CLOSED HEARTS by Susan Kaye Quinn-cover reveal

CLOSED HEARTS by Susan Kaye Quinn

 

CLOSED HEARTS (Young Adult)-Book 2 of the MINDJACK Trilogy by Susan Kaye Quinn

RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2012

The Reading Cafe will feature an interview (and reviews)  with the author Susan Kaye Quinn on May 31, 2012

When you control minds, only your heart can be used against you.

Eight months ago, Kira Moore revealed to the mindreading world that mindjackers like herself were hidden in their midst. Now she wonders if telling the truth was the right choice after all. As wild rumors spread, a powerful anti-jacker politician capitalizes on mindreaders’ fears and strips jackers of their rights. While some jackers flee to Jackertown—a slum rife with jackworkers who trade mind control favors for cash—Kira and her family hide from the readers who fear her and jackers who hate her. But when a jacker Clan member makes Kira’s boyfriend Raf collapse in her arms, Kira is forced to save the people she loves by facing the thing she fears most: FBI agent Kestrel and his experimental torture chamber for jackers.

********************MIND GAMES a review******************

MIND GAMES  (YA) (found in the anthology In His Eyes) is the prequel short story to indie author Susan Kaye Quinn’s new Mindjack Trilogy.

Background:  Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. (susankquinn.com)

In a world of mindreaders, Kira is an anomaly. She has yet to enter the change and is unable to read the minds of her fellow students. But at the same time, her mind is a blank to anyone who dares to enter.  To be forever branded as a zero is not the title Kira wants. As the end of the school year approaches, Kira is hoping that summer vacation will usher in some new changes in her life.

Raf Santos is one of the most popular guys in school.  With the upcoming year end Gamesdance, Raf has only one girl in mind for his date, but the others have different plans that do not include Kira. When Raf’s so called friends threaten to harm Kira, Raf will make a decision that could hurt Kira and destroy their fragile relationship that appears to be unraveling day by day. Once best friends with Kira, Raf will have to face the consequences of his actions, when Kira may no longer be a part of his life.

Mind Games in the introductory short story in Quinn’s Mindjack Trilogy.  An interesting concept that includes the ability to read minds, hear thoughts and the isolation of those who have yet to attain status in a world governed by the reality of truths.  Without the ability to be read, the zeroes cannot be trusted-for fear they hold secrets.  A concept based in prejudices and stereotypes, I look forward to reading Open Minds-Book 1 and Closed Hearts -Book 2 in the Mindjack Trilogy. 

 Reviewed by Sandy

 

 

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An Interview with Linda Poitevin

An Interview with Linda Poitiven


Linda Poitevin is the author of the dark urban fantasy series, The Grigori Legacy, from Ace/Roc Books. Linda lives near Ottawa, Canada’s capital, and in her other life is wife, mother, friend, gardener, coffee snob, freelance writer, and zookeeper of too many pets.

Linda is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Quebec Writers’ Federation, Romance Writers of America, RWA Futuristic Fantasy Paranormal Chapter, and Ottawa Romance Writers’ Association.

Interview
TRC: Linda, we would like to thank you for visiting us today and answering our questions. We are always happy to know about the authors we have read and what they are doing.

Linda: Thank you so much for inviting me! Believe me, I’m equally thrilled to meet the readers who are enjoying Alex’s story! 🙂

TRC: Please tell us something about yourself?

Linda: I live near Canada’s capital of Ottawa, I’m happily married and have three mostly grown daughters, and I’m a sucker for animals. We have a very (VERY) large husky/shepherd/Great Dane cross dog, 2 cats, 3 rabbits, and a bearded dragon lizard.

TRC: When did you start writing?  Have you always been interested in writing?

Linda: I’ve been writing pretty much since I learned how! A lot of poetry in grade school and high school, and a few very bad attempts at short stories (they kept wanting to turn into novels) for English class. After school, I continued writing for myself when I discovered that it was the only way to keep the voices satisfied J. So yes, I think the interest was always there, although the drive to seek publication came much later.

TRC: How does it feel to see your work available for others to purchase?

Linda: Amazing. Scary. Exciting. Terrifying. Wonderful. All those and more…I can pretty much sum it up as absolutely, utterly thrilling. 🙂

TRC: Tell us how you came up with the idea for your series The Grigori Legacy? How did you come up with mixing a homicide detective and supernaturals in this world. 

