Author: AuthorCMHerndon

Q&A: Desire The Stars

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Hello! Welcome to The Screaming Damnation, ship of Captain Jorsen! This is the brief Q&A for C.M Herndon’s latest novel: Desire the Stars.

 

Q: Just to clear a few things up, DtS is slated as a “new trilogy” set in the same universe as the Defiant Trilogy. Do the trilogies need to be read in order?

A: No, they do not need to be read in order. You can read the Defiant Trilogy before or after. DtS is designed to be it’s own standalone series. If you are interested in character connections, there are characters from the previous trilogy mentioned and shown. The Main Character himself is seen in the final Defiant Novel, Havoc. They can be read in any order.

 

Q: So it’s a new series in the same universe. Tell us a bit about the Ektos Universe.

A: Right, so the Ektos Universe is the name of the universe both trilogies are set in. There are dozens of planets, thousands of cultures, and plenty of badass characters to keep you company.

 

Q: Speaking of badass characters, tell us a bit about the main characters in this story and the places.

A: Actually, a lot of the “places” of the first book is on ship. The Screaming Damnation has a big role to play. It’s not just a ship, it’s a safe place, a home for the crew. Similar to the way Captain Mal in Firefly looks at Serenity, I think this crew shares that opinion of this ship. We do, however, see a brief glance at the planet Achmos, a mostly desert planet with fierce natives. They take a brief trip onto a couple of other planets. As for the characters, Captain Jorsen is the best warrior on his planet. He let’s that go to his head sometimes, but he’s damn good at what he does and Shera, while a bit naïve, is equally as fierce. She has a stubborn recklessness that gets her into a lot of trouble but lucky for her she usually has the skills to get herself out of the trouble. When she doesn’t, that’s where she finds Jorsen.

 

Q: So what separates the Desire the Stars Trilogy from the Defiant Trilogy?

A: A whole lot actually! Defiant was a very dynamic story, showing many points of view from different planets. Faelan had a certain carefree charisma because she was a criminal who fell in love with a prince. Her only goal was to keep that. She and Virion started a war and had to live without, trying to hold onto each other and the family and home that was important to them. It was very broad but at the same time, it was very much about them. While Desire the Stars is also about the couple, I think it’s a little more centered on the couple as a whole. Their issues are more defined in who they are as people. They have obligations, they have expectations, and they have two different races to contend with. Jorsen has a specific set of laws he has to abide by and Shera’s goals don’t align with that. They have to overcome the fact that she can’t just walk away from her family and that he can’t leave his people. For the two of them, their battles are with personal enemies. Faelan and Virion were fighting for a whole planet. While it may seem less broad that way, I think Jorsen and Shera really get to touch on issues in today’s society with bi-racial couples not always feeling welcomed or being acknowledged. Even Shera herself has to come to terms with the fact that Jorsen’s own race is different than hers.

 

Q: Different how?

A: Let’s just say his race has a few biological differences.

 

Q: Will we be seeing more of these races in the other two books?

A: Absolutely. In book two we will be visiting Victere and learning more about how they operate. Especially since Jorsen doesn’t exactly play by the rules. We’ll also be visiting Achmos and learning more about Shera’s culture.

 

Q: What defining qualities can you tell us about each culture?

A: Without giving away major plot points… Victere is a heavily militarized culture that places value on being able to give and take commands. Achmos is a free culture that places value on family and welfare.

 

Q: I’m sensing this might create some tension between the characters?

A: Tension. Sexual tension. D, all of the above.

 

Q: Is there anything else you can touch base on?

A: Read it. If you like your characters with a little sass and a little badass, you’ve come to the right place. Read it, love it, share it.

 

 

Check out Desire the Stars below!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

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Special Announcement

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

As the Defiant Trilogy comes to a close, many of you have been both satisfied with it’s conclusion, and saddened that it had to end at all. Have no fear, my friends! Though this is the last of the Defiant Trilogy, it’s not the last of the Ektos universe!

That’s right! You read correctly!

There are MORE Ektos novels!

More fun! More sarcasm! New characters, returning characters, and a whole lot more of the Ektos that we have never seen before!

With this special announcement, I have a surprise excerpt for you from the upcoming Ektos novel and a secondary announcement that this novel will feature Jorsen of Victere, a character seen in Havoc (Defiant III), as the main character!

