Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, John Hancock to BOD’s author spotlight interview. What a pleasure it is to get to spend some time with you and share a little bit about you with our fellow authors and fans at Band of Dystopian!

I’m honored and thrilled. BOD has been a very welcome place for me to hang out with my writer peeps and my reader peeps and those little yellow Easter peeps.

Tell us your writing story. When did you know writing was the world you wanted to live in?

As a boy I grew up in the late 60’s. I would ride my bike to the library, fill the front basket with the allowable number of books and read them all. They were my best friends — Asimov, Sturgeon, Dick, Bester, Padgett, Lewis, Wells, Verne.
I only knew then how much I wanted to read. Later on, I wanted to write. It wasn’t a sudden thing, it was a slow drenching fog of a thing. I loved English in school, although to be fair, I loved everything in school.

In college, I took creative writing and dreamed of getting published. But this was in the 80’s. The gatekeepers were stalwart and forbidding. I sensed that, from the visiting authors.

So I put that dream aside. For a long time.

In the early nineties, in a midlife crisis fugue, I tried again, I sent off a couple of stories to Asimov magazine, both rejected. Though one was a personal rejection, which I cherish. I was able to get a couple of stories in webzines, back before webzines were cool. But I put that dream aside. After all, I had a creative outlet, working as a graphic designer for newspapers, so that monster in my breast was being fed, somewhat. It shrunk, and only mewled it was hungry once in a while.

Then, the self-publishing paradigm happened. At about the same time, I temporarily had a relatively non-creative job. The monster grew larger and must be fed. I started writing a fantasy novel. I got a little ways and wondered if this was even a viable option. As an experiment, I collected what stories I had, expanded flash fiction I’d done and came up with some new stories, and packaged it all together, using only me. I wanted to see if I could do it. That became A Plague of Dreams.

whew! only the first question and I’ve written War and Peace. Sorry!

What was your favorite book or series when you were a child? What about as an adult? Have these book influenced your writing?

When I was very young, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. L’Engle. As a preteenager it was the golden age of science fiction: Bradbury, Asimov, Ellison. In college, it was Frank Herbert, Tolkien, Poe. Then, as an adult: Clive Barker, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Eddings, Tad Williams, George RR Martin, Terry Goodkind, Rusch, Mercedes Lackey, Ursula LeGuinn.

You cannot help but be influenced as a writer by those books you’ve read, even the bad books, because they teach you.

I love stories that address a genre in a different way. You do this so masterfully in “Roof.” Can you tell us where your idea for Roof came from?

Roof, like most of my works, starts with a dream I’ve had. I borrow either the mood, or feeling or outright details. I dream in complete plots most of the time.

The particular dream that was the kernel to get me started was this:

I dreamed I was scared to death, leaning against a parapet of a building, high, high in the air, and someone hopped over to rescue me. I clung to the architecture for dear life, afraid of falling, afraid not to fall. This other person grabbed my hand and leaped across to another building roof, taking me with them. Once I was there, they had a whole community of homeless people, laughing and singing. I looked over the roof and saw the city below, and realized I was no longer part of that world, that now I would live on the roofs of buildings. In the dream, we pole-vaulted across the roofs.

Of course, that’s just the germ of the idea, Roof is different a bit, and so much more of a story than that.

As far as genre: I read so many genres, that I just write a story, and don’t worry about how it fits into a genre. In fact, that’s the most anxiety-ridden part of publishing for me is deciding what category the book I just wrote falls into. And the blurb. I hate writing blurbs.

I love the idea that technology can be programmed to have personality and perhaps even souls. Where did your inspiration come from for giving your automatons such humanistic qualities?

Honestly, my character told me. As I was writing Peter, he told me an engineer wouldn’t be able to stand by something broken without trying to fix it. That is the soul of the engineer. When he was having humanity taken away from him, he had to find a way to be around humans, even if he had to make what wasn’t human, human.

Roof is full of technological computer jargon. Are these details from personal knowledge or did you have to do some serious researching?

It’s the world Peter lives in. I didn’t have to research because I did a short stint at a software company, I was Margaret (user interface) to their programmers. I’ve built a pc computer from scratch, to see if I could do it. I was one of the founders of MacOSXhints.com, although I don’t participate there now. Used to be there was almost nothing about macs and their operating system I didn’t know. Now I can’t because its more complicated. I worked on the first macs made, and was on the internet before it was the internet, due to knowing some of the right people. I’m ancient, and have lived through many things. I’m the sponge that absorbs it. Coo coo ca choo.

Also, the hidden computer language he invents is my idea, I don’t know if that does or will exist at some point. I don’t see why it couldn’t.

What can you tell us about your participation in the upcoming release of Prep For Doom?

I created 20 different personas and wrote the whole thing myself. I’M KIDDING!.

No, I was lucky enough to be part of the brainstorming phase, where the overall story arc was discussed by the wonderful ER Arroyo and others. I wanted to write a pocket story, one that kind of existed in its own little world parallel to the main story. I posted in a private chat the rough sketch of the story, they approved, I wrote it and sent it in, hoping it would be accepted (there are so many fantastic authors in BOD that there was no guarantee I’d get in).

Luckily, I think people liked my characters and the way they talk to each other, so it got in. I’m honored and humbled at the same time.

What has it been like collaborating with other authors on such a project?

Well, it was sort of like tying a necktie in the dark. You sort of kind of knew the barest hint of what other people were doing, and so you tried to mold your story in a way that would fit. Great credit needs to be given to Sara Benedict and again ER Arroyo for shepherding that all together.
I was honored to work more directly with Casey L. Bond, and include her main character in at the end of my story. That was a cool thing to do, and unlike anything I’ve done before.

Are you currently working on other writing projects you’d like us to know about?

Well, right now, I’m in the editing phase to have a story of mine included in the Immortality Chronicles, a Samuel Peralta project (you should check out some of his other Chronicle books). I’m trying to get a version of another of my stories published through a renowned horror publisher, we’ll see if that comes to fruition (fingers crossed). If it doesn’t through that method, I will certainly self-publish it as I think it’s one of the better stories I’ve ever done in that genre.

