A.M. Torres's Blog

The Child Series.

Source: The Child Series

As the author of the Child Series, I want to take a little time to talk about myself. I must admit, this is always hard for me, since I have always been shy, so I’ll keep this short. At least I’ll definitely try.

For starters my full name is Ana Myrna Torres. I was born on November 2, 1970 in St. Vincent’s hospital in Manhattan New York. I grew up with my mother and father (yes both) and six siblings four brothers and two sisters. We lived in Manhattan for a short time, but then we were moved to the projects of East New York, in Brooklyn. It was in these projects I grew up. I went to school here (all ghetto schools zone schools) Elementary school, and junior high school were difficult years where I endured a lot of bullying, and terrible teasing.

This will not be a full biography of those years, but those years would help influence the writing of Love Child. Love Child covered themes like poverty, bullying and suicide all themes I am familiar with.

The protagonist Tommy starts out very poor, and lives in the projects with his mother, father and younger sister Greta. His mother suffers from depression, while he struggles with bullying. These are themes I’m familiar with. I’m grateful I’m able to use writing to bring awareness to these topics.

Speaking for myself; I wouldn’t

The Child Series.

The Child Series.

Well I have finally got to the end of my third book titled “Child Scorned.” The final chapter, and of course then the editing. Child Scorned is the third novel, and sequel to my first two novels Love Child, and Child No More. If anyone remembers Love Child was my first novel which I first had published in 2011. Child No More would follow in 2013, and very soon Child Scorned will be published. I have been calling these series of books “The Child Series.”

Love Child began the story of Thomas Livan Hulette the Love Child, and protagonist of these books. He goes through a lot of hardships, but he is a survivor overall who loves his family, but worries terribly about them when things change for all of them. He is an ardent baseball fan who has his own dreams of playing the game one day. He begins his story in the projects with his mother and father, and a beloved sister who he loves very much.

I have copied and pasted the description of the kindle version of the book as described by Amazon.

��Tommy Hulette never asked to be born. Everyone wants to make him regret it even so.
Tommy Hulette hates his ghetto Brooklyn neighborhood. He’s content living with his beautiful mother, his loyal caring father, his little sister Greta. He enjoys playing stick ball with neighborhood friends then really perks up when he meets beautiful and interesting Stephanie from Starrett City.

But Tommy’s world is shattered forever. His mother becomes terribly unhappy and commits suicide. Things go downhill completely when his father decides he needs time to cope with the tragedy, sending Tommy and his sister to live with a brother Tommy never heard about. He promises that it will be for a short spell until he can come back for them.

He doesn’t and it doesn’t take long for Tommy to discover how this brother hates him and has since birth. He wants to punish Tommy for events occurred long before Tommy’s birth…Then it gets worse as he wants Tommy to end his life just like his mother…and to this Tommy is pushed and pushed and pushed…

Pushed to the limit, and with no one to turn to, Tommy takes solace in his sister’s company and letters he receives from Stephanie. Will he be able to cling to life, and not succumb like his mother?

So there you have it. Tommys story or really where it all begins for him. His beginning of poverty where things make sense or somewhat sense for him since he has two parents like most children around him, (well sort of anyway) until that awful day when his mother can’t take anymore, and makes that terrible decision to end her life so he winds up in a different home along with his beloved sister. Why does his father make this decision? The book can answer that question along with many others you may have.

Love Child received decent reviews by most readers who read it, and it did receive one good review by Midwest Book Review. This review read in part:

“When life is violent, it can be hard to continue on. “Love Child” follows the tragedy of Tommy as he copes with his suicidal, depressed mother and the abuse that is entering his life as he finds himself under the control of a cruel relative. Seeking to protect his sister from the brutality of it all, Tommy sees no end in sight. A tragic story of standing up for oneself and his loved ones, “Love Child” is a fine and very much recommended read.”

A good review is always a good thing, but like any author I would love to get my Child Series to a bigger audience. I would love to get more reviews, and of course a much bigger readership. This is every author’s and writers dream. I haven’t had much time to post to blogs like this one for there is always so much going on, not to mention other books I have worked on besides this series. I have a few Christmas themed/poetry books as well. I also have a small poetry book titled Shadowed Tears.

