Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Red Right Hand
WORK NOTES: under pseud Levi Black
PSEUDONYM(S): Black, Levi
BIRTHDATE: 1970
WEBSITE: http://www.jamesrtuck.com/
CITY: Atlanra
STATE: GA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.jamesrtuck.com/aboutjames.html * http://us.macmillan.com/author/leviblack/ * https://leviblackbooks.wordpress.com/ * http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/02/16/james-r-tuck-the-terribleminds-interview/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1970. Married; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, artist, tattoo artist, and entrepreneur. Owner of a tattoo parlor, GA.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
American author James R. Tuck is best known, as online Buzzy contributor Jean Marie Ward noted, for his “dark hard edged urban fantasy,” as witnessed in his “Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter” series, as well as the “love-crafty and horror” fiction published under his pseudonym, Levi Black. Tuck, who is also an artist and a tattoo artist, commented to Ward on his path to becoming a writer: “I’ve always dabbled in writing as like a very loose hobby. When I was younger, almost everybody writes something in high school. Of course you move through life, you forget about that and I was always an avid reader.” He continued: “So in 2009, I read a book that was supposed to be very dark and very violent and very disturbing. It was an urban fantasy, rave reviews, five stars across the board. Everywhere you looked it was being talked about and I read it and I was sorely disappointed. And at that point I said I can write a better book than this.”
Encouraged by blog posts from writer Lilith Saintcrow, Tuck decided to sit down and write his own gritty urban fantasy. Speaking with a Terribleminds Web site contributor, Tuck remarked on his choice of genres for this first work: “Everybody says to write the story you want to read and that is exactly what I have done. I’ve been an urban fantasy fan for decades now, reading stuff that fit the genre even before I knew there was a genre. I’ve also always been an avid reader, always carrying a book and reading whenever the moment presents.” Tuck’s subsequent writing labors resulted in his debut work, Blood and Bullets, sold without an agent to Kensington Publishing in a three-book deal. Tuck’s writing career, after two decades of working as a tattoo artist, was underway.
Blood and Bullets
In an interview on the Jean Book Nerd Web site, Tuck described the basic premise of his debut novel: “[It’s] a Dark Urban Fantasy starring Deacon Chalk. It’s got a main character with a death wish, bloodthirsty vampires, undead strippers, Were-spiders, cursed immortals, and more guns than a third world army. It is a bloody, violent thrillride of kickass.” Tuck added: “I had no idea just how dark this series could get. Deacon is damaged from losing his family. It has made him angry and violent and he has a death wish. He wants to go on and be with his dead family, but he is a devout Catholic. Because of this, he cannot take himself there, suicide is a mortal sin.” Thus, Chalk spends his days battling monsters, fearless and unafraid of death. In fact, he was killed by the same half-angel, half-human who killed his family, but was then resurrected by an angel to live on with certain superpowers. In the opening novel of his series, Deacon Chalk is a monster bounty hunter armed with silver, hollow-point bullets to take on the worst and most evil monsters thrown up against him. His paranormal powers also help out in these battles. A vampire ambush almost takes him out, and then Chalk finds himself not only fighting off vampires but also protecting a new and inexperienced bounty hunter.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer recommended Blood and Bullets for male readers who are “looking for escape into a world where life is hard but simple and heroes don’t need plans,” but felt that the book’s “gender politics” might be less welcome with female readers. Fantasy Book Critic Web site writer Mihir Wanchoo termed the novel a “quintessential urban fantasy book which promises to deliver like any Michael Bay film for readers who are looking for those sort of thrills.” Wanchoo added: “It however doesn’t distinguish itself from the crowd.” A higher assessment was offered by Blogcritics contributor Michael Jones, who commented: “Blood and Bullets is not only the most entertaining book I’ve read in 2012 it’s probably my favorite ‘new addiction’ read of the past five years.”
Blood and Silver and Blood and Magick
The second series installment is Blood and Silver, in which Deacon Chalk rescues a badly beaten dog only to be attacked by a pack of were-animals. Then he discovers that he has actually rescued a were-animal: a pregnant were-pitbull girl. Now he and his cohorts must save her from a growing war between the were-animals. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted the “shamelessly ridiculous and gleefully over-the-top scenes” in this “urban fantasy as men’s fiction.” Blogcritics reviewer Jones also had praise for this second installment, commenting: “The sheer adrenaline some of these creatures and the absolute havoc and danger they wreak upon the other characters in this book, well it’s as if a syringe holding all the ink pouring from pages were plunged into your veins.”
Blood and Magick finds Deacon Chalk taking on evil witches who are energized by a demon called the Keeper. “The entire book is fueled by over-the-top audacity,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who further termed it “exciting and charmingly ridiculous.” An online Book’d Out contributor similarly observed: “There is no shortage of violence in Blood and Magick, evil has no regard for innocents and bodies start piling up from the first few pages. … Despite the fast paced action and plethora of snappy one liners there is some genuine emotion from the characters.”
Red Right Hand
Writing as Levi Black, Tuck deals in more dark fantasy in Red Right Hand, the first of a proposed trilogy of books featuring Charlotte “Charlie” Moore, who has the ability to see between worlds. She eschews this power, however, and only wants to live a normal life, until one night she is attacked by hellhounds and saved by a man in black with a red right hand. This turns out to be Nyarlathotep, an elder god who wants to recruit Charlie and her powers to fight the Old Ones, other malevolent elder gods, who want to destroy all humans. Charlie wonders if she can trust Nyarlathotep, but has little choice when he takes her love interest, Daniel, as a hostage.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer found little to like in Red Right Hand, noting: “Even diehard fans of H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu will want to skip Black’s under-whelming, sloppy novel.” Others had a higher assessment. A Speculative Herald Web site contributor commented: “Without a doubt this is a fast paced read. It sets off with a no holds barred opening scene that pretty much defines how the rest of the novel will go. The writing is strong and the descriptions are, frankly, brilliant.” A Bibliosanctum Web site commentator also had praise, observing: “The narrative itself delivers a fast-paced, action-driven horror tale, full of the terrifyingly weird and supernatural elements inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Library Journal, January 1, 2013, Jackie Cassada, review of Blood and Magick, p. 74.
Publishers Weekly, December 19, 2011, review of Blood and Bullets, p. 35; June 4, 2012, review of Blood and Silver, p. 36; January 7, 2013, review of Blood and Magick, p. 44; May 9, 2016, review of Red Right Hand, p. 52.
ONLINE
Bibliosanctum, https://bibliosanctum.com/ (July 22, 2016), review of Red Right Hand.
Blogcritics, http://blogcritics.org/ (January 17, 2012), Michael Jones, review of Blood and Bullets; (July 29, 2012), Michael Jones, review of Blood and Silver.
Book’d Out, https://bookdout.wordpress.com/ (March 7, 2013), review of Blood and Magick.
Bookpushers, http://thebookpushers.com/ (March 6, 2013), review of Blood and Magick.
Buzzy, http://buzzymag.com/ (December 19, 2016), Jean Marie, author interview.
Dark Faerie Tales, http://darkfaerietales.com/ (August 21, 2016), review of Red Right Hand.
Fantastic Fiction, https://www.fantasticfiction.com/ (February 24, 2017), author profile.
Fantasy Book Critic, http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/ (February 22, 2012), Mihir Wanchoo, review of Blood and Bullets.
James R. Tuck Home Page, http://www.jamesrtuck.com (February 24, 2017),
Jean Book Nerd, http://www.jeanbooknerd.com/ (February 16, 2012), author interview.
Levi Black Home Page, https://leviblackbooks.wordpress.com (February 24, 2017).
Love Vampires, http://www.lovevampires.com/ (February 24, 2017), review of Blood and Bullets.
Rising Shadow, http://www.risingshadow.net/ (August 5, 2015), author interview.
Science Fiction, http://sciencefiction.com/ Stuart Conover, (August 26, 2015), author interview.
Speculative Herald, http://www.speculativeherald.com/ (March 6, 2013), review of Blood and Magick; (July 28, 2016), review of Red Right Hand.
Terribleminds, http://terribleminds.com/ (February 16, 2012), author interview.
Tynga’s Reviews, http://tyngasreviews.com/ (August 4, 2012), review of Blood and Silver.
no bio
Levi Black lives in Metro Atlanta with his wife and an array of toys, books, records, and comics. He's been weird his whole life and is almost as scary as he looks. Red Right Hand is his first novel.
Exclusive Author Interview: Debbie Viguié And James R. Tuck
Posted about a year ago by Stuart Conover
Robin-HoodToday I had a chance to sit down and talk to Debbie Viguié and James R. Tuck about their writing and more specifically their latest work, ‘Mark of the Black Arrow’ which is the first novel in their “Robin Hood: Demon’s Bane” series . Viguié has quite a few novels under her belt though I best know her from her wonderful work on co-authoring the ‘Wicked’ series with Nancy Holder which I am a huge fan of. Tuck also has quite the body of work behind him though tends to be associated with his Deacon Chalk series though Lovecraft fans may be familiar with his novella ‘That Way Lies Madness’.
Science Fiction (SF): First off if you could tell us what to expect from ‘Mark of the Black Arrow’
Debbie Viguié (DV): Expect Robin Hood but much darker and more frightening than you’ve likely seen it before. There’s a lot of dark magic happening in the book. That said, there’s a lot of humor and fun as well. We get to really dig into the minds of the characters to find out what makes them tick. It’s an exciting, explosive read that I’m sure will leave people breathless.
James R. Tuck (JT): It really is the darkest turn of the Robin Hood tale I’ve seen, and we are just getting started! The things in book 2 and 3 are really going to drive this story into a dark place. That being said, it’s not all bleakness and grimdark. We have some wonderful heroes who fight the evil in the land and strive for the light.
SF: What inspired you to choose Robin Hood as the central figure that you would be writing about?
DV: James and I had decided to write a story together and we were kicking around a bunch of ideas and realized that we were both fans of Robin Hood. I’d been wanting to do a Robin Hood story for years but the timing had never been right. Suddenly everything just fell perfectly into place and I couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out.
JT: Robin Hood is so iconic and legendary and yet so shrouded in mystery that there is a LOT of room to come into it and make it our own without ever doing disservice to what makes this ancient legend resonate even today.
JamesRTuckSF: With a rich mythology behind him did you try to stick to the original source material to base your character off when making him your own?
DV: We wanted the characters to feel familiar to our readers so we did our best to ground them in the stories that people know and love. Then once we had the basic frameworks in place we went deeper, adding more layers, more subtleties and complexities to each of the characters. The goal is that readers will feel like they’re finally really getting to know on a deep, personal level people that have been around for their entire lives.
JT: And there are so many characters to explore! If you like a large cast of characters then this is the book for you! And with so many people in the story that we see from their viewpoint we get to look at the events and how they affect people on so many levels. We have all the classics: Robin, Marian, Will Scarlet, Prince John, Friar Tuck, and the Sheriff Of Nottingham; but we also brought in new characters like Cardinal Francis, Chastity, and Glynna Longstride. Oh, my the things we do with Glynna are completely awesome. I love that character.
SF: While never an overly magic filled fantasy piece, Robin Hood was during a time period which fiction loves to add sorcery. Do you feel that further inclusion of it will give us an even darker Nottinghamshire as the series progresses?
DV: Absolutely! One of the things that James points out that I think works so well is that we do have pure, evil twisted characters and demonic activity in the book but that people themselves can be far more monstrous than the actual monsters. As the series progresses things will, of course get darker, because it’s always darkest before the dawn.
JT: This is by far the darkest Robin Hood story. The bad guys are so dark and so complex that it really drives the story, forcing our heroes into hard decisions and sitations you have never seen them face in any other version of this story.
SF: How was the experience of co-authoring ‘Mark of the Black Arrow’? What will you take to heart when working on future installments of ‘Robin Hood: Demon’s Bane’?
DV: It was fantastic and it went so beautifully! James and I compliment each other very well as far as our styles and what we like to tackle as far as the nuts and bolts of the writing process. The things I hate doing he loves doing and vice versa. We learned very quickly how to play to each other’s strengths as well.
JT: It helps to work with a consummate professional like Debbie. She really delivered some great things in this book. And we had our editor, Steve Saffel, to keep us focused.
SF: Do you currently have any plans for other titles to work on together down the line?
DV: We’ve been kicking around a couple of rather fantastic ideas, but we aren’t quite ready to share what they are yet.
JT: Muwah-ha-ha.
debbieviguieSF: Which actor who has already played Robin Hood would be the best fit to portray your version on the big screen? Who would you imagine actually taking up the bow and arrow if you had a choice of any actor?
DV: Honestly of the ones who have already played Robin Hood I would choose Kevin Costner because you feel that the weight of the world is on his shoulders which is not something he asked for. Our Robin has always been very solitary and the idea of having to lead others is one that is very uncomfortable for him. If I had the choice of any actor to play our Robin I’d love to see Tom Mison (Ichabod on Sleepy Hollow) play the part.
JT: Robin is tough for me but I tell you I’d pick Matt Smith to play Will Scarlet in a heartbeat. He has the capriciousness as an actor to play the flirty, rapscallion side of Will but also the gravitas to really delve into the well of caring and concern that Will carries inside him.
