Hank Garner's Blog, page 10
January 15, 2020
Author Stories Podcast Episode 789 | Peter Robinson Interview
Today’s author interview is with Peter Robinson, author of Many Rivers to Cross: A Novel (Inspector Banks Novels Book 26).
Peter Robinson, the acclaimed author of the bestselling series Stephen King calls “the best now on the market,” returns with a gripping, emotionally charged mystery in which the revered detective Alan Banks must find the truth about a murder with possible racial overtones—and save a friend from ruin.
In Eastvale, a young Middle Eastern boy is found dead, his body stuffed in a wheelbarrow on the East Side Estate. Detective Superintendent Banks and his team know they must tread carefully to solve this sensitive case. But tensions rise when they learn that the victim was stabbed somewhere else and dumped. Who is the boy, and where did he come from?
Then, in a decayed area of Eastvale scheduled for redevelopment, a heroin addict is found dead. Was this just another tragic overdose or something darker?
To prevent tensions from reaching a boiling point, Banks must find answers quickly. Yet just when he needs to be his sharpest, the seasoned detective finds himself distracted by a close friend’s increasingly precarious situation. He needs a break—and gets one when he finds a connection to a real estate developer that could be key to finding the truth.
With so many loose ends dangling, there is one thing Banks is sure of—solving the case may come at a terrible cost.
Peter Robinson’s award-winning novels have been named a Best-Book-of-the-Year by Publishers Weekly, a Notable Book by the New York Times, and a Page-Turner-of-the-Week by People magazine. Robinson was born and raised in Yorkshire but has lived in North America for over twenty-five years. He now divides his time between North America and the U.K.
January 14, 2020
Author Stories Podcast Episode 788 | Lars Kepler Interview
Today’s author interview is with Lars Kepler, author of the new thriller The Rabbit Hunter. Lars Kepler is the pseudonym for husband-and-wife writing duo Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril.
[image error]Ten little rabbits, all dressed in white
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite.
Kite string got broken, down they all fell,
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to…
It begins with a nursery rhyme. Nineteen minutes later you die.
A masked stranger stands in the shadows. He watches his victim through the window. He will kill him slowly—make him pay.
Soon the Rabbit Hunter has claimed another three victims. This predator will stop at nothing to reap his ultimate revenge. It’s up to Joona Linna and Saga Bauer to untangle one of the most complex cases of their career, and follow the killer’s trail of destruction back to one horrific night of violence.
LARS KEPLER is the pseudonym of the critically acclaimed husband-and-wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. Their number-one internationally best-selling Joona Linna series has sold more than fourteen million copies in forty languages. The Ahndorils were both established writers before they adopted the pen name Lars Kepler and have each published several acclaimed novels. They live in Stockholm, Sweden.
January 9, 2020
Author Stories Podcast Episode 787 | Chris Hauty And The Deep State
Today’s author interview guest is Chris Hauty, author of the new thriller Deep State.
[image error]“Deep State is a propulsive, page-turning, compelling, fragmentation grenade of a debut thriller.” —C.J. Box, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wolf Pack and The Bitterroots
“The plot…rings eerily true…will keep you turning the pages well into the night.” —Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL and acclaimed author of The Terminal List and True Believer
In this white-knuckled, timely, and whip-smart debut thriller, a deadly plot against the president’s life emerges from the shadows of the Deep State.
Recently elected President Richard Monroe—populist, controversial, and divisive—is at the center of an increasingly polarized Washington, DC. Never has the partisan drama been so tense or the paranoia so rampant. In the midst of contentious political turf wars, the White House chief of staff is found dead in his house. A tenacious intern discovers a single, ominous clue that suggests he died from something other than natural causes, and that a wide-ranging conspiracy is running beneath the surface of everyday events: powerful government figures are scheming to undermine the rule of law—and democracy itself. Allies are exposed as enemies, once-dependable authorities fall under suspicion, and no one seems to be who they say they are. The unthinkable is happening. The Deep State is real. Who will die to keep its secrets and who will kill to uncover the truth?
