Monday, October 15, 2012

Win a FREE copy of A Hero's Journey by P.T. Dilloway with one comment

Isn't the cover fantastic on this? That's cause it's by the blog world's very own
RUSTY WEBB (or RUSTY CARL) or whatever he calls himself these days. He
blogs at "The Blutonian Death Egg." 

I'm friends with Patrick who blogs over at his website: P.T. DILLOWAY. He's a man of unflinching honesty. He never sugar coats anything, and I kind of like that "confrontational" style that he embraces when leaving comments on the web. And a lot of them are funny. Anyway, Patrick has written another book. As an author, he's quite prolific so this may be his fourth or fifth published novel. You can check out my five star review of it HERE on GOODREADS. If you want to be supportive, please mark it "to read." I end my review by saying:
"A Hero's Journey is appropriate for any age level. Children should have a lot of fun with it and be inspired by Emma in her fight against the forces of evil. I hope that when you finish it, you'll join me in my desire to return to Rampart City soon. There's definitely enough source material to keep the story of the Scarlet Knight going for many books to come."
Now I'm going to turn my blog over to Patrick who is exploring a comparison with A Hero's Journey and my favorite television series, "Breaking Bad" which (I have to say) I'm solely responsible for getting him hooked on.

MR. WHITE Vs. MR. X by Patrick Dilloway

First of all, thanks to Michael for hosting me today!

As a longtime reader of Michael’s blog, I know one of his many favorite TV shows is “Breaking Bad” on AMC.  Unlike most of his other favorite TV shows, I actually watched this one recently on Netflix.  As I did, I noticed some similarities in the show’s main character, Walter White, and the villain of my novel A Hero’s Journey.

When the series begins, Walter White is a pretty normal guy.  He teaches high school chemistry and works on the side at a car wash to make up a few extra bucks. He’s got a teenage son with cerebral palsy and another kid on the way.  So what makes him decide to join forces with a junkie to cook crystal meth out of a Winnebago?
Mr. White reminding all of us why chemistry teachers
have the most fun.
It’s because he’s diagnosed with lung cancer and given only a short time to live. Walter wants to provide for his family, and he knows he can’t do that on $40,000/year from teaching and whatever pocket change he gets at the car wash. Cooking meth seems like a good way to make some quick cash that can provide for his family after he’s gone.
Aaron Paul who plays Jesse Pinkman has the ability to look sexy in anything. That includes
a chemical suit in a New Mexico desert with a shitty Winnebago in the distance.
In my book, the villain “breaks bad” in a different way, but it’s very similar.  It starts out with just a small idea.  In this case a tragedy befalls Mr. X’s family.  He’s able to convince himself that putting on a suit of cursed armor and becoming an ancient monster known as the Black Dragoon is a good way to get justice for his family, especially when it becomes clear the police are not going to be of much help.

In both cases it starts with a little rationalization and then it snowballs.  Mr. White says, “I’ll just make a little crystal meth and then get out.”  Mr. X says, “I’ll just kill these people for my family and then I’m done.”  Except it’s not that simple.  Because as Yoda said, “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it control your destiny.”

Or in other words, once you’ve done one bad thing, it becomes easier to justify doing another one.  You might start out wanting to make some money or avenge your family, but soon you become drawn into lies and murders and so forth.  Eventually you start to lose sight of what caused you to break bad in the first place.  All that nobility becomes washed away in a sea of blood.
This is kind of the point where Walt's "Breaking Bad" has consumed him, and he
is now completely and utterly EVIL.
As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

If you want to see Mr. X break bad, you can buy my book from Solstice Publishing here for only $2.99.  The book is also available from other retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  To find out more about A Hero’s Journey including character bios, deleted scenes, and a visitor’s guide to Rampart City visit my blog located HERE.

AMAZON
BARNES AND NOBLE

And thanks again to Michael for hosting me!

*****

Patrick is giving away a free .pdf copy of his book to one lucky commenter that wants it. Please indicate in the comments whether you would like one or not by leaving your email address. That way he knows to send it if you are a winner.

If you wouldn't mind doing so, please TWEET about this post so that Mr. Dilloway gets as much exposure as possible.

Have a great Monday

32 comments:

  1. I love good intentions/bad outcome stories.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Evil is very entertaining (when you're only reading or watching). I enjoyed your post and you've been tweeted!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting comparison. The book is on my TBR list.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love Patrick's comments, he usually makes me laugh with his snark. Good luck with your book, the cover is amazing and yeah, sign me up for a possible free copy, I like superhero type books.

    thefallingwitch@gmail.com

    Will also get you added to my goodreads.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I LOVE that cover! Good luck with the book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks! Those are some nice pics you put in there. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good luck with the book. The cover is fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great guest post.

    And you bring up a great point. A great villain is one that believes what he's doing is right. They believe they are heroes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm officially intrigued! Thanks, Michael and Patrick.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sounds interesting...I'd love to give it a read! Please throw my e-mail into the mix.

    boric underscore glanduum1 atthe geemail dott com.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Awesome post, guys. Now, do I leave that email address here (I'm a bit slow this morning)? If so, it's:

    dpowersking[at]gmail[dot]com

    So either I win the book or I'll buy it myself when I get my next allowance. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. BTW, if you don't win today, you have 4 more chances to get a free copy! Just go to my blog (http://www.ptdilloway.com) and on the right side you can see the other blogs hosting me this week where you can also win.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Tweeted. Hope the book does well. Sounds like a cool action/adventure read.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Sounds like this book fits that theme.

    ReplyDelete
  15. In particular, I like the author's name on the cover.

    ReplyDelete
  16. But... I just didn't like Breaking Bad.
    I'm sure the book is better, though!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love Breaking Bad! That makes me want to pick up this book!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good luck with the book! Love that you're helping Patrick out.:)

    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm looking forward to reading. And I keep meaning to watch Breaking Bad, I'll do it soon.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hecks yeah throw my name into the drawing! (free books and all that...)

    sarah.ahiers(at)gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. It seems that Patrick really thought about his theme and characters, which no doubt gives his books some real depth. And a free copy sounds just fine to me.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I watched the premier of Breaking Bad. Too funny. Bad decisions snowball into worse decisions. A Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I was musing this theme this morning. Let a little bad slip by and then you have a lot of bad. Good luck PT!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Best of luck with your book... you know I still haven't seen Breaking Bad...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Excellent analogies. Yep, doesn't take much to keep a person on the wrong side of good.

    It is an awesome cover. I wouldn't mind winning the novel, and Mike's review makes it so enticing.

    .......dhole

    ReplyDelete
  26. And the tweet went off without a hitch.

    I was wondering... how can the road to hell be paved with anything when there is no hell? Shouldn't there be a non-religious way to express this sentiment only with a less church-like threat??? Just wonderin'. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I like the cut of this guy's jib. But pray tell, who is this mysterious and enigmatic writer Patrick Dilloway?

    ReplyDelete