Linda: The angel part of the story came from a single ‘what if’ question that popped into my head while I was listening to Sarah McLachlan’s Angel song. The lyrics, “you’re in the arms of the angel, may you find some comfort there,” made me wonder what if someone didn’t find comfort, but something else entirely? The seeds of the story led me to some wonderful discussions with a good friend who was very knowledgeable in angel lore, and that led to research, and before I knew it, I had a whole series in mind.

As for the homicide detective component, just about every heroine I’ve written (or tried to write) in the last 20 years has been a cop. I think it comes from having wanted to be one myself when I was young – and from marrying a cop! 🙂

TRC: For those of our members who are not familiar with this series, can you give us a brief description of the first novel in the series, Sins of the Angels.

Linda: As you pointed out, Sins of the Angels marries angel mythology with police procedural in a dark urban fantasy that I like to describe as Supernatural meets Law & Order SVU. Alexandra Jarvis is a Toronto homicide detective tracking a serial killer who turns out to be a fallen angel. When Heaven assigns its own hunter to track the same killer, Alex struggles to come to terms with a new reality that brings old memories back to haunt her — and to prevent the killer from triggering the Apocalypse. 

TRC: On March 27, Sins of the Sons, the second book of the Grigori Legacy series was released. Tell us about this book.

Linda: When Sins of the Son picks up, Alex finds herself thrown into the role of protector over the divine being who is supposed to save humanity — only to find herself in opposition to the same heavenly hunter she worked with in the first book.

TRC: How did you come up with your lead characters..Alexandra..Aramael? Are they based on anyone?

Linda: Alex is probably best described as a composite of the many female police officers I’ve been privileged to know over the years. She may be tough and professional, but she’s decidedly human, too. I like to think there’s a little of me in her as well.

Aramael is entirely a figment of my imagination…which my husband finds somewhat disconcerting. 🙂

TRC: What are your plans for this series?  How many books do plan to write?

Linda: I have a series of four books planned and am currently working on the third, Sins of the Righteous but have no publication date yet.

TRC: The Grigori Legacy is considered Urban Fantasy. Do you have plans for writing other genres?

Linda: Not at this point, no. I have another series in mind for when I finish The Grigori Legacy, but it will also be in the UF genre

TRC: Are you working on any different series?

Linda: Just subconsciously. 🙂

TRC: When you write, do you use a computer or first put pen to paper? 

Linda: Computer all the way. I can type much faster than I write and a pen just can’t keep up with my thoughts when I’m on a roll.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Linda: Just a huge thank you again for having me to visit today. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your questions, and if readers have anything they’d like to ask as well, I’ll be happy to answer.

LIGHTNING ROUND

FAVORITE FOOD: Cherries

FAVORITE MOVIE: Iron Man

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Sorry, can’t pick just one! Castle, The Mentalist, Rizzoli & Isles, Fringe, Grimm, Once Upon a Time…there are so many! 🙂

LAST BOOK YOU READ: The Hunger Games

FAVORITE AUTHOR: Jim Butcher

FAVORITE BOOK SERIES: The Dresden Files

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Can you believe I don’t like/watch/follow any sports? How awful is that? LOL!

If you want to know more about Linda, you can follow her from her following sites:

Website:         http://www.lindapoitevin.com/

Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/LindaPoitevin

Twitter:          https://twitter.com/#!/lindapoitevin

Goodreads:    http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3340475.Linda_Poitevin

Pinterest:   http://pinterest.com/lindapoitevin/

                                        

                                   *************GIVEAWAY**************

LInda has graciously offered a giveaway to a member of The Reading Cafe, a signed copy of either Sins of the Angels or Sins of the Son.  The winners choice. 

1.  You must be a member at The Reading Cafe.  If not, please register today, using the social log-ins or at the bottom of the page.

2.  Giveaway is open to CANADA and U.S. only


 


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Into the Dreaming by Karen Moning – a Review

Into the Dreaming by Karen Moning – a Review

Into the Dreaming is a short story by Karen Moning, that was just released earlier this week.  She wrote this in between her other Highlander novels, and it was part of a anthology.  Fans of Moning, which I include myself, will enjoy this book.  I had never read Into the Dreaming, and found this to be a lighthearted and enjoyable book to read.  I loved the extras that are included here.  So if you are a Karen Moning fan, do not hesitate to get this book.

