by Michael Todd
About an hour into it, though, they heard a commotion behind them and Stephanie turned around to check it out. Everyone at the table picked up their food, but Stephanie was too busy watching the fight, commenting on their lack of proper balance as she critiqued their form.
Her eyes grew big as one guy picked the other up and tossed him straight at their table.
Stephanie slid her chair back immediately, putting her arms up in the air as the guy hit the table and it smashed into a pile on the floor—along with her food.
She looked down at the guy and pushed him with her toe, narrowing her eyes at the cheese fries sticking out from under his back. The bartender waved to two others, who moved quickly to grab a table and set it atop the passed-out guy.
Stephanie realized the others had their food in their hands, and they were all staring at her with smiles on their face.
“And that,” Korbin told her, setting his food back down. “is why the furniture is in such horrible condition.”
Author Notes - Michael Todd Anderle
Written March 31, 2018
Want to enjoy some in-between story release fun? Hit us up on Facebook Group and request to join. We will add you just as soon as we see the request! (We have to be on FB to do this.)
http://www.facebook.com/groups/320172985053521/
First, THANK YOU for not only reading our stories, but also reading to our author notes here in the back, as well!
John Kern, Proprietor of Spurlock’s Guns in Henderson, is real
So, a huge shout-out to John Kern with Spurlock’s (http://www.spurlocksguns.com) for helping me understand how to go about properly strategizing what to do with the rounds for Katie and the team.
So, most of this book was finished, and editing and beta reading was happening with one huge issue:
Chapter 17 still needed to be written!
Yes, you read that right, I had a big glaring hole in the middle of the manuscript. My intent was to locate source here in Vegas that I could talk to, and put that information here in the book. Further, I wanted the information for Joshua to be accurate as well so the logic behind the solution.
Finally, if I could I wanted it to be a place fans could look at and realize ‘that place is real, that person is real.’ Rather like Mike Ross of Jessie Rae’s BBQ.
The problem was that all the other writing for this book was complete, and I was caught in the middle of projects and was having a “damned” hard time getting the time to do this chapter.
I had researched a lot of gun stores in our area (Las Vegas / Henderson / North Las Vegas etc.) and used Google and Yelp to get a feel for the reviews about the support staff. I didn’t want a big chain store type of contact. I needed down in the details about how a professional might take Joshua’s challenge and solve it and therefore wanted real heavy-duty gun people.
I chose Spurlock’s based on the reviews on the internet, after checking out their website.
So, I’m hours away from holding up the editing and the book is going to get behind if I don’t go find a consultant FAST. I have about two hours or a touch more before Spurlock’s close and I need to drive the forty-five minutes to Henderson from my place on the Strip. I choose a bad route (no thanks to you, Google Maps) and bad Vegas traffic, but I still get there fairly fast with time to spare.
When I walk in, the store is exactly what I was looking for, which is to say completely focused on guns (of all types), and I felt confident that someone in the store would have a clue about my questions…
If they didn’t think I was a nutjob. I wish I had completely thought this part through and practiced how to introduce myself in the car on the way over to Spurlock’s.
I came in with a laptop bag, two books (both Torn Asunder and Death Becomes Her in print) as my bona fides to prove I really was an author.
Now, I know how well my books sell, but 99.99% of America (or even greater) has NO clue who I am, so I’m very nervous when I ask to speak to someone with very specific technical questions. The person behind the counter on the left waved to the other counter (they are in an ‘L’ shape) and told me to speak to ‘the bald one.’
I looked at him funny, since I have noticed all the guys are bald, or close to it. Fortunately, John stepped aside and waved a hand to let me know that he was the bald guy I needed to speak with.
I stuttered and stammered my questions out (not because I typically stutter, but because I’m nervous as hell) and started my pitch about being an author, and I have this book coming out where one of the characters needs some advice…
It wasn’t going down very well.
You know that moment when you look into the eyes of the person you are speaking with and you can see them tagging you as something less than awesome? Yes, that was my feeling.
To be TOTALLY fair to John, here is this guy walking in off the street. I am asking very pointed questions with no context, and inadvertently took him away from a sales relationship (another counter rep was supporting the young lady and her mother) and he is now speaking to an older white guy with a black t-shirt and blue jeans claiming he is an author and not looking like he will buy anything.
(My wife wants to shoot, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we purchase something – but I’m not going to offer that as a possibility unless it is a more solid chance than I think it was at the time.)
On top of this, I came in carrying books like I’m on a religious door-to-door proselytizing yahoo and wanting to convert him to the Church of the Damned. That he didn’t kindly wave me off and escort me with a gentle (but firm) hand to my back until I was out the door was a blessing.
The further my speech went, the more relevant and intelligent questions he heard, proving I wasn’t totally ignorant. His first question had to do with why I didn’t just look this information up on the Internet.
A very good question, actually. The short answer was, I could have, but all that would have done was give me facts, not the wisdom to know what to do with the data. I have shot guns, but very rarely in my life. At fifty, I don’t believe I have shot more than seven times in my whole life.
