The Novel Road Interviews

Dan Krokos Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 03:11:00 +0000

Cleveland

Who do you root for? Anyone? Has life so inundated you that you’ve stopped wishing the best for someone you don’t actually know?

New authors have an Everest-like climb ahead of them. They write with passion and heart. Then comes the time to see if their work will stand the many tests in the publishing process, and their days become times to hope and bleed with every e-mail in the inbox.

Finding someone, anyone, to believe in them enough to devote time and money to further their writing careers is both humbling and daunting. So what can separate a new author from the many?

Talent? Definitely the #1 way to get noticed. But what if an agent has five talented new authors and the resources to choose only one? What makes the one chosen different?

My guest today on The Novel Road is debut author Dan Krokos. He’s different.

He gained a bit of fame for a query he submitted to a powerful literary agent that blew her away. Query # 124 landed “The Shark”. Yet Dan will tell you that kind of fame is fleeting. There has to be a book. A REALLY, REALLY good book when the dust settles. There is. I’ll let you wait till the “two sentence Hook” question in the interview to find out about it

Here is where a debut author can add something to the mix. To do that, you have to be someone that others cheer on. People in the industry that want the author to succeed.

Dan Krokos earned respect with his talent, and friends by being funny, intelligent, reliable and a great guy. The interview that follows plays a bit on his friendships found, but don’t think for a minute that this is all there is to this truly unique and gifted debut author.

First, just a short bit about him…

One of Dan's many heros

Dan grew up in a suburb of Cleveland. He went to school to become a police officer until he discovered his love of writing. He worked at the same gas station for nine years. Dan used his work shifts to come up with ideas, then went home to write them after fifteen hour workdays.

He read voraciously as a kid, but stopped when he discovered things like Xbox and Warcraft. Then one day, a friend handed him Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It reignited his passion for reading. And the rest is history.

I’m pleased to welcome Dan Krokos to The Novel Road…

Dan Krokos

Me: Breaking News! Dan Krokos has told me he is the actual author of the brilliant novel “Numb” and the incredible Avery Cates novel series. Sean Ferrell and Jeff Somers are actually pseudonyms he borrowed from his gardener and plumber. Care to tell us more Dan?

Dan: When I first signed with Janet, she recommended I develop different facets of my personality. That way I could release books in many different genres. We decided “Jeff” would be the lovable but gruff author, a throwback in some ways to the pulp novelists of yore. People would debate if he was homeless or not. He would refuse to learn how twitter works, and routinely bomb people’s timelines. It’s been working great so far.

“Sean” would be the crazy literary type. People would wonder if he saved his urine in jars, that kind of thing. Sean and Jeff would argue publicly, but no one would physically see them together. The arguing came easy, as my personalities attempted to mesh.

They’re both equally popular, so I’m thinking about killing one off in the near future.

Sort looks like Dan...
with hair

Me: Your office/hall closet features a movie poster, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, cleverly scotch taped to the ceiling. You’re a Danny Kay fan?

Dan: I’m a fan of anyone with the same initials. Donkey Kong, Donna Karan, DMX, Denzel Washington.

Actually the poster is there because my father’s name was Walter. He had a secret life. I’ve never seen the movie.

Me: Tell us about the Dan Krokos Foundation. Why have you made it your life’s work to ban Scotch Whiskey?

Dan: You’ve got that wrong. The Dan Krokos Foundation works to ban Scotch-Brite. My dog ate a couple cleaning pads when I was a kid, and it died. Thanks for bringing it up.

Me: Lunch with you and any author (except Sean and Jeff) you choose, from throughout history or today, and why.

Dan: My gut reaction on this is Josh Bazell, because he wrote my favorite book of all time, BEAT THE REAPER. It is a masterpiece, I don’t care what Bill Cameron says.

But I have to say Charlie Huston. He’s inspired me so much I really can’t give him enough credit. I wouldn’t understand style, or voice, or dialogue if I hadn’t read his books. Every writer should. They’re real.

That’s not why I want to have lunch with him though. It’s because he’s cooler than any writer has a right to be. He’s got these tattoos on his forearms. He writes these blog posts that make you realize you’re an idiot asshole and he’s the coolest dude on the planet. He’s smart. I bet he’d have good stories. He also swears a lot.

I emailed him a few times, and he always replied right away with some words of encouragement and sage advice.

Me: Tell us about your agent and why the match is perfect?

Dan: This is very simple. Janet is everything a writer needs. She doesn’t coddle me. Writers are very flaky people by design. We live in a fantasy world for most of our waking hours. Janet realizes this, and she doesn’t put up with nonsense. She makes me better. She doesn’t sugarcoat it when I drop the ball. But she also knows when to encourage. With her in my corner, I know I’m safe. I feel like I can do anything.

She can also line edit a manuscript so well it makes me realize I actually have no idea what I’m doing.

Suzie Townsend

And then Suzie, who sold my YA on behalf of Janet. Suzie is like Neo in the Matrix. She can read anything and tell you how to fix it . . . and she’s always right. Ask anyone who has gotten an editorial letter from her. It’s scary. My books wouldn’t be the same without her.

Me: Give me a two sentence “Hook” for your novel.

Dan: A girl with no memory discovers she’s a genetically altered weapon of mass destruction and must uncover the truth of her identity in order to save her city. Bourne Identity with teens and sword fights and alarm pheromones and motorcycles and bioengineering.

Me: Publishing is going through an evolution right now. Talk about how this has or will affect you.

Dan: It hasn’t. Or if it has, I don’t know how. I just write books. Maybe that will change when my book comes out, but I don’t know. Oh, and since everyone is talking about ebooks, I’m all for it. Whatever gets people reading.

I guess social networking has become more important. I don’t really understand the concept. I twitter because I love the people I talk to. There’s a downside to it though. It seems like some people do it to trade favors. The whole thing reminds me of high school a little bit.

Then again, it’s really cool for the reader. I’m a fan, too, and it’s really cool I can talk to Duane Swierczynski on twitter, or leave a comment on Veronica Roth’s blog. Did I mention it’s really cool? Really cool.

Me: The City of Cleveland just gave you an award. I’ve seen people receive trophies, plaques and keys to the city, but never an award in the form of an ankle bracelet. By the way, why is the little red light on it flashing?

Dan: My lawyers have advised me to ignore this question.

Me: Give me the subject and overview of a Dan Krokos non-fiction book.

Dan: I hate research, unless it’s something I’m interested in. So it would be a book about burritos or Anna Torv.

Actually I get really obnoxious if I read non fiction. I have to share the facts I learn with everybody. I read a book about body language and for a week I was like “YOUR FOOT IS POINTING IN THAT DIRECTION BECAUSE YOU SECRETLY WANT ROB TO DIE.”

**These two questions were left on my porch with an empty bottle of Scotch and a pair of pants…

Me: How did the query process with your agent shape your writing?

Dan: Funny story there. I’ve seen you say you’re against this, but I actually worked on my query while writing the first draft of my novel. I wanted to make it flawless. It also helped me focus on the core of the story. I would come back to it, tweak a line, then return to my ms. It was a weeks long process.

I sent it to QueryShark when I was sixty pages into the second draft. Janet requested the manuscript, and I wrote as fast as I could. She read it and gave me some notes on the first two chapters. Those notes changed me forever. It was the first professional feedback I’d ever gotten. It showed me mistakes I was making, mistakes I still make if I’m being careless.

If she hadn’t done that, given me a chance to fix my bad habits, who knows where I’d be.

Me: Can all literature be improved with the inclusion of swords, or only some literature?

Dan: I’m actually writing a book right now with no swords. It’s terrible. I’m going to release it under the “Sean” persona.

I'd like to thank Dan Krokos for doing this interview and to tell him he's got another friend in his corner.

Christmas, Geocaching and the Great White Dog

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:04:00 +0000

Christmas, Geocaching and the Great White Dog

It makes no sense to pose. Being cannot be unless you’re moving. Blurred images are the norm, if not the rule.

I’m talking about my family this Christmas holiday. The rally cry of “Run, Shop, Run!” was common enough. My family is in constant motion when they gather. Everyone, except Calvin.

