Guest Post & Giveaway: The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry

I’m excited to be guest posting for Oops I Read That Book, not least because I LOVE both Wicked Willow’s sense of humor and the fact that she expects more from a novel than a stereotypical plot and a couple of shape shifters.

When I was a teenager, I thought I’d grow up to be an English professor. But then I realized I just want to have amazing adventures and write novels that inspire other women and girls. I’ve tried to find jobs along the way that support my writing habit, and provide great material for my books.

The most fun job I’ve ever had was working on an elite Type 1 Hotshot crew of forest firefighters. My second most fun job ever was writing the screenplay adaptation of my forest firefighting novel for a Hollywood producer. (Look for that novel, THE GODS OF FIRE, to be released in 2013).

When I wrote THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE I was living in a basement room at the Desert Rose Horse Ranch outside of Durango and working as an apprentice carpenter. Working outside during the Colorado winters was hard, but way better than being trapped in a lame cubicle in some office. I woke up early every day to write before dawn.

I want THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE to thrill and entertain readers, and also encourage them to take risks and live life fully!

The Earthquake Machine

The book every girl should read,

and every girl’s parents hope she’ll never read.

The Earthquake Machine tells the story of 14 year-old Rhonda. On the outside, everything looks perfect in Rhonda’s world, but at home Rhonda has to deal with a manipulative father who keeps her mentally ill mother hooked on pharmaceuticals. The only reliable person in Rhonda’s life is her family’s Mexican yardman, Jesús. But when the INS deports Jesús back to his home state of Oaxaca, Rhonda is left alone with her increasingly painful family situation.

Determined to find her friend Jésus, Rhonda seizes an opportunity to run away during a camping trip with friends to Big Bend National Park. She swims to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and makes her way to the border town of Milagros, Mexico. There a peyote- addled bartender convinces her she won’t be safe traveling alone into the country’s interior. So with the bartender’s help, Rhonda cuts her hair and assumes the identity of a Mexican boy named Angel. She then sets off on a burro across the desert to look for Jesús. Thus begins a wild adventure that fulfills the longing of readers eager for a brave and brazen female protagonist.

Author Bio:

 Mary Pauline Lowry has worked as a forest firefighter, screenwriter, open water lifeguard, construction worker, and advocate in the movement to end violence against women. Due to no fault of her sweet parents, at 15 she ran away from home and made it all the way to Matamoros, Mexico. She believes girls should make art, have adventures, and read books that show them the way.

GIVEAWAY!


Mary Pauline Lowry is generously giving away 2 ebooks. Open internationally.

How to enter:
Must be a GFC follower or subscribe to this blog.
Fill out the form.

Extra Entries:
(Not required)
+2 for tweeting about the giveaway


Fill out this  FORM.


Giveaway ends March 10.