#Excerpt from SAGA OF THE NINE : AREA 38 by Mikey D. B. @mikeydbii #SagaoftheNine #Dystopian #Thriller

The rusty metal box is as tempting as it is frightening and the taunting dilemma puts Joe and Jackson on the edge of their seats.  Tentatively, Jackson flips the latches and carefully unpicks the lock.  Rust particles tumble to the table top to yield a euphoric mystery.  It was buried for a reason--a reason good enough to kill for.  Books will at the very least put them on stage with Christopher; it’s conspiracy against The Government.  Audio is labeled as disturbing the peace, therefore you’ll be on stage.  Pictures disturb the mind, and ideas the heart.  The two friends are all too aware that the box most likely contains something that will eventually lead to their demise.

“Should we?”  Jackson’s hands rest on either side of the lid hoping Joe says “no” but secretly wanting him to say “hell yeah!”.

Hesitantly Joe masks his anticipation.  “Yeah.  Why not?”

That’s not confirmation filled with enthusiasm, but Jackson pries the rusty box open without delving into the endless reasons as to why or why not.

“A book!”  Joe instantly shouts, the memories flooding back to him.

All fear is gone.  Joe yanks it out and begins flapping dust in every direction as he flips through the delicate paper pages.  Jackson counts it and every artifact carefully to create a mental inventory: a black fat book, three dark blue books, an ancient audio device, a series of discs and a chain necklace.

Immediately Jackson reaches for the only object that won’t get him killed and begins to examine the tiny metal links of the necklace.  He slips it over his head and dangles the relic from his neck, watching the ancient key swing from left to right until his jacket stops the momentum.  Next he reaches for the audio device, surprised technology like this can still be found.

“Holy Bible?  Odd word, bible.”  Wonder why it’s holy, he thinks before slamming the black book down, creating a wave of dust in the process.  Frantically, he then reaches for one of the discs and asks, “What’s a CD?”

“And what’s an iPod?”  Jackson mumbles to himself, reading the metallic lettering.  He flips the device over and notices a small red button.  Pressing it, the screen illuminates.  A small white apple appears for a short while until a bright menu takes its place.

“Wow!”  Joe proclaims.  “It still works!”

“Yeah, I think it has one of those solar, nuclear, forever lasting batteries.”

“Where the hell did yuh hear that?”

“A friend.”  Jackson thinks of Conner and the tidbits of random knowledge he’s accumulated from him.

Joe is about to delve in and interrogate Jackson as to which friend he is talking about, but becomes distracted by the shimmering of the CD object.  “What do you make of these?”  Joe hands him a small stack of plastic square casings.  Inside each casing sits a shiny, compact disc.  Joe picks up one labeled John Mayer and is quick to discover the glare that can be created when angling them just right.  Without hesitating he blinds Jackson.

“These things are awesome!”  He giggles with joy.  He can’t believe he found it, and in all places Grandma Lisa’s old yard.

“Yeah, super cool.”  Jackson places the small stack down and goes back to the iPod device.  He scrolls through the various menus until finding a series of foreign words.  “American Backstory, The USA: a founding?”

“Hey Jackson!  This one has yer name on it.  Well kind of.”  Joe hands him one of the shiny encased discs labeled: The Rouge Family: DIA BBQ USA HQ Oct 14, 2037.  Jackson shivers at reading the words, and as Joe continues to reflect light throughout the room, Jackson makes one more discovery.  Picking up a petite tan envelope found in between one of the blue books labeled Journal, he compresses the contents to feel a number of different pieces of papers.  He spins it around to reveal one last spooky sight.

“To Jackson from Mom and Dad.”  He reads it reverently and in seconds, a rush of adrenalin floods through his veins.  “Joe.  Put everything back in the box.  Now!”

Change affects everyone and it is no different for Jackson. Living in Area 38 for as long as he can remember, he knows of no better way to exist than under the tyrannical rule of Christopher Stone, son of Stewart Stone from The Nine of The United Governmental Areas, aka The UGA. This all takes a dramatic turn when Jackson finds a red, metal box buried in his yard, filled with illegal artifacts—journals, a Bible, CDs, etc.—that are from a man of whom he has no recollection of: Mica Rouge.

