Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Fibers by Jennifer-Crystal Johnson - Guest Blog and Giveaway


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Five Things You Might Not Know About Jennifer-Crystal Johnson


This is a very interesting topic, and since I’ve been doing mostly interviews, I decided that a guest post would be a nice change =). First, I’d like to say thank you so much for inviting me! I hope I’m able to entertain you and that this guest post inspires you to check out my novel, Fibers =).

When I was about 16 and 17, I used to ask people to guess my age and weight, not necessarily together. I did this for the sheer shock value of the truth; while most people thought I looked 25-30 and 120lbs, the truth was that I was 16-17 and 150lbs. You can imagine some of the other shenanigans that have happened because of how much older I looked; the lady at the Department of Licensing thought my dad was my boyfriend, people mistook me for my youngest brother’s mom, and someone even thought that my mom and I were a couple. In the grocery store. Last but not least, a man at church asked me to dinner as I was walking to the car at 15 years old… I asked how old he was and he said 28. When I told him my age and not to freak out… well, he freaked out anyway and walked (extremely quickly) away from me across the parking lot. Yikes!

Did I just love to shock people or do people love to be shocked? It was definitely entertaining for me, but I imagine that some of the people who were subjected to my, “I dare you,” attitude probably didn’t appreciate it all that much. Or maybe I just gave them stories to tell, too ;).

These days, I’ve mellowed out quite a bit, although there are still a number of things that might be considered weird or different or even downright insane, especially when I find myself getting restless. Currently, it feels like my sense of adventure has been stifled for the last few years and I’m finally waking up, like I was in a coma of responsibilities and obligations with no escape. Somewhere along the way I forgot that life is meant to be lived, not survived.

So… five things that people might never guess. Here goes.

1. I’m about 120lbs overweight, but I carry it well. This is one of those things that I’m a little embarrassed about but not enough to fully deny it; after all, if people base their perception of me solely on my weight, then I don’t want them in my life anyway. There’s a lot more to me than the numbers on a scale ;).

2. I’ve been single for four years and a single mom for longer. I don’t know if this is something people would guess about me or not, but there it is =).

3. People have regularly thought that I’m gay even though I’m not. I’m just not desperate. Big difference.

4. “When it rains, it pours,” is the story of my life…. I don’t know if it’s the same way for everyone, but every time things go right, everything goes right. But when things go wrong, it’s like the Great Flood and I have to piece an Ark together out of shattered dreams, broken hearts, illness, stress, depression, death, pain, and broken appliances and vehicles. I make light of this here, but when it’s happening, it’s not fun!

5. I’m an incurable optimist… even when I’m not. In certain circumstances, what usually happens is that so many things go wrong (take last summer, for instance: my mom broke her wrist, my daughter sprained hers, our house was invaded by all manner of bugs including wasps, flies, spiders, and ants; I got stabbed in the bottom of my foot by a stray needle stuck in the carpet, my car broke down with a total of four people in it at 2:00 am 60 miles from home, my parents’ dog died and we were all very attached to him; one of our cats died… it was literally one thing after another) that I have to start laughing about it because the crap piling up is so ridiculous that all you can do is laugh in order to maintain the sanity you need to solve all of those problems. Ridiculous!

Life is life, right? I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for hanging out with me! Buy Fibers on Amazon for more chaos ;).

Anna Reynolds is caught up in the middle of a secret interdimensional government agreement... and she doesn't even know it.

There's a medical anomaly loosely dubbed Morgellons disease afflicting a number of people. Symptoms include open sores that produce colorful string-like fibers, fatigue, and nightmarish visions of shadowy figures. No one knows where it came from. No one knows what causes it. There is no cure.

When Anna begins having nightmares and waking hallucinations of the shadow people, her uneasiness about her condition grows. Enlisting the help of her doctor and some friends, Anna is determined to find out what's really going on and why Morgellons is such a mystery.

With her health declining and doubts about whom she can trust, is Anna doomed to become a slave to her condition? Or will she and her unlikely group of would-be heroes come through, saving her... and, ultimately, the world?


Enjoy an excerpt:

The twinkling sound of the wind chimes gave an eerie undertone to the night, the wind blowing through the trees and the darkness seeming more intense than usual. Anna wrapped her coat tightly around herself, walking briskly back toward home. She usually didn’t walk anywhere, especially at night, but she’d decided to get some fresh air and needed time to think. Walking was always good for that, even if it was a little cold and getting dark so much earlier.

Reaching into her pocket for her keys, she approached the front door. The porch light was out – she must’ve forgotten to turn it on before she left. Trying to work through feeling alone and fending off paranoia, she rummaged in her purse for her keys and retrieved them just as her foot hit something on her front porch. Of course she couldn’t see, but it sounded and felt like a box of some kind.

She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and turned on the flashlight app to see what was happening. Shining the light on her porch, she saw that it was, indeed, a box. A mystery box, she thought. As if my life couldn’t get any stranger.

She unlocked the front door and flipped the light switch, but nothing happened. Trying to juggle her phone and the box at the same time, she walked into the house, set the box down, and went into the living room to try the light there. Also nothing. Shaking her head and doing her best to quiet her thoughts, she made her way into the garage with her phone and found the breaker box. She flipped the switch and the lights came on without a problem.

Things are getting entirely too weird around here, she thought, cautiously making her way back upstairs to her entry where the box sat. She switched off her flashlight app and stood still for a few moments, listening to see if she could hear anything to indicate that someone was in the house. She didn’t think so because her door had been locked, but she was so scared she could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Everything else was silent.

Satisfied that no one was in her house, she picked up the box and took it into her kitchen. She set it on the counter and inspected it. There was a note taped to the top of it. She unfolded it and read aloud, “Trust no one.”


Abut the Author:
Jennifer-Crystal Johnson is originally from Germany, but was raised an Army brat. She has published one novella under her former last name, The Outside Girl: Perception is Reality (Publish America, 2005 - out of print as of 2013), a poetry book, Napkin Poetry (Broken Publications, 2010), and a collection of poetry, art, and prose called Strangers with Familiar Faces (Broken Publications, 2011). She's also published a collection of short creature horror stories called If You're Human Don't Open the Door (Broken Publications, 2012), a personal development book called The Ten Pillars of a Happy Relationship (Broken Publications, 2014), and a collection of more horror stories (no creatures this time, just people) called Our Capacity for Evil (Broken Publications, 2015). She has several poems and short stories published on Every Writer's Resource and has recently published a science fiction novel called Fibers, the first book in the Infiltration Trilogy. Jen owns and operates Broken Publications (www.BrokenPublications.com) and publishes an annual anthology to raise awareness about domestic violence called Soul Vomit (www.SoulVomit.com). When she isn't writing or editing, she enjoys playing games with her three kids, watching crime shows on Netflix, or reading. She lives in WA State with her three children, three cats, and a crazy puppy named Thor. You can connect with her at http://www.JenniferCrystalJohnson.com, http://www.twitter.com/brokenpoet, or http://www.Facebook.com/JenniferCrystalJohnson.

Video excerpts – watch the author read at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO8dowMb2U8oqkWKuQfkVxw!

Buy the book at Amazon.

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