Martin Matthews's Blog, page 2

PARIS ESCAPADE - TED MYERS

PARIS ESCAPADE

In the summer of 1963, seventeen-year-old Eddie Strull goes off to Europe with a supervised camp group of New York Jewish kids. But Eddie, ever the rebel, has other plans. Eddie wants to live as an adult. A writer. Right now. When they arrive in Paris, the last stop before heading home, Eddie sneaks out of the youth hostel and disappears into the bohemian labyrinth of the Left Bank. There he encounters a colorful array of artists, writers, actors, musicians, and one extraordinary prostitute who draws him into a risky adventure. Ultimately, he becomes a wanted man, sought across Europe by the police and the ruthless henchmen of Mme LaBrot, a trafficker in prostitutes and heroin. Instant Adulthood turns out to be much more than Eddie bargained for.

This week we have a (almost) rock legend to talk to! Ted Myers, welcome to Martin Matthews Writes!

Thanks for having me, Martin. It's great to be here!

A pleasure! Tell us a little about yourself, Ted! What did you do before writing, and how did you get into it?

I grew up in New York City -- Manhattan -- which I considered to be the center of the world. And, in the '50s and '60s, I guess it pretty much was. I was always an "arty" type, starting in grade school I did a lot of drawing -- mostly cruel caricatures of teachers I despised…

Oh, I did the SAME thing, man. My mistake was drawing them on the table where I sat in class, so they had a good idea who it was doing it…but that’s another story… Please, continue!

I went to an elite public high school, the High School of Music & Art as an art major. But by then I had started playing guitar and wanted to be a musician. This was the early '60s, and in my view, the coolest thing to be was a black ("negro" then) jazz musician. So I took jazz guitar lessons and sat in on jam sessions with my black jazz musician buddies. I was actually not a good jazz guitarist, couldn't read music, but they tolerated me -- god knows why. But everything changed when The Beatles came in 1964. I had found my calling. I already had the long hair and an electric guitar, and this new rock 'n' roll was much easier to play than jazz.

In college (1964) I started my first rock band. We played at a local club in Vermont and, after a semester of rehearsing, we all dropped out and went to Boston, where we became local rock stars and got signed by Capitol Records. I was nineteen. 

What happened with Capitol?

Three albums and twenty years later, I was forty, and realized the rock-star ship had sailed without me. I eventually got a job with a record company, and then another record company. fifteen years later, I was out of a job and set my sights on writing. I got a couple of jobs copywriting and proofreading for advertising companies for the next few years. But I really wanted to be an author. A published author. So I wrote short stories and some got published in literary mags. I wrote an outrageous memoir about the rock life in the '60s and '70s and it got published. After that, I decided fiction was more fun and wrote a couple of novels, both of which were ultimately published. Any resemblance between me and my protagonist in PARIS ESCAPADE (my second novel) is purely unavoidable.

Sometimes (often) the path to authorship is a meandering one. Much like life itself. Tell us a little about this new book of yours. 

The headline of the press release for PARIS ESCAPADE is THE CATCHER IN THE RYE ON STEROIDS -- IN PARIS. When I read The Catcher in the Rye when I was fifteen or sixteen, I thought Holden Caulfield was a dimwit. Even then, I could write circles around him. So, for my second novel, I used the chaperoned camping trip to Europe I took when I was sixteen as a jumping off point. I made my protagonist, Eddie Strull, seventeen and the year 1963 because it was more plausible that I might have actually pulled these stunts at that age. So, the first two chapters of PARIS ESCAPADE are almost memoir. But starting when Eddie sneaks out of the youth hostel in Paris and disappears into the Left Bank, it's pure fiction.

Intriguing. Tell us more about Eddie and his friends.

It's a first-person past-tense account from Eddie's POV. On the plane and on the bus going across Europe, he forms a romantic attachment to Robin, one of his fellow campers. There's also Johnny, Evy, Art, the senior counselor, and a couple of other guy friends on the bus. Then, on the beach at St-Tropez, he meets Martisse, a beautiful artist of nineteen. He gets her address and number in Paris and they agree to meet when he gets there. No one on in his group suspects that he has been planning to disappear in Paris from the very beginning. 

On his own in Paris, he finally has his rendezvous with Martisse, who turns out to be a prostitute and a junkie (in addition to being an artist). She convinces him (after sleeping with him) to go on a dangerous mission to buy heroin in Marseilles. This mission is financed and engineered by Mme LaBrot, the proprietor of the building where Martisse lives (which turns out to be a brothel).

The list of unusual characters Eddie encounters and his entanglements with the law could fill a book (LOL). There's a whole subplot that involves a serial killer who has been butchering prostitutes and happens to live in Eddie's rooming house. I also throw some real historical characters into the bouillabaisse: Legendary jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon, legendary publisher of the Olympia Press, Maurice Girodias, and others. Luckily for me, none of these people are alive, so they can't sue me.

You read my mind! Well, maybe their relatives can sue you. So it sounds like the idea for this book came from your own background and experiences. Pretty cool! I had a similar trip to Amsterdam and Paris in my youth. The Red Light District was a real eye opener for sure. Those Russian Mafia guys are fun.

Yeah, that camping trip I took with a busload of kids all across Europe when I was sixteen was best summer of my life.

So, is there a message behind your book? The summer of lost love?

Really, it's pure escapist entertainment. But Eddie grows during the course of the story and comes to realize how his thoughtless actions affected his family and chaperones.

A real coming of age story. So tell us a little about who or what are some of your biggest influences.

Favorite writers include: Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown and much more. The Beatles certainly influenced my music and my life. I'm a big fan of old movies, especially black-and-white noir. Directors like Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock.

Man, I love that stuff too! Classic. What are you currently reading?

Made for Love, an exquisitely clever, funny, smart novel by Alissa Nutting. She is a rising star in literature.

From what I read of her reviews, she’s more of the falling star type maybe…? Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it? 

I received numerous requests from readers and my publisher for a sequel to my first novel, Fluffy's Revolution, so I'm working on that now.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Well, I'm seventy-five now, so I better decide soon.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Ted. It’s been a pleasure! 

Thank YOU, Martin. Always a pleasure talking about myself!

TED MYERS

After twenty years trembling on the brink of rock stardom and fifteen years working at record companies, Ted Myers left the music business—or perhaps it was the other way around—and took a job as a copywriter at an advertising agency. This cemented his determination to make his mark as an author.

His fiction has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies. His epic and amusing memoir, Making It: Music, Sex & Drugs in the Golden Age of Rock was published in 2017. Fluffy’s Revolution, published by Black Rose Writing in 2019, was his first novel. BRW will publish his second novel, Paris Escapade, in December 2020.

THE ARDEN - L.S. POPOVICH

In future San Francisco, Kaneda has been a homeless hacker for years. But his blog following has never been better.

Dodging flying cars and jam sessions with ragtag rockers keep him in shape. By the time they get a new condo he's almost forgotten the concrete jungle.

One day, while tinkering with the television, a portal appears on the screen. Stepping inside, Kaneda and his two bandmates discover trees as far as the eye can see. Soon enough they're lost. And a lot more bored than they'd planned. That is, until they begin to hear the whispers.

Before long they bump into post-technological humans in thrall to arboreal Sirens. Staying means freedom from his checkered past. But, unwilling to sell his soul to tree-huggers, Kaneda ventures deep into the forest in search of the fabled technology to trigger a homeward portal.

