Fabulous and Brunette: The Moment Between by Gareth Frank - Book Tour - Interview - Giveaway

Hello lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Gareth Frank and his new book, “The Moment Between”! 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 $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!! Also, come back daily to interact with Gareth and to increase your chances of winning!

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

The Moment Between

by Gareth Frank

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GENRE: Psychological Thriller

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BLURB:

After four years of mourning, Doctor Hackett Metzger is determined to stop letting his wife's death control his life. He is finally beginning to live again, but his recovery leads to an unexpected fight for his own survival and startling revelations about what happens to all of us in The Moment Between.

Hackett, a brilliant neurologist, is a skeptic. He doesn't believe he will one day be reunited with Jean, or dwell with God in heaven. What he does believe is that he should have seen the warning signs of her heart attack; he should have saved her. He also cannot accept the possibility that his clinical study of near death experiences could prove the existence of a conscious afterlife. When Hackett falls for the mother of a patient, grief finally begins to fade. But he has no idea his new love is hiding her dangerous past. Will Hackett's damaged spirit endure another heartbreak?

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EXCERPT ONE:

In those first months, he tortured himself with the notion that Jean’s voice had been real. He was sure that she had been present while he tried to save her. He prayed that she lived on in death, hoped that even as he failed, she had a soft landing on the other side. Her voice became his torture.

And so he understood death as he never had before. He understood grieving and pain. He understood what it meant to miss someone and to know that he would never see that person again. He understood loneliness. Most of all he understood the foolish and painful illusion that life might somehow continue. There was no voice. Jean had not talked to him from beyond. He had tortured himself from within. She was dead. He had learned to accept that cold hard reality. Anger had settled into the dark hole that was his memory of that day, poisoning his spirit. For weeks he stayed home from work, for months the blackness held him captive, until slowly he emerged into the world once more. His sanity hinged on his acceptance that Jean’s voice had been an illusion. Death was just death.

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INTERVIEW:

Good morning Gareth! Welcome to Fabulous and Brunette! We are thrilled to have you here and can’t wait to learn more about you and your new book, “The Moment Between.”

What is the evolution of your writing habits and how have you grown into a better/more experienced writer?

So many people enter writing from different backgrounds and different motivations. I had hardly dabbled in fiction before I retired, and I never applied myself to creative writing way back in school. When I retired, I took a few months to just write. I had an idea for a novel and I just tried to put it to paper. Though I did take a couple of classes six months later, I think it was the right idea to first just write and see what I had in me. The courses I took were at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. A great place and a great writer's community -- I would recommend it to anyone. It seems minor, but I also watched one of the Great Courses DVD series, Building Great Sentences with Professor Brooks Landon of the University of Iowa. I was surprised at how helpful it was. I don't believe that everyone needs to write like Faulkner, but the course was great for my technical skills. Finally, working with a great editor is invaluable. I always thought of editing as proofreading for grammar and the like, but there is nothing like working with a good developmental editor to learn about the art of storytelling. I recommend John Paine.

I have also been involved in writing groups for the last seven years. I think the process of receiving feedback is of great help, but new writers need a strong constitution and the ability to process both good and bad advice. You will get some feedback that is perfect and some that is terrible. Figuring out which is which is not always easy.

Who inspired your love for books?

When I was young, I didn't read much. I know that is odd for a writer to say, but I was active to the point of being hyperactive. I lived for fun and excitement. In early high school, I tried reading The Hobbit, assuming that I would like what everyone else did. I didn't. It bored me. A year later I found Kurt Vonnegut. I loved his absurdity, and storytelling ability. For years, he was the standard for my literary tastes. I didn't start reading more widely until after college, first mainly non-fiction, then fiction. Over the years, my wife has been a huge influence on my reading habits. She is a voracious reader of all genres. I follow behind her picking up the tasty morsels she leaves behind.

What are five reasons we should read your book?

The Moment Between is a psychological thriller that brings death to life through the story of Doctor Hackett Metzger, a neurosurgeon still recovering from the passing of his wife when he becomes involved in a medical study of near-death experiences, and falls for a woman with a dangerous past. Hackett, a likeable and brilliant doctor, is also a bit of an awkward nerd. He agrees to support the study even though his heart and mind tell him that death is final. Life and research are about to collide.

The question of life after death is not just an interesting topic for fiction, it is a subject of scientific research both in my book and in real life. Metzger's medical study of near death experiences is based on a real life study conducted at thirteen British and American hospitals by Doctor Sam Parnia and his colleagues. Parnia found that ten percent of patients who were resuscitated after cardiac arrest and were interviewed, reported memories of near-death experiences.

