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New Spin-off series coming in 2020!
During late winter or early spring of 2020, the first of what will be a spin-off series based on characters and locations of the Inspector Thomas Sullivan Thriller series will be released. Written as novellas and priced accordingly, each book in the series is meant to provide a short, entertaining read while filling in the back history of prominent secondary characters.
The first release in the series is Friends in Low Places. This noir style work tells the story of Joe Maynard, the slightly eccentric owner of Joe’s, the unofficial office of both Sully and Father Nathan.
Future releases in the series will include Dolls, Dames, and Danger, a story of what happens when three somewhat naive young women head out for a night on the town. When the town is Capital City, it’s not always a good idea.
This story focuses on Sarah, Katrina (Sully’s adult daughter), Jennifer (Markeson’s beautiful cyborg), and a band of bounty hunters.
Other characters to be featured in the series in future releases include Father Nathan, Bagley, the reporter, and Sully himself.
City of Broken Lights – Noir Conventions and the Story title
Settling on the name of a novel can be a challenge. Sometimes the title just comes to you, other times you change the working title as the novel progresses, and still other times the title is what inspires the story.
In the case of City of Broken Lights, the latest edition to the Thomas Sullivan Hardboiled Noir From The Future series, the title is a play on noir conventions of storytelling.
The city the story take place in, New Paris, is a play on the actual nickname of the actual city of Paris, The City of Lights. Like any major city, the real Paris or New Paris 500 years in the future, there is a grimy underbelly that people would prefer to ignore. Like any other city, past, present, or future, the people who live in these neighborhoods are a mixed lot. You’ll find some bad characters, quite a few who are “grey,” with the remaining largely being good people trapped in circumstances beyond their control.
The name New Paris works with two common themes in the noir style stories. One is the duality of man, humanity is capable of both good and evil, light and dark, but the most common character trait is to be grey, a mixture of both. Throughout City of Broken Lights characters appear who are varying shades of grey. Some were once good and are now bad. Others are bad but have moments of light, where the character’s remaining good shines.
Many of the people in New Paris are victims simply because they live in the city. Other’s a victims because of poor choices they made and still others are victims because of the actions of others they cannot control. Tragedy simply enters into their life and in classic noir fashion, there is nothing the character can do to stop tragedy from striking.
The Private Investigator is often the protagonist in a noir story. This convention is used frequently because the P.I. can be both good and bad, light and dark. His intentions are good, but if necessary to achieve his goal or to save the victim, the P.I. can and will break the law.
Sully, and his partner Sarah, are unique in many ways, not just because he’s part cyborg and she’s a clone. Both are officers of the law who from time-to-time work as private investigators. Sarah is prone to going where she wants and ignoring the fact a search warrant is required. Sully has no qualms about beating information he needs out of someone, nor does he think twice about pulling the trigger if it means saving the life of someone he thinks deserves saving.
Father Nathan, a man with a murky past of his own, usually serves as Sully’s conscience, helping the cynical cop to see what is just and good. Both men live by a moral code not recognized by society. Sully seeks justice and truth. Our good Father lives by God’s teachings, an ever more difficult task as humanity expands into the galaxy and turns its back on what was once the basis of human society in western civilization.
Like any good hardboiled noir hero, the two friends souls are darkened by the shadow of shades of grey. Threaten an innocent individual, break the law, or live in an unjust manner, Sully has no qualms about giving the individual a beating, shooting them, or destroying their lives. More restrained than his lawman friend, Father Nathan has a pair of fists and knows how to use them. Threaten one of his flock of disadvantaged and lost souls and see what happens.
Sarah lives in constant conflict, both internal and external. Her very existence is against the law. For reasons ranging from harvesting her internal organs to her original owners tracking Sarah down, she has reasons to be wary. Naive at times due to her actual, chronological age, Sarah is very aware sexual predators are attracted to her because of her looks and the vulnerable air she possesses as an outcast from society.
Internally, Sarah struggles with anxiety and doubts about her humanity because she is a clone. Anxiety she in part deals with by exploring faith in Father Nathan’s parish church.
Like Sully and Father Nathan, the beautiful clone has a good heart. Cross Sarah, threaten Sully, or reveal you’re a sexual predator, and the darkness in her heart emerges. Never challenge a clone who has the ability to hide in plain sight to a fight!
Just as the three main characters of the series are shades of grey, many of the characters of City of Broken Lights reflect the shadows cast upon their own lives. Many are the broken streetlights in New Paris, reflecting the imperfections of the rich and powerful as well as the poor and downtrodden. Even where the lights shine brightly, the shadow of wrongdoing is cast.
Crime noir as a genre examines the darkness of humanity, the cruelty of the human existence, and the haphazard way the innocent are caught up in events not of their making. Often the end is not a happy one.
Death comes to many in the noir genre and the cast of characters in City of Broken Lights is certainly not spared this fate. Nor are the human institutions of government, politics, community, and the church. Even the institutions of humanity take part in the struggle between good and evil, light and dark.
City of Broken Lights will be available from Amazon on June 4th, 2019!
If The Inspector Sullivan Series Was On Netflix
It could happen. Stranger things have happened. Of course, as part of my demands I want to be able to have a say in the casting process. So here’s my dream list of actors and the characters they would play if my stories made it on to Netflix.
Inspector Thomas Sullivan: Sully is a tough one to cast. The actual actor has to be BIG. Not fat, tall (6’6” at least) and in great shape. He has to be believable as a hardened tough guy with a hidden heart of gold. The actor also has to be enough of a heartthrob that women still find him attractive in spite of his facial scar and cybernetic eye.
