A big welcome to my next Ghostly Writer from Plaisted Publishing House – Lynn Mullican.
Interview questions:
- Why did you decide to write? It’s just something I have always done and enjoyed. It’s in my blood.
- What do your family and friends think of your writing life? Most of my family and friends are excited for me. They know it’s something I have always enjoyed, so I have a lot of support behind me.
- Tell us a bit about your current writing projects. I’m currently working on many projects, one of which I feel is way overdue, my religious horror novel The Shadow of Evil. I’m also working on the fourth book in the paranormal Bad Elements series, Rise of the Underground. I have also started a spinoff of the Bad Elements series, Immortal Blessings. I have several short horror stories in the works, The Awakening III, Raven’s Hill III, and a few others.
- Do you have a muse? Yes, this muse lives in my dreams.
- What do you think of collaborations? Are you a member of any groups for authors that you would recommend? If you have the right mix of authors, you can get some good collaborations. The Ghostly Writes/Rites anthologies seem to gather a great mix of authors who work great together. I’m in several groups, some of which I would recommend. My suggestion for authors is to determine why you want to join some groups and then start looking for them on your social media account. What might work for me might not work for another author.
- Have you any unusual hobbies? Please tell us about them… Hmm, I don’t know if it’s unusual but I enjoy archery and I’ve started working on some Halloween DIY projects, a couple of which have turned out pretty good so far. I’m still working on them, though.
- Do you have a favourite word, phrase or quote? I think Marilyn Manson said it best, “What doesn’t kill you is going to leave a scar.”
- Finish this sentence: For me writing is… my life.
- Where do you live and with whom if you don’t mind saying… I live in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. with my husband, Pat, my adult daughter, Cassie, and our two cats, Murray and Wilbur.
- Do you believe in ghosts? Do you have a favourite supernatural being? Yes, I believe in ghosts. My favorites would probably be ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and witches. I don’t have just one favorite supernatural being.
Bad Elements: Crystal Dragon
“Live and breathe your darkest fears!”
Bad Elements: Crystal Dragon – Synopsis
Crystal Bouchard awakens imprisoned in an underground cell with no recollection of how she got there and with no memory of her prior existence. Held against her will, her captors threaten to kill her son unless she fights to the death in the underground fighting circuit. Nicknamed “The Dragon,” she spends the next several years among werewolves and vampires.
Bad Elements: Crystal Dragon – Excerpt
After the commentator announced Kara, the crowd chanted her name. Kara entered the arena. I had to admit, I stood in awe of the woman. She was at least a foot taller than me and exceptionally muscular. I looked like a midget compared to her. Her hair was straight, black, and shoulder length. She looked like she might have been on steroids.
I would have to get the upper hand early in the fight, then go low and take her down. As Kara and I faced off, our fans screamed.
Kara threw the first punch which I was able to dodge. I sidestepped her and caught her in the rib.
She groaned and doubled over.
I moved in, grabbed her by her hair and brought my knee up into her face.
That was when she wrapped her arms around me, and tried to take me to the ground.
Instead, I ran into the wall behind me. An uppercut rocked my head back, banging it against the wall. I groaned. I took a shot to the stomach before I was able to get her off of me.
While we fought, the fans slammed each other against the bars. The commentator made the announcement for the fight to stop. We glanced up at him.
Recognizing it was for the fans to stop, we returned to our business. I rushed her, going low for the legs, and slammed her into the barrier. Even though she struck the concrete wall, she was still able to elbow me in the middle of the back.
I yelped in pain. The riot started above us again. A corpse struck the bars. The snarls and growls escalated, catching our attention as they echoed throughout the arena. Kara and I glanced at each other and then at the chaos above. The bars had been bent.
Kara stood near the barrier, trying to focus in on the crowd. Blood poured out from the bars, drenching her from head to toe. She stared at me, wide-eyed, as if she knew the inevitable. My mouth fell open. Fear set deep inside me, and from this point on everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Kara stood frozen in place. The bars moaned beneath the massive weight, continuing to bend in multiple areas behind the steel barrier. Fearful that the bars were going to split wide open, I took a couple of steps back, ready to run.
The bars exploded throughout the arena. I threw myself to the ground and covered my head. Steel echoed off of concrete walls, rebounding around me. Two of the bars struck me in the legs. They were heavy, but not heavy enough to seriously injure me.
I glanced behind me at Kara, who had fallen to the ground with a male corpse atop her. It had been torn to shreds. I gasped in horror. Blood soaked the dirt surrounding her and the body.
She barely managed to get the man off of her and stand up when several fans jumped into the arena. I pulled myself up, watching them circle Kara. Covered in blood and guts, she gave me the look which I recognized as defeat.
She was defenseless against the lot of them.
I took one step toward them and then halted in terror. She was shredded within seconds. They devoured her, some still feeding off of her while she fell to the ground. More fans followed the others into the pit, coming towards me. Their lips curled back, revealing their elongated fangs.
I backed up, recognizing the difference between their fangs and Wayne’s. At first, I thought they were werewolves too, but their flesh was white and their eyes darker.
Then I made the connection: they were vampires.
I turned and ran straight for the open concrete door behind me, my heart pounding in my chest. I never ran so fast in my life.
Wayne stood just on the inside of the gate and yelled at me to hurry. There was no sign of Alex. My guess was that he had booked it, for he was mortal like me. He needed time advantage.
Something grazed my back. I screamed. The tiny hairs on my neck stood up. I was no match for these creatures. They were closing in on me. Wayne lurched forward and pulled me to safety behind the wall, gate and door.
Some of the vampires got stuck in the small room that barricaded the corridor from the main arena. This didn’t stop them, though. They tore through the door, blowing it apart. Pieces of it flew in all directions, striking us and the walls. We ran down the corridor.
Vampires shrieked behind us, followed by unhinged metal and something heavy rebounding against the wall. Wayne and I had already passed the commentator and were coming up fast behind Alex.
The commentator screamed. I presumed the heavy object had been the door to his small office. Blood sprayed the wall next to me.
Wayne let go of me and pressed me onward, before transforming into his alternate form.
Two of the vampires jumped him while he was still in mid-transformation. He slammed them into the walls.
I screamed. He received several bites before he fully transformed. His massive body took up most of the corridor, blocking us from all of the vampires except one. I ran through the door to our right, after Alex. The one vampire who was now amongst us jumped Alex just on the other side of the door.
Alex swung the door shut and fought back. He was thrown to the ground, the vampire atop him. I jumped on the vampire’s back, wrapping my arm around its neck. The door broke into pieces around us. Wayne stormed in, still in wolf form, and bared his teeth. The creature threw me off of its back. I struck the wall behind me, my head rebounding off of it. The vampire glared at me. I thought for sure I was dead.
Wayne ran full stride at the vampire. His claws echoed off the concrete floor and drove him into a wall. Alex jumped to his feet, threw open another door, and pushed me into the dark room. Screams and other noises which I associated with being mauled escalated in the room behind us.
As we ran into the room, Alex flipped on the light switch. Wayne mutated into his human form and ran into the room after us. He slammed the door shut, separating us from the vampires.
During the course of searching for her son, she slowly begins to recollect her prior existence before her imprisonment, pushing her deeper within the fighting circuit.
Bad Elements series: Crystal Dragon, Blood for Blood & The Hybrid Unleashed – FAQ’s
Main characters:
Crystal Bouchard AKA “The Dragon” is an amnesiac victim, a martial artist, a prisoner in an immortal world. She is a fighter and a survivor, a lover and a killer. Crystal is a determined mother on a mission to find and protect her family. She is stubborn, headstrong, intelligent, and beautiful. Crystal has unwitting sarcasm to aid and jeopardize her situation no matter what position she’s been put in.
Robert Bouchard is a law enforcement officer with secrets of his own. He is driven to find his mother who has been missing for several years. He’s a young, married man with a “special” wife and three half-bred werewolf children.
Tristan Ayers is a “unique” individual with extraordinary talents and abilities. He’s a special agent investigating unethical practices within the vampire and werewolf communities. One of his current missions is a role as protector. He is rugged looking with handsome features and has multi-faceted characteristics.
Jace Templeton is a strong, powerful and rogue vampire with unethical practices and habits. He is always looking for a new project and relies on his associates for mundane tasks. He is very intelligent, cunning and forceful. He is very passionate about his new venture.
Setting – time period and locations:
The book spans approximately a five-year timeframe from mid-2007 to about 2012. Some of the locations include the forests of Payson, Flagstaff, Munds Park and Prescott, Arizona. Some of the small towns and bars are located in Payson and Flagstaff, Arizona.
Lynn’s links:
https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Dragon-Bad-Elements-Book-ebook/dp/B0088FAQS0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470534214&sr=8-1&keywords=lynn+mullican#nav-subnav
https://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Mullican/e/B0055WRN3U/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
https://www.facebook.com/Author.LynnMullican/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/BadElementsSeries/?fref=ts
http://lynnmullican.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/lynnmullican
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4842137.Lynn_Mullican?from_search=true
Lynn’s teaser for Ghostly Rites 2019:
Well, that was a very fascinating interview and scary teaser. Thank you Lynn for coming over to chat.
I’m really enjoying interviewing my fellow Ghostly Writers.
Do check out my previous posts:
https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2019/10/24/marywoldering-ghostlywriters-ghostlyrites2019/
https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2019/10/26/author-interview-wendy-steele-ghostlywriters-ghostlyrites2019/
https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2019/10/27/interview-mara-reitsma-ghostlywriters-plaistedpublishinghouse/
There may be one or two more… we shall see if anymore Ghostly Writers come to chat!
Bye for now, ghostly peeps.
http://mybook.to/TheCurseofTime
Social Media Links
Authors Website: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com
Collaborative Blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
#ABRSC: Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/
M J Mallon YA Author and Poet 