The afterlife is a great hook for readers. According to numerous polls, about 70 percent of Americans believe in some kind of afterlife, yet few of us would believe a friend or neighbor who told us that they had died and come back to life. Why do we believe the general premise of afterlife, but dismiss the evidence at hand? As reporter Judy Bachrach says in her book about near-death experiences, we are living in the days of Lazarus. Modern medical resuscitation techniques have made it a fairly common practice to bring people back to life after they are clinically dead and absolutely no brain function is detectable.

One such incident took place on a November day in 2008. Doctor Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, like my fictitious Hackett Metzger, lay dying of bacterial meningitis at Lynchburg General Hospital in Southwest Virginia. He had lapsed into a coma. The doctors treating him did a brain scan which showed he had irreversible brain damage and no chance of surviving. He was toast. With assurances that his brain was, in fact, already gone, his family took shifts at his bedside waiting for the inevitable moment when his heart would beat one last time. But deep within, Dr. Alexander was not only conscious, he was in the midst of a life-altering experience. He would later say that he crossed the plain of death before returning to this world. During a time when his brain was shut down, he reported: looking down on his own body and hearing people talk even as the neurons in his brain were inactive; seeing people move around the room when no electrical activity flowed from his optic nerve; and having conscious thought when his doctors said that dreams even were not possible. Upon waking, he related conversations that his ears could not have heard and eyes could not have seen. He experienced The Moment Between life and death.

A good novel captures more than the subject matter involved, no matter how interesting. You need a compelling story as well. The inspiration for my storyline showed up in the mail. A few years ago, I received a Christmas card from a friend who mentioned the death of her brother-in-law and alluded that his wife was the murderer. A very strange Christmas card, indeed. I couldn't stop thinking about it. When I called my friend and asked what had happened, I found out that, as they say, fact was stranger than fiction. I used the woman in question to create one of my characters. Some people think I created a monster. The truth is, real monsters are often real people.

Which character do you identify most with?

I identify most with the main character Doctor Metzger. Although he is a flawed character and has trouble navigating personal relationships, he is also brilliant and well-meaning. On top of that, he and I are skeptics, a quality I admire as long as you are not too rigid. "I wear that badge with honor," Hackett says. "Look it up in the dictionary. A skeptic is someone who asks questions instead of accepting the seemingly obvious. Without skeptics, there would be no progress."

Do any of your characters have a special hobby or interest? If so, write something from their POV.

Hackett and his late wife were moth collectors. My book cover was inspired by their hobby, and the giant Hercules moth from the cover is framed in their house. Here is an excerpt from the novel:

“It’s not a butterfly, it’s a Hercules moth. The biggest moth species in the world.”

Sarah held her right hand up in front of the frame and spread her fingers. The moth’s gold and brown wings spanned well beyond her fingertips and long wing tails looped down below her palm. He watched as Sarah bent her head from side to side apparently inspecting the big fat bronze belly.

“We travelled all the way to Papua New Guinea to find that one.”

“It’s Mothra,” Sarah said with a laugh.

“Exactly. This is the species that inspired the old movies, though only the Japanese could turn a moth into a monster. Jean and I collected butterflies and moths, but we liked moths best; hunting at night was so much more fun.”

Hackett drifted back to the trip so many years ago. He saw Jean standing in front of a white sheet in the dark forest, a big flashlight behind her making her frizzy hair sparkle. He remembered the moment that the big moth swooped in and fluttered around Jean’s head before alighting on the sheet.

“I don’t need all of you,” Jean had said a month earlier. “But I can’t go on like this. I know that being a doctor demands a lot, still…” She paused before continuing. “You can’t let it take everything we have.”

At first, her words just made him mad. He thought she was being needy. How could she not understand how important his work was? It was a matter of life and death. It was her tears that finally made him understand.

Thank you so much for spending time with Fabulous and Brunette readers and sharing your exciting new book with us! We wish you all the best on your book tour!

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AUTHOR BIO:

Gareth Frank is a former union organizer and administrator. He received a Master's Degree at the University of Wisconsin and later studied at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The Moment Between is his first published novel. His short stories have been published in various journals and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize as well as the Silver Pen Write Well Award.

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CONNECT WITH GARETH:

Email:

garethjfrank@gmail.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/GarethFrankAuthor

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18255815.Gareth_J_Frank

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40563951-the-moment-between

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2Xnu8rS

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/2Tdgdp7

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2Et8fQK

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-moment-between-gareth-j-frank/1128888245?ean=9781732294219

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-moment-between-gareth-j-frank/1128888245?ean=9781732294202

Kobo eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-moment-between-4

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Moment-Between-Gareth-J-Frank/9781732294202

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Moment-Between/Gareth-J-Frank/9781732294202

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Gareth will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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.