The Price of Sanctuary by Gaylon Greer, Virtual Book Tour & ♥GIVEAWAY♥ (Contemporary Romantic Suspense)

Author: Gaylon Greer

Title: The Price of Sanctuary

Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Synopsis:

Accustomed to a life of privilege, Shelby Cervosier new finds herself running for her life. Accused of killing an American Immigration agent, Shelby has undertaken a mission on behalf of a secretive American espionage agency in exchange for a promise of legal amnesty and political asylum in America. Now, however, the agent who coerced her into accepting the assignment wants her dead to cover up the bungled mission. Two hit men compete for the bounty that has been placed on her head.

Shelby and her younger sister flee into America’s heartland in search of a safe haven. They find only fear and danger, however, when they are captured by one of the assassins, Hank.

Prepared to do whatever it takes to keep her sister safe, Shelby cooperates with her capturer. Deciding that his feelings for them are more important than bounty money, Hank takes the sisters under his wing and secrets then away to his hideout: a farm in a remote corner of Colorado. They become a part of his extended family; they have finally found sanctuary.

Their safe new world is shattered when the second hit man, a relentless psychopath, captures Shelby’s little sister and uses her to lure Shelby and her lover into a middle-of-the-night showdown on an isolated Rocky Mountain battleground.

Gaylon's Thoughts on Layering and Interweaving Conflict:

Conflict is essential in fiction because it provides the tension that makes reading stories so enjoyable. For analysis, it is useful to break the tension-generating conflict into three categories: long-term, short-term, and flash.

A novel’s long-term source of tension comes from the presence of a story question. Something happens to upset the status quo in the story environment, an inciting event. As a consequence the focal character expresses a desire, aspiration, or longing that reader convert into a story question: will the character’s need be satisfied? In his how-to book, Writing Novels That Sell, Jack Bickham says, “You can tell your reader that your lead character wants almost anything, as long as the character defines the goal as vital. The reader will immediately take the goal statement and turn it around into a story question. . . .” Readers will develop a growing concern that the character might not achieve the story goal. That worry becomes the source of simmering, gradually growing long-term tension throughout the reading of the novel.

The scenes in the novel are mini-stories with most of the characteristics of the novel itself. In each scene the focal character has a short-term goal that the reader converts into a question and worries about right up to the scene climax. In a well-constructed novel, that climax answers the scene question with a twist that sets the stage for the next scene with its new scene goal.

Superimposed on the scene suspense is a series of tension-inducing incidents that give the reader momentary flashes of tension and release. In his book, The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great, Donald Maass calls this micro-tension. He describes it as “. . . the tension that constantly keeps your reader wondering what will happen—not in the story, but in the next few seconds.”

The relationship between these three categories of conflict can be likened to the slap of water on a sea wall, caused by tides, waves, and ripples. The tide is that inexorable rise in overall novel suspense from the moment the story goal is laid out to the time it is resolved in the novel climax. Riding the tide are a series of waves, the scene questions that keep readers from skimming to learn the resolution of the story question. Inside each wave are a series of ripples in which the focal character encounters opposition to accomplishing a goal; little slaps of tension followed by abrupt releases that give readers a series of delicious emotional jolts.

Excerpt:

The house had grown quiet except for the occasional creak of aging timbers reacting to changes in humidity and temperature. After watching a moonbeam stab through a window and creep over the floor, Shelby stared at the ceiling and asked herself why she always waited for events to overtake her. Why couldn't she do what Hank had suggested during their road trip? In Las Vegas he had urged her to reach out to life, to squeeze it, make it respond. “Grab life by the scruff and shake it,” he'd said. But he wouldn't reach out to her any more than he already had. The next move was up to her.

She threw back the bedcovers and swung her feet onto the chilly floor. If she thought about it, she would crawl back into bed, so she refused to think. Instead she reached under her gown to slip off her panties and tiptoed across the hall to his bedroom.

He lay on his back, stretched full-length under the covers. “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Standing in his doorway, she said, “I'm . . . yes, I'm okay.”

“Are you chilly? Need more cover?”

“I'm lonely. May I get in with you?”

He shifted to the side, fluffed a pillow for her, and threw back the covers. She recognized the gesture as the one she had used in Las Vegas when inviting him to share Pearl's guest bed. Feeling light-headed, she pulled the door shut and climbed in with him.

He lay on his side, watching her. “You sure everything's all right?”

“I don't know. I feel . . .” She twisted to face him. “I thought you might . . . that we . . .” Why couldn't she finish a sentence? She concentrated on regulating her breathing.

He twisted onto his back again and extended an arm. “Come here.”

Buy it Here:

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About Gaylon Greer:

Working with traveling carnivals and itinerant farm labor gangs during his teen and early adult years took Gaylon Greer up, down, and across the United States and introduced him to a plethora of colorful individuals who serve as models for his fictional characters. A return to school in pursuit of a high school diploma while serving in the Air Force led to three university degrees, including a Ph.D. in economics, and a stint as a university professor. After publishing several books on real estate and personal financial planning, as well as lecturing on these subjects to nationwide audiences, he shifted his energy to writing fiction. Gaylon lives near Austin, Texas.

Connect with Gaylon:

Website ♥ Facebook ♥ GoodReads ♥ Amazon

Giveaway:

Gaylon will be giving away a $50 Amazon gift card to one randomly chosen commenter!

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