Chris Hauty was born in San Antonio, Texas, and is a graduate of Reed College. He began his professional writing career with “Don Coyote”, a contemporary interpretation of Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” with Jonathon Lynn attached to direct. Projects in the family film genre followed, including Disney’s “Homeward Bound: Lost In San Francisco”. To broaden and further define himself as a screenwriter, Hauty wrote the original screenplay, “Arena”, a dark, gladiator epic. Subsequent credits include “Moby Dick” at Dreamworks Animation, “Beautiful Killer” at Universal Pictures with Jessica Alba attached, “Land of Legend”, a Viking saga at Walden Media with Renny Harlin set to direct, “Vigilante” at Studio Canal with Ed Burns to star and direct, and “Colosseum” at Icon Pictures, with Mel Gibson to direct. He sold the pitch for “The Eternals”, a supernatural thriller set on a college campus, to CBS Films. Recent produced credits include “Never Back Down”, directed by Jeff Wadlow and starring Djimon Hounsou and “Sniper: Ghost Shooter” staring Billy Zane for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Hauty lives in Venice, California, with his feral cat and a Triumph motorcycle. Deep State is his first novel. Visit him at chrishauty.com and follow along on Instagram, Twitter at @ChrisHauty and on Facebook at @hautywriter.
January 8, 2020
Author Stories Podcast Episode 786 | Chris McCormick Interview
Today’s author interview guest is Chris McCormick, author of The Gimmicks: A Novel.
“The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away.”—Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Mothers
Set in the waning years of the Cold War, a stunning debut novel about a trio of young Armenians that moves from the Soviet Union, across Europe, to Southern California, and at its center, one of the most tragic cataclysms in twentieth-century history—the Armenian Genocide—whose traumatic reverberations will have unexpected consequences on all three lives.
This exuberant, wholly original novel begins in Kirovakan, Armenia, in 1971. Ruben Petrosian is a serious, solitary young man who cares about two things: mastering the game of backgammon to beat his archrival, Mina, and studying the history of his ancestors. Ruben grieves the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, a crime still denied by the descendants of its perpetrators, and dreams of vengeance.
When his orphaned cousin, Avo, comes to live with his family, Ruben’s life is transformed. Gregarious and physically enormous, with a distinct unibrow that becomes his signature, Avo is instantly beloved. He is everything Ruben is not, yet the two form a bond they swear never to break.
But their paths diverge when Ruben vanishes—drafted into an extremist group that will stop at nothing to make Turkey acknowledge the genocide. Unmoored by Ruben’s disappearance, Avo and Mina grow close in his absence. But fate brings the cousins together once more, when Ruben secretly contacts Avo, convincing him to leave Mina and join the extremists—a choice that will dramatically alter the course of their lives.
Left to unravel the threads of this story is Terry “Angel Hair” Krill, a veteran of both the US Navy and the funhouse world of professional wrestling, whose life intersects with Avo, Ruben, and Mina’s in surprising and devastating ways.
Told through alternating perspectives, The Gimmicks is a masterpiece of storytelling. Chris McCormick brilliantly illuminates the impact of history and injustice on ordinary lives and challenges us to confront the spectacle of violence and the specter of its aftermath.
Chris McCormick is the author of Desert Boys, winner of the 2017 Stonewall Book Award—Barbara Gittings Literature Award. His essays and stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Tin House, Ploughshares, and The Offing. He grew up in the Antelope Valley on the California side of the Mojave Desert, and earned his BA from the University of California, Berkeley. After teaching at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he earned his MFA and won two Hopwood Awards, he’s now an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Minnesota State University, Mankato. His second book and debut novel, The Gimmicks, is now available from Harper.
January 7, 2020
Author Stories Podcast Episode 785 | Patrick Chiles Interview
Today’s author interview guest is Patrick Chiles, author of Frozen Orbit.
[image error] THE BEGINNING OF LIFE AWAITS AT THE END OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
A FROZEN ANSWER AT THE EDGE OF PLANETARY SPACE
Set to embark on NASA’s first expedition to the outer planets, the crew of the spacecraft Magellan learns someone else has beaten them by a few decades: a top-secret Soviet project codenamed Arkangel.
