Hello, honorary librarians!
Today, I am thrilled to welcome one of my favorite authors, Tim Marquitz, to our blog. Last year I won a copy of Armageddon Bound, his first Demon Squad book, and I had a feeling I might like it, but I refused to get my hopes up. At the time, I was finding less and less good urban fantasy to read, and the ones I could find followed the same, mind-numbing pattern. I was desperate for something fresh and original, for a different voice, a new role model, preferably a male version of Kate Daniels.
Instead, I got Frank. Frank Trigg is a misanthrope. He has a foul mouth and an even fouler mind. He is obsessed with guns and sex, he is occasionally power-hungry and he is capable of messing up even the simplest task.
Needless to say, I fell in love.
Four Demon Squad novels and a short story later, my opinion of Frank hasn't changed, but I did see a different side of him too. He is all those things I've mentioned and more, but he is also intelligent, occasionally caring, hilarious and very human. He is my favorite underdog. Here's a story about his birth:
The Making of Frank (The PG-13 Version)
A long, long time ago, in a world far, far away, Frank “Triggaltheron” Trigg was born… and I can’t apologize enough.
When I first thought about the character that would become Frank, my focus was different. Yeah, he was still snarky and had a bad attitude, but his role in the world was different. He was a minion of Death (note the lack of caps and respect). God and the Devil had made peace and Bob, as Frank was originally named, was suddenly out of work and forced to go on unemployment.
The story was designed to be more comedic throughout (picture an anemic Terry Pratchett) the premise being that Bob was to be interviewed by a faceless and nameless interviewer (in twisted homage to Interview with a Vampire) designed to be the straight man of the routine. Come to find out, I suck at being funny on a consistent basis. Realizing that, I decided to shift gears and fill in the lulls between jokes with action. I started to envision the Die Hard movies as the foundation to the Demon Squad series, but obviously that had been done to death already, so I took it a step further.
I made Frank the nephew of the Devil, mainly because it sounded cool. Now important in a frustratingly impotent way, Bob, whose name became Frank because it sounds more manly, came alive. Here he was, a kid taken to Hell at the hormonal age of fifteen and given free rein and the Devil’s protection. So, for over four hundred years, Frank has been elbow deep in the depths of depravity that most men can only dream of (not me, of course), all without any meaningful supervision, repercussion, or moral interference.
That’s the premise of Frank.
Add in my own charming characteristics of constant grumpiness, over-active imagination, dreams of world domination, violent anti-social tendencies, and the desire to ---- in public without consequence, and you have the start of what Frank is all about. Just turn it up a couple thousand notches.
Now, because I’m a spiteful and mean bastard, I decided to introduce a softer, more reasonable side to Frank. It comes in the form of memories of his mother. Frank was old enough to remember her, to learn what it was like to be human, and therein lies the crux of Frank’s existence. For all the rampant hormones and demonic posturing, Frank is forever connected to the world he left behind in his youth, and it’s a large part of why he’s returned to it now.
Nearly 500 years after his mother was killed, Frank is out on his own. God and Lucifer gone, the world in chaos and Frank smack dab in the middle of it all, he’s suddenly expected to man up and be a responsible member of society (human and demon). It’s a role he’s ill-suited for.
The Demon Squad books are Frank’s journey through maturation…warts and all.
Thanks, Tim!
I am forever grateful to Bastard @ Bastard Book Blog for helping me discover this series so I decided to do the same for one of you. Enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win one paperback copy of Armageddon Bound. As always, the giveaway is international, i.e. anywhere The Book Depository ships.
Thanks for stopping by, guys!
Click on 'Read more' for the Rafflecopter.
