Authorpreneur Dashboard – David Mark Brown
Twitch and Die!
Science Fiction & Fantasy
If Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino had a book baby! Two populist Texan folk-heros, Chancho Villarreal and James Starr, embark on a mission of political endorsement, but what they find is a hill country rife with fear and rumor. A so-called Angel of Death is executing individuals infected by a terrible plague, and the company mining town at the epicenter has gone dark. It's up to Chancho and his worst enemy to navigate a world of shifting allegiances while uncovering the truth about a plague and its infected who refuse to die quietly.
Book Bubbles from Twitch and Die!
Entering Thurber, TX
Twitch and Die! is at its core a grind house throwback begging the classic sort of "Don't go in there!" response from the reader. Of course "going in there" is exactly what we all want. This excerpt represents the first time the characters lay eyes upon the place where they know the rest of the story awaits them. With the description I wanted to evoke the right amount of the familiar and the alien. Then by releasing the obvious gauntlet of "survival" I wanted to raise the question for the characters as well as the readers, "Who will the survivors be?"
Fistful of Reefer
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Bubbles from Fistful of Reefer
Del Rio and the Flash Flood
Chancho's given name is Del Rio, or "from the river." Found by nuns on the banks of the Rio Bravo, water plays both a transitionary and visionary role in Chancho's life. In this scene I wanted to push his "Moses" parallels further while highlighting the tight bonds between him and his "people." While unable to part the water, he braves the flash flood to get himself and his friends to the other side. But his time in the wilderness will not be without cost. In the following scene he loses his horse. On a broader scale, each of the Lost File stories reveals pieces of a secret history waiting for readers to discover. By naming his new horse (a few scenes later) Bautizada or "baptism" I wanted to pull back the curtain a smidge to show how the author is possibly more aware of Chancho's history than he himself is at the time.