Plans, plans. I plan to have a sideways sequel to Crawlspace, which will start off a series based on Jack Banyan, psychic. I plan to title it “Banyan’s Law” and it will connect sideways to Crawlspace. I also have blocked out a Science Fiction novel that will be titled “Return to me, my beloved”. When I finish that one, I will try to send it through the traditional publishing route and see how that comes out.

I’m working on more installments of “The Utopia Syndrome,” micro short stories that I will ultimately package together.

I also have more stories in my head than I can tell, so keep tuned!

Besides writing, what are some of your other hobbies and or day jobs?

I’m a graphic designer by day, I love to play video games with my son (though he reminds me I don’t play enough) Otherwise, I’m a fairly sedentary person, I don’t rock climb or skydive (not anymore) and I can’t even ride rollercoasters (due to having my vertebrae fused in my neck). So the best thing, if I’m not writing, is sitting next to my lovely wife as we watch TV. (there’s another best thing, but we shan’t go into that)

Thank you, John, for your time, and for sharing your awesome stories with us at BOD!

Author Links: 

Website, Amazon, Goodreads, Dreamwood Tales Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Illustration Website

Amazon Links: 

ROOF – Sci-Fi Dystopian
The Utopia Syndrome – Sci-Fi Dystopian
Crawlspace – Horror
Three Magic Tales – Fantasy
Splintered Dreams – Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy anthology of stories
Amber
A Plague of Dreams – Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy anthology of stories

(MAY 2ND PROMPT)

This is one of my (ER Arroyo) favorite winning entries we’ve had! Check out March’s story below and view the original photo and prompt here.

Prompt: She had only ever stepped outside once in her life, and that time she’d only made it halfway to the dilapidated gate before her parents caught her and brought her back inside to rescue her from the Dangers. Now that her parents had gone to the Next, she had no choice. She knew what she was walking out of, but had no idea what she was walking into.

The girl tread on light feet, mud beneath her toes. The Fog hung heavy on the ground, blanketing time-worn headstones—almost still, like common fog. She shivered in her thin shift.

As she passed the gate, her breathing turned fitful. The Fog around her stirred—undulated, billowed. She clenched her fingers, as clouds coalesced into form, taking the shape of a hunched crone—slate-hued and wavering. A face of seething smog, hair like wisps of mist. She moved, even while motionless.

“Who’s this?” the Ask crooned, in a voice made of wind. “Who, who?”

The crone sprung, swirled around the girl, a tornado of question, sending her dark hair skyward. The girl squeezed her eyes shut. “Who, who, who?” thundered in her ears.

Then, stillness—abrupt and strange. The girl opened her eyes, hesitant. The Ask hovered just before her, staring with a gunmetal gaze. Eyes that were not eyes. “Who?”

“Just a girl,” she answered, in a quiet voice.

“Girls have names, as all things do. Like hills and songs and sickness. Who?”

The girl could taste The Ask in her mouth—sweet, cloying, horrible. “I have no name,” she said. “I am nameless.”

Sometimes, on the cusp of sleep, the girl thought she could remember a name she once had. Her mother’s voice calling out to her—two syllables, sing-song. Nothing more.

“No name,” the Ask breezed, then cackled. “This nameless girl had clever kin. Cannot take a nameless thing to the Next. No name. Who, who?”

“I only wish to pass,” the girl said.

The Ask swirled, gusted. “The nameless may pass. A girl won’t be nameless long. All things have names, girls too. Who who?” And then was gone.

The girl stepped forward once again, the question still echoing in her mind.

Who?

Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, David McIntyre to BOD’s author spotlight interview!  Thank you so much for spending some time with us and helping all of us at Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans get to know you.

Thank you for the invitation.  This is the first time I have given an interview as a writer. I’ve done many different things over the course of my career, teacher, pastor, missionary, and wilderness survival instructor, but writing fiction is relatively new for me and you are the first person to formally ask about it.

For starters, can you tell us how you heard about BOD and what attracted you to the group?

A year ago I knew NOTHING about indie publishing until a friend told me about how he launched his PA fiction under the name JT Sawyer and was having a great experience with it.

I have never done much with Facebook other than keep track of friends. When I decided to publish The Fall series on Kindle, I searched Facebook for anything related to the PA genre and found BOD.  I was immediately struck by the activity level and participation on the page.  People seemed to know and like each other.  It was like finding intelligent life, community.  True confession here…I have not been an avid reader of PA fiction for several years and felt very out of touch with people who were. I was searching for a place where I could get to know readers and so many pages barely have a pulse. Showing up at BOD was like going to a party where I didn’t know anyone and ending up playing beer-pong in the first ten minutes.

Tell us a little bit about your writing history.  When did you know you loved to write and how did it all happen?

I have always had an overactive imagination.  As a kid I was a role-playing game addict but always as the game-master not just a player. I was never satisfied with any of the pre-packaged games and ended up developing my own post-nuke game scenario that we played for several years.  During those years I read every PA series I could, The Guardians and Deadlands are two I remember quite well.

I didn’t start writing fiction until college.  As an elective, I took a course in creative writing and discovered that I had developed all sorts of muscles for character development, scene, and plot from years of running RPG’s and reading PA fiction like my life depended on it. The creative process was in place but that was the first time I had ever written anything down. The response in class and from guys in the dorm was very positive.

During my senior year, I started writing my first novel, Lyon’s Pride. I discovered how difficult it is to get it right. At this point, I was newly married and moved to Brazil to teach in an international school. Life turned into a wild ride and I set writing aside. That was 1992.

I started writing again three years ago with The Fall series. Like the pre-packaged role-playing games, I’m never satisfied with fiction. I’m not critical because I know how difficult it is, but I find myself suspending judgment often.  It’s fiction, that’s part of it and it does not stop me from enjoying other people’s work. For some reason, zombie stories generate the most conflict for me. I found myself mulling over how it would have to be, resolving the issues I had with various scenarios. It came to the point of “put-up or shut-up” and I decided to work those solutions into a story.

