Hey guys!
As many of you know, author J.A. Redmerski will be releasing her new book, Song of the Fireflies, on February 4th. It was written as a spin-off of The Edge of Always (the sequel to The Edge of Never) and today I have a special message from the author telling us how this book came about and also two example scenes (one taken from each book) that show a side by side comparison of the same scene but from two completely different perspectives!
Also, remember that you can pre-order Song of the Fireflies in eBook and paperback format!
So, without further ado, here’s the message from JA Redmerski and the two comparison scenes….
When I wrote THE EDGE OF ALWAYS, the spinoff, SONG OF THE FIREFLIES, was not set in stone. In fact, SONG OF THE FIREFLIES was still a rough draft in the back of my mind that didn’t come together as a whole idea until after THE EDGE OF ALWAYS was completed. The more I thought about Bray and Elias in that beach scene in THE EDGE OF ALWAYS, the more I wanted to tell their story.
The beach scene is where both books cross over into the other, and it’s an unforgettable moment, although brief, that Camryn, Andrew, Elias and Bray share as their lives cross paths. It’s the only scene that is retold, but I wanted to make sure that my retelling of a scene in another characters point of view was done true to real life. And what I mean by that is all of us perceive things differently every day. If a group of people all witnessed something tragic at the same time and were all standing on the same sidewalk when it happened, chances are that each of their accounts of the event will have many differences.
It reminds me of an experiment I did in grade school. The teacher had the class all sit around in a circle on the floor, and she whispered into the ear of the student to her left. Then that student was to whisper the same thing to the next student, and so on, until it made its way around the entire class. But by the time it got the last student and he spoke it aloud, it was something entirely different than when it started.
So, you will notice some differences in the retelling of the scene in SONG OF THE FIREFLIES compared to the same scene in THE EDGE OF ALWAYS. It was kind of fun to do that!
I hope you all like Bray and Elias’ story!
J. A. Redmerski
❤ SONG OF THE FIREFLIES SCENE ❤
Bray
Before the night started to fall, Tate talked everyone into heading back to that secret spot on the beach, which was well over an hour from the hotel.
We had already checked out of our room, and I had to pee, so before we got on the road I found a public restroom in a nearby restaurant. The stalls were full when I made it inside. I waited next to a sink, trying to avoid having to hold myself or do the pee-pee dance, until finally one toilet flushed and out of the stall stepped a girl with a blonde braid draped over her shoulder.
I smiled, and she smiled in return. Really, I just wanted her to walk away from the stall faster so I could jump in there and pee before it was too late.
Afterward, we hung around the beach for a while longer. I saw that same girl from the restroom sitting several feet away from us next to a tall, brown-haired shirtless guy with a huge tattoo down his side. When the girl stood up once, I saw that she had one, too. I was instantly intrigued. I had always liked tattoos, the way they looked on other people, but I never got around to getting one of my own. The tats these two had looked like masterpieces even from this far away.
“Damn,” I heard Johanna say. “Do you see that guy over there?” I was more curious about Johanna saying anything at all, much less openly gawking at some random guy on the beach while Caleb was standing just feet away from us talking to Tate.
I shrugged it off, accepting that Caleb, Johanna, and Grace’s relationship was weird enough to me as it was. I didn’t care to delve deeper into it. If Johanna wasn’t worried about what Caleb might think, then I wasn’t worried for her.
“Which guy?” I asked, pretending not to have noticed.
I didn’t want Elias to think I had zoned in on him like Johanna had. I mean sure, the guy was smokin’ hot, but he had nothing on my man. No one did.
Tate and Caleb walked back up then.
“Hey,” Tate said from behind, “we’re going to head out soon.”
“Why don’t we invite some more people this time?” Johanna suggested. She stood up and dusted sand from her bikini.
Tate looked at Caleb, who shrugged. “Yeah, sure, that’s a good idea, actually,” Tate agreed.
Elias and I stood up. All of us started scanning the beach and since it still technically wasn’t summer, there weren’t many people to choose from. A middle-aged couple sat to our right, the woman wearing a purple one-piece with large flowers printed all over it and a huge floppy hat on her head. An old man jogged past, very tanned and in better physical shape than most forty-year-olds I had seen, and glistening with sweat and suntan lotion. A young married couple with two children sat close to the water in beach chairs. It was safe to say that the cute blonde in the red bikini and her tattooed boyfriend were the only candidates.
“I saw that girl in the restroom down at the restaurant earlier,” I said, nodding in her direction. “Why don’t we invite them?”
I noticed Tate eyeing her a little too obviously. Jen slapped him on the arm, and he pretended to be wounded. Thankfully, Jen forgave him quickly, because I really wasn’t in the mood to hear them arguing, and I doubted anyone who came along with us to party would be, either.
We went over to the couple.
“From around here?” Tate asked.
I sat down on the sand next to the girl and brought Elias down with me. I hoped they wouldn’t take offense to us invading their space like that.
They didn’t seem to mind. “No, we’re from Galveston,” the guy answered.
“And Raleigh,” the girl added.
“We’re from Indiana,” I said, smiling at her.
Tate wrapped Jen in his arms from behind, probably his way of making her feel better about his straying eyes from before. “I’m Tate, this is Jen,” he said, then introduced everyone else. “Johanna. Grace. And that’s my brother, Caleb.”
“I’m Bray,” I said. “This is my fiancé, Elias.”
We had long ago given up using false names.
The girl sat up and brushed the sand away from her hands. “Cool to meet you,” she said. “I’m Camryn and this is my fiancé, Andrew.” ………..
❤ THE EDGE OF ALWAYS SCENE ❤
Andrew
We spend the entire day swimming and laying out on the beach. We watch the sun set over the horizon and eventually the stars, as they come alive in the darkness. Just an hour after nightfall we’re met by a group of people our age. They’ve been on the beach not far from us for a while, hanging out.
“From around here?” the tall guy with a full-sleeved tattoo down his right arm asks.
One of the couples sits down in the sand near us. Camryn, sitting between my legs, leans away from my chest attentively.
“No, we’re from Galveston,” I answer.
“And Raleigh,” Camryn adds.
“We’re in from Indiana,” the black-haired girl sitting down says. She points at the others she came with who are still standing. “They live here, though.”
One of the other guys wraps his girlfriend up in his arms. “I’m Tate, this is Jen,” he indicates his girlfriend, then points to the others standing nearby. “Johanna. Grace. And that’s my brother, Caleb.”
The three of them nod and smile down at us.
“I’m Bray,” the black-haired girl sitting by Camryn says. “And this is my fiancé, Elias.”
Camryn sits up fully and dusts the sand away from her hands by brushing them together. “Cool to meet you,” she says. “I’m Camryn and this is my fiancé, Andrew.” …………
❤ BOOK LINKS ❤
SONG OF THE FIREFLIES
Pre-order for Kindle | Pre-order Paperback
Release date: February 4, 2014
THE EDGE OF ALWAYS
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback
THE EDGE OF NEVER
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback
This should be read before The Edge of Always
All excerpts posted with permission by the publishers.
