The Killer Franchise

With the publication of Killer of Killers, and the sequel, Killer Eyes coming soon, I might consider that my Killer franchise. I do hope to write a third book in the series one day. I've talked about it a little bit here on the blog, and tentatively call it The Killers Guild. Maybe not, but for now it sounds good. I'm thinking of having it take place somewhere in Asia, and I might use the backdrop of a fighting tournament as a setting. I know that's been done before. I mean the tournament setting. Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and others have used a fighting tournament as a setting, but so what? When it comes to repeated settings, I might say most stories have used the same or similar settings for their stories. And since my main character, Trent Smith, is a fighter, and a veteran of several fighting tournaments, why not have it as a setting for one of his books? I would plan on it being the only time, though. But the plot, I would hope would be original. And I'm still working on that. Plus a couple surprises might make it even more interesting. Still working on that, too. So we'll see.

Settings

I mentioned historical settings yesterday, obviously because that’s exactly what my next project will be featuring. It’s a nineteenth century story set in Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the story will take place in the Kraals of the Zulus, and right now I’m submersing myself in books, DVDs, and online sites that have to do with anything Zulu.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, a Kraal is like a small village of a native African tribe. It’s a circular formation of hive-shaped huts made from tree saplings and grass thatching with floors of clay and cow dung, and in its center is the cattle pen, which is the livelihood of the tribe.

But there will be other settings as well, like battlefields in the open plains, and when this story is done, it will feature, not only the friendship between John Dunn and the Zulu King Cetshwayo, but it will also involve a very large conflict with Dunn’s white wife centered around her disapproval of his 48 Zulu wives. Yes, I think this will be a very intriguing story indeed.

Setting for THE VASE

THE VASE takes place in the Middle East. And the Middle East is a place that is always a hot topic. Recently, the populations of some Middle Eastern countries have been revolting against their governments. We know about Libya, because America has become involved in that one. But there was Egypt and Tunisia, too.

Now Syria is getting hot. My former next-door neighbors were immigrants from Syria. Real nice people. It’s one of the reasons I made one of my characters (Sanya Muhabi) a Syrian. But none of my conflict takes place in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, or even Libya. It’s all in Israel. And the larger scale conflict is between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

I have known some Israelis and some Palestinians, nice people all. But the more direct conflict is between one man, (Hiram Weiss) and his feelings towards the people who were responsible for the death of his wife and son. They were extremists. Yes, terrorists. But I make it very clear that not all Palestinians are extremists and terrorists.

The main character, Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian merchant. He’s not a terrorist. He’s not an extremist. Heck, he’s not even religious. He’s a man who minds his own business. Even after his eldest son is killed in the conflict. All he wants is to raise his remaining son and sell his ceramic wares. He doesn’t believe in violence and treats everyone with good will.

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could be like him?