Vengeance: A Samantha Tyler Thriller marks the start of an intriguing literary pursuit for Hydra Publications authors Tony Acree and Rachael Rawlings, who collaborated to spin-off the heroine of Acree's supernatural action-packed, Victor McCain Thriller series – the beautiful and battle-tested Samantha Tyler.
"The way this happened is that for years people said that Samantha needs her own books," Acree said of the genesis for the series, adding that Rawlings was more than up for the challenge to bring Samantha Tyler to new life.
The pair held a plot meeting to get their collaboration underway then developed the novel through the exchange of ideas and feedback for Rawlings to craft the work. Acree supplied input for the action scenes and the political backdrop to ensure that their heroine remained hellbent on one thing – vengeance.
"The book is called Vengeance for a reason," Acree said. "She's looking for payback."
For Rawlings, the undertaking was a first in a couple ways but most definitely not her first novel-writing rodeo by a long shot. She is the published author of a dozen romance and mystery novels, including three series.
"This is the first action one I've ever done," she said of Vengeance, which is also her first collaboration. "It was fun."
While the pair now share their Vengeance title, more collaborations are on the horizon for Acree, who is also principal publisher of Hydra. He has paired with Hydra imprint publisher Sarah Gardiner to bring another new dimension to the Victor McCain Thriller series – film.
"Somebody asked me to write a screenplay," related Acree. "I never have, but Sarah has, so I asked her and she said, 'Let's collaborate.'"
For Gardiner, delving into the Victor McCain Thriller series made the prospect of translating the novels to screen an intriguing pursuit:
"It has to be the perfect mix of the quality, the time, and the need in the market."
Gardiner envisions the adaptability of the project for feature film and/or a television series. Acree had already begun the process of condensing his series into a format suited for screenplay adaptation prior to his collaboration with Gardiner, which is in the developmental stage for production.
As if that weren't enough irons in the fire for Acree, he has one more collaboration in the works. This one is with The Mind Bending series author, Lynn Tincher, whose Afterhoughts novel was optioned for film and is in pre-production right now.
Acree and Tincher are working on a novel that will merge Acree's Victor McCain Thriller series with Tincher's stunningly parapsychological Mind Bending series. This combo and the other collaborations have the makings for one wild ride for Acree and Hydra Publications for the remainder of 2018 and beyond.
For now, though, Vengeance is the collaboration that is currently available
Robb Hoff is author of Cosmic Egg Rapture: An Eggsquisite Corpse Thriller series, published by Hydra Publications.