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Before perusing any further, make sure you scope out Jack’s blog post and meet his main character, Jamie “Hangman” Lynch.
1. What is
the name of your character? Is he fictional or a historic person?
My character’s name is Travis Kain, a fictional ex-government assassin
who walked away from his employers and now operates as a freelance hitter. Despite
his no-leash status, most of Kain’s wet work is now in service to Frank
Giadello, a New York City crime boss. Kain is a killer, but he is not without conscience.
He lives by a poetic creed known as The Assassin’s Prayer: God, let not my bullet or blade shed the blood of innocence. Regardless
of price, Kain will not pull the trigger on an innocent person. To him, there
is no greater sin, and this sets off a chain of violent events in the story.
2. When and where is the story set?
The story begins in upstate New York, shifts downstate to NYC, and then
proceeds to whiplash back and forth between those two locales. By the way, Kain
hates the city.
3. What should
we know about him/her?
Kain is a troubled—some might even say broken—man. His wife is dead,
his best friend betrayed him, and his life has no purpose beyond trigger pulls
and dead targets. Deep down, he desperately yearns for something else,
something more, a life that has meaning rather than just corpses and carnage.
But he doesn’t know how to find it. Or perhaps more accurately, he won’t allow himself to find it.
4. What is
the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Emotionally, Kain is at war with himself, at what his life has become
in the aftermath of his wife’s death and the Judas blade his best friend buried
in his back. He has vowed never to let anyone get close to him again, a vow
that is put to the test when an ex-lover from his past reappears. Kain soon
finds himself struggling with resurrected emotions and the realization that the
quieter, more meaningful existence he craves might actually be within his grasp
… if he will only lay down his guns.
But that is easier said than done when his former employers dispatch
Colonel Macklin, head of the Black Talon kill-squad, to hunt him down and
deep-six him. The Black Talon team is legendary, the go-to guys when Company
assassins go rogue, and Macklin is the epitome of ruthless with a sizeable side
helping of savagery. He also possesses dark secrets about Kain’s past that will
change everything.
5. What is
the personal goal of the character?
At the start of the story, Kain has no personal goals beyond survival
and money. That all changes when the crosshairs land on perhaps the only person
in the world Kain still cares about. He then finds not only a reason to live,
but a reason to kill for something other than cold, hard cash. Survival, vengeance,
and redemption … these are the things that drive Kain as the book progresses.
6. & 7. Is there a
working title for this novel and can we read more about it? When can we expect
the book to be published?
(I’m combining questions 6 and 7 since the answer to question 6
contains the answer to question 7.) Since the novel was published in December
2013, there is no working title, just the official title: The Assassin’s Prayer. Feedback and sales have been outstanding,
far exceeding my expectations, and some of the characters will weave their way
into future novels. The Assassin’s Prayer
is currently available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback editions.
