My latest novel, Lock Ready, is a historical novel set on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal during the Civil War. It is the third book in the Canawler series.

I never started to write historical fiction. However, in 2000, my wife and I were living in Cumberland, Md., where the canal ended. We decided to bike the canal towpath one summer and sightsee and camp along the way. The C&O Canal is a national park that runs from Cumberland to Georgetown.

We outfitted our bikes for the long trip and set out for what turned out to be a five-day trip. The weather was nice and the trip is a pleasant and scenic one. There are hiker-biker campsites along the way where you can camp overnight. We took advantage of those a few nights and stayed in hotels other nights.

As we traveled, I consulted the towpath guide to check out what might be nearby to see. I soon realized that a lot of history had happened along the canal. The Battle of Antietam, the Harpers Ferry revolt and James Rumsey tested a steamboat along the Potomac. There were also interesting architectural features like the Paw Paw Tunnel, aqueducts and canal houses to look over.

Being a writer, I started trying to figure out what was the best way to tell the story of the canal in a way that would interest readers.

I started playing with some ideas even while my wife and I were still biking the canal towpath.

My breakthrough came about when I decided that the most-interesting time on the canal happened during the Civil War. While the Mason-Dixon Line is credited with being the border between the North and South, the C&O Canal was the border between Union and Confederacy.

Not only did canallers have to deal with the normal issues of living and working on the canal, but armies were traveling along the towpath. Canal boats were being burned and confiscated. Saboteurs were trying to blow up the aqueducts and burn the locks. Loyalties were tested.

With my setting decided, I realized I was going to be writing my first historical novel. I started researching the canal history and canal life. As I learned more about the people who lived and working on the canal, I started to get an idea of who I wanted the characters of my books to be.

They took shape and I gave them their individual stories and personalities that seem to have resonated with readers over the past decade.

The Civil War split the United States and now it has split the Fitzgerald Family. Although George Fitzgerald has returned from the war, his sister Elizabeth Fitzgerald has chosen to remain in Washington to volunteer as a nurse. The ex-Confederate spy, David Windover, has given up on his dream of being with Alice Fitzgerald and is trying to move on with his life in Cumberland, Md. Alice and her sons continue to haul coal along the 184.5-mile-long C&O Canal. 

It is dangerous work, though, during war time because the canal runs along the Potomac River and between the North and South. Having had to endured death and loss already, Alice wonders whether remaining on the canal is worth the cost. She wants her family reunited and safe, but she can’t reconcile her feelings between David and her dead husband. Her adopted son, Tony, has his own questions that he is trying to answer. 

He wants to know who he is and if his birth mother ever loved him. As he tries to find out more about his birth mother and father, he stumbles onto a plan by Confederate sympathizers to sabotage the canal and burn dozens of canal boats. He enlists David’s help to try and disrupt the plot before it endangers his new family, but first they will have find out who is behind the plot.

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Genre – Historical Fiction

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with James Rada Jr. on Facebook & Twitter

Website jamesrada.com

Why Writing is a Form of Personal Therapy

Every day has stresses. The kid’s not feeling well, the bills need paid, the doctor’s appointments need taken, yada, yada, yada,… Every life has its stressors.

For me, sitting in my office, or on my bed, and pouring out my innermost thoughts onto a Word document is Therapy.

I get to concentrate on things that are not my normal life. In the case of The Eternity Series, I was able to start by concentrating on Walter Crofter and his life. Walter was the inspiration for I,Walter and would pour out his life a little at a time so that I could write it down.

Toward the end, James Crofter jumped up and started to instruct me on his life adventure.

Both of these books have been written during late evenings, early mornings, and quiet times during the day. As a parent, many people know that quiet times are few and far between. These are the times when the house is quiet, and when the to-do list can be put off for a few more hours. These are the quiet times when sitting in the hot tub, or the recreation room, or the meeting room with the lights off and nobody else around, can lead to new chapters and more research on the life of the next main character.

Writing is resting. It’s the chance to envelop myself in a world where my role is transcription, and I’m listening to the life and death decisions, rather than making them. Writing is the therapy that lowers the blood pressure that stimulates the mind, and brings a smile to the face.

James Crofter was ripped from his family at age 11. 
Within a year the prince was a pauper in a foreign land. 
Is nature stronger than nurture? And even if it is, can James find the happiness he so richly desires? 

