Mike Martin's Blog, page 32

Author Interview on Zizag Timeline

Check out my author interview on Zigzag Timeline

http://zigzagtl.blogspot.ca/2013/01/author-interview-mike-martin.html

Guest Post on Alive on the Shelves.com

Today I’m guest posting at Alive on the Shelves.com

Come check it out!!

 Just Start Writing and Don’t Stop Until You’re Done

I guess I have always been a writer but for many, many years that writing was confined to business and non-fiction work. This led to a successful career as a freelance writer and hundreds of published articles and thousands of rejection slips. I have also written a lot of poetry and still do. But that was often personal reflection or a way to express love or other emotions and shared only with those very close to me…….

http://aliveontheshelves.com/

New Book Review by Mary Fan, author of Artificial Absolutes

New Book Review by Mary Fan, author of Artificial Absolutes

http://zigzagtl.blogspot.ca/2013/01/review-walker-on-cape-mike-martin.html

Recommended for fans of murder mysteries and stories featuring local color.
 
GENRE
Mystery—Cozy Mystery/Whodunit
 
The Walker on the Cape follows the form of a classic whodunit. It opens with a dead body and follows Sergeant Winston Windflower as he investigates the murder. The story is set in a small fishing community on the East Coast and contains a lot of local color.
 
PACE
The Walker on the Cape is a moderately-paced murder mystery. The questions of “what happened” and “who’s the killer” keep the plot moving forward while Windflower’s interactions with the locals allow the reader to enjoy the setting.
 
PERSPECTIVE
The majority of this book is written from the third person perspective of Windflower and rotates to other characters’ points of view. At times, it takes on a more omniscient narrative distance.
 
CONTENT REVIEW
The Walker on the Cape opens as every good murder mystery should: with a dead body. The body is that of Elias Martin, an elderly man known for taking long strolls along the cape. Investigating the death is Sergeant Winston Windflower, who recently moved into town. When Windflower discovers that Elias was poisoned, he begins an investigation into the old man’s past to find the killer. Elias led a seemingly quiet life, but as Windflower learns more, he soon realizes that perhaps the old man’s life wasn’t so peaceful after all.
 
Windflower is an amiable and easily likable detective figure. He’s a classic good guy—determined, kind-hearted, and tough when he needs to be. Having been born and raised on a remote Indian reservation, he finds living in the small fishing community of Grand Bank to be quite a change from what he’s used to. His interactions with the locals, including a winsome café owner, bring the setting to life. In fact, it is this local color that makes The Walker on the Cape memorable.
 
Martin writes with a charming lilt reminiscent of classic cozy mysteries. The characters are a quirky bunch, such as the over-enthusiastic young policeman, Constable Eddie Tizzard, and the blustering Inspector MacIntosh. Between the investigation scenes, Windflower discovers his affections for the aforementioned café owner, a delightful woman name Sheila who introduces Windflower to the local comforts.
 
For a taste of Martin’s writing style, here’s the opening paragraph of the first chapter: “Even in an ordinary life the most extraordinary things can happen. Every morning for the past eleven years Elias Martin has had his breakfast of hot porridge and thick molasses bread smothered in partridgeberry jam. Then, rain or shine, he began his solitary walk from his small blue house on Elizabeth Avenue in Grand Bank, Newfoundland, down through the Cove, and until the winter snow made it impassable, up over the hills to the Cape.”
 
Such descriptions and charm are carried out throughout the novel, which retains a cheery atmosphere despite the bleakness of Windflower’s job. Like all cozy mysteries, the detective figure in The Walker on the Cape is removed from the danger and spends the majority of the investigation interviewing suspects and witnesses or stewing in his own thoughts. Things take an interesting turn about halfway through the book when corruption is unveiled and an arrest is made.
 
In terms of the plot, Martin has constructed a well laid-out web of suspects and motives, and he certainly seems to know his way around a police procedural. From the forensic reports to the ins and outs of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he depicts a believable world of crime scenes and investigators.
 
