January 28, 2021
Mad World Post Four
Week 4, Day 4 – Mad World
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Release Date: January 3, 2015
Cover Design: Jimmy Gibbs
Formats: ebook, audiobook, and paperback
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Universal
Audible
Goodreads
When Vivian and Hadley find themselves in a situation even more threatening than the dead walking the Earth, Axl and Angus must find a way to put the growing tension between them aside and work together to rescue their friends.
What can you tell us about the characters in Mad World?
We get to know a few characters better in this book, and add one big one. So let’s talk about them!
Hadley –
We met her in Shattered World, but thanks to their situation, she and Vivian get a lot of one on one time, which means the reader gets to know Hadley even better. She’s from Ohio – like me – and her real name is Ginny, short for Virginia. I chose this because of an ongoing joke my husband and I have. When we lived in Mississippi I took my oldest child – who was around 2 at the time – to a playgroup on base, and while there I met several other moms. Only one of them I still know today – on social media, but we’ve been stationed at several places together – and she introduced herself as Ginny while another mom told me her name was Jenny. It was loud because there were a lot of toddlers, so to me it sounded like they had the same name, which I pointed out. Then Ginny said to me, “No. She’s Jenny and I’m Ginny.” Again, it sounded the same, so I was super confused, but just nodded and smiled. It took a few more get-togethers for me to understand the difference: Ginny was short for Virginia. It’s been an on-going joke throughout the years with my husband though, because I really can’t hear much of a difference and he likes to give me a hard time. FYI – Ginny is the one I still know and I also happen to know that she got her sister reading my books. If you see this, Ginny, I hope you laugh!
Brad –
There have a been a few times in my writing when I’ve named the villain after someone I know – and dislike – and this is one of those instances. I won’t go into any details about who this person was or when I met him, but I will say that my best friend recently had a run in with a Brad who was just as much of an asshole, so there must be something to the name. (Sorry all you nice Brads out there.)
Hotel Men –
We see a very diverse group of men at the Monte Carlo, which is on purpose. There’s the chubby and uneducated guy, the tattooed and scary guy, the men who look like quarterbacks, the guy in the suit, men who look like the guy next door or your science teacher, and even clean-cut guys. I wanted to be sure to highlight every type of person because depravity comes in all shapes and colors and backgrounds, and there’s no way to tell who’s good and who’s bad just by looking a person in the eye.
Jon –
This is our BIG character. He’s the guy who helped grab Vivian and Hadley, but he did it for a good reason: to save his sister. Even though I didn’t really know how far he was going to go when I wrote him, I really wanted to make him relatable to the reader. Jon was a family guy: married with a baby, he loved his little sister and she was all he had left in the world. Even Vivian can’t blame him for what he did once she gets a good look at Megan. Jon’s the type of guy everyone loved before the world ended, and he becomes exactly what Hadley needs when she hits rock bottom.
