Written waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy back in 2004, "The Taming of Adam" (or ToA) is an urban fantasy novel about a painfully private, passive aggressive young man who gets some sense whipped into him after he does a foolish thing and serves some jail time. It takes place in the world of Renin, where magic is as common as cars and toasters.
It's kind of a funny story how the idea for the plot came to me. Harry Potter mania was in full swing back in the early 2000s, and even though I wanted to write fantasy novels, I didn't want to make a Potter ripoff. But then an image popped into my head: Harry Potter putting a burrito into a microwave. It's a silly idea of course since Harry wouldn't need a microwave; he'd simply bake the thing with a magic spell (and set all of Hogwarts on fire in the process). Then again, Harry lives in the modern world, so there's technically nothing preventing him from putting a burrito in a microwave, especially at his uncle and aunt's home.
And that was it; that was what got the wheels turning. I decided that since J.K. Rowling wouldn't make Harry nuke a burrito, I would create a magic-using character who would (hence why there's an early scene in my book in which Adam Taylor does just that). Plus (as hideous as it sounds) I was also inspired by the 1999 Columbine school shooting and the subsequent shootings afterward. More on that can be found in an earlier post here titled "Getting Hardcore?" If this inspiration caused you offense, please read that posting for an insight into that source of inspiration.
So why should you buy this book? Let me count the ways:
1. It's suspenseful. I know, it's a very simple reason that many stories can lay claim to. Still, it's as good a reason as any. The main character, Adam Taylor, is an angst-filled seventeen-year-old who thinks he's better than everyone around him. As he handles tense confrontations with his college roommate, throws eggs at people with his friends, gives an energetic young girl a hard time, and talks back to his professors, the reader should wonder just how and when he'll explode--because an explosion is surely inevitable. Of course, the title reassures the reader that Adam will be "tamed," but how many people will he hurt or kill before that happens?
2. It's original. This isn't like a lot of urban fantasy novels that are about some antihero who beats up bad guys as a profession; it's about a young man who uses his magic abilities for bad and good incidentally. And it's not about a young boy/girl who stumbles upon another world that they somehow always belonged in; Adam was already raised in an extraordinary world but gets in way over his head in dangerous matters. And while the main protagonist is a misfit in his society, the antagonist is an upstanding citizen who just so happens to be morally ambiguous yet not truly evil.
3. It's funny. Even serious action-packed blockbuster movies have sprinklings of humor in them to keep the audience entertained. The trick is to have the humor not seem out of place amid the seriousness (dog-humping in Transformers, anyone?). I believe I've successfully planted humor that complements the serious overall tone of the story, even if Adam himself is the butt of some jokes. (So far, unfortunately, you'll just have to take my word for it, since there are no official reviews just yet.)
4. It's only $4! Many paperbacks these days are about $8 or more, but since I have control over the price, I've decided to cut the typical price of a book by half. Interestingly, the price of a paperback on Amazon is $27, but that's of an earlier edition from another publisher entirely. Use your mobile device to download the newest up-to-date edition!
I think one harsh criticism people may have with ToA is that the book sometimes can't decide what genre it wants to be in. There are some parts that seem like a legal drama, some that are like a situational comedy, and some that are like an epic fantasy. While these differences can be jarring, I'd like to pull a quote from a Stephen King story: "Why must a story be either one thing or another? Why can people not eat stew?" (Not an exact quote, but it gets the message across.) Indeed, ToA is a stew, but more importantly, it's a balanced stew. It's primarily an urban fantasy story with some legal stuff that doesn't overwhelm the other elements.
Here are some links to two excerpts from ToA:
http://bit.ly/1uv00HS
http://bit.ly/1BCuyty
