Simon Duringer's Blog, page 27
June 18, 2014
Perry McCarthy
The identity of my next guest was guarded for so long, his reputation became notorious. It hit headlines the world over when he was exposed as the mystery driver featured in the first two series of the global TV sensation Top Gear…
First guess only will count here as he was the first and the original…
That’s correct ladies and gentlemen, my next guest on Simon’s 10 Q Interviews is the one and only motoring sensation, The author of the International Bestseller Flat Out, Flat Broke
…
The Original Stig, Perry McCarthy
Rumoured to have driven off an aircraft carrier Perry McCarthy (AKA The Original STIG) started his motor racing career by actually working on oil rigs to fund his progression into Formula Ford 1600 before fighting his way up the motor racing ladder to Formula 3, international Formula 3000, finally realising his dream of becoming a F1 driver in 1992. He subsequently drove as a Formula 1 test driver for both Benetton and the Williams F1 teams. Perry competed at Le Mans
five times for major works teams and has been a motor racing commentator, TV presenter and has recently agreed to start writing for a major motoring magazine…
Perry used these many, varied and hilarious experiences to write his internationally bestselling autobiography Flat Out, Flat Broke…and it was in fact at that book launch where Jeremy Clarkson offered Perry the opportunity to become the first and original Stig on the newly revamped BBC Top Gear.
The rest is history, the show went on to be globally popular and ‘The Stig’ went on to become iconic. Now able to talk about his secret identity Perry gives a behind the scenes look in the Third edition of Flat Out, Flat Broke, one of the bestselling motor racing books of all time.
Best man to F1 driver Mark Blundell, the foreword to his autobiography written by his close friend and former F1 World Motor Racing Champion Damon Hill
, I am delighted to say that the driver, motivational and after dinner speaker, road safety consultant and Internationally Bestselling author Perry McCarthy will be running the gauntlet of Simon’s 10 Q Interviews… Don’t blink as you might miss him!
Don’t forget to bookmark this page and come back soon as I guarantee readers are in for an entertaining and fun interview with Perry, but before you leave why not get a sneak preview of the man up for interview by scrolling down the page to watch a brief video about the legend and additionally about Road Safety, or by visiting Amazon to own a copy of his autobiography whilst stocks last, using the following links;
For U.S. Readers – Flat Out, Flat Broke: The Original Stig
For U.K. Readers – Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formula 1 the hard way! (3rd edition)
The Perry McCarthy interview is due to take place during June/July 2014.
Simon Duringer © 2014.
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads author and Independent Interviewer. His multiple Amazon 5 star thriller Stray Bullet is available to buy on Amazon using the following US or UK Link;
UK Link
Stray Bullet
US Link
Stray Bullet
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
….and whilst it may not be about the autobiography Flat Out, Flat Broke take a quick look at this video for some excellent driving advice from the man himself… Perry McCarthy, The Stig.
Marilyn Holdsworth
Previously on Simon’s 10Q Interviews we hosted one of the USA’s power houses H Alan Day whose sister and co-author was the former Supreme Court Justice; Sandra Day O’Conner. It’s difficult to know where to go from there in terms of the *WOW* factor. But, we have found somebody equally inspirational as a writer, with similar passions, who, in her own right has a very interesting lineage…
Any ideas…?
Marilyn Holdsworth is a writer, poet and blogger. Her passion for owning and training horses led her to write her most recent novel Pegasus
and, based upon her genealogical research, Marilyn had another story to tell: that of being a direct descendent to the Fifth president of the United States of America, James Monroe
.
Marilyn’s writing includes The Beautiful American
largely based around her research into the life of James Monroe
and the novel Making Wishes
, which are all available globally.
If you would like to know more about Marilyn’s work, please bookmark this page and come back soon as Marilyn gets ready to run the gauntlet of Simon’s 10 Q Interviews. But first, why not scroll to the bottom of the page and watch a brief promotional video about Pegasus, or visit Marilyn’s author page on Amazon as follows;
For U.S. Readers – Marilyn Holdsworth
For U.K. Readers – Marilyn Holdsworth
The Marilyn Holdsworth interview is due to take place during June/July 2014.