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Genre - Historical Fiction, Romance

Rating – PG

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Connect with Mike Hartner on Facebook & Twitter

It all begins at five in the morning.  I wake up, make a protein packed breakfast and watch parts of documentaries while I eat.  I’ve watched documentaries on Hitler, Bigfoot, social media conspiracies, economics, magic, and basically anything I can find on Netflix that interests me at the time.  Anyway, after I eat/watch I finish getting ready for my day and then make the drive to work.

Sometimes these drives to work are the best part of my day.  Anytime before six in the morning, the roads are desolate, the mornings are cool, sun is usually rising, and it is just a good time to ponder about things.  There’s something about seeing a fresh new day begin that I love.  Maybe it’s because all the angry, muckiness of the world is still asleep.  I don’t know, but early mornings, as hard as they are to get up for, are some of the best things to experience.

So, after my morning drive, I head into my day job which consists of a lot of heavy lifting and calculations of length.  I work at a labeling manufacturing business where I coat and die cut the various labels for our clients.  You’d be amazed at how heavy paper is.  In rolls of 10,000 feet and sometimes more, these things can be up to two hundred pounds.  For the most part, I like my job.  It’s a keep-to-yourself kind of job and me being the anti-social one I can be, it gives me the opportunities to listen to music and podcasts.  In fact, a lot of my research for books happens in my eight hour shifts at work.  I download a set of podcasts I think will be relevant to what I’m trying to write, and then I listen to them.  I really can’t ask for a better time because after I get off work, my day doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room.

After my shift, which ends at about two in the afternoon, I bust my way on over to the gym.  My workouts are pretty intense, two mile runs at least, three to four mile bike rides and then a half hour of heavy weights.  I’m really trying to get ready to compete in a triathlon, so my workouts have to be pretty frequent or I’ll never train my body the way it needs to be.

Now this is where it gets kind of crazy.  I’m a high school football coach as well and practice starts at 4:30.  So I have just enough time to work out, rinse off, and get a quick bite before heading over to the school to yell at kids.  I love it!  The sport, the atmosphere, the kids, the other coaches I work with.  It’s one of the best opportunities that I’ve had come across my way.  I was hesitant to take on the responsibility at first, with the craziness of my writing and work as it is, but it’s seasonal and I couldn’t pass up the chance to get back into the sport.

Practice lasts until about seven, I get home at about eight, eat, and maybe get some writing in.  Mostly though, I’ll wind down and watch an episode of the office with my wife or we’ll just talk and read together.  The evenings, like my mornings, are a chance for me to think, process what’s happened in the day.  Maybe write them in my journal if I have enough to say.  After or before the hustle and craziness of the day, it’s in these times when I’ll turn to my scriptures to get guidance, peace, and reassurance (or chastisement—it all depends on what my attitude has been that day).

After having wrote this, I realize how packed my day is.  I think the important thing, no matter how busy we are, is we need to make sure we have our priorities in the right place.  For me, it’s: God, Family, Country.  I know if I put God first, that’ll only strengthen my resolve to take care of my family, and if I know my family is taken care of, I know I can then make decisions to take care of my country and community.

Change affects everyone and it is no different for Jackson. Living in Area 38 for as long as he can remember, he knows of no better way to exist than under the tyrannical rule of Christopher Stone, son of Stewart Stone from The Nine of The United Governmental Areas, aka The UGA. This all takes a dramatic turn when Jackson finds a red, metal box buried in his yard, filled with illegal artifacts—journals, a Bible, CDs, etc.—that are from a man of whom he has no recollection of: Mica Rouge.

 The year is 2036 and Mica, unlike Jackson, does know of a better way of life but is torn apart as he sees his country, The United States of America, crumbling from within by group known as The Political Mafia. The Mafia has infiltrated levels upon levels of governmental resources and it is up to Mica and a vigilante group known as The USA Division to stop them and their dark Utopian vision. To their demise, and at the country's expense, The Division fails and has no choice but to watch The Constitution dissolve and transform into The UGA.

In a final stand, having not given up hope, Mica and what is left of The Division, give one final fight in Colorado, or better known as Area 38. However, all is lost as The Division is betrayed by one of their own, Stewart Stone. Mica is left with no choice but to hide in exile, leaving what little history he can of himself and the great United States of America, with his wife, long time friends, and newly born son in hopes that they will one day finish what he could not.

