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What is The Roadie about?
The Roadie is a YA action & adventure book that follows university student Ezra James and his friends on the road trip of a lifetime as they follow a mystical treasure map. Along the way, they must overcome daring challenges and take perilous risks. What are they willing to sacrifice to have it all?

What inspired this story?
I have always loved travelling, adventure and more specifically road trips! While I was living in French Polynesia I decided to finally start writing my debut novel The Roadie drawing upon these experiences. I also drew upon themes of friendship, young love, escapism and determination to convey a feel-good message to any reader.

Tell us a little about you, who is Ethan J. Kearl?
I am a 22-year-old Canadian just finishing up my Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and hope to attend law school in Fall 2024. My hobbies include anything related to sports/fitness, reading and writing.

How can we read The Roadie?
The Roadie is available worldwide through Amazon on Paperback and Kindle.

Check out all of our posts on Indie Books here.

Posted on June 4th, 2023 by ThePit | Leave a Comment
Filed Under Entertainment, Featured
Ariya Kai The Secret of Colony LIFE

What is Ariya Kai The Secret of Colony L.I.F.E. about?  
I think the best way to answer that question is with the book’s blurb itself: The colony was under attack from within. The rebels not only grew in number, but boldness as well. Ariya Kai, a young security officer with psychic gifts and abilities was recruited to join a secret organization to fight for ‘The Colony and its People’. Ariya always wanted to make a difference, and it was an honor no one in their right mind would pass up. Seeing the horrors from the front line, she quickly realized things were worse than she had imagined. When her psychic gifts reached another level, her newly gained ability was the turning point some in the organization had been hoping for. Ariya never thought it would bring her face to face with her destiny…

What inspired this story?
The story, or idea, had been floating around in my head for a while and it was time to put it to paper. I wanted to create an action packed sci-fi story with themes that I thought were interesting to explore. And having worked on other creative people’s projects for a long time, it was time to work on my own.

Tell us a little about you.
I am F. Z. Zach, author of Ariya Kai The Secret of Colony L.I.F.E., and I am a veteran of the Hollywood movie industry specializing in visual effects. I have always loved story telling and I have been coming up with ideas for stories for as long as I can remember. First, I started writing Screenplays, but realized early on that my original vision would be compromised. While in Hollywood I worked to bring other people’s vision to the big screen, but it was time to work on my own creations. Becoming an Author and writing books, I realized this medium offers me the best platform to express my authentic vision.

How can we read Ariya Kai The Secret of Colony L.I.F.E.?
I [F.Z. Zach] can be found on Twitter and Ariya Kai The Secret of Colony L.I.F.E. is available for purchase on Amazon and my website.

Check out all of our posts on Indie Books here.

Posted on April 3rd, 2023 by ThePit | Leave a Comment
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What is Wherewolves about?
Bullies, jocks, and geeks. A teacher. The woods. An unspeakable horror. A fresh take on an old theme where nothing is what it seems. What is out there? Can it really be werewolves?

Using a fun, explosive style, full of new slang and fresh dialogue, Wherewolves is the story of a group of high school seniors, most “military brats”, who are headed for an army-type survival weekend. The underdogs, Jeffrey and Doris, do not want to go as they fear for their safety among the disdain and cruelty of the popular students. Sergeant Tim O’Sullivan, their teacher, as well as their dysfunctional parents pressure them into going, but it is an unforgivable act by their peers that propels the pair to go. Likewise, Elie, a student resented because of his Arab roots, is even more determined to prove himself this weekend. In the background, a news report cautions of a wanted couple with alleged super-human strength supposedly brought on by a new drug on the streets.

In the woods, the students hike, hunt, camp, and soon act in unity as the forest brings them closer together. But does it? O’Sullivan leaves them alone for the night. The students bond, chant, tell campfire tales, and quickly lose their fears and inhibitions. HOO-AH! Though sexual tensions are high, it soon turns to violence and everything quickly turns sour. When the kids start disappearing one after the other, the remaining begin to unwittingly “act like the natives” carving spears, ready to face whatever is out there. What has gotten into them?

Amid blood-curdling growls and gruesome deaths, the story’s underlying layers are revealed. We see how misconceptions, prejudice, greed, fear, and hatred bring out the worst and best in us. What is out there? Can it really be werewolves?

What inspired Wherewolves?
Our love for horror films and George Romero’s body of work – which always includes an underlying social commentary – and particularly Martin (1976).

Tell us a little about you both, who are John Vamvas and Olga Montes?
John Vamvas and Olga Montes started as an acting team in 1992. They soon began to write their own scripts for lack of finding two-person plays they could tour across North America. They’ve written and toured four full-length critically acclaimed plays to packed houses across Canada and the United States, including Bad Boy, which they were invited to perform Off-Off-Broadway at New York’s Creative Place Theatre in the heart of Times Square.