Watching the turmoil is a favored pass time. I have a running play-by-play going on in my mind. Nieces pulling on one of my frazzled sister’s sleeves wanting this or to explain why this is that…

The morning that gave rise to this story started out with warning signs. I paid no attention, not unlike the townspeople at the base Mount St. Helen’s when geologists came running out their hotel rooms yelling “It’s going to blow!” as they headed for their cars.

There were tremors, rumbles if you will: A trip to Catalina was put off by bad weather, the annual (sort of) golf tournament canceled for the same reason. I could feel tension building among my siblings and their spouses to conjure an event that would rival Minnesota Survivor parties or Photo Recon scavenger hunts. These ended as a favored family game when some of the camouflaged contestants climbed onto the roof of a J.C. Penny’s and the crowd below mistook them as snipers…Oops! Bail should be a part of Christmas, right? How the police look past the drunken, camouflaged contestants or how they got there… I think they were dumbfounded by the semi-coherent explanation of what they were doing, or feared the paperwork for booking twenty adults and children and ordering psych-evaluations.

But we must try to top past events, right?

Like the first shot of any war, no one knew who to blame.

The first shot heard round my family world that day was “GeoCaching”.

It came from within the crowd of twenty plus gathered in my mom’s kitchen in Laguna Beach, CA. All heads turned, looking for the source, but no one laid claim. All I know is the heads of the assembled started to slowly nod, first one, then another. I marked the silence as the idea was considered. Then murmurs followed as members of the group each started reaching for Iphones, IPads, and any laptop handy to search for the reasons why “GeoCaching” was a great idea.

I have to hand it to my family. The whole glass is half full thing comes to mind when an idea is sparked. Negatives are for the timid when the chance for a family adventure lurks just out of reach. We reach. Really, really reach. If that doesn’t work, we modify, modify. Then we expand and expand till the event becomes something Webster’s will offer as a definition of overkill and show a picture of my family, with everyone grinning, bleeding or grimacing in a way that looks like they’re grinning.

Five minutes after “GeoCaching” became the accepted course for the day, a small working group formed, which crowded around a computer for a few moments. The whir of a printer could be heard and pages of “The Christmas 2010 Amazing Race” came spewing forth. After a make-shift editorial team made fine adjustments(Now one half-hour into the creative process), this is what became the plan for the day:

Christmas 2010 Amazing Race

Rules:

Four Teams.

By draw of cards, the order of cache hunt will be determined.

Teams begin at Monarch Bay and proceed to Dana point Harbor to begin their quests.

Teams will be required to accomplish tasks along the way:

A Team picture is required with each cache as well as the following:

1\ With a firetruck

2\ R.H. Dana Statue

3\ Salvation Army Ringer guy (this description was by committee)

4\ Bowling alley

5\ Driving range (golf)

After the four Caches have been found in Dana Point Harbor, The Teams will proceed to a driving range. There they will purchase a bucket of balls and sequentially hit the balls.

The Teams will then proceed to Saddleback Bowling lanes, where each person will bowl one game, for a combined team score. The highest score will determine the headstart o the lead team for the final push for the Championship.

Lunch Break (Bowling alley food… anything to increase the chances of not crossing the finish line?)

Teams will proceed to the Mission Viejo Mall and collect the following treasures:

1\ cologne sample

2\ paper toilet seat cover (unused)

3\ Corndog stick

4\ Picture of team with Santa

5\ free cosmetic sample

Get pictures printed and return to Monarch Bay for final Cache clue. Go find the Cache.

Take picture of last cache log book and head to Mom’s house. First one to complete all task and arrive at Mom’s wins!!

All this in thirty minutes, with no real thought other than: Why Not?

I guess I should back up a bit and explain "Geocaching". The first documented placement of a GPS-located cache took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon.

Boxes, mostly old ammo boxes or buckets, are hidden in different locations around the world. That right, I said world! In this country, there are over a MILLION caches hidden under everything from bushes to buoys (Yes, some you get to swim to find). You use the Global Positioning System (GPS) and clues provided online to track down a box full of knick-knacks. You take something from the box and leave something, plus sign the small log sheets in each cache.

No, I'm not joking. Go online and look. This "Geocache" thing is huge!

With the exception of Calvin, we all piled into rented Mini-Vans (Morrisons always pay for extra insurance when we rent a cars) and sped off to Dana Point Harbor. It had been raining for days, and I'm sure Budget Rent-a-Car and Dodge will be happy to know that a foot of mud on the road doesn't stop one of their vehicles. Curbs and parking space blocks don't stop them either.

The vans fanned out to different parts of the harbor. Parking in strategically planned places to enable not only return to the vehicle after finding a cache, but hiding the vans from the harbor police. A lady crossing the road, at the far end of the harbor by the yacht club, might have called them when she had to dive into a giant Aloe plant to avoid possessed Mini-vans speeding toward her... On the sidewalk.

The group I was in had a tough time finding caches. We searched in the bushes outside a restaurant, until the smell of food drew a few of us away from the hunt. We asked for a table by the window so we could point my sister Trish's kids to areas that looked promising. Being a loving uncle, I threw chunks of bread to my nieces when they emerged from a clump of seaweed. It bought me time too. The seagulls grabbed the bread in mid-air and the nieces took off after them like the birds owed them money.

The harbor hunt was cut short when one of the other group's members came in to say someone had dropped a rock on my mom's foot. The rock was being coached out of it's resting place by the dulcet tones of my mom. People like my mom are why we have things like the Pyramids. In fact a couple that could have been from Egypt heard her, mumbled something about Rah, and fled in the opposite direction. Anyway, at one point, one of her ~~slaves~~ grandkids let the rock fall on her foot as they levered it up.

So we all piled into the Mini-vans, and headed for South Coast hospital. On the way there, someone decided it was a good idea to check and see if there were any "Geocaches" near the hospital. Instant messages flew between speeding mini-vans. More caches had been found literally withing a 1/4 mile of the hospital emergency room door. As the van I was riding drove slowly by the emergency room door, another van screeched to a stop long enough for my mom to stumble out the side door. She stood there for a few seconds, yelled at the van containing her teamates, then limped toward the hospital door, swatting away the offered help of an orderly. I later learned she told the doctor to patch her up and call her a cab. It seems the entire time she was having her foot bandaged, she was using her I-Phone to find a Geocache...

Some teams headed for the driving range, some to the bowling alley. The more daring headed for the Mall and a Santa photo. There was an incident at a firehouse, but facts are sketchy. It had something to do with a nephew releasing a parking brake and putting a fire truck in neutral while the rest of his team posed for a photo with the friendly firemen. My team headed for the bowling alley late in the day in time to see my mom limping toward the pins and heaving a bowling ball two feet in front of her, then kicking it with her good foot (Should I have said "spare" foot?)

Tired, and wishing I'd never heard the term "Geocaching" we all headed toward home. The Mini-vans all arrived at about the same time. The huge crowd of family surged through the double front doors, then into the front room.

Calvin sat quietly by the fire and looked up at the returning mob. My family went quiet at the look on Calvin's face.

We all knew what he was thinking. "People are such idiots"

Calvin

Allison Pang Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 04:40:00 +0000

Paranormal Romance is a growing genre. No news there. What does make the news is who is new and the way the quality of her work is raising the bar.

A marine biologist in a former life, Allison Pang turned to a life of crime to finance her wild spending habits and need to collect Faberge eggs. A cat thief of notable repute, she spends her days sleeping and nights scaling walls and wooing dancing boys....

Well, at least the marine biology part is true. But she was taloned by a hawk once. She also loves Hello Kitty, sparkly shoes, and gorgeous violinists. She spends her days in Northern Virginia working as a cube grunt and her nights waiting on her kids and cats, punctuated by the occasional husbandly serenade. Sometimes she even manages to write. Mostly she just makes it up as she goes.

I am pleased to welcome Allison Pang to The Novel Road

Allison Pang

Me: Paranormal is a hot genre. It’s also highly competitive. How important is having a publisher like Simon and Schuster in your corner?

