I’m delighted to feature author M. Thomas Long today as he tours blogdom with his Pump Up Your Book Virtual Publicity Tour for his latest release, BLUE MONDAY.
Long tackles the question, ‘What would you do if you were opposed to lottery tickets but purchase a ticket by accident?’ He’s created an intriguing twist on the answer.
Here’s a brief description of BLUE MONDAY:
Matt McAllister is the pastor of the fifth largest church in his state. He was a very public opponent of the lottery. When he accidentally purchases a ticket, he is stunned but his children are elated.
His plan: throw the ticket away, protect his position as a minister and avoid wrestling with the very real temptation to take the money and run...even if the odds are millions to one. His children's plan: rescue the ticket from the trash, wait for the drawing and start deciding on cars, vacation homes, and travel destinations.
Long before the drawing takes place, Matt struggles to deal with the responsibilities and challenges of being a pastor, a father, and a husband as he deals with a long list of people and circumstances ranging from eclectic and funny, to frustrating and sad.
Matt begins each day determined to put the situation with the ticket behind him. The harder he works to deal with it, the bigger it gets.
Every effort to avoid the potential damage the situation could cause makes it spin out of control even faster as new circumstances unfold.Then the drawing takes place.
Suddenly, there's at least 186 million reasons, some hilarious, some tragic, that Matt's life, family, friends, and church will never be the same.
Oh my, can you image what happens next?
Long has been a writer, speaker, and trainer for over 20 years. He and his wife of 32 years live just outside Nashville, TN. He has one daughter, and as of last spring, a son-in-law.
BLUE MONDAY marks Long’s entry into the world of fiction writing, something he will tell you has been on his life list for many years, but he just never took the time to make it happen. During a near fatal incident, one of the main regrets he felt was that he never wrote the books that were inside him wanting to be written.
In BLUE MONDAY, his first fiction novel, Long draws from a rich and varied background that includes designing and performing as a concert stage lighting designer with Grammy award winning artists, working alongside many pastors and celebrities, and traveling the country working as a Microsoft technical trainer.
Long’s hobbies include reading, golf, motorcycles, drawing, running, guitar (ok, a little guitar), songwriting with his daughter, and traveling with his wife. For more on Long and his writing, visit his website at http://www.mthomaslong.com
Do you ever play the lottery or do you just daydream about ‘what if’? Thanks so much for stopping by today. Remember, share a book with a friend.
Mason - Thanks for sharing this novel with us. What an interesting proposition for a story! It sounds like an interesting and funny read, too. I'm not much of a lottery player myself ('though I'm not opposed to lotteries). But it is intriguing to think about what would happen if I won big...
ReplyDeleteGreat premise. I don't buy lottery tickets but my husband does and we've certainly daydreamed about 'what if'.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet Pastor Matt would be appalled by the fact that we throw a couple scratch-off tickets in everyone's stocking on Christmas.