Spending Year End with Author Kris Thompson

As we come to the end of another year, I'm attempting to close out the remainder of interviews and one more review over the next couple of days.  Today's interview I was sorely remiss in posting, as the intent was for a November date.  However, this way all of the new Nook, Kindle, and numerous other eReader owners who got them for Christmas can take advantage of learning about a fabulous new author.

Kris Thompson has penned a gritty psychological thriller that is sure to keep you up at night.  Join me in welcoming her to the blog to tell us about her writing process and debut novel BLACK ROSE.

DAB:  Welcome Kris!  What was the catalyst for this novel’s premise?

​KT:      When reading crime stories you always get the cop or detective's point of view, but as a reader I was always left wondering about the victim and their family. So I decided to write a book that centered around not only the victim, but the family's experience as well. I also wanted to write about a group of young women who come together and find strength, not only within themselves, but with each other. So many times you see young girls fighting against each other, and I wanted to write about how powerful women could be if they worked together.

DAB:  Preach on, sister!  I'm with you there.  Do you have a character(s) in your novel with whom you closely identify?

​KT:      There is a little of me in each female character in this book. I don't think I would have been able to connect with any of them​ if I didn't put myself in them in some way. If I had to pick just one it would be my lead character, Lillian, but they're all awesome in my opinion.

DAB:  Were there any characters you found difficult to write?

​KT:      The villain was extremely hard to write. As a female I find it hard to write in a man's POV, let alone a psychotic male POV. ​I had to do a lot of research about serial killers to get the feel right. It was terrifying but very mind blowing at the same time.

DAB:  I can imagine.  It's really difficult getting into a twisted psyche.  How long did it take for you to craft this novel?

​KT:      My book was four years in the making. It originally began as a fan fiction and was finished for a long time. My publishing house had been after me for years to publish it​, but I wasn't confident in myself yet. After I turned 30 I felt ready and confident enough to move forward with my story and writing career.

DAB:  Tell us about the moment you received your first real fan correspondence.

​KT:      It was from an author that I admire, so I was over the moon. She actually called me and told me how much she loved reading the manuscript and that she couldn't wait to buy the finished product. ​I still don't think I'm over the shock.

DAB:  I'll bet you needed someone to pinch you, huh?  Tell us about a typical day in your writing world.

​KT:      As a single mom of three young kids, a majority of my writing happens after they went to bed. ​I always have a small pad of paper and a pen around, so if I get ideas I'll write them down and get back to it later, but there have been many nights where I didn't get much sleep because I had to get up early to take the kids to school. It's hard because there would be moments when inspiration is churning in my head, but when you have kids you can't just stop everything to get those words out. It was a difficult balance, but I made it through only slightly unscathed. LOL

DAB:  My home too is scattered with pads and pens.  How long did your novel take to put to bed?

​KT:      Over a year. My poor editing team, God bless them, they really had their hands full with my book. It's a hard subject to write about, so it took a while to finish. I think we all deserved a long vacation once we were done with it. ​

DAB:  Have you ever experienced writer's block?

​KT:      Only during the editing process. When I submitted the manuscript my mind kinda shut off for a few months. The book was very emotionally exhausting, so it was almost a relief to​ be done. But when the publishing house was ready to edit I had a hard time jumping back into the mindset.

DAB:  I'll bet.  When I write, I have particular composers and music that gets me in the mood for certain scenes and characters.  Have you ever written to music?

​KT:      Oh yes. I have to listen to classical music when I write. I can't listen to music with words while I'm writing because I find myself typing out the lyrics. I'll listen to a specific song to help get me in the mood, but when I start typing it's always classical. ​

DAB:  Mine's orchestral movie soundtracks.  I'd be singing along if there were words!  There's the eternal debate whether to outline or not.  What is your preference?

​KT:      Personally, I write off the cuff, but I have learned during the editing process of my first book that it is a good idea to have an outline. I learned that the hard way. ​As a writer you sometimes forget little things, even your editor(s) might not catch them, so it's a good idea to at least have a small outline on the side to help you and your editing team be on the same page.

DAB:  Agreed.  How do you handle negative feedback about your novel(s)?

​KT:      This is going to sound really silly, but I love negative reviews. ​It's weird, I know, but I have really thick skin so it's never bothered me. When the story was a fan fiction I was being ripped apart left and right. I even had some people tell me I was going to burn in hell and that they hope I'd die. It was nuts. But it never bothered me because at the end of the day those are just words. It doesn't stop me from being a mom, a writer, or a provider to my family. I treated them as a mini comedy roast, laughed it off, and thanked them for taking the time to read and review. Even negative reviews are better then no reviews, right?

DAB:  Oh how I wish more authors shared your attitude!  Care to tell us what is next on your writing horizon?

​KT:      I'm currently working on a young adult paranormal romance trilogy. I have no idea when it will come out, but after writing something so dark I felt I needed to write something completely different. ​It has been fun writing in a genera that I have never written before. I'm very excited.