Plot details will come later, but for now, enjoy this excerpt!

Jorsen tilted his head as he considered today’s events before asking, “Do you think it’s justifiable to buy a slave to save it?”

“What?” Evar jerked his head around to stare at him like he was going mad.

“If I try to take her I’ll likely get a bullet in my hosa, but we have the funds for it.”

“Jorsen,”

“Go get the ship ready. I’ve pissed enough people off today, we might need to leave fast.”

“Jorsen, you can’t—Jorsen!” He paid Evar no mind, just walked on down the stairs.

The crowd on the main floor parted out of his way easily enough. He knew why. He knew what they saw when they looked at him. Terror on two legs, savage, uncivilized brute. He’d heard it all. He didn’t even need his own reputation, they’d run away just knowing which planet he was from.

Wise people didn’t bother Victerans.

This place was a lot like the black markets of Rosen, with vending tables lining the walkways and supplies you could hardly guess at. You could find anything down here, including slaves. All illegal in Ektos. This was everything he needed to report back with evidence of black markets, but first he was going to break their own laws.

As he drew closer, he spotted the roped off area with cages full of slaves. He scanned the people lingering in front of the cages until he spotted the guard Mauve. Next to him was Richter. Jorsen smirked and started forward. He couldn’t wait to piss Richter off again.

He didn’t see the woman he’d come here to buy out from under Richter which meant she was in the back, seconds from being branded. If he could stop it, he would. Once he had her, he didn’t care where she went, but getting her away from this gosteno was really all that counted. He couldn’t save everyone, yet, but he would save this one. If not for the OUP then for his own selfish need to ruin Richter’s day.

As he neared him with the guard, he realized he was already passing money over to the slave-holder and he dropped his hand in between them—hard—scattering the money across the floor.

“Hey!” Mauve wheeled on him, fury blazing in his eyes.

“Well, if it isn’t the Victeran again.” Richter lifted his hand to show the guard there was no threat and Mauve eased the grip he’d just taken on his gun.

Jorsen ignored Richter and said to Mauve, “I want to buy the woman.”

“We have lots of women,”

“No, the one he’s trying to buy. Give her to me.”

Richter laughed, “I thought you Victerans didn’t believe in slave trade?”

Mauve said, “I’ve already made a deal on her with Mr. Richter,”

“I’ll double his price.”

“Wait a second,” Richter’s smile faded from his face, “I already paid.”

“Your money is on the floor, sir.” Mauve stated, considering that doubled price.

Jorsen added, “You don’t have to tell anyone you doubled the price, just take the extra and keep it yourself.”

“No, she’s mine.” Richter took a step towards him.

Jorsen faced Richter, curled his fingers into a fist and slammed him with a right hook that sent him straight to the floor, next to his money. He faced Mauve again. “You going to sell to me or the man lying on the floor?” Mauve looked stricken like he wasn’t sure what to do. “Would you like to join him?”

Mauve swallowed, “She’s twenty gold credits.”

Which was equal to twenty thousand primary credits. Fesca. Jorsen had to hold his breath as he nodded in agreement. Mauve flipped out an electronic file and he paid and signed, keeping his face blank. Victere might hang him for this, but his mind was made up. He wasn’t even sure why it was so important, but he couldn’t let that prick walk off with another prize that would be dead in two weeks under his care.

And they called his people savages. At least Victerans didn’t believe in human trafficking. They believed in loyalty, hard work, and the ring.

“I’ll bring your papers out. It may take a few minutes before we can bring her out to you.”

“Why?” Jorsen didn’t leave the gruffness out of his voice.

“She’s being branded and cleaned.”

His stomach soured with fury, “I don’t want her branded.”

Mauve lifted a brow. “No brand, no sell.”

Jorsen was getting sick of this. Without warning, he grabbed Mauve by the throat and started walking while Mauve scrabbled to keep his feet on the ground and find balance, his hands latching onto Jorsen’s arm. He didn’t stop until he reached the slave cages and slammed Mauve’s back against the bars.

He was making strangled sounds of protest as he tried to breathe and the slaves in the cage behind him flinched and stepped back, watching with apprehension. “I believe I already paid. Go back there and get my woman or you’ll be the next one they’re branding to put on my ship. Got it?”