This week we’re talking to husband and wife writing team, L.S. Popovich! Welcome to Martin Matthews Writes!

Thanks Martin, I am grateful for the opportunity to talk about my book.

That’s why I do this, to showcase the talent! Tell us a little about yourselves!

My penname is L. S. Popovich. We are a husband and wife writing team. We've completed several novels, two of which are available through the usual booksellers. We live in Denver, love to travel, read, game, and discuss books.

Tell us a little about your book upcoming book.

THE ARDEN is a science fiction, horror-comedy. It has been compared to Vandermeer's Annihilation.
The award-winning author, David David Katzman said of it: "This dark, environmental fable is a thought-provoking strange trip I didn't want to end."

Here's an elevator pitch: When layabout Kaneda visits the future, he must discover how an ecological disaster turned Earth into a man-eating forest to prevent the apocalypse—even if it requires effort.

Introduce us to some of your characters.

Told from the first person perspective, Kaneda, the main character, is a homeless computer hacker who uses humor and sarcasm as a defense mechanism to interpret his disturbing surroundings.

He embarks on an unexpected journey with his two bandmates and derelict companions Gray and Gypsy. Gray is a struggling artist with severe social anxiety, and Gypsy is a shopaholic with major impulse control issues. Together, they make up a resourceful ragtag team to face off against threats from another realm and ensure their own survival.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

It started as a short book about college-age kids struggling to get by in a futuristic setting. It evolved into a adventure when their entrance into adulthood took on nefarious metaphorical associations in my mind. Essentially, we equated growing up to entering a forest, fraught with danger. The forest and the world at large are ecosystems, and trying to navigate that ecosystem also entails reaching one's true potential.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

 A few of our readers have noticed environmentalism and anti-environmentalism in the book. Our intent was not to sway the reader one way or another. Kaneda becomes an anti-environmentalist due to his personal circumstances. His friends and family end up having conflicting views. The underlying message of the conflict could be simplified as - both sides might have some validity, but that doesn't change the fact that we still need to act like decent human beings.

Nice! I like that. Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

We are influenced by Bradbury, Chandler, and Gene Wolfe. I like to think there is a little influence from Philip K. Dick and H. P. Lovecraft in this one.

I get a little bit of Neal Stephenson, too! Speaking of authors, what are you currently reading?

Currently reading Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. It is truly inspiring for anyone who creates fantasy worlds.

Cool. Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

We are currently working on three novels. One is a lighthearted fantastical comedy, similar in tone to our first novel, UNDERTONES. Another is a rewrite of our never-published traditional fantasy. Lastly, we've embarked on an epic fantasy inspired by non-Western canon mythologies and the wuxia genre.

What makes your work unique?

I would like to say the world building, but there are a lot of excellent world builders out there, especially in the science fiction community. I would still call it a strong suit of our writing. But characters are also the main focus of our writing. Our readers always comment on the characters. We strive to make them memorable and never generic. When you enter one of our fictional worlds, you will always get well-rounded characters.

What does your collaborative writing process look like?

Every writer needs a second pair of eyes. We are lucky enough to share our writing career as husband and wife. Typically we come up with an outline first, pass it back and forth, discuss the additions we each make, and decide on the characters. Then we take turns writing chapters. The first draft takes several months, but the final draft usually bears no resemblance to it. Rewriting is the most important part of the process in the modern publishing world. We examine and re-examine every sentence, and we get feedback from beta readers. Some of our early work suffered from not doing so.

That’s such a unique way to work, I love it! Well, we’re just about out of time. Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today!

I truly appreciate your time. Contact me if you want to know more about my work. I'm on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19563977.L_S_Popovich

I'm constantly reviewing the books that inspire me and always enjoy networking with other authors.

L.S. Popovich

L. S. Popovich is the author of UNDERTONES and THE ARDEN. They have always been a cat person (a person who like cats, not a cat human hybrid).
They have always believed that at least one room of the house should be completely crammed with books. (Other rooms should contain scattered piles.)

Their short stories and poems have appeared in Chrome Baby, Havok, Aphelion, Bull & Cross, Red Fez, Bewildering Stories, The Ansible, 365Tomorrows, Commuter Lit, Farther Stars than These and other secluded places on the Internet.

AN UNFORGETTABLE HOLIDAY - NISHA MOHAN

An Unforgettable Holiday is a seat gripping romance and suspense thriller that revolves around a young woman, Tania's search for timeless love.
What starts off as a fun-filled holiday with friends ends up in, Tania, finding herself locked in a cabin on a lonely island.
Who are Aarav and Dhruv? Are the men in her life, really whom she thinks they are?
Or is there more to them than what meets the eye?
What are those secrets that are being harbored? Will Tania escape? Will she find true love?
Only time will tell.

Welcome to Martin Matthews Writes! I’m excited because we were both born in 1984! That’s gotta mean something, right?

Hi Martin, It's fantastic to be here and interviewed by you.

Well, thanks! It’s truly an honor to showcase authors’ work. Tell us a little about yourself, Nisha.

Well, am a HR professional during the day , something that you already know. And by night I turn into this novelist. I love writing and this is something that I can do only at night . I guess the silence helps . I Netflix like crazy. I love music. Guns and Roses are my all time favourite. They don't make music like this no more. I believe I am a Mentalist. I can read into peoples mind and behaviour a little more than an average person can.

I know them feels! Tell us a little about your book.

My book is a Urban Contemporary Romance and Suspense Fiction Novel. It starts off as a one sided love story and soon gets tricky as new characters emerge . The twist in the plot is something that readers will look forward to and I can't say more lest I give away the story .

Let’s meet some of your characters!

So the three main characters are Tania , Aarav and Dhruv.

Tania is the protagonist and the story revolves around her. Aarav is this amazing man with secrets that can't be spoken about. Dhruv is too good to be true and flawed in his own ways too.

All characters are real and I have kept them that way to ensure readers can connect with them easily.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

Well, I have always wanted to write a book. This project is my baby. I started work on it almost 4-5 years ago . And over the years I have incorporated characters and attributes of folks I have observed into the book.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

Yes. My personal belief is 'Live and let live.' Forgive, forget, move on . No one is perfect.

Amen to that! Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

I love John Grisham. Erich Segal is my all time favourite too.

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Nice! Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

Yes, I am. It's in nascent stages. But , yeah. It will definitely be a suspense novel . Watch out for it!!

Will do! Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Nisha! 

It was lovely chatting with you! I'd like to thank everyone including my family, my readers who have been with me on this journey from Day 1. This means so much.

Nisha Mohan

A Human Resource Professional by the day and a novelist by night, Nisha earned her Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Relations and Economics from Jyoti Nivas College – Bengaluru, India in 2005 and subsequently went on to complete her PGDHRM from Symbiosis, Pune. Writing a novel has always been her dream and with 'An Unforgettable Holiday', this is now a reality. A tea connoisseur, Nisha lives in Bangalore, India with her exceptionally calm husband, darling son and supportive in-laws. And when she is not cooking or spending time with her little tyke, you can catch her writing into wee hours from the comfort of her porch.

THE WINTER YEARS - EUGENIA FAIN

The Winter Years of the gray-headed are a time to laugh and cry. Readers will do both while seeing their own reflection from each poem. Learn the different types of poetry as you relate to life; no matter your age. Discover these types of poetry: Lento, Tanka, Triolet, Senryu, Monorhyme, Cinquain, Lento, anka, Triolet, Senryu, Monorhyme, and Cinquain.

