Tena StetlerAuthor of Paranormal Romance/Suspense & Cozy Mysteries With Magic Spark!

Feb 28th Stephen B. King Author of Glimpse, the Beautiful Deaths

Give a warm welcome to Stephen B. King who is giving us a first look at his up coming release Glimpse, the Beautiful Deaths. Release date April 10, 2019!

Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Steve and his Beautiful Deaths!

What defines you as an author? As a person? Are they one in the same?

I’d like to think that what defines me as an author is firstly an inborn need to tell stories, and secondly to bring characters to life. The thing I enjoy most is creating people and getting the reader to invest in them. If I can hook the reader to like them, then I can take my perfectly ordinary people, and put them into extraordinary situations. Then I hold the reader by the hand, and take them on a roller coaster. The biggest compliments I’ve received on my writing are by readers liking and feeling sorry for not just the victims, but the murderer I’ve brought to life. I think we all have flaws, and as an author, I love describing normal, flawed people, in an entertaining way.

As a person, I think there is something of me in everyone I create. My heroes and heroines are likable, though normal, and there is a piece of me in each of them (I hope).

What inspired this particular story? What makes you laugh out loud?

Glimpse, The Beautiful Deaths, book 2 of the trilogy, will be released on April 10^th, and the inspiration came from a woman who once said to me (though I now wish I’d never met her) “Here’s an idea you can use: when is a serial killer, not a serial killer?”

I must admit I hate riddles and couldn’t get what she meant, and she explained it was when someone doesn’t actually kill his victims, but his actions cause them to die. This sparked a lengthy discussion, and out of it, came Gordon, a man so hopelessly addicted to beauty he will abduct young women to capture the essence of them in oil. But once drugged and kidnapped, they cease to be the one thing he took them for in the first place – beautiful.

Why should we read this book/series and what sets you apart from the rest and makes your book/series unique?

It’s funny, but I was trying to think of a book, or series that I know of that is anything like The Three Deadly Glimpses Trilogy, to aid in picking search words, and I failed. By that definition, I think it is unique. In terms of the trilogy, I wanted to explore the relationship between two married people who must work together during three separate murder investigations, and they are instantly attracted to each other. Rick is a Detective Sargent and Pat is a criminal psychologist, brought in to provide a profile of a serial killer. Across the three books they fight the urge they both feel, yet their desire grows to the point both marriages are affected, even though they have not done anything but flirt. The attraction for both is deeper than a desire to have sex, they are drawn to each other yet they fight it to protect their crumbling existing relationships. Yes, it’s a love story, a long one – combined the three books total 300,000 words, and that gave me the time to really get inside their psyches to try to describe how they feel about not only each other, but their marriages. In my life, I’ve always got on better with women, than men, and I love being with, working with, or friendly with a women who I find desirable, even though I am married. No, I wouldn’t want to be unfaithful, for good reason – I adore my wife, but I love to feel that I could, if that makes sense. It was that wanting, and should I shouldn’t I feeling I wanted to explore in story form.

Each book is a thriller, a stand-alone story police procedural hunt to track down three entirely different, very troubled human beings who choose to kill people. Glimpse, Memoir of a Serial Killer, is a man whose life has been so bad, he has become a narcissistic sociopath who wants to be famous as the ‘best’ serial killer in Australian History. The killer in book 2, Glimpse, The Beautiful Deaths is something else entirely. His life since childhood has been so ugly, first through his mother, then his overbearing wife, that he becomes addicted to beauty. His quest to find perfection causes six young girls to lose their lives. Book 3, the finale of the series, Glimpse, The Tender Killer features a man who develops situational schizophrenia through unbearable guilt. He hears and sees an imaginary man, named Jolly, who quotes verses from the bible and urges him to kill nine times to find salvation and avenge the death of his sister. But is Jolly imaginary, or is he real? To make things worse for Rick and Pat, their marriages are in tatters, and PPP, the serial killer from book 1 has escaped, and is out for revenge.

Who is your favorite character of all of the books you’ve written and Why?

