Andrew Warren

Thriller Author

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Books
  • FREE BOOK

Archives for May 2018

Techno-thrills with Aiden L. Bailey

May 19, 2018 by Andrew Warren Leave a Comment

We’re just a few short days away from the release of the next Caine: Rapid Fire adventure, SANDFIRE. This is my first collaboration in the Rapid Fire series, and I really enjoyed working with fellow thriller author Aiden L. Bailey. I’ve been a big fan of Aiden’s books for a while now, and I was thrilled to join forces with him to bring readers a new take on Caine and his mysterious past. I thought it would be fun to interview Aiden, and let readers see what it was like to dive into the shadowy world of betrayed assassin Thomas Caine…

ANDREW: Tell us about your experiences writing Thomas Caine. Did collaborating with another author change your writing process in any way?

AIDEN: Writing Caine was both an exciting and daunting process. On one hand Thomas Caine is such a great character and it was fun to put him through the adventure we created for him in Sandfire. I couldn’t say no to an opportunity like that. On the other hand, if I got it wrong, I’d be the guy who forever ruined the Caine series.

Caine’s character was the most challenging aspect for me in Sandfire. He’s a tough guy who brings justice to those who abuse positions of power. He’s also sensitive to the needs of people trapped in difficult situations and self-reflective to his own nature. It was about finding a balance between all aspects of his personality.

The writing process itself ran like a dream. We worked well together perhaps because we already write in similar styles and tell the same kinds of stories. We ‘got’ what each of us was trying to achieve with SANDFIRE. If one or the other didn’t like some aspect to the story, we just came out and said it. We always ended up going with the option that was best for the story and the character.
What was most helpful was watching how you revised and edited the drafts, making the language shorter, sharper and more succinct while refining Caine’s character. I’ve adapted that approach to my writing now, and I’m writing faster as a result. It was a great experience and I am grateful I had the opportunity to write in the Caine series.

On a final note, early reader feedback has been positive and encouraging, so hopefully I won’t be the guy who ruined Caine.

ANDREW: What do you think is the key to crafting a hard hitting, fast paced story in the novella format?

AIDEN: There are several elements I try to incorporate into every story I write — novels or novellas — to remain true to the conventions of the espionage action thriller genre. These included starting and ending the story with the main character so readers are immediately and always invested in the hero. End every chapter on a cliff-hanger or surprise revelation. Keep an underlying sense of danger and tension in every scene. Put the main character in situations that seem almost impossible to escape. Ensure all major characters have strong motives and that their own journeys aren’t always in alignment with any other character. Keep backstory to a minimum and when required bring it out in dialogue where I can. Lastly, transport readers into exotic locations and be creative with action sequences.

I’m never sure how well I do this, but with SANDFIRE, we worked hard to get as many of these elements into the narrative. Hopefully we succeeded.

ANDREW: Your next book, Blood Ivory, is scheduled for release shortly after Sandfire. What can you tell us about this new thriller on the horizon?

AIDEN: Blood Ivory is a short action adventure thriller novella featuring the hero Simon Ashcroft from The Benevolent Deception and The Assyrian Contraband but is set before both those adventures. There was also a strong emotional hook in the story that compelled me to write it.

Ashcroft is a former Australian Army soldier employed as a counter-terrorism officer with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS). He’s tasked with identifying the links between Philippine terrorists and Tanzanian ivory smugglers. In East Africa he’s trying to stay dispassionate about the plight of elephants who are being slaughtered wholesale across the continent, but he can’t.

I’d seen elephants in the wild in East Africa when I traveled there, even came face to face with one in the bush without meaning too. They are incredible animals and you sense immediately that they are very intelligent and very emotional creatures, who feel and hurt and love as strongly as humans do.

In the past 100 years African elephant populations have been reduced by 97%. They are near extinction. It is such a tragedy that some people place greater value on dead tusks than they do on the value of living, caring elephants. This is the theme of Blood Ivory.

ANDREW: Tell us about your character Simon Ashcroft. What do you think sets him apart from other thriller heroes?

AIDEN: Ashcroft is an Australia soldier turned spy turned security contractor who across four books just can’t seem to find his way home to his family. He has two young daughters he barely sees and a job that is dangerous, working for incompetent people who don’t always have his back. Past missions have taken him to all the worst danger spots in Africa and Asia. But he’s not afraid to confront threats and deal with those who impart unjust misery on others. He’s a man of action often getting into difficult situation requiring creative means of escape. I like to think he has a sense of humour.

