Julz Duxbury

Australia

Age 62

J A has been writing since primary school as a kid and has ventured outside science fiction to create a refreshing take on a popular genre.

She is interested in a wide variety of music, having studied the piano at an early age and paints land and sea scapes and is planning to expand to city scapes soon.

J A and Stu own cheeky cats and their plan is to take them on a very long road trip around Australia.

Troy is Vlad’s Battlemaster and lives with humans and vampires in a Stronghold that has been traveling
dimensions (since he was ten) because of a scienƟfic experiment gone wrong.
The Stronghold travels through many dimensions, one in which Troy finds he is immune to the effects of
vampires and another where he learns he is Vlad’s (the Clan Leader) last son. This separates them for a
Ɵme.
While they are traveling, a spy enters the Stronghold, kidnaps Troy and his lover, gains sensitive
informaƟon from Vlad and leaves. Vlad and Troy spend their spare time trying to figure out his reasons.
In another dimension, Troy is converted himself to a vampire by scientific method and manages to refrain
from feeding on his lover in his first, manic feeding. He is the first vampire to successfully resist a
human.
A few dimensions later the Stronghold is involved in a firefight where both Troy and his best friend, Tig,
are shot down and severely injured. On their way to rescue, the ground collapses and Tig sacrifices his
life for Troy knowing his own death was imminent.
Troy resides over Tig’s funeral where his foster brother, Jackar accuses him of killing Tig then throws
both of them from a balcony. Troy uses his last energy to save Jackar even as he falls to the ground.
When Troy has recovered, he converts Jackar to a vampire only to have him change to a Hordebeast with
a mind totally focused on feeding on humans.
In his next adventure, Troy is betrayed and taken to Vlad’s evil twin who tries to take his loyalty from his
own father. He finds the spy is his own twin and converts him to distract the evil Vlad during the battle
between the clan leaders.
The next adventure takes him to Valentine’s dimension where he is captured and Valentine tries to take
his loyalty. Vlad kills Valentine but not before Valentine has planted a failsafe device in the Stronghold.
The device is in Geophis’ (the scientist who converted Troy) rooms and Troy triggers it to “ready” by
approaching it. Investigation proves that anyone of Vlad’s bloodline will trigger. A proximity-based
trigger is activated and further investigation renders it temporarily safe for two vampires to carry it
away.
Vlad chooses to visit a dimension then calls on Troy. Troy is betrayed by a high-technology civilisation
but wins through. Vlad bestows the dimension on Troy to rule on Vlad’s behalf as Vlad and the
Stronghold continue to their home dimension.

Romelia:   WHAT IS A SIGNIFICANT WAY YOUR BOOK HAS CHANGED SINCE THE FIRST DRAFT?

J.A. Duxbury:   I had to take out a few really good scenes.

Romelia:   WHAT PERSPECTIVES OR BELIEFS HAVE YOU CHALLENGED WITH THIS WORK?

J.A. Duxbury:   My vampires are different to any others.

Romelia:   WHAT INSPIRED THE IDEA FOR YOUR BOOK?

J.A. Duxbury:   I write from my dreams.

Romelia:   HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR BOOK’S IDEAL READER?

J.A. Duxbury:   Anyone, really. It could be a family book, or parents or a young adult.

Romelia:   HOW MUCH RESEARCH DID YOU NEED TO DO FOR YOUR BOOK?

J.A. Duxbury:   I didn’t do any research. It is a purely science fiction book.

Romelia:   HOW IMPORTANT WAS PROFESSIONAL EDITING TO YOUR BOOK’S DEVELOPMENT?

J.A. Duxbury:   Very important. I wanted to be sure that it would be a book that I could be proud of and it needed to be edited correctly.

Romelia:   WHAT WAS YOUR HARDEST SCENE TO WRITE, AND WHY?

J.A. Duxbury:   The main character’s best friend’s funeral. It was because of the main character’s role in his friend’s death and how it affected him.

Romelia:   WHAT CHARACTERS IN YOUR BOOK ARE MOST SIMILAR TO YOU OR TO PEOPLE YOU KNOW?

J.A. Duxbury:   None, that I’m aware of. As I write in the first person, there’s probably a bit of me in the main character, but that would be about it.

Romelia:   HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK?

J.A. Duxbury:   It took about six months to write.

Romelia:   HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE TITLE FOR YOUR BOOK?

J.A. Duxbury:   It was a bit of brainstorming with my editor.

Romelia:   WOULD YOU AND YOUR MAIN CHARACTER GET ALONG?

J.A. Duxbury:   Absolutely, we would.

Romelia:   IF YOU COULD MEET YOUR CHARACTERS, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO THEM?

J.A. Duxbury:   Can you please tidy up our dimension?

Romelia:   WHAT IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS LIKE? ARE YOU MORE OF A PLOTTER OR A PANTSER?

J.A. Duxbury:   I’m a pantser for the first draft, then I plan out the storyline for the next drafts.

Romelia:   WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR WRITING SPACE TO HELP YOU STAY FOCUSED?

J.A. Duxbury:   Not a lot. I can write even if there’s something going on behind me.

Romelia:   IF YOU WERE TO WRITE A SPIN-OFF ABOUT A SIDE CHARACTER, WHICH WOULD YOU PICK?

J.A. Duxbury:   I would probably pick Fernid.

Romelia:   IF YOU COULD SPEND A DAY WITH ANOTHER POPULAR AUTHOR, WHOM WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

J.A. Duxbury:   Probably Stephen King. My first choice was either Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton or Marion Zimmer Bradley. A little impossible there!

Romelia:   WHAT IS YOUR SCHEDULE LIKE WHEN YOU’RE WRITING A BOOK?

J.A. Duxbury:   It depends on the day and who is at home. I definitely get at least an hour in writing every day but sometimes I get more.

Romelia:   HAVE YOU EVER TRAVELED AS RESEARCH FOR YOUR BOOK?

J.A. Duxbury:   Not for this particular book. I have travelled for research for other works, though.

Romelia:   WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WRITING SNACK OR DRINK?

J.A. Duxbury:   Favourite all-time drink is Coca-Cola but favourite snack is celery sticks.

Romelia:   HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE WHEN YOU FINISH YOUR BOOK?

J.A. Duxbury:   Sit on Facebook for a while, then binge paranormal on YouTube!

Romelia:   WHAT RISKS HAVE YOU TAKEN WITH YOUR WRITING THAT HAVE PAID OFF?

J.A. Duxbury:   Probably not following „The rules”.

Romelia:   WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU GOOGLED YOURSELF AND WHAT DID YOU FIND?

J.A. Duxbury:   I googled myself last week and found all my books available in all types of bookstores!

Romelia:   WHAT IS YOUR KRYPTONITE AS A WRITER?

J.A. Duxbury:   Romance. Oh, and full-on comedy. I can’t do either. I can put a little romance in my work and the occasional funny scene but can’t write in the genres.

Romelia:   TELL US SOMETHING FUNNY FROM YOUR ADULT LIFE.

J.A. Duxbury:   Having my partner be targeted by Jimeon (stand-up comic) at a concert.

Romelia:   DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN A FEW SENTENCES. TELL US SOMETHING WE DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU AND SOMETHING YOU HATE ABOUT THE WORLD.

J.A. Duxbury:   I have been story-telling since I was about 8, I used to play competition piano, I used to own a pistol cross-bow, I have an undocumented Siberian cat. I paint and sketch and cross-stitch and I hate how the world has become so violent across just about every country.

Contact: Charli.duxbury@gmail.com