I’ve posted a giveaway on Goodreads for paperback copies of Prophet of the Badlands! Two winners will each receive a signed copy. The Giveaway will open for entries at midnight on Wednesday, May 20 and end at midnight on Wednesday, June 3.
Winners will be chosen at random by Goodreads when the giveaway ends.
Giveaway ends June 03, 2015.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Chapter One
Premonitions
Pure and cool, a breeze filtered through a curtain of lustrous ivy, casting a fluctuating camouflage of sunlight and shadow on the face of a young girl. Althea crouched amid the dancing lights, motionless against a crumbling wall of mismatched stone and rusting metal parts. The raven calls of bickering old men fluttered away into the sky from the other side. The tribal elders could not agree on which direction to send the Seekers. She smiled to herself. That they still talked about it meant they had not yet discovered her missing from the Cha’dom.
Her hands clutched the dirt as she stalked, low to the ground, toward the end of the hanging greenery, quieter than the faint hiss of wind through the vines. At the edge of the wall, she crouched and waited for the path ahead to clear of villagers.
When opportunity came, she burst through the strands of green, carried on sinewy legs hardened by many hours spent running. Tattered leather strips that served as a skirt trailed behind as she careened down a curving walkway, under the front end of an ancient car sticking out from the second story of the spearmaker’s home. One wheel, long devoid of rubber, intoned the song of rust to the wind as it spun in the moving air. At the end of the row of scrap metal dwellings, the collage of dead vehicles, the village wall, offered a gap through which only a child could fit.
She hooked her hands and toes here and there, a spider monkey climbing through the lattice of metal bars, struts, and old machines. Her breaths came rapid with fear and anticipation as she worked her way through the vertical maze toward a beam of daylight far above. At the midway point, she slid through the long absent door of an old crushed car, scooting across the crumbling upholstery to emerge through the shattered rear window. Althea stood and crept to the edge of the trunk, cringing as the metal beast creaked. A short jump sent her lithe figure slipping higher into the tangle, legs flailing for purchase as she grabbed a bit of rebar; maroon footprints in dust the only trace of her passage over the car.
Minutes later, she propped herself against metal tubes and leaned her face through a round opening. After a glance outside to be certain it was clear, she grabbed an overhead bar and pulled herself up until she could slide her legs through. She sat on the edge of the hole for an instant before sliding down corrugated plates into the thick growth at the base.
The plants, laden with the dew of morning, tickled her with cold, wet fingers as she crawled toward the sound of the boys preparing for their foray into the Lost Place. Her toes dug into the cool dirt as she stretched forward, peeking through a veil of tousled flaxen hair around the wall. A dozen Seekers, skin the color of sienna, gathered in a circle of powerful bodies under the shade of the Spirit-Tree. Their raven hair all cut short, save for Palik, who fancied himself a half-chamán and wore it down to his belt, loaded with baubles.
Den was among them; she watched the lean contours of his muscles shift as he helped the older seekers gather supplies. The sight of the only boy in the entire tribe who was not terrified of her made her smile, but delight faded as a sense of worry entered her mind. The past night’s sleep had left her with a foreboding feeling something bad would happen to him today.
The elders of this place had been kinder than most villages that found her. It had taken a mere two months before they trusted her promise she would not try to run away. Only two months of pleas before they no longer kept her in the cage. Den believed her; as the son of Braga, the chief, he had demanded her release. She was not permitted to leave the Cha’dom, much less allowed out of the village. The chamán expected her to assist with the rituals, even if she didn’t understand them. To earn their trust, she did. Althea feared the cage more than the bizarre wild-eyed man with a dead wolf skin upon his head and paint upon his face. She had done as he told her to do, holding the bowls and spreading the powders, even swallowing the odd plants that made her feel funny and see strange things.
Fear knotted her gut at the thought of running outside, even though she had no desire to flee. The elders would be furious, but she had to warn Den no matter the consequence. With any luck, the sleep she had given the chamán would still be upon him when she returned.
Althea picked at her frayed leather skirt while she watched the Seekers prepare, thinking to find some more material to add. She made it around the time she turned ten. Collected scraps of old belts, shoelaces, and leather armor had become a tough garment. Most tribal Scrags wore only what they made or found on their own, or what a courting seeker gifted to them. She was not content to wait for the latter. Roughly two years later, the steady process of repairing and adding to it had created a tangle of tatters down to her knees. It served its purpose well, though the dingy grey chest-cloth Den had given her would not last as long. Althea squirmed, still unaccustomed to the feeling of wearing something like that. Wrapped about beneath her arms, it left her shoulders and stomach bare and seemed utterly without purpose.
She kept the itchy before-time scrap only because he had given it to her.
The boys marched off in a line, following a rocky trail down out of the hills. Althea looked between the wall and the hunting party with a desperate grimace. If they caught her, the elders would think it an escape attempt and put her back in the cage. If she did not go, Den would have no warning of danger, and she feared he would die.
