Today I have the distinct pleasure of having Vincent Zandri, author of the recently released novel Moonlight Rises, swing by my blog on his Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tour. I met Vincent this pasty summer at ThrillerFest and am glad to be able to count him among my friends. He has been wildly successful (he is nearing 200,000 copies of his novels sold worldwide in 2011 alone) because he is an amazing writer.
I mean really, how many authors do you know who can kill off their main character in the first sentence and still craft an exciting story?
I know of at least one.
You have a chance to get an eCopy of Moonlight Rises for your very own. Leave a comment for this posting to be in the running for your fee eCopy and return to this blog on Tuesday November 1st to find out if you won.
And now, without further ado, I give you Vincent Zandri:
I know of at least one.
You have a chance to get an eCopy of Moonlight Rises for your very own. Leave a comment for this posting to be in the running for your fee eCopy and return to this blog on Tuesday November 1st to find out if you won.
And now, without further ado, I give you Vincent Zandri:
Q: Thank you for this interview, Vin. Can you tell us what your latest book, Moonlight Rises, is all about?
A: Moonlight is chased down by a bunch of black clad men wearing President Obama masks. They beat him and insist they he reveal the location of a "zippy box." But he has no idea what they are talking about. They beat him so badly he actually dies. When he's dead he has an out of body experience and sees his girlfriend Lola with another man, and realizes she's been cheating on him. The two plots eventually come together to give Moonlight a nightmare of a case, that is when he eventually floats back into his body and becomes a alive again. Moonlight Rises!
A: Moonlight is chased down by a bunch of black clad men wearing President Obama masks. They beat him and insist they he reveal the location of a "zippy box." But he has no idea what they are talking about. They beat him so badly he actually dies. When he's dead he has an out of body experience and sees his girlfriend Lola with another man, and realizes she's been cheating on him. The two plots eventually come together to give Moonlight a nightmare of a case, that is when he eventually floats back into his body and becomes a alive again. Moonlight Rises!
Q: This is the first book I have read, or even know about, where the main character dies on page one and the story is not a flashback, reflection of past events or some alternate dimension. What could have possibly possessed you to even consider taking such a drastic (and unique) measure with your main character for this story?
A: I never considered starting it any other way.
A: I never considered starting it any other way.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
A: I know the basic premise and it all works itself out along the way.
A: I know the basic premise and it all works itself out along the way.
Q: Your book is set entirely in Albany, New York yet you made your story very international. Can you tell us why you chose that location in particular?
A: Albany is my home base. Around here I'm consider a "local author." And the locals who read me get a kick out of seeing not only their hometown in my books, but occasionally one of them will show up somewhere in the pages.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
A: Absolutely...In the follow up to Moonlight Rises, Blue Moonlight, the story is continued to Florence, Italy, my second home...Now how can I have Moonlight in Florence and not write an action seen on top of the Duomo?
A: Absolutely...In the follow up to Moonlight Rises, Blue Moonlight, the story is continued to Florence, Italy, my second home...Now how can I have Moonlight in Florence and not write an action seen on top of the Duomo?
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
A: Oh brother...I don't have the book on me since I'm writing this in a bar...But I'm sure it's something cool and disastrous.
Q: Give me your favorite excerpt from Moonlight Rises?
A: I'll have to do this from memory, but I believe its:
Life sucks. Then you die.
Or, in my case, you die and then you live. That sucks too.
Thank you so much for this interview, Vincent. I wish you much success and can't wait for more Dick Moonlight novels.
Purchase Links:
Amazon | BarnesAndNoble
Book Details:
A: I'll have to do this from memory, but I believe its:
Life sucks. Then you die.
Or, in my case, you die and then you live. That sucks too.
Thank you so much for this interview, Vincent. I wish you much success and can't wait for more Dick Moonlight novels.
Purchase Links:Amazon | BarnesAndNoble
Book Details:
Genre: Adult Suspense, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: StoneGate Ink
Publication Date: August 13,2011
Synopsis:
Publisher: StoneGate Ink
Publication Date: August 13,2011
Synopsis:
“Life sucks. Then you die. Or, if you’re Dick Moonlight, first you die and then you live.”
Dick Moonlight is dead.