 The year is 2036 and Mica, unlike Jackson, does know of a better way of life but is torn apart as he sees his country, The United States of America, crumbling from within by group known as The Political Mafia. The Mafia has infiltrated levels upon levels of governmental resources and it is up to Mica and a vigilante group known as The USA Division to stop them and their dark Utopian vision. To their demise, and at the country's expense, The Division fails and has no choice but to watch The Constitution dissolve and transform into The UGA.

In a final stand, having not given up hope, Mica and what is left of The Division, give one final fight in Colorado, or better known as Area 38. However, all is lost as The Division is betrayed by one of their own, Stewart Stone. Mica is left with no choice but to hide in exile, leaving what little history he can of himself and the great United States of America, with his wife, long time friends, and newly born son in hopes that they will one day finish what he could not.

Jackson, having found this legacy twenty-seven years later, decides to start the war that will end The Nine, and he with an outcast group known as The Raiders, begins his fight with Christopher Stone in Area 38. Filled with betrayal, unity, despair, hope, hate and love Area 38 follows both Mica and Jackson in their attempts to restore what they believe to be true freedom, and where one fails, the other rises to the seemingly impossible challenge.

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Genre – Dystopian Thriller

Rating – PG13

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Website www.mikeydb.com

Kimberly Shursen on Every Writer's Nightmare of Being Stuck @KimberlyShursen #WriteTip #AmWriting #Thriller

Help! I’m Stuck in the Middle and I Can’t Get Out

By Kimberly Shursen, Author of Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hush, and Lottery

Ever get to the middle of writing your book and didn’t have a clue what to do next? You’ve set up the story; you’ve described the characters, the scenery, the wallpaper in the kitchen, and now what? You’re excited to write that unbelievable ending you already have conjured in your head, but how in the world are you going to get there?

Answer: resolve the issue before you start staring at those intimidating blank pages on the screen.

1.  Have a secondary plot. By this I don’t mean a separate plot, but one that weaves nicely into your story. Using my novel HUSH as an example, there is Ann and Ben’s life, and then there’s Ann’s lawyer Mac McConaughey’s story. The plot remains focused on the main characters, however, Mac and his wife Jazz’s life is a secondary heart-warming storyline readers can identify with.

2. When you’re stuck, think of the most pivotal moments of your life; the birth of a child, a challenging life hurdle you’ve finally succeeded in overcoming, or the feeling of finally letting go and falling in love. Bring these pivotal moments to life in your characters. Set the platform in the first few chapters of your book and you will have a beginning, a middle, and an end that, although cliché, will wrap up into one sweet little package. Never write a chapter that doesn’t have substance or doesn’t move the story forward. Each single word, sentence, and chapter needs to have meaning; so no cheating filling in with drawn out dissertations of the scenery.

3. I never place my novels in one city as it’s just too much fun to travel via the net. It is important that my characters and the places they live or travel not become redundant. In HUSH, there are three cities I visited in cyberspace. How do I do this? Just as a couple of examples, I use images, descriptions of buildings and restaurants, and neighborhood overviews found in personal travel documentations, along with studying the official websites of the city. I do a ton of research so that if anyone who lives in these cities or neighborhoods happens to read my book, they would think I’d been there not just once, but several times. The bulk of HUSH was set in Minneapolis, and even though I lived in Minneapolis for many years, I still had to check out the facts. How many miles around is Lake Minnetonka where Mac’s wife Jazz lived? How far was it from Dinky Town where Ann lived to the courthouse? Where are the prestigious neighborhoods in Minneapolis? Which suburbs are the poorest? Mileage from one place to the next takes me to Mapquest.

When I took HUSH to Lake Geneva, Switzerland was when I really had to  dig deep into the bowels of the net, close my eyes and envision not only the Jet d'Eau that surges 459 feet above the lake, but the Swiss Alps, and the peaceful inlet of water that borders this quaint, wealthy city.

Don’t be afraid to reach the middle; embrace it. If you’ve done your homework, and set up your storylines, there will be nothing to fear when you proudly present your baby to the public.

