"I was now, officially, a real terrorist..."
After losing her husband, Allie finds herself the new official face of seers as she fights to prevent the human and seer worlds from exploding into all-out war.
But her husband, Revik, isn't really gone. Instead he's transformed into someone she barely knows. Before she can adjust, the two of them are on different sides at the brink of racial war--a war he wants to see play out, a war he's ready for, and worse, one he's already fighting.
Compromise with him might be impossible, but it also might be the only way she can save him from himself and keep him from killing everyone she loves.
She's finally with the man she loves. But someone else claims she belongs to him.
Grappling with her new identity as "Bridge," a being meant to herald the end for all of humanity, isn't even Allie's biggest problem. A new set of rules around Seer culture and her relationship with the infamous Seer infiltrator, Revik, keep getting her in trouble, and the power-hungry Rook she helped put in the White House wants war with China.
Then the boy appears. A sociopath with all of the energetic markings of Syrimne, a deadly telekinetic who killed thousands during World War I, he doesn't appear to have aged in one hundred years.
Worse, he thinks Allie belongs to him.
The apocalypse is coming. What if you might be the cause?
Allie Taylor lives in a world populated by seers, a second race discovered on Earth at the beginning of the 20th Century. Psychic, hyper-sexual and enslaved by governments, corporations and wealthy humans, seers are an exotic fascination to Allie, but one she knows she'll likely never encounter, given how rich you have to be to get near one.
Then a strange man shows up at her work -- then another -- and pretty soon Allie finds herself on the run from the law, labeled a terrorist and in the middle of a race war she didn't even know existed. Yanked out of her life by the mysterious and uncommunicative Revik, Allie discovers her blood may not be as "human" as she always thought, and the world of seers might not be quite as distant as she always imagined.
When Revik tells her she's the Bridge, a mystical being meant to usher in the evolution of humanity--or possibly its extinction--Allie must choose between the race that raised her and the one where she might truly belong.
"He is the guardian. He will protect his saint, no matter what it takes..."
Black and Miri get thrown into the middle of a high-profile murder case when one of Miri's ex-clients becomes the next victim. When the body is found, beheaded and tied to a pier, detectives arrive in San Francisco from Los Angeles, convinced it's the infamous serial killer they've been hunting, known only by his media name of "the Templar."
When the Templar continues to cut a swath through San Francisco, his victims begin to show a new pattern, however--a pattern that appears to have Miri at its center.
To complicate everything, Miri and Black are going through a Seer-mate bonding, and having a strange effect on everyone around them as a result. When Black decides to use his old black ops connections to try and find the killer, Miri is left in San Francisco to try and help Nick, until the killer forces both of them into a final showdown.
"He'd be fresh meat here. And he didn't have his sight..."
Black takes a new consulting gig with the LAPD, helping them find a contract killer who left a dead body behind the Los Angeles Theater. Despite Miri's lingering fears after what happened to him during the last murder case he worked, he assures her it's routine, that he won't be doing fieldwork, that nothing could possibly go wrong.
Then, during his first night on the job at the Port of Los Angeles, all hell breaks loose and all bets are off.
Black wakes up in a nightmare he couldn't have foreseen, with no way out and no idea how he got there. Robbed of his psychic sight, he can't even call to Miriam for help, or use his abilities to figure out where he is, who took him, or what they want from him.
On the outside, Miri is frantic, working with the police and Black's team to find him. She has even less information than Black... until a confession from her Uncle Charles brings her face to face with a much older enemy, the same enemy that may have killed her entire family.
I thought I'd known what angry looked like on Black before all this. I hadn't.
Black takes Miri with him to New York, where he thrusts her into a world of Wall Street, talk shows, fancy dinner parties and being hounded by paparazzi. Although he's playing the part of smirking Wall Street pirate, all of this is part of his new business venture, which, as far as Miri can tell, consists of hunting down and killing every single vampire in existence on Earth.
Mostly, however, Black wants Brick. He flat-out won't stop until he's cut the head or heart from the vampire king who put him in that federal prison in Louisiana.
Alarmed at the changes she sees in Black, Miri grows increasingly worried at the lengths he seems willing to go to bring the vampire kingdom down. Between his nightmares, mood swings, late-night disappearances, a new infatuation with swordplay, and outright lies, she can't help worrying about his mind, too, and if trauma is fueling this obsession even more than anger.
When a series of terrorist attacks take place in the southern United States and Black appears to be involved, Miri's fears worsen. More and more, she starts to wonder who is hunting whom, whether Black is baiting the vampires into a confrontation or Brick is just manipulating him once again for his own purposes.
Series Note: Takes place at the end of BLACK ON BLACK (Quentin Black Mystery #3)
This title was previously included with BLACK CHRISTMAS, so if you bought that prior to March 2017, you might already own it!
