R.A. Evans's Blog, page 11

To Be or Not To Be… a Villain: Guest Post by Author E.P. Marcellin

Everybody knows your hero has to be well-developed and thought through to the last detail. But what about your villain? How much thought have you given to the proverbial thorn in your protagonist's side? There are many paths to a successful villain; the direction you go depends entirely on your reasons for having an antagonist in the first place. Three examples are: the sympathetic villain, driven to evil; the power-hungry villain, evil without intent; and the purely evil villain.

Frankenstein. The monster is not created evil. It is not his fault that he is hideous and spurned by all. We understand his desperate need for companionship, the pain his creator has caused in abandoning him, the lengths he is driven to. Of course, we do not condone the vile acts he stoops to when Frankenstein refuses to create his mate, but we understand how he has come to it. We feel his pain. Frankenstein is the protagonist, but, at times, we can't help rooting for the monster. This type of villain will engage your readers and stir up controversy, if that is what you are after. He is not the villain of black and white, but the grey areas in which conflicts (and plots!) lie.

The power-hungry villain is one like the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She is cold and cruel, but domination is her goal, not evil. She grabs up more than is her due and upsets the balance of things, causing it to be always winter (but never Christmas). Upset balances always try to right themselves, which is where the protagonists come in. They don't hate her until she makes it personal and goes after Edmund. The witch wants more power, so she just has to go. This is the type of villain I used in my own novel, Element Keepers: Whispers of the Wind. The antagonist misuses an ancient power to gain dominion over other lands and it has a serious backlash, threatening the very existence of the world she is trying to control. This type of villain gives your hero someone to fight, but the grey areas still apply.

And, finally, we come to Iago from Shakespeare's Othello, a purely evil villain. He elicits unadulterated hate. The lies he tells lead to Othello murdering his bride on their wedding night. Iago's motive? Maliciousness. There isn't even a glimmer of a redeeming quality in the man. If you want to create utter hatred for your antagonist, make your readers really react violently, Iago is your model. He is deepest black for your protagonist's white. Generally, such uncomplicated evil may not be as gripping as the more complex sympathetic villain, but it is ideal for making a point. Sometimes our motivations lie in the black and white.

Whatever type of villain best foils your hero and advances your plot, it is the humanity of your characters that makes them real. We all carry the potential to be a hero or a villain. Show us what caused your villain to take that path, instead of the hero's. Whether they go along blithely wrecking havoc, are tortured by their decisions, or have completely abandoned their humanity, show us what makes your villain tick (time bomb or not).

About Elizabeth

E.P. Marcellin attended Houghton College for a BA in Creative Writing with a minor in Art. Born in the USA, she spent most of her childhood in western Africa.

Her family moved back to the USA during her teenage years. As time passed, she remained an avid traveler and book enthousiast. She found inspiration for Element Keepers while visiting Ste. Lucia for a wedding. Later on, her travels through Italy and Morroco also fueled her creativity, providing the final touches to the story.

Today, she enjoys cooking, gardening, and artwork, when her little children give her the time. The growing family lives in Canada, where her husband works as a commercial pilot.

Links and information

You may find more information about ELEMENT KEEPERS on her website http://www.epmarcellin.com

You can also find her on facebook (Element Keepers) and twitter (EPMarcellin)

ELEMENT KEEPERS was released in September 2010 by Tate Publishing. It can be found on Amazon, B&N, and all the other major book outlets.

To illustrate the sympathetic villain, let us draw on a literary classic,

Ten Easy Steps to Strengthen Your Story Using Joseph Campbell's "THE HERO'S JOURNEY"

I was a sophomore in college when I first discovered Joseph Campbell's non-fiction  classic THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES.  Campbell was an expert in mythology and used his extensive knowledge of the subject to create the definitive story-map. He's traced this model of story creation back thousands of years and across nearly every culture.