He yanked him forward and sent Mauve sprawling across the floor and the guard surged to his feet, holding his throat and gasping for breath. He scattered in seconds, running headlong towards the end of the cages where there was a door that led to the back. Jorsen snorted and brushed his hands off on his pants before glancing at the slaves in the cage behind him.

He’d free them all if he could.

Not too far away he saw Richter was finally pulling himself up off the floor, dazed and confused. He glanced around, saw Jorsen, and scowled before he slunk off without a word. Jorsen shook his head and faced the door again. He was standing, back straight, arms crossed, when the door at the end opened again and three men came out with Mauve. “Ah hell.” Jorsen muttered but he didn’t move.

The group stomped towards him, weapons on their hips, but when they got closer he could see a woman just behind them, chains clasped around her wrists and they’d muzzled the poor thing.

When they got closer, Mauve didn’t speak, one of the other three did, the one holding the chain attached to the woman’s wrists. “She’s been branded and cleaned.”

“I wanted—”

The man cut him off, something that wasn’t a wise thing for even his closest friends to do. “We already branded her before Mauve reached us.” He held the chain out towards Jorsen. “We don’t want any more trouble, Victeran, just leave with your woman.”

Her eyes went wide but Jorsen didn’t take the chain. “Take that bloody muzzle off her face.”

“You’ll want it on there, sir, she bit one of us.”

Jorsen almost choked as an unexpected wave of amusement hit him. He kept his face straight, barely, and a second man spoke. “It will not be removed while she is still here. We’re not taking risks.”

“Fine.” Jorsen took the chain roughly. It caused her to stumble closer to him as he glared at the men. They passed him his papers of ownership and watched him sign his name to them and then he turned and started walking.

The chain snatched taut but he didn’t glance back, he didn’t slow. She could either follow him or get dragged. His time was up here, if he remained much longer they were liable to start a fight…or he was liable to start one. Either way, he needed to leave.

We need to leave, he corrected himself. Victere is going to kill me for this.

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this excerpt, consider reading the original Ektos novels, The Defiant Trilogy. Click here for more information.

HOT NEW WHAT?!

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

I’m so very excited and pleased to tell you guys that Havoc (Defiant #3) has been on Amazon’s “Hot New Release” list for Action and Adventure since it’s début!

Everyone just can’t seem to get enough of:

A) Faelan’s sarcasm

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B) Virion’s Man Throwing Skills

Faelan gawked as Virion lifted the man even higher and then literally threw him several feet. “Get out!” His voice was so loud it seemed to fill the entire main cabin and then some.

The pilot scrambled to his feet and ran from the main cabin. Faelan didn’t know where he went and she didn’t pay attention, her focus was on Virion. She could honestly say she’d never seen a man throw another man like that.

“I just have to say,” Faelan began, “That was the coolest shit I’ve ever seen.” Or perhaps the hottest. She could stand to see him do that again…and again…and again. Hell, she wouldn’t mind having him throw her as long as it was onto a bed.

-Excerpt from Defiant

 

C) Mikhal’s Mysteriousness

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(Or maybe not so mysterious. He’s The Bone Breaker, we get it. He likes to torture people)

 

Or D) All the general action and mis-adventures befalling Faelan and her crew

  • Like Virion’s sister getting kidnapped
  • Or the whole planet falling under attack
  • Or basically everyone almost getting shot

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Either way, the verdict is in! Fans can’t get enough of Faelan and I am so blessed you followed me through to the final book of Faelan’s story, but never fear! This won’t be the last adventure in the Ektos Universe! There’ll be more adventures to come. Click here to see the Hot New Release list for Action and Adventure, and catch Havoc while it’s hot!

 

Much Love,

C.M.

 

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See the Defiant Trilogy here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079Q2M9CW/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

 

Excerpt “Defiant III”

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Here’s a special inside look at the final novel of the Defiant Trilogy. Join Faelan as she tries to put back together the broken pieces of past and present.

 

She leaned back in the pilot’s chair, staring at the stars out the ship’s front panel. She loved this eternal night, but her heart no longer belonged to the deep space that once brought peace to her soul. Tonight it didn’t, nothing eased the guilt that tore at her, or the hatred she felt towards the people that had stolen her future. She couldn’t sleep with these thoughts in her head. Every time she closed her eyes, she imagined killing them all, one by one.

