Christine Feehan's Blog - Posts Tagged "judgment-road"

It's exciting and nerve-wracking and fun all at once when an author releases a new series. Especially if you have a series or two that's already popular. You wonder if readers will give the new series a try. Will that like it?
I enjoyed writing Judgment Road so much and sometimes next week will start writing the next book in that series. On January 23rd Judgment Road will be released and I'm hopeful people will like it. It's very different from anything else I write.

The book trailer is out and it is a good representation of the series and the book. You can find it here on GoodReads, but here's a link to it if you'd like to watch it-

Judgment Road Book Trailer



I wanted to share the trailer with you. I'll be posting more over the next week.

I thought it would be fun to share what the different parts of the Torpedo Ink colors mean.



The meaning of the Cypress Tree, on the back of the Torpedo Ink Sea Haven/ Caspar Jackets:



The Cypress Tree spread out with seventeen branches. Roots tangled at the bottom with piles of skulls buried among them. Crows flying away from the tree or picking through the skulls at the roots. Each skull represented a kill.
The main trunk of the tree represents their leader, Viktor and all the branches represent those who survived.
The crows represent all those who didn’t survive that school, so they are never forgotten.
As you see it on their jacket it’s called their “colors”. The “colors” are the insignia or “patch” that a motorcycle club puts on to identify their club. A “rocker” is the framed portion you see that has the name Torpedo Ink in it on the top rocker and Sea Haven/ Caspar on the bottom rocker.

If you read Bound Together you’ll recognize many of these names. They’re members, or prospects, of Torpedo Ink. Most of the actual MC members have their legal names and then their club names or nicknames. For those who hold a position in the club I’ve included that as well.







Viktor Prakenskii aka Czar – President
Lyov Russak aka Steele- Vice President







Saava Pajari aka Reaper- Sergeant at Arms
Savin Pajari aka Savage- Sergeant at Arms






Isaak Koval aka Ice- Secretary
Dmitry Koval aka Storm
Alana Koval aka Torch
Luca Litvin aka Code- Treasurer
Maksimos Korask aka Ink
Kasimir Popov aka Preacher
Lana Popov aka Widow
Nikolaos Bolotan aka Mechanic
Pytor Bolotan aka Transporter
Andrii Federoff aka Maestro
Gedeon Lazaroff aka Player
Kir Vasiliev aka Master
Lazar Alexeev aka Keys
Aleksei Solokov aka Absinthe

Newly Patched Members
Gavriil Prakenskii
Casimir Prakenskii

Prospects

Fatei
Glitch
Hyde

Siblings within the group
Viktor, Gavriil and Casimir
Reaper and Savage
Ice, Storm and Alena (Torch)
Preacher and Lana (Widow)

Today is the release day for Judgment Road! There are several blogs, interviews and information out there and I thought I would put as much as I can into on place- Here!

THE BOOK



Judgment Road landing page on my website- ChristineFeehan.com


Entire First Chapter -
Here


Judgment Road Book Trailer

Here


I'm sure there will be more soon, but I wanted to share this today.

AUDIO BOOK




At Recorded Books

RecordedBooks.com



At Audible


Audible.com


INTERVIEWS




Signature Reads-

Different, But the Same:Writing a New Series Set in the Same Area


Harlequin Junkie-

Spotlight - The Creation of Torpedo Ink

I wanted to talk about the differences between the series set in or around Sea Haven.



The Drake Sisters and the Sisters of the Heart are about family, sisters, a sisterhood. The women these stories are about are magical, compassionate, empathetic, loving, funny women. Even with the challenges many of them faced these women had each other and the boundless love and support of one another.
Sea Haven is a town full of magic and the people in the town became like family. The Drakes grew up there and were part of that town. The Sisters of the Heart integrated with the town easily, becoming part of the camaraderie with the townsfolk.
Sea Haven is perfect for those women with their magic and laughter and floating tea cups. But, when I created Torpedo Ink I specifically didn’t put them directly in Sea Haven. They live very close in a small town called Caspar. We could say they are neighbors of Sea Haven who visit frequently.



Caspar is different from Sea Haven and more closely fit the needs of the motorcycle club. The town is real, where Sea Haven is fictional (though based primarily off of Mendocino, California). I’ve been to Caspar many times and there are some wonderful things about the town that made me choose it for the MC.
First of all, the town could pass as a ghost town in some parts. It’s very small and not a lot of people live in the heart of the town. Many live on the outskirts, out in the more rural areas. But, in Caspar itself there’s not even a gas station, a grocery store or a traffic light. Many of the buildings are abandoned, but some are lovely and you can see the love put into them. There’s a store that actually exists in Caspar called Caspar Curiosities that has odd items, strange things, unique art and eclectic antiques.


