BOOK REVIEW/AUTHOR INTERVIEW: "Bad Blood" by Nicky Peacock

Synopsis:

“I am Britannia. I am your protector. I will fend off the hungry hordes of undead hands that reach toward you. I am your steadfast defender. I will stand between you and the zombie masses as they try to taste your flesh. I am strong, unyielding, and dedicated to your survival. All I ask from you… is your blood.” 
A five-hundred-year-old bloody game of vengeance will need to be put on hold if vampires are to survive the zombie uprising. Britannia and Nicholas, bitter enemies and the only two surviving vampires left in London, have to work together to save un-infected humans and deliver them safely to a vampire stronghold in the Scottish Highlands. Unable to drink the zombie ‘bad blood’, the remaining vampires need the humans to stay alive. But will the vampires tell the survivors who they are and what they want from them? Will Britannia be able to hold back her vengeance for the greater good? Is survivor Josh the reincarnation of Britannia’s murdered true love? And can she bring herself to deliver him to the ‘safe’ hold? Survival instincts run deep, but bad blood can run deeper.

Buy Links:

Amazon UK       Amazon US      Evernight Teen

About the Author:

I guess I’ve always been a storyteller, not in a ‘liar liar pants on fire’ kind of way, although I do work in advertising! When I was little, kids would crowd around me in the playground and I’d tell them tales of blood soaked horror filled with vampires, werewolves, ghosts and more. Yes, most would consider me a disturbed child, but my playmates couldn’t help themselves, they’d huddle around me every break time like an ancient tribe feeding off the fear; and that’s how I learned that horror stories hold a certain power, no matter what some might say, everyone is addicted to a good scare, especially if it is somewhat rooted safely in unrealistic beings… or are they unrealistic?
Writing was really a natural progression. Right now I’m obsessed with writing: a YA Urban Fantasy novel, a Paranormal Romance novella series, and several short horror stories! So I’m currently living in a functional fiction coma – and loving it!
I’ve so far been published in 5 countries: USA, UK, Australia, Ireland and Canada and had short stories included in 40 anthologies with over 17 publishers.

Blog: http://nickypeacockauthor.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickyp_author

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/NickyPeacockYaBooks

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Nicky-Peacock/e/B007UH2ACW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_4

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4958833.Nicky_Peacock

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/nickypauthor/

Tumblr: http://nickypeacock.tumblr.com/

Excerpt:

We ran to the hospital. On the way, we encountered hardly anyone, alive or dead. Where were they all? When we arrived at the hospital car park, I understood. Zombies were pack animals. A massive crowd of them were crammed in and around the main building like they were waiting for a concert to start, all barely paying attention to their surroundings and seemingly swaying against the force of gravity. The other thing was the smell. When watching horror films filled with shuffling zombies, the horror came from their ghastly looks—the reminder that death has a tight grip on us all, well, most of us. But what the filmmakers should focus on—if they could—was the acidic rank odor zombies gave off. They had been dead barely twenty-four hours. It took a normal human body at least thirty-six hours to really start to smell, and that was with a vampire’s heightened senses. These guys smelled like they’d been out in the sun for three weeks covered in rubbish and besieged by wily maggots. They were mostly intact, though. Maybe this hospital had been Zombie Ground Zero. Most had turned so quickly their comrades hadn’t had time to feed.

“Maybe we should try a less populated target.” Nicholas twitched his nose and turned away from me to dry retch.

“Maybe you should grow a pair.”

“Maybe you should act like a lady.” He now had his hands on his hips, squaring up for yet another argument.

“Acting like a lady isn’t going to help now, is it? What do you want me to do? Drop my handkerchief in front of the zombies and watch them fight one another to scoop it up for me? Moron!”

“Always to the ‘nth degree with you, isn’t it?”

“Shut up. Look, the doors are holding, and they’re outside, not inside, which means there must be some people left in there alive to have barricaded this place so tight.”

“Or maybe there are just more zombies in there.”

“Well, there’s definitely a blood bank in there, and that’ll help matters no end!”

Nicholas looked thoughtful then nodded. He of course didn’t want to actually say aloud that I’d had a good idea. “So, how do we get past them?”

I assumed it was a rhetorical question, so I started down to the car park entrance, where most of the zombies were mobbing. I opened the outer door as quietly as possible.

“Ladies first,” Nicholas whispered in my ear.

“I thought we’d agreed I wasn’t a lady.” And with that, I shoved him as hard as I could into the throbbing throng of zombies.

Published by Evernight Teen

REVIEW:

For my Halloween special post this year, I was sent Bad Blood, an upper YA novel by Nicky Peacock, about vampires saving humans during the zombie apocalypse.
It might sound strange, and it is, but in the best way!

Britannia is a 450 year old vampire, turned without permission by Nicholas, a pompous vampire who fell in love with her and wanted to keep her with him for eternity. He even killed her fiancé.
She spent centuries hunting down his vampiric children, but now they must work together, because the vampire Elders need as many humans saved from the zombies as possible, or else vampires will starve.
But when the spitting image of her lost fiancé shows up, things get even stranger...

Young adult vampire novels are often cheesy. Young adult zombie novels are often pure violence and no story. Bad Blood is neither of those things. Think, Darren Shan and Poppy Z. Brite had a lovechild.
The story is a very quick read, very violent and very emotional. You get love, hate and every little thing in between. There are twists, but nothing too complex.
Britannia is a wonderful lead, with snark and depth. Nicholas is the perfect antagonist, and the supporting characters will imprint themselves in your memory.
My only problem here is, will we get another book about them? You won't want this story to end and you will ask yourself, "Why isn't this a movie?" Ms. Peacock has so much untapped potential here. I'm excited to read more from her!

5/5--wonderful!

INTERVIEW:

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I'd always wanted to be a writer. My mum got me into writing at an early age and I've always been an avid reader. But it has only been in the last couple of years that I've been published. 

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

Growing up I read a lot of Anne Rice and Kelley Armstrong. I then moved on to Charlaine Harris and Laurell K Hamilton books. I still read all these authors to this day. I've recently been introduced to Karen Marie Moning books (which are great) and, for my horror addiction, I've been reading all the lovely gems coming out of Dark Fuse Publications. 

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Bad Blood?

I really loved zombie and vampire books and wondered what would happen if they were thrown in together. But when I looked around i couldn't really see anything like that available - so I decided to write it myself!

4. Will we ever see these characters again?

Yes, the Battle of the Undead series is planned to at least a trilogy. I'm currently beavering away on the 2nd book entitled, Bad Timing.

5. How would you act if you were in Britannia's position about being turned without permission?

Good question! I always try to inject a piece of myself in all my protagonists, but Britannia really only had my sense of humor. I'm not as angry as she is or as impatience. I'd probably be pissed about it for a few hours, until I realized that I was going to be young and beautiful for ever, I'd then get over it pretty quickly (yes, I am that shallow! LOL)  

6. Why vampires vs zombies?

I think it's because they are both technically 'undead' but are so different in terms of what they are, what they do and how they kill. Vampires are usually portrayed as pretty ruthless and with them having so long to live, they are intelligent and scheming. Zombies are just shuffling, pack animal killing machines - I've always said that 'at least you know where you are with a zombie' they're not going to deceive you or pretend to be something they're not.

