Vanish into Evanescent with author Carlyle

Germiston businesswoman Carlyle Labuschagne loves a good book, especially if she has penned it.

And, with the imminent release of her second novel in the Broken series, her natural exuberance has been upped a few levels.

The outgoing blonde is as proud of the cover of Evanescent as a new mom would be of her baby.

Created by Mae I Design’s Regina Wamba of Minneapolis, it invites readers to open the cover and immerse themselves in intrigue, drama and suspense.

Pitched at a young adult audience, the first book in the series, The Broken Destiny, was voted number three on the Goodreads debut list for 2012, and Carlyle has had a wonderful response from her readers.

Recently, she learnt that the book is available in many international libraries.

“I am eternally grateful for this, because I believe it takes a village to raise a book,” she laughed.

The heroine of the series is Ava, an earthling growing up on the planet Poseidon, where her existence is closely controlled.

When she starts questioning her origins, a prophecy unfolds that sees her rushing head-long into a frightening new world, armed only with the knowledge that her bloodline sets her apart and makes her not only a formidable warrior, but also less than human.

Passionate as she is about writing and getting people to read, Carlyle still needs a “day job” to help pay the bills, and she works in the public relations and marketing department of AP Autobody in Activia Park.

It is a family business owned by her dad, André Pretorius.

Carlyle’s husband,Dirk Labuschagne,runs the production department.

Home is in Florida Hills,where she lives and loves with Dirk, whom she met when she was 17,and sons Ethan (9) and Jordan (6).

The Broken trilogy is written in the science fiction/fantasy genre, which is especially appealing to young adults, a group that Carlyle thinks can find direction and comfort through reading.

That is why she helped establish a library at Avalon, the school attended by her children.

“It might be a private school, but it is a young one with many needs,” she said.

“My commitment to education prompted me to hold the launch of my first book there last year, and I coupled this with a fund-raising and book drive initiative that saw not only a library being started at Avalon, but a donation being made to the Starfish Greathearts Foundation.”

The event was also the start of the “Help us build a library in Africa” project and Carlyle plans to target less privileged schools and organisations in future.

As a child Carlyle did not read much.

“Unless you count audio story books,” she joked.

She laments the fact that the books available to young adults today were not around when she was growing up.

“If the books that are now available were around when I was a teenager, I would not have been as afraid to be different,” she said.

“I would have found characters to which I could relate and discovered the gift of self-acceptance.”

Teenhood was tricky for Carlyle.

“It was all about trying to fit in, yet not buckling under peer pressure, which inevitably most teens do and then end up in a bad place,” she explained.

Now in her early 30s and with the angst of coming of age a distant memory, Carlyle’s life is a rich mixture of family, work, sport and, of course, writing, which typically happens for two to four hours each weekday and around eight hours a day over weekends, in her study, with the playlist set up, earphones on and coffee always within reach.

She discovered a love of sport at a young age and still enjoys squash and swimming, pastimes that help her when she gets writer’s block.

“Like everything in life, you just have to work past it,” she said.

When it became clear that writing was her destiny, Carlyle earned a creative writing diploma through College SA’s Writing School.

Her family was “insanely supportive” when she told them she intended to write and self-publish a book.

“I am so fortunate to have them in my life,” she added.

A fan of anything social media, Carlyle has her own website and uses Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Triberr to network and build relationships.

She has regular book give-aways for followers from a host of other self-published authors.

Her publicity efforts have paid off as she is building an international fan base and was asked by the editor of India-based e-magazine Inspiration Unlimited to become a regular contributor after he read some of her inspirational posts.

Carlyle has just booked her seat for the UtopYA Convention, to be held in Nashville, Tennessee, in June 2014.

UtopYA is for female authors of paranormal stories and the Labuschagne family will be making a holiday of the occasion.

Carlyle hopes the convention will provide a platform from which she can pitch her books to agents and producers.

Evanescent will have been on the market for seven months by then and she hopes it will do as well or better than The Broken Destiny, which was picked up by Exclusive Books.

Her second offering will be self-published through Sensational Publications and will be available through most online stores, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kalahari.

Carlyle invites readers to link up with her by visiting her website www.carlylelabuschagne.com, or to following her on twitter /#!/CarlyleL