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Superheroes Possess a Dark Side
The Walrus: Monster in the Mist follows a young man that’s about to take a dark path in life, but a new neighbor changes things in ways never expected. What inspired the idea behind this riveting novel?
The story is very loosely based upon a relationship that I had as a young teen with a man and his wife who moved into our neighborhood. As in the book, this man became a mentor to me and helped me through some difficult times. There was a vacant lot which bordered our properties and it was quite an eyesore, though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t haunted.
I enjoyed the unique infusion of superheroes in this story. Why was this an important aspect for you to include in the story?
I was a big comic book fan as a child, especially Superman and Batman, from the DC Comics stable. Paul takes comfort within the good-triumphs-over-evil world of superheroes, and immediately perceives the charismatic George Albert as his own personal superhero. Many superheroes possess a dark side, though, and Paul eventually discovers that this might be true of the superhero who lives next door.
The mystery at the heart of this story was deeply intriguing. Did you plan it or did it develop organically while writing?
It really evolved organically, as I needed some narrative thread that would link Paul’s recurring nightmare, which takes place in a Southern cemetery, with his mysterious neighbor and the equally perplexing vacant lot nearby. I eventually hit upon George’s semi-famous relative, who was a Civil War colonel with a mean temper and a gripping connection to the institution of slavery and the Underground Railroad.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I’m currently doing research for a book that will have as a backdrop the bluestone quarry industry that flourished in New York’s mid-Hudson Valley during the middle-to-late 19th Century. It’s a ghost story. At least, at this early stage, I think it’s a ghost story but one never knows for sure. Hopefully it will be available sometime next year.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
The Walrus: Monster in the Mist
The Walrus: Monster in the Mist by Alan J. Paul, follows the story of the curious and superhero obsessed pre-teen boy Paul A. Tonetti, Jr. Paul is clearly obsessed with superheroes from the DC comics and consistently compares them to the popular Marvel superhero brand. I was pulled in by the deft character development. Right from the beginning, and really even from the title of the book, I was intrigued with the story.
Author Alan J. Paul writes with a unique imagination and creativity, you could compare his writing to the popular late author C.S Lewis. With vivid descriptions of alluring characters, we’re able to imagine how each character looks especially with Paul’s creative metaphors and his use of superhero comparisons. He also brings in the aspect of children using their imagination to run away from their toxic family drama, using the reality vs imagination fantasy concept to great effect. You can also see how the author uses his superhero knowledge to his advantage in this book, as comic fans will appreciate the references.
It has been awhile since I have read a book like The Walrus. This is a story with great depth, but it’s laid out methodically. The ever present sense of something sinister lurking on the fringes seems to permeate the story in a way that make it hard to put this book down, and impossible to forget the pensive feelings it instills in you.
I related deeply with Paul’s mother and his aunt’s relationship, even though it does not play a big part in the book, the author does briefly touch on the sister relationship between Annette and the main character’s mother, mainly because I have such a close relationship with my own sister and believe that your sibling or siblings are the ones that are always there for you. I was a bit suspicious of George B. Albert’s character because of how Paul idolized him, making him seem a bit too perfect to be true. It sets up a riveting character study that evolves slowly throughout the story.
This is a dark urban fantasy novel that goes in unexpected directions. The Walrus: Monster in the Mist is an enthralling horror novel with a premise that utilizes superhero’s in a unique way.
Pages: 218 | ASIN: B09354L47M
Literary Titan Book Awards July 2021
The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and imagination of these talented authors.
Gold Award Winners
Silver Award Winners
Last Call by Randall McNair
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Good Morning Mr. Death – Book Trailer
What is it that we never think of when we’re young, but is constantly on our mind when we get old? A 16-year-old wannabe thug meets Mr. Death, who takes him on a tour of his world. He shows him the souls he has collected and the souls he will collect. If Wendell Tate can solve Mr. Death’s riddle, his soul will not be the next one collected.
Atypical of the ‘Thriller’ Genre
Little Girl Scream follows a hotelier who must find a killer lurking in her hotel before he strikes again. What was the inspiration for the mystery at the heart of your story?