George Lucas credits the works of Joseph Campbell for helping him develop the Star Wars saga and the mesmerizing journey of young Luke Skywalker. Needless to say, my copy of THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES has dog-eared pages and plenty of handwritten notes scribbled on nearly every page. It's my go-to reference guide when I get lost inside my own head.

Here is my own Cliff-Notes version of the ten steps to THE HERO'S JOURNEY. See how they stack up against your own story outline.

1. Reveal The Ordinary World of Your Character. Introduce your main character, the hero of your novel, and show us what his life is like at the beginning of your story.

2. Your Character Faces a Challenge. Something happens that forces the hero to make a decision that will change his life.

3. Your Character Initially Refuses. Your main character will initially resist this change and the difficulties it will entail and wants things to stay the same.

4. You Character Decides To Change. Often triggered by an outside event, he makes a commitment to changing his life.

5. Your Character Gains Mentors and Allies. As your story progresses, your character meets people along the way who offer help and support.

6. Your Character Learns What He Needs To Succeed. He takes action toward achieving his goals and acquiring the skills he will need along the way. The stakes get higher as he proceeds.

7. Your Character First Confronts His Deepest Fear and Fails. He faces his greatest challenge but has not yet acquired the inner strength that is needed to succeed at his goal.

8. The Dark Night of the Soul. Your character experiences self-doubt and fears that he will never succeed. He is on the verge of giving up.

9. The Leap of Faith. Your character experiences a renewed inner commitment to his goal based on an inner faith that he can be, do, or have whatever he really wants.

10. Final Climactic Confrontation and Ultimate Success. Your character faces his biggest challenge and puts everything into achieving what he wants. With this final powerful effort, he finally succeeds and gets what he has wanted for so long.

So now you know the secret used my countless storytellers through the ages. It brings new meaning to Ralph Waldo Emerson's classic take on the subject "Life is a journey – not a destination."  I wish you luck on your writing journey.

Purchase a copy of my thriller ASYLUM LAKE to see how I put these ten easy steps to use.

Book Review: Steve Emmett's DIAVOLINO is a hellishly delightful tale!

I'm a sucker for any story that involves discovering the gateway to hell. I blame Dante and his classic work INFERNO for this fascination. Needless to say, when I stumbled across DIAVOLINO my expectations were  fairly high – and Emmett's dark tale does not disappoint.

The story follows architect Tom Lupton and his charming family as they arrive in Italy to deisgn a home for a wealthy client on the small island of Diavolino. Foreign locales offer endless opportunity for frights and Emmett's powerful descriptions of the Italian countryside, and those who call it home, pull you deeper into his clutches as the sinister story of the island's dark past unfolds.

Th story's pacing is flawless and Emmett's writing grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let go.  From London to Italy and eventually to the very gates of Hell, Diavolino is the perfect mix of horror, mystery, and suspense. Dan Brown fans will come for the Vatican conspiracies – Stephen King fans will stay for the chills.

Five Bloody Pitchforks for DIAVOLINO!

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DarkMediaCity to Feature 7 Deadly Questions Author Interview Series

Over the course of the last few months the popularity of my 7 Deadly Questions author interview series has grown tremendously. Each Wednesday, more than 1,000 visitors click onto my blog to gain insights into some of the darkest minds in publishing as they talk about their works. From horror and suspense to sci-fi and urban fantasy, 7 Deadly Questions shines the light on the industry's rising stars. And now, thanks to a new partnership with DarkMediaCity, 7 Deadly Questions will be reaching an even wider audience.

For the uninitiated, DarkMediaCity is an unprecendented social network that aims to connect its users with the people, communities, organizations and services that interest them most. Everyone from the horror film aficionado, to the fan of Gothic literature, to the zombie enthusiast, to the person newly curious about the paranormal can log in, fill out a profile, and quickly begin to interact with others of like minds and interests. Not only is DarkMediaCity a place for users to gather and network, it's also a place for debate and discussion. In addition to offering users the same social networking tools as other websites, Forums have been created to encourage debate and discussion on a number of exciting and diverse topics.