(I did try to shoot fish in a small stream with a .22 … Hitting those sonsabitches was impossible.)
Further, once I explained the issue with the metal, and my proposed solution (just spraying the metal onto the outer sides of the bullet) he was quickly able to point out the mistake in that idea.
Score one for the author!
I know when asking an expert is the right thing to do. (I am fully cognizant of my ignorance in this area. After writing over thirty books myself, I’m also cognizant that one needs to add talking about guns to sex, religion, politics, and chili as subjects that can garner very annoyed fans if you get something wrong.)
Then, John went onto explain hydroshock and the relevance of hollow-points. He effectively provided the professional advice I needed in five minutes, and then further explained the medical reasons for the justification of hydroshock theory (I later found out some do not hold to the theory) and why hollow-points are used by police (John is or was a policeman. I have a request in to find out as I’ve forgotten that detail.)
Then, John was kind enough to edit chapter seventeen for accuracy. DAMN! That was amazing, and I really appreciate his support of that crazy author who just showed up unannounced. I was trying to be very respectful.
I just didn’t realize how crazy I must have seemed from his vantage point.
Fans are happy!
DAMN (or is this DAMNED?), this set of stories has blown WAY up, and while we are appreciative, I think I can admit that our mouths are open in surprise as well. Although my Kurtherian Gambit series took off, it didn’t do this well in the first month.
One of the reasons I happen to enjoy this series is, when you take a look at Pandora, she is the most open-minded, non-racially prejudiced, non-biased entity in the book.
I mean, she doesn’t care if you are black or white, gay or straight, religious or not…she is willing to hate
everyone and take advantage of each person equally and generously.
Well, she might not be pleased with incredibly hot gay guys, but that’s more to do with her chances of (not) getting something from them rather than anything else, and that hurts her ego. In her opinion, she is sure that if she had the right opportunity (torture comes to mind in Hell) she would be able to get them to at least fake it with her. One of the most liberating aspects of writing this series is that Pandora can say just about anything. She’s a demon. She just points out the hypocrisy of humanity from time to time. Most of us readers (should) understand that just because she says something, it doesn’t de facto make it true.
She’s a demon. Look up the word ‘self-centered’ in Wikipedia and it should have her picture by it.
But—and here is the piece that is unraveling as we go forward—what is going to happen with her? Pandora is ‘stuck’ in Katie for the time being. Katie isn’t (so far) giving in to all of Pandora’s requests. This is requiring more understanding of a human’s opinions and ways than Pandora has had to deal with in the past, and would that change Pandora’s mindset?
Plus, add to the above we have her asshole of a brother involved.
Will she go “good,” and what does she know about Heaven? She has mentioned in this book a situation a LOOOONG time ago that brought the Holy host down and “it wasn’t pretty.” I’ve had fans ask about angels and the short answer is, “yes, angels exist.” We haven’t seen any, and I can’t tell you why that is.
In the next story, we start a new arc. This first four books had an arc (internally, for me) called ‘Who is she now?’ My purpose was to figure out this symbiotic relationship between Katie and Pandora. While I don’t know what it is exactly, I have a better grasp on who they are together.
And what they aren’t.
As we read through the next arc, we will see the team(s) start to deal with bigger issues. They will have to start working with the government, because the stakes are going to get higher.
We never know who will make it, and who won’t.
We lost Armani and Garrett, and received Eric and Jeremy. Then we lost Jeremy, and received Stephanie. That was in four books. If you keep reading, we will keep writing for you. Unfortunately, unlike the Kurtherian Gambit, more characters die (or have successful exorcisms and leave us) in this series than over in that one, for good reasons.
With our second arc starting, I guess that is the question I wonder about and we will be discussing in Book Eight when we finish this next arc.
Who will still be with us?
The only ones I promise will still be here are Katie and Pandora, for without them we have no core series (and I’m not the type to kill the main characters… Well, anymore. I’ve learned that lesson.) I don’t plan deaths out. In fact, all I have at the moment is a general concept of what needs to occur with the team in four books, and the major change-up that sets up Katie and Pandora for Book Nine.
More cool stuff is coming. More relationships with the government. Katie is going to New York for a trip (or two) and we have a new DAMNED relationship with a new demon coming on board thanks to T’Chezz in Book Five, Welcome To The Jungle. (scheduled for launch April 13, 2018)
Speaking of that rat bastard T’Chezz, there is a phrase Katie says in Book Five in the beginning that I particularly like and will share here (this comes from the beats for the next story.)
Katie is still bitching about her car. "I hope my license plate’s numbers,” she grumps, “are imprinted on his balls…”
Sometimes, I just feel like I know exactly what Katie would say.
And it feels so DAMNED good to say it!
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
Author Notes - Laurie Starkey
Written April 1, 2018
Firstly, thanks so much for picking up a copy of this book. If you’re still in the series with us, I’m guessing you’re hankering for a Pandora bobble-head of your own, or at least craving chicken nuggets. Either way, you’re our peeps. Obviously.
This last week has been a Seven Sons week for me. We just wrapped up editing for book 1 in our first series, The Immortal Huntress. It was quite a ride. I laughed, cried and got excited about where the story is going.
Seven Sons is mine and Mike’s project for this summer. We’re going to keep writing the hell out of Protected by the Damned, but we’re doing a multi-author, multi-dimensional world called, “Seven Sons.”
We have friends of ours (writers) that are taking on the lead co-author role along side us to breath life into all seven of the pure blood races that were created at the beginning of time. Mike and I spent days building this world and the characters. It’s beautiful and has the capacity to grow into a multi-verse where lots of authors can get their feet wet in this indie world with us.
First up were the hunters. They were humans that eventually got pulled into the church in the first century AD as protectors against all evil. Where the task is quite serious, the way Kelly Hall, our Huntress co-writer goes about it is adventurous and filled with humor.
Excerpt for us from book 1: (Rebekah is our heroine)
“The academy has got our cook on a specific menu and they’ve cut back on her supply budget which isn’t terrible, and it sure puts Lulu in a bad mood.”
“Lulu is the cook?” Rebekah hoped she’d be able to remember everyone’s names.
“Yes. Laura Pembroke. She’s a strong personality, so making her upset, well, I don’t know quite how to put it, but let’s just say you either love her or hate her, and vice versa.”
“I like her already,” came a voice only steps away. Ignis approached with his hands in his pockets and looking a lot more relaxed with his suit coat missing and his shirt collar undone. He’d even rolled up his sleeves as if he would ever attempt manual labor. He noticed Rebekah looking and pushed one of his sleeves up higher. “Let’s meet her, shall we?”
Sister Frankie tensed as she opened the door to the kitchen in time to hear a crash. “Son-of-a-biscuit-eating-mother,” came a voice from across the room.
Sister Frankie leaned in close to Rebekah and Ignis and shielded her mouth to whisper, “She’s really suffering with the loss.”
“Obviously,” said Ignis under his breath as he and Rebekah exchanged a look.
They continued in behind the sister who stopped before getting too close. “Lulu, I have someone I’d like you to meet?”
The tiny woman stuck her head up from behind the counter. “Well, that’s just great,” mumbled Lulu causing the sister to grow red with blush as she tucked as loose hair into her veil.
The old woman stood and once righted she squared her shoulders and curled her lip at the sight of them. “Who’s this and can they get me a decent oven mitt?” The older woman’s attitude was at least three feet taller than she was.
“This is Rebekah Ward, and Ignis—I’m sorry I didn’t catch your last name.” Sister Frankie gave him an apologetic look.
“I’m kind of a one-name wonder.” Ignis only used his last name when legally necessary.
“Who is this guy, some kind of boy band reject? Ginger Slice?” Lulu wiped her hands on her apron and extended a hand to Rebekah, who promptly took it and gave her a smile.
“No, ma’am. This one can’t carry a tune to save his life.” She turned her eyes to her friend whose face was now as red as his hair.
Ha! I love that scene. Little does Kelly know, I was named Lulu when I was a little girl. I could easily match the attitude of this cook on a good, hot Texas summer day.
In other news, I owe you that eternally stupid Christmas cookies video. It’s something my personal assistant put together alongside my daughter, who’s trying to bring me and hubs into the next wave of social media. Video.
“I’m a writer. Why do I have to bake cookies online with my brother (who I co-write with) as if we do this shit all the time? It’s a lie?!?” Me… throwing a fit over this absurdity.
“Because, Mother. (I only
get called “mother” when I’m being unreasonable. Like 99% of the time with my oldest daughter.) Your readers want to see you living life. (Lies) And this will be cute!”
“Excellent. Cute.” I give a ‘kill me now’ look and move into cute mode with my little brother who is much more compliant than I.
So here is the cookie making video. The damn things tasted like salt rocks when they were done because I wasn’t really paying attention to the cookies. I was trying to be entertaining. Good luck with that. So now I look like I can’t cook. Hey! Maybe that’s a good thing. LOL!
Enjoy the video or roll your eyes and move on about your day grateful that you’re not a puppet to a millennial social media managing kid. And after that, enjoy some more great stories.
We do what we do for you, but I’m thinking you knew that.
Slave to many stories,
Laurie Starkey
Connect with Michael Todd
Want more?
Find us On Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Protected-by-the-Damned-193345908061855/
Books by Michael Todd
PROTECTED BY THE DAMNED
Torn Asunder (1)
Killing Is My Business (2)
And Business Is Good (3)
Sit Down, Shut Up, And Pull The Trigger (4)
Welcome To The Jungle (5)
Metal Up Your Ass (6)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (7)
For Whom The Bell Tolls (8)
WAR OF THE DAMNED
Resurrection Of The Damned (1)
No Quarter (2)
Dark Is The Night (3)
Dim Glows The Horizon (4)
Waking The Leviathan (5)
Subversive Giants (6)