Soon after Ann Ferguson and Ben Grable marry, and Ben unseals his adoption papers, their perfect life together is torn apart, sending the couple to opposite sides of the courtroom.

Representing Ann, lawyer Michael J. McConaughey (Mac) feels this is the case that could have far-reaching, judicial effects -- the one he's been waiting for.

Opposing counsel knows this high profile case happens just once in a lifetime.

And when the silent protest known as HUSH sweeps the nation, making international news, the CEO of one of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world plots to derail the trial that could cost his company billions.

Critically acclaimed literary thriller HUSH not only questions one of the most controversial laws that has divided the nation for over four decades, but captures a story of the far-reaching ties of family that surpasses time and distance.

*** Hush does not have political or religious content. The story is built around the emotions and thoughts of two people who differ in their beliefs.

 EDITORIAL REVIEW: "Suspenseful and well-researched, this action-packed legal thriller will take readers on a journey through the trials and tribulations of one of the most controversial subjects in society today." - Katie French author of "The Breeders," "The Believer's," and "Eyes Ever To The Sky."

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller

Rating – PG-13

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Website http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/

@MarcADiGiacomo on What Inspired "IN A SMALL TOWN" #Thriller #GoodReads #AmReading

What inspired me to write In A Small Town?

I always believed I had a book somewhere within my warped brain. Its one thing to have that feeling about yourself but to actually write that book is a story within itself. How do you motivate one’s self to follow through on a conceptualized idea? For me, I have three small children. Only my oldest will remember the late night/early morning calls from the police department notifying me of the latest crime to occur within our boundaries. He would watch his father leave with bright, wide opened eyes fully believing I would return as soon as I could. Truth be told; it was very difficult to leave him, but I had a job to do, a responsibility to others I was sworn to uphold.

When I retired from the police department after a string of back injuries and surgery, I needed to set a new course for myself. My back injury makes it difficult for me sometimes but it was just another challenge I needed to overcome. What started off as a memoir of a small town cop’s career quickly grew legs and became an organized crime thriller. I had a very unique police career working for such a small town; I wanted to emphasize to others even though I worked for a small town, big crime still happens and needs to be solved.

The encouragement I received from my oldest son was all I needed. His face upon seeing In A Small Town, was a priceless memory I will never forget. He’s only eleven, and will not be reading any of my books for quite some time, but his praise and reassurances have motivated me to write more. So, I write for my kids, and one day, when they read my books, they will know a little piece of their father is alive and well within those pages.

The shotgun blast catches Detective Matthew Longo by surprise. His world unravels into a nightmare that seemingly won't end. Murder, rapes, pedophiles, the small town of Hutchville, N.Y. is changing. It is up to him to make a difference.

While partner Donny Mello is in Italy attending a funeral for a family member who is connected, to say the least, a beautiful F.B.I. agent waits to question him about his family business. Can Matt keep from answering the Agent’s questions? More importantly, can he hide a potentially career-ending secret from his community, his brother, and most especially Agent Cynthia Shyler?

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Genre - Thriller

Rating – R

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Connect with Marc A. DiGiacomo on Facebook & Twitter

The small town of Hutchville, New York is turned upside down. No longer is it the quaint, sleepy, suburb of New York City. Detective Matt Longo is back on the job and embroiled in his latest nightmare. Further complicating matters is the revelation of his partner’s corruption and organized crime ties; Donny Mello has left a bitter trail of lies and deceit. With his kid brother and newly promoted Detective Franny Longo by his side, will Matt be able to put his past behind him?

Special Agent Cynthia Shyler, (F.B.I.) has been reassigned due to her meeting with Matt Longo. Will this move complicate their relationship? Or will a new stranger in town spin a web that entangles the entire Hutchville Police Department, especially our most seasoned detective, Matt Longo?

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Genre – Thriller

Rating – R

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Rik Stone on His Obituary, Life Experience & Inspiration @Stone_Rik #Fiction #Thriller #Crime

What genre of books do you adore?

I love a good thriller, but I was also once addicted to both Terry Pratchet and Tolkien.