Quentin Black and Miri Fox finally get a chance to consummate their relationship after being separated for months while Black was in Paris. Little does Miri know, being new to the whole "seer" thing, this means a few weeks of losing herself in a sex-induced haze, barely able to function like a normal person, or really relate to anyone apart from Black himself.
In the midst of their sex-fog madness, Black and Miri somehow decide going out to dinner is a good idea. It's not. Not really. Being in public right then isn't exactly something they can pull off... although the food is great, when they remember to eat it.
Series Note: Takes place at the end of BLACK AND BLUE (Quentin Black: Shadow Wars #1)
Is a vampire more or less dangerous when he's victim to a broken heart
After Black spent weeks imprisoned and tortured by the evil vampire, "Brick," Miriam is still dealing with the fallout of her husband's nightmares and strange silences. When Black asks her to accompany him to New York for an extended business trip, Miri quickly agrees, but before they can leave, Brick ambushes them yet again.
This time, it's Miri he wants.
Kidnapped and blindfolded, she's positive he's using her as bait to lure her husband. But it turns out Brick wants her for an entirely different purpose, to act as psychic psychologist to his vampire girlfriend, Lila, who is suffering from trauma of her own.
Forced to work for a creature she despises, Miri finds herself drawn into his personal life in a way she never could have imagined or wanted, even as she fights to stay alive.
by Lawrence Block, Samuel Peralta, JC Andrijeski, H.B. Moore, Jerilyn Dufresne, B.A. Spangler, Chris Patchell, Eric J. Gates, and Anne Kelleher
This fantastic collection of eleven imaginative tales is the first in a brand-new mystery anthology series. Lawrence Block, internationally renowned New York Times bestselling author, is featured along with ten other writers who include USA Today bestsellers as well as exciting new talents.
From dark to light, from the ridiculous to the frightful, these mysteries about couples involved in deadly plots will thrill readers and introduce them to characters and stories they'll never forget.
"You're not white magic at all. Not a bit o' ye. You're red magic... like me."
Born to be successor to the Regent's throne, and the highest-ranked witch in the holy lands of District 6, Maia sees her birthright as little more than a genetic practical joke, and a source of constant worry. Unlike every other witch Maia knows, and certainly her mother, Maia is a hopelessly, terrible witch. She can't do magic at all, no matter how hard she tries.
Faced with the looming humiliation of being replaced as successor to the throne, Maia is on the verge of giving up when a chance meeting on a lonely pier changes everything for her.
A lone, angry warlock makes a deal with her that morning: he'll tell her who and what she really is, if she agrees to set him free. The fact that he's handsome, frustratingly familiar in some way she can't pinpoint, and seems to know more about her than she knows herself, causes her to take his questionable deal.
In doing so, Maia learns things about her perfect, idyllic kingdom that she never wanted to know, and nothing in her life will ever be the same again.
Archangel Raguel loses his wings... right as the world is about to go to hell.
Hunting a fallen angel bent on changing human history, Archangel Raguel finds a mysterious stone bearing a symbol in the midst of his investigation. Without warning, it throws him out of the angelic realms, abruptly turning him human.
He wakes naked in Gorky Park, in 1980s Moscow, wings gone and no ability to communicate with the other side. Picked up for public drunkenness and nudity, he asks for help of KGB Agent Ilana Kopovich, who is investigating a far more gruesome crime--the murder of a half-dozen children whose bodies were left mutilated in Red Square. Little does she know, the murderer she's hunting is the same demon Raguel wants.
Raguel asks for Ilana's help, and she quickly realizes she needs him. Together they must stop the demon before he commits his final crime and brings the world to the brink of war.
Chloe never expected to live long as the house slave of Agnon, one of the alien Nirreth who colonized Earth. Being the house pet of a sociopathic alien came with a time stamp and she knew it, but things were tough all over since humans became a slave caste on their own planet. She could only hope life would be better for her little sister, Kiji, who she struggled to protect.
When Chloe catches the eye of the infamous Ringmaster Trazen, she figures her time is finally up. But Trazen may not be exactly what he appears...and not only because he's the hottest alien she's ever laid eyes on.
Series Note: Takes place at the end of BLACK AS NIGHT (Quentin Black Mystery #2)
Miri Fox just returned to San Franciso after a harrowing ordeal in Thailand--an ordeal no one really understands except her boss, psychic detective, Quentin Black. But Black leaves Miri and San Francisco not long after they return to the States. Worse, he disappears with no explanation, no warning and without telling her when he'll return.
Miri won't answer his calls now and Black is desperate. Can he win back Miri's trust, after betraying her when she needed him the most?
