Blog Tour- IN LIGHT OF RECENT EVENTS by #AmyKlinger With A Guest Post & #Giveaway! @TheStoryPlant, & @RockstarBkTours

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the IN LIGHT OF RECENT EVENTS by Amy Klinger Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: IN LIGHT OF RECENT EVENTS

Author: Amy Klinger

Pub. Date: March 22, 2022

Publisher: The Story Plant

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 336

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, TBD, Bookshop.org

In the 1990s American workplace, survival of the fittest is sometimes less about clawing your way to the top than developing good camouflage. And Audrey Rohmer is doing her very best to blend in as an undistinguished middle manager. Uninspired by her job and uneasy about her father's new marriage, Audrey coasts through the work week leaning on her “partner in apathy” – an admin assistant named Pooter – to keep her relationship with the married head of her department from becoming water cooler gossip.

But when an old family friend-turned-Hollywood-superstar crashes on her doorstep in the midst of a publicity crisis, Audrey's under-the-radar status quo gets upended, and the writing may literally be on the bathroom wall that secrets will find a way out.

Equally acerbic and heartfelt, In Light of Recent Events is both an endlessly engaging piece of storytelling and a fascinating commentary on workplaces, families, and fame. 

Reviews:

“I really enjoyed IN LIGHT OF RECENT EVENTS. It's a fast, fun, emotionally engaging novel about friendship, family, and the day-to-day horrors of middle management. Amy Klinger gives us a delightful cast of characters to relate to, laugh with, and, ultimately, root for.” -- Matthew Norman, author of DOMESTIC VIOLETS

“With a wit as precise as an edge of a carefully cut diamond, In Light of Recent Events navigates universal workplace intrigues in this thoughtful story about love, friendship, and growing up.” -- Jane Ward, author of In the Aftermath

 

SCENE STEALERS: A FEW FAVORITES FROM IN LIGHT OF RECENT EVENTS

At this point in its existence, the actual writing of In Light of Recent Events (shorthand: ILORE) is a bit of a blur. Part of that is due to the nature in which it was written—over a decade, essentially in hour-long increments in the evening after working full-time and wrangling a family. But even without picking up a copy of the book, I can pretty easily rattle off my favorite scenes. The intriguing part of this exercise was thinking about why I like them.

 

If you haven’t read the book yet, you might want to bookmark this page as I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of spoilers.

 

INTRODUCING AUDREY & POOTER, pages 10-12

No secret, it was a lot of fun writing the scenes between Audrey and Pooter. I knew how critical their first interaction would be in setting the tone for the book. While many of their other scenes were trashed or rewritten, this one remained remarkably intact from the first draft. Catching these two characters in the middle of what could have been any number of mundane moments in the five-day work week was given a lift by Pooter’s realization that the rhythm of the copy machine is the same as Talking Heads’ song “Road to Nowhere.” For Audrey and Pooter, it’s these kinds of small, unexpected bright spots in the day that make bearable the routine, the interminable meetings, and the gnawing feeling that they’re busy working but getting nothing done. Indeed, a road to nowhere. (But ask me how I really feel about corporate environments…)

 

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLARS, pages 119-128

Having completed an earlier version of the story that was completely first-person, it felt like a missed opportunity to give small windows into some of the supporting characters. Obviously, Pooter, but also Jamie, and in the end, Dan. When I started imagining Jamie’s childhood, it opened a lot of memories of my own. I, too, remember the gypsy moth infestation, including the day the airplanes rained pesticides on the town. My own experience was nothing quite as dramatic as Jamie’s. I was probably ten or eleven and we just stayed in the house while school was cancelled. Those images, though, of writhing, dying caterpillars pouring out of the trees and carpeting the ground will forever be burned in my brain.

 

POOTER AND DAISY GRAB A MUFFIN, pages 135-138

Daisy was a later addition to the story, and I’m so glad she showed up. Her confidence, smarts, and WYSYWYG way of being were a joy to write dialogue for. And she talks a lot in this scene, showing off her smarts with a wink rather than condescension. She turned out to be the perfect foil to call bullshit on Pooter’s bullshit. Fun fact: I just learned that I have not one, but two typos in this scene misspelling Wendell as Wendall. My sheepish apologies, Mr. Berry.

 

RIGID FLOSSES, pages 255-256

Everyone knows a “Rigid” Knutsen. Someone who is a complete rule stickler with superhuman organizational skills and maybe not the best bedside manner. That’s the person on the surface. What I imagine, though, is that for people like Bridget, this committed sense of caring doesn’t stop at superficial things like process and neatness, it extends to the people around them even if they’re not able to express it. I knew I wanted to show that side of Bridget, upending Audrey’s expectations in a big way. It’s not Dan or Pooter or Jamie or Julie that comes to Audrey’s rescue, it’s competent, controlled Bridget.

 

TUG O’WAR WITH MRS. ASS, pages 267-269

Mrs. Ass and her unfortunate nickname were inspired by a woman who lived in the apartment next to my sister probably twenty years ago. We never knew her name or interacted with her because every time we were on the grounds in her vicinity, she would bend over and start gardening, hence, her rear was the only part of her we ever saw. The gesture seemed so deliberate, it left me imagining a backstory for her. But rather than making Mrs. Ass a benign presence, there was something really satisfying about having her turn menacing in the end…or as menacing as an old lady strapped to a gurney with an oxygen mask over her face could be.

 

 

What I most hope for readers of ILORE is that these scenes and all the ones built around them are fun to read, make people laugh, and maybe call to mind personal recollections about work and  life and growing up as a kid and growing up as a grown-up. I’d love to hear these stories from you. Get in touch through my website at AmyKlinger.com.

 

About Amy Klinger:

Amy Klinger is a fiction writer and essayist, a freelance copywriter and message strategist. She is also an amateur baker, a mediocre mountain biker, and whatever the opposite of "handyman" is. Amy has an MFA from University of Utah and lives with her family in Vermont where she is currently working on her next novel. Visit AmyKlinger.com for blog posts and other updates.

Website |  Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card courtesy of Rockstar Book Tours, International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

3/14/2022	BookHounds	Guest Post/IG Post
3/15/2022	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Guest Post
3/16/2022	Lady Hawkeye	Excerpt/IG Post
3/17/2022	Two Chicks on Books	Guest Post
3/18/2022	@jaimerockstarbooktours	IG Post

Week Two:

3/21/2022	Rajiv's Reviews	Review/IG Post
3/22/2022	The Girl Who Reads	Review
3/23/2022	boozybook blog	Review/IG Post
3/24/2022	Fire and Ice	Review
3/25/2022	The Reading Wordsmith	Review/IG Post

Week Three:

3/28/2022	Ravenz Reviewz	Review/IG Post
3/29/2022	Lifestyle of Me	Review
3/30/2022	Excuse Me, I’m Reading	Review
3/31/2022	@jypsylynn	Review
4/1/2022	Two Points of Interest	Review

Week Four:

4/4/2022	onemoreexclamation	Review/IG Post
4/5/2022	@coffeesipsandreads	Review
4/6/2022	pickagoodbook	Review/IG Post
4/7/2022	The Momma Spot	Review
4/8/2022	Momfluenster	Review