BETSY DORNBUSCH: AUTHOR OF SENTINEL

My Sad Songs blogfest entry will be up tomorrow.  I messed up on what date it was to post.  My bad.

Wednesday March 28, 2012

Today please welcome guest author/editor Betsy Dornbusch.  In 2012 Betsy Dornbusch launched her urban fantasy series, Sentinel, with Archive of Fire, featuring demidemons rebelling against the demon king Asmodai. She also writes a space operotica series Salt Road Saga, the first of which is Lost Prince. Her short fiction has appeared in print and online venues such as Sinister Tales, Big Pulp, Story Portal, and Spinetingler, and her work is in the anthologies Tasty Little Tales and Deadly by the Dozen.

 She's been an editor with the ezine Electric Spec for six years and regularly speaks at fan conventions and writers’ conferences. She’s the sole proprietor of Sex Scenes at Starbucks where you can believe most of what she writes. In her free time, she snowboards and air jams at punk rock concerts.

When you visit Betsy, be sure to bring beer.

Betsy is giving away a free e-book copy of Archive of Fire, so be sure to leave a comment to be entered into the random drawing.

Before we get to the novel though, lets get to know the author . .

Donna asked me to write something of my publishing journey.  Journey, indeed. 2011 was all planes, trains, and automobiles for me. Two book releases, four short story sales, conferences, conventions, and speaking engagements.   2012 looking to be more of the same. But let me back up almost three years to before I’d ever published anything longer than a 5000 word short story.

After a reading at Borders (RIP), I was offered a gig to write two erotica books for an existing franchise. Despite the title of my blog (Sex Scenes at Starbucks) I’d only really written one serious sex scene ever. I took erotica on as a creative challenge and once I got past the first blush, I found I really liked it. Scintillation notwithstanding, I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of choreography and balance when writing action scenes, and with heated emotion thrown into the mix, writing sex is even more of a test of skills. Since then I’ve written dozens of sex scenes.

Shortly after Whiskey Creek Press/Torrid bought my first standalone, a space “operotica” called Lost Prince, they asked for a series based on it. You don’t really refuse a request like that. Encouraged by this, a few months after Lost Prince came out I submitted Archive of Fire, a most un-erotic dark urban fantasy that had gone through countless revisions and rejections. They bought it in three days and it just came out in January. I’m already getting questions on when the sequel is coming out and reviews of AOF have been promising.

All of a sudden I have a full time job between promotions and writing. I’m writing two series, and thinking of adding in a third because I’ve got an idea for a high fantasy ménage a trios erotica series. (Apparently I’ve got a thing with punishing myself for working with more work.) Additionally, I’m often asked for short stories. I was recently at a science fiction convention where three different anthology editors asked me for short stories, and I’m not even very well known! I now have five requests stacked up. Rather abruptly, writing less than 2000 words a day on something is not an option.

Not that I’m complaining. And then there’s the slushpile.

I’ve been an editor with Electric Spec for six years. Despite being terminally behind on my reading, I love editing it. It’s been good for me promotions-wise, gotten me panels and teaching gigs, but also I’ve learned so much from reading hundreds of short stories. The opportunity to support my industry with a stable short story market is an honor. And I still find it tough to turn down any request to speak or be on a panel. Besides good promotions-wise, I love getting to talk about my favorite topic, (next to my kids, that is).

So the moral of my publishing journey? Get yourself out there. Give back. Support your industry. Write. Write some more. Write lots of stuff you know will never see the light of day. Make friends with other writers! Let them help you! Take chances.

Thanks for the insights and encouragement Betsy.

Twins Aidan and Kaelin didn’t realize until they got to university that most guys don’t learn five ways to kill a man by the age of fourteen. Still, since their estranged father descends from the demon Asmodai, it's probably worth knowing how to defend themselves. But as years pass and threat never materializes, the twins suppose their mom is just paranoid - until she disappears.

Their father tells them Asmodai has taken possession of their mother in order to infiltrate Sentinel, a treacherous coalition of demidemon rebels determined to protect humankind from the demon legions. The twins form a grudging alliance with Sentinel to rescue her, but when Asmodai murders their father to incite war, Sentinel starts to implode and Aidan and Kaelin must battle an enemy who wears their mother’s face.

Let me say, Archive of Fire was so thrilling, I immediately wrote the review as soon as I finished reading, and sent off the request for Betsy's guest post.

MY REVIEW (may contain some spoilers):

From the first line to the very last, I was engaged in the action, dialogue, and hunky main characters.  I had not intended to read the novel in one sittiing, but once I started it, the story filled my entire Saturday, leaving me breathless and wanting to read more when the final lines were written.

Nineteen year old twins Aiden and Kaelin Trevet are ruthlessly torn from their end of college term plans when Kaelin makes a phone call to a secret agency called Sentinel.  Raised in seclusion by their equally secretive mother, who trained them to fight an unknown enemy using hand-to-hand combat, knives, the bow, and all manner of machine guns and rifles, the boys are fully equiped to handle almost any situation that could possibly endanger them - except their mother's sudden dissappearance.

Knowing that something had been ~off about their mother (Nicole Trevet) for some time before her sudden disappearance, Kaelin calls Nathaniel, Sentinel's reported CEO, in hopes that all their mother's warnings about the man and the agency are equally tainted by whatever sickness she is suffering from.  Naturally, Nathaniel abducts the two under the guise of protecting them from the real enemy, a demon by name of Asmodai, and burns the Sentinel brand on their muscular biceps, leaving them no choice but to join the ranks of demi-demon Rangers, and fulfill their destiny.

That destiny, and the relationships of all the supporting characters, forms the heart of the story plot.  It is revealed in layers of intrigue, each new revelation pulling the reader deeper into the world of Sentinel.  The characters are well developed, all with unique voices virtually make it unnecessary (but appreciated) to label the chapters with the perspective character's name.  There were enough differences in voice, attitude, and expertise to make each twin unique, and enough similarities to never forget they are twins.

Aside from the excellent characterizations, the world and backstory was built with an economy of narrative.  Setting was included in the dialogue and action narratives, as well as short tidbits of archived information on computers and docier files.    Mission orders are issued that explain where the characters are going next, what the action plan is, who will be placed where; but at no time did I feel there was action or movement for the sake of adding tension to the character or overall plot.  Even the love interests had a specific role in progressing the story.

If you are a hard core romance reader who gets squimish at the slightest hint of blood spill, this is not the novel for you.  Think Underworld (without the freeky monsters), or Four Brothers with the commando style warfare in urban neighborhoods.  And while there is the thrill of covert operations, plenty of gunfire, the intimacy of killing with a knife or bow, there is not an overage of blood and gore.  This novel was gritty enough to keep my interest, but not overly descriptive of sexual encounters, bloody fights or obscene language.

I give Archive of Fire: Sentinel Book 1 a five star rating, and recommend it to any reader who loves action, a fast paced story, and intrigue.  This book has a satisfactory conclusion to its story plot, but also leaves enough unanswered questions to make a reader crave the next installment.

You can read another review for Archive of Fire at Grave Tells, where she also has a guest post.

Purchasing links:
Trade paperback at Whiskey Creek Press
Kindle at Amazon US
Nook at Barnes and Noble
Adobe Acrobat at Book Strand