Jackson, having found this legacy twenty-seven years later, decides to start the war that will end The Nine, and he with an outcast group known as The Raiders, begins his fight with Christopher Stone in Area 38. Filled with betrayal, unity, despair, hope, hate and love Area 38 follows both Mica and Jackson in their attempts to restore what they believe to be true freedom, and where one fails, the other rises to the seemingly impossible challenge.

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Genre – Dystopian Thriller

Rating – PG13

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Connect with Mikey D. B. on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.mikeydb.com

From the chapter on prosperity, by co-author John E. Wade II:

“In the long term I am quite optimistic that humankind will learn how, individually and collectively, to prosper. Unfortunately, most developed nations have debts and obligations that have gotten beyond prudent levels for a healthy world economy. Our world leaders and their electorates must come to terms with this enormous obstacle to our future. We can and we must address this huge problem in a kind and wise manner. Once this onerous debt is properly alleviated, nations and individuals can move forward toward sustainable prosperity.”

From the chapter on democracies, by co-author John E. Wade II:

“A world full of stable, robust, prosperous democracies would be a world of permanent peace. Democracies almost never make war on each other; so, if democracies were the only form of government on earth—and they were stable, robust and prosperous—humankind’s age-old dream of world peace would be assured. Globalization, with its intricate and intense connections, helps to guarantee the peaceful planet that humankind has always sought.”

Editor and author John E. Wade II has compiled a spiritual guide of invaluable insight for finding peace and meaning in life while making the world a better place for all. Along with co-authors Charlotte Livingston Piotrowski, Daniel Agatino, Michael Nagler, and Martin Rutte, this collection of enlightening essays and inspirational quotes from renowned thinkers and leaders throughout history provides the intellectual tools needed to live a more harmonious life.

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Genre - Inspirational

Rating – G

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Who is your favorite author? That’s impossible, that’ like choosing a favorite child, however some of my favorites are Napoleon Hill, Friedrich Nietzsche, Osho, Maya Angelou, Maxwell Maltz, Robert Green, the Buddha and many others.

What book genre of books do you adore? Psychology

What book should everybody read at least once? Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

How did you develop your writing? My writing comes from creating music… it’s all just music to me.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Everything around me

What is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing? Marketing

What marketing works for you? Social media magazine ads

Do you find it hard to share your work? No, I actually enjoy sharing

Is your family supportive? Do your friends support you? they are all very supportive

Do you plan to publish more books? Yes, we’re working on Vol. II of Lucifer the indigo kids… last prophet.

"This “new age” book of poetry reflects the diverse views and philosophies of it’s author Ra Krishna EL. It’s an intimate, humorous and thought provoking group of poems intended to evoke strong emotion. To quote the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, this style of poetry can be called “Zukunfts poesie“ which translates into “Poetry of the future”, where truly original ideas are presented thru poetry. Also known as post Nietzschean poetry.

It’s subjects include society, pop culture, love, religious dogma, God and the new age of Aquarius. This book was written and published during the false incarceration of its author in Chicago’s notorious Cook County Jail, the largest jail in the country."

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Genre - Poetry, Philosophy

Rating – PG-13

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What writing are you most proud of?
I’m proud of everything I’ve finished and sent out for public consumption (whether an original novel into the marketplace, or a fanfic set loose in the wilds of fandom). A Life Less Ordinary, of course, because it’s the first one I’ve officially published. For fanfic, I’m extremely proud of my one and only (so far) Star Trek fic called Clementine (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9069138/1/Clementine), because I thought it was a unique idea, it’s incredibly experimental for me, and I still tear up over it (and I wrote the thing). I have absolutely no idea where it came from, but I’m really glad it did.

What are you most proud of in your personal life?
That I’m good at what I do.

What books did you love growing up?
The Black Stallion novels were my first loves, I adored them when I discovered them in Grade Two, I think it was. Mainly, though, science fiction and fantasy were (and usually are) my go-to reads. Isaac Asimov, Lloyd Alexander, Robert A. Heinlein (before I started reading his adult stuff and went ‘WTF?!’), and others. Of course, I also adored Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Louis L’Amour, and I’m sure there are more because I read a LOT as a kid.