According to the folks at DarkMedia, it's a win-win for everyone.  "As an addition to our existing interview series, DarkMediaCity is excited to feature the widely popular, and always entertaining, "7 Deadly Questions" on our network."

I encourage you to sign up at DarkMediaCity.Com to meet and mingle with a legion of other fans of darkness, horror, and all things paranormal. 

7 Deadly Questions goes live on DarkMediaCity, and here on R. A. Evans writes, next Wednesday, May 18th with my interrogation of Richard Jay Parker. We'll be discussing his chilling debut STOP ME - shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger 2010.

Special thanks to the folks at DarkMediaCity for their support and partnership.  I'm looking forward to brining my enhanced interrogatin techniques to their online community.

The Value of Beta Readers: Guest Post by Author A.J. Powers

Firstly, I'd like to thank the kind and talented Rich Evans for allowing me to be a guest on his blog. I hope I can provide an entertaining and informative post that is worthy of being displayed on his page.

Beta Readers! Do you have them? Are you one? Do you care? The term "Beta Reader" is a relatively new one to me. Being new to the authoring business I had no idea this role even existed in the writing world; though it makes total sense.

I've been a professional game developer going on nearly seven years now. I've always known about QA in the game industry, or better known as Beta Testers. There is ultimately only one job for a QA (Quality Assurance) tester in the game industry; break the game. Sounds weird, doesn't it? But that's what they are paid to do. It's important that QA hammers on a game like there's no tomorrow to find what can break the game, what looks incorrect, what's not fun, and even at some points, story problems. If a game were to ship to shelves with many of the bugs that are found during development then it would quite likely lessen the experience of the gamer. Having QA find these problems ahead of time does two things: First – It minimizes the amount of bugs that will ship when the game is released. Second – It frees the developers up to focus on the game itself instead of trying to find the bugs.

So how on earth does this pertain to writing and releasing a book? Well in my mind the two aren't that dissimilar from each other. Sure a game paints all the pictures visually for you, dialogue is acted out, and you get to control the hero, but at the end of the day both mediums have a story being told to you through a series of events that unfold in front of your eyes. So with that said, I believe books can ship with bugs!

I'll admit, I just thought of that phrase "books can ship with bugs" as I wrote it out. It doesn't make it any less true, however. As games have matured and become much more sophisticated in storytelling, bugs are no longer limited to the player finding ways to fall out of the world or a giant oak tree floating above the ground. Broken story, bad dialogue, and other story related elements will often find themselves going through the bug tracking database, inevitably ending up in the inbox of a soon-to-be pissed off game designer who is having his "perfect" work ripped apart by QA.

I'll be the first to admit that I hate QA. Setting aside the fact that often in the game industry QA is usually comprised of some odd guys and girls, but rather that no one likes to see work they've done come back from someone that says "This is broken." Having said that though, wouldn't you rather a small group of people find what's broken instead of a disappointed reader who might leave a negative review?

When I write stories – just like when I create art for games – I become so intimate with the piece that I will quite frequently overlook glaring issues. It happens to me almost every week professionally, and it's proving to be the same when I am writing. The biggest issue for me when I write is that I know my story too well, and I forget to explain things that are relevant for the reader to know. Even an instance as trivial as having someone in a car in one sentence, and then out the next. I did this very thing in Loose Ends. In my head it was just logical that the people inside the car exited and continued on their journey, but one of my beta readers, Steve Umstead, caught this and replied. "When did these people get out of the car?" Good question, Steve. When indeed? He (and my other readers) caught things like that all over the place. It's okay to imply things at times, but if it's confusing to my beta readers, it would likely cause confusion to anyone else reading my work.