It was not much of a choice.
As soon as they were out of sight, she closed her eyes for the span of a breath and dashed from her hiding place. The clearing between the wall and the forest blurred as she sprinted, tall weeds smacked her shins, fingers clawed through the tall grass. At the woods’ edge, she leapt into the first bits of underbrush and clamped onto the nearest tree. Her dirt-smeared figure blended against the coarse, wet bark scratching at her skin. She stood on her toes, frozen for almost a minute, listening for any trace of danger.
Althea knew motion attracted eyes.
No shouts arose from behind, no one came running, and the hunting party did not react. Her keen ears found only the soft hiss of the wind in the branches. She let out a gasp of relief, pulled her hair out of her face, and followed the rustles and snaps drifting into the forest.
She stepped around rocks and roots, brushing vines aside, walking as fast as she could without creating noise. The hunters had trained senses, but she was far quieter than the boars they preyed upon. Moving from tree to tree in a series of sprints, crawls, and leaps, she soon got within sight of them.
A birdcall echoed as one of them made a signal, gathering the spread-out group close. The boys collected around something on the ground. The eldest, Nalu, crouched and stuck a large knife into the dirt, picking at his beard while the scent of something dead teased at her nose. Trying to get a look at what they found, she circled through the dense brush. She drew closer, crawling into a thick patch of fern for cover. Sitting back on her heels, she craned her neck to get a better view. The cause of their delay, a huge dead boar, had been torn open from neck to groin. Her eyes widened at the sight as she tried to imagine what could have done such a thing.
Jake, the youngest of the group, backed away from the mangled beast. Scrawny and small, he was about the same age as Althea and clad in a pair of boar-hide shorts he had made after his first hunting trip. Pants had let him feel as though he left his boyhood behind and had become a man; he had spent several days showing them off to everyone. Unlike her, he had taken the time to smudge the dirt on his cheeks into something resembling war paint.
He leaned on his wooden spear, looking anywhere but at the pig. She sensed fear on him the way incense exuded smoke. As his gaze swept across the trees, he gasped and pointed right at her. Althea stiffened as they all turned and stared at her one by one. Den smirked and waved her over. With a guilty face, she rose to her feet and trudged out into the open.
“You have the sight of a hunter already.” She smiled at Jake.
“Did you forget your eyes make light like the stars and your skin is pale?” Den tried not to laugh. “Why did you follow?” He jogged over and put his hands on her shoulders. “Girls should stay safe at home. The elders will think you are running away.”
Althea glanced at his hand, dark against her skin. “The Alamos tribe has more girl seekers than boys.” She folded her arms in defiance. “Their boys are lazy.”
The other six fixed her with uneasy stares. Jake took a step back with his spear all but pointed at her. Nalu stood, turning away from the dead pig, and shook his head. Like Althea, he wore a garment resembling a skirt made from leather strips, only his had a rectangular orange metal plate hanging in the center with strange marks on it. She had seen similar things attached to old cars, and thought it silly to use such a thing for armor. They did not protect the cars at all. He pulled his machete out of the ground and approached.
Den poked her in the belly. “You can’t be a Seeker. You won’t kill anything. You don’t have trouble eating the boar, but you refuse to kill one.”
She thrust her lower lip out, unable to argue his truth.
Nalu’s face grew stern. “It is not that you are a girl. You are the Prophet.” He frowned. “You promised you would not flee.”
Althea clung to Den after scooting behind him. “I am not fleeing. I came to warn you.”
Den smiled at her touch, but the others looked fearful. “Warn us of what?”
“I had a bad feeling.” She tried to touch the blue light on his back cast off by her eyes. “I dreamed you would be hurt today.”
“You should go back.” Jake’s voice quivered as he gestured at Den. “Glow-eye says you will die.”
Den puffed his chest up and hefted his metal spear. “I’m not scared.”
Althea looked down at his one large boot and one torn shoe, fruits of a previous trip into the Lost Place. “I go with you.” She looked up, past the agate arrowhead hanging around his neck, into the eyes of a man staring out from the face of a boy. “Please trust me.”
Jake shook his head. “Glow-eye will bring bad luck.”
The other hunters shifted with unease.
The wind picked up; scraggly blonde hair tickled the center of Althea’s back and strands of leather caressed her legs. Nalu looked to the whispering treetops and sniffed.
“Something comes.” He dropped into a fighting stance with his machete held high.
Den dragged Althea by her arm to a tree. “Up. Animals approach.”
He grabbed her about the waist and lifted. She took hold of a branch and stepped on his shoulder. No sooner was her weight in the tree than grey furry streaks darted through the group and circled around. The creatures stood in a line, staring the humans down with intelligence beyond what one would expect from such animals.
Five canines with bright yellow eyes and jagged, mismatched teeth protruding sideways from their snouts snarled in unison. The largest, as tall as Nalu’s chest, sniffed at the air and stared at Jake. It seemed to tell the others he was the weakest of their prey. Althea’s gaze jumped around as she sensed emotions; Nalu radiated annoyance, Den confidence, and Jake terror. The others were also frightened, but not to the same degree. As the alpha tossed his nose in Jake’s direction, the pack ran at him.
Nalu grabbed the boy by the shoulder and hauled him back, telling the others to circle around. Den remained close to the tree to protect her. Happiness at his concern faded when she felt a wave of embarrassment surround Jake and become rage. He did not want the others to think of him as a little frightened boy, even if he was only eleven.
She bounced to her feet on the branch. “Jake, no!”
Spear held high, he leapt out from behind Nalu and went for one of the creatures with a high-pitched cry.
The bonedog ducked the attack, nipping at the spear and backpedaling to lure him out. Jake followed with a bloodthirsty grin, mistaking the trap for the dog being frightened of him. Two distracted Nalu with a flash of snapping teeth and drool while the last one crept around, taking advantage of the boy’s blind focus. Jake screamed as teeth sank into his calf and the animal wrenched him to the ground on his chest with a twist. Nalu turned at the noise and sliced at the ambusher, exposing himself to the two distractors.
The dog with a mouthful of Jake’s shin leapt away from the machete strike, baring bloody teeth with an angry glare. Now it protected its meal.
“Bonedogs. They like ta rip off arms or legs and run away with ‘em.” Den looked up, amused at her lack of squeamishness.
“I know. I have seen them before.” She pointed past him, yelling. “Den! Look―”
He turned as the Alpha pounced, managing to wedge his spear handle sideways into the beast’s mouth before it got him by the throat. The weight and momentum of the animal knocked him flat on his back. The wind flew out of him as he hit the ground. With one twist of its great neck, the enormous dog thrashed the spear out of his grip and tossed it to the side. When its head swung back to lock eyes with him, she had the sense it grinned at him.
“Nalu,” Althea screamed. “Help!”
The eldest hunter wrestled with another dog in an effort to keep it off Jake. The boy had seized with fear. He did not cry, but was defenseless. The others traded superficial wounds with the rest of the pack in a roving skirmish through the trees. Nalu could not do anything for Den in time to matter.
She looked down as the alpha lunged at Den’s face. He grabbed it by its cheek fur and held on. Teeth snapped at his nose and drool sprayed in his face as its effort to overpower him pushed him along the ground. It changed tactics, twisting to bite him on the forearm. Den grunted, kicking at the dog’s underside, not that it appeared to notice.
“No!” Althea slid from the branch, landing on all fours like a wildcat.
She ran to Den’s spear, urged into a panic at the sound of bones splintering behind her. With a feeble attempt at a roar that came out as a wail, she lowered the point and ran at the giant canine. Desperation flared in her face; her body empowered by unconscious command. The spear hit it in the side, its bloodlust having distracted it from her approach. The shock of impact knocked her grip loose; her hands slid over the leather cording on the metal bar. The dog wheezed and released the arm, stumbling sideways several feet before it collapsed on its side, emitting a belabored moan.
The other four dogs abandoned their prey and converged on her, enraged at the death of the alpha. She turned to face them, standing over Den with the spear aimed forward. His left hand circled her ankle, sliding up, squeezing her calf.
“Run,” he wheezed.
Her determination to protect him emerged into the world as a telempathic emanation of fear. The perpetual azure glow grew brighter as her gaze jumped at random from one monster to the next, daring them to attack.
Stalled in their tracks, the animals hesitated for a moment before their tails swung down through their legs and they backed away with hesitant growls. Althea took a step at them, thrusting the spear and wanting them to feel frightened of her. The pack turned as one and vanished, smears of grey into the woods.
The hunting party, except for Den, gawked at her in silence. Nalu did not seem to know what to make of this, while the younger ones looked at her as though she had become a dangerous entity, not some child to be protected or a precious commodity to be guarded.
The Prophet had killed.
If you enjoyed reading, you can find the rest on Amazon for less than a cup of fancy barista coffee 🙂
Book 2 in the Actuator series by James Wymore and Aiden James is coming out on July 20th. I’m pleased to be able to share the cover now!
As you can see, there’s a lot going on. The Actuator is a machine capable of altering the very fabric of reality, creating pockets of “real” genre fiction. “Machine Monks”, people tasked with exploring the machine’s capabilities, create small test arenas modeled after their obsessions: fantasy, sci fi, vampires, gothic romance, noir detectives, horror… They all get to live their dreams, until a saboteur strikes and the machine remakes the entire world, setting up pockets of ‘genre fiction’ all over. Innocent people are turned into monsters. A handful of the former secret group are the only ones who know what happened–and not all of them want to ‘fix’ the Earth.
Book 2 picks up soon after the events of the first, as Red and the others set out to collect the remainder of the keys and shut the machine down. Their plan seems solid, until the saboteur who caused it all enacts the second phase of their plan.
Check out James Wymore here: https://jameswymore.wordpress.com/
Check out Aiden James here: http://aidenjamesfiction.com/ or on his Facebook page.
After a long wait, Awakened #1 – The Prophet of the Badlands is out!
I am excited to announce that the first book in the Awakened series, Prophet of the Badlands is now available on Amazon. Here: http://amzn.com/B00WR8J6JE
For most twelve year olds, being kidnapped is terrifying. For Althea, it’s just Tuesday.
Her power to heal the wounded and cleanse the sick makes her a hunted commodity in the Badlands, a place devoid of technology where the strong write the law in blood. For as long as she can remember, they always come, they always take her, and she lets them. Passed around in an endless series of abductions, she obeys without question―mending those who killed to own her.
After three whole months in the same village, the affection of a young warrior makes her feel almost like a member of the tribe rather than a captive. Her brief joy shatters when raiders seize her yet again; for the first time in six years, being stolen hurts.
A reluctant escape sends her wandering, and she realizes her gift is a prize that causes as much death as it prevents. Her attempt to return to the tribe leaves her lost and alone, hounded at every turn. When a family who sees her not as the Prophet―but as a little girl―takes her in, she finds the courage to use her power to protect those she loves.
A strange man from a world beyond her imagining tests her newfound resolve, seeking to use her power to further his own agenda. Tired of being property, her freedom boils down to one question:
Can Althea balance the sanctity with which she holds all life against the miserable truth that some people deserve to die?
Enter Curiosity Quills’s Goodreads giveaway for a paperback copy here:https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/132009-prophet-of-the-badlands
And please join me on Facebook tonight (4/27/15) at 7pm EST for an online release event with prizes:
Greetings all! Tonight, I had the privilege to be interviewed by Joseph Cautilli from the Cyberpunk Detective Cafe ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/361868213953073 ) Here is a transcript of the interview for those who don’t want to join the group. (Edited some typos because I had to. Couldn’t bear to look at them.)
Joseph Cautilli: Hi Matthew- before we start talking about your book, I want to take a moment to ask you about two issues that we have been discussing on this list. The first is of course, the issue of partnering with YouTube- making a chapter of the book available to get a larger readership. What are your thoughts?
MC: I must’ve somehow missed that. Like recording a video of reading the first chapter and posting it on YouTube? Seems like an interesting idea. I mean, the first chapter is free to read on amazon already so…
MC: Or are you thinking of a text scroll or changing panels of text like song lyrics?
JC: Yes, they are. The idea is that YouTube get sponsors a pays you. Anyhow that brings us to the second topic. Many small groups of authors are now pooling together to create group worlds. Weird apoc is one such group. What are your feelings on group worlds?
MC: Similar to collaborative writing. Seems like it could work if everyone’s into it
MC: Reminds me of the short stories I’ve done for James Wymore’s actuator anthologies. A lot of authors writing stories all set in the same world, but it’s wide open for different interpretations.
JC: Yes, it seems that amazon has its own group doing it, as well The idea is that group characters give more exposure to the fan base and people start to love the characters regardless of the writer- sort of what the comics do…For those arriving late, we are here with distinguished author Matthew Cox to talk about his book Division Zero. Mathew can you give us a teaser about what the book is about?
MC: The book tells the story of Agent Kirsten Wren, who is an officer with the psionic arm of the National Police Force known as Division Zero. Kirsten was born with a power known as astral sense, which allows her to perceive and interact with the world of ghosts and other paranormal entities. She also has a weak-to-moderate rating in another ability referred to as ‘mind blast’, which is feared even among other psionics. The combination of both abilities in one person has given her a unique talent (the astral lash), which, unlike most Astral Sensates, allows her to attack spirits when they leave only violence as an option. In this book, a case falls on her lap where androids known as dolls have begun to malfunction for no reason the normal authorities can determine. After several deaths, and with no reasonable explanation for what is going on, they kick the case to her to investigate a possible paranormal angle.
MC: It’s running on multiple levels. On one level, there’s a “police procedural” going on… but on another level, the story is about Kirsten’s evolution.
MC: I tried not to club the reader over the head with the tech/cyberpunk/sci fi aspects of it – using the world as a backdrop for the story rather than forcing the technology to BE the story.
JC: Can you provide us with a link to the book?
MC: sure – links
Division Zero http://amzn.com/B00ITWTRZ0
Lex De Mortuis (part 2) http://amzn.com/B00NE7E04I
Thrall (Part 3) http://amzn.com/B00VEFD2A0
JC: At the outset, I want to say how much I enjoy the visuals in your book. Each chapter begins with a bath of images. Do you have a theory or a guiding principle around your use of color in writing- especially your presentation of neons and greens?