Who is your favorite author?
I have many, because I read all different genres. Terry Pratchett is currently riding in first place; his Discworld novels are a never-ending joy, and I read Good Omens (his novel with Neil Gaiman) at least once a year.

What genre of books do you adore?
All of them – well, except erotica but that’s mainly because I’ve yet to read one that’s actually my idea of erotic.

What book should everybody read at least once?
Mine? Ha! Seriously, though, I guess I would say…Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It’s a take on the Apocalypse that’s just hysterically funny, bizarre, scary and touching. I read it at least once a year.

Are there any books you really don’t enjoy?
I’m not a big fan of erotica, but that’s mainly because I’ve never found one that I actually found erotic. I can enjoy those old-fashioned, gritty action-adventure-thriller books that are aimed at a male audience, but usually only once in a while, because sometimes the misogyny is just too much. Any book where the main character/point of view character is completely despicable and I feel slimy for spending any time at all with him/her (Lolita, I’m looking at you).

What do you hope your obituary will say about you?
“She’ll be missed.”

Location and life experiences can really influence writing, tell us where you grew up and where you now live?
I grew up on a farm in southern Saskatchewan, Canada, where trees are few and far between and there’s an endless expanse of horizon and sky. I currently live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where we now have a million people and I seldom see the horizon (although there’s still lots of sky). 

How did you develop your writing?
Practice. And lots and lots and lots of reading.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Anything and everything. A Life Less Ordinary was inspired by how I was feeling at the time. The book I’m working on right now, Along Came Jones, was inspired by Nathan Fillion (probably to his chagrin, if he ever knew about it – LOL).

For the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her career. But now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her choices and feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she’s passed over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny’s life will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s quit her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving town on a six month road trip.

After placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she’s joined in her mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke’s true goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.

Now, armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – ChickLit, Contemporary Fiction

Rating – PG-13

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 Connect with Victoria Bernadine on Twitter

Blog victoriabernadine.wordpress.com

Under Their Skin. When Characters Become Real
By Kirsten Mortensen

I became a novelist so, so slowly!

It’s not that I didn’t want to devote myself to fiction. I did. I’ve wanted to spin stories for peoples’ enjoyment ever since I was about five years old.

But when I became an adult, I was deeply confused about how to go about it. Throughout my 20s and 30s, I started novels many times. But the process always felt forced. I understand, now, what I was doing wrong. I was working from my head, not my heart—not my imagination. But at the time, all I knew was that I felt lost, writing fiction. And when I read other authors saying things about how their characters would “come alive” or “take on lives of their own” I thought they were either telling white lies, or speaking figuratively.

That changed when someone I respected very much said something to me that, on the surface, was very hard. Cruel, even.

I was talking about how much I wished I could make a living as a novelist, and he looked at me and said: “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe really want to write a novel.”

It sounds mean, doesn’t it? It sounds like he was snatching my most precious dream, throwing it down onto the pavement and crushing it with his foot.

But that’s not what he was doing—and I knew it, even as he spoke.

He was challenging me to follow through on my so-called dream. He was challenging me to do more than just start a novel—he was challenging me to finish one.

So I did.

I’ve long since thrown that manuscript away—it was a typical first novel, so full of mistakes that newbie writers make!

But even though it wasn’t publishable, it served its purpose. It gave me the experience of practicing writing novels.

And the more I practice, the better I get.

And then, during novel #3, it happened.

My characters came alive.

Because it’s true. It really happens.

They begin to assert themselves. They do things you don’t expect. They stop you from forcing them into decisions that don’t suit them.

When I wrote that first novel, my characters were like puppets. I fashioned them, using words. I gave them physical characteristics. I picked out their clothes. I came up with plot twists and wrote how my characters reacted to them.

Today, when I write, my characters are no longer puppets. They’re more like entities you meet in dreams—demigods of my imagination. They awe me, they surprise me. I’m no longer their master—I’m more an observer, doing my best to transcribe what they see, think, feel, and do.

I’d be the last person to call myself a “great” writer. Ha. In my dreams.

But I do think that in my latest novel, Dark Chemistry, is the best I’ve written so far—and one major reason for that is that as I wrote it, my characters came alive. And judging on how readers are reacting to the novel, the characters seem alive to them!