Welcome to Martin Matthews Writes, Eugenia!

I am excited to be sharing about one of my latest projects with you. Thank you for this grand opportunity.

You’re totally welcome! This is what we’re all about, showcasing author’s work. Tell us a little about yourself.

I am excited about writing in all forms. Something magical happens when I get a pen in my hand. I like communicaging with others. Communication is important in forging human relationships and bonds. I like to create. Looking back at a finished project brings me such delight.

Tell us a little about your book.

The book is a book of contemporary poetry where I explore different forms and topics. There are lots of characters. I write about nature, animals, heavenly beings, and death.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

I decided to write a poem one night for my former English teacher's aging years. She is in retirement in Charleston, Sc. Then I just went from there.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

There is a beautiful theme illustrated as the bent over couple in the background of the midnight blue sky walk along. The snowflakes signify winter, as does the couple symbolically walking in their winter season of life.

Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

I like Romantic poets. John Donne, Paul Dunbar, and Maya Angelou are people I enjoy. I also enjoy reading and reviewing contemporary poems online.

What are you currently reading?

I am waiting on two books from authorsden to arrive. I will review a children's book about first responders in the Covid crisis, and a book of short stories.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

I have written Just Another Look and Breakdown. They were published by Good Samaritan Press, and edited by Jerome Brooke. They are novellas.

Add your own questions and answers: 

What advice would you give to new authors? Don't be afraid to self-publish. Explore publishing online. Use Facebook and author pages to advertise. Keep at it.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Eugenia!

Thanks! I look forward to doing it again sometime.

Eugenia Fain: I have forty years experience in writing poetry and prose. i am also a songwriter. I am published both online and in print. I am considered an international author. I reside in Columbia, Sc with my husband, Ivan, and cat, Buddy. I am a tutor, preschool teacher, and children's minister. I have no children of my own.

K3+ - ERASMO ACOSTA

The colonization of Mars resulted in a catastrophic failure.

With an ever increasing population and the question of global changes, one man stumbles across something that could be the salvation of the human race.

Could this, in fact, be the key to the exploding future of mankind?

Scorned by the reality of corporate indifference, Federico never imagined he would dream again. Yet when a new opportunity is offered to him, he soon finds himself a leading figure on the Space Initiative, a small group of adventurers, set on realizing the full potential of mankind and allowing humanity to tap into unlimited resources and stretch across the universe.

As expansion reaches further and further into the final frontier, millions evacuate Earth for life in a utopia absent of inequality, exploitation, and cruelty. When new factions arise, the burning question is whether or not Earth will even survive.

When tensions get out of control and billions are put at risk, the fate of both Earth and humanity will be decided.

Erasmo Acosta was born in Cantura, Venezuela, and moved to the United States in 1996 to pursue a software engineering career, sponsored by a small Silicon Valley company. He retired to Portland, Oregon, in 2020 after achieving 32 successful years in the industry. In 2015, Acosta became interested in the implications of the Fermi Paradox as it relates to the prospects of finding another civilization in the universe. Further research into Futurism, upcoming technologies, and the works of American physicist Gerard O’Neill, led him to write K3+. The dystopian novel explores human migration, triggered by inequality and climate change, to rotating habitats in space, based on many currently available technologies. Acosta tells the story of how humanity moved past the unsettling times we live in to a post-scarcity and egalitarian society—absent of fear, uncertainty, inequality, and despair.

Welcome to Martin Matthews Writes!

Thanks, Martin, so glad to be here. I'm excited to be sharing about myself and my book.

Well, we’re excited too. Tell us a little about yourself first.

Well, I'm actually from Venezuela, but I came to the US in the late 90's to pursue engineering. It's something I devoted much of my life to this, but circumstances led to me retiring and soon after, I really went all in exploring science. In the last few years, my beliefs and points of view have dynamically shifted on a future perspective. I really believe in this personally, which is a huge part of why I wrote my book. Even though it's science fiction, I feel that it has real possibilities and I hope to inspire the world through it.

Tell us a little about your book.

 K3+ is a science fiction story geared toward adults. It's the story of how humanity gets past these troubling times, to build a purely egalitarian post-scarcity civilization in space. It begins with climate change and economic inequality coalescing into a dystopia that triggers a massive exodus to space colonies (aka rotating habitats). Centuries later, people living in space establish a utopian society, while those left on Earth continue to struggle. As migration to space continues, nations on Earth begin to collapse due to underpopulation, making the ultimate conflict inevitable.

Anyone who worries about the future should read my novel. These are troubling times of great anxiety, but I want to send the message that we can survive this and the future is nothing but bright. The enabling technologies are discussed in a light/colloquial manner allowing the average person to understand the concepts, however hyperlinks (instead of footnotes) all over the book allow more informed readers (or those so inclined) to dive deeper.

I feel that this is the only book I'll write, but I also feel that it's a really important one for the world.

Well, if you’re only going to read one book, you might as well make it a good one! Introduce us to some of your characters. 

The book is full of a range of characters, but the primary focus is on Federico as he experiences the expansion and dynamic changes that occur. I drew on personal experiences, and borrowed from others, to bring some of the characters to life. Yasmin is an amalgam of 4 different people I knew. Other characters are completely organic, and materialized as the narrative evolved. Kaira was inspired on a dear friend’s daughter. Len is probably the most diverse individual, due to the fact I merged two separate characters into one.

One of my early editors recommended I give SueLing more agency, so she would raise to the plot. Enzo was conjured out of the need to make Federico’s work more real. I didn’t want a single character to be “the hero”. You’ll see many of the characters throughout the story, rise above the main character.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

I watched a YouTube video that discussed both the Fermi Paradox and Dyson Swarms. It had a profound personal impact, leading me to drop some of my most deeply held beliefs. Less than two years later, after plenty of research on these and many other subjects, I started writing the K3+ book.

For those wondering, the Fermi Paradox is an idea put forward by physicist Enrico Fermi, speculating that humans could be the only civilization in our galaxy. Back in the fifties, he estimated that it would take a technologically advanced civilization, at our level, just a pinch of cosmic time to colonize the entire Milky Way—even without faster-than-light travel capability.

During a lunch at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fermi brought this idea to some of his colleagues but died of cancer soon after, without having the opportunity to publish a paper in the subject. However, Fermi’s argument was so powerful that, instead of fading away, it strengthened over time and is still known as the Fermi paradox.

As I was writing, I studied the works of scientists like Gerard O’Neill, Seth Shostak, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. In addition, I dug into technologies like vertical farming, aeroponic irrigation, closed-loop technologies to recycle air and water, propulsion systems, artificial wombs, genetic engineering, aging, neural interfaces, evolution, and quantum computing, to name a few.

This created a very clear vision in my mind both for the book and the possibilities for humanity's future.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

We have many of the technologies necessary to build a post-scarcity utopia for the entire human species. But stuck with business as usual, fawning over war, and competing against each other, we fail to look outside the box and follow the bigger plan. I truly believe that space offers virtually unlimited resources for humanity to break free from our home planet. But we’re limited to the visions of different space race tycoons, which completely suck the air out of the debate, and whose ultimate goals are control and domination. If we had the will and vision to get past our biases, we could see the first thousand-people space colony within four decades.

Share with us some of your biggest influences.