Allison: A lot of it can depend on the support and enthusiasm the publisher has for the book (and there are plenty of indie pubs that adore their authors and give them as much support as they can.) Even within a larger publishing house like S&S there are different imprints – and each one can vary as to how they handle things like marketing and publicity, but the publisher needs to know the best way to market that particular book, whatever genre it happens to be. The key thing is probably going to be distribution. A larger publishing house like S&S is going to have the resources to get a book out there in places that a smaller publishing house might not.

Me: As a writer, clarity of idea is crucial to conveying a story. Some authors create a plot first, others create characters, then build a story around them. Explain your process and why.

Allison: I’m a panster at heart. I usually have a vague idea of how I want the story to end and that’s about it. Even in my more “detailed” outlines, I generally just have an objective I want to have accomplished – i.e. Main characters find a body under a bed in chapter X. (That’s about as detailed as I get. I don’t really care how they get there - I might have a couple of ideas for some characters, but usually I just throw them together in a scene and see what happens.) When I’m done, I smooth things out as I need to in revisions (or rewrite a bit.)

Me: You have four works in progress. Wow! How do you keep them separate in your mind?

Allison: Well, most of those were started before I sold – right now I’m only really working on the ones that pay me. But I don’t have any issue moving back and forth between them. Usually I’d work on one until I got stuck at some point. If it was something I would need to think about for a while, I’d backburner it and just slide over to a different story. I think part of this flexibility comes from playing in the Play by Post online writing games I’ve done for a few years. I’m usually running multiple characters in different settings (often at the same time), so switching between stories is very much the same.

Me: You’ve recently posted on your blog some of your marketing thoughts. Is it really ever to soon to start creating a buzz as a debut author?

Allison: Maybe not buzz about the fact that you exist or that you have a book coming out – but specific buzz about that book does need to be spaced out a bit or I think you run the risk of overexposure (especially if the release is a few months out.) Within the last few weeks before the release is when things should probably be geared toward heavy marketing – however, you have to remember that many of these blog tours and such are set up months beforehand, so a good plan is crucial.

Me: Talk about your editor and your experience in this crucial part of publishing. Did you mesh right away, or did it take time to get on the same page?

Allison: I was very lucky that Danielle and I meshed so quickly. I knew she loved the book and loved my voice and that helped quite a bit when it came to the revision letter. As long as I could explain my reasoning behind why certain things needed to be the way they were, she was fine with any decisions I made. In return, I had to trust her when she pointed out places that needed to be tweaked or rewritten. It’s an interesting symbiosis, but it’s fantastic when it works. (Plus, she sent me chocolate. J )

Me: Give me a two sentence “hook”, describing “A Brush with Darkness”.

Allison: I’m lousy at hooks. So here’s three sentences direct from the book that do pretty well:

I had a naked incubus in my bedroom. With a frying pan of half-cooked bacon and a hard-on. And a unicorn bite on his ass. Christ, this was turning out to be a weird morning.

Me: You get to have lunch with any author you wish, from throughout history or today, and why?

Allison: E. E. Cummings, simply because his poetry is about as close to perfection as you can get.

Me: Tell us about your agent and why you two are a perfect match.

Allison: She goes above and beyond for me, to put it simply. It’s a bit of a complicated situation as to how we got to work together and I won’t go into details about it here, but I can say that I’m truly blessed by our working relationship. For me, communication is key. No matter how busy Suzie is, she always manages to find a little extra time for me, even if it’s just to answer a quick question via email. She is a phenomenal resource and a tremendous person.

Me: Before you had an agent and book deal. Talk about editing your work. How did you know when to stop before submission?

Allison: I’m not sure any writer knows. You write until you feel like it’s the best you can write and then send it out. If rejections or critiques come back and they’re all fairly similar, then work on those parts. After my first round of rejections, I took a look at the manuscript with another critique partner and tightened it up some more and then sent it back out. I also had entered into a few writing contests on the hopes that it would final and I could skip the slush pile (and I did win several, one of which led me to an offer of publication).

Me: Can you tell us about your next novel?

Allison: It’s the sequel to A Brush of Darkness – I can’t really say too much about it at the moment without spoiling the first one, but it is the second of a confirmed series of three to be published in the next year or so.

Me: Publishing is going through an evolution at the moment. How has this or will this affect you?

Allison: The publishing world seems to be changing on a daily basis and everyone is affected in some way. It’s an exciting time with a lot of new opportunities and groundbreaking innovations – and a savvy author needs to be able to navigate these new waters with an open mind. As far as how it will affect me? Guess I’m just going to have to wait and see. J

Me: Life experience in the writing process. What advice can you give writers on its importance?

Allison: Well obviously life experience is important to some degree (that whole “write what you know, research what you don’t” adage is certainly true.) To be a writer, you do need to make a commitment to writing – whether that’s a certain page count or word count per day or some other method, but it’s also important to get away from the keyboard, even if it’s to avoid burnout. Experiencing things first hand can give your work a sense of realism that you might not be able to capture otherwise and inspiration can come from anywhere.

Lisa Desrochers Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 04:39:00 +0000

The next, the next, the next... Who will it be?

My guest today on The Novel Road has earned
every right (and then some) to the title of:

"The Next Big Paranormal

Romance author."

Her novel, "Personal Demons", currently

climbing up sales lists, is garnering rave reviews

along the way.

Released in September of this year, the book is already being re-printed in 10 countries! What makes her book unique, besides crisp writing, great characters, and action seldom seen?

Well.... Actually who could ask for more, and if you do: Goodluck. "Personal Demons" has it all, and then some. First, a little about my guest...

Lisa lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. It was her oldest daughter's love of books that first inspired her to write for young adults. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.

Growing up all over the country has inspired wanderlust and she loves travel, which works out well because she lectures internationally on a variety of health care topics. She has a Doctorate in Physical Therapy and maintains a full-time practice in California

*********************************************************

Please to welcome, Lisa Desrochers

Lisa Desrochers

Me: Your research ethereal for the most part. With the exception of locales and applicable science, where do you draw your event inspiration?

Lisa: My research for Personal Demons focused on angel and demon lore and hierarchies. The beauty of fiction is anything can happen, but I still wanted to ground my fictional heaven and hell in something that at least remotely resembled common belief systems. As far as the events that drive the plot, those all flowed organically from the characters.

Me: Paranormal Romance is a huge and expanding genre. Once the all but exclusive domain of vampires. Angels and demons are taking a large piece of this market. Are there any other directions within this genre you’d like to go?

Lisa: I have a WIP that focuses on magic, which is also well explored in urban fantasy. But this manuscript has a little different take on it.

Me: Sara Barnett and Michael Nathanson are your audio book readers for “Personal Demons”. Talk about a debut novelist’s part in choosing the readers and what is was like to hear your work performed for the first time.

Lisa: One of the funnest (funnily enough, that’s not an actual word in the English language…but I digress) things about this whole publishing process was listening to audition tapes and choosing my readers for the Personal Demons audiobook.

We got three audition tapes for each reader (Frannie and Luc) from Brilliance Audio. They came in on a Friday in July when we were leaving on a camping trip, so my whole family listened to them in the car and our choices for Sara and Michael were unanimous. I have to be honest and say that I laughed out loud several times while listening to the audiobook.

The actors are just that…actors. It’s a dramatic interpretation of my work, with the emphasis on dramatic. My demon, Luc’s voice is very mellow in my head. He’s pretty cocky, being a Creature of Pride, so he really doesn’t stress too much. Michael’s Luc gets a little more worked up over things than mine does, but overall, I think they did a great job.

Me: Paranormal is a hot genre. It’s also highly competitive. How important is having a publisher like Tor Teen /Macmillan in your corner?

Lisa: I joke that my editor helped me make Personal Demons into the book I thought I wrote. It’s really important to have a solid editor behind your work. Professional eyes see things differently. Tor has been fantastic about getting Personal Demons onto shelves in all the major chains as well as several indies.

