Bootleggers Book One by Paul Rudd - Fantasy/Science Fiction - “We’ve gone from zero to apocalypse in six days.”
Book One
by Paul Rudd
Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction
Publisher: Ravenous Roadkill Publishing
& Wild Wolf Publishing
Date of Publication: 15th December 2019
ISBN-10 : 1675816727
ISBN-13 : 978-1675816721
Number of pages: 497
Word Count: 136,697
Cover Artist: Southern Stiles Design
“We’ve gone from zero to apocalypse in six days.”
Welcome to 1987, part of the era of VHS and arcade games.
A time when teenagers on BMX’s create worlds of imagination.
The Four Horsemen, Tommy, Mikey, Kurt and Ted, need something new to spice up their gatherings, because, well, boys will be boys. When a stranger approaches Mikey with bootlegged tapes in the trunk of his car, Mikey isn’t interested, but the boardgame the man presents might just do the trick.
The Horsemen become Bootleggers to play this life-altering game, assuming avatars with a twist to every tale and forging into the realms created by a sadistic madman known as Mr. Nobody.
Everything is at risk, family and friends, and their entire town; they must play, or everyone dies.
When folk are murdered, the boys know there is only one way to end the game. It is time to change the rules and kick some ass.
Book Trailer:
Interview with Paul Rudd
Welcome to JB’s Bookworms with Brandy Mulder (or Character Madness and Musings)A) Thanks for having me today. Having the chance to promote my story is very much appreciated. And I’ll just get this out of the way first, no, I’m not the actor, lol.
You're welcome. Tell us about your newest book.
A) My latest book is called Bootleggers. The story is 80s based and there is a mountain of pop culture references. The story involves a group of geeky teenagers who agree to play a board game, but without realizing the terrifying consequences. The best way I can describe the story is, a mashup of the humour of the Goonies, crossed with the adventure of Jumanji and the horror of Stanger Things, all with my own unique twist. It really needs to be read to be believed. I can’t give anything else away without spoiling it.
Writing isn’t easy. What was the most difficult thing you dealt with when writing your newest book?
A) Writing has never been easy for me, however, for Bootleggers, the most difficult thing was stopping myself from writing it, lol. I have never enjoyed writing a story as much as I did with this one. It took me back to one of the best times of my life, my youth and the 80s.
Tell us a little bit about your writing career.
A) I started writing in 2007 as I was suffering with anxiety amongst other things. The only way I could deal with it at the time was to put my mind elsewhere. I decided to write a story about a Megalodon shark which terrorizes the ARC, a floating city off the coast of Hawaii. I’ve loved sharks since I was a kid, and it just seemed the right thing for me to take on. It’s by far my best seller, because at the time of release there was only a handful of shark novels, Jaws, Steve Alten’s Meg, Extinct, and a few older novels. Sharc was well received, as was the Audiobook.
Sharc was book one, followed by Sharc Bait (book 2 of the series), London Warriors, Wild Wild Dead followed. Then came the Audiobooks, and an anthology etc. It’s been hard to get noticed to be honest. Without a mainline publisher to promote, I’ve had to do a lot myself. I guess it’s just one of the those things that all authors have to go through.
They say Hind-sight is 20/20. If you could give advice to the writer you were the first time you sat down to write, what would it be?
A) The advice would be, to work hard on your projects and believe in yourself. So many times, I just thought, ‘Why am I doing this? I am no writer’. Self-belief can get you a long way, but dedication and hard work gets you over the line.
What was your most difficult scene to write?
A) There is a scene on a spaceship where a girl becomes a Barbarella sort of character. It was difficult because it could have easily become a low-key sex scene, and it’s not that sort of book, or story. I am not sure if that is the correct phrasing. Basically, the villain, a roguish pilot in this scene, brushes her leg with his hand, and she transforms into this woman she always dreamed of becoming. She becomes aroused, as I always remembered Barbarella being quite raunchy when I was younger, and the story is based around old movies, characters and generally most things I remember when I was a kid. It will make sense in the story, trust me.
Are themes a big part of your stories, or not so much?
A) I try to be as unique with my stories as I can. Granted I do have favourite movies, who doesn’t, so people might think this story is similar to blah, blah, blah. For example, with Sharc, people now look at it as being like Steve Alten’s Meg. The similarity is just a Megalodon shark, and I am a huge shark fan, so why not write what about you like. There is no point in writing about history, or a romance novel, as I would not know where to start. I wrote Sharc before the flood of shark stories available on Amazon now, and the SyFy movies. I was there before most people had the idea, but it is an interesting concept, so people will continue to be interested and write about it.
Bootleggers has everything in it that I love. I just added my unique twist to the story. The feedback so far has been excellent, so I must be doing something right.
What are you working on now?
