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‘Dark Light: Dawn,’ A Talk with Jon Land and Fabrizio Boccardi

August 3, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Jon Land is the prolific author of more than forty books. His thriller novels include the Caitlin Strong series about a fifth-generation Texas Ranger, and the Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea books featuring a Palestinian detective and an Israeli chief inspector of police. He also has penned the Blaine McCracken series, many standalone novels, and non-fiction books. Jon was a screenwriter for the 2005 film Dirty Deeds. He is an active member of the International Thriller Writers Organization.

Fabrizio Boccardi, the creator of the character Max Younger, is an entrepreneur, investor, producer, and CEO and chairman of the board of King Midas World Entertainment, Inc. He’s also the creator and owner of the multimedia brand and franchise, the Tyrant.

Dark Light: Dawn introduces the reader to Navy SEAL Max Younger, a man with uncanny abilities to survive any combat situation. Max becomes involved in trying to stop a plot that could bring about an apocalypse of biblical proportions.

Victoria Tanoury, the only woman Max ever loved, is an infectious disease specialist working for the World Health Organization. She, too, is trying to stop the worldwide spread of a deadly pestilence.

Their paths meet as the lines between science and superstition become blurred, and they must deal with the evil of one man who wants to visit the end of days upon civilization.

This book is the result of a creative collaboration. How did it come about?

Jon: The original collaboration began in 2006. Fabrizio was looking for a writer to bring his vision to reality. When my publisher heard his concept—a rags-to-riches story about a penniless kid rising to the heights of power—he recommended me to Fabrizio. He put us together and we created a two-book series featuring Michael Tirano, ‘The Tyrant.’ In the midst of writing those two books, The Seven Sins and Black Scorpion, Fabrizio came up with the concept of Dark Light: Dawn.

Fabrizio: There’s a back story to that. I’m an investor and tried to purchase a casino company in Las Vegas. During that experience, I gained a great deal of knowledge about that town and wanted to create a character who would build the kind of casino I had wanted to build in Las Vegas. And, that’s how The Seven Sins came into being.

Among other things, “Dark Light: Dawn” involves geopolitical events, terrorism, and religious conflicts. How and why did you decide to address these elements in your storytelling?

Jon: It began with the concept of good versus evil. It’s a classic theme of much fiction and in particular, of horror fiction. We wanted to create a hybrid thriller involving science, superstition, action, and horror. If you look at all classic horror novels such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and Dracula, they probe the issue of good versus evil and the nature of man. But none of them explored the origins of the battle between good and evil.

We wanted to address that issue in Dark Light: Dawn, while creating a ‘techno-bio-end-of-the-world-dystopian thriller.’

No one character in the story knows everything. But, if the reader adds up the points of view of each character, the entire story unfolds. The scope and sprawl of the story become evident.

Fabrizio: I’m fascinated by movies and books like The Exorcist. I always thought there’s a great deal of superstition in that story, but there’s also a great deal of paranormal activity in the world. In Rome, the Vatican has an exorcist. There are many strange and unexplainable things in this world.

I often question what we really know about the universe. People argue about whether or not God exists. The fact of the matter is there are many things we cannot know.

Jon and I wanted to write a story about good and evil; a story that taps into these issues, but that’s also action-packed and has at its core, the concept that we have the right to choose between good and evil. We have free will. We also agreed to incorporate a good deal of ambiguity into the story which makes it more interesting and frightening—as occurs in The Exorcist, where the audience doesn’t know how the evil came about.

The unknown is far more frightening than that which is understood.

Max Younger has extraordinary physical and mental abilities. The novel details various genetic anomalies contributing to his powers. He seems a perfect model for a superhero and a potential movie, television, or comic book character.

Jon: The great superheroes, starting with Batman, are based on the duality of their natures. There’s an evil side to them that they must control in order to do and be good. This is the nature of the classic Greek superhero and of superheroes in general. There’s always a flaw and a quest, but there’s always a temptation for the hero to go to the dark side. Batman dresses in black. In the book Shane, the hero dresses in black.

Every great superhero has a moment in his life that changes him forever. If you look at the classic qualities of a comic book superhero, Max has them all: conflict about his nature; the moment of change where he evolves into something different and greater than he had been; a purpose far greater than that of the common man; and the acceptance that purpose will change him forever. He knows can no longer live as he once did, if he accepts the responsibility of being a hero. If he’s going to save the world, he cannot live among men.

Fabrizio: Today, we see atrocities in the world. Our idea was to depict geopolitical events occurring in the world, and mix fiction and reality. There’s the concept of the devil wreaking havoc on earth, but rather than bringing God to fight the battle, we decided to depict a powerful energy coming to the world in the form of a man, Max Younger. He chooses of his own free will, to fight evil and clean house.

