The magical creatures in Flint are being murdered and Koko and Damien hardly know each other, let alone how to track down serial killers.
Published: December 1st, 2022
Cover Artist: BRoseDesignz
The magical creatures in Flint are being murdered and Koko and Damien hardly know each other, let alone how to track down serial killers.
Each death is tipping the balance toward something darker. The killers have their own agenda: to leave the mortal world and live their fairytale ending in Fairy, and they will kill everything they can to get there.
How can Damien and Koko find and stop them before the real evil unfolds?
GUEST POST
A Cast of Thousands—Death and Epic Fantasy
by Melodie Bolt
In the golden age of Hollywood, back when movies were black and white and the early days of color, films used to be advertised as “a cast of thousands.” That meant there was an enormous cast with many, many extras. Samuel Goldwyn, the legendary producer who brought us Leo the Lion (the roaring lion at the beginning of movies), is said to have stated he wanted not just twelve disciples for the filming of The Last Supper, but thousands. A few examples of a-cast-of-thousand movies are Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Metropolis (1927), Cleopatra (1963), and Gandhi (1982). Now, of course, the cast of thousands can be produced with CGI.
Epic books frequently take place on a large-scale featuring politics, war, and quests. There are kingdoms at stake, armies fighting each other, and epic heroes whose magnetism calls to arms their friends against their enemies. The perfect setting for a cast of thousands.
It’s not uncommon for epic fantasies to feature not only a cast of thousands, but thousands of deaths as well. Think for example of the battle of Helms’ Deep in The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice of Fire by George R. R. Martin, otherwise known as HBO’s Game of Thrones. Martin’s books feature 796 characters with thousands of relationships and interactions. In fact, there are reportedly 6,887 deaths in the book series.
Most of the time, these expendable characters are unknown to the reader or viewer. They are nameless. But sometimes, like in Martin’s books, we do know the names and backstories of dozens who die.
Similarly, my book Fix, an epic urban fantasy, features serial killers on a murderous rampage in the city of Flint, Michigan. Many of the murders happen from the point-of-view of the victim. We learn about their life, their desires, and personalities before they are murdered. Each death propels the story towards its gory end.
When writing this book, I started with the serial killers. In fact, the first scene was Jira, my villainess, stalking then killing a selkie. Jira can partially turn into a great white shark and uses this ability to kill her victims. Jira hungers for a lot of things in her life, but especially for a place she can call home. And she’s willing to kill for it, especially when her lover, Fix, promises her a happily-ever-after future in Fairy.
Jira is one of my favorite characters. Even though she’s a villain you can’t help but root for her. My son’s twenty-year-old girlfriend beta read my book so I could get some feedback from a younger generation, and Jira was her favorite character too. Fierce and intelligent, Jira is willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants.
Just like the films with the cast of thousands, with that kind of magnetism, readers are drawn to her and her story.
You’ll have to read Fix to find out how Jira’s life turns out. Fix will be out on December 1st.
Melodie Bolt is a Flint citizen and writer of epic urban fantasy, horror, and speculative poetry. Her work is forthcoming in Erie Tales XV, Horror Curated, and Under Her Eye, a collection of horror poetry. Her debut novel, Fix, will be released December 1, 2022. She can be found on Facebook and Twitter under her name or on her website, melodiebolt.com. If you sign up for Melodie’s newsletter on her website, you’ll get a free short story.
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Melodie Bolt has lived in and traveled to many places. She understands how location influences culture which is why she chose Flint for her debut novel, Fix. Although Flint is well known for the Water Crisis, which Melodie is a part of, there are many beautiful sites and people with a can-do attitude for rebuilding. Many locations in Flint are featured in her novel. Having both PTSD and rapid-cycling Bipolar, Melodie is always building and rebuilding her writing.
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6 comments:
Sounds like a good book. I love the cover.
Jira as a great white shark caught my attention. I want to meet the other characters. What are their abilities?
Great post, enjoyed reading it. This sounds like a good book
Sounds like a good book.
This book seems really intriguing. I gotta check it out, and the cover design for this is awesome! I love the imagery! :)
I liked the GP, but I am reserved about "liking" / "favouring" a character who is basically a (serial) criminal. Maybe she has her reasons but these are troubled waters. Anyway, this is not an easy topic so I'm curious about the book.
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