A) I have lots and lots of fingers in pies, lol. The main projects I am producing are an Audiobook for Ningen. A story I released about a mythical sea creature. Plus, another Audiobook for an anthology I co-wrote with my publishing partner, Richard Rhys-Jones. My main goal now though is to write Bootleggers 2. I have started it already, and I have the bug again. Four thousand words down and I’ve only been going a few days.
Is there a release date planned?
A) This year for all of them, if I’m lucky.
Who is your favorite character from your own stories, and why?
A) The boys from Bootleggers, Tommy, Kurt, Ted and Mikey. They all have a bit of me in them.
Most writers were readers as children. What was your favorite book in grade school?
A) That’s easy. The Lord of the Rings. It was one of the first books I read and finished as a kid. I have loved the story ever since, and it will always be my favourite story till the day I die.
What are your plans for future projects?
A) My plan is to get my stories noticed as much as I can, so I can give up the day job and I can just write and promote till I’m old and content that my writing career is over.
Is there anything you would like to add before we finish?
A) I would just like to say thank you for allowing me to spread my wings a little, and hopefully get some people on the Paul Rudd Bandwagon. Getting noticed is difficult, and I need all the help I can get.
Good luck with Bootleggers, and thank you for being with us today.
Excerpt:
Monday …08:10 A.M.
THE DOWNPOUR eased up just before Tommy left home. Still, he chose to take the school bus rather than cycle. The teenager exited the bus and made his way up the driveway towards school, not caring that he was wishing away the day.
Some of the Mids, with their side ponytails, structured shoulder jackets, and baggy, cropped trousers mingled in the courtyard. The term ‘Mids’ came from Tommy and the other Horsemen, for the kids who were not geeky enough to be a nerd, and not cool enough to in the clique; so middling, somewhere in between.
A few jocks sat on the handrail lining the eight steps leading up to the mustard-colored entrance doors. The athletic teens were taking it in turns to knock books out of kids’ hands as they passed. When a kid bent over to pick them up, a kick up the backside sent the kid tumbling down the steps. Hilarity ensued for the brainless minority.
A fashion parade of cheerleaders, sporting big perms and hair, shared a mix of lace gloves, leg warmers and cut-off sweatshirts. Showing a little flesh over their high waist jeans, leggings and miniskirts, the clique watched the world go by from their perches on the Football team players car bonnets.
A few of the nerds were gathered under a tree, admiring something in a magazine. Oversized blazers appeared to be on the dork menu, with a side of one-tone shirts and thick-rim spectacles. Tommy squeezed his coat tighter round his chest, to hide his own blazer.
He couldn’t see the magazine cover, which annoyed him a little. Rather than dwell on it, he looked for his friends within the few hundred kids currently converging on the high school. He couldn’t see Kurt or Ted, but he spotted Mikey sprinting across the courtyard, his ruddy features noticeable before he doubled over to catch his breath.
“Hey, Mikey, sorry I didn’t meet you at the park entrance this morning. I took the bus.”
Mikey shook his head, “You … need …”
“To save little Timmy from the well?”
Mikey shook his head, “To …”
“Do the truffle shuffle?”
“To …”
“Learn the ways of the force? Give me a clue here, Lassie.”
“Hide.”
Tommy’s smile faded as he spotted, over Mikey’s shoulder, Zack’s car screeching into the car park. Skidding across the wet surface, the car came to an abrupt halt a few inches shy of a teacher’s parked car.
Mikey jabbed a finger at Zack’s Corvette, and then drew a thumb across his jugular. Tommy knew exactly what his friend meant.
“I didn’t do anything to upset Zack.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
“What did I do?”
“Daisy.”
“I didn’t do her.”
“You kissed her.”
“I didn’t kiss her; she kissed me. Wait. You told him?”
Mikey shook his head.
“Then who did?”
“West!”
Tommy swung towards a furious teenager. Zack was around six-foot, with wide shoulders, slicked back hair, and a George Michael six o’clock shadow. The kid never took off his beloved leather jacket, which would have been a good thing on any other day. Today he removed it, showing off a plain black t-shirt, and a look that said he wanted to crack some heads. He wore ripped jeans and happened to be the instigator of the trend that was now running throughout the school like a virus.
Like the courage crawling up his ass crack, Tommy had nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide. And the beating of all beatings was headed his way at light speed.
EAGER to witness the early morning bloodshed, every kid in shouting distance surrounded the two boys.
“Fight, fight, fight …”
The chant seemed to get louder as the spectator’s circle started to force the boys towards each other.
Zack vaulted a school bench like a hurdler, leaving Tommy wondering if he would ever look so cool while doing the same thing. He spotted Daisy forcing her way through the crowd. She was shouting and trying to get to Zack.
The older kid ran towards Tommy, clenching his fists. “You think you can kiss my girl, and I wouldn’t’ find out.”
“Zack, wait, it’s not what you think.”
“I knew you had a thing for her. Well, it’s time to pay the price.”
Tommy held up his hands. Zack’s punch went through the middle of them, and the darkness descended faster than a closing Death Star blast door.