“Faelan?”

Faelan jumped and twisted, going for her gun in the same motion. Her finger was on the trigger before she could stop herself, but at the last second her brain seemed to catch on and she titled the gun just in time to keep from shooting Mikhal as she pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit the wall over his left shoulder and ricocheted, making her flinch. Mikhal didn’t even move. He just stood there, motionless, staring her down. Faelan swallowed and dropped the gun to her side immediately, staring back.

“Uhh…” she licked her lips, trying to find the words to speak but wasn’t sure what to say.

Mikhal rolled his shoulders and walked through the doorway he was standing in. His expression didn’t change but she could hear the barely clipped anger in his voice. “I was going to ask what you were doing but I don’t think I want to know now.”

Faelan sat back down in the pilot’s chair and stuck her feet up, shrugging, “I stopped myself last second.”

“You almost shot me.” He glowered at her.

“Don’t sneak up on me and that won’t happen.” She flashed a grin but he wasn’t amused. She could see his fists starting to curl.

“I wasn’t sneaking.”

“Oh please, everything you do is sneaky.” Faelan replied, holstering her weapon. Her voice was nonchalant like she hadn’t almost killed him. “I swear sometimes you don’t even make a sound. It’s inhuman. Besides, I didn’t shoot you. Like I said, I stopped myself.”

“The ricochet could have gotten me or you just as easily as if you’d shot us yourself.”

Faelan snorted, “You’re no fun.”

“Nothing about this is funny, Faelan.”

She rolled her eyes and sat down in the pilot’s chair. “So serious.” He looked like he wanted to shoot her himself, but instead he moved to the tiny kitchenette and rummaged for food. “Throw me those chips.”

“Get them yourself.”

“Why are you so grumpy?” She demanded and leaned forward in her chair, turning it so she could see him better.

“You almost shot me!” He hissed and wheeled to face her. “How grumpy would you be if someone almost shot you?”

Faelan shrugged, “Honestly, if I was angry every time someone tried to shoot me I’d never be happy.”

“You’re psychotic.”

“So says the man everyone calls the Bone Breaker.” He glared at her again, but as he made his way towards her, sitting in the co-pilot’s chair, he dropped a bag of chips on her lap. Faelan grinned and ripped them open. “I knew you liked me.”

 

Hope you enjoyed this excerpt, look for Defiant III March 2018

Much Love,

C.M.

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

It’s finally here! Release day! Project Wolf Pack: The Alpha, Part I of the trilogy is here! In honor of my new release, I would like to talk about PWP a bit with you all.

PWP is a paranormal romance but it is certainly not without its terrors. It is heavily orchestrated with violence and the bonds that keep us together. At the heart of it, it’s the story about a young woman and how her life grows and changes, and how she handles those changes. This tale is a saga that explores her life and hardships, and most of all, her strength. Liz is one of the most courageous and strongest characters I’ve written. Her journey is one of great triumph and of a life she helps build for herself.

 

Project Wolf Pack: The Alpha https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CF2VV5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_BK70zbKA4VKEP

A Look Inside (Project Wolf Pack)

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

It’s getting close to time for another book to release! I hope you’re all as excited as I am for the addition of Project Wolf Pack: The Alpha to our collection of books. My first paranormal romance borders on the edge of thriller, so I hope you guys are ready for an exciting and bumpy ride.

For now, I’d like to give you all a quick little excerpt and allow you to meet Liz and Cam for the first time! I hope you enjoy, I look forward to hearing your comments!

PWP Cover-Front Only

Releasing October 3, 2017

Pre-order now (click here)

Excerpt from Project Wolf Pack: The Alpha

 

“I have to go meet him.” Cam finally said. He was sitting stiffly next to her in the Colonel’s long tent where a table had been set up for their meeting. John was there and Malik, as well as a couple of Crews’s soldiers. They’d spent the last hour explaining and talking over different scenario’s concerning the werewolves. How they should be treated, how they operated, how the magic worked, establishing territory, things like that.

Most importantly, they’d been leading into what Cam had to do in regards to the other pack being here. Crews didn’t seem to like his answer.