Me: You have three books, "Personal Demons", just released and two in progress Original Sin and Hellbent, all will be on the market by May 2012. You have mounting foreign rights deals, 8 or 9 countries at last count, for “Personal Demons”. Has it all hit you yet, or have you been too busy to watch your star rising?

Lisa: It’s been pretty busy, mostly because it’s happened so fast. I had my one-year anniversary with my fabulous agent, Suzie Townsend, after Personal Demons was on shelves. As a matter of fact, it’s been just a year since it sold. (Dec. 22^nd) I wrote Original Sin in the two months we were on submission to agents with Personal Demons and have spent the summer in edits with that, and I’m in progress with Hellbent, as well being crazy with everything that goes into releasing a book. But…all that said, I have relished all the up moments, which include foreign sales. We released in Austrailia/New Zealand just after the U.S., and in Brazil last month. I have my German cover, and they re-titled it Angel Eyes. There are ten total foreign territories we’ve sold to.

Me: Talk about your editor and your experience in this crucial part of publishing. Did you mesh right away, or did it take time to get on the same page?

Lisa: Personal Demons sold at auction, and the primary reason we went with my seriously cool editor at Tor was because she was totally on my page with the manuscript. Every one of her revision requests made the book better. Both my revision letters for Personal Demons and Original Sin were pretty tame, and I love that she wasn’t afraid of Original Sin, which is much darker and edgier than Personal Demons.

Me: Give me a two sentence “hook”, describing “Personal Demons”.

Lisa: Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a wicked streak and a unique skill set that has the king of Hell tingling with anticipation. She finds herself in the middle of a battle for her soul between Lucifer Cain, who works in Acquisitions for Hell, and Gabriel, the angel sent to protect her, and it isn’t long before Luc and Gabe find themselves fighting for more than just her soul.

Me: Tell us about your agent and why you two are a perfect match.

Lisa: Suzie totally rocks. Being a newbie, it was important to me to find a hands-on agent who had time to walk me through the process. At the time I signed with Suzie, she had just started agenting (now she’s kicking publishing butt and taking names) and she was very responsive when I had a question. She also has an amazing editorial eye and went through a round of revisions with me before we went on submission. But mostly, I chose Suzie above the other agents who offered on PD for no other reason than she loved my manuscript.

Me: Publishing is going through an evolution at the moment. How has this or will this affect you?

At Fine Print Literary
everyone works

Lisa: If you mean e-publishing, I think it’s great. Readers of physical books will either keep reading physical books or switch to e-books, but they won’t stop reading. And, a few people who weren’t readers might actually start reading because there’s cool technology now. So anything that puts books in hands in a good thing.

There are a lot of options for e-readers—self published and traditionally published books. I also think that’s great. As long as a reader knows the source, and therefore has realistic expectations, I don’t have a problem with them having choices.

Demon head
18th Century

Me: Life experience in the writing process. What advice can you give writers on its importance?

Lisa: I’ve heard writers joke that they had too happy a childhood, because they have nothing to write about. Honestly, other than shaping you as a person, and therefore influencing your writing indirectly, your own big life experiences don’t play much of a role.

It’s the little experiences I draw on more often—something funny my daughter said; a backed up toilet; watching different reactions to being caught in the rain. Silly things.

Me: You get to have lunch with any author you which, from throughout history or today, and why?

Lisa: Ooo! There are so many I’d choose. JRR Tolkein, Pasternak, Steinbeck. If you’re going to make me choose one, I’d have to say Emily Bronte, because Heathcliff so deliciously warped, and I’d love to know her inspiration.

Me: My recent interview with David Brown, of Atria Books, talked about the importance of having a social network to help promote your work. Talk about your personal efforts to “get the word out”

Lisa: If your book is one of the chosen few to get the “big push” from your house, it’s less important, but for most of us, I’m convinced it makes or breaks you.

I started a blog before I was even agented. As soon as my book sold, I started promoting it on my blog. Even thought I knew I wouldn’t have ARCs until spring, I started a monthly Debut Contest, where the winner had a choice of one YA debut off a list of four that I provided or a signed ARC of Personal Demons.

I’m shameless, I admit it. I would choose the four biggest buzz YA debuts I could find each month as the alternate choices to mine to draw their readers to my blog, and then I Tweet the heck out of it. Usually those authors, also being debut authors and wanting free PR, would re-tweet my tweets. I started out in my first contest in January with about 40 entries. That winner chose a book other than mine. From that point on, the contest grew every month until I was getting over 150 entries, and everyone from the Feb winner on chose Personal Demons. Anytime I’m near another author, I have them sign one of their books for me then I give it away with a signed copy of Personal Demons.

I’ve given away 20 signed books (only half of which were mine) in the last three months. My blog has grown to almost 900 followers and I have almost 1600 Twitter followers who look forward to my contests. I just ran my first ever Original Sin ARC contest in conjunction with releasing the cover. I recruited nine awesome bloggers who have supported me and Personal Demons for months. I let them release the cover and ran a contest on my blog. They all got between 50 and 100 comments on their post and I had almost 300 entries. People love free stuff.

****************************************

I'd like to thank Lisa for taking the time out of her busy schedule and wish her all the luck in the world... Wait a minute, she doesn't need luck. Her star is rising, and it couldn't happen to a nicer person. All the Best, from The Novel Road

Jeff Somers Short Story

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 04:35:00 +0000

His Rings Like Gifts

By Jeffrey Somers

   We all stared at the gun, leaking smoke, wondering who'd fired it, drumming up all this damned noise. Even though we could see it in his hand no one dared look at his face; then we'd know. Guessing was better and didn't we have bigger things to worry about: The smoke and the blood and the old man cold and immobile before us? The sinking lights around and the haggard rough-edged sound of our breathing spun away, the echoes elastic. It started to seem like we were waiting for him to get up and dance, grinning red and wet at us. I sighed smoke.

   He didn't twitch, much less dance, but Eddie did. He jittered back, one hand stapled to his mouth, and skated into the shimmering china closet. His eyes pulled away from his face, trying to break free. The crystal unicorns and stained coffee mugs holding him up clinked hazardously, but nothing broke. Ted slummed over and pulled Eddie up, favoring him with silent, roundhouse slaps and snarling, wordless abuse. I left the job to him and listened to the crackle of dust in the air.

   I put a hand on Will's shoulder, stopping him from his careful retreat, and gestured. He grimaced at me with his yellow teeth and tried to explain but I shoved him forward and he shut up.

   We each grasped a frilly arm or a slack leg, pulling the old man taut between us. Someone asked me if I wanted that rare and I barked an answer, feeling sweat pop out on my brow as we lifted him and started to shuffle for the door, staggered and clumsy. Steadied, we made our way to the back, our breath in each other's faces, red skin sheened shiny and wet from the rain outside. They all had their mouths open; they suddenly all looked like strangled pigs to me and I couldn't help but smile. That pissed Ted off, so I swallowed it and stopped looking at him.

   At the back door we heaved the old man out into the pour, following reluctantly with shovels in hand. We dug half-heartedly and conversation dried up, replaced by the clink clink of shovels, and slowly we were surrounded by dark mounds. Deep enough, we pulled the old man in with us; he landed in a jumble and I got mad. Take a fucking care, I snarled, wiping muddy sweat from my face with a worn, calloused hand. He was a fucking corpse and with his watery skin and butcher-paper eyes our good will was all he had left.

   After, we sat by the grave and smoked dried-out cigarettes to clear our lungs. The mist started to roll in on its dusty sock feet, making us nervous. Ted got all superstitious about death and it got us all a little creeped out, his slow pleading waver fading into the ground to set root until next time. With chummy slaps on the back we pushed ourselves back into our jackets and ties and headed back to the dim silent house and the gummy blood on the floor.

   We could hear Rachel upstairs testing her hangover and I offered my new fellows a drink of whatever she had left behind her. I pulled off my jacket and draped it neatly on one of the chairs, heading up with my hands in my pockets to show no harm intended. My new fellows were all making noise and it was better that way, I suppose; the thick sounds filling the rooms and rising, buoying me up on hot air and soundproofing. It was healthy to have a ruckus behind me.

