Richard Schiver talks about his characters in "All Roads Lead to Terror"
Today, I'm turning my blog over to the awesome Richard Schiver to talk a bit about his new release, All Roads Lead to Terror. Enjoy!
Who inspired the characters.
I grew up watching westerns every Saturday morning. Some of
you may remember the old black and white weekly television shows featuring
characters like Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, and the singing cowboy Gene Autry. Did you
know Gene Autry was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in WWII?
I’m full of odd little tid-bits of information like that.
As I grew older my tastes matured, yet my love of Westerns
remained strong. I became an early fan of Clint Eastwood when he appeared in
the Rawhide series. I know, we’re getting into ancient history here. I’ve
followed Clint’s career through the spaghetti westerns of the late sixties
early seventies, his Dirty Harry phase, “Make my day.” And beyond. In my mind
his best western will always be The Outlaw Josey Wales. “Hell is coming to
breakfast.”
But what does all this have to do with Zombies and post
apocalyptic fiction? You may be asking.
I’m getting to that.
The biggest reason I liked westerns, and I feel confident
enough to say it may be a major reason why post apocalyptic fiction is so
popular, is that feeling of being an explorer in a new world. A place of wide
open spaces that offered elbow room to roam, a lawless land where the strong
backed their words with the firepower they carried as they carved out a new
life for themselves.
One of my favorite western movies is Tombstone with Kurt
Russell as Wyatt Earp. “I’m bringing hell with me!” He played along side Bill Paxton and Sam
Elliot who portrayed brothers Virgil and ????. The last member of this quartet
was Doc Holiday played by Val Kilmer. “Who’s your huckleberry?
When I first started writing the story that has become All
Roads Lead To Terror I envisioned my main character Meat as a blend of the
ruthlessness of Clint Eastwood, with the courage of John Wayne, and the wisdom
of James Arness who portrayed sheriff Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke. Meat was born at
the height of the Zombie apocalypse, upon his birth his mother took one look at
him and pronounced him meat before she abandoned him with the man that would
raise him. He grew up in a reality where they were all nothing more than
walking bags of meat, so in his mind the name fit perfectly.
Window, his best friend, is pure Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday.
Very quiet, studious with an ever watchful eye and a quick hand. To him
friendship was the most important thing in the world. His family had perished
in the ruthless times after the awakening and his temperament had been forged
in the fire that took them from him. His friends were all he had left so he
watched over them with a jealously protective nature strengthened by the sense
of invulnerability all boys his age embraced.
Backed by a quick hand with the
.44 he’d used to kill the men who had raped and killed his mother.
The remaining members of this quartet are Einstein who had
been born within the compound at Bremo Bluff after the apocalypse occurred.
Having spent his life behind the fence he has no first hand knowledge of how
brutal the world has become beyond the fence. As his name implies he’s the
smartest in the group, as well the most innocent. While that innocence helps to
soften the ruthlessness of the other three, it also serves to drive a wedge
into their friendship. But he will discover just how terrifying the world
beyond the fence has become.
The final member is Billie-Bob, one half of a set of twins
who appeared outside the fence several years earlier. Your typical class clown
his mouth runs a mile a minute, if he isn’t sharing overused jokes about
Zombies, he’s whispering the passages from a book his mother used to read to
him when he was younger, a chant that provides him with a degree of comfort.
Billie-Bob is unique in that at the tender age of eleven he has proven himself
to be a natural born sniper with a willingness to use his special talent to
protect his friends.
All of them had been born during the apocalypse, growing up
in the time after, surviving in a world that had little sympathy for those
unable to defend themselves. It is said we are
the product of our environment, these four boys have shouldered the
responsibilities of an adult long before their pre-awakening counterparts would
have been required to. They became survivors in a ruthless world that had as
yet to reveal the true depths of its depravity.
I believe post-apocalyptic fiction is the modern western.
But unlike the westerns of old, where the ability to go back and experience it
first hand would require a time machine. These modern tales of strong
characters surviving in a wide open places has the added potential to become
reality.
***
Richard was born in Frostburg, Maryland, in the
winter of '58' and currently lives eight miles away. A five-year stint with the
military allowed him to see what he wanted of the world. Married with four
grown children and eight grandchildren, he and his wife provide a home to four
pets that are spoiled beyond rotten.
In addition to writing daily he works a full time job in retail, and piddles around in his wood-shop making one mess after another when time permits.
Richard can be found online at:
Facebook: http://www.facebook/RichardSchiver
Follow Richard on Twitter: @RichardSchiver
Written in Blood is Richard's personal blog where he shares his thoughts on writing, and whatever else might strike his fancy. http://www.richardschiver.com
He can be contacted directly at rschiver@gmail.com and would be delighted to hear from you.
Sign up to be notified of publishing updates and new releases as they become available.
In addition to writing daily he works a full time job in retail, and piddles around in his wood-shop making one mess after another when time permits.
Richard can be found online at:
Facebook: http://www.facebook/RichardSchiver
Follow Richard on Twitter: @RichardSchiver
Written in Blood is Richard's personal blog where he shares his thoughts on writing, and whatever else might strike his fancy. http://www.richardschiver.com
He can be contacted directly at rschiver@gmail.com and would be delighted to hear from you.
Sign up to be notified of publishing updates and new releases as they become available.
***
All Roads Lead to Terror (synopsis)
The horrors of the past meet the brutality of the present.
Four boys strengthen the bonds of their friendship, while taking their first hesitant steps into adulthood, as they face the brutality of an old, new world. They will be tested at every step in their journey, as they travel through a blasted land where the only hope is for a swift death followed by an endless sleep. Survival lay in the firepower they carried, coupled with their willingness to use it, and their ability to trust each other with their own lives.
The world has become a wild place filled with wild things, and into this new reality each of them had been born. Coming of age at the end of days, where savagery was the norm, and man's inhumanity to man was on daily display. Where the only law was the firepower one carried and the only hope was for a swift death followed by an endless sleep.
Meat was born at the height of the Zombie apocalypse, upon his birth his mother took one look at him and pronounced him meat. He grew up in a reality where they were all nothing more than walking bags of meat, so in his mind the name fit perfectly.
Window, his best friend, is very quiet, and ever watchful with a quick hand. To him friendship was the most important thing in the world. His family had perished in the ruthless times after the awakening and his temperament had been forged in the fire that took them from him. His friends were all he had left so he watched over them with a jealously protective nature strengthened by that sense of invulnerability all boys his age embraced. Further backed up by a quick hand with the .44 he'd used to kill the men who had raped his mother.
The remaining members of this quartet are Einstein who had been born within the compound at Bremo Bluff after the apocalypse. Having spent his life behind the fence he had no first hand knowledge of how brutal the world has become. As his name implies he's the smartest in the group, as well the most innocent. While that innocence helps to soften the ruthlessness of the other three, it will serve to drive a wedge into their friendship. On this trip he will discover just how terrifying the world beyond the fence has become.
The final member is Billie-Bob, one half of a set of twins who appeared outside the fence several years earlier. Your typical class clown whose mouth runs a mile a minute, if he isn't sharing overused jokes about Zombies, he's whispering the passages from a book his mother used to read to him when he was younger, a chant that provides him with a degree of comfort. Billie-Bob is unique in that at the tender age of eleven he has proven himself to be a natural born sniper with a willingness to use his special talent to protect his friends.
The trail they follow leads them East, into the Dreadlands, from which those who had dared venture in the past never returned. There are places where the fabric of reality is at its thinnest. Where nightmare creatures roam the shadowy corners of a well lit world. Existing at the edge of man consciousness, an indistinct blur briefly glimpsed in our peripheral vision. Their presence felt on a primitive level that reached our consciousness as a faint whisper in the night. Their touch the soft caress of chilled fingers dancing along the spine like the half remembered terrors lurking within the childhood memories of every person who had ever feared the night.
In Richmond they will be confronted by a savage cult of children who worship a creature of the night. A nightmare being that feasted upon the fear of its victims, delving into their innermost secrets, revealing half forgotten terrors that lay like a rotting carcass at the heart of their souls. For these creatures, that were once considered nightmare imaginings, are now awake in a world where the population that once served as their food source has been reduced.
Awake and very, very, hungry.
Four boys strengthen the bonds of their friendship, while taking their first hesitant steps into adulthood, as they face the brutality of an old, new world. They will be tested at every step in their journey, as they travel through a blasted land where the only hope is for a swift death followed by an endless sleep. Survival lay in the firepower they carried, coupled with their willingness to use it, and their ability to trust each other with their own lives.
The world has become a wild place filled with wild things, and into this new reality each of them had been born. Coming of age at the end of days, where savagery was the norm, and man's inhumanity to man was on daily display. Where the only law was the firepower one carried and the only hope was for a swift death followed by an endless sleep.
Meat was born at the height of the Zombie apocalypse, upon his birth his mother took one look at him and pronounced him meat. He grew up in a reality where they were all nothing more than walking bags of meat, so in his mind the name fit perfectly.
Window, his best friend, is very quiet, and ever watchful with a quick hand. To him friendship was the most important thing in the world. His family had perished in the ruthless times after the awakening and his temperament had been forged in the fire that took them from him. His friends were all he had left so he watched over them with a jealously protective nature strengthened by that sense of invulnerability all boys his age embraced. Further backed up by a quick hand with the .44 he'd used to kill the men who had raped his mother.
The remaining members of this quartet are Einstein who had been born within the compound at Bremo Bluff after the apocalypse. Having spent his life behind the fence he had no first hand knowledge of how brutal the world has become. As his name implies he's the smartest in the group, as well the most innocent. While that innocence helps to soften the ruthlessness of the other three, it will serve to drive a wedge into their friendship. On this trip he will discover just how terrifying the world beyond the fence has become.
The final member is Billie-Bob, one half of a set of twins who appeared outside the fence several years earlier. Your typical class clown whose mouth runs a mile a minute, if he isn't sharing overused jokes about Zombies, he's whispering the passages from a book his mother used to read to him when he was younger, a chant that provides him with a degree of comfort. Billie-Bob is unique in that at the tender age of eleven he has proven himself to be a natural born sniper with a willingness to use his special talent to protect his friends.
The trail they follow leads them East, into the Dreadlands, from which those who had dared venture in the past never returned. There are places where the fabric of reality is at its thinnest. Where nightmare creatures roam the shadowy corners of a well lit world. Existing at the edge of man consciousness, an indistinct blur briefly glimpsed in our peripheral vision. Their presence felt on a primitive level that reached our consciousness as a faint whisper in the night. Their touch the soft caress of chilled fingers dancing along the spine like the half remembered terrors lurking within the childhood memories of every person who had ever feared the night.
In Richmond they will be confronted by a savage cult of children who worship a creature of the night. A nightmare being that feasted upon the fear of its victims, delving into their innermost secrets, revealing half forgotten terrors that lay like a rotting carcass at the heart of their souls. For these creatures, that were once considered nightmare imaginings, are now awake in a world where the population that once served as their food source has been reduced.
Awake and very, very, hungry.
Buy Links:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016MLXM32
Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016MLXM32
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-roads-lead-to-terror-richard-schiver/1123014703?ean=2940152477603
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/593434