Beta readers can offer a wide array of services to help improve the quality of your book. Some are good with picking up situations like the example above. Others might pick up plot holes, inaccurate facts, grammatical errors, pacing, the list goes on. Having a handful of beta readers will help broaden the spectrum of bugs to be discovered in your writing, and yes, you will have bugs in your writing. No author has sent a perfect manuscript to an editor; I'm very confident of that. That's nothing to be ashamed of either. As I said before, an author can get so into his/her writing that it's easy for us to skip over "oh duh" moments. I like to think of beta readers as my sanity checkers.

"Well I have an editor," you might say. Well that's good, and an editor is surely worth their weight in gold, but even they miss things. Modern AAA games (the big budget ones especially) have usually HUNDREDS of QA testers playing a single game. The more you get to beta read, the better your chances are to discover problems and address them. Obviously you want to limit your beta readers to a reasonable amount. Some are okay with just three or four while others I am sure go out to dozens. I think between six and twelve is a good number for me.

As indie authors we are now competing with the biggest names in literature. I know it's weird to think about, but Rich here is competing against authors like Steven King. I can find Asylum Lake on the same website as Salem's Lot. So it's absolutely important we try to make our work as top notch as we can so when people purchase it they realize the quality you (the author) have to offer, and most likely for a better price. I think beta readership is a very important part in making that happen.

So don't be afraid to ask some friends to read your book (even if it's just your rough draft), and if someone you know is looking for beta readers, go ahead and sign up if you can follow through with your commitment. It's a win win; you will most likely get an enjoyable read out of it, and will be helping a fellow author not only put a better book out, but improve their skills.

About A. J.

AJ Powers is a professional game developer by day, and a writer by night. Over the years of working in the game industry he has come to appreciate great story telling and is making it a personal mission to tell compelling and thrilling stories that keep the readers on the edge of their seats, and satisfied through the final page turn. You can follow A.J. thoughts and work on his blog at http://ajpowers.wordpress.com/

 A.J.'s debut novella LOOSE ENDS is available on Amazon for Kindle.

7 Deadly Questions with Author Steve Emmett

1. I recently described your debut novel Diavolino as what would happen if Dan Brown and Stephen King collaborated on a project. Talk to me about your inspiration and how you would classify Diavolino.

I call Diavolino a horror thriller. Some call it a supernatural thriller. I'm comfortable with either. It combines a big adventure with the occult, rather like Dennis Wheatley used to do in his highly successful novels such as The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil a Daughter. Wheatley comes in for a bit of stick these days but let's not forget that he was writing in a different time. I wanted to write something like that but bring it up to date. As I was living in Italy at the time and had my own take on the xenophobic tendencies of the Berlusconi government, my everyday environment proved the inspiration for the story. Lake Trasimeno was at the center of my life for almost 25 years. Religious fundamentalism formed part of the story as it generally does when the author was forced to attend Catholic school.

2. Foreign locales provide ample opportunities to ratchet up the thrills and chills and you've found the ideal setting with the Italian island of Diavolino. Talk to me about how you settled on this location.

As I've said, I know Lake Trasimeno intimately. The whole area is steeped in history and superstition; one of my neighbors sported a red ribbon around the wing mirror of his three-wheeler truck to ward off the Evil Eye. My own house stood on the remains of a medieval convent which had tunnels leading to the village church a mile away. Why look any further with all that on my doorstep and with years of memories still fresh in my head? The existing islands in the lake I felt were not suitable as they are too well known, and one is even privately owned. So I decided to invent a fourth. All I had to do was make the readers believe in it – from what is being said I succeeded. An English friend who still lives there told me recently that he'd heard an American or Canadian tourist reading the ferry timetable and wondering why there were no trips to Diavolino.

3. You do a great job with foreshadowing in Diavolino and just when I thought I had things figured out you pulled the rug right out from under me. Was that intentional – the use of foreshadowing as a way to move the story along?

