The Rise of the River Man by L. S. O'Dea Release Day Blitz, Interview, and Giveaway

The Rise of the River Man

Conguise Chronicles

Book 1

L. S. O’Dea

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal

Publisher: LSODea

Date of Publication: 10/30/2015

ISBN: 978-1-942706-04-5

ASIN: B014I7M82I

Number of pages: 108 pages

Word Count: approx. 27,700

Cover Artist: Vincent OCampo

Book Description:

Obedient monsters are hard to create.

Mutter was sure that his pending execution at the Guards’ Shelter was the worst thing that could happen to him, but that was before he met Professor Conguise.

Now, he is living in a laboratory and the Almightys are giving him shots. He fears that they are attempting to mutate him into some kind of monster like those in the other cages. The creatures in the other cages are unnatural. Things that he can’t believe exist. Things that shouldn’t exist and if he doesn’t escape, soon he will become one of them.

Available at Amazon

Interview;

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I remember my brother reading a story that he wrote for a class assignment. I was around five at the time and he was around twelve. It was in the fall and the story was a scary one about a boy who was walking home alone at night through the woods. Nothing happened to the boy. All the tension was his imagination caused by the dark and the wind, but I recall being fascinated that my brother made this up. He created this. At the time, I really wanted to learn to read so that the world of stories would be opened up to me. I spent years reading anything and everything that I could. I don’t recall when I decided that I should write stories exactly, but I am positive that the seed was planted that fall evening while lying on my parents’ bed listening to my brother read his story.

2. How long does it take you to write a book?

That depends. My first book took about two years to write, but I changed it a lot due to suggestions by agents. I eventually ended up tearing it apart and creating two books. These are now the first and second books in the Lake of Sins series. So, you could average that to about a year each which is probably pretty accurate for a full length novel.

However, my third book, Conguise Chronicles: Rise of the River Man (Mutter’s story), is a novella and only took me about four months to write.

3. What is your biggest failure?

That would have to be giving in to fear. I am a very logical person and there is safety behind fear. For years, I refused to actually write—to sit down and put my thoughts on paper in a story format (I often wrote journal entries, but no stories). It wasn’t only the fear of failure, which we all have, but it was the fear of a dream lost. I had wanted to write, imagined making a living by writing for so long that I was terrified to try. If I tried and failed then I could no longer dream of doing this (like I said I am logical and if my books stunk, then there is no logical point in continuing to write – or so I thought). If I lost that dream, my life would have been miserable.

I still struggle with caving in to fear every day. It may not be about writing now, but it is in other areas of my life.

4. Characters often find themselves in situations they aren't sure they can get themselves out of. When was the last time you found yourself in a situation that was hard to get out of and what did you do?

I have fortunately never been in a situation like the characters in my books. The only example that I can think of is that in my day job I have to work with some people who do not like me. It is not easy to work with these individuals because one of them in particular has an issue with almost everything that I say. However, I can’t not work with him, so I am very careful how I word things and I do not speak with him unless it is about work (he sometimes comes to my office to tell me about his personal life – I don’t understand why he does this when he complains to the bosses about me consistently). So basically, I keep my head down and my mouth shut as much as possible. Not very brave or story-worthy, I know .

Excerpt:

MUTTER WAS IN TROUBLE. No one wanted a Guard like him. He was too big and too strong and too ugly. He stretched out on the concrete floor and winced. He definitely had some broken ribs, but he’d fought and won with broken bones in the past. He started coughing. It was this sickness that had cost him the match. He sat up; the coughing subsided. He’d pleaded with Vickers, his Almighty master, not to make him fight but the money had already switched hands. He leaned his head against the bars of the cage. He’d lost the fight and now he’d lose his life. Vickers did not give second chances.

The door opened and a male Almighty around thirty years old with blond hair entered the room followed by Satcha, the House Servant who ran this establishment. The Guards’ Shelter didn’t allow visiting at this hour but Almightys did whatever they wanted. He didn’t even bother to stand up. No one wanted him. It was a bit embarrassing, but he’d tried to find a new home his first few days here. He’d even trimmed his beard, but it had done no good. Every time that he’d run to the front of the cage and had smiled at the Almightys, he’d smelled the fear on them as they’d passed. Most tried not to look at him, but he was big and scarred and hard to ignore.

They stopped in front of his cage.

“Ableson, this is the one I told you about,” said Satcha. “Looks like he was a fighter, so he should be used to obeying. He does have a bad cough, but I thought he might work for you.”

The Almighty remained quiet, his blue eyes sizing Mutter up.

“Come here,” said Satcha.

Mutter wanted to stay where he was to annoy the Servant but Guards like him didn’t get many chances for a home. He slowly stood, letting the Almighty get used to his size and appearance.

“How old are you?” asked Ableson.

“Not sure. Been around for a while but not too old.” That was the safe answer. He had counted nineteen winters but that might be too old or too young. He never could tell what an Almighty wanted.

“By his teeth and body we estimate around twenty-five to thirty years,” said Satcha.

Ableson twirled his finger. Mutter understood that signal. Before the fights started, when the betting happened, he was often sized up by the gamblers. He turned in a circle, slowly, giving the Almighty time to study him.

“I’m strong and healthy.” That was a lie but he would be healthy again. He just needed a little time and food.

“Does have that cough, that I mentioned.” Satcha sent him a glare.