SF: Without spoiling the first novel, what can we expect from its sequel?
DV: More action. More danger. More romance. It’s the middle book in a trilogy which means it will go darker and the stakes will be raised considerably.
JT: Death. Someone will likely not make it to book three. It is a dangerous world we have made for Robin and the others. No one is safe. Not even Robin himself. There will be loss and heartache before the dawn.
SF: What are each of you working on outside of the follow up?
DV: I’m working on a new thriller with Nancy Holder that should be very exciting. I’m also busy with my continuing Psalm 23 Mysteries series.
JT: I have a new Lovecraftian horror series that masquerades as an urban fantasy coming in April under a psedonym, so I am working up book 2 of that as well as a new science fiction trilogy about an organ smuggler in a city-state floating in space. And I plan to carry on my Deacon Chalk series in 2016.
SF: Finally do you have anything that you’d like to share with our readers?
DV: Robin Hood has been a passion of mine since I was a little girl. It’s my fondest hope that readers will feel that passion in the pages and get drawn into the story and be able to experience it in a new and exciting way.
JT: Be good to each other. You only have this day, make it one where you live to your fullest potential.
An interview with Debbie Viguié and James R. Tuck
Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
Published: 05 August 2015
Risingshadow has had the honour of interviewing the authors of Robin Hood: Demon's Bane, Book 1: Mark of the Black Arrow, Debbie Viguié and James R. Tuck.
Debbie Viguié is co-author of the New York Times bestselling “Wicked” series, the “Wolf Springs Chronicles”, and the “Crusade” books, all written with Nancy Holder.
Click here to visit Debbie Viguié's official website.
James R. Tuck is a professional tattoo artist and author of the Deacon Chalk, occult bounty hunter series of dark urban fantasy novels published by Kensington.
Click here to visit James R. Tuck's official website.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DEBBIE VIGUIÉ AND JAMES R. TUCK
- Could you tell us something about yourselves in your own words?
Debbie: I’ve been writing since I was a kid. I have a black cat and one day I want to start a charity to help protect and take care of black cats which are the least likely to be adopted. I love theme parks and when I’m not writing that’s usually where I am!
James: I'm geeky. I read comics and weird books and draw superheros and robots. I also podcast with the Missus (THE FANBOY AND GEEK GIRL POWER HOUR on Project iRadio).
- How did you become authors? Have you always been interested in speculative fiction?
Debbie: I received my first rejection letter when I was in elementary school. I was told my writing was too dark for children. I’ve always been interested in speculative fiction. My first published book I had the opportunity to co-author with my friend and mentor, Nancy Holder, and it was a dark fantasy which really helped set the tone for a lot of my writing career.
James: I've always beena reader and should have written sooner but one day I just decided to try my hand at it. I read Lilith Saintcorw's writing advice and sat down and wrote my first book ever which was BLOOD AND BULLETS and also the first book I sold.
- You've collaborated on Mark of the Black Arrow (Robin Hood: Demon's Bane, Book 1), which will be published soon by Titan Books. It gives an intriguing twist to the well-known legend of Robin Hood, because it's a story about a fight against powerful supernatural evil that threatens to engulf the world. What inspired you to write this novel together?
Debbie: We had decided we wanted to write something together so we just kicked around some ideas of things that we were interested in. We realized we both loved Robin Hood. I had been wanting to do a Robin Hood book for years so it was an exciting opportunity. With our backgrounds as writers it was only natural that we came at it from a supernatural angle.
James: What she said! LOL. Debbie and I share a lot of similar interest in the fantasy genre but Robin Hood did resonate the strongest as well as being the one we came up with a killer idea for.
- Did you work intensely together when you began to write Mark of the Black Arrow?
Debbie: There’s always a lot of intense work on a book, particularly when it’s coming down to the wire on a deadline. The process between us went very smoothly, but each of us ended up with a few marathon writing sessions!
James: Yep, neither of us were writing ONLY Robin Hood. We both keep full schedules so there was a lot of back and forth, swapping emails and texts with 'hey I had an idea' as the opening. Plus we had Steve Saffel who is an intense editor and he really kept up the guardrails for us to drive the car through.
But yes, there were a few times I closed the computer as the sun had been up for a few hours.
- Mark of the Black Arrow is full of thrilling darkness, freshness and entertainment, and there are also humorous elements in it. Was it difficult to write this kind of an entertaining fantasy adventure about Robin Hood?
Debbie: For me striking the right balance between the darkness and the humor was very important and it was something we worked hard at. If you’re going to go dark you need to have those moments of humor to give the reader (and us, too!) some relief.
James: For me it's a fact that sometimes, no matter how scary supernatural stuff is, there is an inherent bit of ridiculousness and to never admit that is not being honest. It's like the show MASH. It was a comedy based in a horrific situation but once you have so much darkness you will eventually laugh.
- Because many readers are familiar with tales about Robin Hood and have their own views about the characters that appear in them, did you find it challenging to write about the characters and their lives?
Debbie: We definitely wanted to make sure that these were the characters people would recognize. At the same time we knew we could give them a lot more depth and complexity and mix some things up a bit. The story doesn’t just have one hero, it has several. Robin himself presented the greatest challenge, actually, in terms of getting him just right.
James: For me the villians were a bit of work to keep from just 'Muwah ha ha-ing' through the book. To give them the depth they deserve, but we did it. From the Sheriff to Prince John to Glynna Longstride we have three villians with three different motivations and three different goals.
- When I read Mark of the Black Arrow, I was fascinated by the dark fantasy elements (dark sorcery etc). What inspired you to add these elements to the story? Was it challenging to write about the evil things that were done by Prince John and the Sheriff?
Debbie: James and I both like to write about the supernatural and we can both go quite dark when we write. The funniest note we got from our editor during the process was basically “more death, more violence” and we both laughed about that. Writing evil can be very fun. I do have to say, though, that James did some really masterful things when writing about the Sheriff in particular. I was so blown away and excited by some of the twisted things he pulled off.
James: Thank you! But Debbie was the one who made Glynna what she became. So it's not all my fault, lol. Dark is no problem for me, I can get down in those trenches. I also do photography and there is a concept in there that the shadow is what defines the light. Its the same way in writing, using the dark is what makes the light and the goodness in the story show even more.
- Will you reveal more information about Prince John and the Sheriff in the sequels?
Debbie: Yes.
James: Most likely. Muwah ha ha.
- Robin had a difficult relationship with his mother, because her mother didn't like him very much. How did you come up with the idea of making Robin's mother interact badly with her son?
Debbie: Initially Robin’s mother and sisters were pretty much non-characters in the story and then I realized we needed something to drive Robin completely away from his family. It also felt like we had so many good characters and a few truly evil characters, but that we needed to see a character actually descend into darkness. At that point his mother, who isn’t usually a character that comes up much in Robin Hood stories, seemed like a perfect candidate.
James: And I love that. Again, Debbie wrote Glynna and her relationship with Robin and it blew me away. I think that dynamic and Glynna's story as a whole is one of the best things we have brought to the Robin Hood story.
- I noticed that you wrote fluently and evocatively about Sherwood Forest and its secrets and mysteries. Have you ever visited Sherwood Forest?
Debbie: No, but we’re really hoping to get out there sometime in the next year or two. I would love to go to the Robin Hood festival in Nottinghamshire.
James: Only in my spirit. But when I make it to Albion I will sleep neath the shadowed limbs of the mighty wood.
Or something like that.
- Robin Hood: Demon's Bane will continue in The Two Torcs in August 2016 and in Sovereign's War in August 2017. Will this series be a trilogy or a longer series?
Debbie: It is currently planned as a trilogy, but you never know!
James: I think after the plan we have for Sovereign's War they may not let us near England again! Lol.
- Did you have to do any research before or during the writing process?
Debbie: We researched some of the history of that time period. Obviously we’re not sticking to historical fact, but we wanted to bring in some of the politics of the time, especially as we’re setting up for the next two books.
James: There's always research. It's usually some of the fun involved in writing, getting to learn new things, but we went pretty far off the reservation in some cases.
- How would you advertise Mark of the Black Arrow to readers who are thinking of reading it?
Debbie: It’s epic dark fantasy meets heroic fantasy. It’s a new, supernatural spin on Robin Hood that raises the stakes for everyone involved.
James: That's good. That's really good. Go with what Debbie said!
- What are you currently working on?
Debbie: We’re working on book 2 of the series. I’m also working on a new book with Nancy Holder and finishing up Brotherhood of Lies which I’m writing with my husband, Scott.
James: Also Book 2, which is coming along well. I'm plotting a sci-fi horror novelette series called CARAPACE about a salvage ship that picks up a creature while passing through interdimensional travel, another co-written book with Krista Merle that is a weird western, contemplating a kickstarted horror anthology, and at the end of August I begin writing book two in the Lovecraftian Urban Fantasy series I have from Tor under the name Levi Black (book 1 RED RIGHT HAND is out in April).
- Is there anything you'd like to add?
Debbie: Writing with James has been an awesome experience and I think our two styles have blended together beautifully to create something dark, epic, twisted and fun. It’s been an absolute pleasure and I can’t wait for everyone to read this book and the next two.
James: I agree. When we started I thought we would be writing different characters and sections because our styles are so different, but instead we have written over each other and finished each others work and the result is a seamless story. In reading it myself I honestly cannot pick out my parts from Debbie's! She's awesome and the book is awesome.
QUOTE:
I’ve always dabbled in writing as like a very loose hobby. When I was younger, almost everybody writes something in high school. Of course you move through life, you forget about that and I was always an avid reader. So in 2009, I read a book that was supposed to be very dark and very violent and very disturbing. It was an urban fantasy, rave reviews, five stars across the board. Everywhere you looked it was being talked about and I read it and I was sorely disappointed. And at that point I said I can write a better book than this
James R. Tuck Interview – Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter
By Jean Marie Ward On December 19, 2016 In Author Interviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Actor and Author Interviews No Comments
James R. Tuck Interview – Author of urban fantasy, horror and crime fiction
Tuck talks “Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter”, “Robin Hood: Demon’s Bane”, and his career as a tattoo artist.
JMW: Hello this is Jean Marie Ward for BuzzyMag.com. With me today is author and tattoo artist James R. Tuck who also writes As Levi Black. Welcome.
James R. Tuck: We’re very happy to be here.
JMW: We’re thrilled you can be with us today at Dragon Con. As a writer, both of your identities are best known for the dark hard edged urban fantasy of your Deacon Chalk series as James R. Tuck, and the love crafty and horror of Red Right Hand which you write as Levi black. But recently you turned that hand, presumably not the red one, toward a series about Robin Hood. How did that come about?
James R. Tuck: I co-write that series with Debbie Viguie, and her and I were at a small convention here in Georgia. And they had put me on a panel by myself for some reason, and I invited her to come sit with me so I would not be alone. In the discussion on that panel we came up with the idea that we should work together because the more we talked, the more we had in common. And then in the discussion, we both decided that we really wanted to write a Robin Hood book. And of course we can’t destroy the straight Robin Hood book because it’s her and I, there had to be demons and that’s where it came up.
james r tuck, that thing at the zoo, deacon chalk occult bounty hunter, horror novel
Something is brutally murdering Atlanta Zoo’s most dangerous predators. Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter has to unleash his darkest, most uncontrollable instincts to save the entire city.
JMW: Oh cool. And that’s out now too, is it?
James R. Tuck: Book two actually came out at the beginning of August.
JMW: The title?
James R. Tuck: The title is “The two Torcs“. Robin Hood demons playing the two torts and that’s book two and that’s from Titan. So it’s available everywhere.
JMW: So Robin Hood: Demon’s Bane is the series title and the first book was called?
James R. Tuck: The First book was called “The Mark of the Black Arrow“.
JMW: Oh very cool, very cool and that isn’t a big enough stretch, you’ve also branched out into noir with a Southern twist. How does writing mystery strengthen your speculative fiction and vice versa?
James R. Tuck: Well it all sharpens the ability to write intriguing characters. I love writing crime fiction and I really think that a lot of the urban fantasy and some of the horror that I write. If you think urban fantasy is just a crime novel and a horror novel that you smash together. So writing a very compelling crime story does sharpen those tools that allow you to write urban fantasy too.
JMW: And how does that come into play with “Mama Tried” which is I think your new anthology as a noir writer?
James R. Tuck: Yes that came out from Down and Out Books. It hit about six weeks ago. So end of July and it is Mama Tried, an anthology of crime fiction based on outlaw country songs and in it, I got some contributors that were from the genre that I write in urban fantasy like Delilah Dawson, Jim Moore, Charles Rutledge. And then I also got some great contributors from the crime fiction field like Christopher Alston, Eric Beetner and it’s just a fabulous collection. I’m happy with all of the stories that are in it. I got to design the cover for it. I’m very pleased with the entire process. It was a lot of fun.
robin hood: demon's bane, robin hood mark of the black arrow, james r. tuck
Robin Hood doesn’t just fight the evil, corrupt men of society these days. Now he must save the Sherwood Forest from a different kind of evil lurking in the woods.
