BLOOD BROTHERS by Dean C. Moore

BLOOD BROTHERS: ESCAPE TO CREEPORIA
by Dean C. Moore

Fraternal twins are separated from birth, and raised to be assassins. They were never meant to meet. But even when kept apart, they’re just too powerful. Their paranormal abilities cease to be an advantage when they can no longer be controlled. So they are scheduled for cancellation.

Their paths cross before they can be taken out. It is only then that they discover the true depths of their betrayal. Not only are they stronger when they’re together, they’re half-breeds, sired by an all-powerful warlock.

The question is, are they strong enough even together to take him on now that he’s coming for them?

They have an ace up their sleeves they are not aware of. Drawn to the same kind of women, they find themselves married to a pair of sorceresses whose magical abilities are only now surfacing.

But one encounter with dear old dad is all it takes for them to realize, they’re still the underdogs.

From the back of the book:

“The series is called Blood Brothers, but this adventure is really a family affair: the brothers, their partners, children and even their old man in a starring role as the villain. Think Disney's Incredibles, but in a violent and bizarre fantasy world.” Rob May, Dragon Killer

“With incredibly detailed world building and action scenes, this story seems like it would make a phenomenal film or TV series.

Moore pulls out all the stops with dragons, telekinesis, shapeshifters and insurmountable odds in this battle of good versus evil - and a villain who just won't lay down and die.” Demelza Carlton, Ocean’s Gift

“When you read a Dean C. Moore novel, you can expect rich, original characters, witty dialogue and unexpected plot turns. Blood Brothers doesn't disappoint.” JC Gatlin, Designated Survivor

EXCERPT
Jared Rawlings fought to keep up with his wife Ellen, the predatory animal that was the real him threatening to break free of the placid, domesticated creature on the surface that held him prisoner.

They made their way to the latest stall, past the body odors and the dust kicked up in the dirt road by the relentless march of harried shoppers. The Moroccan marketplace was teaming with life; not all of it for sale, at least on this side of the display tables.

Ellen's eyes darted to the curios, his to the latest constellation of attackers. Whoever had sent the first one after him had abandoned subtle and understated methods.

One fez-wearing assailant, in the window two stories up, aimed his rifle at him. Another assassin, lurking in the shadows the booth over, reached for a Yemeni Janbiya under his vest.

Jared picked up a frying pan, and deflected the bullet from the shooter at the man with the short curved-blade dagger the booth over. The gunfire and ricocheting sounds were swallowed up in the mayhem of the marketplace.

He gazed at the back of the frying pan—with nary a scratch—impressed. Thrusting the pan before Ellen, he said, “I like this one.”

Having missed what was going on with him entirely, she pointed to the miniature brewer and the Arabic coffee. “A few shots of that are what you need.” Addressing the peddler, she said, “I swear, he sleepwalks through life.”

AN INTERVIEW WITH DEAN
-What made you want to write?

My detractors would probably say a savior complex. I see things going on in the world that are so wrong and I want to fix it. I want us all to be better people and to treat each other better. I want us all to be a hell of a lot more enlightened than we are. Fortunately for me, the philosopher and futurist in me are very good at big picture and trend analysis, at seeing how things are going to play out globally many moves and many years in advance. They see patterns within patterns, how emerging technologies will transform lives and what it means to be human. (From these voices come the themes explored in my sci-fi). The Nostradamus-style psychic in me sees how we can continue to develop our paranormal abilities over time, telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, you name it. (From these insights are born my paranormal fantasies). The scientist and psychologist in me have a lot to add to the conversation. Then there are the various dramatic personae performing on stage in my head that need to act out everything like adolescents to have a deeper understanding of life. Put these (and the many other voices in my head together) and I end up with a fairly holistic view of the world that might actually be worth something.

There’s a part of me that is thusly convinced if everyone read my books they would be duly enlightened and the world would be saved. (I try to talk him down, but it never seems to work.) In reality, it’s probably more like we are all emitting truth on different wavelengths and there are readers who are just right for us, who need to hear what we have to say just when we have to say it. And conversely, no matter how famous a writer you may be, you may just not be the voice that reader needs at that moment, the one who will move him or her to epiphanies and life changing transformations.

