Tag: guest author post

Good day, my bookish peeps, and welcome to November. As a reader, it’s easy to imagine that an author sits down and creates characters and a story, reviews and possibly revises it, submits it to an agent who in turn submits to a publisher, and voila: we have a book. The path to a published book may take months and years for some authors and is, often, filled with disappointment after disappointment. Thankfully for us readers, authors don’t give up and we get hours of reading pleasure from their creations. Brendan Vayo is the author of Girl Among Crows. He joins us today and will be sharing his journey to become a published author. I’m especially honored to have Mr. Vayo joining us today as he briefly resided in my home state of West Virginia. Thank you, Mr. Vayo, for taking the time to join us today. I can’t wait to learn about your path to published author.

My debut, Girl Among Crows, is the story of one woman, Daphne Gauge, who believes that her brother’s disappearance thirty years ago is connected to the abduction of two boys in the same hometown. Might she be right?

My unhealthy obsession with missing child cases traces all the way back to the time when my Dad told way-too-young me the story of his sister and her friend. Here’s what he said, as I remember it:

My aunt and her friend get off the school bus and walk up the hill to Church Street. There, they part. My aunt gets home safe. But a little while later, the friend’s mother telephones my grandmother to ask if she’s seen my aunt’s friend. A frantic search finds that girl wrapped in a blanket under a bridge. They never find her killer.

Fast forward to me at thirteen. My sister’s birthday party is a hit! Four months later, one of her partygoers travels down a dirt road to see a neighbor’s puppies, and vanishes. While I will not disclose the identities of those involved, eleven-year-old-me is left scarred. And overwhelmed with the selfish question, Will the next victim be my sister?

Fast forward again. Missing child cases percolate in the back of my head while I get my Ph.D. and score a teaching job in West Virginia. Unaccustomed to the state’s super fun allergies, one day in September, I’m sick on the couch, binge-watching bad TV. On comes the 90s remake of Ransom. Mel Gibson is on-screen doing his rage thing: “I’ll use the ransom money to find you kidnappers!” while I daydream. I don’t know if “inspiration” is the right word. When my writing ideas hit, I drift out of my mind and I see a kind of movie. And this screening is vivid. A girl sits on her father’s lap. She asks a question about her mother’s mood swings. He’s writing a sermon for Easter Sunday because he’s a pastor. The last thing my M.C. Daphne Gauge sees is in her Dad’s journals, a mention of ritual sacrifice every few decades. That scene ends up being in Chapter Two of Girl Among Crows.

While that vision is powerful in my head, I have so many questions. Who is this family? Who is being sacrificed? And what does that have to do with her mom’s mood swings? Answering those questions serves as a guide in figuring out what happens next. Writing down what happens next, however, proves to be challenging. That job in West Virginia? In January of 2013, my boss asks if I want a promotion. I’m ecstatic; I’m actually going to be on a tenure line. Then they say, budget cuts, sorry kiddo, and I’m unemployed. My future wife invites me to live with her in Northern Virginia. I work part-time at three different universities to make ends meet. The first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night, I work on Girl Among Crows. I remember typing the last lines of the first draft, feeling euphoric and exhausted (the first fifty pages take six months, the last fifty usually pour out in a day), and I vividly remember smiling at my monitor, thinking, I really have something here. The story, the characters, the mystery, the suspense, it all comes together. Ever hear that old proverb, Make plans, and God laughs? Well, that’s also true when a cocky writer thinks a first draft is ready for prime-time.

I fire off my query letter to literary agents, who seem to share my enthusiasm. Five queries sent last night result in four requests for the full manuscript in my morning inbox. I’m like, #$%!, I’m going to get an agent, they’re going to sell it, and I’ll finally live the life of a writer, something I’ve only wanted since I was the age of eleven. Then reality slaps the rose-colored glasses right off my face. All the agents bow out: Not for me, etc. I query more agents, and the pattern repeats. Over the span of seven years, I probably query 400 agents. Two hundred of them ask for a full. And for years, everyone rejects the manuscript. I keep revising, rewriting. Some agents are very generous, offering advice: you might want to switch these parts, your M.C. should be a boy, and the one that hurts the most, your protagonist’s voice doesn’t sound right (voice is my thing, you know? Except, not really). I only become more determined that the next draft will be flawless. My fingertips are like, we’re gonna fall off, dude, and I’m like, Do what you need to do, but I’m not stopping. Then one April day in 2019, I receive an email: “I loved your book and want to represent it. Can we talk next week?”

