Today, Literary Escapism is excited to welcome Robert Sadler, author of Secrets of Blood and Bone, to the floor.
What if one night you discovered you were a rare breed of warrior meant to be the champion of all mankind? That you were caught in the middle of an age old war between supernatural forces and had no choice but to fight or die? Oh, and that the beautiful predator staring at you from across the room was just dying to have sex with you, or maybe eat you depending on her mood?
“Secrets of Blood & Bone” is a fast paced Urban Fantasy jam packed full of paranormal action, be it on the battle field or in the bedroom! This is the first installment in a series of books which introduces us to a strong-willed hero named Quillen Ware, or just Q to his friends. One night while working in a dangerous inner city emergency room, his security guard duties take him into the parking lot where he attempts to diffuse a gang war in the making. Riding on the heels of the bullet-riddled gang-bangers come a squad of mercenary soldiers accompanied by a pair of supernatural monsters who leave nothing but death and destruction in their wake. As Q’s new life unfolds before him, he finds himself fighting for his life with a hell hound, dining with an immortal shape shifter, bantering with a genius gnome, and sharing sexual tension with a beautiful were-tiger all before the first night comes to a close.
During his journey, Q has to face some very difficult questions. Was his real father a serial rapist? Who was responsible for his mother’s death? Why is he so important to the plans of a species he knows nothing about? All of this while fighting for his life and his sanity in a world where sex and violence are regular facets of everyday life. Will Q fully embrace this new life, or will he try to fight his destiny on the way to an epic climax and a discovery that will shake not only his world but that of the entire supernatural community?
Make sure you stick around to the end. We’ll be giving away a signed copy of Secrets of Blood and Bone to a lucky reader.
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Secrets of Blood and Bone was definitely a labor of love. I had always wanted to write a book that I would want to read and this series embodies all the things I love about a book from a reader’s point of view. There’s lots of fast paced action, I tried hard to paint a solid picture of each character and environment without spending five pages telling you how many buttons were on the persons coat or how fine the weave of the material was. Through the years I have seen the effect that kind of detail has on the less voracious readers I’ve known. They get bored and the book gets put down, never to be picked up by that person again–that’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen with my book. I want people to read it and be entertained, to tell others how much fun it was and pass it on. That’s what I was looking for and so far I think I have been pretty successful.
Without question my favorite scenes to write are the battles and the sex. Fight scenes are all about getting the reader excited, about making them go “oooooh!” and flinch just like they do in the movies. That moment when something so nasty happens to someone you almost have to look away, even though you talk about it with your friends forever. “Dude did you see when that guy got his head caved in? It was so gross! But awesome!” That’s the kind of effect I’m going for. I love watching people read my book so I can see their reactions. If they laugh, if they smile, if they cringe, or if they get really intense and quiet I know I have done something right.
Next are the sex scenes, again I’m looking for reader reaction but in a totally different way. I want you to be so into the scene and so involved in your own dirty little imagination that you hate to be interrupted. That when someone makes you go back to doing your job while you’re in the middle of the scene that you get mad and rush through it just so you can get back to my book! Nothing is a bigger compliment than having someone tell you they can’t wait to get back to your book, or to even read it a second time.
Lastly, if you hadn’t guessed, I love twisted humor. Both the Rotu and the Skira are essentially warrior societies and thus the things that terrify us make these hardened combatants laugh out loud. My favorite characters in this series are a little creation of mine known as the Skritek. Try to imagine furless, subterranean, Ewoks that wear armor and love nothing more than to rip people to shreds! They are short, goofy, loyal, and extremely animated in a very cute way. The fact that they are overly sensitive about being short, not particularly bright and have a mouth full of shark’s teeth just makes them all the more adorable in my opinion!
If you are looking for a fun exciting read that you don’t have to work too hard to enjoy then please check out “Secrets of Blood & Bone” by me, Robert S. Sadler. Thanks for your time and your support, I hope you enjoy!
Robert can be found both at his website and on Facebook!
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Thank you Robert for taking the time to visit Literary Escapism!
Contest Time! Robert has graciously offered to give away a signed copy of Secrets of Blood and Bone to a lucky winner. All you have to do is simply ask Robert a question.
As always, there’s more ways of getting your name in the hat (remember, these aren’t mandatory to enter, just extra entries):
- +1 for each place you post about today’s contest on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, twit it, share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it along with your answer.
- +1 to any review you comment on, however, comments must be meaningful. Just give me the title of the review and I’ll be able to figure it out from there.
- +1 If you are a follower of Literary Escapism on Facebook and/or Twitter
- +10 Purchase any of novel through LE’s Amazon store or through the Book Depository sometime during this contest and send a copy of the receipt VIA email for your purchase to: jackie AT literaryescapism DOT com. Each purchase is worth ten entries.
There is one thing I am adding to my contests now…the winner must post a review of the novel someplace. Whether it is on their own blog, Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing or wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just help get the word out.
The contest will stay open until August 5th, at which time I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer and the List Randomizer.
I have not been contacting winners, so you will need to check back to see if you’ve won.
what’s the scariest of your creatures that you’ve come up with and why.
Are there such things as genius gnomes/
I look forward to meeting Q…Why a security guard? And why at a hospital? It actually sounds … perfect … but did the idea come to you already formed or did you have to work on it?
Let’s see if I can answer all these questions.
1. My scariest creation’s true powers haven’t been revealed just yet so I hate to give it away. The Skritek I mentioned in my article are nasty little things that fight in packs and have a tendency to cripple and maim you before they kill you. Oh and there’s a serial rapist shapeshifter who doesn’t care about your gender, that’s pretty scary too!
