Books and Banter: Richard R. Hall ~ an interview and his novel ~ Shadow Angels

I AM PLEASED TO WELCOME AUTHOR

Richard Hall

TITLE: Shadow Angels

RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2016

AUTHOR: Richard R. Hall

KEYWORDS: fantasy, horror, vampires, angels, demons, witches, romance thriller

CATEGORIES: Fantasy Paranormal/Horror

PAGE COUNT: 460

ISBN: 978-1530658701

IMPRINT: Chimera

BOOK PAGE: http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/shadowangels.html

AUTHOR BIO:

Greetings, my name is Richard Hall. I spent most of my working life in the engineering field setting up quality assurance programs for industry. While working the grind my beautiful wife Debbie and I raised two fine human beings and we now own a floral shop in Albany, New York. Always a fan of old horror, such as Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man---but my favorite was vampires. I have been a fan of old horror since watching my first Universal Pictures vampire movie with Bela Lugosi. Work and raising children kept me from writing that first book, but eventually in life things quiet down, and I finally found the time. I have always enjoyed writing and over the years written a few short stories. Currently I am putting the final touches to Rise of the Queens the sequel to Shadow Angels.

BANTER – STUFF ABOUT YOU

Q: How would you describe yourself as a color? Think personality here. Are you a light and airy pastel person, or more of a deep, dark, sultry and mysterious color?

A: I am the color green it connects me to the earth. It is an anchor color.

Q: Are you a morning person, or a midnight candle burner?

A: I am a morning person, because you are closer to the spiritual world in the morning. I am much more creative in the morning. I do drink a lot of coffee in the morning and drive my wife crazy with my chatter.

Q: Tell me one thing about each of the four seasons you like. It can be anything.

A: Winter = The sensation of cold snowflakes blowing against your face.

Spring = New life

Summer = Picnics and the lake

Fall = The brilliant Autumn colors

Q: If you could morph into any creature what would it be?

A: It would be a bird.

If you don’t mind me asking, why?

A: I love to fly. If I could change and have the abilities to fly myself that would be great.

Q: When you think of a garden, do you picture vegetables or flowers?

A: Vegetables

Q: Tell me one thing that your spouse does that really endears him/her to you. One thing that annoys you. These can be tiny little things, actually the smaller the better.

A: My wife always makes sure I have what I need. Sometimes, I think she is an angel. What annoys me is mean people.

Q: Did you like school when you were a child?

A: Yes, I didn’t have a lot of problems in school.

Q: Have you ever been too embarrassed to promote any certain titles to friends or family?
A: No, I haven’t but a few of my uptight friends seemed too be embarrassed to discuss my books with me.

BOOKS – ABOUT THE CRAFT

Q: When did you start writing and why?

A: I started writing about twenty years ago, when my teenage children stopped hanging out with me, but I didn’t write books until five year ago.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?

A: I am a Walter Mitty type, so I daydream a lot and the ideas just come.

Q: How did you come to write your genre of choice?

A: Since I could remember, I liked science fiction and fantasy, horror was a close second.

Q: What do you think is the hardest part of writing a book?

A: Starting and facing the challenge of putting the story in a book.

Q: Which element of book writing is most difficult for you?

A: Punctuation is my biggest problem in writing a book. Thank God for editors.

Q: What is your favorite part of writing?

A: The second draft is my favorite part of writing books. That is where the rubber hits the road.

Q; Now your least favorite part?

A: Selling the book and marketing.

Q: How do you handle a writer's block?

A: I stop writing and work on the story outline. If you have enough ideas, it is hard to have writer’s block.

Q: Do you write long hand first, or does it go straight into the computer?

A: My rough outline is done with paper and pencil. Everything else on the computer.

Q: When crafting the story do you go from beginning to end, or do you jump around writing the scenes that are pushing themselves forward in your brain?

A: I jump around a lot, and usually, I know how I want to start and where I want to end.

Q: Have your characters ever taken the story in a different direction than you had originally planned? Do you have a for instance, for us?

A: Victoria grew into a much larger character than I had envisioned. She became a love interest of Shawn’s and big things happened to her in Rise of the Queens.

Q: How long does it take you to create a novel?

A: “One year,” said the tortoise.

Q: Do you like to read the genre that you write?

A: Yes, it is my favorite.

BOOKS - NOW LETS PROMOTE – STRUT YOUR STUFF

Q: What are you working on now? Would you like to share anything about it?

A: I am currently working on Brendel the third book in The Shadow Angels Trilogy. Brendel is a demon sent by Lucifer to lead his dark forces and take over the world. Earth through the actions of the vampires have drawn Lucifer’s ire and wrath and worse his attention. Now Lucifer seeks harsh payment from our world because of the defeats he has suffered at the hands of the warrior vampires of earth, and especially the Bryces.

Q: Do you have a new book coming out soon? Tell us about it.

A: I do, Rise of the Queens, the second book of The Shadow Angels Trilogy is being released the beginning of October of this year.

Q: How can we find you? Do you have a web page, FaceBook page or any buy links?

A: You can find me at www.richardhall39.com or at @hallhallrichard on twitter

http://www.twitter.com/hallhallrichard FB https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008123867570

or www.ravenswoodpublishing.com.

ONE LINER:

Densely descriptive Shadow Angels features a series of stunning heroines and Shawn a Vietnam war hero whose life is forever changed when he meets Anne, the vampire who will make his wounded body immortal.

SYNOPSIS:

Seven thousand years ago, the Archangel Michael gave five humans the blood of the angels and five swords from heaven to counter the five Esmanaa demons and their ever-growing evil. These vampires have lived their long lives hidden in the shadows, fighting the Esmanaa, protecting humans and shielding them from the dark forces that occupy their world. And now they have a new defender in their corner---but will it be enough to avoid the terrible tragedy that awaits them all?

Travel through the centuries with the Bryce family of vampires---from their creation to the final battle---in Shadow Angels, a deliciously different take on the traditional vampire tale.

Excerpt:

Introduction

A lone man sat at the top of a tall, pyramid-shaped building at the base of a metal tower. The tower reached even higher into the night sky to give home to a blinking red light, which took its place among a million other lights in the city. It was the Year of our Lord 2796, the city, New Chicago. He saw distant flames shooting into the night sky from the Enviro Stations burning off centuries of human waste. He watched as the hovering commercial drones floated by with advertisements flickering across their bright screens, the blare of their speakers calling people to a new life off world, and he saw the airborne cars traveling their predetermined paths. He watched and listened to the city with absolute clarity, taking in the sights and sounds as a whole, or focusing his senses to a small, finite point. He watched and heard people in a window a mile away as if he were standing next to them.

A quarter century had passed since his maker buried him to heal horrific wounds and emotional pain. The night was wet, soaked in a slow and steady rain. He saw the rain rinse years of dirt off his emaciated body. He watched as the dirt fell to the roof and washed away in various, branching streams of water. His clothes, rotted and shredded, fell from his body to land in dark puddles. He had lost loved ones, vampires he had cared for over centuries. A terrible price, he paid. He looked down at the skin on his withered arms and hands, the texture of leather and the color of porcelain. His wet, blond hair was long and stringy, and rain ran down his face and off the tip of his nose. The night sky would light up and then grow dark again as the quiet lightning snaked its way through the thick, heavy clouds above. The vampire tried to make it back to Washington, but was too weak. He would have to find nourishment, which meant blood.

The battle had lasted for three days. The Archangel Michael had commanded him to fight evil—to fight the dark angels known as the Esmanaa. He turned his head to listen to what no human could possibly hear, to sense with psychic abilities what no human could imagine. These were the abilities of all Michael’s warrior angels here on Earth, like all vampires with the blood of angels.

It is my beloved changeling, Katherine. Shawn had turned her centuries ago, and she was now a powerful vampire herself. He sensed her flying to him, to help him live again and give him blood. He sent his thoughts to Katherine. I can feel you now. Can you feel me? Can you sense where I am? He knew the sun would rise soon. He still had time, but he urged her to hurry.

Soon, he heard a thud behind him. He pulled himself up, turned, and leaned against the tower. His eyes were gazing on his beautiful Katherine again, her cheeks stained with blood tears.

“You are alive, after all,” Katherine whispered, looking to the earth. “Thank you, Mother.”

He watched her approach him in disbelief and felt her stroke his dried cheek. He heard her say, “You have returned to me. I will take you home, for you need blood, my love.” He felt her powerful arms take hold of him as they rose into the night sky to begin their trip home.

As he lay in Katherine's arms, his thoughts drifted to his own maker, Anne Bryce, the vampire that changed him eight hundred years earlier. Anne taught him how to survive as a vampire, to use his abilities according to the laws of the Archangel Michael. She was the head of their vampire family and was loved by all. He thought of her beauty, their life together, and the love he would always feel for her.

Chapter One

Anne was born of Celtic origins around 400 AD at the end of the Roman occupation of Britain. Her name was Anwen Eiren and she lived with her father Berwyn, her mother Crystyn, and twin brother Darryn in the Angelia area of Britain. This evening she walked a lonely dirt road, deep in thought. This would be Anwen’s last autumn eve as a mortal. Her beauty had sealed her fate forever.

Her father had sent her to the fields every evening to herd the livestock back to the family compound. The Romans took her brother earlier that spring, and from then on, she shared his chores. Berwyn told her to take care, to take the high road through the forest to and from the fields for cover. She was a beautiful girl of seventeen, with beautiful facial features, a perky nose, and tanned skin from working outside. She had soft lips that were not too full, chestnut brown hair, and radiant hazel eyes, with a woman’s perfectly proportioned body.

That last evening, Anwen felt the bite of the cold and the dampness in the air. She pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders and hurried to the pasture that kept their sheep and cows during the day. She heard the trickle from the small stream winding its way down the hill and the harsh cries of the crows circling overhead. It had been a cold, damp rain that day, the kind that went straight to her bones.

Still deep in thought, Anwen wished she had made a thicker cloak that summer, but she could not. She had to do her chores and most of Darryn’s ever since the Romans had beaten and taken him. That terrible day seared itself into her memory. The Roman soldiers had raped her for the third time. She always kept the rapes from her father. No man would want her after a Roman soldier defiled her.

Anwen continued walking the rough dirt road that traversed the thick woods. The leaves had turned to their golden orange and were falling to the ground. A feeling of dread had overtaken her as she tried to get those terrible thoughts out of her head. She realized she should consider taking a husband. She certainly had many suitors.

There it was again—that feeling that someone was there. She had that feeling all year, but never that strongly. Yet, when Anwen looked, she didn’t see anybody. She quickened her pace and hoped the feeling would go away.

Everything was different now. What little security she once had with her family was slipping away. Her parents looked so old since the Romans took Darryn, and her father was starting to become lame. She knew her parents couldn’t do the work they once did. Yes, it was time for her to find a husband to help her take care of them. That is what she would do. She shivered and pulled the cloak tighter around her shoulders.

Anwen walked around a bend, and then she saw him standing in the middle of the road, closely enough to know “he” was a man. Her heart started to race. He was taller than most men were, but he wasn’t thin. His skin was fair; no blemishes or pockmarks marred his face, unlike most men she knew. His hair was dark, and he was a handsome man, with sharp masculine features. The man looked at her like a parent looking at a child. His cloak was a deep blue, almost purple. How strange, she thought. She had never seen a fine cloak quite like that, not even on a Roman, and he was definitely Roman. Anwen turned and ran as fast as she had ever run. Not another rape, she thought. He was quickly in front of her again.

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