“Just a little. From this damp, rotten place.” He hated Servants. They didn’t know when to keep their big mouths shut.

“I need an obedient Guard.” The Almighty’s eyes roamed up and down his frame.

“Won’t find one more obedient than me.”

“Let’s see if that’s true.” Ableson walked down the aisle. “Is there another Guard who he’s close to?”

“Him?” Satcha laughed, following the Almighty. “He’s so big and ugly even the other Guards stay away from him.”

Ableson stopped in the hallway. “Take this one out.”

The Servant opened the cage and slipped a rope over a young Guard’s neck. Mutter’s chest pinched. Typical. The Almighty’s always chose the young ones. His only chance was gone. They would walk out and soon he’d be executed. He started to sit back down, when the three of them stopped in front of his cage.

“Put her in with him,” said Ableson.

“Ah, we keep the younger ones separate from the older ones, especially the older males,” said Satcha.

The Almighty didn’t say a word, but his look was enough. The Servant muttered an apology and opened the door shoving the young Guard into Mutter’s cage.

He glanced at the little Guard who stood as far away from him as possible. She couldn’t have been older than nine. She had russet hair and large, frightened, brown eyes.

“Hit her,” said Ableson, his tone conversational.

“Wait,” said Satcha. “That one’s young and attractive. I can find a home for her. Let me get—”

“I’ll pay for both.” The Almighty’s eyes never left Mutter.

Mutter kept his face a mask but his stomach clenched. He didn’t want to do this. He’d fought females before but they were all older, experienced fighters. This wouldn’t even be a fight.

“I need an obedient Guard,” reminded Ableson.

The girl trembled in the corner, tears streaming down her soft, round cheeks. “Please, don’t hurt me.”

Pleading didn’t do any good. It didn’t change anyone’s mind. He knew the game and it would be her or him. He stared into the girl’s scared brown eyes. “Bruised, broken or dead?”

“Just hit her. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

Mutter stepped forward. The girl curled in a ball on the floor, pleading and crying. He grabbed her by the shirt. She weighed next to nothing, all skin and bones. He punched her in the gut, making the blow look harder than it was, but the girl was so small she gasped and coughed. He hesitated, waiting for the Almighty to stop this, but no words came. He hit her again. She yelped in pain. He shifted his stance, stalling again and praying for the words that would allow him to quit, but the only sounds were the yells of the other Guards in the nearby cages. Most screamed for him to stop but some cheered him on. If the Almighty wouldn’t end this, he would. His next punch caught her upside the head, knocking her out. He let her slide to the floor.

He walked toward the Almighty.

“I didn’t say stop.” Ableson’s blue eyes challenged him.

He stared at the girl on the floor. Only in the roughest fights, those to the end, did they hit opponents when they were down.

“Forget it. He won’t work.” Ableson turned and headed for the door.

His only chance was leaving. He’d be dead tomorrow if that Almighty walked out the door. The girl’s tiny frame was about the size of his arm. She was still breathing. “Wait.”

Ableson walked back to the cage, a smug smile on his face. “Obey or I leave. This is your one warning.”

He nodded. His heart thudded as each footstep moved him closer to the little female. The other Guards had fallen silent. He grasped her by the back of the shirt. Her head lolled to the side, her eyes closed. His supper churned in his stomach. He stared at the tears on her cheeks as he punched her over and over, trying to hit non-vital parts but it was difficult. She was tiny and his fits were big.

“Enough,” called the Almighty.

He lowered her to the floor. Her breath was ragged as blood trickled from her lips. His eyes burned, but no wetness came. He hadn’t cried since he’d lost his mother. It didn’t do any good. He wiped the girl’s blood on his shirt as he faced the Almighty.

Ableson smiled at him and handed an envelope to the Servant. “I’ll take him.”

Satcha looked in the envelope. “Ah, the price for the girl…”

Ableson frowned at the Servant but dug in his pocket and handed Satcha a few more bills. The Servant stuck them in his pocket and opened the cage door, putting a rope around Mutter’s neck. He fisted his hands, fighting the urge to kill both of them, but he’d never make it out of the shelter if he did that.

“Come.” Ableson yanked on the rope.

“What about her?” asked Satcha.

“Do what you want with her.”

“But…you already paid….”

“If she lives, sell her again, or kill her. I don’t care.” Ableson walked toward the door.

Mutter refused to look back at the girl, the sacrifice for his freedom.

About the Author:

L. S. O’Dea sees things a bit differently than most people. This is probably a bi-product of being the youngest of seven children in a time when TV was only worth watching in the evenings or Saturday mornings and there were no computers. Back then, kids had to amuse themselves and being five years younger than her closest sibling she was often the unwilling entertainment.

Since she was so much younger than her siblings, it was only reasonable that they knew how to do many things that she could not, such as read and write. One day, before she started kindergarten, she really wanted to learn how to spell her name. Her mother was busy cooking or cleaning (she had seven children to care for), so her brothers were instructed to help their baby sister.

After she learned how to spell her first and middle name (Linda Sue), she raced into the kitchen to share this new knowledge with her mother. She was so proud, standing tall and reciting the letters of her name. L-E-M-O-N H-E-A-D.

Her mother was not happy with her brothers and stopped what she was doing to teach Linda the correct way to spell her name. L. S. still receives a box of Lemonhead candy every year for Christmas.

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