MC: When I’m writing, I tend to visualize the scene in my head like a movie. My goal is to transport the reader into a scene and let them be there with the character. I try to find a nice balance, hitting all five senses when possible. Sometimes, the tone of a scene just ‘feels’ like a certain color. The strongest example that comes to head unfortunately isn’t in D0, it’s in Virtual Immortality – the laundromat scene. I saw it saturated in green. Of course, I wasn’t trying to invoke ‘envy’ or anything with it… nothing that deep. It just felt green.
JC: Your definitely hit a lot of great visual effects in the book and they drew a lot of emotions. What would you say is the general emotional color theme of the beginning of the book?
MC: One thing I do in everything I write, from novels to short stories – is for the first word in the piece to be symbolic to the character. The first word of Division Zero is ‘Adrift’, which is very much where Kirsten is when the story starts… she’s adrift… In a society that is terrified of her, alone, wondering why her own mother hated her so much. The opening mood is one of loneliness and isolation.
JC: Which brings us to Kirsten- The book deals with a psionic characters. Can you tell us what inspired you to explore this view of the mind?
MC: The setting for Division Zero is based on a world I’ve spent the past twenty some odd years developing. Initially, I created it as a backdrop for a science fiction roleplaying game. From the start I’ve always been fascinated by psychic abilities in fiction, and they felt like they added a level of uniqueness to the setting. I wrote Division Zero after Virtual Immortality. In VI, the story is more focused on the technology of the world. For Division Zero, I wanted to get more into the psionic aspect of it, and I felt that Astral Sense (and an open door to ghosts and other things) offered more variety in potential story ideas beyond something like telekinesis or telepathy.
JC: It does look like you have spent many years developing this work. I really enjoy the depth of the characters. Now, your lead character has a special and rare psionic, she can speak to the dead. What inspired you to explore the idea of an ability to speak to the dead? In some ways it reminded me of the work of Brian Lumley’s Necroscope (not in content but in idea).
MC: Well, the psionic talents that exist in the world the story is set in are codified in the notes I’ve developed over the years. Each separate psionic path (telekinesis, pyrokinesis, telepathy, telempathy etc) has a defined set of abilities and sub skills. I thought that an astral sensate would offer a wider selection of story potential as well as open the door to interacting with things from modern day to draw in some references that would ground the world in a sense of familiarity. (For example in part 2, there are a few ghosts that she interacts with who may seem familiar. (In the timeline of Division Zero, these people who are alive today would be long gone.)
JC: As we have your publisher here on the list, would you like to tell us what it is like to work with Curious Quills?
MC: Oh they’re great! Everyone’s so helpful and friendly… and the quirky sense of humor is perfect.
MC: I think I’ve signed about 15 books with them now and I still get nervous like it’s my first time when I send them a new one, lol.
JC: I like publishers with a sense of humor. I am sure that some of the indie authors here will find that very cool. Now killing a guy, for a character that speaks with the dead, creates an interesting array of problems. I can imagine all the nagging episode and the person following her around taunting her for years. How do you get yourself in a mind set to deal with this issues? (thinking of the problems she as having circa page 19-20) How do you ensure that your character gets a break from what could be a steady stream of nagging?
MC: Well for most astral sensitives, that would be a big problem. Kirsten has the lash, which most do not. If a ghost gets too irritating she can destroy it, though that is never her first choice. Kirsten doesn’t like to take life. While she has seen glimpses of ‘the other side’, she’s in no hurry to send anyone there ahead of their time. As a police officer in a hyperviolent society, she does kill when absolutely necessary – but even when the person was trying to kill her, she feels guilty about having to take things to that level. Because she can destroy ghosts, she doesn’t worry too much about one lingering around. She’s more hesitant to kill for the sake of not wanting to kill than because of what happens after. As it works out, Kirsten has so far only been forced to kill people who were dark enough that the Harbingers have claimed them within minutes, sparing her the need to deal with an irritated ghost. This issue would be more of a problem for an astral who lacked Kirsten’s aversion to killing and murdered people the Harbingers wouldn’t be interested in.
JC: What do you think drives her overall view of killing- after all she kind of knows what is on the other side.
MC: Well interesting point. She thinks she knows. She sees some ghosts go through a flash of silver light toward the voices of their families and friends, and she sees black shadows (the harbingers) drag other ghosts off to who-knows-where. She’s also seen a lot of spirits stuck among mortals, and how sad and lonely they are. Because she’s lonely herself, I think she has a big component of guilt at not wanting to be responsible for putting someone in that situation. If it’s a matter of live or die – or an innocent is being threatened, she’d rather put a criminal into limbo than risk an innocent (or herself) being killed. (Except when confronted with vibroblades. She’s phobic of cyberware, and has it in her head that if someone gets too close with a vibro blade she’s going to lose a limb and wake up with a metal arm or something.)
MC: Ultimately, she really has no idea what happens on the other side of the silver light
JC: I liked the scene of Kirsten talking to her father on the bus. I could see people staring at her when she is shouting at no one. Do you have kids? How would you described the relationship between Kirsten and her father?
MC: Alas, I do not. The relationship between Kirsten and her father is fairly tragic. I know you read the short story “Into the Beneath” which takes the reader back to when Kirsten was still ten years old and living at home. While her father did love Kirsten, he was terrified of all the supernatural oddities that came looking for her. He is a weak man who couldn’t stand up to his wife and decided to avoid the situation entirely by taking a job that had him traveling away from home for extended periods. This, of course, left Kirsten to the mercy of her abusive mother. She kept looking to him for protection and help, but all he did was run away. Kirsten spent a long time angry at him for being a coward, though by the timeline of Division Zero, she’s sufficiently guilty about never talking to him again after running away that she’s come to a level of forgiveness for what he did. As he represents the only thing even close to family she has left (prior to her taking in Evan), she’s grown more attached than she consciously realizes to him.
JC: I think it is cool that to some degree she is like the rest of us in the dark about the ultimate destination of the human soul. Related, I like how in traumatic situations Kirsten goes into sort of a “trauma trance.” I think it is better though when she manages to pull herself out – it shows strength and adjustment (like on page 61 when she is telling herself it is not Mother). It suggests that you have a deep knowledge of trauma, would you like to share how you acquired it?
MC: The best thing I can say here is lucky guess or intuition. Fortunately, I’ve been spared having to deal with real trauma too close to home. I build on bits and pieces of things I’ve picked up from other stories / books / movies. Primarily, I try to project myself into the character’s role and think in the way the character would be seeing and feeling that scenario. Then, I factor in the character’s nature and look for what ‘feels right’ for the character to do.
JC: I think that we all have some intuition as to the effects of trauma. I think we all have friends who have been traumatized but I like to say that you take it much deeper. I think you have a much deeper sense of what it means to be in pain and afraid for your life. Switching the topic for a minute- I like how technology sort of forms the setting in your story for what is a pretty deep story of soul searching and coming to terms with the craziness of being different. What insights can you offer us, as Kristen tries to balance her work as sort of a police officer in this world with so many connections in the next? I think someday she make a killer detective squad person in homicide- so who killed you?
MC: Well, as a psionic, Kirsten is more or less ‘stuck’ with Division Zero. The government doesn’t completely trust psionics, so they like keeping them where they can watch them, even someone as ‘pure’ as Kirsten. She does often talk to ghosts who have been murdered and pass along information to the mundane cops. The legal system doesn’t recognize ‘paranormal evidence’ for inquests (inquests are essentially nonjury trials.) Though she could play translator if the ghost could lead a normal investigator to tangible evidence.
JC: I can see why they would not trust them. I think they have a right to fear people who can say know their lies and use them against them. On a related note about technology, do you think the most used sort of sex bot images say something about the society? Also I like the mystery elements of the book. It is good how you let the story unfold, like a “who done it.” What are some of your major influences as to mystery writing?
MC: You know, I hate to say it… but I haven’t read many mysteries. I think most of my influences here come from movies and ‘cop shows.’ I’ve watched a lot of Law & Order, and I’ve always been fond of espionage films. As far as the most used sexbots go, that could also speak to the subset of society that frequents those places. People who care more about public perception in that world can sit at home, plug into cyberspace and do or be whatever they want for a little while. The corporate exec who wants to do unseemly things can do it virtually where no one could see – whereas the common schmoe has to go to a place like where Kirsten hunts down a suspect.
JC: Yes, I agree- I think it speaks to a social subset. Can you tell us a little about the rules the society has about getting into some-one else’s head for all these psychics?
MC: A lot of what Division Zero does is PR for psionics as a social minority. They are going out of their way to mitigate the pervasive fear most citizens have and conduct a “hey, we’re people too” kind of campaign. Currently, psionic information (telepathic mind reading of stuff from a suspect) is not admissible in an inquest. If an officer mind reads something, and then arrests a suspect based on it with no physical evidence, the person will walk and the officer will likely get grumbled at… depending of course on the situation. If there’s been a kidnapping and a Div Zero officer mind reads the location of the victim and goes to rescue them, no one in command will give them crap about that. Generally speaking, the mundane system doesn’t like or trust psionics, so they try to make them as much of a non-issue as possible. Some characters, like Nicole, flagrantly disregard those ‘ethical’ rules, on the mindset that the victims’ rights matter more than those of the suspects. Others, like Dorian, will only resort to a mind read in an extreme case, such as making absolutely sure a suspect is guilty of a heinous crime before conducting a summary execution. But the people in real power are the ones most afraid of them, as it’s hard to keep secrets from a telepath Division 9 does have some cybernetic parts that are capable of shielding a brain from telepathic connections – often in painful ways for the psionic.
In some ways I use ‘psionics’ as a reference for various forms of current day social injustice. (At one point in the Awakened series, one of the characters remarks that they’re shocked that the UK is going to allow psionics to marry.)