Now during their long race to the Kuiper Belt, astronauts Jack Templeton and Traci Keene must unwind a decades-old mystery buried in the pages of a dead cosmonaut’s journal. The solution will challenge their beliefs about the nature of humanity, and will force the astronauts to confront the question of existence itself. And the final answer lies at the edge of the Solar System, waiting to change everything.
About Farside by Patrick Chiles:
“The situations are realistic, the characters interesting, the perils harrowing, and the stakes could not be higher…The story is one of problem solving, adventure, survival, improvisation, and includes one of the most unusual episodes of space combat in all of science fiction. It would make a terrific movie.”— John Walker, Ricochet.com
“…a fast-paced and exciting story which bounces between the borders of technological thriller and science fiction…Farside is an impressive effort.”—Mark Lardas, The Galveston County Daily News
Patrick Chiles has been fascinated by airplanes, rockets, and spaceflight ever since he was a little kid growing up in South Carolina. How he ended up as an English major in college is still a mystery, though he managed to overcome this self-inflicted handicap to pursue a career in aviation.
He is a graduate of The Citadel and a Marine Corps veteran, a licensed pilot, and an aviation safety manager. In addition to his novels, he has written for magazines such as Smithsonian’s Air & Space. He currently resides in Tennessee with his wife and sons, two lethargic dachshunds, and a bovine cat.
January 3, 2020
Author Stories Podcast Episode 784 | L. C. Shaw Interview
Today’s author interview guest is L. C. Shaw, author of The Network.
A pulse-pounding, page-turning thriller involving corruption, secrets, and lies at the very deepest levels of government and media.
“This is mandatory reading for any thriller aficionado.”—Steve Berry, New York Times Bestselling Author
A shadowy group is manipulating society—and they’ve only just begun.
Late one night, investigative journalist Jack Logan receives a surprise visit from U.S. Senator Malcolm Phillips at his New York apartment. Disheveled and in a panic, the senator swears that he’s about to be murdered and pleads with Jack to protect his wife Taylor, who happens to be the only woman Jack has ever truly loved.
Days later, Phillips is found dead in a hotel room in Micronesia, the apparent victim of an allergy attack. While the nation mourns, Jack and Taylor race to find the one man who knows the truth. As they’re pursued by unknown assailants, their desperate hunt leads them to the Institute, an immense facility shrouded in mystery that has indoctrinated a generation of America’s political and media power players. Led by the enigmatic Damon Crosse, the Institute has its tentacles everywhere—but Taylor unknowingly holds the secret to the one thing that Crosse needs to carry out his plan.
Taking readers on a thrill ride from the back halls of Congress to the high-rise offices of Madison Avenue and a remote Greek island, The Network is a provocative, pulse-pounding novel that dares to ask the question: who’s really in charge?
L.C. Shaw is the pen name of internationally bestselling author Lynne Constantine who also writes psychological thrillers with her sister as Liv Constantine. Her family wonder if she is actually a spy, and never knows what to call her. She has explored coral reefs all over the world, sunken wrecks in the South Pacific, and fallen in love with angelfish in the Caribbean. Lynne is a former marketing executive and has a Master’s in Business from Johns Hopkins University. When editing her work, she loves to procrastinate by spending time on social media, and when stuck on a plot twist has been known to run ideas by her Silver Labrador and Golden Retriever who wish she would stop working and play ball with them. Her work has been translated into 28 languages.
January 2, 2020
Author Stories Podcast Episode 783 | Lee Goldberg Interview
We kick off 2020 today with an interview with Lee Goldberg talking about his amazing career and his new book Lost Hills (Eve Ronin Book 1).
[image error]“Lost Hills is Lee Goldberg at his best. Inspired by the real-world grit and glitz of LA County crime, this book takes no prisoners. And neither does Eve Ronin. Take a ride with her and you’ll find yourself with a heroine for the ages. And you’ll be left hoping for more.” —Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Thrills and chills! Lost Hills is the perfect combination of action and suspense, not to mention Eve Ronin is one of the best new female characters in ages. You will race through the pages!” —Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
A video of Deputy Eve Ronin’s off-duty arrest of an abusive movie star goes viral, turning her into a popular hero at a time when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is plagued by scandal. The sheriff, desperate for more positive press, makes Eve the youngest female homicide detective in the department’s history.
