Vengeance of Grimbald by Richard Hacker

Posted: March 18, 2020/By: achristay@aol.com

Please welcome Richard Hacker author of Vengeance of Grimbald

Richard Hacker will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Vengeance of Grimbald

byRichard Hacker

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GENRE: Fantasy Thriller

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INTERVIEW

What or who inspired you to start writing?

Thanks for having me on your blog. That’s a great question. I think it was my dad. He was an avid reader. He visited the library every Saturday and would pick up at least a couple of books. I’d go along and get a stack too! He’d hang in his lounge chair on Sundays, watching football and reading. The books were always by his chair. When my daughter was little, they had a little game where he’d let her steal his bookmark. So, he inspired reading and reading inspired storytelling. Each time I opened a book I entered some magical place.

How did you come up with ideas for your books?

This might sound odd, but it started with a fountain pen. I was holding a fountain pen one day and my mind wandered to the power of words. Human beings have been naming things since the beginnings of language. It’s how we find our place in the world and in some cases I think, gives us a sense of control. Or at least the illusion of control. So, what would happen if a character had a pen filled with alchemical ink that when he wrote the name and a date for someone living in the past, his consciousness would be transported into that person? What would he do with that astounding capability? And as with most technology, what if someone decided to use the alchemy to acquire power and control time itself? How would the protagonist fend off this attack on the time continuum and reality as he knows it? And then I put the fountain pen down, pulled at the laptop, and started writing.

What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

I absolutely love to cook. I’m currently heavy into sous vide and recently picked up a book on artisan bread making, FOUR, WATER, SALT and YEAST by Ken Forkish. In fact, I’m working on my first loaf as I’m doing this interview. One of the perks of being a writer, on a writer’s schedule is that I can write while at the same time make a loaf of bread! Magic.

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I’m currently working on the third book in the Alchimeia series—untitled at this point. And I’ve got another project I’ve worked on and off over several years, a humorous science fiction story along the lines of Tom Holt’s novels, called THE BIFURCATION OF DUNGSTEN CREASE. The initial draft was selected as best science fiction novel by the Texas Writers League way back in 2010. So I’m come back around to it and will publish this year. Hopefully, Book 3 of the Alchimeia will be out in 2021.

If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

I’d go with my co-protagonist, Jules. She is simply kick ass. And unlike Addison, who has lots of baggage, Jules has a clarity and a strength about her.

Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I used to belong to a long-standing critique group which was very helpful at the time. And I think when you’re starting out, having a regular critique group provides a great discipline for writing and thinking about writing. However, there was a point when getting a critique on a few pages just wasn’t constructive. The issues became less about the writing in a scene and more about the overall structure of the novel—something difficult to get to in a typical critique group. I still rely on critique, but now I send large sections or manuscripts to trusted colleagues I know will give me solid critique in the context of the bigger picture.

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I’ve done it both ways. My crime novels, which are light, humorous stories along the lines of Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty, were almost stream of consciousness—at least for the first draft! DIE BACK and VENGEANCE OF GRIMBALDare more complex stories combining speculative and historical fiction, as well as being a fantasy/thriller. With so many details and twists and turns I had to work from an outline which got adjusted as I wrote. I also have a meta-structure in mind, which I think most novelist do. Maybe all not identical, but some key pegs to hang the story on. At the highest level I’ll know what my inciting incident will be, the first major plot point, the major reversal, the second major plot point, the climax, and the denouement. Of course, there’s lots more detail within those primary points.

Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?

Oh sure. And you’ll see them referenced in most of my books. I’m no longer active, but am an instrument rated pilot, so airplanes and flying often creep into my stories. Cycling, rowing, hiking in the Pacific Northwes and sailing are some of the other activities I’ve done. Some are hobbies, some are, well, let’s call them experiences I’ve had that inform my writing.

Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book?

The third book of the Alchimeia series is in the works, but let me share something completely different that is futher along at this point. THE BIFURCATION OF DUNGSTEN CREASE. Here’s a brief blurb: In the course of a morning, Dungsten Crease resurrects his neighbor’s dog and drowns a woman at an airline ticket counter—or could he be hallucinating?

In his panic he meets an odd man in cycling togs with three disturbing messages. The man claims he is Dungsten’s neurally implanted concierge unit; Dungsten is a Shaper—an obsolete, genetically programmed tool created by a bankrupt galactic corporation to terraform planetary experiences for vacationing clients; and the woman he inadvertently killed at the airport with his Shaper abilities will be the love of his life. Attracting government agents who want to weaponize him and Galactic Business Council assassins who want to terminate him, he soon finds himself kneeling on the ground with a gun to his head. Fear drives the Shaper within to inadvertently bifurcate, a second Dungsten also now running from his pursuers. But bifurcation comes at a price: loss of appetite, swelling of the hands and feet, an erection lasting longer than four hours, loss of bladder control, rectal bleeding, psychosis, convulsions, and sudden death. To pull himself back together and if he’s lucky, survive, he must master his Shaper abilities before he becomes a victim, or worse, accidentally destroys Earth and everyone he loves along with it. No one ever said being a corporate tool would be easy.

Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book?

By black moment, I assuming you mean a time when it seems all is lost. Not wanting to lay out spoilers, I can’t say much. This book often teeters on catastrophe, but the situation is especially dark when Addison and Jules find themselves in an altered present because of their failure to stop Grimbald. A global imperial power controls much of the planet. Alone and hunted they have to find a way back to correct this dark turn in the time continuum.

What is your favorite reality show?

Given what I said earlier, you can probably guess. The Great British Baking Show! The contestants are challenging themselves with different bakes, but rather than creating the artificial drama and in-fighting American reality shows tend to gravitate toward, the contestants are competitive, and yet supportive of each other.

Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series.

Unlike writing a standalone novel where the plot and characters are somewhat contained, a series requires thinking through a plot that will be sustainable over the course of three or more novels and characters who are compelling. And the story has to be open enough to allow for unplanned story lines. Sometimes the best parts of a story are the ones the characters create for themselves rather than the writer forcing them to happen.

Anything else you might want to add?

Two things I’d like to add. First, the underlying message of the Alchimeia series is about courage and perseverance. When life looks hopeless, when everything seems to be turned upside-down, the people who make a difference are not superheroes, but people like you and me, who persevere in spite of the odds. And second, readers are the reason for the season. Without you, writers would be lonely people sitting in coffee shops pounding on laptops. With you, we become the tellers of fantastical stories, entertainers, philosophers, and poets. And together, a writer and a reader, we make magic. Thank you for sharing some of your life with me.

I hope you’ll check out DIE BACK and now book 2 of the Alchimeia, VENGEANCE OF GRIMBALD. Both are available on Amazon. And you can find me at www.richardhacker.comor on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RWHacker

BLURB:

Addison and Jules, members of the League, a secret alchemist society of Inkers who protect the time continuum, believe they defeated their enemy, Cuthbert Grimwald, known to them as Kairos. When he resurfaces filled with vengeance, intent on destroying the League, and acquiring the Alchimeia, a book of such power the League has hidden it for millennia, Grimwald leaves a path of destruction across centuries. As he quests for absolute control of reality, Addison and Jules pursue him through time and death in a desperate struggle to save the world from his vengeance.

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EXCERPT:

“You’ve done well my friends. A bit of a shaky start, but in the end, I am pleased with the result.”

Jules glanced to Addison, who was also pulling himself up to stand. “What are you talking about? You could have killed us.”

“If I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be talking.” Boggy raised his hands as if to parry their blows. “Today’s lesson is partnership. Do you see?”

Addison slowly rotated an arm with a grimace. “Keep talking.”

“Inking is a dangerous enterprise. You find yourself in a foreign world in an earlier time, often fighting to survive long enough to complete your mission. But the physical dangers of inking do not hold a candle to the emotional and psychological dangers. Your consciousness, the essence of your being, occupies the mind of another. With each passing moment, a small part of who you are slips out of your grasp unless you master the relationship between Inker and host. You must die to live, right? But all living creatures naturally gravitate toward life and away from death. The world of an Inker is therefore a paradox of conflicting realities. Without a partner, you struggle alone against insurmountable odds. Partners have each other’s backs, keeping the hosts alive and the mission viable. And upon completion, partners ensure their hosts die. Because we never leave an Inker behind. Never.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Richard Hacker, lives and writes in Seattle, Washington after living many years in Austin, Texas.In addition to the science fiction/fantasy novels of The Alchimeía Series, his crime novels ride the thin line between fact and fiction in Texas.Along the way, his writing has been recognized by the Writer’s League of Texas and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. As a judge in literary contests shuch as PNWA and ChicLit, and as a freelance development editor, he enjoys the opportunity to work with other writers. In addition, he is the Sci-Fi/Fantasy editor for the Del Sol Review. DIE BACK was his first novel in the Alchimeia series.

Del Sol Press books by Richard Hacker are available at Amazon

The Alchimeía Series

DIEBACK: Book One

VENGEANCE OF GRIMBALD: Book Two

Other books by Richard Hacker:

Nick Sibelius Crime Series

KILL’T DEAD OR WORSE

BUZZARD BAIT

ALL HAT AND NO CATTLE

Follow the author at www.richardhacker.com

Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RWHacker

Amazon buy link: