We
sit there quietly, cautiously waiting for something—anything—to happen. A chill rushes over my
body as I realize that something has probably been tracking, or even hunting us
all day. I slowly start reaching for my rifle, as quietly as possible. Mya
continues to whine and starts pacing back and forth.
Suddenly,
just as my hand makes contact with the M4, the same familiar shrieking sound
echoes in my ears, piercing the silent night. I tighten my hand around the
rifle and pull it towards me. And then something else happens. I hear nylon
fabric ripping open. (Chapter 5, Pg 88)
I
frantically begin looking around the room for Emily, Brian, Mya and my parents.
None of them are here. I turn my gaze to the South hall, leading to the
cafeteria and decide that’s where they must be. I continue stepping around the
mangled bodies until I’m finally free of them in the hallway. I start to
feel a knot form in my gut as I fear for the lives of my family and friends.
The idea of my mom, dad and Brian lying there torn to pieces makes my heart
ache for them. The thought of seeing Emily lying there with her throat ripped
open makes the knot in my stomach even tighter and I have to stop. I gather myself
quickly and force myself to move on. When I reach the cafeteria doors, I stop
again. (Chapter 8, Pg 151)
“Hang in there, Al,” says Brian as he kneels down next to
my father. Strangely, the underwater muffled sound disappears and
everything sounds clear.
“He’s losing a lot of blood. We need to get him back to the
compound now,” my father says with a shaky voice.
“We can take him back on a sled. I’ll take him back on one with
me,” Brian replies without hesitation. “I can get him there fast.”
“Emily, you can ride back with Rider. I’ll...” Emily interrupts
my father at the same time I shake my head. “No! I’ll ride with you or on the
same sled as Alec,”
(Chapter
7, Pg 140)
Questions and answers for Beauregard.
Where were you born/grew up?
I was born
in Rocksprings Wyoming. Was moved to Utah within days so I never lived in my
birth town. Grew up in various parts of Utah from Provo to Brigham City. I
consider Brigham City my home since I lived there the longest and that’s where
I was living when I graduated from High School and my parents live there still.
What are you passionate about these days?
Besides my
writing and finishing the Black Winter series, I’m passionate about my family.
I have 3 boys, ages 9, 7, and 4 with a fourth child on the way. Nothing brings
me more joy than spending time with them and seeing them grow. Being a father
is the greatest blessing and experience a man can have.
How do you find time to write as a parent?
It’s
challenging. I rarely do the things I enjoy when I can be home with my wife and
kids and spend time with them. I get most of my writing done when they are at school
and work or even late at night when they are sleeping.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I was
in the 8th grade. This is when I really started to write stories
down in my notebook at school. By the time I was a senior in high school I knew
that writing novels was something I wanted to do.
What inspired you to write this book?
Truthfully
it was a number of things. My family loves all sorts of story formats, whether
it be a movie, book or even a video game. When I first started writing the book
for the first time in January of 2009, I had a very basic idea. A soldier and
his Siberian Husky in a mountain, snowy setting. The more I wrote the more I
would take inspiration from many stories I had previously seen or read, and
even a couple video games that I had recently played. For starters, the idea of
a government facility deep in a mountain I got from Gears of War. The dog with
the soldier I got from the cover of Fallout 3. I really didn’t what the story
was then. Just small details from other things that I really liked. It took a
couple years from that point before Cole and I knew how the first book would
really end. Once we had the complete story for Black Winter, the rest of the
story was easy.
How did you come up with the title for Black Winter?
The title
didn’t come until several years after we first started working on it. Not until
after the story was complete. Originally, Alec Winter was actually Alec Ryker.
But as the story was ending, I really like the idea of having the title of the
book have a double meaning. So that’s when we decided to change Alec’s last
name to Winter. You have this never-ending winter along with a soldier who’s
name is Winter and they sort of battle each other throughout the series. The
true meaning of the name of the book though you will have to discover as you
read the series.
If your book was made into a movie, who would you like to
play the lead?
