Blog Archives
The Betrayal Of The Inquisition
The Oath Breaker continues the story in The Witch Hunter General series. What were some new ideas you wanted to introduce in this book that were different from book one?
I really wanted to add some emotional depth to Victor’s character and make sure he didn’t come off as just some mindless, heartless killing machine. He may be an immortal half-witch, but he is also still half-human who is dealing with an immense amount of grief, sorrow, and loss. I’ve also always loved the idea of the hunter becoming the hunted and wanted to incorporate that element into his story. I think Victor being on the run really gave him a chance to face his metaphorical as well as literal demons head-on which gave him some extra depth for the rest of his team to try to navigate as well. I love watching their team dynamic unfold as the story progresses.
Victor Cain continues to be a riveting character. What were some challenges that you felt were important to his characters development in this book?
I tried to make Victor just as complex as any living person. He’s been struggling with so many things for so long; from the death of his wife and son, to his loss of faith and hatred of God, to the betrayal of the Inquisition. He is a man besieged by guilt and near-crippling depression, all while still trying to lead his team who don’t know if they can fully trust him anymore. Trying to convey all of those things and make it honest and believable was definitely challenging and the most important for his development.
What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?
The scene that jumps out at me as the most fun to have written was the siege of Requiem Tower. The chaos and devastation the Thunderbird wreaks was a pure joy to write.
What can readers expect in the book in the series?
I think readers will be able to expect a thrilling and epic conclusion in the third book of the trilogy. There are many more battles to be fought and revelations to be had by the time it ends. I am also currently working on a series of short stories that tie into the novel series, each one focusing on an individual character before they joined Victor’s team. There just might be a spin off series in the works as well.
Author Links: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Website
World-Ending Scenario
The Silver Sphere follows a writer who finds a derelict AI which is the beginning of a wild intergalactic adventure. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The novella began with a wisp of an idea for a short story on my blog. I’ve done this before. In every case, the story stayed short. I presented it as a single blog post. For some reason, The Silver Sphere refused to be relegated to a single post. It grew into a seven-part novella.
This is a riveting novella that is just under 50 pages. What inspired you to break this story up into seven parts?
The story grew to five continuing blog posts. After the fifth post, I said to myself, “Wait a minute. Only your wife and daughter plus a few friends are going to keep up with the story. Why not make it into a book?” So, I did.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I’d say friendships and emotional connections. I believe the world-ending scenario had to come, at least in part, from the threats of COVID and extremism prevalent and lurking in today’s world.
What can readers expect in the next story in the series?
The next book contains fourteen episodes. It’s twice as long as the first. I’m introducing a third main character. I have a bigger canvas that allows for more character development. It seems many of the reviews I read asked for these enhancements. The new book is titled, “Cataclysm–End of Worlds.” I expect to release it in early October 2021. I’m being deliberately coy about including more details.
PS–The Silver Sphere episodes are no longer available for free on my blog (www.davidgittlin.com).
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Blog
The Silver Sphere is a seven part story illustrated with colorful photos.
Discover Their Grit
Comfort Foods is a emotional and riveting contemporary romance novel that finds a couple wrapped up in the whirlwind of their lives and trying to make it work. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The inspiration for this story leapt from the blue screen of Instagram. I have a twenty-six year old who followed several “influencers” and I became a bit riveted by the trajectory some of these women had taken in such a short time. I figured what goes up, must come down… and then imagined what a spectacular recovery might look like. Lacy was a character invented many years ago as part of the novella that kicked off the Comfort set of stories, and it was time to give her a full book. Characters in the Comfort set of stories flit in and out of the plots like our friends do, and Lacy was no exception. Romance, drama, humor, and second chances are major ingredients in every story.
The relationship between Lacy and Rudy was enthralling. What were some driving ideals behind the development of their relationship?
