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Welcome back! As many of you may know, I took a few weeks off from publishing interviews so that I could work on finishing my new novel: Luminous and Ominous!
The writing is now done and I am frantically editing to polish it and make everything perfect for you! I had hoped to actually be done and ready to publish by today, but that simply wasn't possible. It will be another week or two before we can do that.
However, I have included a very brief preview of the first two pages of my book. I hope you'll all take a minute to take a look.
Expect more news here next week, but for the record, I'm REALLY proud of what I'm creating...
We have still been releasing new installments of BEYOND BRILLIANT! each week while I was away, so if you haven't been checking in, you'll find Pirates, Zombies, and surprises waiting for you here!
This week we have interviews with two authors to share with you. I hope that, whichever author you have come here to read, you will take the time to read both. I have enjoyed their free previews and they both come highly recommended!
Noahan Author Interview – Imogen Rose
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Imogen, thank you for your time. Can you please tell us about Portal?
IMOGEN ROSE: Noah, thanks for having me. PORTAL is my first work of fiction. It’s a story about a teenage girl who wakes up in a different life. It follows her confusion as she tries to work out what has happened to her. It’s a story about love, a mother’s and her daughter’s.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Please tell us about Arizona.
IMOGEN ROSE: Arizona is a rough-tough ice-hockey playing teen from New Jersey. This aspect of her is very much inspired by my own daughter who was a lone girl varsity hockey player for her high school. The Arizona in my story, however, has issues with her parents that make her vary to confront her mother when she is suddenly faced with a new situation.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: You have more recently published Equilibrium: Portal Chronicles Book Two. What can you tell us about the follow-up?
IMOGEN ROSE: Where as the first book was a slow introduction into Arizona’s confusion and her bonding with Kellan, book two is more of an adventure. We are introduced to the Wanderers, beings who can travel through time and dimensions.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I was born in Montclair, and lived there until I was 15. How do you like living in New Jersey?
IMOGEN ROSE: I am a city girl, so moving to New Jersey was hard. I lived in London before I moved here. I miss not being able to walk to places and I miss public transport. However, NJ is beautiful. The fall colors are stunning. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I love it now. I drive everywhere.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: How is writing a Young Adult novel different from writing an adult one?
IMOGEN ROSE: I have never written an adult book. I’m not sure that there is much of a difference. Many years ago, when I was a YA, I read all kinds of books. To me, YA seems to mean that the story involves high school kids.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What element is most important when writing a science fiction story?
IMOGEN ROSE: When I wrote PORTAL, I didn't give genre a thought. As the reviews started coming in, I did notice that science fiction was mention to describe it. It's perhaps not that surprising, after all, I have a portal, time travel and alternative dimensions in my story. It did get tagged as science fiction early on and I very quickly discovered that readers who are looking to read real science fiction are not looking for books like mine. I would say PORTAL is more of a teen paranormal fantasy. Had I wanted to make it a science fiction read, I should have concentrated on the technical aspects of the portal etc. Those aspects are not dealt with in my story at all, the technical part being irrelevant to my fantasy world in the Portal Chronicles.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What have you done and what are you doing to promote your work?
IMOGEN ROSE: I am very new to this. I published Portal in January. I look around and see what everyone else is doing and try to learn from them. There are some great resources available to indie authors: KindleNation, DailyCheapReads, Ireaderreview. I, also, make sure to participate on the Amazon kindle forum. I have a Facebook page, Twitter account. I try everything.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What advice would you give to newly published authors?
IMOGEN ROSE: Start promoting! It’s important to get word out there about your book. My second piece of advice is to price your product competitively. As a new author, having a loss leader can be a very effective strategy
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Do you think time travel could actually be possible?
IMOGEN ROSE: Time travel to the future seems to be scientifically possible.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: If you could leave your body and travel astrally, would you? Where would you go?
IMOGEN ROSE: I would, if I could come back! Where to? Hmm…
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: If you could ask any one character in your novel a question, what would it be?
IMOGEN ROSE: Arizona, who would you rather be, Darley or Stevens?
IMOGEN ROSE: And I get to ask you a question? What’s your happiest memory from your time in New Jersey?
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Oh, well I lived there for fifteen years! It’s a little hard to say what my happiest memory from the first fifteen years of my life might be! I remember some years back my father asked me how much I remembered from when I was very young. I thought about it and mentioned a half dozen things. The next day, a dozen more occurred to me. Especially when it comes to my early years, I think memory is a little more like ocean waves and a little less like an indexed book that I can reference whenever I want…
But I do have many memories of what my home was like in the fall. There’s a wonderful smell that comes from the trees and the woods when autumn arrives in Montclair. When I smell it, it feels like everything I’ve ever lost has been restored to me. It feels like I’m finally home again.
Noahan Author Interview – David McAfee
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Please tell us about 33 A.D.
DAVID MCAFEE: Well, the idea came to me after reading a book called VIOLENT SANDS, by Sean Young. The book was set in Biblical Jerusalem and Young did a masterful job of transporting me back to that time and place. I started to wonder where the vampires were and what they would think of all the hoopla surrounding Jesus. Voila! The concept for 33 A.D. was born.
In the book, vampires live behind the scenes, and they have been trying for centuries to gain access to Israel. Up until this point, the faith of the Jewish population has been too strong, leaving them weak. But they see an opportunity to turn things around when Jesus comes into the picture, and they send Theron, an assassin, to kill him. The assassin soon finds out that job may be harder that it seems.
I consider it a return to old school vampires. You won’t find any sparkly, angst-ridden, whiny vampires in the pages of 33 A.D. They are brutish, violent, evil, and they love what they do.
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What can you tell us about Ephraim?
DAVID MCAFEE: Ephraim is a very old, very powerful vampire. At one time, he was the head assassin (known as the Lead Enforcer) for the ruling body vampire society. But he betrayed his people to follow Jesus, and no one knows why. The vampires send Theron to kill Ephraim, and that is the beginning of the story.
Ephraim intrigues me, and I will probably delve into his personal story in some future story. I want to know why he betrayed his own people. What did he see in the rabbi from Galilee that other vampires did not?
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What can you tell us about Theron?
DAVID MCAFEE: Theron is as bad as they come. Old, powerful, violent. He is given the position of Lead Enforcer once Ephraim’s betrayal becomes known. killing Ephraim is his first mission in that regard.
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: This may seem an elementary question… But recent authors have made me want to leave very little assumed: What happens to Vampires, in your book, when they go out in the daytime? How about the other classical Vampiric rules? Do they have to ask to enter a house? Does garlic repel them? What are your rules?
DAVID MCAFEE: The daylight burns them to dust. Fire can also kill them, as can having their heads cut off. A piece of wood through the heart will paralyze them, but it’s not fatal. Once the wood is removed the vampire returns to normal. As for garlic? Nope. No effect. Ditto crosses and other holy relics. The exception to the rule is if the cross has been blessed by a holy person (priest, etc.), in this case the vampire would weaken the closer he or she got to the item. It wouldn’t kill them, but it would have a diminishing effect on their abilities.
The same is true for a person of strong faith. It doesn’t matter which faith, either. All the religions based on a single deity would have the same effect. Vampires, as agents (unknowing agents) of the Underworld are repelled by things from Above.
Oh, and you wouldn’t be safe in your own house, either. Unless, of course, it was protected by faith. Most churches are safe havens, but personal dwellings are not.
The vampires cast spells, too, but they know them as psalms. Such as a Pslam of Silence, which nullifies sound in a specific area. Physical abilities are magnified. Strength, endurance, and even the senses are much sharper. But Learned abilities, such as stealth or fighting, still have to be learned. being a vampire wouldn’t automatically make you a Kung Fu master, for example.
