Today on the FSFN couch, I am delighted to introduce Jaysen True Blood. Jaysen's Author Bio Jaysen True Blood is the pen name of Jason Peterman. Jay fell in love with the written word at an early age, when he was exposed to the works of Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Zane Grey, among the many classic and contemporary writers. It was from these writers that Jay began to learn the basics of good storytelling and form. |
In fourth grade, he had his first taste of writing when the class was given a writing assignment which took the form of a book of stories and poems by all in the class, which he still has and cherishes. He would not write again until the sixth grade when his class had a poetry unit and was given charge of creating a makeshift poetry magazine of their own, complete with fictitious ads and their class poems.
In seventh grade, he switch to song lyrics, then to a handful of novels, which have been lost to time, and finally to plays. He switched back to short stories and poetry in high school. His brief run with an agent failed and his first two stories to be submitted professionally were sent back. Not so with his poetry and songs. It was in high school where he would publish his first song and his first poem.
In 2003/2004, Jay briefly worked for the e-zine Keep It Coming, writing serial fiction, music and writing related articles and independent music reviews. When KIC went under, Jay was cast adrift. In 2007, Jay released “Seven By Jay: Seven Short Stories”. In 2008, he released his first novel, “The Price Of Lust: Book One Of Faces In The Crowd”. In 2010, He released “So Here’s To Twilight and Other Poems”. All of these were published through a vanity press, though he did not realize it when he first submitted the books for consideration.
In 2013, he stepped into a recording studio for the first time and began recording his first music project and copyrighted “Mexican Radio And Other Short Stories” which started life as a single manuscript. He first e-pubbed it as a single book, not realizing that the file size was too big for most to consider downloading it. A friend, then, reformatted it for him and he published volume I while his friend formatted the second volume. Both books and music can be found online.
He currently lives with his mother and does various ghostwriting and freelance jobs as he works on his writing and singing career. He is currently working on two continuous stories, one novel, and another collection or two of short stories.
Book title: “Mexican Radio And Other Short Stories,
Volumes I and II”
Genre: mixed.
Volume I: Westerns: "Going Down In A Blaze Of Glory: Being an outlaw in the old west is hell. But when you are being hunted by the fastest draw in the west who also packs a buffalo gun, it's worse than hell. "Lay Your Money Down": Guy Marlowe is a gambler with a few surprises up his sleeves as he is called upon to make a wrong right. Psychological Suspense: "I Don't Like Mondays": When a prank goes horribly wrong, three friends find themselves where they don't want to be. "Mexican Radio": A con turns a murder plot to his own benefit. Fantasy: Narratives Of A Dry Vampire, Part One, On The Wings Of A Bat": Killing one's own family is all in a day's work when you are atoning your life as a vampire. Science Fiction: "Burning Sky": Ma flees to the colonies after Pa is killed for a mysterious reason by his employers. "Coming Home": Even extraterrestrials have double agendas. “New Year's Resolutions": A futuristic view into the wishes of a struggling divorced man. "The Gift": Boy meets extraterrestrials, with an extra special holiday twist. “Faster Than The Speed Of Life": Metaclones are going to take over the earth! Or are they? Contemporary fiction: "Eighteen And Life": There is only one thing to do when you are falsely arrested and convicted for someone else's crime."I Just Want You": An obsessive love letter tells all about one man's thoughts. "In The End There's Nothing": Disappointment can do a lot of things. Historical Fiction: “The Diaries And Letters Of Niccolo And Maffeo Polo": Follow the polo Brothers to China on their first three trips.