For the writing specifically, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, and Arthur Clarke are my childhood heroes. I make references to them throughout the story. J. K. Rowling had a different kind of influence. Ever since reading the Philosopher’s Stone—I read all seven books many times—I was deeply impressed by her light and easy-to-digest style. The interactions between Fedrix & SueLing are an example.

What are you currently reading?

I'm not deeply focused on something at the moment, but I frequently enjoy similar science fiction such as The Martian and Ringworld.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?: I'm not working on any more books for now. My main focus is promoting K3+, sharing my vision with the world, and hopefully starting a movement. I am, however, publishing related articles on Medium.

What is the main point you want to establish with the book?

We can’t give everyone on Earth an upper middle-class life, without burning our planet to hell in the process (building houses, cars, iPhones, etc). But in space, with virtually unlimited resources, this is possible. We must not allow a tiny minority to seize control of those resources, and establish a mega-empire, to tyrannize the rest of humanity for centuries. Space must be free and open for all. Egalitarianism must be the founding principle of the new order.

How can this book, even though fiction, make an impact in society?
Our short term profit system is destroying the planet, and creating a level of inequality not seen since feudalism. K3+ is a reminder that we can, and must, do better. 

Based on the Fermi Paradox, there is a possibility that we are the only civilization in this corner of the universe. We have a responsibility to not destroy ourselves, by blindly continuing on our current path. 

I hope it can help usher an awakening. Rotating habitats, not planets, can bring a utopia for humanity. We have all the pieces of the puzzle, and space has the resources. Rather than a mindless greed, a bigger plan for the entire human species.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, good sir!

Thanks so much for joining me and please do check out the book!

THE DEATH BROTHERS: A SUPERNATURAL AWAKENING - DEE ROSE

The Hangman laughed at Sariel. “Looks like Caine and Padilla have finally pissed off more than just the underworld.”Two weeks have passed since the events of the Hangman Returns. Jericho Caine and Father Tom Padilla, the Death Brothers, return to The Reefs in the Gulf of Mexico to settle a score with the vampire sirens. However, a female angel, Sariel, with romantic intentions toward Jericho, plans to separate the brothers and seduce the slayer. Sariel strikes a deal with the Hangman to distract the brothers by casting a spell that resurrects vanquished supernatural beings in New York. In return, Sariel agrees to help the Hangmen bring back his wife and son, who are Heaven. Sariel also recruits a vengeful scientist, Dr. Ranken, to create a monster, who is a combination of a rare male vampire siren, and a werewolf. Sariel wants the doctor and his creation, Thaden, to only eliminate Tom, but they have other plans. They hire a hitman, to acquire a mystical weapon called the Takara Dagger. It has the power to kill any living being, including angels and demons. They intend to kill anyone that poses a threat to their ascension to power. As the new threat grows, the Death Brothers must face the danger without their allies. Susan Taki, Tom’s girlfriend, is still in a coma in San Diego. The Grand Librarian, Alexander Merryweather, is in Chicago tending to his new family.The Death Brothers: A supernatural Awakening is the eighth novella in the HMU series beginning with; The Hangman; The Grand Librarian: Life of an Immortal; Father Tom Padilla: Mark of the Demon Priest; Jericho Caine, Vampire Slayer: Dakota Rises; The Bad Angel: Redemption; The Hangman Returns; and The Grand Librarian: The Future Wizards.

Welcome to Martin Matthews Writes, Dee!

Thanks for granting me this interview, Martin.

Tell us a little about yourself!

Well, I’m Dee Rose, I've been writing for about thirty years. I started as a senior in high school when I entered a poetry contest. I didn't win, but the bug was planted. After I graduated, I joined the US Navy, where I served four and a half years. I was honorably discharged and went back home to Gary, Indiana. I started planning my writing career but nothing really happened. I moved to Denver, Colorado at the suggestion of my father, where I attended the Community College of Aurora, and then studied Political Science at Metropolitan State University. While there, I also took creative writing classes, which restarted my creative juices to flow. I finished my first book, Cloning Around, that I'd started seven years prior. However, my sister died. She was gay, so I wrote a romantic novella in dedication to her. It ended up being my first published book.

So sorry to hear about your sister, Dee. Tell us a little about your new book.

The book is called The Death Brothers: A Supernatural Awakening. It is fiction and written for anyone who likes the world of magic and the supernatural. It's the eighth book of a ten-book series called the Hangman Universe (HMU). It is about two of the main heroes, the vampire slayer, Jericho Caine and the demon hunter, Father Tom Padilla. They have embraced their roles as the reincarnated and famed brothers from the 1800's. They slowly uncover a plot by a female angel to destroy their relationship as she has romantic feelings for Jericho. She recruits the Hangman, a vengeful scientist and his creation, who is a half vampire/half werewolf. They use their combined powers to try to destroy the Death Brothers and their allies. The book pushes the Hangman series forward to a dramatic conclusion in book ten.

Introduce us to some of your characters

The main characters are; Jericho Caine, the one true vampire slayer. He wields a mystical sword called the Sword of Caine. The sword and he are one, as they feed off each other's powers. He has lost many assistants over the years.

Father Tom Padilla, the other half of the Death Brothers, is a former priest and exorcist. He has the ability to match the abilities of any demon he faces. His father was a priest as well, and he decided to follow in his fathers footsteps until he began to lose his faith in humanity. He and Jericho were best friends before they found out they were the Death Brothers.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

The idea from the book came from me wanting to introduce a character that fought vampires and one that fought werewolves. They existed in Europe in the 1800's. To have their legacy continue, I had them continuously be reincarnated over the centuries, by the grace of angels. They were introduced in book 5, The Bad Angel: Redemption.

That kinda reminds me of the Belmonts from the Castlevania series! Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

The message behind my book is as old as life. Its good versus evil, and even though good triumphs, its not without loss.

Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

One of my influences is Stephen King. I admire his work. But my children are my biggest influences. I write to leave something for them long after I'm gone.

What are you currently reading?

Right now I'm not currently reading anything, just concentrating on finishing my universe.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

Right now, I'm working on the ninth book in the series entitled, Susan Taki: The New Coven. Its about another hero from the universe. Her former coven has returned to make her stand trial for betraying the coven. If found guilty, the punishment is death.

How did the Hangman Universe come to be?

The Hangman Universe was created as a horror book. However, about a third of the way into it, I ran out of material. At the same time, I working on a superhero story about a vampire slayer named Jericho Caine. I decided to combine the stories and the HMU was born from that. The Hangman was actually a rap song I'd created and turned it into a story.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Dee! It’s been real good!

You're so welcome. I'd just like to thank everyone for taking the time to learn about me and my books. It has been a pleasure to share myself with you today.

Dee Rose was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. He has two daughters, Nadia, and Nicole. He now resides in Denver, Colorado where he majored in Political Science at Metropolitan State University. He laughs when he remembers the origin of the Hangman Universe, as it was originally a rap song he created. Now, along with his girls, the HMU has become the center of his world.

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THE CHAIR MAN - ALEX PEARL

Michael Hollinghurst is a successful corporate lawyer living a comfortable, suburban life in leafy North West London. But on 7 July 2005, his life is transformed when he steps on a London underground train targeted by Islamist suicide bombers. While most passengers in his carriage are killed, Michael survives the explosion but is confined to a wheelchair as a result. Coming to terms with his predicament and controlling his own feelings of guilt as a survivor conspire to push him in a direction that is out of character and a tad reckless. In a quest to seek retribution, he resorts to embracing the internet and posing as a radical Islamist in order to snare potential perpetrators. Much to his surprise, his shambolic scheme yields results and is brought to the attention of both GCHQ and a terrorist cell. But before long, dark forces begin to gather and close in on him. There is seemingly no way out for Michael Hollinghurst. He has become, quite literally, a sitting target.