JMW: Sounds very cool. I have read a few of the things that you’ve posted and I’ve downloaded one of your books so that I can read it and one of the things that impresses me even with the little I’ve read, is that you have a real strength for drawing truly evil characters. Are any of them drawn from life?
James R. Tuck: Unfortunately they are…not all of the characters are any one person but the one story that you read “I’m on Fire” which was in the Trouble in the Heartland anthology from Gutter Books and it’s crime fiction based on Bruce Springsteen songs. So I picked I’m on Fire and that guy of course, that guy has been in every community you’ve ever been in.
JMW: Yeah unfortunately.
James R. Tuck: Yeah he’s a predator, that’s what he is and it was really, as unfortunate as is what happened, it was very nice to give him his comeuppance with a can of gasoline and a match.
JMW: Yes and a few other things but we won’t go there, they have to read the story.
James R. Tuck: Yes.
JMW: When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
James R. Tuck: I’ve always dabbled in writing as like a very loose hobby. When I was younger, almost everybody writes something in high school. Of course you move through life, you forget about that and I was always an avid reader. So in 2009, I read a book that was supposed to be very dark and very violent and very disturbing. It was an urban fantasy, rave reviews, five stars across the board. Everywhere you looked it was being talked about and I read it and I was sorely disappointed. And at that point I said I can write a better book than this and then I read a Lilith Saintcrow’s essay series on her blog that she’s now turned into a book called “The Quill and the Crow” of her real life writing advice and reading her real life writing advice I realized that I could write a book and so then I did and that became “Blood and bullets” which sold to Kensington unagented for a three book deal.
the two torcs, robin hood demon's bane, james r tuck, debbie vigue
Robin Hood, Marian and a small group rebels are fighting against the dark forces used by Prince John to wield the power of the throne. The Sherwood Forest is the only land in England that cannot be touched by this evil, and they must save it in order to save the whole country.
JMW: Very, very cool. When did the tattoo art come into it? Did you decide to become an artist before you decided to become a writer or were the two streams together in your life, the art and the writing?
James R. Tuck: I’ve always been an artist. It’s one of the earlier…Being a writer and being an artist are two things that I’ve done since far beyond I can remember. Those were the earliest stories that get told about me from my family. So I’ve always drawn, always been an artist, I’ve always been involved in that. Being a tattoo artist happened 20 years ago. I learned how to tattoo. So that was an interesting situation as, yet most people’s stories of getting into the tattoo business are. I did an apprenticeship with a guy who knew how to tattoo, who had a shop in Marietta. The tattoo industries for people that are kind of low and kind of, it draws a certain kind of person. So you wind up with some pretty interesting stories that aren’t always good for dinner conversation.
JMW: Yes but the process itself is pretty interesting in these days of you go to school, you get a job and you move around but don’t you have to do something like serve an apprenticeship?
James R. Tuck: Yes. I served a year-long apprenticeship where basically I was in charge of doing everything that was not actually tattooing. Which means that I arrived at the shop an hour and a half before and I swept, and I mopped, and I vacuumed, and I cleaned the windows, and I dusted the shelves and I made sure that the reference material was in place and I made needles and I made inks and I drew designs and then I helped all the customers and I took all the money, I did all the paperwork. I ran to the store to get lunch, ran to the store to get cigarettes, ran to the store to get supplies. Basically if there was something that had to be done that did not apply ink to skin, that was my responsibility. And I did that for a solid year before I was able to tattoo anybody at all.
JMW: It sounds like it’s a really good business education.
James R. Tuck: It is. I did learn from top to bottom. Not everything that it took to run a shop but everything it took to make a shop run. So I did at one point own my own shop and that
was glorious for about three years. It was also at the same time that I had started writing. I opened my shop and started my writing career at about the same time. And I discovered that as much as I loved tattooing and I will always tattoo until my hands fall off, I do not like running a business. And so three years ago I shut it down and it was the best decision that I made in the last ten years.
JMW: But you still tattoo?
James R. Tuck: I still tattoo and I work for someone else and I’m far happier.
JMW: Cool. Do you specialize in any specific type of tattoo or type of tattoo art?
James R. Tuck: Not specialized, 20 years and I’ve done almost every style there is. I’m not very good at Japanese, so if you want traditional Japanese I usually will send you to someone else but if you’re looking for a bold line, bright color traditional, so much traditional or a new school tattoo then I’ll do a really, really fine job on that. That is really my specialty.
JMW: Very cool. What are you working on now both in your writing and in your art?
James R. Tuck: As far as my writing goes I still am under contract for another Robin Hood book and then two more Red Right Hand books and so those are what I’m working on currently. And also I’m working on comic strips because I have a comic book project that will be out January, February with Neil Vokes, it’s called “Shadows Over White Chapel‘ which is a lovecraftian monster doing Jack the Ripper stuff in Victorian London and it’s a lot of fun. So I’m really looking to do a little more comic book work.
JMW: Yeah. We knew he had to be Cthuluu, we really did.
James R. Tuck: Yes, I like playing in the Cthuluu Mythos, I have some Indie projects with that, I do a lot of short stories in it and then Red Right Hand is set in it.
JMW: And with the art, you just want to keep doing what you’re doing, right?
James R. Tuck: Yes. With the art I don’t really have anything that I’m trying to learn or any new techniques. The best thing about tattooing as an artist is it’s a frustrating thing and that’s the best thing and the best thing is that it allows you to do many different kinds of art every day. Like every day I go into work, I make a piece of art. It may not be a piece of art that I care about but it’s still a piece of art. So it does alleviate that creative soul.
JMW: That’s good. We all need something that alleviates that creative soul. We’re coming up again to the end of the interview, is there anything you’d like to add?
James R. Tuck: I will say that if you read, you should read widely and if you’re a writer, you should write your book. Quit messing around with it, quit looking at what you’ve written and continue to write until you get to the end. I encourage everybody to write or draw or do some form of art. So art harder.
JMW: Art harder. Good words to live by. Thank you Jim and thank you for BuzzyMag.com.
Interviewed by Jean Marie Ward
QUOTE:
I had no idea just how dark this series could get. Deacon is damaged from losing his family. It has made him angry and violent and he has a death wish. He wants to go on and be with his dead family, but he is a devout Catholic. It's got a main character with a death wish, bloodthirsty vampires, undead strippers, Were-spiders, cursed immortals, and more guns than a third world army. It is a bloody, violent thrillride of kickass.
James R. Tuck Author Interview
11:26 AM Blood and Bullets, James R. Tuck Author Interview 13 comments
Book Nerd Interview
James R. Tuck is the author of the Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter series from Kensington. Book one, BLOOD AND BULLETS will be available everywhere on February 7, 2012 and will be preceded by the e-novella THAT THING AT THE ZOO on January 27, 2012.
James is a former bouncer and has been a professional tattoo artist for over 15 years. His tattoo work has been published in national tattoo magazines and he owns Family Tradition Tattoo in Marietta, Ga. He lives near there with a wonderful wife, three wonderful children, and six dogs of varying degrees of wonderfulness.
Social Media
Website
You’re an author and a tattoo artist; that's a curious combination. How did that come about?
The two are completely unrelated. I began tattooing over 15 years ago. I worked hard, loving it all, learning something new all the time. It takes years to become a good tattoo artist, to find your style and make the technique work for you. I built up a good skill level, had work published in national tattoo magazines, and built a large clientle who love me. Three years ago I made the move to open my own shop. It's a great little tattoo shop in my hometown just above Atlanta and it is exactly the kind of shop I wanted. It's not big, but we do nice work and people really like us. You can come in and not feel out of place. It's a laid back shop with a great vibe to it.
The writing bug bit me in 2009. I have always been a reader and I have loved urban fantasy for years and years. One day I was reading a book that was supposed to be a dark, violent, “OMG how did she get away with writing that” kind of book. It wasn't. The characters were flat, the story was dis-jointed, and it was not scary at all. I finished that book, sat it down, and said out loud to myself: “I can write better shit than that.”
So I did.
As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
As a child I swayed between being a veterinarian, a garbage man, and a comic book artist. Boy, I was pretty far off my guesses as I grew older. Lol.
When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill?
I have always drawn and read. I remember srawing monsters, dragons, and warriors as far back as the second grade. And I my dad used to love to tell the story of me reading the paper to him at 5. So it has always been with me.
For those who are unfamiliar with your novel; Blood and Bullets, how would you introduce it?
BLOOD AND BULLETS is a Dark Urban Fantasy starring Deacon Chalk. It's got a main character with a death wish, bloodthirsty vampires, undead strippers, Were-spiders, cursed immortals, and more guns than a third world army. It is a bloody, violent thrillride of kickass.
Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
BLOOD AND BULLETS is book one of the Deacon Chalk series. There is a prequel e-novella called THAT THING AT THE ZOO which is available now from all fine e-tailers for less than a dollar. I have completed the 2nd e-novella titled SPIDER'S LULLABY which comes out in July and book 2, BLOOD AND SILVER, which hits shelves August 7th. I am currently banging away at book 3 (BLOOD AND MAGICK) as well as e-novella 3 which will come out in 2013. I have the series outlined to book 10 with plenty of room to continue from there as well as expanding it out to short stories and offshoots. You will see a lot of the Deaconverse in the future.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating Deacon?
Just how damaged he would be. I mean, I started with the notion that if monsters were real, if this stuff really happened, then the person who woke up every day saying “I'm going to kill monsters.” would be really screwed up. I had no idea just how dark this series could get. Deacon is damaged from losing his family. It has made him angry and violent and he has a death wish. He wants to go on and be with his dead family, but he is a devout Catholic. Because of this, he cannot take himself there, suicide is a mortal sin, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. So what he does is mount up everyday and throw himself at the monster, hoping and praying that one day he will be just that little bit too slow, that little bit not strong enough and one of them will be monster enough to send him on his way.
That premise has taken the story into some really dark places. It's a hard world in the Deaconverse.
If you gave some of your characters an opportunity to speak for themselves, what would they say?
Depends on the character. They all have their own veiwpoints. Father Mulcahy, the chain-smoking, coffe swilling, shotgun carrying priest has a different viewpoint than Nyteblade, the wannabe vampire hunter. Kat, the right hand man and research guru who survived a vicious time as a blood-whore to a sadistic vampire sonnuvabitch named Darius, has a differnt veiwpoint than Charlotte the Were-spider. I worked really hard to try and make all the characters well-rounded and treat them as “real” in this world that I created.
What is the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
Oh, Facebook how I curse your name! I do not know what black magick crack they work into the programming at Facebook, but it seriously works. If there is an internet connection available then I must obsessively check my facebook.
Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why?
All time favorite? Oh, that is way too difficult to narrow down. I am an avid reader and have been for almost 4 decades. I love books. In urban fantasy I would go with OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY by Laurell K Hamilton. That is one helluva good book.
what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
Again a hard one to nail down. I like a lot of books in a lot of genres. Gun to my head I guess I would pick THE OUTSIDERS by S. E. Hinton. It is not often you can go back as an adult and reread a book you loved in junior high school and have it hold up. This is a classic and a must read.
Do you ever come up with anything so wild that you scare yourself, that leaves you wondering where that came from?
Not often. I mean, I have loved the dark stuff for a long time. I was watching Faces Of Death as a 12 year old. I have seen a ton of horror movies and read even more books on all kinds of dark subjects. So, nope, as dark as my books get, they don't creep me out. I mean, hell, I did read THE BIGHEAD by Ed Lee, which is hands down the most disturbing book I have ever read. It did almost make me put it down. I do not recommend it if you have any kind of weak stomach.
When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie?
I learned a long time ago that honesty really is the best policy. Instead of lying I will tell the truth even if it hurts someone's feelings. It just makes life easier. Now I don't go out of my way to share my honest opinion if it is negative, but if asked I will be honest.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
Not sure. Maybe the collection of salt and pepper shakers we have? Maybe the Pez collection? Probably you would be awestruck by just how normal we are for all our abnormality.
What book are you reading now?
I am reading the THRILLERS anthology put out by the International Thriller Writers (of which I am a member) and REVENGE OF THE PENMONKEY by the Indomitable Chuck Wendig. The anthology is like most anthologies, some things make me add a writer to my want list and some stories I skip. The Chuck Wendig book, well, I just love Chuck. He has a way of making me crack up and want to be a better writer all at the same time. All writers should pick up his stuff and read his blog at www.terribleminds.com
Do you ever write in your PJ’s?
On my day off from the tattoo shop I do. When I have the house to myself you will often find me pecking away at the keyboard in pajamma pants and a t-shirt.
What’s the worst job you’ve had?
For one day I was a dishwasher at the Manchu Wok in the Mall. I was 16. It was horrible. I was elbow deep in greasy water, washing woks and pans all night long. I was the only non-asian person who worked there and the cook evidently did not like me. All night he yelled at me in chinese and when he was done cooking something he would just pick up the hot wok and fling it at me and the sink. He never actually hit me with one, just clanged it off the stainless steel sink or splashed me with the hot, greasy water. I worked there for 3 hours, trying to not go lose my shit on this old asian man. The lady who was in charge came back and had me take the garbage out. I gathered the bags, walked out the back to the dumpster, and just kept on walking to my car. I never even went back for my check.