This is always a tough question for me, because I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t write and/or want to be a writer, especially when it comes to fiction. I think I was pretty much born this way, honestly. I’ve been telling stories since I was a kid, first to my brother and sister in made-up games, then in comics and drawings, and then finally in short stories and novels and even some in photography and film. I wrote my first stories as soon as I learned how to write, and won a contest for a short story when I was in 2nd grade. I have no idea why I got this weird brain, but it seems to be “story-wired” from birth. That being said, I didn’t realize anyone would PAY me to write this stuff until way late in the game. I did work as a freelance journalist for a number of years, but never made a living doing that, it was too little money for the work, frankly, and my passion was more in fiction.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Which one? (lol) I’m coming close on 30 novels at this point, I think. Right now I’m working on SHADOW (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #4), so I guess I’ll answer with that one. In some ways, this whole series is about the struggle between good and evil / light and dark / love and the absence of it. It often poses the question, just how far would you go to be on the right side of any of these things? How far would you go for someone you love? How much would you sacrifice to stay on the side of the light? What are you willing to give up in order to be a good person? These are questions that I come back to again and again in my life, as I struggle with my own demons, the temptation to take short cuts or gain advantage at someone else’s expense (or even just the expense of my own integrity). There’s a lot in this particular book about redemption, and just how much you would forgive in someone, if you knew how they became the person they did. If someone falls into evil by beaten into it by outside forces, should they be forgiven? How far should you go to redeem them?
What books have most influenced your life most?
Jeez. There are a lot. And again, that changes over time, depending on my mood and what I’m trying to learn how to do better in my own writing. The first book I remember really blowing my mind was Watership Down, by Richard Adams. I read that when I was maybe nine years old, and I’ve re-read it a number of times since. He created a whole world, a believable religion (including a death mythos and a cosmology), a political society… all based on rabbits. Blew my little brain wide open.
Graham Greene inspired me a lot in high school, along with Hunter S. Thompson, and I’ve long been a fan of both the children’s books and the adult novels of Roald Dahl, who is a genius as far as I’m concerned. Stephen King and Peter Straub were also big influences when I was younger (Shadowlands by Peter Straub was another book that blew my mind, as did Koko by him). The Man in the High Castle definitely influenced me, as did the Ender series and Vurt (by Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card and Keith Moon, respectively). I also love the graphic novels of Alan Moore.
Recently I went on a few months’ love affair with Robert Crais, who writes really excellent mysteries that are deceptively simple but have a lot of emotional punch. I also love Gillian Flynn, and I’ve lately been reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, which is excellent. So yeah, I’m all over the map, lol. I’ve also read 50 Shades and Twilight, and found them quite entertaining, and I’m a HUGE Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling fan. She’s my hero, honestly.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
Birth? (lol) See above. I was kind of born a storytelling, I guess. I’m one of those weirdos who has no choice but to write. I go a bit nuts when I don’t. I actually had a boyfriend who would banish me to my writing office when I was being unreasonable. It worked like a charm every time. He was/is a smart man.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Sure! This is an excerpt of SHADOW (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #4), a series that lives in an alternate history where a second race of beings called “seers” live alongside humans. This is at the very beginning of the book, after Allie, the heroine, kidnaps her husband, who has become a hero for many parts of the seer world, partly for committing terrorist acts against the human powers. Allie kidnaps him to save him, but in doing so becomes hated by all of her husband’s “fans.”
Here’s the excerpt:
“BRING HER OUT! BRING HER OUT! BRING HER OUT!”
Flyers whizzed by, some merely documenting the scene while others projected still more signs and images. Others, owned by the Hong Kong police, issued warnings for the crowd to stay calm and not breach the barricades or risk arrest.
Yells grew louder when more uniformed seers appeared at the front of the glass doors. Like Balidor himself, they didn’t wear SCARB uniforms, but wore the black uniforms and gold insignia of the seer military, the Adhipan.
Looking up at them, Balidor caught the eye of Chinja and frowned.
He considered ordering them back inside the building, then decided it wouldn’t make any difference. The crowd already knew she was inside.
“Where is the bitch!” a woman yelled, screaming in the face of the Hong Kong guard. “Bring her out! Bring her out here!”
The Hong Kong guard’s face didn’t move.
Looking at the pale pink eyes of the woman shouting, Balidor flinched. Clearly, she was seer. Humans stood next to her, most of them wearing Third Myth shirts and holding similar signs as the seers.
“Bring her out!” the woman screamed again. “Bring that whore out here!”
“Traitors!” another seer, a green-eyed male that time, shouted up at them, spitting in disgust. “Blood traitors! Whores of slavers!”
“Where is he?” another male shrieked. “Did she kill him? What has she done with him?”
“Where is the vow-breaking bitch?” the pink-eyed female screamed from the other side. “Is she torturing him right now?”
