Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Book excerpt from Love in the RV Park: A Romance for Men by Jeffrey Ross

Today features a blurb and excerpt from the contemporary romance novel Love in the RV Park: A Romance for Men by Jeffrey Ross.

Jeffrey will be awarding a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. To be entered for a chance to win, leave a comment below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit other tour stops and leave comments there, too!

Blurb:
This quirky and fast moving romance revolves around passionate lovers in tangled and mostly unfulfilling relationships. The tale is complete with hot housewives, rock musicians, exotic dancers, motorcycles, steamy nail polish-melting love scenes,  hard drinking college professors, hybrid alien children, a romantic bug exterminator,  girl fights, a New Year’s Eve brawl,  religious zealotry, prophecies (The Temple of Just DOET) —and more. Ultimately, Love in the RV Park is about the male perception [misperception?] of the female psyche.—and the novel attempts to answer an age-old question: What do women want? Laugh or cry—you’ll come away enlightened after reading this zany romance.

Excerpt:
Shadows on the Sun
The RV Park Couple No One Has Met

Tennessee Williams knew distinctly
—No shadows dance upon the Sun
And now you know it, too
But the sun shines anyway...

Yes, the pair lives together in an older single wide
A two-room palace smelling like ash trays, old coffee, and ecumenical paint.
He might have looked like Elvis (the 50’s Elvis) three decades ago…
She is still a beauty, hardened some. Though her tattoos have lost that etched
and sexy look, she still turns heads... and has a poignant “way” any male or
female might recognize.

Yes, they still cut impressive figures together—but anachronistic—
Sometime, long ago, they left Public lives together
and rode a bus to Hamilton City, and thought they’d stay a day or two—walking
hand-in-hand through the diesel fumes, neither excited nor dismayed. some time went by—
Then they waited to see if spouses were angry or perplexed—
They never heard a thing from the Old World—now, in late middle age,
Still they live and love in a rent-by-the-week mobile home,
Bathed in eerie and accusing pink light each winter morning—
Haunted by frosty windows in the dark sky December…
They wander to the Blue Caboose Diner for most meals
Coupling down cracked and slippery concrete sidewalks
Without cares but with many cares...

He listens to the world on an old AM transistor radio
She reads newspapers someone left behind—
and paints her nails and adjusts toe rings each morning …
He shaves a weathered face carefully, with a blade and mug of manly lather—
The modern age, the spiritus mundi, well that means nothing to this dyad. They have each other...

Sure, they live and love in a rented mobile
They love with the freshness of just-cut Timothy Hay, of Morning Glories, and the late April Rain…

There are no shadows dancing on the Sun…
But the sun shines anyway …


Author bio and links:
Jeffrey Ross, who resides in Arizona, is a writer, rockabilly musician, and former full-time community college teacher. He has had four "Views" pieces published on InsidehigherEd.com, has authored and co-authored several national and international op-ed articles on community college identity, purpose, and culture, and has recently published numerous parody poems and articles on the Cronk Newshigher education satire website. Ross co-authored the comic and critically acclaimed campus novel College Leadership Crisis: The Philip Dolly Affair (Rogue Phoenix Press, 2011).

Connect with Jeffrey: Twitter | Tumblr | Facebook | Blog







21 comments:

  1. Thanks for the excerpt and the chance to win!
    Sounds like a great read!!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

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  2. Sounds like fun. Love the excerpt.

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  3. Anyone who has read and has appreciation for Tennessee William's work can't be all bad. Dancing...dancing. Tennessee Williams may have been right. I'm very much looking forward to reading this interesting novel.

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  4. Love in an RV Park? And why not:)

    Sounds like a delicious read.

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  5. Sounds like a warm breezy afternoon, with dancing butterflies...or moths?
    Best of luck with your new and exciting novel.

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  6. Ahhh! " There are no shadows dancing on the Sun…
    But the sun shines anyway"
    Beautiful image and delightfully fetching idea.
    Thanks Mr. Ross

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  7. The brief expo sounds like a description of many older couples I have known. Maybe they really did love one another.

    Can't wait to read more...

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  8. Question for the author: Does the novel get "hot n' heavy" with affection? Is it relatively clean? I may wish to purchase as a gift for my folks who winter in a retirement RV community in Arizona

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  9. So what gave you the initial idea behind this story Jeffrey?

    andralynn7 AT gmail DOT com

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  10. WOW! is this about me? My husband rides a harley and plays guitar in a local rock band here in Austen. I wouldn't consider myself a hot housewife, but I hope my husband does. Sounds like maybe a book my husband should read.

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  11. I assume many characters in the novel are a reiteration of people you have met or been associated. Is it difficult to "fictionalize" real-life people in your novel and not have them immediately recognize themselves?

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  12. Hi folks. Thank you for all the comments. Yes this is a relatively "clean" book-- comic in nature. Andra Lyn, I supposed I've been around trailer parks enough to be fascinated by the lives of those who live in the mobiles. And of course, romance doesn't stop at age 30, does it? Thanks again.

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  13. PS to Harold. Many people I know think I am writing about them directly-- sometimes my "types" are too close to home, I think. Most of us have personality quirks that make us interesting to others-- in this book I tried very hard to work on male/female perception attributes. Hopefully some of my female readers will have an "ahah" moment-- like, "So that's what men think about!" Thanks for you note, Jeff.

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  14. Sounds like a really good book. Thanks for sharing it and the giveaway. evamillien at gmail dot com

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  15. Thanks Jeffrey! I have taken a creative writing class and have struggled with developing believable characters. My daughter thinks I just write stories about our family.

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  16. Even though I'm a woman I want to read a romance for men!!! :):)

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  17. Sounds interesting

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

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  18. Thank you for all your comments. When you read the text, remember that it is comic-- but contains "whispered truths." Love and romance, in reality, have so many angles, so many dimensions-- and to me, the notion of "coupling," of being together-- well, such strange equations and algorithms make us come together....

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  19. I loved this book. It's a fun well-written read. I hope everyone puts this on their TBR.

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