2. There are definitely genius gnomes in my world. The Tonttu are extremely distant cousins to the overly violent Skritek. Though where the Skritek went subterranean and became pack killers in order to survive, The Tonttu chose to stay above ground and essentially indenture themselves to the more powerful supernatural races. Over the centuries they evolved into living super computers with a vast thirst for knowledge and a planet wide network of researchers and connections. The Tonttu now serve in almost all administrative and financial positions throughout the super natural community, while the Skritek are merely pawns and muscle serving in the most base of positions.
3. After 15 years in the medical community I had the opportunity to witness a lot of things that most people never will. Amongst those things were literally dozens of different security guards and cops. The character of Q is loosely based on several of the men i’ve known over the years or at least their basic characteristics. You have to be a very mentally and physically tough individual in order to work security in a busy ER. Drug addicts, drunks, criminals awaiting medical clearance, and the mentally disturbed are only a portion of the seedy characters that they have to deal with day in and day out.
Besides Q, who is your favorite character in the whole book and why?
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My favorite character besides Q would have to be Rave currently. He’s a goof ball but loyal, god hearted yet dangerous if you need him to be. He’s the kind of best friend I would have in real life. Also I have to mention Hamori, although he played a small part in the first book he’ll have a more prominent role in the second and he has a BIG secret that no one knows yet that will make him really interesting.
P.S. Have to mention George the cat too! Love that fuzzy little bugger!
Will Q and Zaina live happily ever after and have kids?
I love the character of Rori, will we see her again? Or is it too akward now that he has a new love in his life?
The book was wonderful, took some imagination. How long did you have this idea in your mind?
You said that characters are based on people you have met or know, do they know who they are? lol
Are you writing the second book now? I do hope so.
I had a cat named George so that is super special and cool to me!!!!!
Well let’s see I can’t tell you if Q and Zaina will live happily ever after or have kids, it’s just too early to say at this point, I don’t want to ruin any surprises.
We will definately see Rori again and the awkwardness of the situation is what makes it fun and interesting!
I probably had this particular idea in my head for about a year before I actually decided to write the book.
SOME of the characters are based on people I have met or know, others are just based on the physical traits of people I have seen so that I have an image in my head when I write them. For instance Reinhart in my head is played by the bad guy in Avatar, I was already writing it when that came out but when I saw him on screen I knew who Reinhart was immediately it just made sense from there on. As to the handful of REAL people some characters are based on some do know and some don’t, not everyone would appreciate my comparisons lol.
I am currently writing the second book, i’m hoping to have it completed before the holiday season. I had started writing a murder mystery about a serial killer but with so many people asking me about a Q sequel I had to put that one on the back burner and get back to my favorite Ogre!
Well George is a very cool cat and also hides a really BIG secret that will change how you look at him. Many of my characters will surprise you before it’s over. People are seldom what they appear to be when you first meet them.
How many books do you think will be in this series? Do you have that planned out yet?
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The fight scenes were sick, are you into martial arts? If not you have great knowledge of giving detail.
The book was great, kicked A$$ dude!
I originally planned on it being a simple trilogy but now that it’s gaining some following and people are telling me about their favorite characters there will more than likely be some spin offs. The main story containing all the original characters will still be a trilogy though. Thanks for the interest!
Thanks for the compliment Mike, like I said in an earlier post I LOVE writing the fight scenes and pride myself on really making my readers see the batlle and feel the intensity. I love MMA and have tried to make myself very knowledgeable about a variety of fighting styles and techniques. It’s nice to see someone notice my attention to detail. Thanks!
I wanted to enter your contest but I am just learning about you as an author, so my question may be a bit generic. Where does your inspiration come from for your books?
Hi Christy, Hmmm how do I explain MY inspiration? I guess like most people it comes from dreams of being something more. Of being something or someone special that stands out from the crowd, something that lasts longer than the short amount of time we are given on this planet. I suppose I dream of a world where everyday fears don’t exist. Immortals and supernatural creatures don’t worry about having enough money to pay the rent, or that they might get sick and not be able to support their family. They don’t worry about their kids getting along in school, or that disease might take their loved ones away from them long before it’s their time. I dream about and thus write about a world where the heroes are bigger, stronger, and faster then us. A world where the petty concerns of humanity are nothing compared to honor, pride, love, and survival. I believe that’s why people today are so enthralled by the paranormal genre, be it TV, movies, or books. We all want to escape the reality of our world. To forget how very fragile we really are, and if only for a brief time be transported to a place where all of our mundane problems seem so very small in comparison to the battle between light and dark, love and hate, life and death.
I’ve not read the book as of yet, Im going to order it. What I’ve read sounds very cool. Have you thought about doing a spin off book that has illustration in it? It may be cool to see the characters come to life.
Which character is the oddest looking in your mind?
All I can say is WOW! That was an extraordinary answer, I can’t wait to escape into one of your books soon!
I actually hadn’t considered doing illustrations, but if I could find a good artist (with reasonable rates) that I could easily work with I certainly wouldn’t rule it out. As to the oddest looking character perhaps the Skritek with their black armored bodies and shark teeth, perhaps Gar the mountain Troll, or maybe even Lord Obsidian who when not disguised as a human looks to be made of multifaceted black glass.
Hello, due to some sort of issue with the spam filter in this website all of my previous comments and replies from this post have disappeared twice. Hopefully this problem will once again be resolved shortly but in the mean time if there is a question you would like to ask me and receive a response to please contact me at DarkSoulLiterature@gmail.com Thanks for your time and your support!
found your webpage on google and was just what i was looking for, keep it up :-)