Brenda Birch Gallaher: Author interview with RJ Craddock

Brenda Birch Gallaher: Author interview with RJ Craddock: R.J. Craddock, Author Author Bio R.J. Craddock was born Ruth J. Harris July 7th, 1983 in Oaka Taumuning, Guam. Ruth is a naturalborn ...

Second Edition of "The Forsaken" now available!

I'm not sure how many of you read my blog post about the interesting errors we found in the original first edition of my debut novel "The Forsaken" but either way I'm glad to announce that the second edition edits are done and the new improved version of "The Forsaken" is now available on my website www.rjcraddock.com

Along with fixing the typos we also tweaked the cover a little. Nothing too major but enough of a difference that if you compare the first edition and the second edition you'll be able to tell them apart.
Also, the eBook version of "The Forsaken" is under way. I'll keep you posted on its release. I'd like to announce that the book will be available as an Audio book in the near future. I'm really excited about the audio book because we're going to do it a little differently. Instead of having one narrator and one voice doing all the characters in the story, we'll be doing a different voice actor for each part. My husband, Jonny Craddock, who is a very talented actor, will be the narrator. I will be doing the voice of my lead character Gwenevere. The other members of the cast are still being, well... cast. I've always enjoyed audio books myself, so this is a really fun project for me. I'm looking forward to lending my voice to my own story, and hearing the whole story when it's finished. Keep checking back on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, and my website for more info about the eBook and Audio book releases.

Now go forth and get your copy of the near-perfect second edition of "The Forsaken". You know you want to!

R.J. Craddock

City of Ash (Mortal Instruments book two) - Book Review

I don't know about you, but I love to read series. However, sequels rarely tend to live up to the first. This is as true in books as it is in film. If you've read my review of book one “City of Bones” then you already know how much I loved it. There were a few things that made me mad though. At first I was so angry with how all the relationships got resolved yet completely torn apart by the end of the book that I seriously considered not reading the next one. However, the author cleverly included a sneak peak of book two at the end of book one. After I read it I knew I had to go out and buy the next book a.s.a.p. So, with some trepidation I started “City of Ash.”

Now, I'm assuming that you've read the first book already because otherwise the rest of this review is going to spoil it for you. So you've been warned. Picking up where we let off, we dive back into Clary's strange new world. Nothing is what she thought it was. Her artist mother (who’s still in a coma) is really a trained demon hunter. Her father is a derange psycho bent on doing whatever it takes to remake the Clave even if it means aligning with demons and possibly destroying the world. Did I mention that her first love, the gorgeous Jace, turns out is really her... BROTHER! Yeah, that’s the part the made me so mad! Of course this makes things awkward between her and Jace. In case you forgot they made out once before they knew they were related. However, this is good news for Simon, Clary's best friend, who’s always been in love with her. At the beginning of book two he finally makes a move on her, and Clary is willing to give it a shot since she can't be with the man she loves. You'll have to read the book to see how that turns out. On top of that Valentine (her crazy dad) is still on the loose, and he has the mortal cup. Now that everyone knows that Jace is really Valentine’s son, no one trusts him. Especially when another Mortal Instrument goes missing and Jace is the only one who knows who has it. If this wasn't stressful enough for Clay, there’s something strange going on with Simon, he's not quite feeling his usual self. You'll see what I mean. Also, Clary and Jace discover that they both have interesting talents they never knew of.

The farther you get into the book the more the tension builds. It's discovered that Valentine is up to no good again. Jace is forced to stand up to his father and decide which side he’s really on. There’s even a Luke and Darth Vader moment between them. I'm happy to say that “City of Ash” is one of those rare sequels that lives up to the first. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Again a few things that didn't quite work for me but all together it’s a great read. I was so tantalized by the ending of the book I was going out of my mind till I bought the third one. Let me tell you that it's a series that’s worth reading all the way through.

I give “City of Ash” a four and a half star rating.

Now go forth and read it yourself. I will be back soon with a review of book three “City of Glass”.

R.J. Craddock

Wattpad do you think?

So, I've got some great news! My first shipment of "The Forsaken" arrived today! I'm overcome with joy. I'm happy to say that the book looks even better in my hands than I imagined it would. I've done my geeking out over it and now it's back to business.