Really dead this time, now that three President Obama-masked thugs dressed all in black and communicating only with hand-held voice synthesizers pressed up against their voice boxes have beat the life right out of him inside a dark, downtown Albany alley. What are the thugs after? A box. Size, weight, description unknown. They also want him to stay away from his newest and only client: a handicapped nuclear engineer of dubious Russian heritage by the same of Peter Czech.
But then, now that they’ve killed him, Moonlight’s problems seem to be over. In fact, as he undergoes an out of body experience, his soul floating above his train-wreck of a corpse inside the Albany Medical Center I.C.U., he feels pretty damned good. Great in fact. To make death all the more sweeter, his one true love, Lola, is standing by his bedside. With her long dark hair draping her chiseled face and big round Jackie O sunglasses hiding tear-filled eyes, she appears every bit the grieving sig other. Nothing could make the dead-and-gone Moonlight prouder.
But then something happens. Something bad. A man enters into the I.C.U. Some young guy. He takes hold of Lola’s hand, and pulls her into him. Together, the two share a loving embrace over Moonlight’s dead body. Now, what seemed like a peaceful death is anything but. Moonlight wants back inside his body so he can face-off Some Young Guy and find out if his true love has in fact been cheating on him. At the same time, he wants to find out the true identity of those thugs who killed him so he can exact his revenge. No doubt about it, Moonlight needs to live if he’s going to uncover some pretty painful answers and take care of business.
Like a little kid dropping down a playground slide, Moonlight slides right back inside his bruised and broken body. Opening his eyes the white light blinds him. He feels the pain of his wounds and the pain of his breaking heart.
Life sucks, then you die.
But Moonlight rises.
Dick Moonlight is dead.
Really dead this time, now that three President Obama-masked thugs dressed all in black and communicating only with hand-held voice synthesizers pressed up against their voice boxes have beat the life right out of him inside a dark, downtown Albany alley. What are the thugs after? A box. Size, weight, description unknown. They also want him to stay away from his newest and only client: a handicapped nuclear engineer of dubious Russian heritage by the same of Peter Czech.
But then, now that they’ve killed him, Moonlight’s problems seem to be over. In fact, as he undergoes an out of body experience, his soul floating above his train-wreck of a corpse inside the Albany Medical Center I.C.U., he feels pretty damned good. Great in fact. To make death all the more sweeter, his one true love, Lola, is standing by his bedside. With her long dark hair draping her chiseled face and big round Jackie O sunglasses hiding tear-filled eyes, she appears every bit the grieving sig other. Nothing could make the dead-and-gone Moonlight prouder.
But then something happens. Something bad. A man enters into the I.C.U. Some young guy. He takes hold of Lola’s hand, and pulls her into him. Together, the two share a loving embrace over Moonlight’s dead body. Now, what seemed like a peaceful death is anything but. Moonlight wants back inside his body so he can face-off Some Young Guy and find out if his true love has in fact been cheating on him. At the same time, he wants to find out the true identity of those thugs who killed him so he can exact his revenge. No doubt about it, Moonlight needs to live if he’s going to uncover some pretty painful answers and take care of business.
Like a little kid dropping down a playground slide, Moonlight slides right back inside his bruised and broken body. Opening his eyes the white light blinds him. He feels the pain of his wounds and the pain of his breaking heart.
Life sucks, then you die.
But Moonlight rises.
Author Bio:Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 International Bestselling Amazon Kindle author of THE INNOCENT, GODCHILD, THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT FALLS, CONCRETE PEARL and the forthcoming MOONLIGHT RISES. He is also the author of the bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL and MOONLIGHT MAFIA. Harlan Coben has described his novels as "...gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting," while the New York Post called THE INNOCENT, "Sensational...Masterful...Brilliant!" In March, April and May of 2011, he sold more than 100,000 Kindle E-Books editions of his novels, and is rapidly closing in on the 200K mark all totaled. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri's work is translated into many languages including the Dutch, Russian and Japanese. An adventurer, foreign correspondent, and freelance photo-journalist for RT, Globalspec, IBTimes and more, he divides his time between New York and Florence, Italy.
Connect With Vincent:
Blog
Website
The Next Stop for Vincent on his whirlwind tour:
October 9th-Review@For The Love Of Reading
Thanks Steve, and honor and pleasure to be here brother...:)
ReplyDeleteVin