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I write horror, urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I'd like to give steampunk a proper go - I think its a very under-estimated genre with a lot of potential.

8. Do you believe in magic?

I'd like to say I do. I did growing up. But unfortunately, the older you get the more you realize that magic is a belief rather than a reality - man, that sound so depressing :( I actually had a recent experience watching that mermaid documentary on Animal Planet. It was shown in the UK a couple of months ago and I didn't realize that it was a fake. For a brief twenty minutes I was actually convinced there were real mermaids and out there! Magic was real! Of course I discovered later that the whole show was a lie, but I still remember that feeling of thinking that anything was possible. I called Animal Planet a lot of nasty names that day! 

9. Where did you get the idea for the vampires' backstory?

In all honesty, to make Bad Blood work, the vampires really had to hate one another, other wise there would be no tension. So I deliberately created Britannia with a stubborn streak a mile wide and Nicholas with a kind of old world 'I know better attitude' and their back stories pretty much wrote themselves. 

10. Would you like to see Bad Blood in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

It would lend itself to either a movie or TV (there's too many locations for it to work on the stage) For the actors - For Britannia, it would have to be Emma Watson, I think she would rock the attitude Brit has and she definitely has the right look. For Nicholas, he was a little tougher, but I'd go with Andrew Garfield, more for his earlier performances than his current Spiderman hi-jinx. For Philippe It has to be Tom Hiddleston - he could work both angels of this complex character. Jack would be a Nicholas Hoult, Tate would be Daniel Kaluuya (I just loved him as Tea Leaf in Psychoville - UK program) and Josh would be Liam Hemsworth. Lyle isn't in this book as much, but he features a lot in the next two so I'll pre-cast him as Eddie Redmayne. 

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

10 years goes by quicker than you think! I'd hope to still be writing books I love to write, and with the readers still enjoying them. I'd like to say that, at that point, I could give up my day job and write for a living, but I'm not that naive. Probably only the top 10% of authors get to live that sort of lifestyle, so I would have to be very fortunate indeed to achieve that.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

My day job is advertising sales and marketing, so I'd be doing that. I'd probably be reading twice as much to fill the gap - so living in a semi-functional literary coma!

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I'm working on Bad Timing (2nd in the Battle of the Undead series) and also an adult retelling of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale - I've turned it into a historical urban fantasy. 

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

A few years ago I worked on a project called the 48 hour Book for the UK's World Book Day. It was basically 20 authors writing a book in 2 days. Although we managed it, it was probably the hardest thing I had to write as most authors are very stubborn,  and everyone had a specific vision of where they wanted to go with the story - so I'd politely decline doing anything like that again with any author. But, I'd love to meet Richard Laymon and talk to him about the horror genre.   

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

Okay.
1) I have no sense of direction.
2) I'm a bit of a shopaholic when it comes to clothes and nail polish.
3) I'm always honest in interviews.
*Thank you for the interview Kelly! Happy Halloween everybody!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Terri Garey

1. You started out as a computer analyst and then decided to quit and write full-time. For people reading this who are unfamiliar with your background, can you tell us why that was?

I loved working in the computer field, but computer analysis is a very logical, linear job.  If a program isn’t working, you fix it. If software or hardware needs to be installed, you install it. Great for the left side of my brain (logical, analytical), but the right side of my brain (creativity, expression) had no outlet.  I was lucky enough to have a husband who encouraged me to do what made me creatively happy, which included writing, and blessed enough to be financially able enough to leave one career field to begin an entirely new one.

 
2. As opposed to "typical" romance/erotica, you chose to go darker with the paranormal. What made you make that decision?

I’ve always been fascinated with the spooky stuff.  Not horror so much – no slasher films for me, thank you very much – but the spooky stuff that raises the hair on the back of your neck, and makes you look over your shoulder for fear that something might be hiding in the shadows. As a child, I slept with a glow-in-the-dark cross above my bed to keep away vampires, read Edgar Allan Poe, loved and adored old monster movies like Creatures from the Black Lagoon and Bride of Frankenstein, and was addicted to shows like Dark Shadows and the Twilight Zone.  Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and still is, because it combines “spooky” with “fun” – I consider that a perfect combination!

 
3. Vampires and werewolves are usually what people write romance novels about, but you choose to use ghosts and the Devil. Why did you choose that route?

Because unlike vampires and werewolves, I believe in the possibility that ghosts and the Devil may actually exist!  At any rate, I find them far more interesting to write about. Ghosts and demons/devils speak to the concept of good vs. evil, and how the choices we make affect the course of our lives, and perhaps even the course of our afterlife.  Of course, nobody knows for sure, but given that I write fiction, I’m allowed a lot of creative license with both concepts!  :)

 
4. Sammy was inspired a bit by rock star Billy Idol. Were any of your other characters inspired by real people?

I guess you could say that Nicki Styx is my “alter ego”, in that her thoughts, emotions and reactions are mine.  Her personal style (fun, funky, adventurous with her hair and clothing) is one I would’ve like to have, if I hadn’t gone the more conservative route of wife, mother and extremely logical computer analyst.  :)  Her romantic partner, Joe Bascombe, is very similar in many ways to my own husband: handsome, smart and extremely supportive, comfortable enough in his own masculinity that he doesn’t need to prove it by dominating the woman in his life.
The character of Finn Payne in DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE was inspired by Finnish goth rocker Jyrki Linnankavi of The 69 Eyes, a lovely man with a complex personality and a kind heart. Various other characters like Evan, Butch, Caprice, Bijou Boudreaux, Granny Julep, Kelly Bascombe and Spider are really just amalgams of the many different people I’ve met in my life.  I grew up in the South, where there are no shortage of colorful characters to draw upon!

 
5. Instead of the typical femme fatale, you chose to make your heroine Nicki Styx a Goth/vintage bad gal. While your fans adore her I have to ask what made you decide to sway from the norm with her?

I wanted Nicki to come across as a real person, not just a character on the page.  I personally don’t know any women who are half-vampire or half-werewolf and can kick a super villain’s ass while wearing high heeled boots and a corset, do you?  :)  I wanted a character who’d experienced a life-changing moment of a paranormal nature, and then had to learn how to deal with it, vs. a woman who was born with “special powers” or had to hide her secret identity from mere mortals.  I wanted a real woman who’d been thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and became a better person in the end because of it.

 
6. Nicki and Evan Owenby own a vintage, upscale fashion boutique and you have a lot of fashion commentary in your novels. Are you interested in the world of fashion yourself?

As the youngest of four sisters, I grew up wearing a lot of hand-me-downs, very few of which were actually ME, if you know what I mean.  :)  I do pay attention to fashion, but I am not a slave to it, by any means, as I believe that it’s far more important to find and wear clothes that are flattering to the individual.  Something that might look great on a 5’10” model who weighs 100 lbs. soaking wet is not going to necessarily look good on on a 5.4” woman with hips!  I think fit and personal flair are a very important part of fashion, so in that way, yes, I’m interested in it, and choose my clothes carefully – I tend to go for a “casual elegance” look when it comes to style.  Well-fitting jeans with a great top, cute shoes and interesting jewelry, that’s my idea of everyday wear.  Whatever I wear, it has to look good on ME, the person, with an emphasis on color, style and fit.