Absolutely. You have to be careful or you end up doing what's called 'telegraphing' and giving too much away but for me, dropping clues and hints along the way is vital to keeping the story simmering. I believe that even commercial fiction, which is what I write, can be – should be – intellectually stimulating as well as entertaining. I get bored with stories that don't make me think.

4. Religion plays a central role in Diavolino. Talk to me about your own religious views and how they influenced your writing?

My grandfather was a devout Catholic. He was a great man, rising from the shame of the workhouse to director of a successful linen mill in Yorkshire. He was good in the real sense of the word and dedicated all, and I mean all, his spare time to helping the sick and the poor. His generosity was taken advantage of by The Church. He served as the Mayor of the town for almost thirty years. A visit to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace and a medal from the Pope were proud moments for him. So, although my own father was not devout, you can understand why I was sent to the primary school run by the Catholic Church.

My grandfather was a governor, of course! During those early years, as I was exposed more and more to the dogma, I had to ask myself whatever an eight year-old could possibly have done that was so bad it needed to be confessed and forgiven. And I had many a sleepless night worrying about going to Purgatory or burning eternally in Hell. I mean, horror films were classified 18 back then yet these people were actually filling our heads with far worse in the name of education.

And there was one other thing that affected me deeply. I must have been about ten, I suppose, when I changed class and got seated next to a mixed- race girl called Rita. Rita was from the children's home run by the nuns. As we got to know each other she would tell me about the bruises on her face and neck, how the kids were regularly beaten and even locked in the cellar. I remember she would stick drawing pins into her wrists during class. By the time I left and went to grammar school, I'd pretty much made up my mind that Catholicism was not for me. When my grandfather was ill- he succumbed to Alzheimer's- his church abandoned him. Knowing that he would show up to pray at almost any hour, the priest ended the open door policy and locked up when there was no Mass. Even in the freezing winter weather the priest would ignore the doorbell. And as for Rita, she was murdered many years later by the serial killer known as The Yorkshire Ripper.

So, like many a kid forced to swallow religious dogma, I am an atheist – yet always a lapsed Catholic, lugging that bloody great trunk of guilt and feelings of worthlessness around on my back. It's all of this that you see in my writing.

5. Research is crucial to creating a believable story. What was the research for Diavolino like? What did you get right? What did you get wrong?

I can't lie. I didn't do heaps of research. I was, for the large part, writing what I knew and what I had always dreamed of writing. I really didn't need to research the locations or characters. I did investigate mythology, history and some ancient religions. I suppose I got it mostly right as no one has yet pointed out any glaring holes.

6. What's next for you, Steve?

More big horror adventures. I will complete the sequel to Diavolino but am taking my time as it has to be even better. The next horror I will finish is already about a third done and, again, takes us to various locations as we battle with evil. I've also found that I enjoy writing short stories and novellas; one is being considered now and I hope to have news soon.

7. Where can people go to learn more about your work?

My blog is a good place: http://chukkienator.blogspot.com/

And I can be followed on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/chukkie58

About Steve

Steve Emmett is a British author and actor born in Harrogate, the genteel Yorkshire spa town where Agatha Christie hid away from the world thirty-two years earlier. He studied at the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and built a few houses before going off the rails. He spent time in New York then returned to Yorkshire where, amongst other things, he served as an elected councillor. He then moved back to London and worked in the real estate sector. For over twenty years he ran his own agency specializing in Italian country homes and, for almost ten years, lived by Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, the setting for Diavolino. Born at the end of the 1950s, Steve grew up on Dennis Wheatley novels and Hammer Horror films, and on many occasions started to put pen to paper. Completely dissatisfied and unfulfilled with his career, Steve decided in 2009 that he wanted to write and began Diavolino. He has also recently launched an acting career with the help of Northern Spirit Creative in Leeds. He currently lives with his partner and some rather large spiders in the Yorkshire Wolds, close to the ancient City of York. Diavolino, his first novel, is published by Etopia Press and available as an e-book from Etopia Press, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes and Noble  and other online sellers. A paperback edition will be out later in summer 2011.

