Check out the latest book by Austin Camacho today, True Target and make sure to check out the tour wide giveaway as the author is awarding $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Also make sure to check out all the tour stops as the more you comment the more chances you get for the giveaway. The tour is sponsored by Goddess Fish Promotions and you can find all the tour stops HERE.
Author Interview with Austin Camacho
Tell us about your latest book, who are the main characters and what we can expect when we pick it up.
True Target stars Skye Maddox, a Black female
professional assassin with one rule—her targets have to deserve it. Hired to
avenge a murdered child, she uncovers a chain of corruption linking street
killers to powerful elites. Now she’s in the crosshairs of both the law and the
underworld. Police detective Orson Rissik wants to stop her, but their fates
are tied to the same deadly secret. Expect a lot of action as you follow this
complex protagonist on her mission. One reviewer called it relentlessly
gripping and said, “Keep an oxygen tank handy!”
Taking the story from a concept to a
published book is a long and involved process. How does that usually work for
you?
Once I have the seed idea for a novel I start with
a detailed outline. I write pretty much every day, from beginning to the end
without looking back. Then I start over, doing a complete rewrite to tighten
pacing, plot and characterization. A second rewrite focuses on spelling,
grammar and such. It goes through my critique group before more rewriting.
After an editor and proofreader work it over it’s ready for the publisher.
Which of your books would you
recommend for readers to choose first if they’re new to you and your books?
I’m a series writers. I’ve written 8 Hannibal Jones
detective novels and 5 Stark & O’Brien thrillers. Since True Target is the
first in a planned series starring Skye the urban assassin, this book is a
great place to start.
We are very curious about your
writing process. What is a typical writing day like for you?
My day starts early, even though I’m retired from
my day job. I make coffee, get my wife up and off to work, feed the cats and
watch the morning news. Then I settle in to the keyboard. I write best in the
morning and will usually drive through to lunch. Then I handle correspondence,
social media posts and all the other details that are required of a writer
these days.
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In my work I’ve employed most of the common mystery
and thriller tropes: the ticking clock, the innocent on the run, red herrings,
unassuming villains and so forth. I have in fact used all of them that I want
to. The one thing I haven’t done in my books that I have seen in many others,
is incompetent law enforcement personnel. I try to avoid showing bumbling or
corrupt police. I know they exist but believe them to be a minority and I don’t
want to promote that view of them.
How do you approach character
development in your stories? Do you have any specific techniques or methods
that you find particularly effective?
Most characters originally grow from the plot:
Someone’s going to do THIS. Now, what kind of person would do that? From there
I figure out the person’s backstory, where they’re from, how they grew up, what
experiences have shaped them. These bits and pieces I can take from people I’ve
known. Then for important characters I will sometimes write a scene with them
doing something unrelated to the story. You can learn a lot about someone
watching them go grocery shopping, or getting on a commercial flight, or having
their hair done.
What do you believe sets your
writing apart from others in your genre, and why should readers choose to read
your books?
I am told I write particularly good action scenes.
You should be able to see what’s happening just as if you’re watching a movie.
I also think that I do a better job than most in revealing character
motivations. I dig deeply into why a character does what he or she does. I
think it’s the combination of these two things that sets my books apart from
other thrillers.
Can you discuss any upcoming
projects or books that you're currently working on? What can readers expect
from your future works?
My next two or three novels will feature Skye. In
addition to ever more exciting action, the series will represent her growth.
These books are about the rising and advancing of a young woman’s spirit and
I’m excited to follow that trail and see where it leads.
TRUE TARGET
by Austin S. Camacho
GENRE: Thriller
Skye
Maddox is a contract assassin driven by both personal demons and professional
discipline. Hired by grieving father Milo Williams to hunt down the chain of
men responsible for his son’s death, Skye takes on a mission that escalates
into a war with Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous underworld figures led by a
man known only as Hetman. As she climbs Milo’s ladder of revenge, Skye uncovers
a web of corruption that links drug dealers, judges, mobsters, and even
international crime syndicates.
The story escalates
through brutal shootouts, betrayals, and psychological games, as Skye pushes
deeper into Hetman’s empire. Each success makes her a bigger target. In the
end, she must weigh the cost of finishing Milo’s revenge against the danger of
becoming just another expendable weapon in someone else’s war.
Buy Links:
Excerpt Two:
Sometimes events in dreams are more vivid than they were in
real life. In the dream Skye could feel how close the walls were in that little
apartment she grew up in. She could feel the linoleum under her knees and smell
last night’s fried chicken dinner. Her little brother’s hands were so soft
between her own. Tyrone was no gangster. He just lived there. Until he didn’t.
In her dream she could feel the life draining out of
Tyrone’s body, chased out by the heroin in his veins like the drugs thought
they needed the space. They wouldn’t share his body with his soul. Drugs were
here, so the soul had to go.
With Daddy gone and Mama permanently drunk, it was up to the
twelve-year-old girl to find the rusty piece Tyrone carried to feel grown. Then
she had to find the boy who sold that poison to her big brother and got him to
commit slow suicide by injection. The gun felt cold and smooth in her hand,
just like Tyrone’s hand had by the time she let it go.
Then, without warning, her mind crossed over into this
reality. Deep brown eyes scanned the room for a second before she moved. Once
she knew she was secure, she threw off the comforter, a deeper blue than the
walls, and bounded out of bed. Her bedside clock read 10:47. She scurried naked
into the bathroom. She had a full day ahead and she needed to get it going.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Website: https://ascamacho.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572508767550
Instagram: ascamacho135
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-camacho-1a5a622/
2 comments:
Hello, everyone! I want to thank Dawn for featuring True Target on her blog today. I hope the snippet posted make people want to read the rest. :-)
Thank you so much for featuring TRUE TARGET today.
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