Elena Hartwell's Blog, page 66
June 16, 2019
Eco-Thriller: Drink To Every Beast
Writing an Environmental, Legal Thriller By Night . . .
Eco-thrillers have become a popular sub-genre in Crime Fiction. Read my interview with Eco-thriller writer A.M Halvorssen about her debut novel The Dirty Network by clicking the link here.
And now, introducing ITW Debut Author, Joel Burcat and his novel Drink to Every Beast.
The Author
Joel Burcat is an environmental and energy lawyer. Drink to Every Beast is his debut novel plus he has several published short stories. In addition to Beast he has completed the drafts for two sequels, AMID RAGE (about strip mining) and STRANGE FIRE (about fracking).
He has also written a speculative thriller, LITTLE BROTHER (about a police department that goes to war with the FBI), and a literary novel about the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies (WHIZ KID).
He was selected as the 2019 Lawyer of the Year in Environmental Litigation (for Central PA) by Best Lawyers in America. He has been designated by both “Super Lawyers” and “Best Lawyers” for environmental and oil and gas law.
He lives in Harrisburg, PA with his wife, Gail. They have two grown daughters, a son-in-law and granddaughter.
To learn more about Joel, click on his name or photo or find him on Facebook
The Book
In this romantically-charged environmental legal thriller, two teenagers die after swimming through chemicals illegally dumped into the Susquehanna River.
Mike Jacobs, a young environmental prosecutor for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is assigned his first big case and must find, and stop the dumpers.
Danger strikes—who else will die? Will Mike discover the treachery before the midnight dumper kills again?
To buy the book click on either of the following links: Amazon and Headline Books
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
Drink to Every Beast is the second of five manuscripts that I have completed. Three are Mike Jacobs environmental legal thrillers. Beast was completed (first draft) in 2011. I have rewritten it and updated it several times. I sent it out a number of times to agents and participated in Pitch Fest with it (frankly, I lost count of the number of times I sent it out, but it was a lot).
I had mild interest in the MS on several occasions, (I heard “send us 50 pages”, “send us the whole MS”) but never made it past that point. Finally, I had it professionally edited.
Last year an awesome writer friend, Don Helin, contacted his publisher at Headline Books. They read it, really liked it, and offered to publish it. They gave me a one-book deal.
I have two follow-on Mike Jacobs sequels (one dealing with strip mining—AMID RAGE, the other with fracking—STRANGE FIRE) that are completed. Also, I am working on another sequel (dealing with contamination of water wells—THE FIREBRAND). I am hoping that these will come out every 9 to 12 months.
Eco-thriller – Thrillers for the 21st century.
What inspired you to write this novel?
I had been writing short stories for over a year, then wrote my first “starter novel.” A 120,000 word epic involving the 1950 Phillies. I am an environmental lawyer and wanted to write a novel about a young environmental prosecutor.
Beast is loosely based on a real case (I was not involved in it) about dumping hazardous waste down a borehole where the waste found its way into abandoned coal mines and then the Susquehanna River.
My novel is entirely fictionalized account, but is based on my real-life experiences both as an Assistant Attorney General for PA’s DEP and in private practice. I had wanted to write an environmental legal thriller for some time and when I started writing, the words flew onto the page.
What are you working on now?
I’m getting AMID RAGE ready for my editor. Then I will be doing a rewrite of STRANGE FIRE. I really want to return to THE FIREBRAND soon and finish that MS.
Just one additional thought. I joined ITW about five years ago as an Associate member. I’ve attended two ThrillerFests in New York. Joining ITW and attending ThrillerFest have been among the best decisions I have made as a writer. The classes have been really helpful.
In addition, the friends and contacts I have made are truly awesome. I’ve befriended dozens of writers at ThrillerFest. Don Helin made the call that put me in touch with my publisher. Doug Lyle, Jeff Gunhus and Don have all “blurbed” my book. Writers are very generous with their time and advice for other writers. It is difficult writing all alone in your writing cave (or in a coffee shop).
The friends and contacts I’ve made through ITW have made a huge difference to my writing career.
Lovely words about ITW and ThrillerFest Joel!
So happy to see another new Eco-thriller on the market.
I look forward to meeting you in person this year in New York City!
Header Photo by Marys_fotos on Pixabay. Click the link here for more information.
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June 9, 2019
Young Adult Novels: Author Kit Frick
Young Adult Novels aren’t just for kids. While the protagonists in YA are typically in the 13-18 year-old range, readers can be any age. YA Thriller Writer Kit Frick talks about writing for teens, her work as a poet and editor, and wrapping up her third book.
Don’t miss Kit’s Debut Author interview from last year on my blog. Click the link here to read.
Welcome Kit!
The Author
Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow from Pittsburgh, PA. She studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press, edits for private clients, and mentors emerging writers through Pitch Wars.
She is the author of the young adult novels See All the Stars and All Eyes on Us, out now from Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, as well as the poetry collection A Small Rising Up in the Lungs from New American Press. A third YA thriller will follow in 2020.
To learn more about Kit, click on her name, photo, or any of the following links: Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Goodreads, Goodreads Author Page, Amazon Author Page and sign up for her newsletter here.
The Books
All Eyes on UsWhen an anonymous texter threatens Amanda and Rosalie, two teens with very different lives in small town West Virginia, the girls become unlikely allies in a fight to unmask their stalker before Private Number spills their secrets and uproots their lives.
A tense thriller for fans of Pretty Little Liars, People Like Us, and The Miseducation of Cameron Post.
To buy the book, click on any of the links: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, IndieBound, Books-A-Million, and Book Depository.
See All the StarsA story about first love and big loss and even bigger guilt—and an epic breakup between best friends. The story takes place in two timelines that alternate between the past and present as Ellory tries to focus on her future.
It’s a contemporary suspense about accepting responsibility for the things you can’t change and then learning to move on.
To buy the book, click on any of the links: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, IndieBound, Books-A-Million, and Book Depository.
The Interview
What drew you to writing Young Adult Novels? Specifically, Thrillers. What is it about the 13-18 year old protagonist and reader that interests you?
Thanks for having me, Elena! That time in my life—adolescence—still feels easily accessible, even though I’m decades past it now. Everything was so emotionally immediate and urgent and pivotal at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen … Those emotional memories stick!
So writing about teens, for teens, was a natural fit for me. In terms of the thriller genre, I love a good mystery with twists and turns and complicated characters.
I have fun developing plot layers and placing my characters in heightened, thrilling situations. Everything already feels like it’s life-or-death when you’re a teen, so as a writer, making those stakes literal feels right and true.
“No one sails through their teen years entirely unscathed.”
Writing for teens doesn’t mean you pull any punches in your work. Your Young Adult Novels cover bullying, homophobia, abusive conversion therapy, and alcoholism, along with the other challenges of surviving the teenage years. How do you go about putting such complex and controversial subjects in your novels? Do you believe it’s different than writing for “adults” or is the difference solely in the ages of your characters?
Adolescence can be a dark time, even for teens who have a comparatively light load to bear in terms of marginalizations and level of privilege. No one sails through their teen years entirely unscathed. So while my books are far from being “issue” books in terms of their treatment of the challenges teens face, I also don’t shy away from the real darkness in my characters’ lives.
In terms of writing dark subject matter for a teen audience, it’s been my experience thus far that there are no hard-and-fast publishing rules about what you can’t do in YA, for which I’m very thankful. I am, however, constantly aware of my readership when I’m writing about something like homophobia or mental illness or bullying.
If a character calls someone “crazy” or expresses prejudice, you’d better believe they’re not just going to get away with it on the page. This isn’t because I see my role as an educator; teens will absolutely sniff out anything that feels didactic. But rather because teen readers are smart and socially aware and not going to stand for that kind of lazy approach—and nor are the teachers and librarians and booksellers that I hope will be getting my books into their hands.
Your first novel, See All the Stars, garnered a lot of critical and popular buzz. What was it like writing a second novel with such a high bar? Did it make you more confident? or did it make the pressure even higher to match the success?
Writing a second novel—and putting it out into the world—is definitely a different beast from publishing a debut! But I was in the fortunate position of having not only drafted All Eyes on Us before See All the Stars released but having gone through all the stages of revision with my editor as well. All Eyes on Us was headed to page proofs when See All the Stars hit shelves last August, so I was able to bask in my little pre-publication bubble for much of the process!