If you’re a writer, have you noticed this happening while you write?

As a reader, do you notice when characters in novels seem real to you?

A woman's worst nightmare

Drugged by something...that makes her think she's fallen in love.

All Haley Dubose has ever known is beaches and malls, clubs and cocktail dresses.

But now her father is dead.

And if she wants to inherit her father's fortune, she has to leave sunny Southern California
for a backwater little town near Syracuse, New York. She has to run RMB, the multimillion dollar
chemical company her father founded. And she has to run it well.

Keep RMB on track, and she'll be rich. Grow it, and she'll be even richer. But mess it up, and her inheritance will shrink away before she gets a chance to spend a dime.

Donavon Todde is her true love. But is it too late?

He's RMB's head of sales – and the more Donavon sees of Haley, the more he's smitten.
Sure, she comes across at first as naïve and superficial. But Donavon knew Haley's father. He can see the man's better qualities stirring to life in her eyes. And Donavon senses something else: Haley's father left her a legacy more important than money. He left her the chance to discover her true self.

Donavon has demons of his own.
 
He's reeling from a heartbreak that's taking far too long to heal. But he's captivated by this blond Californian, and not only because of her beauty. It's chemistry. They're right for each other. But has Donavon waited too long to woo this woman of his dreams? Because to his horror, his beautiful Haley falls under another spell. Gerad's spell.

A web of evil.

Gerad Picket was second-in-command at RMB when Haley's father was alive. And with Haley on the scene, he's in charge of her training. But there are things about RMB that Gerad doesn't want Haley to know.

And he must control her. Any way he can.

Romantic suspense for your Kindle

Will Haley realize that her feelings are not her TRUE feelings?
Does Donavon have the strength left to fight for the woman he loves?
Will the two of them uncover Gerad's plot to use RMB pheromones to enslave the world?
And even if they do – can they stop it?

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Romantic suspense

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with Kirsten Mortensen through Facebook & Twitter

Website http://kirstenmortensen.com/

What should aspiring indie writers know?

Indie writers have arrived and they are scarring the crap out of traditional publishers because try as they might, they can’t deny indie writers are taking a piece of the cake. And they weren’t even invited to the party. I’ve only been doing this for 2 years and it’s grown immensely during this time. So much so, that there appears to be another division occurring among the indie community itself. We’ve split into two parties. One: writers who know how to write great books and market themselves. Two: writers who know how to write good books and have not a clue on how to market themselves.

Many people are benefiting off of each party, the readers, the writers and the ones who pull the novel all together. The ones who are taking full advantage of this blooming industry, maybe just a little more advantage then they should. Yes, I’m talking about editors and proofreaders. I only bring this up to prepare you in case you are thinking all the hard work is done once you have your manuscript in hand. Unfortunately, that’s just step 1 of 5. And the last four steps can be very expensive and time consuming.

Editors. Which kind? Most editors charge by word count or page count instead of by hour. This is a good thing for authors, because it gives them more upfront pricing and fewer surprises if it takes the editor twice as long to complete. Also, there are three types of editors and their fees are different because skill set, time, and dedicated focus/complexity is much different for each level. Keep in mind, the price of an editor can also depend on level of education, skill set, experience level, or geographic location. Don’t always snag the cheapest just to save a buck. Sometimes another editor who may charge just a tad more may be worth the money where the other could be like throwing it out the window.

1) Content Editor (also called structural editor or developmental editor) – this is someone who looks at the story holistically and makes large scale (think macro level) changes to plot, content flow, character development, plot consistency/holes, believability, etc. This is the first editor you would go to, though most Indie authors can’t afford both this type of editing and copy editing, so they forego this and rely solely on beta readers or critique groups of other writers to give them this type of feedback. If you can afford one, these can be worth their weight in gold, because they will point things out that you never even thought of. But, they run anywhere from $1200-$1800 and up.