“I can see the light …”
THE DESIRE to be in Daisy’s arms came out of the blue. The tightness of their embrace, the thrumming of her heart as he pulled her closer, her hands clasping the base of his spine, her perfect eyes taking in the love outpouring from his devoted heart. His lips locking with hers, the smoothness of her tongue, the kiss, a moment hidden from time.
Tommy’s love for her he could not deny, even as the school prom quickly faded away, right before his eyes. Replaced by a dull, overcast cloud front, and raindrops, hundreds of them, running down his cheeks, his throbbing skull reminded him that he was just hit by a meat meteor.
Amid the downpour was Ted, smiling as manically as the Riddler.
“Ground control to Major Tom?” he said, shoving Tommy’s shoulder.
“Shut the hell up, Ted.” Mikey jostled Ted to one side and knelt next to his best friend.
It hurt watching Tommy hit the grass like a dead weight. And then to listen to every kid in the crowd laugh at the fight that ended before it even started.
“Where am I?” Tommy tried to lift his head, despite it feeling as heavy as a bowling ball.
“You’re on Mongo, Flash. And Ming just kicked your blonde ass.”
“Is everything a joke to you, Ted?” Mikey snapped.
“Not everything. Well, I say not everything, what I mean to say is …”
Mikey turned back to Tommy. “Are you okay, dude?”
“How long was I out?”
“About four centuries. You even overshot Buck Rogers,” Ted said, leaning over Mikey’s shoulder. “We had to wait until they created time travel, so that we could come back, tell you to duck. I guess we were too late. Damn time travel traffic. And don’t get me started on that Delorean. I mean, who chooses a Delorean over a Trans AM?”
Mikey turned in a flash. “Ted, as usual, you’re not helping.”
“Don’t bite my head off. It’s not my fault he felt up your sister.”
“Ted!”
“Okay, okay …” Ted started dispersing the crowd. “There’s nothing to see.
This is not the kid you’re looking for. You can go about your business. Move along, move along.”
Tommy struggled to take a knee. Most of the kids were still in the circle, pointing his way and ignoring Ted’s attempts to move them.
“Like the kids around here need any more ammunition to throw my way. Now they think I’m a love criminal.”
“Ignore them,” Mikey said.
“Did I do well?”
“If doing well is getting floored with one punch, then you aced it, dude,” Kurt said from over Mikey’s shoulder. “Oh, crap. Here comes the Whip.”
The gathering scattered, leaving Ted standing alone in the dispersing circle.
“Yeah, you better run. Next time I catch you all cheering, I’ll kick your asses myself.” Ted swiveled on his heels and almost collided with a grey-haired man in a pressed suit and waistcoat. “Oh, fu–”
“Don’t you have a class to get to, Theodore?”
“That’s an affirmative, sir.”
Whitmore looked down his nose at Ted’s rucksack. Ted smiled, leaned down to pick it up, and slinked off, grabbing Kurt on the way.
To the kids at Rosewood Falls High, Principal Marshall Whipmore ruled the corridors like this generation’s Wyatt Earp. Rumors were rife of the grey-haired disciplinarian’s horsewhip never being too far away from a pupil’s legs, or his trusty ruler from the back of a kid’s palms. The punishment rumors had yet to be proven legitimate.
“You two boys care to tell me what you were doing out here?” Whipmore asked.
“Nothing, sir. He just tripped,” Mikey replied.
“I didn’t ask you, Mikey. I asked Tommy. Well?”
“I tripped over a tree root sir. I didn’t see it. Damn things are everywhere.”
“It must have been some stumble, considering your eye?”
Tommy reached for his left eye and felt a lump the size of melon three inches from his eyebrow. “Er, yeah.” He glared at Mikey and mouthed, what the f***.
“May I suggest you go and see the nurse, and get some ice on that lump?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll go straight away.”
Whipmore waited until Tommy passed by before he said, “And if I catch you fighting again, it will be the whip, boy. You hear me?”
About the Author:
No, he’s not the actor, or Ant Man, Paul Rudd, the author, is UK based and
tends to delve into Sci-Fi/horror/fantasy genres.
Sharks have been a passion since he first watched Jaws at an age far too young
to print. Writing about sharks, and in particular, the prehistoric Megalodon
sharks, seemed an obvious route to take, and so began the creation of Paul’s
debut novel Sharc.
Released in 2012, Sharc led to Sharc Bait (book 2 of the series), London
Warriors followed, and then Wild Wild Dead, along with the Chronicles of
Supernatural Warfare. Shark Spawn and Bootleggers, the latest release (first
published in 2020).
All of Paul’s releases can be found under the Ravenous Roadkill banner, and
Ebooks available through Wild Wolf Publishing. Audiobooks for Sharc, Sharc
Bait, Wild Wild Dead, London Warriors, Shark Spawn and Bootleggers are all
available through Audible.
Please check out the Ravenous Roadkill website at www.ravenousroadkill.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/Sharcwriter
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