I’m muddling my way through a post on the power of word-of-mouth and as a writer of the hybrid variety (I get great gas mileage), I wonder:

What gets you to read a book?

We worry so much about marketing and promotion, about guest blog posts and book trailers and interviews and signings and readings and Q&As and panel talks and nude fireman calendars and beard-wrestling competitions and cupcake bake-offs — further, so much it is is expected, it is assumed that these things are What We Do and it’s maybe not often enough that people ask If They Work.

They may! They may, indeed.

But I want to know.

And while I don’t mind hearing from the writers on this as to what works for you I am more inclined to hear from the readers on what exactly gets you to pick up a book. An advertisement? A reading? A funny tweet? Free swag? A recommendation from a friend? A NUDE FIREMAN CALENDAR WITH ME, A BIG HOSE, AND A SLUMBERING DALMATION? (I hope the answer to that is “yes” because I just ordered like, 10,000 of these things.)

What works for you?

What gets you first to try a book?

Then to buy that book?

Last week’s challenge: “Five Random Sentences“

Below is a list of 20 subgenres.

I want you to roll a d20 twice — or click a random number generator twice between 1 and 20 — and that will give you two subgenres. (Sure, you can choose them instead, but that means YOU HATE FUN.)

Smash those two subgenres into one story.

Write that story. Around 1000 words. Post at your online space. Link back here through the comments. Due by next Friday, May 17th, at noon EST.

Here’s the list of subgenres.

1. Men’s Adventure
2. Splatterpunk
3. Fairy Tale
4. New Weird
5. Space Opera
6. Southern Gothic
7. BDSM Erotica
8. Superhero
9. Sword & Sorcery
10. Noir
11. Dystopia
12. Sci-Fi Humor or Satire
13. Lovecraftian
14. Haunted House
15. Cyberpunk
16. Steampunk
17. Detective
18. Post-Apocalyptic
19. Weird West
20. Technothriller

I believe the book is called (translated): THRUSHES: THE GIFT

And if you want to see the Polish cover for MOCKINGBIRD:

Or should I say, THRUSHES, BOOK #2: DEATH MESSENGER?

Here are photos from the book launch — I don’t know exactly what’s happening in these photos. But people are dressed up in Reaper cloaks. And some dude is falling over into a stack of books (is he faking death?). But it’s awesome. Now I aspire to have a book launch like this here!

Anyway! Kinda cool. Thought I’d share.

Off to write more in The Cormorant!

J.D. Rhoades is no stranger to terribleminds, so I hope you’ll welcome him back so he can talk about his new book, Broken Shield. Ten questions, ten answers:

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?

Damned if I know, man. Some days I have trouble even remembering which name to use. I write thrillers as J.D. Rhoades and science fiction and fantasy under the name of J.D. Nixx. I practice law in a small town in North Carolina as Jerry Rhoades. Under the name of Dusty Rhoades,  I write a column for my local newspaper that’s won two North Carolina Press Association awards. Most of my friends know me as Dusty, though, since that’s the name I grew up with.

I’m a reader, a writer, a husband, a dad, a lover of classic American cinema and cheesy Hong Kong action films, a music fan whose iPod features tunes ranging from Mozart to Motorhead, Albert King to Antonio Vivaldi. I have an ego big enough to have its own zip code, and enough personal demons to staff a new level of the Inferno.

As for the “who I am” that brings me here, I’m the author of the Kindle Book Broken Shield, which is the secret to my bestseller Breaking Cover. I’ve also written several other tree-books and e-books, like the Jack Keller series (The Devil’s Right Hand, Good Day In Hell, and Safe And Sound); my first e-only thriller Storm Surge; the legal thriller Lawyers, Guns And Money; and my military thriller Gallows Pole.  As J.D. Nixx, I wrote the vampire space-opera revenge tale Monster and the Taras Flinn medieval fantasy/mystery short stories found in the collection The King’s Justice.

As you can tell, I have a little trouble sticking with one genre.

GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH.

FBI Agent Tony Wolf returns to the NC town of Pine Lake & teams up with his former nemesis, Lt Tim Buckthorn, to help find a kidnapped girl.

140 exactly. Boo-ya.

WHERE DOES THIS STORY COME FROM?

Shortly after Breaking Cover came out, my friend David Terrenoire observed that it was as much Tim Buckthorn’s story as Tony Wolf’s. And he was right. Buckthorn started as a bit player,  but he quickly grew to fill a much larger role, first as Wolf’s nemesis, then as his reluctant ally. I always love it when a character who was originally just a walk-on takes on a life of his or her own.

HOW IS THIS STORY ONLY YOU COULD’VE WRITTEN?

I practice law in a small town in North Carolina. Nice place. Pretty. Has a lot of really fine, decent, friendly people in it, the kind of people you think of when you think of small-town America.

But my work also brings me into contact with the mean, the greedy, the venal, the mind-numbingly stupid, the drug-addled, the bat-shit insane, and the just plain fucked-up, from all walks of life and all social strata. A lot of them aren’t particularly evil, they’re just kind of hapless. Nothing they plan seems to go the way it’s supposed to, even their crimes.

