Please help me in giving a very warm welcome to Joseph Devon on his very first visit to Hugs & Nightmares!
Persistent Illusions by Joseph Devon
In book one of Joseph Devon’s urban fantasy series, Probability Angels, we were introduced to the world of Matthew and Epp. Back then, Matthew thought he had his hands full just learning how to be an undead tester of humanity, but then Hector staged an uprising and everything Matthew thought he could take for granted fell apart.
Yet, over the past few months, a strained peace has settled over his world and Matthew is starting to feel like he can finally get back to training at his usual New York haunts.
However, things are more fragile than they appear. Nobody can see the stress lines already clawing away at the new peace. Nobody has guessed the toll that was taken on those at the forefront of their war. And, when a new tester wakes up with the power to possibly unravel the universe…well that’s when things really start to get interesting.
Come see how a zombie can protect and serve, a photographic memory can earn you a permanent place on Mount Everest, and a teenage drug addict can hold everyone’s fate in her nail-bitten fingers.
An excerpt from Persistent Illusions:
Kyo was standing in the midmorning sun, his shirt off, a thick layer of medical tape wrapped around his torso. Looped over the tape and his chest was a rope which stretched out behind him. The other end of the rope was cleated to the aft of a small motorboat. Under his feet was the deep blue of the Indian Ocean, fifty miles off the western coast of Australia.
The radio on the boat was blasting out some peppy music as the current struggled to drag the boat westward against Kyo, whose feet were dug into the water like it was a plot of damp earth. His whole body was trembling, flexed and sweating, as he struggled to maintain the boat in a fixed position while the current fought to yank it toward the western horizon.
A repetitive beeping noise sounded amidst the wind ripping over the water and the music blaring from the boat and Kyo took a deep breath, then hooked his hands under the rope and pulled it off his chest, carefully pulling it up over his head and turning around. He pulled the boat toward him with steady arm-over-arm motions, the current causing the rear of the boat to churn against the water.
When the boat was close enough Kyo climbed on board, located his watch, the source of the beeping, shut it off and took a quick breather sitting on one of the plastic-leather seats as he dug a bottle of water out of a side pocket.
There was another noise and Kyo turned to see his phone vibrating along the top of the dashboard. He rolled his neck on his shoulders, eyes closed, mouth open as he continued breathing deeply, and reached a hand out to grab it. He looked at the number, his face composing in thought. After a good thirty seconds of pondering he came to a decision. He flipped the phone open, typed out a text message, and then tossed it back onto the dashboard.
He took another drink of water, the thin plastic bottle crinkling as his hand.
“Kyo,” he heard Matthew’s voice say, “I what the–” the voice tried to shout before it was cut off in a loud splash.
Kyo shook his head, his face bemused. “Unbelievable,” he said to himself. Then he stood up and walked over to the edge of the boat, hooked a heel against one of the seats, leaned way over and grabbed Matthew up out of the water.
“Where the hell are we?!” Matthew shouted, spitting out sea water as Kyo dropped him into the boat.
“Do you even look at someone’s number before you go visit them?” Kyo asked, disappearing into the little hold and coming back out with a towel. He tossed it at Matthew.
“Not really, no,” Matthew said, catching the towel. He was applying it to one drenched arm of his tuxedo jacket when he stopped. He deliberated, then took the towel off his arm, his head bobbing as if to psyche himself up. “No,” he said, and he tossed the towel back in Kyo’s direction. “No…I have no body…I have no body…” He started repeating this to himself over and over again, staring with concentration at his sleeve.
Kyo watched, eyebrows raised.
The cuff of Matthew’s jacket began to dry off, the fabric no longer clinging and heavy against his skin, a marked difference from the rest of his tuxedo. He pursed his lips, his eyes screwing up in awkward, forced concentration before he collapsed inwardly and swore. “Just give me the towel,” he said, reaching a hand out, his face refusing to look over at Kyo’s.
Kyo tossed the towel back. “You’re over-thinking it,” he said, then took another drink of water and went back into the hold.
“Kyo,” Matthew said, toweling himself off as best he could, “what are you doing out here?”
“Working out,” Kyo said, coming up out of the hold with a thick length of chain in each hand.
Matthew stared at Kyo, his face frozen, unable to figure out how to react to what he was seeing. The song on the radio ended. Another song started. Matthew turned toward one of the speakers, an unbelieving little grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “And…you work out while listening to Avril Lavigne?”
“It’s a mix,” Kyo said, his voice gravelly, the chains thunking metallic across the thinly carpeted floor as he walked past Matthew.
The radio on the boat was blasting out some peppy music as the current struggled to drag the boat westward against Kyo, whose feet were dug into the water like it was a plot of damp earth. His whole body was trembling, flexed and sweating, as he struggled to maintain the boat in a fixed position while the current fought to yank it toward the western horizon.
A repetitive beeping noise sounded amidst the wind ripping over the water and the music blaring from the boat and Kyo took a deep breath, then hooked his hands under the rope and pulled it off his chest, carefully pulling it up over his head and turning around. He pulled the boat toward him with steady arm-over-arm motions, the current causing the rear of the boat to churn against the water.
When the boat was close enough Kyo climbed on board, located his watch, the source of the beeping, shut it off and took a quick breather sitting on one of the plastic-leather seats as he dug a bottle of water out of a side pocket.
There was another noise and Kyo turned to see his phone vibrating along the top of the dashboard. He rolled his neck on his shoulders, eyes closed, mouth open as he continued breathing deeply, and reached a hand out to grab it. He looked at the number, his face composing in thought. After a good thirty seconds of pondering he came to a decision. He flipped the phone open, typed out a text message, and then tossed it back onto the dashboard.
He took another drink of water, the thin plastic bottle crinkling as his hand.
“Kyo,” he heard Matthew’s voice say, “I what the–” the voice tried to shout before it was cut off in a loud splash.
Kyo shook his head, his face bemused. “Unbelievable,” he said to himself. Then he stood up and walked over to the edge of the boat, hooked a heel against one of the seats, leaned way over and grabbed Matthew up out of the water.
“Where the hell are we?!” Matthew shouted, spitting out sea water as Kyo dropped him into the boat.
“Do you even look at someone’s number before you go visit them?” Kyo asked, disappearing into the little hold and coming back out with a towel. He tossed it at Matthew.
“Not really, no,” Matthew said, catching the towel. He was applying it to one drenched arm of his tuxedo jacket when he stopped. He deliberated, then took the towel off his arm, his head bobbing as if to psyche himself up. “No,” he said, and he tossed the towel back in Kyo’s direction. “No…I have no body…I have no body…” He started repeating this to himself over and over again, staring with concentration at his sleeve.
Kyo watched, eyebrows raised.
The cuff of Matthew’s jacket began to dry off, the fabric no longer clinging and heavy against his skin, a marked difference from the rest of his tuxedo. He pursed his lips, his eyes screwing up in awkward, forced concentration before he collapsed inwardly and swore. “Just give me the towel,” he said, reaching a hand out, his face refusing to look over at Kyo’s.
Kyo tossed the towel back. “You’re over-thinking it,” he said, then took another drink of water and went back into the hold.
“Kyo,” Matthew said, toweling himself off as best he could, “what are you doing out here?”
“Working out,” Kyo said, coming up out of the hold with a thick length of chain in each hand.
Matthew stared at Kyo, his face frozen, unable to figure out how to react to what he was seeing. The song on the radio ended. Another song started. Matthew turned toward one of the speakers, an unbelieving little grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “And…you work out while listening to Avril Lavigne?”
“It’s a mix,” Kyo said, his voice gravelly, the chains thunking metallic across the thinly carpeted floor as he walked past Matthew.
Persistent Illusions
Author: Joseph Devon
Genre: Fiction – Urban Fantasy
Published by: CreateSpace (April 27th, 2011)
Age Recommendation: 18+ for sexuality and graphic/mature themes
Format: eBook & Perfect Paperback
ISBN13: 1460957687
Number of pages: 512
Author: Joseph Devon
Genre: Fiction – Urban Fantasy
Published by: CreateSpace (April 27th, 2011)
Age Recommendation: 18+ for sexuality and graphic/mature themes
Format: eBook & Perfect Paperback
ISBN13: 1460957687
Number of pages: 512
Author, Joseph Devon
Joseph Devon was born in New Jersey and currently lives in New York. He’s been a student, a nanny, worked at the Ground Zero recovery project after 9/11, and of all the things he’s created he is probably most proud of the character Kyo. He writes a blog, enjoys photography and he’s also at flickr, and tumblr, and twitter — sometimes he thinks that he might have one too many social networking outlets. Joseph’s Annual Fan Art Contest has a lot of great prizes to choose from for simply submitting art based on his books — check it out at: http://josephdevon.com/contest/the-third-annual-joseph-devon-art-contest/.
Q. If you could change places with a character in your books, who would it be and why?
A. The notion of an author changing places with a character in his books is always a troubling one for me, if only for the simple reason that I know my characters better than they know themselves. I know their weaknesses, their flaws, what sets their tempers off, what haunts them at night. I also know how they came to be, and how they will meet their end. I know this question is supposed to be a playful one, and whenever it gets asked of me I try to think playfully but then wind up overthinking it and asking if I have any characters who could handle the strange burden of being inhabited by their creator.
In the end the answer is obvious. I would change places with Kyo, the centuries old Japanese samurai. Simply put, he’s smarter than me, and he’s cooler than me, and he wouldn’t care what I know or don’t know about his life. For Kyo there is too much to be done right in the here and now to bother worrying about philosophical debates concerning too much self-knowledge.
And, oh sure, if I switched places with Kyo I’d be a man haunted by my past, maybe even self-destructive because of the things I did while I was alive. But all of that gets quashed down so deep that it only comes out in gruff, curt conversation or occasionally overdoing it when I dismantle a room full of bad guys with my bare hands, breaking some of them too hard without realizing it. But, hey, that’s the best way to solve problems anyway.
Plus, when you’re Kyo you don’t really have to worry about what other people think. There’s always distance between you and everyone else. You’re an outsider, you’re different, but you like it that way. I wouldn’t go so far as to use the word “loner,” because using the word loner is too cliche to describe the desperate battered man you see before you. It’s more that loneliness is the only state of mind where I can be sure that my rage finds its proper target...myself.
No, there’s no debate here. If I was to change places with a character in my books, I would choose Kyo. He’s the only one who would be tough enough to handle it.
**Give Away**
Thanks to Joseph, One lucky commenter has the chance to win an eBook copy of Persistent Illusions for their very own! Please leave your email address : )
Thanks! Cool post! Love your reasons for switching places with Kyo for a day!
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