 
7. The 69 Eyes made your debut novel Dead Girls Are Easy popular in the music/Goth scene when they recorded their single of the same title. Are there any other musicians you might hope to do a collaboration of sorts with in the future?

That was not a collaboration, that was an Amazing Cosmic Coincidence! I became a fan of The 69 Eyes after seeing one of their live performances on YouTube, knowing nothing about the song, which had already been written but not yet recorded.  The lead singer emailed me to tell me he had a surprise in store for me, having found my book in a bookstore in Sweden.  Hearing the song for the first time, knowing that both the title as well as the lyrics were based on my novel was super cool, as was actually meeting the band in person!  Smokin’ hot rockers from Finland (who also happen to be soft-spoken gentlemen) don’t show up out of the blue every day!
As to future musical collaborations, if Billy Idol ever emails me with the same type of news, I would not be disappointed.  :)

 
8. What authors did you enjoy when you were younger? What authors do you enjoy today?

Now, as I did when I was younger, I read a wide variety of fiction by a wide variety of authors.  As a kid, I loved Poe and Dickens, but basically read anything I could get my hands on.  As an adult, some of the best books I’ve read in the last few years are SILENT IN THE GRAVE by Deanna Raybourne, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor, and GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn.

 
9. Why Satan? There were many possibilities you could've gone with for a sexual villain in Nicki's life. Why choose the Devil?

Good vs. evil, Light vs. Darkness… it seemed pretty clear that Nicki was going to need a whole LOT of temptation to deal with, so I went with the biggest Tempter of them all!

 
10. In Silent Night, Haunted Night you use a lot of mythology with the Moirai (AKA the Norns/the Three Fates for those reading who may not know), the Night Hag and Selene, the Moon Goddess. Is mythology of interest to you personally or did you just study it to enhance the novel? Either way, I loved it!

Thank you!  I absolutely love, love, love mythology, so weaving it into each and every one of my novels is just plain fun.  Taking stories that have been around for centuries and putting a new twist on them is one of the best parts about my job!

 
11. Instead of focusing more on the romance between Nicki and Dr. Joe Bascombe, you write equally about that, Nicki's family dynamics and also the ghosts that surround her. is it difficult writing about the main story plus the numerous subplots?

Yes, it’s difficult, but that’s what makes a story – and life itself – interesting.  Everyone has their own story, but every story is surrounded by subplots, some of which help us and some which hurt us as we grow and change throughout our lives.  Life is not a straight line from start to finish, and neither are my novels.

12. You branched out from having Nicki as the narrator to stories in the third person about Sammy. Why did you decide to do that?

He’s an extremely complex character, who had his own story to tell.  When my editor suggested I tell it, I jumped at the chance!

13. You said that you were currently writing another Nicki Styx novel. Can you give us any inside secrets or is it all still too far under wraps?

What I can tell you is that it’s centered around Nicki and Joe’s wedding, and that ghosts and moral choices abound.  :)  Oh, and I absolutely LOVE the cover far more than any other cover I’d had to date, but I’m forbidden to show it until closer to the time of publication.

 
14. If you weren't writing chilling paranormal romance for Avon Books, what would you be doing?

Writing chilling paranormal romance for someone else.  :)

 
15. Thank you again for doing this interview with me. It was a pleasure having you respond to these questions that I, personally, have wondered about! Can you leave the readers with three things about yourself that may surprise them?

Hmmm… I like collecting things in miniature because I don’t like clutter (I have small curio cases for each collection: perfume bottles, opal carvings), I’m not a big meat eater, and I have a major weakness for extremely tart frozen yogurt.  Gee, what a wild woman I am!  :)
Thanks for having me, Kelly, and I hope that some of your questions have now been answered!

Find Terri Garey online via:

Official site (has links to all of her social media)

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Darren Shan

1. You never wrote unless it was for homework until you purchased your first typewriter at fourteen years of age. What changed to make you want to start writing fiction?

I had always wanted to be a writer, and had actually started writing stories in my spare time the year or two preceding my purchase of the typewriter. But having a typewriter spurred me on to work even harder. I found I could write more quickly when typing, and also it felt more “legitimate” – I now had the possibility of submitting my work to publishers, since it was typed, whereas I knew I could not send in handwritten work.

 
2. You completed your first novel when you were seventeen, but it was never published. Do you think that your fans will ever get to see some form of that novel for sale one day?

Possibly. I’ve written lots of unpublished novels, especially early in my career. I plan to return to many, maybe even all of the books, and re-write and edit the, then publish them for readers to read, even if only in an eBook format. But I can’t guarantee that I will return to them all. I will only publish them if I think they are strong enough to justify publication, and I suspect some of them might not be.

 
3. You started writing adult horror (I  myself particularly enjoyed The City Trilogy's Hell's Horizon) but transitioned to children's and young adult novels with your Cirque du Freak series. What made you make that transition?

I liked children’s books, even in my late teens and early twenties. (Indeed, I still do.) I had planned to try writing a book for children at some point, purely because I thought it would be fun. Then I had the idea for Cirque Du Freak. I didn’t see it as a career-changer at the time, but I really enjoyed writing it, and after I’d finished it I had more ideas for books for young adults, and it all just grew from there.

 
4. What made you decide to write a four book spin-off of Cirque; The Saga Of Larten Crepsely?

I hadn’t planned to write about Mr Crepsley’s early life. But after I’d finished the Cirque Du Freak series I kept thinking about him and wondering what his life was like before he met Darren, and what had happened to him over the space of two hundred years. My interest in his story grew, even though I wasn’t actively pursuing it, and eventually I felt compelled to sit down and start writing.

 
5. I must ask, why vampires? While in recent years the monsters have become popular in modern fiction worldwide, you took them on when fewer people were interested, which i give you a lot of credit for!

They’ve always been my favourite monsters, ever since I was five or six years old. I never think about the market when I’m writing. I just go with stories that I feel interested in.

 
6. What made you decide to adapt Cirque du Freak into manga? Are you, personally, a fan of Japanese entertainment?

I love Japan, its movies and manga and anime, but my Japanese publishers were the ones who instigated the manga adaptation. My books were hugely popular out there (they regularly topped the overall bestseller charts) and they thought the story would work well in manga form. I chose the artist, but after that I had nothing to do with it until it was later translated into English for its release in the USA and UK. When that happened, I went through the translation and made some tweaks to the text where I felt it was appropriate.

 
7. What was it like seeing Darren, Larten and everyone else come to life in The Vampire's Assistant movie?

I always like seeing how people interpret my characters and the world I create, whether that’s as fan art, a manda, or a movie. Nobody ever captures all of the characters exactly the way I picture them, but that’s what’s so special about books – every reader creates a unique visual world inside their own head. I enjoyed the movie. It wasn’t very faithful to the books, but on its own terms I thought it was a quircky, fun little film that served as a neat introduction to the world of my books for those who had now read them.

8. Though you often travel to London for inspiration to "get the juices flowing", you normally only write when you're at home in Limerick, Ireland. Why do you choose to do that instead of write on the fly?

