About the Book
Only one obstacle stands in his way of enjoying a normal life. He remembers—every life he's lived before.
Tres is about to be born... with the biggest burden any has ever had to bear. He is beginning again—as an ageless adult trapped in an infant body.
He and his teenage mother face life filled with extraordinary challenges as they strive to protect, nurture, and hide how truly different he is. But Tres alone must solve the greatest mystery of all: who is he? The answer is linked to the one question he's too afraid to ask: why am I?
In his quest, Tres discovers that all is considerably more interconnected and dynamic than he could ever imagine—and fraught with far more danger. He cannot hide from the unseen threat stalking him since his birth.
Life as he knows it—as all know it—is in peril. And Tres is the only one aware.
Excerpt
A casual knock pre-empted the arrival of an attending nurse. Sancha heard the sounds of a metal cart rolled in, its wheels locked in place at her bedside. She took a quick puff of air and released it as the knuckles of her fists began to turn white.
She heard a rustling of linens, then Maria leaning toward her from her chair on the opposite side of the bed.
Something heavy and warm was laid against Sancha’s arm.
“Sancha...” Maria pleaded this time. “Please.”
Sancha squirmed against the uncomfortable pressure on her arm.
“I can’t let you live the rest of your life,” Maria whispered, “knowing you never even saw him.”
Sancha swallowed. Her breathing quickened. She rolled her lips between her teeth. And she opened her eyes—as slowly as humanly possible.
The brightest pair of crystalline blue eyes stared back at her.
They blinked tenderly, giving away how new to blinking they actually were. Their steady gaze pierced straight through to something rooted within Sancha.
The eyes blinked again, temporarily cutting off the intense connection before opening again to resume it. Sancha rested on her bed in silence, mesmerized by the novice rhythm of blinking resembling Morse code.
Every muscle in her body relaxed. Her mouth began to form an unthinkable smile. She couldn’t help herself.
The baby—her baby—beamed at her with his big, round eyes and flooded her with the total contentment and perfect peace that wafts only from brand-new life.
Interview
Tell us about your book, what inspired it?
For The One Apart, I woke up one morning with just one interesting sentence in mind as an idea for a brand-new story: “he remembered everything.” It felt really impactful, like the fact that this person remembered “everything” was a big deal, that it wasn’t supposed to happen, something went wrong, or maybe, someone would be really upset to discover this person did remember everything. That was it. And that’s my favorite part of writing. I love having no idea what the story is and just writing to uncover it. I wrote two scenes from that idea and set it aside because I was hoping to write a short story and I knew this idea was “a long one.” And two years later, when I sat down to start writing my first novel, I picked up this story idea again. I knew this one was the idea to run with.
What should readers expect when they pick up your book?
The One Apart is more than a story—it’s an experience. Expect a family saga, an adventure epic, lots of mystery and intrigue and eeriness. Expect to delve in, “live” the story with the characters, to love or love to hate all the characters, and to laugh a little, cry a little, and definitely be drive to look over your shoulder to reassure yourself nothing’s there. Expect to never be able to look at the world, life, and people around you the same way again.
Have you started your next project?
My next book will likely be a collection of shorter stories, all sharing a common element: the story of those big moments in life when everything changes, when everything turns in a new direction. I have a few unpublished stories that happen to have that idea in common, and I’m eager to write more and create a collection full of interesting characters and predicaments and surprising moments.
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing stories since I was about 7 years old when my second-grade English teacher required all her students to write a new story every week. All my stories were true then, based on some childhood adventure I had over the summer or the weekend, and I remember the teacher praising them. I also remember her forcing me to stand up in front of the class to read some of them—I was so shy!—and that made me want to start writing boring stories. Years later, when I was still a kid, I started my first novel, handwritten in a spiral-bound notebook with a bright yellow cover. It was essentially a retelling of the Cinderella story with a main character named Ella that—SURPRISE!—would be revealed as a secret Cinderella. It’s a good thing I never finished it! After that, I believed the folks that told me that writing is more of a dream and not really a career, so I only wrote sporadically when I was really moved to live my biggest dream, only for life and that “real career” to get in the way. Finally, the urge to write, the feeling that you’re supposed to write, took over, and I finally gave my writing “dream” the priority it deserves.
What are your future ambitions?
More fantastic stories! My interests are all over the place, and I love following my curiosity wherever it takes me. I’ve got a list of little story idea nuggets much longer than life will give me time to write stories for and in just about every genre. I will most definitely write more fiction, short and long, and great nonfiction stories as well. And I’ll be checking off more countries yet-to-be-visited around the world.
What do you think of “trailers” for books?
I think the application of video for promoting books—and reading—is brilliant! We should’ve started doing it a long time ago. Specifically investing in a trailer for a book is tricky business though. Creating a book trailer for the sake of having one might not offer any benefit to expanding a book’s readership or raising an author’s profile… unless it’s designed as the best film trailers are: as stories themselves. Book trailers should tell a story. They are short films, after all.
Anything else you might want to add?
I write to explore ideas and satiate my own curiosity. I publish to share the story with others for your own enjoyment. When it’s in your hands, it belongs to you. There’s no intended lesson or meaning or ulterior motive; the novel is for you to interpret, for you to explore and discover. So, I hope you enjoy the heck out of the adventure of reading it!
Thanks...
About the Author
Justine Avery is an award-winning author of stories large and small for all. Born in the American Midwest and raised all over the world, she is inherently an explorer, duly fascinated by everything around her and excitedly noting the stories that abound all around. As an avid reader of all genres, she weaves her own stories among them all. She has a predilection for writing speculative fiction and story twists and surprises she can’t even predict herself.
Avery has either lived in or explored all 50 states of the union, over 36 countries, and all but one continent; she lost count after moving 30-some times before the age of 20. She’s intentionally jumped out of airplanes and off the highest bungee jump in New Zealand, scuba dived unintentionally with sharks, designed websites, intranets, and technical manuals, bartered with indigenous Panamanians, welded automobile frames, observed at the Bujinkan Hombu Dojo in Noba, Japan, and masterminded prosperous internet businesses—to name a few adventures. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree that life has never required, and at age 28, she sold everything she owned and quit corporate life—and her final “job”—to freelance and travel the world as she always dreamed of. And she’s never looked back.
Aside from her native English, Avery speaks a bit of Japanese and a bit more Spanish, her accent is an ever-evolving mixture of Midwestern American with notes of the Deep South and indiscriminate British vocabulary and rhythm, and she says “eh”—like the Kiwis, not the Canadians. She currently lives near Los Angeles with her husband, British film director Devon Avery, and their three adopted children: Becks, Sam, and Lia. She writes from wherever her curiosity takes her.
Avery loves to connect with fellow readers and creatives, explorers and imaginers, and cordially invites you to say “hello”—or konnichiwa.
www.JustineAvery.com
Twitter:
@Justine_Avery
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/JustineAvery
Book buy link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076B7RDWY
Giveaway
Justine Avery will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
