BITE HARDER + An Interview with Anonymous-9

If you're looking for a crackin' good read, look for further than BITE HARDER by Anonymous-9. It's the sequel to her widely-acclaimed HARD BITE, which you also should have read, and in this case the sequel is quite good. It picks up right where the original left off, and we reunite with old friends and old enemies in a very exciting fashion, and we even get a tease for what HARD BITE 3 will be about, should A-9 ever get around to writing it.

The stories follow a paraplegic vigilante, who does the hunting, and his helper monkey, Sid, who does the killing. Imagine a psychotic Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin combo. Of course, Sid doesn't talk, but, like Archie, has a way with the ladies.

I asked A-9 a few questions about the new book and here they are:

1) HARD BITE ended with a certain sense of finality. Did you have a sequel in mind from the beginning?

A-9: Not at all. I only decided to do a sequel when Allan Guthrie from Blasted Heath sent me an email and said, "We're really interested in doing a series." So I sat down and figured out how to spool out the yarn.

2) You have at least two dream sequences in BITE HARDER. Do you attach significance to dreams? If so, what do you think dreams can tell us? Or was that just a convenient plot device?

A-9: I see that as two separate issues. Personally, I think dreams are our subconscious talking to us and trying to send a signal. When I write a dream sequence for a book it's always a plot device to telegraph information in a different and surreal way.

3) You've been busy with other projects, too. Can you tell us a little about CRASHING THROUGH MIRRORS and JUST SO YOU KNOW I'M NOT DEAD?

A-9: CRASHING THROUGH MIRRORS is my latest and it's a noir novelette set in music-industry L.A. True to my nature, it's action-packed, can be read in about an hour, and delves into a sensitive and verboten subject. I'm gratified that readers really like the characters and are calling for a novel. No matter what I write people say they want it to be longer. Which is a lot better than closing it up because it's boring, I guess.

JUST SO YOU KNOW I'M NOT DEAD is a collection of three short stories that I issued as an e-book to tell readers that I was still alive and kicking. It's a writing "sampler" and I frequently give it away for free. But even at full price (which Amazon makes me charge) it's only 99 cents.

4) What's next from Anonymous-9?

A-9: DREAMING DEEP is one of the stories in the JUST SO YOU KNOW I'M NOT DEAD collection. It was originally published in a HORRORFACTORY anthology and is a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft who is widely accepted as one of the grandfathers of modern American horror. I pitched DREAMING DEEP as a novelette to Andrew Byers of Uncanny Books, who was looking for just the right project. Uncanny runs along the fantasy, sci-fi, horror lines. The fact that the story already had a track record and great reviews was a factor in the sale. The project was contracted and I had an advance check nine days after my pitch.

5) If there was one question you'd like to be asked in an interview, what would it be, and what's your answer?

A-9: Here's a first class ticket to Las Vegas. Can we finish this interview over cigarettes and a Polynesian Piledriver at Frankie's Tiki Room?

BD: Hahaha, thanks, but I'm a cigar guy. Cigarettes will kill you. I'll bring some Montecristos for you to try.

You can buy CRASHING THROUGH MIRRORS here.

You can buy BITE HARDER here.