What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
I was trying to get my business started, security services for archaeological sites, like that, but it was pretty slow until this guy showed up with a gun, trying to kill someone who wasn't even a client. Kinda jumpstarted things, so I'm grateful for that. Not so much for the scars that followed.
What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?
I am supremely adaptable. I take no time to pivot to a new plan, new solution, new approach to whatever I'm facing. Doesn't matter what that is or how dangerous.
What do you like least about yourself?
Ooh. Getting personal. Okay. It's hard for me to connect with people. They latch onto me pretty quick, because of who I am and what I can do. I’m slower to open up to them.
What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?
There's the makeup scene. Not like, apologizing and making amends, more like, applying cosmetics. It makes sense, it's a good idea in context, but yeah, never thought I'd be applying eyeshadow to my old commander, hoping to maybe save his life.
Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
I spent fourteen years in the army. I don't argue. I do, sometimes, go my own way. Let's just say that's why I'm not in the army anymore.
What is your greatest fear?
Nobody's gonna miss me when I'm gone. Given my lifestyle, nobody's gonna notice for way too long.
What makes you happy?
Seeing something that hasn't been seen for a thousand years, seeing it with my own eyes. I guess there's something reassuring in the idea that if a pyramid or a tomb could be lost for centuries, and finally re-discovered, then maybe I don't need to be afraid on my own account. Somebody's gonna look back and see what I've done, or what I tried to.
If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
Here's the trouble. I would love to have the Phantom come home to me at night. Love it. But even in my own mind, I can't picture it happening. She'd what, marry me, get a regular job, welcome me home with a peck on the cheek and say, "How's your day, Honey? Did you kick some a** today?" Just as likely to be the other way around. Neither of us is that person, the one who can settle down and lead an ordinary life. I'd have to go way back in my history if I wanted to rewrite my story so I could become that guy. And you know what would happen if I did? I never would have met her.
Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
Oh, God. Gooney. Gooney, Gooney, Gooney. The guy never quits. He was a jerk of a sergeant, now he's a jerk of a cop. And what drives me nuts about him, is I know him well enough to like him anyway. It's like I can see through the armor, through the anger. I can see what's going on in there, but I still want to punch him in the mouth on a daily basis. Is that how people become friends? Crazy way of showing it.
Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?
Ha! Okay, crazy impulse is, I want to be Raxha. She's got this whole jungle empire thing she's working on, and she's got a loyal team around her, just like mine, but at any moment, she could stumble on the next great Maya city. I don't think she'd care; that's not what she wants. She's got no idea where the real treasure lies. Is there somebody else I'd trade places with? Y'know what? As much as I hate the guy's guts half the time, I wouldn't mind having someone look up to me the way Lexi looks up to her dad. Gooney. Is that even more nuts, that he drives me up the wall, and I still envy him?
Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?
If you want all the books, then you go to http://rocinantebooks.com/, but she writes fantasy, too, historical stuff and traditional stuff with magic and all of that. I feel a little kinship with that Elisha, the leading man in one of her series. He's like my mirror self, but I can't work out which one of us is dark, and which one's light.
What's next for you?
It's looking like I get to spend some time in Europe. Team up with an old friend—and an old adversary, take a deep dive into medieval Jewish culture. That's gonna be fun.
A Bone Guard Adventure
A secret stash, a hidden tomb, a father's love—sworn in blood
When his former commander's estranged daughter vanishes in Guatemala, Grant Casey treks a deadly jungle and dives a sacred cenote to free her from a drug smuggler looking for a stash in an ancient pyramid.
Before his death in a rain of gunfire at her Quinceañeria, Raxha Castillo's druglord father encoded a map on a cacao cup, a map that might lead her to millions in drugs in the tomb of Maya royalty. A decade later, his mistress gave the cup to some Americans to prevent Raxha from completing the delivery and re-establishing the influence of the deadly Zetas cartel. Determined to claim her father's legacy, kidnapping is only the beginning of a quest that may end with Raxha tearing out the heart of her enemy.
Awakened by a call from his commander's ex-wife, and sworn to secrecy about his rescue mission, Grant's integrity is torn. Does he betray his client's trust, or the man who hated him for so long, the man who risked his life to save Grant's own? He sets up for his former CO to follow the clues while he tracks down Lexi's friends to find the cup—and only then finds out Lexi's boyfriend is missing, too. How complicated could this get? Oh, yeah, Lexi is deaf, the police are complicit, and their adversary keeps a pet jaguar. When the ransom exchange goes south, Grant embeds with the bad guys in a desperate attempt to rescue the victims before they become the latest blood sacrifice.
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Thanks so much for having me! It's always good to know what's going on inside my characters' heads...
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome!
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