Into the Dreaming is about Jane Sillee, who is a would be romance novelist, who keeps getting her manuscripts rejected.  At night, Jane dreams about her own Highlander.  One day she comes home to find a box, with a tapestry that has a picture of a Highlander in old Scotland.  When Jane looks closely, she sees that the highlander is her very own dream lover. 

Aeden MacKinnon has been imprisoned in Fae land for 500 years. The Unseelie King has tortured, and brainwashed him to be his very own Vengeance warrior, to do his bidding.  A dark and evil being, programmed not to feel, but to kill at the King’s command.  Aedon no longer remembers who he was, only that his name is Vengeance, and he is ice cold in every way.

The Seelie Queen decides to save Aeden, but since she cannot interfere, she plots secretly to enable Aeden to break the contract. If Aeden can find someone to love him within the one month that he is free, he will become totally free, or else be binded to the King forever. Enter Jane Sillee and her dreams at night with Aeden, something the Queen set into motion all those years before.

Jane wakes up the following morning and finds herself lying naked on the beach by the sea, with a kitten purring next to her.  Thinking she is still into the dreaming, Jane begins to explore and finds her dream lover and a castle.  But this is not the Aeden she made love to every night in her dreams.  Jane begins to realize that this is not a dream, and somehow she has been transported back in time to Scotland. She sees her dream lover as a man who does not remember her, and is totally cold and in human.  Jane understands more later, when she  hears a voice that tells her she must find a way to save him or lose him forever. 

She sets out on a plan to taunt him and make him to begin to feel again, in order to help break the evil that surrounds him. I really did enjoy the book.  It was a light read, and fun to watch Jane try all kinds of things to entice Aedon.  Jane will do anything to make Aedon feel his sexuality, as well as to make him remember her.  The kitten was adorable, and a nice touch.   I won’t spoil anything by telling you what happens, but with all the extras in the book, it is worth to buy this novella and read this story.   I for one was happy to be back in Highlander time again, but I also cannot wait for Iced and Dani O’Malley.  It was fun to spend sometime with our Highlanders, but its time to go back to the dark and Fever land.

 Reviewed by Barb

This is from the upcoming graphic novel Fever Moon

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Sins of the Son by Linda Poitevin – a Review

Sins of the Son by Linda Poitevin – a Review

Sins of the Son by Linda Poitevin is the second book in the Grigori Legacy series.  For those of you who have not read the first book in this series..Sins of the Angels, here is a brief description of what it is about. 

Alex Jarvis, is our heroine, a detective, who became involved in a serial killer case, but not the normal kind.  Alex works along side her new partner to solve the case, but along the way she discovers her partner is a power Angel, and he is her soulmate. The Grigori Legacy is a cross of Urban Fantasy & Paranormal, with the main premise behind the story, revolving around Heaven, Hell and Earth.  There are Angels, Demons, Archangels, Fallen Angels, Lucifer and the One.  You ask what is Grigori?  Here is an explanation direct from Poitiven’s website:

Who were the Grigori?
The Grigori were another choir of angels that were dispatched to Earth to observe humans. Unfortunately, they did rather more than that, sharing forbidden knowledge with us and mating with human women, resulting in them being cast from heaven – or falling. The children of the angel/human relationship were the Nephilim – a race of giants. Some sources blame the Nephilim for the flood of Noah’s ark.

Alex, who is human, discovers she is a descendant from a Nephilim, which makes her a bit different then most humans, and not popular with the Angels.  She is thrown into the middle of a possible war between Heaven and Hell, and Amageddon.  Alex is aware that all of humanity will be lost, if Lucifer and the Fallen Angels have their way.  Her budding romance with Arameal, the power Angel, who was her partner, sent from Heaven to protect her from the Fallen Angel, was left open ended, as their possible relationship was taboo. The serial killer case was resolved, and the story ended with Alex knowing that she would never see him again.  I enjoyed Sins of the Angels, but I found Sins of the Son to be so much better, a thriller all the way.

