C.E. Grundler: "Last Exit in New Jersey"

Last Exit in New Jersey is a complex story with an intricately woven plot viewed through parallel protagonists. Hazel Moran is a seemingly vulnerable 20 year-old who finds herself faced with some very unpleasant characters seeking her missing cousin, who vanished days earlier with her father's new tractor-trailer truck. But beneath a shy, rebellious, moody exterior Hazel is highly capable, fierce, and deceptively lethal, and she's single-minded in her determination to protect her family. The other protagonist, Otto Hammon, is a somewhat unstable young man who finds himself inexplicably swept into the middle of these confusing events, and readers will soon realize his sanity is shaky at best. For Hammon failure isn't an option, it's a fact of life, yet he presses on all the same as he's faced with a cast of questionable characters, including this perplexing and dangerous young woman who has come to doubt everyone she knows and trusts, sometimes with tragic results. The mystery, written with a tone of irony and dark humor, unfolds and events weave together, building to a conclusion that proves nothing is coincidence.

C.E. Grundler answers a few questions:

Who's your favourite author?

I would have to put Donald Westlake at the top of the list, particularly his comic crime novels, but also his hard-boiled 'Parker' series, written under the Richard Stark alias. But if I had to name the author who had the greatest influence on me, that would be John D. MacDonald with his Travis McGee series, which undoubtedly warped me from an early age.

Do you have tips for budding writers?

Persistence. The best thing you can do is write, and keep writing… and then write even more. Writing is much like any other activity: the more you keep at it, the better you become. Read constantly, and think as you do. Read good books, read great books, read awful ones. Study what makes writing flow seamlessly and what makes it clunk; what makes for an intriguing plot versus a dull one. Listen to your own words from a detached perspective – have a friend read your passages aloud and see where you cringe, then edit ruthlessly. Don't take yourself too seriously, but do take your craft very seriously. And before you publish, get a proof-reader or four to look everything over.

What are you working on now?

Currently I'm working on No Wake Zone, which picks up with Hazel and Hammon where Last Exit In New Jersey left off.

Where can we find you online?

My blog is: http://cegrundler.wordpress.com

And I'm on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100001455003973