I do think I have a better grasp of the landscape this time around, after having gone through this once before. Mostly that’s been a good thing—I know what to expect and what not to expect and what the timeframe is like and what is and probably isn’t worth my time and energy.
How has your background as a poet and editor shaped you as a novelist?
In some ways, I’m not sure it has. Creatively, the process of writing a novel and the process of writing a poem is very different for me. Similarly, the process of editing the work of other writers is very different—and often so much clearer!—than the process of sitting down to revise my own writing.
But that said, the discipline required to complete my MFA (in poetry) and the experience I gained from publishing poems and poetry chapbooks, as well as my experience working in publishing as both a small press editor at Black Lawrence Press and as an independent editor at Copper Lantern Studio did help prepare me for the publishing/business side of the writing process, which has been valuable as I’ve put my own first books of both fiction and poetry into the world over the past year.
“I now understand quite a few things about seasons and publicity and marketing that are making this second book’s release quite a bit less stressful!”
Now that you are more adept at wearing both the creative and the business side hats of being an author, what do you wish you had known when your debut novel hit the shelves?
I learned a lot about what it means to have a summer book—i.e. a book published during the summer publishing season of May/June through August. Since my book came out at the end of that window, media attention soon turned to fall books, naturally.
That seems like common sense, but I had unrealistic expectations of publicity hits continuing to roll in for See All the Stars far beyond its August 14 publication date. Ah, Baby Kit. Of course, All Eyes on Us is releasing toward the beginning of that summer season, so things are a bit different this time around, but I now understand quite a few things about seasons and publicity and marketing that are making this second book’s release quite a bit less stressful!
What are you working on now?
I’m ecstatic to be wrapping up revisions on my third novel, which will release in summer 2020 from S&S/McElderry. In fact, by the time this interview posts, hopefully I will have turned it in! I can’t say a lot about it yet (soon!) but I’m calling it my “YA Rebecca in the Hamptons” book.
It’s also a thriller, it’s loosely inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, it features a teen podcaster, and it’s listed under Windermere, which is title it sold with, if you want to find it on Goodreads!
“. . . don’t call yourself “aspiring.” Just do it.”
Final words of wisdom:
Read widely in your age category and genre. Get to know the playing field. Seek out trusted readers for your work and listen to their feedback. Know that you don’t have to take every piece of feedback. Revise. Revise more. Remember that publishing is not a meritocracy.
There’s a lot of luck and timing involved in getting a book published, and while both of those factors are beyond your control, understanding that they play a key role can help put your experience and others’ in perspective. Also, don’t call yourself “aspiring.” Just do it.
Great advice! Thanks for hanging out with us. I love reading Young Adult Novels Looking forward to following your career!
Header Photo by Pixabay, click the link here for more information.
The post Young Adult Novels: Author Kit Frick appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
June 3, 2019
The Perfect Title for My Upcoming Release
After reading about finding the perfect title, if you want to learn more about my writing journey, check out this post about my experiences by clicking the link here.
What’s in a name?
In a word? Where book titles are concerned . . . everything.
The title is the first chance to engage a potential reader. It’s why most people pick a book up off a shelf. Then they decide if they like the cover.
If a book is one of those lucky ones that sit face up on a table or face out on a shelf, then the cover might be the first thing a reader looks at, but regardless, it’s title and cover that matter most.
(On another note, I really, really want one of my books to show up on an end cap at an airport bookstore someday, not for sales . . . for exposure!)
These two decisions, the perfect title and cover, can help determine if your books sells one hundred copies or one thousand or . . . you get the picture.
So much pressure on a couple words and an image.
So we agonize over them.
I have lists of great titles with no books attached to them. BRILLIANT titles I know would fly off the shelf. We’re talking New York Times Bestseller titles.
So Many Perfect Titles!
If only I had the story to go with them.
Someday I will. For now, it’s a lovely list.
When my agent sold my upcoming novel to Crooked Lane, we sold it under the working title RESURRECTION LAKE.
While it’s not a bad title, it came with some issues I hadn’t thought through. Luckily, my editor did.
First off, although Resurrection can fit on a book cover—Anne Perry uses the word in her title Resurrection Row—it does create some artistic challenges.
It’s also not the strongest choice for the story I wrote. Resurrection doesn’t necessarily convey a sense of a “mystery.” It carries a religious overtone, which my novel doesn’t contain, making it potentially better suited to another genre.
Perry’s novel, for example, is a historical mystery. The title there resonates with Victorian England. The word itself is a little old-fashioned. Combining the length of the word and the fact it wasn’t the strongest choice, sent us back to the drawing board.
We made lists of perfect titles. So many ideas. So many lists of words.
My editor, agent, and I went around and around . . . and around.
Then . . . I had it. The perfect name. I sent it out convinced it would wow them both.
And it did. Except it was already taken by another Crooked Lane Book coming out soon.
At least great minds think alike.
We tried literal titles. We tried image heavy titles. I found an obscure Middle English word, tarn, from the Old Norse tjǫrn, which we all loved, but feared no one would understand.
The Perfect Title. We had a winner!!!
(A tarn, by the way, is a small mountain lake and is currently my favorite new word.)
Then my editor came back with a title. She’d already discussed it at Crooked Lane and everyone loved it.
We had a winner!!!
I can’t wait to tell you what it is.
Want to be among the first to know our perfect title? Sign up for my newsletter and get a sneak peak at our brilliant new title. You can sign up using the form below, send me a PM or email me at elenataylorauthor@gmail.com and ask to be added.
Next up for public consumption . . . cover art! I can’t wait to see what the art department creates.
At least they don’t have to try to fit the word “Resurrection” on the cover.
Here are a couple of my favorite perfect titles.
What titles do you love? Put them in the comment section below, I’d love to read them!
Bury Your Dead
The Life We Bury
Watership Down
A Wrinkle in Time
No Country for Old Men
And Then There Were None
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Bookstore photo by LubosHouska on Pixabay. Click on the photo for more information.
Header photo by Anemone123 on Pixabay. Click the link here for more information.
The post The Perfect Title for My Upcoming Release appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
May 26, 2019
New Mystery & Thriller Novels Through December 2019
Thrilled to follow up my January post on new Mystery & Thriller novels for 2019 (Jan-May) with Mystery and Thriller novels for 2019 (June-Dec).
Plus – added bonus, a fabulous new novel by Book Club author Jennifer Gold. Because everyone needs some Women’s Fiction on their reading list!
I’ve listed Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble buy links for most of the books. If you want Ibooks, KOBO, other formats or your local independent bookstore, most are available, check online, I just keep it simple here.
Lastly – don’t forget, you can always take the title and author to your local library and request they carry a book if it isn’t already in their catalogue.
If you missed the earlier post, those books are still hot off the presses. Click the link here to read all about them.
Six months of new books! It’s like Christmas in . . . June!
Happy Reading!
June
A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder by Dianne Freeman
How far will some go to safeguard a secret? In the latest novel in Dianne Freeman’s witty and delightful historical mystery series, the adventurous Countess Harleigh finds out . . .
Though American by birth, Frances Wynn, the now-widowed Countess of Harleigh, has adapted admirably to the quirks and traditions of the British aristocracy. On August twelfth each year, otherwise known as the Glorious Twelfth, most members of the upper class retire to their country estates for grouse-shooting season. Frances has little interest in hunting—for birds or a second husband—and is expecting to spend a quiet few months in London with her almost-engaged sister, Lily, until the throng returns.
Instead, she’s immersed in a shocking mystery when a friend, Mary Archer, is found murdered. Frances had hoped Mary might make a suitable bride for her cousin, Charles, but their courtship recently fizzled out. Unfortunately, this puts Charles in the spotlight—along with dozens of others. It seems Mary had countless notes hidden in her home, detailing the private indiscretions of society’s elite. Frances can hardly believe that the genteel and genial Mary was a blackmailer, yet why else would she horde such juicy tidbits?
Aided by her gallant friend and neighbor, George Hazelton, Frances begins assisting the police in this highly sensitive case, learning more about her peers than she ever wished to know. Too many suspects may be worse than none at all—but even more worrying is that the number of victims is increasing too. And unless Frances takes care, she’ll soon find herself among them . . .