Now Eve, with a lot to learn and resented by her colleagues, has to justify her new badge. Her chance comes when she and her burned-out, soon-to-retire partner are called to the blood-splattered home of a missing single mother and her two kids. The horrific carnage screams multiple murder—but there are no corpses.
Eve has to rely on her instincts and tenacity to find the bodies and capture the vicious killer, all while battling her own insecurities and mounting pressure from the media, her bosses, and the bereaved family. It’s a deadly ordeal that will either prove her skills…or totally destroy her.
Lee Goldberg is an ex-Navy SEAL, nuclear physicist and a professional Daniel Craig impersonator.
Okay, that’s not true. But he wants this biography to be really exciting, so pay attention. If things bog down, I’ve been instructed to add a car chase or some explicit sex.
Here’s the real story.
Lee Goldberg writes books and television shows.
His mother wanted him to be a doctor, and his grandfather wanted him to go into the family furniture business. Instead, he put himself through UCLA as a freelance journalist, writing for such publications as American Film, Starlog, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times Syndicate, The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle (he also wrote erotic letters to the editor for Playgirl at $25-a-letter, but he doesn’t tell people about that, he just likes to boast about those “Tiffany” credits).
He published his first book .357 Vigilante (as “Ian Ludlow,” so he’d be on the shelf next to Robert Ludlum) while he was still a UCLA student. The West Coast Review of Books called his debut “as stunning as the report of a .357 Magnum, a dynamic premiere effort,” singling the book out as “The Best New Paperback Series” of the year. Naturally, the publisher promptly went bankrupt and he never saw a dime in royalties.
Welcome to publishing, Lee.
His many subsequent books include the non-fiction Successful Television Writing and Unsold Television Pilots as well as the novels My Gun Has Bullets, The Walk, King City, McGrave, Dead Space, and Watch Me Die, which was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best Novel from the “Private Eye Writers of America.” He’s also the writer/co-creator of The Dead Man, the monthly series of original novels published by Amazon’s 47North imprint, and co-author with Janet Evanovich of the five international bestselling Fox & O’Hare novels (The Heist, The Chase, The Job, The Scam and The Pursuit) and two New York Times bestselling prequel novellas (The Shell Game and Pros & Cons)
“Take me now,” she moaned, “you hot writer stud.”
She tore off her clothes and tackled him onto the floor, unable to control her raging lust. Nothing excited her more than being around a writer with a big list of books.
Got your attention again? Good. I don’t know about you, but I was starting to nod off. Where was I? Oh yes…
Goldberg broke into television with a freelance script sale to Spenser: For Hire. Since then, his TV writing & producing credits have covered a wide variety of genres, including sci-fi (seaQuest), cop shows (Hunter, The Glades), martial arts (Martial Law), whodunits (Diagnosis Murder, Nero Wolfe), the occult (She-Wolf of London), kid’s shows (R.L. Stine’s The Nightmare Room), T&A (Baywatch, She Spies), comedy (Monk) clip shows (The Best TV Shows That Never Were) and total crap (The Highwayman, The New Adventures of Flipper).
He’s written and produced TV shows in Canada (Murphy’s Law, Cobra, Missing), England (Stick With Me Kid, She Wolf of London) and Germany (Fast Track: No Limits). His mystery writing for television has earned him two Edgar Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America.
His two careers, novelist and TV writer, merged when he wrote the eight books in the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced. He followed that up by writing fifteen bestselling novels based on Monk, another TV show that he worked on. His Monk novels have been translated and published in Germany, Poland, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, and many other countries.
In addition to his writing, he’s worked as an international TV development expert and consulting producer for production companies and major networks in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
But perhaps he’s best known for his pioneering work mapping the human genome and negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Goldberg lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his daughter and still sleeps in Man From U.N.C.L.E. pajamas.
December 27, 2019
Author Stories Podcast Episode 782 | Martin Sandler Takes Us Back To 1919
Today’s author interview guest is Martin Sandler, author of 1919 The Year That Changed America.