What do you hope your obituary will say about you?

He’s been telling us for the last 90 years he wasn’t well, looks like he was right.

Location and life experiences can really influence writing, tell us where you grew up and where you live now?

I grew up in the slums of north east England and now live in a nice area in south-east England. And you’re right about influence, what I write is akin to my own experiences, albeit they are grossly exaggerated.

How did you develop your writing?

I guess you learn the most from the mistakes you make along the way, which means I must be pretty good by now.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Real life, but mostly good old imagination.

What marketing works for you?

Blog tours, I hope.

Do you plan to publish more books?

Birth of an Assassin is the first in a series. Book 2&3 are written, but both require one more redraft.

What else do you do to make money other than write? It is rare today for writers to be full time?

I’m very lucky with that one. I took an early retirement at 50 and live on a company pension, so I can give my full time to writing… and I do.

What other jobs have you had in life?

I worked in shipyards before going into the merchant Navy. When I came ashore, I worked in a quarry. Redundancy took me to Ford Motor Co. and that was when my life went through a change: I began studying. Working my way through the lower level stuff, I moved on to study for a bachelor’s degree in mathematics-and-computing and moved into the IT sector of the company.

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

I love living in England, but I’m sure I’d be as happy to settle anywhere else. I probably am, but I don’t care to believe I’m held down by roots.

Set against the backdrop of Soviet, post-war Russia, Birth of an Assassin follows the transformation of Jez Kornfeld from wide-eyed recruit to avenging outlaw. Amidst a murky underworld of flesh-trafficking, prostitution and institutionalized corruption, the elite Jewish soldier is thrown into a world where nothing is what it seems, nobody can be trusted, and everything can be violently torn from him.

Buy Now @ Amazon, B&N, Kobo & Waterstones

Genre - Thriller, Crime, Suspense

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Rik Stone on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://rik-stone.simdif.com

Richard Parry, His Work Area & Inspiration from Within @TactualRain #WriteTip #AmWriting #Fantasy

Colour theory.  There you go: guest post done.

…

Okay, apparently I need to do a little better than that.  The thing about my work area is that I want to make sure that it doesn’t jar with my delicate eyeballs.  My home office desk is this sheet of tempered glass, and I’ve got the various technology pieces in step with this: the MacBook is grey like the desk, and the mouse, monitor, and keyboard are black.  Even the mouse mat is black.

Maybe it’s not colour theory.  Maybe it’s OCD.

I use this basic premise for anywhere I write — it’s a pretty good determiner of whether I’ll get good writing done.  I sometimes like to lean back, take a rest from the keyboard, and let my eyes wander.  If I’m in some for-kids McCafe, that’ll be like stabbing myself in the brain with crayons.  If I’m somewhere else — nice hotel bar, maybe, with blues and greens around — then I can relax into it.

Some of my writerly-friends have photos of their kids around, paintings up, that kind of thing.  Great!  That’s a neat approach too, but for me the inspiration comes from within: the work area is all about creating a blank canvas for those ideas to generate from.

It doesn’t stop with the visuals though.  I make sure I’ve got a comfortable chair, because nothing screws with my character’s dialogue like having a spring sticking up into my gluteus.  I also carry tunes with me, everywhere, and a good set of noise suppressing headphones: it lets me tune out the tiny distractions that fill the air around us, all the time.

If I had an unlimited budget?  I’d get a nice writer’s cabin on the edge of a lake somewhere.  Pleasing visual backdrop?  Check.  Nice surrounds?  Check.  Comfortable chair?  I can ship one in.  Tunes?  Check.

Pretty sure that the local bears or badgers or whatever wouldn’t like me listening to Tadpole at a billion decibels though.

Valentine’s an ordinary guy with ordinary problems. His boss is an asshole. He’s an alcoholic. And he’s getting that middle age spread just a bit too early. One night — the one night he can’t remember — changes everything. What happened at the popular downtown bar, The Elephant Blues? Why is Biomne, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, so interested in him — and the virus he carries? How is he getting stronger, faster, and more fit? And what’s the connection between Valentine and the criminally insane Russian, Volk?