Six Steps to Creating a Writing Schedule

If you want to be a writer, you have to write. Sounds easy, doesn't it? The hard part isn't knowing what you have to do so much as it's finding when to do it. Sure, you have to write, but you also have to pay the bills, spend time with your family, and take the occasional shower. There's no shortage of things you want to do, either, from catching up with friends to watching Game of Thrones on HBO. It can seem impossible to fit writing in amid all your other priorities.

What's a busy writer to do? Don't give up! Follow these six simple steps, and you'll find there's time for writing in every single day.

Step One: Record how you spend your time. Write down everything that takes up your time in an average week. Jot down an estimate of how much time each takes. Include all of it: job, chores, sleep, classes, gym hours, visits, reading, regular TV shows, outings, internet surfing. No matter how small or trivial, list it. Carry the list with you and note any activities that slipped your mind. Every week has 168 hours. When you're done, you should have an idea of where all those hours go.

Step Two: Cut what you can. Take a look at your list. Which items are more important or necessary to you than writing? Which ones aren't? Let's focus on those. You can find a way to trim time off almost anything. Maybe you're driving the kids to lessons and clubs non-stop. Arrange car-pools with other parents so someone else can share the driving time. Maybe you watch ten hours of TV a week. Pick the shows you can't bear to miss and cut out the rest. Maybe you devote an hour or more to cooking each night. Find some meals you can prepare in half that time. Question every activity. If you don't need it, throw it away. If you've got to have it, make do with less. Keep track of how much time you'll save if you follow through. You'll be amazed at how quickly it adds up.

Step Three: Combine what you can't. Some things you just can't cut, like your job and spending time with your family. You can still save time, however. Consider your necessary activities and look for two that could be done simultaneously. Could you catch up with friends during your lunch break? Watch Game of Thrones on your Smart Phone while on the treadmill? Check your e-mail while you gulp down breakfast? If so, then do it! A minute combined is a minute saved.

Step Four: Organize your new-found time. Now that you've found all this extra time, how can you use it most effectively? First, you need a plan. Your plan will depend on the settings in which you work best. If you've been writing for any time at all, you'll know whether you prefer brief bursts of creativity or a long stretch to build momentum. Think about the times of day when you're most alert, and how much distraction you can tolerate. Then get out your list of activities and play around with the order of your daily tasks. (You may want to use a calendar or agenda to help.) If you write best in the morning, you could lay out your clothes and prepare lunch the night before. If you're more of a night owl, see if you can have dinner early in the evening, and tape your TV shows for viewing the next morning or on the weekend. Place any events that disturb your ability to write as far from your preferred writing times as possible. Finally, decide on a time when you'll write every day, for at least an hour (either all at once, or split up). It's best to keep your writing sessions at the same time each day. That way, you'll get into the habit faster, and it'll train your muse that this is when it needs to show up. An hour a day might seem like a lot, but remember that you'll have 23 hours for doing everything else. Mark your writing sessions on the calendar, and let the people you live with know that you'll be unavailable during that time. Only break your writing schedule if you absolutely have to. The more sessions you miss, the easier it'll be to let the whole thing slide.

Step Five: Start small. If you start your new schedule expecting to write ten pages per session, you'll become frustrated so quickly that all the time in the world won't help. You want to stick with it, not scare yourself off. It'll be easier to keep to your schedule if you enjoy your writing sessions, so approach them with a minimum of pressure. Spend a week with only one goal: that you spend the entire session with your computer or notebook, doing nothing unrelated to writing. Whether you end up with one word or 1000, the fact that you're writing at all is what matters. By the end of the first week, check what you achieved each day. Set your goals based on your abilities. If you're able to come up with at least two pages even on your worst days, aim to write two pages every session, remembering that you can always write more. When you find you're meeting your goal every day without a problem, go ahead an increase it. Little by little, your output will increase.