The seers and humans near him picked up their words.
In seconds, the chanting changed.
“WHERE IS THE SWORD? WHERE IS THE SWORD? WHERE IS THE SWORD?”
Pieces of cement and gravel started flying through the air.
The Hong Kong police knocked back some of it with batons and shields, but some chunks reached the upper steps. Bottles came next, along with handfuls of light-colored dirt they threw on the human soldiers, a not-subtle insult calling them “worms.”
Balidor ducked a piece of cement without taking his eyes off the crowd, noting the number of flyers now aiming cameras at them. Some of those must be using facial recognition software.
As if she heard his thoughts, Cass grabbed his arm.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” she said, her voice half a shout to be heard over the crowd. “‘Dori… you need to go back inside. They’ll ID you soon.”
He turned slightly to look at her. “It won’t matter, Cass,” he said, also half-shouting. “We’re all traitors now.”
She frowned, her brow furrowing. “I’ve seen feeds talking about you,” she said. “They were calling you Allie’s lover, ‘the adulterer.’ And there’s a good chance the Rebels have people here. If any of them see you here, they’ll overrun the barricade, ‘Dori… whether they know she’s inside or not. You have to know they blame you.”
Slightly annoyed when he realized she was right, he nodded, wincing as a sharp chunk of rock glanced off his shoulder. He pulled her further behind him, his eyes scanning back over the flashing signs and clothing.
Most displayed some variation of “Traitor,” “Worm-fucker,” “Race Traitor,” “Whore,” “Vow-Breaker.” Balidor saw a few that simply read, “Bitch.” One said, “The Royal Bridge is a Royal Cunt” in giant, flashing pink letters.
He stared around at the growing numbers, feeling his trepidation worsen.
With it, his anger returned, too.
“This is madness!” he shouted to Cass over the raised voices. “Suicide, at the very least! Why in the name of the gods did she want to come here?”
Cass clutched his arm tighter, sliding behind him when a thrown bottle headed their way.
Grateful at her fast reflexes, which were more seer-like than human, he held up an arm to shield her as the crowd surged again. The sheer number of them was starting to put too much pressure on the barricade erected by the line of Hong Kong police.
Soon, those police would either be forced to retreat or to open fire.
Balidor relished neither option.
“We cannot let her come downstairs. There will be a full-blown firefight on the streets.” He gave Cass another look. “We cannot even confirm she is here. The building will be overrun if we release any statement at all, even on the feeds.”
He felt her agree with him.
He knew she didn’t like him reading her without permission, but, standing this close to her, it was almost impossible not to feel her thoughts, whether he wanted to or not.
Therefore, he felt her irritation at Allie, at the danger she’d put them all in, seemingly without any thought to the consequences. Cass resented how, even now, Revik, a.k.a., her Allie’s husband, a.k.a., Syrimng d’Gaos, a.k.a., “The Sword,” always seemed to factor first in Allie’s mind, seemingly regardless of any other consideration.
Hearing Cass’s thoughts, Balidor found himself agreeing with her.
He also found himself fighting a surge of fury at the thought.
Of course, the logical side of his mind couldn’t dismiss Allie’s concerns entirely.
If the Sword got loose now, it would be an unmitigated disaster. Given her husband’s notoriety, getting him completely off the grid without anyone knowing where he was, where they were moving him, or even what condition he was in, had to take precedence.
Right now, Dehgoies was, quite literally, the most dangerous man alive.
(END EXCERPT)
What book are you reading now?
Icy Passage by Ann Gimpel. I’m also reading The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I by Barbara W. Tuchman, and Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. I always seem to be reading multiple books, lol. Right now, I’m writing so much I haven’t had enough time to read any of them as much as I’d like.
If your book was made into a film who would you like to play the lead?
You know, I’ve never found a good actor for Revik, the male lead of the Bridge & Sword world, probably because i have such a clear picture of him in my mind. The closest in terms of intensity/presence is probably Michael Fassbender, but he’s too small and now he’s also kind of too old, lol. In fact, most of the actors I would have liked for Revik are actually a bit too old now (Daniel Craig is another). I like Luke Pasqualino in terms of the look of Revik, but I haven’t seen him in much.
In terms of Allie, I think Julia Voth is a great look for her. Out of younger actresses, I also like Phoebe Tonkin from the Originals, Nicola Peltz from Bates Motel and Ella Purnell just because she has those amazing eyes.
Do you have a blog/website?
Yes! My website is: http://jcandrijeski.com
I also have a reader’s group on Facebook, “The Rebel Base”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150834498264133/
My newsletter “The Rebel Army”: http://www.jcandrijeski.com/mailing-list
You can follow me on BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jc-andrijeski