Simon Duringer © 2014.
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads author and Independent Interviewer. His multiple Amazon 5 star thriller Stray Bullet is available to buy on Amazon using the following US or UK Link;
UK Link
Stray Bullet
US Link
Stray Bullet
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
June 14, 2014
Imogen Robertson
http://wp.me/p4ub7u-JU
June 4, 2014
Matt Pallamary
His historical novel Land Without Evil details the first contact between shamans and Jesuits in 18th century South America. Having received rave reviews, a San Diego Book Award for mainstream fiction, and having been chosen as a Reading Group Choices selection, it was adapted into a full-length stage and sky show and became the subject of a PBS series, Arts in Context, which was nominated for an Emmy award.
A real life Indiana Jones… who is my next guest?
Matt Pallamary has kindly agreed to join me for Simon’s 10 Q Interviews.
His most recent book, A Short Walk to the Other Side
was an Award Winning Finalist in the International Book Awards. The Infinity Zone
won the International Book Award in the New Age nonfiction category and then of course there is Land Without Evil
, which was not only award winning but went on to feature as a stage show and an EMMY Nominated TV documentary… Matt’s first book The small dark room of the soul
was mentioned in The Year’s Best Horror and Fantasy. His second short story collection, Dreamland, co-written with Ken Reeth, won the 2002 Independent e-Book Award in the Horror/Thriller category.
Matt also received the Man of the Year 2000 from San Diego Writer’s Monthly Magazine. His memoir Spirit Matters
detailing his journeys to Peru won first place in the San Diego Book Awards Spiritual Book Category, and was an Award-Winning Finalist in the autobiography/memoir category of the National Best Book Awards, sponsored by USA Book News.
He has been the guest of more nationally syndicated talk shows and radio shows than one can count and regularly speaks out about fading cultures.
For over 20 years Matt has lent his experience through teaching at various conferences including; the Southern California Writers’ Conference in San Diego, Palm Springs, and Los Angeles, and at the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference. He has lectured at the Greater Los Angeles Writer’s Conference, the Getting It Write conference in Oregon, the Saddleback Writers’ Conference, the Rio Grande Writers’ Seminar, the National Council of Teachers of English, The San Diego Writer’s and Editor’s Guild, The San Diego Book Publicists, and he has been a panellist at the World Fantasy Convention, Con-Dor, and Coppercon. He is presently Editor in Chief of Muse Harbor Publishing.
A frequent visitor to the jungles, mountains, and deserts of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism and ancient cultures, I think Matt will relish the opportunity to climb aboard my Time Machine!
Please come back to find out how Emmy nominated Matthew Pallamary
gets on with his 10 questions. But before you go, please spend a few moments watching the videos at the bottom of the page, which are both highly interesting. Then perhaps go and visit Matt’s amazon pages from where you can download his novels and short story collections;
Amazon (U.S. Readers) – Matthew J Pallamary
Amazon (U.K. Readers) – Matthew J Pallamary
The Matt Pallamary interview is due to take place during June 2014.
Simon Duringer © 2014.
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads author and Independent Interviewer. His multiple Amazon 5 star thriller Stray Bullet is available to buy on Amazon using the following US or UK Link;
UK Link
Stray Bullet
US Link
Stray Bullet
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
Alex von Tunzelmann
My next guest was educated in Brighton and read history at University College, Oxford. She has worked primarily as a researcher and currently lives in London.
Traditionally published and with two books of historical nonfiction under her belt, as a young writer she also earned the accolade of becoming Runner-Up in the Young Business Writer of the year award by the esteemed newspaper The Financial Times.
More recently her books have gained the following reviews;
William Dalrymple re Indian Summer: “Unquestionably the best book I have ever read on the Independence and Partition of India and Pakistan, and pretty close to a flat-out masterpiece.”
…and this from the Winnipeg Free Press re Red Heat: “This action-packed and entertaining effort is a watershed event in the telling of American and Caribbean history, unimaginably rich in detail, scholarship, and humanity.”
Any guesses to whom I refer?
Alex von Tunzelmann has contributed to several publications including; The Political Animal
by the incredible Jeremy Paxman, The Truth About Markets
by John Kay, Does Education Matter?
by Alison Wolf, and Not On the Label
by Felicity Lawrence.
