Book Genre: Tween Fantasy Adventure
Publisher: AZ Publishing Services
Release Date: June 15, 2015
Buy Link(s): http://grendelmen.com/
- Paperback Amazon
Book Description:
Dani is a young orphan girl, living on the streets of a medium-sized border town. Her only friend in the world is a dragon. At fourteen years of age, she should be starting her apprenticeship, but all her schooling has come from a dragon. The same day he promises she can some day become a dragon herself, a Mage finally comes looking for her. But is he there to help her, or control her?
Publisher: AZ Publishing Services
Release Date: June 15, 2015
Buy Link(s): http://grendelmen.com/
- Paperback Amazon
Book Description:
Dani is a young orphan girl, living on the streets of a medium-sized border town. Her only friend in the world is a dragon. At fourteen years of age, she should be starting her apprenticeship, but all her schooling has come from a dragon. The same day he promises she can some day become a dragon herself, a Mage finally comes looking for her. But is he there to help her, or control her?
BK: Looking out the nearest window, describe the scene you see.
Palm and mesquite trees dot the landscape surrounding a six-lane highway which is always busy.
BK: Tell us about your office. Is it a mess like mine, or is everything in its place?
The room is an organized mess, especially the desk. Occasionally a sudden desire for orderliness will inspire me to reorganize and remove no longer necessary items.
BK: What is a must-have, such as coffee or a favorite pen, that you need to write?
Nothing so esoteric is required for me to write. I simply have to be in the write mood.
BK: Do you like to write in silence, or do you need music or background noise?
I definitely have to have some sort of background music. I usually play a compilation of artists such as They Might Be Giants, Weird Al Yankovich, Lightning Seeds, and/or R.E.M.
BK: Tell us a bit about your hero/heroine, and their development.
Danielle Dwyer begins her journey as a young orphan on the streets of a small town on the edge of the kingdom. Her only friend in the world is a dragon and on her fourteen birthday, she is promised that she too can one day become a dragon. On the same day, a mage who has his own plans for her future, but he's not the only one looking for her.
BK: As a writer myself, I'm always curious how other writers get through stumble blocks. When you find a story not flowing, or a character trying to fight you, how do you correct it?
I usually use the methods of Blake Snyder in mapping out the storyline. He describes the fifteen beats of almost every great story. By filling out the beats I'm able to identify, it usually makes the missing beats easier to fill in. It also helps to know where in the story I'm at so that I know what should come next and whether I've left out any foreshadowing or statement of the theme.
BK: Using the letters of your first name as an acronym, describe your book...
Saurian
Insight
Marks
Orphan
Non-friendly
BK: How did your writing journey begin?
A second-grade project titled: Death of a Murderer was my first book. The killer faked his own death to look like one of his own victims to throw off the police. I haven't stopped writing since.
BK: Using the letters from the word, Summer, how would friends and family describe you?
Simon's
Usually
Manic
Moods
Elicit
Reactions
BK: What is the craziest thing you've ever written about, whether it got published or not?
There are two ways to describe crazy things I've written. I'll leave the other one of print and focus instead on how elements of Conspiracy Rising have been coming true. I wrote a scene where the Pope gathered the leaders of all Christian religions for a unity conference. A few years later, in June of 2016, the Pope actually held a conference of all Orthodox religious leaders to promote unity. It isn't the only element of the book that has come true.
BK: Tell us one thing you've done in life, that readers would be most surprised to know.
While my minor in college was Creative Writing, I majored in Physics.
BK: What can we expect from you in the future?
There are definitely more books coming in the Dragons' Bane Chronicles, as well as more books in the Warriors & Watchmen series. I'm also developing the Cyborg Chronicles as well as other book series.
This or That...
Coke or Pepsi? A&W Root Beer
Night Owl or Early Bird? Night Owl
Fantasy or Mystery? Both. In the same story if I can manage it.
Pen/Paper or Computer? Usually Computer, though sometimes it takes pen and paper to work it out.
Pizza or Burger? Neither, at the moment.
Rock or Country? Alternative
Chocolate or Vanilla? Definitely chocolate
Beach or Mountains? Depends on my mood.
Thank you so much for having us as one of your stops today. It has been great getting to know more about you and your book, and wish you the best of success!
Author Bio: Simon Driscoll has published several books, including the Dragons’ Bane Chronicles, and the Warriors & Watchmen series. Writing is his passion, as well as his hobby. He studied creative writing in college to learn the mechanics of written stories. He has been influenced in his writing by great authors such as Sir Isaac Asimov, Terry Brooks, and Orson Scott Card, to name only a few.