I've got a lot of book promoting to do and I'm a one woman team. So to help boost enthusiasm for my book, I will be releasing one chapter a month on Wattpad. This way readers can get a taste of my writing style and if they like the story they can share it with others. Wattpad is free to join, and everything on the site is free to read. If you don't mind reading the book like an old time serial in a newspaper, and you're short on funds, you can read my book here. However, I should warn you that "The Forsaken" consists of a prologue and fifteen chapters. As a whole (with prologue) it is 349 pages. My chapters average at about eighteen pages each. By the time the whole book is posted on Wattpad, the second book "The Offspring" will be released. Also, I plan to only leave the book in its entirety on Wattpad for a week before I will remove most of the book, leaving only segments as samples. However, once book two is out I will do the same thing with "The Offspring" and so on until the entire series is published. Right now you'll find the prologue and chapter one on my Wattpad page. Tomorrow I will upload Chapter Two. I'll make sure to keep you all informed as new chapters are posted to my page. I'm going to keep it short and sweet today, so that’s it for this blog.

Now go forth and check out my Wattpad page http/wattpad.com/RJCraddock or if you can't wait over a year to read the whole thing through than you can just go get it at www.rjcraddock.com. Happy reading!

R.J. Craddock

Night World - Book Review

Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, and Shape-shifters; they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules, and falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World. A good comparison to Adrian Monson's Vampire novel "Dissension" is L.J. Smith's "Night World" published by Simon Pulse.

A young adult series that also features Vampires and other supernatural beings; the author also has a similar tone of voice to Monson's. You might know L.J. Smith better for her bestselling series "The Vampire Diaries", the books that inspired the popular TV show.

"Night World" is comprised of four volumes; each volume includes three separate tales. These stories at first seem to have nothing in common, other than the fact that a human(s) comes into contact with a member of the Night World, the encounter changing the course of their lives forever. However, each tale intertwines into a rich tapestry of death, magic, danger, mystery, ancient civilizations, blood, and forbidden love.
In Volume One of this Saga the three tales are: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, and Spellbinder.
Secret Vampire: fun-loving Poppy discovers two startling truths: first, she's dying of terminal cancer. Second, her best friend, and secret crush, James, is actually a born Vampire (she explains this concept in the book; you'd have to read it to understand). James could save Poppy by making her immortal, but it's against the Night World's law to make new Vampires. The punishment for breaking this law is death.

Daughters of Darkness: when three Vampire sisters are on the run from The Night World they hope to take refuge with their estranged aunt who lives in a small human town, only to find out that their aunt has been murdered. With the help of siblings, Mary-Lynnette and Mark (humans), they set out to solve this mystery, all the while trying not to get caught by their own kind.

Spellbinder: After being expelled yet again, high school seniors, Thea and Blaise; two Witch cousins find themselves starting a new school in the middle of the school year. If they get into any more trouble they'll be sent to stay with Aunt Ursula at her place nicknamed "The Convent." Everything would have been fine if Thea hadn't met her true love on the very first day of school. Blaise whose use to getting all the attention from the opposite sex can't stand that there's a guy in school who is resistant to her charm. It's dark magic verses white magic as the cousins battle over Eric. But neither realizes that far more is at risk than just a broken heart.

"Night World" Volume 1 is a great read. It's fast-paced, yet descriptive, with interesting characters and plots that grab your attention from the first page and never loses it. L.J. Smith's writing is so well done that even someone like me (who's picky about YA books) could enjoy it. Over all I would give this book four stars! It's a great escape from our mundane human reality.

No go forth and give it a read. Each book in the series is even better than the last. You won't regret starting this series.

R.J. Craddock

www.rjcraddock.com

The Forsaken Comes Out May 1st!