What are 4 things you never leave home without?
My keys have to be in my pocket. My wallet. My moleskine notebook and a pen for writing down ideas. A writer should NEVER be caught without something to write on and with. You will not remember that cool idea that hit you at the redlight beside Mc Donald's. Always write it down.
Do you have any fun Halloween experiences you can tell us?
I do a lot of staying in on Halloween. My kids are now old enough that we don't trick or treat and we live in a neighborhood of folks in their 40's and 50's so there are almost no kids around. So, nope, I am lame at Halloween.
Where can readers stalk you?
In person they can come to the tattoo shop, Family Tradition Tattoo in Marietta, Ga or track me down at any of the conventions I am working. I love to meet folks so don't be shy! My itenerary is on my website.
I am all over the web, but for social media here are the links.
Author Website:
www.jamesrtuck.com
Author Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/JamesTuckwriter
Author Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/jamesrtuckwriter
Author Blog:
http://jamesrtuck.wordpress.com/
And please do follow me. I promise you a good time. I love meeting new fans online and in person. Chat me up!
I am a devoted book lover and book reviewer for fictional books (YA + adult). My goal is to provide in-depth opinions on these books and be able to share thoughts and ideas with other book lovers.
QUOTE:
Everybody says to write the story you want to read and that is exactly what I have done. I’ve been an urban fantasy fan for decades now, reading stuff that fit the genre even before I knew there was a genre. I’ve also always been an avid reader, always carrying a book and reading whenever the moment presents. I
James R. Tuck: The Terribleminds Interview
Next up for the terribleminds interview — James R. Tuck, author of the recently released BLOOD & BULLETS, a Deacon Chalk story. James is the type to sell it straight and tell it like he sees it, so I’ll leave him to get right to it. Welcome him here at terribleminds, and you can find James at his website, JamesRTuck.com, or on the Twittertubes @jamestuckwriter.
This is a blog about writing and storytelling. So, tell us a story. As short or long as you care to make it. As true or false as you see it.
“Respect your elders boy.”
The young man looked at him, eyes bloodshot, a sallow cast to the whites of them. “My dad left before he even knew my whore of a momma was knocked up with me. Hell, he was gone before his drunk wore off.” Long brown fingers stubbed out the joint delicately; white smoke wisping out the side of his mouth he leaned forward. “My whore of a momma didn’t even have the courtesy to take me to my grandma before she split. Hell, she was gone before her drunk wore off too. My grandma had to take the crosstown bus for over three hours to come get me from the hospital. I love my grandma. I would kill for my grandma. I say ma’am to her, dress nice when I am over there, take her to church every Sunday and the Piccidilly afterwards. I do respect MY elders.” The Glock appeared, pointed at Leon’s chest. A smile with no humor touched the young buck’s narrow, pock-marked face.
“The rest of y’all are just old.”
Why do you tell stories?
Because I love it. Everybody says to write the story you want to read and that is exactly what I have done. I’ve been an urban fantasy fan for decades now, reading stuff that fit the genre even before I knew there was a genre. I’ve also always been an avid reader, always carrying a book and reading whenever the moment presents. I had just finished an urban fantasy book that was supposed to be dark, violent, and kick ass. It was the lamest, tamest, piece of crap I had ever read. Now I picked this book up because the reviews for it were off the hook. Many reviewers actually saying they were uncomfortable with the darkness of the book, the didn’t know how the author had gotten away with writing something so violent, etc., etc., blah, blah, blahditty blah.
The book sucked balls. Not just balls, but big monkey balls. The ashy gray, wrinkly, and covered-in-tiny-hairs-like-wires monkey balls.
I put the book down and said out loud to myself: “I can write better shit than that.” So I did. That made me sit down and write what would become BLOOD AND BULLETS, the first book in the Deacon Chalk series.
Give the audience one piece of writing or storytelling advice:
Quit using so many damn speechtags. Seriously, speechtags are of the Devil. They are lazy, worthless little filler words. I’m not saying never use them, but never use them. If I see a whole page of he said, she said broken only by the occasional he exclaimed, then my eyes glaze over and I want to throw the book across the room. You can get so much more out of telling me what the character is doing instead of just telling me that they said something. Hell, that’s the job of the quotation marks. You throw those bad boys around some words and I just know they were said by someone. Double duty your writing and let me know something about the character who is speaking by having them do something or describing something. Ditching speechtags and making use of descriptors will not only boost your writing but you will discover a whole world of subtext that will give weight to what your characters are saying, punching a hole in the reality matrix and bringing them to life.
Get them out of the white room and make them do something. You can write a whole page on a character making a sandwich and if you do it right it will be gripping and compelling. Have your character make a banana and mayonnaise sandwich while they discuss killing someone, or divorcing their husband, or sleeping with their girlfriend for the first time. You can turn that sandwich into a load of character detail.
Not bad for two pieces of wheat bread, a smear of Hellman’s, and a banana.
(Don’t knock it, that shit is delicious.)
Oh, and free second piece of advice.
Pull your head from out your ass.
Quit thinking you are so awesome you don’t have to be polite to people. Seriously, a little consideration and manners will take you further than your talent will in some cases. Just take the two seconds to send a thank you email, or to repost the stuff put up by folks who help you out. Don’t be the dick author that goes to a blog, does your guest post, and then trots back off to your masturbatory abattoir (masturabbatoir?) until the next time you need something posted. Life is about the give and the take. You should give more than you take.
What’s great about being a writer, and conversely, what sucks about it?
I love being a writer. I love meeting fans and reader and people who think I suck. My favorite thing is being able to go up to writers whose work I admire and talking to them without seeming like a crazed fanboy. I can chit-chat on fairly equal footing with writers whose books I have enjoyed over the years. It’s awesome.
The suck factor comes in for me in that I have no idea how I am doing at any given time. The bottom line is, well, the bottom line. How you sell. That is what matters in the publishing world. Not your talent, not your art, not even your story. Just did the book make money. If you made money then you get to write again, if not, then you and Geno have a meeting in the back with a Louisville Slugger.
The Illuminati keeps those figures locked up in the vaults just to drive people like me crazy.
(Curse you, Illuminati!)
What do you love about the urban fantasy sub-genre, and what do you hate about it?
Urban fantasy is my great love in reading. It is tied with crime fiction. I have always been fascinated with mythology and religion so pulling that into the “real” world really works for me. It just gets stuff moving in my bloodstream. Monsters and guns, hell to the yeah.
The biggest problem I have with urban fantasy right now is the way a lot of it follows in trends and the way it pulls back from the edge, trying to be more paranormal romance.
Now the first part of that is it seems like: “You know what’s hot right now? Fairies. Vampires are dead, don’t write about them, write about fairies. Fairies sell.” Well, kiss my ass very much. I’ll write about fairies when I damn well want to and because I have a new spin to throw at it. I wanted to write vampires as the bad guys in my first book because they kick ass when stripped of their humanity and made into monsters. It’s a classic because it damn well works. I did hear that no one was buying vampires after the publishing world has turned against the Twilight franchise. People said to me. “Oh, vampires are over. Stephanie Meyers ruined them.” “I wouldn’t write that, vampires are so cliché.”
Don’t be an idiot. Write a good book. Shut the fuck up.
Vampires are over is just another excuse for you to not write a damn book. Hush now, the writers are talking.
And the proliferation of paranormal romance into urban fantasy is old news. Now I like a good paranormal romance and love is a huge motivating factor in characters. Love has a place in urban fantasy, hell yes it does. However, there is a thing with paranormal romance, one of it’s defining characteristics, in which the love story IS the story. All the other factors play second and third fiddle to the romantic element. If that is what you are writing, then go for it. Do it well and I will read it and enjoy it, but if you are going to write urban fantasy then write it. Give me monsters without redemption. Inject some horror in there. Make some characters who are totally screwed up, because if you had to deal with this crazy shit in real life you would be nine kinds of fucked up.
What’s it take to write great urban fantasy?
Brass balls. (Picture Alec Baldwin with a pair of shiny balls in his hand.)
Seriously, it takes a careful attention to character and propensity to write those characters getting fucked up. You need to be able to go there. Take the bus full of your characters and drive them to the heart of Weird Shits-ville and kick them out. Naked. You need to be able to see that if you were writing reality these people would be damaged. You also need to keep your sense of humor, because unrelenting horror is, well, horror and not urban fantasy. But if you are writing urban fantasy then do yourself a favor and don’t hold back. It’s your job to tell me about the piece of gristle stuck in the canines of a Were-wolf. It’s your job to imagine just how a vampire who drinks blood and never brushes his teeth smells when it is in your face talking to you. It is your job to crawl through the dark and bring me a damn story worth reading.
Favorite word? And then, the follow up: Favorite curse word?
I really like the word eldritch. I have since I first read it used by the late, great Robert E. Howard. It’s a terrific word that I don’t get to use nearly as often as I would like since I am not H.P. Lovecraft.
(Side note: How cool is it that Lovecraft is now a descriptive word in its own right? Lovecraftian. You call something Lovecraftian and you have just shortcut a ton of description to one word.)
Favorite curse word…..hmmm. If you read my first drafts it would seem like it would be fuck. I use that like it’s my last name when I am first drafting. But my favorite would probably be cocksucker, which I haven’t used in a story yet, but in book two my main character does tell someone to “keep your cock-holster buttoned.”
So, if Lovecraftian is a word that describes work that feels like it’s been written by Lovecraft, what would the future adjective “Jamestuckian” imply?
Dark, violent, bloody, and a propensity to use sentences where the action happens before the subject. I want folks to know what they are getting into when they see my name on the cover. It will really throw them off when I do write a paranormal romance. (Muwah-ha-ha) But I do think that my books will always have a high action content, even if they aren’t dripping blood from the page. I mean I’m 42. I’m not finding myself here. This is what I like dammit, and this is what I write. Trends can suck it.
Favorite alcoholic beverage? (If cocktail: provide recipe. If you don’t drink alcohol, fine, fine, a non-alcoholic beverage will do.)
I love me some Red-headed Sluts. Takes about 15 to really do a number on me, but they are delicious and highly recommended.
1 oz Jagermeister
1 oz peach schnapps
2 oz cranberry juice
Preparation:
Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Shake well.
Strain into a shot or old-fashioned glass.
Of course if I am drinking straight then give me a nice bourbon, rum, or Southern Comfort. I hate beer, hate wine, and can’t drink straight vodka anymore. I will take a nice moonshine if you have it though, I mean I am Southern-born and Southern-bred, we don’t turn up our noses to the bathtub brewery.
Recommend a book, comic book, film, or game: something with great story. Go!
There is no better film than The Princess Bride. Seriously, everything works in that movie. The perfect blend of acting, directing, storytelling, and unicorn blood. Virgin unicorn blood. That damn movie is infectious like a rhesus monkey in the CDC.
Book- The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The language in that book makes me weep in shame. True, the story is really not worth telling, you don’t know shit that is going on, and the lack of character definition can be maddening, but the LANGUAGE is just breathtaking.
I also love the book and the film for High Fidelity.
I can’t recommend a best comic book ever. I love comic books. I am a fanboy from way back in the day. I love comics like I love my spleen. Hello, spleen, good day to you, I love you so much. Closest I can come to a best comic ever may be Preacher by Garth Ennis. That is a comic book that is not for the faint of heart.
I can’t recommend a game because (gasp!) I am not much of a gamer. I play vidjah games to unwind about once every 2 months. I want a game that I can run and gun, no thinking, no figuring shit out. Just give me a lot of stuff to destroy and I can veg out for a few hours. To illustrate, the only game I have ever beaten was Devil May Cry.
What skills do you bring to help the humans win the inevitable zombie war?
I do carry a gun in real life and am a better than decent shot with it. My true skill though is a complete and utter lack of conscience. I could do the most jacked up stuff, the stuff you need to do to survive, and never once feel bad about it. I can be the go to guy for fucked up shit that has to be done to survive.
I am sure most folks here are watching the Walking Dead on AMC. Have you noticed how utterly badass Rick Grimes has become? It’s like that Dave Chappelle thing that gets stuck in everyone’s head: “I’m Rick James bitch!” has now, in my head switched to: “I’m Rick Grimes bitch!”. If this was zombie apocalypse I could make that switch in your head to: “I’m James Tuck bitch!”.
You like guns, huh? What’s your go-to gun in any situation?
My Colt .45 1911. I have one and it is, hands down, the finest handgun ever made. The pistol is absolutely intuitive. When you snatch it out of the holster your finger just slips over the safety in a gentle caress. If you carry it cocked, locked, and ready to rock (hammer back, safety on, one in the chamber for those of you who don’t know) then you can have your firearm ready in seconds.
Plus the gun is just gorgeous. I get it that some folks aren’t into guns but I am in a big way. To me, the 1911 is a work of art. You see it in movies a LOT because it is so damn cool looking. It’s a big, shiny handful of badass.
What do most writers get wrong about guns in their stories?
Same thing as Hollywood usually. They forget to count bullets. They have bullets flying and the characters not reloading.
