End the Week with VICTORIA RODER

Out of my collection of weapons that I have stashed around my apartment, I choose my Browning A-Bolt Stainless Stalker rifle from behind the mop in the broom closet. I headed in the direction of the enclosed storage area. Flipping on the porch light in hopes of frightening an intruder, I exited my front door. As I reached the bottom of the wooden steps, I could detect an outline of a person in front of the shadowed storage area door. Male-at least six feet tall.

Cocking the rifle, I warned, “Stop. I have a rifle.”

“Calm down, Bolt. It’s just me.” Lance Kestler ran his hand through his thick black hair as he stepped from the shadows into the glow of the porch light.

“Oh for crying out loud. What the hell are you doing here?” I released the trigger. “Did you just come out of my storage area?”

“No, I got out of my car and walked toward your door.” Kestler placed his hands on his slim hips. “How come you never wear your hair down during the day?”

I ignored the question. “I heard a door close.”

Kestler shrugged his broad, black Fieora-clothed shoulders, and wobbled on his feet. “Must’a heard my car door.”

Headlights from a passing car shined toward me and I slid the rifle behind my back. “Whatever. It’s like midnight— what the hell do you want?”

“Well, I remembered you don’t sleep much at night so I assumed you’d still be up. Or maybe you just didn’t sleep at night because I kept you up—or should I say you kept me up?” Kestler took a stumbling step forward.

I blew out a breath in frustration. How did I ever get involved with this guy in the first place? “Get off it, Kestler. You’ve been drinking. What do you want?”

“Aren’t you gonna invite me in?” He winked in his typical cocky manner. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had your firm body under mine.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and shake my head. “Are you kidding me?”

“Look, I just want to apologize for how things have been going between us lately.” Lance stumbled and dragged his hand across the side of the duplex to stabilize himself.

“Apologize?” The rifle dug into my hand as I tightened my grip on it. “You can’t even talk in complete sentences. How come you only show up and want to talk after you’ve been drinking?”

Kestler advanced two steps toward me. “What’s wrong with you? I’m trying to rekindle a civil relationship between us, and you show up acting like Annie Oakley the sharpshooter.”

“You don’t do apologies, or favors without an ulterior motive.” I pointed the rifle towards him. “What the hell do you want? Why don’t you just go home?”

“What? You’re gonna shoot me? ” Lance threw up his hands, pretending to surrender, and laughed.

His humor was lost on me. I wanted Kestler off my property and wanted him to know I meant business. Not that really would have shot him. Probably. “You’ve been drinking, and you’re trespassing. I believed you were an intruder and I had to defend myself.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Sounds convincing. I might be able to get someone to buy that.”

“You’d miss.”

My finger itched to pull the trigger. “Don’t you remember my target scores where always better than yours?”

Lance winked at me. “That’s because I was distracted by your cute ass.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are an ass.”

“I’m done with trying to be nice to you.”

“When did you start?”

“Screw you.” He turned to stomp back toward his car.

I lowered the rifle and called out, “Kestler, you’ve been drinking. Should I call you a cab?”

I heard him open his car door. As I walked backward up the three steps to the front door, it didn’t take detective skills to realize he didn’t have the ability nor the courtesy to answer me. Kestler was six feet tall—could he have consumed more then two drinks an hour? I ran back down the steps to offer him a ride.

“Kestler!” I pounded on the hood of the car. “Kestler, wait!”

He jammed the car in reverse, spun it around and squealed his tires on the usually quiet street. I watched him drive off and prayed he wouldn’t hit someone on his way home. Retreating inside my apartment, I locked and dead-bolted the front door. I returned the A-Bolt rifle to its spot behind the mop in my closet, and headed for the phone to call in a tip about a drunk driver. If he was lucky, he’d be stopped by a friendly cop. If not—if he had to spend the night in the drunk tank—at least he wouldn’t kill himself or anyone else. My infuriation with Lance Kestler made my hands jitter as if I had guzzled three pots of coffee.

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You just read an excerpt from:
Bolt Action
by
Victoria Roder
Availalbe in paperback from Champagne Books
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Linda Kage: Tell us a little about you and what you write please.

Victoria: I write paranormal, murder mystery, and children's picture books and mysteries. I always enjoyed writing, but never considered becoming an author. I began having recurring dreams about a house that my birth family lived in for a brief period of time when I was a child. Even with the passage of time, in the dreams I remained a young girl. Each time I woke up I knew that I had experienced the dream before. The dream began to trouble me, so I discussed it with my sister Tammy. She suggested I write it down, in the hope that it wouldn’t bother me anymore.

I began recording the details of the dream and then instead of it not bothering me, it consumed me. I continued to dream about the house, but now the dreams began to evolve and take on a life of their own. It became a movie in my imagination; the characters developed and demanded screen time. I placed a notebook, flashlight, and pen beside the bed. My husband would wake up to find me holding the flashlight and frantically scribbling in the notebook. Those dreams became the premise for my paranormal romance novel The Dream House Visions and Nightmares.

Kage: What happened to the first book you ever wrote?

Victoria: My first novel was The Dream House Visions and Nightmares. The first book I wrote was a children's mystery. I have just recently pulled it out and began editing. I haven't decided if there is hope for the story.

Kage:What’s your backlist and coming soon bookshelf look like?

Victoria: My Paranormal Romance, The Dream House Visions and Nightmares is a murder mystery wrapped in a ghost story, Asylett Press 2009. Coming Soon is children's picture book, What if a Zebra had Triangles? From Vinspire Publishing and a children's chapter book, The Curse of King Ramesse II from Wild Child Publishing.

Kage: So, what story are we going to talk about today?

Victoria: Action Thriller, Bolt Action was release from Champagne Books in April 2010.

********************BLURB********************
Bolt Action
by
Victoria Roder

With a Ruger Blackhawk .357 under her pillow, a Browning A-Bolt Stainless Stalker rifle in her broom closet, and a Saturday Night Special in her road-hog cookie jar, Detective Leslie Bolt’s sarcastic attitude and inability to trust, alienates her from most people, including her sister. In the mystery/suspense, Bolt Action, The “State Quarter Killer” is selecting victims that appear to have nothing in common except for the State Quarter placed under their lifeless bodies, when her sister goes missing Detective Bolt must conquer her own past to capture the serial killer before her sister is the next victim.
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Kage: What would the story be rated if it were a movie?

Victoria: Bolt Action would be rated R.

Kage: If you HAD to fit this story into a cliché, which one would it be?

Victoria: Bolt Action is definitely a whodunit. Check out the Book Video:

Kage:Okay, now that we have a general idea which class to fit Bolt Action under, what makes this book so unique from every other book out there?

Victoria: I have five sisters and I based Detective Leslie Bolt on one of them. If you watch the video, the girl on the motorcycle even looks like my sister.

Kage:What was the easiest part to write?

Victoria: The easiest part of Bolt Action was developing the characters of Leslie and Tasha Bolt. I was thrilled to have my personal story of adoption published in the anthology entitled A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families, Adams Media 2009. My story entitled Why I Believe in Angels is the account of how I came to live with my current family at the age of seven. With their acceptance and support, they helped me become who I am today.

That publication has inspired many people to share their own stories of adoption with me. Heartfelt tales told through the eyes of parents and also from the children that were adopted. I am sorry to report I also heard a few troubled stories of adoption, and one comment remained in my thoughts and stalked me. That sole comment became the disposition for two of my characters in my novel, Bolt Action. Sarcastic, gun hording, motorcycle riding Detective Leslie Bolt and her superficial, live for the moment sister Tasha. Both sister's grew up in the same adoptive home, but view their experience in opposite spectrums.

Kage:What do you like most about the main character(s) and what do you like least? Did you learn anything from them?

Victoria: The answer to what I like most and what I like least about Detective Leslie Bolt is the same. It is her sarcasm. I am naturally sarcastic and sometimes I wish I could retort with the thoughts that cross my mind, but then I worry about hurting someone's feelings. So, I like Leslie's sarcasm, but I'm sure she hurts other people's feeling when she speaks the first thing that crosses her mind.

What I learned from my characters Leslie and Tasha Bolt, is that we can't always control our circumstances, but we can choose our reaction and attitude about them. My life motto is, You can't change your past, but you can chose your future.

Kage:Victoria, Thank you so much for stopping by today and gracing us with your presence. Before we go, is there anything else you’d like to say to wrap things up?

Victoria: I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. I enjoy hearing from readers and can be reached through my website. Thanks for hosting me on your site, Linda.

Now that Victoria has totally made us want to buy her book, here's buy link to Bolt Action: at CHAMPAGNE BOOKS

And here are other places to meet Victoria online:
Website: http://www.victoriaroder.com/

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Publisher’s Author Page: For The Dream House