Guest Post with S.E. Reed (Old Palmetto Drive), Plus Giveaway ~US Only!

Today we are excited to share a guest post from author S.E. Reed (Old Palmetto Drive)!

Read on for more about the author, the book, and a giveaway!

About the Author: S.E. Reed

S.E. Reed lives in the south and writes strange, haunting, real stories of people and places along old highways.

Winner of the 2024 Florida Book Awards and the 2024 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People.

Additionally, she’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won honorable mention twice in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest.

Her stories have been featured by The Writer’s Workout, SEMO Press, Parhelion Lit, The Writers’ Co-op, Wild Ink Publishing, Hey Hey Books, and Tempered Rune’s Press

Website * X * TikTok * Pinterest

About the Book: Old Palmetto Drive

Teen socialite Rian Callusa’s privileged NY life is over! Following her parent’s nasty divorce, and the death of her aunt & uncle, Rian’s mom drags her kicking and screaming all the way to Everglades City. Who cares if her new home is a mansion when it’s in the middle of nowhere without a nail salon or shopping mall in sight? And friends? Hell might as well freeze over before Rian would hang out with her hillbilly cousins.

The news that her Dad won’t be returning to New York after his job abroad crushes any hope Rian had of moving back to the Big Apple. So without a plan B, Rian explores the swamp and learns her cousins aren’t as backward as they first appeared. She even falls head over heels for a cute vintage-loving local girl. Now that she thinks about it, this might turn out to be the best summer of Rian’s life! Until her cousin Travis gets drunk at a party and confesses the dark truth about what really happened on Old Palmetto Drive, sending Rian into a tailspin of fear and self-doubt.

Goodreads

~Guest Post by S.E. Reed~

A Reflection of Me(?)

When you read a non-fiction book or watch a movie based on a true story, you know right away the characters and experiences you’ll engage with are real. And afterwards you can play internet sleuth and Google the author to learn more about their life or the people they’ve written about. It is immensely satisfying, for those of us with curious minds, and a propensity for diving deeper into the behind-the-scenes of any good story.

However, when you read a work of fiction, even if it has a satisfying ending, you might be left wondering and wanting more… Are the viewpoints and characters in this book a reflection of the author  themself? Are any of the things that happened in the story based on factual events? After a quick trip to the internet, you may learn that some authors come right out to say, Yes, I modeled this character on myself, or this experience was something I went through. They might even have a website with blogs, podcasts, and interviews explaining how they used those personal experiences as the foundation for their fictional tale.

But on the other end of that, you have the authors who keep their cards close to their chest and never divulge their inspiration or on-page similarities to their characters. Some even mask their identity entirely with the use of a pen name. Because for an author, there is privilege in writing fiction, especially from a masked identity. Anonymity for an author gives them the ability to be as personally entwined with their art or as absent from it as they choose. Sometimes that choice is dependent on the material itself or the intended audience.

Obviously, I cannot speak for all authors, I can only speak for myself. But when I write, I never intend to insert myself into my stories, yet, when I look at my body of work and reflect upon all the stories and books I’ve written over the years, there are common themes that appear. And while not all of these themes are a direct reflection of myself, some of them are unconsciously so. I catch phrases I say in real life coming out of the mouths of my fictional characters. I see them going to places I’ve been, eating food I enjoy, and other things that only I myself have done. Yet, they also experience wildly different things than I have; they go on adventures, solve mysteries, even commit crimes and interact with the other characters in ways I would never dream of doing if it was the real life me in that same situation.

So the next time you read one of my books or short stories it will be up to you to decide what is real and what is not. But I will give you a little hint… In my latest YA novel OLD PALMETTO DRIVE, the main character Rian tries a new food for the first time after throwing a fit. A few bites in she decides it isn’t that bad afterall. That ‘new food’ she tries is one of my all time favorites in real life.

Happy reading (and tasting–I promise, it’s really good)!

S.E. Reed

a Rafflecopter giveaway