Caspar has a beautiful view of the ocean, but somehow, in a way, it feels empty. To me, there was a feeling of longing, of wanting to be full of life and vibrancy like its neighboring towns. It felt like the town was waiting for something. It was a perfect match for the 18 survivors who’d formed an unusual family and created a motorcycle club.
These people need the town of Caspar, as much as the town needed them. Of course Caspar in my books is fictionalized with much of it being different from the actual town. I love the town, both the real one and my fictionalization of it. To me, Torpedo Ink’s members longed for a place to call home, to settle down in and be able to be themselves. But, they would never really fit into normal society. Not with the type of abuse and life experiences they had starting as small children. They needed a place off the main drag so to speak, but that would still give them the sense of belonging in the world that they needed. The club and the town were a puzzle with missing parts, that when put together formed a full picture of a home full of hope and family and belonging.



The Torpedo Ink books can’t be like the Drake Sisters series or the Sisters of the Heart because those women were sisters full of compassion and empathy and the Torpedo Ink members are abused assassins without a firm grasp on societal rules and ways. They know darkness because they were darkness. Their lives are completely different from the Drakes or SotH in so many ways that their stories couldn’t be like the Sea Haven stories.
The similarities come in that they have a sense of family. They want to protect people in their club, their town, those they care for or are responsible for. They are in the same general area as Sea Haven and there are relationships (Drakes and Blythe/ Blythe and Viktor) that do cross over, so we will see some of the old characters make appearances from time to time. The club members do have heightened abilities or gifts and you see a little bit of that in Judgment Road.
The Torpedo Ink series is an outlaw motorcycle club romance series which is very different than a magical sisterhood. But, Torpedo Ink offers stories of redemption, acceptance, learning to integrate into normal society, loyalty, brotherhood and struggle. The greatest similarity among the different series is the promise and delivery of a Happy Ever After.

Judgment Road hero Reaper has a dark and horrible past. He was taken by criminals who murdered his parents and both he and his brother Savage were put into a “school” that taught them to be assassins, and where they were brutally abused in every way imaginable.





Reaper was very young when he was brought to the Russian school. His brother was even younger. He was stripped of everything and given only pain and suffering. Cruelty was compounded by the pain of watching other children die. Though the book doesn’t go into any graphic detail regarding the children it does address a specific time in which Reaper is abused. This event causes PTSD and a trigger is created in him that he feels he can never overcome.

Along comes Anya. She’s running from something and he knows it. But, she’s beautiful, alluring and kind. She helps the homeless, befriends those alone in the world and doesn’t judge others. Reaper can’t keep away from her. He sees her night after night as she works behind the counter of a Torpedo Ink bar. Naturally, with her beauty and kind nature Reaper realizes he is attracted to her and does the most natural thing for Reaper to do- he asks Viktor to fire her. In Reaper’s mind he is doing her a favor, perhaps even saving her…from him.
There are two specific scenes in the book in which Reaper’s past meets Anya’s compassion and we realize beyond a doubt two things- First, they love each other. Second, she is every bit as strong as he is, but with Reaper his strength is his physical strength and with her it’s her compassion and understanding.



I won’t be able to be specific about the scenes because that would be a spoiler. But, I have no doubt that these scenes will be controversial. Reaper does two very different things that require Anya to understand he has PTSD, understand he hasn’t been brought up with normal society, understand he would never hurt her and have compassion for a man scarred in so many ways she can’t possibly see them all until situations come up to reveal them one layer at a time.

One of the things I found very disconcerting as I researched abuse is the way male victims of sexual abuse were treated compared to females. Let me say that NO sexual abuse is worse or easier than another. It is ALL horrible and should be treated as such and victims should all, equally, be shown compassion, empathy, understanding and support. During my research though I found that male victims of sexual abuse were often encouraged not to speak of it. There was little sympathy and a lot of “get over it” by society. This is very upsetting to me. I knew I wanted to address this issue and highlight the struggles of abused men.

I realize it may seem that Anya forgives Reaper too easily. Given the circumstances of what happens in the scene and the fact that Reaper is clearly in a PTSD episode, no woman loving a man would then blame him for his reaction any more than they should blame a woman who had been raped for her reactions. I feel that Anya is smart and compassionate and it shows in the way she reacts to or about him. A woman doesn’t have to kick ass to be strong. As a matter of fact, neither does a man. There are other characteristics that make someone strong. Courage isn’t about winning in a fight. It’s about being terrified, but still moving forward toward what scares you because it’s the right thing to do.

Anya is a very strong heroine. Given who Reaper is, she’d have to be. He couldn’t have a woman who wasn’t strong. I have faith in my heroine and stand by her choice to fight against her fears and to stand up for a man who is trying to overcome his horrific past, but is struggling. Sometimes the greatest courage is compassion.