Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host M. Laszlo and his new book, “The Phantom Glare of Day,” here on FAB!! For other stops on her 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 M. Laszlo and to increase your chances of winning!!
This eBook is on SALE for ONLY $0.99 during the book tour!!! See below for more details.
Thanks for stopping by!! Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!
The Phantom Glare of Day
by M. Laszlo
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GENRE: Historical (Metaphysical) Fiction / Coming of Age Fiction
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BOOK BLURB:
In this trio of novellas, three game young ladies enter into dangerous liaisons that test each one’s limits and force them to confront the most heartrending issues facing society in the early twentieth century. The Phantom Glare of Day tells of Sophie, a young lady who has lived a sheltered life and consequently has no idea how cruel public-school bullying can be. When she meets Jarvis, a young man obsessed with avenging all those students who delight in his daily debasement, she resolves to intervene before tragedy unfolds. Mouvements Perpétuels tells of Cäcilia, a young lady shunned by her birth father. She longs for the approval of an older man, so when her ice-skating instructor attempts to take advantage of her, she cannot resist. Not a month later, she realizes that she is pregnant and must decide whether or not to get an abortion. Passion Bearer tells of Manon, a young lady who falls in love with a beautiful actress after taking a post as a script girl for a film company—and is subsequently confronted with the pettiest kinds of homophobia.
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EXCERPT TWO:
London, 29 September, 1917.
Early that morning at the Chelsea Court Hotel, Cäcilia finally realized that last month’s assignation with her ice-skating instructor had left her pregnant. For the longest time, she paced about her suite and debated the question of what might be the best way to tell him. Whatever she said, Herr Wechseljahr would be galled. The old man would almost certainly accuse her of being marriage-minded, and he would insist that she had planned everything all along. At some point, too, he would be sure to lament her upcoming debut.
“For so long, I’ve been choreographing that glorious ice ballet,” he would tell her. “And you treat me like this?”
At nine o’clock, when Cäcilia reached Empress Avenue Ice Arena, she continued into the grand antechamber but then stopped. How do I tell him the bad news?
In time, the wintry air of the electric skating palace made her teeth chatter. Worse still, the aroma of the snack bar’s freshly-brewed, Cadbury drinking chocolate happened to be very strong that day—strong enough to make her retch.
The ice arena’s various loudspeakers crackled to life, and as she continued to convulse, a warped recording of Édouard Lalo’s “Ballade à la lune” commenced.
As the music played, several diminutive schoolgirls laced up and ventured off into the imponderable beauty of the oval rink.
Cäcilia climbed into the hard-oak terrace, and she watched the most winsome of the children perform a fan spiral.
The Lalo recording concluded, and the vast skating palace grew as quiet as the ruins of the Colosseum.
Cäcilia’s thoughts turned to Knightsbridge Casino. One week earlier, she had lost a considerable amount at the baccarat table. As such, she did not have sufficient funds to hire someone to tend to a newborn baby. Before long, she turned to one of the loudspeakers.
If only another recording would begin—and disrupt the quietude, the solemnity.
From the direction of the snack bar, the aroma of Cadbury drinking chocolate grew even more sickly-sweet. Worse yet, the scent of the pungent Cocoa Essence had begun to commingle with the smoldering lampblack odor of the rubber tiles surrounding the boards.
Down on the ice, the little girl from before, the one who had performed the fan spiral, commenced a series of intricate step sequences.
And now the door to the grand antechamber opened, and Herr Wechseljahr made his entrance. When he reached the terrace, he flashed a proud, fatherly smile and greeted Cäcilia with his customary Roman salute.
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GUEST POST:
7 Musts That Every Story in My Trans-Genre Must Have
The Phantom Glare of Day is a trans-genre work that seeks to truly help people to grasp and to face very real and very difficult aspects of life. This metaphysical kind of trans-genre writing is not complicated at all, though. In fact, this kind of writing is quite simple and has only seven musts.
First: the protagonist or point-of-view character must be able to teach the reader something.
Second: this kind of metaphysical, trans-genre work must have a moral center. It must be abundantly clear that the point-of-view character does not wish anyone harm.