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
No Right Way by Michael Niemann
The fall of 2015. It’s been four years since the civil war in Syria started and over a year since ISIS took over major parts of the country. The refugee stream into Turkey has swelled to unprecedented numbers. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is scrambling to offer services and shelter to the multitudes.
The Turkish government is doing what it can. Money from the rest of the world and European governments is flowing in to help alleviate the crisis. Numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are using UN funds to do the on-the-ground work to house and feed refugees.
Valentin Vermeulen’s job is to make sure that all those funds are spent for their intended purposes. As he digs into his task, he learns that some refugees have not received any aid at all. Figuring out why that is quickly lands him in trouble with organize crime.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
The Midnight Call by Jode Millman
Who would ever suspect that their mentor, teacher, and friend is a cold-blooded killer?
Attorney Jessie Martin didn’t—at least not until she answers the midnight call.
Late one August night, Jessie’s lifelong mentor and friend—and presently a popular, charismatic, and handsome high school teacher—Terrence Butterfield calls. He utters a startling admission: he’s killed someone. He pleads for Jessie’s help, so out of loyalty she rushes to his aid completely unaware that she’s risking her relationship, her career, and her life—and that of her unborn child—to help Terrence.
Does Jessie’s presence at Terrence’s home implicate her in the gruesome murder of the teenage boy found in the basement? Why does Terrence betray Jessie when he has a chance to exonerate her of any charges? Has he been a monster in disguise for all these years?
To reclaim her life and prove her innocence, Jessie must untangle the web of lies and reveal the shocking truths behind the homicide. This quest turns out to be the fight of her life: to preserve everything and everyone she holds dear.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the link: Amazon
July
Penne Dreadful by Catherine Bruns
Tomato sauce isn’t the only thing that runs red…
Local chef Tessa Esposito is struggling to get back on her feet following her husband’s fatal accident. And when the police knock on Tessa’s door, things just get worse. They’ve discovered Dylan’s death wasn’t an accident after all, and they need Tessa to start filling in the blanks. Who would want her beloved husband dead, and why?
With the investigation running cold, Tessa decides it’s time to save her sanity by reconnecting with her first love-cooking. And maybe the best way back into the kitchen is to infiltrate Dylan’s favorite local pizza parlor, which also happens to be the last place he was seen before he died. But the anchovies aren’t the only thing that stink inside the small family business, and with suspects around every corner, Tessa finds that her husband’s many secrets might land her in hot water.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
The Ingredients of Us by Jennifer Gold
From debut author Jennifer Gold comes a delicious novel about the sweet and sour ingredients of life and love.
Elle, an accomplished baker, has a recipe for every event in her life. But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t know what to make of it. Jam, maybe? Definitely jam.
Fed up with the stale crumbs of her marriage, Elle revisits past recipes and the events that inspired them. A recipe for scones reminds her of her father’s death, cinnamon rolls signify the problematic courtship with her husband, and a batch of chocolate cookies casts Elle in a less-than-flattering light. Looking back, Elle soon realizes that some ingredients were missing all along.
After confronting her husband, Elle indulges her sweet tooth in other ways, including a rebound that just leaves her more confused. As secrets from the past collide with the conflicts of the present, Elle struggles to manage her bakery business and maintain the relationships most important to her. In piecing her life back together, will Elle learn to take the bitter with the sweet?
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the link here.
Murderabilia by Carl Vonderau
The son of a serial killer must reconcile with his own dark past and stop a new string of murders.
William MacNary was eight years old when his father went to prison. Since then, he’s carefully built a life as a family man and a private banker for the wealthy. He tries to forget that his father dismembered and photographed thirteen women. And he tries to forget those exquisitely composed photos of severed hands, heads, and feet that launched the “murderabilia” art market.
William has not spoken to his father for thirty-one years. No one at his tony bank knows whose son he is. Not until his wife’s colleague is murdered and carved up in the same way his father would have done it.
All the evidence points to William. And only one person can understand the copycat killer―the monster William hasn’t seen since he was a child.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
I got to read an ARC of this excellent debut novel. To read my thoughts on it, visit me on Goodreads by clicking the link here.
Buried by Ellison Cooper
In Ellison Cooper’s suspense thriller Buried, an FBI neuroscientist is on the trail of a serial killer who’s turned up the heat on a cold case…
Senior Special Agent Sayer Altair studies the minds of psychopaths. But even she didn’t expect to uncover a killer within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Rooting him out and exposing internal corruption got her a bullet wound and six months of desk duty. Now, she’s finally back in the field, called in when an off-duty FBI agent and his cadaver dog fall into a sinkhole filled with human bones.
Found deep in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, the skeletal remains date back almost two decades, the same time a beloved local teen disappeared. The cold case quickly heats up when Sayer’s team finds two fresh corpses among the bones. When a gruesome clue ties these new bodies to a woman recently kidnapped along with her young daughter, Sayer has to uncover the connection between the old bones and the new bodies before the mother and child become the next victims.
But the killer is one step ahead, attacking her team and sabotaging their efforts. With Sayer’s investigation compromised and unsure of who to trust, she receives unwanted help from Subject 037, one of the anonymous psychopaths she is currently studying. She has the chilling realization that he’s someone powerful in Washington D.C.―and he is not about to let a mundane serial killer jeopardize his own ominous agenda for Sayer…
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
The Dark Above by Jeremy Finley
In this sequel to the critically-acclaimed novel that grabbed fans of X-Files and Stranger Things, Jeremy Finley returns with another thriller full of aliens and government cover-ups.
For most of his life, William Chance has been the living proof that his grandmother and her fellow researchers into missing people were right all along about the terror from the stars. Now, he’s avoiding the limelight and hiding out from everyone, including his family. He knows he can avoid everything, except for the nightmares: fires, storms, disease and violence – he dreams of it all.
When he’s suddenly exposed, he finds that the media, government operatives and renegade true believers are desperate to find him, but he has another mission. Joined by a girl with terrifying abilities, he begins a desperate journey across the United States to find the others who share his dreams to stop what could be the final days of the world.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
August
The Pear Dagger by L.A. Chandlar
As the Great Depression loosens its grip on New York City, Mayor La Guardia and his team meet their greatest foe in the fight against organized crime …
Lane Sanders and her fiery boss, Mayor Fiorello “Fio” La Guardia have managed to contain the explosive underground conspiracies of New York’s most sinister schemers. But after a seemingly harmless pinball racket claims the life of a trusted ally, a new ringleader signals the rebirth of an all-too-familiar crime network at home and across the pond …
Spurred on by the possibility of a violent syndicate spreading like wildfire through Europe, Lane sets sail for London—the city where her parents began the undercover work that led to their tragic undoing. And this time, she won’t chase down childhood nightmares without Finn Brodie, who vows to dispel his own difficult secrets abroad …
While Finn confronts a devious sibling’s plot that echoes Orson Welles’s Voodoo Macbeth, Lane discovers that a dazzling pearl dagger may wield the ultimate clue to guide their hunt for justice on two sides of the ocean. With terrors from the past and present converging, Lane can’t save herself unless she starts believing that, like her weapon of choice, she also has the power to be both beautiful and dangerous.
Book Three in the Art Deco Series
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
September
A Means To an End by Lissa Redmond
Buffalo police detective Lauren Riley risks her life to close the book for good on a killer who’s never paid for his crimes.
When cold case detective Lauren Riley returns to work after being stabbed by a fellow police officer, it’s clear that her troubles are far from over. The body of a young woman has been found in the same woods as a murder victim from one of Lauren’s most horrifying cases.
It doesn’t take long for Lauren to be back at square one confronting David Spencer, the quietly deranged man she could never prove was a killer. Lauren convinces the police chief to put together a task force to uncover the connections between the brutal slaying of both women and the murder of two cops. But things go south quickly, forcing Lauren into a deadly game that she can’t afford to lose.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the link here for a variety of locations.
October
Dread of Winter by Susan Alice Bickford
Decades of intrigue and deception underlie Susan Alice Bickford’s newest thriller, where crime, cover-ups, and long family histories converge in a storm of shattering violence . . .
