The Book of Daniel: Hellbound and Down: An Interview with Author Lee Pierce

A city that is known for its vibrant music scene and delicious barbecue was the inspiration behind Lee Pierce’s The Book of Daniel trilogy. Hellbound and Down, the first book in the series, follows Danny and his sidekick on a quest through various realms to protect life on Earth. They only have to deal with Heaven, Hell, some monsters who want them dead, a bunch of disgruntled angels, a prophetic vision, and a few mysterious deaths. Shouldn't be any problem, right?

To learn more about the story behind the story, read A Good Book To End The Day’s interview with the author below.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I don’t know that I ever realized I really wanted to be a writer until it had already happened. I grew up an only child in the middle of nowhere, so far out that cable couldn’t even be run to our house. The only source of entertainment I had was whatever books my mom brought home and whatever I could come up with in my own imagination. Somewhere around high school I started to notice that people actively wanted to hear these stories that I made up, so I started writing them down. I just never stopped writing them down.

Tell us about The Book of Daniel: Hellbound and Down and the inspiration behind the novel.

I bounced around the United States for a number of years. One of the places I lived was Austin, TX. After I left, I wanted to write down something to recognize some of the businesses and locations I loved while I was there. With the city’s slogan of ‘Keep Austin Weird’ in my head, what started out as a blog post morphed into a story about a supernatural detective agency and just continued to evolve, eventually becoming a story about fallen angels, demons, magic, and dark forces gathering to end humanity. All set in a city known for music and barbecue.

What part of the book was the most fun to write?

I’d like to say getting to write this epic history of existence was the most fun, but really, it was the vampires. For whatever reason, vampires are just fun to write.

This is the first book in a trilogy, can you tease anything about your plans for the rest of the story?

The first book touches on it some, but this series really ties into the history of all human existence, and that’s seen a lot more in the second book. If the first book was about the love of a city, the second book opens it up to offer a view of the wider world and really the love of history and the stories we tell. The third book brings it all back together and manages to tie in some classic literature. It’s overall a story that starts small, encompasses the entire world, and ends up offering a climax that is both epic and intimate.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Just keep writing. No matter what, keep writing. Don’t worry about sales numbers, about the number of followers, about anything other than the story. If you’re passionate about that, I guarantee there are people that will want to hear your stories.

What does literary success look like to you?

Literary success is running into someone I’ve never met and them asking me questions they could only ask if they’ve read something I’ve done. That’s an amazing feeling.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Readers can find my new releases on my Amazon author page (I’m getting ready to release a Vella series here. Occasionally I use Twitter. But the easiest place to reach me is through my Facebook author page.

Thanks so much for being part of the A Good Book To End The Day family! Is there

anything else you’d like to add?

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