Plus, it seems most writers have never fired a gun. You can tell when you read that most writers have never blown that black shit out of their nose after an afternoon at the gun range. And I have read a lot of odd mistakes. Safeties being flicked off of semiautomatics that don’t have them, hell, safeties being flicked off revolvers, hammers being pulled back on Glocks, that kind of thing. It’s fine if you write your character as not knowing about guns so you can skim some stuff, but there are basic levels of research that can’t be gotten online. Hell, if you are a writer and have a question about a gun drop me a line. Unless the floodwaters of deadline are sweeping away my house, I’ll answer.
You’ve committed crimes against humanity. They caught you. You get one last meal.
The seared flesh of my enemies.
Or a really nice steak and a Dragon roll.
What’s next for you as a storyteller? What does the future hold?
Crime. I am writing the 3rd Deacon Chalk book now and after that I have the 3rd Deacon Chalk e-novella to knock out. After that I am writing a crime novel. Something really dark and violent like Tom Piccirilli’s stuff. I want to switch things up with one Deacon book a year, which is urban fantasy, and one other book a year of my choosing. The rest of my time I want to fill with short fiction, comic book writing, and maybe some screenwriting.
But next up is crime. I have a list of crime fiction ideas as long as my freakishly gorilla length arm.
James R. Tuck is an author, professional tattoo artist, and photographer who lives outside Atlanta.
He co-hosts THE FANBOY AND GEEK GIRL POWER HOUR, a comic book based pop culture podcast with his wife D. H. Tuck on Project iRadio.
unable to copy Bio
Series
Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter
1. Blood and Bullets (2012)
2. Blood and Silver (2012)
3. Blood and Magick (2013)
Circus of Blood (2013)
Special Features (2014)
Culvert City Crime Files
1. Hired Gun (2012)
Robin Hood: Demon Bane (with Debbie Viguié)
1. Mark of the Black Arrow (2015)
2. The Two Torcs (2016)
3. Sovereign's War (2017)
Champion of Hollow Earth
1. Champion of Hollow Earth (2015)
Collections
Theok The Indomitable: A Spill Of Sorcerer's Blood (2015)
Novellas
That Way Lies Madness (2013)
Love And Vengeance (2014)
Anthologies edited
Mama Tried (2016)
LC control no.: no2012100321
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Tuck, James R.
See also: Alternative identity: Black, Levi, 1970-
Located: Atlanta (Ga.)
Birth date: 1970
Field of activity: Tattooing Fiction
Profession or occupation:
Tattoo artists Novelists
Found in: Blood and silver, c2012: t.p. (James R. Tuck) p. 3 of cover
(a professional tattoo artist; lives in Georgia, where
he owns and operates a tattoo parlor)
Blood and magick, c2013: t.p. (James R. Tuck)
U.S. copyright file, Mar. 13, 2013 (Tuck, James R., Jr.,
1970-, Tuck, James R.)
Black, Levi. Red right hand, 2016: title page (Levi Black)
dust jacket (Levi Black lives in Metro Atlanta)
Levi Black's website, Dec. 5, 2016 (Levi Black ; Red Right
Hand is his first novel as Levi Black ; James R. Tuck)
Associated language:
eng
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
LC control no.: no2016162118
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Black, Levi, 1970-
See also: Real identity: Tuck, James R.
Located: Atlanta (Ga.)
Birth date: 1970
Field of activity: Horror tales Fiction Tattooing
Other attribute: Anonyms and pseudonyms
Profession or occupation:
Novelists Tattoo artists
Found in: Black, Levi. Red right hand, 2016: title page (Levi Black)
dust jacket (Levi Black lives in Metro Atlanta)
Levi Black's website, Dec. 5, 2016 (Levi Black ; Red Right
Hand is his first novel as Levi Black ; James R. Tuck)
Blood and silver, ©2012: title page (James R. Tuck) page 3
of cover (a professional tattoo artist; lives in
Georgia, where he owns and operates a tattoo parlor)
U.S. copyright file, Mar. 13, 2013 (Tuck, James R., Jr.,
1970-, Tuck, James R.)
Associated language:
eng
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
QUOTE:
Even diehard fans of H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu will want to skip Black's under-whelming, sloppy novel
Red Right Hand
Publishers Weekly. 263.19 (May 9, 2016): p52.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Red Right Hand
Levi Black. Tor, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-7653-8248-1
The Cthulhu mythos is a ripe setting for this urban fantasy from Black (a pseudonym for James R. Tuck), but it's squandered in a series of gruesome, non-stop fight scenes that blur into each other, never coalescing into a cohesive, or even interesting, whole. Charlotte "Charlie" Moore just wants to live her life (in an unnamed location that may be present-day America) in peace, but all hope of that vanishes when she's attacked by hellhounds. A mysterious man with a red right hand steps in to save her. It turns out that he's an elder god named Nyarlathotep, and he needs Charlie and her latent magic, which gives her the ability to "see through the veil between worlds," to keep the other Old Ones from destroying the human race. Charlie is horrified to discover that Nyarlathotep's seeming altruism is only because he doesn't want to share the fun of tormenting humans, but when he threatens her love interest, she knows she has no choice but to help him. Charlie's histrionic internal dialogue is all that passes for character development. Even diehard fans of H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu will want to skip Black's under-whelming, sloppy novel. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Red Right Hand." Publishers Weekly, 9 May 2016, p. 52. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA452883330&it=r&asid=e3c093538c1639112d360664829ee1aa. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.
QUOTE:
exciting and charmingly ridiculous
Gale Document Number: GALE|A452883330
Blood and Magick
Publishers Weekly. 260.1 (Jan. 7, 2013): p44.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Blood and Magick
James R. Tuck. Kensington, $7.99 mass market (320p) ISBN 978-0-7582-7149-5
Deacon Chalk is a supernatural bounty hunter who rarely manages to collect any bounties, instead slaying evil out of the goodness of his heart. He's taken on murderous were-lions and vampires (in 2012's Blood and Bullets and Blood and Silver) and now faces immortal evil witches powered by a Kandarian demon called the Keeper and involved with a book called the Necronomicon. If this sounds familiar, it should: the villains are a direct homage to the Evil Dead movies. The entire book is fueled by over-the-top audacity: were-dogs and were-lions are joined by were-possums, and the action often returns to Polecats, a bikini bar staffed entirely by strippers that Deacon has rescued from supernatural attackers. ("Monsters love strippers," one of the women explains.) At one point, the Catholic church even awards Chalk with the historic magical sword Durendal. But Chalk takes his gory demon-slaying business dead seriously, allowing readers to have both fun and high-powered action. This exciting and charmingly ridiculous installment will appeal to fans of B-movies and urban fantasy. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Blood and Magick." Publishers Weekly, 7 Jan. 2013, p. 44. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA314563427&it=r&asid=57a1cbb5192da3bcc4f5736e835cec4e. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A314563427
Tuck, James R. Blood and Magick
Jackie Cassada
Library Journal. 138.1 (Jan. 1, 2013): p74.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Tuck, James R. Blood and Magick. Kensington. (Deacon Chalk, Occult Bounty Hunter, Bk. 3.) Jan. 2013. 320p. ISBN 9780758271495. pap. $7.99; ebk. ISBN 9780758286031. FANTASY
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
His commitment to hunting down witches strikes close to home as Deacon Chalk (Bloods and Bullets; Blood and Silver) acquires a new partner in Special Agent Silas Heck of the Occult Crimes Investigation Division (OCID) to help uncover a supernatural trio that is targeting Deacon's friends and family.
Cassada, Jackie
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Cassada, Jackie. "Tuck, James R. Blood and Magick." Library Journal, 1 Jan. 2013, p. 74. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA313885184&it=r&asid=0e2691ee101b7d8da7048781690dc36b. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.
QUOTE:
Shamelessly ridiculous and gleefully over-the-top
urban fantasy as men's fiction
Gale Document Number: GALE|A313885184
Blood and Silver
Publishers Weekly. 259.23 (June 4, 2012): p36.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Blood and Silver
James R. Tuck. Kensington, $7.99 mass market (304p) ISBN 978-0-7582-7148-8
A Nephilim--half-angel, half-human-killed Deacon Chalk and his family; an angel resurrected Deacon as a superhuman. Five years later, he's a self-appointed monster hunter. Deacon's just about gotten his life back together when his impulsive rescue of a beaten dog sets him against a pack of were-animals. The dog is actually an abused and pregnant were-pitbull girl, and only Deacon and his friends from the Polecats bikini bar can save her from burgeoning war among the weres. Shamelessly ridiculous and gleefully over-the-top scenes include a Catholic priest slaying monsters with a heavily modified rifle and a waitress getting the better of the Lord of the Forest with her concealed weapon. The fun is diminished by the depiction of many black characters as evil drug addicts and abusive were-beasts, and many of the women as sex slaves and sex workers. This is urban fantasy as men's fiction--Sookie Stackhouse meets the Dresden Files by way of Maxim. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Blood and Silver." Publishers Weekly, 4 June 2012, p. 36. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA292503800&it=r&asid=eac214d6afd3ed4e543644cf11bfb3f3. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.
QUOTE:
looking for escape into a world where life is hard but simple and heroes don't need plans
gender politics
Gale Document Number: GALE|A292503800
Blood and Bullets
Publishers Weekly. 258.51 (Dec. 19, 2011): p35.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Blood and Bullets
James R. Tuck. Kensington, $7.99 mass market (304p) ISBN 978-0-7582-7147-1
Deacon Chalk is a monster-hunter with a dead family, a love for big guns and bigger cars, and ambiguous ethics despite his devotion to Catholicism. "Call me a caveman all you want," he tells the reader, and indeed they might as he declares weaker women liabilities and boasts of owning a fortified supernatural strip club (called Polecats, hatch) where women he's "saved" work "out of gratitude." Chalk is larger than life, complete with paranormal powers, body-spanning tattoos, and sex appeal that works even on his enemies, who are positively retro in their pure evilness. Male readers looking for escape into a world where life is hard but simple and heroes don't need plans will find this perfect beach or airport reading, but the gender politics are unlikely to find favor with female readers. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Blood and Bullets." Publishers Weekly, 19 Dec. 2011, p. 35. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA275920613&it=r&asid=52ad67864851f92a00ebb1508125c763. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A275920613
QUOTE:
Without a doubt this is a fast paced read. It sets off with a no holds barred opening scene that pretty much defines how the rest of the novel will go. The writing is strong and the descriptions are, frankly, brilliant
Review: Red Right Hand by Levi Black
July 28, 2016
Review: Red Right Hand by Levi BlackRed Right Hand by Levi Black
Series: Red Right Hand #1
Published by Tor Books Genres: Dark Fantasy, Horror
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Thanks to Tor Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
LibraryThing button-amazon book-depository-button audible-button
three-stars
Red Right Hand is a book based in a world full of monsters. A dark and frightening place that takes inspiration from the work of Lovecraft. I must say that I didn’t love this book and this puzzles me to an extent. Perhaps the fact that I haven’t read any Lovecraft didn’t help but for me it was a strange combination of brutal truths and flashbacks combined with gruesome horror. I certainly wouldn’t try to dissuade anyone from reading as I’m sure Lovecraft fans will find a wealth of imagination here to capture their attention.
The pacing is good. We get off to an immediate start as we’re introduced to Charlie Tristan Moore as she returns home from a disastrous night out with her boyfriend to be confronted by three skinhounds (which are every bit as bad as they sound and seem to have designs on Charlie). Charlie is rescued by an unlikely Man in Black (MiB), a strange character, foreboding, not totally trustworthy, with a ruined red right hand and a leather coat that seems to have a mind of it’s own. I wouldn’t say that the MiB has any redeeming characters, in fact it feels a little like going from the frying pan into the fire as Charlie is forced into becoming this stranger’s acolyte and releasing and embracing some strange latent magic from within herself in order to help him locate two elder gods – who he assures her are trying to destroy the world and need to be stopped. As an added incentive to Charlie the MiB decides to also take her boyfriend along for the ride.
This unlikely threesome (or four if you include the coat) set off on a night’s adventure. One night is all they have and in order to find these Gods they will first have to make the acquaintance of a very unsavoury character who will be able to help Charlie to find the right direction.
Charlie is a character with a harrowing background. She has suffered a traumatic experience and now tries to protect herself from the world by taking all and every sort of self defence class imaginable and projecting a tough outer image. If this is something that you will find difficult to read about then be warned of this now – I wouldn’t say that any of the flashbacks that Charlie experiences are gratuitous but they’re still disturbing. I think for me I was a little puzzled by this aspect of the story and it jarred me slightly. We had the full on night of horror where our characters visit the downright weird and wonderful and encounter monsters that are described to perfection in all their grossness but then we have these flashbacks in which we gradually piece together Charlie’s story and put together the pieces of the most terrible night she ever experienced. I guess the reason for this is to show you that Charlie is a survivor and she certainly needs to be in order to survive the night intact. But, like I said I think I would have preferred the focus to remain on the bizarrely horrific rather than trying to combine the two.