My wife later asks, “Are you happy?” I barely shrug. I had been clawing for this thing, for an email like that, for years, and now I am seemingly about to get what I want. It takes weeks to process the joy, even after I sign with that agent. We talk on the phone. She tells me about the contract, her plans for one last revision, and what to expect in terms of a deal, if any, might be made. Her enthusiasm is infectious. I speak to a few of her clients, who gush about the agent, and sign a week later. We go to work. She fires off the manuscript to two dozen houses in the so-called Big Five. One editor asks for an “R&R,” a Revise and Resubmit. Right around when my middle son turns two, he jumps for the first time, and says his first polysyllabic word, “Ma-na-na,” and my agent and I conference with the editor. She offers great advice. I revise. I’m excited to hear what the editor will say. So is my agent. Two months later, the editor responds with a rejection. And that is that. A few months later, my agent drops me. She was great. I have nothing but kind thoughts and appreciation for what she did for me. But a question looms. Will I have to start in the agent’s slush pile again?

No, as it turns out. Because all the major publishers had already declined the manuscript. It was spoiled milk. No agent would touch it because no publisher would consider it again. So I look for independent publishers who do not require an agent. One of them is CamCat Books. Most publishers ask that you query them and they’ll ask to see the full if they’re interested. CamCat has the author fill out this form that asks a million questions—what’s your M.C.’s favorite animal?—and I almost give up halfway through. I’m glad I stuck it out, because honestly, their off-the-wall questions helped me sort of excavate some last polishings of the book that I had yet to articulate. I fire off the submission, go on to the next. And I don’t think about CamCat. Not until they send an email.

“We’re sorry, but we’re still reading your book; is it still available?” Odd, I think, but reply politely: No worries and yes it is. A few days later, I get an email from the publisher, who wants to set up a time to call. I was actually going to get THE CALL???? We talk. She wants to buy the book. She also says I should join a guild, who reviews the contract. A few weeks later, I sign. And just a few weeks ago, CamCat sent me hard copies of Girl Among Crows. My book is actually out there in the world. From the first scene to having the book in hand only takes ten years.

There’s my journey, which is only possible because of the love and support I receive from my family. If you want to find me on social media, I’m on Instagram as Brendonvayo, X as @brendonvayo3, and Goodreads as BrendonVayo. ♦

Synopsis:

Beware the Brotherhood of the Raven

When two boys vanish from her hometown, Daphne Gauge notices uncanny parallels to her brother’s disappearance 30 years earlier. Symbols of an ancient Norse god. Rumors of a promise to reward the town’s faithful with wealth and power, for a price. She warns her husband that another sacrifice is imminent, but just like last time, no one believes her.

This leaves her with a desperate choice: investigate with limited resources, or give in to the FBI’s request for an interview. For years, they’ve wanted a member of the Gauge family to go on record about the tragedy back in 1988. If she agrees to a deposition now, Daphne must confess her family’s dark secrets. But she also might have one last chance to unmask the killer from back then . . . and now.

For readers who enjoy Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, Joshilyn Jackson, Riley Sager, Jennifer McMahon, and Simone St. James.

Book Details:

Genre: Horror
Published by: CamCat Books
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Number of Pages: 416
ISBN: 9780744306552 (Hardcover)
ISBN10: 0744306558
ISBN: 9780744306637 (eBook)
ISBN: 9780744306668 (Digital Audiobook)
ASIN: B0CBD2ZNR1 (Audible audiobook)
ASIN: B0C7YPX299 (Kindle edition)
Book Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Audible Audiobook | Barnes & Noble | B&N eBook | B&N Audiobook | Kobo Audiobook | Kobo eBook | Goodreads | CamCat Books

Praise for Girl Among Crows:

“Brendon Vayo has crafted a pagan potboiler that is equal parts mystical and mysterious, profane and profound, blissfully existing at the intersection of horror and whodunnits.”
~ Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

“Fans of Gillian Flynn will love Girl Among Crows . . . Brendon Vayo’s debut thriller is eerie, mysterious, and addicting.”
~ Brooke L. French, author of Inhuman Acts and The Carolina Variant

“Brendon Vayo’s Girl Among Crows is an eerie page-turner rich with Norse Mythology, cult rituals, and creepy twists to rival Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, and Stephen Graham Jones.”
~ MQ Webb, author of When You’re Dying and How to Spot a Psychopath

“This fresh, artful thriller, as genuinely frightening a novel as you’ll read all year, darts smoothly between the decades as not one but two mysteries unfurl like stairways into darkness. Intelligent, original, audacious—and scary”
~ A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

Author Bio:

Brendon Vayo was born in Okinawa, Japan, and now lives in Austin, TX. He has a wonderful wife and three children. The kids keep him awake at night, so he hopes his books do the same to you.

Catch Up With Brendon Vayo:
Goodreads
Instagram - @brendonvayo
Twitter/X - @brendonvayo3
Facebook

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