Yes, you read it right, tomorrow my debut novel "The Forsaken" will be available! So in honor of this momentous occasion I am sharing a excerpt from said novel featuring my heroine, Gwenevere. No last name? Nope. She doesn't have a last name because she doesn't know who she really is or from where she comes. All she has is a locket inscribed with the name Gwenevere, disjointed memories, and a recurring dream that threatens death should she ever return home. "The Forsaken" is the first book out of six in "The Children of Cain" series. In book one we follow our Heroine's journey from age five to age eleven as she tries to discover her own identity and find her place in this strange human world. However, this is not a Young Adult novel, this is a very dark tale with grown up themes. It's not graphic per say, but might not be suitable for anyone under eighteen years of age. Without further ado, her is a little sample of "The Forsaken".
Enjoy!

“Where do you think you’re going?” Beatrice all but shouts at her as her fingers dig into the flesh of Gwen’s arm. Gwen fights and struggles to get free. All around her, she can feel the customers and employees gawking, the chatter of their many voices sounding loud in her ears until she feels as though her head is going to burst. Gwen stops struggling and turns to behold a dark look of hatred on the middle-aged woman towering over her.

“Let me go!” Gwen commands. Her voice becoming deep and hollow, the sound filling the whole diner with its resonating tone, penetrating all the spectator’s ears and reverberating through their skulls. Suddenly, as if magically, Beatrice releases her. With her eyes going wide and her expression blank, she stands up erect before Gwen, her gaze transfixed upon Gwen’s yellow-green eyes.

Raven comes running through the door. He stops short when he realizes that everyone save Gwen is acting strangely. He looks all around the diner noticing that all present are sitting or standing stiffly, bodies erect, all turned toward Gwen, their faces devoid of feeling or emotion. Gwen is now their only focus, commanding their strict attention as they stare at her with wide eyes.

“What happened?” Raven turns to Gwen who looks around her in disbelief.
       “I don’t know. I mean, I did this once before, but it was kind of an accident.”
       “Well, what did you do?” Raven asks, perplexed as he waves a hand in front of Beatrice’s eyes to see if she’ll flinch or blink. She doesn’t react, just continues to stare, transfixed at Gwen.

“I just spoke, and this happened!” Gwen exclaims. She frowns at the kind man who still holds the door open; she puts out a hand toward him. “You can go now,” she says, but he doesn’t move. She says it again, this time staring deep into his eyes. Suddenly, he springs to life, startling both Gwen and Raven.

“Have a good night, miss,” he says smiling down to Gwen and then quickly exits to join his family who await him outside. The door swings shut behind him, leaving Raven and Gwen to stare after him in amazement.
       “You can tell them what to do?” Raven asks, flabbergasted.

“I don’t know,” Gwen replies. She scans the rest of the occupants of the diner and is somewhat relieved to see that their condition had not altered. “Let me see if I can do it again?” She says to Raven as she plants herself right in front of the unfriendly Beatrice. Taking a deep breath, Gwen looks deep into her eyes, and using the same commanding voice she says, “Go open the cash register and give us all the money inside.”
      Just as the man had done, Beatrice springs into life, a cheery, happy disposition about her as she turns and practically skips back behind the counter. She pushes a few buttons and the register springs open with a chime. The once-rude waitress reaches in, pulls out the entire cash teal, and holds it out to Gwen, a big beaming smile on her wrinkled face.
      Raven and Gwen exchange a look of awe. Gwen slowly smiles, a nervous laugh erupting out of her as she reaches out and takes the teal from the waitress who just stands their grinning at them like an idiot doll.      

“Hurry, go get our bags from the truck!” Gwen orders Raven who immediately rushes out the door to obey. While he is gone, Gwen is left alone with the mannequin-like people; all their eyes upon her, making her skin crawl. But Beatrice’s unnatural smile makes her the most uncomfortable.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees something and turns her head to look out the glass window into the dark night. Suddenly, a man dressed in a fancy white suit appears on the other side of the glass windowpane. It is the man from the forest, the same man that started the fire in her vision. He smiles, and Gwen feels her inners turn to ice. She stares wide eyed at this apparition, feeling cold and ashamed as if standing their naked.

“You are all powerful, aren’t you, my dear?” A voice like dark music in an empty room echoes in her mind. The man before her just smiles, his lips hadn’t moved, yet she knows that it is his voice that she hears. 

“You can kill them if you want. Or just kill one. Just to see how it feels. You know you can do it. The power is there, just reach out…” he speaks of killing in a dispassionate tone, he raises an eyebrow at her as if to issue a challenge.

“Who are you?” Gwen finds herself speaking in her mind, knowing somehow that she can’t push him out of her head.

It only takes a minute for Raven to return, yet for Gwen, it feels like an eternity has passed. A bell dings. Startled, Gwen turns to watch Raven walk into the diner, their bags tucked under his large arms.
     “Here is your bag, Gwen.” Raven hands it to her, his face flushed from running, his eyes alight with excitement.

Gwen flashes a look back where the man in white had been standing, finding nothing but the dark, empty night behind the clear diner windowpane. In shock, Gwen stares not sure what to think.

All right, well... there it is. If you want to read more then you'll just have to go buy the book tomorrow! Now go forth and share the news with one and all. "The Forsaken" comes out May 1st!

R.J. Craddock

Dark Shadows – Movie Review

Some of you out there may not know this but Tim Burton's film "Dark Shadows" is based off of the popular daytime soap opera. With Vampires, Witches, Warlocks, Werewolves, and other supernatural creatures, it was the phenomenon that ran on ABC-TV from 1966-1971.

With two Dark Shadow films, multiple tries at re-vamping (pun intended) the series, a score of fans and even a Dark Shadows Festival, the show's legend has lived on in various forms. I, myself, am an old fan of the soap opera and watched the re-runs on the Sci-Fi Channel in junior high. When I heard that Tim Burton was remaking "Dark Shadows" with Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, I was out of my mind with ecstasy. Burton and Depp are the perfect pair to tackle this project, and I knew they would do it justice. I have to admit if I had millions of dollars I might have done a "Dark Shadows" movie myself.

The show started with Victoria Winters, the outsider who comes to Collinwood, to be the new governess. She soon finds out that the Collins family has more than just skeletons in its closet. In the soap opera Barnabas Collins wasn't introduced to the cast until nine months into the show, becoming the first Vampire with a conscious in pop-culture history. However, in Burton's film version the story begins with Barnabas Collin's mortal life before he was cursed by Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green)--his jilted Witch lover--and transformed into a Vampire and entombed for two centuries. We jump a head in time to 1972 with Governess Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote, on her way to Collinsport Maine. When she arrives at the old gothic-style Collinwood mansion she meets the Collins played by an all-star cast.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays her employer, and head of the Collins family, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. The family's live-in-shrink, Dr. Julia Hoffman, is played by the very talented and always awesome Helena Bonham-Carter. The brother, Roger Collins, a drunken widower and negligent father, is played by Jonny Lee Miller (who was once married to Angelina Jolie just so you know). The Collins children are played by Chloë Grace Moretz (also seen in "Kick-Ass" and "Hugo") and Gulliver McGrath (also seen in "Hugo" and "Lincoln"). The family has plenty of personality all their own, but things get even stranger at Collinwood when Barnabas Collins is accidently released from his coffin. He returns to his home to find that Collinsport has changed considerably.

His family's fishing company is all but extinct and his family manor in shambles. Luckily, he has a hidden stash of wealth in the mansion and goes about trying to reconnect with his family and return the family business to its former glory. Only problem is his wicked Witch of an old flame is still alive and owns the rival fishing company and pretty much owns the town. What ensues is a hilarious farce of dark magic, Vampires, and 1970's culture. There's even a part where Barnabas kills a bunch of hippies (awesome)! I loved this movie and laughed out loud all the way through. However, they never explain exactly how Angelique Bouchard managed to live two hundred years. The film likewise does not explain where the modern day Collins descendants came from. In the beginning of the film, they portray Barnabas Collins as an only child; his parents both killed by one of the Witches' curses before he became a Vampire. These two plot holes bugged me a little but not enough to take away from my enjoyment of the film. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes Tim Burton, Jonny Depp, supernatural beings, and has a dark sense of humor. You don't have to be an original "Dark Shadows" groupie to love the movie, but it doesn't hurt.

Below is a link to the movie trailer and a dark shadows fan site for you to check out as well. Now go forth, children of the night, and view this flick. Love it or hate it, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Till next time,
R.J. Craddock

http://www.collinwood.net/info/

Introducing Raven

With the release of my book “The Forsaken” on the horizon, I'd like to take a moment to introduce you all to one of my characters: Raven, aka Adam Matthews. Although the series centers on Gwenevere, Raven does play a significant part in the books. Found lost and wandering in the woods Gwenevere is put into St. Paul's Catholic Orphanage.There she meets a kindred spirit, Adam, who she promptly renames Raven. Both misunderstood they bond together and find out that they are not like the other children; there is something supernatural about them. When Gwen finds she can no longer stay at St. Paul’s, Raven embarks on a journey with her to find their kind. A lot of this story was inspired from my own childhood. I am not an orphan and did not grow up in a place like St. Paul's. However, I, too, was misunderstood and was befriended by a boy; his name was Jonathan. In a lot of ways Raven was based off of him and our friendship. Below is an excerpt from “The Forsaken” featuring Raven just to give you a taste of his character and my writing style. I hope you enjoy the read.

                                                                                                                                                                              

“What’s going on, Raven?” Gwen asks, perplexed. Then, a stream of images invades her mind as she senses the thoughts and feelings of the driver. The things he’s thinking of Raven appall her. Apparently, the man thinks her best friend--the nicest, kindest boy in the world--is some kind of child molester. Gwen is just about to try and calm the driver down when she notices something strange happening with Raven.

            “We’re not going back there!” Raven shouts. The twelve year old boy shakes all over, almost as if he’s having a seizure. His muscles are tensed; he seems to be fighting his own body for control. Gwen gasps in horror as Raven’s features began to change, his very form mutating before her eyes.

            Hair begins to sprout out of his flesh as if by magic, covering him in a black-silvery fur. His fingernails grow, his hands becoming like massive claws. His golden eyes become animal-like as his nose and mouth becomes a muzzle, his ears becoming pointed and furry. All the while, Raven screams in agony, as every bone in his body seems to realign itself, disjointing from its natural human form into that of a ferocious animal. Behind the wall of his pain, he is vaguely aware of Gwen’s little voice screaming his name, her little hands tugging at his left arm, even as it distorts and reshapes itself. He can’t comprehend anything else happening around him, the excruciating pain swallowing him whole into a cocoon of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are not his own. He feels the feral animal instinct taking over his will. Raven’s human consciousness is being suppressed by the animal’s need to hunt.

            Gwen tries in vain to get Raven to respond to her, to look at her. However, he has transformed almost completely, to the point that he no longer resembles a boy, but a wolf of some kind. All her attention is focused on trying to touch Raven’s mind, completely forgetting about the man driving the truck.

            She catches a sudden gleam of metal in her peripheral vision and turns barely in time to see Rex--whose face is distorted in panic and fear--pull out a handgun and aim it at Raven. With a speed that even surprises her, Gwen grabs Rex’s hand and yanks the weapon upward, the gun going off suddenly, shooting a hole in the roof of the truck.

            Rex gives out a yell of surprise, the truck swerving all over the road. He tries to regain control of the wheel with his left hand as he struggles with Gwen for the gun with his right. Suddenly, the truck veers off the road into the forest, jostling the vehicle as it goes over dirt and rock. Gwen lurches forward, and Rex hits the windshield with a loud crack when the truck rams straight into a tree, causing the vehicle to come to an abrupt stop.

            Gwen rocks backward and hits her head on the back wall of the cab, her vision blurs and the world begins to spin around her. Gwen tries to regain control of her senses when she hears a low growling sound from Raven. She pears over the seat and sees a large, silver and black wolf sitting in the passenger seat; a cold, gold-eyed stare directed at Rex. The man, barely recovering from the impact of the crash, turns and looks disbelieving at the animal only two feet away from him. The black wolf bares his teeth at Rex, his growl intensifying. In a panic, Rex, with a hand to his bleeding forehead, opens the driver side door and stumbles out into the forest, desperately trying to flee from the creature. No sooner does Rex escape then the wolf pounces, leaping out of the truck through the open door and into the night after his prey.

Well, there you have it. Coming soon more tidbits and insights into the book “The Forsaken” coming out in May 2013. If it peeked your curiosity, go forth and share, comment, and like on Facebook and Twitter.

R.J. Craddock

www.rjcraddock.com