Tag, I'm It! I'm On a Blog Tour!
I was tagged for this blog tour by my good friend Jay Allan
Storey, the Canadian author of the inspirational novella Chopper Music and the cautionary dystopian novel Eldorado. I’ve enjoyed reading both
works —
I couldn’t help but finish Chopper Music
in one seating, it was so riveting — and I’m looking forward to reading his
next work in progress. (Check out my reviews of both books in my blog’s
archives.) You can read more about Jay and his work at his own entry in this
blog tour. You can it find by clicking here.
Now, on to the tour's interview questions!
What am I working on?
My latest book, Eden,
is in production and should be out this fall. It‘s a new twist for me because
it’s a science fiction novella rather than a mystery thriller. A group of
American soldiers in Iraq stumble onto an ancient secret about the origins of
mankind. I call it Eden because Iraq
is believed by many to be the location of the Biblical Garden of Eden.
I’m also writing the first draft of a sequel to my novel, The Killing Depths. It’s call The Butcher’s Bill and features NCIS
agent Linus Schag trying to stop a good friend and fellow agent from going
rogue. Another sea-going adventure
involving a new military investigator is currently in the plotting stages.
How does my work
differ from others work in its genre?
I like to think my work has an edge to it. My thrillers are
more than just action scenes. They include a good amount of social observation.
The short stories in my collection Duty
deal with the stresses and sacrifices of military service. The Killing Depths explored the social pressures of having men and
women serve together in the military. My latest novel, Empty Places, is set amid the political and social corruption of
the 1980s. My books also look at the psychological motivations of the
characters, such as the life events that created the serial killer in The Killing Depths, and the PTSD
experience of the main character, war correspondent Peter Brandt, in Empty Places. In The Butcher’s Bill I’m exploring two highly controversial but
largely unknown subjects coming out of the Iraq war.
Why do I write what I
do?
First, I enjoy the physical act of writing. It focuses my
thoughts and centers me.
Second, it gives me a way to write more truth than I can by
writing nonfiction. I spent 20-some years as a newspaper and magazine
journalist. In journalism you’re restricted to a lot of he-said, she-said. It’s
nearly impossible to say, “Here are the facts. This guy is lying.” In fiction
you can say that. If you spark a reader’s interest, they can go
on to look things up on their own.
How does my writing
process work?
To call it a “process” is flattering. It’s really
helter-skelter. Between my full-time job as a military analyst, family
obligations, and reserve commitments, I have very little time to write. Add in
the time it takes to promote my work, time is even more restricted. But I try
to log an hour of writing a day producing about 500 words. I carry my Kindle
Fire HD and a small Bluetooth keyboard
in my backpack everywhere I go — together they’re lighter than a laptop — and I
do most of my writing on those whenever I can.
Next Up
I call Jay my friend from Up Over, a play on the Down Under
location of the author I tagged to follow me on this blog tour. My good mate, Liam Saville, is an Australian writer who pens an authentic and enthralling mystery thriller
series featuring the Australian military investigator Sam Ryan. (Check out my
reviews of Liam’s Predator Strike!
and Resolute Action in my blog’s
archives.) I know Liam is working on a
new mystery with a new investigaror. You can learn more by reading his entry on
this blog tour next week at his website.
Check out some of the
other authors who contributed to this blog tour:
Maureen Brownlee * Kathy Para * Theodora Armstrong * Eufemia
Fanetti * Kathy Page * Janie Chang * Lorna Suzuki * Barbara Lambert * Matilda
Magtree * Alice Zorn * Anita Lahey * Pearl Pirie * Julie Paul *Sarah Mian *
Steve McOrmond * Susan Gillis * Jason Heroux * Angie Abdou