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Genre – Action, Thriller, Urban Fantasy

Rating – R16

More details about the author

 Connect with Richard Parry on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.rage.net.nz

The King of Sunday Morning by J.B. McCauley @MccauleyJay #Thriller #Action #Suspense

The Mile End Mambo
1990

He held him in his arms and looked into the glassy eyes. Yellow flecks dotted the cornea. This boy was dead a long time before Roger had run him through. He knew the look. Too much top shelf and not enough down time.

The body from which life dramatically seeped away began to convulse. It would not be a Hollywood death. It would be a harsh demise for this gangster. Unexpected but unavoidable. He had stepped on the wrong toes and nobody touched Roger’s patch.

The big screen had always glamorised death but there was nothing glamorous about having a gaping 12-inch gash where your stomach had once been. Roger’s white shirt was splattered with blood and sputum. He noted to himself with an air of cold detachment that he would have to dispose of it later. The boy soldier’s back arched in agony. A gurgling noise rushed from his throat and then he was gone.

Roger put his arm underneath the boy’s knees and slowly lifted him from the red morass that had filled the doorway. He cradled him in his arms and walked slowly along the pavement. A young couple averted their gaze as he struggled with the limp body. They knew not to look. This was after all the witching hour in the East End. What you don’t see, you can’t tell. He turned the corner and moved into another shop doorway. It was a Dixon’s electrical shop exalting the latest stereos and TV’s.

Roger placed the body carefully on the ground. He took one final look at what 10 minutes ago had been the epitome of arrogance, bravery and youth, then left. He walked quickly to the edge of Walters Street, turned into Burden and darted through a now deserted car park and onto Rially. He saw a red telephone box just up from Dunston Road. He opened the door and tried to ignore the stench of piss and shit. He dialled the number and waited patiently for the connection.

“Rudi?”

His rich baritone West-Indian voice caressed the receiver. 

“Yeah, he’s in Dixon’s shopfront on Walters Street.” He paused, digesting the question on the other end of the line.

“Yeah he’s dead. Dead as a door nail. See you at home.”

With that, he hung up the phone and disappeared into the night. His red Rasta beanie swaying as he loped through the shadows. The victim wouldn’t be missed. Roger had nothing to fear. The status quo had been maintained and an example had been made.

Most of all, Rudi would be pleased.

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Genre – Thriller, Action, Suspense, Gangster, Crime, Music

Rating – PG-18

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Birth of an Assassin by Rik Stone @Stone_Rik #Crime #MustRead #Thriller

Adrik waited in the guard’s room a couple of corridors along from Kornfeld’s cell. There was only one way out, so the Jew had to pass this room. He spun a Makarov on his finger, aimed at imaginary targets and thrilled at the thought of using it. The gun was standard issue, but he would’ve chosen it anyway. Totally reliable, pull the trigger and out pop the bullets. The blowback design expels the spent case to the right and loads the next cartridge into the chamber – easy. And fully armed with eight rounds, he would use them all.

This wouldn’t be his first killing and sure as hell wouldn’t be his last. Kornfeld was a pain, and it was Otto who mattered. He would do anything for him. Why should he care about some Jew who got in the way?

But time dragged, and Kornfeld hadn’t yet made a show. For one horrible minute he thought there might be another way out – but no, that isn’t even possible. Calm down, be patient... Try as he might, he couldn’t, and the idea ran around his head, irritating him beyond measure.

He left the guardroom and paced the corridor outside. At first a short distance and then a bit further into the next passageway. No good – he had to find out what had happened. With gun in hand and footsteps stealthy he reached the cell door – it was slightly open. Oh shit, did that mean there was another way out? Or maybe Kornfeld had gone deeper into the prison block. Or maybe he was in the cell hoping the element of surprise would be with him.

Possibilities ganged up. Kornfeld knew Lubyanka well. What if there was another way out and that little bastard knew it? If so, Otto would kill him, never mind the Jew. He kicked the door fully open, slammed it against the cell wall, stood back and then moved in, pointing the gun around to make sure Kornfeld wasn’t hidden on either side of the opening. The cell was dimly lit and he found it difficult to see. He would stay put until his eyes got accustomed to the light. A body, he saw a body. It was covered with a greatcoat, on the bunk facing the wall.

