INTERVIEW - J W Baccaro - Author of Guardian of the Seventh Realm

SBB: Welcome Author J W Baccaro – author of the Guardian of the Seventh Realm series. We are so excited to have you on the heels of your Book 3 release for the series – The Coming of the Light

JWB: Thank you very much for this opportunity, Jennifer.

SBB: So for those of our followers that have not yet heard of you, can you tell us about yourself?

JWB: Well, to be blunt, I’ve never been much of a handy man. I mean, for goodness sakes, my dear wife blows me out of the water when it comes to repairing a broken household item, changing the oil in our car, or understanding all of these modern day electronics. Ever since I was a little boy, my field has always been creativity. Nothing else really interested me like creating a story, or building a tree fort, or writing a piece of music. Ha! I can remember playing with my He-Man, Transformer, and Thundercat toys--role playing for hours by myself as if I were filming a movie. The older I got, the more serious I became in creativity and soon enough began my first real novel which has turned into an epic fantasy series of five installments. I’m also a guitarist and songwriter and I play in a heavy metal band called Rigor Hill. We hold that old-school Metallica/Megadeth/Iron Maiden sound that nobody does anymore, and hopefully we will go somewhere with it.
I’m also an animal lover and I am a very social person.

SBB: Ok, those were some of my favorite cartoons growing up, and I always played G I Joe with my brother. We have some of those silly interview questions we have to ask - What’s your favorite color? What’s your favorite Holiday? From Amy (being the baker that she is) what’s your favorite dessert? Boxers or Briefs? Bitten or the Biter? (No offense, but the world’s gotta know)

JWB: My Favorite color is blue; my favorite holiday is Easter--in addition to Halloween, and my favorite desert by far is apple crisp with cinnamon whip cream. MMmmmmmmm!!!!!!
Boxers or Briefs? Unless it’s going to be 95 degrees out, I always go commando.
I like to bite, but…I LOVE being bitten!!!

SBB: *smiles* Love it! Cinnamon whip cream, hmm, I gotta get Amy to try to make that I host a huge Easter Egg Hunt every year with a bunch of my kids friends.

What are some of your favorite books and/or authors

JWB:  Like many, I love ”The Hobbit” and “The Return of the King” by J.R.R Tolkien. I’m also a big fan of C.S. Lewis and Susan Cooper; at least these are the authors I grew up on. Now-a-days I’m much more into Dark Erotica and Urban Fantasy novels like “Vampire Mistress” from Joey W. Hill and “Nightwalker” by Jocelynn Drake. But I have to say, Tolkien started it all for me.

SBB: Classic must read authors, Tolkien and Lewis. Joey W Hill is on my list now because of you.

NOW, Mr J.W.Baccaro, knowing your character Talvenya, do you have a Dominatrix fetish?

JWB: *Whispers* …yes! :D
I’ll admit it, I have a Dominatrix fetish, and although in everyday life I'm usually a middle ground kind of guy, and make more than half of the decisions in my marriage (by my wife’s choice, ironically), I really love it whenever my wife takes charge--in more ways than just the “bedroom.” It’s like a release, to just let everything go, every worry and concern, and to just focus on that beautiful feminine entity standing before, taking control, but... back onto Talvenya. *laugh*

Like all of us, I have a dark side, and chose to reveal Talvenya as that dark side--of course I would never commit the horrors she does, but that's the beauty of writing fantasy, it's yours to play around with, yours to create, speculate, and a pathway to let out certain feelings that haunt your spirit without ever acting upon them.

Originally, I never intended on Talvenya becoming such a rich character. As you read on to books three, four and five I think you’ll agree that she is probably the most well-developed character (besides Darshun) I’ve created. She was, and still is, that evil feminine demon in my head, and she was supposed to die in book three "The Coming of the Light.” But like the typical male that I am, I fell in love with my Dark Goddess and lacked the heart to kill her off, not yet, at least.

One final mention on Talvenya: To me, the interesting thing about her is that she is not a Dominatrix or an Alpha Female because it sexually arouses her (well, not as much as you'd think), she instead, likes to control and manipulate others because of the tragedy that had befallen her when she was a little girl. What happened to poor little Tal changed her heart forever, and deep down, she hates what she has become. You witness these feelings in her in book three. I really want to say one more thing, but I don't think I can without giving away any spoilers. Perhaps once the fifth book comes out I could do that, I could announce what
Talvenya actually represents to myself (besides a sexy high-heeled boot wearing powerhouse wielding a sword), and what she represents to the human race.