This week, we’re talking with author Alex Pearl. Alex, welcome to Martin Matthews Writes!

Thank you Martin for the opportunity to talk about my book.

Great to have you, tell us a little about yourself, Alex!

My name is Alex Pearl, and I was very tempted to write under the pen name Bertram Bolzwinick, which was the name of my grandfather who died before I was born. He was from Russia or Poland; I'm not sure which. Sadly, when he arrived on these shores he changed his name by deed poll to Bertram Davis, which doesn't quite have the same cachet. However, having toyed with the idea, I finally decide to stick with my own name simply because everyone I'm linked to online knows me as Alex Pearl, so I'd be missing out on a sizeable audience from day one. 

I live in NW London and I have always lived in London. The area I live in is known as Hampstead Garden Suburb, which was set up in 1906 as part of the garden suburb movement. And we are very close to a large heathland known as Hampstead Heath.

I have retired from work now. I used to be an advertising copywriter, so writing has been something I did professionally for around 35 years. 

I was born in Wanstead, east London, which used to be Winston Churchill's constituency. and I was brought up in an area called Ilford. Ilford is a large sprawling suburban conurbation on the eastern outskirts of Greater London. Its most attractive feature is a well-tended park, Valentines Park.

My first attempt at writing fiction was towards the end of my copywriting career in 2011. I was working at the time for a large agency called Draft Worldwide and during my last year with them they announced a massive merger with New York's third oldest agency Foote Cone and Belding (FCB). The merger was a complete nightmare. Can you imagine the logistics of merging all these worldwide offices? the whole thing was surreal. My boss was ostracised and shoved to one side; clients decided to jump ship; and work dried up. Some bright spark described the merger as being tantamount to the Hindenberg coming to the rescue of the Titanic. So anyway, I decided to do something useful with my time. I started writing a book, primarily for my kids. By the time they made me redundant, all I had to remove from my office was a bunch of laminated ads, a Collins English dictionary, and a tatty manuscript entitled 'Sleeping with the Blackbirds', which made it into print the following year.

Tell us a little about the book, Alex

My thriller 'The Chair Man' is a thriller whose protagonist is a tetraplegic in a wheelchair having been the victim of an Islamist suicide bombing. I wanted to write a thriller featuring a disabled main character for two reasons. Firstly, I just feel that there aren't enough books out there that feature disability and have disabled characters as protagonists. And secondly, I know a fair amount about the subject, as my wife became a tetraplegic seven years ago. I also wanted to delve into the reasons why certain individuals might turn to terrorism. So one of my other main characters George Caxton is a complex character. Having been sexually abused as a child, Caxton as a young man murders his father and serves time in prison, and it's here that he is befriended by a group of Muslims; embraces Islam; converts; and adopts a new name: Qssim El-Ghzzawy.
The book explores themes of friendship, loyalty and betrayal from points of view of both terrorist and victim; and the havoc and mayhem that both parties are capable of creating.

Can you introduce about some of your main characters

Michael Hollinghurst is a perfectly affable and likable character. He is a successful corporate lawyer; lives a comfortable life in leafy NW London; and has two children, both in their early 20s who he adores. His marriage isn't in the best of shape though. Louise his wife is a very successful advertising executive. As a senior planner and founding partner of one of London's trendiest ad agencies, she's hardly around. When Michael becomes a victim of the terrorist attack, she divorces him. The transition to becoming a wheelchair user is one that Michael finds difficult to come to terms with, and he becomes obsessed with seeking retribution. In this respect, I am put in mind of the author Jean Dominique Bauby who said, following his awful accident and resulting Locked-In Syndrome: "Does it take the harsh light of disaster to show a person's true nature?" 
George Caxton who is one of the terrorists is as I have already mentioned, a complex character who clearly has major issues around identity and trust. But he is fascinating, and deep down, one senses that he's not all bad; and certainly, no one's fool.

Mohamed Farik is one of the other terrorists, and much of his ideology is formed by the death of his older brother Salah who he clearly worshipped. Salah was a brilliant young man who studied Mechanical Engineering and went out to Iraq just before the Iraq war. He sadly becomes collateral damage when America starts bombing the city.

Hugo Manningtree is Michael's best friend. He is one of life's polymaths and is a brilliant self-taught engineer among other things; and one of his passions is building and flying microlights. With Maningtree's assistance, Michael's hair-brained scheme might just come to fruition.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

The seed of the idea came from my wife's condition. She has had to adapt her life following the diagnosis of a benign tumour on the spinal cord. Consequently, I know a lot about spinal injuries and the challenges they present; as well as the impact the condition can have on family dynamics. So I wanted to write a thriller whose protagonist is in this situation simply because you don't see many if any books of this kind. The idea of a survivor of a terror attack wanting to gain retribution online seemed like a good idea having read a book that was written anonymously by a Jewish Iraqi woman whose father had been murdered by Sadam Husain. She had escaped Iraq and ended up working undercover for American intelligence. I had to read several books for research purposes. Among these was 'The Islamist' by Ed Husain, which is an insightful account of one man's radicalisation in the UK, and his journey from the fringes of extremism all the way back to Western democracy and liberalism.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

First and foremost, I wanted the book to be an engaging read. Inevitably, there are themes in the book that I wanted to explore from both the terrorist and the victim's point of view. These include friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and identity.

Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

Strangely enough, I haven't read masses of thrillers and crime novels. But certain books from my past have no doubt had an influence. Mario Puzo's 'The Godfather' would certainly have been one of those books. Another would have been Frederick Forsyth's 'Day of the Jackal' and 'The Odessa File.' All these are very filmic and have, of course, made it onto the big screen. Then, of course, there are brilliant TV adaptations like John le Carre's 'The Night Manager', which was brilliant; and 'Homeland.' All of which have certainly been hugely influential.

What are you currently reading?

 I have just finished reading ‘The Last Lemming’ by my good friend Chris Chalmers who, like me, used to be an advertising copywriter. This is his fifth book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It’s an engaging yarn that combines mystery, humour and a dash of romance to great effect. In Mr Chalmers’ inimitable style, we are introduced to the lives of two disparate central characters: in the form of TV naturalist, Prof Leo Saunders and Claire Webster, a young Personal Trainer with aspirations to become an investigative journalist.

There are two distinct threads to the narrative: one set in the mid 1980s and the other in the present-day narrated by our amateur female journalist. The plot involves Saunders admitting on Youtube just before dying that his one claim to fame – the discovery of the Potley Hill lemming – was in fact a hoax, and that a certain advertising luminary had ‘blood on his hands.’ While the stunt is eventually written off as nothing more than unreliable ramblings of a sick man, Webster decides to investigate and use her findings for her dissertation on her journalism course.

This entertaining and deftly plotted tale involves a cast of colourful characters including some of the furry variety. It’s a skilfully woven yarn with some lovely descriptive passages that establish time and place. And in the best tradition, there are, of course, dead bodies.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

I want to write a sequel to 'The Chair Man'. I have the first half of the book in my head, but I am currently struggling to formulate the second half. Plotting is by far the most challenging part of writing fiction. For me, it's crucial to set out a road map. I need to know exactly where the story is going. With 'The Chair Man' I knew how it was going to end before I'd worked out all the details. A lot of the details inevitably evolve as you write, but the overall structure will stay pretty much as I conceived it.