We wanted to write a thriller absent of the usual tropes and cliches. We were trying for a scene and situation somewhat atypical of the ‘thriller’ genre. Foremost in our objectives was to create a relationship between the two main characters wherein they did not end up romantically involved by the end of the story. Sort of a: “Yes. A man and a woman can be great friends who admire and respect each other.”
I loved the relationship between Dale and Sofia. What were some ideas that guided their character relationship?
The references in the book to the witty dialogue and ‘slightly combative’ repartee of the golden age of movies was something we both wanted to embody in Sofia and Mathis. In a sense, they are a little like Butch and Sundance from ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in that while they do make the odd pithy and even disparaging remark, the duo do genuinely care for one another and will willingly risk their life for the other.
What was the writing collaboration process like with co-author F. Carod?
While I live in South Korea, F. Carod actually lives in Cancun. She’s a wealth of information that was put to great use in the development of the story. We’d write excerpts, post them in a ‘private’ Facebook page we created, give our critiques, do rewrites and revisions, etc., etc, until we were satisfied we had what we were after. It was a low process that took a while, but I think I speak for both myself and my co-author when I suggest we both learned a great deal from one another in the process. Lastly, modern technology is wonderful. It’s remarkable two individuals on either side of the globe can write a book together without having ever met.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
There are three books in the series. The second takes up a few months later with Sofia and Mathis living in Guadalajara. Her father is a wealthy hotel magnate, and he allotted them plots of land on his huge family compound to build homes with some of the money Tiara Tillman gave them. At the close of Book 1, when they watched Chief Ricardo’s press conference on TV, and he stated every person connected to Tillman would be hunted down, Mathis mused the man may be inviting trouble. Truer words were never spoken. But the trouble follows our faithful friends, as well.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
Misadventures Memoirs: Little Girl Scream
Misadventures Memoirs: Little Girl Scream by Al E. Boy and F. Carod is a murder mystery set in the premium luxury resort, Hotel Amatista in Cancun. It centers around two main characters, Sofia Hernández, a woman in charge of many of the hotel’s facilities, and Dale Mathis, a visiting professor. The paths of these two intriguing characters intertwine when hotel guests start going missing to then be found tortured and murdered. They both must work together to find and stop the culprit.
The two protagonists are the highlight of the book, personally. Mathis is a simple English professor, but he holds a strong, unmovable personality where he doesn’t take nonsense from anyone but will call out someone’s faults immediately, which proved to be very entertaining. Sofia, on the other hand, is a dedicated and diligent hotel worker but where she shined was in the more casual settings that would reveal her to have a more teasing and eccentric side to her. Pairing the two of them up like this caused for amusing scenes that offered a break from the heavier aspects of the novel.
At first glance, Misadventures Memoirs: Little Girl Scream seems to be a horror novel with mystery elements, but it turns out to be more of a thriller mystery. Authors Al. E Boy and F. Carod play to the strengths of the mystery novel with interesting dialogue scenes where you could never really tell who was speaking the truth and the detective-like Mathis confronting those he thought were. I think the opening scene misrepresented the tone of the novel as a whole, however, since it started aggressively and gruesomely and gave off the impression that the novel would be more violent. This was smoothed out eventually though and didn’t impact the experience. The hotel setting feels like it is a throw-back to classic ‘whodunnits’ novels, although this has a unique resort culture and Boy and Carod avoid the usual clichés. In the end the mystery at the heart of the story was alluring and getting to the truth revealed a number of dark, surprising plot twists with a satisfying ending and culprit reveal.
Boy and Carod have created a very enjoyable mystery novel with vibrant characters that play off each other in extreme circumstances. The plot and character twists and developments had me ruminating in the days after finishing it. Misadventures Memoirs: Little Girl Scream is a thrilling murder mystery that is deeply intriguing and effortlessly spellbinding.
Pages: 419 | ASIN: B08QZ8C6N3
Curious About The Afterlife
Chapter Thirteen follows a woman who tries to reclaim the life that was taken from her and the young journalist who holds the key to her success or failure. What was the inspiration for the setup to your thrilling story?