The remote town of Oriska, New York, hasn’t been home for Sydney Lucerno for thirteen years. She’s escaped the creeping addictions and long-simmering anger that are as much a part of the landscape as the bitter cold. But when she gets the call that her mother is dying, every secret and fear she left behind is waiting to welcome her back.
Two days later, her mother’s lover is dead too. And Sydney’s sworn to protect a half-sister she never knew she had, a prickly teenager named Maude, with an opiate habit and a bad-news family. But more lies and feuds are poised to spring from every once-familiar corner. The predators Sydney thought she’d escaped are threatening both her and Maude. To get free, Sydney will have to discover the truth about what happened when she left—and decide what should stay buried, deep in the
unforgiving snow . . .
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble.
November
Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel
The Swarm is unrecognizable, untraceable, and unpredictable—random attacks on the streets of Chicago by a mob of crazed teens that leaves death in its wake. It’s been two years since the last attack, but Lia Finch has found clues that reveal the Swarm is ready to claim a new victim.
Lia is the only one still pursuing her father’s killers, two years after attorney Steven Finch’s murder by the Swarm. Devastated and desperate for answers, Lia will do anything to uncover the reasons behind his death and to stop someone else from being struck down. But due to debilitating asthma and PTSD that leaves her with a tenuous hold on reality, Lia is the last person to mount a crusade on her own.
After a close encounter with the Swarm puts Lia on their radar, she teams up with a teen hacker, a reporter, and a mysterious stranger who knows firsthand how the mob works. Together, they work to uncover the master puppeteer behind the group. Though if Lia and her network don’t stop the person pulling the strings—and fast—Lia may end up the next target.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
December
The Kill Club by Wendy Heard
Jazz will stop at nothing to save her brother.
Their foster mother, Carol, has always been fanatical, but with Jazz grown up and out of the house, Carol takes a dangerous turn that threatens thirteen-year-old Joaquin’s life. Over and over, child services fails to intervene, and Joaquin is running out of time.
Then Jazz gets a blocked call from someone offering a solution. There are others like her—people the law has failed. They’ve formed an underground network of “helpers,” each agreeing to eliminate the abuser of another. They’re taking back their power and leaving a trail of bodies throughout Los Angeles—dubbed the Blackbird Killings. If Jazz joins them, they’ll take care of Carol for good.
All she has to do is kill a stranger.
About the Author, click the link here.
To Buy the Book, click the links: Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble
Header photo from Pixabay, click the link here to learn more.
The post New Mystery & Thriller Novels Through December 2019 appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
May 19, 2019
Journalist and Novelist RG Belsky on Writing, News, and Hats
Thrilled to have journalist and novelist R.G. Belsky on my blog today chatting about news, writing, and his latest novel, Below the Fold.
Welcome R.G!
The Author
R.G. Belsky is a longtime journalist and a crime fiction author in New York City.
Belsky has worked as a top editor at the New York Post, the New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. He has also published 12 mystery novels, including his current Clare Carlson series – about a woman TV journalist.
His newest book Below the Fold was published on May 7. The first Clare Carlson book Yesterday’s News was published last year.
To learn more about R.G. Belsky, click on his photo. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook. You can email him at belskyrg@gmail.com
The Book
Every human life is supposed to be important. Everyone should matter. But that’s not the case in the cutthroat TV news-rating world where Clare Carlson works. Sex, money, and power sell. Only murder victims of the right social strata are considered worth covering. Not the murder of a “nobody.”
So, when the battered body of a homeless woman named Dora Gayle is found on the streets of New York City, her murder barely gets a mention in the media. But Clare―a TV news director who still has a reporter’s instincts―decides to dig deeper into the seemingly meaningless death.
“What a terrific book! A complex and compelling nonstop cat-and-mouse chase―and you’re never quite sure which one’s the mouse. Even the savviest of readers will be gasping in awe at Belsky’s impressive story-telling skills.” ―Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author
To find R.G. Belsky’s books from various retailers, click on the link here.
Also available from Amazon, click the link here.
The Interview
Your journalism career spans decades and went from print to TV to digital. How has the American public changed in how we consume news? Are we consuming more, but in smaller pieces? Less overall? Are we less discerning? Less discriminating? I’d love to hear your perspective on how things have changed and the impact that has had on society.
When I was city editor of the New York Post back in the 1980s, we sold a million copies a day – and everyone got their news from newspapers, the three TV networks or local TV stations. Those sure were heady, exciting times to be a journalist. Now print newspapers are dying off rapidly, there’s 24-hour cable news networks and many people get all their news from tablets or smart phones.
But I’m not some old “get off my lawn” curmudgeon of a journalist who wants to tell you how terrible the news business is today.
You see, I spent my most recent years in journalism developing digital websites at NBC. And I saw first-hand there the exciting and limitless possibilities we have for delivering the news to people today.
Yes, I realize the media is changing all around us so rapidly that it’s hard to keep up. But the truth is it’s always been that way.
There used to be 12 newspapers in New York City – now there are ten times that many local news outlets available online.
People once got their breaking news first from radio, then from television and now from Twitter. CNN changed the face of journalism with a 24-hour news channel a generation ago in the same way blogs and websites and social media are doing it now.
But the news is still the same.
And good journalism is still good journalism, no matter how it’s being delivered.
“But I’m not some old “get off my lawn” curmudgeon of a journalist who wants to tell you how terrible the news business is today.”
Clare Carlson, a TV news director, isn’t the first character you’ve written who works in journalism. Gil Malloy is a disgraced journalist solving crimes in a series all his own. Lucy Shannon is a reporter in Loverboy. How accurately do you depict the journalists in your novels? Do you take dramatic license in the name of advancing the story? Or remain as true as you can to your experiences in the trenches?Oh, I take plenty of dramatic license! Clare Carlson, Gil Malloy and Lucy Shannon are not really accurate depictions of journalists and what they do. But then neither are Harry Bosch, Kinsey Millhone or Stephanie Plum accurate depictions.
The truth is that a real journalist’s life can be pretty boring on a day to day basis – and I don’t know any journalist who has ever solved a murder case on their own like Clare does in every book.
So I just try to use my experience and knowledge as a real journalist to create a fictional journalist who’s a lot more interesting!
My favorite story about this came from Raymond Chandler. Someone once criticized his Philip Marlowe character for not being believable enough as a private investigator.
“Real private investigators don’t get knocked on the head every time they go into a room or always meet beautiful blonde clients,” the critic pointed out.
“You’re absolutely right,” Chandler said. “But if I wrote about all the dull stuff a real private eye does – sitting at a desk and going through divorce papers – no one would ever read my books.”
That’s sort of the same way I feel about Clare Carlson.
How did the war in Viet Nam impact you as a writer and a journalist?
I think Vietnam impacted me more as a person than as a writer and a journalist. Going to war there at the age of 23 (I was drafted, so I had no choice) made me believe that if I could survive that, I could survive anything else life threw at me.
I did try to write a Vietnam novel soon after I got back to the U.S. and I have a Vietnam short story somewhere too, but none of them ever came close to publication. I do refer back to Vietnam – as well as some more recent wars like Iraq – in several of my books.
If I ever did write a Vietnam novel, it would probably be like M.A.S.H. from the Korean War. Vietnam and that whole era of the ‘60s was such a crazy time – fun in some ways, tragic in others.
For the record, my favorite Vietnam book is The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. And my favorite movie is Apocalypse Now, which perfectly captures all the insanity I remember from my own year there.
(For the record – The Things They Carried is one of Elena’s all time favorite books.)
“The biggest challenge I had when I started writing novels was telling my story too quickly.”
What (if any!) news story would you have liked to cover that you didn’t get to?
The JFK assassination. I believe this is the greatest unsolved murder cold case in American history. (And no, I don’t believe a word of the Warren Report.).
It happened before I became a journalist, but I’ve always been fascinated by many of the stories about how it was covered back in 1963.
The most famous was one about the AP and UPI reporters wrestling in the press car for the single cell phone in order to be first to break the story of the shooting. And a lot of the other live TV and newspaper stuff from then is really interesting too.
Like I said though, that was all before my time.
The closest I’ve come to covering the JFK assassination was a fiction novel I wrote called The Kennedy Connection a few years ago – where a series of present day murders are somehow linked to the JFK assassination by a reporter.
