My Irish Dog by Douglas Solvie - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Douglas Solvie and his new book, “My Irish Dog”!  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 $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Doug and to increase your chances of winning!

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

My Irish Dog

by Douglas Solvie

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GENRE: Suspense (Psychological)

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BLURB:

Spencer held on to the faintest of hope, but still he knew the trip to Ireland had almost no prospect of remedying his internal dilemma. Then again, he never imagined that a chance meeting with a lost and dying dog named Shandy would change his life forever.

Step into the small Irish village of Galbally, where the unwitting Spencer stumbles headfirst into a parallel world that will test his will, sanity, and even physical well-being.

Time and promise are running out. Will unnatural forces and events scare Spencer away before he can connect again with the mysterious dog? Will he find his way forward before Shandy meets her inevitable fate? Or will suspicious locals and a nefarious Dublin innkeeper force Spencer from the village before he completes his life-altering mission?

Follow Spencer as he races to save a little Irish dog named Shandy. If he only realized that it is Shandy who is trying to save him...

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EXCERPT ONE:

“Good morning,” Spencer greeted her. “Do you remember me?”

The woman stood in the doorway and did not respond immediately. “No, I can’t say I do,” she finally said with a blank expression.

Spencer felt a wave of dizziness overtake him.

“I was here a couple of days back and dropped off that little dog, which you kindly took from me,” he said desperately. “Anyway, I have been worried about her and wanted to make certain that everything had turned out all right.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said warily, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about or who you are. You must have made some kind of mistake. We don’t have a dog and never have. And I’ve certainly never seen you before.”

Spencer was incredulous, his smile falling slowly. He also felt a little defiant.

“Excuse me, but I was here just two days ago. I told you I had found a stray dog that I didn’t know what to do with, and you agreed to take her from me. You said your husband would deal with the matter once he got home that night.”

“Listen, you have obviously made a mistake,” the woman said. Spencer winced inside; the woman was now the defiant one. “I have a husband, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you sure it wasn’t some other house?”

For a moment Spencer thought he might have gone crazy. He peered through the door, and though he could hear the sound of children inside, he could not see them.

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GUEST POST:

BRING ON THE BOOS

(VILLAIN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT)

When I had finished the initial draft of my manuscript, I sent it to a friend (a beta reader in a way). I knew I needed some help, and I also knew this particular person was someone who would actually read the darn thing.

He got back to me several weeks later and kindly pointed out some inconsistencies and some misconceptions, things that I honestly did not recognize. Perhaps the most important element he discovered was that all of my characters were too nice. It wasn’t so much that they were all nice, but rather that the book completely lacked a villain. That fact hadn’t occurred to me, and I knew he was right – a psychological suspense novel certainly requires a bad character or two to make it interesting. Sure, I had antagonists of a sort, notably an evil spirit and the mental anguish of the protagonist, but I knew now that I needed more.

I sat on the manuscript for a few days, wondering how I could bring a true antagonist into the fold. Introducing a new character out of nowhere seemed a bit intimidating. So how could one of my present characters become a villain? The answer soon came. In the first chapter, my protagonist Spencer becomes acquainted with the owner of a B&B in Dublin named Mike. That character Mike was initially a nice guy as well, but I thought perhaps I could turn him. I maintained Mike’s amiable disposition, but at the very end of that beginning chapter I added a slight twist to make the reader believe that the innkeeper had a sinister side.

Still, a problem remained: Mike is in Dublin and Spencer would spend the rest of the book in another part of Ireland. How could I possibly keep them connected? Problem solved: I’d simply give Mike an accomplice of sorts, an old friend and sometimes business partner who did Mike’s bidding.

So, enter Owen. He operates near where Spencer is spending his time, and Mike enlists Owen to carry out his nefarious plan. Mike is a bad man in his own right, but I knew I needed to take Owen to a higher level, someone who has no qualms about doing whatever is necessary to get what he wants. He needed to be as loathsome as possible, someone the reader would love to hate as the story progresses.

Owen doesn’t get a ton of page time in the story, but enough to make him an integral character. Without him, the story could never reach its climax. His methods and intent know no bounds, and his first and last direct meeting with Spencer offers a heart-pounding scene. (Thank goodness for a little Irish dog that saves the day.)

Just when the reader’s disdain for Owen can’t be any worse, I thought it appropriate to send him off in the most unceremonious of ways. Writing the demise of a character is never easy, but I doubt there are few readers who would disagree that Owen receives his just deserts. Mike gets his as well, but in a different and less profound way. And Spencer, a rather sympathetic protagonist, eventually benefits from his ill-fated association with Mike and Owen.

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AUTHOR BIO:

My Irish Dog is the debut novel by Douglas Solvie and was motivated by a trip taken to Ireland and the chance discovery of a lost dog there. After spending most of his adult life living and working in Japan, Douglas is currently living in his home state of Montana. He hopes to make a new career out of writing and to travel the world, looking for inspiration for that next book, perhaps another set in beautiful Ireland. My Irish Dog is, after all, a story with a lot of unanswered questions.

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CONNECT WITH DOUGLAS:

Website:

https://www.myirishdog.com

Blog:

https://www.myirishdog.com/blog

Email:

dsolvie18@gmail.com

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DSolvieAuthor

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-solvie-44210333

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20210363.Douglas_Solvie

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53327383-my-irish-dog

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2W4zMkb

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3b6K9bA

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2YzAV4X

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Douglas will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**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.