I grew up in a very religious environment, so I was always curious about the afterlife. My mother was also extremely superstitious, which I found to be quite diverting. When I was young, I would oftentimes stay up late into the night watching her “read” cards to see what our future would hold. About five years ago, I took a tour of the purportedly haunted Winchester Mansion in San Jose, California. The moment I laid eyes on the sprawling stately Victorian, I knew it had to become the backdrop of my novel, thereby transforming it into “The Brewer Mansion.”
Katy is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Katy, as well as Evelyn, basically lived in a bubble when they were young. They were both quite spoiled and had doting parents. When their mothers died, each had a strong father figure to support them along the way. Katy drew from her bond with her widowed father to become the equally strong single parent for her own daughter. The driving ideal is that every child needs at least one person in their lives to provide them the strength needed to overcome whatever obstacles life might throw at them. I guess, the moral to the story is that love conquers all.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
As I grew older and began to ponder my own mortality, I became very interested in the possibility of reincarnation. In my research for Chapter Thirteen, the more I learned, the more fascinating it became, which led me to explore mediums, hypnotism, past lives, etc. It just evolved from there.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I don’t want to give too much away, but my next novel is a mystery which takes place on a cruise ship. I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of the year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Website
On April 13, 1936, in Morganville, Pennsylvania, a fire occurs at the well-known Brewer mansion, resulting in a mysterious death. Fast-forward to August 28, 2005: After attending school in New York for six years, Katy Barton returns to her hometown of Morganville, when she lands a job as a reporter for the local news station. The antiquated mansion is scheduled to be demolished and Katy is assigned to get a story from the reclusive old woman who still lives there.
Katy is a “survivor” or so she’s been told, although years of therapy have not reconciled her with her own tragic past, to which she has long since been plagued by nightmares. Each time she goes out to the estate, her nightmares are amplified by unexplained visions. When she finally meets the eccentric recluse, Evelyn, she finds that her early portrait bears an uncanny resemblance to her own high school graduation picture–and the more she learns of Evelyn’s past, the more she finds that it is eerily similar to hers. As Katy is lured deeper and deeper into the old woman’s mysterious world, she begins to question her sanity, to the point where she seeks out a hypnotherapist.
In an odd twist of fate, a handsome firefighter comes to her emotional rescue, spiraling her into a whirlwind romance that appears too good to be true. Hoping to resolve her issues, both past and present, Katy reluctantly undergoes hypnosis, where she is confronted with the truth from her past and ultimately, what could be her future. But is the life she sees her own, or is it Evelyn’s?
The Steampunk Vampire Assassins
The Devil Pulls the Strings follows a young man with uncontrollable panic attacks and time travelling abilities that send him on a race through time to capture a cursed melody. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
1) Honor the hero’s journey and infuse Slavic mythology and Baba Yaga in a modern day epic fantasy adventure.
2) Paganini’s association with the Devil.
3) The Rule of Three.
4) David Henry Sterry and Bonnie Solomon.
I wrote Chapter One Promise Me, because David Henry Sterry with The Book Doctors, read my first twenty-five pages, and said “You have to show the inciting incident, the joust, before Boone and Sapphire meet outside Stone’s brownstone.”
I wrote The Prologue, because Bonnie Solomon, Producer of Dreamworks’ SHREK and Walden’s THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, read my story and said “You have to show both secret societies before the joust occurs.”
For awareness purposes, there wasn’t a prologue in the first draft. However, without Bonnie’s suggestion, I never would created the prophecy scroll, or incorporated the domovoi into this story, or shown upfront the centuries old war between two opposing secret societies, or revealed why the horn gets blown at the joust, or created Pep, the runt domovoi, or Laureus the Scottish Warrior Laureus, or Lahash and Zakun, the steampunk vampire assassins.
Boone is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
1) Failure is not an option for Boone because all he’s ever known his entire life is failure and setback.
Boone’s development throughout the story shows he turns moments of failure into the catalyst for his success.
2) Boone discovers as the story unfolds it’s possible to work with, power through and overcome a circumstance, a condition, a disease or disorder.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
1) You can overcome insurmountable obstacles.
2) No one is defined by their circumstances, condition, disease, or disorder.
3) The power of a promise.
4) Everyone has a choice.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The next book Flynn’s Folly is a heist job gone wrong and its availability is TBD.
Author Links: Website | Amazon | Facebook
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