Pages

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Smuggler by Nicholas Fillmore - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!


Hi lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Nicholas Fillmore and his new book, “Smuggler”!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Nicholas and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!


Smuggler
by Nicholas Fillmore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Memoir/True Crime

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

When twenty-something post-grad Nick Fillmore discovers the zine he’s been recruited to edit is a front for drug profits, he begins a dangerous flirtation with an international heroin smuggling operation and in a matter of months finds himself on a fast ride he doesn’t know how to get off of.

After a bag goes missing in an airport transit lounge he is summoned to West Africa to take a voodoo oath with Nigerian mafia. Bound to drug boss Alhaji, he returns to Europe to put the job right, but in Chicago O’Hare customs agents “blitz” the plane and a courier is arrested.

Thus begins a harried yearlong effort to elude the Feds, prison and a looming existential dead end…. Smuggler relates the real events behind OITNB.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT ONE:

At the other end of the terminal was another set of steel doors—simple double doors leading right out to the street, daylight and fresh air strobing through each time someone exited; cabs lined up and waiting, freedom lingering out there.

I hoisted my bag over my shoulder, bypassing the baggage carousels where a cop was walking around with a dog, and headed towards the doors. A single Customs Agent was perched on a stool to the far right, reading a magazine. As I got about a third of the way there, he seemed to stir. I changed direction ever so slightly.

He roused himself. A small group was moving toward him from the right, but he seemed to ignore them.

I looked out the corner of my eyes for someone, anyone I could fall in behind, but everyone seemed blissfully out of reach—and I imagined this is what it must feel like to drown: to take one last desperate look at help swimming strongly away.

Then the agent sauntered ever so slowly out into the middle of the room. My heart raced. Then he looked up. I saw it coming, could feel it coming. Oblivious to the rest of the herd, he’d singled me out; and for a second I felt I might just swoon right there. Then some sort of instinct kicked in. I resigned myself to being questioned and headed right at him.

For some seconds he hung back as I did my best to play the part of the unassuming traveler.

“Where are you coming from, sir?” he asked, at an angle.

“Paris,” I said.

“Can I see your ticket?”

I handed him my ticket.

“How long were you in Paris?”

“A week.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Business.”

“What kind of business.”

“Magazine. Publishing.”

“What magazine?”

And here I faltered. Nun Civa Orcus. What the hell was that? My mind raced for all sorts of explanations. For a second I considered making something up. But that would only mean trouble. You tend to say stupid things when you veer from the script like that. Someone might ask your name, for instance, and under duress you might say Peter Rabbit or Dick Nixon, who the hell knew? Had he detected my hesitation? I had to speak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

Five Reasons You Should Read My Book

(1) It’s real. The character’s joy and suffering is real. Not to sell the imagination short, but I get the feeling sometimes that the novel is merely voyeuristic, cannibalizing other people’s lives and emotions, or else contriving to order its own experience in such a way as to make easy sense of it … rather than fully grappling with the profound ambiguity of our lives. I don’t mean this in a post-structuralist sense; I still believe in meaning.

(2) It’s relevant to you. Smuggler struggles with timeless personal contradictions: the need to reconcile oneself with one’s friends, family and peers, while suspecting all along that society is a conspiracy against the individual. You don’t have to go to jail to learn this. (It helps.) As such, I think that it brings together emotions and the intellect in the best possible way.

(3) It’s fast and scary and cool.

(4) You travel around the world: West African rhythms with French je ne sais quoi.

(5) I really believe in this book. Both the experience and the writing have been earned at some personal cost. Smuggler grows out of a literary canon: Camus, Orwell, Babel, Nabokov, Chandler, etc. You know, 40, 50 years of study. I may have been a precocious poet, but I’ve been thinking about the prose form for a long time. And I worked on Smuggler over a ten year period. So, it’s not something that’s just thrown together, or a happy accident. Read it and see!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:


Nicholas Fillmore attended the graduate writing program at University of New Hampshire. He was a finalist for the Juniper Prize in poetry and co-founded and published SQUiD magazine in Provincetown, MA. He is currently at work on Sins of Our Fathers, a family romance and works as a reporter and lecturer in English. He lives on windward Oahu with his wife, his daughter and three dogs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECT WITH NICHOLAS:

Website:

Blog:

Email:
nfillmore@hawaii.rr.com

Facebook:

Twitter:

Pinterest:

Instagram:

YouTube:

Google+:

LinkedIn:

BookBub Author Page:

BookBub Book Page:

Goodreads Author Page:

Goodreads Book Page:

Amazon Author Page:

Publisher’s Website:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

Amazon Paperback:

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

Kobo eBook:

The Book Depository Paperback:

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Nicholas will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.


**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.

5 comments: