Friday, July 26, 2013

Featured Author: Dan O'Brien

Welcome to the third day of the The End of the World Playlist blog tour. It will run until August 1st and will feature excerpts and new author interviews each day. But first, here is the obligatory blurb about the novel to settle you into this dystopian world:

The world as we knew it had ended. Deep in the mountains of the west coast, six men survived. In the town of River’s Bend, these six friends continued on with their lives as zombies inherited the Earth. As they navigated the world that had been left behind, the soundtrack of life played on.




A few questions for the author:


Do you have any favorite authors or favorite books? 

Too many to count really, but I will say that I love Hemmingway and Hugo, Heinlein and Amisov, and Neil Gaiman (who is a personal writing hero because he forewent college to pursue his dream). My favorite book all-time is tie between Lonesome Dove and Les Miserables.


What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question? 

Why should people want to read my books? The simple answer: Because I love what I do, and I do it for readers. I hope that the readers of this post will take the time to follow my blog (where you can win a Kindle Fire) and take part in my lifelong journey as a writer.


If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be? 

It would lack a title, as I have moved in so many different directions in my life that any title would be disingenuous.



Here be an excerpt for your enjoyment:


Track 3
Behind Blue Eyes


The sun had begun to set. Darkness seeped across the grass and tree-filled horizon. Trees passed by in a flash. The engine was loud, aggressive. The stereo was cranked. 

Dan looked out the window. 

Kenny watched Dan looking out the window.

“What’s with the puss?”

“Huh?”

“The sour face, whatever,” replied Kenny, pursing his lips.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“The fuck it doesn’t.”

Dan looked away from the passing forest. His eyes were serious; his cheek muscles flexed angrily. 

“It has been five years.”

“Since what?”

“Are you daft? Since the moon landing, what the fuck do you think I’m talking about? That day. It has been five years since that day.”

Kenny’s smile disappeared.

“We all lost something that day,” continued Dan.

“Yeah.”

Dan pulled down his shirt and torso guard. 

There was a gold ring on a chain. 

He touched the outside of it gently. 

“Don’t miss the turn.”

“This is my business, man, I know this shit. You don’t even have to stress.”

Dan grunted and looked back out at the world. The road rose and then fell, changing into an S-turn. There was a dirt road to the right, and Kenny navigated the Bronco onto it with a surreal ease even at breakneck speed. A heavy sign painted in white, scrawling letters read: beware. 

The road was uneven and treacherous. 

Were it not for Kenny’s skillful driving, they would have crashed and burned. “Home sweet home, motherfucker,” he announced mirthfully. 

Bundles of barbed, rusted wire extended beyond the tree line. Littering the trees, heavy sheets of metal and car hoods were held up by thin wire, ready for decapitation. The dense forest gave way to an open field whose trees were cut down with precision. 

The building in the distance was a dark earthen color and without any windows or doors except a large retractable gate that thundered open as the Bronco approached. Floodlights were situated every five to six feet. They dare not turn them on at night as it might draw unwanted attention even though the compound would be very defensible if the situation called for it.

The Bronco rolled to a stop, the powerful engine switching off. Dan and Kenny stepped out. Dan grasped the bag and threw it over his shoulder. 

The sun began to slink just below the horizon.

“So tomorrow,” began the loveable behemoth.

“Whatever you want, man.”

“Right. Right.”

Together they moved through the door of the building into the interior. The first room was wide open with beat-up couches littered about and a few televisions that looked like remnants from the Cold War. The room’s five occupants were scattered about the room doing their own thing, except for two of them. Those two were sharing a couch in front of a television, and one of them was sitting very still, seemingly engrossed by the images on the screen. 

The one closest to the door was a thin man and shorter than Dan––certainly smaller than Kenny. With wiry brown hair and cold gray eyes, he looked with dissatisfaction at the world; Brandon was a ghost from the past. 

“Any trouble?” he asked.

“A bit, nothing unusual,” Dan replied.

Brandon grunted and moved away, sitting down in a plastic-covered chair in front of a dirty table where an assault rifle lay; its parts were carefully placed in rows. Dan’s brother Jesse sat farthest from the entrance. His long dirty blond hair was pulled into a topknot, and his glasses were composed of two separate frames melted together. His brown eyes scanned the pages of a novel carefully: Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.

He was thin like Brandon, but tall like Kenny. Dan made his way toward his brother while Kenny lumbered toward the far couch where Will sat. His brown hair was mussed, though it almost looked purposeful. There was one long strand of hair that he combed over his ear.

“What up, fuck-cheese?” spoke Will as Kenny approached.

Kenny looked at him and shook his head. “You have to be the biggest waste of fucking space in the world, man. Sitting here with Starfish, smoking, and watching old shitty movies.”

“Starfish happens to understand the intricacies of attempting to find peak experiences in a post-apocalyptic world, my man. Just because you are too big and dumb to get that…”

“What the fuck ever, man.”

“Does the giant wish to argue?”

“I can’t wait to fucking punch you in the throat in your sleep.”

The previously stationary figure that sat next to Will on the couch turned. It was a zombie; more importantly, it was Starfish. 

The zombie’s mouth was wired shut like the others, but on top of that he wore a hockey mask with black sunglasses attached to the cross-stitching. His arms had been removed and dirty, slightly viscous, black garbage bags wrapped its torso. It was really a dead, armless torso that ran amok on occasion.

“Starfish contributes more than you do,” said Kenny.

“The fuck if that is true. I grow herb, my friend. We all need to find some peace in a dark world.”

“Why the fuck do you waste your time doing that when there is literally a millennia’s worth of booze sitting in that dead town we once called home?”

Will turned around, placing an arm around Starfish’s shoulder. The zombie groaned and moved its shielded head, bumping into Will’s shoulder. “See, even Starfish here finds your lack of understanding disturbing.”

Kenny smirked. “I am not sure Starfish is an accurate representation of all counties accounted for.”

“In a world that has little left, art is even more important. My skills are necessary to bring joy to those left behind.” Will then gestured toward Kenny with a dismissing hand. “Even those Neanderthals with no vision, such as yourself, can appreciate the idea of enjoying the world, even a desolate one.”

Kenny moved quickly, grabbing Will by the neck and lifting him over the couch. Will screeched and flung his legs about, scrambling up the side of Kenny’s torso. The joint he had been smoking fell to the ground and was crushed under Kenny’s boot. 

“That’s fucked, man. That’s substance abuse. All that work and your big Frankenstein foot crushes a perfectly good joint.”

Kenny threw Will back on the couch with ease and an eventful grin. “That's what you get, ya stick figure. Watch your mouth or I will throw you another beating.”

Will mumbled something unintelligible. 

“What is that, Gumby?”

“Revenge is a bitch there, Quasimodo. Just you wait and see.”

Kenny scoffed and moved deeper into the compound, beyond the first room and into the shadows of the dormitories. Dan approached a statuesque black man. He wore his hair short––nearly a buzz cut. A cut-off shirt revealed a body tempered for war. He was working over a Wing Chun dummy with fierce precision as Dan approached. 

“How are things here, Allen? Anything unusual? Any deadheads?”

Allen headed security operations, but in an unofficial manner of course. He spent most of his days and nights walking the surrounding property, checking traps and the like. “Nothing. It has been very quiet. The guys are restless though. Will especially is getting mouthy and antsy.”

Dan nodded. “Tomorrow we will all go in. We’ll take the van and the Bronco, grab supplies, and hit the chains.”

Allen smiled grimly.

“It wouldn’t hurt. What happened in town?”

“Bob got loose. Had to put some rounds in him.”

“Pharmacy Bob or Auto Store Bob?”

“Neither. Liquor Store Bob.”

“He seemed more squirrelly than the others lately. It makes sense.”

“I want to secure them all again, weigh them down and re-bolt.”

“You got it, boss,” replied Allen with a nod.

Dan stood for a moment, as if he were going to say something else. Allen looked at him expectantly. Moving past Allen, he patted him on the shoulder and raised a hand to get his brother’s attention.

“Hey bro,” began Dan somberly.

Jesse looked over the faded pages of the novel. 

“Dan.”

“Almost done?”

Jesse raised an eyebrow.

“With Dostoyevsky? I was thinking of hitting the library tomorrow to pick up something new,” continued Dan.

“Sounds like a reasonable plan.”

“You want to come along?”

“Could be productive. There are a few gems I have been thinking about tackling. Perhaps I’ll finally finish War and Peace.”

Dan smiled, though it was barely noticeable. 

“Very good.”

Jesse lowered the book and surveyed the complicated look on his brother’s face. “Is there something the matter?”

“Hmm…”

“Do you not want to talk about it?”

Dan sat down across from his brother. 

“You know how long it has been?”

“I am aware of the amount of time that has transpired.”

“Seems like we have wasted a lot of time.”

“Wasted? Wasted how?”

“I dunno. There seems like there should be more than this. Doesn’t there seem like there should be some meaning to all this?”

“Looking for answers in an impossible situation will only bring more frustration, bro.”

There was sadness in his eyes. 

“I just wonder why we bother.”

“Bother doing what exactly?”

“Simply being. Surviving. What is the point?”

Jesse placed down the book and sat forward. “I see. This is not about the time passed, but the fact that she is gone.”

Dan nodded sadly. 

“If I were a spiritual man, I would spin an endearing yarn about her looking down on you, but as we both know that is not my style. On the contrary, you carry her with you, every day in your memory,” continued Jesse.

“I am not sure the memory is enough anymore.”

“For that, I am very sorry.”

“Yeah.” Dan looked around, sniffing. His eyes were glossy. Patting his brother’s knee, he stood and looked toward the dormitories, toward his bed. “I will see you in the morning, brother. Good night.”

Jesse sat back with his book, a contemplative look on his face. “Good night, brother.”

As Dan walked away, the sounds of Will watching The Godfather rose up as he laughed and snickered about something to which only he was privy.




About the author:
A psychologist, author, editor, philosopher, martial artist, and skeptic, he has published several novels and currently has many in print, including: The End of the World Playlist, Bitten, The Journey, The Ocean and the Hourglass, The Path of the Fallen, The Portent, and Cerulean Dreams. Follow him on Twitter (@AuthorDanOBrien) or visit his blog. He recently started a consultation business. You can find more information about it here: http://www.amalgamconsulting.com/.





Would you like to win a copy of The End of the World Playlist?

All you have to do is comment on a post during the tour. Two randomly drawn commenters will be awarded either a physical or digital copy of The End of the World Playlist.

Visit http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/ and follow the blog for a chance to win a Kindle Fire!


Feature: The Seance Giveaway

In anticipation of the October release of Tricia Drammeh's young adult paranormal novel, The Seance, we've got a fun giveaway in store for you. It's easy to enter and completely free. Entry is as simple as liking a few Facebook Pages. For 10 extra entries, visit the Honeyshadow Premade Cover website and select the cover you think Tricia chose for her book. On August 10th, we'll reveal the cover and the winners of the giveaway.

What's The Seance about? Here's a hint:

Ninth grade can be a nightmare when you don’t fit in at school, your crush chooses someone else, and your parents tell you they’re having a new baby. Abby was prepared for normal high school problems. She wasn’t prepared for a demon.

Abby has always been fascinated by the paranormal, but after an ill-fated séance, she discovers not all Spirits are benign. A dark entity unleashed during the summoning sets out to destroy Abby, and within days, she loses her best friend, incurs the wrath of her parents, and becomes a prisoner in her own home. With time quickly running out, she assembles an unlikely group of helpers: the most hated guy in school, a retired psychic, and the cute clerk from her favorite bookstore. Unless the demon is defeated, Abby and her new baby brother won’t stand a chance.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Featured Author: David Khara

France Book Tours brings French author David Khara here today to talk about his novel, The Bleiberg Project, an espionage thriller, first published in French by Le French Book, Inc. and adapted into English by blockbuster movie translator Simon John. The Bleiberg Project won the Blue Moon prize for best thriller and has sold over 100,000 copies already. It is being made into a movie.


About the book:

Are Hitler’s atrocities really over? Find out in this adrenaline-pumping ride to save the world from a conspiracy straight out of the darkest hours of history.

1942, Poland. The head of the SS meets secretly with a scientist in charge of a major Third Reich project.

Present day. After another late night with yet another woman whose name he doesn’t remember, self-pitying golden boy trader Jay Novacek learns that his long-lost father has died, precipitating events that lead him to board a plane to Zurich. He’s got a Nazi medallion in his pocket, a hot CIA bodyguard next to him, and a clearly dangerous Mossad agent on his tail. What was his father investigating? Why was his mother assassinated? Why are unknown sides fighting over him with automatic weapons? Far from his posh apartment, he races to save the world from a horrific conspiracy. Can it be stopped?


Praise for The Bleiberg Project

“Fascinating, written with a sharp style, shock value and a lot of humor.”
– Serge Perraud, http://www.lelitteraire.com.”

“Impossible to put down.”
– France Inter

Interview with David Khara

David, which character did you most enjoy writing?Jeremy is by far the most enjoyable character I’ve ever written. Getting into his head was pretty fun since he has a very unique, desperate sense of humor. Also, I enjoyed starting off with him as he’s stuck in a deep depression with low self-esteem leading him to care for no one, including himself, and then, slowly, step by step, bringing him back to life as he meets Jacky and Eytan.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
Actually, all my characters existed in real life; at least in both the way they think and behave. But they do not come out of one person, but several. Nobody around me is safe, since I constantly listen to people, and study their personalities in order to feed my characters.
Eytan is the only one who was been inspired by one person, surprisingly a woman named Simone Lagrange who was arrested by the Gestapo, tortured, deported to the death camps and survived. She played a key role in Klaus Barbie’s arrest and trial in the 1980s. She’s an impressive woman of great strength, with an amazing energy. The kind of person we all have something to learn from.

Are you like any of your characters?
My writing is not about me; it never is, and never will be. The real thing is that I use every experience or feeling I’ve been through to feed my characters should it prove relevant. I do this just to get the right emotion at the right time, no more than this. With this premise, you’ll find a little bit of me in almost every character in the book. I do share Jeremy’s weird sense of humor and Eytan’s capacity to go on, whatever happens to him.

If you could be one of your characters, which one would you choose?
Ten years ago I would have answered Eytan without an hesitation. Now, as I grow older, I’d probably chose Bernard Dean since he stays in the shadow, watching Jeremy and trying to help him without taking any credits for it. In many ways, I regret what happens to Bernard in the book, it’s a character that deserved to be developed.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

Chapter 37 is by far the most important chapter in the book since it depicts the deportation of the hero and his family. Everything starts in this heartbreaking chapter, and writing it was emotional. Though, I’ll go for the Epilogue, since it reveals that the hero Jeremy believes to be dead is not, thus delivering a message of hope and happiness. And God knows how badly our world needs hope and happiness nowadays…
 
What song would you pick to go with your book?

Since I write with my headphones on, listening to a selected play list depending on the chapter or the character I’m working on, I already have a theme for The Bleiberg Project. Eytan’s character was born with Aerosmith’s “Living on the Edge.” Not just the music, but the lyrics too, were an inspiration for his mood and own story. Should the movie be shot, I’d love this song to be played on the ending credits.

You get to decide who would read your audiobook. Who would you choose?

There are so many great English-speaking actresses and actors that choosing seems impossible. I could still name a few: Ian McKellen, Clancy Brown, Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance, Cate Blanchett, and that’s just a start. This list could go on endlessly!

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
I need to be home, alone, far from the world and any distractions. Since I work with no written plot or notes, I need to stay totally focused. The character, the story and its twists exist in my mind and no thing must distract me while I’m putting them on the paper. Writing is a ritual: In my garden, my old laptop on the table, coffee on my right side, cigarettes and ashtray on my left side, headphones on.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I fell in love with Manhattan the first I went there. I was 16, and from this day on, I’ve always dreamed of living there, and (do not ask me why, I can’t tell) I’ve known I would end my life there. It’s pretty surprising because I’m a rather rational man. Also, I do not usually like big cities, but there, I feel free. I feel like I’m home. Apart from The Shiro Project (the second in the Consortium series), Manhattan has always appeared in my books, being a central character in my other series Dawn’s Early Lights (Les vestiges de l’aube in French).

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on the second book in the Dawn’s Early Lights series. For now this series is only in French. I’m also working on a historical thriller series for teenagers. I’ll be busy for quite a few years to come.

Sounds like it. I hope you'll come back when your next book is released.



VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, July 22
 Review at Lady Techie’s Book Musings

Wednesday, July 24
 Interview by author Amy Metz (You found it! Thanks for stopping by.)

Monday, August  12
 Review + Giveaway by author Julie Coulter Bellon



About the author:

French author David Khara, a former journalist, top-level athlete, and entrepreneur, is a full-time writer. Khara wrote his first novel—a vampire thriller—in 2010, before starting his thriller series. The first in the series, The Bleiberg Project, was an instant success in France, catapulting Khara into the ranks of the country's top thriller writers.

Connect with David:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy the book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

Monday, July 22, 2013

Featured Author: Edward Vilga

I'm happy to have best-selling author, Edward Vilga, here today to talk about his newest book, Downward Dog, published by Diversion Books. Edward sat down for an interview and also was kind enough to write a guest post for us. You'll love it. Read on...



About the book:

Downward Dog by Edward Vilga is a fun, sexy, chick lit/contemporary novel with shades of Schooled and The Nanny Diaries meets yoga. Praised by Chip Conley (Founder of Joie de Vivre Hotels and author of Peak and Emotional Equations) as “not only a sexy/funny page turner, it also shares the emotional journey of one Bad Boy’s transformation and romantic redemption.” Simon Doonan, author of Beautiful People, Gay Men Don’t Get Fat, and the upcoming fashion memoir The Asylum describes Edward as, “What Karl Lagerfeld is to fashion, Edward Vilga is to yoga.


Interview with Edward Vilga

Edward, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

Forever. I knew I wanted to be a writer even before junior high school when I chose the middle name “Paul” for my confirmation just because he was the most successful and prolific writer in the New Testament. (I’m not kidding.)

I love that. How did you come up with the title Downward Dog?

It sprang into my mind the moment I thought of the character –– a Bad Boy yoga teacher in NYC –– and I knew it was instantly exactly right.

Do you have another job outside of writing?


Although the book was inspired by my life as a yoga teacher, I no longer teach that many private students or public classes (just a few on Skype and occasional workshops). I do, however, deeply enjoy working with about a dozen people (mostly authors) as a consultant on their creative projects. I’ve found all my various experiences combine to help me an inspiring Creative Guru and I love it. (www.EdwardVilga.com/creative)

How would you describe your book in five words?

Funny, Sexy, “can’t-put-down,” Ironic, & Moving

Um, Edward...maybe I'm being picky, but that's seven words...oh, I'll let it slide. How did you create the plot for this book?

On a gazillion index cards and outlines, and practicing telling the narrative aloud as though it were a story told to a friend.

Are you like any of your characters?

I’m constantly asked if the main character is me and/or how much he’s based on me. We’re both yoga teacher in NYC who enjoyed great and sudden successes. And we both were from blue collar families, and went to Yale, and are extremely handsome (let’s be honest!) and have had more than our share of misadventures.

There are some key differences –– he’s a decade younger and a bit of a womanizer, and although I love going out at night, he wants to be a nightlife czar, and I never have.

His voice, however, is extremely similar to my own, as is his sense of humor and irony.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.


I love the ending which is an annoying answer because I can’t speak that much about it.  Nonetheless, I feel it bookends the book perfectly and that the transformation feels real and earned and, for me, honest and moving.

What song would you pick to go with your book?

I had a whole playlist for the book.  It ranged from Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” for the nightlife, to the Balanescu Quartet’s “Waltz” for the yoga movement (which we used in the book trailer), to sad songs that reminded me of his lost love, and others lifted directly from yoga classes I’ve taught and taken.

How long is your to-be-read pile?


Near infinite.

I hear you. Okay, you get to decide who would read your audiobook. Who would you choose?

I’d like to read it but I’d like to sound like Alan Rickman. Yet since the book’s been optioned by Hollywood for the movies, I’m assuming that the lead actor will read it and I know he will be brilliant.

That's great. I hate you. You know I'm totally kidding...congratulations. Seriously. Do you have a routine for writing?

I wish I did! I am both supremely disciplined and incredibly lazy. Each project seems to have its own demands and trajectory and schedule. Maybe my life would be a lot easier if I were somehow able to say, “I write for X hours or X pages a day,” but it just never works out that way for me.

Where’s home for you?


After more than a decade in downtown New York city, for the last few years I have been roving. Right now, I have storage in 4 cities, I’m living in a fifth city, and my only permanent address is a P.O. Box. The only constant is my dog. This is all very ironic because I am deeply home-oriented.

Now, however, I live, more or less, like a yoga assassin.

Tell us one weird thing, one nice thing, and one fact about where you live.

WEIRD: I’m staying for the summer in a friend’s Naples, Florida condo and living like a rich Golden Girl in a gated community. My dog and I may take in 2 roommates in order to learn life lessons. (I’m the Sophia, if you’re wondering).

I'd be Rose. sigh.


NICE: I have a spectacular view of the ocean and my dog loves swimming in it with me nearly every day.

FACT: (And this could also be considered weird) Last week, I downloaded Cecilia Bartoli’s genius album “Sospiri” of castrati arias in Naples, Florida, only to read the linear notes to learn that Naples, Italy was the center of castrati creation.

If you could only keep one book, what would it be?

My diary.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, I always want to have something sensational to read.

Ha! What are you working on now?

Another novel and a new play. Shameless plug: join my mailing list to stay in touch –– only 1 email every month or so because I know you’re busy –– since there’s a lot more ahead!

Will do, Edward. And please come back when your next book is released.


Watch the book trailer!



Guest Post from Edward Vilga

SADLY, I WASN’T WEARING A STOPWATCH



The most frequent question I’m asked since the publication of my novel Downward Dog is “How much of this really happened?” and the answer is “I’ll never tell.”

The second most frequent question I’m asked is is “How long did it take you to write it?”

I really do wish I had a good answer for that, but I just don’t.

I vividly remember the moment I had the inspiration for the novel.  I was on the phone with a friend discussing some adventure related to my emerging life in the yoga world.  It was, in fact, before I’d even completed teacher training.  I was, quite simply, a fledging yoga junkie.

Nonetheless, the basic idea for the main character was born –– an NYC Bad Boy who finds himself a fish out of water ... actually, more a wolf amongst sheep –– in the yoga world.

I was intrigued with the inherent conflict in the character’s passion for both yoga and also the excitement of nightlife and its inherent pleasures of wine, women, and song.  I hadn’t read or seen that story anywhere and I wanted to tell it.

The idea was dormant for a while as I actually became a yoga teacher myself, something I had never planned on doing.  I found the right teacher who spoke directly and powerfully to me, and when I had a bit of downtime (read “unemployment”), I plunged into the teacher training program mostly as a way of deepening my own practice.

A friend asked me to donate a lesson for a charity auction and I did. I was shocked when the couple who bought the lesson completed their session and then whipped out a checkbook, wanting to buy a package of ten.  I had no idea what to charge since I hadn’t really considered that possibility at all, but somehow we struck a deal.

I finished teacher training and on graduation night was immediately offered a class at my center.  Again, it's something I hadn’t planned on, but just felt right, and in fact, delightful to start teaching.  The next thing I knew, I was suddenly gainfully employed and teaching scores of classes and private students all over New York City.

Looking back, I remember half-thinking “this is great material” whenever something particularly wild or interesting or unusual met me on my yoga journey.

Around this time I remember finishing a short novella that received several extraordinarily glowing rejection letters passed on by my agent.

And then I wrote Yoga in Bed (easy stretches you could do in bed) which became a bestseller, got me on lots of TV shows like REGIS, and was translated into a dozen languages.

Inspired, I wrote another book about accessible yoga –– Yoga for Suits –– and made DVDs for both projects.

Somewhere in between all of this I drafted Downward Dog, mostly writing in spurts on Saturday nights after I returned home from teaching my now-packed 5pm class.  I’d write for a few hours, print out the pages, and visit my local tavern to read them over.  In a good week, I’d manage to do this 2 or 3 evenings.  Since I often had 7 am clients and had to be reasonably coherent and couldn’t be my night owl self.

Somewhere during this period, I also co-created and directed a solo-show starring the brilliant Leslie Lewis Sword that’s toured six continents, and although I do remember the first rehearsal in my loft space and the endless standing ovations her performance garners, I’m not sure where and when I worked on the novel during all this time.

In fact, the only reason I know that I was indeed working on the novel while the play was in production, is because I created a visual collage based on it and gave it to Leslie during our opening weekend.

I do, however, remember the moment when my former agent told me that the material was not for her.  The email arrived as my assistants were delivering a poster I’d designed of the book cover as a Creative Visualization exercise (forgive me, but I am a yoga teacher, after all).  The real cover now is 1,000 times better, but at the moment, it was beyond obvious that this agent wasn’t sharing the vision AT ALL.

And I remember getting the new agent who had some succinct and highly intelligent suggestions for a re-write which I embarked upon with great enthusiasm.

Then that agent (#2) suggested I explore self-publishing another short book first before going out with Downward Dog, which was incredibly inspiring, frustrating, and ultimately educational all at once.

Around this time, I left my NYC loft of a decade for warmer climates, and after a brief stint in LA (the city and I were just NOT getting along), pre-moving to San Francisco, I set up a bucket list lunch with a long-ago friend, an incredibly successful casting director named Sarah Finn.  (She’s cast small films you probably haven’t heard of like the IRON MAN SERIES, and THE AVENGERS, and the Oscar-Winning CRASH.)

Sarah offered to help with some movie ideas I had for the novel, and generously offered to read it first.  Astonishingly, she fell in love with the material and wanted to option the novel for film for herself as a producer.  I was ecstatic (of course), and realized that this was typical of how my life was unfolding in its own, unpredictable manner:  my novel had been optioned by Hollywood before being published.

Mysteriously, Agent #2 chose that moment to jump ship, perhaps related to leaving one agency and joining another and “redefining her list” –– whatever that means –– but to this day, I have no idea why anyone would abandon a project AS it’s being embraced by Hollywood Heavies.

Anyway ...

I then began to adapt my own novel into a screenplay while searching for someone to represent it to publishers.  Along came Agent #3 –– someone I’d known from over a decade ago –– who proved to be its true champion.

So now that I’ve shared all this, what do you think is the answer to the question, “How long did it take you write Downward Dog?”

I wish –– like with my attorney –– that my time were billable at an hourly rate so I’d know for sure how many moment I spent writing it.  (Although do all the brooding moments savoring a scotch count, I wonder?)

Do I say succinctly, “Over a ten year period, while completing lots of other work.”

Or do I just say, “About 9 months” –– that seems a reasonable answer, right? And parallel to the birth process, too.

Basically, I am in search of a witty answer akin to Tom Stoppard’s who, when asked “What’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ about?” replied, “It’s about to make me rich.”

Let the record show I’m thoroughly open to any suggestions for similarly wise and witty responses to this question –– and I promise to attribute you without fail should you supply one after reading Downward Dog.

Just keep me posted on your progress.

About the Author:

Edward has had seven books published (many of which involve his yoga practice) and written and directed two feature films.

His novel Downward Dog –– the adventures of a bad boy yoga instructor –– was published in June 2013 by Diversion Books.

Edward Vilga’s last yoga book and DVD, YOGA IN BED, hit #1 on Amazon.com for all of wellness after he appeared on Regis & Kelly and CBS’ Early Show and after his book was featured in People Magazine. In addition, Yoga in Bed has been positively reviewed in over 40 publications and translated into more than a dozen languages.

You can follow Edward on his website, on Twitter, and on Facebook, and Goodreads.

Downward Dog is on Goodreads. Don’t forget to add it to your to-read shelf!
Edward Vilga is a Playful Provocateur who creates breakthrough experiences in Books, Body, and Soul.
He writes books, film, and theater –– making a little art on the side.
* * * * *
Edward has had seven books published (many of which involve his yoga practice) and written and directed two feature films.
His novel DOWNWARD DOG –– the adventures of a bad boy yoga instructor –– will be published in June 2013 by Diversion Books.
Edward Vilga’s last yoga book and DVD, YOGA IN BED, hit #1 on Amazon.com for all of wellness after he appeared on REGIS & KELLY and CBS’ EARLY SHOW and after his book was featured in PEOPLE Magazine. In addition, YOGA IN BED has been positively reviewed in over 40 publications and translated into more than a dozen languages.
MIRACLE IN RWANDA, the play he directed and co-created with performer Leslie Lewis Sword, is currently touring the world. With more than 150 performances over 6 continents, the show has earned rave reviews and won numerous awards.  Prior to this, Vilga produced the Obie-winning MY LEFT BREAST by Susan Miller.
He also wrote and directed the feature film DEAD BROKE  (Warner Brothers DVD, 2006) that stars Paul Sorvino, John Glover, Tony Roberts, Jill Hennessy, and Justin Theroux. It has won several best direct-to-dvd awards and opened the New York Stories/Anjelica Film Festival.
Inspired by his writing projects, Edward Vilga also creates visual art.
After a sold out show of his visual art in NYC, an 8 page magazine profile, a short documentary portrait by An Films, and a nomination by GLAAD as Best Emerging Artist, in April 2010 Vilga was honored as the first Los Angeles emerging artist chosen by the KiptonART Foundation for a studio event.
In October of 2010, the Antebellum Gallery in Los Angeles (“The only fetish gallery in America, perhaps the world”) exhibited his SYMMETRY installation which explores obsession and voyeurism.
In 2011, Vilga’s painting/performance piece was the finale of the Duo Multicultural Art Center’s Holiday Happening where he created a canvas in real time.  A video documenting this event can be seen HERE.
From January 4th through March 31st, 2013, his art was on display at the Cavallo Point Gallery.
Edward Vilga is a Yale graduate.
- See more at: http://www.edwardvilga.com/bio/authorized-bio/#sthash.iSRVZzqq.dpuf
Edward Vilga is a Playful Provocateur who creates breakthrough experiences in Books, Body, and Soul.
He writes books, film, and theater –– making a little art on the side.
* * * * *
Edward has had seven books published (many of which involve his yoga practice) and written and directed two feature films.
His novel DOWNWARD DOG –– the adventures of a bad boy yoga instructor –– will be published in June 2013 by Diversion Books.
Edward Vilga’s last yoga book and DVD, YOGA IN BED, hit #1 on Amazon.com for all of wellness after he appeared on REGIS & KELLY and CBS’ EARLY SHOW and after his book was featured in PEOPLE Magazine. In addition, YOGA IN BED has been positively reviewed in over 40 publications and translated into more than a dozen languages.
MIRACLE IN RWANDA, the play he directed and co-created with performer Leslie Lewis Sword, is currently touring the world. With more than 150 performances over 6 continents, the show has earned rave reviews and won numerous awards.  Prior to this, Vilga produced the Obie-winning MY LEFT BREAST by Susan Miller.
He also wrote and directed the feature film DEAD BROKE  (Warner Brothers DVD, 2006) that stars Paul Sorvino, John Glover, Tony Roberts, Jill Hennessy, and Justin Theroux. It has won several best direct-to-dvd awards and opened the New York Stories/Anjelica Film Festival.
Inspired by his writing projects, Edward Vilga also creates visual art.
After a sold out show of his visual art in NYC, an 8 page magazine profile, a short documentary portrait by An Films, and a nomination by GLAAD as Best Emerging Artist, in April 2010 Vilga was honored as the first Los Angeles emerging artist chosen by the KiptonART Foundation for a studio event.
In October of 2010, the Antebellum Gallery in Los Angeles (“The only fetish gallery in America, perhaps the world”) exhibited his SYMMETRY installation which explores obsession and voyeurism.
In 2011, Vilga’s painting/performance piece was the finale of the Duo Multicultural Art Center’s Holiday Happening where he created a canvas in real time.  A video documenting this event can be seen HERE.
From January 4th through March 31st, 2013, his art was on display at the Cavallo Point Gallery.
Edward Vilga is a Yale graduate.
- See more at: http://www.edwardvilga.com/bio/authorized-bio/#sthash.iSRVZzqq.dpuf
Edward Vilga is a Playful Provocateur who creates breakthrough experiences in Books, Body, and Soul.
He writes books, film, and theater –– making a little art on the side.
* * * * *
Edward has had seven books published (many of which involve his yoga practice) and written and directed two feature films.
His novel DOWNWARD DOG –– the adventures of a bad boy yoga instructor –– will be published in June 2013 by Diversion Books.
Edward Vilga’s last yoga book and DVD, YOGA IN BED, hit #1 on Amazon.com for all of wellness after he appeared on REGIS & KELLY and CBS’ EARLY SHOW and after his book was featured in PEOPLE Magazine. In addition, YOGA IN BED has been positively reviewed in over 40 publications and translated into more than a dozen languages.
MIRACLE IN RWANDA, the play he directed and co-created with performer Leslie Lewis Sword, is currently touring the world. With more than 150 performances over 6 continents, the show has earned rave reviews and won numerous awards.  Prior to this, Vilga produced the Obie-winning MY LEFT BREAST by Susan Miller.
He also wrote and directed the feature film DEAD BROKE  (Warner Brothers DVD, 2006) that stars Paul Sorvino, John Glover, Tony Roberts, Jill Hennessy, and Justin Theroux. It has won several best direct-to-dvd awards and opened the New York Stories/Anjelica Film Festival.
Inspired by his writing projects, Edward Vilga also creates visual art.
After a sold out show of his visual art in NYC, an 8 page magazine profile, a short documentary portrait by An Films, and a nomination by GLAAD as Best Emerging Artist, in April 2010 Vilga was honored as the first Los Angeles emerging artist chosen by the KiptonART Foundation for a studio event.
In October of 2010, the Antebellum Gallery in Los Angeles (“The only fetish gallery in America, perhaps the world”) exhibited his SYMMETRY installation which explores obsession and voyeurism.
In 2011, Vilga’s painting/performance piece was the finale of the Duo Multicultural Art Center’s Holiday Happening where he created a canvas in real time.  A video documenting this event can be seen HERE.
From January 4th through March 31st, 2013, his art was on display at the Cavallo Point Gallery.
Edward Vilga is a Yale graduate.
- See more at: http://www.edwardvilga.com/bio/authorized-bio/#sthash.iSRVZzqq.dpuf

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Featured Author: Destiny Rose

VirtualBookWorm Publishing brings Destiny Rose here today to talk about Embrace the Man of Grace, an inspirational, self-help book.


About the book:

We were not destined to live the mundane, dry, "rat-in-the-cage-on-the-spinning-wheel" life. Adventure is such a core essential need to human beings. If there is no adventure, then we just sit in stagnant waters. The only place you will find the living, rushing, mighty waterfall is in the adventure of being consumed with Grace, the central core element to everyone's life. The key is to tap into it and allow it to make your life epic and worthwhile.

Interview with Destiny Rose

Destiny, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I have always been able to turn a phrase, I wrote several papers in middle school and high school where people started noticing that I had a knack for it, but the part that my teachers didn’t like that is that repeated myself and talked in circles when I wrote. 10 years went by and I didn’t do anything with it.

Then, in the summer of 2012, someone commented on my Facebook page...and how they loved my status updates, and how it gripped them with the way I wrote. And they said, “You NEED to write!” I dismissed it with a bunch of excuses! “No way, I can’t write! Whenever I write anything past four sentences, it DIES! Gosh! I can’t do this! I’m not trying, I am a horrible writer. It goes nowhere.”

A month later, another lady told me the same thing after I had spontaneously written in her notebook a message from the Spirit...it was spot on for her, and it touched her deeply. This different lady said again, “YOU NEED TO WRITE!” I said the same excuse out loud to her... “It DIES after 4 sentences!!!!!” And in the middle of me blurting out in stupidity, I heard a gentle voice in my heart, “Who said you had to change your writing style to become a famous author?”

Time stood still.

Time and chance came together to produce that serendipitous moment...which exploded with destiny. And I had an “ah-hah” moment! I already have a ton of material for a book! I write witty little phrases all the time!

And thus my book was conceived. 
I read my own book and cry... and I help from my own book because I didn’t write it! Really, I didn’t! I knew it came from a Divine Influence.

Why did you decide to write The Man of Grace?

I want people to see the Man of Grace for who He really is. A lot of stuff has been written about which and they have diminished the power of what He really carries...and it’s all through GRACE!

What will others learn from reading your book?


They will see the power of Grace...and what it can do in their lives.

Who is your favorite author?

C.S. Lewis

What do you like best about writing? What’s your least favorite thing?

I love all of it, because I love writing quotes...and what I do is I accumulate quotes for about a year before I compile them together...I am already getting a collection of quotes for my second book. The quotes come from my own personal journey which changes my life first so that I can turn around and change others with it!

How did you come up with the title of your book?

I knew I wanted to say "Man of Grace”...because I had been calling Jesus that for a year...and then the Embrace part HIT me out of nowhere one day at the beginning.

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I am in the health field. I help people by selling alkaline water machines. Our bodies are so acidic that it is a breeding ground for disease, but when people drink anti-oxidant, micro-clustered alkaline water, we bring our bodies back into balance so that the body can heal itself. I look at this water as the Grace of God in physical form, because so many problems go away on it. Please contact me if interested.

How would you describe your book in a tweet? (140 characters or less.)


Exposing the Wild, Heroic side of Jesus...Embrace, the MAN OF GRACE!!!!”

Do you outline, write by the seat of your pants, or let your characters tell you what to write?

I write down all the quotes I get when I get inspired from the Spirit.

How did your cover art come about?

I designed the whole cover. My adopted grandpa in his 70s made me that swing, I hired a professional photographer, and took 400 pictures. After the photo shoot, Papa Charlie took the swing down since it was on the side of a major road...Quite a few cars drove by slowly to see what was going on!

And I was in school for Graphics Design at the time, so I designed the typography. It was epic!

Tell us a book you’re an evangelist for.


Destined to Reign, by Joseph Prince. This is the “Bible” of how to live by Grace!!!!

What do you do to market your book?

I have a website, and I hosted it on several international sites, Amazon, BN, and the National Association for Professional Women.

What song would you pick to go with your book?

Audio Machine: Eternal Flame, and Sol Invictus

How do you handle criticism of your work?


People who criticize my work are so stiff and beat up emotionally and act like they are half dead and have a hard time receiving Grace to live a full life, so I honestly have compassion on them!

Tell us about where you live.


I live in an apartment (with vaulted ceilings, big thing for me) on the third floor by myself. I feel like it is my lofty palace on the top of a high hill...I feel like a princess/queen!

Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do when it happens?

Yes, I got writers block while I was in the middle of actually organizing and publishing my book...now that it’s done, the flow is back...and that’s because I am getting ideas for my second book. When you are caught up in one book, it’s hard to write more for another.

Is there anything in particular that you do to help the writing flow? Music?


MUSIC!!! YES!!!!! I write monologues set to music...the message is driven home much stronger with epic orchestra music in the background.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?



Telling people about anti-oxidant, micro-clustered, alkaline water!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?


In the JUNGLE! Swinging from vines in the trees like Jane and Tarzan!

What is your favorite book?

The Chronicles of Narnia Series... I see the Man of Grace in it!

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

The bucket list of the countries I want to go to is HUGE! ALL OVER!

What are you working on now?

A book about how God is FOR us, not against us... and the premise and setting is in a spiritual “kitchen”... you’ll see when it comes out! I don’t want to give out the surprise!!!

Embrace the Man of Grace Excerpts:

“Grace as the ability to dissipate every agitating situation and transform it into peaceful bliss!”

“Mankind as a whole divides decisions based on right verses wrong, good verses bad. A much better way to live is to determine whether a decision produces life or death in your heart and soul!”

“The Man of Grace has this incredible ability to seep into every closed-off, bitter chamber of your heart, and make it come free and alive again!”


About the author:

“I see and expose the epic, heroic, wild side of Jesus.” Destiny is an inspirational speaker, she believes in the power of witty phraseology to strike the gracious truth into people’s heart, causing them to come alive and have their whole life changed for the good. She currently lives in the Midwest part of the USA, and enjoys, painting, ballroom dancing, and working out.

Website | Amazon



Friday, July 19, 2013

Featured Author: Dan O'Brien


Welcome to the fourth day of the Cerulean Dreams blog tour. It will run until July 24th and will feature excerpts, new author interviews each day, and a video blog by the author. But first, here is the obligatory blurb about the novel to settle you into this dystopian world:

Orion, the last city of men. Deep within the desert, a secret lay waiting. Young women found dead in the street. A corporation that controls the sleep of a populace that never sees the light of day. Alexander Marlowe seeks to unravel the mysteries of Orion as he helps a young girl, Dana, flee the city. The closer they come to the truth, the greater the danger that hunts them. Follow them as they search beyond the boundaries of everything they have ever known for answers. 



A few questions for the author:


Do you ever experience writer’s block? 

From a behavior analysis point of view, I simply remove the antecedent. This is a fancy way of saying I eliminate the possibility of experiencing writer’s block by always having multiple projects to work on, whether it is a another piece of short fiction, a consultation job, blogging, etc.


Do you work with an outline, or just write? 

A little of both. I find a living outline to be very useful for the way I write. I will have important ideas and plot points that I want to make sure find a place within the book, but I often deviate as my imagination takes over. 


Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

Herbert, Hugo, and Hemmingway probably had the most direct influence on types of books I like to write, as well as my attitude toward writing in general. Orwell and Bradbury helped to cultivate a love of dystopian science fiction and Lovecraft, as well as King, helped to foster a love of all things horror.


Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published? 

My first book was a space opera that I went the traditional route with. I queried agents and publishers in the early 2000s, right before the vanity press boom that claimed the careers of many writers. It was a relatively lukewarm experience that I am not particularly interested in re-visiting. Needless to say, it was an important learning experience.



Here be an excerpt for your enjoyment:


Chapter IV


The doors opened without incident. The lobby looked far more alive than Cedars Tower. Tenants bustled about. Their voices rose, talking about this and that. About Marlowe no doubt, if his paranoid mind had its way. 

The pair seemed conspicuous immediately. 

Their clothes were dirtied. Their faces were pensive, watchful as they scanned the crowd gathered in the lobby. For a moment, Marlowe could swear that they stopped and looked at him collectively, each of them thinking the same thing: that’s him.

There he is: criminal, terrorist. 

“Monsieur,” called the manager. His bristling walk and crimson suit were both polished. 

Marlowe looked at him, his face haggard. “What?”

The manager was apprehensive, his hands clenching and posture stiffening. Undoubtedly, Marlowe had answered harsher than the man had anticipated. “We are very much abuzz here, monsieur. There have been OrionCorps all about.”

A pencil-thin moustache and placid features were set upon an unscrupulous face. Marlowe looked at him for a long moment, uncertain if he was more repulsive than the strange transient apparitions that beleaguered him. 

“Right, OrionCorps,” said Marlowe dreamily. Dana nudged him hard, giving Marlowe a hard stare. The manager followed her gaze back to the rough mug of Marlowe. “OrionCorps, exactly. I’m Lieutenant Gales,” he started, flashing the badge he had taken from the lieutenant upstairs. He felt a fog lift from his mind for a moment. “I was in pursuit of the suspect. He is in the building.”

The manager looked shocked. 

“This building, monsieur?”

Marlowe felt strange, he walked the line between wanting to laugh hysterically at the little man or smack him across the room. He settled on maintaining the lawful air. “Precisely, I was in pursuit of the suspect,” said Marlowe and then looking at Dana, he grabbed her roughly. “Then I noticed that he had accosted this young girl here and I stopped to help her. I didn’t see where he went.”

The manager looked concerned. He grabbed her hand lightly as he spoke. “I am so sorry, madam. That must have been harrowing for you.”

Dana glanced at Marlowe and then nodded slowly. 

“Frightening.”

Marlowe cleared his throat, adjusting his weapon. “I am going to bring this girl in, but I have instructed OrionCorps that the suspect is in this building. You can confirm this when they arrive. Tell them Lieutenant Gales has brought a witness back to headquarters. Can you do that for me, sir?”

The manager nodded, almost gleefully. He was enthralled to be of assistance. “Of course monsieur, it would be my pleasure. Suspect in building. Lieutenant Gales took a female witness downtown. Understood, monsieur.”

Marlowe smiled and moved Dana forward, not bothering to turn around to watch the manager. He could hear the little man delegating to bellhops and other tower staff to search the area and assume security precautions. 

As they moved through the gathered crowd, Marlowe was sure not to nudge anyone too hard or draw attention. Marlowe reminded himself that it was nothing short of a miracle that the manager had not realized who he was. 

As they pushed through the ornate double doors of the plaza, the open air was alive with the sounds of OrionCorps vehicles. The wailing sound of justice was ever-present. Marlowe breathed out, as if he had been holding his breath. “That was close, Dana. That man obviously hadn’t been on his visor lately, otherwise we would’ve been dead in the water.”

The wailing grew closer and Marlowe turned up his collar, hiding his face as a squadron of OrionCorps poured into the building. Dana watched them with a child-like awe, but Marlowe turned her attention back with a rough tug on her arm. 

“Do you think that will keep them occupied for long?”

“Long enough, hopefully just long enough,” echoed Marlowe as he turned the next corner, dragging them down a flight of dirty stairs into the rail station. The station was dark like in Messiah district. Distant, flickering lights were in desperate need of service. They stalked out of the darkness, disappearing for a moment in the light, though only to return into the shadows once more. 

Marlowe pressed forward, trying not to gawk at the frightful apparitions. He felt a mesmerizing quality from them that trapped you in their gaze. 

That was someplace he did not wish to be. 

The station was modern, electronic fixings and long runner boards changed from one advertisement to the next. Marlowe had begun to feel that it was not safe. The world seemed to be talking to him at all times: whispering, not loud enough to drown out the living world, but just enough that he knew it was there. 

“Where are we going?” Dana asked, her little frame stopping to draw Marlowe’s attention. Her small face had smudges of dirt, black soot that seemed out of place on her almost pristine features. 

Warmth passed over his face. 

At first, it was comfortable. But as the warmth grew, with it came dead eyes and pale features. Marlowe realized that the phantoms were now walking through him as they pleased. The dead had no regard for the living. “We are going to take the light rail back to my place,” he began. 