Sins of the Son picks up about a month afterwards.  This is a great story, with unbelievable action, suspense, twists, and a world which Poitiven has so ably created.  Though the premise is about Heaven and Hell, it is not really a religious story.  It is a dark look at how the war from above comes to create havoc in the human world, and the plan by Lucifer and his Fallen Angels to destroy humanity.

Alex Jarvis is once again in the middle as the story begins.  She sees Seth Benjamin’s picture on a police bulletin, as someone who has amnesia.  Alex knows that something went wrong, as when we last saw Seth in Sins of the Angels, when he helped save Alex’s life, he was supposed to go back and help Heaven stop Armageddon.  So Alex, feeling an obligation, since Seth saved her life, travels to Vancouver to help him, and find out what went wrong.

Alex tries to help Seth, with his memory loss, and has to also protect him from those inquiring about who he is.  She learns that Seth is the focus of an agreement between the One and Lucifer, as he must choose between good or evil to decide the fate of humanity.  But things went wrong, when Seth transitioned himself to return to Alex and become human.  Bringing both sides to fight for Seth, with Alex in the middle, and her determination to stop this war. 

We meet a few excellent new characters in this book, such as Archangel Michael, Detective Hugh, and Doctor Riley, and Arameal returns.  But this book belongs to Alex, and her fight to save Seth.  I have to say, that I liked Arameal in the first book, but I really started to like Seth then, and in this book I loved him. He turned out to be a strong, yet fun character, and his love for Alex was great, as he was willing to give everything up for her.  This says a lot for someone who is the Appointed (the son of the One & Lucifer). 

It was a thrilling finish, with a lot of excitement, and twists, as I could not put this book down.  Wheras, there was some conclusions to this story, so much is left open, and there has to be a continuation as the war between Heaven & Hell, and Humanity is very much open. Linda Poitevin has created a great second book, and a wonderful different storyline.  I can’t wait for the next book.  A definite must read.

Reviewed by Barb

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FREE ebooks for NOOK

FREE ebooks for NOOK

 

At the time of the posting the following books were FREE for NOOK

NOTE: The Reading Cafe may or may NOT have read these FREE books. We offer the book links for your perusal.

 

Click on the title for the link:

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson
The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson
The Scargill Cove Case Files by Jayne Ann Krentz
Summer’s Crossing by Julie Kawaga
Stella by M B Forester-Smythe
The Mating by Nicky Charles
Thirst by Claire Farrell
The Strange Case of Finley Jayne

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FREE ebooks for KINDLE

FREE ebooks for KINDLE

At the time of posting, the following books are FREE from amazon.com and Kindle

NOTE: THE READING CAFE has NOT read the following books. These books are available FREE and we are posting the links for your perusal.

Click on the Title for the LINK:

Orchids in Moonlight
Wild Blossom
Shadow Dreams
Undeniable Rogue
Elemental
Stone’s Kiss
Bloody Little Secrets
The Reiver
Winter’s Storm
The Obsession and the Fury
The Billionaire Wins The Game
Dream Lover
Midnight Sun
Reapers
Crimson Rogue

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SAVOR ME SLOWLY by Gena Showalter – a Review

SAVOR ME SLOWLY by Gena Showalter

Gena Showalter’s Alien Huntress series has surprised me and I mean that in a very good way. I will be honest and say that of all the book genres, Sci-fi books like space books or futuristic books are deemed to be my least favorite. I think the ideas and some storylines always come out corny and frivolous. Gena Showalter is able to use the concept of aliens and romance together and somehow make it work. I take my hat off for her in that regard. The series is listed under paranormal romance but it felt a little Sci-Fi-ish to me. For those who enjoy forensics and Men in Black, this series is worth reading.

The main couple of Savor Me Slowly is Jaxon Tremain who is an Alien Investigation and Removal agent and Mishka Le’Ace who is half human and half robot who is an undercover operative. The couple meets when Mishka under an executioner alias as ‘Marie’ rescues Jaxon from further torture from a group of aliens who abducted Jaxon. From here it is instant attraction between the two.