In 2001, they were approached to star in and rewrite the dialogue for the short film, Things Never Said in Playa Perdida. Playa won the audience award at the New York Short Film Festival in 2002 and tied first place at the Festivalisimo festival in Montreal.

John and Olga wrote Wherewolves, a horror screenplay in 2010. It was quickly optioned but the project subsequently fell through. They then adapted WHEREWOLVES into a novel, edited by award-winning Canadian writer Shelley A. Leedahl.

The couple has now turned to indie film production, with Scarpedicemente, a play they wrote and toured in 1996, as their first feature. Scarpedicemente is currently on the Film Festival circuit and to date has garnered 51 Awards and 6 Nominations (watch the trailer for Scarpedicemente here!).

John has extensive experience directing for the stage, including A Hatful of Rain at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre, where he met Olga in 1992. He has as well directed two plays at NY’s Creative Space Theatre, including Frederick Stroppel’s The Mamet Women.

When not acting, Olga works as a freelance translator and simultaneous interpreter, working with high-profile clients, such as the United Nations.

How can we read Wherewolves?
You can find Wherewolves online at Amazon and you can find out more about John and Olga at their website.

Posted on December 26th, 2022 by ThePit | Leave a Comment
Filed Under Entertainment

What is The Killing Death about?
The Killing Death is about detective Frank Malone and his partner Jimmy as they investigate a serial killer making a pizza out of body parts. The monster is following an ancient Egyptian ritual that threatens more than just his victims. It could destroy the city itself! This is a 80’s infused pulp horror/comedy novel with loads of gore, action, and schlocky laughs. It’s an expanded novelization of my film of the same name (learn more about the film here).

What inspired The Killing Death?
As I was developing my universe of books and movies, I realized that The Killing Death film, being no-budget, didn’t meet half of the expectations that I had hoped it would, so I decided to fix it by writing the novelization. I expanded the story, explained what needed explaining, and took it to a whole new level. It fits in between the first two books of the High School Hell series, but you don’t have to have read those to know what’s going on. Nor do you have to have seen the movie. This is designed to work as a stand alone story. The vibe was intended to be a throwback to the 80’s horror novels you used to see everywhere, the ones with skeletons, holograms, or fold outs on the cover. Think Night of the Creeps or The Monster Squad.

Frank Malone is a character that can be placed in almost any situation and The Killing Death kicked everything off back in 2006, but I knew that I could do so much more on paper than I could on screen (without money) so I’ve been expanding his universe over the years to over 25 books and 10 screenplays. This particular book is set during his old age, but there are other stories that feature him in earlier eras. Stay tuned!

We’ve spotlighted 2 of I.D. Russell’s novels in the past (Heart of Stone & The Revengist), but here is a little recap about him…
I’ve got lots of different things on the go; movies, books, YouTube videos, all of which intersect in different ways. I’m also a Dad, a gamer, a voracious reader, a collector, and a martial artist. I unfortunately (?) know way too much about retro pro-wrestling. Keep watching my channels and platforms for some crazy stuff in the future!

I’ve still got a foot in the 80’s. I love that era of action movies, horror movies, and comedies. Everything I’m doing mashes up pieces of what I grew up with, like The Monster Squad, Police Academy, G.I. Joe, The Naked Gun, Hong Kong movies, video games, and schlocky pulp books. At some point, people have to notice, right?

How can we read The Killing Death?
You can find The Killing Death on Amazon and the Ringo Jones website.

Posted on September 3rd, 2022 by ThePit | Leave a Comment
Filed Under Entertainment

We love following the work of indie authors on Twitter’s writing community and have been spotlighting indie books for the past year. There is such a wide variety of work across genres, there really is something for everyone! Here is another look at 3 of the books/authors that we have spotlighted.

Shadow Game
by A.M. Adair

Shadow Game focuses on the world of covert operations. It centers on a CIA field operative named Elle Anderson, who along with her small but elite team, deal with missions and targets that prove impossible for everyone else. In this debut, Elle and her team have been tasked to destroy the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization. Starting in Iraq, they start a chain of events that will go well beyond anything they could have anticipated. For Elle, the end justifies the means. And this is just the beginning.” -A.M Adair
Purchase on Amazon | Learn more about Shadow Game

The Curse of Odin
by Jo Kutya

The Curse of Odin is “a steampunk adventure, set in an alternative version of Victorian London, and revolves around a teenage pickpocket named Blink, an inventist (not inventor) named Thaddeus Q Abernathy, and a 2,000 year old woman by the name of Lady Talány. An anarchist called Legren plans to attack the city as part of a nefarious plot. Blink, while attempting to steal from Abernathy one night, but gets caught up in the hunt for the terrorist, and in doing so, uncovers a secret world of myth and monster hidden beneath the London of man and machine.” -Jo Kutya
Purchase on Amazon | Learn more about The Curse of Odin

Heart of Stone
by I. D. Russell

Heart of Stone is about teenager Samantha Abraham, a picked on outcast at school who falls in love with a strange new foreign exchange student named Joshua. He’s great at hockey, gorgeous, and might just be a golem. Together with her equally unpopular best friend Duckie, they navigate the social hierarchy, dodge the mean girls, and try to uncover the truth about Joshua’s origins.” -I.D. Russell
Purchase on Amazon | Learn more about Heart of Stone

And don’t forget, you can follow all of our Indie Book Spotlights here!