Without a doubt this is a fast paced read. It sets off with a no holds barred opening scene that pretty much defines how the rest of the novel will go. The writing is strong and the descriptions are, frankly, brilliant – the writing here will leave you in no doubt as to what these creatures look like and so if you’re a bit squeamish or easily scared – or you just don’t want more food for your nightmares – then steer clear because this author knows how to conjure up monsters and they are nasty without doubt.
I can certainly see the strengths of this book. For me I thought the two aspects didn’t sit particularly well together, I would have preferred to stick to the horror. I also had a difficult time forming any attachment to any of the characters. But, all that being said, I imagine that horror fans will love this and whilst it wasn’t totally for me I have no doubt that this will hold a lot of appeal for others.
QUOTE:
The narrative itself delivers a fast-paced, action-driven horror tale, full of the terrifyingly weird and supernatural elements inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.
Book Review: Red Right Hand by Levi Black
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Red Right HandRed Right Hand by Levi Black
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror
Series: Book 1
Publisher: Tor (July 26, 2016)
Length: 304 pages
Author Information: Website
The themes and ideas of H.P. Lovecraft’s works have long since influenced the genres of dark fantasy and horror, as can be seen in Red Right Hand. Levi Black’s new novel adheres true to the Lovecraftian mythos by plunging his characters into deep dark scary places, making them confront the kind of terrors that mere human minds are not equipped to comprehend. This book is undeniably, unmistakably disturbing. And it was quite a ride.
Red Right Hand tells the story of a young woman named Charlotte Tristan Moore, who discovers there are monsters out there other than the human ones in her past. One night, Charlie returns home feeling unnerved by bad memories of the terrible thing that happened to her in high school, only to be attacked by three demonic skinhounds waiting in her apartment. A mysterious Man in Black with a red right hand sweeps in to save her, but it turns out he’s actually an elder god named Nyarlathotep. Charlie is a descendant of H.P. Lovecraft and magick is in her bloodline, he claims. To save the world, she must come with him to defeat two of his brethren who want to bring chaos and death onto this mortal plane.
Charlie doesn’t want to help the Man in Black, but she knows she has no choice. Not only has he named her his Acolyte and unlocked her magical sight to penetrate the veil between worlds, Nyarlathotep also holds Daniel, Charlie’s good friend, in his thrall. To protect Daniel and to keep chaos from being unleashed upon he world, Charlie is forced to do as the elder god commands and follow him into one nightmarish scenario after another.
It probably goes without saying, but Red Right Hand is a book with some frightening and triggering themes, and is not recommended for readers who would find these topics disturbing. While it may share some elements with urban fantasy, it’s really more of a straight-up horror than anything, featuring macabre scenes of blood, gore, and violence, etc. and leaning heavily on the use of graphic descriptions. The story will also explore the terrible thing in Charlie’s past. Even though the event is mostly alluded to in her memories, prospective readers should be aware that parts of this novel will touch upon the pain and trauma associated with sexual assault and abuse.
The narrative itself delivers a fast-paced, action-driven horror tale, full of the terrifyingly weird and supernatural elements inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. From elder gods to cosmicism, these themes are featured in the modern day setting of Red Right Hand, but it all still feels distinctively Lovecraftian even when written in the bold, stark tones of Levi Black’s writing style. What’s important is that this book does its job well, making good use of the idea that life as we know it is nothing more than an insignificant fragile veneer, underscoring Charlie’s helplessness and the real threat of losing her sanity in the face of Nyarlathotep and his kind.
Granted, neither the plot nor the main characters are particularly deep, and I also thought the visceral reactions to some of the darker, more twisted and stomach-churning scenes might have had the effect of emotionally distancing me from everything, including Charlie. There’s a small romantic subplot involving her and Daniel, for instance, which I didn’t feel much connection to. However, the story does move quickly, leaving me hanging on the edge of my seat to see what happens next. The first few chapters kick us off with barely any preamble, throwing us headfirst into this nightmarish journey with Charlie, Daniel, and the Man in Black. This snappy intro pretty much sets the pace for the rest of the novel, which proved in the end to be one super-fast, super-thrilling read.
I think whether or not you’ll enjoy this book will highly depend on your tastes for horror. The nature of the horror elements in Red Right Hand are rather more intense and in-your-face, as opposed to cold and creeping psychological dread. If what I’ve described here of Charlie’s journey sounds like something you might want to read, I encourage you to check it out for yourself—especially if you have an inclination towards fiction inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. This story will suck you in.
Review: Red Right Hand by Levi Black
August 21st, 2016
Posted in Review | Comments Off on Review: Red Right Hand by Levi Black
Red Right HandTitle: Red Right Hand
Author: Levi Black
Genre: Horror/Urban Fantasy
Series: Red Right Hand (Book #1)
Publication Date: July 26, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
ISBN-10: 0765382482 (Tor/Macmillan)
ISBN-13: 978-0765382481 (Tor/Macmillan)
Reviewed by: Kristie
Synopsis:
Charlie Tristan Moore isn’t a hero. She’s a survivor. On a night when her demons from the past are triggered, she arrives home to something even more harrowing-an attack by three monstrous skinhounds, creatures straight out of nightmares. She fights but is outmatched. Just as hope seems lost, in sweeps The Man In Black, a rescuer even more monstrous and unlikely, dressed in a long, dark coat that seems to have a life of its own and with a black-bladed sword held in his terrible, red right hand.
Her rescue comes at a cost. She must become his new Acolyte and embrace a dark magick she never knew she had inside her. To ensure she gives it her all, he takes her friend and possible love, Daniel, in thrall as a hostage to her obedience. The Man in Black, a Lovecraftian chaos god, claims to be battling his brethren gods, other horrors who are staging an incipient apocalypse. But is he truly the lesser of all evils or merely killing off the competition? Either way, will Charlie be strong enough to save herself, Daniel, and possibly the entire world?
Quick & Dirty: Fans of H.P. Lovecraft will want to check out this action packed homage to his creatures.
Opening Sentence: The cheap alcohol burned as it splashed down my throat.
Excerpt: Yes
The Review:
Red Right Hand by Levi Black is a dark urban fantasy/horror that often rides the line of uncomfortable and grotesque. If you are squeamish, this book is not for you. I was really excited to get my hands on a copy of this book. I really enjoy the darker side of things but I felt this one was a little over the top at times. The writing is very descriptive so much so that I often got lost in the action and this book is action packed. I would have to re-read passages just to make sure caught what happened. There were also a few times where if I would have kept reading, my confusion would have been answered too.
Charlotte Tristan Moore has hidden mystical powers that she never knew about. When she is attacked by a group of skinhounds, her life is forever changed. As a descendent of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Charlie becomes a pawn in a “gods” quest to make sure the human world isn’t destroyed. Nyarlathotep aka the Man in Black aka the Crawling Chaos has saves Charlie from the skinhounds because she has the sight to find other creatures/”gods” like himself. In order to keep Charlie doing as he wants, Nyarlathotep has also enlisted her boyfriend Daniel because of his own family history of god worship which helps give these dark and demented gods their power.
Charlie is an angry woman. She has lived through something no young woman should have to live through. As a result, it has kept her from living her life. She has done little things here and there to help her take her life back but she still can’t move on from the memories of that night. She uses anger and sarcasm as a shield.
Nyarlathotep is a man of few words. He’s very cryptic and often finds Charlie’s sarcasm funny. He has no problem using Charlie and Daniel as pawns as long as he can get them to do what he needs them too. Nyarlathotep also has a strange flowing coat that seems to have a mind of its own. A coat that seems strangely attracted to Charlie.
Red Right Hand is quite action packed. The events take place over the course of two days. During that time, Charlie has quite a few epiphanies about how she lives her life, her feelings towards her boyfriend Daniel and doles out a little revenge of her own.
This novel is for fans of H.P. Lovecraft. Some of his creatures are showcased within the story. Unfortunately, I haven’t read any Lovecraft so I’m not entirely sure how true it is to the original. This novel is more of a fan fiction, saying that H.P. was actually seeing things that are affecting our world and now Charlie has to destroy those strange creatures.
As with all things, Charlie may not have the full story of why Nyarlathotep is using her. Things are not as they seem. The overall story was entertaining but I had a hard time staying focused on the story with all the descriptiveness. The ending actually has me intrigued to where Charlie’s story will go from here. I do want to know what happens next. If you are a fan of horror and darker stories then I definitely say give this one a try but if you don’t care for dark stories, stay away from this one.
Notable Scene:
“Charlotte Tristan Moore, I am not the only one who will seek you out now that your gift has been activated. There are other things, things that crawl and slither at the edge of night, things that would find you. They wil come, and they will not have the mercy I have shown.”
“Mercy? I haven’t seen any mercy from you.”
“I spared your life from the skinhounds. I have not slaughtered your friends in their sleep, even though I could. I have not sought out everyone you love and care for and reduced them to mewling pieces of meat that cry for death as a relief from the tortures inflicted upon them.” His red right hand tapped the tabletop. “You will not receive such kindness from those that will seek you without my protection.”
“Wait a minute, you’re the one who Marked me! If these things come, it will be because of what you did to me.”
“That does not matter.” He stuttered in my sight again, suddenly standing without having stood. “What matters now is your choice. Serve as my Acolyte and be protected, or refuse and die.” He reached out his hand, his red right hand, to me.
My eyes narrowed. Anger twisted in my belly like a snake.
“You’re a bastard.”
The Man in Black chuckled in amusement.
Red Right Hand Series:
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Blood and Silver by James R. Tuck
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Blood and Silver by James R. TuckBlood and Silver by James R. Tuck
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Series: Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter #2
Published by Kensington on August 7, 2012
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon|Book Depository
He hasn't met a monster yet that could give him a scare. With ice in his veins, silver hollow-points in his chambers, and an innate ability to rise fr...
more
Also by this author: That Thing at the Zoo, Blood and Bullets, Spider's Lullaby
In Deacon Chalk’s second full-length adventure, James R. Tuck has upped the stakes considerably. It’s been a year since the events of BLOOD AND BULLETS and Deacon has been proceeding with business as usual since we last saw him. There have been some fights (see SPIDER’S LULLABY, which contains events referenced in BLOOD AND SILVER) but there have also been quiet moments. His friendship with Charlotte, the werespider from BLOOD AND BULLETS, has become really solid and Tiff has found her place in Deacon’s life and a job at the bar that Deacon owns. We also find out early on what Larson has been doing and I’m intrigued by his new role. (In BLOOD AND BULLETS, he was a determined but somewhat hapless sidekick. In BLOOD AND SILVER, he has taken on different responsibilities and I think it’s a nice fit for him. I wasn’t expecting it but I really liked what James R. Tuck has done for Larson.)
But BLOOD AND SILVER isn’t just about these people — it’s also about the hairy situation they end up in. As you may have guessed from the “silver” in the title, Deacon is dealing with weres this time around. He rescues a were-dog in the first chapter and it quickly goes from nice-calm-evening to holy-crap-that’s-intense-and-ow-that-had-to-hurt. I loved it. The plot is fast-paced and tightly planned, the new characters really open up the world and teach us a lot about how the different weres live, and we get some significant character development for Deacon. I love how James R. Tuck has constructed were society and I hope we get to see a lot more of some of the characters that have been introduced. Furthermore, I enjoyed Deacon’s narration a lot more this time, in part because we see him start to open his heart and also because he spends less time dwelling and more time doing.
Deacon is a really interesting protagonist. He’s super tough and gifted and very good and what he does, but he’s also got marshmallow insides when it comes to his dead family. His motivation for hunting monsters is simple and complex all at the same time: he wants to kill monsters to save people from suffering the losses he has, and he wants to die but doesn’t want to commit suicide. He’s basically looking for suicide by monster, and it’s easy to forget that sometimes because he fights so hard for his friends and beliefs, and even random dogs being abused on the street. This combination of characteristics definitely makes Deacon one of the most unique characters in urban fantasy today.
I need to take a moment to talk about Deacon and Tiff. They met in BLOOD AND BULLETS and Tiff signed up to be one of his girls, in a non-dancing capacity. There was instant attraction but they haven’t really acted on it because Deacon is haunted by the memories of his dead wife and family, which Tiff understands without knowing the details. After a year of being friends, things finally start to develop. And I really like that their relationship epitomizes slow boil up to this point. Deacon experienced a horrific tragedy and I’m glad he didn’t start sleeping around to deal with his pain. At the same time, it’s nice to see him open up a bit, without forgetting that his family existed. Emotional growth can get lost in the flurry of fists and bullets and I really enjoyed watching Deacon explore whether or not he was able to have another romantic relationship. And I have to give kudos to Tiff for sticking by Deacon, knowing he wasn’t ready for a new romance and being a good friend.
All in all, BLOOD AND SILVER is a delicious urban fantasy tale filled with action, emotion, and fantastic world building. I thoroughly enjoyed this instalment in the series and hope you will, too. If you weren’t completely sold on Deacon Chalk, you should give this book a shot because I think it’ll convince you that James R. Tuck is a great new(ish) voice in the genre. I can’t wait to see where James R. Tuck takes us next.
Jenn
QUOTE:
There is no shortage violence in Blood and Magick, evil has no regard for innocents and bodies start piling up from the first few pages. ... Despite the fast paced action and plethora of snappy one liners there is some genuine emotion from the characters."