2) Copy editor – this is the person who goes through and does a deep LINE editing job. This is to look for grammar, punctuation, tense, character consistencies (ie, she has blond hair in chapter one and mysteriously has red in chapter four), readability/flow, style, etc. Expect to pay anywhere from between $350-$1,000. (All depends on book length and level needed)

Below are some ways to find editors of any price range. Most editors will agree to edit (for free) from a page or two, to a certain number of words, to a full first chapter. This lets the editor gauge the level of editing they might need to do on the book, and also gives you a chance to see if you think the editor is a good fit FOR YOU and your book. Because it works both ways and you want to make sure it’s a good fit before hiring someone on. After all, if they are missing basic stuff, it’s better to know now.

Finding editors is a tricky business. I suggest word of mouth. Look towards writers you like and see who they recommend. Vet them! Read novels they’ve edited for other people. Make sure they don’t have too much on their own plate, especially editors who are writing a novel as well as editing yours at the same time. This is a very expensive business guys and gals, so expect them to be committed to your baby and have a timeline set as to when it will be done.

Amber Tyler is living every author’s dream: her books are all best sellers and she writes full time. She has worked hard and is well-accomplished in her career, and she has the support and love of her beautiful children and girlfriend. 

But the dream soon turns into a terrible nightmare when her latest manuscript is stolen. She decides to fight for what is rightfully hers, only to find that the harder she tries, the easier it all slips through her fingers, putting her career, her family, and her life in jeopardy.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with Lori Lesko on Facebook & Twitter

What writing are you most proud of?

Night’s Favour (http://amzn.com/B00EBNA0MU) is my first “real book” and I’m still very proud of it.  I like re-reading it — sure, I find things I’d have done differently if I wrote it again, but I also like the dialogue I wrote, the action, and I like the people in there.

When I finished that book, I actually got pretty depressed for a while, because I was so enjoying my time with Val, and John, and Danny, and Carlisle, that I didn’t want to let them go.  There’s another story with them kicking around in my head, and I’ve started planning it — tentatively called Night’s Fall — but that’ll be a while away yet.

I’m hoping that Upgrade, my current work-in-progress, will be better than Night’s Favour.  I’ve been wanting to write it for years, but haven’t quite known how.  There’s a lot of moving parts.  It’s a story about Mason and Sadie, Laia and Zacharies, Harry and Carter, and they need to be able to tell you their story first.

What books did you love growing up?

I gobbled up anything by Eddings and Feist.  Man, those guys.  I read Lindholm before she was cool and became Robin Hobb.  Really, lots of epic fantasy, truckloads of the stuff before I acquired some semblance of taste.

Science Fiction nabbed me when I found some authors who could do it and tell great stories rather than shitty science.  I was a bit fan of Niven, especially when he hit the power combo with Barnes and wrote Dreampark — and his solo Ringworld books were amazing.  Julian May.

This is where I admit I also read McAffrey.  For the dragons, not the romance, okay?

Steven Barnes.

A little Poul Anderson — it’s hard to keep up with that guy.

My tastes are (only a little) more diverse these days — I’m in it for the story and the telling of it.  I’ll read supernatural, or crime thriller, or whatever, as long as it’s good stuff — but I still find that my real interest lies in more speculative stuff.

Who is your favorite author?

You want me to pick one?

Just one?

There are so many good ones out there.  If you put my back up against a wall, I might say Richard K Morgan.  But it’d be hard to choose — I keep a bookshelf or two at home, full of real books, treasured works.  I consume most of my stuff intravenously via Kindle these days, but if it’s good, I will get the paper copy.  In a non-creepy, totally benign way I like to touch the physical copies, to smell the paper, and to feel the story in my hands.

So, next to everything that Morgan’s written you’ll also find the works of Neal Asher, Glenn Cook, Hugh Cook, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Stephenson (even though I always feel like I’ve ridden the short bus to work after reading one of his), Neil Gaiman, and Peter Clines.

There are more, but that’s a start.  I’d like to think that when I grow up and become a real writer, I’ll be half as good as half of them.

What book should everybody read at least once?

The Cloth Merchant’s Apprentice, by Nigel Suckling (http://www.unicorngarden.com/clothmerchant.htm).

It’s a bit of a rare book today — it’s one of my treasured paper artefacts.  There are still some copies kicking around used online, and I’ve just checked Amazon — it’s out there (http://www.amazon.com/Cloth-Merchants-Apprentice-Nigel-Suckling/dp/0905664086/).  It reminds me of Gaiman at his best, a story that’s gentle and startling, much like Stardust.

This book taught me that you can have adventures and romance together, and that the way a story is told is a tremendous amount of the beauty in it.  The book is honest and respectful, fun and soulful in equal measure.

I will never part with it.

Is there any books you really don’t enjoy?

Anything that’s “YA.”

Wait, don’t go.  It’s not like that.

“YA” is not a genre, not really — it’s a descriptor for a group of people who are trying to find their way in the world like the rest of us.  They’re people, clever and intelligent, and want to know more about which way is up.  They have the best parts of enthusiasm and the worst parts of inexperience.  Saying you’ve got a genre for “YA” is like saying you’ve got a genre for Czechoslovakia.

Is “YA” the best we can do when we’re trying to sell a vapid vampire romance?  I get that a vampire romance can be awesome, so let’s — as storytellers — respect our audience and encourage the brain over the beast.  Let’s not tell stories that feed on our insecurities and baser nature.

One of my favourite quotes here comes from a Master™, Stephen King.  Love or hate the man, but he’s written a lot of stuff about a lot of things.  It’s hard to cite the original source, and maybe it’s urban legend, but it feels right:  “Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.”

Contrast with King’s example of Rowling, or Le Guinn’s Earthsea series, and you can see the gap.  It’s totally possible to write for a younger audience and respect them.  I’d like to see more of that respect when we’re telling stories to our next generation.  After all, these are the people who will be our leaders and change the world after our footprints are gone.

What do you hope your obituary will say about you?

That I lived well, that I did things that were right despite that they were hard, and that I was a good friend, husband, and human.

And that I had one foot in Heaven before the devil knew I was dead.

It’s kind of hard, though.  There’s a way you’d like your life to be like, and then there’s how the world around you impacts on the edges of that.  You’ve got people at work, or people in your social club.

Everyone knows that special person in HR.  You know what I mean.

I’d like all those people, and my friends and family too, to think that I made the world just a little bit better while I was on it.  If that was said at my obituary, that’d be enough.

Location and life experiences can really influence writing, tell us where you grew up and where you now live?

I was born in the Philippines.

Yeah, I love whipping that one out.  Truth be told I didn’t spend much time there — my parents yanked me back Stateside when I was about two years old, give or take, so my memories of the place are just a couple of scattered images.  A garden.  A few people, one of whom I was sure was my nanny.  Nothing bad — it’s a place I’d like to go visit again, with full expectation that I know nothing about it.

Speaking of Stateside, I spent some of my formative years in the US, largely at the edges — Los Angeles and New York City.  I remember sunny places where there’d be a jalopy with the roof cut off, and winters so cold that your face hurt.

I really don’t want to live somewhere where the air makes your face hurt.  What the hell is this, Pluto?

After my folks split up, we drifted across the US for just a little while, touching down in Connecticut before heading to New Zealand.  I’ve spent most of the rest of my life here in little Aotearoa.

When I got here, there were only two TV channels.  There were only cartoons on a Saturday morning.  That’s bullshit, plain and simple.

Despite my initial poor reaction to the backwater third world country that I thought I’d arrived in as a kid, I view New Zealand as my home.  I’ve travelled to a few places, Australia of course, Japan, Italy, America a few times, and the odd resort location to drink cocktails out of a coconut.

I don’t like Fiji.

People around me still think I have a little bit of an accent, and wonder where I come from.  I sometimes wonder that as well, and I like that I can lend a few different voices to my writing.

How did you develop your writing?

By abuse, mainly.

When I wanted to get serious about it, my little brother stepped up and threw me into a writer’s group — run by a pro, and it was more of a critique group than anything else.

Here’s the thing: when you write something, and you put your thoughts on paper, you think it’s awesome.  I mean, it probably doesn’t need any editing, and can go straight from your brain to the printing press at a mega publisher.  The people who aren’t getting published?

Hacks.  All of them.

Then you join a writer’s group, people who really just want to write good stuff, and wow — you will begin to understand just how much you suck.  It’s not like these people sit there and tell you that you suck, but the variety of feedback will show you gaps you never even knew you had.

So yeah.  I wrote a lot, about a lot of different things.  Sure, I was working on Night’s Favour, but I also wrote a few short stories, and some radio plays, and the odd poem or two.  All under the watchful gaze of my writer’s group, who were hard and soft, gentle and stern, but above all else, faithful to making me a better writer.

