Giveaway and Guest Post with the Fabulous J W Baccaro

Hello and Welcome!!  Its time to install some new 'toys' in the dungeon, so I had to let the prisoners out for a while :)  So I thought, well Jason needs some practice talking again, after he finishes drinking his water.  Those ball-gags REALLY make you thirsty.   So here is my favorite tenant talking to us about his awesome Sci-Fi series!!

Hello Nikki.  Once again, I’d like to thank you for releasing me from your bitter-sweet dungeon, for it does get a bit lonely down here, but I think your punishments are well deserved.  *grins*

For those of you who have seen me on Close Encounters With The Night Kind before, I assume you’re probably getting familiarized with my “Guardian of the Seventh Realm” series, so I’d like to dive a bit deeper into a few of the “characteristics” of the series, starting with the theme of violence

Am I a little sadistic for loving this image?  :)

A large number of readers have commented on the heavy violence in my series—those comments usually being positive and full of excitement. Interestingly, people who personally know me are often dumbfounded after finishing one of my books.  See, they typically think of me as a “teddy bear” in everyday life, docile and gentle, and slow to anger, and yet my stories are full of decapitating heads, broken bones, chaotic battles, bloodshed and the forces of good sometimes getting stomped into the ground by the boots of my sexy Dark Queen Talvenya.  *smiles*

For starters, I have to say that I'm happy people are seeing the “darkness” in this story.  I admit it is very dark, a tale of brutality, and even some perverse sections involving the Dark Queen Talvenya.  There are many reasons why I had written it like that, but NONE of those reasons were because I think the violence theme is “cool.”  First, I didn't wish to write a “candy-coated” adversary.  When I get involved into a tale of good verses evil, I want to feel “afraid” of the dark—to a certain extant.  If I don't feel threatened by the adversary or his or her minions, I gradually lose interest in the conflict, and soon enough the story.

Second, for me, the violence in my series—especially book two “Siege of Darkness,” is a reflection of how cruel mankind can sometimes be, and even the “red in tooth in claw” of Mother Nature Herself.  Sure, our “Mother” is beautiful; one of my favorite simple pleasures in life is to gaze at a blue summer sky filled with mammoth-sized white clouds (which still remind me of marshmallow fluff!), as a warm breeze blows against you, carrying with it the delightful smells of summer, or the gorgeous lilacs and majestic peonies with their immaculate scents.  I swear I could get lost for hours with my face stuffed in a lilac bush or a peonies flower—I just better watch out for the bumble bees and ants!  Darn things!  And let’s not forget those adorable little fawns walking with their mother. They often cross our yard—a doe with her two fawns, the little ones following her lead, strolling down the grassy slope, by-passing the apple trees and wandering into the wilderness.  Yes, very beautiful indeed, and yet, what goes on every night within that wilderness when the coyotes awaken is far from beautiful, but that is the way of this world, beautiful at times, but also very “dark,” or as Mirabel the Great (one of the main characters in my series) would say, “The ways of the forest.”

Guardian of the Seventh Realm is also a reflection of the trials in life that we all face, unless you are one of the blessed ones who have never tasted darkness, but that is a rarity.  The main protagonist in my series, Darshun Luthais, learns the hard way by facing this darkness, brutality and death.  For him, it was necessary to experience the evils of the world and suffer before he could truly come to terms with what he was born to be, the Guardian of the Seventh Realm.  I can parallel this to my own life as well.  I would not be where I am now had I not faced my own demons, trials and hardships, and to a certain extant (I say “certain” because I still have a long journey ahead of me) conquered them.  It is an unfortunate suffering many of us have to go through in life, but a “fortunate blessing” once the tribulations are over.  And though I often felt alone, as Darshun sometimes feels alone, there would always be someone there to lift me up with a helping hand, as there always is for Darshun—whether it be a physical creature, or an essence among the spiritual realm of reality.