Simon has been a student of the scriptures all his life, and feels passionately about helping others understand them better. The most difficult aspect of scriptures to comprehend is prophecy. That is why Simon has combined his passions for writing and the scriptures to create a fictional account of the fulfillment of End Times Prophecies. The first book in the Warrior and Watchmen Series was published in 2015.
Website: http://grendelmen.com/
Blog: http://driscoll.grendelmen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Driscoll.Books/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorSDriscoll
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/driscoll0924/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10654758.Simon_Driscoll
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Simon-Driscoll/e/B00ZYKDBZ2/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1467414313&sr=8-1
Simon has been a student of the scriptures all his life, and feels passionately about helping others understand them better. The most difficult aspect of scriptures to comprehend is prophecy. That is why Simon has combined his passions for writing and the scriptures to create a fictional account of the fulfillment of End Times Prophecies. The first book in the Warrior and Watchmen Series was published in 2015.
Website: http://grendelmen.com/
Blog: http://driscoll.grendelmen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Driscoll.Books/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorSDriscoll
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/driscoll0924/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10654758.Simon_Driscoll
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Simon-Driscoll/e/B00ZYKDBZ2/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1467414313&sr=8-1
Excerpt:
Smooth stones shifted beneath my feet as I limped toward the dragon’s cave. Anger buzzed in my head with no outlet. Two miles of walking on a sprained ankle hadn’t helped my mood, or the injury. In addition to the ankle, which continued to complain with every step, my left eye felt swollen from a recent blow. The blow itself didn’t bother me so much. Instead, I was concerned by why she hit me and how I got away.
Two miles south lay Barrington, a village sandwiched between the kingdom of Puji and the mountains of Goldoon. Almost five thousand people lived in the village, including the families who had taken me in. Every winter for the past six years one family or another had taken me in as a housekeeper or cook, and shared what little food they had with me; rarely enough to truly satisfy me, or them. Eventually they would start to resent having me there. Thus every year, around the start of spring, I would find some reason to leave.
This year, the reason had reached out and grabbed me by the throat, literally. There was no real love for me there, and hadn’t been since my nanny died almost six years ago. Why should they care about a little orphan girl?
The cave before me wasn’t the adventure others might see. I wasn’t here in a vain attempt to gain treasure or impress someone with my bravery. No one else in the village knew there was a dragon nearby. For me, this was my one escape from the cruelty of the world. The only place left where someone showed me kindness instead of hatred and violence.
The last few feet were the trickiest of all and my injured ankle gave out. I scraped my hand on the cliff in a failed attempt to stop my fall.
“Cortiban’s bones!” The curse escaped my lips. Frustration boiled over and I had to close my eyes to contain the anger. Pulling myself up by grabbing the face of the cliff before me, I put all my anger to the task of overcoming the pain. I kept my eyes shut as I limped through the protective magic hiding the mouth of the cave. If someone watched as I entered, they would see me walk through solid rock. A protective spell hid everything inside. Now the magic hid me as well.
Two miles south lay Barrington, a village sandwiched between the kingdom of Puji and the mountains of Goldoon. Almost five thousand people lived in the village, including the families who had taken me in. Every winter for the past six years one family or another had taken me in as a housekeeper or cook, and shared what little food they had with me; rarely enough to truly satisfy me, or them. Eventually they would start to resent having me there. Thus every year, around the start of spring, I would find some reason to leave.
This year, the reason had reached out and grabbed me by the throat, literally. There was no real love for me there, and hadn’t been since my nanny died almost six years ago. Why should they care about a little orphan girl?
The cave before me wasn’t the adventure others might see. I wasn’t here in a vain attempt to gain treasure or impress someone with my bravery. No one else in the village knew there was a dragon nearby. For me, this was my one escape from the cruelty of the world. The only place left where someone showed me kindness instead of hatred and violence.
The last few feet were the trickiest of all and my injured ankle gave out. I scraped my hand on the cliff in a failed attempt to stop my fall.
“Cortiban’s bones!” The curse escaped my lips. Frustration boiled over and I had to close my eyes to contain the anger. Pulling myself up by grabbing the face of the cliff before me, I put all my anger to the task of overcoming the pain. I kept my eyes shut as I limped through the protective magic hiding the mouth of the cave. If someone watched as I entered, they would see me walk through solid rock. A protective spell hid everything inside. Now the magic hid me as well.