DAB:  You'll have to update us on when you finish the first in this new series.  Now’s your chance – give us the final plug for BLACK ROSE.

​KT:      If you like thrill, suspense, crime, drama, and just a little bit of romance then my debut novel Black Rose is the book for you. I am extremely excited to see what everyone thinks, and I can't wait for November 13th to get here.

Thanks so much, Kris, for joining us and providing a glimpse into BLACK ROSE.  Now I can hardly wait to find the time to read it in 2015.

Book Blurb:

Lillian Locke had the perfect life in Boulder, Colorado. She had the boyfriend of her dreams, a wonderful

family, awesome friends, and a spot on the track team at a great college. There wasn’t anything life could throw at her that she couldn’t get through . . . until he found her.

Lillian never could have imagined being abducted and chained up in the dark. Worse yet, being just one of many girls kidnapped and held captive by a madman. All she can do now is hope that she survives the brutality of their captor long enough to find a way to free herself and her new captive friends.

When Richard Haines’ girlfriend goes missing, he makes it his personal mission to find the woman he loves and bring her home to the safety of their loved ones. Seeking the help of friends and family, Richard abandons everything except for his pursuit of Lillian. But when someone else close to Richard goes missing, and the bodies of the abducted girls start showing up in the hills outside Boulder, the only thing he can do is hope that he finds her before it is too late.

If BLACK ROSE sounds like an intriguing read for you, dear readers, pick up a copy by clicking here on AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE, or by visiting the publisher's website.

Author Bio:

Kris Thompson is a veteran of the US Navy and single mother of three. When she's not knitting scarves, chasing her children around or baking, you'll find her enjoying a good book or writing down notes for her own upcoming stories. Writing has been a passion for Kris for many years, and seeing those stories printed on paper is a dream come true.

Be sure and check out her blog  http://kristhompsonauthor.blogspot.com/  for additional insight into why Kris wrote BLACK ROSE.

Approaching the Dark Side in "This Duality"

Taking a turn to the dark side of the human condition today.  It's blood.  It's guts.  It's twisted minds and outcomes.  That's what we're exploring in Aaron Tavarez's novella This Duality.  Shall we begin?

Book Blurb:
Ben Fletcher and Lyel Costin's lives come screeching to a halt when a single mistake takes everything Lyel had to lose. They work as contract killers under Mather Sewald, an arrogant and hostile relative, and over the course of the next forty-eight hours they'll find not only what they were looking for, but expose more than they ever thought possible about the criminal organization they work for and their own dark history. And the warpath they set themselves on ensures the journey will be a bloody one.

My Review:
I need to admit up front - I should've probably passed on reviewing this novella.  It's more horror and bloodshed than thriller, and that's just not my cup of tea.

Ben and Lyel grew up together and spent a smidge of college life at the same school until Lyel up and disappeared.  Ten years later, Lyel shows back up again in one hot car with one hot babe by his side, while Ben is struggling as a low-level police officer who can't hit the side of a barn in a shooting match.  Together again, they hit the mean streets of the criminal underworld as a hit team working for Lyel's uncle, Mather Sewald.  Ben well remembers Uncle Mather because the boys vacationed together regularly at his summer home.

But it appears Uncle Mather has taken things too far when Millie, Lyle's main squeeze, goes missing after a night at the local hang-out.  Ben and Lyle team together against Mather to rescue Millie before it's too late.  The battle for blood begins.

Guys who like shoot 'em up stories and movies will probably find this pretty good, but like I mentioned before, it really wasn't for me.  It's violence and gore for the sake of violence and gore.  There's little character development except in a bunch of flashbacks scattered throughout the story.  We're given no reasonable motivation for why Lyle would imagine his uncle behind Millie's disappearance.  Therefore all of the violence was over-kill (pun intended) for me.

Within certain chapters, we're also taken sideways to a character known only as "this boy".  It's obvious "this boy" is scared and waiting for something bad to happen, but we're given no sense of time or place, no sense of why "this boy" is trapped and thus these numerous scenes felt out of place.  Maybe one or two of these scenes, but there were so many they merely detracted from the main story and began to seem more like filler.  In the end, there's a purpose shown for inclusion, but again these would've been better served with only a couple of these break-in's to the main arc. 

Couple those flash sideways scenes with all of the flashback scenes and at times it was difficult to follow the train of thought for the story, which slowed pacing and pulled this reader from the real point of essence in the story. 

However, structure was pretty decent.  Good showing of the main story arc as it was happening, appropriate scene breaks for change in point-of-view, with only a few editing hiccups.  As mentioned, I'd have liked to see more character development which might have given more hint to the animosity toward Uncle Mather.  For those with weak stomachs, there's a lot of bloody violence, a lot of rough language, and some other pretty messed up moments with a couple of characters.

Overall I did not like This Duality in regard to story and characters, but for the fairly clean writing structure I'll give it two and a-half stars.