I’m a creature of habit, and I prefer to write when I’m “in the zone.” Of course a writer can write anywhere, at virtually any time, but I like to lock myself away at home and do most of my writing there. I find it focuses me – “This iswork time!”

 
9. You're a self-professed film buff. Would you like to see any of your other novels portrayed on the silver screen in the future? If yes, which ones?

I’d love to see ALL of them filmed!  I’m always open to TV or movie adaptations, as it’s a great way to reach new readers and entice more people to give the books a try.

 
10. What made you love horror and things that go bump in the night so much?

It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed, ever since I was a young child. The darkness – not just physical darkness, but the darkness of the human mind and soul – has always fascinated me.

 
11. Each of your YA stories, from Cirque to The Demonata and even Zom-B are so different from each other, yet all are so frighteningly wonderful. Aside from trips to London, where do you get your inspiration?

From all over the place – books, comics, movies, music, travel.

 
12. If you had to choose, would you write children's books or adult horror for the rest of your career?

If I had to choose only one, I would choose children’s books. But thankfully I am able to work in both fields, and I plan to continue juggling them as I go forward, although I will probably start relasing my adult books under a different name from this point forward, as I’ve never felt overly comfortable writing for adults and children under the same name. Expect an announcement about that to be forthcoming on my web site in the very near future...

 
13. What would you be doing if you were not a hugely successful horror writer?

I would be trying to be a hugely successful horror writer!

 
14. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

Hopefully I’ll continue chugging along nicely on the children’s front – it will be another couple of years before the last Zom-B book is released, and I have had some ideas for a new series after that. I also want to release more adult books and get things moving on that front – I’ve written lots of books for adults which I never published because I didn’t have the time to go back and work them up into final shape. Now I’m making that time, so I hope to release a lot of those over the next few years, and then continue onwards with new material.

 
15. Thank you again so much for agreeing to do the interview, Mr. Shan! Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

I love Disney and Pixar movies. I love karaoke, even though I’m a terrible singer. And even though my books have been translated into more than thirty different languages, I only speak English – I was always terrible at languages in school!

Find Darren Shan online via:

Official site (has links to all of his social media and purchase links)

DOUBLE BOOK REVIEW/AUTHOR INTERVIEW: "The Oracle of Philadelphia" & "Raising Chaos" by Elizabeth Corrigan

ORACLE OF PHILADELPHIA REVIEW:

I love all books. I'm not too big on nonfiction, but I'm a book-lover by nature. My two biggest loves are romance (like Charlotte Brontë and indie author Nadine Keels) and anything paranormal that ISN'T Twilight.
I just finished Elizabeth Corrigan's novel Oracle Of Philadelphia (Book One: Earthbound Angels). That is paranormal done right!

Khet/Cassia/Carrie (the three pseudonyms her friends know her by, as her real name is a secret) is the Oracle, a human made immortal thanks to Lucifer. She can read minds and has helped countless people in her eight-thousand years alive.
Her closest friends are the archangel Gabriel (with whom she is in love) and the demon Bedlam (AKA Azazel--fans of the TV show Supernatural will know him better as "Old Yellow Eyes"). Her greatest enemy is the archangel Michael, who hates her and banished her from Heaven were she to ever die.
She can't change deals humans have made with demons, but when Gabriel sends her a man with a truly pure heart, she is determined to try...even if it means going to Hell.

Oracle is one of the best books I've read lately. Angels and demons are a favorite theme of mine and rarely are they written so well. This book has fictionalized facts about every Bible story, from the Fall of Lucifer and the other angels, to Cain and Abel and a few others.
Angels fall in love, get scorned and try to get back into Heaven after they fall. Demons aren't all so bad and humans really can have good hearts in Ms. Corrigan's masterful work.
Perhaps hardcore Christians might not like the fictionalized versions of archangels, but I think that this is a book for all to enjoy. Mixed in with the supernatural elements, there are real, raw emotions there. Certain parts near the end made me a little misty.
For fans of Terri Garey, Darren Shan and TV's Supernatural. You won't want to put it down!

5/5-one of my top five favorites!

RAISING CHAOS REVIEW:

In Elizabeth Corrigan's Raising Chaos (the sequel to The Oracle of Philadelphia), we find Khet (Cassie, Cassia, Cain, Caela, etc.), Bedlam and the whole host of Heaven and Hell about to pay for what Khet did at the end of Oracle.

Azrael, the archdemon Khet had Lucifer put away in the Abyss, is back, thanks to the help of Mephistopolies, and she's vowed revenge against Khet.
She's going to find the Spear of Destiny, the blade that pierced Christ at the Crucifixion and is the only thing that can kill the immortal Oracle.
But Bedlam is on a quest to get to it first and save his best friend who has no idea what's happening. But can a visit from his true love Keziel throw everything off-course when the angel Siren gets word of the plan?
Khet, meanwhile, is in Coventry, trying to make another new life for herself, but will her efforts to help actually hurt others instead?

Let me say this: I LOVED this book! I read slowly on ereaders for some reason, and I got through this book in two days. The characters are not just characters, they become your friends. Bedlam, especially, is one of the most lovable fictional creations, and he's the angel (well...demon) of chaos!
Siren was a relatable character for me, wanting what's right but feeling like it's not enough and blaming herself for what happened to the nephilim.
This book is a must-read for everyone, as long as you can deal with the fictionalized versions of angels and demons without getting religiously offended.
Ms. Corrigan took real things (yes, I believe in God and angels) and twisted them to her own fantastical whims to make Raising Chaos.

Excellent work. If I could give this a rating higher than 5, I would! My biggest issue is how can readers possibly wait any extended amount of time for the next book!?

5/5--exquisite!

INTERVIEW:

1.When/why did you decide to become a writer?

On some level, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve made up stories in my head, thought it took me awhile to actually start writing them down. I started seriously writing in 2010, when I got hit with a bout of insomnia. I had to fill up all the time I ordinarily spent sleeping with something, and I decided to finally write down one of my stories.

2. What authors inspired you to be a writer and what books do you enjoy today?

Urban fantasy was the genre that most inspired me to make up stories. I read Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Simon R. Green’s Nightside, Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld, and Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampies, and I wanted to write books like those. These days I mostly read young adult paranormal novels, but I find most of the stories I make up still tend to be new adult at the youngest.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel The Oracle of Philadelphia?

I got the idea for Oracle after season 2 of the television show Supernatural. The cliffhanger is that one of the characters sells his soul to a demon, so I spent the summer wondering what kind of character he would meet to help him out of it. I came up with this idea of an immortal oracle who operated out of a crappy diner, and I got really fascinated by her as a character. The story as it exists doesn’t bear much resemblance to Supernatural anymore, except for the crappy diner.

4. Why decide to write a sequel to Oracle?

While I was plotting Oracle, I decided Carrie needed to have other immortal friends, and since I already had angels and demons in the story, I gave her one of each. Somewhere along the line, Gabriel and especially Bedlam became crucial to the story, and I decided they deserved books of their own, with book 2 about Bedlam and book 3 about Gabriel.

