Blog Archives
The Magic of The Great Synergy
The Search For Synergy follows two young men brought together by destiny who must work together to defeat the evil threatening their world. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I’ve been inspired by many things while writing my books. For this series in particular, I used my influences that range from video games to anime to fantasy novels from my childhood to my own personal experiences. I ran the whole gambit of inspiration! Honestly, I just wanted to create a series that told a coming-of-age story with relatable characters, references to mythical lore, and plenty of unforgettable action to keep my readers turning the pages. My goal was to create something that caused readers to speculate and theorize about, ya know? A buzz around the water cooler. Or, I guess a buzz around the water fountain since I write for a MG/YA audience.
Rome and Julian are intriguing and well-developed characters. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
So, I originally wanted the book(s) to be about ONLY those two characters. And the reason behind that was because I wanted to incorporate an idea I had a while back about making two sides of a person’s personality represented by two strikingly different characters. You can read about this on my Fandom Wiki page (link below), but Rome and Julian are meant to be complete opposites in as many ways as I could think of (physical traits, family status, the way they interact with others, their reactions, their hesitation or brashness, even their knowledge of the real world). But as they are two sides of the same coin, they are brought together and solidified as a symbiotic unit by The Great Synergy. It is even reflected in the title of the book. Their individual searches AND their lives are forever realized mortally bound by the magic of The Great Synergy.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I wanted the book to seem like a quest for answers. But not on a grandiose, epic scale. Just on a small-town, local kid in school kind of thing. I wanted to make the perspective seem to emphasize how a teenager might see THEIR world as being all encompassing even though it’s relatively microscopic compared to the real world. It’s a small step in the ever-growing narrative of my series that takes my characters deeper into the “real world” and exponentially raising the stakes with every installment. The journey of 1,000 steps begins with one, and “The Search For Synergy” is Rome and Julian’s metaphorical first step in the proposed 12-book adventure.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Although I have “written” 11 of my planned 12 books, I still have much work to do on the next book in the series. That would be book number five of The Talisman Series. My goal is to have the fifth book out late winter of 2022. Think Valentine’s Day time frame! Just in time to grab the new book and curl up on a chilly night with that dragon lover in your life. But until then, this is just a friendly reminder to hold your Talisman tight and keep a wary eye out for portals!
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Fandom
Societal Annoyances
Your Children Are Boring provides a humorous and cutting examination of modern parenting. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I think like many of us, child-free or not, we’ve noticed some in society leaning towards a position where not only are children treated like little gods, and their parents the high priests, and those who choose not as selfish and sad (particularly women). I simply felt it was time to try and point this out, and perhaps address a few other articles of faith that needed an alternative view. Now I’ve stretched that religious analogy beyond breaking point, I also wanted to make people laugh, have a bit of a rant, and to explore the subject myself. Which is why it ranged from the small societal annoyances to surrogacy.
What is one piece of advice you would give to new parents?
Firstly, I’d say, there must be someone better to give you advice than me. Then if not, I’d suggest they ask yourself why you want children? I like to think most people’s reasons are relatively decent, and not self-centred. Maybe hope is more accurate. And dig deep to think what sort of parent you think you’d be and why. I think people believe there’s this mythical switch that gets flicked and you just become one, but the best parents I know, were thoroughly wonderful people in the first place.
What were some ideas that were important for you to explore in this book?
I think how having a child has seamlessly been woven into social media currency and our current penchant for identity politics. That’s something I felt was not only interesting, but important. Children being used almost as a prop, or parenthood as a badge of honour. I also find the subject of surrogacy interesting as it seems to me to be a massive blind spot morally for some. And then I wanted to expand on that wonderful George Carlin bit about children being special, with the thrust being, you all say they’re special, well they can’t be, otherwise the word loses all meaning…
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your book?
Honestly, I don’t expect anyone to agree with it all, so I hope it makes them laugh from time to time.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Your Children Are Boring is a uniquely humorous look at our culture’s obsession with children, a world where virtually every advert has a squawking child in it, where pubs are full of wailing infants, and where every other Facebook post is tagged #ProudDad.
Why do parents themselves behave like infants? Why having a child doesn’t make you less selfish, why it’s extremely unlikely that your child is in fact, ‘special’, and why modern parenting is ruining everything, not least the kids themselves.