“Meet him? After you’ve been telling me that if he kills you and takes over your pack, we’ll lose twenty two werewolves to him? Werewolves with our secrets?”

“If I go to the other alpha, just me, to speak, it will not be seen as a threat. I’ll make him aware of my presence, discuss my terms.”

“What if he doesn’t like your terms?”

“Hopefully he doesn’t try to kill me. Normal pack decency would ask that he didn’t, but this is also a different country, with different people, and this is a war. With any luck he’ll let me leave to report back here. From everything I’ve gathered, he’s very much a part of this war, but pack law still applies to him. Like me, he will know that if we fight and I win, he loses his pack to me.”

“I don’t like it.” Liz said quietly. “There’s a lot of risks.”

“We’re wolves, this is how we do it. We don’t go into another’s territory and just start fighting, we sniff each other’s butts first.”

“You’re really going to joke right now?” She crossed her arms and he flashed her a grin.

“Pack law is a stronger force than human law, Liz, you know that. It’s my duty to speak to him. I’m on his territory.”

“What if he wants you to leave?” Crews asked.

“Then it’s going to get ugly. Maybe not tonight, but my pack will have to establish territory in his territory. They will either try to defend it or they’ll let us have it and start pushing at us to try and force us out while we also push at them, trying to broaden the territory we’ve claimed. If we’re successful, they’ll move back. The only way to do that, however, is lots of fighting. Though, without them here your human war will be much easier to fight.”

Crews nodded and licked his lips, “Okay, Major, from now on I’ll try to be more concerned about these territorial and pack laws. I want to discuss everything with you first but you can make the decisions for your pack. No more mistakes.”

“No more mistakes.” Cam dipped his head in agreement, glancing at her. She wondered if he could see the concern in her eyes. The other pack could kill him whenever he met with them. It was so dangerous for him to go alone, but she knew he was right. He had to follow the laws of his people.

Crews interrupted her line of thoughts, “When are you going to try and meet the other alpha?”

“Tonight.” Cam replied.

The Dreaded Question

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Oh yes, it’s that time. Time for another blog post. This time it has the….(insert dramatic musical drumroll) the dreaded question!

But wait!

What is the dreaded question? Well, it’s not that dreadful. It’s just not my favorite question because, honestly, I like writing villains and who wants to choose favorites anyways? This day’s topic and blog post is:

Who is your favorite protagonist that you’ve written and why?

Gosh! Knife in the heart, how do I ever choose a favorite? I believe my other characters will slaughter me if I answer. In all seriousness, though, I’ll cheat and pick one from each series (you’re welcome!).

So first off we have The Safe Series! Wow. There’s so many of them. And I already have more of them that have yet to be published. I’ll leave those characters out of this, though. No spoilers (BUT LOT’S OF TEASING!).

I have to say, Ro was my favorite for the longest time… until I wrote Savage. The fifth Safe Novel kind of blew me away as far as content goes and the storyline itself. The characters were even better. There was so much interaction and growth for the characters, and such an extreme circumstance, I fell head over heels for Ace. I really enjoyed writing the internal struggles he and Moira went through, but more than that, I enjoyed him. As the boss of the company, he really had a lot that he’s already done, but he still took the time to learn his flaws and try to continue bettering himself for his marriage and life in general. I found that personal growth highly fascinating and fun to write.

So yeah, Ace is definitely at the top of my list.

Next up we have the Defiant Trilogy. Alas, only two of three have been released, but I don’t need all three to reveal my favorite. As a series with multiple points of view, there can still only be one…Faelan of course. I simply adore Faelan, she’s the character I spent many years trying to conquer and never got it right until Defiant. She’s everything I imagined her to be. Sarcastic, funny, but still sentient and real. She can be just as emotional as anyone, but she can pick herself up and be strong when needed.

As my next series doesn’t release until October, I don’t want to give too much away on that front, but I will say this: Liz, the main character, goes through more growth and change than any character I’ve ever written and is one of my all time favorites. Her story lives and lingers inside my mind, even though I’ve long since put it aside for publishing, and I deeply hope all my fans are as intrigued with it as I am.

 

Hope you enjoyed today’s read, until next!

