Heather Brainerd and David Fraser stop by Penny's Tales

I have a brother/sister interview today.  Huge welcome to Heather Fraser Brainerd and David Fraser.  They have co-authored the paranormal mystery - The Sound of Sirens

Before getting down to business, one lucky commenter will win a prize, so be sure to leave your email address!

So, without any further ado.....

Tell us about your family – married?   Kids?   Where do you live

Heather: I live in Rochester, NY with my amazing photographer husband, our three boys, and a crazy rescue dog.

David: Yes, I have a wife and kids. Two of them. Two kids, that is, not two wives.

If you could travel anywhere in or out of this world, where would it be?

Heather: Scotland, to research family history and visit some castles. Or maybe Middle Earth.

David: Minneapolis, Minnesota, for two reasons. First, I'd like to stand on home plate at Target Field (I'm a Minnesota Twins fan) and I'd like to get chased away from Prince's house (again).

What is your favorite all time movie?

Heather: The Princess Bride. Romance, adventure, and humor; what could be better?

David: I'll tell you what can be better. Bromance, adventure, and very unintentional humor based on the fact that it's quite possibly the worst movie ever. Double Team, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman. I mean, the phrase "starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman" alone should tell you how bad it is.

What about weekly TV show?  Why?

Heather: I’m totally addicted to The Walking Dead. The writing, the acting, the effects — it’s all incredibly well done. Plus, zombies are cool.

David: Over the past year, most of my regular shows have ended. Burn Notice, Leverage, The Office, Fringe, iCarly, just to name a few. Now I binge watch older shows on Netflix. I recently started watching the original Star Trek with the intention of watching all episodes of all the Star Trek series, all 726 episodes, unfortunately including the animated series.

If you could have any fantasy, what would it be?

Heather: I’d live in Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom. I’m sort of obsessed with Disney World!

David: Being invited into Prince's house to watch Star Trek with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman.

Now, Tell us about your book?

The Sound of Sirens is book two in the José Picada, P.I. series. True to that series, it’s a paranormal mystery with a hefty dose of humor.

Where did you come up with the idea for your story?

The majority of the story is set in a theme park. Dave came up with the idea while on a ride with his kids!

Where can people find you?

Blog: http://drivingblindproductions.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrainerdFraser

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HFBrainerd and https://twitter.com/NotDaveFraser

Most important – where can we buy your story?

https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/coming-soon/the-sound-of-sirens-detail

Here’s an excerpt!

 Al tensed up.

I put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Settle down. Here’s what we’re going to do. In a second, we’ll casually stand up and walk over to the fence and point to all the crazy kids going past on the water slide. When I say so, we hop the fence and take off. We get the heck out of the park.”

“Before finding Dad?” Al sounded incredulous.

“Before finding Dad,” I said. “If the people that are looking for him are the same people that took him, how thorough a search do you expect?” His downcast eyes told me I had made my point. “So we get out of here and find a phone that works and get some real police on the case.”

Without missing a beat, Al stood and said as he leaned against the fence separating him from the Colorado Rapids water slides, a little louder than necessary, “Oh, man, I can’t imagine going down that thing when it's this cold out.”

I took my place next to him and said, “Ready?”

All I got in reply was a nod.

There wasn’t any need to give a countdown or shout “go!” We had talked about what we were going to do, and we just went ahead and did it, each throwing a leg over the barrier at the same time. Behind us, a bunch of voices (my educated guess would have been four) erupted, telling us to halt, to stop, to stay where we were, or something like that. They all shouted at the same time, making it kind of tough to tell what they were saying.

Five feet past the fence, we ran into our first obstacle. Well, second if you count the fence itself. The majestic Colorado Rapids, roughly two feet deep and six feet across, stood between us and freedom.  We both plunged through it without hesitation.

Al let out a loud string of curse words, ending with, “That is cold!”

I agreed with everything he said, but didn’t feel the need to say them all myself. Only after making it to the far bank, with Al’s pants and my dress completely soaked almost up to the waist, did I dare throw a look behind us. The security goons (or maybe they’d prefer “minions”—hopefully I wouldn’t have the chance to ask) weren’t even to the fence yet. Only three of them appeared to be in pursuit. The fourth was too busy talking into the sleeve of his jacket to chase us.

On the other side of the “river,” the ground sloped sharply down. We took this at a dead run, making each step more like a jump. A brief vision flashed through my head of astronauts bounding across the surface of the moon. I was pretty sure that’s what we looked like. At the bottom of the hill, there was another fence. Once we were over that one, we found ourselves back in foot traffic. We didn’t follow theme park etiquette and go around the groups meandering down the lane in front of us, instead busting right through their midst. Al offered up one hurried “excuse us” after another, but I didn’t have time for social niceties. I needed to find a place where we could disappear.

I raced through the park, the sound of laughter and smell of popcorn mixing with my rising sense of panic. Running for my life in a dress wasn’t the easiest thing I’d ever done, but at least I’d opted to wear ballet flats rather than the heels Lou had insisted I pack. It would have been my luck to evade the goons, only to twist an ankle, fall down, and break my neck in the process.

A stitch appeared in my side. My breathing was labored. “I really need to work out more” went through my mind as I tried to find refuge.

“In here!” Al called from behind me. I turned and followed him into a dark cave. Okay, so it wasn’t really a cave, but that’s how my adrenaline-besieged mind interpreted the small, dimly lit space. Al grabbed my arm and pulled me down behind a couple of big barrels.

“What is this place?’ I asked, gasping for breath and clutching my side.

“It’s the Buckaroo Bear meet-and-greet area.” Al said. He seemed to be recovering from our run. He must work out more than I do.

“So, where is he?”

“Who?” 
“Buckaroo Bear.”

Al looked at me like I was crazy. “I don’t know. He must have the night off or something. Don’t we have more important things to worry about right now?” I just nodded, still trying to catch my breath. “So, who are those guys, and why are they chasing us?”

Leave a comment below for a chance to win the prize of your choice! If your name is randomly selected, you’ll get to choose one ebook from the José Picada, P.I. Series: Deception Al Dente (book one) or The Sound of Sirens (book two).