Is there an author or genre that has influenced your writing?

For most of my adult life, I have been involved in public speaking and an early mentor told me to find my own voice.  He told me it is essential to learn from others, but any attempt to copy them will obliterate that which is unique to me as a speaker. I believe that is true for writers. My writing heroes are Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck and I think I have read everything that Louis L’Amour ever wrote. Their male lead characters are unapologetically masculine without turning into caricatures.  Especially with L’Amour, his characters follow a type but don’t degenerate into stereotypes. I can only hope they have influenced my writing.

Do you have some kind of writing routine that helps you create your stories?  Are you an outliner or a pantser?  What works for you?

I write the same way I navigate wilderness. I know where I want to wind up and I break the trip down into visible objectives or waypoints.  I have to arrive at those waypoints to stay on course, but it doesn’t matter how I get to the next one. An outline is the ultimate buzz-kill.  Along the way, my characters come up with things I never would have thought of. I have a solid concept of the setting and the characters, their motivations and limitations.  I create problems for them and turn them loose to figure it out. I never say no to them for the sake of creating artificial tension.  If they have access to a simple solution, they are free to take it.  That just makes me find the real tension and force them to deal with it.

Now tell us about the first book in The Fall series.   I have read a lot of books that deal with zombies of some kind.  But your book approaches the idea from an angle that I found really believable.  Without giving away too much can you tell us how you came up with the idea?

Nothing makes me happier than to hear my premise is believable.

I used to tell my wilderness survival students, “You are the Boogieman out here.  Nothing in this jungle has a 16 inch steel tooth like you.” (machete) The idea of humanity turning against itself is a rational fear we all know by instinct. We don’t need superhuman, mutated powers to be the apex predator on this planet and we achieved that back in the stone-age. Human beings at their

worst are horrific.  We are capable of incredible brutality and aggression once our restraint system fails. I find an enraged woman with a crowbar far more terrifying than a rotting corpse with bad teeth. Why don’t zombies fall apart? How would such a thing propagate?

I settled on a viral pandemic with one easy symptom that would ensure it spread through everyone’s normal routine. It had to kill most, but not all, and there had to be a way to survive with your mind intact.  I have the disease pathology mapped out, but the survivors wouldn’t know how or why it all happened.  Discovering all that is part of the arc of the story.

In so many stories, the zombies become part of the weather, hot, dry, with staggering corpses. Characters run along glibly popping off headshots like they’re swatting flies. What if that wasn’t the case and humanity lost every time the characters were forced to kill? Rather than making the solution the province of some elite team in a military-industrial bunker, I made it simple and open source. They can affect change and have the ability to act. That moral responsibility, and the danger of acting on it, sets the tone for the story.

Can you tell us what comes next for Nick? 

The first three volumes, Scare upon the Earth, An Outstanding Debt, and Rest in the Shadow form an arc that introduces the main characters and welds them together as a family unit/tribe. The next three will also form an arc that takes them into a wider context and conflict. The last scene of Rest in the Shadow is the starting point for Volume IV and everything changes.

A survival situation will either make you sink to your worst or rise to your best. Someone said that we are all half ape and half angel. Rather than write yet another story of men reduced to animals I want to show Nick step up and face the situation like a man. Brutality is easy; cultivating what enables us to rise out of it is work. In his heart, every man wants respect as a warrior, king, priest, and lover (quoting someone there but forgetting my source). Nick has to step up in those areas.

Do you have any other stories you’re working on?

I’m planning six books in The Fall series, and currently working on Volume IV. I am developing a sequel series set in the future after The Fall ends. I am planning to do a rewrite of Lyon’s Pride, which is a sci-fi, off-world, wilderness survival story.  I also want to write non-fiction about wilderness survival.

Besides writing can you tell us about some of your other hobbies?

As I mentioned, I am a wilderness survival instructor. That has been a life-long passion. In 2000 I started the Per Ardua Wilderness Ministry using wilderness survival training as a backdrop for leadership development among the people I worked with in Brazil. In 2008 I co-founded the Mestre do Mato (Bushmaster) Survival School which opened up that training to paying customers.

I am a certified gun nut. ‘Murica! If it goes bang, I’m there, and yes I should tone that down in my writing. I’m learning the balance between accuracy and excessive detail. The more you know about a thing, the more you know that certain things matter, but not everyone cares. There is always the temptation to slip into teaching mode when fictionalizing a subject you teach. I have the same struggle when my characters are in a wilderness survival scene.

As a fellow Brazilian Portuguese speaker, can you tell us about the work you do in Brazil and how you became involved?

My (ex) wife grew up in Brazil.  We went there for two years (90-92) to teach in an English language school.  We later returned in 1999 as church planting missionaries and remained in that role until 2013. It was 15 years and a lifetime of experience, most, but not all of it good. That which doesn’t kill you just makes you change your shorts.

I am still involved with the Bushmaster school, which my partner relocated to Paraty on the coast of Rio De Janeiro State.  I hope to spend part of each year teaching there during peak season. I have permanent residency status in Brazil and it will always be a part of my life.

Are there any last crazy, fun, or insane things you’d like your fellow BODers to know about you?

I am currently in the running for a wilderness survival TV program, but since I signed a non-disclosure agreement with them, I can’t go into detail. This is my second run at such a thing. Several years ago, Discovery Brazil approached me for a similar show and I made it all the way to the final cut. I have no clue if this will happen or not.  They cast a wide net and narrow it down to a few individuals and it is a very fickle process. If I don’t make it, it will be due to a lack of talent, not a lack of trying.

If anyone is interested in my wilderness survival activities, I have a YouTube channel “Colhane” that shows what I do.

Thank you so much, David for sharing your time and talents with us!  It’s so fun for all of us at BOD to get to know you better.

Thank-you for the opportunity.  BOD is a great place to hang out.  It has been an educational experience and I hope to contribute where I can.

THE FALL VOLUME 1: SCARCE UPON THE EARTH

When a biological weapon wipes out 90% of the earths population and leaves the other 10% dangerously psychotic, Nick Harris slips through the cracks. He awakens alone in a world of savages intent to beat him to death for attempting to survive.

“Dead,” he said out loud. “It’s dead,” he lifted his eyes again. “All of it.” He caught his reflection in the rear-view mirror and gazed into tired eyes marked to bear witness. A quiet talk with Captain Bass returned to him. “When you are alone, when no one can see or hear you, when everything is stripped away and all the props are gone, that is when you discover who you are. Most men run from that their entire lives.”

Dave McIntyre grew up in eastern PA, near where this story begins. He has developed an interest in firearms, small unit tactics, and survival related topics since his early teens. During ten of his fifteen years living in Brazil he taught wilderness survival both on a not-for profit basis (Per Ardua Wilderness) and for paying clients at the Bushmaster Wilderness Survival School of which he is co-founder. Dave is also known as “Colhane” on YouTube. His channel showcases his wilderness survival activities in Brazil.

Per Ardua is Latin for “Through Difficulty”, it is also the McIntyre clan motto. The Fall series draws heavily upon Dave’s experience as a wilderness survival instructor. The most powerful lessons we learn in life are born in the midst of our deepest trials. When faced with crushing circumstances, those who allow the situation to drive them to their very best survive.

Interview by Angie Taylor

Thank you so much, TK for taking the time to spend with all of us at BOD!  BOD is already such a fun place, but it’s so lucky to have your funny, witty addition, so thank you!

Aw, thank you so much! I adore this group. I know when I peek at the posts, I’m about to be highly entertained. It’s a super fun place to hang out and just be myself.

Before we chat about your book(s), can you share a little bit about how you got into writing?  When did you know you wanted to be a writer, and how did it all come to be?

I wrote a short story for a school assignment in sixth grade, and that’s when the gears started turning. In high school, I wrote (terrible) poetry to deal with heartbreak and used it as an outlet for my anger. But, after I got married and had children, I left my journals unattended for over a decade. The first night after my husband and I separated, I paced the floor for hours because I didn’t know what to do. I was in my early thirties – I had no hobbies, no interests, and nothing of my own outside of my family. So when my “hats” were stripped off in 2009, I was vacant. I taught myself to play guitar and wrote a few songs, then I met a man who encouraged me to write. He bought me a journal, a pen, and a copy of Stephen King’s On Writing. I devoured the book and started making notes in a journal. On July 4, 2009, I started writing Independence (Contemporary Women’s Fiction). When the kids went to bed, I wrote. At the park? I wrote. Five months and 142K words later, I finished the first draft and moved on to my next project. I’ve been writing ever since. (And, I still have that short story that I take with me when I speak at schools or author talks to show that you’re never too young to have a passion and never too old to rediscover it.)

Now tell us a little about your dystopian books.  Collapse is the first in the series. And it has the perfect back drop for the kind of stories BODers crave.  I love that it explores the possibility of a future America dealing with totally realistic issues that are kind of being experienced now.  Can you tell us more about it?

Collapse stemmed from an uneasy feeling I had when I filled out the 2010 census. As I dropped it in the mail, I thought, “I just put all my demographic information on one piece of paper and mailed it to the government. What would happen if they don’t use that information for my good?” Tess’s story line blew wide open. In the book, Tess is a forty-year-old widowed woman living in a small town in Missouri raising two teenaged daughters and working as a nursing home administrator. She’s just received notice that she’s been selected to participate in a government test program called REEP (Redistribution for Economic Equivalency) and may have to swap houses with a larger family. The same day, she’s notified that the government has cut all Medicare/Medicaid funding for nursing home residents and is ordered to shut the home down even though some of the residents have no family and nowhere to go.

So I had Tess, but I wondered how America got in this position to begin with. Enter Doug. Doug is a fuel truck driver whose job is in high demand since the Middle East cut off all fuel supply to America. This caused the powers that be to create fuel vouchers and allocation programs in order to better manage what fuel remained. Doug allowed me to show the devastation and panic brought on by supply trucks failing to deliver food and supplies to grocery stores. He also let me explore the non-heroic side of a character. He’s a good guy – a normal man with a good heart and kind spirit. I’m tired of Hollywood putting normal people in devastating, catastrophic events and having them all thrive. So what happens if you put a good guy in a bad situation, and he doesn’t handle it well?

The last character to form was Brenna, a ten-year-old girl from central Missouri who’s excited about her once-a-year free plane ride to see her dad in Richmond. Her story shows how rough things have already gotten in other parts of the country and sets up a large part of book two, Three Meals to Anarchy.

Do you think that America could really fall apart as literally as it does in Collapse?

Collapse embodies some of my worst fears for the country. (Hence the series title, “The Yellow Flag Series.” A yellow flag means caution on a race track, sickness on a ship, and a penalty on the field.) When I wrote the first two books, no, I never thought any of it could truly happen. Over the last five years, though, now I’m a little unsettled. I wrote Collapse before I knew anything about ObamaCare or other policies that have since been enacted. Several of my readers have questioned if I have some kind of future-telling abilities, and every time I hear that, I’m sick inside. God, I hope this doesn’t happen to our country.

Besides your dystopian stories, what other stories have you written/are you writing?

I love to write Contemporary Women’s Fiction and Chick Lit. It gives me an outlet for my funnier side and lets me tap into that which I know well: failed romantic relationships and lifelong friendships. “An Afternoon with Aunt Viv” is a short story about a woman in her thirties that discovers one tantrum-filled conversation with her father twenty years earlier altered his life and happiness for the rest of his life. Independence is about Claire, a thirty-something mother of two who leaves her alcoholic husband and leans on her best friend, Brenda, a hot-headed, man-hating woman about to be rocked by love against her better judgment. My latest novel, The Breakup Mix, is about five friends (only three have voices in this novel) who are all in different phases of life (two married with children, two divorced, and one bitterly single) and keep each other grounded when the winds of the world are trying to tear them apart. This book is laugh-out-loud funny and “holy-where-are-the-tissues” heart-wrenching. I can say this as the author, because I experienced all this myself while writing this book. LOL

In addition to your own stories, what can you tell us about your involvement with BOD’s upcoming anthology?