Purchase by clicking the link for Amazon

Author Bio:
Aaron began writing horror shorts and posting them online when he first decided that hoarding all of his ideas
to himself was unproductive, if not selfish. Since then, he’s moved on to self-publishing his backlog of mystery and suspense novellas, and he seems to be the only one that can hear the world’s cheering response. He writes out of Dallas, and lets no abundance of school schedule or other work get in the way of writing.

Blindsided by "Blind Evil"

So after slogging through several chapters of my own book the last couple of weeks, I took time last night to attack my ever growing list of review books.  Yes, it's review time again.

Today we address Eric Praschan's psychological thriller Blind Evil.  Makes you think twice about who you befriend.

Book Blurb:
Sometimes you can be so close to evil, you can't even see it.

Police detective John Grayson's worst nightmare comes to life when he investigates a chilling double homicide and discovers that his best friend, David Vincent, is the prime suspect. As John unravels the mystery and trails the killer across Missouri, he finds himself caught in the web of David's twisted psychological schemes. The terror increases when Emily Dolon, the woman both John and David have loved since childhood, becomes the target of David's macabre mind games.

Trapped between his duty of solving the case and his devotion to his best friend, John struggles to find the truth, knowing he must execute justice, even if it costs him lifelong loyalties or his own life. Blind Evil is a taut psychological thriller that explores the dark place where sanity and madness collide.

My Review:
When John is called to investigate the gruesome murder of newlyweds recently returned from their honeymoon, the first thing that strikes our detective is that the scene is so carefully plotted out to the last detail.  It feels orchestrated - too personal.

As well it should.  In just one month, John is set to marry Emily, the love of his life since seventh grade.  Now those plans are on hold until he can stop the serial killer known as The Wedding Slasher.  And John is afraid he might well know the killer.

David is a brilliant psychiatrist with a dark past.  His childhood was filled with so many beatings and unimaginable atrocities at the hands of his meth-addicted parents, it's a wonder he grew up to be a sane adult.  It was that chance friendship with John and Emily in middle school that gave David an escape from the household of horrors.

Or did it?

Blind Evil is written in two simultaneous first-person points-of-view, that of our two protagonists John and Emily.  The division between was clean and concise and never muddled or blurred.  First person is not always easy to write with just one character, much less two, so I applaud Mr. Praschan for keeping these clear.

Grammar and punctuation errors were almost non-existent.  It's always nice to read a book with minimal errors and proper formatting, not something you always come across in the traditional publishing world, much less in the indie publishing realm.

David is more than adequately evil, twisted, and maniacal - but at times he was so over-the-top that he became more of a caricature instead of a real human being.

And characterization was where I struggled with Blind Evil.

When the murders occur, John is immediately suspicious of the man who is characterized as his best friend.  How would someone who is supposed to be a smart detective have such a friend in his back pocket?  I could understand this if David at one time was considered a best friend, but something about this supposed dynamic of best friends between these two in the present did not work for me.  John came across as too naive to be a streetwise, gritty detective.  With his close association to the primary suspect, he would have more likely been removed officially from the case.  But this did not occur.

Then there's Emily, John's fiancee who is also best friends with David (and dated him for eight years when John failed to make a move first).  Emily works with David in their joint practice, helping with his unorthodox methods of "therapy" that I found horrifying - and there is a disclaimer at the end of the book that says how this would never be considered an acceptable practice in therapy (thank you!).  So if Emily broke up with David because she was afraid of him, why then does she continue working with him in the practice and participating with these unorthodox methods as if there's nothing wrong with it all?  This says to me that there is something wrong with Emily as well, but that is never addressed.

I wish there would have been more moments of internalization with John and Emily to better understand the why of how they maintained this odd friendship with David when they didn't trust him and were actually afraid of him.  When the murders first begin, David is immediately suspect and John tells Emily not go to work, lock herself in the house, and not to answer the door for anyone - especially David.  So if John is too close to evil to see it, why then does he see it immediately as David at the first murder scene?  Most of the storyline is made up of a few moments of action, mostly dialogue and moments where I as the reader watched the characters "watch" themselves on video.  I felt very disconnected from the characters because of this distance and lack of internalization to understand their motivations.  Therefore, I never developed much in the way of empathy for any of them.

The plot had a lot of potential, but the overall inability to connect with the characters and the lack of grounding in reality left me feeling flat.  Again, however, the book was written cleanly and concisely and that counts for something with me.  Overall, I'd give Blind Evil two and a-half stars.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Evil-Eric-Praschan-ebook/dp/B00IDHV4NE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392215671&sr=8-1&keywords=blind+evil

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blind-evil-eric-praschan/1118630057?ean=2940148251347&itm=1&usri=blind+evil

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/408709

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20806501-blind-evil

Author Bio:
Eric Praschan has been writing for more than 20 years, focusing on suspense fiction. He holds a B.A. in English and a M.A. in Theological Studies. His favorite authors range from Stephen King to C.S. Lewis. He has many years of experience in drama, music, teaching, and higher education. Eric lives in Missouri with his wife, Stephanie.  For more information, visit www.ericpraschan.com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricPraschanAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricPraschan