Books and Banter: T. C. Koury ~ guest post and his novel Synthesis: Legion of Stateside Delusions

TITLE: Synthesis: Legion of Stateside Delusions

RELEASE DATE: June 5, 2016

AUTHOR: T.C. Koury

PAGE COUNT: 379

ISBN: 978-1530719587

IMPRINT: White Stag

KEYWORDS: LSD, Bohemian Club, D.B. Cooper, Escape from Alcatraz, Pacific Coast Highway, New Orleans, college, fraternity, M-ULTRA, Owsley Stanley, drugs, cartel, CIA, CDC, James “Whitey” Bulger, Watergate, War on Drugs, William Pickard

CATEGORIES: Historical Fiction/Suspense/Strange Fiction

ONE LINER: Take a trip down the rabbit hole. Once you discover the truth below the surface, you are forever changed.

SYNOPSIS:

When Jim Sinclair and two college friends synthesize a million doses of LSD as a means of financing a post-graduation road trip across country and living expenses for their first few years on their own, they had no idea of the nightmare they would unleash. In a ‘down the rabbit hole’ experience worthy of Alice in Wonderland, the boys’ journey becomes ever more bizarre as they run afoul of the police, violent biker gangs, rogue federal agents and a mysterious clutch of powerful men who seem to guide events toward an unknown and frightening climax.

Synthesis: Legion of Stateside Delusions is a strange, twisted tale not to be missed by lovers of adventure and mystery.

Guest Post:

When I applied for college I originally intended to heavily pursue a career in writing, specifically journalism. After my second semester as a freshman, I set those dreams aside for mathematics instead. Although they are on completely opposite ends of the academic spectrum, most people would be shocked to learn that math helps with writing tremendously. When your coursework includes advanced proof-writing, you begin to understand the importance of thinking abstractly as well as bringing every aspect of the mathematical proof full-circle. You must leave no stone unturned, and the same can be said when constructing a novel. Once I completed my first proof-writing course my sophomore year, I had an entire summer to apply the knowledge I gained from the class to other areas of my life. I was to travel to California for the second time in my life in July of 2014. This vacation changed something within me, and helped me understand the implications of our interactions between us and our external world. I thought about what my friends and I would be doing had they come along with me. When I was travelling up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Monterey, I got the idea for the book.

I entertained the idea during the entire eight-hour drive, and decided that the concepts included in the novel’s outline should not only be realistic, but highly achievable. When I was compiling some of the information and characters, I constructed much of the plot based on true events in my life and developed the characters using the traits of some of my most charismatic friends. These events are not true in their entirety, but some of the more humorous aspects of the story are extremely accurate. I will leave it up to the reader to determine which events are true, but keep in mind that a few things are based on actual occurrences. The comments made by some of the characters are ones that the people I based them off of have made or would make in similar situations. I knew it must contain some type of intellectually-stimulating material, so the inclusion of the conspiracies allowed me to explore that option. However, thinking back to what I learned from writing mathematical proofs I knew I could not include them without having their impact tie into the overall plotline. This was difficult, but after countless hours of research I was able to find a common thread between many events that altered the latter half of the twentieth-century.

This writing took several months to even complete a first draft. I had a pretty good feel for what I wanted to achieve with this novel, and I knew I was at least around the halfway point. After several edits, I began sending publishers my idea and samples of the manuscript. It was not a very easy process, and I received more rejections than my email inbox could hold along with plenty of emails that were left without response. One day, I received an email from Daniel Diehl, author and editor from Ravenswood Publishing. He encouraged me to reevaluate the manuscript and let several other readers take a look at it before he pursued it further. After two months, a handful of friends and one of my college professors had read the full novel and gave me their feedback. With their advice in mind, I edited the manuscript once again before sending it to Mr. Diehl for a line-edit. Following his thorough editing process, he responded with praise and submitted a recommendation to his publishers as soon as he completed the novel. Within two or three days my dream turned into a reality, and I could not be happier. Despite all of the ups and downs and rejections or non-responses, the entire process was entirely worth it. I hope that readers of all ages will find happiness, sorrow, anticipation, paranoia, triumph, and excitement on every page.

AUTHOR BIO:

I was born and raised in Alabama to a military father and an elementary school teacher mother. I had very humble beginnings, but my family moved around quite a bit after September 11, 2001. My little brother and I were the best of friends growing up, and we were all each other had while living in Virginia for part of 2003 before moving back to Alabama. Upon our return, we discovered that our mother was expecting another child and our youngest brother was born in 2004, completing the trio. I am currently on track to finish my undergraduate degree in applied mathematics, and the changes we experienced growing up allowed me to adapt to things quite easily and pursue many different activities. I have travelled from east coast to west coast, and all across Italy and parts of Europe. I enjoy variety, which is why my hobbies include reading, writing, playing guitar, craft-beer tasting, traveling, and playing basketball. I hope to move to Los Angeles, California following my graduation in May 2016 and pursue acting, journalism, screenplay writing, and continue writing novels.

AUTHOR LINKS:

http://www.twitter.com/thomaskoury

http://www.facebook.com/thomas.koury

http://www.theoddysey.com/thomas.koury

Buy Links: