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Don and Stephanie Prichard are the authors of the suspense novel Stranded.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Don and I joke that we're co-authors and still happily married. We started our debut novel about ten years ago and have found it hugely rewarding. Don is a retired architect and a Viet Nam veteran who served in the US Marine Corps Reserves for thirty-two years before retiring as a colonel. I'm an army brat and have lived in many countries around the world and loved it.
Describe the plot of your new book in a few sentences.
All Marine Corps reservist Jake Chalmers wants is to give his dying wife a last, romantic cruise to the Philippines. Unable to save her in a mass murder aboard ship, he washes ashore a jungle island, where he discovers three other survivors. Heartbroken that he failed to save his wife, he is determined not to fail these helpless castaways.
Federal prosecutor Eve Eriksson rescues a young girl and her elderly great-aunt from the same ship. They badly need Jake's survival skills, but why is he so maddeningly careful? She needs to hurry home to nail a significant career trial. And, please, before Jake learns her secret that she's responsible for his wife's death.
Who do you think would most appreciate this book?
Readers who like a fast-paced story of survival with lots of suspense and a spiritual dimension.
What inspired you to write a book about a struggle to survive on a jungle island?
Don came up with the basic story by asking himself what gut-wrenching event would test a man's heart and soul. From there, he worked backwards to the beginning of the story. I love survival stories, so when he asked me to join him to "bring the characters to life," I jumped in with glee.
Tell us about the two protagonists, Jake Chalmers and Eve Eriksson.
Jake is devastated when he fails to save his wife's life, so he is determined to protect the three other castaways' lives. As a Marine Corps reservist, he is well qualified. Eve, however, has a different agenda--get off the island, at whatever the cost.
It’s hard for a lot of readers living in the comfort of their homes to imagine the hostile environment of the jungle. How do you capture the challenges of surviving in the jungle for readers?
Through using the five senses to bring home the experience. We want the readers to feel the grit of sand under their feet, the stench of their swampy armpits, and the pounding of their hearts as the snout of a croc nips at their heels. Oh yah, readers love it!
Are there any writers who have influenced your writing style?
I studied novels like The Hunger Games to learn how to write a page-turner.
What do you have in mind for your next project?
We've been delighted at the demand for a sequel to Stranded, so that's tapping off our keyboards now.
What is one of your favorite quotes from Stranded?
Well, speaking of crocs … “The beast was huge. If there’d been elephants on the island, the croc could have eaten them for breakfast and still been hungry for dinner.”
A short excerpt from Stranded:
The heavens faded from black to dusky blue, arching like an inverted
bowl over the inky waters below. Sprawled across a fragment of boat,
Jake Chalmers scanned the horizon. Darkness cloaked the expanse to the
west, but in the east the circle of the earth etched a line of gold
between ocean and sky. Pushing himself chest high, arms shaking, he
studied the line for movement. Nothing. Nothing but the rising sun.
He
rolled to his back and threw an arm over his eyes. Seawater dripped off
his sleeve, stinging the cracks in his lips. He winced and pressed them
together. A scum of brine coated the inside of his mouth, numbing his
tongue and the back of his throat. Swallowing to generate saliva blazed a
trail of salt down his esophagus. His stomach heaved, but there was
nothing to expel, not even bile.
So thirsty. The craving ground
like fine sandpaper against every cell in his body. Forty-two years old
and he'd never experienced misery like this, not even in Nam. He raised
his arm and flexed his fingers, blinked until the crinkled skin on the
back of his hand came into focus. Were the wrinkles a symptom of
dehydration? Or the result of floating five nights in the ocean?
He
shifted back onto his stomach and hooked his left arm over the edge of
the fragment to keep his balance. The flat-bottomed vessel, split in
half lengthwise by the explosion and flipped into an upside-down V,
barely accommodated the stretch of his six-foot-two frame. The submerged
air compartments that had doubled as tourist passenger seats kept the
damaged craft afloat, but the V tipped precariously with each swash of a
wave.
He'd count, clear the haze from his mind. Count the days
since he'd boarded the cruise ship. The days alone on the ocean after
the explosion. The hours, the minutes, every second of the rest of his
life he'd spend hunting down Captain Emilio.
He sat up,
catapulted by the heat of rage. The boat fragment jerked, and he fell on
his back and slid, grasping with outflung arms at the wet surface. The
ocean swallowed his feet, his chest. The bucking craft smacked his head
as he slipped off. Blood filled his mouth, stinging his tongue where his
teeth slashed it. He caught the edge of the vessel, pulled, up, and
spat. Crimson dots spattered the craft's white paint.
Ginny. The
ache for her pressed against his chest. Where was she? Floating like him
in the ocean? Or had she slipped under the waves to a briny grave? He
closed his eyes. Tired. So tired. Wanting to save her. Failing. His
throat tightened.
He repositioned his grip and willed himself not
to leg go. Willed himself to fill his lungs and release the air in a
slow exhale. Willed himself to crawl back onto the broken sea vessel. He
lay on his stomach and stretched his limbs into a sprawl.
God and man may have abandoned him, but he wouldn't yield body and soul easily. The ocean would have to wait.