5. Why choose angels and demons to write about as opposed to other, more conventional supernatural creatures?

I’m not a huge fan of werewolves and shapeshifters, both because of the frequent rampant sexism and the fact that turning into an animal is not all that appealing to me. So on that score, I’ve always been on Team Vampire. I did come up with a vampire story once upon a time, but right now they are kind of overdone. Fae are all right, but their cold and capricious nature doesn’t resonate with me. At the same time, I have a lot of thoughts about the nature of good and evil, and I’ve always enjoyed religious fantasy. So for my first book, I decided to go down that route.

6. Were any of the characters' personalities inspired by real people?

In almost every case, no. The one exception is the angel Siren, who shows up for the first time in Raising Chaos. When I was creating a pantheon of angels, I decided I wanted one who was like me, but in angel form. So I created an angel who never lied and who sang very well (way better than me, really. She’s also much more confrontational than me.) I intended her to be a side character, who was mostly mentioned as someone the other angels didn’t like very much, but then I got really interested in her, and she ended up being a narrator.

7. Will we see a third novel featuring the Oracle characters?

I have to finish writing it, but yes, definitely. I left a lot of things open at the end of Chaos, and it would be cruel not to answer them. Stories tend to grow in my head. I started out with the plan of having Oracle be a standalone novel, but then it grew into three books, then six, then seven. I have ideas for 12 books in the series right now, and I make no promises that will be the end. Of course, I also make no promises that I will actually write all of them.

8. Why did you make angels be unable to fall out of love? Was there a message or symbolism behind it?

It was actually more of a plot device than anything else. I had a Bedlam-esque conversation in my head that went something like this:
Me: You need an explanation of why Carrie and Bedlam aren’t in love with each other, or at least why he isn’t in love with her.
Also Me: I don’t know. Maybe he’s in love with someone else?
Me: You always do this! You always make your characters have these long-standing, eternal loves that are completely unrealistic! He’s been hanging out with Carrie for over three thousand years! He would have gotten over his other love by now.
Also Me: Hm. Well, maybe angels can’t fall out of love.
From there, it developed into a crucial part of the mythology. Toward the end of Chaos, Mephistopheles explains why it makes a lot of sense, given what the angels are and how and when they were created.

9. Would you like to see a movie or television show based on your stories? If yes, who would you like to see play Bedlam, etc.?

I would love to see a movie made of Oracle. I actually think it has a great movie plot because it’s simple with room for lots of special effects. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to my dream cast: Samantha Barks as Carrie, Ian Somerhalder as Bedlam, Chris Hemsworth as Gabriel, Matt Bomer as Michael, P!nk as Siren, Alexis Denisof as Mephistopheles, Tim Curry as Beelzebub, Gina Torres as Lilith, and Kristen Bell as Lethe. I recently had a blogger suggest Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Sebastian, and I’m okay with that. I’m still trying to think of a Lucifer and an Azrael, so if you have any good ideas, let me know.

10. Where do you see yourself/your career in the next ten years?

My thoughts on this change on a daily basis. In a perfect world, I’d like to keep writing my books and getting them published, while gaining a following of people dying to know what happens next to Carrie and her friends. I’ve also been working on the first book in an unrelated series that I would like to see go somewhere. So, overall, more books and more readers. Other than that, I’m flexible.

11. What are your views on immortality? Would you like to live forever?

I’m not sure. I’ve always said no, but I keep coming up with story ideas about immortal characters. I have three other somewhat fleshed out series ideas that I want to work on, and two of them in some way involve immortality. If I did become immortal, I would want to stop aging quite soonish. And I’d want some reassurance that human society will become progressively more enlightened.

12. Would you like to be able to read minds?

Definitely not! I was just thinking about this the other day, and I realized I would have to listen to what people really think of me. I really, really prefer not to know.

13. Do you have plans to write a non-paranormal novel in the future?

Not really. I do have a perpetual plot idea where a class at their ten-year reunion find out they have to repeat their senior year of high school, but I’ll probably never write it. I don’t have a lot of interest in non-paranormal books. I actually got kind of bored writing Carrie’s normal world stuff in Oracle and Chaos. I do have an idea for a sci-fi novel, which is more tech and aliens than paranormal, if that counts.

14. How did you choose which angels and demons you made the focal points of your novels?

Carrie started out as the focal point of the novels, and I decided to give her an angel and a demon friend, so the story expanded to include them. Bedlam started off as a stereotypical not-so-bad demon character, but he grew into someone who will become a bigger focal point for the novels. Gabriel was always my favorite Biblical angel, so I decided to make him Carrie’s friend. I also had some strong images of Michael, so I needed to throw him into the mix. Siren started off as a side character who pushed her way into the middle. Those five are the most central for a while. Eventually I plan to do more with Bedlam’s ex, Keziel, and there are some new characters waiting in the wings, as well.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

I was born and raised near Scranton, PA, which means when I watch the early episodes of The Office, I can’t help but yell at the screen, “There is no Chile’s in Scranton!” I have eaten at the boat-shaped restaurant with the octopus on top many times, though.
I took ballet lessons for 14 years.
This year, I made myself this cake for my birthday: http://www.bakerita.com/midnight-binge-cake/. It took 3 days (not their entirety), and I broke my mixer, and it was totally worth it.

Find Elizabeth Corrigan online via:

Official site (has links to all of her social media and where to buy her books)

BOOK REVIEW/AUTHOR INTERVIEW: "Braineater Jones" by Stephen Kozeniewski

REVIEW:

Imagine, you wake up underwater, looking up at three stone angels whom you at first think are real. Once you float to the surface, you realize you're naked. You then realize that you don't know your own name. Finally, you notice the gaping hole in your chest and figure out that you're not breathing.
What would you do?
Well, for the man who begins calling himself Braineater Jones, he resolves to get to the bottom of it all, by being an undead private investigator, with some unlikely allies and even more unlikely enemies.

Braineater Jones is one unique novel! Stephen Kozeniewski didn't need excessive violence, gore or explicit sex to create a modern day masterpiece. Set in the 30's, after Prohibition has ended, he tells the tale of a typical man in a very atypical situation!
The introduction states that he did extensive research to make the story authentic, and you can really tell that he did. You'll feel transported to that time, when women were disrespected even more than they are now and class differences are even deeper. Don't take offense, just enjoy the fact that the author did all this research just for you, the reader!
The characters run the gamut of normal to what the eff (you'll see what I mean!) and the story will truly entertain you. Don't like zombies, don't worry! I can give you a 99.999% guarantee that you will love this!

5/5--great work!

INTERVIEW:

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

When I was a very young (and, let's just admit it, precocious) lad, I had the unique opportunity to meet Charles Dickens.  It was at a book signing at a local Barnes and Noble, and Dickens was sitting there eating fish and chips out of a garbage bag.  When my Uncle Rutger and I reached the head of the line I gave the old gasbag the death stare.  He looked down at me and said, "Yes, young fellow, and what can I do for you?"  So I just looked him straight in the eye and said, "Well, which was it, a-hole?  The best of times or the worst of times?"  Dickens chuckled and leaned back in his chair.  One meaty index finger, crusted with grease and fish oil, pointed heavenward.  "But, that, my boy, is for YOU to decide."  And so I did.  

