This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. William Quincy Belle will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Science Fiction with (gasp) sex!
Alan Maitland is a successful businessman on his way up the corporate ladder. Life is good, but life is also full of the unexpected. A scientific experiment goes awry, and Alan’s mind is transferred to the body of Hana Toussaint, a high-class escort. Suddenly, he must not only contend with a new identity, but with the eye-opening experience of living as a female: how to walk in high heels without falling; how to put on a bra without dislocating a shoulder; how to deal with makeup without poking out an eye; and how to get along in a society which in many ways is still male-dominated.
When Alan discovers that Hana has taken over his body, the two of them must work together to find the scientist who can reverse the experiment and give them back their respective lives. Along the way, they must cope with living as each other and learn what it’s like to be a member of the opposite sex. And as their adventure goes on, Alan the woman must figure out his growing feelings for Hana the man.
Alan faces the biggest challenge of his life which Hana sums up with one decisive question:
“Are you man enough to be a woman?”
Enjoy an Excerpt
Alan stepped out of the hotel onto the still-busy street. The night air cooled his flushed skin. He took a deep breath and looked around. It was in a nondescript city neighborhood made up of multi-story buildings with commercial fronts. He didn’t recognize anything. Where am I?
He checked Hana’s phone for GPS or a map, but the display showed Enter your password. He had to find somebody to give him directions.
Spotting the illuminated sign of a convenience store, he headed down the street. In the light of the store window, he fished out the wallet and scanned the driver’s license again.
A man walked by, and Alan called out, “Hey, buddy!”
The man continued until he looked at him and stopped. “Hey, baby. What are you doing out so late? As if I need to ask.”
“Do you know where Charlton Street is?”
“If you invite me over, I may be able to help you.” The man grinned.
Alan frowned. What the hell had gotten into this guy? “Charlton Street. Tell me where Charlton Street is.”
The man ambled over and stood close. “Come on, sugar. How about being nice to a guy?” He reeked of alcohol.
“Oh, Christ,” Alan said. He stomped into the store. Behind the counter, a teenage boy flipped through a magazine. “Do you know where Charlton Street is?” Alan asked.
The boy raised his head and stared mesmerized. Alan snapped his fingers in front of the boy’s eyes. “Hey, you there. Where’s Charlton Street?”
The boy stammered, “This is Varick. Go out the door, turn right, and go down five blocks.” He stretched out his arm to point.
“Where’s East Seventy-Eighth Street?”
“That’s the Upper East Side. It’s miles from here.”
“Thanks.”
Alan started for the door, then stopped and gaped at the hand he had used to snap at the boy. He curled his fingers, then splayed them, looking at the long fingernails lacquered in bright red with little blue stars by the cuticles. He assumed the nails were fake, but he couldn’t tell. Then a surprising thought came to him: They were his fingernails.
He glanced up and saw a security mirror over the door. The teenage boy leaned over the counter to stare at his backside. He looked down. The skirt he wore was short, so he showed a lot of leg. No wonder the boy was checking him out. Checking him out? If he knew the truth, he would run for the hills. This was pushing cross-dressing to the limit.
About the Author:
William Quincy Belle is just a guy. Nobody famous; nobody rich; just some guy who likes to periodically add his two cents worth with the hope, accounting for inflation, that $0.02 is not over evaluating his contribution. He claims that at the heart of the writing process is some sort of (psychotic) urge to put it down on paper and likes to recite the following, which so far he hasn’t been able to attribute to anyone: “A writer is an egomaniac with low self-esteem.” You will find Mr. Belle’s unbridled stream of consciousness floating around in cyberspace.
Buy the book at Amazon.
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Thank you for sharing your book with us. I always look forward to finding out about another great read.
Thanks for hosting!
How long did it take you to write your book?
This was a NaNoWriMo project: The entire book was written in eleven days. However, editing the book spanned nearly two years. I can be methodical and worked with several professionals to ensure my diamond in the rough was as polished as possible. If I put my name on it, I want to be proud of the final result. I want to make sure the reader is entertained.
Thank you for participating in this book tour. Being an indie author is an uphill struggle.
According to Wikipedia, there are 2.2 million new books published each year, 300,000 in the U.S., 150,000 in the United Kingdom, 20,000 in Canada. The book review section of The Washington Post states they get 150 new titles each day. Each day! What are the chances of anyone getting noticed? Even if somebody has written the next classic, there’s the harsh reality of statistics. Having the public choose any particular book out of the annual American field of 300,000 strikes me as being the equivalent of winning the literary lottery. Congratulations, E. L. James: over 70 million copies of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy sold.
By the way, the above is about new books published each year. According to Google, there are over 150 million books in existence! Literary lottery, indeed!
There’s a lot of junk out there, which means the public is leery of investing their time in anything unknown. Who wants the literary equivalent of bad movie? “I want two hours of my life back.” Cheers to the risk-takers who brought E. L. James to the forefront.
I appreciate you taking the risk.
All the best to you in your world. 🙂
Look great
Sounds like a good read.
Great post, I enjoyed reading it!
Thanks for the giveaway; I like the excerpt. 🙂
Fantastic cover
Do you do a lot of scientific and technological research to support those aspects in your stories or do you just rely on your own current knowledge and imagination?
I do spend time researching my stories. I want them to be as realistic as possible and also believable. This means anything scientific or technological must conform to current developments and trends. Even though this is fiction, Science Fiction, I want to respect my readers by not asking them to accept a premise which contradicts general knowledge.
Thank you for your response. I know that I’d asked you the same question on your Metrofloat tour so I appreciate you taking the time to respond here as well.
Of Sound Mind and Someone Else’s Body
Currently 4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon
Interested, but not yet committed to reading the book? Visit my web site for a longer excerpt. (Warning: This may be a tad explicit. Of course, now that I’ve said that, it’s even more tempting to go look, right?)
Still wondering? Here’s what reviewers are saying.
5 Star Review: One would like to believe this
“That two sane rational people would react in a sane rational way to finding themselves in another body especially one of the opposite sex. Much of the genre that involves body/mind swaps is strictly erotic in nature as if every person swapped can’t wait to have sex. Mr. Belle’s work is far from that even though one of the protagonists is a professional escort. Sex plays a role in this decently plotted story but only as a sideline to some interesting philosophical questions. Questions that are approached with both humor and an open-minded desire to question societies hangups. Food for thought in a book about a bodyswap. Who would have thought? Then again in the end this is a thought piece wrapped in a sci-fi story that is just plausible enough to be believable. An entertaining and enlightening read.”
5 star review: The mind switch trope but with nuanced exploration of the sexes
“When I first started this book, I expected it to be just another mind switch story so common in sci-fi. But the author has carefully chosen his switchees – Alan, a rather self absorbed rich guy, and Hana, a high class escort. Alan goes to bed, and is suddenly wakened in a position he finds repulsive. He panics, grabs his purse and runs home. He makes his way back to his condo, and meets with Hana,, now in his body. Over the next few days they experience life in different socioeconomic conditions than their wont. Even more significant, they experience being “the opposite sex”. They both need to readjust their pre-conceived notions. Hana opens Alan’s mind to looking at the world differently, and they both learn that some of their assumptions about men and women may have been misfounded. For Alan, it’s eye opening being looked at like a piece of meat. And Hana learns some painful physical lessons.
I was very pleasantly surprised at the way the author turned a rather trite science fiction cliché into an entertaining novel.”
Never heard of this book or author until I visited your post and I must say it sounds very interesting I jotted the author’s name down so I can check more out!!