Not the same as the real thing, but at least this was one news story I got to write an ending for on my own!
What were some of the biggest challenges shifting from writing as a journalist to writing as a novelist? How did you overcome those challenges?
The biggest challenge I had when I started writing novels was telling my story too quickly.
That’s what a journalist is trained to do – especially a tabloid journalist like me: tell the news story as quickly as possible. Put the basic facts – who, what, why, where, when – in the lead. Short sentences, short paragraphs, short stories.
But, in a mystery novel, you can’t tell the reader the whole story on the first paragraph or the first page or the first chapter. “You’re going from A to B too fast,” was one criticism I heard. So I had to learn to slow down when telling a mystery story.
Having said that, I still try to keep the story moving as fast as I can.
Hey, you can take the boy out of the tabloid, but you can’t take all the tabloid out of the boy.
What are you working on now?
I have a new Clare Carlson book The Last Scoop – the third in the series after Yesterday’s News and Below The Fold – that will be out in 2020.
I’ve also just completed a suspense thriller called The Perfect Victim – about a woman who becomes a media star after she is the victim of a horrific crime, but then discovers that everything she’s been told about what really happened to her is a lie.
I’ve also got a couple of other projects working – including a non-fiction memoir about my life and times in the real world of journalism at the New York Post (think “Headless Body in Topless Bar),” New York Daily News, Star Magazine and NBC News.
I’ve written about some of these things in articles over the years – but hope to put it together into a book one day.
I always have the same advice for anyone who tells me they want to be a writer: “Write!”
Final words of wisdom:
I’ve been asked this question so many times, and I always have the same advice for anyone who tells me they want to be a writer: “Write!”
That’s it. Simple as that. Don’t wait until you feel in the mood. Don’t wait until you have an idea. Don’t wait until you’re feeling creative. Just sit your ass down in a chair and start writing. And keep writing, whether you think it’s any good or not.
There’s a lot of people who say they want to write novels, but most of them never do.
There’s only one way to find out if you can write a good novel or not: write the damn book!
Bonus Question: Are you getting a hat for Killer Nashville? Jim Nesbitt and I need to know.
Okay, this question comes about because Elena Hartwell wears a hat at Killer Nashville that makes her look very good and very cool and very hip. (Awww . . . shucks, thanks!)
So does author Jim Nesbitt. I do not wear a hat, and I don’t look particularly good or cool or hip. So they are both pushing me to go for the “hat” look. But there is the very real possibility that wearing a hat will not change this for me, and it will simply make me look silly.
That’s a big gamble for me to take. I believe I’ve only been pictured once in a hat during my whole life (see attached).
This was at an office party for Star magazine. I don’t recall all the details of me putting on that hat, but I’m pretty certain there was alcohol involved. Which might be the best way to get me in a hat at Killer Nashville too.
(Love the photo by the way . . .)
I think Jim Nesbitt and I can make that happen! Thanks for hanging out with us on my blog.
Header photo by Alexas_Fotos on Pixabay. Click the link here for more information.
The post Journalist and Novelist RG Belsky on Writing, News, and Hats appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
May 12, 2019
Different Roads to Reach Debut Novels
Writers travel different roads to achieve their first publishing deal. Entering competitions, agent submissions, and going straight to small publishing houses can all work. Jon James Miller and Mike Houtz both won awards for their unpublished work, while KP Kyle went with a small press. Read about their adventures in this week’s author interviews. Curious about the journeys of other debut writers? Don’t forget to scroll through my other posts. You can visit the homepage for my blog by clicking here.
The Author
After Jon James Miller earned his degree in cinematography, he moved to Los Angeles to work on cable documentaries. In 2008, he won the Grand Prize of the AAA Screenplay Contest sponsored by Creative Screenwriting Magazine for Garbo’s Last Stand and went on to win the 2009 Golden Brad for Drama for the same script.
But advice Jon received from legendary screenwriter and novelist William Goldman proved most valuable. After reading Jon’s screenplay, Mr. Goldman said, “This is a great story, now go write the novel.”
Looking for Garbo is that novel.
Jon lives in Northern California, where his day job is as a health and science writer.
To learn more about Jon, click on his photo or follow him on Facebook or Twitter
The Book
In 1939, Greta Garbo is the greatest movie star in the world when she receives several fan letters from her self-proclaimed biggest fan – Adolf Hitler. He invites her to come to Nazi Germany and Garbo hatches a secret plot to assassinate him before WWII can break out.
But her clandestine journey is under jeopardy when Seth Moseley, a New York City tabloid reporter boards the same ocean liner she is traveling incognito on in pursuit of the scoop of the century.
To learn more about the book, click here.
To buy the book, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, and Bokus
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
I’ve always been interested in writing and originally wanted to be a screenwriter. But after years of trying to break into the movie industry, veteran screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, All The President’s Men) told me to try my hand at novel writing.
Thank god Bill did because my very first novel based on an original screenplay, Looking For Garbo got the attention of Jill Marr at Sandra Dijkstra Literary in San Diego. Jill is a fantastic agent and signed me right away. She was there for me when my first publisher went out of business, and the second turned out to be a bad fit.
I actually ended up buying back the rights to my novel and it wasn’t until four years later that Amphorae Publishing Group bought it. It’s been a long haul to publication but the folks at Amphorae have been just great and I have no regrets!
“If my mom were still alive today, I think she would have loved to read that kind of story.”
What inspired you to write this novel?
My mother was a voracious reader and huge classic movie fan. She turned me on to all the stars of the golden age of Hollywood, including Garbo. I always thought it would be fun to cast Garbo in a film noir thriller. That’s when I read about the very real plan she cooked up with British Secret Intelligence and called “The Big One” to assassinate her biggest fan – Adolf Hitler.
Hitler was obsessed with the movie star, and had his own print of Garbo’s Camille that he would watch over and over again. He used to write Garbo fan letters, inviting her to come to Nazi Germany. And Garbo is quoted as saying, “if the war didn’t start when it did, I would have gone, pulled out a gun and shot him because I would never have been searched.”
So, Looking For Garbo starts with her aboard an ocean liner bound for Nazi Germany…not knowing the war is about to begin at any minute. If my mom were still alive today, I think she would have loved to read that kind of story.
What are you working on now?
My second novel, Spycraft: A Redacted Love Story, is another historical thriller set during WWII but this time takes place in Washington, D.C., where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders a tiny band of spies to defy J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and infiltrate the Vichy-French Embassy in order to steal Nazi naval codes.
The codes are critical to the liberation of Casablanca, which figures prominently in the story because the movie Casablanca is being shot at the exact same moment on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Los Angeles.
I’m having a blast writing the thriller, based on real events and my own original research into espionage and film history.
Congratulations on your debut.
Looking forward to having you back on my blog when your next book comes out!
The Author
After a career in medicine, Mike Houtz succumbed to the call to hang up his stethoscope and pursue his other passion as a writer of fast-paced thrillers.
A rabid fan of authors such as Clancy, Mark Greaney, Vince Flynn, and Brad Thor, Mike loves series writing with strong characters, fast pacing and international locations, all of which explode into action in his debut novel, a Zebulon Award winner.
When not at the keyboard, he can be found on the firing range, traveling for research across the globe, or trying out the latest dry-fly pattern on a Gold Medal trout stream. He lives at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
To learn more about Mike, click on his photo or any of the following links: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
The BookWhen his brother disappears on a Delta Force mission, an MMA fighter must return to their childhood home in China, where he finds humanity racing the American Delta Force and North Korean special forces to recover a device that will either provide unlimited clean energy or destroy the world.
To buy the book click on the link here.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
Like most writers, I can trace my interest in story-telling as far back as high school. I remember finishing reading Stephen King’s, The Stand, and then jumping on a REAL typewriter and pumping out my take on an end-of-world story. I dabbled well into my twenties before the career monster dragged my body away from writing fiction.
While I was still practicing medicine, I was deep into writing my first full-length manuscript on a medical thriller. I’ve always been a huge admirer of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook. But I was mostly inspired by Tom Clancy to actually sit down and type. About 60K words into the project, I had a change of plan and began the process of finishing my new book, Dark Spiral Down.