The job also brings me into contact with their victims, especially children, since a big part of my job for the last 13 years has been representing the interests of children in abuse and neglect cases.

So a lot of my work, including Broken Shield , is about people trying to protect good people from the bad people they may not even suspect are right outside their door. There’s also a common thread of criminals whose plans go awry and spin wildly out of control, with disastrous results for everyone.

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING BROKEN SHIELD ?

As always, the hardest thing is just sitting down and doing it. Facing the blank page, even if there are a couple hundred pages behind it. Dragging myself back to the computer or notebook after a long grueling day in court or in the office can be sheer torture. There were times I found myself thinking, “you know, I remember this as being a lot more fun.” Thankfully, the fun did arrive, but it took a while.

 WHAT DID YOU LEARN WRITING BROKEN SHIELD ?

I mentioned writing in a notebook in my last answer because there were so many times I just couldn’t face the screen again, so I wrote long stretches  f the book in longhand, just for a change of pace. I think that worked really well. It jolted me out of my rut. Plus, when I went back to transcribe it, I was already doing a second draft. So one lesson is, if you’re stuck, change your medium for a while. Write in purple crayon on the walls if that’s what it takes to get your mind where it needs to be to create. Just don’t tell your spouse, significant other, landlord, roommates, or parents I said that.

Also, I’ve never been much of an outliner. The most I’ve usually done before is sketching out a few chapters ahead of where I was. In fact, the first time I did a detailed outline for my editor, I discovered that I’d completely lost interest in writing the book, because I knew how it ended. I eventually did finish that one, but I’ve avoided outlining ever since. But about halfway through Broken Shield , I picked up a copy of Scrivener for Windows, which has really changed the way I work. Scrivener allows you to write chunk by chunk, scene by scene, then visually see where everything is, either in outline form or on a virtual “corkboard.” You can run on ahead and write the scene that comes to you in the middle of the night, then move it and the other stuff around to where they need to be. So I’ve started plotting out a couple of potential projects using Scrivener, saying “okay, this goes here, this needs to come before that. No, after…but not before this…” So when I sit down to write it, I’ll won’t have to decide every day which way the story’s supposed to go. We’ll see if it works.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT BROKEN SHIELD ?

I love the character of Leila Dushane, Wolf’s new partner. She’s brilliant, outspoken, and perfectly capable of kicking a bad guy’s ass without help from anyone. She idolizes Wolf, but she’s willing to call bullshit when she thinks he’s wrong. She also has anger issues, which I can relate to.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

Like I said earlier, I’m moving towards a more deliberate, planned outline rather than the seat of the pants composition I’m used to. Not that there’s anything wrong with the other way. I’ve done some good work that way.  I just think there’ll be less tearing out of hair if I have some idea what I’m doing each day before I sit down to write. I’m getting to an age where every hair is precious.

GIVE US YOUR FAVORITE PARAGRAPH FROM THE STORY:

This is a scene where Wolf, Dushane, and Buckthorn have been following up on a lead in the investigation of a kidnapping that Buckthorn has found evidence of, but which for some reason has never been reported. They go to a nice suburban home and find to their surprise that the lady of the house is being held prisoner by a couple of sleazy looking biker types. This is the aftermath of the confrontation:

She looked down at the bald man, who was looking up at her, fear in his eyes, like a rabbit hypnotized by a snake. He turned to Wolf. “Keep that bitch away from me,” he said in a high, pleading voice. “She’s fucking crazy.”

“Believe it, motherfucker,” she snarled. She stomped past Wolf into the house.

“She kicked me in my fucking knee,” the man whimpered. “I think she broke it.”

“You want to know why she did that?” Wolf said.

The man looked baffled.

“Because fuck off, that’s why.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU AS A STORYTELLER?

I’m not sure, really. I have a number of projects that I’ve been thinking about. The one I’m leaning towards now is, once again, something completely different: a comic heist novel in the vein of Donald E. Westlake. It’ll be the first time I’ve tried humor in a longer form. I try to bring humor and satire to the newspaper column, but for some reason, all the awards seem to be for serious writing. On the other hand, I’ve never written humorous mysteries, but I always seem to end up on humor panels at conventions. So, I’m going to play with the mix yet again. Maybe I’ll get another pen name.

Thanks for this opportunity, Chuck!

J.D. Rhoades (at least that’s what I’m calling myself for now): Blog/Twitter/Facebook

J.D. Nixx: Tumblr

Broken Shield: Amazon (US); Amazon (UK)

Breaking Cover: Amazon (US); Amazon (UK)

I read and adored The Monstrumologist, so when given a chance to interview Rick Yancey about his newest book, The 5th Wave,  I was geeked. For the record? The book is awesome. You want it. It is, I think, one of my favorite depictions of an alien invasion ever — it’s brutal stuff. Anyway, here’s Rick to answer the Terribleminds Ten.

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?

