WRAGE by Joseph Spencer
An occult crime thriller
AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH
-What book and/or experience made you want to be a writer?
I think a number of books including Count of Monte Cristo, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes’ stories inspired me, but it was when my then girlfriend and now wife got me hooked on watching the TV show Castle that I thought why not me? I’d worked as a newspaper reporter for 10 years before switching careers, and I wanted to feel the creative outlet I had with writing again.
-What genre do you write?
I write occult crime thrillers. It’s funny after some of my friends and family read my debut Grim they said they were impressed with my work before adding that they were scared for my wife’s safety. I write dark stuff. Many people have reviewed it as not for the faint of heart.
-WRAGE
Sometimes the toughest fight lies within yourself.
As more dark secrets come to light, the battle for souls pushes Prairieville to the brink of war in the living and supernatural realms.
Jeff Wrage swears a blood oath to Abaddon, the supernatural avenger of murder victims, to hunt the crooked cop who butchered his wife. Jeff wonders whether he can be the executioner Abaddon requires. Their pact throws the supernatural realm in chaos and threatens to trigger an apocalyptic fight for control of the afterlife between the Sons of Darkness and Sons of Light foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Orlando Marino sees the death of Cyrus Black as his opportunity to restore the Marino family's stronghold in Prairieville’s organized crime scene and become a mob kingpin. He unleashes a plague, turning its victims into mindless followers. Cyrus' heir is busy rooting out a traitor and is unable to stop the coming turf war in the realm of man.
The fate of all rests with Homicide Detective Anna Duke, who steps into the shoes of her mentor while coming to terms with unrequited love. As she tries to clear the fallen hero's name, she takes on a case where corpses go missing. Her new partner is reported dead. She learns the truth about her true identity and uncovers a trail of secrets questioning her tragic past. She journeys to avert the destruction of all creation.
-Spoilers?
Chained to a rock in a dry stream bed, Jeff Wrage knew he’d become a helpless prisoner who could do nothing more than wait for his captor. Stormy skies threatened from directly above him with bright flares of lightning snaking among sooty clouds and disappearing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could detect that the sun was shining brightly on the other side of the rock.
Scant rays of brilliant sunshine peeked over the rock, reflecting bright light off a magnificent golden shrine on a bank not far from where he was chained.
This can’t be real. He’d never seen a place like this in his life.
Large wet drops crashed against his skin. The coolness of the rain streaking down his body caused steam to rise from his skin, which he noticed had turned a dark shade of crimson.
The only being this red was….
“Lucifer,” a calm voice echoed from above Jeff on the shoreline.
A giant, dressed in white armor sparkling like diamonds in the spare sunlight, stepped into view. He wielded a golden-hilted silver sword in one hand and a silver shield with the Latin inscription “Quis ut Deus” (I am like God) on the front in the other hand. He loomed above Jeff. A large gold cross ran down the center of the giant’s breastplate. A second inlaid golden cross glinted at the center of his white helmet. The helmet obscured his face, save for flawless ivory skin which radiated a blinding light. There was something across his back casting a large shadow, but Jeff couldn’t see what it was.
“You were thinking of Lucifer, whose skin is often portrayed as red,” the giant said. The ivory giant stepped into full view. From his back a pair of massive wings spanned over ten feet wide and five feet long majestically fluttering in the breeze, yet didn’t cast a shadow. The rain pelting Jeff in the eyes didn’t touch this giant. He certainly was no man. The only thing Jeff could compare it to would be—
“An angel,” the giant completed Jeff’s sentence again. “You are correct.”
-For aspiring writers, any tips?
I would just encourage them to write every day. It’s easy if you’re not a full-time writer to get out of the habit. I’d also say that no matter how much rejection you face that you need to keep going until you see your dreams through to the end.
-What’s your favorite book/genre to read?
I read mostly crime fiction or mysteries, often with some sort of supernatural or paranormal element.
-What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever written?
I think I improved my writing skills in Wrage. When I decided to expand Grim into the Sons of Darkness series with Wrage, I incorporated many references from religion and historical lore. The “War Scroll” from the Dead Sea Scrolls foretells of an apocalyptic fight between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness in which Light will earn eternal peace by destroying Darkness. Each son in the Sons of Darkness series will represent a deadly sin, and each son in my future Sons of Light series will symbolize a cardinal virtue. Wrage introduces the coming struggle between these two forces in both the supernatural and mortal realms.
ABOUT JOSEPH
As a boy, Joseph Spencer immersed himself in the deductive logic of Sherlock Holmes, the heroic crime fighting of Batman and Spider-Man, and a taste for the tragic with dramas from poets like Shakespeare and Homer.
Joseph Spencer lives in central Illinois and has a full-time job as a manager at a 9-1-1 emergency communications center. He graduated summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Communications.
He’s the author of the Sons of Darkness series of occult crime thrillers inspired by the Dead Sea Scrolls. The “War Scroll” from the Dead Sea Scrolls foretells of an apocalyptic fight between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness in which Light will earn eternal peace by destroying Darkness. Each son in the Sons of Darkness series will represent a deadly sin, and each son in my future Sons of Light series will symbolize a cardinal virtue.
Joseph worked as a newspaper journalist for ten years in large regional daily newspapers at Peoria, Ill., Burlington, Iowa, Martinsville, Va., and Grand Junction, Colo. Five years ago, Joseph switched careers to join public safety because the outlook of the newspaper industry wasn’t too bright. That’s when he started thinking about a fiction writing career because I missed the creative outlet of writing. Joseph has been writing fiction for the past 2 ½ years.
Visit Joseph’s website. Connect with him on Facebook, and follow him on Twitter @josephspencer00.
Check him out on Google+, Goodreads, and Linkedin.
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Hey readers,
Chained to a rock…ouch.
Follow the rest of the tour here.
And don’t forget to comment for a chance at a prize.
Joseph will be awarding a $25 Starbucks gift certificate to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