All the answers lie within, and it’s your duty to read it.
Yes, Your Children Are Boring will make you laugh, but it’s much more than that. Once consumed you must take its teachings into the world and fix society. Or something. Oh and if you put ‘Dad’ or ‘Mum’ in your social media bios, this book is aimed at you.
What Lies in the Darkness
Twistin’ Matilda finds Jacquotte and her crew of misfits struggling to keep the ship while savage creatures threaten to break into the universe. What were some ideas that informed this novel’s development?
As planet-bound as we are, there’s always the idea that there is more out than we don’t understand. Even as we find a solution to one question, a ton of other questions spring forth from the answer. There is so much that we don’t understand. As a species, we’ve wondered at what lies in the darkness, what dangers lurk underground, in the skies above, and what slips beneath us under the waves. The wellspring of stories lies at the heart of these mysteries, as we struggle for explanations to that which we don’t know… yet.
Ancient sailors told stories of monsters attacking their ships at sea, of beautiful islands that glint with riches but are, in truth, traps with no escape. Populating these fanciful yarns are pirates and privateers, mutinous crews, ancient shipwrecks, and lost colonies. These tall tales are rife with other wondrous, mad things and they captured my imagination. They lead to a large part of what ‘other space’ is. I imagine the crew of the Matilda as they sail on the teetering edge of the world.
Space is the last great frontier and we’ve only stepped off the front porch.
What were some challenges you felt were important to Jacquotte’s character development in the story?
At the tender age of fourteen, Captain Jacquotte Delahaye was left with no choice but to take control of the Matilda and her life. From that point on, she decided where it goes, what it does, and who the ship flies for. All of that comes to an end when an old friend needed her help. She makes the rash decision to break him free from a prison ship and nothing, but trouble has been after them since. Now the haven she worked so hard to create is under constant threat and she has to make choices on the fly. All without knowing what the repercussions of those decisions will be.
Can she keep a handle on it all? Do the traumas from her past play a role in her choices? As the group splinters apart, how does she handle the separation? Do her coping mechanisms fail and spiral into more problems? Can she bring the family she made back together? Should she?
I don’t know about you, but that’s what I wanted to find out!
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
From a writer’s aspect, I wanted to build up my processes and this book did not disappoint. Writing this book was a wild ride. My invisible muse whispered secrets into my ear and the story fell out of my fingers! I completed my first draft in a mere twenty days and it still is the most fun I’ve had writing.
It was a blast! It was intoxicating! I couldn’t wait to jump on the next one! Of course, I still had to work on the rewrite, but I was pumped!
The Matilda was very much an ensemble piece. By the end of it, the crew worked well together even as the Matilda fell through into ‘other space’. Derain knew everyone except for Anton and Anton knew everyone except for Derain. Anton has got to be wondering what Derain brings to the table and vice versa. On top of that, Galena is a wild card, and now the ship is brimming with others like her.
One of the things I wanted to learn about was how do individual crewmembers work with each other. Can they work together? Can they work with the other genorgs?
This is book two in your Matilda series. What can readers expect in book three?
The future looks dark for Jacquie and the crew of the Matilda. The mysterious Consortium ship, M33, found a lead and is getting closer to catching them. The past raised its ugly head and tore a rift in the crew. With all that happening, Luli Qing has disappeared, and no one knows why or even where to start looking. It seems like the only thing holding them together is finding and rescuing her.
With more places to visit as Consortium space expands, other questions pop up to the surface. Who covets the memories of the deep spacers and why? What nefarious plans does Mr. Leon have for the genorgs and for the Matilda? And what is going on with Lieutenant Galena Chadov?
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Far off into the future in a distant part of the galaxy, the Consortium controls the human colonies held together by the jump gates. Where the Consortium doesn’t hold sway, crime flourishes. Through the use of a hellish engine that goes where no one should, the crew of the Matilda slips its way between the two. But nothing has gone right since they were involved in the battle over the planet Ninguiz.
Trapped within the folds of space and surrounded by living horrors, dangers lurk outside the ship and among the crew. While their pasts ride shotgun with a vengeance, their future looks bleak. Decisions made in the heat of the moment have consequences and payment is due.