He was clearly supposed to think it was Kornfeld. In that case he’d be under the bunk waiting... But then that’s obvious too, so he might be on top with the guard pushed underneath. That made more sense – it would be easier for him to make an attack from on top – but, shit, wouldn’t that be what he wanted him to think?

To be sure of the kill, Adrik wanted to shoot above and below – but he couldn’t. How would he explain the soldier’s death? Oh, Otto, if only Otto was there to tell him what to do. But he wasn’t, he had to make up his own mind. The Jew was on top – yes, definitely on top.

Cautiously, he edged forward, pointed the pistol to the back of the person’s head and pulled the body towards him with gun steady and ready to fire. As quickly as his huge form allowed, he pulled the greatcoat away.

Fuck! The guard! No time to react. A leg came from under the bunk with incredible speed and wrapped around the back of his. At the same time, the Jew’s other foot came against his knees and pushed. Adrik had brought his legs together when he tore the coat away and Kornfeld used the imbalance to his advantage. Adrik’s arms went out. He hovered awkwardly, then almost regained control, but Kornfeld pushed harder and Adrik went flying backwards with his legs in the air. A sense of suspension ended and he fell heavily, striking the hard stone floor. His head bounced, shudders chased through his brain and he found himself staring at the ceiling, wavering between conscious and unconscious.

The pain pierced his skull and he noticed his head had rested in a pool of warm liquid. He hadn’t seen that when he came in. Numbness consumed his body; he couldn’t move. But then his blurred vision saw the bleary outline of the Jew. Awareness came that his body was being rolled over. He was paralyzed, but it didn’t stop the surge of fear that ran through every fibre of his being.

Set against the backdrop of Soviet, post-war Russia, Birth of an Assassin follows the transformation of Jez Kornfeld from wide-eyed recruit to avenging outlaw. Amidst a murky underworld of flesh-trafficking, prostitution and institutionalized corruption, the elite Jewish soldier is thrown into a world where nothing is what it seems, nobody can be trusted, and everything can be violently torn from him.

Buy Now @ Amazon, B&N, Kobo & Waterstones

Genre - Thriller, Crime, Suspense

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Rik Stone on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://rik-stone.simdif.com

#Author Brian Bloom's #WriteTip On How to Make Your Characters Believable @BrianB_Aust

How to make your characters believable within the context of your story?

There are nuances that flow from this question: If, for example, you are going to write a Harry Potter type story, then your characters will need to be able to live and breathe within that thought paradigm.

It follows that the first thought you have to address before you craft your story’s characters is: What is the thought paradigm within which the characters must live and breathe?  Will your fiction be skewed towards fantasy or reality and where on the spectrum do you want it to sit?

Another important question one has to ask is: “Who do you want to read your story?” The answer will evolve by way of what is known in the marketing world as a profile demographic. How old? What gender? What income bracket? What IQ? What level of education? Employed or unemployed? Married or single? Left brain (logical/pragmatic) or right brain (imaginative/visionary) oriented? What do they do for entertainment? Sports lover? Music?

Once you have done this, then the subject heading above evolves to become: “How to make your characters believable to the people who are most likely to read your story, within the context your story?”

Once you have defined the thought paradigm and the target reader profile, you need to ask yourself: “What am I going to write about?” and there are four criteria here:

1. What genre?
2. What is the story going to be about?
3. How is it going to end?
4. How is it going to begin?

All of this will be in very rough terms. You haven’t yet reached the stage where you have to think about plot or themes. By way of example: “I want to write a realistic science fiction story that talks about life as it might be in (say) 20 years time. I want it to end in catastrophe – where only a few people will be left alive – and I want it to begin with the explosion of technologies that are emerging today. Along the way, I want one/some potentially dangerous technology/ies to be embraced in an irresponsible manner.”

