David Harry's Blog, page 2

SPI PRESS INTERVIEW

I was just interviewed, in person, by Avery Cole, reporter for the SPI Press. The interview lasted almost an hour and we covered a wide range of topics. He was interested in in the intersection of law and writing and particularly the creative process.

As I told Reporter Cole, I have been fortunate for over forty years to have written patents for some of the worlds leading inventors and inventions. I am fascinated with the creative process and have watched as a seemingly mundane observation has blossomed into a fabulous invention by a gifted mind.

For one example, I told him of the time an inventor, at a 4th of July picnic, invented touch screens (the kind we take for granted today) by observing that when he grasped a coke bottle with his fingers the top of the bottle glowed. His grasp of the bottle trapped light in the glass. From that observation came the first touch screen——and it worked.

Writing, is much the same. Observing, imagining, abstracting and mixing in a little guessing, then shaking it all together. THE PADRE PARANOIA does just this, while taking the reader on several journeys at once trying to decide if a murder in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant that feeds a military base has any connection to the sudden death of a US Senator, or to the death of the Senator’s pregnant teen friend?

When you have read the book (available from Amazon.com or Paragraphs on Padre in paperback, or Kindle, NOOK and iPad) please post your thoughts.

Coincidence?

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On the day my third book, THE PADRE PARANOIA, was released the Immigration POLICE parked outside my home. The Padre series is based on border porosity. Is this a coincidence?

THE PADRE PARANOIA RELEASED

The Padre Paranoia is now available in paperback from Amazon.com and from the book store, Paragraphs on Padre, on South Padre Island. The electronic versions are available from NOOK and from iPad (via the iTunes store). Kindle will be released next week.

Paranoia is another Jimmy Redstone/Angella Martinez mystery /thriller and begins when a Zephyr military surveillance plane captures a brutal, methodical murder on a sandy beach 10 miles below. Then, a U.S. Senator suffers a fatal heart attack just as he is about to cast the deciding vote to defeat legislation that would drastically curtail the military.

The President gives agents Jimmy Redstone and Angella Martinez two days to find answers to several questions: namely: Was the Senator murdered or did he die naturally? If the Senator was murdered, is there a military insurrection behind it? And was the Senator’s death connected to the murder on the beach?

As Jimmy and Angella search for the answers, they stumble on the murder of the Senator’s underage girlfriend.

In the process, Angella’s life seeming becomes dispensable as the various factions fight to preserve their invincibility.

Reviews have been very positive.

THE PADRE PARANOIA TO BE RELEASED SOON

It is exciting when a new book is released.  THE PADRE PARANOIA is no exception.  The people who have read the drafts have universally been enthusiastic and are already asking about the fourth book.  The Kindle and Nook versions will be available in early August.  Until then the best method of obtaining a copy is to order through Amazon.com or go directly to Create Space.  Please post a review and let me know what you think.  Feedback is important to an author.

I hope you enjoy.

Third Book About To Be Released

Tomorrow I will receive the proof copy of the Padre Paranoia.  The cover, at least in the electronic version, turned out well.   Those who have read the early drafts have proclaimed this the best yet.   I can’t speak to that, but I can report that every reader has commented that it is a page-turner.

In the world of homeland security, the individual, at times, becomes secondary to the security of the country.  This is especially true when the President’s life, or the life of other Heads of State, are threatened.  At such times the life of any one person, no matter how close a relationship exists with that person, is, subservient to the greater good.

In the Padre Paranoia Jimmy is forced to deal with conflicting emotions as he struggles to put the pieces in their proper order.  Just when he believes he has the pieces lined up a new fact emerges, causing him to reset his thinking.  All the while, a time clock is ticking in the background, but its significance is not well understood—even by Jimmy.

If all goes according to plan, my plan that is, the Padre Paranoia will be pre-released in early July.

 

Third Book To Press

I am relieved that the file for THE PADRE PARANOIA is now in the publisher’s capable hands. I can’t wait to see the book in print. In the meantime, the cover will be created and the book will begin to come alive. As it does, my excitement will begin to rise.

Then the galley will be delivered, giving rise to one final reading to be certain the technology worked according to plan. Once the proofing is complete, the inside galley will be matched to the cover and a new book will be born, arriving in the form of a Proof copy.

Once the Proof is approved, THE PADRE PARANOIA will be available in paperback. The Kindle, Nook and other E-books will be available shortly thereafter.

A tedious process, perhaps. But one I hope you will agree is well worth the effort.

Radio Interview with Texas Public Radio

Here is a link to the radio interview I did with Dan Skinner of Texas Public radio.  Please let me know what you think.   http://www.tpr.org/books/2012/04/sbc1...

Getting Ready To Publish Book Three–THE PADRE PARANOIA

It’s finally ready to go to the printers!  That was my first thought when the final chapters came back from my editor.

My next thought was:  Are you sure?

I suppose the real answer to that question is that a writer, at least not this writer, is never certain there are not errors—or omissions.  Or worse yet, wrong facts.  I did have one fact wrong—a big one.  One of the characters spoke about the perp going to the electric chair.  Except that since 1982 Texas uses lethal injection for its executions.  Old Sparky now resides in the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville.  Kudos goes to my editor for catching that one.

So should I read the manuscript one more time?

I think I will.  But if I didn’t catch that one on the first six readings, I don’t think six more will help.  But here I go.  One final review and I cut the cord.

 

 

Recent Philadelphia Examiner Interview

Jerome Whitehead, writing in the Camden County Philadelphia Examiner, reviewed  THE PADRE PUZZLE and interviewed me about writing in general.  You can see the interview at:

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-p....   Let me know what you think.

Celebrate Spring Break on South Padre Island!!!

Are you ready for spring break? Is your bathing suit ready?  Is your cooler packed? Do you have sunscreen in your beach bag?

This spring break, let us help you celebrate with a $25 dollar gift certificate to Jimmy Redstone's favorite SPI restaurant Louie's Backyard and an autographed copy of the Padre Puzzle, an SPI bestseller!

Can't make it to SPI for spring break? That's okay – I will send you a $25 gift certificate to SPI's beloved bookstore Paragraph's.

Order a Skinny Bones, kick back with your book and enjoy the sun. To enter all you have to do is comment and tell me what you are doing for spring break! Contest ends on 3/18.

Good luck!