Now, needless to say saving the world from itself is a rather grandiose project. What’s more, it’s been my experience that no matter how much people need saving, they don’t want you to save them. Add to these realizations the fact that nothing kills a good story faster than preachy, pedagogic characters, unless of course, you’re having a good laugh at their expense. But I’ve found that if I can sneak the essential truths I wish to impart into the subtext of the story, then the story itself works its magic in ways no amount of rational arguments or scientific proofs could. I suppose that’s because when we read fiction we read with our entire brains, not just our rational minds. Our left and right brain get in sync, the various layers of superconscious, conscious, and unconscious come into alignment. And by recruiting that much mind power in the reader through the magic of storytelling, we might just be able to save the world after all, one reader at a time. Okay, there’s that grandiose guy again. I tell you, keeping this guy in the closet is such the chore.

-What draws you to your genre of choice?

I find when I have people walking on water and holding out their hands and crushing cars at a distance the genre sort of chooses itself. Honestly, after that, do I really need to tell you what genres I write in?

So the question for me becomes, what compels me to view humans in this manner? Am I even interested in humanity at all, or am I rather more focused on what some in scientific circles refer to as the trans-humans that we are evolving into? Trans-humans are essentially humans with powers, powers which even the most exemplary and heroic of us would have trouble whipping out on command. Thus these individuals can only be explained as the next step in evolution. Now some of us may get there all on our own with nothing more than meditation and a few esoteric Zen practices. (See my paranormal fantasies in this regard, i.e. Blood Brothers.) Some may require more of a boost from technology. (See my cyberpunk, artificial-intelligence-rich sci-fi, replete with hybrid cybernetic lifeforms, i.e. Escape From the Future). And then there are those who will embrace both paths. (See my sci-fi/paranormal hybrid novels, i.e. The Warlock’s Friend, and the series, The Hundred Year Clones, and Renaissance 2.0.)

In short, I don’t do genre writing. I meditate on the future of humanity and by so doing I end up being pigeonholed by evil people as this or that kind of genre writer. You know, people who just can’t deal with you unless you’re like every other writer they know and read in their lives. Who eschew surprises, adventure and the unknown. Maybe they’re not evil so much as traumatized by other writers who let them down by not honoring the conventions of this or that genre. But I believe with a little TLC these folks can be encouraged to be whole again and to embrace the idea that some writers are worth following anywhere, into any genre, just so they keep writing and keep thinking about things that are relevant to them.

-Name a fun fact you learned researching this project.

I learned that there really are people that can hold out their hands and move objects at a distance. No kidding. I learned that there really are power spots across the globe that shamans have used for millennia to heal, to move from one realm to the other (not just realms of consciousness, but other worlds, other dimensions.) In fact there is little in films like X-Men or my paranormal fantasy novel, Blood Brothers, that hasn’t been documented and demonstrated by some sage or spiritual adept hidden away in the mountains somewhere. And you can well imagine that until the world is a little more accepting of these things why they might choose to remain hidden away.

-Which of your characters would you go out for drinks with?

My arch-villain, Rydell. I’m from that school of thought that believes the bad guy should always be the most interesting character in the story. He’s smart, he’s suave, he’s funny, he’s complex and multifaceted, and has a mind and a character you can just get lost in. His inner depths are as seductive as they are bottomless.

-For aspiring writers, any tips?

The only way to get better is to keep writing. Some folks stare at a blank page for hours with complete performance anxiety. Others, like Hemingway, will write a sentence, and then have to spend a week rewriting it because it’s never good enough. And so are led to drink to excess. They turn writing into a form of torture owing to some deep-seated insecurities. As writers we all have these nagging self-doubts, but you have to put them aside. You have to write with heart and tremendous courage, knowing that no matter how good the book is and how good your writing is, it will never be good enough. But perfection is hardly the point; perfection is not art. What is the point is to take the very spiritual journey of self-transformation that will make you not only a better writer but a better person at the end of the novel. And you can only get there one step at a time, one word, one sentence at a time. Wishing greatness on yourself will not do it. But you can write your way to greatness, providing you can embrace the spiritual path of inner transformation.

Just like our characters have to grow with the challenges they face in the story, so we as writers must grow with the challenges we give ourselves with those cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, by doing the impossible again and again. After all, how does one survive falling off a cliff exactly? Nothing could be more spiritual in nature, as no amount of human ability is up to the task. You must access the superhuman in yourself day in and day out. But strangely, that is less about ability, and more about humility and surrender to that higher power that moves your hands across that keyboard.

And don’t buy into the illusion that your first book must be a masterpiece. Few people can even agree on what that is. It just has to be good and the next one has to be better. That’s natural. It is true that some artists do their best work the first time out of the starting gate. With Orson Welles it was Citizen Kane. I would say, aspire not to be that guy, but the individual who gets better with each book. That way you have a life and a journey to look forward to that is less filled with regret, remorse, and tales of that big fish you landed once.