Third: both the story and the well-intentioned characters within said tale must be honest or sincere. If the protagonist fails to live up to this ideal, nevertheless, the character should at least realize that he or she ought to make a change.
Fourth: the writer must market a metaphysical trans-genre work to adults only. At the very least, the reader must be exceedingly mature. Remember, as simple as my own novellas are, all metaphysical fiction works traffic in profound ideas.
Five: no matter how pernicious the stakes, the protagonist must strive to make intelligent decisions. Even if the point-of-view character is too afraid to make an intelligent or wise decision, nevertheless, the character must be aware of that fact. At the very least, when the character’s poor decisions unleash a series of unintended consequences, the point-of-view character or protagonist ought to readily recognize the problem. That kind of awareness should make the character relatable to the reader because every reader has made decisions that he or she regrets. Moreover, every reader has experienced a scenario in which he or she had to make amends for a bad decision.
Six: even if the main character has specific beliefs and political aspirations, the main character must be aware of how crucially important it is to be at least a little bit objective. Even better, the protagonist ought to realize that peace of mind comes from the psyche or intellect itself. In other words, if the protagonist understands that politics cannot solve the problems of the world, the reader’s relationship with that protagonist becomes that much more personal or immediate.
Seven: even if the main character is prone to stress, confusion, and mental illness, said character must at least value the kind of lucidity that comes with having an analytical mind and a good memory. Why? It comes down to the fact that a clear-thinking character is a character that a reader can trust.
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AUTHOR BIO:
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M. Laszlo is the pseudonym of a reclusive author living in Bath, Ohio. According to rumor, he based the pen name on the name of the Paul Henreid character in Casablanca, Victor Laszlo.
M. Laszlo has lived and worked all over the world, and he has kept exhaustive journals and idea books corresponding to each location and post.
It is said that the maniacal habit began in childhood during summer vacations—when his family began renting out Robert Lowell’s family home in Castine, Maine.
The habit continued in 1985 when, as an adolescent, he spent the summer in London, England. In recent years, he revisited that journal/idea book and based his first work, The Phantom Glare of Day, on the characters, topics, and themes contained within the youthful writings. In crafting the narrative arcs, he decided to divide the work into three interrelated novellas and to set each one in the WW-I era so as to make the work as timeless as possible.
M. Laszlo has lived and worked in New York City, East Jerusalem, and several other cities around the world. While living in the Middle East, he worked for Harvard University’s Semitic Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio and an M.F.A. in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
His next work is forthcoming from SparkPress in 2024. There are whispers that the work purports to be a genuine attempt at positing an explanation for the riddle of the universe and is based on journals and idea books made while completing his M.F.A at Sarah Lawrence College.
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CONNECT WITH M. LASZLO:
BookBub Book Page:
https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-phantom-glare-of-day-by-m-laszlo
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22078734.M_Laszlo
Goodreads Book Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59892921-the-phantom-glare-of-day
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BOOK BUY LINKS & BOOK SALE INFO:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
Amazon US Paperback:
Amazon CA Kindle eBook:
https://www.amazon.ca/Phantom-Glare-Day-Three-Novellas-ebook/dp/B09NPVPXFF
Amazon CA Paperback:
https://www.amazon.ca/Phantom-Glare-Day-Three-Novellas/dp/1684631750
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-phantom-glare-of-day-m-laszlo/1141227221?ean=9781684631766
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-phantom-glare-of-day-m-laszlo/1141227221?ean=9781684631759
Kobo US eBook:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-phantom-glare-of-day
Kobo CA eBook:
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-phantom-glare-of-day
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
M. Laszlo will be awarding a $50 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) 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 fabulous community outreach projects and 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.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAlly, thank you for hosting. Very cool blogspot. I'm so happy to be included!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your guest post, bio and book details, I appreciate that you've shared the seven musts for the characters in your stories, the qualities and quirks that you have listed here makes me want to meet them even more.
ReplyDeleteLooks like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and informative guest post and great excerpt, The Phantom Glare of Day sounds like a fantastic book!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it with me and have a spectacular day!
Thank you everyone for all your positive energy! You've all made me very happy.
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds intriguing. Great cover!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book.
ReplyDelete