1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
Breakfield and Burkey have careers in technology. At one point, Burkey ended up hiring Breakfield. They worked well together with complementary skills. Several professional moves later, they ended up at a large manufacturing company. There, they began teaching workshops to internal and external audiences and writing technical papers. After one large project, they decided documentation in the field could hardly keep up with the changes.
They decided to take threats the bad guys used to extort companies and individuals to create Techno Thrillers. The initial fiction, Enigma Series, began with each story using a different problem, like Identity Theft, Ransomware, or Artificial intelligence, as examples to send the heroes of the R-Group to find the cyber thugs. They’ve added short stories, historical fiction (a prequel to the Enigma Series), cozy mysteries with the Underground Authors, and the current trilogy Enigma Heirs.
2) What inspired you to write your book?
Great question. We wanted to have fun writing. Good guys versus bad guys are often the foundation of children’s play, so we felt this theme was relatable to any age. We took that premise to a tech level to help people look at technology from multiple perspectives while ensuring their security against the real threats of cyber thugs. Our Enigma Series is more attuned to adults, but the other books are suitable for younger people.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
Each story we tell has a theme or message. In our thrillers, we want to emphasize the importance of taking care when using technology, albeit phones, computers, or the millions of apps call to you because there is always some creep who will try to take advantage of any weak, unsuspecting, naive person.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
For Breakfield and Burkey the initial themes of technology were born of our professional careers. That, coupled with our question of what would happen if it makes for some interesting storytelling, we hope people will enjoy each book.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
We would have to sit down, virtually anyway, with ICABOD our supercomputer. ICABOD grows and evolves throughout the series with data-gathering abilities, enhanced analytics, text responses to full-on large language speech enablement, and evolving artificial intelligence. I would love his response to which was a more difficult human capability to understand humor or the justification to use the term ‘I’ when referring to himself. We think we know but readers would have to read the series to determine their best question for him.
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Social media is a fickle mode of communication with readers. LinkedIn, Podcasts, X-Twitter, and Facebook are the high runners. Cultivating and maintaining social media connections takes an enormous amount of time. By far, our favorite ways to connect with readers are at fairs or with book clubs. These allow us to speak to readers. If we resonate with some, then we hope they tell their friends.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
We appreciate your question. It’s important to continue writing and not lose hope. Practice and set aside time to hone your skills to find your voice. Consider joining communities of fellow authors to receive constructive feedback to enhance your work (as your family may be hesitant to be completely honest to spare your feelings). It’s beneficial to find a writing partner and regularly engage in discussions about your stories to exchange ideas or feedback. Ensuring you have a reliable editor is crucial. Despite this, a few errors may still slip through, but it’s preferable to keep them to a minimum.
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
We have several story ideas. We are committed to delivering two projects. First is the third book in the Enigma Heirs Trilogy-Enigma Jewels-at the beginning of 2025. Second is our next book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles in 2025, though The Ransom Enigma is currently on pre-order for its August 2024 release.
About the Authors
Charles Breakfield – As the CTO of the Enigma Series, Charles uses his experience from working at high-tech manufacturers as a solution architect in hybrid data/telecom environments. He considers himself a long-time technology geek, who also enjoys writing, studying World War II history, travel, and cultural exchanges. Charles’ love of wine tastings, cooking, and Harley riding has found its way into the stories. As a child, he moved often because of his father’s military career, which even helps him with the various character perspectives he brings to life in the series. He continues to try to teach Burkey humor.
Rox Burkey – Works as a business architect who builds solutions for customers on a good technology foundation. She has written many technical and white papers but finds the freedom of writing fiction a lot more fun. As a child, she helped to lead the kids with exciting new adventures built on make-believe characters, was a Girl Scout until high school, and contributed to the community as a young member of a Head Start program. Rox enjoys family, learning, listening to people, travel, outdoor activities, sewing, cooking, and thinking about diversifying the series.
Breakfield and Burkey – started writing non-fiction papers and books, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as writing fictional stories. They found it interesting to use the aspects of technology people are incorporating into their daily lives more and more as a perfect way to create a good guy/bad guy story. Elements of travel to the various places they have personally visited are always baked into the stories. Look for humor, romance, intrigue, suspense, and a spirited way to remember people who have crossed paths with them in their books. They love to talk about their stories with private and public book readings. Burkey also conducts regular interviews with Texas authors, which she finds very interesting. Her first interview was, wait for it, Breakfield. You can often find them at local book fairs or other family-oriented events.
The primary series is based on a family organization called R-Group. Recently they have spawned a subgroup that contains some of the original characters as the Cyber Assassins Technology Services (CATS) team. The authors have ideas for continuing the series in both of these tracks. They track their many characters on a spreadsheet, with a hidden avenue for the future coined The Enigma Chronicles tagged in some portions of the stories. Fan reviews seem to frequently suggest that these stories would make good television or movie stories, so the possibilities appear endless, just like their ideas for new stories.
They have book video trailers on their YouTube Channel and website, www.EnigmaSeries.com . We invite you to visit the website for FREE stuff along with samples of the books and options to purchase signed copies directly. You may also find it fascinating to check out the fun acronyms they create for their stories. Reach out to them at [email protected] , Twitter@EnigmaSeries, or Facebook@TheEnigmaSeries.
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