The connection between Lacy and Rudy helped me cover new territory in plotting—having characters that were both struggling in life, the distance between their communities and Rudy being a single dad, were areas I wanted to investigate and better understand since that feels so intrinsic in today’s world. Putting them into ever increasing awkward circumstances forced them both to grow and discover their grit. I like writing about people discovering what they’re capable of doing and these two characters had some big decisions to make.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
It was important to me to reveal that what we think we know about someone based on social media is often the polar opposite of truth. I’d hoped to remind readers to treat the media a little lighter and in doing so, get back to the basics of human interactions. Plus, I’d hoped to show that we’re our best selves after we’ve overcome obstacles, and that the hard stuff is worth working through.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
In Comfort Foods, readers are briefly introduced to Anna Weber, a single mom to twin girls. She’s on the fringe of the Comfort friends group because her schedule is consumed with her daughters and her work life, plus she’s hiding in plain sight and that’s exhausting. Anna is pitched some highs and lows in the plot and discovers grace that comes with second chances. Anna made some definitive choices in a time of crisis when her girls were infants, and the release from those bindings transforms her. A rare find of music brings her into unexpected proximity to a retired NFL Quarterback and they tangle at every turn. Comfort Zone is due out later this year, and will be promoted through my newsletter—subscription available at my website kimberlyfish.com —and announced through Kimberly Fish,author on Facebook.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
What Can That Do To People?
Tokyo Zangyo follows Detective Hiroshi into Tokyo’s intense corporate world to solve the mystery of the death of a top executive. What inspired you to take Hiroshi into Tokyo’s corporate world in this novel?
The news is filled with stories of suicides from overwork, depression from work-related stress, many forms of harassment, the job-quitting rate. The large companies in Japan have long wielded tremendous power all through society. It affects everything. My students, for example, devote most of their energy in the last year and a half of university to getting into a company. They skip classes for interviews, ask for extensions on assignments, and generally freak out, all in the pursuit of a good job. I’ve heard some startling and sad stories from my students about their experiences after they’ve started working. When classmates get together after they graduate and start working, they often invite me to come along. It’s great to see them mature and grow into their lives. But also, after a few drinks, the truth about their workplaces comes out. More often than not, the truth is pretty grim. The Japanese dream is to get a job in one of the big companies, and there’s a powerful and impressive side to Tokyo’s corporate world, of course, but the downside is more of the focus in this novel.
What were some ideas that were important for you to personify in your characters?
One of the ideas is about the importance of work, its centrality to our lives. Many Japanese build lives around working and working only, so that they get cut off from other facets of life. It’s a kind of religion in some ways, or at least a set of sincerely held beliefs. The characters in the novel are pressured by those ideas and controlled by them. Japanese workplaces are very authoritarian in some ways, but quite democratic in others. As in all societies, some things work phenomenally well, but others are not very healthy. So, the novel explores those kinds of ideas through the characters and looks at the intensity of workplace pressure. What can that do to people?
How did the idea for the character’s motives come to fruition for you?
I think that almost all people want to be treated with respect at work and also to succeed. So, those are basic motives. They want to fit in and contribute, which is a strong motive in Japanese culture, but they also want to be themselves, to live freely. So, those conflicting motives can become very, very complicated. The characters in Tokyo Zangyo want a lot of things, but the system wants a lot of things from them in return. So, those conflicting motives are not easy to negotiate, and can drive people to extremes—suicide, murder, mental illness, and very strange ways of coping. The inner dynamic of the novel is having to figure out how to handle the pressure of work.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The story revolves around an international marriage in Tokyo. In Japan, after a divorce, custody of the children is usually awarded to the wife, and the husband can be denied all rights of visitation. Child abduction has become an issue as well, with one parent abducting the children and then fighting it out in the courts for years. And when there’s not enough money, or too much money, things can get a lot worse. It will be out in the summer of 2022.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
After a top-tier manager in Japan’s premier media company ends up dead in front of company headquarters, Detective Hiroshi enters the high-pressure, hard-driving world of Tokyo’s large corporations. Hiroshi quickly finds out the manager fell from the roof at the exact same spot as an employee suicide three years before.