Review: Blood and Magick by James R. Tuck
07 Mar 2013 2 Comments
by shelleyrae @ Book'd Out in ★★★1/2, Fiction, Paranormal & Urban Fantasy
Title: Blood and Magick {Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter #3}
Author: James R. Tuck
Published: Kensington March 2013
Status: Read from March 05 to 06, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Kensington/Netgalley}
My Thoughts:
“What can I say? I like guns. I’m a gun guy. Go with it, it’s okay.”
In Blood and Magick, the third book in James R. Tuck’s series, Deacon Chalk is enjoying a quiet dinner with his lover, Tiff and friends, Kat and Larson, when the world goes to hell. The Wrath of Baphomet is in search of the Blood of the Trinity and the three witches will let nothing stand in their way.
This was my first introduction to Deacon Chalk, so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Starting mid way in a series isn’t ideal (and I really need to stop being seduced by Netgalley titles without checking things like that first) but I learnt enough to be satisfied with this title as a stand alone.
Chalk began hunting monsters when his wife and children were murdered by a demon. The occult world is unknown by most humans, were’s of a mind boggling variety, witches, warlocks, vampires, demons and worse lurk in the shadows while magick corrupts those who try to wield it. Chalk has made it his mission to kill the monsters financed by the strip club he owns, collecting allies and enemies along the way. A transfusion of Angel blood, given when he was dying, ensures Chalk has a bit of an edge – he is a little stronger, a little faster and heals a little quicker than humans. He is also quick on the draw, packing silver and lead bullets in custom pistols.
There is no shortage violence in Blood and Magick, evil has no regard for innocents and bodies start piling up from the first few pages. Deaths are usually gruesome and bloody and even Deacon’s team is not immune. The battle between good and evil rages not only between Deacon and the monsters but also amongst his group as Larson attempts to twist magick to his own ends.
Despite the fast paced action and plethora of snappy one liners there is some genuine emotion from the characters including guilt, rage and love. Deacon and Tiff provide a touch of romance and steam (especially in the shower) while
Blood and Magick is a wild ride at breakneck speed through monsters, mayhem and murder. I thought it was a lot of fun and Tuck has earned himself a new fan.
As Deacon Chalk says:
Hells to the yeah.
Time to rock and roll.
Review – Blood and Magick by James R. Tuck
March 6, 2013 By MinnChica Leave a Comment
Blood and MagicPublisher: Kensington
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: NetGalley
Taking out hellish creatures—not a problem. Armed with blessed silver hollow-points and the ability to manipulate magick, he’s ready for anything—except betrayal he never saw coming…Deacon Chalk knows the biggest danger in fighting monsters is becoming one. Just another day at the office for your friendly neighborhood occult bounty hunter. If keeping three helpless were-dog children safe means battling a malevolent trio of witches by any means necessary, so be it. If that means partnering with a ruthless government agent to stay one step ahead of the allies and friends he must now suspect, he’s not going to cry about it. The only way Deacon can save humans and shape-shifters alike is to embrace a power beyond his imagining, putting his team at stake—and his soul on the line…
*Blurb from Goodreads*
I’ve found in the past that I have a hard time getting into urban fantasy series with a male protagonist. I think it probably has something to do with the *usual* lack of a strong romantic sub-plot. However, when I first picked up the Deacon Chalk books, I was pleasantly surprised at just how much I enjoyed the book, the author, and the series overall.
Deacon is no stranger to the monsters that haunt the night. Since the brutal murder of his family, he has made it his mission in life to hunt down each and every creature in his city. He has slowly extended his circle of friends and continues to fight the good fight. When a group of witches who have been terrorizing the world for hundreds of years come knocking on his doorstep, Deacon will have to partner with an unlikely partner – a government agent from an agency he’s never heard of – in order to take them out. But as the body count rises, Deacon will have to make some hard choices, and pray that he will be able to take out the triad before someone he loves gets caught in the crossfire.
Let me start by saying that this book takes place over the course of just a few days. How Deacon, Tiff, and the others got through this hellish night is beyond me, because the action was non-stop and hard hitting. The book starts with a bang (literally), and just keeps the hits coming one after another. I was tired just reading what they were going through!! 🙂
Many times I struggle with the urban fantasy genre because authors don’t provide enough of a romance to keep me engaged, especially with a male protagonist. However, Tuck has done an amazing job slowly building the romance between Deacon and Tiff. I love these two together. Despite the reservations Deacon has about falling in love again, he hasn’t done any boneheaded move like push her away to avoid his feelings. They fight side-by-side, they provide the support the other needs, and they have a pretty solid relationship. Plus, we get a pretty steamy love scene in this book. So hot! I’ve enjoyed watching these two come together throughout the series and hope that Tuck continues building a wonderful bond with these two.
I’ve also really come to adore the supporting cast of characters in this series. From Deacon’s best friend and hacker genius Kat, surrogate father and priest Father Mulchay to Ronnie, the stripper who was bonded with a group of ghost spiders to Sophia and her mysterious were-babies. They are a wonderful support system for Deacon and the series in general. A new addition to the team was added this book, Agent Heck, and I hope we can see more of him in the future! My only fear is that Tuck has shown he isn’t afraid to off one of the main characters, and I can’t imagine shedding anymore tears when my next favorite person is killed.
I’m really excited to see where Tuck takes the series next, especially after the way things ended for Deacon and crew. The witches really did a number on everything that Deacon holds dear in life, so I’m anxious to see what direction the series will be taking in the next installment.
All in all I continue to be impressed with the Deacon Chalk series. I think the books continue to get better and better with each new installment. I love Deacon’s kick ass ways and his ever present sarcasm. Although the books have quite a bit of a religious base, I’ve never felt as if religion was being slammed down my throat while reading, and that is a miracle in and of itself. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Deacon, Tiff and the rest of the crew!
I give Blood and Magick a B+
QUOTE:
"quintessential urban fantasy book which promises to deliver like any Michael Bay film for readers who are looking for those sort of thrills." Wanchoo added: "It however doesn't distinguish itself from the crowd
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck w/ Bonus Review of "That Thing At The Zoo" (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)
Official Author Website
Read an Excerpt HERE
Order the book HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: James R. Tuck was born and brought up in Georgia. His path to publication was strangely without an agent and solely due to his manuscript. He’s formerly worked as a bouncer and is a professional tattoo artist with more than 16 years of experience. He also runs his own tattoo parlor and resides in Georgia with his wife and pets. This is his debut novel.
OFFICIAL BLURB: He lives to kill monsters. He keeps his city safe. And his silver hollow-points and back-from-the-dead abilities help him take out any kind of supernatural threat. But now an immortal evil has this bad-ass bounty hunter dead in its sights. . .
Ever since a monster murdered his family, Deacon Chalk hunts any creature that preys on the innocent. So when a pretty vampire girl "hires" him to eliminate a fellow slayer, Deacon goes to warn him--and barely escapes a vampire ambush. Now he's got a way-inexperienced newbie hunter to protect and everything from bloodsuckers to cursed immortals on his trail. There's also a malevolent force controlling the living and the undead, hellbent on turning Deacon's greatest loss into the one weapon that could destroy him. . .
FORMAT/INFO: Blood and Bullets is 352 pages long divided over twenty-four numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person solely via Deacon Chalk. Blood and Bullets is first book of the Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter series.
February 1, 2012 marked the North American paperback and e-book publication of Blood and Bullets via Kensington Books.
ANALYSIS: James R. Tuck’s debut promised a lot of blood, mayhem and particularly dark corners in the urban fantasy world. I am usually a sucker for urban fantasy stories and if they are of the darker kind, then it just becomes that much easier for me to pick up those books. So it's with a similar kind of anticipation that I went into the first Deacon Chalk book.
The story is a very traditional urban fantasy with Deacon Chalk narrating the story, the opening chapter brings Deacon face to face with a child vampire and one who shares a bare resemblance to his lost daughter. Things aren't looking good for him but the vampire surprises him by asking for his protection. She is being hunted by a being called Nyteblade and seeks protection from the threat. This puts the vampire hunter into a quandary as his usual role does not have him turning protector for the very things he has sworn to hunt. Things however don’t end to the vampire’s benefit and Deacon is on his way to check up on Nyteblade. This is where’s the story actually picks up and the actual plot kicks in.
The book with its dark, haunted protagonist, grim settings and fast paced plotline seemed to be everything which qualifies as fun reads for me, but somehow this book didn't do nearly enough. I shall present both reasons as to why I both liked and disliked certain aspects in this book and then maybe I shall be able to decide where I stand in the overall conclusion to the book. The positive points to the book are its quick pace, excellent action packed sequences and plot compactness. Firstly the best thing about this book is its pace, beginning from the first chapter all the way to its explosive climax. The book never lets us down in this aspect and the reader will not feel bored as things are constantly happening on the page. The author’s flair for action sequences is certainly visible as Deacon Chalk is constantly going into or getting out of fights with vampires, their underlings and others sorts of things which tend to cross his path. Lastly the story is a compact one with a proper beginning and end as the author has very conveniently structured the plot so as to get the reader hooked for the sequel. Another cool feature which I read were some careful nods inserted to the creations of Laurell K. Hamilton, Jeaniene Frost, Supernatural TV series and a few others. This was just funny and a bit quirky to read about.
Now onto the parts that dragged the book down were its predictability, the main character’s multifaceted persona and two dimensional character cast. The biggest letdown for me was the character’s multifaceted persona, normally this would have been something to be counted as a positive however in this case the author has tried to make Deacon Chalk a man of many talents/sides. This perhaps worked against the book as the character does or says things which contradicts his own observations from earlier in the book. One example of such behavior is that the character constantly proclaims that he’s not looking for company to replace his dead wife but then alternately talks about the specific type of perfume he utilizes and how his appearance attracts the ladies. Another point was that this hunter is supposed to be a person whose sole obsession in life is to hunt down supernatural killers but alternatively he has time to note what presume and specific type of clothes he wears that accentuate his looks. The aforementioned reasons along with a couple other occurrences didn't gel with what the character kept on proclaiming. Usually I don’t get bothered by such trivial things however in this case I felt that the author was trying to paint Deacon as more than a man and this attempt translated into giving him more than one persona that ruined the read for me as the main character’s chatter made him seem more like a loudmouth than the real deal.
I will admit that this was purely my observational bias and maybe most readers will not be bothered by it however it stood in the way of me enjoying the book. The second downward point is that the plot’s nature is predictable not overtly but for regular readers of the urban fantasy genre, it won’t be hard to decipher where the overall plot might be heading. Thirdly the character cast which is introduced in this book seem very interesting however don’t get much time on screen to make their presence felt. They remain two dimensional sidekicks and this again detracted a bit from the overall read. I would like to think that since it’s the author’s debut that some of these points can be overlooked and perhaps in the future books the author might be able to fine tune the character so as to not seem overbearing. I look forward to those future endeavors because of the novella which I also read at the same time and which helped redeem the author’s cause.
CONCLUSION: Blood and Bullets is a quintessential urban fantasy book which promises to deliver like any Michael Bay film for readers who are looking for those sort of thrills. It however doesn't distinguish itself from the crowd and this is perhaps its greatest fallacy. It remains to be seen where this series heads in the future but for now Blood and Bullets wasn't a debut which particularly delivered on its blurb promises.
Order the Novella HERE
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: That Thing At The Zoo is a prequel novella set approximately six months before the events of Blood and Bullets. The story blurb is as follows: “Knowing his enemy is a rule Deacon Chalk swears by. But he's never seen anything like whatever is leaving the Atlanta Zoo's most dangerous predators bloodless, skinned, and hanging high in treetops. And he’s only got till sunrise to keep it from turning the entire city into a slaughterhouse. Now Deacon is in zoo lockdown with a handful of staffers to save. His zookeeper backup has more guts than monster-hunting experience. And the only chance Deacon has to run this thing to unholy ground is to risk unleashing his darkest, most uncontrollable instincts.”
The novella is about 80-odd pages long and is divided into eleven chapters. Akin to Blood and Bullets, this prequel story is also narrated by Deacon Chalk. The story premise focuses on the Atlanta zoo wherein someone or something is slaughtering the animals however the peculiar nature of the kill is what gets Deacon invited to the crime scene. Detective John Longyard knows about Deacon’s past and is a part of it; he also has some semblance of foresight into Deacon’s current goals. He brings Deacon to the zoo to solve the problem and that’s when the bedlam begins.
I really enjoyed reading this novella as it felt that the author’s strengths were maximized in this form of the story and there wasn’t enough space/time for the negatives to make an appearance. Once again the pace of the story is its highlight as the author quickly brings the reader up to speed and then lets things go haywire. Another positive feature is the horror edge to this story which is nicely nuanced by the zoo location, the author has managed to let his imagination take some weirdly creative turns which accentuate the story's darkness. The author also wisely utilizes the side character cast in this tale and therefore they get much more of a bigger role than in the debut novel.