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: We live in an often sensitive society. Any book dealing with the issues and events you are working with is going to ruffle a few feathers. How do you deal with those who may be offended by your work?
DAVID MCAFEE: To be honest, I’m not sure. It’s not blasphemous. I had several very religious friends read it just to be safe, and no one was offended. I even had a Jewish buddy give it a read to make sure some of the scenes didn’t come across as anti-semitic. He liked it, too. So far the only people who have been offended by the book are people who refuse to read it. Not sure there is anything I could do that would change their minds.
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What effect do you hope your story has on your readers?
DAVID MCAFEE: Honestly, I just hope it entertains. I’d love to sit here and say I wrote is as a scathing social commentary or that I hoped it would have some deep literary meaning, but really I just wanted to tell a story. If my readers enjoy the book for what it is, a work of fiction, and get nothing out of it but a few hours of enjoyment, then that is fine with me.
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What research did you have to do to write 33 A.D.?
DAVID MCAFEE: Tons. I researched everything from ancient architecture to what crops grew in and around Jerusalem at that time. I researched the Roman Legion and how it was structured. I researched the layout of Biblical Jerusalem, such as where were the gates and who was likely to live in any given area, etc. I could go on and on. Even the name of the vampire race, “bachiyr” was the result of research. I even bought my very first Bible (I’ve never owned one before) to make sure I had certain aspects of the story correct in relation to the Gospels.
I didn’t always use what I found, but I looked up almost everything.
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What are you doing and what have you done to promote your work?
DAVID MCAFEE: Sadly, I haven’t done much. I work 50 hours a week and try to squeeze in some time to write, also. I did buy some ad space on facebook as well as a sponsorship on a Kindle-centric blog. Also, in October a local radio station chose the book for its Book of the Month. But other than that, just a few posts here and there online.
NOAH MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What are one or two qualities that you think are necessary to tell a good scary story?
DAVID MCAFEE: Suspense. you have to be able to build it. Scares come from not knowing what is right around the corner. If you make everything in your book too predictable, it isn’t going to scare anyone.
You also need to touch on the issues that scare most people. (NOTE: I said most, not all) Death is a good one, because we know so little about it. Death of a loved one, or your own death, etc. get people thinking about their own mortality, and many times you will have at least given them a chill.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: If you could leave your body and travel astrally, would you? Where would you go?
DAVID MCAFEE: Wow. there are way too many possibilities. Are we talking present day places or can I go anywhere, anytime? If I can travel through time astrally, I would go back to the Cretaceous period and try and see what a T-Rex really looked like.
If I have to stick to present day, I’d have to think about it. Several obvious choices come to mind, like the Playboy Mansion and deep inside Area 51, but I’d have to think about that one for a while.
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: If you could ask any one character in your novel a question, what would it be?
DAVID MCAFEE: Not sure. I have several I’d like to ask, but they would also be spoilers for anyone reading this. I suppose I could ask Jesus for some wine. ;) (I’m gonna hear about that one. You watch.)
OK, here is my question for you, Noah: What do you enjoy most about interviewing authors? And why?
NOAH K MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I’ll be honest, I started this project just because I wanted to get traffic to my site and interest people in my own work. However, I was quickly surprised to discover just how much talent there is out there! I have discovered a slew of new authors whose work I have really enjoyed because I went and read their free previews to see if I wanted to interview them.
My decision to publish my first novel has been tremendously good for me as an author. The encouragement gave me the fire that I need to produce. But by engaging in the work of my peers, I think that I have profited just as much.
There’s also something that’s just kinda cool about being able to read and enjoy a book and then discuss it with an author! I’ve been reading for many years, but until recently I couldn’t tell them what I think. I love having this dialogue and discussion. I like thinking that I might even be able to help them find their audiences in the smallest of ways…
Thank you all for spending your day with us! I hope that you'll take a moment to check out the work of our fine authors and I hope to see you back here next week with more interviews - and news about my new book Luminous and Ominous!
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