Much Love,

CM

Recent Thoughts (From a Potentially Crazy Author)

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Hey there! So I know I have things I am supposed to be doing (i.e. the next Safe Novel, the next Defiant Novel, that paranormal romance book I’m releasing this year…) but sometimes, as an author, I find that I get D I S T R A C T E D.  Not necessarily by the mundanes of life either, more often it is my own brain distracting me. Here lately I can’t seem to write the story I want to write. Why? Because that other story I want to write is screaming at me.

Don’t ask me why that happens. It’s a puzzle even to me. Some days it just happens like that. How is it possible that I can have so many different stories raging for attention in my head? I sit down to write. I stare at the screen, I plan to write the story that is currently the number one priority…. and instead other stories vie for my attention.

It’s like Writer’s block but instead of having nothing to write, it’s like I have too much to write. I have so much struggling to break out of my brain and run onto the paper that I can’t focus on a single one and then I can’t write at all. VERY FRUSTRATING.

So I screw around a bit. I try to focus. I yell at the character refusing to sit in the corner and wait their turn. Ha. That’s actually my lovely cousin’s analogy. It’s rather fitting. This is where I’ve been, though.

What do I do when this happens, though?

I’ll tell you!

I don’t know. It varies. Sometimes I write a few pages in each, jumping back and forth, back and forth, until one captures me enough that I can focus on it. Other times I have what I call “fun side stories” that I start writing on the side for myself. They’re not part of any series I’ve written, they’re just little tendrils of something in my head. Sometimes it’s complete nonsense, it’s basically just writing for the sake of writing, but I have no constraints because it’s a story that doesn’t follow my other stories’ rules. This allows me to write a little more freely and lets me get my creative juices flowing so I can get back to the story I intended to write in the first place. The best part of fun side stories is that, because I usually write them only for my eyes, the crazy factor gets amped way up. That’s why they’re so much fun. I don’t need rhyme or reason when I’m writing them.

The cool part about those fun side stories? Sometimes they become “Holy sh** this is an epic story that I must share with the world!” And in the Fall of this year I intend to release one of these stories. One of my beta readers who had the privilege of reading it first absolutely fell in love with it so much that she has read it three times. Strangely, I fell in love with it, too. I never intended to write more than a few pages of it and it blasted off all on it’s own and before I knew it, I was dozens of chapters in and writing up a storm. It was my own personal heaven and hell. I couldn’t stop, when I was forced to I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was truly the story that kept me up at night, losing sleep to write it. It was so distracting that I barely ate, I would go hours past a normal meal time before I realized I hadn’t touched food all day. I think it’s a story that’s worth remembering because you don’t just read it, you live it, you feel it, and it stretches far through the reaches of your heart and soul.

And that’s what fun side stories can do for you. Like the one I started writing in recently because I couldn’t decide what to write. Because all my characters were screaming for attention and I just needed to write. Sometimes, we just need to write. Or at least us crazy authors do 😉

Questions About Defiant

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Hey gang! I am so thrilled to share some of the frequent questions I get about Defiant and my corresponding answers. If you have any more, you are always welcome to comment or contact me here or on my other social media accounts.

 

How long did it take you to write Defiant?

I wrote Defiant in little more than a month, first draft, mind you. There were plenty of things that needed to be cut and added to get the wonderful story we have today.

 

Who is your favorite character in Defiant?

Would it be cliché to say it’s impossible to choose? No, actually, I do have a soft spot for each of my characters, but how can I not say Faelan? She is a very special character to me. For years I tried to create to the perfect, sarcastic heroine, and somehow it never came out right. I found that each time I tried, something was missing or it felt too bitchy with limited awesome, kickass, sarcasm. When it finally happened, it was Faelan, and she is perfect. She is the character I wanted for years, the one I waited on for so long. When she finally came strolling through my mind, it was with a wicked smile and a glint in her eye that said, “You finally found me, let’s get this show on the road.”

 

Are your characters based on real people? They seem so real!

I never strive to model a character after any one that I know. I am a creative person at heart, I enjoy creating. That includes imagining new people and the way they are, how they would react to certain situations, and I have to stay true to that character and my own heart.

 

How do you come up with character names?