Prep for Doom

I’m thrilled to be a contributing author in the novel, Prep for Doom. When the call for submissions came, I knew this was something I wanted to do, so I tabled The Breakup Mix long enough to work up a submission. I was elated when my story was chosen, but I was blown away when I read all the other stories and completely humbled to be included with these brilliant minds.

What has it been like to collaborate with other writers in creating such a unique project?

This has been an awesome experience for me. I’ve never done anything like this, and truthfully, I’ve never been fond of group projects. (It’s the Aries in me.) But this has been phenomenal. I think my favorite part was when we were all reading the first draft together and posting right and left about it then doing an author reveal. I’ve made some great friends and had a ton of laughs over the last several months.

Now share with us some fun, random info about yourself.  You have an infectious, humorous personality. Where did you get it from, and what do you do to always see humor in the world?

My whole family is quick-witted and full of life, so I have to give credit to genetics on part of it. Some people say I ate my twin in utero, and that’s why I have double the personality. (Thanks, sister.) I’ve always liked to make people laugh and find the humor in situations, but it really became an invaluable character asset after my divorce. I made a decision in 2010 that I could either laugh about things or cry and let the world overtake me. I was going through some really hard times and trying to figure out how to be a single career mom and homeowner and not be squashed by it all. So I started writing a blog called My Ms.Adventures to share my experiences and find the humorous twist so I could cope. It worked wonders for me and has become widely popular. And, I’m constantly having some crazy-funny stuff happen to me. I’m like a magnet to the unusual.

What is the craziest, or funniest thing you’d like all of us at BOD to know about you?

When I was a kid, I wanted to do character voices for Hannah-Barbara or Disney when I grew up. (Along with all the other careers I’d planned: attorney, journalist, waitress, etc.) I started mimicking the voices of people on television and developed a talent for various impressions. (Gizmo, Scooby Doo, Bungee, then later came Cartman, Linda Richmond, and several I just made up on my own.) It’s not uncommon for me to quote movies or bust out different voices during normal conversation- often it’s unplanned and unexpected to everyone, myself included.

Would you like to share about any future writing projects you’re doing, and give us a heads up of some things we can look forward to?

I’m currently working on book three in the Yellow Flag Series, which is due out this summer. (I hope.) After The Breakup Mix, I’ve had a bit of a book hangover and haven’t been able to write much for nearly two months. Having three other women take over your mind for seven months can jack you up, apparently. But, I’m plugging along and hope to launch late summer.

Thank you so much for sharing yourself with us and for making BOD a better place!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this group and for all the joy it brings me. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this side of me with you. Thanks!

ABOUT TK CARTER

Learn more about TK Carter on her website.
and connect with her on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.

Collapse on Amazon
Collapse on Goodreads

Our latest writing prompt was won by BOD member Carrie Avery Moriarty. You can find the original prompt and photo here.

PROMPT: The beacon light was my driving force for weeks leading up to this moment. But somehow staring at it now, in all its glory against a backdrop of rubble, I couldn’t trust it. Then the door behind me creaked open.

The beacon light was my driving force for weeks leading up to this moment. But somehow staring at it now, in all its glory against a backdrop of rubble, I couldn’t trust it. Then the door behind me creaked open.

With a deep breath I said, “Hello Sloan.”

“Didn’t think you’d make it, sugar.” His drawl was sweet, and I knew he was eyeing my backside.

I looked over my shoulder at him. “Couldn’t help myself. Did you think you were the only one looking for the prize?”

“You think it will get you anywhere?”

“If it gets me out of this hell they call a game, I’ll take a chance.”

He sidled out of the mausoleum to stand beside me. “See anyone else along the way?”

Did he seriously think I would tell him who his competition was? Then I looked at his face. “Not a soul.” It was the truth, but I knew he didn’t believe me.

“Sugar,” he began, dripping with sarcasm. “If I know you, you’ve got something hidden under that jacket. You gonna share?”

I pulled a bottle out and handed it over. It wasn’t worth the fight.

“Do you think it’s really there?” he asked after taking a swig.

“Probably not,” I replied. “They wouldn’t be that stupid.”

“Then again, maybe they think we’ll think it’s a trap.”

“And put it right there, with a beacon leading everyone to it?”

“Would you put it past them?”

I thought about that for a moment, then realized that’s exactly what they would do. I began walking toward the light, Sloan right beside me. I guess there were worse things than having him at my side. He might come in handy.

“You gonna take me with you?” he asked.

I turned and looked at him, took a deep breath, and lied through my teeth. “I wouldn’t dream of leaving you behind.”

The thing was, he bought it. He’d never leave this game. That’s why they put me in here, to give him hope and keep him playing.

(APRIL 17TH PROMPT)

The original prompt and photo can be viewed here. Check out Brea’s story below!

Prompt: This was it. She had to be here…and Jake would find her. As long as someone else didn’t find Jake first.

April hunched down in the broken patio doorway. She hoped she would be able to see Jake, but no one would be able to see her. This was it. She had to be here…and Jake would find her. As long as someone else didn’t find Jake first.

She had spent years preparing for this moment. The one she had foreseen in her visions. The moment when she would finally reunite with her long lost son. She had been so careful. Each decision she had made with special consideration of getting him back. She hoped he had been preparing as well. The way she had taught him. The future is fragile though. Despite all her efforts she had seen several possibilities of this moment. Reuniting with Jake was only one. Another was the Force catching him before he could get away. Yet another was the Force catching her and her life ending in torture and interrogation. She shuddered and pushed both of those scenarios from her mind.