With mutiny and pirates on the horizon, can Jacquotte Delahaye and her crew of misfits keep the ship? Can the lies of the past shatter this fragile family? Will the savage creatures break through into our universe again?
Slam your harness buckles closed and sit back in the second book of the series, Twistin’ Matilda.
What Drives the Serial Killer
Havana Brown follows detective Erickson on a bloody case to find a serial killer preying on women in Chicago. What were some sources that informed this novels development?
Since this was a prequel to my novel Rose’s Thorn, there were only a few references to the backstory in that novel: Joe’s prior relationship with Destiny, his nervous breakdown, and the serial killer. So, when I decided to write a prequel, I had to construct the story around those things. But the story itself came strictly out of my imagination.
What were some new dimensions of detective Erickson’s character that you wanted to explore in this book?
Joe won’t let go of a case and will do whatever it takes including working himself into the ground to solve it. A paradox exists in that he decides to make a life change and begin taking good care of his physical health while at the same time ignoring his psychological health. And he begins a romance with a woman who is an intellectual and physical match for him. She will be a recurring character in subsequent mysteries. In addition, I wanted to explore his relationship with his father, since it was only touched upon in Rose’s Thorn.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Oddly enough, I don’t think of themes in my writing. I focus on characters and telling the story but not so much on theme. Now that I think about it, I guess I would say that obsession is the main theme. Joe’s fixation with catching the serial killer leads to his self-destructive behaviors. And obsession is what drives the serial killer to continue murdering young women.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I recently finished the first draft of the third installment in the Joe Erickson Mystery series. It should be published by Level Best Books next spring.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
These Ghosts Need His Help
Scarlet at Crystal River follows a man trying to lead a normal life but sees things others can’t image and he’s drawn into an enigmatic mystery only he has the ability to solve. What were some sources that informed this novels development?
When I visited this stretch along the Gulf Coast, I was fascinated with the beauty of the area—emerald and crystal blue waters, forests and swamps, and incredible wildlife like the manatees. As I traveled the region, I was also distressed by the conditions I witnessed of the migrant workers, many of them immigrants, who worked the fields of produce nearby, in central Florida. So I decided to use the contrast of the two images as a foundation for my story.
Darrell has an interesting ability that seems grounded while still being other-worldly. How did you balance his ability so it seemed as believable as possible?
Darrell comes to realize that his ability as a sensitive is no more incredible, or even unbelievable, than another’s innate talent as an artist or one’s endowed athletic ability. Though he’s not totally comfortable with his ability to communicate with those on the other side—this path has led to danger and even tragedy before—he realizes he possesses this sense because these ghosts need his help. His personality, as a teacher and a coach, will not let him turn his back on those in need, especially children.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Although the novels in the Haunted Shore Mysteries are captivating whodunits with a touch of the paranormal and plenty of romance, I’m also aiming for my writing to illuminate some important issues. In SCARLET, I address the touchy—and widely misunderstood—situation of illegal migrant workers and their role in our culture. Hopefully, readers will get a little insight into this complex situation through the characters and circumstances in my fiction. Things are not always as they seem.
When and where will this book be available?
The publisher has set a launch date for SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER for September 13. The novel will soon be available in both print and e-versions for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-million and Apple books as well as great bookstores everywhere.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Strife and Deadly Peril on the Open Trail
United States Marshal Flint: Trailed follows a retired US Marshall who sets out to fulfill a dying man’s wish to protect his wife and daughter against a deadly gunslinger. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
My intention was to depict, as much as possible, an authentic version of the Old West as opposed to an idealized, romanticised, aseptic version. The three main characters, who really don’t like each other or have much in common, have no choice but to try to make the best of it when they’re unexpectedly thrown together. Riding in a wagon together for hundreds of miles and being exposed to various dangers ultimately brings out both the worst and best in them.
Flint is an intriguing and well-developed character. What were some driving ideals behind his character’s development?
I wanted to create a character who would frequently find himself in perilous and challenging situations. A lawman was the obvious choice, but then I thought a better idea would be to make him an ex-lawman who worked as a sort of Old West private investigator and hired gun. This way, I thought, there would be a wider range of future plot possibilities for my character than if he were just a marshal.