   As I rose her perfume filled the cracks between the noise and I could feel her light steps as they trembled on the floor.

   Despite the low warning moans from below, she seemed surprised to see me.

   Whirling in a small confusion of skirts she pointed a cigarette at me and smiled; we'd done this all before, in different ways. Her lips were smoky and so was her hair, and as she nuzzled my ear she whispered slow, slow over and over. I always tried to be, but it didn't always work. I tried to tell her what had happened but she kept covering my mouth with hers, my arms with hers, my legs.

   We woke up early, all of us, and cooked up great slabs of bacon in the blood-streaked kitchen. We were dried-out and edgy, in loosened, stale clothes and caky faces which cracked in the light. I had her perfume all over me and it made me thickly ill.

   Eddie and Ted argued over the money, spitting crumbs at each other and sipping coffee. Rachel watched them tight-lipped and sharp-eyed. It was impolite, wasn't something you argued about. I had left bloody streaks on her pale skin and bruises on her smooth legs and they made her look demonic with her sudden cat eyes.

   We all got ready to leave; it wasn't our house, after all.

   It took a while to gather everything together, we had scattered ourselves and forgotten most of it. Rachel showered as we searched and came down wet and sweet and rubbed pink by towels. Suddenly, she was too clean for the place, too clean for us. We sat around her with unshaven cheeks and yellowed teeth, dirt and blood on our clothes and hands, pushing through wire-stiff hair. She stayed away from us, now that she was sober. She looked at me like I'd left a film on her, a sneering look. I didn't mind. She'd be drunk again that night and we'd be friends again.

   As we left, a guffawing group of new friends, she stood in the doorway and smiled brutally after us. I turned just in time to see her close the door, and briefly wondered if I'd killed the right one of them.

Bryan Russell Flash Fiction

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 04:31:00 +0000

Reunion

By Bryan Russell

The two naked men nodded hesitantly to each other. They stood in line, not wanting to move. Neither were entirely certain how to hold themselves, but fatigue dulled nervousness, and accumulated fear overshadowed shame. This nakedness was just one more thing. They tended to hold their hands in front of themselves, out of politeness. Their ribs were clearly visible in pale, taut skin, the bones arching toward each other,
meeting in the hollows of concave chests.

“Are you from Budapest?” one man asked.

“Yes,” a second man said. “And you?”

“Yes, I lived on Egyesules Street.”

The second man blinked, a light kindling in his eyes. “Is it so? I, too, lived on Egyesules Street. Out past the park.”

“We were near the boulevard. That’s where my home was. We had a beautiful garden.”

“Yes, yes, I know the area. That’s strange. Do I know you?”

“I don’t think so,” the first man said. “I don’t recall you, though I thought I knew most of the people on the street. Yes? My family was there for many years.”

“Mine, too. Mine, too. How old are you? I cannot tell in here.”

Everyone in this place became indistinct after awhile, features blurring, age creeping over each face regardless of years. Everyone here was centuries old, vast lifetimes washing quickly through their veins.

“I am thirty-five. And you?”

“I am thirty-six,” the second man said. “It’s so strange. I don’t recall you. And yet we must have seen each other, yes?”

“So many years on the street. Playing as a boy. Playing football at the park. Many boys were there. Did you play?”

“Yes, I played. I wasn’t very good. If I looked up I tripped over the ball. If I looked down, everyone yelled at me for not passing.”

“I was pretty good, though not as good as my friend Bodo. He was a very good player. Very good.”

“I remember him!” the second man said. “Yes, he was very good. I remember that. I remember playing with him. What has happened to him, do you know?”

The first man looked away and said nothing. They were both silent for a time.

“You had a garden, you say?” the second man said. “I must have seen it. Walking on the street, I must have passed it by.”

“It was beautiful. I worked very hard on it. The garden was already very nice when we bought the house. I was struck by it. That is why I picked that house, I think. I had always liked the garden. Even as a boy, walking to play football. Isn’t it strange? You were there, too. Playing football. Walking past the garden. I think I improved it, though. The garden. I read a lot of books, taught myself. Every spring I would go out planting.”

“Yes, I think I saw that garden. A beautiful garden. Was there a little stone wall? Yes, a little stone wall. And beautiful flowers.”

“Thank you.”

A guard walked by and the men stopped speaking. Their eyes followed the guard. The whole line of naked men quieted at the passing of the booted feet. The bare feet of the naked men stopped their weary shuffling, still as mortuary statues.

The second man nodded slightly once the guard had passed. “I think I remember you. I didn’t recognize you at first, but I do now. Did you have an older sister? A sister named Myrta?”

“Yes, that is me.”

The second man opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, fearing the silence that would follow his question. He nodded, thinking of the street, the garden, the games boys played, the girls they admired. He could smell the roses, the blossoms on the little tree. “There was a tree,” he said. “You had a little tree, with blossoms. They smelled lovely.”

“Yes, that’s the place,” the first man said.

The second man wanted to ask what kind of tree had blossoms that smelled so sweetly. He knew little of horticulture. But the guard was returning and the whispered voices were silenced.

“Juden!” the guard yelled. “Jetzt, jetzt! Schnell, schnell!”

The line started moving, the naked men shuffling forward.

“It is good to see you again,” the first man said, his lips barely moving.

The second man nodded. “Sholem.”

“Schnell, schnell!” the guard yelled.

The naked men walked into the chamber. The second man was still thinking about the blossoms. What were they? He would have to ask. The memory of the blossoms struck him so sweetly, so keenly, the fragrant taste of them hanging in the air. They would fall in graceful arcs, spinning slowly down to new resting places, gathering in pale drifts amidst the insubstantial ghosts of old petals. Petals, a spring snow atop the green, green grass.

Bryan Russell Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 04:27:00 +0000

The Novel Road Interview: Bryan Russell

     In the deep, unknown reaches of a land far to the North there is... Ok, there's a lot.

    But here, on The Novel Road, I bring you a glimpse of the heretofore unseen. You'll experience, first hand, a genius so vast it tickles the edge of madness. (just kidding about the madness part)

    This interview begins with a town. Actually it starts with a building... Well, if you want to be picky, it starts with what was in the building - A Bookstore

    On any given day, there was a line of intellectually gifted people, standing in the cold, holding Moosebucks coffee cups. They all wore glasses, occluded by chill fog, and many struggled to keep their pipes lit. The leather patches on the sleeves of Tweed coats, well worn. All carried umbrellas, mostly because they all thought it was cloudy when they left their homes, that personal fog there from the start of the day. They share tales of skinned knees from missing curbs. A scattered oath or two after a head bounces off the glass (from the general lack of depth perception) as each took their turn looking in the window of their ice bound Mecca... And for the person within.

   Ladies and gentlemen, Bryan Russell is here today, saving me you a trip North to the land of hockey, polar bears, beer and "Eh?"

   He is here, his store now a memory. Yet in his mind, his precious store will always be. Like many tales similarly told, a malevolent economy swept the spirit of 500 Ouellete Avenue, in Winsor, Ontario away.

Bryan’s love of the written word will always be. His talent for writing is remarkable. Enriched by his time surrounded by great works, he puts his hand to pen. His BA and MA in English and Creative Writing, as well as his Bachelor's in Education, along with a smattering and scattering of his writings published are building him to a new day.

   As far as The Novel Road is concerned, that day starts here. Why here and now?

   If you look at my guest lists, you will find authors with combined sales of over 100 million books. You will also find a select group of debut authors that, for one reason or other, I have come to believe will be successful due to the qualities found in their work. Everyone has an opinion on what makes for a great book.

Do I have a knack for seeing those that will step ahead of the pack? Maybe. Anyone want to argue the quality of Sean Ferrell’s work? I tell you now he is an author to watch as well as read.

   I have access to hundreds of unpublished writers. I picked only one to be here. He has no agent, no contract of any kind, and I tell you now. This is an author you will hear about one day.

May I introduce you to Bryan Russell…

Me: What was the first thing you ever wrote that told you “I can do this?”