By way of example of a possible target market for such a novel: “Readers will be predominantly male, but maybe (say) 25% female, and they will be fairly sophisticated with IQs of over 110. They will likely be between the ages of 18 and 45. At the younger level, there is likely to be a high level of unemployment but a concomitant high interest in “technology” and IT based games, and at the older level there is likely to be a degree of adult sophistication.”

Okay, now you have a picture of the target reader in your mind, what specific characters will your story need and what personality profiles will they have that render them believable and memorable to those readers, in context of this story?

They won’t all pop out at once, but maybe 80% will. Keep a database of characters and start to define who they are, what they look like, what they do in their personal and business lives, why they are important, what are their personality profiles and their unusual talents; and what are their idiosyncrasies? Could any have latent mental health issues?

Importantly, no one is perfect in real life. Everyone has some flaw or another. What “flaws” will your characters have? Make sure that the flaws are clearly defined because that is what will add to both their believability and their “interestingness”.

This one has a slight stutter, that one is loud, this one dresses with a particular – but predictable – flair, that one is a gregarious womaniser, this one is a scientist but suffers from epilepsy, that one is a banker who is anal about whether his shirts are clean and he keeps three clean shirts in his bottom drawer at the office. This one is argumentative and likes to disagree for the sake of it, that one is a royal pain in the arse but he/she is tolerated because he/she seems to have supernatural intuition. These examples emphasise that it is the idiosyncrasies of the individuals that differentiate them from other characters. WHO are they? It’s not just about physical looks. Novels that survive in literature tend to have deeply interesting characters. Arguably, that is one reason why the Harry Potter series was so successful.

Now that you have well defined (say) 80% of your characters, you can start to write the storyline.  Whether you move to generate the plot and/or themes immediately seems to me to be a matter of style. If you’re anally analytical you will plan it in anal detail; if you’re crazy creative you’ll wing it. Those are two ends of the spectrum. Most people don’t sit at either end, they’re somewhere in the middle. Do what is comfortable for you.

Along the way, you’ll probably find you don’t have enough characters, so you will have to develop some “on the fly”. Make sure they are all recognisable as people and make sure that they talk and behave in character as the story develops. That way, the reader will develop an affinity for some and a dislike for others and the reader will enjoy the story more than he/she would if they have to ask: “Now who was that character again?”

There is an energy force in the world—known to the Ancients—that has largely escaped the interest of the modern day world. Why? There are allusions to this energy in the Chinese I-Ching, in the Hebrew Torah, in the Christian Bible, in the Hindu Sanskrit Ramayana and in the Muslim Holy Qur'an. Its force is strongest within the Earth's magnetic triangles.

Near one of these--the Bermuda Triangle--circumstances bring together four very different people. Patrick Gallagher is a mining engineer searching for a viable alternative to fossil fuels; Tara Geoffrey, an airline pilot on holidays in the Caribbean; Yehuda Rosenberg, a physicist preoccupied with ancient history; and Mehmet Kuhl, a minerals broker, a Sufi Muslim with an unusual past. Can they unravel the secrets of the Ancients that may also hold the answer to the future of civilization?

About the Author:

In 1987, Brian and his young family migrated from South Africa to Australia where he was employed in Citicorp’s Venture Capital division. He was expecting that Natural Gas would become the world’s next energy paradigm but, surprisingly, it was slow in coming. He then became conscious of the raw power of self-serving vested interests to trump what – from an ethical perspective – should have been society’s greater interests.

Eventually, in 2005, with encouragement from his long suffering wife, Denise, he decided to do something about what he was witnessing: Beyond Neanderthal was the result; The Last Finesse is the prequel.

The Last Finesse is Brian’s second factional novel. Both were written for the simultaneous entertainment and invigoration of the thinking element of society. It is a prequel to Beyond Neanderthal, which takes a visionary view of humanity’s future, provided we can sublimate our Neanderthal drive to entrench pecking orders in society. The Last Finesse is more “now” oriented. Together, these two books reflect a holistic, right brain/left brain view of the challenges faced by humanity; and how we might meet them. All our problems – including the mountain of debt that casts its shadow over the world’s wallowing economy – are soluble.

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Genre – Thriller

Rating – MA (15+)

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