BLURB:
Fraternal
twins are separated from birth, and raised to be assassins. They were never meant to meet. But even when kept apart, they’re just too
powerful. Their paranormal abilities
cease to be an advantage when they can no longer be controlled. So they are scheduled for cancellation.
Their paths cross before they can be
taken out. It is only then that they
discover the true depths of their betrayal.
Not only are they stronger when they’re together, they’re half-breeds,
sired by an all-powerful warlock.
The question is, are they strong
enough even together to take him on now that he’s coming for them?
They have an ace up their sleeves
they are not aware of. Drawn to the same
kind of women, they find themselves married to a pair of sorceresses whose
magical abilities are only now surfacing.
But one encounter with dear old dad
is all it takes for them to realize, they’re still the underdogs.
From the back of the book:
“The series is called Blood
Brothers, but this adventure is really a family affair: the brothers, their
partners, children and even their old man in a starring role as the
villain. Think Disney's Incredibles, but
in a violent and bizarre fantasy world.”
Rob May, Dragon Killer
“With incredibly detailed world
building and action scenes, this story seems like it would make a phenomenal
film or TV series.
Moore pulls out all the stops with
dragons, telekinesis, shapeshifters and insurmountable odds in this battle of
good versus evil - and a villain who just won't lay down and die.” Demelza
Carlton, Ocean’s Gift
“When you read a Dean C. Moore
novel, you can expect rich, original characters, witty dialogue and unexpected
plot turns. Blood Brothers doesn't disappoint.”
INTERVIEW:
- Where did you get the idea for
the novel?
There
were several sources of inspiration for Blood
Brothers, truth be known. Among
other things, I wanted to explore the dual themes of family estrangement and
intense, abiding love, which strangely coexist in the same household. Is it possible for people to love each other
completely, to the point of loss of oneself in another, and yet feel entirely
alienated from the other party at the same time? It’s been my experience that in real life
this is closer to the truth than most people would care to admit. In Blood
Brothers this dichotomy is echoed on a number of levels. There exists the estrangement between the
fraternal twins that are raised apart, trained as assassins, and only discover
each other later in life, initially with the task of killing one another. I think we can call that estrangement with a
capital E. Once they get to know one
another, the pendulum gradually swings to the other side, but never without entirely
erasing that tension of opposite, concurrently held feelings of love and
alienation. Then there is the
estrangement between the men and their own wives despite the great affection
both sides have for one another. Always
there’s that paradox to resolve of feeling closer than close and yet worlds
apart. I won’t go on listing examples because
I think you get the idea.
I
also wanted to take a look at what truly constitutes a family. So throughout the book there is the
biological family ensconced within a larger ad hoc family. Which is more valuable and important to us
and our ability to mature and evolve? To
what degree do they need one another for either to be sustained
indefinitely?
Of
course, this is me and my writerly concerns.
It’s quite possible to enjoy this story and be oblivious to these
underlying themes. In part because there
is plenty else to sink your teeth into.
- Your title. Who came up with
it? Did you ever change your title?
It
just popped into my head without trying.
Not all titles come that easily.
And then I did a search on Amazon and found that there are at least a
million books with the title Blood
Brothers. Sigh. So now you’re better off searching for the
book by putting in the subtitle for this particular installment: Escape to Creeporia. Or do a search by my name. The smart thing would have been to change the
title, perhaps. But it had gotten under
my skin by then, and seemed to convey the closeness of the brothers in the
story and the affinity they have for one another. If after reading the story you feel you have
a better title for the series, let me know.
It’s never too late for a redo. J
- Why did you pick this genre?
What do you like about it?
I’ve
always been less concerned about where we are now than where we’re going to be,
both individually and as a species in the future, sometimes that’s far into the
future, sometimes it’s just a little ways down the road. When I tackle this question from a paranormal
stand point, i.e. growth in psychic abilities like telepathy, telekinesis,
teleportation, I end up with my paranormal fantasies like Blood Brothers. When I
tackle the issue from the vantage point of how technology will affect us, I end
up with my sci-fi novels like Escape From
the Future. And sometimes I split the
difference and end up with a tale that’s a hybrid of the two, like The Warlock’s Friend or The Hundred Year
Clones and the Renaissance 2.0 series.
I
love fantasy and sci-fi as genres because traditionally they’ve granted the
writer a lot of room to explore thorny social and ethical issues that might be
harder to pull off in traditional drama.