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

People are probably getting tired of hearing this, but Brian Keene inspired me to become a horror author.  Today it kind of doesn't matter what books I enjoy reading because I spend most of my time reading novels by friends, peers, and authors I owe personal favors.  One of the hazards of having a great community supporting you, I guess.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Braineater Jones?

More interesting is perhaps what I was NOT inspired by.  Most people who have read the novel assume I'm some kind of noir savant who spent a childhood reading Elmore Leonard and can instantly recall trivia about Humphrey Bogart, like that he always wore swimming trunks under his clothes.  I actually have no idea what Bogey's stance on undergarments was, and, in fact, I never read a mystery novel until last year.  Every facet of the noir milieu in BRAINEATER JONES came to me through cultural osmosis, primarily watching cartoons, sketch shows, and similar parodies.  In fact, I only just learned the difference between "hardboiled" and "noir" a few months ago.  Pretty good job for a total faker, though, huh?

4. Why choose zombies as your main paranormal focus?

There's a saying in the army about second lieutenants: their symbol is a gold bar because gold is valuable, but malleable.  I think the same way about zombies, and not just because of all the dead-eyed stares I've gotten from second louies over the years.  Zombies are eminently whatever you want them to be.  Want them to be a symbol of crass consumerism?  Done.  Want them to be a force of nature?  Done.  Want them to be intelligent, fast, or silly?  Done.  You can do pretty much anything with a walking corpse.  They don't have all the rules that tie the hands of, say, a vampire or a werewolf author.  

5. Was there any intended symbolism behind it and how the zombies behaved in your book?

Well, yes.  I worked as a secretary at a substance abuse clinic for a few years and I was pretty fascinated by the phenomenon called "cross-addiction."  This is a super-dumbed-down layman's explanation, but basically some folks will trade their addiction to something hazardous, like alcohol or cocaine, and become "addicted" to something healthier, like church or even sometimes AA.  In my book the zombies are cross-addicted from human flesh to alcohol, which I thought opened up some interesting questions about what "healthy" really is.  But I wouldn't read too much into it.

6. Will we ever see "Braineater" again in the future, or a story similar to this?

Indeed!  I'm working with the narrator of the audiobook, Steve Rimpici, and a very great animator named Zee Risek to put together a pitch for a BRAINEATER JONES animated series.  Zee is planning to pitch to some of the major television networks at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in September.  So, fingers crossed!

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I've already done some work on science fiction and vampire novels.  Someday I'd really like to do some fantasy or steampunk.  They definitely have a different feel than what I usually work on.

8. If you woke up like "Braineater", what would you do?

The novel is basically my answer to that.  Braineater and I think very much alike.  I think the way he muddles through amnesia and undead wackiness is about the apex of what I could expect from myself.  More likely I'd probably be a great big complacent dummy and die in a gutter from lack of alcohol.

9. If zombies were real and you were a "breather", would you leave them alone or do something about it?

Hmmm, me right now?  I'd probably live and let live.  It would be kind of exciting to think that I might end up alive after death, and I wouldn't want anyone hassling me.  Now, if I had been raised in the '30s I'm pretty confident I'd feel differently.

10. Would you like to see Braineater Jones in theaters? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

I never have a good answer to this question.  One reviewer said that Bruce Campbell would make a great Braineater, and I find it hard to argue with that.  I've always liked H, Jon Benjamin (the voice of Archer and Bob from Bob's Burger's) so I think he would be great for the voice of the Old Man.  The others I'm not so sure about.  Scarlett Johansson might make a good Kumaree.  I liked her in Eight Legged Freaks.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

God willing, not working a day job anymore.  

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

Drinking.  Oh, you mean in like an existential way?  Like, if I had never taken up writing what would I be doing to fritter away the hours?  Most likely black tar heroin.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

Oh I alluded to this before but I'm working on a vampire novel tentatively titled HUNTER OF THE DEAD which has been contracted with Permuted Press.  That probably won't be released until 2016, though, I think.  The next thing you'll see come out that I worked on will most likely be the AT HELL'S GATES anthology edited by Devan Sagliani.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

Well, I have no idea if I'd be any good at a collaboration but I know that's not the point of this question.  In a perfect world I'd love to work with Jonathan Maberry, Brian Keene, or David Wong.  Meanwhile, back in the realm of reality, I think I might actually be able to set up a collaboration with Ian McClellan, Shana Festa, or possibly Bill Braddock.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

Thanks for having me!  As for three surprising thing: hmmm...
1) I am an unabashed fan of Avril Lavigne (yes, STILL!)
2) I am an Eagle Scout.
3) I once asked Robb Armstrong, the creator of Jump Start, to draw me a picture of Calvin and Hobbes instead of his characters.    

Find Stephen Kozeniewski online via:

Purchase link: http://www.amazon.com/Braineater-Jones-Stephen-Kozeniewski-ebook/dp/B00FRT4CD0/

Amazon: amazon.com/author/kozeniewski

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KozAuthor 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/outfortune 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7183355.Stephen_Kozeniewski 

Blog: http://manuscriptsburn.blogspot.com 

Mailing List: http://kozauthor.campayn.com/contact_list_form/signup/10334

BOOK REVIEW/AUTHOR INTERVIEW: "My Little Book of Randoms" ny Joanne Marlowe

IREVIEW:

Sometimes, when you're down, you will have the desire to read a 50 chapter self-help novel that, in the end, well offer no real help at all.
Other times, you'll sit down and write a quick little book that has a strong sense of what you're going through abd well ease your own mind. That's what Joanne Marlowe did with My Little Book of Randoms.

Containing a little art and a lot of heart, Ms. Marlowe wrote down what was on her mind during a personal time of hardship. It just so happened to be poetry.
If you're going through a difficult time in your life, pick up My Little Book of Randoms and take a few minutes to read through it.
I just did. I have had a very difficult time as of late and reading this made me feel that she knew how I was feeling just an hour ago!
Great little thing to always have nearby fit those moments you want to take a breath and remember: someone else gets it. Even when it seems no one in your personal life does, Joanne Marlowe does!

5/5--loved it!

INTERVIEW:

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I always wanted to write.  When I was a little girl, I had journals and diaries but every time I wrote something, I immediately thought it was stupid and would throw it away.  As I got older, I wanted to write movies.  I always would create things in my head (movies) but never had the confidence in myself to write anything and keep it until last year.  I thought, it's now or never because I am not getting any younger and what am I doing with myself?

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

I am not an avid reader at all.  I really only enjoy reading books while on vacation and on a beach when I am relaxed and can read a book in one shot.  I have a small attention span and I am not someone who can read a few pages/ chapters a night.  I will end up reading the same pages over and over again if I did that. Plus, it's a time thing...I don't have much time to sit down and read. I do really like Nick Hornby novels and I like reading books after they become a movie.  Let's face it, books are almost always better than the movie....however there is the odd one that makes a better movie. 

3. Can you tell readers what inspired you to write My Little Book of Randoms?

The first social media I joined was Hitrecord.org which is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's website for artist contributions.  On the site, there were artist collaborations that turned into 3 published books called "Tiny Stories."  These were usually one or two liners and I found myself really enjoying reading them and than writing them.  I didn't get published through the site but that's because I didn't contribute to the collaborations!  I didn't remain on the site for long but met some really great people and artists.  I ventured on my own and compiled a small collection and put together "My Little Book of Randoms," just to see if I could do it.  And I did.  I learned so much a long the way and I loved the process and even more so that I did it all myself.

