(Blog Tour) Guest Post: Author Jason Ancona

I'd like to welcome Jason Ancona to An Avid Reader's Musings! Jason is the author of Debugging Tori Redding.

Fed up with her peers and their loose morals, Tori starts a new school program, the Not So Fast club, a group dedicated to keeping teens from doing everything they want to do--drink, have sex, and rush to grow up.

A severe toothache interrupts her plan, sending her to the dentist, where she's given an emergency root canal. During the surgery, she's electrocuted and ends up blacking out. When she awakes, her brain has the ability to function like a computer.

Tori uses her new skills and aggressive personality to charge up the club.
Hated by the entire school, she discovers that NSF now stands for: Narcs Suck Farts. Game on. Tori memorizes every school rule, issuing tickets for every little infraction.

After a serious crime occurs, Tori must use her talents to save a life, all while trying to free herself from her mind.
(Description courtesy of Goodreads. Picture courtesy of author.)


As my guest today, Jason will be sharing with you about his own teenage years.

What were you like in high school?

When I wasn't playing games on my computer, leveling up my character in Dungeon & Dragons, shooting guns in a Laser Tag arena, or losing money at cards to my nerd crew, I was doing cool stuff. Like singing along to Annie or The Sound of Music with my sisters. Since they loved those movies--I watched those A LOT.

During high school, I embraced my dorkiness, becoming unafraid to laugh at myself. I enjoyed entertaining others by mimicking the voices of characters on Saturday Night Live. There's a fine line between being a goofball and a complete idiot, and I'm sure I squiggled back and forth.

When the braces came off, I had the courage to ask a girl to senior prom. With a friend of course. Who I didn't even try to kiss.

I was innocent. And naive. And sensitive behind closed doors. Yes, I was a crier. Guess I'm just wired that way. Some things never change.

Did you follow the rules or were you a rule bender/breaker? Somewhere in between?

Somewhere in between.

My parents were disciplinarians, so I obeyed the letter of the household law. Never had a curfew. Probably because I never went anywhere. Most of the time I was in front of my computer, or in my basement playing cards with my friends.

Following the rules and respecting authority is how I was raised, so that's how I behaved.

Unfortunately, I had a huge error in judgment, breaking the rules on a fairly large scale. When I was in high school, the F.B.I. came to my house, taking my computer, color printer, and pristinely labeled disks. I'm sure the agents thought I was a freak when they saw all of the non-fiction books about various law enforcement agencies on my shelves.

Since I was a minor, and those records are sealed, I won't go into details. I will say that I was scared straight--been clean for over twenty years.

But I'm still crossing the line of being a goofball and an idiot.


Thanks so much for being here today, Jason! To find out more information on Jason Ancona and Debugging Tori Redding, visit his website and Goodreads page.