Ever since Awaken Me Darkly where Jaxon is introduced, I knew there was an intriguing enigma of a man hidden beneath of the scars and polite exterior of the man. When it comes to his career, Jaxon is a master interrogator who knows how to get answers by any means necessary along with being able to keep his mouth shut no matter what happens to him. The condition in which he is in during his torture is enough to say that the man is courageous, loyal and tough that he can endure. Such lovely traits to a man with honor. Jaxon is a well-mannered man, calm, proper, indifferent and a man with a clean mouth that doesn’t cuss. But underneath it all there is another side to Jaxon. A man who lets his emotions free, cusses and gets sarcastic when crossed, and just moodier…(in a good way moody). He has a hidden alpha-male in him that makes for savage and raw love scenes but he is also tender, slow and considerate in the bedroom as well. This combination is extremely erotic in a hypnotic and captivating way. You can’t help but just be totally entranced.

Mishka Le’Ace is a strong heroine and has likeable traits. What I like the most about Mishka was that she was the perfect balance of bad-ass tough girl and girly-girl. She wasn’t a prissy, whiney and mouthy girl that I find annoying in some girls in other books. What I can say is Mishka reminds me of Destiny from Christine Feehan’s Dark Destiny. She is a warrior of woman, selfless and protective of her man, beautiful, seductive and courageous. Mishka being half-robot is controlled by a sadistic prick of a “handler” where he hands her all these missions she is to complete. If she fails to complete the mission or argues that she doesn’t want to do the mission, her handler has the power to punish her in means of physically hurting her and putting her through heinous training. So many times in her life, she is often forced to kill people she doesn’t want to kill or sleep with men she needs answers from. Half the time, I felt sorry for Mishka but despite it all I like that she wasn’t a bitter and mean woman. Being starved of warmth, love and family in her life, Mishka deep down is a regular woman who desires a normal life. In a nutshell, Mishka is a fighter and lover.

I really enjoyed the love scenes because for starters I felt like the scenes are creative. Jaxon and Mishka do make love or grope each other in a variety of places like in a dark alley, the car and other bedrooms. I also like the variety. Some scenes are hot and savage while some are soft core and romantic. In all the scenes in which Jaxon and Mishka make love, there is so much depth of love and emotions.

Seriously what is not to love about this book? There is a nice touch of Sci-fi being used in a tasteful fashion, action whether you get a girl fist fight or an all-out alien/human brawl, suspense of how the enemy alien are plotting, breath-taking love scenes and awesome characters. While I enjoyed the first 2 books greatly; I already made up my mind that book 3 Savor me Slowly is a huge huge fave!

Reviewed by Xtina R.

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Brandon R Luffman-Interview with the author

Brandon R Luffman-Interview with the author

Born in Statesboro, Georgia in 1976, Brandon Luffman was raised in rural North Carolina from the time he was old enough to walk. In the sixth grade he discovered The Chronicles Of Narnia. Soon after that, he was on to Stephen King and Arthur C. Clarke. At the same time, he was making his first forays into writing fiction. After creating a series of short fantasy pieces for a class assignment that were received with praise, he was hooked on writing fiction for the entertainment of others. Now Brandon writes supernatural horror as well as fantasy, science fiction and other genres. His short fiction is available online in various formats. Brandon still lives on the family farm in northwestern North Carolina with his wife and family. Taking inspiration from his homeland, he brings southern sensibilities and a modern flair to these classic genre themes. His upcoming survival horror novel, Frostwalker, is expected to be released in 2012.

TRC: Hi Brandon Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. It is always nice to meet new and upcoming authors.

Brandon: Hi! I’m very flattered to have a chance to talk with you. Thank you!

TRC: We will start with some background information.
Name: Brandon R. Luffman
Year of Birth: 1976
Birthplace: Statesboro, Georgia
Residence: North Carolina
Marital Status: Married
Children: Three kids, 2 boys and 1 girl

Would you please tell us about yourself.

Brandon: I mostly define myself as a geek, if I have to put myself into a box. I’ve always been fascinated by science and technology, particularly astronomy and computers. Growing up in rural North Carolina, I was a bit of a minority. Instead of a large group of friends, I had only a few, but they were (and still are) very close ones. I’m generally rather shy, so trying to get my name out there as a new author is a bit alien to me. But I’ve met lots of new friends in the process, and that’s helped immensely.

TRC:As a child, growing up what were your hobbies and interests?