Volume II: Science fiction: Bad Lands: The continuation of the story started in "Burning Sky"; Ma flees the colonies to a region known as the Bad Lands in order to hide from a merciless bounty hunter. Old L.A. Tonight: A member of a colony ship is banished for daring to learn the truth and goes back to earth. The Eleventh Hour: A group of soldier make on last attempt at saving humanity from intergalactic slavery. She’s A Beauty: A bail bondsman on vacation takes a nightmare trip with a vacation planner to a strange planet. Fantasy: Ghost Behind My Eyes: Sometimes going back to fix the past is the only way to live life to its fullest. The Duke's Treachery: The wrong queen can cause the whole kingdom to suffer. Thorogon's Dilemma: In a time when death is only a punishment for committing crimes, why is an innocent man going to his death? Narratives Of A Dry Vampire, Part Two: Of Wolf And Man: The painful truth of Lycanthropy and vampire justice is explained by Baraq the vampire-monk. Right Next Door To Hell: A writer trying to start his life over again rents an apartment in the complex from Hell. Painkiller: The interview of a lifetime isn't always one with a living celebrity. Bad Obsession: The sequel to "Right Next Door To Hell". Did he get the girl? Westerns: Headed For Destruction: Another adventure featuring Fancy Marsh, the Breeds, the Legends, and the Jacks. this time they're on the trail of a murderous gang of rustlers. Suspense: No Method To My Madness: De Luka finds that not every hit goes according to plan. One Wrong Move: A group of scientists go to investigate a dark evil threatening a virtual paradise. Mysteries: Murder Rings The Church Bells: Martin Luciano battles his brother for the lives of the people in a small New Mexico town. Vengeance IS Mine: An FBI agent comes out of hiding to lure a deranged serial killer into a trap by playing a deadly game of human chess. Contemporary fiction: When The Crowds Are Gone: An aging musician finds the meaning of true happiness after finding true love. One Shot At Glory: the rise and fall, and rise, of a child prodigy. Suicide Solution: When their mission is compromised and they are betrayed, the surviving members of a mission make the only choice left. Storyteller Blues: Going blind, he has one story left to tell. His own. On The Road: A musician in hiding ponders how long he can continue to run from the woman who almost succeeded in killing him. Owed To Joe: Joe can't quite understand that the dysfunction in his life was self-made. Yesterdays: Sometimes true love goes deeper than just the heart.
Published by Jason Peterman in 2013
Author interview: Hi Jaysen, welcome to the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network. It's great to have such a talented and diverse writer in the ranks. Jaysen: Thanks Kasper. Hi all. Nice to be here. Kasper: I'm loving your book covers, Jaysen. It sounds like they are jam-packed with a range of stories. What is the story behind your book title? I thought that I would use the title of my favorite story in the whole collection. “Mexican Radio” was fun to write and had a lot of irony and humor in it. |
I started writing in fourth grade. It was a class project where the teacher produced a little homemade statue made of rocks with faces painted on them and squirrel tails glued to them and had us name them. Thus was born the Rocktails. We, then, were instructed to write either a story or poem about them. I wrote a rudimentary story and menu for my part in it. That was in 1983 or 84. I wouldn’t pick the pen up again until 1986/87 in sixth grade during a poetry unit.
What other writing have you done?
I published poetry between 1992 and 1994 in poetry anthologies, a song through a “song shark” publishing company, articles and serial fiction through an e-zine, and finally three previous books through a vanity press…which I regret doing now.
You certainly have tried lots of different styles. It sounds like an eclectic mix of genres in your Mexican collections too, with fantasy, science fiction, westerns, thrillers and more. How do you decide which genre to write in?
I don’t particularly choose a genre, though I am most comfortable with science fiction and fantasy. I tend to let the story or novel dictate its own path, though I did intend for the westerns to be westerns and consciously researched and wrote the historical fiction. It was both the hardest and most rewarding.
I like that kind of 'flying by the seat of your pants' writing.
What is the basic plot of your books?
Each story is different, although the westerns are all related (though out of order) and are your basic western. A tall tale based in historic fact and fiction, though almost all the stories have the basic good versus evil plot and theme.
Which is your favorite scene and why?
Well, that is a toss-up. I like the pepper spray/stun gun scene in the title story, but I also like the scene in “I don’t Like Mondays” where the bodiless arm reaches out and grabs the fourth drunk in the alley. I guess-for “Radio”- because of the whole situation and the total unexpectedness of the whole scenario. For “Mondays”, it is because the guy gets what he deserves.
How do you develop your characters?