Jon: And by choosing to become a hero, Max cannot really be who he had wanted to be. He must sacrifice something, but I won’t say what it is and risk providing a spoiler.

Fabrizio: The ultimate idea behind this concept is that love can conquer evil.

“Dark Light: Dawn” has some of the most vivid action scenes out there. Jon, tell us your thoughts about writing such scenes.

These books—including The Tyrant series—are the foundation for multi-media franchises. They’re going to be movies. With that in mind, we approached this book in terms of its visual aspects. In a sense, it’s kind of like the novelization of a film. We have a rich tapestry of action scenes, but we strove to come up with action scenes never before seen in either movies or books. We’ve never seen an action scene staged with the abilities Max is starting to develop. What makes the action scenes pop visually and viscerally, is that with each action scene in the book, Max evolves more and more into who he will ultimately become. The action scenes are not just defined by their choreography, but also by their revelations about his character. Neither Max nor the reader realizes exactly what’s happening to him as the story unfolds.

It’s the classic movie and book theme of metamorphosis.

Fabrizio: The concept is also dealing with Max’s decision—by virtue of free will—not to bring horror to the world, but to fight evil.

Based on what you’ve both said and on my having read the novel, is it correct to assume this is the beginning of a series?

Fabrizio: Yes, and ultimately we hope to see this become a movie and see where it all goes.

For each of you, is there any one novel that may have influenced you in ultimately conceiving of this book.

Jon: I’m going to go with my favorite book of all time, The Stand by Stephen King, the original version. It’s King’s masterwork. It combines horror, thriller, and dystopian elements, and it still gives me chills.

Fabrizio: I love getting scared when I read novels. For me, the book would have to be The Exorcist. In a sense, that novel is partly what spawned Dark Light: Dawn, but I wanted much more action to interest a movie audience. I think The Exorcist is an excellent concept, extremely well written, and frightening because it’s inexplicable.

Congratulations on conceiving and penning “Dark Light: Dawn.” It’s a high-octane novel of epic proportions blending science, religion, current events, superstition, action, and adventure in a can’t-put-it-down tale.

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Filed Under: About Books, crime, Interviews Tagged With: fantasy, heroes, horror, hybrid books, myth, thrillers

‘The Rising,’ A talk with Heather Graham and Jon Land

January 17, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Heather Graham is an internationally renowned author of more than 150 novels and novellas. She has been honored with nearly every award available to contemporary writers.

Jon Land is the USA Today bestselling author of more than forty books, both novels and non-fiction, including the critically acclaimed series featuring Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong.

The Rising features Alex Chin, a classic, All-American football hero and his tutor Samantha Dixon who hopes to turn her NASA internship into a career. A football accident leads Alex to the hospital and suddenly, everything goes awry.

Alex’s doctor is murdered, as are his Chinese parents who adopted him at infancy. After the murders, Alex must flee, and Samantha refuses to leave him. They race desperately to stay ahead of the attackers, trying to learn why Alex is being hunted. The answer lies buried in his past, and it’s a secret his parents died trying to protect. Adopted soon after birth, Alex never knew the reason his birth parents abandoned him. Revelations await, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

The Rising has elements of different genres. Tell us about that.

Heather: I had great parents who read everything. One was a lover of the Gothic novel and the other loved Edgar Allen Poe. I grew up reading everything. The notion of something being strictly one genre was a surprise to me when I started writing. That concept has changed over time, and now many popular books straddle various genres.

Jon: I think when we conceived of collaborating on a book like this, the idea of melding genres and having young heroes as protagonists was a natural thing. We didn’t want to do precisely what either one of us is known for. We both wanted to write something neither one of us ever attempted. We wanted to assemble what each of us does best and put it into a new package. My first agent said to me, ‘If you know the characters, you can write anything.’ We got to know Alex and Samantha so well that we knew we had these great protagonists who were about to sacrifice everything for something far bigger than themselves.

Heather: We also have an editor who loves NASA and the concept of space exploration and the future. He arranged for us to tour the Goddard Space Center where we spent time with the astronauts.

Jon: The kind of science we’re writing about—the Robert Heinlein kind of story, involves a wish to go back to the roots of storytelling and science fiction. It’s like Stranger in a Strange Land. It’s like I Robot.

Heather: We’re all creatures in our galaxy, but on this planet, we don’t really get along very well. If you’re murdered by your neighbor or by an alien from outer space, the result is the same. The story relates not only to space, but to basic human foibles on earth.

