Excerpt from Taylor After Normal - YA Contemporary Fiction

It's happening, I have a debut novel and it's about to be out in the wild for the first time ever. To help celebrate the occasion I thought it would be fun to post a special excerpt from one of my favorite scenes.

cover by Pain and Paintings

Taylor After Normal is YA contemporary fiction with biblical themes, chronic illness and neurodivergent representation and plenty of Taylor Swift references from our Swiftie main character.

Blurb:

Taylor Gair lives and breathes lacrosse.

He's always dreamed of going pro, and after the death of his best friend, he has poured himself into the game with steadfast dedication. As far as he's concerned, nothing will deter him from achieving his goal. Not the concussion he suffered last year, and certainly not his mom's announcement that things are getting serious with her boyfriend.

But as the new season starts, Taylor finds himself wrestling with fatigue and other symptoms that are becoming harder to ignore.

Facing an uncertain future, Taylor finds himself confronting his beliefs, the anger that's blinded him for years, and the relationships he stands to lose.

Excerpt:

Enjoy!

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“Didn’t get enough of the bench on Saturday?” Brock asked as he sat down next to me.

“Haha,” I said. “I’m waiting for Coach.”

I felt kind of off, not nearly as hyped up for practice as I normally was, but it was hard to even admit it to myself. It was getting harder to hide everything that had been happening since last year, and I didn’t want to consider the possibility that it was getting worse. That would ruin everything I had worked for. And on top of all that, I was still thinking about Anyia. That was probably the real reason I didn’t feel great.

I pulled out my phone, trying to distract myself. I flipped open the square device, extending it to regular cell phone size. 

Brock groaned.

“What?” I asked.

“That phone.”

“What’s wrong with my phone?”

He made a face. “Seriously?”

“It’s a good phone,” I said.

“Okay, Taylor, I need you to recognize that what you have in your hands right now is a flip phone.”

“Technically,” I replied.

“No, there’s no technically,” he said. “That is a flip phone, pretending to be an iPhone, and it’s an insult to modern technology. Why on earth would you want that?”

“I like the way it looks!”  

“You look like you got lost in the early 2000s,” Brock said. 

I rolled my eyes. Brock always had something to say about my phone or choice of clothes or overall style. “I’m sorry you don’t like my phone. Luckily, it shouldn’t affect your life.”

“I’m just trying to look out for you,” Brock said. 

I shook my head but was mildly amused. I never really thought about picking out things like a cell phone. I just did it because I wanted to. 

“Gair, Forset!” Coach Randell yelled. “Did you two come to sit and chat or play?”

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I hope you enjoyed that such as much I enjoyed writing it, bring Brock and Taylor to life on the page has been such a fun experience. TAN will be releasing on January 31st, 2025. I'll see you all then!

Much love,

Emma KLM