I'm super excited today! Why? Because it's the release day for Pitch Green(which I totally loved) and we have The Brothers Washburn in our blog for interview. Let's welcome them with a round of applause. *cue applause*
(1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself/selves?
We are two of 9 sons (16 children) who grew up in the Mojave desert near Death Valley. For about 35 years, Berk has been a business lawyer working for international commercial finance companies in the mid-west. For about 25 years, Andy has been a trial practice lawyer in Southern California. We both have many years of formal writing experience. While we have kept our law licenses current, we are now writing fiction full time. We have always been story tellers, first to our siblings, then to our own children (Berk has 8 kids / Andy has 6 kids), and now to our grandkids. Scary stories are a family specialty. After we each moved to Colorado, we talked for some time about starting a business together. A few years ago, Berk started writing a young adult science fiction series, so when Andy also tried his hand at writing fiction, it didn’t take long to come together as The Brothers Washburn on a young adult horror series.
(2.) What inspired you to write Pitch Green?
Pitch Green is the first novel of The Dimensions in Death YA horror series. Based on a scary story we used to tell our siblings and friends as kids, this first book combines horror, suspense and mystery at a breathtaking pace, as our protagonists battle to stay alive against an unseen evil presence lurking in an old mansion in a desolate mining town, deep in the Mojave Desert. The general outline for Pitch Green came together one evening in November of 2010. We were attending a writer’s seminar together in Manhattan and as we rode the subway from one end-of-the-line stop across town to the opposite end-of-the-line stop, and back again, we mapped out the basic elements we would need to expand the childhood story into a full-length novel. Andy wrote the first rough draft, and then Berk took it over to edit and expand the tale. In writing the first book, the ground work was laid for the sequels and prequels of that series.
(3.) In 5 sentences, describe what Pitch Green is all about?
In Pitch Green, we meet two teenagers, Camm and Cal, who are destined by their wit, pluck and luck (not always good) to become the balancing force in this world against monstrous predators that keep showing up around a strange, old mansion. They must make a stand against the mansion’s bloodthirsty guardian, any alien visitors who might want to come through the mansion in search of easy prey, and the forces of the U.S. Federal Government, who are using the mansion to access unlimited natural resources. Camm is the brains, Cal is the muscle and together they make a formidable team when they decide to work together. They are joined by FBI Agent Linda Allen, who is smart, resourceful and not easily intimidated by those protecting the government’s secrets. They barely have time to catch their breaths or scratch the surface of what is happening and do not understand the nature of what they are facing, so by the end of the first book, they have left a doorway to horror wide open and unguarded.
(4.) If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?
Andy: My three-year-old grandson, that kid has fun non-stop.
Berk: There is a lot I would like to do as Barak Obama.
(5.) If you could talk to Cal or Cammy, what would you say to them?
Andy: Actually, I do talk to them, in a way. I try to inculcate my advice to them in the way the story is written. But I would tell them to keep living life for the love of being alive, and to get a college degree.
Berk: I would say to each, “You found your soul mate, so quit fooling around.”
(6.) Cammy and Cal's full names were really hilarious. If you could change your names, what would you call yourself/selves?
Andy: I have thought about this a lot, because rappers and other celebrities change their names at some point. Truthfully, I would not change my name at all. It is still a little unclear to me why my parents named me "Anderson Lark," but I love my name and would not change it.
Berk: Actually, I like my name and wouldn’t change it.
(7.) Cammy and Cal did not forget the Halloween when Hughie was lost. What is your most . unforgettable Halloween experience?
Andy: The first chapter in Pitch Green is based on a true story when I was trick or treating in Trona with my younger brother, Hugh, and he was wearing a sheet as a ghost costume. As explained in the book, it didn't work well, and he did trip and bang his face. Fortunately, he wasn't eaten, but when we got home and he pulled the sheet off, his right eye had swollen completely shut. It was all black and blue, and there was blood running down his face. I hadn't realized that he had been hurt. My poor mom was horrified when she saw it and needless to say I was in serious trouble for not watching him more closely.
Berk: Running through the streets of Trona one year avoiding the older kids who were trying to steal our candy.
(8.) What did you learn from writing this book?
Andy: How to write better fiction, and it reminded me of how much fun it was to be a teenager.
Berk: While writing is fun, it requires long hours of hard work.
(9.) What's your favorite part or scene in the book?
Andy: The chapter where Camm is home alone at night and the Guardian creature comes to get her in her own home.
Berk: When Camm finally figures out the secret weapon and brings down the Guardian in the mansion.
(10.) Is there anything that you would like to say to the readers?
It's okay to be scared. When you can feel your heart beating, at least you know it is still beating. The second book, Mojave Green, is even scarier than Pitch Green.
About the Authors:
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Berk and Andy Washburn, aka "The Brothers Washburn," are both lawyers by profession, writers at heart. They grew up together roaming the wastelands of the Mojave Desert, where most of the series is set. Both brothers returned from lengthy and successful careers in the wastelands of the law to write YA horror stories based on the wastelands of their youth. They currently live north of Denver, Colorado. The Dimensions in Death series is merely the beginning of the ingenious and spine-tingling world of the Brothers Washburn. Be on your guard, people, there is a new Grimm in town.
Title: Pitch Green
Genre/s: Young Adult, Horror, Suspense Thriller
Synopsis:
Trona is a small, smoggy, mostly insignificant town in Colorado. Besides a booming chemical plant, the only thing that characterizes this dismal town is dirt, sagebrush, and an enormous abandoned mansion.
The mansion is, admittedly, the only notable addition to Trona, but it’s something everyone tries to avoid due to its creepy facade. Everyone except for Camm Smith, who is obsessed with the need to get inside.
Seven years earlier, as Camm herded a pack of little trick-or-treaters past the mansion, her young neighbor, Hugh, disappeared, becoming just one of many children who have vanished from Trona over the years without a trace. Now a senior in high school, Camm is still haunted by the old tragedy and is sure the answer to the mysterious disappearances lies hidden somewhere in the decaying mansion. Joining forces with her best friend, Cal, who also happens to be Hugh’s older brother, Camm naively begins a perilous search for the truth.
As things spiral quickly out of control, and others die, Camm and Cal discover it will take all their combined ingenuity to stay alive. An unseen creature, lurking deep within the bowels of the mansion, seems to have supernatural powers and is now hunting them. Making matters worse, they become entangled with hostile federal agents, who care only about keeping old secrets permanently hidden. Left with only their wit and seemingly ineffective firearms, they know they are running out of time. Unless they can make sense out of the few pieces of the puzzle they manage to unearth, the monster will certainly destroy them, and like so many others before them, they will be gone without a trace.
And to celebrate the release of Pitch Green's Release Day, they are giving away $25 Amazon Gift Card.
May the odds be ever in your favor :)