Especially if you’re contemplating a state of affairs that hasn’t
happened yet. I guess if I was trying to
make a living in the workaday world, I’d be doing scenario games for
corporations, as it’s much the same thing; you’re looking into the future to
see what changes are coming down the pike and how they’re going to affect
us. And I don’t mean how they’re going
to change our moods; I mean how they’re going to change the entire definition
of what it means to be human.
- Since becoming a writer, what’s
the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?
There was a time when writing was a very lonely
occupation. We do still spend a lot of
time alone up in our heads. But thanks
to the internet, writing has become far more social. I rely on fellow writers to help with editing
my novels and I in turn do theirs. By
trading services like this we keep the expenses down with getting a book out
the door. And until you’re discovered as
an indie-author, that means a lot, as that’s no overnight thing. But the new renaissance in self-publishing also
means building closer relationships with your readers, even crowd-sourcing
editing as with my early drafts on wattpad.
Again, these are highly social phenomena that are not only transforming
how books get written but bringing writers out of the closet and coaxing traditionally
introverted individuals to become a lot more extroverted. As my own personality includes a bit of both
traits, I think I’m weathering the storms of change a little better than
some. I struggle with the social aspect
to a degree, but I also welcome it. We
all need our support groups, people to bounce ideas off of, and what better
supporters than other writers working in our genres and readers/fans that have
elected to become parts of the creative process?
- What book are you currently
reading or what was the last book you read?
For
fans of the Castle TV series, there
are books that accompany each season.
I’ve read them all. It’s a guilty
indulgence, but I’m usually looking to read something light when I’m done with
a lot of my own writing and editing. The
series of novels, moreover, are a close analogue for what to expect with many
of my shorter titles like Blood Brothers,
The Warlock’s Friend, and Escape From
the Future. The genres might be
different, but as with Castle,
there’s a healthy mix of humor and drama.
- What is your writing process?
I’d
say I was a workaholic, but in truth that would be a vacation for me. In one way or another, I’m always involved
with some aspect of the process of cranking out novels. If I’m not writing, I’m editing. If I’m not editing my stuff, I’m editing
someone else’s so they’ll edit me in return.
Or I’m winding down at the end of the evening to my favorite books, TV
series, and movies—all of which point me in the direction of what I want to
write next. Or I’m socializing with
friends who remarkably function well as muses.
Maybe I just have them well trained.
Maybe I gravitate to the kinds of characters that invite novels to
materialize out of the ether.
And
when I want to get away from it all, I go somewhere far away, get lost in a
different culture, different set of people, stop writing altogether. But arguably that’s just to give me the
breathers I need to get back in the ring.
To call this cyclic, repetitive behavior obsessive is probably to be too
kind. To call this addictive behavior is
probably too kind. To say my entire life
centers around my writing would be true, but it would miss the more salient
point of the Machiavellian means I use to maximize my creative output. Of course, I did have a normal life once. Come to think of it, I better get to writing
it down before I forget it entirely.
- At a book signing, do you just
sign your name or do you write a note? How do you come up with stuff to
say?
I
have the worst penmanship on earth. And
not wanting to mar someone’s book with it, I practice beforehand to warm up and
recondition whatever part of my brain was damaged when I gave up writing for
typing a hundred plus words a minute.
Honestly, I have no idea how writers survived the pen and paper days; I
certainly would have had to take up another living. My mind is just a little too racy for
that. So I have to change wavelengths in
my brain, get into an altered state entirely in order to write my own
name. To slow down enough to do it.
I
try to leave some note with my signature, even if it’s just a brief, “Enjoy the
book.”
- What is something people would
be surprised to know about you?
I
practice Insight Meditation. It involves
clearing the mind and allowing thoughts to drift in to my consciousness without
holding on to them, and letting them go once the reason for their appearance
becomes clear. It’s an awesome method
for finding sticking points in my life and releasing them. But it’s an equally powerful tool when
applied to getting past road blocks in my writing. Whenever I’m stuck with what direction to
take a story in, this method has never failed me.
- How do you react to a bad
review?
I don’t know anyone who reacts well to these things. But I take a deep breath and think, is there
something here of value I can actually apply to the next book and to becoming a
better writer? Or is this just one of
those situations where you can’t please all of the people all of the time? Sometimes no matter how good a book is, it
isn’t for certain folks. But so long as
there’s something helpful and constructive in the feedback, I will certainly
use that to become a better writer.