What is Outcasts about?
Outcasts is a Young Adult fantasy novel about four enhanced teens who try to discover their origins. Lest people think, “Oh, another Fantastic Four ripoff”… not so! It’s more of an examination of the why as opposed to the how. And while there’s no shortage of action, it also focuses mainly on the individual relationships within the group. We have the MC, Mitch Kessler, who transforms to a gargoyle only when he’s angry. (He learns to control his transformation process later on in the story). He has a relationship with Callie, who’s a gender switcher, and she’s confused as to which gender she’ll end up as. Neil is a rock-man… ’nuff said. And Mitch’s best friend, Joe, is a spinning top. He can run and spin at high speeds, making him very effective as a crime fighter.

The plot concerns the Outcasts uniting under the US government’s aegis, breaking up- most of the the public doesn’t trust them, while some elements are indifferent to them- and then uniting again is when, ostensibly, a black-ops group, tries to kill them. Along the way, Mitch re-examines his relationship with Callie, decides he wants to stay with her, and he also tries to help his friends realize who they are. There is a HFN ending… and a sequel.

What inspired this story?
I wanted to get away from the usual punch-’em-up teen type of superhero novels. I’ve done those in the past and liked writing them, but I wanted to approach this novel from the perspective that our MC and his friends don’t like their powers or want them, and that they’re shunned by society for being what they are. For the record, I’m straight and married, but I have a lot of LGBTQI friends who are discriminated against simply because they are LGBTQI- no other reason. Discrimination in any form, religious/racial/orientation, is just plain wrong. I don’t push that as an agenda in the novel, but it comes out quite clearly. I don’t believe in spouting polemics. That’s a sure way to turn any reader off. But if they can identify with the characters, in this case Callie, they’ll get a better picture of how reality is.

Tell us a little about you, who is J.S. Frankel?
I was born in Toronto, Canada, long ago, and in my mid-twenties, I moved to Japan to work as an ESL teacher. Eventually, I fell in love with my wife, Akiko, and we got married many moons ago. We have two sons, and perhaps that’s helped to shape my writing and my outlook on life. I divide my waking hours teaching ESL and writing, and writing, while not a full-time gig, takes up a lot of time. The rest is for my family, movies, and food! Oh, and I love music videos… they provide great inspiration for my books!

How can we read Outcasts?
The book is available on Amazon. Oh, and you can also check out my novels as ExtasyBooks (links below).

Purchase Links:

Posted on April 25th, 2022 by MHD | Leave a Comment (4)
Filed Under Entertainment

What is your book, The Cutting Edge, about?
The Cutting Edge is a spiralling tale of Rochelle, a young girl who strives to overcome adversity. One of loss and pain, determination and anger. Rochelle experiences a life cast in shadow by bereavement, but she has a big dream, to win Olympic Gold. It’s a deeply moving story, where fate deals the hand, full of friendship, rivalry, setbacks and triumphs. Rochelle is a misfit, and an outcast but, above all, a survivor.

What inspired this story?
The inspiration for this story came from my own love of skating. I wanted to write a story that was inspirational and show that it is possible to overcome adversity even when the odds are stacked against you. The story was character led from the beginning and told through the eyes of Rochelle, as she grew from a young child to a woman.

Tell us a little about you, who is S.J. Gibbs?
My love of reading and writing started at a very young age and as a teenager I would often be found with my nose in a book and I used to read under the bedclothes with a torch after my father used to turn out my bedroom light. After leaving school, in my spare time, I wrote short stories for my own pleasure. Reading was still my passion.

In 1987, my first daughter was born and diagnosed with profound cerebral palsy. This prompted me to start writing a novel about the struggles of bringing up a daughter with a severe disability. However, I was forced to stop work on this when the emotions involved in the project became too much for me.

At the beginning of 2015, my writing began in earnest, after I joined a local writer’s group. Here I found a new love of writing fiction. I undertook The Writers Bureau Creative Writing Course, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Cutting Edge is my debut fictional novel. I live in a West Midlands village in England, with my family and my dog.

How can we read The Cutting Edge?
The Cutting Edge is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

Purchase Links:

Posted on March 3rd, 2022 by ThePit | Leave a Comment (1)
Filed Under Entertainment