This is my first completed effort, and I feel truly fortunate that my first go-around met with some success. I decided that without any real platform or industry knowledge, the best thing I could do was enter a book contest and pay for a review to get needed feedback.
Months later, I received an unexpected call from a young woman informing me I’d won the Zebulon Award for the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category. I thought it was a prank call. I was invited to their Spring conference and accepted my award in front of hundred of writers, including Tess Gerritsen, who pulled me aside and chatted with me about medicine and my novel.
Tess, I promise I haven’t forgotten your command to submit that medical thriller ASAP! Bolstered, I went to the Colorado Gold conference where I pitched my manuscript to Rhonda Penders, President of Wild Rose Press. Very quickly, I was put in touch with senior editing and an offer for my book came shortly after that.
I’ve worked closely with senior editor, Leanne Morgena, to turn my rubble into a polished piece. The whole process from writing the manuscript to release took around 2 years.
What inspired you to write this novel?
While working on my medical thriller, I kept having this nagging idea interrupting my thoughts. I have always harbored a deep soft-spot for children’s causes, and the news at the time followed a case where a father had his son taken from him by his newly-divorced wife, who fled to South America with their child.
I have two boys, and I truly felt his pain when I imagined being in his shoes. The farther I moved along on my writing the more I thought about this guy’s situation—to the point where I wasn’t finishing my first project.
One day I sat down at the computer and stared at a blank screen for a good hour. I knew, at that moment, I wasn’t going to rest until I wrote, what is now, my first completed manuscript, Dark Spiral Down.
With barely an outline, the rough draft poured out of me. My actual plan for a series starts with book two, something I’m working on now. I hedged my bet a little with this being both the first of the series and my very first effort. I knew I had a lot to learn and felt I needed some seasoning before I got to the heart of what is driving me to continue with my storyline.
Dark Spiral Down introduces future characters and establishes the motivations driving them in future releases. Because I have a strong visceral response to children abducted by a parent to a foreign country where their laws don’t recognize parental rights given in the U.S., I wanted to write compelling stories with incredible motivations driving their behavior, and I want to shine a light on the horrific situations parents with rightful custody and their exploited children face.
This kidnapping happens hundreds of times every year in this country. When legal recourse fails, my characters step in to deliver their brand of justice. But first, my protagonist cut his teeth on saving the world from certain destruction.
“When Tess Gerritsen demands you finish something immediately, you better listen.”
What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m working on two projects at once. The follow-up to Dark Spiral Down is underway. I also feel a compelling drive to finish my earlier WIP, the medical thriller that started it all.
I know, deep down, the storyline is strong. Having received a real education on writing from Leanne this past year, I’m hoping to deliver a project that’s a cross between Robin Cook and Brad Thor—my two favorite genres.
When Tess Gerritsen demands you finish something immediately, you better listen.
You’ve got great writers in your corner! Congrats on your award and your debut novel!
The Author
K. P. Kyle was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, where her mother was the founder and owner of the much-beloved independent bookstore Narnia Children’s Books. She received her BA from the University of Chicago and her DVM from Cornell University.
She has lived in South Boston, Massachusetts since 2002, with the exception of two years spent in Senegal. She works as a veterinarian and shares her home with a bush dog and a black dog. Sync is her debut novel.
To learn more about K.P. click on her photo or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
The Book
On a cold and rainy night in New England, the paths of two strangers collide: a young man, gifted with the ability to shift between alternate realities and fleeing from a shadowy organization looking to exploit him, and an older woman searching for meaning in a life that seems to be progressively devoid of it.
When his past catches up to him, the two of them embark on a journey of danger, adventure, and self-discovery.
To buy the book, click on the following links: Amazon and Kobo
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
Sync was my first attempt at writing a full length novel. I had precisely zero idea what I was doing beyond actually putting the words on paper, so after I was happy with the final draft, I had to search the internet for what to do next. Maybe I should be ashamed to admit it, but I looked it up on wikihow.
I didn’t actually look for an agent. I decided I would rather try my luck with open submissions to small/independent presses, so I sent a query to any publisher with an open submission window that seemed like a good match. Interestingly enough, it turns out that Allium was the first publisher to which I submitted, out of something like 30 or so.
“I decided to write a novel, frankly, to see if I could.”
What inspired you to write this novel?
I decided to write a novel, frankly, to see if I could. As to why I chose to write a thriller—well, I like thrillers. Beyond that, I wanted to create a story containing certain elements that seem to be somewhat lacking in the genre: especially and specifically, “Ordinary Middle-Aged Woman Saves the World.”
There are far too few books in the “Middle-Aged Woman Saves the World” pantheon. Where are all our middle-aged women role models? Who will young middle-aged women have to look up to?
So I wrote a story about an ordinary middle-aged woman who—albeit maybe reluctantly and grumpily—kicks all of the ass and saves all of the worlds, with the help of her younger male sidekick. (Spoiler.)
What are you working on now?
I’m actually pretty superstitious about talking about what I’m working on—in fact, I didn’t tell anyone at all that I was writing Sync until after it had been accepted for publication. So all I’ll say for right now is: we all have our little projects.
This ordinary middle-aged woman thanks you!! Looking forward to reading your book.
Header photo: by ElyPenner on Pixabay. Click the link here for more information.
The post Different Roads to Reach Debut Novels appeared first on Elena Hartwell.
Different Roads to Achieve Debut Novels
Writers travel different roads to achieve their first publishing deal. Entering competitions, agent submissions, and going straight to small publishing houses can all work. Jon James Miller and Mike Houtz both won awards for their unpublished work, while KP Kyle went with a small press. Read about their adventures in this week’s author interviews. Curious about the journeys of other debut writers? Don’t forget to scroll through my other posts. You can visit the homepage for my blog by clicking here.
The Author
After Jon James Miller earned his degree in cinematography, he moved to Los Angeles to work on cable documentaries. In 2008, he won the Grand Prize of the AAA Screenplay Contest sponsored by Creative Screenwriting Magazine for Garbo’s Last Stand and went on to win the 2009 Golden Brad for Drama for the same script.
But advice Jon received from legendary screenwriter and novelist William Goldman proved most valuable. After reading Jon’s screenplay, Mr. Goldman said, “This is a great story, now go write the novel.”
Looking for Garbo is that novel.
Jon lives in Northern California, where his day job is as a health and science writer.
To learn more about Jon, click on his photo or follow him on Facebook or Twitter
The Book
In 1939, Greta Garbo is the greatest movie star in the world when she receives several fan letters from her self-proclaimed biggest fan – Adolf Hitler. He invites her to come to Nazi Germany and Garbo hatches a secret plot to assassinate him before WWII can break out.
But her clandestine journey is under jeopardy when Seth Moseley, a New York City tabloid reporter boards the same ocean liner she is traveling incognito on in pursuit of the scoop of the century.
To learn more about the book, click here.
To buy the book, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, and Bokus
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
I’ve always been interested in writing and originally wanted to be a screenwriter. But after years of trying to break into the movie industry, veteran screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, All The President’s Men) told me to try my hand at novel writing.
Thank god Bill did because my very first novel based on an original screenplay, Looking For Garbo got the attention of Jill Marr at Sandra Dijkstra Literary in San Diego. Jill is a fantastic agent and signed me right away. She was there for me when my first publisher went out of business, and the second turned out to be a bad fit.
I actually ended up buying back the rights to my novel and it wasn’t until four years later that Amphorae Publishing Group bought it. It’s been a long haul to publication but the folks at Amphorae have been just great and I have no regrets!
“If my mom were still alive today, I think she would have loved to read that kind of story.”
What inspired you to write this novel?
My mother was a voracious reader and huge classic movie fan. She turned me on to all the stars of the golden age of Hollywood, including Garbo. I always thought it would be fun to cast Garbo in a film noir thriller. That’s when I read about the very real plan she cooked up with British Secret Intelligence and called “The Big One” to assassinate her biggest fan – Adolf Hitler.
Hitler was obsessed with the movie star, and had his own print of Garbo’s Camille that he would watch over and over again. He used to write Garbo fan letters, inviting her to come to Nazi Germany. And Garbo is quoted as saying, “if the war didn’t start when it did, I would have gone, pulled out a gun and shot him because I would never have been searched.”
