I am absolutely delighted to make this post. Cheryl Headford is a person who is very close to me, so close you might say we're almost the same person. Almost. Cheryl is, of course, a much more 'normal' person. For the Gods' sake she's a lawyer, how much more boring...erm...normal, can you be :)
Anyway, Cheryl has her very first book out with Featherweight Press so let's hear a bit about it.
There are those who can't see, and those who don't want to see, but we're all blind sometimes.
Ace is seventeen years old; bright, beautiful and blind. He
shares his life between a progressive school which is teaching him to be
independent and capable of living a full life; and home, where his family seem
determined to prevent him from doing so.
Over protective parents and spiteful, jealous brothers, are
enough to try the patience of a saint. So far, Ace has let them get on with it
and sailed through his life, marking time at home and only truly living at
school. However, that can’t last, and with his last year of school coming up
and the spectre of having to fight to attend university hanging over him, it’s
time to take a stand.
Fortunately, a ring of the doorbell one afternoon, radically
changes his life and, with a new boyfriend at his side, Ace s ready to take on
the world.
Ace has never been one to let his blindness get in the way
if he could help it and he has lots of things that help. Here are a few of his
favourite things, which you can find in the story and which are actually
available out there for anyone to find.
Telephone
One of Ace’s brothers’ favourite occupations is to buy him
outrageous clothes and possessions. Not being able to see what he’s wearing or
using, Ace knows no better and provides his brothers with countless hours of
hilarious entertainment at his expense.
Until he meets Haze, Ace has no idea that the phone he uses
is a pink, Disney Princesses™ one. One of the first things Haze does for Ace is
take him out shopping and one of the things they buy is a new phone.
The phone is something like this
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with large buttons, small screen and screen reader.
There are even more specialised phones available which Ace could have gone for but, as far as I’m aware, these aren’t available on the main street
The screen reading feature, where the phone ‘talks’ to you
and ‘listens’ to you, is the most revolutionary thing for Ace. He can now
access many of the features we take for granted, that were closed to him
before; things like setting alarms and reminders, browsing, reading texts, and
many more. He’s so delighted with it he’d have been happy to spend a whole
afternoon playing with the features.
Books
Ace loves to read, and Haze gets quite a shock when he takes
a look at the bookshelf.
Ace’s books are bigger and heavier than ‘normal’ books and
have neither words nor pictures, at least none Haze can see. The books are
written in Braille, which is a system of raised dots, representing letters, numbers
and punctuation. It was developed by Louis Braille (1809 – 1852), who was
himself blind, as a teaching method for his blind students.
Braille is used for everything from public signs, to books,
to menus to music annotation. It is generally worked across a ‘cell’ of six
dots in three rows of two. In each cell one or more of the dots are raised and
it is the pattern of raised dots that makes the letter, number, word etc.
.jpg)
Computer
Ace’s computer is a lifeline. Not only does it allow him to
conduct research, do schoolwork and keep up to date with what’s going on in the
world, but it allows him to keep in touch with his friends via Skype. Haze
meets Ace’s best friend, James in this way, and boy do sparks fly.
Ace’s computer has a number of special features, such as the
screen reader, and also a special braille keyboard
Ace finds a very sensual way of demonstrating how everything
works, which gets Haze a little hot under the collar.
With all his technology and specialist knowledge, however,
there is really only one thing that opens the world, both real and cyber, to
Ace, and that’s his own courage and confidence in himself, which he has with
plenty to spare. With his heart and Haze’s ferocious protectiveness, there
seems to be very little they can’t achieve together.
Blurb
Ace
is blind and Haze is damaged. They live in different worlds and not everyone is
happy when they become boyfriends. Haze is struggling with the after effects of
a traumatic event in his past that has left him at the mercy of an
uncontrollable rage. When Ace’s brother steps up his campaign of torment
against Ace, they’re all in danger from Haze’s outbursts, though it isn’t until
things get completely out of control that the healing can really begin. But
with Ace unseeing and Haze perched on the edge of a cliff, will either of them
survive long enough to benefit?
Excerpt
While the computer was starting up, Ace
took off his glasses and put them on the table, rubbing his eyes.
“They make my eyes ache after a while.
They’re really heavy on my nose.”
“I’m not surprised, they’re…er…big. Why
do you wear them all the time?”
