Mind of the Beast
(a Sundancer Novel, #2)by Brian & Juliet Freyermuth
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BLURB:When a vampire asks Nick St. James to investigate his friend’s murder, the answer should have been easy, right? NO. Okay, not so easy. How do you say no to a friend like Felix?
Besides, with Thelma by his side, what could go wrong? She’s got that, umm … cute pink backpack of Voodoo magic. Of course it hurts that she manages to look good even when she accidentally conjures and gets possessed by a drunk loa. No, it won’t be at all distracting to have her along.
Since no good deed goes unpunished, a crazy man with starry eyes jumps out of the shadows at the victim’s apartment and pummels them. Their attacker doesn’t just beat them up but also infects them with some bad mojo that’s killing Thelma and making Nick angry … angrier.
If the trail to the suspect—the Green Man—is any indication, they’ll be killed before the poison finishes the job. The old gods are more dangerous than helpful. The Watchers—even the one who seems to have a brain—are always a hazard. And what’s with the all the minions? Who has minions anymore? Not to mention the rapid progression of the infection that quickly upgrades Nick’s condition to ‘blind-rage-filled.’
Why couldn’t Felix have just asked Nick to help him move?
Buy Link:Demon Dance (Sundancer, Book 1): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CA9IAOWMind of the Beast (Sundancer, Book 2): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MQ38D2Q
Excerpt:“How about a beer?” Felix asked.
“Beer? I didn’t know you could drink that.” A beer actually does sound good, I thought as I put away the coffee beans and grabbed a couple bottles from the fridge.
“We can drink or eat anything as long as it doesn’t have garlic in it,” Felix said as I handed him a bottle. “That shit burns, man. I once saw a couple of vamps have a garlic eating contest.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “They were bored.”
“Who won?” I asked as I sat down in my old black recliner.
“Their heads caught on fire.”
I blinked.
“Seriously, it was like chomp-chomp-poof.” A ghost of a smile played across his lips. “Our bodies burn out most food. High metabolism or something. Does nothing for the hunger, though. I know a few that don’t eat at all,” he said before chugging the amber liquid.
“Did you know,” he continued, “there’s a dude who actually wrote a book called The Anatomy of a Vampire? He wrote it like fiction so the Watchers wouldn’t get him, but I’ve had a couple of my peeps on the slab over the years. He was right on the money. Talked about how our cells don’t work with food anymore, man. Just blood. How we can eat and eat and eat, but the blood just sends the food packing. Talk about having something go right through you.” He chuckled, although the humor didn’t reach his eyes. “Another reason most vamps don’t eat or drink.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
After 18 years of marriage, Brian and Juliet Freyermuth decided to try something crazy; write a book together.
Brian’s writing is not limited to print. For twenty years he wrote and designed games such as Fallout, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Epic Mickey 2 and Lichdom: Battlemage.
Juliet’s love for writing began with a fourth grade assignment. She has been writing ever since. Her writing took a new direction when she enrolled in journalism and met amazing people. Whether it is an article about anthropology or a hero’s journey in a magical world, she hopes to inspire readers to new possibilities.
When Brian and Juliet aren’t writing, they enjoy reading, watching shows like Persons of Interest and going on road trips with their son, Kyle.
Website: www.magicalunderworld.com
Twitter:
- Brian: @brianfreyermuth
- Juliet: @julietfrey
Facebook:
- Brian: https://www.facebook.com/bfreyermuthofficial
- Juliet: https://www.facebook.com/authorjulietfreyermuth
Authors interview
Did you do any kind of research to determine the details of your characters’ lives / lifestyles?
Brian: I know it’s strange to say, but we definitely try to be as realistic as possible when writing about vampires, gods and other fantastical elements. That means doing research into voodoo, Norse gods and their myths, and even what people have thought about vampires over the ages.
The best book/s you ever read?
Juliet: I like reading different genres. Agatha Christie helped me fall in love with mysteries. I absolute love And Then There Were None. Stephen King showed me how to take something as mundane as a car, like he did in Christine, and make it scary. He did a great job at showing humanity in its rawest form.