So, Looking For Garbo starts with her aboard an ocean liner bound for Nazi Germany…not knowing the war is about to begin at any minute. If my mom were still alive today, I think she would have loved to read that kind of story.
What are you working on now?
My second novel, Spycraft: A Redacted Love Story, is another historical thriller set during WWII but this time takes place in Washington, D.C., where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders a tiny band of spies to defy J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and infiltrate the Vichy-French Embassy in order to steal Nazi naval codes.
The codes are critical to the liberation of Casablanca, which figures prominently in the story because the movie Casablanca is being shot at the exact same moment on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Los Angeles.
I’m having a blast writing the thriller, based on real events and my own original research into espionage and film history.
Congratulations on your debut.
Looking forward to having you back on my blog when your next book comes out!
The Author
After a career in medicine, Mike Houtz succumbed to the call to hang up his stethoscope and pursue his other passion as a writer of fast-paced thrillers.
A rabid fan of authors such as Clancy, Mark Greaney, Vince Flynn, and Brad Thor, Mike loves series writing with strong characters, fast pacing and international locations, all of which explode into action in his debut novel, a Zebulon Award winner.
When not at the keyboard, he can be found on the firing range, traveling for research across the globe, or trying out the latest dry-fly pattern on a Gold Medal trout stream. He lives at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
To learn more about Mike, click on his photo or any of the following links: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
The BookWhen his brother disappears on a Delta Force mission, an MMA fighter must return to their childhood home in China, where he finds humanity racing the American Delta Force and North Korean special forces to recover a device that will either provide unlimited clean energy or destroy the world.
To buy the book click on the link here.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
Like most writers, I can trace my interest in story-telling as far back as high school. I remember finishing reading Stephen King’s, The Stand, and then jumping on a REAL typewriter and pumping out my take on an end-of-world story. I dabbled well into my twenties before the career monster dragged my body away from writing fiction.
While I was still practicing medicine, I was deep into writing my first full-length manuscript on a medical thriller. I’ve always been a huge admirer of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook. But I was mostly inspired by Tom Clancy to actually sit down and type. About 60K words into the project, I had a change of plan and began the process of finishing my new book, Dark Spiral Down.
This is my first completed effort, and I feel truly fortunate that my first go-around met with some success. I decided that without any real platform or industry knowledge, the best thing I could do was enter a book contest and pay for a review to get needed feedback.
Months later, I received an unexpected call from a young woman informing me I’d won the Zebulon Award for the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category. I thought it was a prank call. I was invited to their Spring conference and accepted my award in front of hundred of writers, including Tess Gerritsen, who pulled me aside and chatted with me about medicine and my novel.
Tess, I promise I haven’t forgotten your command to submit that medical thriller ASAP! Bolstered, I went to the Colorado Gold conference where I pitched my manuscript to Rhonda Penders, President of Wild Rose Press. Very quickly, I was put in touch with senior editing and an offer for my book came shortly after that.
I’ve worked closely with senior editor, Leanne Morgena, to turn my rubble into a polished piece. The whole process from writing the manuscript to release took around 2 years.
What inspired you to write this novel?
While working on my medical thriller, I kept having this nagging idea interrupting my thoughts. I have always harbored a deep soft-spot for children’s causes, and the news at the time followed a case where a father had his son taken from him by his newly-divorced wife, who fled to South America with their child.
I have two boys, and I truly felt his pain when I imagined being in his shoes. The farther I moved along on my writing the more I thought about this guy’s situation—to the point where I wasn’t finishing my first project.
One day I sat down at the computer and stared at a blank screen for a good hour. I knew, at that moment, I wasn’t going to rest until I wrote, what is now, my first completed manuscript, Dark Spiral Down.
With barely an outline, the rough draft poured out of me. My actual plan for a series starts with book two, something I’m working on now. I hedged my bet a little with this being both the first of the series and my very first effort. I knew I had a lot to learn and felt I needed some seasoning before I got to the heart of what is driving me to continue with my storyline.
Dark Spiral Down introduces future characters and establishes the motivations driving them in future releases. Because I have a strong visceral response to children abducted by a parent to a foreign country where their laws don’t recognize parental rights given in the U.S., I wanted to write compelling stories with incredible motivations driving their behavior, and I want to shine a light on the horrific situations parents with rightful custody and their exploited children face.
This kidnapping happens hundreds of times every year in this country. When legal recourse fails, my characters step in to deliver their brand of justice. But first, my protagonist cut his teeth on saving the world from certain destruction.
“When Tess Gerritsen demands you finish something immediately, you better listen.”
What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m working on two projects at once. The follow-up to Dark Spiral Down is underway. I also feel a compelling drive to finish my earlier WIP, the medical thriller that started it all.
I know, deep down, the storyline is strong. Having received a real education on writing from Leanne this past year, I’m hoping to deliver a project that’s a cross between Robin Cook and Brad Thor—my two favorite genres.
When Tess Gerritsen demands you finish something immediately, you better listen.
You’ve got great writers in your corner! Congrats on your award and your debut novel!
The Author
K. P. Kyle was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, where her mother was the founder and owner of the much-beloved independent bookstore Narnia Children’s Books. She received her BA from the University of Chicago and her DVM from Cornell University.
She has lived in South Boston, Massachusetts since 2002, with the exception of two years spent in Senegal. She works as a veterinarian and shares her home with a bush dog and a black dog. Sync is her debut novel.
To learn more about K.P. click on her photo or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
The Book
On a cold and rainy night in New England, the paths of two strangers collide: a young man, gifted with the ability to shift between alternate realities and fleeing from a shadowy organization looking to exploit him, and an older woman searching for meaning in a life that seems to be progressively devoid of it.
When his past catches up to him, the two of them embark on a journey of danger, adventure, and self-discovery.
To buy the book, click on the following links: Amazon and Kobo
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
Sync was my first attempt at writing a full length novel. I had precisely zero idea what I was doing beyond actually putting the words on paper, so after I was happy with the final draft, I had to search the internet for what to do next. Maybe I should be ashamed to admit it, but I looked it up on wikihow.
I didn’t actually look for an agent. I decided I would rather try my luck with open submissions to small/independent presses, so I sent a query to any publisher with an open submission window that seemed like a good match. Interestingly enough, it turns out that Allium was the first publisher to which I submitted, out of something like 30 or so.
“I decided to write a novel, frankly, to see if I could.”
What inspired you to write this novel?
I decided to write a novel, frankly, to see if I could. As to why I chose to write a thriller—well, I like thrillers. Beyond that, I wanted to create a story containing certain elements that seem to be somewhat lacking in the genre: especially and specifically, “Ordinary Middle-Aged Woman Saves the World.”
There are far too few books in the “Middle-Aged Woman Saves the World” pantheon. Where are all our middle-aged women role models? Who will young middle-aged women have to look up to?
So I wrote a story about an ordinary middle-aged woman who—albeit maybe reluctantly and grumpily—kicks all of the ass and saves all of the worlds, with the help of her younger male sidekick. (Spoiler.)
What are you working on now?
I’m actually pretty superstitious about talking about what I’m working on—in fact, I didn’t tell anyone at all that I was writing Sync until after it had been accepted for publication. So all I’ll say for right now is: we all have our little projects.
This ordinary middle-aged woman thanks you!! Looking forward to reading your book.
Header photo: by ElyPenner on Pixabay. Click the link here for more information.
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May 5, 2019
Writing Career: Navigating the Ups and Downs
My writing career has been through some exciting changes.
I spent the first three months of 2019 working with amazing student writers at the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus. I don’t teach formally much anymore, so it was fun to get back into the classroom.
My time with them coincided with signing with my new agent, the fabulous Madelyn Burt at Stonesong Literary Agency. (For more thoughts on queries, visit my past posts by clicking here.)
All of this converged to remind me that a writing career is full of ups and downs, steps forward, steps back, but above all it’s about connecting. Connecting to characters, connecting to readers, connecting to other writers, connecting to your own internal landscape.
As spring finally rears its pastel head in the Pacific Northwest, after weeks of unprecedented snow, I find myself moving into a cycle of rebirth. New projects on the horizon. New possibilities as a writer. But I’m also reminded, life is a series of cycles, life doesn’t really travel in a straight line. Or it is a straight line, but one with a lot of hills and valleys. You pick up speed, wind in your hair, then the hill appears in front of you and it takes all of your strength to keep going.
