LUCKY SHOT by Sarah Leamy
Published in 2011 by SBG.
The Right To Die: who decides?
At North Bromsgrove High School in the Eighties, Miss Jones
asked us to debate this rather taboo subject in class. Without parroting our parents, following political
party lines or the rhetoric of the religious right(eous). I remember heated
name calling, students in school uniforms raging against each other, but not
the clear compassionate conversation she’d hoped for. Or maybe that’s what
she wanted from us? I don’t know. I don't remember my thoughts at the time.
Now though is a different matter. I've had some intense
personal experience with the question. Who decides to take a life? At what
point is the machine unplugged and the spirit set free? Or do you see it as
murder?
I've taken a moment, a question, a memory from my life and I
sowed that seed in my protagonist Lucky and watched to see what Lucky would do.
It's not my story but it began with me. Now I ask the readers to let me know
what they, you, would do in Lucky's situation? Run away? Stay? Move your
beloved into a long-term facility? Or would you call the lawyers, the
bartender, and the priest?
WELCOME to LUCKY SHOT – a novel by SARAH LEAMY!
Eye-Opening
Novel Asks: Can Life Be Captured in a Photo?
A photographer’s lens can capture many
things. In the amazing novel Lucky
Shot: a novel of sex, death, and photography, the photographer in question is Lucky,
whose life becomes a snapshot on an extended journey of self-discovery.
They call me Lucky. My parents that is, they called me Lucky when I was a kid. Anyway, there I was, in my late thirties, wondering what the hell to do with myself. My dad, my girlfriend, my dog, my job, and my best friend; all were gone. For one reason or another, I’d lost them all. I stayed in Santa Fe. I tried to work, to keep the homestead fires going, but, well, like I said, it was a rough year. I packed my bags, threw everything into the crew cab of my 1983 Nissan truck, and prayed she would take me further than Eldorado, the one in Santa Fe, that is. With camera in hand, I looked for a new life. Is this what they call a mid-life crisis?
Lucky’s
photos show the basic human struggles that most of us face, such as betrayal,
loss, fear, friends who lie, and lovers who cheat. Lucky Shot is at times funny, evocative, and
heartwarming. Look through Lucky’s camera to join along on an insightful journey
of crisis, departure, and return.
The protagonist is never identified by gender. You simply won't find any references to Lucky as either male or female. This wasn't a deliberate choice by the author, yet the resultant reaction by the readers and reviewers says much of our need to box people by gender roles. The story of losing a parent however is universal. Lucky's underwear is irrelevant.
LUCKY SHOT: A NOVEL OF SEX, DEATH, AND PHOTOGRAPHY
(ISBN: 978-1-61204-684-6) is now available for $14.50.
Strategic Book
Publishing and Rights Co, LLC
www.StrategicBookClub.com
Bookpleasures.com: Sandra Sanchez.
After reviewing Sarah Leamy’s book When No One is Looking for Bookpleasures.com last spring I was very eager to read her new book, Lucky Shot, a Novel of Sex, Death and Photography. I was not disappointed. It is said that a picture is a worth a thousand words and in this novel, the protagonist is a photographer (click). Leamy’s prose is lean, almost stacatto at times, and creates a series of pictures in the mind’s eye of readers. What another writer might need thousands of words to describe, she can describe vividly in far fewer words. Reading her fiction is like viewing a film, you hear the voices, see the facial expressions and body language and feel each character. The style swings along in an easy, engaging rythym, and as a reader I feel like I’m dancing along with the characters to my favorite music.
To read the full review by Bookpleasures.com, click on this link:
Kirkus Indie, A Kirkus Media Review.
While some may find the subject matter dismal and the novel’s chilly tone depressing, readers who enjoy vulnerable, flawed characters will find themselves engaged by Lucky’s courageous attempts to leave the past behind. Leamy’s writing is solid, but the book’s tendency to abruptly jump between the past and the present can be distracting. Still, readers who have been down on their luck, especially in these difficult economic times, will find themselves sympathizing with Lucky and will ultimately be inspired. For a hefty dose of harsh reality, tempered by the kindness of others, give this book a "shot."
To listen to Sarah read from the first chapters, click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEm0VnRo4_M
Lucky’s needs to both take photos
as way of understanding the world, and then the struggle to share these images
link the early part of the novel, set in Madison, WI and the return home to New
Mexico in part three.
When No One’s Looking, the first novel by Sarah Leamy, brought up the how we want to know the gender of the people we talk to, in order to put them into easily identifiable roles and expectations. Lucky Shot addresses the issue of gender through another route, through an unidentified main character, we simply never know whether Lucky is male or female, and in the end we realize the story is of the humanity that connects us all.
THANKS to ELISA KEIR, BRUCE MCINTOSH, ARIEL GORE, STEPHANIE COULTHARD, and GAIL SNYDER for your support with publishing this second novel.
Cover photograph by ANGELA TREVINO-LEIMBACH. She's amazing!
https://www.facebook.com/AngelaTrevinoLeimbachPhotography
Much love.
Please click on these sites to buy your own copy or to find out more. Thanks!
Buy it now at
http://www.aeg-online-store.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=APP3174
http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Shot-novel-death-photography
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lucky-shot-sarah-leamy/1105971010
http://authorpressrelease.posterous.com/author-sarah-leamy-pens-eye-opening-novel-luc
http://thebookcheckout.com/insidethebook/inside_the_book.php?site_id=3&pdf_id=6368&id=2911
http://www.pubmatch.com/book/6368/lucky-shot.html
http://www.santafe.com/authors/sarah-leamy
http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=1612046843
http://authorpressrelease.posterous.com/
http://www.tanum.no/product.aspx?isbn=1612046843
http://www.superbookshop.net/index.php?page=contributor&contributorId=005426866&lng=hr
For the monthly blog : http://sarahleamy.wordpress.com
and more to come as we get the word out! But I think i have enough links for you to start with. If you'd like to review the novels and publish your opinions then get in touch via the contact page. Thanks.