An interview with Justin Bienvenue

Today on ARCBookBlog I have Justin Bienvenue, who has agreed to answer a few questions for me, first, though, here’s his bio so you can get to know him

Justin Bienvenue

Unique Writer, Living Poet and Determined Author by day and night, I have always been told I have a way with words and very vivid imagination. I thought If I could take my creativity and combine it with my new love and appreciation for poetry. that the possibilities could be endless. I took a Creative Writing class in high school which was very helpful to my writing.

I am a passionate poet and proud author of five books. When I’m not writing or reading books I’m usually promoting them. I run a blog on Tumblr called IAT: Indie Author Tactics where I feature fellow indies by interview, guest post or cover reveal. I also run a blog on Goodreads on several of the horror groups called “Hundred Year Old Horror” where I talk about classic books and authors of centuries past.

When I’m not doing anything book related my interests usually include watching sports (Football, Baseball and Basketball), learning about History, Ufology, Egyptology, The Wild West as well as the bizarre and things unexplained.

And now it’s on to the interview

Me – What inspired you to write your most recent book?

JB – Well the book is a sequel to my first which is a book of horror poems. I wanted to go back to where it all started, and I wanted to reclaim what the first book never got. I was inspired by the first book’s failures and the fact that I still had a ton of ideas for horror poems. Horror is at an all-time high right now, so between that and the personal aspect and knowing I still had plenty of horror poems left in the tank I’d be foolish not to be so inspired.

Me – Are your characters based on people you know?

JB – No. I don’t base characters off people I know because then I have the memory of that person forever in my character and that’s not always a good case. If any character is based off anyone it’s myself, the sides to me I don’t show or don’t show much. I’m not totally apposed to basing a character off someone I know but as of right now I haven’t done it.

Me – Do you get ideas for books from things you see or experience, or do they just pop into your mind?

JB – Both. I stress this anytime I’m asked. I get ideas from when I’m out and about and from what I take in, see and hear around me. To me, nature and everyday life may seem simple but sometimes you can take the simplest things and they make for some great ideas and concepts. Also my mind is thinking up ideas 24/7, it’s like a part of my brain is a story idea machine pumping in ideas and filtering some out. If it’s a solid idea my brain says, “Hey boss check out this idea, we think you may like this!” So I say okay brain, hmm that sounds good! Then I got over and write it down or make a mental note of it. So yeah, I get inspired by both.

Me – What genres do you write? Are they what you want to write? (I’ve always wanted to write fantasy, but crime and sci-fi are the genres I feel comfortable with, and where my ideas fit)

JB – I write, Horror, Poetry, Westerns and Crime. Yes they are what I want to write. I like to consider myself a genre experimenter, I’ll take a shot at any genre if I have a good enough idea for it. The genres above are the ones I write the most in and am most comfortable in writing but I’d take a shot at a romance novel or Fantasy Dystopia if I came up with a great enough idea. I think it’s good to experiment with ideas because you never know who may like something and you appeal to certain fans of certain genres.

Me – Which of your characters is your favourite?

JB – One of my two bad guys, Javier “Bones” Jones or Shin Shaojin. I can’t really choose. I made them both ruthless cold-hearted bastards and I know that’s odd to like but I feel I made them so evil because I felt like a reader can really appreciate that and it’s what they want. They want a villain they can hate and love at the same time. I enjoyed creating them, giving them their background and making them as gritty and unsophisticated as possible.

Me – Do you know where your stories are going to finish when you start?

JB – Not always. Obviously I have a clear direction in mind and I build off it and if it sounds good I keep at it. Sometimes a finish will pop into mind when I’m writing while other times I get to the end and have no clue how to end it. It really depends on how much idea and thought I’ve put into it and the development to which the story is going. I feel the biggest challenge when not coming up with an idea until the end is I want to have a reasonable, justifiable ending and I don’t want to just end it abruptly without any real thought. I appreciate good endings that make sense so with readers it’s no different, I want to give them the same thing I want in a story, a solid ending everyone can enjoy.

Me – What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research or make up for a book?

JB – Well for my book Opium Warfare I needed to do research on opium and I wanted to know all aspects of it so that included how many people use it today and how many people used it back in 1920. It may not seem like weird but it was to me, just looking into how many people did drugs seems a bit weird to me. Also, I looked up a woman who was killed by a serial killer for a horror poem, again it felt weird looking into but I wanted the poem to be as real and accurate as possible.

Me – If your book were to be adapted, would you prefer it to be a film, TV series or stage play?

JB – For my Western and Crime thriller I’d want them to be films. For my Horror Poetry books I’d want them to be series which would be fitting considering there’s many different poems of horror so they could all make for episodes for a television series.

Me – Would you ever permit/license the characters/world you have created for fan-fiction?

JB – I don’t know, I’ve never thought of this at all. I really don’t know.

Me – Do you write series or stand-alone books?

JB – Stand-alone books. I did write a sequel to The Macabre Masterpiece but I don’t consider it a series. I just prefer to write stand-alone books although for my next book I will be starting on my very first series.

Me – And now a couple of slightly more fun questions

Tea/Coffee or Hot Chocolate?

Tea and Hot Chocolate, I’ve never drank coffee in my entire life.

Summer or Winter?

Summer

Lazing by the pool or activity holiday?

Activity holiday

Up early or up late?

Up late

Fast food or fancy restaurant?

Yes lol

Dress up or dress down?

Dress up

Watch a film or read a book?

Watch a film

Classical music or pop?

Classical music

Now the interview is done, here’s Justin’s book

The Macabre Masterpiece: Repressed Carnage

There are some horror’s in this world that have no motive or reason other than to scare. These things tend to be the most horrific of all because they have no agenda, no filter and only wish to inflict as much fear into a person as possible. You’re about to take a trip to five places most do not wish to go but horror lovers dream of experiencing. Make your way down to a crypt where the horror’s may seem old but they’re as fresh as can be. Next make your way out to the cemetery and get a feel of how all that’s supposed to be in eternal slumber is alive and animated. Then go inside to visit the morgue and get to know some of horror’s most vile and sinister anomalies. Next take a journey to an asylum where more than just the insane call home. Finally, make one last stop at a crematorium and witness all that remains and how it does not wish to burn. Be on high alert and make sure to take it all in and remember that the true carnage lies within you…

Buy the book here

 

Obsessed – My latest release

I posted my new short story and its cover recently, and now I’m back to tell you it’s been released and is available for free, or will, from many good ebook retailers. It already has 2 5* reviews on Smashwords, which was absolutely wonderful to wake up to.

When Kirsty is attacked on her doorstep after returning from a party, she is left to wonder who is responsible, and why.

A short story of approximately 8,000 words.

Amazon Not currently free

Smashwords Free

Apple Free

Intekra Free

It will be coming to other retailers soon, and will be free on Amazon as soon as I can get it price-matched.

 

Bargains, bargains, bargains

You like a bargain, don’t you? Of course you do, who doesn’t.

Well, for all of you out there who like a bargain, or better yet, something free, the writer’s group I am part of on Goodreads has a big event this weekend with lots of books listed as free or at reduced prices in a variety of genres. If you’d like to fill up your kindle with some new reading material, here’s the place you need to go  http://events.supportindieauthors.com/event.php

There’s some great reads here, and some great authors to support, so please dig into your pockets, you won’t have to find much, and you’ll be hard-pressed to get a better return on your investment.

The Dark Place

DeeJayBee (Wattpad user name)

Following the death of her mother 11-year-old Tamicka Moon and her father move from Canada to Eastlake in England, where they both struggle to come to terms with their grief. Jack Moon becomes engrossed in writing about Munford House, the estate where they are staying, while Tamicka is left to explore the house that no-one in Eastlake, save the housekeeper, Mrs Hughes, will go near.

Why won’t anyone go near the house, though, and who is the spirit that offers to make everything better for Tamicka – friend or something else? When Tamicka befriends a local girl, Penny, the spirit warns her she can’t be trusted, and that seems to be true when Penny’s friends play a cruel trick on her; is the spirit telling her the truth, or even everything, however?

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I’m sure some of you will be a little confused by the two sets of star ratings I’ve given this book, so I’ll explain.

First off, this is a 4* book, the story is a good one, with plenty of twists, a nice Gothic touch on occasions, some good characterisation, with people you’re interested in and whom you want to see either prosper or get their just desserts. The writing is nice and tight, without a lot of padding (this is something I’m guilty of in my writing and seeing who short and sharp the writing is here has helped me to work on my own books to pare the padding) which keeps you close to the action at all times. The dialogue is good as well, it fits the characters.

There’s a short epilogue which ties a few things up, with one thing that wasn’t a surprise and another that really was – I didn’t see it coming at all – and I think it’s good that you get an, albeit brief, idea of what’s happened to the characters after.

The reason there is a second rating to this book is because it’s a first draft. DeeJayBee has released her book on Wattpad, as I am in the process of doing, to get feedback and generate some interest. Because it’s a first draft there are typos that might put people off, and a few areas where a tweak might be needed, and I have deducted .5* for that. Once the edited and polished version is available this will be a 4* all the way, and I look forward to it being sorted and released for Kindle and other devices because I think it will do quite well.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, then you can start reading it here (by the way, this is a former winner of Wattpad’s Best Wattpad Reads in Paranormal so it’s not just me that thinks it’s good.)

 

Sleepwalk

John Saul

Judith Sheffield is a young teacher, burnt out from her experience of working in a tough inner-city school in LA, who receives an offer of a job back in the small New Mexico town she grew up in after the current maths teacher has a stroke; the offer couldn’t have come at a better time and she accepts eagerly.

When she arrives in Borrego Judith finds it much the same as she remembers, and she reconnects with old friends, but as time passes she discovers, especially after a big company takes over the oil refinery run by her ‘Uncle’ Max, that there’s something sinister going on below the surface.

It becomes a race against time for her and her boyfriend’s son to figure out what is happening in their town and stop it before they, and a lot more people, get either hurt or killed.

Sleepwalk is a quarter of a century old now, and that shows in a variety of small ways as you read the book, but the plot remains relevant, it might even be more relevant now, given the advantages in technology and medicine. That relevance makes it possible to look past the dated elements and enjoy this.

There’s not quite enough character development for my tastes, no-one is fleshed out quite as much as I would like, but there’s enough for the reader to care about them, and what happens to them. The writing is decent, and the scene-setting good, I can actually picture that blazing heat (I’d quite like to feel it) and the ending is both satisfying and contains more than a trace of poetic justice.

This is a nice book overall and I recommend that you don’t let the age of it put you off.