Stack A Deck Virtual Tour and Author Guest Post

  Today I would like to share with you a new author and series I came across last month.  Please welcome Sue Duff to Booker T's Farm!

BESTSELLING AUTHOR RELEASES LATEST INSTALLMENT IN HER URBAN FANTASY SERIES

Stack a Deck explores the tough questions of a world gone wrong

DENVER, CO --   What if the Earth’s ozone layer decayed? What if asteroids weren’t destroyed by outer atmosphere and impacted us on on a regular basis? And what if the Earth’s core slowed its rotation, leaving our planet completely out of sync with the gravitational pull of the moon? Bestselling author Sue Duff explores these terrifying questions in her latest installment of her urban fantasy series, Stack a Deck (Book Four in The Weir Chronicles).

As the epic story continues, Duff’s main protagonist Ian Black learns how dangerous tyrannical ruler Aeros has become, and sees for himself the narcissist’s impact on an entire planet. Ian is forced to turn his back on the Pur Weir and align himself with the rebels to rescue Rayne. But when he travels to Earth’s alternate universe, he finds himself powerless and struggles to survive. Though, it is here that he, along with eager readers of the series, finally discover the true history of the Weir and his connection to Earth’s imminent destruction.

“Stack A Deck was so challenging because I had to consider the worst future for Earth and ask the tough ‘what if’ questions,” said Duff.

Stack a Deck is the fourth of five books in the Weir Chronicles, so fans of Duff’s novels can anticipate an exciting close in the final chapter in 2018.

Out of hundreds of submissions, Duff’s novel Fade to Black placed as a finalist in the Colorado Gold Writing Contest in 2011 and in 2015, her writing earned her the PEN Award from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.  Masks and Mirrors nabbed Duff a nomination for the 2015-2016 Independent Writer of the Year from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Sleight of Hand landed on the Denver Post Bestseller list in 2016. 

Additionally, Duff has completed a short story entitled Duo’vr for the anthology TICK TOCK: Seven Tales of Time, which received the gold medal for Best Book Cover and silver medal for Best Anthology for the 2016 Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Awards. The anthology also  was nominated for Best Anthology at the 2016 UTOPIA Con. A second anthology is on its way in 2017 and, in addition to the seven Wicked Ink authors short stories, it will feature two short-stories hand-selected from over 45 submissions received from writers all over the world.

I’ve written countless guest posts about writing, myself as a writer and what it’s like to self-publish a successful series. When I was asked to pen a post for Booker T’s Farm, I decided to talk about my favorite topic. Villains!

Who doesn’t love the bad guy? Given the out-the-door attendance at last summer’s Denver Comic Con panel, “The Art of the Complex Villain,” most of us do! I was asked that day, and several times before and since, who my favorite villain is. I always give the same answer—Hannibal Lector.

Thomas Harris brilliantly crafted Dr. Lector to be the bad guy everyone loves to hate (and inwardly roots for as long as his body count sticks to the “bad” good guys). Hannibal, I like to think we’re on a first-name basis, commits the type of grotesque and horrific crimes that make us cringe. Yet, like in horror films when I peek between my fingers at the blood and guts murder scenes, I believe that Hannibal’s crimes make him larger than life and forces me to pay attention, at the same time I condemn him for his atrocities. Perhaps it’s because he’s non-apologetic and succumbs to his nature like we take to our favorite ice cream. Consider, though, that my scrumptious bowl of Pralines and Cream never filtered a Friday night’s carousing (liver) or earned me a B+ on a math test (brains). Hannibal’s descriptions of his European cuisine slip off his tongue like poetry and sound tantalizing, but Harris unveils the slaughtered victim’s identity to the reader beforehand, and thus sets us up to gag ourselves, while the good doctor’s dinner guests ignorantly savor his meal. 

Grotesque? Yep. Memorable? Check. In my humble opinion, it’s over the top perfection.

In my series, The Weir Chronicles, I chose to take a lesson from George Lucas, more so than Thomas Harris. I’d be hard pressed to fashion a villain after my villain-crush. In The Weir Chronicles, my antagonist is a slow reveal, measured by his Numero Uno henchman, rather than himself, much like the Emperor was revealed through Darth Vadar’s ruthlessness. Vadar wasn’t the ultimate antagonist in Star Wars, it was the Emperor! Darth Vadar was the megalomaniac’s executioner, but rarely called the shots himself. In The Weir Chronicles, Aeros is my Emperor. Ning, my Darth Vadar. In fact, you only see glimpses of Aeros in the first couple of books in the series. He doesn’t take a vital role until the third book, and by the fourth book about to hit stores, STACK A DECK, you see how ruthless and barbaric Aeros truly is. He’s my larger than life evil dude. If I’ve done my job, you’ll be peeking between your fingers. You know you want to . . .

Thank you to Booker T for inviting me to hang out and share a glimpse into my psyche, and my series! Happy reading!!!

I want to sincerely thank Sue for stopping by and apologize for not having this post up yesterday as scheduled because of this mess I call life right now.  She also graciously provided me a copy of Fade to Black so look for a review soon.