Step Six: Stay motivated. Goals mean nothing unless you earn something when you meet them. Would you show up at your day job if there wasn't a paycheck on the way? For every day you reach or pass your writing goals, reward yourself. Pick something that you enjoy but can live without. One of my unproductive pleasures is wandering the Web, so my internet connection stays off until I'm finished my morning writing session. Make the experience of writing positive, and you'll be eager to sit down with a blank page. Give it a try. Make the time. It won't be long before you're wondering how you ever got by without your daily writing.

Too Many Irons in the Fire: Always Writing With Nothing to Show

I am always writing. I mean that both literally and figuratively.  With one novel published, another saet to hit the shelf in the very near future, and two more projects in the works I very rarely find myself doing anything other than writing. That being said, I don't always have a lot to show for my efforts.

Between the editing and re-writes on my soon to be released novel Grave Undertakings, keeping up with my blogging duties, and the writing that comes with the never-ending evolution of my author platform I am finding myself with less and less time to actually write – new stuff, fun stuff, scary stuff!

I recently came across an old post on a now defunct blog about finding balance as a writer. CLICK HERE to read the post. I'm anxious to hear if others are experiencing the same problems with their time management.

Book Review: Al Boudreau's IN MEMORY OF GREED Gets Four-Stars!

I've always wanted to be a fan of the spy-thriller genre but more often than not have found myself too easily confused by the myriad of details that go into the complex storylines. With IN MEMORY OF GREED, however, Al Boudreau has created a storyline that is timely, compelling, and descriptive enough in its complexities to keep even the most easily-confused deeply engaged.

Boudreau's tale of government/corporate corruption unfolds as readers are introduced to ex-Navy Seal Murhrkin Murcado. Not surprisingly, Murcado's clandetsine past casts a long shadow as the realities of the ex-Seal's past are revealed.

From California to Kenya – and several stops in between – the story of IN MEMORY OF GREED takes you on a whirlwind tour across the globe. These far-away and exotic locations provide the perfect stage on which Boudreau's richly-written characters dance. The dialogue is tight and real – as if the reader is merely a fly on the wall watching the action unfold.

The story rests on Murcado's very capable shoulders.  Strong yet vulnerable, Al Boudreau's protagonist guides the reader through the multitide of plot twists and turns.  He's "everyman" but with lethal skills and a penchant for finding his way into, and out of, trouble.

Move over Robert Ludlum, your Jason Bourne has some competition. Kudo's to Al Boudreau for his efforts with IN MEMORY OF GREED.

Grave Undertakings Delayed…

You've probably heard the saying "you never get a second chance to make a first impression". It's a good one – and true. Sadly, my worry is much more of the "there's always time to ruin that first impression" variety.

My debut novel Asylum Lake made quite a splash (I know – it's too early for puns) and although Grave Undertakings is a sequel there was one major change in the process to bring it to print – I hired an editor.  You see, I acted as a lone wolf on Asylum Lake – author, editor, publisher…hell, I even had to fetch my own beer from the fridge. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed every single minute of it.

At the end of the day, however, it proved to be just too much. The dreaded typos got me – not a lot, but just enough to torture my type A personality. To avoid the same mistakes I hired an editor for Grave Undertakings. What started as simple line/copy editing somehow evolved.  I started listening to my editor's advice instead of the creepy little voice inside my head.  NOTE TO SELF: CREEPY VOICE IS ALWAYS RIGHT!

The galleys came back this week and I took a great deal of time in re-reading the story. Needless to say, it's been a rough couple of days. So here's my announcement – the May 26th shelf date for Grave Undertakings is being pushed back. Just how far is undetermined at this point. I will say this, however, Grave Undertakings will be read under the summer sun – and you'll still get the chills!

I'll keep you up to date on my progress and will let be announcing the new shelf date here first.  On a positive note, if you haven't taken the plunge into Asylum Lake there's still time. You can find it on Amazon HERE or autographed print copies HERE.