Although Flint is a mostly good man who abides by the law and is guided by his own personal code of ethics and fair play, there is more to him than that. Financial gain is also a strong motivating factor for him. Would he, for instance, have agreed to help the wife and daughter if there wasn’t the added incentive of receiving a share of the profit from the gems? Whether he would or wouldn’t can’t be said with any degree of certainty. However, when he does commit to helping them, he does so wholeheartedly and even at great personal risk to himself, thus showing that there is an element of self-sacrifice in his nature.
By the way, I didn’t actually think consciously about my main character’s attributes when writing this book, so being prompted to examine the finer points of his nature has been an interesting exercise for me.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Love, devotion, jealousy, rivalry, pettiness, selfishness and greed are among the themes explored.
The novel also explores the harmful consequences that can arise when a child is kept in the dark about its true origin.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The second Flint book, Blood Feud, is out now. It’s about two bitter rival families locked in an endless private war. As a result of thirty years of raids and ambushes, their numbers are depleted and both sides seem headed for eventual extinction. Flint is hired to protect the remaining members of one of the families but is inexorably drawn into the conflict. I anticipate the third book in the series, Vengeance, to be out by early August. Assuming my publisher has no objections, I think I might write perhaps six books in all before moving on to a new series.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
In that interval of time, he entrusts Flint with the task of helping his wife and daughter to find a hidden pouch of gemstones thought to be of incalculable worth. Above all, he is charged with protecting them against the death-dealing man in black: a gunfighter who’s been trailing the fast-fading cabin dweller all the way from California to Wyoming and who will stop at nothing to lay his hands on the gemstones.
But first comes perhaps the hardest part of all: Flint must break the news of the cabin dweller’s death to his wife and daughter — and reveal to them that he himself was his killer.
Spooks, Bureaucrats, and Tyrants
Tyranny Reborn follows MI5 as they try to thwart individuals, and groups, from sowing chaos throughout the British Isles. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The setup for this story came quite late. I had always been intrigued by the world of spies, conspiracy theories, terror attacks etc. I was an avid fan of James Bond, and the television series Spooks and 24. I was determined that I wanted to write a spy thriller, I was only 18 when I had started to write it. Originally, many years ago, Tyranny Reborn was merely a couple of chapters at the start of my then ‘first’ novel solely to provide background for the characters. I had plans to write just three books but as time went on, and many more ideas later, more research etc I decided that I was going to instead write six novels. When it became evident to me that I was going to write the six novels I began to think about a premise for the first story in the series. The idea of the virus storyline came to me whilst I was reading a book on terror attacks and there was a chapter about a gas attack. I then researched gases and viruses and their role in past terror attacks. It was then I decided that this was the plotline that I wanted to use. I had come up with an entirely new novel which would become the first book in the series, Tyranny Reborn and the book that I originally had written, which I called The Creeping Fear became the third novel.
Your characters were intriguing and well developed. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
I wanted to create an array of characters with depth; three dimensional characters rather than one dimensional. I wanted characters that even though they were in positions of power and had great responsibility they still had flaws and were still humans who made mistakes. In Tyranny Reborn I haven’t explored the characters back stories, that will be for future novels. I wanted my characters to have personality traits, realistic actions, and emotions, and to be highly relatable to the reader. My aim was to have characters who would portray emotions like a real person would in times of stress such anxiety, anger and determination. Everyone has a story to tell and I wanted most if not all of my characters to have a story to tell in this book.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
There were several themes that I wanted to portray in my book. I wanted to explore such themes as loneliness, friendships, relationships, love, loss, death. While it is a work of fiction, I wanted my readers to relate to a story filled with realism close to the human reality of pain, despair, and fear. There are also elements of sacrifice, revenge, courage, and good vs evil in Tyranny Reborn. There was one theme in particular that I wanted to explore and that was betrayal which covers treachery and greed I think. I wanted to show just how far humans would go to achieve their end goal; how evil people can be and what they are prepared to do to get what they want. There are strong aspects of greed, corruption, and reckless ambition in my book. In contrast to that I also wanted to show humans are also capable of showing great compassion and sacrifice and some will do which is necessary for the greater good.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The next book that I am working on is called The Rising Threat and it is the second novel in the Spooks, Bureaucrats and Tyrants series following Tyranny Reborn. I am hoping that it will be available in the next 3-5 years.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
Max Reed, a tough, passionate, and highly experienced MI5 officer is placed undercover in a terrorist group to try and obtain three vials of a deadly virus that MI5 believe will be unleashed across the country. The operation quickly crumbles and Reed is kidnapped, along with the deadliest weaponised virus the world has ever seen.