Bryan: It was a Halloween story I wrote for my class in grade seven: an evil Halloween spirit breaks into my school and murders my classmates one by one. Luckily I was a well-liked and well-adjusted kid, and so wasn’t sent for psychiatric counseling. Plus, I murdered myself in the story, as well, and most gruesomely. No one gets away! Who needs happy endings?

Anyhow, my teacher selected my story to be read to the class. But the important part wasn’t that selection, but the response of my fellow students – they loved it. They were so excited, so interested in waiting to see who would die next, and how… there was something incredible about that response. That I hooked them into the story and they needed to know what happened. They believed in the story.

It was a profound experience for a kid. I think that confirmed for me the possibility of being a writer. Not just to write something, but to write something for someone – an act of communication.

Plus, people like getting murdered. Who knew?

Me: Favorite writing junk food?

Bryan: I don’t really tend to eat much when I’m writing… too lost in the world, I think, and food takes me out of that. I’m one of those tunnel vision people. I will drink, though. Straight whiskey. Oops, I mean coffee. Oh, wait, I can’t have that, either. Milk. Milk… wait, I can’t have dairy. Water. A cold drink of water. Yes, that’s what I have when writing. Preferably thawed from an iceberg.

Me: In two sentences, describe your book or work in progress.

Bryan: After killing his father in an argument, Japheth Tagori is sentenced to a life of service as a soldier in the Legion – yet he cannot escape his past, as the brigands who worked with his father (a smuggler) want Japheth dead because of something he’s forgotten he knows – the destination of a cartload of gold set to fuel a rebellion. The rebellion, though, is merely a diversion, as a war between empires looms on the horizon and Japheth finds himself a pawn in a dangerous game, manipulated by the mysterious Ghost King even as his enemies seek his head – and as Japheth seeks to understand his own identity as a soldier.

Me: How strict are you when it comes to staying true to your outline?

Bryan: An outline is an outline – it’s the book, in the end, that’s important. I always try to do what’s best for the story, and if that means diverging from the outline, then that’s what I do. And stuff always changes, for me, with all the subsequent drafts – sometimes drastically.

I usually have some main events and an ending that I hold strongly to – but even there, well, there are no sacred cows. Sometimes the red pen is hungry and will devour even the finest of original ideas.

Me: Lunch with you and any Author you choose, alive or dead, and why.

Bryan: I’d probably pick David Foster Wallace, though Tolkien would have to be in the running. I think they are the two writers who have influenced me most, and in different ways. Tolkien started it all – as a child, he got me into reading, and then writing. I consumed his books in endless loops.

Wallace was a little different – I read Infinite Jest when I was eighteen or so, and was blown away. “You mean, you can do that in a novel? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” A million new doors were opened by that book. I ended up studying a lot of postmodern writers, and used them as a springboard to all sorts of different things. And that sudden breadth of vision and understanding has been hugely important to me, and really helped shape me as a writer.

He died too young, sadly, and even though I never had an opportunity to speak with him, I did read David Lipsky’s Athough Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, which is a memoir of a road trip the author took with David Foster Wallace – and reading it is sort of like overhearing a long rambling conversation with Wallace. It’s as close as I’m ever going to get, anyway.

Me: I have been offering a piece of advice lately regarding the… Gulp!... Query Letters. I've told a new author to avoid even learning about a query letter till his manuscript is complete. Do you agree or not?

Bryan: I think both paths can work, though I lean toward not worrying about querying until the manuscript is ready. For some writers, doing it before can help – it can push you to clarify and focus your story, and keep that central conflict and drive of the story at the forefront. So, there are advantages. But there’s also a lot of risk. It’s very easy to get sidetracked and have all your energy flowing into writing a query, into endless angst and worry, resulting in a compulsion to dive headlong into the publishing world’s social media storm – sort of an online Bermuda Triangle for many writers.

Personally, I say write a great book – worry about the rest later.

Me: My favorite subject – Editing. Talk about editing your first book. Also, how did you know when to stop?

Bryan: Ha! The problem with my first book attempt (many long years ago) was that I didn’t edit it. Oh, I copyedited it, and smoothed sentences, and adjusted a few scenes here and there. But, really, I didn’t know how to edit, at least not for story, for structure and pacing and balance. Plot was a meandering construction, loosely understood.

It’s different now, where my novel has gone through many drafts and permutations. It’s vastly different from what I started with, and hopefully much better. And when to stop… damned if I know. It’s hard to change, I presume, once it’s in print.

Me: This question, courtesy of Jeff Hall : I'm a shortstory-ist. Writing a novel is like a crazy long marathon, only harder. How do you maintain a clear sense of that first passion that inspired you throughout a 200K word journey?

Bryan: 200K is too long! Sadly. My revisions would be much easier if that weren’t so. But, for me, I usually don’t start writing a novel unless I have a story idea that I know will carry me a long way. It takes a certain momentum to pull through a novel, page after page – the story needs a certain weight, a specific gravity. When that pull is strong enough, I simply can’t avoid writing the story. When it fills up my entire head, I know the story is ready to be written.

Me: You get a blank check to write about ANYTHING and guaranteed to be published. What would the subject be?

Bryan: Genocide.

Cheerful, I know. But I have a novel idea that won’t let go, even though I don’t think I’m ready to write that book yet – I’m not yet the writer I need to be. But in the future hopefully I will be, and hopefully I can write it – and hopefully it will mean a little something. In a sense, genocide is the dark shadow of the last century of human history. Writing this book would be my attempt to understand that shadow, to somehow try to come to grips with it. How do you understand human devastation? I’m not entirely sure you can, but perhaps the attempt is an important one.

I'd like to thank Bryan Russell for his time and energy

in doing this interview. Anyone wondering what

the artwork is about?Visit Bryan Russell daily at

The Alchemy of Writing

Joan Wolf Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 01:40:00 +0000

I’m extremely honored to have author Joan Wolf as a guest on The Novel Road.

Joan has had 45 books published over the course of her 35 year writing career. The New York and the Washington Post Bestseller lists know Joan well. Her current passion, Christian Romance, added to a packed backlist of Historical Fiction and Contemporary Romance puts Joan in the ranks of some of the most successful authors around.

The first non-picture book she ever read was Black Beauty, and spent most of her childhood reading horse and baseball stories. As a teenager, she loved romantic suspense: Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, etc. As a young woman, she became a huge fan of Georgette Heyer and of Dorothy Dunnett’s "Lymond" series. She swears, "I must have re-read those books a hundred times". Thru the years, she found herself turning more and more to books of a spiritual nature. Gary Wills’ book "What Jesus Meant" has had a profound effect upon her life.

A former high school English teacher and Yankee's fan, she splits her time between working with her husband at their church's food pantry and writing.

Please welcome, one of the icons of the Romance Novel genre, Joan Wolf

Joan Wolf

Me: What was the first thing you ever wrote that told you “I can do this?”

Joan: My story is the tale of a desperate housewife. My husband and I had just moved to Connecticut with our new baby. I had quit work (that was what we did back in the day), I knew no one in my new town, and I was lonely and bored. I picked up a few books that were on the best-seller list (these were the days of Rosemary Rogers and Katherine Woodiwiss) and I read them. I had taught literature and creative writing to high school seniors for a number of years, so I thought, O'kay, I’ll give this a shot. I can work while the baby’s napping. It seemed a much more interesting project than cleaning the kitchen floor.

I set my book in the regency period not because it was about to become the hot new thing in romance publishing but because I was a huge Georgette Heyer fan and I knew both the historical and the social scene of that time. I had only the vaguest idea about what kind of a plot I might come up with. To be perfectly honest, I was surprised when I actually managed to write a whole opening chapter. I hadn’t written anything except term papers since the time I tried to write a book about a horse when I was a kid. Then I wrote another chapter, then another. Wow! I was a writer.

Selling the book proved to be a whole other story. I mailed it off to publishers on my own for almost a year, with no positive results. Once I even got my manuscript back with someone’s vacation pictures stuck in the middle. Finally some kind soul told me I needed an agent. I got the first one I tried and she sold my book (The Counterfeit Marriage) and got me a contract for two more. Interestingly, it sold to NAL, a company that had previously turned it down when I sent it on my own.