4. Will you write another book of poetry?

Absolutely!  I am already working on a second one entitled "This One Hurt."  I am venturing out a bit more with this book.  Longer poems, not so many quotes, short stories and maybe some more artwork....we'll see how it goes.  Maybe a collaboration with someone to do some artwork to go along with some of my stories...but I want to finish putting it together first, the written part.  I already have an idea for the cover art, something I have pictured in my head.  I want to take my time with it as I want to get my first book out there and generate some sort of buzz.

5. You mentioned that you don't look like you'd listen to Maroon 5. What kind of music do you usually enjoy? 

I listen to various music.  I love The Cure and The National and everything 80's, hair metal (Motley Crue), 90's shoegazer music (Swervedriver, Lush, Slowdive, MBV, Ride), Brit pop (Depeche Mode, Blur ), classic rock, goth-rock (Siouxsie, Sisters of Mercy), soul music (Al Green, Marvin Gaye). I still love Madonna.  I love Tori Amos.  I love the Bee Gee's. I am really into music with lots of keyboards and men with deep voices.  I love White Lies, Editors and a band called the Foreign Resort is my new obsession.  I love a lot of bands from France for some reason...Daft Punk, Phoenix, Alcest, Air, Ivy (although I  think they are NY based but orig from France).  I really like the Raveonettes and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and I think my list could go on forever.  Maybe I do look like someone who listens to Maroon 5....I mean I guess I don't really know what someone who listens to them looks like. 

6. Would you ever write a fictional novel? If yes, what kind of novel?

That's a good question.  I don't know.  I suppose I could turn one of my screenplays into a novel or novella.  You know, I don't think I would do a fictional novel.  I don't know if I would be capable.  I like to keep things simple and short and sweet and to the point.  A novel would be long and it is very different than script writing and poetry.  Perhaps if I read more novels, I would be more inclined to write one.

7. You mentioned that you are writing screenplays. What actors would you love to star in something you've written?

I am so proud of my script entitled "Just Jane" and there was an inspiration behind that movie.  His name is Jonah Hill.  I think he is funny and seems sweet and when I wrote the character Ethan, I really had him in mind.  A total long shot for sure and getting Maroon 5 to perform in this movie would be as well.  You never know though.  As far as the other scripts, I really haven't pictured anyone specifically.  I wrote like a chick-flick comedy and I am thinking maybe Drew Barrymore or Anna Kendrick.  For my script "Strangegirl" I flip flop all the time on the male lead.  That script took like 15 years to write and I am still changing it. 15 years ago, I wanted Jimmy Fallon now I picture Matt Berninger who is the singer for the National and dozens of different actors in between (Ryan Gosling...I mean who wouldn't?).  I think I just change to whomever my Man Crush is that week!  But crushes aside, I believe that this one should be made with someone just starting out to make it a true indie film.  I love this one too much as it is something I have envisioned in my head forever and it took forever to write and I am still not 100% satisfied with it...but I know soon I will be comfortable with it and I really believe that it will make a great indie flick.

8. What are some of your favorite films?

Here is another list that could go on forever but I will try to limit it and just list them sans explanation because I think they speak for themselves....Annie Hall, The Exorcist, Some Like it Hot, Casablanca, Lost in Translation, Shopgirl, 500 Days of Summer, Mosquito Coast, It's a Wonderful Life, Blue Velvet, Manhattan, Say Anything, No Country For Old Men, Pulp Fiction, Grease, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Family Stone, Mask, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Rocky, Happiness, A Fish Called Wanda, Garden State....

9. The cover artist for My Little Book of Randoms is also your tattoo artist. What tattoos do you have and would you recommend getting one to readers who are vacillating on the idea? (I'm curious about this because I've got a few sentimental tats as well!)

I have two half sleeves that have various things on them. One arm has the cherubs from The Cure's Japanese Whispers album, hearts, diamonds, stars, water & flowers.  The other sleeve has bats, some lettering which is a Cure song called "To Wish Impossible Things," a gramophone, a mirror, a cupcake, dice and cherries, stars and a butterfly.  I also have a piece on time on one of my thighs which consists of an hourglass and a burning candle.  My other thigh is a work in progress which is a dagger and bird skull with a Strangegirl banner.  I have a couple small ones in other places as well.  If people want to get a tattoo, obviously I would say to go for it.  I am glad I waited until I was a little bit older though.  My first tattoo was a spider that I got when I was 16 which has since been covered and another one I desperately want to cover.  I think when you are young, you are anxious and want to be cool and fill your body with a lot of crappy stuff that eventually you end up getting covered up or regretting.  If people want to get tattoos, that's great but really think about what you want and finding a really good tattoo artist is key.  I am lucky that I have a great artist and I love colourful tattoos and mine are definitely bright.  I think his work speaks for himself.  

10. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

Oh dear....
I am very sensitive.  I love the Golden Girls.  I like board games.

Find Joanne Marlowe online via:

Website:  http://www.jomarlowe.net/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/strangegirljo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joanne.marlowe.73

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/strangegirljo/

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: William Bos

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I have been fascinated with telling a story, I always have tried to see things from a different point of view of someone else.  I enjoy telling a story that someone may not be willing to tell

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

Robert Ludlum, John Grisham. I have enjoyed reading the city of series and the Bourne books by Eric Van Lustbader.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel The Board?

I wanted to tell a story about what happens when the popular kids rise to power with fame, fortune and power. I was never a popular kid in high school but the book had a secondary meeting, I met a girl fourteen years ago and it was more a love story tribute to her. It was a way of closing a chapter that I had been meaning to close for a very long time.

4. Will we ever see these characters again?

I have a story idea that I pitched to my ghost reader and she liked it. There is a story there and maybe in the near future there will be a story to tell.

5. What would you do if you were in Brian's situation?

I have been in his situation and I have published two books, lost 45 pounds, and made a name for myself. I believe that people make their own destiny and whatever happens to them is what they do.

6. Were any of the characters personalities or situations taken from real life?

I was a part of the reunion committee, and yes, they were

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

Mystery writing. I have an idea for a story for a serial killer story, romance and finding young love. Fantasy, too.

8. Why decide have young adults as your main characters?

A lot of it comes from seeing people grow up and seeing who they are. Seeing people grow up and seeing how there stories play out and the road that they take.

9. Do you think it's possible for an organization like The Board to become a reality?

Absolutely, with powerful parents and powerful influence brainwashing there kids to become powerful people.

10. Would you like to see The Board in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

Absolutely; Shane West to play Brian, Jennifer Morrison to play Jennifer, Elisabeth Mitchell to play Kayla.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

I would like to publish a few more books and get this next series off the ground.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

I don’t know what I wouldn’t be doing without writing, it is a release and it inspires me to do great things.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I have two books of a five to six book series in the can already. It is called the network and it takes a turn with two main characters that I have  been working for a very long time

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

John Grisham and Eric Van Lustbader.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

I like to write, I love watching people and figuring out there story, I have a drive for life that I recently discovered and I tend to make the most of it. One other thing I would like to thank my creative team who helped in this process and made the board what it was.