Are any of your characters in the book based on real people?

Good question. Yes, one of my characters is actually based on a character in real life. The character in my book is Damien Lowry-Johnson who has a helicopter hire business on the Isle of Man as well as a criminal history, and he is based on a real person named Darius Guppy who went to Eton with Boris Johnson. Guppy and a friend ended up going to prison for an insurance scam.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Alex, I hope to talk again soon!

It's my pleasure. I really enjoyed the chance to chat with you.

Purchase the book here!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chair-Man-Alex-Pearl-ebook/dp/B082T5P1Y2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1598438590&sr=1-2

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-chair-man-alex-pearl/1136672496

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-chair-man

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1009862

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Back in the distant mists of time, Alex spent three years at art college in Maidstone; a college that David Hockney once taught at, and later described in a piece for The Sunday Times as the 'most miserable' episode of his life. Here, Alex was responsible for producing - among other things - the college's first theatrical production in which the lead character accidentally caught fire. Following college, he found employment in the advertising industry as a copywriter. He has turned to writing fiction in the twilight years of his writing career.

His novella, 'Sleeping with the Blackbirds' - a black, comic urban fantasy, was initially written for his children in 2011 and published by PenPress. It has since become a Kindle bestseller in the US.

In 2014 his short story, 'Scared to Death' - the fictionalised account of the first British serviceman to be executed for cowardice during the First World War, was published in an anthology ('The Clock Struck War') by Mardibooks along with 22 other short stories to mark the centenary of the Great War.

Alex's psychological thriller, 'The Chair Man' set in London following the terrorist attack in 2005 was published as an e-book by Fizgig Press in 2019 and as a paperback in 2020. It is his first full-length novel.
Alex's claim to fame is that he is quite possibly the only person on this planet to have been inadvertently locked in a record shop on Christmas Eve.

THE THORNS OF LIFE - NYASHA CHITAVATI

Nyasha grew up facing problems. She was scared to be real with herself. Fear was all around her. Pain was part of her. However, the moment she realised the beauty that is found in hardships she walked back into the light. Her confidence was back. With the hope of helping someone who is going through the same situation, she came up with a book that summarizes most of the difficulties we face in our everyday lives and how we can overcome them. A lot of us we have made them part of our lives. Our voices are no longer being heard. Problems have build up and piled up in every aspect and area of our lives. We are being misled. We have allowed them to build walls between us and our Creator. We have forgotten who we belong to. Some problems come in our lives as lessons and some as blessings in disguise.

We give up. We call ourselves failures. Is it so? Thorns are seeds that grow virtue,perseverance, humility and empathy.

HIWelcome to Martin Matthews Writes!

Thank You Martin, it is such a great honor to ve here. I am looking forward to give you answers and learn from this interview.

I am too! Tell us a little about yourself first…

I am Nyasha Chitavati. Aged 20. I am from Zimbabwe Gweru. Currently, l am studying Chemical Bioscience and Biotechnology. Besides that, l am a Inspirational Author. I discovered my gift at a young age, and it became a part of me. However, l was scared to share what l had with other due to certain adversities l was facing. But, by the grace of God l managed to get out of my hiding place and be ready to be who He made me be.

Tell us a little about your book

The Thorns of Life is an Inspirational Book. It's mainly geared towards those young people and even grown ups who are facing certain types of challenges which in the long run are driving them away from God and their purposes in life. The book points out about the problems we face in life and how we can learn to overcome them and allow them to strengthen us. Most people are living with these problems and they made them the part of their lives. They have already decided to allow them to define who they are. However, this manuscript is going to help us push a little harder and dig deep within ourselves and be prepared to let the light in us shine.

Tell us about some of your characters. It looks like you’re the protagonist here, right?

Yes! The main character from this book, l can say it was me. Because l figured out the way to come out fron certain problems and l was able to share what l had gone through with others, so that they can avoid or overcome whatever they are facing.

Where did the idea for this book come from? 

It came from my own personal experiences. I had problems as l was growing up. Some were self caused and mainly some came from the environment that l was in. I reached a point where l thought of even giving up. But instead, God had other plans for me. And l became who l am today.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

The message you will get from the book is: "It doesn't matter what you are going through, know that God has your back. In every good thing we get in life there's always a price to pay. Just like roses have thorns on them. We should remain strong and faithful in God. "

Who or what are some of your biggest influences? 

Dr Ruth Emmanuel Makandiwa, Priscilla Shirer, and Joyce Meyer. These great women faced a lot in life. However, they remained strong. Their books , their teaching and their wisdom came as a life and light in my life. The one thing that l learnt from them was, never let your current situation interfer with your future life. You're not your circumstances, you are not your struggles but you are who God says you are. "

What are you currently reading? 

Fervent by Priscilla Shirer.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

I am working on my fourth book called The Quest for Identity. This book explains and reminds us of who we are, our purpose in life and the gifts that God gave us.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to new writers?

Firstly, write what you know. Always be truthful. Check the type of group you’re targeting. Make your writing attractive. As a beginner it might appear as if it is so hard, but trust me, writing is so so good especially when it comes from your heart. Never allow anyone to tell you that you can’t be who you want to be. No one has the right to define who you are. Only God has that right. Stay confident. Gather as much information as you can. Find someone who can inspire you. Follow their steps. Ask them how they do it. Be open for correction. Be friendly. Above all stand up for the truth.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Nyasha!

 Thank you so much for having me. It was so good interacting with you.

THE THORNS OF LIFE IS AVAILABLE HERE

Nyasha Chitavati was born on 28 December 1999 in Masvingo Zimbabwe. Nyasha grew up in Masvingo where she did her Ordinary Level at Silveira High School from 2013-2016. She pursued her education at Fletcher High School in Gweru where she was doing her Advanced Level. Nyasha grew up as an intelligent girl with passion for writing books, exploring in science projects. She began writing at the age of thirteen where she wrote her first two books entitled Being Loved After Struggle and Love is all about sacrificing. 

www.instagram.com/nyasha_chitavati
www.twitter.com/NyashaChitavati

THE GREEN HOUSE - DAN LAWTON

The green house is more than a greenhouse.

Seven flowers, seven colors, seven meanings, and one 37-year-old secret—the green house is the keeper of it all. Its creator, Girard, is a fragile elderly man whose life was shattered by tragedy nearly four decades ago. And when tragedy strikes again—this time to his beloved wife, Miriam—Girard struggles to cope.

The pain of the two interwoven tragedies drives Girard to places of his psyche he desperately tries but is unable to escape. And while the green house he constructed reminds him every day of the regret and the agony and the heartache, it's the only place in his world that offers him peace and tranquility.

Girard turns to the green house as his savior, and with it, he discovers the power behind it not even he knew existed—hope for a second chance.

Hi, Dan! Welcome to Martin Matthews Writes!

Thanks, Martin!

Tell us a little about yourself!

Aside from my writing, I'm a copy editor and copywriter by day for an advertising agency in New Hampshire, where I reside, and I love it! I live in central New Hampshire and haven't ventured too far throughout my life. I'm a sports lover and vegetarian by choice and a dad. I unassumingly make myself laugh every day. While I'm an introvert, I'm not shy; I just often don't know what to say. Most importantly, I'm happy and thrive on positive energy and good vibes, and believe people need to find their own happiness. I love life.

