Thursday, April 30, 2020

*Book Tour & Giveaway* Trouble Triangle by Travis Casey-GUEST POST


Trouble Triangle 
Tyler's Trouble Trilogy Book 1 
by Travis Casey 
Genre: Romantic Comedy 


Tyler Chambers finds that his luck has run out...almost. After several brushes with the law, he avoids jail by enlisting in the Navy. When Tyler gets stationed in Pearl Harbor all his troubles look to be behind him.

Life keeps getting better when smooth-talking Tyler lands a date with the base's hottest chick, Holly Knight, but things sour quickly when he discovers how controlling and annoying she is. As he is about to dump her, a revelation from his past comes back to haunt him and Holly is the only person who can save his Navy career and keep him out of prison. But what does she want in return?

He should be grateful, but is besotted with another girl. Debbie Meyers is sexually confused and has her own ideas for Tyler. She beds him easily enough and uses him in a vendetta against Holly. Tyler finds himself in a TROUBLE TRIANGLE when both women want him for their own needs.

A story of lust, love and blackmail.
But who's doing what to whom?

*Adult Romantic Comedy* 

**Get it FREE!! ** 




** He will also have a few other books for free this month! ** 


Forbidden Trouble 18+ 4/16-4/20 

Enemy of my Enemy 4/23-4/27 





Travis was brought up in Midwest America before embarking on a nine year Navy career that allowed him to travel the world and learn about life. He has ping-ponged across oceans moving from mainland United States to Hawaii, to Scotland, to Seattle, to England, to Minnesota, back to England, and back to Minnesota where he currently resides ... for now

He writes easy-reading, light-hearted fiction and "You couldn't make it up" true stories about his own experiences. Relax by the beach or curl up on the couch on a rainy day while Travis takes you on fun- filled adventures that let you forget about life for a while and have a laugh. 


GUEST POST
What inspired you to write this book?
I had no idea how to write a book. My wife encouraged me to give up writing articles for a certain website and focus on a book. Not knowing where to begin, I fell into "Write about what you know." So I penned my Naval memoirs. The problem was; I was not the Captain of an aircraft carrier. Nor was I a Navy SEAl. I never captured a terrorist kingpin, and I didn't sail the globe for thirty years defending democracy. I was a stereotypical sailor having a damn good time during my early twenties in an era when socially questionable behavior was seen as normal in the 1980s US Navy. I wrote the book (76,000 words), sent it to agents (23 of them) and received rejections (23 of them).

So I joined an online writing group to polish the manuscript. I figured some grammar gurus would insert some commas, un-dangle some participles, and tell me what a great book I had. After being stripped bare, swallowing my ego, and admitting my shortcomings, I began my journey of learning the craft. I shelved the memoir and started over.


How did you come up with the concept for the book?
After shelving my Naval memoirs, I decided Tyler Chambers could do more than I ever did. He could be cheekier, more daring, suaver, and at times, a bigger a*hole. I got a trilogy out of him and funnily enough, he followed in my footsteps. He started with shore duty in Hawaii in Trouble Triangle before getting on board a seagoing frigate and sailing the Orient in Oceans of Trouble. Then he went to Scotland where he found a whole lot of Forbidden Trouble.

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Trouble Triangle?
I wrote it in first person and Tyler was my alter ego. Many parts of the story are taken from true life events and some are pure fabrication. I won't say which parts are made up simply because I don't want to admit which parts are true! But Holly, Debbie, and Mark all existed in real life and started out as mirrors of real people I knew. However, as the book developed, they all took on their own personalities and became different people.

Where did you come up with the names in the story?
All the first names I used were from the actual people I modeled the characters off—Holly, Debbie, and Mark. But in all my books, I'm not a fan of clever or ultra-cool names. All my characters have simple, pronounceable names, and I don't spend much time deliberating on them. I go with whatever hits me immediately and that is the character I create. For my latest creation, I leaned back in my chair for about five seconds and Chad Dixon was born closely followed by Lisa Knolls four seconds later.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
A lot of it involved revisiting an enjoyable time in my life. The skill was making it fiction.

Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick?
Nymphomaniacs, borderline alcoholics, party people of the 1980s. What's not to love?

How did you come up with the title of your first novel?
As with all my novels, I think of a title and then check it on Amazon. My first choice was "Double Trouble." There were at least ten books with that title. I didn't want people buying the wrong book.
"Trouble in Paradise" was my next choice but another half a dozen books showed up. I eventually focused on the triangle part of the relationship and Trouble Triangle was named (and unique).

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything about Trouble Triangle?
I began writing it in 2011 and was totally focused on Tyler being an indulgent, stereotypical sailor. So the story is about him and the entire trilogy (Tyler's Trouble Trilogy) is about a young man coming of age. However, there is a subplot that is current in today's climate. Holly and Debbie are lesbians serving in the 1980s military—a time when gays were not allowed. So it is also a story about them having to hide their sexuality. If I had written it with a different POV (point of view) it could have been a very different book. But it's still there and I'm proud to have woven such a (then) taboo subject into a romantic comedy.

What is your favorite part of this book and why?
Writing Holly's dad, Reverend Cornelius Knight. My dad was a preacher—although not quite like Holly's dad. Rev. Knight is a TV evangelist who is there to see if Tyler will measure up to his standards as Holly's boyfriend. I had so much fun writing an over the top, fire & brimstone preacher meeting a screw-up like Tyler. It was hilarious and surprisingly easy to write. It just flowed.


Anything specific you want to tell your readers?
This is why I joined the Navy as opposed to another branch of the service.



If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be?
I had a serious literary crush on Holly. She could be annoying, but what that girl liked to do in public places … Whew!

Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
They start out based on people I know but develop into their own character. After Triangle, I became more confident with my abilities to write fiction and relied less on basing characters off real people.

Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story?
There were times I was just a passenger sitting at the keyboard writing what they told me. I'm not kidding, sometimes they would write me into a corner and it would take me ages to figure out how I would write myself out of it. Or I'd read stuff a few days later and ask myself "Where'd that come from?"

Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.
It helps if you’re a fan of the 1980s. If that was before your time, this is a good way to learn about it. But Tyler goes after a girl out of his league. "Like way out," as Holly put it. He has to use all his charm, and a good deal of BS to win her over. Once he gets her, he becomes more taken with Debbie. His angst becomes the tent pole of the story—that and he has an incredible knack for digging himself into a hole. Not only is he trying to juggle two women, but he also joined the Navy under dubious circumstances and those circumstances are about to bite him in the ass.

Have you written any other books that are not published?
As I mentioned, I scrapped my first book and my tenth book is under revision (again). I hope to release it sometime in 2020.


What did you edit out of this book?
A lot. In total, I cut over 11,000 words since the first draft.

Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?'-type tidbits about the author, the book or the writing process of the book.
I have Googled the real Holly, Debbie, and Mark to see if I could find them to let them know they inspired a book. Sadly I came up empty in my searches—or perhaps it's just as well.

What can we expect from you in the future?
I've started a new novel and I'm going to write half of it from a female, first-person POV—and I will attempt this feat without a sex-change. Yep. Beta readers get ready.

Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?
I was in a Taco Bell in Honolulu with the real Holly. A few of my Navy buddies came in, and dragging me aside, asked if I wanted to go to Dirty Dan's—a strip joint. I glanced at Holly then whispered back that I couldn't go because I was on a date—and what's more, I didn't need to go because I was on a date. When I returned to the table, Holly stated: "I heard that." I apologized and let her know I told them to get lost. She said, "I've never been to a strip club. I'd like to check it out." So we went.



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