-Is there a genre you could never write? Which and why?

Those Perry Mason tales that Erle Stanley Gardner wrote, which comprise the classic who-done-it mystery subgenre, are very difficult for me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t write mysteries (usually, but not always couched in sci-fi or fantasy). I circumvent the problem as Patricia Highsmith did in The Talented Mr. Ripley. I let the reader in on who did the crime from the onset. And I shift the focus and the fascination to seeing how far he can go and continue to get away with the crimes before someone catches him (witness Professor Hartman of my Renaissance 2.0 franchise). And as always, I make the bad guy the most fun character in the story so you enjoy being inside his head.

ABOUT DEAN

I write sci-fi, fantasy, action-adventures and thrillers, or some combination thereof—usually with a strong vein of dark humor. Though, my works are dramas first; the humor is there to take the edge off as with the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Transformers, and Jurassic Park franchises.

I wrote screenplays for a while, and while enjoying them, I found them a bit confining. After a while you just need the extra page count to flesh out characters better and do additional world building, especially when considering doing anything epic in scope. I also took a run at future forecasting and trend tracking, being as I always had my head in the future, things like Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock. I also relished this, and can certainly see myself releasing a few titles accordingly in the nonfiction area. But since delving into novels, short and long, I’ve definitely found my home and my voice. For the first time I feel the restraints have been taken off of my imagination. I suppose all mediums have their limits, so I may end up doing a mix of things, but I suspect I will continue to spend most of my time with novels. Series add an additional dimension, allowing for even more depth and development both in the character and world building departments. But I remain at heart a divergent thinker, so, no surprise, I seem to have more series going than follow up installments at this point. That too may change over time; we’ll see. Until then, it may be best to just think of these books as one-offs if you’re fond of my writing style and some of the themes I work with.

My current catalog of twelve books represents a little over five years' worth of work. I'm currently averaging a couple books annually. Of my existing franchises with multiple installments, The Hundred Year Clone books can be read in any order, while the 5 books of Renaissance 2.0 must be read in sequence as they form part of a singular story arc (much as with A Game of Thrones.)

I live in the country where I breed bluebirds, which are endangered in these parts, as my small contribution to restoring nature's balance. When I'm not writing, or researching my next book, I may also be found socializing with friends, or working in my organic garden.

Find Dean online:

-website
-Facebook
-Twitter @DeanCMoore
-Google+
-YouTube
-Goodreads
-Amazon

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Comments

  1. Love exploring this site and appreciate the chance to be on it, Mary. Thanks so much! I’d also like to thank anyone who might be stopping by and leaving comments or questions for me (perhaps based on the answers to some of my interview questions). I’ll be in and out throughout the day to interact with readers.

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  2. I'm liking the idea of them being separated but still meant to be together through having their powers. And I always love witty dialogue and plot twists.

    Writing being torture. There were so many times last year I felt that way but this year had changed that. It's also great you can write so many different genres and have them work together so well.

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  3. Thanks for following along with the tour, Roshelle, and for leaving such great comments. Glad to hear you're finally exiting the "Hemingway" phase of your writing career, where you seem to be fighting more with each sentence than your characters are fighting with one another! We've all been there.

    As to writing in various genres, I think that's one of the perks of being an indie writer; you get to follow your heart a little better. One of the downsides is it sometimes takes people longer to discover you for precisely that reason. Some readers know you for one thing, while others know you for another. And it takes some time to reach enough critical mass in each genre to propel that particular title forward, hopefully to the point of justifying writing a sequel!

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  4. Dean, I really appreciate your comment on what it takes to start writing. As a first time novelist, I had to get through the staring at a blank page test you mentioned. I learned I just needed to accept it wasn't going to be perfect, not even close in the first draft. I just need to get it on paper, and then come back in a couple of weeks and try and kick it into something coherent. Maybe not everyone needs to rely on revising as much as I do but I think the essential point you made is that you have to put your doubts aside and get started!

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  5. Thanks for the comment, Alex. Having read what's available of the rough draft of your first book, False Idols, on wattpad, I'd say you're a natural. Or at least you have that ability to make it look that way. But I agree with you; for all of us, writing is really about re-writing, going over and over each draft until the rough stone, which no one could ever imagine being fashioned into a diamond, gleams from each of its many facets.

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