An additional perk of being a self-published author, moreover,
and having control over the tools and processes, is that I can always go back
and redo sections of the book and simply release a later edition. I’ve re-released books after finding and
correcting a single typo. Good luck
getting a mainstream publisher to do that for you. Just set your Kindle to auto-update. J
And I’ve yet to see one of the books
from a mainstream publishing house have less than a half dozen typos. I guess I just have a keen eye for the little
buggers. I think this is one of the many
reasons indie authors may well surpass what is possible with mainstream
publishing over time. Not just with more
unique subject matter that isn’t overly neutered or censored for fear of
offending people until the last of the drama is squeezed out of the story, but
with higher quality standards. Indie
authors can find niches, what’s more, too small to be catered to by bigger
publishing houses. Sadly, with so much
consolidation in the industry and so much expense behind launching a book by
traditional means, it has created a situation in which books have to be just
like every other novel you’ve ever read in a genre; there’s no willingness to
take risks. This self-defeating attitude
ultimately drives away readers until indie authors are their only hope for
something fresh and different.
- How did you celebrate the
sale of your first book?
Death by chocolate. Followed by several reincarnations as
characters whose entire personalities were formed and informed by chocolate, to
say nothing of their altered states of consciousness.
EXCERPT:
The
electricity out throughout the house, both baby dragons soared into the
kitchen, lighting the candles for Myrna with their fiery blasts, the star and
heart shaped ones, the ones molded like mugs of beer with big foam headers, and
the magic spell casting ones with the different colored flames.
Their
work in the kitchen done, they dashed out to attend to the other rooms. Before Myrna could prance halfway up the
stairs after them, she took out her Bic lighter, and put the flame to her
forearm. “Ah! You're awake, all right!”
Her
next thought was, she suddenly had a pair of dragons to care for. How was she going to manage that? Oh dear, what do you guys eat?
She
rushed back to the kitchen.
Myrna
held a candle inside the refrigerator, as she ripped food out left and
right. The roasted artichoke. The blue cheese and citrus bruschetta. The apricot pistachio halves. Everything meticulously wrapped. The dragons came swooping back into the room.
They
looked at her, bewildered as she continued to plow through the itinerary. The vegetarian chili and macaroni. The tempeh and tapenade wrap. She was sure she had something to accommodate
every palate.
“Whada
ya think?” she said, gesturing to the buffet covering the entire kitchen thanks
to her throwing food willy-nilly. One of
the dragons bounded up and swooped to the floor, where it gulped down a mouse.
Myrna
put up her hands gesturing, “Oh no, we're all vegetarians here.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
I write sci-fi, fantasy, action-adventures and
thrillers, or some combination thereof—usually with a strong vein of dark
humor. Though, my works are dramas first; the humor is there to take the
edge off as with the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Transformers, and Jurassic Park
franchises.
I wrote screenplays for a while, and while
enjoying them, I found them a bit confining. After a while you just need
the extra page count to flesh out characters better and do additional world
building, especially when considering doing anything epic in scope. I
also took a run at future forecasting and trend tracking, being as I always had
my head in the future, things like Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock.
I also relished this, and can certainly see myself releasing a few titles
accordingly in the nonfiction area. But since delving into novels, short
and long, I’ve definitely found my home and my voice. For the first time
I feel the restraints have been taken off of my imagination. I suppose
all mediums have their limits, so I may end up doing a mix of things, but I
suspect I will continue to spend most of my time with novels. Series add
an additional dimension, allowing for even more depth and development both in the
character and world building departments. But I remain at heart a
divergent thinker, so, no surprise, I seem to have more series going than
follow up installments at this point. That too may change over time;
we’ll see. Until then, it may be best to just think of these books as
one-offs if you’re fond of my writing style and some of the themes I work with.
My current catalog of twelve books represents
a little over five years' worth of work. I'm currently averaging a couple
books annually. Of my existing franchises with multiple installments, The
Hundred Year Clone books can be read in any order, while the 5 books of
Renaissance 2.0 must be read in sequence as they form part of a singular story
arc (much as with A Game of Thrones.)
I live in the country where I breed bluebirds,
which are endangered in these parts, as my small contribution to restoring
nature's balance. When I'm not writing, or researching my next book, I
may also be found socializing with friends, or working in my organic garden.
GIVEAWAY:
$20 Amazon GC – random commenter
$20 Amazon GC – random host
the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
J.P. Lantern lives in the
Midwestern US, though his heart and probably some essential parts of his liver
and pancreas and whatnot live metaphorically in Texas. He writes speculative
science fiction short stories, novellas, and novels which he has deemed
"rugged," though he would also be fine with "roughhewn"
because that is a terrific and wonderfully apt word.