Originally
that was an easy answer. Henry Cavill. I actually had to do a screenplay as an
assignment in college that was a lot of fun. Part of the assignment was casting
real actors for the roles in the movie. I picked Cavill as Alec Winter because
of Cavill’s size and hair color. The only issue was his eye color which was an
easy fix with contacts or even CGI. Now that many of the actors that I cast for
the characters are all older it would be a little more difficult to pick new
ones. I’m looking forward to fans of the book to come up with their own ideas
though.
Are any of your characters based off of real people or did
they come entirely from your imagination?
A little bit of both. There are a few
characters in the book that are completely based off of real people in terms of
their names, and others in terms of how I perceived them as people. Two of my
friends have their full names in the book, because of how unique their names
are. The character in the book are criminals though so they are very different
than the people they are based on. There are other characters in the book that
are a complete likeness, only their names are different. For some of those
characters they are people that I despised, so I made them into characters that
the readers would despise as well. Alec Winter is completely from imagination,
but the way he interacts with his dog and his overall voice and how he talks is
based off of me. He talks like me and loves his dog as much as I do.
What are your top 10 favorite books or Authors?
My favorite
books are the Eragon books by Christopher Paolini. I’ve read the entire series
about ten times and it never gets old for me. In fact, some of my inspiration
for the relationship between two characters in Black Winter comes from that
series. You’ll have to discover what I’m talking about by reading the book. I
don’t want to give any spoilers. I also really loved the Wheel of Time series
by Robert Jordan. It’s a very long series, but the writing is incredible. I
don’t know that I’ll read it again, because of its length, but I’m glad I read
it and I would definitely recommend it along with Eragon.
What is your favorite genre to read?
Oddly
enough, Black Winter is a Science Fiction novel, but I don’t actually read much
of that genre. I prefer fantasy as you can see with my two favorite authors and
book series.
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise?
Both. I like
it to be quiet, but most of the time I like to listen to music when I write.
Different songs help me to feel the mood of a scene I’m trying to write. If
it’s really distracting noise though I can’t concentrate. Like if my kids are
yelling and fighting, I won’t be able to focus. I could easily sit in front of
the tv and write though.
The final thing I’d like to say answers several questions.
Writing is very time consuming and requires a lot of dedication. Black Winter
took 12 years from start to publication. Mostly the reason why it took so long
was due to life getting in the way, writers block or just simply
procrastination. The sequels will definitely come out much faster than the
first, but mostly they will because we know what the story is. We know exactly
where the characters will be at the end of the story and how they will get
there. So getting there will be less of a challenge. Plus, now that Black
Winter is officially out there for the world to see, the desire to complete the
series for everyone that reads it gives me the motivation I need to sit down
and put in the time to write the rest of the books.
Questions and answers for Cole.
How did you become an author?
My path to
becoming an author is a little unique. Growing up I loved reading but I hated
writing. As I got older I realised not only was I good at writing, I actually
started enjoying it. I started working with Beau on his book by helping him
with different ideas throughout Black Winter. Finally after years it had turned
into as much mine as it was his and I couldn’t be more grateful to share that
with Beau.
Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going
at once?
Both. We
wrote Black Winter before writing any of the sequels. But as we got deeper into
the story we slowly wrote the beginning and end for all of the books. We found
that by figuring out different directions we wanted to go with the sequels
helped add things into Black Winter.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
I am a big
gamer so once everyone has gone to bed I enjoy starting up my PC and gaming. I
have always enjoyed video games but right now I love playing Warzone. I also
enjoy sitting down on the couch with my wife and watching a tv show.
What are your top 10 favorite books?
Top 10 books
are a little hard so I will go with my top book series. My favorite book series
would have to be Eragon/The Inheritance Cycle. Eragon was the first book that
really got me into reading, I also love everything that involves dragons so
that helped as well. My second favorite book series is Harry Potter. Harry
Potter was a book series that really helped me escape from reality at times
when I was a kid and even sometimes still to this day. My third favorite book
series is The Ranger’s Apprentice.
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