Brandon: I was into the usual things at first, the typical toys and cartoons that everyone was interested in. But, in the 6th grade, a couple of things happened that would shape my future for a very long time to come. The first thing was when a friend introduced me to the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. For those who have never really tried pen and paper RPGs, the thing to understand about them is that they are, at their heart, a cooperative storytelling experience. The social aspect of that is part of what made my close friends closer and shaped a lot of my ability to create fiction that, I hope, works on a personal level. My wife and I still play these games today, with friends or with our children. Humans are natural storytellers and these games tap into that in a very satisfying way.

TRC: Were you always interested in writing?

Brandon: This was something else that happened in the 6th grade, actually. My teacher had these boxes, several of them, all filled with pictures she had clipped from magazines and laminated. As a writing exercise, she would have each student pick a picture from the boxes and then write a one page story about it. My first one ran to something like four or six pages and I found it to be fun to write. However, I learned that we then had to share these stories with the rest of the class. I was petrified at first, but after seeing the positive reaction that the story got, I saw that stories could affect others in a very basic way. I was immediately hooked on that ability to reach others. Being able to elicit a reaction from my readers and the ability to entertain them with something I created is really what drives my desire to write. I’ve been writing fiction off and on ever since.

TRC: You have several short stories available for free from lulu.com, kobo and itunes. Please tell us about your series of short fantasy writings….Out After Dark and Best Served Hot.

Brandon: Best Served Hot is really a bit of a catalyst in all this. I elaborate on this a bit more in my first blog post “Falling Up The Stairs”, but essentially that story was what finally moved me from hoping to be a writer someday to actively pursuing it seriously. During the 2011 NaNoWriMo event, I saw that Lulu was having a short story contest. Since the word count limit was only 600 words, I figured I could bang that out pretty quickly. It turns out that it’s really hard to squeeze any sort of story into 600 words! However, it was a fun exercise. The fun part was trying to build this personal history between these characters, but none of it is explicitly stated. Due to the tight word count restriction, everything from their past is only hinted at in the dialog. I don’t know if Best Served Hot is really all that well written, but it’s a fun little piece of micro-fiction.

Out After Dark is an interesting piece. Most of my writing is kind of organic. I don’t normally work from outlines or plot things out ahead of time. Instead, I tend to start with some idea for a scene or a character and it just grows from there. Out After Dark was simply an idea that I had for this one specific scene and it was predetermined in detail. I wanted to try and turn that traditional vampire vs. hunter story around a bit. So, from the start, it was intended to only be just what it is.

However, a funny thing happened once I’d finished it. Every person who’s read that story comes back to me with the same reaction: “Where’s the rest? I want more!” Honestly, I even felt a bit of that myself, and had tried to rein myself in because those characters really seem to have a much larger story they want to tell. So, in the future, Out After Dark may become something more. The current manuscript is about 14,000 words and it looks like there’s at least a novella, if not a full length novel, in there somewhere. I’m really coming to like these characters!

TRC: Your current writing genres include, supernatural horror, fantasy, science fiction as well as others. Which genre do you prefer to write and why?

Brandon: I would have to say that horror is my main genre, but I’m not sure if I have a preference so much as I have tendencies that I don’t really control. I read a lot of different genres, so I often write a variety of types of fiction. However, the supernatural has a tendency to creep into my work over time. Another story I have in the works is an adventure/thriller type of book. Around 40,000 words in, I came to realize that it would ultimately have supernatural horror elements by the time it was finished. Almost everything I write comes back to these elements for some reason. Maybe not always horror, but almost always something supernatural.

TRC: Which genre do you prefer to read and why?

Brandon: I really do read all sorts of fiction and it’s hard to pick one genre. I tend to favor horror, but my favorite authors range from Stephen King and Dean Koontz to Tad Williams, Arthur C. Clarke and Tom Clancy. For me, the real key is a protagonist I can identify with. If you can develop that empathy with the main character, the story can take you anywhere. A great example of this is Simon, from Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. We’ve all had times in our lives when we felt like we were in over our heads and things seemed hopeless. So it’s easy for the reader to cheer for Simon and understand the troubles he faces, even if they’re taking place in a fantastic fictional world. I hope that I can capture some of that empathy in my own characters, but it truly is an art.

TRC: FROSTWALKER is your current novel. What is the release date and where can we buy the book?

