Post date: Jul 27, 2014 4:16:10 PM
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 * Kimberley Fehr