{"id":344293,"date":"2025-12-14T21:57:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T21:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/tnbbcs-the-next-best-book-blog-the-40-but-10-christopher-ruiz\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T21:57:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T21:57:55","slug":"tnbbcs-the-next-best-book-blog-the-40-but-10-christopher-ruiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293","title":{"rendered":"TNBBC&#8217;s The Next Best Book Blog: The 40 But 10: Christopher Ru\u00edz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body-2172650894469779330\" itemprop=\"description articleBody\">\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhoNxyhELAYAHu-VJiSA5SQVEkigN3a2h5KfMc9RywHTmx-TSKm1HG9_uMiGPKsGTFNA1kaoO9yoipWqM6R4rsq1dHKJgGXAWGGF9uyzLs6h3Ou7r5ar9ldYYnLilMWDos4owItGGm08g2t4t0woDzCMDroCJZNABlaBlCrIJarF_fU3hPcY0Qvf_tpoLdN\/s570\/40%20but%2010.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"348\" data-original-width=\"570\" height=\"195\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhoNxyhELAYAHu-VJiSA5SQVEkigN3a2h5KfMc9RywHTmx-TSKm1HG9_uMiGPKsGTFNA1kaoO9yoipWqM6R4rsq1dHKJgGXAWGGF9uyzLs6h3Ou7r5ar9ldYYnLilMWDos4owItGGm08g2t4t0woDzCMDroCJZNABlaBlCrIJarF_fU3hPcY0Qvf_tpoLdN\/s320\/40%20but%2010.jpg\" width=\"320\"\/><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">I&#8217;ve pulled together 40ish questions &#8211; some bookish, some silly &#8211; and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ydpb8277039msonormal\" style=\"background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">Today we are joined\u00a0by\u00a0<span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">Christopher Ru\u00edz. Christopher is a fiction writer specializing in horror.<br \/>\nBorn in the City of Angels and raised in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains, he<br \/>\nnow writes of the demonic, supernatural, and psychological in the Midwest. A<br \/>\nveteran of both combat and crisis response, his stories draw inspiration from<br \/>\nboth the real and unreal, from years of sleep paralysis and nightmares,<br \/>\nrevealing the darker corners of the human experience.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhVRpyciKE0Rf5VFeo09qOcMb4Xn1nxB9_TMQdzH99Bv5uSxFcu_bIV1aoucfNkgCuPDIMgehDO97fIRpzbdq6N8es1Av8Eo-yijBMzLyNnYq6YOpb3IQR3B3Z3NX-ymxqp1IlaJHOGAXgDdX1vErYFEvRFkAT-jSm0O7rn00fEZfEStSquA0StazPu0-Sd\/s4080\/Author%20Photo.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"3072\" data-original-width=\"4080\" height=\"241\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhVRpyciKE0Rf5VFeo09qOcMb4Xn1nxB9_TMQdzH99Bv5uSxFcu_bIV1aoucfNkgCuPDIMgehDO97fIRpzbdq6N8es1Av8Eo-yijBMzLyNnYq6YOpb3IQR3B3Z3NX-ymxqp1IlaJHOGAXgDdX1vErYFEvRFkAT-jSm0O7rn00fEZfEStSquA0StazPu0-Sd\/s320\/Author%20Photo.jpg\" width=\"320\"\/><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">What made you start<br \/>\nwriting?<\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">In a word, storytelling. My mother read to<br \/>\nme frequently in childhood. I was fascinated, not just by the stories, but the<br \/>\nway they were conveyed. I wanted that. I wanted to move others, to elicit<br \/>\nlaughter and, even at a young age, fear. I remember late nights watching the<br \/>\nCrypt Creeper give one liners followed by a howling cackle. It was delightfully<br \/>\ngoofy and spooky. So, I set forth to tell stories of my own, trying to frighten<br \/>\nmy younger brother with scary, campfire-style tales, writing and drawing comics<br \/>\n(typically of a mouse engineering silly contraptions to access various cheeses<br \/>\naround a kitchen, generally all ending with \u201cSUCCESS!\u201d), and, most importantly,<br \/>\nreading.<span style=\"color: black;\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">How do you<br \/>\ncelebrate when you finish writing a new book?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i><span lang=\"EN\">The Wishing Well<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\"> was my first book<\/span><span lang=\"EN\">, and as<br \/>\nsuch my first opportunity for celebration.<span style=\"color: black;\"> We rented <\/span>the<br \/>\nupper-half of a downtown bar to do a combination book launch and Halloween<br \/>\nparty. I did some book signings and sales but it was mostly a celebration of my<br \/>\ndebut. We played horror-themed party games, ran a raffle with four prize<br \/>\nbaskets, each containing book\/horror-related items, and we even had a bartender<br \/>\nwho was herself a published author (through HarperCollins, no less). It was a<br \/>\nwonderful time. I think the horror-themed celebration worked so well, I\u2019d love<br \/>\nto make it a recurring event!<span style=\"color: black;\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">If you could spend<br \/>\nthe day with another author, who would you choose and why?<\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">H.G. Wells. With neither reservation nor<br \/>\ndoubt, it would be the man so many consider the father of science fiction. He<br \/>\nwas the first author whose writing demanded I explore the rest of his<br \/>\nbibliography. He was a genius and true master of the craft, even prophetic in<br \/>\nhis writing. Oh, if I could spend a day his pupil, or even just learning how in<br \/>\nthe world the man came to be so imaginative that he conceived inventions and<br \/>\nsociocultural changes so far beyond his time.