“I don’t know. I suppose…because I’m not
quite so much of a freak with them on as without them on.” He tilted his face
up and seemed to regard me thoughtfully. There was something about the way the
sun touched his face and made his hair glow that made me shiver.
In the midst of all the golden light his
hair was not so much white as the palest spun gold and his pale skin seemed to
be even more translucent, almost iridescent. He was fey, like some faery
creature only partly in this world. I bit my lip, trying vainly to stop my mind
taking me down dangerous roads. This was definitely not the time to be having
those kinds of thoughts.
“Can I…touch you?”
“What? Uh…um…what do you mean?” I jumped
half out of my skin at the sound of his voice and even more so at what he said.
Had he read my mind?
“Your face. Can I touch your face? I
can’t see what you look like but my fingers can tell me if you’ll let me touch
you.”
“Oh. Of course.”
I stood perfectly still as he got up
from the chair and stood close in front of me. His long white hair fell across
his face, I had an urge to brush it out of his eyes, except of course that
would have been stupid.
It was strange how pretty his eyes were
up close. They weren’t colourless after all. There was a ring of pale violet
around the milky pupils and a much darker violet around the outer edges of the
irises. They were stunningly beautiful, and I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
I was still staring at them when his
cool fingers brushed against my cheek. The touch was gentle and hesitant but
still startled me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle
you.”
“You didn’t. It’s just…” I tore myself
away from studying his face. “I was just surprised by how beautiful your eyes
are.” I could have bitten off my tongue. What a stupid thing to say. For God’s
sake, I just met the boy. What the hell was I doing?
“They…they are?” The objects in question
opened wide and a hesitant smile touched his lips. “Really?”
“Oh yes.”
He blushed delicately. “No one has ever
told me that before.” Biting his lip, his face turned reflective. “Most people
just say they’re weird if they can bring themselves to look at them. I get the
impression that most people avoid doing so. That’s one of the reasons I wear my
glasses all the time.”
“Then most people are blinder than you
are.” Bloody hell! That was totally unlike me. I was far too ordinary to be
that bold. But it was awesome to see the smile break over Ace’s face and light
it up.
“Hold still,” he said softly and brushed
his fingertips across my cheek again. A shiver went through me and I closed my
eyes as he continued his exploration of my face.
When he had finished with my face, he
touched my hair and let it slide through his fingers. His face changed subtly,
and I shivered again.
“You’re beautiful, Haze,” he said as he
let his hand fall.
“If you think that, then your fingers
are as blind as your eyes.”
For a moment he seemed shocked then he grinned.
“Do you have any idea how many people would be scared of saying those things to
me?”
“What things?”
He shook his head. “You’re a breath of
fresh air, Hazel Fennell. I haven’t felt so…light, in years.”
“Light?”
“Yeah…”
Bio
Cheryl was born
into a poor mining family in the South Wales Valleys. Until she was 16, the
toilet was at the bottom of the garden and the bath hung on the wall. Her
refrigerator was a stone slab in the pantry and there was a black lead
fireplace in the kitchen. They look lovely in a museum but aren’t so much fun
to clean.
Cheryl has
always been a storyteller. As a child, she’d make up stories for her nieces,
nephews and cousin and they’d explore the imaginary worlds she created, in
play.
Later in life, Cheryl
became the storyteller for a re enactment group who travelled widely, giving a
taste of life in the Iron Age. As well as having an opportunity to run around
hitting people with a sword, she had an opportunity to tell stories of all
kinds, sometimes of her own making, to all kinds of people. The criticism was
sometimes harsh, especially from the children, but the reward enormous.
It was here she
began to appreciate the power of stories and the primal need to hear them. In
ancient times, the wandering bard was the only source of news, and the
storyteller the heart of the village, keeping the lore and the magic alive.
Although much of the magic has been lost, the stories still provide a link to
the part of us that still wants to believe that it’s still there, somewhere.
In present
times, Cheryl lives in a terraced house in the valleys with her son and her two
cats. Her daughter has deserted her for the big city, but they’re still close.
The part of her that needs to earn money is a lawyer, but the deepest, and most
important part of her is a storyteller and artist, and always will be.
Release
Date October 2013
Cover
Artist Deana C. Jamroz
. 288 pages / 79,000 words
It's great to see what Cheryl is up to these days ;) Congrats on the new release and offering us so much in your post.
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