With little more to go on, Hiroshi can’t tell if the manager’s death was a guilt-ridden suicide, a careless accident, or a grisly personnel decision. The only certainty is that Japanese workplaces rely on “zangyo,” unpaid overtime that drives employees to quit—or to kill.
Teaming up with his mentor Takamatasu, Hiroshi scours the off-record spending, lavish entertaining and unspoken agreements that keep Japan, Inc. running with brutal efficiency. Working overtime himself, Hiroshi probes the dark heart of Japanese business, a place he’s tried to avoid all his life.
Tokyo Zangyo is the fourth in the Detective Hiroshi series.
Rise Above And Overcome
Three Days to Darkness follows a man that dies and is sent to Heaven but then is sent back to earth to save humanity from renegade angels. What was the inspiration for the setup in your story?
The novel started with two characters that popped into my head. They are almost direct opposites except for their shared ethnic background. Darius starts out as a straight arrow and Javon is a street thug. Their interaction has profound effects on both characters.
Darius is an intriguing character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
When I originally wrote this novel, I was feeling downtrodden by my circumstances and the people around me. I believe the driving force behind Darius arose from a need to rise above and overcome my limiting beliefs and outer circumstances.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Two major themes revolve around building self-confidence and mentoring. Like most heroes, Darius begins his journey concerned mostly with his small circle of relationships and his career goals. In his spare time, Darius helps out as a mentor to at-risk inner-city youths. I believe Darius’ community work is a major reason why he is chosen for the pivotal role he eventually plays in the course of human affairs. There are two other themes, but revealing them would be a spoiler.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I’ve just completed a sequel to “The Silver Sphere–No Time to Waste.” The second novella in the series is titled “Cataclysm–End of Worlds.” The book is currently in production and I expect to release it in early October 2021.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
No one seems to care that Junior Operative Darius McPherson is woefully short of adequate training and skills for the difficult task ahead of him. The Archangel keeps assuring him he’s the man for the mission, while Darius wonders where the more experienced Senior Operatives have gone.
As his mission briefing draws to a close, the Archangel calmly announces that Darius has three days to defuse what his superiors refer to as “The Big Emergency,” a budding cataclysm that threatens the orderly evolution of consciousness itself.
Reluctantly, Darius accepts his assignment. Immediately after the Hyperspace Conveyor Tube deposits Darius in a run down section of Miami, Florida, Darius meets the first member of his mortal task force: seventeen-year-old Javon Quincy, a street hustler on the run from a botched robbery attempt.
Stretched My Imagination To The Max
Micromium follows a team of astronauts and specialists to investigate a mining accident on Mars, but they uncover some startling secrets along the way. What were some sources that informed this novella’s development?
I’m not a scientist nor do I have scientific training. Therefore, I had to read several books about the red planet. I also watched a few NASA video documentaries about Mars.
What challenges did you set for yourself as a writer with this book?
The real challenge lay in imagining the backdrop of the story on Mars. The research I did on the planet helped to fill in the blanks. Writing the novel definitely stretched my imagination to the max.
Where did you get the idea for Micromium?
The idea came to me in a dream. I remember seeing a glowing piece of ore in a cut-away view of an asteroid. I had read something about mineral mining on asteroids, the Moon, and Mars.
What do you enjoy the most about writing novellas?
Novellas are what’s happening for me lately. Currently, I’m writing a novella series that will contain at least three books. The three books together will comprise a good-sized novel, but they will also be separate stand-alone stories that readers can enjoy in any order.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
What Was Her Story?
Landscape of a Marriage follows a strong woman who sets out to win her new husband’s heart as he tries to create beautiful parks throughout the U.S. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The real life story of Frederick Law Olmsted (FLO) inspired me. FLO is an ancestor of my husband’s- they’re actually distant cousins- and we’ve always enjoyed visiting his parks in Boston and New York as well as the grounds of the private estates he designed, including the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. I read a few of the well-written biographies about FLO and discovered that, acting on a deathbed wish from his brother, Fred married his widow Mary, adopted her three children and together, they had four more. It got me thinking about Mary- what was her story? How did she feel about all of this? Was theirs a marriage in name only or something more? I couldn’t find a story to read, so I wrote it!
