good nite sms: Barcode is back!!!! {Guest Post/Giveaway}

Hey Beautiful People:
If you've been following my blog for a while, then you remember back when I interviewed a fresh new author looking to rewrite FANTASY as we know it. (If you missed it, you can still view it here!) He admitted, he gained inspiration from my beloved anime series, Bleach. He promised a new hero with more entertainment and less of the flaws as Ichigo. Well I was intrigued. This was my review. With the way he left things at the end of the last book, I was absolutely positive there would be a sequel......IT'S HERE! Check out that cover. Don't you just love how there's female this time and they look like they're ready to seriously kick some butt?!?!?

Barcode: Cavern of Youth (Barcode, #2)
by Kashif Ross
Kindle Edition
Published June 1st 2012
GoodReads | Amazon

Kay has a new life and identity, but he can't stop thinking about the past. The longer he's away from his abusive mother and Helios, the more he obsesses over them. In order to kill the woman that pitted him against Spencer, Kay re-enrolls at Colt Academy and watches his brother's every move.
Upon his return, Kay befriends a beautiful warrior that may have the hots for him. Unable to trust her intentions, he keeps his distance like he does with everyone else. Yet, his dark heart leads him back to Angie. Like his plan for Spencer to fight Helios, Kay develops a scheme to strengthen the gladiator princess. And this time, he's willing to put his life on the line.
Dennis convinces Kay to change his appearance, but it comes at a cost; he becomes half the man he once was. Without his power, Kay must use his intuition to sneak out of deadly situations. There's a parade of obstacles in his way, including his own fate, which many people know about, but he knows very little.

Barcode's Influence

I'm an experienced nerd. I've watched anime since I was in the fourth grade. My first series was Ronin Warriors. Then, I switched to Sailor Moon. Like everyone else, I was into Pokemon, but I also loved Yugio, Dragon Ball Z, and Gundam Wing. Now that I have access to every show via Youtube, Netflix, or Crunchyroll, I pretty much go nuts.

Recently, I published my second novel, Barcode: Cavern of Youth. If you look at the cover art, you know there's a heavy anime influence. Katrina requested a bit of history for the way super powers have evolved in my story, and I happily accepted the challenge. Below, you'll see all of my childhood influences and how they created Barcode.

Barcodes
These are tattoos that allow my characters to access the power of the gods. This is the only concept that was almost completely unique to my story. There's really no influence for barcodes. I actually just forced myself to think of something that hasn't been done because I once heard Eiichiro Oda, author of One Piece, say something special. In order to create Luffy, he tried to think of the one thing Goku couldn't do. Oda's words were more elaborate, but that's the gist of it.

MMIBS

MMIBS is a process that allows characters to physically manipulate objects. Think of how Edward Elric can use alchemy. With just a bit of concentration, a marble can evolve into a sword. I haven't explained the power in detail yet, so you're about to get information that won't come out until book 3, New War Order:

MMIBS starts with creating an object like a gun and sitting it next to a knife. You combine it with a barcode cloth or barcode fluid and the two will merge/compress. In order to access one or one of the weapons, you have to channel your energy.

How'd this come about? Bleach.

My weapons are very similar to a zanpakutō . Essentially, there's a weapon within a weapon. I initially thought Ichigo was too weak. That made me create my own character from a tribe similar to the Quincy that was completely wiped out by the Gotei Thirteen. The first division leader, Genryūsai Yamamoto, saw a child from the tribe with a lot of spirit and decided to bring him to Soul Society. That child, however, stole his father's sword, which was broken. The kid was capable of using the weapon by stealing the blades of whoever he killed, giving him multiple bankai. From there, MMIBS was born.

Tartarus
That's a mask that possesses an evil character named Kode. The demonic veil came from Ichio's hollow form.

Kode's Eyes
This is my pride an joy. Kode's eyes stemmed from Naruto. I wanted to make a rival for Naruto that was stronger than Sauske. But how could he beat those eyes?

I created a blind character that could see with his ears like Daredevil, but with way more clarity and without sound vibrations. His name was Kairoh at the time. Kairoh's hearing had a limited radius like Neji Hyuga. So if you're within his range, he'll spot you.

Kairoh had his own village and advanced abilities. I made him so detailed that I decided to give him his own story. Thus, I combined him with my character from Bleach and gave it a military feel like Full Metal Alchemist.

There was still a problem, the character was too smart and advanced. He knew too much because his ears could hear for miles. I couldn't start readers off in his world. Kairoh, who later became Kode, was from an evil family. He was supposed to kill off the son of a "good guy". That son, Spencer, was a jerk, much like Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter. I thought it would be helpful to start the series from his experience. That backfired a little because many readers were sad to see him go. Little do they know, I'm a huge Dragon Ball Z fan, which means death is only a transfer from one world to the other. Anyone that continues with the story may see Spencer again.

Thanks for allowing me on your site again Katrina! I hope you enjoy this story. I'm also hoping to fulfill some readers' expectations, but I mainly want to crush them. Rawr. I pride myself in making my stories unpredictable.