Brandon: At this point, Frostwalker is in the final stages of editing, but a solid release date hasn’t been set. I’ve been working with some really talented editors to put the final polish on it, but I’m unsure of how long this process will ultimately take. Meanwhile, I’ve been working to get the rest of the project lined up. I got the preliminary version of the cover artwork from my artist back in February and now I’m working on ideas for a possible book trailer as well as all the other promotional bits needed for a proper launch.

So, the hope is that Frostwalker will be released in the next few months, but that’s all still up in the air. Once it is released, our plan is to make it available in as many eBook formats as possible as well as a print edition. So, we should have it available in the usual places – Amazon, Smashwords, iTunes and so on – but we hope to get it into bookstores as well, over time.

TRC: Please tell us the premise behind FROSTWALKER and the title of the book? In which genre would you categorize the novel?

Brandon: I think Frostwalker is probably best categorized as Survival Horror. The easy answer is that it’s a “zombie book”, but that isn’t really accurate. The creatures in Frostwalker aren’t zombies in the traditional sense. The story centers on Jake Marsden, a geeky sort of guy who finds himself in the middle of this nightmare scenario where his rural hometown is threatened by an evil force of prehistoric origins. The story tells how Jake and his friends come together to face this threat and how Jake has to step up to the greatest challenge of his life. Along the way, maybe he can get the girl, too!

TRC: You have the preliminary Cover art posted on your website. Is this the final cover picture? How much say do you currently have with the selection of the cover art?

Brandon: I’m very lucky to have a close friend who is a fantastic artist. He’s worked closely with me throughout the process to create this specific concept and it turned out beautifully! There may be a few minor adjustments made, but that is likely to be the artwork we go with.

Since I’m probably going to be self-publishing Frostwalker, I will likely have total control over the art layout and design. This is one of those double-edged swords that shows up in independent publishing, because it’s great to have that level of control, but you also have total responsibility for making sure it’s done well!

By the way, while my friend isn’t currently accepting work, he does plan to make his services available in the near future. When he does, I’ll be posting about it on my blog and Facebook page, no doubt!

TRC: Many authors talk to their partners and spouses, bouncing ideas and information back and forth for books. How involved is your wife in your writing process?

Brandon: My wife is my first beta-reader. Everything that I write goes through her hands first. While we don’t generally discuss my work in detail during the writing stages, her input is often invaluable when it’s time to revise and rewrite. She’s a voracious reader and enjoys a wide variety of genres, so she can give me a different perspective. That’s something a writer really needs, because we get so close to our work that we often fall prey to a sort of tunnel vision. She can see the other angles that I might miss.

TRC: What are you doing today?

Brandon: Foremost is to get Frostwalker finished and released. This includes thinking about some of the other supporting work for the book, such as working on my media kit. However, there’s a lot of down-time while I wait on results from my editors so there are other projects ongoing as well.

There are several projects in various stages but, aside from Frostwalker, the primary thing I’m working on right now is a new short story, currently titled The Card. I recently finished the first draft on it, but I’m waiting on feedback from beta-readers and editors before I begin revisions. It’s about a poorly-behaved tarot card and is twice as long as Out After Dark – currently at 4,200 words and likely to end up a bit longer after revision. Once it’s finished, I’m not sure what I’ll do with it. I may release it either for free or perhaps at 99 cents, or I might shop it around to various markets.

TRC: Do you have plans to turn FROSTWALKER into a series of books? For example: Frostwalker is book ONE

Brandon: At this point, Frostwalker is intended to be a stand-alone story. I’ve had a few beta-readers express an interest in knowing what other adventures these characters might have later on, but for now, the story ends with the one book. Still, you never know what the future holds!

TRC: Is there anything you would like to add, that may be of interest?

Brandon: The only thing I’d add is that I’m really enjoying this social media stuff. If people would like to chat, I sometimes spend an alarming amount of time on

Twitter: Brandon R Luffman
Facebook: Brandon R Luffman
Blog: Brandon R Luffman
LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food – Beef, in just about any format

Favorite Drink – Iced tea

Favorite Author – Stephen King

Last Movie you saw – Identity, with John Cusack

Favorite TV show – Supernatural

Dark or Milk Chocolate – Dark

Who is your muse? – Not sure… She’s flighty and I’ve not been able to pin her down long enough to ask her name!

TRC: Thank you Brandon, for allowing us to interview you today. We will let you know when the interview will be published.

Brandon: Thanks! It was lots of fun!

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