“They will be waiting there for you,” she cut him off. 

Marlowe ran his hands through his hair, sighing exasperatedly. “Right. Of course, they will be. That is the first place they are going to look…” he trailed off and then jumped as one of the strange phantoms walked right through Dana. For a moment, it was a strange mutated creature that was part beauty and part horror. 

“We need to leave Orion,” she spoke. 

Marlowe looked at the girl seriously. “You keep saying that like it’s an option. We’ll die if we leave the city. We can’t survive in the desert. Anyone who walks beyond these walls dies in that desert. We’ll have to think of something else.”

“We are dead if we stay here.” 

“Very astute answer. Not at all helpful, but very clever. I realize that we are dead if we stay. We are dead if we leave the city, but that doesn’t mean I am going to go off gallivanting into a sweltering sandstorm because you like the heat.”

The sound of the approaching light rail was a high-pitched whistle. They both looked up, watching as the bleached steel tube rocketed into the station, the windows and passengers a blur. 

“When the doors open, get on and keep moving from rail car to rail car until we find an empty one. If we can stay away from people long enough, I can figure something out,” he spoke in a low voice. 

Grunting, he scratched at his right forearm. His fingers dug at his flesh through the heavy cloth of his trench. The doors of the rail opened with a grinding squeal. Dana stepped through without hesitation, her blonde hair bouncing against her shoulders. The interior was cloaked in a scattered darkness, much like everything else about Orion. 

She turned toward him, her eyes sparkling. He couldn’t remember if her eyes had been green before. Hadn’t they been blue? “We can’t ride the rail for long. They will look for us on it,” she stated matter-of-factly. 

Marlowe nodded. Swallowing, his throat was barren and salty. “There aren’t a lot of places we can hide in Orion. We will just have to keep on the move. We will take turns sleeping.”

Marlowe placed one foot on the dirty steel of the rail and the other stayed on the ground. He watched the ground with interest. It had moved. The vibration was slight, as if a wave had passed across the ground. “I think something might be very, very wrong,” he whispered. 

Dana looked at him coldly, her arms crossed. “Worse than everything that is chasing us?” she asked sarcastically. 

Marlowe lifted his foot. A section of the concrete moved with it, a webbed imprint that was a perfect match of his foot. His face slipped to a grimace as he watched the ground bubble, pieces of it popping and sending liquid splatters against the side of the rail. 

“I think the ground is melting,” he muttered.

He placed his other foot on the ground of the light rail. The surge of steel and power as the rail started forward rocked Marlowe’s balance, forcing him to grab a hold of one of the poles that ran from ceiling to floor. They were cold to the touch. He lifted his foot––the webbing of sloshing concrete had dissipated. 

“Could have sworn….”

Dana looked out the wide windows of the rail. Her reflection was that of a beautiful stranger: bright blonde hair and gray eyes. Hadn’t they been green? Her sigh was announced with the pout of her small lips. “It is worse when you sleep. The Lurking watches us, haunting our every step, waiting for us to lower our defenses, let up,” she spoke. 

Marlowe watched the girl. “Why are they after you?”

“The truth.”

Marlowe waved his hand dismissively. 

“There must be more to it than that.”

She remained silent, her thin arms hugging herself. Marlowe pulled himself forward with the light rail pole, looking at the next car. “We should keep moving from car to car, keep in motion.”

She nodded. Eyes glassy, her little body moved out ahead of Marlowe. Moving through the hunched figures of other commuters who muttered to themselves via their visors, he watched them as they passed. Most didn’t take the time to acknowledge their passing, except one.

“Marlowe.” Her voice felt like a cold spike. 

A man had her around the waist. She wiggled against him, trying desperately to find a way to pull herself loose. Marlowe drew his weapon. The man watched, his intense eyes looking from the girl to Marlowe. The blade was sharp. The glinting edge was tight against her throat. 

“Let the girl go,” Marlowe growled. 

He took a step forward. 

The man pulled Dana up, the blade touching her skin, crimson melting into ivory. His teeth gleamed. Some were sharpened to razor points. His face distorted. What had been pale skin was now moldy like old bread. Teeth were decayed, yellow and blackened from lack of care. The cackle that erupted from the man was otherworldly. 

“The pretty one is mine now,” he crooned. 

Fingers were long and slender.

Nails dirtied and cracked. 

Marlowe blinked. 

The very act was heavy. 

He shot once, twice. The first round caught the man in the throat. Greenish blood spilled in a fine arc. Dana fell away. Her shriek fell on his deaf ears. The second shot exploded through the man’s chest.

Dana watched as Marlowe loomed over the man, his wide eyes glazed as he emptied the chamber. Each shot made the man jump, his body lifting from the ground as if pushed from beneath. 

“I think he is dead,” she whispered. 

Marlowe continued to pull the trigger. The man’s face was a haunting smile, blackened lips and bleeding gums forever frozen. The world around him seemed silent. The click of his weapon, Dana’s words, all of it was a silent symphony. 

Then the voices returned. 

Low whispering that at first climbed and climbed until there was a raging cacophony of screams that were indiscernible from one another. He looked at Dana, her lips moving, but the words were lost to him. 

It came slowly, half of the message lost. 

“…leave.”

He looked at her strangely. “What?” he asked, splatters of the man’s blood plastered across his chest. 

Her eyes pleaded. 

“We should leave, get off of the train.”

He nodded, licking his lips again. The world had refocused. “News certainly does travel fast, this kind more so than most. Not often you have a dead demon on a train.”

It was Dana’s turn to look at him oddly. He moved around her, reloading his weapon and aiming at the metal doors. The force of the round charred the steel in a perfect circle. 

The screech of the train frightened the passengers. 

As the doors opened, Dana jumped through, Marlowe following. Many of the onlookers disengaged their visors. They watched as the blood-soaked Marlowe and an angel of a young woman departed the train and fell into the murky tunnel. Marlowe watched the walls, looking for the crawling figures. Immediately, he regretted diving so blithely into the darkness when there were things that wished to speak to him from the shadows.




Bio: A psychologist, author, editor, philosopher, martial artist, and skeptic, he has published several novels and currently has many in print, including: The End of the World Playlist, Bitten, The Journey, The Ocean and the Hourglass, The Path of the Fallen, The Portent, and Cerulean Dreams. Follow him on Twitter (@AuthorDanOBrien) or visit his blog http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com. He recently started a consultation business. You can find more information about it here: http://www.amalgamconsulting.com/.





Would you like to win a copy of Cerulean Dreams?

All you have to do is comment on a post during the tour. Two randomly drawn commenters will be awarded either a physical or digital copy of Cerulean Dreams.

Visit http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/ and follow the blog for a chance to win a Kindle Fire!