Recognized as a Financial Times Young Business Writer of the Year, and by Vogue, Alex collaborated with Jeremy Paxman
on his book, On Royalty
.
Alex writes a weekly column for The Guardian Newspaper entitled Reel history, in which she discusses and rates popular films for their historical accuracy.
Then of course there are her own two historical nonfiction books; Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire
which details the liberation of India from the British Empire and Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean
, which covers the relationship between the United States, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti during the time of the Cold War.
All of Alex’s works attract rave reviews, here’s another small taster…
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[A] scintillating debut … compelling narrative history, combining dramatic sweep with dishy detail.”
Toronto Sun
“Indian Summer merits the highest of all praise for a history — it reads like a novel.”
Sir Martin Gilbert, author of The Somme
“Indian Summer is a true tour de force: absorbing in its detail and masterly in the broad sweep of its canvas.”
Victoria Glendinning, author of Leonard Woolf
“Indian Summer is outstandingly vivid and authoritative. Alex von Tunzelmann brings a lively new voice to narrative history writing.”
Los Angeles Times
“Von Tunzelmann’s irreverent and irresistible popular history is both entertaining and illuminating.”
So, people, come back soon to read the full Alex von Tunzelmann Interview. But first, why not scroll down to the bottom of the page to watch a short video of Alex discussing the motives behind writing Red Heat, then bookmark this page and use the links below to visit Alex’s pages on Amazon:
Amazon (U.S. Readers) – Alex von Tunzelmann
Amazon (U.K. Readers) – Alex von Tunzelmann
The Alex von Tunzelmann interview is due to take place during June 2014.
Simon Duringer © 2014.
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads author and Independent Interviewer. His multiple Amazon 5 star thriller Stray Bullet is available to buy on Amazon using the following US or UK Link;
UK Link
Stray Bullet
US Link
Stray Bullet
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
Alex Von Tunzelmann
My next guest was educated in Brighton and read history at University College, Oxford. She has worked primarily as a researcher and currently lives in London.
Traditionally published and with two novels under her belt, she also holds the accolade of being dubbed Young Business Writer of the year by the esteemed newspaper The Financial Times.
Any guesses to whom I refer?
Alex von Tunzelmann has contributed to several publications including; The Political Animal by the incredible Jeremy Paxman, The Truth About Markets by John Kay, Does Education Matter? by Alison Wolf, and Not On the Label by Felicity Lawrence.
Recognized as a Financial Times Young Business Writer of the Year, and by Vogue, Alex has recently collaborated with Jeremy Paxman on his book, On Royalty.
Alex writes a weekly column for The Guardian Newspaper entitled Reel history, in which she discusses and rates popular films for their historical accuracy.
Then of course there are her own Novels; Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire which details the liberation of India from the British Empire and Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean, which covers the relationship between the United States, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti during the time of the Cold War.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[A] scintillating debut … compelling narrative history, combining dramatic sweep with dishy detail.”
Toronto Sun
“Indian Summer merits the highest of all praise for a history — it reads like a novel.”
Sir Martin Gilbert, author of The Somme
“Indian Summer is a true tour de force: absorbing in its detail and masterly in the broad sweep of its canvas.”
Victoria Glendinning, author of Leonard Woolf
“Indian Summer is outstandingly vivid and authoritative. Alex von Tunzelmann brings a lively new voice to narrative history writing.”
Los Angeles Times
“Von Tunzelmann’s irreverent and irresistible popular history is both entertaining and illuminating.”
So, people, come back soon to read the full Alex Von Tunzelmann Interview. But first, why not scroll down to the bottom of the page to watch a short video of Alex discussing the motives behind writing Red Heat, then bookmark this page and use the links below to visit Alex’s pages on Amazon:
Amazon (U.S. Readers) – Alex von Tunzelmann
Amazon (U.K. Readers) – Alex Von Tunzelmann
The Alex von Tunzelmann interview is due to take place during June 2014.
Simon Duringer © 2014.