One of the things teaching reminded me, was how much we don’t know what we don’t know until someone points out we don’t know.
I taught both Playwriting and Popular Fiction, so there was a lot of the “unknown” for all of us. I had playwriting students who had never seen a play, much less written one, and I was teaching genres I never read. Luckily, my students were (mostly!) willing to take a leap of faith with me and we had a fantastic quarter exploring new worlds.
Luckily, my students were (mostly!) willing to take a leap of faith with me . . .
Then the snow hit. Snowmageddon 2019. Snowpacalypse. The storm of the century. My little community, which might see three inches of snow in a really big storm, got three feet.
Not a lot of snow for places like Buffalo or Duluth, but North Bend has two snowplows and a pickup truck to handle over 6,000 residents and rural conditions. I took a look at a color coded map online that showed when certain streets would be plowed. Red for first, orange for second, blue for third . . . my street didn’t even get a color.
This photo is of my neighbor clearing our road . . .
The National Guard came and dug my town out because emergency vehicles couldn’t get through.
Classes came to a halt.
I got a lot of my own writing done. I stayed in touch with my students through email, but there’s only so much you can do. We peddled on. Uphill. In the snow.
The roads cleared, we got back to the classroom. It was hard to get back into the rhythm of things, but we persevered. We peddled, we hit a long straightaway with no hills.
Meanwhile, my own career took a leap forward. Agent representation! Yay! I’m so excited!
But there are revisions to be done, so buckle back down. At least this time I have a guide, a beacon in the darkness of writing, someone who’s on my side.
At least this time I have a guide, a beacon in the darkness of writing, someone who’s on my side.
I give my student’s a lot of feedback. I whine at them about their inability to follow guidelines. “Formatting is for a reason! It’s so you don’t have your work rejected on sight without anyone even reading your first line!!”
I don’t get through to all of them.
But I get through to enough.
Great stories, properly formatted, the correct length. Work worthy of production or publication or at least continued rewriting.
I wonder what my career would be like if I’d done a degree in creative writing? Given myself over to others to teach me all the things I wish I’d known back when I didn’t know what I didn’t know that I didn’t know.
Life is a cycle. I’m back to being a full-time writer. I have Madelyn in my corner. The wind is at my back, the sun is warm, but not too hot. I feel I have crested a hill and in front of me, is a long downhill where I can pick up speed.
My takeaway? Revel in the moments of flight and prepare for the next hill.
Header photo Image from MabelAmber on Pixabay, click here for more information.
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April 28, 2019
Thomas and Mercer Author and her Debut Mystery
This week, I’m thrilled to introduce Thomas and Mercer author Dea (DH) Poirier. A member of the ITW Debut Author Class, Poirier’s Next Girl To Die launches May 1.
Missed some of my other author interviews?
You can scroll back through previous posts by clicking the link here .
The Author
Dea (D.H.) Poirier was raised in Edmond, Oklahoma, where she got her start writing in creative writing courses. She attended The University of Central Oklahoma for Computer Science and Political Science.
Later, she spent time living on both coasts, and traveling the United States, before finally putting down roots in Central Florida. She now resides somewhere between Disney and the swamp, with her husband, son, two dogs and two cats.
To learn more about D.H Poirier, visit her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Website, and Bookbub
The Book
It’s been fifteen years since Claire Calderwood’s sister, Rachel, was brutally murdered in their small hometown in Maine.
Claire has finally carved out a life for herself as a homicide detective in Detroit, but the past comes calling when the local police back home ask for her help with a murder eerily similar to Rachel’s.
Claire returns home to investigate and as she digs into the case, the killer sets his sights on her.
Click here to buy the book.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
I signed with my agent, Laura Bradford, in 2015, for a YA Historical Supernatural Thriller. I wrote a few other YA projects after signing, then she recommended I try my hand at adult projects with darker heroines.
That’s what I did for Next Girl to Die, I was nervous to see how it would do on submission. But Thomas and Mercer snatched up very quickly.
“I was nervous to see how it would do on submission. But Thomas and Mercer snatched up very quickly.”
What inspired you to write this novel?
I’d been inspired to write some darker heroines from my agent’s guidance. I went on a true crime binge and read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.
Those two things coupled together sparked my interested in writing a detective that’s emotionally damaged with a dark past.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on the next book in the Calderwood Cases series, which will be a continuation of Next Girl to Die.
Congratulations on your debut novel! Great to have you here.
Header photo from sethOs on Pixabay. Click here for more information.
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April 21, 2019
Debut Novel from Canadian Author Vanessa Westermann
There’s nothing more exciting than the launch of a debut novel. And sometimes I think it’s even sweeter when the journey to get to that date wasn’t an easy one. Just as I wrote about in a recent post about authors who persevere (click here to read the post) this week’s author trusted her work and kept at it, rewriting and networking, until she got the “yes.”
Introducing debut author Vanessa Westermann.
The Author
Vanessa Westermann is a former Arthur Ellis Awards judge, and has given a talk on the evolution of women’s crime writing, at the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
While living in Germany, she attained an M.A. in English Literature and went on to teach creative writing.
An avid reader of crime fiction, Vanessa’s blog features literary reviews and author interviews. She currently lives in Canada and is working on her next novel.
To learn more about Vanessa, you can click here or on her photo and follow her on Twitter.
The Book
The motive is revenge; it should be easy for Gary to kill.
But when bookstore owner Kate finds the body, her sleuthing takes them down a trail of blackmail, obsession and death.
And Gary must face the fact that he used love as an excuse for murder…
To buy the book, click any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million.
The Interview
Describe your publishing journey:
An Excuse For Murder is my debut novel, but the third manuscript I’ve written. I was lucky to have gotten encouraging responses from agents and editors for my first two manuscripts, and persevered.
I finished the first draft of An Excuse For Murder (originally written under a different title) in 2012 and, a few weeks later, signed a contract with a literary agent, based in Switzerland. I was living in Germany at the time and we pitched the book to UK publishers. We received many “positive rejections”, but did not manage to sell the book. My agent and I eventually parted ways, as it was difficult to place the title from abroad.
In the meantime, I began writing reviews for the monthly e-newsletter of a mystery-specialty bookstore in Toronto, Canada. Through this, I was able to read widely in the genre and make connections with fellow writers.
I’ve always enjoyed the editing process and knew, if I wanted to pitch the same book again, work needed to be done. A fellow Arthur Ellis Awards judge was kind enough to read through my manuscript and provided me with wonderful constructive criticism.
I spent a year re-writing An Excuse For Murder. I stripped down the prose, taking out excess adjectives and metaphors, and developed Gary’s character. When I moved to Canada, I seized the opportunity to pitch the edited manuscript again, under a new title. And the hard work paid off. I signed a publishing contract with The Wild Rose Press!
What inspired you to write this novel?
I love reading crime fiction and wanted to write what I like to read. I wanted to write a traditional village mystery, with its puzzles and quirky characters, but include the forwards momentum of a thriller.
In order to accomplish this, the novel is told from two points of view: from the perspective of Gary Fenris, a haunted former bodyguard who commits murder and then has to live with the consequences, and from the perspective of Kate Rowan, a bookstore owner who discovers the body.
The characters are linked by danger and uncertain romance.
When I first began developing the plot, I was also writing my masters’ thesis in English Literature, which included a chapter on the role of fairytales in explaining reality to children. I began to reflect on how a part of growing up seems to be that one embraces reason and loses some of that unfailing faith in the existence of magic.
Do stories and the imagination have power over the physical world? This question became a predominant theme in An Excuse For Murder, reflected in the setting.
The Victorian house that Kate lives in is nicknamed “the fairytale house” by locals. How much does the house, and the stories that accompany it, influence the actions of the people living there?
You could say that stories certainly had power over the development of the fictional world within my novel.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a stand-alone crime novel that features another strong female protagonist as sleuth, a chocolate shop and a dark secret in the past.
But I’m also drafting some ideas for a sequel to Kate and Gary’s story, as I’m sure it won’t be long before Kate stumbles across another mystery…
You had me at chocolate! Congratulations on your debut and best of luck with your next one.
Header from Gerd Altmann on Pixabay. Click here for more info.
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