All in all, I found The Walker in the Cape to be a fun and lighthearted read. It’s the kind of mystery that lets one delve into the various possible scenarios, revealing various backgrounds and stories along the way. The reader gets to explore the little town of Grand Bank along with Windflower, experiencing all its delights and hospitality.
 
THE NITPICKY STUFF
I found a number of small errors such as typos. Also, and this is really nitpicky, Martin tends to write in long sentences, often unbroken by commas.
 
This book is fairly G-rated in terms of sex, violence, language, etc.
 
AUTHOR INFO
Mike Martin was born in Newfoundland and now lives in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a longtime freelance writer and a member of Ottawa Independent Writers, Capital Crime Writers, the Crime Writers of Canada, and the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild. The Walker on the Cape is his first full fiction book.
 
 

Featured Author Today on Substance Books.com

Check it Out!!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/411152885624672/permalink/437800799626547/

A Shout Out to Fort McMurray

There are over 10,000 Newfoundlanders living and working in Fort McMurray, Alberta. That’s about 20 percent of the entire population. And there are thousands of other Newfoundlanders who have travled back and forth along the jet route from St. John’s airport to Fort McMurray. Fort Mac is actually the third largest city of Newfoundlanders anywhere in the world, including in Newfoundland and Labrador.

So here’s a shout out to all current and former NL compatriots in Fort McMurray. I hope you enjoy your Jiggs Dinner for supper and your baloney and beans for breakfast. And if you want a good Newfoundland yarn to pass away the long winter, pick up a copy of The Walker on the Cape right there at Coles in Fort McMurray. Tell them that Windflower sent you.

Update January 15

Upcoming Activities and Events

Things are always busy with Windflower and The Walker on the Cape:

January 23, 2012 Featured Author on Substance Books.com

This is a great opportunity for Windflower and I to get exposure to thousands of online users and followers on Substance Books.com, a major player in online book promotion. Watch this space for links and more details.

January 25, 2013 Guest Blogger on Alive on the Shelves.com

A fabulous review blog hosted by the even more fabulous Lisa. Check it out at:

http://aliveontheshelves.com/

February issue of Mainstreeter

I am the feautured artist in the Mainstreeter my community newspaper with a profile by Tanis Browning-Shelp

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New Locations to Buy The Walker on the Cape

Fredericton, NB

Chapters Fredericton

Kingston, Ont

Indigo Kingston

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Short Story

It’s not too late to offer your suggestions, ideas etc for Chapter 2 of the Short Story.

Here’s the link to Chapter 1:

The Parking Lot Mike Martin

Random Acts of Kindness

 

http://mike54martin.com/2013/01/14/practicing-random-acts-of-kindness/

Windflower is Everywhere But Not at Collected Works

New Locations to Buy The Walker on the Cape

Western Newfoundland

Corner Brook, NL

Coles Corner Brook

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More American sites

Barnes and Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-walker-on-the-cape-mike-martin/1113728332?ean=9781621418498

Books a Million

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Walker-Cape/Mike-Martin/9781621418498

Towers.com

 http://www.tower.com/walker-on-cape-mike-martin-paperback/wapi/123447745

Powells Books

http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781621418498-1

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But Not at Collected Works in Ottawa

Collected Works Bookstore in Ottawa closed its doors as feared on December 25. The shelves are now empty and the space deserted. It is a bit sad but we move on.

The Walker on the Cape is still available in Ottawa at the following locations:

Baico Bookstore: 294 Albert at Kent, Ottawa

Books on Beechwood: 35 Beechwood at McKay, Ottawa

Chapters Rideau: Rideau at Sussex, Ottawa

Chapters South Keys: Bank at Hunt Club, Ottawa

Brittons in the Glebe, 846 Bank St at Fifth Avenue, Ottawa

Coles Place d’Orleans, Place d’Orleans, Ottawa

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 Substance Books Feautured Author

I will be the feautured author on Substance Books.com on Monday January 14. More details to follow.