[image error] WINNER OF THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
1919 was a world-shaking year. America was recovering from World War I and black soldiers returned to racism so violent that that summer would become known as the Red Summer. The suffrage movement had a long-fought win when women gained the right to vote. Laborers took to the streets to protest working conditions; nationalistic fervor led to a communism scare; and temperance gained such traction that prohibition went into effect. Each of these movements reached a tipping point that year.
Now, one hundred years later, these same social issues are more relevant than ever. Sandler traces the momentum and setbacks of these movements through this last century, showing that progress isn’t always a straight line and offering a unique lens through which we can understand history and the change many still seek.
Martin W. Sandler is the award-winning author of Imprisoned, Lincoln Through the Lens, The Dust Bowl Through the Lens, and Kennedy Through the Lens. He has won five Emmy Awards for his writing for television and is the author of more than sixty books, four of which were YALSA-Nonfiction Award finalists. Sandler has taught American history and American studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and at Smith College, and lives in Massachusetts.
December 26, 2019
Author Stories Podcast Episode 781 | Bryan Cohen Challenges You To Make The Most From Amazon Ads
Today my author interview guest is Bryan Cohen, author of The Viral Superhero Series, 1000 Creative Writing Prompts, and educator.
On today’s show Bryan and I talk about his journey to becoming an author, as well as things he learned along the way, including how to make the most of his marketing efforts. In January, Bryan kicks off a special challenge to help authors make the most from Amazon ads. Here’s what Bryan says about it:
In January 2020, I’m running something called The 5-Day Amazon Ad Profit Challenge. It’s an event where hundreds of authors come together and go through a free course on Amazon Ads with the ultimate goal of starting a profitable ad campaign. The link isn’t live yet, but it’ll be at: https://www.bestpageforward.net/challenge
Here’s a video with more info from this past year’s challenge (don’t link to this, just informational):
https://bryancohen.lpages.co/amazon-ad-profit-challenge-landing/
Bryan Cohen is the CEO of Best Page Forward, a company that’s written over 2,500 book descriptions for the author community. He’s also the founder of Amazon Ad School and the 5-Day Amazon Ad Profit Challenge. You can find out more about the free challenge at https://www.bestpageforward.net/challenge
December 19, 2019
Author Stories Podcast Episode 780 | Bruce Steele Interview
Today’s author interview guest is Bruce Steele, author of One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe.
[image error]Bruce C. Steele is a journalist and Disney fan with a long career of profiling the famous and unheralded, from the pastry chef at the Biltmore Estate to the stars of Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns.
Discover what it’s like to report to work every day for The Walt Disney Company. Step behind the scenes to immerse yourself in one “ordinary” day at Disney. On a Thursday in 2019, a small army of photographers and videographers scattered across the globe to capture what goes on beyond those tantalizing “Cast Members Only” doors – whether eavesdropping on historic endeavors or typical tasks. All the photos in this book were taken on that single Thursday, beginning early in Tokyo and following the sun around the world through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, Madrid, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, and dozens of places throughout the United States. More than 40 hours after it began, the day ended as the sunset on the Aulani resort in Hawaii.
On that day, some 80 Cast Members agreed to open up their workshops, dressing rooms, kitchens, cubicles, TV studios, labs, locomotive engines – and some even more surprising and diverse workspaces. They also shared their stories: childhood dreams and chapters, career pivots and triumphs, workaday hurdles and joys. It was just a day in the life, as extraordinary as any other day at Disney. As any Cast Member can tell you, a Disney job is less a destination than a limitless journey. And for just One Day at Disney, we can all tag along for the ride.
Bruce C. Steele is a journalist and Disney fan with a long career of profiling the famous and the unheralded, from the pastry chefs at the Biltmore Estate to the stars of Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns. A Pennsylvania native and University of Alabama graduate, he started his career at a daily newspaper in Louisiana and most recently worked at the paper in his current home of Asheville, North Carolina. In between he was the executive editor of Out magazine and the editor in chief of The Advocate newsmagazine and also took time to get an MFA in film studies from Columbia University. He has lived in New York City and Los Angeles, where his husband was a Disney animator. He’s now a freelance writer and regular contributor to Disney’s twenty-three magazine. Apart from this book, some of his favorite past interviews have been Emma Watson, Sir Ian McKellen, Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and crawfish farmers in the Louisiana bayou.