Me: Christian Romance is a rapidly growing market. What do you think has spurred the growth?

Joan: Christian Romance has always been popular in Christian book stores, but I think its surprising growth into the wider book market has been spurred by regular romance readers who just got tired of the heavy sex, vampires and werewolves that seem to populate most romance novels these days. I know I got sick of it, and that’s one of the reasons I turned to Christian romance. It offered me a chance to express my own faith while telling an emotionally and psychologically rich love story about human beings. The New York publishing houses are no longer giving women this kind of romance and these readers are discovering that Christian romance does. I think that’s why it is growing so quickly and I also think it will continue to grow as the word spreads: This is what readers are looking for in a love story.

Me: In two sentences “Hook” for your new book.

Joan: The book I have coming out in July from Thomas Nelson is called A Reluctant Queen, the love story of Queen Esther, and the title says it all. It tells the story of a sheltered Jewish girl who becomes the wife of the Great King of Persia, saves her people from annihilation by the evil Haman, and finds the love of her life in her exalted (but lonely) husband.

Me: How strict are you when it comes to staying true to your outline?

Joan: What outline?

Me: If you could have lunch with any Author you choose, from throughout history or today, what would you want to talk about?

Joan: I’m sure I should name someone exalted, like Shakespeare or Jane Austen or Dante. Well, maybe not Dante; I don’t speak Italian let alone medieval Italian. But, truthfully, I would adore to have lunch with Dick Francis. I have been a horse lover all my life and I’ve read every single one of his books - some more than once. Naturally, I’d want to talk about horses - and maybe writing (a little). I’m quite sure he was the most delightful man and I was truly saddened when I learned of his recent death.

Me: You have a love for Historic Fiction. I really enjoy your "time" in the sixth century. When did you come upon your love for the Arthurian Ideal?

Joan: When I was in high school Camelot was playing on Broadway and a boyfriend took me to see it for my birthday. Richard Burton played Arthur. I fell madly in love with him and thought Julie Andrews was insane to have looked at anyone else. After crying my eyes out at the theatre, I read everything I could get my hands on about Arthur. I read Mallory, of course, and the other medieval Arthurian tales, but what really began to intrigue me was the historical Arthur.

It sparked my imagination to think that a leader from deep in the dark ages could have left so strong an imprint that legends sprang up around him. That is why The Road to Avalon is set in the final days of Celtic-Romano Britain and I portray Arthur as the savior who kept civilization alive by turning back the waves of Saxon invasion.

Me: My favorite subject – Editing. Talk about editing your first book. Also, how did you know when to stop?

Joan: Alas, when I edited my first book I kept changing adjectives and adverbs until I thought I had the right ones. Now when I edit, I take things out. Adjectives, adverbs, sentences, whole paragraphs - gone forever. In truth, I rather cringe when I look at my early stuff.

Me: Tell us about your agent and why the match is perfect?

Joan: I have been very fortunate in my agents. Every one of them has really loved my books and has been committed to selling them. I would never have done as well as I have as a published author were not for excellent agents. My present agent, Natasha Kern, is the one who introduced me to the Christian Romance market. She’s been a huge help; I’m new to this genre and she knows just about everything.

Me: Heroes, have they gotten too perfect?

Joan: Every hero has to have a problem (an emotional or psychological problem, not a plot problem) he needs the heroine to help him deal with. A man who is sufficient unto himself is not the stuff romance is written about. He can be the most gorgeous hunk in the world, but he’s gotta have a flaw somewhere.

Me: If you got a blank check to write about anything and it’s guaranteed to be published, what would the subject be?

Joan: This is so easy for me to answer. I have been working on a book about Mary Magdalene that I just love. I have written the first two parts and my agent, Natasha Kern, is very excited about it. It’s a very different slant on Mary’s story, starting with her childhood and showing how the events of her life caused her to become the woman whom Christ regarded as one of his disciples.

I think women especially would love this book; it has a very feminist cast to it. I have become quite entranced with Mary myself, and I look forward to delving back into her world.

Me: The publishing industry is going through an evolution. How are these changes effecting you and what would you advise new authors to do?

Joan: Is it evolution or revolution? No one knows. All we know is that publishing will never be the same. This is good and bad. The old model of books shipped and books returned was ridiculous. There has been an increasing problem with shelf space in the stores - rows and rows of best sellers block out the chance for a new author to get a spot. The mid-list is almost gone. We just have to hope that what is coming will give new opportunities to new writers. I think it will.

************************************************************

Bryan Russell Flash Fiction

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:51:00 +0000

Reunion

By Bryan Russell

Short Story Saturday: Norb Vonnegut

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Insider Trading: ‘Tis the Season

By Norb Vonnegut

After returning from three strip malls, Phoebe Jenkins kicked off her shoes first thing. Right there in front of the kitchen sink. She was exhausted from the holiday crowds—all the pushing and shoving, the occasional hip check or two. Her swollen dogs were screaming for a break.

   I’ll try again tomorrow.

   Phoebe sat at the kitchen table, afternoon shadows sweeping the room, rambling thoughts her only companion. She had not bothered with the overhead lights. She was too busy warming up and savoring her cup of coffee—one sugar, heaps of cream, piping hot the way she liked it.

  Tired or not, at sixty-six Phoebe was enjoying retirement. Sure, there were times when she missed teaching. She loved her eighth graders, even when they got out of hand.

   But truth be told—retirement gave her more time to shop. Daily opportunities to spoil her grandson rotten. Too bad today’s Christmas expedition ended in defeat.

   Bam, bam, bam came the knock at Phoebe’s door, reverberating through her modest home like angry thunder. The pounding burst a cache of happy memories that could have lasted well past her afternoon coffee.

  I have a doorbell, you know.

Phoebe cracked open the front entry, leaving the heavy chain in place. Crazy things were always happening in her neighborhood. And it paid to be careful. She eyed two men, their suits rumpled, their ties loose. They reminded her of Jack Webb and Harry Morgan from the old Dragnet series.

“May I help you?” Phoebe asked.

“I’m Agent Fletcher, and this is Agent Dixon.”

   He even sounds like Jack Webb.

   Both men flashed their badges, and Fletcher added, “We’re with the FBI.”

   “Is something wrong?” she asked, immediately forgetting the assault on her front door.

   “Are you Phoebe Anne Jenkins?” asked Fletcher. “Mother of Todd Jenkins?”

   “Is my son okay?” She grew anxious in that fraction of a second.

   “He’s fine, ma’am.”

   “Oh, thank goodness.”

   “We have a search warrant. Will you let us in?”

   “What’s this about?” Phoebe stammered, unhooking the latch.

   “We’re asking the questions,” snapped Fletcher. “Were you at the Staples on Tuckahoe Road this morning?”

   Dixon’s eyes darted round the room, soaking in the family photos. It was like he needed to touch everything in sight.

   “Why, yes.” She was growing more alarmed by the second. “How do you know?”

   “What was the nature of your visit?”

   “Nature of my visit,” Phoebe echoed, thinking cop talk sounded very serious indeed. “I was looking for my grandson’s Christmas present. Have you seen the toy helicopter that Staples is advertising?”

   “Did you speak with the manager?” Fletcher asked, ignoring the choppers.

   “I asked him for help.”

   “Help, Ms. Jenkins?”

   “It’s Mrs., may the lord rest my husband’s soul. And the manager told me they were ‘sold out,’ Officer Fletcher.”

  “It’s Agent Fletcher.”

“The store received one-hundred-and-fifty helicopters last week,” she said, trying to be helpful. “That means they’re selling twenty-one a day.”

“Did you tell your son?”

“Not yet.”

“But you planned to tell him?” persisted the agent.

“What’s this got to do with Todd?”

“We’re asking the questions,” Fletcher repeated. “Did your son pay for this info?”

“Why would he do that?” Phoebe felt herself growing defensive.

“Did you proceed to the Staples on Central Avenue?”

“They were sold out, too,” she confirmed.