April froze as the unmistakable crunching of someone walking in debris below caught her ears. It was time. Her breath rushed out of her as more footsteps joined the first. She moved as slowly as possible back into the destroyed room. Something went wrong. The Force was here.

Suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth and someone grabbed her from behind.

“Shh, mom. It’s me,” The unmistakable voice of her son whispered in her ear.

She immediately pulled away and turned to grab his face in her hands. Tears filled her eyes with relief. They hugged briefly before he pulled away.

“We have to go. The Force…”

She nodded and followed him into the darkened hallway to face a future she had not seen. One full of possibilities.

Our friend and BOD member, Author Monica Enderle Pierce stole the show for the writing prompt below. Check out her winning story!

Original Prompt & Photo can be seen here.

PROMPT: “You’re serious?” Stella stood atop a slide at the long-abandoned amusement park feeling anything but amused. “This is really the only way to get there?”

“You’re serious?” Stella stood atop a slide at the long-abandoned amusement park feeling anything but amused. “This is really the only way to get there?”

“Don’t you want to see the jewels?” Bean whispered in her mind.

“I—I’m afraid.”

“That didn’t keep you from fighting for me.”

Bean. Stella swallowed. She’d tried, but the Watchers had stolen her baby brother anyway. Bean they’d wanted. Bean could soar. Stella they’d thrown away.

She nodded. “If you can fly, so can I.”

“Yeah.” Bean’s sweet voice enfolded her like a hug.

Stella sat at the slide’s edge. Blue and yellow paint—chalky with age—graffitied her palms and gray pants. They looked better that way, like a painting she’d seen when she was little. Before the world had burned. Was that painting gone now? Probably.

“Fly,” Bean said.

Stella pushed off.

She skidded toward the forest below. Fast. She shivered. The scabs on her scalp were sensitive where the razors had cut deeply. Faster. The blue and yellow blurred. Cold air rushed over her face, snapped at her tunic, and whistled in her ears. Something sliced her palm. She screamed. “Bean!”

Then green trees replaced gray sky. Stella hit a bump and pitched forward to tumble head-over-heels-over-head. Pain stole her breath.

“You’re almost free.”

The slide ended at a cliff. “No-no-nooo!”

Stella fell.

Sunlight cut through the clouds to light the world below. Blackened skeletons and broken buildings littered the ground. But a billion shards of glass sparkled in the sunshine—mirrors and windows amid puddles of blood.

“Do you see the jewels?”

Stella flew.

“I see them!”

“There’s treasure in the broken stuff. Like you, Stella.”

She soared.

“Oh, Bean. Thank you.” Stella closed her eyes and didn’t care when the ground rushed up to break her into a thousand pieces.

Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Christina L. Rozelle, to the BOD author spotlight interview!  I’m so excited to get to you know you better and to share all your fun details with everyone at Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans.

Thank you so much for having me! I fell in love with this place the moment I joined, and I’m super excited to be a part of such a great group of fabulous, like-minded people.

Can you tell us when you knew you wanted to be a writer, and what motivated you to begin this adventure?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, I think. But the moment it was set in stone was in sixth grade when we had to write mystery stories as a project and my teacher thought mine was so good that she asked if I’d read it for the class. I was so terrified, but I did, and when my class loved it and asked for a sequel, I knew it was what I was destined to do. Admittedly though, I wrote poetry and attempted short stories for twenty years before I tried my hand at novel-writing three years ago.

I love the world you have created in the Treemakers.  There’s a mixing of sci-fi with dystopian.  Can you tell us where you came up with the idea for the world building of this story?

The Treemakers is my first published novel, but it is my fourth finished novel (including the entire rewrite of The Treemakers). A lot of the ideas and themes from the story came from my first novel, The Butterfly Prophecy. Though that one wasn’t publishable, it spawned a whole mess of ideas that have been sprinkled here and there throughout other stories.

I watched a lot of sci-fi, dystopian/post-apoc, as well as James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Charlie’s Angels as a child growing up. I thank my dad for raising me right (lol), and I’m sure that all added to the world building as well.

To me, the sci-fi elements surrounding the portal room represent goodness in a world that is dark and ugly.  Does the portal room have any symbolic meaning to you?

Yes, definitely. Coming from a dark, rough road myself, I have firsthand experience with finding that light, hope, and thirst for freedom that exists in even the deepest darkness. I’m also a firm believer in magic through miracles, and that some things may not be explainable in the midst, but further down the road when you look back, you’ll see “the way the magic works.”

Joy is one of my favorite characters.  I love her story telling.  I also love that she is such a natural caretaker of those she calls brothers and sisters.  She also has an edge to her that makes her a great heroine.  Is there anyone in real life that she is modeled after?  Are any of the other character’s created from real people?  Who do you most relate to?

Joy and I do share a lot of qualities, but she isn’t modeled after me. My characters may take on characteristics of many different people, but for the most part, I like the freedom of letting them become who they are to become. Many of their qualities didn’t fully blossom until the second writing of The Treemakers. At that point I felt like I really knew them, as if they were real people. I love that.

What authors or people have most influenced your writing?

J.K. Rowling will always be my number one author hero, though her writing hasn’t influenced mine, necessarily. Our stories (before she was a kajillionaire) are similar, and she’s given me a lot of hope, as far as pushing forward, being true to myself, and following my dreams, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks.

I began writing my first YA novel in 2012 and had never really read much YA before that. My then eleven-year-old handed me The Hunger Games and I devoured the whole series in two weeks. After that, I moved on to Divergent, The Maze Runner, Prodigy, and The Host (not YA but still amazing), and those series fueled my determination to take this thing head-on. So, a big thank-you to Suzanne Collins, James Dashner, Veronica Roth, Marie Lu, and Stephenie Meyer as well.

If you could spend a day with one author, who would it be and why?

It would be a tie. I have a thousand questions for J.K. Rowling, and one for Veronica Roth: “WHY?”