Each story presents its own unique obstacles. Westerns, fantasy, and most science fiction characters are not that hard. With historical fiction, you have to build from historical references, but in the case of “Diaries”, that was tough since Marco Polo’s journals were the only reference that had any information about his father and uncle at all. Everything else had to be conjecture. For most dramatic, or lit, fiction I use myself unless the character is female. Then I just observe others.
Which is your favorite character and why?
Oh, that’s easy. Though I revived Thomas Breed and company from “Breed’s Command” in the westerns, I think Fancy Marsh is actually my favorite, with Guy Marlowe being a close second, simply because Marsh is who he is. A well-meaning drifter with a sketchy background who just happens to carry a buffalo gun. Marlowe simply because he is underestimated by his opponents both at cards and with guns.
Do you have a job outside of writing? Not if you are talking non-writing type work. I ghost and freelance. I have done a lot of other things on my way to this point, but due to health concerns and doctor’s orders, have been severely limited as to what I can do. So I write and sing. But mostly write. Awesome! writing sure is the best job ever. What are you working on now? Two stories. Not sure if they’ll be novels, novellas or just short stories yet. “The Devil” and “Bad Company”. A Christian piece and a not-so-ordinary vampire piece. I have also been working on another collection of short stories. |
I write most of the day, after my assignment s are finished (the writing I do for others), whether it be on the stories I am writing or posts on my blog.
What do you do when you have writer’s block?
I read. Only thing worse than writer’s block is to have problems focusing on a good book. I call it reader’s block. I never read when I am writing unless I have to research something.
Your covers are striking. What's the story behind them?
The covers are temporary until I can afford to redesign a more accurate cover. I thought maybe an old fashioned radio with a sombrero and serape draped over it. *smiles* But the cover for Volume I was done with amazon’s cover editor, volume II’s was designed by the friend who reformatted the books.
What kind of books do you read?
Science fiction, erotica, fantasy, history, westerns, books about weapons, you name it. Right now, I have a kindle-for-PC filled with just about every genre (including “nonfiction and children’s) that I have to read and review.
List some good books you have read:
“To The Max” by Bambi F. Moor (erotica) , “A Broken Girl’s Journey” by Niki Jilvonte, “Chasing Beautiful” by Pamela Ann (erotica), “The Children: Book One Of The Knowledge” by David McWhinnie, “The Dystemporal Reporter” and “Seeking The Master” by Kate O’Hara , “The Preppers wife” by P.B. Roberts, “Lust” by Catelyn Carroll (erotic thriller), “Tiara” and “Nightcrawler” by John Reinhard Dizon, “The Huntress” by Nadja Losbohm just to name a few. Depending on your tastes, I recommend them all.
I don’t really think I have a favorite. They are all some of the best that I have read in their genre. Of course, I have 300+ more books to read, so I have yet to stumble upon that one special book that I must read multiple times, though there are many I have read recently that I want to take my time and read over again more thoroughly.
Fave quote?
My favorite quote is something my grandfather, my dad’s dad, used to tell me. He would always tell me that “you can be whatever you want to be. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. And if they do, show them you CAN.”
Do you have a blog?
Yes. https://jaysentrueblood.wordpress.com/
I give updates, write or post stories, articles, or cartoons I have drawn.
I have mostly writer or book review blogs that I follow, but I have some miscellaneous blogs of different types that I also follow including one that is in either Italian or Romanian that I can’t understand, but I thought was cool, since they added me first.
If you could only take one book with you, which would it be?
If I had a Kindle, I really wouldn’t have to choose. But, I would have to take “The Hobbit” or “The House Of Seven Gables”. Not really sure. Love both, even though “House” is kind of dry at first.
Extract from “Thorogon’s Dilemma
Davina raced through the streets of Hallagarde toward the halls of the Ministry of Justice. She’d been sent there to retrieve a single soul. No reason for his being there had been given nor had any been given as to why he was to be saved. All she knew was that to fail was to imply that she felt hatred toward a soul, and to imply this would put her among those within the darkness of those halls.