Tell us a little about your new book.

The Green House is literary fiction. I always incorporate a suspenseful plot, so it's a literary mystery. Further, it's a psychological analysis and shroud in romance. Admittedly, it's dark and with a slow pace, and the focus is on the mental health of the main character, Girard—to identify him as a protagonist or antagonist is difficult to do; he's both in many ways. Mental health, depressive thoughts, alcoholism, grief and loss, healing, and hope are all parts of the story. Symbolism is a huge part of the art of the work too, which is represented by flowers in Girard's greenhouse (also a green house; the title is two words intentionally). You'll have to read it to understand, but there's seven flowers, the colors of which represent different emotions, which tie into Girard's story.

Sounds pretty deep, Dan. As someone who lost his best friend to mental illness, I’m intrigued by your story already. Tell us about some of the characters.

Girard Remington is an elderly man with mental health issues and a heavy burden of guilt. He's flawed and unlikable at times, but once you learn the reasons why he is who he is, you'll sympathize. Girard is the primary focus of the novel. The secondary characters are just that—secondary.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

The story is deeply personal. At the time I began writing it, I had a close relationship with someone who experienced mental health issues, which I struggled to understand. As a writer, the best way for me to understand was to put myself in their place—as a character with these same issues. That's where the general concept game from. Later, a larger concept about the green house and the flowers and the symbolism came to life and connected it all together.

Is there a message behind your book?

There is! The underlying message is hope. There is hope for a better future and for healing and understanding.

Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

John Hart has been my biggest influence. He writes literary suspense—a beautiful juxtaposition of literary writing with fleshed out characters and descriptive writing, and suspenseful plots. I try to write like he does.

What are you currently reading?

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. It's dark and tough to get through sometimes, but I'm about halfway done and determined to finish.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it? 

I finished my sixth novel a few months ago and will be starting my seventh very soon. For the first time, I have a three-book series planned (all my other books up to this point have been standalones). The first in the series is done. All I'm willing to share right now is that it's called That Was Before (I'm very secretive until it's ready).

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Dan!

Thanks so much!

THE GREEN HOUSE AVAILABLE HERE

Website: danlawtonfiction.com

Twitter/Instagram: @danlawtonauthor
Facebook: facebook.com/danlawtonfiction

Dan Lawton is an award-winning literary suspense, mystery, and thriller author from New Hampshire. He is an active member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW) Organization.

His fifth novel, The Green House--a Bronze Medalist in the Adult Fiction E-Book category for the 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Awards), a finalist in the Fiction category for the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and a finalist in the Mystery category for the 2020 Book Excellence Awards--will be released on 7/30/20.

Dan's fourth novel, Plum Springs, won the 2019 New Hampshire Writers' Project Readers' Choice Award for Fiction. His first novel, Deception, was named one of the best thriller novels of 2017 by the Novel Writing Festival.

A Bloody Hot Summer - Trevor D'Silva

Blurb: It’s 1927 and Great Britain is sweltering in an unprecedented heatwave. On the morning after her eightieth birthday party, Lady Fitzhugh is discovered bound and butchered in her bed, with her family and staff the prime suspects…
Whilst holidaying at nearby Meadowford Village, Detective Dermot Carlyle is asked to help investigate the brutal murder. The clues all point to a robbery gone wrong, but Dermot suspects that there is more to the horrific crime. The Fitzhughs’ secrets take Dermot along a path linking some of the biggest events of the British Colonial Empire – from India to Africa, to the dark days of the Great War itself.
As more murders take place, Dermot is racing against time to discover the killer’s identity. What are the family hiding, why did Lady Fitzhugh have to die, and what horror was committed in the colonies that led to this trail of death and deceit?

Welcome to Martin Matthews Writes, Trevor!

Thanks Martin, for interviewing me for my second novel. It is great to be interviewed again and you will be glad to know that this novel is set in England and Scotland. Since you’re from the United Kingdom, it would be of some interest to you and to some of your readers.

It sure is! Tell us a little about yourself:

 Well, I was born and brought up in India. I immigrated to the US many years ago. I have four degrees; three in engineering and one in accounting. My first novel came out in October 2017. It took me seventeen years to write my first novel because I was studying and after that, I went into teaching. I taught for two years at a community college and also at a private university. I taught mechanical engineering and environmental science subjects. Finishing my first novel was always on my mind. Therefore in 2015 or 16, I decided that it was high time I completed and got it published. I did not want to be an old man when I completed it. Besides, I had many ideas to write other novels. So I made time to write, put in the hard work and finally finished it. Finding a publisher was hard, but then Black Rose Writing saw my pitch on a website and contacted me telling me that they would be glad to publish my novel. As a result, Fateful Decisions was published. 

As mentioned above, I had so many ideas to write other novels. Being a fan of mystery books, I wanted my next book to be in that genre and to set it in 1920s England. I guess it’s because I grew up reading Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels. I also grew up speaking British English and I’m very familiar with a lot of British expressions and slang. I did not want to take another seventeen years to write it. I actually started it before Fateful Decisions was published. So, after it was published, I started concentrating on writing my second novel. I would work on it after I came back from my job at night and on also weekends. A year and a half later, A Bloody Hot Summer was published on November 14, 2019.

One thing I would like people to know is that my books are mostly of the historical fiction genre, but I also incorporate other genres into my books. Therefore, my books contain many sub genres, but they all come under the umbrella of historical fiction.

Hmmm, sounds intriguing. Tell us a little about your book.

A Bloody Hot Summer is a murder mystery of the crime fiction genre, with certain historical events of the British Empire and its colonies, which serve as the background for the whole novel. Therefore, I guess the sub-genre would be historical fiction and also suspense. 
Like my debut novel, A Bloody Hot Summer is geared towards young adults and adults. So, basically anyone 13 or 14 years and older can read the book. I think anyone who loves murder mysteries can read my novel regardless of age.
The major themes of the novel are greed and treachery. So, anyone who reads the novel will see what consequences greed and treachery can bring about and how it affects innocent people too even after several decades. 
The story mostly takes place in the summer of 1927 during a heat wave, in a quaint little village called Meadowford Village (a name I invented), located a few miles away from London.
My book begins in 1903 with a baby dropped by a mysterious man and a woman at a Scottish castle to be brought up by the housekeeper. Then fast forward to summer of 1927 where Lady Fitzhugh celebrates her 80th birthday at Fitzhugh Manor. The next morning, she is found bound to her bed with her throat slit, by her maid Alice who goes to wake her up with a cup of tea and some toast. 
We then meet the young detective from London, Dermot Lucian Carlyle who was vacationing/holidaying in Meadowford Village at the time of the murder. Since Inspector Lester Enderby of Meadowford Village has no idea how to investigate a murder, Dermot’s superior in London telephones him and asks him to help the inspector solve this case. Of course, Dermot is upset and reluctantly agrees to investigate the murder. This is his first solo case and he’s very nervous.
While investigating, he uncovers many secrets of the Fitzhugh family right from the time when the family escaped from India during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 and also during the Second Anglo Boer War in South Africa. He also has a strange hunch that the death of one of the family members during the First World War is tied with the murder of Lady Fitzhugh. While he investigates, other murders take place and he has to race against time, to find who the killer/killers are and their motive. 
Well, some reviewers have compared my book to Agatha Christie’s novels and others to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels. I guess, it has elements of both writers since their books gave me the inspiration to write this novel. So, it was an honor to have my book compared to two prominent mystery writers of their time.

Tell us about some of your characters.

The protagonist is Dermot Lucian Carlyle. He is a young detective who is asked by his superior from the Metropolitan Police in London to solve the murder of Lady Fitzhugh. He grew up in Meadowford Village and was holidaying there for two weeks when unfortunately for him this murder took place. He reluctantly takes the case just because he has to obey his superior. He has to rely on his experiences gained while shadowing his superior on cases in London. This is the first time he has to solve a gruesome murder by himself, which of course during the course of the investigation, more murders are committed and secrets are uncovered.
There are many secondary characters like: Pippa, her much older boyfriend Richard, Cora and Hector (Pippa’s mother and younger brother) the two elderly sisters of Lady Fitzhugh, the staff at the manor house, and of course Inspector Lester Enderby. There is also the solicitor Bertram Kerr who is not a nice person and one of the characters later attributes Kerr’s unpleasantness to his short stature. 
I won’t mention who the antagonists are and I will let the readers find that out for themselves. But the antagonists were very good at deceiving and played their part to perfection. Their main motivation was to right wrongs which had been done to them many decades before.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

 As mentioned above, I grew up reading a lot of novels written by Dame Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and others. Being a person who loves history, especially British colonial history, I wanted to write a murder mystery and link it to certain historical events that occurred in the British colonies. I purposely set it in the 1920s because according to me, from the 1900s to the early 1940s probably were the hey days for murder mysteries with an English setting. A lot of popular murder mystery movies are set during that time period. I chose 1927 as the year for the story to take place, as there would be people alive who lived through the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny in India and also the Second Anglo Boer War in 1890s South Africa. So, it would be a blend of historical events from the Victorian Era and the early part of the 20th century. Of course, the murder had to take place in a manor house in a quaint little English Village called Meadowford Village to give it that authentic British setting. So, a lot of thought went into deciding the year, the setting and also what historical events I could portray in my novel. I felt the summer heat would add another dimension to the novel and decided that the whole story would take place during an unusual heat wave.

Is there a message behind your book? What is it?

 Yes, my book has several messages. Just like my debut novel Fateful Decisions, a person’s decision can have devastating consequences for not only himself, but also for his family and strangers alike. In this case, it was the evil (mostly motivated by greed) done by one of the family members that made other family members and non-family members pay dearly with their lives. Also, secrets have a way of being exposed and cannot be kept hidden. Although, in some cases they do. Even at the end of the novel, two characters discuss the human flaws that started the bloody events, which resulted in a lot of deaths. In addition to that, the behavior of some of the murdered victims also serve as a lesson how fate shouldn’t be tempted.

Who or what are some of your biggest influences?

 I would say that two writers who influenced me to write were Dame Agatha Christie and also Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Their books gave me a lot of inspiration to write this novel. I also read books by Sidney Sheldon, Jack Higgins, Jefferey Archer, M.M. Kaye, Ken Follett and others. So, reading a variety of books by various authors influenced me to take up writing as a hobby. I also grew up watching a lot of movies set in England during the early part of the twentieth century and the Victorian era. Of course, history always gives me ideas to write books and that is the biggest influence for me.

What are you currently reading?

Right now, I’m reading Peyton Place. The book is by Grace Metalious and it was made into a movie in the 1950s. It shocked the whole of America because it deals with issues, which were not discussed in polite society. I haven’t gotten very far into it, but it’s getting interesting now.

Are you working on another novel? Can you tell us anything about it?

Yes, I’ve started my third novel. All I can say is that it takes place in the 1960s. So, like Fateful Decisions, it will be a historical fiction novel. That 60s were a decade which changed not only America, but the whole of the western world. If any readers like books about hippies, the Vietnam War and counter culture movement of the late 60s, then I’m sure they will like this book.

What did you learn while writing this book?
I always learn a lot while researching my novels. When getting the novel edited, I learned a lot about Cockney and Scottish accents thanks to my British editor. Of course, to write a murder mystery, one has to research about poisons and the human anatomy. So, I learned a good deal regarding those topics. Since I incorporated certain historical events into the novel, which took place in the British colonies, I had to research those as well. I learned about British history in India and also about England in the 1920s, the expressions used during that period, historical facts about the Second Anglo Boer War in South Africa and First World War. I added a glossary at the end of the novel so that non-British English speakers can look up words or phrases they don’t know. So, you can probably say that my book will introduce a lot of people to British English and to British colonial history. 

Any advice for other writers?
As a writer we all know that writing a book is not an easy task. There will be times when you are challenged and will want to quit due to life or due to writer’s block. It is normal to have those thoughts, but the secret is to never give up. Just persevere by researching and recording your thoughts. Also, if you’re writing a book based on historical events, please make sure that they are factually correct by researching each fact thoroughly. Editing is another step in the process, which has to be done. Go through what your editors have done because they too make mistakes. Afterall, editors too are human. Finally, it is always good to have a fresh pair of eyes to proofread your work. A fresh pair of eyes can spot mistakes you or your editor haven’t spotted. When suggestions are made, consider all suggestions and then make an informed decision whether to follow them or not. After the novel has been published, remember that you are not going to please everyone. So, read the bad reviews and decide if you can incorporate any suggestions into your next novel or when you revise your current novel at a later date. It is a learning process which never ends. 

Any message for your readers?
Yes! I would like to tell not just people who read my books, but others too that while reading a novel, try and understand what the themes of the novel are, and why it is written a certain way. Most modern day readers just want everything to be exciting from the get-go, but life is not always like that. So, most authors try and make their story close to real life as possible, and that is why there could be some not so interesting parts in a novel. Also, try and figure out the message the author is trying to convey. Many lessons can be learned from the characters and also from various incidences mentioned in the novel.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with me today, Trevor.

Thank you very much for interviewing me for my second novel. It was a pleasure. I would like to thank my audience and readers for reading my books and for the reviews. Remember, reviews tell the author how much the readers appreciate the book and encourages the author to write more books.

Author Bio
Trevor D’Silva has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering; M.S. degrees in Engineering Management, and Environmental Engineering, and an Associate degree in Accounting. He has lectured in mechanical engineering and environmental science subjects at various colleges.

Fateful Decisions was his debut novel, encompassing history and fiction from WW I to the end of WW II. It got a 5 Star review from Readers’ Favorite and was also a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Awards competition in the historical fiction category for 2018 for which he got a medal.

His second novel, a murder mystery set in England and Scotland during the 1920s came out on November 14, 2019. Both novels have won the Silver Badge ‘Recommended Read’ award from Author Shout.
Even though he is an engineer, his passion for history has never waned. He uses his free time to expand his knowledge in history and reading crime, thrillers, and mystery novels. He has an avid love for nature and for animal rights. He also loves travelling, learning new languages, and experiencing various cultures and cuisines.

Social Media And Book Purchase Links:

https://twitter.com/TrevorDAuthor ,
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https://www.instagram.com/trevordauthor/ ,
https://www.pinterest.com/trevor_dsilva/ ,
website – www.trevordsilva.com ,
https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Hot-Summer-Trevor-DSilva/dp/1684333717/ ,
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-bloody-hot-summer-trevor-dsilva/1133815924?ean=9781684333714 ,
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49003346-a-bloody-hot-summer?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=ndrruTblTy&rank=1