Down Under with Windflower

G’day Mates. Sgt. Windflower and his gang are visiting Australia. Yes, The Walker on the Cape is now available for sale in Australia and through the two largest booksellers in that part of the world. Angus and Roberston is one of the oldest booksellers in Australia (since 1882) and Bookworld is one of the biggest online book retailers in that country.

Here are the links to buy from these fine Australian outlets:

Angus and Robertson

http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/book/the-walker-on-the-cape/38645700/

Bookworld

http://www.bookworld.com.au/book/the-walker-on-the-cape/38645700/

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Another Newfoundland location to buy The Walker on the Cape:

St. John’s, NF

Coles Avalon Mall

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And Don’t Forget to take part in our Short Story Event…

http://walkeronthecape.com/2013/01/08/psst-wanna-help-write-a-short-story/

Psst… Wanna Help Write a Short Story?

Have you ever wanted to write a short story but never felt that you had the time or opportunity? Well, now’s your chance to at least be part of creating a short story. As part of another writing project I have the first chapter of a short story written and now I want to finish it. And I would like to have your help.

No previous experience or particular expertise required. And you can contribute as much or as little as you would like. It can be in the form of ideas or suggestions or complete paragraphs. You choose. And you can pop in and out as you’d like.  I will give credit on my blog to all who participate and at the end of the story I will award a prize for the best contributions.

I intend to try and publish this story somewhere in print and online through this blog. Feel free to pass this idea along to anyone who you think might be interested. Let’s have some fun and create a group masterpiece. So here is the first page. For the rest please follow the link below.

So add your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, comments. I will be posting this on my Facebook page and you can comment there or just message me. And you can always send me an e-mail. Once I receive the first five suggestions I will write the first few paragraphs of Chapter 2. If I don’t get any comments I will be very sad…. but I will still write the story and try to publish it.

                                            The Parking Lot

                                                Mike Martin

They found her in the parking lot of the Home Depot. Her cherry red F-150 pick-up was still warm but she was stone cold dead. Harrison suspected that the truck had run out of gas. That made making the time of death a little more difficult, but that wasn’t his job.

He looked around at the shoppers and do-it-yourselfers as they pretended he wasn’t there. They had already scoped him out when they were sitting in their cars and SUV’s, waiting for the store to open. They were all curious but it wasn’t the yellow police tape that kept them away. It was fear. This was their Saturday morning routine: get a large coffee and then go walk around Home Dept, maybe look at the new circular saws, maybe pick up a bag of nails. Maybe buy the lumber for their next project. A dead body shook them. Good, thought Harrison. Somebody should be shook up.

The woman was what Harrison would call ‘country-pretty’. Long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, fancy jeans and a faded suede jacket. Small, but not petite and while Harrison could never guess ages, especially for women, she looked to be early 30′s. No sign of children and no wedding ring but that didn’t mean anything these days. And dead, very dead.

Harrison had been having coffee at Tim Hortons and thinking about his four days off when his hand-held radio went off. He was down near Leitrum on a stakeout waiting for a reluctant witness in a shooting to come home. Reluctant because he probably didn’t know who could do him more damage, the cops or the shooter. 

The call had said Hunt Club West so Harrison figured he was probably one of the closest. He flipped on his lights and siren and sped out of the coffee shop parking lot. After twenty two years on the force he still got a kick out of doing that.

When he got to the Home Depot he was actually the second one there. Johnson from South Division was already there interviewing a visibly upset teenager who had been gathering up shopping carts before the store opened. The store manager and a few staff were also outside shivering in their bright red shirts. Harrison nodded to Johnson and did his own visual inspection. “The paramedics and forensics people are on their way,” said Johnson and Harrison nodded again.

He walked over to the store manager and introduced himself. “I’m Inspector Harrison,” he said. “You may want to think about closing the store, at least for the morning. We’re going to want to interview everybody here and we’ll be closing off this parking lot until our work is done.”

http://walkeronthecape.com/short-stories/