Besides your book, if you had to live in a dystopian book world, which one would it be and why?

I’d probably go for the Divergent dystopian world. I have a serious (perhaps unhealthy…?) book crush on her character, Four. Plus, a deteriorated Chicago would be pretty cool to explore.

One last question.  When is the next book in The Treemakers coming out?

The audio version of The Treemakers will be available in May. Book two, The Soulkeepers, is expected to publish on September 3rd. There are three books planned for the series.

Thank you so much, Christina Rozelle for sharing your talents and self with us, and creating fun stories for all of us at BOD to get lost in.

Sixteen-year-old Joy Montgomery, daughter of Zephyr the Magnificent, the great magician, can only reminisce of better times. Before the Superiors. Before the uprisings. Long ago. Before the dying Earth ripped the family she loved away from her.
In this desolate dystopian future, the Greenleigh orphans are “privileged” with the task of building mechanical trees for Bygonne, so their world behind The Wall can breathe another day, and so the Superiors may continue their malevolent reign.
Lured by a yearning for freedom, tenacious curiosity, and hunger for adventure, Joy discovers hope and magic amid the misery, and power in her promise to care for those remaining, whom she loves enough to risk her life for. To save them, herself, and the boy she adores from the abuse and slavery by the Superiors, Joy must entrust the aid of an unlikely ally who harbors a dangerous secret.
With an intriguing stranger at the helm, Joy and the treemakers embark on an intense and terrifying, yet liberating quest for the truth about the existence of the forbidden paradise beyond The Wall.

THE TREEMAKERS

*Please note: This is the first book in the series. The second book will be available late 2015. This story is intended for mature young adult audiences and contains themes that may be disturbing and/or offensive to some people. If you find abusive, sexual, violent, deeply intense emotional, and/or character death events disturbing and/or offensive, this book is not recommended for you or your children. Though please keep in mind this story balances those events and sequences with love, friendship, integrity, strength, nurturing, hope, perseverance, determination, and the fight for freedom from bondage. This story is not intended for the weak of heart.

ABOUT CHRISTINA L. ROZELLE

Christina L. Rozelle is a mother of four currently residing in Dallas, Texas. She enjoys fiction that shines a light in the dark; has emotion, intensity, verve, depth, and truth. She writes what she’d love to read. Though her focus is currently YA speculative fiction, she dabbles in other genres as well, including adult speculative, fantasy, addiction/recovery fiction, and other general fiction.

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Interview with Angie Taylor

Thank you so much, Jon Messenger, for taking part in the BOD author spotlight interview!  It is such a pleasure for me and all our BOD members to get to know you better.

Thanks so much for the opportunity!  BOD is probably the only Facebook group for which I still get really excited when I see that someone posted something new, so of course I jumped at the chance to participate here!

Can you tell us a little bit about your writing history?  When did you know you wanted to be an author, and what has your journey been like?

I’ve always loved telling stories, ever since I was a child.  Of course, that usually translated to being a compulsive liar when I was a kid, but that evolved as I got older.  I tried my hand at writing for the first time in college in 2000.  I had a great story idea called Eyes in the Nuthouse.  It was about a man in LA who suffers a concussion and can hear the underpinnings of people’s conversations.  Everyone tells white lies to protect people’s feelings, but the main character heard what people meant to say instead.  It wound up driving him mad, hence the title.  It was an interesting concept for a story, but to be honest I was a terrible writer at the time.  I wrote about 100 pages in Eyes before giving up.  My girlfriend at the time said it was great, but clearly she was wrong.  I put it aside and never came back to it (nor will I, more than likely… if I did, it would require a complete rewrite from page 1).

I didn’t write anything again until I deployed to Iraq in 2007.  I had just finished reading a great scifi series by Walter John Williams and felt inspired.  Luckily I had a great support group with whom I was deployed and they pushed me to write.  I finished my Brink of Distinction series during that 15-month deployment.

Ooh!  I hope you return to writing Eyes in the Nuthouse someday.  It sounds like a fascinating story.  I’d read it.  I’m sure all of us at BOD would.  Speaking of which, it’s been so fun to see how involved you’ve been with BOD.  What attracted you to Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans, and what do you most like about BOD?

I have to say that I connect with the fans and fellow authors better on BOD than I do anywhere else (to include my publisher, just don’t tell them that).  The fans are engaging and their excitement is genuinely infectious.  Sometimes I feel juvenile when I get so excited about writing a chapter, but I’ve found the BOD authors share my excitement.  BOD welcomed me with open arms, going so far as to host my release party for Wolves of the Northern Rift, which turned out to be an exceptional event.

I’m so glad the BOD release party for Wolves of the Northern Rift went well.  I truly enjoyed reading it.  It has a Steampunk feel to it, but there are so many other genres built in as well.  Can you tell us how you came up with the idea for Wolves of the Northern Rift, and why you think BOD’ers will love it?

The origin of Wolves is actually a funny story.  It started out as a stand-alone sci-fi story, where aliens invaded the US and their weapons nearly tore the country in two (literally).  That was the basis of the titular Rift in the Wolves universe.  However, when I started thinking about how other countries would react to this alien invasion, the idea of countries closing their border became the premise for the Kingdom of Ocker.  It just made more sense to be more of a fantasy/steampunk series than sci-fi at that point.

Wolves is a mixture of genres and doesn’t really fit cleanly into any of them, which is what I love about the series.  It’s steampunk, sure, but it’s also urban fantasy mixed with paranormal.  There’s a touch of high fantasy thrown in for good measure, with hidden wizards and other fantasy staples.  At its core, however, Wolves is a mystery novel.

I totally agree.  The mystery element is one of my favorite parts about Wolves.  I especially loved Simon, who reminded me of Sherlock Holmes, and Luthor, who reminded me of Dr, Watson.  Can you tell us a little bit about Simon and Luthor and what they’re trying to accomplish in Wolves of the Northern Rift?