As to what sets him apart, I’m not sure. I’m probably too close to the character to give an objective view on that one.
Feedback from readers however is that Ashcroft is able to feel and express empathy but can lock those feelings completely down in dangerous situations. He isn’t haunted by his deeds like many other thriller protagonists evident in him being able to have a family despite his shadowy work. Readers have also said they find him charismatic, which is nice, and the complete opposite of the secluded stoic personality type common in this genre.

ANDREW: I’ve been a big fan of your Benevolent books since the beginning… what are your plans for this mind-bending techno-thriller series?

AIDEN: The Benevolent Series is an espionage technothriller that features Simon Ashcroft from Blood Ivory and The Assyrian Contraband.

In the first book, The Benevolent Deception, Ashcroft is assigned to find and protect Casey Irvine, a tourist on safari in Kenya. After saving her life, they discover wildlife poachers, corrupt police and even the local military have targeted Casey for assassination. She has no idea why and neither does Ashcroft.

As Ashcroft and Casey run for their lives across East Africa, a new global threat emerges. Cyberterrorists have unleashed a digital weapon known as ‘Shatterhand’. An insidious program that can command the world’s military forces, manipulate the media and impersonate the President of the United States.

The sequel and concluding novel is tentatively titled The Shatterhand Code. It’s written now and I’m going through the editing phase. There are several twists and turns to keep readers guessing right up to the last chapter as to what really has been going on over the two books. A conspiracy behind the conspiracy. I hope to release the full series towards the end of the year.

ANDREW: Both of our books feature lots of travel, and exotic locations around the world… what are some locations you plan to feature in your upcoming books? Any travel plans in your future?

AIDEN: Blood Ivory is set in Tanzania and Kenya, specifically the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Tsavo West National Park featuring shootouts with poachers and wildlife aplenty. Other scenes include an assassination in the Tanzanian city of Arusha and an confrontation at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The Shatterhand Code features a chase through the slums of Mumbai, a perilous pursuit on the roof of a fast-moving train in the tropics of Western India, gun battles in the streets of Abu Dhabi, a dangerous journey across the deserts of Saudi Arabia and paramilitary action in the tropical scrub of northern Australia, to mention a few locations. I try to make exotic locations feel as real as I can, while simultaneously looking for what is unusual or unique about each place, then sharing those experiences with readers.

Although I have no travel plans for the immediate future, I do plan to return to Africa one day and see the places I missed last time I went. About half the ideas I have for adventure thriller novels are set in that continent, so it’s not really surprising I’m eager to return.

ANDREW: I know we’re both big Ian Fleming fans, and you asked me about my favorite Bond novel. Now it’s my turn… What is your favorite Bond novel, and what scene stands out for you the most?

AIDEN: While Live and Let Die was the first Bond novel I read in my teenage years, and it left a lasting impression, I would have to say Dr No is my favorite novel. The scene where Bond battles the squid was so unexpected, surreal and typically Bond. I don’t know why that scene hasn’t been adapted into one of the films yet, but I can see why in 1962 when the Dr No film was made it would be near impossible to do with the technology available at the time.
Incidentally, the squid scene heavily influenced a sequence in The Assyrian Contraband where Simon Ashcroft comes head to head with a bull shark.

<<<< >>>>

 

SANDFIRE releases May 22nd, and will be free in Kindle Unlimited. You can check out the other Caine books HERE.

You can learn about Aiden L. Bailey and his books at his website, HERE, and his Amazon Page, HERE.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email

Filed Under: Interview, Thrillers, Uncategorized

SANDFIRE launches May 22nd…

May 15, 2018 by Andrew Warren 2 Comments

Thomas Caine returns in SANDFIRE, launching May 22nd. But as a special “Thank You” to my readers, you don’t have to wait that long for a taste of the action! Please enjoy this sneak-peek of a mission from Caine’s past…

____________________________________________________________

CAINE PUSHED ON HIS POLES and kicked his skis, gathering speed as he headed down the trail. He followed Argyle’s tracks as they disappeared down the steep mountainside. She had escaped down the opposite side of the trail he had taken to reach her. If he could catch up, he might still convince her to turn herself in. But first he had to escape the helicopter and its soldiers.
Gunfire chattered around Caine. Snow exploded from the compacted drifts.

