Book Bling-Elizabeth Alsobrooks

Interview with Joseph Spencer Author of Wrage

9/16/2013

Sometimes the toughest fight lies within yourself.

As more dark secrets come to light, the battle for souls pushes Prairieville to the brink of war in the living and supernatural realms.

Jeff Wrage swears a blood oath to Abaddon, the supernatural avenger of murder victims, to hunt the crooked cop who butchered his wife. Jeff wonders whether he can be the executioner Abaddon requires. Their pact throws the supernatural realm in chaos and threatens to trigger an apocalyptic fight for control of the afterlife between the Sons of Darkness and Sons of Light foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Orlando Marino sees the death of Cyrus Black as his opportunity to restore the Marino family's stronghold in Prairieville’s organized crime scene and become a mob kingpin. He unleashes a plague, turning its victims into mindless followers. Cyrus' heir is busy rooting out a traitor and is unable to stop the coming turf war in the realm of man.

The fate of all rests with Homicide Detective Anna Duke, who steps into the shoes of her mentor while coming to terms with unrequited love. As she tries to clear the fallen hero's name, she takes on a case where corpses go missing. Her new partner is reported dead. She learns the truth about her true identity and uncovers a trail of secrets questioning her tragic past. She journeys to avert the destruction of all creation.

Trailer for Grim
Book I of the Sons of Darkness Series

Trailer for Wrage
Book II of the Sons of Darkness Series

Exerpt!

Thunderclaps from high above jolted Jeff out of his slumber.

Something hard and cold with jagged edges pressed into his back.

When he tried to move, iron shackles strained against the skin of his arms and legs. Chained to a rock in a dry stream bed, he knew he’d become a helpless prisoner who could do nothing more than wait for his captor. Stormy skies threatened from directly above him with bright flares of lightning snaking among sooty clouds and disappearing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could detect that the sun was shining brightly on the other side of the rock.

Scant rays of brilliant sunshine peeked over the rock, reflecting bright light off a magnificent golden shrine on a bank not far from where he was chained.

This can’t be real. He’d never seen a place like this in his life.

Large wet drops crashed against his skin. The coolness of the rain streaking down his body caused steam to rise from his skin, which he noticed had turned a dark shade of crimson. The only being this red was….

“Lucifer,” a calm voice echoed from above Jeff on the shoreline.

A giant, dressed in white armor sparkling like diamonds in the spare sunlight, stepped into view. He wielded a golden-hilted silver sword in one hand and a silver shield with the Latin inscription “Quis ut Deus” (I am like God) on the front in the other hand. He loomed above Jeff. A large gold cross ran down the center of the giant’s breastplate. A second inlaid golden cross glinted at the center of his white helmet. The helmet obscured his face, save for flawless ivory skin which radiated a blinding light. There

was something across his back casting a large shadow, but Jeff couldn’t see what it was.

“You were thinking of Lucifer, whose skin is often portrayed as red,” the giant said. The ivory giant stepped into full view. From his back a pair of massive wings spanned over ten feet wide and five feet long majestically fluttering in the breeze, yet didn’t cast a shadow. The rain pelting Jeff in the eyes didn’t touch this giant. He certainly was no man. The only thing Jeff could compare it to would be--

“An angel,” the giant completed Jeff’s sentence again. “You are correct.”

Meet the Author!

As a boy, Joseph Spencer immersed himself in the deductive logic of Sherlock Holmes, the heroic crime fighting of Batman and Spider-Man, and a taste for the tragic with dramas from poets like Shakespeare and Homer.

Before Joseph took to spinning his own tales, he pursued a career in print sports journalism, graduating summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He covered such events as NASCAR’s Subway 500 race in Martinsville, the NBA Draft Camp in Chicago, the Junior College World Series, and Minor League Baseball’s Midwest League All-Star Game during a ten-year career throughout the Midwest. Now, he works as an emergency telecommunications specialist with an Illinois police department. The combination of years of writing experience with a background working with law enforcement professionals gave rise to his writing aspirations.

