Mind of the Beast (a Sundancer Novel,
Book 2)
by Brian
& Juliet Freyermuth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 sh*t 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.
Interview
Where are you from?
Juliet: I moved a lot but I always considered Southern
California home.
Brian: I lived in a small town called Manitou
Springs in Colorado. It was a tiny town where everyone knew each other. In 8th
grade I moved to Northern California, and it was quite the culture shock. My
class was as big as my old school!
Tell us your latest news?
Brian: Currently I’m working on the first draft of Book 3 of the
Sundancer series. When Juliet and I co-write a novel, we both brainstorm and
come up with the story beats, and then I work on the rough draft. It then gets
passed back to Juliet to tweak, cut, and redo scenes. At that point it’s the
“official” rough draft, and we can both begin editing.
Juliet: I’m adding short stories to our website,
magicalunderworld.com, while Brian does his part for Book 3. Sliding Down is
SciFi short story about a father obsessed with time. I also am working on my blog, Trustyoucan.com
helping authors find confidence and resources.
When and why did you
begin writing?
Juliet: I started writing when my 4th grade teacher,
Mrs. Saunders, gave an assignment. I’ve been hooked ever since. It was a
cathartic experience as a kid. Now I like to take readers on an emotional
rollercoaster ride while taking real world problems and putting a magical spin
on them.
Brian: In fifth grade, my English teacher, Mr. Denver, turned me on
to reading and writing. I loved fantasy even back then, and I really wanted to
share all the worlds and stories that were rattling around in my head.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Juliet: When I wrote my very
first article for my high school newspaper. It was a sports article, and I had
a lot of fun writing it because the writing was really fast paced.
Brian: When I finished my first novel. I was a freshman in High
School, and I decided that short stories couldn’t let me tell the epic story I
had in my head. So even though I was a kid and didn’t really know what I was
doing, I wrote a huge (at the time) 150 page fantasy epic. It will never see
the light of day, heck, I don’t even know where the pages are, but it showed me
that could start and finish something that large.
What inspired you to write your first book?
Brian: My first published book was Demon Dance, and the inspiration came from the main character and
his voice. We were living in Seattle at the time, and I had had Nick St. James
in my head for almost sixteen years, so finally I decided to tell his story.
Juliet: My first book was Mind
of the Beast, the sequel to Demon
Dance, written with my husband, Brian. We decided to try a test and it
turned out that, like everything else, we do things better together. The first
story I wrote was inspired by a scary neighborhood I lived in for a short
while. The White Faced Witch was about kids who were terrorized by a neighbor.
I wrote it for a 4th grade assignment and have been writing ever
since.
What would you like my
readers to know?
Juliet: Never give up on your dreams. If you are patience and do
the work, it will eventually happen. But you have to being willing to wait and
fail a few times first.
Brian: I like that. I’ve never given up on my dreams either. If
I had something else to add, I would say never give up on your writing. No
matter how many people tell you that it’s crap, and how much self doubt you
have, just keep writing.
Website:
www.magicalunderworld.com
Twitter:
Brian:
@brianfreyermuth
Juliet:
@julietfrey
Facebook:
Buy Link:
Demon Dance
(Sundancer, Book 1): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CA9IAOW
Mind of the
Beast (Sundancer, Book 2): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MQ38D2Q
Brian and Juliet will be awarding a $25 Amazon giftcard to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the interview, I enjoyed it :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Lisa.
DeleteI really enjoyed this excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThank you MomJane
DeleteGreat post! I really enjoyed reading the excerpt and the interview. This book sounds like such an interesting and intriguing read. I will totally have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteI love the interviews. I always like knowing about the authors I am reading.
ReplyDeleteI always love the contests, but I also like learning about new books I might be interested in.
ReplyDelete