I was ripped from my mother’s arms when I was 72 hours old and spent the next eighteen years under the care of two very kind people who are now dead through no real fault of their own. They raised me to be polite, caring and fully cognizant of the fact that I was special but no better than anyone else. They also tried to steer me away from the arts, which they believed to be a soul-crushing, wretched existence (they were wrong) and not something most people would consider real work (they were right). When the time came, I took a real job, got married, raised a family, and began writing books in earnest. I soon realized the more I said, the more I had to say, and saying it in the context of books that people might actually be interested in reading encouraged me to keep saying it. One day I decided to tell a story about a middle-aged guy who stumbles into an Arthurian adventure and ended up writing a novel for young-adults by accident. Since that day, I’ve written seven more books for youth, including The Monstrumologist and The 5^th Wave, which is about an alien apocalypse that . . .

Oh, wait, I just looked at the next question.

GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH:

A teenaged girl searches for her little brother after an alien apocalypse. People die. Things explode. Oh, and somebody finds true love. Maybe.

WHERE DOES THIS STORY COME FROM?

I asked my wife one day, “What’s your biggest fear?” And she answered straight away: “An alien abducting me.” And I said, “I’m not sure that’s even in my top fifty.” And she said, “Think about it. Not only would there be the sheer terror of an alien abducting you, but afterwards no one would believe you.” Then I read this interview with the physicist Stephen Hawking, who pointed out that an alien visitation probably wouldn’t work out so well for us, the indigenous species. It’s not like we’d be equals. By the very nature of the event, we’d be more like cockroaches to them than fellow travelers.

HOW IS THIS A STORY ONLY YOU COULD’VE WRITTEN?

Oh no, I write quickly because I’m painfully aware I’m not the only one who could write it, and I have to beat that hypothetical person to the punch. It’s all a race. There’s only so many really cool ideas floating around out there. There’s a quote from Emerson about this that I remember reading back in college, but that was a long time ago and I’m too lazy to look it up.

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING THE 5TH WAVE?

Maintaining psychological distance from the overwhelmingly unthinkable things that were happening to my characters. If I slipped and started to dwell too long on what it would mean to have everything you cherish, rely on, and believe in ripped away in an instant . . . paralysis, existential dread, and a sense of hopelessness – which is exactly what my characters do experience.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN WRITING THE 5TH WAVE?

That no matter how far you take something – alien invasions, young love, the definition of humanity – there’s always a spot you could take it farther. And you have to learn when you’ve taken it far enough and when you need to go still farther. I also learned that 2:00 a.m. writing can be so much better than 2:00 p.m. writing, because you’re too tired to judge yourself.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT THE 5TH WAVE?

Cassie! She’s vulnerable and funny and fierce. She’s silly, too, and sentimental as hell and she’s very, very afraid and lost and somehow she clings to hope and life. You know, like all of us do. For lack of a better word, she’s pure. Pure in her fear, pure in her sorrow, pure in her hate, pure in her love. She also kicks ass. What’s not to love?

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

Have a little more faith in myself. The 5^th Wave is a book that takes this shit seriously – not how we’d like an alien invasion to be, but how it would really be. I wasted too much time thinking like a human.

GIVE US YOUR FAVORITE PARAGRAPH FROM THE STORY:

Just one? Okay. Here’s one of the first paragraphs I wrote and never had to change it (much). It’s Cassie talking:

I may be the last one, but I am the one still standing.  I am the one turning to face the faceless hunter in the woods on an abandoned highway.  I am the one not running, not staying, but facing. Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity’s last war, then I am the battlefield.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU AS A STORYTELLER?

The final installment of my Monstrumologist series will be published this fall. It’s called The Final Descent.  I have a short-story called “When First We Were Gods” that will appear in Rags & Bones, an anthology edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt.

Most exciting of all, I’m currently working on Book 2 of The 5^th Wave!

Rick Yancey: Website / Twitter

The 5th Wave: Amazon / B&N / Indiebound

BEA, Book Expo America, is some kind of Book Disneyland. Press and publishers and then the public descend upon New York in search of — well, I don’t know what, exactly. Literary genius? The pelts of abducted authors? PRECIOUS ADVANCE READER COPIES?

Regardless, I am in the unique position of having books out around that time from four different publishers and three of those publishers are having me sign books there.

Further, Friday the 31st of May will be the BLUE BLAZES launch party at Singularity & Co., an old-school sci-fi revivalist bookstore. The party will be from 7-9pm.

Anywho! My BEA schedule is as follows:

Thursday (5/30):

• I arrive in town and run amok with minimal planning.

Friday (5/31): 

• 7-9PM: BLUE BLAZES launch party, Singularity & Co (Brooklyn)

Saturday (6/1):

• 11AM-noon: UNDER THE EMPYREAN SKY at Skyscape / Amazon booth!
• 1PM-2pm: BLUE BLAZES signing at Angry Robot booth!
• 3PM-4PM: GODS & MONSTERS signing at Abaddon booth!

That’s the schedule so far, folks.

Hope to see you there!