fuonlyknew

Hagen and his surviving team members must sneak into the castle and devise
a way to destroy the experimental labs creating diabolical creatures.
Hagen is horrified to find Nazis and scientists with no scruples, and
at the most inconvenient time, he learns that he may be in love with
one of his teammates, an Irishman named Liam. In order to protect his
love and his friends, Hagen must feign nonchalance amidst pure
degeneracy and suspicion. Hagen soon discovers, though, that he is in
over his head.

What may not only redeem him, but also save his lover and friends, is a
childhood past and a darkness lurking deep inside him, just waiting
to be engaged.

~~~~~

Wanda is my pen name for Young Adult novels and she is my maternal grandmother. Bentley is my mother’s maiden name. Summers is the surname of my father.

I think somewhere when coming up with an author name I wanted to honor all the people who had a strong influence on my creativity, aspirations to be a writer, and the drive to keep me going despite all the obstacles author’s face when starting.

Those people I wanted to acknowledge were my father, mother and maternal grandparents.

Wanda, my grandmother, was a survivor of the Great Depression. Her family lost their farm forcing them to move into the city and she had to quit school during middle school in order to work and help the family with money. My grandmother was not known as a great listener and looking back, she had severe Attention Deficit Disorder. Conversations never stayed on topic and she’d lose interest if you were talking. She was certainly one of the most friendly person you’d ever know, but somewhere down deep, I think there was a emotional disconnect.

She was married to my grandfather but that was a cantankerous relationship. Before my grandfather I gathered she had been in loved with her first husband who had been electrocuted; and I’m guessing there was other personal history that contained some trauma that people of that generation did not share. I discovered my mother had never been close to her as a child even though everyone in the neighborhood considered my grandmother to be a saint. No doubt she loved my mother the most, but I’m guessing somewhere along the line she forgot how to express love or perhaps there was too much risk in acknowledging her love to another who was so close to her.

But Wanda one thing was certain. She was a prodigy in painting and drawing; though she never received any formal training she left what I consider great pieces of arts. To this day I keep one of her paintings with me wherever I have moved.  An Indian woman looking over a cliff out into a sea. When I saw the photograph she used to make the painting I realized the person looking out was not a woman, but actually an Indian man. She had transformed the cheekbones, skin texture and hair to create this mysterious and beautiful woman. I had this tingling sensation then. I realized she was a true romantic. Someone who only knew how to express love through her artwork. This painting has become a talisman for me over the years.

Her husband Walter, whom she married years later in her life, was a vociferous reader. He was also an ex-Catholic, a self-proclaimed atheist and had a very morbid sense of humor. Every week in the summer we always one made one stop at an old fashion ice cream parlor and then to the library to return his books and borrow more. From him I learned he valued books and stories contained in them than ever did of material goods or money. He also loved history and it was teachings, rather than any formal school, where I learned much of my U.S. History.

My father was a structural engineer who had a knack for what I would simply call divergent thinking. He seemed to have an inborn sense of thinking “outside the box” and look at problems with a singular perspective I’ve never yet seen. I’d say that gave my creativity a sense of complexity that allows me to put unique spins on plots.

And my mother was a straightforward woman who has and probably always be a reader of history. She was never a World War II buff as she detested the Nazi regime and the stories that went with them. But she did always have a sense of appreciation of not just the history before her, but the history she was living. In everything I write I am mindful of the history of each character and how those past experiences create internal motives for this character to now make decisions.

As I wrote Wehr Wolff Castle I had a deep appreciation for the people who shaped me. I attempted a story with a twisting plot with some complexity, likable characters, narrated a romance, added some morbidity along with dark humor; and everything was indeed embedded in the Nazi Germany time period.

~~~~~

Bryce writes popular fiction genres meant for all audiences under Bryce
Bentley Summers, and pens gay fiction under B. Bentley Summers,
although he’d argue that anyone would enjoy his gay fiction pieces.

Bryce’s full time work is at the Veteran Affairs where he has been employed
for five years. He has extensive history of working with people
diagnosed with PTSD and he used these experiences when writing Fresh Meat.

The novel, Fresh Meat, recently won Dan Poynter’s Global eBook Awards for
best gay fiction. This piece is more than just a book, but embraces
gay identity while deploring the hateful violence that happens in the
U.S. prison system, and across the world. The book parallels the
vicious Man-Punk prison system to the long ago abolished American
Slavery System. However, Fresh Meat is not non-fiction, but fiction,
and it’s genre is best described as Supernatural Horror.

Rotville and The Zombie Squad, are two of Bryce’s recent completions. The
Zombie Squad is a teen Post-Apocalyptic Thriller that recently
received Reader’s Favorite 5-Stars. This novel has humor and is fast
pace, that follows four teens in New Orleans who find themselves not
only chased by psycho gangsters, but in the middle of zombocalypse.
Rotville is a new adult/ adult Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic Horror that
takes place in the near future, in a city called Rotville where
people with a rot disease are quarantined. Inside this city is the
mega prison Colleseo, where inhumane experiments are carried out on
inmates. It’s also the birthplace of Dylan, a super soldier who must
fight his way out, save a couple of youths from the new deadly
mutants, and keep from being re-caught by the greedy director.

Bryce is also the author of the fiction Young Adult Dark Fantasy/ Sci-Fi
series AMEN TO ROT. The novel NYTE GOD is the conclusion to this
series. The Amen to Rot series and Nyte God pit Ace and his friends
against alien invaders who are turning humans into mutant creatures.

Bryce authors popular fiction with a style that entices readers of all
backgrounds to consume, and makes every attempt to make his
characters diverse.

As noted, Bryce does dabble in gay fiction, and pens it under B. Bentley
Summers, though in truth, these works are meant for everyone to read.
Bryce is the founder of Queer Sense, a theory that describes how
people form attitudes. The theory provides insight into how specific
components in cultural contexts shape our beliefs and values, which
ultimately form our attitudes. The nonfiction book, QUEER SENSE: How
Are Attitudes Formed? A Revolutionary Guide for Teens, Parents,
Mental Health Professionals and Anyone Interested in Queer Theory, is
due out by 2016.