Brian: One of my biggest inspirations comes from the Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman. He is a genius at taking real life and showing the dark, magical ocean underneath. For novels, my two favorites would be The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker, and Last Call by Tim Powers. Both of these also dealt with a shadow world living right under our noses.
Who inspires you?
Juliet: The best inspiration I’ve received didn’t come from a celebrity, it came from people in my life overcoming obstacles, even those that seem insurmountable. A great example is a friend from high school. She already had four boys when she went to work one day and overheard a coworker saying their daughter was giving up their grandson. My friend was so horrified by this that she adopted him. They are all doing great.
Brian: People who never give up. Our friend was told the worst; he had six months to live. While he followed the doctor’s instructions, he refused to give up. He sold his home, bought an RV and drove to a warmer, dryer climate so he could breathe easier. Eight year later, he was given a double lung transplant and is doing great.
Where did you grow up?
Juliet: I moved around a lot. I spent my elementary school years in Las Vegas back when it was run by the mafia. I moved to Southern California when I was in junior high. I’ll never forget that day. It was freezing in Las Vegas when we left. We got there before corporate housing was ready, so we went to the beach. It was a hot January day and I was wearing sweats, black sweats to be exact. People at the Newport Beach pier must of thought we were nuts.
Brian: I grew up in a little town in Colorado, where everyone knew each other. It was a tourist stop on the way to Pikes Peak, and my mother owned a little jewelry store in downtown. The culture shock came when I moved to Northern California in 8th grade. Here was a school bigger than anything I had ever seen!
How did you get into writing?
Juliet: I had an assignment in fourth grade to write a short story. It was so much fun writing a tale about a white face witch, that I’ve been writing short stories ever since. In high school I wrote for the school newspaper. That gave me the opportunity to meet interesting people. I wrote an article about anthropology, where I got to meet anthropologists from different disciplines, including a forensic anthropologist who can tell if someone has been cannibalized by looking at their bones.
Brian: My 5th grade teacher, Mr. Denver assigned me a story too. It was called A Walk in the Clouds. What would you do if you found yourself in front of a castle in the clouds?
When I was a sophomore in college, I wrote for my second love, video games. The first games I designed were Fallout and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. I had fun coming up with quests and characters for Fallout and writing a three part scenario called Promethius Rising in Starfleet.
What do you consider your best accomplishment?
Juliet: Writing Mind of the Beast with Brian. That was so much fun and I can’t tell you how great it feels that people like it.
Brian: I agree. Mind of the Beast came together wonderfully. When it comes to my games, Epic Mickey 2 will always hold a special place in my heart. I helped give Oswald the Lucky Rabbit a voice and a personality for the first time in over 40 years, and was able to work with some pretty amazing people.
What is your favorite quote?
Juliet: I have quite a few, but one of my favorites is “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill said this in a book called Think and Grow Rich. I truly believe that what limits us is how we perceive things. What would happen if the Wright Brothers thought it was impossible to fly? It would have been a completely understandable thought.
Brian: “It’s not jumping the shark if you never come down.” Supernatural Season 5: Episode 9.
Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process?
Juliet: Absolutely. It gives the reader an idea of the type of story they will read, and it is the first impression the reader has of the author.
How did you come up with the title? Names?
Brian: The title Mind of the Beast came from an old novel I wrote in High School. It was actually what I used to impress Juliet when met in our senior year.
Juliet: Yeah, Mind of the Beast was originally a horror novel that scared me so much I had all the lights on in the condo, and I kept looking out the window while I waited for my dad to get home. Brian and I met on my first day of school in the middle of our senior year. I was so impressed that he wrote a novel, that we became friends. A month later we had our first kiss, two days before Christmas. I called him my Christmas present.
What was the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Juliet: How much I wound up learning about myself. Each story I write, I learn a little something new. For Mind of the Beast, it was how much giving the reader an emotional experience is important to me. It’s not enough to tell a story, I want people to feel what’s happening in the story too.
Brian: For years I wrote stories for entertainment value. It wasn’t until recently that I realized what was nagging me all these years. My stories don’t feel complete until they have meaning or a universal truth behind them.Hi Juliet Hi Brain it great to have you on my blog !
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