After finishing this novella I was struck by two things, primarily that James R Tuck really nails down this novella idea mixing horror and thriller themes within the urban fantasy sub-genre and secondly this novella is much better than the actual book purely because the nature of the story does not let the author create the points which I noted in the review above that detracted from my reading experience. I would very much recommend this novella to readers who are looking for a quick thrill ride, with the hope that the author can recreate his form in the longer forms of his craft in the future as well.
12:01 AM | Posted by The Reader |
Blood and Bullets
James R. Tuck
Published 2012 271 pages
Summary (from the book jacket)
Since hunting down the monster who took the lives of his wife and children five years ago, occult bounty-hunter Deacon Chalk has lived by only one rule.
He does not work for the monsters. He kills them.
So why would a vampire try to hire him as protection against another monster hunter? After enforcing his only rule Deacon goes to meet the target, a vampire slayer named Nyteblade. Professional courtesy demands he tell this Nyteblade the vampires are hiring people to kill him. Deacon finds the vampire slayer waiting in an alley – waiting to stake him.
He discovers that Nyteblade is a bumbling, fumbling, wanna-be instead of a badass vampire hunter. Someone who needs saving from monsters instead of the other way around. This is proven when a horde of vampires descend and he has to escape while trying to keep Nyteblade alive.
Someone has set Deacon up. Someone wants him dead. Someone should have sent more vampires.
Bound and determined, Deacon will find out who tried to kill him no matter how many bloodsuckers, were-spiders, cursed immortals, undead strippers, or insanely powerful hell-bitches he has to wade through. It's going to be a long night.
The Review
Blood and Bullets is the first novel in the dark urban fantasy Deacon Chalk Occult Bounty Hunter series by new author James R. Tuck. The story follows a couple of days in the life of Deacon Chalk, a monster hunter who gets set up to kill another vampire slayer and ends up taking on a huge nest of hungry vampires. The high-octane action starts from the very first page and doesn’t let up until the grand vampire slaying finale.
In the Deacon-verse there is no shortage of monsters – vampires, lycanthropes, nephilim and the Fey abound – although this story is pretty much vamp-centric. While some monsters can be good (for example lycanthropes are people underneath and the individual can be either good or bad, depending on personality type) there are no moral grey areas when it comes to vampires. They are all evil bloodsuckers – a point which is frequently illustrated in blood and gore throughout the rest of the story.
Blood and Bullets is confidently narrated in first person by Deacon Chalk, the story’s tattooed, gun-toting bad-ass hero. The greatest strength, and the greatest weakness, of this debut novel is the Deacon Chalk character. He is a strong character with a surfeit of self-confidence that occasionally slips into an unattractive hectoring. There is real danger here that he is liable to polarize readers into one of two camps – either Deacon-lovers or Deacon-haters. Deacon’s treatment of “Nyteblade” (a.k.a Larson) the wannabe vampire slayer is casually contemptuous in places. As a reader I know that the hero of this piece is Deacon, he’s the one with the experience, the tragic past and the special skills, but he shows so little empathy for Nyteblade/Larson that he winds up coming off as a self-important dick in places. It’s like Deacon thinks he’s the only monster hunter in the village or something.
While I found Deacon hard to swallow in places the secondary characters were well realised. Father Mulcahy (a monster fighting priest) and Kat (performing the task of monster research/hunter admin) were interesting additions to Team Deacon, and ones that would stand up to further expansion in later story instalments. For supernatural thrills Blood and Bullets avoids the obvious in terms of lycanthropes (wolves) and serves up some inspired were-spiders and were-gorillas instead. There is an imaginative fantasy mythology at work throughout the story and in some ways this is reminiscent of Laurell K. Hamilton’s earliest (and best) Anita Blake books – just don’t expect Deacon to sleep with any of the vampires, this really isn’t that sort of story.
The resulting story is one that fits somewhere between the dark urban fantasy and horror genres. There is no shortage of blood and guts horror, violence is so common it’s practically a form of communication and the outlook is generally bleak for our outnumbered heroes. The monsters are creepy and horrifically evil – even the ones that turnout not to be evil are still hugely creepy. With its guns, knives and bullets (and long passages of text about the merits of various guns, knives and bullets) this is a story with plenty of appeal for readers who like their fantasy thrills dangerous and bloody.
Blood and Bullets is available February 2012 along with “That Thing At The Zoo”, a Deacon Chalk novella published exclusively in e-format – available from 27th Jan 2012.
QUOTE:
Blood and Bullets is not only the most entertaining book I’ve read in 2012 it’s probably my favorite 'new addiction' read of the past five years
Book Review: Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck
Posted by: Michael Jones January 17, 2012 in Book Reviews, Books 0 Comments
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Blood and Bullets may have provided the most fun I’ve had reviewing a book in years. Fast, funny, brutally and unashamedly entertaining it reads like the literary equivalent to getting your ass shot into space. For a short while you sit and see what’s going on and then the story kicks in and you are thrown back and helpless but to enjoy the ride. Then, for just a moment you feel the weightlessness and ease of thinking you have the book figured out and then reentry slams you back into your seat again as you come crashing to the final page.
With a plot that boils down to “try and kill ME, will ya?” James R. Tuck has crafted a beautiful little book that opens the door on perhaps one of the most engaging and (dare I say it) badass characters to situate itself in the fiction aisle in quite a while. Deacon Chalk, former tattoo-artist and current monster hunter slash owner and operator of Polecats (a dance club) is just 6-foot-plus of adrenaline.
Thrown into a situation where he finds himself nearly staked in the heart by another monster hunter only to find himself in the middle of 50 or so rather pissed off and determined vampires, Chalk sets out in Blood and Bullets to figure out just what the hell is going on.
Armed with enough weaponry to stun many small countries in the Middle East plus the bonus of angel’s blood coursing through his veins, Chalk relies on the help of his friends, such as Kat who runs his club and Father Mulcahy who provides him with all the holy water and spiritual guidance and general bad-assery he needs (Father Mulcahy may be my favorite character other than Deacon, by the way, as he comes across as a rather amazing mixture of Scotty from Star Trek, Sean Connery and the old priest in the original Exorcist).
Along the way he meets others of course – whether friend or foe is not my place to say at this moment as I don’t want to give anything away – but Chalk is not a guy who finds himself left alone much.
By the way, I’m well aware that this is just “one more” book dealing with vampires, lycanthropes, demons, angels, etc. and one or more scrappy humans (or vaguely human humans) who choose to fight them… and I don’t give a damn. Eventually you can get tired of genre if it is overplayed, I’ll give you that, but when true talent and ability to not only write but entertain shows up to the party… you get over your own prejudices real quick.
Blood and Bullets is not only the most entertaining book I’ve read in 2012 it’s probably my favorite “new addiction” read of the past five years. For every moment I thought Jim Butcher was branching himself out too thin and perhaps cheating me on Harry Dresden… I know for a fact that James Tuck has plenty of fuel in his tank and Deacon Chalk will be around for a while.
Without hesitation you should pre-order this now. Don’t wait for the release date…
Blood and Bullets is due to be released February 7, 2012. I suggest you pre-order it today. Also, feel free to drop by the author’s website and see what coming next.
Book Review: Blood and Silver by James R. Tuck
Posted by: Michael Jones July 29, 2012 in Book Reviews, Books 0 Comments
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There are books that I love and books that I hate. The same can be true for authors as well. In the very rarest of circumstances, as has happened with Blood and Silver by James Ray Tuck, I have a book that I love and an author that I absofrickenlutely hate, seriously and with every bone in my body. Tuck is someone now nearly at the top of my hate list, because I simply cannot stand someone that makes it all look so damn easy.
How in the hell does this guy write like this?
Blood and Silver is the second book in his “Deacon Chalk, Occult Bounty Hunter” series, as well as being the second book that Tuck has ever written. His first, Blood and Bullets, was a book that knocked me flat and impressed the hell out of me with how well it was written…but I thought it was a fluke.
Nobody is that good that soon.
Sure of myself that he would disappoint me as many other writers have eventually disappointed me, I picked up Blood and Silver and immediately started cursing his name. Not only was Blood and Bullets not a fluke, but it seems as if it was nothing more than Tuck merely flexing his muscles, cracking his knuckles as he tossed off a quick “warming-up” novel before he really got down to business and started writing.
Bastard.
Blood and Silver opens up about a year after we first meet Deacon Chalk and the challenges and dangers he faces are no less imposing than they were the first time around. Actually, now that I think about it, they are considerably worse.
Kick-started from the simple and urgently negative reaction of seeing someone beating what appears to be a dog, Chalk is immediately drawn into an adventure – though adventure is not the word when as many nasty things are trying to kill you as happens to be the case throughout this book – where the decision to stop the man and save the dog turns out to be a much more intense situation than might have first appeared.
The man, you see, was not a man. Oh, the dog was not a dog, either. Not really. Blood and Silver, as you may have guessed by the title, deals with many characters that have an alternate side to themselves, as lycanthropes and shape-shifters abound. And if you’re thinking that I’m simply talking about werewolves here then I can safely tell you that Deacon Chalk wishes to hell that that was all he had to deal with.
There are some creatures and combinations of creatures that I have genuinely never seen in the pages of a book. Some of them, in fact, stood a hell of a chance at being ridiculous and cartoony, but Tuck’s writing never lets you feel that way.
The sheer adrenaline some of these creatures and the absolute havoc and danger they wreak upon the other characters in this book, well it’s as if a syringe holding all the ink pouring from pages were plunged into your veins.
That’s right…i’m comparing James Ray Tuck’s writing to literary heroin…and I will kick your ASS if you try to bring me something weaker to try and ween me off of it like methadone. Deacon Chalk has become an addiction, and I am hooked for life. Whatever Tuck writes, if I’m alive, I’m reading it.
I’m sitting there flipping my middle finger to the air and cursing his name at the talent the big bastard has, but I’m reading every damned word.
Buy this book. Buy this other book, Blood and Bullets. Buy his two e-novellas that also share this universe and give you a broader glimpse into the awesomeness of Deacon Chalk.
Then we can sit down in our blessed out haze and talk about the crazy and amazing things we just read. And, also, how much we hate the author.
QUOTE:
The sheer adrenaline some of these creatures and the absolute havoc and danger they wreak upon the other characters in this book, well it’s as if a syringe holding all the ink pouring from pages were plunged into your veins.
Book Review: Blood and Silver by James R. Tuck
Posted by: Michael Jones July 29, 2012 in Book Reviews, Books 0 Comments
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There are books that I love and books that I hate. The same can be true for authors as well. In the very rarest of circumstances, as has happened with Blood and Silver by James Ray Tuck, I have a book that I love and an author that I absofrickenlutely hate, seriously and with every bone in my body. Tuck is someone now nearly at the top of my hate list, because I simply cannot stand someone that makes it all look so damn easy.
How in the hell does this guy write like this?
Blood and Silver is the second book in his “Deacon Chalk, Occult Bounty Hunter” series, as well as being the second book that Tuck has ever written. His first, Blood and Bullets, was a book that knocked me flat and impressed the hell out of me with how well it was written…but I thought it was a fluke.
Nobody is that good that soon.
Sure of myself that he would disappoint me as many other writers have eventually disappointed me, I picked up Blood and Silver and immediately started cursing his name. Not only was Blood and Bullets not a fluke, but it seems as if it was nothing more than Tuck merely flexing his muscles, cracking his knuckles as he tossed off a quick “warming-up” novel before he really got down to business and started writing.
Bastard.
Blood and Silver opens up about a year after we first meet Deacon Chalk and the challenges and dangers he faces are no less imposing than they were the first time around. Actually, now that I think about it, they are considerably worse.
Kick-started from the simple and urgently negative reaction of seeing someone beating what appears to be a dog, Chalk is immediately drawn into an adventure – though adventure is not the word when as many nasty things are trying to kill you as happens to be the case throughout this book – where the decision to stop the man and save the dog turns out to be a much more intense situation than might have first appeared.
The man, you see, was not a man. Oh, the dog was not a dog, either. Not really. Blood and Silver, as you may have guessed by the title, deals with many characters that have an alternate side to themselves, as lycanthropes and shape-shifters abound. And if you’re thinking that I’m simply talking about werewolves here then I can safely tell you that Deacon Chalk wishes to hell that that was all he had to deal with.
There are some creatures and combinations of creatures that I have genuinely never seen in the pages of a book. Some of them, in fact, stood a hell of a chance at being ridiculous and cartoony, but Tuck’s writing never lets you feel that way.
The sheer adrenaline some of these creatures and the absolute havoc and danger they wreak upon the other characters in this book, well it’s as if a syringe holding all the ink pouring from pages were plunged into your veins.
That’s right…i’m comparing James Ray Tuck’s writing to literary heroin…and I will kick your ASS if you try to bring me something weaker to try and ween me off of it like methadone. Deacon Chalk has become an addiction, and I am hooked for life. Whatever Tuck writes, if I’m alive, I’m reading it.
I’m sitting there flipping my middle finger to the air and cursing his name at the talent the big bastard has, but I’m reading every damned word.
Buy this book. Buy this other book, Blood and Bullets. Buy his two e-novellas that also share this universe and give you a broader glimpse into the awesomeness of Deacon Chalk.
Then we can sit down in our blessed out haze and talk about the crazy and amazing things we just read. And, also, how much we hate the author.