I am absolutely delighted to welcome author of The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare, M G Buehrlen to the blog today to share a 25 quirky facts about herself!
Her debut, The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare has had a lot of great response. Readers have praised Buehrlen for her unique novel that combines time travel, fantasy and romance!
So without further ado let me turn the blog over to Buehrlen - An author, a coding demigod, a musician and a survivor of an Asian Carp attack! ;)
25 Things You Probably Didn't Know About
M G Buehrlen
M G Buehrlen
1) If I hadn’t become an author, my secondary dream was to become an exotic animal trainer for TV and film.
2) I went urban exploring in Detroit for book research, and it was the most intense experience of my life.
3) My exciting job history includes: service dog trainer for people with disabilities, Pizza Hut waitress (so hot!), exotic fish salesperson, shipping/warehouse factory worker, WalMart cashier (even hotter!), and a tour guide at a tourist farm (where I got to shovel poo and sing to goats!).
4) I soldered my first circuit board at age 9. I built my first computer at age 13.
5) I’ve been coding and designing websites since 1997. (Speak HTML to me.)
6) I like to eat salsa with Doritos. Plain tortilla chips lack the proper pizzazz.
7) I drink chocolate milk with a spoon. A straw just doesn’t allow for adequate savoring.
8) I took a year off college to serve in the AmeriCorps, teaching underprivileged youth in
inner-city Chicago.
9) I play a mean alto clarinet. And soprano clarinet. And bass clarinet.
10) Because of my social media work, I was chosen as a member of the very first
Fiesta Movement. Ford Motor Company gave me a free car, and I traveled the US,
documenting my adventures on YouTube.
11) Although not an athlete myself, I have appeared on ESPN twice in my lifetime: once when I interviewed NASCAR drivers on behalf of Ford Motor Company, and once while I staffed the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge. During the NASCAR stint, I got to sit in a pit box, stand on pit road during the National Anthem, and attend the driver’s meeting with Kid Rock. Totes surreal and super exciting. I wasn’t a NASCAR fan at the time, but being thrown in the thick of things changed my mind.
12) I’m obsessed with rustic camping, and my favorite place to camp is a remote island in the middle of Lake Michigan, where storms roll in, where coyotes howl, where peace is found. (Here’s a photo of the moon rise over Lake Michigan from my beach front campsite.) I have also camped in over a foot of snow and snuck into a closed state park to pitch a tent.
13) I was once attacked by a legion of Asian carp and lived to tell the tale. (Like this.)
14) I grew up in bars and honky-tonks, singing country and rock-n-roll tunes in my father’s
cover bands. Consequently, I can probably beat you in a game of darts or pool. I’ve had
lots of practice.
15) M.G. stands for Mandy Genese (something my mother still calls me when I’m in trouble).
16) I once rode a donkey through the streets of downtown Chicago during Las Posadas, a Mexican Christmas celebration. I got to be the Virgin Mary. It. Was. Awesome. And a huge honor.
17) I’m a dairy-holic even though I’m lactose intolerant. I once wound up in the hospital after bingeing on a giant milkshake.
18) The first (and only) time I went white water rafting, my group was mistakenly scheduled without an experienced guide and we had to tackle each rapid on our own. The experience was so terrifying for me that I almost passed out in the boat. They had to pull the boats over, let me out on the river bank, and send someone to come get me. I’m not ashamed about this whatsoever. (One of my friends, who stayed in the boat, almost drowned later during the trip. Thankfully he and I are still alive!)
19) I was in a Ford Fiesta commercial with my husband and my dog. My dog was the star. Not me.
20) In high school, my friend and I went off-roading in a 1989 Grand Marquis. We hit a bump and went soaring through the air. When we came back down, our butts actually lifted off our seats. No joke.
21) I get all my best writing ideas during long drives or equally long bubble baths.
22) I went on a waterfall hunt in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan even though I’m terrified of raging water (see #18) and heights. But the photos I took are priceless.
23) When I was a teenager, I recorded the full Princess Bride film on my tape deck, then listened to the entire thing over and over again until I had every line memorized. I still have it memorized. I did the same thing with Monty Python’s Holy Grail.
24) I met my future husband by camping next to him during an outdoor music festival. We bonded over Adam Sandler flicks and website coding. Be still my heart!
25) Despite my lust for adventure, I’m a hermit who enjoys being holed up at home in my pajamas, sipping coffee, pecking at my computer, and bingeing on Netflix.
Meet The Author:
She’s the current web ninja lurking behind the hugely popular website YABooksCentral.com, a social network for YA (and kids!) book lovers. The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare is her debut novel. M.G. lives nestled away in Michigan pines, surrounded by good coffee and good books, with her husband and son and three furbabies. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.
The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare
Title: The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare (Alex Wayfare #1)
Published: March 2014 by Strange Chemistry
Preorder the book:
Synopsis:
One girl. Fifty-seven lives. Endless ways to die.
For as long as 17-year-old Alex Wayfare can remember, she has had visions of the past. Visions that make her feel like she’s really on a ship bound for America, living in Jamestown during the Starving Time, or riding the original Ferris wheel at the World’s Fair.
One girl. Fifty-seven lives. Endless ways to die.
For as long as 17-year-old Alex Wayfare can remember, she has had visions of the past. Visions that make her feel like she’s really on a ship bound for America, living in Jamestown during the Starving Time, or riding the original Ferris wheel at the World’s Fair.
But these brushes with history pull her from her daily life without warning, sometimes leaving her with strange lasting effects and wounds she can’t explain. Trying to excuse away the aftereffects has booked her more time in the principal’s office than in any of her classes and a permanent place at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Alex is desperate to find out what her visions mean and get rid of them.
It isn’t until she meets Porter, a stranger who knows more than should be possible about her, that she learns the truth: Her visions aren’t really visions. Alex is a Descender – capable of traveling back in time by accessing Limbo, the space between Life and Afterlife. Alex is one soul with fifty-six past lives, fifty-six histories.
Fifty-six lifetimes to explore: the prospect is irresistible to Alex, especially when the same mysterious boy with soulful blue eyes keeps showing up in each of them. But the more she descends, the more it becomes apparent that someone doesn’t want Alex to travel again. Ever.
And will stop at nothing to make this life her last.
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Share something that we probably don't know about yourself! ;)
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Share something that we probably don't know about yourself! ;)
Mandy, what an amazing life! So much adventure. The book sounds so interesting, too!
ReplyDeleteI love the blurb of the book! I'm curious as to how these brushes with the past really affect Alex.
ReplyDeleteI love the theme of past lives! This book sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI love that you are so adventurous! I want to read the book even more after getting to know you!
ReplyDeleteWow, you have had ALOT of interesting experiences! I love that you memorized all of The Princess Bride(yes, I'm a huge fan). And that rafting experience would have killed me o.O
ReplyDelete