Mary is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Although much has been written about Mary’s husband, renowned park builder Frederick Law Olmsted, there is relatively little known about Mary herself. I hoped to present her as much more than the little woman tending the home fires while her husband is out there transforming the American landscape, one park at a time. I wanted to portray an intelligent and passionate woman impacted by society and its’ social restrictions, but curious and loving and deeply committed to her husband, their children and her best friend Anne. I saw Mary as a practical person determined to make the best of her situation as a frequently single parent who was inspired to join her husband on his quest.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Although Landscape of a Marriage is my first historical novel, the theme is consistent with my first four contemporary works. I continue to be inspired by the idea of starting over and second chances. All of my main characters share that fervent desire for a happy ever after despite their current circumstances.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am working on two projects- the first is contemporary fiction- Miranda is a disgraced former Assistant State’s Attorney seeking a career comeback when a missing witness from the case that derailed her career resurfaces with a story of bribery and coverups involving Miranda’s ex. I am hoping to see it published within the year. The second is at the very early stages. It is biographical fiction set in the early 20th century, featuring the South’s original power couple. More to follow.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
New York, 1858: Mary, a young widow with three children, agrees to marry her brother-in-law Frederick Law Olmsted, who is acting on his late brother’s deathbed plea to “not let Mary suffer.” But she craves more than a marriage of convenience and sets out to win her husband’s love. Beginning with Central Park in New York City, Mary joins Fred on his quest to create a ‘beating green heart’ in the center of every urban space.
Over the next 40 years, Fred is inspired to create dozens of city parks, private estates and public spaces with Mary at his side. Based upon real people and true events, this is the story of Mary’s journey and personal growth and the challenges inherent in loving a brilliant and ambitious man.
I Opted For Revenge
24 Hours to Doomsday follows a veteran SAS Sergeant who’s out for revenge when a terrorist group kills his wife. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I was looking for a very powerful emotional core to my story so I opted for revenge as that is a strong motivation. Many films and books have used this e.g. the ‘Death Wish’ series of films and their many imitations. More recently, the ‘Taken’ films used this theme and they were very successful at the box office. My first two novels had a sci-fi element but this time I had a rule that everything in the book had to be scientifically plausible and set in the real world so it features a drone attack on London and a terrorist carrying an explosive charge inside his body, things which the Intelligence Services have always feared.
Rick is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Almost everyone has suffered at the hands of criminals at some point in their lives and we have all thought of revenge. But most people don’t act out these fantasies because they are civilised people and also don’t have the necessary skills or weapons. In the case of Rick he is a highly experienced former soldier in the SAS with all the necessary skills, including unarmed combat and weapons training, to wreak havoc on his opponents and get away with it.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
One theme was that terrorists are not reasonable people and can only be defeated by military action. At the same time, I have gone into a lot of detail about why the terrorists act the way they do and I have attempted to explain their behaviour without condoning it. At the same time, I have charted Rick’s personal journey. He experiences a terrible trauma – the death of his wife- just two years after his first wife died – but overcomes a series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, saves the world and finds lasting happiness with a new love.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My next book will be a direct sequel to ’24 Hours to Doomsday’ and continues Rick’s story. I will start this book later this year so it should be available sometime in 2022.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
As he gets closer to the gang, he learns about ‘Operation Armageddon’, their plan to wipe out most of humanity. The pressure intensifies. Can he, with the help of the British Armed Forces, thwart the terrorists’ evil scheme and save the world? Will he ever find happiness again?
Find out in this highly-charged political, terrorist thriller that’s filled with twists and turns, military action and many heart-in-the-mouth moments to keep you engrossed.
LITERARY TITAN 