More Information
Buy Stranded on Amazon
Visit the authors' website
Today we are interviewing Pen, author of the thriller/action/sci-fi novel Nero's Fiddle.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have been writing since the age of ten and have self-published 20 titles. I am a native Georgian, currently working a full time job to support my writing habit. I am also staff to one feline named Clairee (although she does answer to “Queen Clairee” as well). I enjoy writing, reading, watching movies and I’m a big fan of Once Upon A Time. I also make crafts and quilts.
Describe the plot of your new book in a few sentences.
On a hot June day in 2017, the United States is hit with an Electromangetic Pulse (EMP) attack. This wipes out everything electronic. Captain Beverly Mossberg is tasked with the assignment of making her way to Washingon, DC to assassinate the terrorist before he attacks any other countries. She finds herself responsible not only for her own survival but also for the survival of her two children and a stranger who throws her lot in with Captain Mossberg. Once she finally arrives in DC she finds she has been misled – again. But this time, she has the weight of saving the world on her shoulders.
Who do you think would most appreciate this book?
People who enjoy action, family drama, apocalyptic scenarios and survival of the human race stories. Women in the military, anyone who enjoys female protagonists, conspiracy theorists, fans of James Rollins’s Sigma Force novels, and those who like to be left with a little hope at the end of it all.
What inspired you to write a novel set in the United States after a disabling attack by an Electromagnetic Pulse?
I listened to the audiobook One Second After by William Forschten. I was fascinated by the electromagnetic pulse technology and did some research. I was surprised, and a little scared, to learn this technology is real and available. The more I listened to the book, the more I began to visualize my own concept of an EMP attack. My version has women heroes.
Captain Beverly Mossberg is tasked with getting to D.C. despite the chaos. Tell us a bit about this character.
Captain Beverly Mossberg, aka Cap’n Mossy, is a former Marine sniper. There has never been a woman sniper in the history of the military until I created one. She suffers from PTSD after a life-altering incident during Desert Storm. She’s very stoic, especially when it comes to her two children, Michael and Jaz.
Have you ever had writer's block? If yes, how'd you deal with it? If you have not had writer's block, why do you think you haven't?
I have never had writer’s block. That’s because there is an endless supply of material about which to write. I actually have 21 novels in my queue waiting to be written. My biggest problem is there is never enough time to write.
What do you have in mind for your next project?
My next project is the survival of the human race on another planet. The female protagonist, Niva, must stop the destruction of the planet while battling the indigenous species. At the moment, it will be a five part series.
Is there anything else you'd like potential readers to know about your book?
I am a huge James Rollins fan and can’t get enough of his Sigma Force series. I especially like the way he time stamps the action. His writing influenced me to do a “daily count” in Nero’s Fiddle because Captain Mossberg has 30 days before the next EMP is launched to complete her assignment.
A short excerpt from Nero's Fiddle:
As Bev
walked to the edge of the rooftop and gazed down at the bear, Sedona
slowly, carefully, pulled herself to an upright sitting position. She
intentionally put her back to the dead body.
Michael and Jaz walked around to her line of vision.
“You okay, Arizona?” Michael asked. The poor kid’s face was grimaced with worry.
She gave him a wan smile. “I’ll be okay.”
“You
look a little, um,” Jaz searched for the right word, “gray. I would say
you look a little green around the gills, but it’s hard to tell.” She
took off her backpack and unzipped it.
Sedona chuckled then stopped as this unsettled her queasy stomach. “Was that a joke?”
“More
like an attempt at one.” She removed a bottle of water and held it out
for Sedona. “This is rainwater. A little cleaner than the stream water.”
She accepted the bottle and gave the girl a sincere smile. “Thanks, Jaz.”
“You’re welcome.” She looked as though she wanted to say more but she didn’t.
And
Sedona didn’t press. She knew there would come a time when the girl
might want to continue their discussion in more detail but certainly not
within earshot of her mother. She opened the bottle and took a
tentative sip of water. She waited to make sure it stayed down before
taking another.
“Well,” Bev said rejoining them. “That is one determined bear.”
“One hungry bear,” Sedona amended. “What do we do now? Just wait it out?”
Bev shrugged. “What choice do we have?”
“Good point,” she agreed morosely and took another sip of water.
Bev removed her backpack and walked toward the other end of the roof away from the body. “I know what I’m gonna do.”
“What?” Michael asked following her.
“I am going to try out the blanket I salvaged from Wally world yesterday and take a nap.”
Sedona
watched as Bev opened her backpack and removed the blanket which she
spread out on the rooftop. She tossed her backpack at the top of
blanket. “Are you serious?” she asked with some dismay. “How can you
possibly sleep with,” she glanced behind her only long enough to confirm
the body was still where it laid, “a dead body only a few feet away?”
“Easy,”
she grunted as she lay upon the blanket. She laid her head atop the
backpack removing the baseball cap on her head in the process. Just
before placing the cap over her face to block out the sun, she looked
playfully at Sedona. “The dead body won’t try to eat me.”
More Information
Buy the book on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1wCglK1
Nero’s Fiddle website (contains character interviews and more): http://bit.ly/1yYsNH2
Author's website: www.penspen.info