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads author and Independent Interviewer. His multiple Amazon 5 star thriller Stray Bullet is available to buy on Amazon using the following US or UK Link;
UK Link
Stray Bullet
US Link
Stray Bullet
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
June 2, 2014
The Natalie Haynes Interview
http://wp.me/p4ub7u-J3
June 1, 2014
Imogen Robertson
Prior to becoming an award winning novelist, my next guest directed children’s television, film and radio programmes. She has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Historical Dagger Award three times and is a previous winner of the Daily Telegraph’s ‘First thousand words of a novel’ competition.
Who is my next guest…?
I’m delighted to announce that Imogen Robertson
has agreed to run the gauntlet of Simon’s 10 Q Interviews…
Imogen
graduated from Cambridge where she studied German and Russian. As a post graduate she spent a year in Voronezh, Russia learning how to drink vodka!
Having survived the “vodka induced falls” and being a guest of the Russian Federation Imogen
went on to direct children’s television, film and radio programmes, before finally getting down to the nitty-gritty of writing 6 novels, three of which; (The Paris Winter
, Island of Bones
and Theft of Life
) were shortlisted for the CWA’s Historical Dagger award.
Come back soon to read how Imogen copes with Simon’s 10 Q Interview, where we shall discuss her books, her career and perhaps the art of drinking vodka…perhaps! But, before you leave, don’t forget to bookmark this page and visit the Imogen Robertson pages on Amazon!
Visit the Imogen Robertson Author Page on Amazon (U.S.) – Imogen Robertson
Visit the Imogen Robertson Author Page on Amazon (U.K.) – Imogen Robertson
The Imogen Robertson interview is due to take place during June 2014.
Simon Duringer © 2014.
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads author and Independent Interviewer. His multiple Amazon 5 star thriller Stray Bullet is available to buy on Amazon using the following US or UK Link;
UK Link
Stray Bullet
US Link
Stray Bullet
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
May 23, 2014
Rachel Abbott Interview
http://wp.me/p4ub7u-CO
May 18, 2014
Natalie Haynes
It’s amazing who Amazon class as “Rising Stars” these days. Attracted by an email of their latest list of rising stars, by none other than the cover of her latest book, it came of no surprise that such a cover would be backed up by a wealth of experience that gives rise to my hope that this, my next guest, could possibly deliver one of the most interesting, hopefully amusing, of Simon’s 10 Q Interviews to date…
The good money says you have heard of my next guest, but for those who may not be familiar with her works, which apparently includes Amazon, let me introduce you to her…
I am delighted that Natalie Haynes has agreed to join me and run the gauntlet of Simon’s 10Q Interviews.
Natalie currently writes a monthly column for the Readers Digest magazine, is also a columnist on the Opinion pages of The Independent newspaper and has previously written for The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph.
Hailed a rising (tsk tsk!) star in Amazon circles, they omit to mention that Natalie Haynes
has already published several novels, in several languages. Indeed, the first of which won a PETA Proggy Award back in 2008. They also omit the fact that Natalie Haynes
is a veteran comedian with a decade long career on the stage, a TV panellist on mainstream television and a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4
.
For the benefit of those at Amazon who decide upon one’s stature, please read on as Natalie Haynes
, the *ahem* “rising star”, has been on the judging panel of; the Man Booker Prize, the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. She also happens to be a paper reviewer for Sky News…
Come back soon to read how Natalie Haynes copes with Simon’s 10 Q Interview, where we shall undoubtedly be discussing Natalie’s books, her career and what accolades one must achieve before reaching the dizzy heights of “rising” stardom, and more… But, before you leave, don’t forget to bookmark this page, at the bottom of which you can view the video in which Natalie discusses her latest novel The Amber Fury…
Visit Natalie Haynes Author Page on Amazon (U.S.) – Natalie Haynes
Visit Natalie Haynes Author Page on Amazon (U.K.) – Natalie Haynes
The Natalie Haynes interview is due to take place during May 2014.
Simon Duringer © 2014.
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads author and Independent Interviewer. His multiple Amazon 5 star thriller Stray Bullet is available to buy on Amazon using the following US or UK Link;
UK Link
Stray Bullet
US Link
Stray Bullet
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