Other than that, I wrote.  I wrote around the edges of my life, and thought about writing when I wasn’t writing.  Mostly dialogue, but also about scenes, and the way things would play out.

And then I wrote some more.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

It’s possible our house was built on an old industrial spill, with some toxic chemicals that leached up through the loam and into our very bones.  If that’s the case, I’ve been super unlucky with living in houses built on old spill sites, because I’ve had weird ideas since as long as I can remember.

It could have easily have been something baked into the old Crayola crayon set I had when I was a kid.  It’s hard to be sure — was there ever a recall?  How do they make those colours?

I read a lot.  I watch a lot of movies.  I talk to people who read a lot and watch a lot of movies. I like taking something that’s a little familiar to people — say, a nice werewolf legend — and then sprucing it up with a bit of industrial magic, a virus or two, see where it goes.

Ideas are not something I’m short on.  How many of them are good ideas is probably a bit subjective, but I feel like I could sit down and write books until the end of my days, until the tips of my fingers were worn away, and not hit the bottom of the barrel.

I just want to do those ideas justice.  I want the stories to be fun and insightful — I don’t want to start writing without a good idea about the story that wants to be told.  I try and ask myself, what makes this story different?

Valentine’s an ordinary guy with ordinary problems. His boss is an asshole. He’s an alcoholic. And he’s getting that middle age spread just a bit too early. One night — the one night he can’t remember — changes everything. What happened at the popular downtown bar, The Elephant Blues? Why is Biomne, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, so interested in him — and the virus he carries? How is he getting stronger, faster, and more fit? And what’s the connection between Valentine and the criminally insane Russian, Volk?

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Genre – Action, Thriller, Urban Fantasy

Rating – R16

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 Connect with Richard Parry on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.rage.net.nz

Tony paced around the obese body like a vulture circling its wounded prey waiting for the moment to tear apart the meaty carcass. His steps were even, his mind alert.

Blood oozed along Tony’s forearms where the victim’s fingernailshad clawed through his skin. The desperate scratches were deep, three to five inches in length, two on one arm and three on the other.

Tony’s massive hands had functioned like steel vice grips. It invigorated him to squeeze relentlessly, well beyond the victim’s last breath.

He spat on the rotund corpse, thinking how this ornery motherfucker dared to rise up and strike him down. The thickheaded asshole didn’t learn his lesson. He didn’t listen to the warning. Cooperate, or pay the price.

Chuck would understand.

Tony had been certain this overweight, self-important black man would give in to their demands. But his ballooned ego got in his way. The zoning commission member had threatened that he would print the email and give it to the authorities.

Obviously, this man didn’t think straight, agreeing to meet Tony in a remote location to work out an acceptable arrangement. Jesus Christ! And the fat fuck brought a gun—to do what, put a bullet in Tony’s chest or through his head? This fucker redefined poor judgment. He must have had a drug problem, in addition to his fetish for skanky porn.

Tony lit a cigarette, one he’d rolled in his apartment. The smoke rose above the rafters into the dark ceiling. His fury grew while staring at the overstuffed cadaver. He wanted to stress the finality of the man’s death, pour gasoline over his body, and light a flame, just in case the victim’s heart had any remaining beats.

The former Marine searched the abandoned warehouse for the necessary props. In the back of the building, behind a pair of dilapidated offices, he located a sturdy crossbeam, maybe seven or eight feet off the dirty concrete floor. Perfect. Tony cleaned up his own mess as usual. Chuck would have to understand.

Behind the façade of every corporate takeover executives pull levers this way and that, squeezing the last profitable nickel out of the deal. But no one knows the true intent of every so-called merger. 

No one knows the secret bonds that exist. 

An Indian technology giant swallows up another private company that has deep roots in North Texas. For one unassuming man the thought of layoffs, of losing his own job to a bunch of arrogant assholes feels like a kick to the jewels. 

Until the day Michael's life changes forever.   

Perverse alliances. An affair of the heart. A grisly murder. A spiraling string of events thrusts Michael into a life-or-death fight to save a tortured soul and hunt down a brutal killer...one who lurks closer than he ever imagined. 

Greed knows no boundaries.

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Genre – Suspense, Thriller

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with John W. Mefford on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.johnwmefford.com