Loud and Clear: A Guest Post and Giveaway with Author Aidan Wayne

We’re so pleased to welcome author Aidan Wayne today, on the Loud and Clear blog tour. Enjoy their guest post and then be sure to check out the giveaway details below to enter for the chance to win a $15 Riptide Publishing store credit.

Good luck!

Five More Facts on Loud and Clear

Want an inside look at Loud and Clear? Here are five fun facts!

• Jaxon is a vehement dog person. He doesn’t have one right now because he worries about being able to properly take care of a dog with his weird work schedule, but he absolutely wants one in the future. Actually he wants like six.

• Caleb, on the other hand, is a cat person. Or would be, if he wasn’t crazy allergic. His mother actually had to wait until Caleb moved out of the house so that she could finally live her lifelong dream of owning a cat. Said cat is super friendly and Caleb always ends up cuddling it when he visits, getting covered in cat fur and also sometimes making his eyes swell shut. Luckily he does like dogs fine too. And he’s not allergic to them.

• Caleb doesn’t understand Italian food. He likes pizza, has plenty of fond memories eating pizza, but the pasta dishes tend to leave him flat. He just doesn’t really think that pasta with sauce makes a meal; where are the vegetables and protein? Jaxon thinks this is kind of crazy, because he loves pasta and the more of it the better. He could probably eat his weight in pasta. Caleb mostly sighs and agrees to order Italian because he loves Jaxon. Usually he ends up getting pizza.

• Jaxon’s mother is black, fourth generation American, and his father is Mexican, and moved to America when he was twenty-two. They met at a restaurant where they both worked at the time. Neither went to college, and they were both sort of putting a lot of hopes into Jaxon, expecting him to grow up with opportunities and eventually go on to university. Jaxon shoulders a lot of disappointment because he didn’t manage that. His sister, Tatyana, who is currently going to college and majoring in astrophysics, is sort of the golden child as a result. He tries not to let it get to him, and does love and encourage his sister.

• Caleb’s family is Reform Jewish, and he grew up pretty privileged. His father is CEO at a software development company and his mother works in real estate. He’s never wanted for money or opportunity, and his parents pretty much threw themselves into trying every part of every system in order to make sure Caleb got the best that he could, even with (or especially because of) his stutter. He does often take what he has for granted, but does try his best to be aware of himself, especially once he started dating Jaxon, who is definitely aware of it. 

About Loud and Clear

Jaxon is getting by fine, severe dyslexia or not. Being a cab driver means he doesn’t need to read much, and the job has its perks. The pay isn’t bad, the people can be interesting, and having memorized the city streets keeps him from feeling too stupid.

When he picks up Caleb, a quiet fare in a nice suit, Jaxon doesn’t think anything of it. Then he ends up driving Caleb home the next week too, and the next, and the next. Eventually Caleb tries to communicate—by writing things down. Turns out that Caleb has such a bad stutter he spends most of his time mute.

If only Jaxon had an easier time reading what Caleb had to say. But he’s interested in trying, and Caleb seems interested back. They discover that, with a little bit of effort, it isn’t so hard to make themselves understood. Especially when what’s growing between them is definitely worth talking about.

About the Author

Aidan Wayne is a big believer in character-driven stories with happy endings. This is not to say that stories can’t contain a little (or a lot) of grief, just that at the end of it all expect there to be bandages and hugs. They particularly like to write about minority characters because damn it, they deserve happy endings too.

When not writing, Aidan enjoys practicing aerial, martial arts, and ASL, and watching reality cooking shows. They are probably in the middle of twelve projects as you read this.

Social Links: Tumblr || Twitter

The Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Loud and Clear, Aidan is giving away $15 in Riptide credit. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on May 28, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!