JC: Interesting- I can see a future story of controllers for the telapathy. So tell us about Adrian Lewis? Where does he draw his strength from? What insights into his personality and his ability to shock people can you provide? It appears when we first meet him that he does not have control of his powers. We also don’t get a sense of how important the relationship is between him and Daniel.
MC: [Mild spoilers in this post] – Adrian Lewis has two primary psionic skills, electrokinesis and mechanical aptitude (or technokinesis). He’s more of a mech apt (which is a psionic affinity for machines and technology.) I’m curious what made you think Adrian doesn’t have control of his powers. He is trying to do something with them that most mech apts don’t normally do with it. He can control his powers, but he is trying to invent a new one per se — or at least a new way to use it. The relationship between him and Daniel is complex. They love each other to the point where Adrian has been torn between who he feels he is inside (a woman) and not wanting to commit to that change because he is unwilling to hurt Daniel. In the setting of Division Zero, the technology exists (with enough money) for someone with gender dysphoria to have their DNA restructured into the opposite gender as though they were born that way. Adrian desperately wants to do that, but he’s been battling with guilt sometimes to the point where he’s considered suicide as a way out, but didn’t do it because he knew that would hurt Daniel even more. What he’s doing with dolls is his way of ‘living it vicariously’ to see if he’s 100% sure about the idea.
MC: Adrian was born with his powers (as are most normal psionics – and by normal I mean non-awakened.) which are extremely rare. (So far, there’s been 8 of them known to exist.)
JC: I like the idea of experimenting with powers. Since he was born with them (lived his whole life with them) I am sure he has tried to run them to there limits. I just got the sense that he was struggling. So Kiristin seems pretty open to Templeton at first, much less guarded then her history might suggest. Is that because of the mounting number of failed relationships in her history? What are your thoughts there?
MC: Well, what Adrian was trying to do – link his consciousness to a doll in real time was not something he’d tried to do before. Mech aptitude more often than not takes the form of a person being able to fix or work with complex machines without really knowing how they’re doing it. Sort of like a prodigy savant.
MC: Regarding Templeton, Kirsten hates, hates, hates, being helpless. She spent most of her childhood as a helpless victim, and she’s tired of it. She also had a weak, ineffective father figure who was not there to protect her. Third, she’s so used to everyone treating her like she’s some kind of demonic beast that would kill them as soon as say hello. So, when Templeton (who is older than her 35 to her 22) shows up and helps her out of a bad situation, shows no fear of her even knowing that she’s psionic, she has a sudden upwelling of need to be with him. More of an infatuation really; even Kirsten knows it’s a product of circumstance. Templeton does come back in Book 2 though!
JC: I look forward to reading about his return. I know a lot of this group is online, as I see green lights by there name. I am impressed with their silent watching- they should feel free to jump in. Ok back to Matthew- Tell us about Lucian’s relationship with his wife.
MC: Lucian is not the kind of guy that does anything directly, at least not when it could come back to bite him in the ass. He’s a ruthless ‘profit at any cost’ corporate shark. His wife started off as a trophy, but he miscalculated her intelligence and refusal to ‘be quiet and smile.’ Nothing too terrible really happened between them beyond drifting apart as it became clear their interests diverged. Dealing with her became a simple matter of economics. Hiring a consultant to resolve the issue cost less than a divorce. Lucian has some sociopathic tendencies, but he does genuinely love his daughter–perhaps the only person he is capable of having real feelings for.
JC: haha, ha, ha- I’ll say. When witness the discussion with Tanaka by astral projection how do you know you are getting the actual memories from the ghost instead of let’s say a false information?
MC: I’m a little confused by the question. When Kirsten is projecting astrally, she doesn’t interact with Tanaka. She isn’t reading his mind, she simply overhears him speaking on a Vidphone. A psionic’s power emanates from their living body. While Kirsten is out and about as an astral wanderer, if she used any psionic abilities, they would take effect in the area around her body. In essence, she’s a brand new powerless ghost at that point – able to float around, see, and hear, but not do much. Other ghosts can interact with her, and she’s ‘in their world’ and at their mercy since none of her tricks work. Telepathy doesn’t work on ghosts.
JC: Ok. I just was looking for more of a way that she goes about assessing the situation and the information that she is getting to tell truth from lie. Like with living people, you can try to judge changes in pupil size to determine lies. Anyhow, tell us what was involved in taking the young man under her wings (Kirsten) to sort of mentor and train?
MC: Well, In book 1, she stumbles across Evan and learns he’s in a bad situation. Luckily, he’s psionic which gives her jurisdiction to interfere, and she gets him out of that bad situation. Astrals are rare among psionics, so the higher ups are inclined to let her work with him as a mentor for his power. She is also drawn to him due to certain similarities in their childhood. (Granted, Kirsten – as Dorian said – would take every orphan she finds home if she could.) Of course, she is at a constant war with her own insecurities, wondering if she’s good enough, capable enough, or stable enough to take care of a child. As the series progresses, her need to care for Evan helps her mature as a person – and the fear that she may fail her psych profile and have him taken away from her keeps her awake at night.