Joseph was married to Dr. Amy (Waggoner) Spencer, an accomplished veterinary doctor, on March 14, 2012. He received word his debut novel was accepted by his publisher, Damnation Books, the next day. Joseph is hard at work on the rest of the series. Book 2 – Wrage – was released June 1, 2013. The Spencer family enjoys reading Charlaine Harris, George R.R. Martin, Mary Janice Davidson, and most paranormal stories. The Spencers also enjoy quoting movie lines from “The Princess Bride”, “Rain Man”, “Bridesmaids”, and “Office Space.”

Blog

Website

Goodreads

Interview with Joseph Spencer!

What is the book about?

It’s an occult crime thriller in which the title character Jeff Wrage must decide whether he will surrender his humanity and morality to gain vengeance on his wife’s killer.

When did you start writing the book?

My debut novel Grim came out September 2012. I started writing Wrage shortly before Grim was released. It made editing Grim more difficult because I was going back and forth between the two stories. It took me awhile to remember the different parts of Grim because I already started a different part of the story for Wrage.

How long did it take you to write it?

I learned the lesson of saving my manuscript in several different places. I lost about 40-50 pages of work with a hardware crash on a laptop, so that delayed my writing time so that it took me nearly a full year.

Where did you get the idea from?

I try to write stories that I would want to read. I found inspiration in Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter books, storylines from graphic novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, mythology, the TV show Supernatural and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movie trilogy.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I write different viewpoint characters, and when I am wrapped up in that character it’s hard to not add too much detail into that character’s back story. One of the critiques of my writing was that for some people I had too many detailed characters and it took them a while to figure out everything that is going on. I’ve actually edited out a lot of material from lesser characters in both novels.

What came easily?

The lead characters and their storylines came pretty easily. I had an idea of writing a crime novel blended with an occult horror story because I didn’t want to write the same old crime novel. As I did research with references to the war between the Sons of Darkness and the Sons of Light in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the title characters in my novel took shape. I work at a 9-1-1 emergency communications center for my full-time job so I am around police officers all the time. I try to impart some of their personalities into those characters.

Are your characters entirely self-fabricated, or did you borrow from real world or existing fictitious people you know?

Every character I’ve written is either a part of me or someone I have known. I think you write about a subject better when you’ve got intimate knowledge of it. It’s harder to forget details when you know something well. So, I don’t forget how I want a character to act because I know how the person in real life acts.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

I loved Jeff Lindsay’s dark humor in the Dexter series, so I try to add some humor among the gory carnage in the novels. I also enjoyed Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse and Harper Connelly novels, so that inspired me to go with supernatural storylines. I also found inspiration in Sherlock Holmes stories and the scary thrillers written by Thomas Harris.

Do you have a target reader?

My novels are definitely for an adult audience. A lot of reviewers and fans mentioned the gore of Grim may have had a little too much detail, so I toned that down a bit in Wrage. I try to find my sweet spot with readers who enjoy both horror and murder mysteries.

What is your writing process?

I work 50 to 60 hours for my full-time job, so I break down my writing assignments to 3-4 pages per day. I’ve found that’s an attainable goal and by hitting the small daily goals it adds up to a complete novel over time. It’s hard to start and stop so much. I’ve found that I do struggle with repeating some of the story and have to edit that out when I don’t catch that during the initial write.

Do you outline or are you a pantser?

I’ve got a rough outline so that I know what I want to accomplish in each chapter and scene, but I tend to be a pantser with the details. I like to let the characters take over and go off in directions I didn’t necessarily think about when I started the planning phase of the book.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I try to self edit as I go, but there is always work to be done when you’re finished. I welcome constructive criticism from editors because it makes your writing stronger.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what sets the right mood?

I don’t listen to anything when I write. I’ve got to be completely focused with as little noise as possible. I tend to write in my recliner late at night with the only light from my laptop. It helps me get locked in on the scene I’m writing.