<o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">What are some of<br \/>\nyour favorite websites or social media platforms? <\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">There was roughly a 10-year stretch during<br \/>\nwhich Reddit was the only social media I was really using. I prefer being able<br \/>\nto filter the content I\u2019m consuming through specific subreddits rather than<br \/>\nbeing exposed to everything everywhere all at once. However, I am now on an<br \/>\nuphill journey trying to learn other platforms as I establish an online<br \/>\npresence as an author. It has been grueling. I really struggle with<br \/>\nself-promotion, as it has always felt to me like I\u2019m gathering friends and<br \/>\nfamily in my living room to discuss tupperware, especially as I focus on my own<br \/>\nwebsite and blog. I\u2019m seeing a lot of great people in online book communities,<br \/>\nthough, like TNBBC. I had no idea there was such support for indie authors, and<br \/>\nit has really made the post-publication plight feel a little less daunting.<span style=\"color: black;\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">What are some of<br \/>\nyour favorite books and\/or authors?<\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">H. G. Wells was my first favorite writer.<br \/>\nI absolutely devoured his works early on, with particular appeal for <i>The War<br \/>\nof the Worlds<\/i> and <i>The Country of the Blind<\/i>. <o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i><span lang=\"EN\">1984, <\/span><\/i><span lang=\"EN\">which I<br \/>\nfirst read fairly young. It was the first book that ever had a<br \/>\nperception-altering, emotional impact on me. Oddly, I did not have the same<br \/>\ninterest in <i>Animal Farm, <\/i>possibly due to having read it so much later in<br \/>\nlife.<o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">Stephen King&#8217;s <i>Dark Tower<\/i> series,<br \/>\nparticularly the third and fourth books, was the only literature that affected<br \/>\nme like <i>1984<\/i> had. What a journey. So many sleepless school nights.<o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">What is your<br \/>\nfavorite book from childhood? <\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">From my early childhood, the book that<br \/>\ntruly hooked me was Bruce Coville\u2019s <i>The Dragonslayers<\/i>. I was fascinated<br \/>\nby dinosaurs and dragons, that even as a child I had aspirations of becoming a<br \/>\npaleontologist; and not the fun aspirations of a child. I would actually spend<br \/>\nhours in front of the television watching videos on paleontology, of adults digging<br \/>\naround in the dirt and dusting rocks, of monotone discourse. And as I was<br \/>\nobsessed with dinos, I was equally obsessed with dino-like things: reptiles,<br \/>\ndragons, and Godzilla. Thus, <i>The Dragonslayers<\/i> and its wonderful<br \/>\nillustrations immediately caught my eye in the school library and became a<br \/>\nchildhood obsession.<o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">What are you<br \/>\ncurrently reading? <\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">I recently finished Mary Shelley\u2019s <i>Frankenstein<br \/>\n<\/i>in preparation for Guillermo Del Toro\u2019s adaptation. Admittedly, this was my<br \/>\nfirst time reading it. I\u2019m a big fan of the Romantic era of the arts. I love<br \/>\nthe music and the writing, particularly that of Chopin and Dumas, respectively.<br \/>\nNeedless to say, I was totally captured by Shelley\u2019s writing. Sincerely, I was<br \/>\nengrossed. And I frequently found myself asking why a more faithful adaptation<br \/>\nof such beautiful writing, of such profound reflections on human nature and the<br \/>\nclashing of Romanticism and Enlightenment had yet to be translated to film.<br \/>\nBut, perhaps some things cannot adequately move from text to screen.<span style=\"color: black;\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">Do you read the<br \/>\nreviews of your books or do you stay far far away from them, and why? <\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">For now, I am reading the reviews. <i>The<br \/>\nWishing Well<\/i> is my debut work and I want to see what did and did not work<br \/>\nfor its readers so that I may learn and adjust as I write the second volume.<o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">I see a lot of discussion about reviews in<br \/>\nauthor forums. I think the \u201cDon\u2019t read the reviews\u201d advice is pretty<br \/>\nconditional. If an author is unable to navigate critical or even unfair<br \/>\nreviews, they would likely be better off avoiding them altogether. I\u2019m reminded<br \/>\nof my time working crisis response at an adolescent psychiatric residential<br \/>\ntreatment facility. It\u2019s hard not to personalize the rough reactions and bad<br \/>\nwords and overall negativity. But it\u2019s often not about you. Someone can dislike<br \/>\nthe work without necessarily disliking the person behind it. I think the<br \/>\nauthors that successfully explore their reviews are the ones that understand<br \/>\nthe reader is not giving direct feedback to them, but rather expressing their<br \/>\nopinion to other readers. Authors are human, though, and the bad reviews will<br \/>\nsting and the curiosity will force our eyes to seek them out.<o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">If you were stuck<br \/>\non a deserted island, what\u2019s the one book you wish you had with you? <\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">FM 21-76. It is the Army field manual on<br \/>\nsurvival, and a great toilet read. It is honestly an excellent tool for<br \/>\nwriters. There is, in the physical publication I own, a section on the<br \/>\n\u201cpsychology of survival,\u201d which discusses stress and the natural reactions to<br \/>\nit, which can be applicable to almost any story with conflict. More<br \/>\nimportantly, for this scenario, it has full breakdowns on surviving both the<br \/>\nopen sea and seashores, tropical environments, building shelters, securing food<br \/>\nand water, signaling for help. I can\u2019t think of a better book to have in this<br \/>\nsituation.