This unexpected turn of events drives the Counter-terrorism team onto a mysterious and compelling cat and mouse chase that could change Great Britain forever!
Joshua Price, Counter-terrorism Director, and his team embark on an action-packed, trail-blazing secret mission across Great Britain where the people they meet run rings around them. After chasing lead after lead, dead-end after dead-end, fighting with politicians and scrapping with the media, MI5 finally uncover the terrorists’ infernal secrets and reveal their monstrous plan.
With enemies and backstabbers at every turn, Prime Minister David Wannop is also tackling demons. He and his Security Council must deal with the aftermath of a failed British Army operation in Iraq to rid it of a ruthless and relentless ruler. The legal ramifications from the UN, and the unrest in parliament are escalating out of control.
With the government in disarray, the country in ruins and a rapidly failing economy, it’s hardly surprising that the civilians are asking for answers. Will this deadly virus be recovered before it wipes out the British Isles? Will the UK be plunged into another world war?
Will the Prime Minister save face and come out on top?
Find out in this gripping, fast-moving, page-turner of a thriller. Be warned, though, it’s not for the faint-hearted.
I Felt Their Every Emotion
Push Me Off The Cliff tells the emotional story of two individuals’ who desire to fight the Germans and defend their homelands during World War II. What was the initial idea behind this story and how did that transform as you were writing the novel?
All my books are dedicated to ordinary Soviet people, their difficult life and everyday struggles. As always, the initial idea was to tell western readers something about my country and my people that would defy stereotypes and through telling my characters’ individual stories showing their best and worst sides.
Your characters often go on a deeply emotional and transformative journey in your novels. Is this intentional or incidental to the story you want to tell?
I don’t think a story that shows no deep emotions and transformative journey of its characters would touch readers. Incidentally or not, I felt their every emotion, every hurt and injustice, disappointment and excitement, thankfulness and compassion. As it was with all my other stories, I couldn’t sleep peacefully when they suffered (on the page) and I cried happy tears – for them and for my decision to grant them life and happiness – at the end of the story.
You grew up in a military family in East Germany. How has that affected your writing?
If one is born in a military family, there must be some influence. The atmosphere itself is different if your father dons his uniform every day and goes to a place you are not allowed to visit and is doing things he doesn’t talk about. It added mystery and many unanswered questions to my life. Yet there was always that feeling that my father did something important for the country, for our people, so we lived a peaceful life, although as far as I know, he didn’t participate in any military conflicts. When I started writing about WWII, my father became a person who I could ask “military” questions, including about his older brothers who took part (and one of them perished) in the war. His influence on me was and still is priceless.
What do you hope readers take away from your novel?
I hope readers of my novel will learn something new about the Soviet Union’s fight against fascism and our people who paid an unprecedented price for defeating Nazi Germany. I hope that the story of Maria and Armen, who were a part of that struggle, and who found how unmerciful life can be for ordinary people even after the war ended, will move my readers.
Author Links: Website | GoodReads | Twitter
On a crowded commuter train, Maria hears an invalid singing, which painfully connects her to her time at the front and to the love that failed to happen to her. Why, then, since that day, does the voice from the past echo so insistently in her present life? The torture of uncertainty—was it really Armen?—intensifies after the next encounter and leaves her with an unsettling compulsion to do . . . what? Help him? Or, rather, rescue herself from her lonely and unassuming existence her heart subtly rejects? She must decide whether she is willing to let go of the life she knows for feelings she had never thought she could experience.
But, first, she has to find him.
As the genocide of 1915 within the Ottoman Empire destroyed the lives of Armen’s parents and about one-and-a-half-million ethnic Armenians, his future is shattered by this other war and betrayal. Legless and totally alone, and without any family after his mother is gone, it seems the most merciful thing for him would be to end his miserable existence by leaping off a cliff. Otherwise, he must find the courage to continue living in the condition the war left him and find his place in the bitter every-day reality full of difficulties prone to men like him.
Maria and Armen. Each carries private wounds. In the face of despair, will fate offer them a chance to heal their souls and hearts?
LITERARY TITAN 