Find William Bos online via:

Twitter

Facebook

Official site

BOOK REVIEW: "The Board" by William Bos

The Board is the story of five kids who inherit money, power, technology - and with a little help along the way - try to take over the world. Set in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1995, Jennifer and Brian are two kids who aren't part of the popular set. But they do know the difference between right and wrong. After the two fall in love, together they devise a plan of action to fight back and stop...The Board.

I can't say I liked this book and I can't say that I didn't, either.
The plot is very inventive, and I could actually see some of these things happening in real life with the amount of rich, powerful and very heartless young adults out there now.
The problem is, the plot is a bit confusing as you start to read the book. It doesn't become clear until chapter three exactly what the characters are up to. There is little description, and the dialogue is vety plain. No college kid, even the type A kids seen here, talk like Mr. Bos made his characters speak. There are very few conjunctions, making them seem foreign instead of American and the personalities are all very flat.
What I did like is that it's fast-paced, and the story was original. I can say there is no other plot out there similar to that of The Board. The plot could be a TV show. In fact, I think CBS would pick this up if they read this. (Any executives reading this right now?)
My problem is with the narrative. As I said, there is very little passion behind the writing. I know it wasn't meant to seem that way, but it does. The characters are very bland and the narration could've used more spark to engage the reader's senses a bit more. I think that this actually should be a screenplay instead of a book. Yes, that's a compliment!

I want to read more from Mr. Bos and see how his writing matures and grows.

3/5--needs work, but has a lot of potential!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Richard Arbib

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I started writing stories in my twenties, but actually tried to sign up with the Famous Writers School by mail when I was 14 years old. They rejected me because of my age, but I later went on to get a master’s degree in creative writing at San Francisco State University.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

Several vampire stories I read, all in 1978, inspired me: “Clarimonde,” by Theophile Gautier (1836), “Carmilla,” by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu (1871), Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897), “The Spider,” by Hanss Heinz Ewers (1915), and Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice (1976).  I recently subscribed to Weird Tales magazine. One of my favorite novels is The Girl in a Swing, by Richard Adams (1980). It’s a ghost story and romance.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel The Vampire Girl Next Door?

The stories I just mentioned were a starting point and then I just imagined what it would be like if the story centered around a guy who falls in love with the beautiful, but quirky girl next door, not realizing that she’s a vampire who killed his last neighbor. 

4. Will we ever see any of the characters again in the future?

Absolutely. Most of them will be in the sequel—except for the ones who are killed in the first novel.

5. What would you do if you were in Mark's situation?

Pretty much what Mark does. Sylvia is the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. She seems to be crazy about him and he feels love at first sight when he meets her. So despite warnings from friends and a priest, and mounting evidence that Sylvia is dangerous, he ignores most of that and follows his heart.

6. Were any of the characters personalities?

No, no celebrities or famous characters in the novel.

7. You've written and published some short stories. What genre were they and what other genres would you like to try your hand at?

The other stories would also fit into the category of paranormal romance. I think most stories in the future will probably be in the same genre. I have some ideas for other novels. One of them will be a ghost story, but also with a romantic angle. My short story, “The Enchanted Doll,” was just published in the October, 2014 issue of the Mensa Bulletin.

8. What are your personal feelings about religion?

Now there’s a complicated question. I went to the United Church of Christ as a teenager, met the original inspiration for Sylvia at a Buddhist meeting (her name was Sylvia, looked like the novel character, but was not a vampire), met Anton LaVey (founder of the Church of Satan) in San Francisco, practiced magic with the Temple of Set 35 years ago when I was writing the first draft of my novel, and later had a friendship with John Allee, who, with Lillee Allee, wrote the book, Right and Left of Center: Finding Balance in Your Mundane & Magical Life. In my novel, Sylvia recommends their book to Mark on the first page of Chapter 13. On the cover of my novel, the number on Sylvia’s apartment door is 13. Often, art imitates life.

9. Why vampires and Satanism?

Partly because of my own background in magic that I just mentioned. But also, since Sylvia’s parents were murdered for witchcraft and because Sylvia has eternal life through being a vampire, she’s not looking for eternal life through salvation.

10. Would you like to see The Vampire Girl Next Door in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

I would love to watch it in the theater or TV. I can’t see it as a TV series like True Blood or The Vampire Diaries because my novel does have an ending to it. But with the sequel, there could be two movies or a mini-series. HBO could do a TV movie since they don’t seem to censor their movies or their series. It could not be a movie on a regular network as the theater rating would be either R or NC17. If I could be 33 again, I would love to play Mark, but 33 is long gone and I don’t have the acting experience. For Sylvia, I would imagine the French actress Mathilda May at about 25 or 30, but with an English accent. If you watch her romantic movie, Only Love (1998), that is how I would imagine Sylvia.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

A couple more novels published, hopefully also made into movies. If everything went well, that’s how it would be. And it would be nice if I met someone just like Sylvia (except she wouldn’t be a vampire). 

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

My other hobbies include going to the gym, ice-skating (racing), bicycling, and I studied kung fu on and off. I also go to arts events and the theater. As far as work that is not writing fiction, I’ve sold advertising for years.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

Yes, I’m working on the rewrite of the sequel to The Vampire Girl Next Door. It’s set in London and should come out in 2015.

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Read my review for TVGND here.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Vampire Girl Next Door" by Richard Arbib

Mark has been dealing with some creepy things lately. He was ganged up on in an alley, blacked out, and when he woke up, two of the three punks were dead. Not long after, his lock is unhinged on his bedroom window. Then, his next door neighbor is murdered in the same manor as the punks in the alley.
He thinks things are looking up when the next door apartment is rented to the beautiful and mysterious Sylvia. But will this new neighbor and relationship of Mark's be his undoing when a priest comes and tells him Sylvia is not what she seems?

I've read countless vampire books, and each author has a different view. Mostly, they were cursed. Sometimes it's a genetic disability. Others have scientific causes for vampirism. In this book, The Vampire Girl Next Door, author Richard Arbib associates vampirism with Satanism. While I personally don't agree with the views, I'm sure many people will.
My version of vampires has always been different than that, but I respect the author's opinion and views and try not to let my personal opinions cloud my judgment when reviewing books. I don't like that people always liken vampirism to the Devil. The Satanism might alienate people of Christian faiths who would want to try and read this book.
I thought the narative could've used a little work. I've seen many authors accused of using too much dialogue, and at times this book does fall intot hat trap. Mark is also not a very special character. I think they would've done better for a male lead. But Sylvia is delightfully creepy (and she isn't even Goth!). I wouldn't want her as MY neighbor! At the same time, I think she is a perfect woman: she's self-made, beautiful and sassy.
The best things about this book, actually, were Dave and his wif, Gail. They were bright, colorful supporting characters that gave this book the pop of light it needed.
Was this a favorite book? No. Was it enjoyable? Definitely. I think a lot of readers will like this: vampirism without the gore or excessive sex. Give it a try, you might find that this is your thing.
Also, make sure you check out the site below, as it is very interactive with the book abd enhances the reading experience

4/5--worth a read.

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