<span style=\"color: black;\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black;\">What is under your<br \/>\nbed? <\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN\"><o:p\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">The same things that reside under every<br \/>\nbed: the boundless possibilities that exceed even our fear-driven imaginations;<br \/>\nthe things beckoned by darkness that only daylight can banish; hands awaiting<br \/>\nankles; eyes awaiting eyes. And sometimes my cats when the smoke detector goes<br \/>\noff.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEg9qouRz9ZGOR47yLmi2gQt-Dh9Mrw3lf08l4pqkcScPq_Qor796nOl9EuHc1FTton5E-JZln9YxyPiXXMbxZLZdqrpARtTzoy5y86ydyelFdeFyb3dAVxLFa7EUu1AuBa6jHpU3gFBtJdduwFDUF8JYCHcDMGnxCDDyazeupZvoASKjuJQGv1HHIUebOVp\/s6400\/Cover.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"6400\" data-original-width=\"4000\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEg9qouRz9ZGOR47yLmi2gQt-Dh9Mrw3lf08l4pqkcScPq_Qor796nOl9EuHc1FTton5E-JZln9YxyPiXXMbxZLZdqrpARtTzoy5y86ydyelFdeFyb3dAVxLFa7EUu1AuBa6jHpU3gFBtJdduwFDUF8JYCHcDMGnxCDDyazeupZvoASKjuJQGv1HHIUebOVp\/s320\/Cover.jpg\" width=\"200\"\/><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">Released October 26th<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">Signed copies as well as other purchase options can be<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christopher-ruiz.com\/ \">found\u00a0here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">\u00a0<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\">Step into The Wishing Well, where your deepest desires are granted \u2026 and your soul is forfeited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">A horrifying collection of interconnected tales,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\"><i style=\"box-sizing: border-box;\">The Wishing Well<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">centers around an ever-shifting, unearthly bar where desires are commodities and the price is everything. Each story follows a different patron, driven by want, ambition, or desperation, who casts a wish into the bar\u2019s namesake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">Join our patrons as they discover this well is less a cheap gimmick and more a dark conduit for twisted fulfillment, revealing the true horror of getting exactly what you wished for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">In this malignant mess of the macabre you\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">Meet<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\">\u00a0\u201cThe Captive,\u201d<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">\u00a0a man who\u2019d do anything to escape his past and present. Anything \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">Join a young student who hopes to find happiness once again with a little help from\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\">\u201cThe Substitute.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">Take a dip in\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\">\u201cThe Lake\u201d<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">\u00a0for rest, relaxation, and a final, permanent reprieve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">From a woman\u2019s late-night visit by\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\">\u201cThe Creeper\u201d<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">\u00a0to a child\u2019s Christmas visit by something not quite Santa in\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\">\u201cThe Unholy,\u201d<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; color: #1e1915;\">\u00a0these nine creepy cocktales are served neat by newcomer Christopher Ru\u00edz.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-weight: 600;\">What do you desire?\u00a0<i style=\"box-sizing: border-box;\">The Wishing Well<\/i>\u00a0has what you need \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 I&#8217;ve pulled together 40ish questions &#8211; some bookish, some silly &#8211; and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us! Today we are joined\u00a0by\u00a0Christopher Ru\u00edz. Christopher is a fiction writer specializing in horror. Born in the City [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":344294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3767,2268,4817,23161,10896],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-344293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-book","tag-christopher","tag-ruiz","tag-tnbbcs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TNBBC&#039;s The Next Best Book Blog: The 40 But 10: Christopher Ru\u00edz - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TNBBC&#039;s The Next Best Book Blog: The 40 But 10: Christopher Ru\u00edz - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 I&#8217;ve pulled together 40ish questions &#8211; some bookish, some silly &#8211; and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. 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Born in the City [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-14T21:57:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4020but2010.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"570\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"348\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"TNBBC&#8217;s The Next Best Book Blog: The 40 But 10: Christopher Ru\u00edz\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-14T21:57:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293\"},\"wordCount\":1538,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4020but2010.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Blog\",\"Book\",\"Christopher\",\"Ruiz\",\"TNBBCs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=344293\",\"name\":\"TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog: The 40 But 10: Christopher Ru\u00edz - 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