He pushed harder, increasing his speed, following the fresh ski tracks in the snow. His body curved into an athletic stance, with his knees and elbows slightly bent, and his body leaning forward into the wind. Soon he was parallel skiing, shifting his weight from one leg to the other as he gathered speed. He must have been doing forty-miles-per-hour or more.

Caine stayed on Emily’s trail. He had no idea what lay ahead, but he knew he had to follow, or risk losing her. Sharp cliffs and rocky outcrops leered along either side of the trail. There was only one safe route down the slope, and it was growing steeper and steeper the longer he followed it. Yet he had to trust Emily had already scouted a safe path out of here. That was what he would have done.
When he reached a straight stretch, Caine took the opportunity to look behind.

The three soldiers were also skiing hard after him. They too had planned ahead, and they were gaining.

His fears realized, he squatted closer to the ground and leaned hard into the descent.

Fifty-miles-per-hour.

Suddenly the open stretch disappeared, and he plummeted through the air.

He hadn’t seen the cliff in time.

He was falling.

Caine held his breath and tensed, until he realized that was the wrong approach. He had followed Argyle’s tracks and she had skied off the same point. There was a snowfield below him. He relaxed his knees, letting his legs absorb the impact as he hit a steep slope ten yards below. He crashed into a snowdrift, barely managing to retain control as he again picked up her trail.

At the last second, he noticed Argyle’s tracks veered to the right. So Caine did too.

He churned snow in a fast stop, realizing he was only a few feet away from propelling himself over another sharp cliff. Once he was steady on his feet, he looked down, feeling the vertigo as he did. The next drop was over five-hundred-feet at least, and ended in deadly, jagged rocks. There would be no surviving a fall here.

A sudden whooshing noise caused Caine to turn and look behind him.

One of the pursuers had jumped the same cliff edge Caine had.

He was bearing down fast on Caine, so Caine pushed off with his skis, sliding out of the way.

The foe landed behind Caine, close enough to touch. He stumbled for a second as he struggled to regain his balance.

Caine saw his opportunity. He reached out, grabbing the assailant’s assault rifle, and twisted the man in a circle across the snow. The soldier lost his balance, and tumbled over the five-hundred-foot drop. His screams echoed through the cold mountain air as he plunged into oblivion.
With the M4 carbine in his grip, and his ski poles hanging by their wrist cords, Caine spun around and fired towards the cliff. The two remaining pursuers had not jumped the cliff above. They stood perched on the edge, preparing for a clean shot when they thought Caine wasn’t watching. They hadn’t expected Caine to return fire so rapidly. One took a bullet in the chest and tumbled down the cliff. The other was fast enough to duck back out of sight behind the drifts of snow.

Caine took off again, skiing fast along the top of the cliff. He followed the narrow snowdrift Emily had taken between both the rising and falling cliff faces. The route offered little room to twist and turn or to control his speed. One wrong move would end in a high-speed collision into the rock edge on his left, or a long fall to his death on his right…

_______________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from SANDFIRE, Caine: Rapid Fire Book 3. SANDFIRE launches May 22nd… see you all then!

PS: If you’re a Goodreads member, could you please add SANDFIRE you your “Want to Read” shelf? Just click here: https://goo.gl/Xwvf7G

Thank you!

Andrew Warren

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Email

Filed Under: Caine News, Thrillers

Recent Posts

  • Thomas Caine returns in… CODE GREEN!
  • Thriller Author Interview: DV Berkom
  • Fresh new look. Same killer action…
  • The Real Book Spy: Interview
  • Cold Kill’s Iron Wolf

Recent Comments

  • D.V, Berkom on Thriller Author Interview: DV Berkom
  • film izle on Cold Kill’s Iron Wolf
  • Andrew Warren on CAINE: RAPID FIRE
  • kevin on CAINE: RAPID FIRE
  • Cheri Gerhardt on Thriller Author Interview: Ty Patterson

Archives

  • December 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • December 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016

Categories

  • Caine News
  • Fire and Forget Location Report
  • Interview
  • Location Report
  • Red Phoenix Location Reports
  • Thrillers
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2023 · Author Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in