And so, as more fans of fantasy enter the “Seventh Realm” I have created, I hope they will continue to enjoy the journey I have paved for them, and feel as though you are traveling alongside Darshun and our other heroes as a part of the quest. And maybe, just maybe, when Darshun gets out of line, give him a good kick in the arse!  It will do him well, the cocky Nasharin he can sometimes be.

Once last thing pertaining to the violence theme, I’m really pleased that people are also seeing the courage, loyalty and romantic elements in the series.  In actuality, it’s really NOT a “Dark Fantasy” at all.  Calm down fans of hot and steamy romance, it’s not an erotica either, but there is a strong kiss of romance in it between small percentages of characters—sometimes dripping hot, and there are elements of Dark Erotica also.  I just love it when a powerful woman puts an arrogant male in his place!

Oh yeah, baby!  Feel the sting of Her whip, boys!  :)

Okay, back to being a little more serious.

The other theme I think I will touch upon will be the influences that had driven me to write “Guardian of the Seventh Realm.”

Looking back into my past—as far as I can remember, I can pick out all of the little elements that foreshadowed what I’d one day become, not just an author, but also a creator.  I used to draw comic books, create my own little adventures while playing outside by myself, spend hours playing with my He-Man, Thundercats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys—sometimes pretending they were not the icons they’d been molded after, but each one his or her own individual character, and I would create my own personal “adventure” with them.  There was always so much fighting, just like in my novels.  *laughs*

While we’re on the subject, let me talk a little more about fighting here.  Growing up, there was nothing I enjoyed more than turning on the television set and slipping in one of my many VHS tapes for a couple of hours of hard pounding action. (Not pornography, in case anyone’s mind is slipping into the gutter. Ha!).  I've always been fascinated by a good battle—preferably a battle between two monstrous powers, like Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader, Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris, King Kong vs. Godzilla—Godzilla should have won that!  There was just something about that feeling of, “whoa, this adversary is bad arse!  How on earth is the hero going to beat him?”  Or, “when they clash it’s going to be a great battle, because both of them are so ridiculously powerful!”  Then they’d meet eye to eye, on the battle grounds, just like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris met in “Way of the Dragon,” and the lightning-fast kicks to heavy pounding punches to a hundred graceful moves of the martial arts would begin.  Oh yeah, baby, that used to get my adrenaline pumping, it still does! …maybe it’s a guy thing?

One of my favorite icons!

Cartoons were big for me as well, preferably in the 80’s.  Thundercats, Silverhawks and Mask; Gobots, Transformers and He-Man, and just about anything that had something to do with a transformation of form or power really caught my attention.  Oh!  And least I forget, She-Ra!  I must admit, She-Ra was the first woman who made me feel powerless, or “crushed,” if you know what I mean.  I was head over heels in love with that Princess of Power.  And I blame She-Ra for my...sometimes overly obsessive high heel boot fetish.

Wonder Woman OWNED!  ^_^

Then when I was twenty-one years old I saw the greatest action cartoon in perhaps the entire universe, Dragonball Z!  All right, I admit, it’s the easiest cartoon to poke fun at, especially whenever the warriors are “powering up.”  It sounds like they’re constipated.  But the flashy colors of their chaotic energies, and the thunderous battles (accompanied by an epic soundtrack), caught my attention immediately.  At the time I had already been working on “Guardian of the Seventh Realm,” though it had no title, and it was just a baby chick freshly hatched.  So, I wanted to “upgrade” the characters I was creating, and engage them in battles of a similar setting: transformations, the raising of energy, flashy colors, chaotic explosions, feelings of desperation when the adversary has you beaten, etc.  Of course, all of this means nothing if your characters are dull, but it set the stage for the way I would play out battle scenes in my Epic Fantasy.

That’s where my Nasharin Race comes from. Akira Toriyama (creator of the DBZ Manga) is by far the biggest influence for me when it comes to battle scenes and warrior transformations.  J.R.R. Tolkien and my own personal beliefs on Spirituality are where the rest of my influences stem.