Simon is a Royal Inquisitor, part of a group of investigators who explore any reports of magic within the kingdom.  Luthor is his apothecary assistant, who has been traveling with Simon for the past couple years.  Simon’s wisdom comes from various life experiences and a multitude of common sense.  Luthor, by contrast, is the book-learned friend, who fills in the gaps of what Simon doesn’t inherently know.  However, they’re more or less brothers in all but blood.  In public, Luthor is nothing but polite, referring to Simon as “sir”.  Behind closed doors, though, they bicker like siblings.  Everyone who has read the book so far has commented on how much they loved the two men’s relationship.

Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the different genres you have written?

I started off as a science fiction author and figured I would write scifi until my dying breath.  Aside from the Brink of Distinction trilogy, I wrote a gritty and violent stand-alone book called Rage and had started another called Transcription Error.  However, when I got picked up by Clean Teen Publishing for Wind Warrior, I suddenly found myself writing a supernatural/paranormal story about elemental-wielding castes trying to stop the end of the world as we know it.  Book 4, Earth God, (and subsequently the end of the World Aflame Series), comes out in May 2015.

What kinds of books do you most like to read, and how do you think they’ve influenced your writing?

I try to read books in the genre I’m writing, to stop my mind from wandering, but I’m a scifi junky at heart.  Aside from the classics like Heinlein, Asimov, and Herbert, I’ve also found that the scifi turns out some exceptional indie authors as well.

Can you tell us where you come from, what other kinds of responsibilities you’re involved in, and anything else you’d like all of us at BOD to know?

I’m originally from London, England, but I don’t have an accent.  I left the UK when I was 3 and traveled around the world until I was 11, when we settled in the US.  I had been living in Tokyo until my father retired, at which point we moved to Smiths Grove, Kentucky.  If you don’t know where that is, you’re part of the 99%.

I joined the Army after college and have been serving for the past 13 years, which is why I now live outside Seattle, Washington.  The Army is my job and writing is still a hobby that I do whenever I can manage the time (which grows slimmer and slimmer every year).  Once I retire, I’ll become a full-time writer.  Aside from writing, I also do adventure races like Ragnars and Tough Mudders.

You have lived in so many fascinating places.  I’m sure they influenced your world building in some way.  Having said that, if you could create or make one of your stories a reality, what would your world be like, and what would your role be in it?

That’s a really tough one because in most of my books, I’m busy putting together an apocalyptic scenario.  In my scifi trilogy, it’s a galactic war.  In World Aflame, the Fire Caste is trying to destroy any remnants of humanity.

I’d have to go with Wolves in the Magic & Machinery world.  I love the Victorian era and the stiff-upper lip style of conversation.  I’m a huge fan of shows like Penny Dreadful; Wolves echoes its dark feel and the idea that there’s a world underneath the one everyone sees, a world that has to be investigated and managed by the Royal Inquisitors.  Hands down, I’d be an Inquisitor like Simon.  Even though magic is viewed as an infection, I’d probably have a more liberal view about whether or not magic’s as evil as the King believes.  That seems contradictory to the dogma of the Royal Inquisitors, but I wouldn’t be alone.  Read Wolves and you’ll understand what I mean.

Having read Wolves, I too would want to live in it’s Victorian/fantasy world.  Well, thanks again for sharing your amazing writing talent with all of us, and for letting us get to know you.

FIND WOLVES OF THE NORTHERN RIFT ONLINE

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Magic is an abomination. It spread from the Rift, a great chasm hundreds of miles long that nearly split the southern continent in two. The Rift was a portal, a gateway between their world of science and the mythological world of magic.

On the northern continent of Ocker, King Godwin declared that no magical monstrosity would be allowed within their borders. The Royal Inquisitors were formed to investigate reports of mystical occurrences and, should they be found, to destroy them.

Inquisitor Simon Whitlock knows his responsibilities all too well. Along with the apothecary, Luthor Strong, they’ve spent two years inquiring into such reports of magical abominations, though they’ve discovered far more charlatans than true magical creatures. When assigned to investigate Haversham and its reports of werewolves, Simon remains unconvinced that the rumors are true. What he discovers in the frozen little hamlet is that the werewolves are far more real than he believed; yet they’re hardly the most dangerous monster in the city.

ABOUT JON MESSENGER

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Jon Messenger (Born 1979 in London, England) serves as an United States Army Major in the Medical Service Corps. Since graduating from the University of Southern California in 2002, writing Science Fiction has remained his passion, a passion that has continued through multiple combat and humanitarian deployments. Jon wrote the “Brink of Distinction” trilogy, of which “Burden of Sisyphus” is the first book, while serving a 16-month deployment in Baghdad, Iraq.

Last week, BOD Member known as JaynetheScourge SlashImpaler won our latest Writing Prompt! Check out the original prompt & photo here, and read the winning story below!

I knelt beside the railing, squinting to see through the surface of the murky water. A minute passed before I saw it again, but it was clearer this time. A ripple from the far end. Something was in the water.

The little wave of movement flowed across the surface towards me. A sleek head surfaced, hair darkened by the dive.

‘Did you find it?’ I called down.

Murph shook his head as he tread water.

‘Nothing.’

I pressed my forehead against the cool metal of the railing and swore softly.

Murph pulled himself back onto the catwalk and wearily rubbed at the marks the goggles had left.

‘Give me ten minutes to rest and I’ll try again.’ I nodded in agreement. He’d been at this for hours. I didn’t know how much longer he could go on. I tightened the tourniquet a little. My leg had lost feeling a while back and my swollen foot had gotten a bluish quality.

The constant clatter and scraping from the other side of the door suddenly ceased. We both stopped breathing. Silence reigned for a long minute. Then the ringing thunder of metal striking metal echoed through our little watery chamber. They’d found a new way through the door. An excited wordless chatter rose up while whatever they’d found hit the door again. And again.

Murph pulled the goggles back on and dropped out of sight beneath the waves without a word. I peered into the depths after him, but all I saw were clouds of silt.