Now this is a question with several answers. You wouldn’t believe the amount of lists I have roaming around the house with names in them. I even have two such lists in my phone. Since we’re talking about Defiant, I’ll mention fantasy names first. I take inspiration from everything and anything. Sometimes it is a word I accidentally stumble over that gives me an idea for a unique name. Sometimes I combine street signs to create a new name. Other times I randomly combine names. Then there are days when my mind draws a blank and I resort to fantasy name generators to get random combinations. Most of the time, when I see a name I like on a random name generator, I still alter it to something I like better. Depends on the day.

However, there is a particular method to my madness with Defiant. You’ll see more of this in Impact and the third novel of the series. I try to align certain types of names, certain syntaxes and syllables and ways to spell a name with each individual culture and nation. The Galiseans are the best example of this. Their names are much more “clicky” or “slithery” so to speak. As reptilian humanoids, I found this fitting. Their names have a lot of Cs and Ks and a lot of Ys and Ss for this purpose. Things that slide of your tongue with a Sssss (like a snake). Likewise, the Santains tend to have common names with extremely different spelling than what most of us have seen. You can read more about names on my blog the Power of Names.

The universe in Defiant is really vibrant, how did you come up with the Callanans and will there be other cultures in the next books?

I don’t know, it just sort of comes to me. I can be inspired by different things and build around that one idea sometimes. A lot of the time it starts with a character and I build around that character, giving them a life, history, culture, etc.

The Callanans, however, I know exactly where they came from. I was having a day where I wanted to write something new, but I was stuck somewhere between wanting to write something with a medieval setting and a scifi setting. Some of the story that was in my head, there was more technological things, like space travel, but I wanted a reason for my character’s to use swords and be warriors. So I decided to put them together, a race that was almost medieval, with lots of old age weapons, but also technologically advanced. Thus, the Callanans were born. Ironically, Virion never really uses a sword, but I originally wanted him to. Perhaps one day I’ll go back and make use of my warriors in such a way that they use more swords, axes, bows, and arrows.

 

We had a bit of a cliff hangar at the end of the book, will we see more about that in the next?

Of course! As Impact has now released, you can read the next step in the journey and I promise there are resolutions to any other clip hangars that might be hanging around 😉

My Favorite Villain

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Hey all! I was recently asked to talk about my favorite villain that I have written, so I decided to make a post about it. In all honesty, I have many things that I like about certain villains, they fit each story in their own perfect way. Some of them I outright hate, some of them are a little more tricky. Thus, this post will probably include mentions of more than one villain ha ha ha. However, there is one that I think stands out for me a bit more than the others. Seeing as my book Impact just released, I am free to discuss it.

While writing Defiant, I actually had several villains who were not quite what they seemed (Mikhal and Vane). I knew how it would end and I knew book 2 would involve a lot of Santain. Naturally, the Patriarch of Santain was the next villain. With Vane being our most prominent villain and being arrested, I fully realized the next villain could not be the same. He needed to be someone we could hate, someone we wanted to watch die. He had to be bad for the sake of being bad.

And so we have Saizar.

Patriarch Saizar is quite possibly one of the most unpredictable villains I’ve ever written. He is not a normal man. Unfortunately, Saizar is a product of unchecked mental instability. He seized the throne and has been left to his devices, fully able and allowed to do whatever he wanted for the last twenty something years. This predicament has bred a true monster, yet at the same time, a monster with a human side.

We see Saizar in fits of rage, we see him tending his wife, making plans for his sons future. Yet one wrong move he loses all sanity and control. I believe this unpredictability makes for an unnerving villain, which makes him one of the best, because you don’t know what he might do next. You see that he is fully capable of being decent… and you see he chooses not to be that way. In the third novel, this will be built upon even more before we see who lives and who dies (wait… someone is dying?! Oh yes, my darlings, many will die before this is finished).

At this point in my writing career, I have villains and heroes that blur the lines of good and bad. I can’t fully discuss them because they haven’t been published yet, and I can honestly say I have someone worse than Saizar, a villain I truly despise, a villain who fights on the side of good, a hero who falls and becomes the villain, but for now I leave you with Saizar. My most unpredictable and one of my worst, and best, villains.

 

Thanks for reading!

Much Love,

CM

 

 

P.S. Please feel free to ask me questions that I can answer here in my blog or any other media outlet 🙂