As for Nasharins, they are definitely the most interesting class of warrior in my series.  Being half-wizard/half human, lusting after energy like a vampire thirsts for blood, and having the ability to evolve or transform into figures of extravagant power and beautified form, my hope was that many readers would find them highly interesting, exciting and colorful, and to my joy they have, so far.  And I hope that enjoyment continues.  It is a blessing to pour your heart out into something you truly cherish, and get some great feedback on it.  I have poured my heart out into “Guardian of the Seventh Realm.”  And in case anyone is wondering, no, it’s not all about fighting, but rather, finding the Truth of “the way,” gaining peace with one’s self—sometimes only after one faces a hardship.  That’s another thing I am highly thankful for, a lot of readers (and reviewers) have commented that my series is easy to relate to, involving elements every one of us faces on our journey in life.

In my stories I try to explain things in a “logical” setting, though you can only go so far with that.  What I mean is that every so often a character will “explain” that certain powers and “magics” of the different creatures are not so much fantasy-like at all, but a part of their “make-up.”  I gather I try to bring a little Sci-Fi into my creation.  But like I had said, there is only room for a certain amount of that, at least for me.  I personally do not know martial arts.  I’ve seen it performed, and I’ve read books on the arts, one in particular being “Bruce Lee: Artist of Life.”  A great book, and in it he talks a lot about Jeet Kune Do, which to me is a very mysterious and fascinating style of the martial arts, at least the philosophy behind it.  And when my characters engage in battle, I like to picture it as if I were watching a movie: I’d imagine the fighters would be gracefully moving like they do in reality, only their hits would have much more power behind them, and that is where the special affects would step in, because unless the Human Race finds a way to defy the laws of physics, these battles of mine, in their entirety, are pure fantasy.  But that’s the beauty of the imagination. 

 

All throughout my life I have always loved to create in some fashion or another, and after I had read my first few novels, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “the Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” I finally knew what I truly wanted to do—even beyond my electric guitar playing and love for music.  I wanted to create my own epic adventure, and see it in writing.

During the ten years of the Guardian of the Seventh Realm’s creation, that decade seemed like the largest and most “enlightening” chapter in my life, so far.  I had just gotten my very first dog, Fawn (who I still have today.  She is now eleven), I entered into the study of Christianity and other religions and spiritual beliefs.  I met my wife (she crashed her car into mine when she ran a little intersection.  Yes, people, that’s how my beloved Melissa and I had met.  I had Fawn in the back seat of my 1986 Chevy Caviler, and the first thing Melissa says when she gets out is, “Is your dog okay?”

Would you like to answer that, Fawn?  :)

After getting to know one another (which for her, getting to know me was about two hours, and she had already decided that I was hers.  I guess I played “hard to get,” because I took my time before asking her out officially.  I wasn’t really looking for a spouse at that time, for I was deeply involved in Spiritual elements and meditations.  But...when I witnessed the blissful love in her heart I soon enough fell for her.  I wasn’t attracted to her because she always wore such beautiful dresses, cute little sandals, or her usual pair of sexy black boots—which I go crazy for on females; it was truly the love in her heart that pulled me to her.  If any of you know my stories, my character Kelarin is almost entirely based off of my wife Melissa.  Here are a few pictures of us together:

Okay, that third picture is not true...maybe.  *grins*

Okay Nikki, I think I have taken up enough of your time.  I’m ready to go back into your dungeon now.  As for everyone who had taken the time to read this blog of mine, I thank you, and I invite you all to enter my world of fantasy, and take a stroll with my characters.  Well, the stroll will be long, but I promise you the adventure will be a thrill-ride!

Thanks again, Nikki!

Sincerely:

That’s me!  ^_^

J.W.Baccaro—Author and Musician

So before I put Jason back in his...cell....lol..I'm allowing him to giveaway some of his stuff!!  Just fill out the rafflecopter!!

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