SBB: Awesome, I’ve only just started Book 3, Talvenya is such a complex character. What is your reason for putting so much of you in Dar (Darshun)?

JWB: Jennifer, out of everyone who knows me and has read my books, you are the first person to come out and say that, or perhaps see it! Yes, I modeled myself after Darshun for many reasons. For starters, putting yourself in your own fantasy novel is one heck of a wild ride, a “writer’s high,” you might say. A few other reasons:

Putting aside Darshun’s cocky attitude (hey, he’s too much of a bad arse warrior not to be), like me, he is a kindred spirit. You will notice whenever an animal dies, or a loved one, or whenever he’s faced with a heavy burden, he silently weeps. The first time you see this is in chapter two of “Prophecy of the Guardian.” Killing the elk tore his heart out, but he knew it had to have been done. His adoptive father Mirabel witnesses this side of him and if caught off guard, for Nasharin Warriors are the deadliest warriors on the planet, feared by the Dark and hated by the Light. They’re unafraid of death, and will do whatever it takes to accomplish their
objective, even if it means collateral damage. And yet, here you have little Darshun, weeping over an elk? That was the first sign that something was different about him compared to any other Nasharin.

And also like me, Darshun often feels heavy burdened because of his deep attachment to creation. To him, loving so richly is both a blessing and a curse, because it hurts all the more when you lose that special someone in your life in any way, shape or form; not only in death, but also in betrayal, mockery, or anything of the like.

And lastly, like me, he is a happy-go-lucky kind of a guy and even a bit of an airhead at times. He adores challenges, pushes himself to new limits, and never accepts defeat. No matter how terrible the dark seems to overshadow him, he still finds a way to push forward, and as if “the Fates” are lending some aid, there always seems to be someone there to give him a helping hand.

SBB: Leave it to me to call you out, haha. How many of your characters are based on real people in your life?

JWB: To a certain extent, 4. Darshun=myself, Kelarin=my wife, and Nayland and Caelestias are quite similar to a couple of dear friends of mine.

SBB: Which is the one you would want most – song writing or being an author?

JWB: No contest, an author! Of course writing is not as thrilling as playing live and having people cheering for you, along with all of the other attention that comes with being in a band, still, writing is much more relaxed, and there’s just something about putting a large portion of your heart into a book and allowing others to read it, almost like they’re looking into your soul, so to speak.

SBB: Tell us about your writing plans – What’s next?

JWB: I have four other books in mind that have to do with the world I’ve created, along with some of the characters, but I’m taking a break from fantasy, and especially violence; as you know, there is so much of it in my series. It’s a war, after all. So this September I’m going to begin my first Dark Erotica/Urban Fantasy novel. I hope to have it completed by late spring 2012.

SBB: We’re so glad you came over, we want everyone to check out the books. This series is intense and full of so much of you. I have enjoyed books 1 and 2 already. – now you mentioned you wanted to do a giveaway – you still up for it?

JWB: Of course! I will give 10 people pdf versions of my first three books. In other words, each person shall receive a pdf version of “Prophecy of the Guardian,” “Siege of Darkness,” and my brand new book “The Coming of the Light.” Just let me know who these 10 people are and I will be more than happy to send the books their way.

Thank you so much for the interview, Jennifer, it was a pleasure.

SBB: YOU’RE THE BEST! Ok followers, we hope you enjoyed our time with “Mr Baccaro” – we sure did. He’s been kind enough to give us the books, now here’s what you have to do to earn them. It’s not too hard, but since we have a quite a few to give away we want to make sure we do it right

1. You have to leave your email address in a comment below (if you are nervous about it, email us direct at seducedbybooks@gmail.com)
2. You should be a follower of our blog
3. Please ‘like’ J W Baccaro author page on facebook
4. For additional points/chances, like our page on facebook (Seduced by Books) and share this post on your social networks (leave the links in your comment)

See not too hard - We’ll give you until Friday (Aug 12th) and we’ll announce the winners by Sunday Aug 14th)



















Our reviews of Book 1 and Book 2