I can tell you for certain who Sully won’t be played by, Tom Cruise. Not because Cruise doesn’t have the acting chops to play any male character I could come up with, but because he’s short. I love the Jack Reacher character and as far as portraying Reacher’s attitude, Cruise was fine. But Reacher is the same size as Sully and Tom Cruise physically wasn’t believable as Jack Reacher.
So, since this is my fantasy, I have three actors in mind. The best fit in my mind is Clint Eastwood. We just need to use a time machine and bring the Clint who played Dirty Harry forward in time to play Sully. Clint has the size, the stare, and best of all, the attitude to play Sully. Besides, I could write cool lines for him to say before he kills the villain.
If I can’t cast Clint, then I want Tom Selleck. He’s big enough, handsome, and while he’s best known for playing another Thomas, Thomas Magnum of Magnum P.I. fame, Selleck can play serious roles.
Since time machines aren’t currently available, I’ll settle for Clint Eastwood’s son, Scott Eastwood. He’s been paying his dues as an actor and if the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, everything should be fine. If not, I’ll give Dad a call and have him pay a visit to the set to “motivate” his son.
Sarah: There is only one actress who could possibly play the role of Sarah and that’s scifi geek/nerd Summer Glau. Sarah has a bit of the childish imp of River Tam in her. She also has the cold standoffish nature of Cameron from TSCC. Glau herself is oft described as “adorkable” in person which is the endearing side of Sarah very few people get to see.
Casting Summer would at least generate immediate interest for the series as Summer has an extremely loyal following of fans based on her performances in Firefly (River Tam), Serenity (River Tam), TSCC (Cameron), and other shows.
Summer can handle firearms, is a martial artist, and is a former prima ballerina, all of which are skills and attributes necessary to portray Sarah. Glau has proven she can convey a lot of emotion and information without using a lot of words, another skill necessary to play Sarah. She moves with the grace needed to slip in and out of view as well as the actual athleticism to roam the city rooftops of Capital City.
Father Nathan: This one is a lot tougher. The actor has to be big, like Sully. He has to be cheerful, approachable, and friendly one moment and menacing and deadly the next. While pleasant and funny most of the time, Father Nathan is the character who serves as the conscience of his friends and is the only person who will stand up to Sully every single time when Sully needs to be taken down a peg or two.
I could see Tom Selleck as Father Nathan but I’m not sold on the idea. So at this particular time, I can’t pin down one actor specifically that I would insist on having cast to play Father Nathan.
Just for the fun of it, I’d love to hear suggestion from readers as to who would make a great Father Nathan. My only limiting factor is I insist the actor be tall and in shape.
Markeson: The bent cop and on going villain who is Sully’s nemesis of sorts is a hard one to cast. I finally decided on Ed Harris because he can play the good guy and the dark villain. Markeson may be bent, but he’s not all evil, like real life, he’s neither black nor white, but grey. At times he’s as deadly as any serial killer. If the right circumstances present themselves, Markeson is as effective a cop as Sully. His motivation is usually wrong, but the results are good.
Since the budget is not part of the equation, the production can afford Mr. Harris along with the other stars mentioned.
If Ed Harris is not available, my second choice is Liam Neeson. Neeson is more than capable of playing the killer and has the looks that would appeal to Markeson’s string of bimbos as Sarah likes to call them.
Josephson: I’m open for suggestions. The actor needs to be able to convey competency and naiveté at the same time. The kid hero worships Sully but needs to be able to grow with the character as the series progresses. He also has to be able to bicker with Sarah like a sibling when appropriate.
Bones: As I mentioned earlier, cost is not a factor since the producers have wisely opened their purses and have a whatever it costs mindset to make sure the show succeeds.
Bones as I see him can only be played by Morgan Freeman. He’s got the voice, the grizzled aged looks of a man who’s seen too much, and he can definitely play the role of a crusty, paranoid medical examiner.
Ralph the cab driver: Steve Buscemi is the only actor I can envision playing Ralph, the ex-con cab driver who is the husband of Alice, the waitress and matriarch of Joe’s Place. Buscemi is the ultimate character actor and is able to add great depth to supporting characters.
Who would you like to see cast in a role in the Netflix (I can only wish) version of The Inspector Thomas Sullivan Thriller Series?
Drop me an e-mail at SciFiThriller@kcsivils.com and make your suggestions. I’ll share them with my readers. Feel free to make suggestions for characters I haven’t covered yet like Alice or Joe Maynard.
Death’s Cold Touch to be released soon!
The fifth installment in the Inspector Thomas Sullivan Thriller series, Death’s Cold Touch, will be released soon! The ebook version will be available from Amazon, Kobo, iBooks and other ebook retailers.
Book description:
Nothing lasts forever.
Certainly not in Capital City on the frozen planet Beta Prime.
Inspector Thomas Sullivan wanted nothing more than dull, routine days of police work. Sullivan’s young partner Sarah wanted to leave her past behind and forge a new life for herself, free from fear.
But a man with a cybernetic right eye and two cybernetic hands who came to Beta Prime to escape his past should know better. So should Sully’s partner, the pretty young clone with secrets of her own.
What starts as random murders escalates into terrorism as four serial killers work together to turn the relative tranquility of Capital City into chaos. As the body count mounts, it becomes clear something else is going on.
If a sinister force has its way, the future of Capital City will be destroyed.
On a frozen planet when death comes for you, there is no escaping its cold touch.
For those who’ve read the previous installments in the series, Death’s Cold Touch is a bit different. The story is narrated by Sarah, the clone who is Sully’s partner.
Coming soon is the sixth installment in the series, City of Broken Lights.
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