For my next post I will share some excerpts from Love Child. I will get to its sequel Child No More in due time. More than anything I will also get to the fun of explaining the back story of these novels. Will you like to know the background of the characters? What inspired me to create this type of story? How did I settle on it? It is a fiction story in the suspense genre so there is a lot I can share. And of course there are many topics that these books cover that I can talk about as well. Suicide, and child abuse are among the themes these stories cover.

Love Child is available on Amazon. At least check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/Love-Child-Ana-Torres-ebook/dp/B006328KM4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1421909236

Hello readers. Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to one and all. Does it matter to you which greeting is used? Does either greeting offend you? I only ask because this has become a subject of debate in recent years. Not only has it become debate it's also become a topic that can bring out pure hostility in people.

I don't understand it really. Since childhood people around me have used Merry Christmas, unless you're Jewish like my old principal Mr. Lavnick was. He didn't believe in Christmas so we we were not to say Merry Christmas to him which we didn't. This was done out of respect, which I understand. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, so that's where Happy Holidays works.

This was how it worked back then. I don't remember it ever being a problem. I don't remember a war on Christmas back then. Is there a war on Christmas? I don't think so. No one is being forced to say Happy Holidays even if a store chooses to use that greeting. With so many people living here from different cultures more businesses may feel more comfortable with Happy Holidays. They may feel this covers everyone, and no one gets offended by the greeting.

Personally, I don't get offended by any of these greetings. And even if a store or business chooses to say Happy Holiday, I don't believe a Merry Christmas response would create conflict, except from those who are convinced that there's a war on Christmas maybe. And of course from occasional people who may not want to hear the Merry Christmas greeting, but that's not everyone. Truthfully, I think people shouldn't get offended by any greeting for isn't Christmas a holiday anyway? Whatever your take on this there is no war on Christmas despite what some will have you believe. Enjoy the rest of this day.

Sue Grafton the respected crime writing novelist once described self publishing "as admitting you're too lazy to do the hard work." She described it as taking a shortcut, and that writing is an art, and "there are no shortcuts in the arts."

As a self published author I respectfully disagree with this. Yes you can can argue that by paying to become published you decided not to wait for agents or a publisher to pick up your work, but to say we are too lazy to do the hard work is simply not true.

If anything the work is harder when you "self publish. The author is responsible for everything concerning his or her work. Among this is the editing, (you must pay if you want a professional editor and not everyone can afford this)the promotion of the book. (the author is solely responsible for spreading the word to anyone from book stores, and readers)

Everyone's situation is different we know that. And yes people have different ways of viewing self publishing. But to say it's a lazy way of publishing is not fair at all. I can't speak for everyone who chose to self publish their work, but I chose to go that route because I believed in my work, and I wanted it to be out there.

With so many authors trying to become published today, more and more are choosing this option. I know how hard it is to become published by a traditional publishing company, but I have not given up my dream of doing this one day.

Perhaps it is fair to say that self-publishing is a easy way to become published. But it is certainly not a lazy one unless the author is too lazy to do the work involved. For me it's a challegne indeed, but as I slowly build a fan base, I don't regret doing it.

 

Hello everyone:

I am very happy to begin this blog.  I welcome you all and do look forward to sharing my thoughts with everyone and reading your opinions.  First of all I am the author of my first novel Love Child published by Outskirts Press.  This blog is based on my novel, which I hope you all give a chance too especially if you love reading.  Love Child is the story of Tommy Hulette a boy who faces a tough but content life in the ghetto only to lose it when his mother changes drastically to the point that she takes her own life.  This act changes Tommy’s life forever.  Devastated he still has to watch over his little sister who is just as devastated but more confused by the tragedy.  This is only the beginning of Tommy’s hell however.  Before he can even mourn his mother’s death he is ushered away from everything familiar and he and his sister are literally abandoned.  As in being sent away to stay with family.  Family that make things worse for these children.  This is the basic plot of my novel.  It is available on Amazon paperback as well as Barnes and Noble.com.  It is also available on Amazon Kindle for those who prefer e-reading.  This is the beginning of my blog.  I welcome questions and opinions no matter what they are.  I look forward to it and thank all potential readers.