Jon: Yes, science fiction storytelling has always served as a metaphor for what’s going on in the world, and that’s what The Rising does. Among many other things, this novel concerns xenophobia and the wish to isolate ourselves from outsiders who are automatically deemed to be ‘bad.’ Whether it’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Bladerunner, the science fiction genre uses imagination to reveal basic truths about our lives.

In a sense, part of the novel is about globalism and multiculturalism. When you think back to the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, it was a film about different worlds coming together and the problems coming together can pose for people. And that’s in a sense, what a good part of this novel is about, aside from being a thriller and a science fiction novel.

As a collaborative effort, how did you go about writing The Rising?

Heather: We went back and forth. At first, the biggest problem was it was sometimes difficult to make critical comments or suggestions to each other because we liked each other so much. Once we got past that, we did fine. We’re very lucky because it was a lot of fun. We talked about each section, sent it back and forth, and the story moved on.

Jon: We’d done so much talking about the concept before actually beginning to write, it was less seat-of-the-pants writing and it went very smoothly.

Heather: It’s been a great collaboration because we melded our styles of writing and storytelling by finding common ground. Also, Jon is brilliant with tech, and I’m not. So, we each brought different strengths to the work.

You’re two of the most prolific authors I know. How do you account for your productivity?

Heather: I have five children and they were very expensive. [Laughter]. When I started writing, I had no clue about what I was doing. I tried many things and didn’t make any money. I was writing the kind of fiction that wasn’t what I really wanted to write. I then realized my strength was writing novels with murder, mystery and mayhem. I learned if I was going to survive as a writer, I had to produce a lot of books. I learned to simply sit down and write. And write some more. The notion of having a deadline keeps the fires burning.

Jon: For me, it’s really about chasing the dream. My dream is to be more successful than I’ve ever been. So, I write and then write more.

Heather: I would also say I can’t imagine not writing. It’s what I absolutely adore doing. If I won the Lottery, would I stop writing? No.

If you weren’t a writer now, what would you be doing?

Heather: I majored in theater and performed at dinner-theater for years. I was a backup singer, too. I started writing because going to auditions became too expensive. Auditions and dinner theater involved hours and hours, and I wasn’t making enough money to make up for the time I was missing out with my children. That was when I began staying home and writing.

Jon: I was headed towards law school in college.  I was bitten by the writing bug and my life changed. I’d probably have become a lawyer. A trial lawyer is also creating a narrative for the jury, and being a writer is sort of like being a lawyer without worrying about what the other side does. For me, the readers are the jury.

It seems to me a sequel should and will be coming for The Rising. Is that true?

Heather: Yes, most definitely. [Laughter].

Aside from a sequel to The Rising, what’s coming next from each of you?

Heather: Last year, Flawless was published. It will be followed this winter by Perfect Obsession.

Jon: I’m half-way through the ninth book in the Caitlin Strong series. It’s called Strong to the Bone.

Congratulations on writing The Rising, a genre-bending and gripping thriller involving murder, adventure and science fiction that’s received abundant and well-deserved praise from Meg Gardiner, James Rollins, Lisa Scottoline, Douglas Preston, Sandra Preston, and others.

Mark Rubinstein’s latest book, Bedlam’s Door: True Tales of Madness and Hope, is a medical/psychiatric memoir.

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Filed Under: About Books, Huffington Post Column Tagged With: heroes, Mixed genres, science fiction, thrillers, writing

“Black Scorpion” A Conversation with Jon Land

April 7, 2015 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

CJon Land c, Todd StephensJon Land is the prolific author of more than thirty-five books. His thriller novels include the Caitlin Strong series about a fifth-generation Texas Ranger, and the Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea books about a Palestinian detective and an Israeli chief inspector of police. He has also penned the Blaine McCracken series, standalone novels, and non-fiction. Jon was a screenwriter for the 2005 film Dirty Deeds. He is very active in the International Thriller Writers Organization.

His latest thriller, Black Scorpion: The Tyrant Reborn is the second book featuring the character, Michael Tiranno, a myth-worthy hero created by Fabrizio Boccardi with whom Jon collaborates in this series. Michael (known as the Tyrant) must deal with a newly-surfaced enemy based in Eastern Europe—a powerful organization, Black Scorpion, involved in human trafficking and other crimes on a global scale. The leader, Vladimir Dracu, has set his sights on America as his next target. Black Scorpion has also taken hostage Michael’s lover, Scarlett Swan. Michael has limited time to save Scarlett, Las Vegas, and the entire United States.

Read more on the Huffington Post >>

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Filed Under: About Books, creativity, Huffington Post Column, Interviews Tagged With: David Morrell, Harlan Coben, Hercules, heroes, Lisa Gardner, myths, novels, Stephen King, storytelling

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