Death had long since been abolished through some mutation within the human genome, though the resulting immortality was not true immortality but rather the ‘pseudo’ kind that allowed indeterminate years, but also allowed for the tragedy of death through other means. But one simply didn’t die of old age.
Nor did the body age as it once had. Reproductive cycles were longer, almost indefinite, as were the appearance of youthfulness and the boundless energy of the young. Science could not explain the phenomenon, nor explain it away. It simply was.
Wars still raged, claiming millions of lives, but they were only rumors-rumbling like thunder-from the distance. Yet, millions, even billions of humans signed up to fight in them and shipped off into the void, beyond the stars, never to return. Men and women, both, went seeking their fortunes and-some would dare to say-even their deaths.
H ate had become a crime in its self. No longer was it looked at as simply the motive for different crimes, it was now the ultimate crime from which all other crime sprang. Even those who showed the least bit of greed were accused, and often convicted, of being filled with hate. Any form of neglect or disregard for fellow humans was seen as hate. All were punishable by death, and all who were convicted were sent to the halls of the Ministry. There, they were sent to their fates.
The unlucky few who were denied death were sent to human deprogramming. There, they were turned into the equivalent of zombies, scientifically reduced to mindless slave labor with no memory of who they were and no record remaining of their past or their present existence. They were living in nonexistence.
But none of this bothered Davina as she raced to her destination. She had to make it there soon. Her record, her life, depended on it. She couldn’t risk being even a second too late. Every second counted for both her and the soul she was after. Without a minute to spare she entered the Ministry’s hall at the side of the Head Judge.
“Sir,” she began, “the Council has sent me to save a soul.”
“Which Soul?” the hooded form droned.
“Thorogon Tryll, Sir,” she replied.
“Oh, very well,” it hissed, “though I have no idea why they continue their quest with him. Since you must, then wait for my signal. I shall give you the nod and you shall be able to do your civic duty without delay.”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied.
In the dark cringed the souls of a thousand damned mortals. One by one, their dignity was stripped from them. Standing naked before their judges, they could seek no reprieve. Hatred for those they should’ve loved had sealed their fate. Lack of love for their fellow mortals had put them in this unholy line. Now they could only await their sentencing.
Usually, this was death. In life, on the outside, they had died a thousand times through unkindness, selfishness, misuse of power, cruelty, abusiveness, and other methods of hateful behavior. Within these halls of judgment, their death would be realized. But it would be slow and painful.
Within these halls, many archaic methods of torturous death was used. They even had the occasional soul sent to vivisection. The vivisectionist was the most feared. With him, death took years to come.
Many preferred to be flayed alive, drawn and quartered, suffer the thumb screws, be put on the rack, put into the iron maiden, be branded with hot coals, or even put upon the wheel to the torture of being assigned death through vivisection. Even dunking until dead was welcomed above the vivisectionist.
Of course, the aim was to never be sent to these halls or to have such judgments passed upon you. To have such done was to be counted among thieves, murderers, and rapists. Oh, and liars too.
Davina stood upon the catwalk above the scene. She’d been quick enough and could see the soul she‘d been sent for. Peering at the head judge, she awaited his signal. With a nod, he allowed her to begin.
“Thorogon Tryll,” she called, “step forward from the masses. You have been pardoned. The High Council seeks your assistance.”
A rather tall, gaunt figure stepped into the light. He looked up at her. “And what would the council have of me?” He asked wearily.
“That I have no knowledge of,” Davina replied, “only that they have sent me to retrieve you and deliver you to them.”
“Then I shall oblige them.”
Jaysen's links:
Blog: https://jaysentrueblood.wordpress.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jaytruebloodauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonlevii/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FLL00GM/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KOG2QES/
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00IUNJWFI/ (author central page, lists all my books)
http://www.barnesnadnoble.com/w/mexican-radio-and-other-short-stories-volume-i-jaysen-true-blood/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mexican-radio-and-other-short-stories-volume-ii-jayes-true-blood/
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/mexican-radio-and-other-short-stories-volume-i/
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/mexican-radio-and-other-short-stories-volume-ii/
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