Virtual Book Tour: The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Aviation Girls by Tom Durwood #youngadult #yabooks #adventure #giveaway #interview #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

 

 

YA Adventure

Date Published: 12-05-2024

Publisher: Empire Studies Press

 

 

Fly along with Ruby, Sarra, Isoke and other young heroines as they take to the skies to save their families. 

Nine scenarios, nine heroines, nine lessons in flight.

Gia travels from Manhattan's Lower East Side to the Aleutian Islands to capture one of the most mysterious warplanes of all time - the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

Young Yi-Tai Jo falls in love with the homely, misunderstood X-1 rocket jet. Heartbroken at X's failure to break the speed of sound, she may have a solution.

One morning, bratty Anke has a bitter spat with her sister, Romy. Yet when Romy is kidnapped, Anke is the one who can save her - using an old war-kite to glide to the villain's tower. Can she navigate gliding through the Black Forest and save Romy?

Ship-salvager's daughter Sarra defies a garrison to save Father from Rome's wrath. Can her home-made balloon win the day?

 

"Tom's delightful stories in The Aviation Girls span ancient ideas about flight through the Golden Age of aviation to the Age of Rocketry."      

-- Anne Millbrooke, author of the award-winning “Aviation History

INTERVIEW

What is the hardest part of writing your books?

Creating authentic characters and authentic conflict.

My historical fiction stories depend wholly on reader buy-in, so I need to engage a reader on the first page with a compelling protagonist and her (clearly defined) problem. I try to shove the complex and often bogus historical-setting business to the back end of the story, letting it seep in naturally once the heroine has taken charge.

What are your most played songs?

Hah!! It changes, but right now … “Willing” by Little Feat, Kacey Musgrave “Slow burn,” Keith Jarret’s “As long as you’re living yours,” and the ‘Tolkien’ soundtrack by Thomas Newman.

Do you have critique partners or beta readers?

I circulate the rough draft of a new collection to a dozen or so early readers. Any criticism that appears in two reviews is usually sound.

I compulsively re-work my stories, often over the span of years. I am particularly concerned with all the parts fitting together the right way. I am always searching for new chances to deepen the characters. Original dialogues are like gold nuggets.

What book are you reading now?

The Little Gullah Geechee Book, by Dr. Jessica Berry (this is for a Civil War story in my new collection).

How did you start your writing career?

Well, I am an English teacher, and we all tend to have a fascination with reading and writing stories. Writing fiction and non-fiction (for my online magazine, Empire Studies) is compulsive for me – it is my process for figuring out just how the world works. My first fiction story was written in college.

Tell us about your next release.

On the heels of the adventures of Math Girls, Geometry Girls, and Aviation Girls comes Science Girls.

About the Author

Tom Durwood is a teacher, writer and editor with an interest in history. Tom most recently taught English Composition and Empire and Literature at Valley Forge Military College, where he won the Teacher of the Year Award five times.

Tom’s historical fiction adventures has been promising. The stories have won nine literary awards to date.  “A true pleasure … the richness of the layers of Tom’s novel is compelling,” writes Fatima Sharrafedine in her foreword to “The Illustrated Boatman’s Daughter.” The Midwest Book Review calls that same adventure “uniformly gripping and educational … pairing action and adventure with social issues.” Adds Prairie Review, “A deeply intriguing, ambitious historical fiction series.”

 

Contact Links

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Purchase Link

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