflection, is no different in this respect.

What has any of this got to do with clothes? I’m glad you asked!

Every author approaches storytelling in a different way. I’m visual and see scenes I write like movie snippets in my mind. The books I’ve read in the past, the ones I remember as favourites, are with rich description. Authors like Anne Rice, and her Vampire Chronicles, made me feel as if I’d been transported to New Orleans. I wanted to write books like that. I wanted to transport a reader into another place or world. Make them forget where they are in their own life and take them somewhere else. Describing a character is, to me, an integral part of this process. What they wear, how they present themselves, can maketh the man.

I’ll take Elijah, from Inside His Reflection, as an example. As a child, he embraced individualism with Gothic style clothing. He was a boy who stood up for himself and his autistic brother. He wasn’t scared to make a statement, and refused to conform. When his world crashed in around him, that fearless personality broke into pieces. Elijah was forced to change his identity. Confidence he had in expressing individuality all but vanished. Only shadows of it remained, giving hints he hadn’t been shattered completely. Somewhere, deep down, the trampled down adult self still held onto the fearless teenage self.

The clothes are symbolic. I used them in Inside His Reflection for more than a means to show off Elijah’s wardrobe. That’s not to say each and every time I describe what a character is wearing it has a profound meaning behind it. I’m creating a personality from the inside out. I don’t go into ridiculous detail. That would be superfluous. I just provide enough for a reader to imagine the scene, picture it as a movie like I do, and hopefully be transported into another world for a while.


Blurb

Inside His ReflectionA blind date leaves Harry reeling, and another date goes as badly. Scars on Elijah’s face are clues of a broken soul, yet Harry can’t walk away.  Not even when he learns Elijah sees a dead man in mirror reflections.

Elijah’s sanity snaps. Blamed for crimes he didn’t commit, Elijah has already survived a brutal murder attempt and now hides under a Protection Program. Harry must have faith he is innocent and fight for Elijah’s stolen rights. Can Harry do this without losing his mind, his own rights, and the man he loves?


Bio

Zathyn PriestZathyn Priest is an award winning Australian MM fiction author and cover artist.  His published novels include Inside His Reflection, Amara: The Rebirth, The Curtis Reincarnation, The Slayer’s Apprentice, and Liquid Glass. He has also written short fiction, The Statue, Left of Centre, and One of Those Days.  Zathyn’s new graphic novella, HAI-21, will be available early 2016.

Zathyn discovered digital art five years ago when he wanted to create 3D models of his own fictional characters.  The hobby turned into another passion, and then into pre-made cover art business, Scarlet Tie Designs.  He now creates original artwork book covers, website artworks, and poster artworks.

Sitting in an office all day in front of a computer does not match Zathyn’s restless soul.  Therefore, he also attends classical ballet and jazz burlesque dance classes, with the ambition to turn boylesque/burlesque into a part-time career.

 

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