JC: Yeah, she seems to want to save people. I think it is a good trait. How much power would you say Intera has? What is its final mission?
MC: Intera is in the business of making dolls and bots. They are similar to the Apple of today – hip, ubiquitous, have gobs of cash. Now take away any sense of moral compass or inclination to respect law and you get Intera. They work within the UCF where there is still a government ‘in the way’, but they also have a presence in ACC controlled regions (Allied corporate council, the other superpower left after the corporate war). Intera also has off-Earth facilities. They wield a significant amount of power, but they do have to be careful on Earth. Profit is king, and sometimes they grit their teeth and tolerate the government so they don’t lose market share. (I’ve got some basic ideas outlined for another series in this world involving this company :P) It’s final mission is to own the entirety of the market share in doll production and gain as much money, influence, and power as they can. The board doesn’t want to be a visible ‘ruling group’ so to speak, much better to have control but remain anonymous to the masses.
JC: Would you say there is a part of you that can connect with the power and influence part of Intera- not the bot stuff but wielding the power and control they have.
MC: I dunno. Doubtful… I don’t really crave power or influence. I’m more like Althea from Prophet in terms of mindset
JC: So they are sort of the anti-you. Interesting. Ok, so give us a little peek into the mind of Albert Motte. What drives him?
MC: [ Spoilers ahead ] – I’m not sure I can answer this without dropping a ton of spoilers, lol. He’s a classic nerd supergeek introvert. Few friends, weak grip on his emotions. Doesn’t handle stress well. He was under-appreciated at his job and thought his contributions were more significant than he was getting credit for. (he was right – he’s meek and not aggressive enough to prevent his superiors from taking advantage of him without compensating him enough.) After Intera decides to assassinate him rather than risk him taking secrets to a competitor, he gets pretty pissed off. He’s not so much angry with a single person as he is the entire corporation.
JC: Ok. We are sort of running out of time. Last question- tell us about working with Dean Samed as a cover artist. What is his greatest strength?
MC: I think he’s able to hone in on the mood of a book from a general description of it. Both the pieces he did for me so far have been perfect
JC: OK, so that is all the questions that I had tonight. We have been talking with MC: . I like to thank Matthew for taking the time to answer my questions and really showing us a part of what he has developed. Guys, feel free to continue to ask questions if you like. The book is Division Zero. I hope you all pick it up and write him a review. I think that it is an excellent story and part of a really unique series.
MC: Thanks for having me on Joseph.
JC: It was my pleasure. I love the work- keep it coming!
Greetings everyone!
I’m running a little game/contest to celebrate the release of Thrall, book 3 in the Division Zero series. For one week, I am accepting answers to the following trivia questions based on books 1 and 2. The person who has submitted the most correct responses by next Tuesday (April 7th) will win a copy of all three books in paperback, signed, as well as a $25 Amazon gift card. (US)
In the event that more than one person gets all the answers right, the winner will be selected at random among anyone with 25 / 25.
Please send your answers to me at mcox2112@gmail.com.
Good Luck!
1.) What is Evan’s last name?
2.) What is the name of Dorian’s previous partner before Kirsten?
3.) Why did Kirsten swear off eating beef?
4.) Why was Kirsten’s bathroom mirror broken?
5.) What drug was Leaf addicted to?
6.) Name the unofficial medical condition responsible for the death of Marissa’s father.
7.) What was the name of Albert Motte’s pet?
8.) What is Captain Eze’s nationality?
9.) Name the priest Kirsten befriends.
10.) What’s the name of the man who leaves Kirsten at the table in the fancy restaurant once he learns she’s psionic?
11.) Where does Kirsten fight the soul collector (hint, the doctor)
12.) What’s the name of the hand-to-hand combat instructor Kirsten is working with?
13.) What is the military equivalent of Kirsten’s “Agent” rank?
14.) In Lex de Mortuis, Kirsten tangles with a wraith who used to be a drug lord. What was his name?
15.) What insect does Kincaid hate dealing with.
16.) Kirsten thinks that every time she wears <blank>, bad things happen to her.
17.) What saved Kirsten when she took a header off a parking garage?
18.) Name the Division 9 cyberspace jockey who helped Kirsten hunt down Albert.
19.) Name the Division 0 agent who doesn’t get along well with Dorian.
20.) Name Evan’s favorite fictional character.
21.) Name the ghost who helped Kirsten escape her mother and later taught her how to track spirits.
22.) How did Ritchie die?
23.) Where does Ritchie ‘live’ (so to speak).
24.) What does the breathable gel (b-gel) from the medical tanks taste like?
25.) What was the make of hovercar chasing Kirsten when Dorian killed its power, causing a crash?