Patricia Holmes, in this series is the star of the show. It is her insightfulness, and hers alone, that helps uncover who the killers are, and helps understand why they do what they do. She is smart, beautiful, self-assured, wealthy (unlike Rick) and working in an era (between the years 200 and 2003) when firstly women in the police force were snubbed, and criminal psychologists laughed at. Pat overcomes all the prejudice and wins the respect of a very testosterone heavy bunch of jaded detectives. She is a wonderful character to write about, and though this was only ever going to be a trilogy, I adore her so much, she may be back in the future.

Do you find it easier to write from a male or female point of view? Why?

This is a great, and fun question. One of the reasons my wife and I get along so well is I say there is quite a bit of bloke in her (she’s always been a bit of a tomboy) and she says there is a strong feminine side to me. For example, she loves my taste in clothes for her and we shop together. I once wrote a story totally from a female POV, and my editor said she had never read anything quite like it and that it was the best example of a man describing how a woman thinks and feels she had ever experienced. I thought that high praise indeed. It’s not for me to say what I do best – I’m an author and I write about people. I hope I get most of it right, and I hope I entertain. I love writing about love, both from a male and female perspective, but the reader is the final arbiter.

My goodness you are a multi-faceted individual indeed!  Now the SPEED ROUND FOR A LITTLE ADDED FUN:

Speed Round (one word only answer): Yep, I know torture for a writer!<evil laugh>

Favorite movie: INCEPTION
Favorite book: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Last book read: FACELESS KILLERS (WALLANDER SERIES)
Favorite color: YELLOW
Stilettos or flipflops: I CAN’T WALK ON STLETOES –  Too bad I’d pay to see that. LOL
Coffee or tea: COFFEE – BLACK
Ebook or audiobook or paperback: AUDIO THESE DAYS
Pencil or pen: PEN

Favorite song: ROUNDABOUT – YES

Streak or not: NOT ANYMORE, BUT IN MY YOUNGER DAYS YOU BET

Favorite dessert: VANILA BEAN ICE CREAM

Favorite junk food: KFC

Favorite thing to do to relax: WRITE

Champagne or gin: G&T – WITH BOMBAY SAPHIRE AND FRESH LIME JUICE

Paranormal or Historical: HISTORICAL

Wonder Woman or Top Model: CURVES – WOMAN HAVE THEM IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES

Favorite TV show: WALLANDER

Hot or cold: COLD

POV: SLIGHTLY LEFT OF RIGHT

I’d die if I don’t have: MY LAPTOP

Review or Not: ALWAYS

A little about Glimpse, the Beautiful Deaths:

Rick McCoy of the Major Crime Squad is trying to repair his marriage when he is sent to the South of Western Australia. A young girl’s body has been found in a cave, with flowers on her chest. A search finds five more bodies.

Beautiful criminal psychologist, Patricia Holmes, has recovered from her stab wounds inflicted by the serial killer PPP, and is brought in. Pat believes they are hunting a man who is addicted to beauty. When another school girl goes missing, they have only days before she too will die.

As their desire for each other grows and the pressure on their marriages increase, they close in on the man responsible for the beautiful deaths. Meanwhile, in the high-security wing of the mental health hospital, PPP plans his revenge on Rick.

Buy Link:   AMAZON 

About the Author:

I left Perth, Australia many years ago to go East and find fame and fortune in the music business as a long-haired rock guitarist. I wrote poems and music in my wild days. I gave it all up for love and got married (as you do when the right one comes along). Then, real life took over, children came along and I threatened to write a book for so many years my long-suffering wife eventually pushed me into it by buying me a laptop and said: “No more excuses, do it.” And so, began this amazing journey.  Glimpse, Memoir of a Serial Killer is number seven, with books 2 and 3 of the trilogy also contracted, so I think, now and again, she regrets buying that laptop.

 

Stephen B King
Australian Author
www.stephen-b-king.com
email: stephenk8@me.com
Twitter: @StephenBKing1
Facebook: @stephenbkingauthor

It was wonderful having you with us today.  Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Glimpse, the Beautiful Deaths!

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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Glimpse, Serial Killer, Stephen B. King, the Beautiful Deaths, Thriller by Tena Stetler with 17 comments.