“What were you doing at the Staples in Scarsdale?” pressed Fletcher. “That’s three in one day.”

“My grandson will be heartbroken if he doesn’t get that helicopter. But Scarsdale was sold out. Can you believe it?”

“Right,” acknowledged Fletcher in an odd tone, somewhere between empathetic and scoffing.

“Is Todd in some kind of trouble?”

“Do you have any receipts?” he asked, plowing forward, indifferent to her question.

“I told you. The helicopters were sold out. Central Ave. sold two hundred since Monday, and Scarsdale another two fifty over the last eight days.”

“Smells like channel checks.” Fletcher exchanged glances with Dixon, his face knowing, his voice full of accusation.

“Channel checks?” Phoebe wanted to help these men. They were FBI after all. But she didn’t like them. Not one bit. “I was looking for a toy. Not a television.”

“This is classic mosaic theory.”

“What’s this got to do with art projects?” she asked. “I was trying to get the skinny on helicopters.”

“You’re good,” Fletcher said, the cynicism clear in his voice. “No wonder your son’s hedge fund is so successful.”

“I still don’t understand what you want from me.”

“The game’s over,” he growled.

“What game?”

“You’re feeding inside info to your son,” charged Fletcher. “Numbers from one store. Numbers from another. They don’t sound like much. But put them together, and they add up to an unfair trading advantage. Did the employees say anything else about their store sales?”

“Just what I told you. They can’t keep those helicopters on the shelves.”

Dixon was holding a framed photo of Phoebe’s grandson.

“Can’t you please tell me what’s wrong?” she pleaded, snagging her grandson’s black-and-white from the agent’s hand.

“Let me paint the picture,” Fletcher barked with Jack Webb’s staccato inflection. “Your son runs a hedge fund—”

“He’s good at math,” she interrupted.

“You spent the last four hours at three different stores. You didn’t buy a thing. No receipts. Zip. But you spoke to the manager at each one. My agents say you were asking all kinds of questions. You’re throwing around inventory numbers left and right. And we think something’s rotten.”

“Oh my lord,” Phoebe exhaled. “Were you following me?”

“Let me ask you something,” demanded Fletcher, pouring it on now. “You like to shop, right?”

“What else is there to do?”

“She’s probably working for one of those ‘expert network’ rings,” observed Dixon, pursing his lips and shaking his head left to right.

“What ring?” Phoebe was confused.

“You’re an industry specialist,” Fletcher charged. “You better level with us. It’ll go a lot easier for you. And your son.”

“Tell me what to do,” she gasped, fear taking over, her voice rising. “I’ll cooperate. Anything.”

“Does your son pay you for this info?”

“He takes me to lunch.”

“Hah! I knew it,” the agent triumphed. “Do you use email?”

“Doesn’t everybody?”

“Okay that’s it,” Fletcher said, turning to Dixon. “Get the team in here now.”

Dixon hustled to the front door, full of purpose. Things were heating up. He whistled all loud and screechy through his front teeth. He signaled for reinforcements with his index finger.

A dozen FBI agents swarmed through Phoebe’s house. Armed with cardboard boxes, they packed up her computer and her answering machine. One agent—a young, earnest, living ad for talcum powder—snagged a takeout menu from her kitchen.

“I think we’ve got something here,” he informed Fletcher. “There are phone numbers scrawled next to the Hunan beef.”

Phoebe was stunned, speechless, her eyes wider than the saucer holding her cup of coffee.

“You need to come with us,” instructed Fletcher. “We’re taking you to White Plains for more questions.”

“May I get my shoes?” she asked, her voice listless, her demeanor beaten and zombie like. “My purse, too?”

“Go get them,” Fletcher instructed Dixon. “Make sure she’s not hiding anything.”

Kennedy Foster Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:58:00 +0000

The Novel Road Interview: Kennedy Foster

Times change, in both date and circumstance. Certain genres are held as emblematic of society or culture and weather with the ages, yet remain a vital link to who we are and in some cases, why we will forever be.

The American Western is an icon. Those that are talented enough to place an entry into its ranks know, and dream of, the open sky and vast prairie. They know the land.

Barbed wire is no stranger, just as a horse’s nudge is that of a friend. Ranch and farm life is what drives and reveals them. I know many of them, and have yet to find one without callused hands or twinkle in the eyes.

My guest today, Kennedy Foster, is a person that knows the land. Her offering, the novel, “All Roads Lead Back To You” is well suited to take its place with the great Western works. It shows a page turned, to that of the modern ranch, and retains the sinews of its Western heritage nobly. It reminds us too, that the Western isn’t solely the purview of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The Great Northwest is as Western as they come, you just get to add four or five feet of snow to the formula.

"This book will stick with you as you think about all the challenges and changes of contemporary cowboy life, like immigrant issues, pest control, inheritance, breeding practices, water rights, lifestyle choices and the unending labor. Its mild romantic subplot will thrill western lovers. A good book club selection, it includes a readers' guide. " --Romantic Times (4 1/2 Stars)

How about a little background?

Kennedy Foster was born in Detroit in 1944 and raised in the Army. Her father was a career officer, so she ‘followed the gun’ to Germany, to Virginia, to California, to Washington DC, to Kansas, to Alaska, back to Kansas, to Pennsylvania, back to DC, and back to Germany. She attended six elementary schools, three high schools, and two colleges, finishing her BA at Grinnell College in 1966. She wrote poetry and short stories, which were published in school literary magazines and made her mother proud but did not otherwise attract attention.

She married a Grinnell professor, who turned out to be the right stuff. Because academics were extremely peripatetic in those years, the family traveled a lot, from Iowa (where her sons John and James were born), to California, to Maryland, and finally to southeastern Washington state. During this period, she “rode a lot of borrowed horses, and wrote in borrowed styles,” having developed a transient’s habit of re-inventing herself in each new place.

In the Northwest she struck root, a delightful sensation. She gave up fiction, took writing jobs of various kinds, grants, financial development boilerplate, newsletters. At 45, she discovered a vocation to teach. She has taught English as a second language, basic writing, and basic college skills at Walla Walla Community College since 1988.

About the writing of her first novel, she says, “We had a sabbatical in Scotland, up in the north, Aberdeenshire. Six months in a bed-sit, freezing blast off the North Sea, dawn at nine, dark at three, no job, no acquaintance, and my life’s companion in the library from breakfast to teatime. So I had to write the book. I felt like the dog in the Faulkner story who knew if she were going to keep on calling herself a hound, she would have to tackle the bear.”

Kennedy Foster lives in Walla Walla with her husband Edward, an indeterminate number of cats, and not nearly enough horses.

I'm honored to introduce you to, author Kennedy Foster:

Me: Give me a two-sentence “hook” describing “All Roads Lead Me Back to You”.

Kennedy: Okay. It’s a story set in the ranching country of Washington state, about two people from opposed cultures who instinctively recognize each other’s quality and eventually, through shared work, come to value, support, and love each other. It’s also about the work itself. How’s that?

Me: Contemporary Northwest Fiction? I have to complain about this choice of description on your website. To my mind, you have written one of the better Westerns (Modern) in recent memory. The level of attachment to your details, as well as their factual base, makes this a remarkable debut novel. Talk about your research.

Kennedy: Well, research. It’s looking and listening, and remembering. For regional writing, the material is all around us. You can’t be obvious about collecting, though; if you go around with a notebook and pen at the ready, people around here will think you’re working for the brand inspector or the water-master, they’ll clam up. Anyway, you’d accumulate too much stuff; it’s what sticks, what resonates that you want: certain revealing gestures, looks, turns of phrase that twang in your mind. Numbers, you can always get off the internet, and I suppose every writer cherishes his/her posse of experts for questions like, “Should Standfast invest in a calf-table instead of hiring round-up help?” (To which the answer was, “Not for fewer than seventy animals.”)

Aberdeenshire

Me: You wrote a Western in Scotland. Your sabbatical took you far from home and inspired you to write All Roads Lead Me Back To You". Did your trip give you a unique clarity or helpful distance from your subject?

Kennedy: Not as far as you might think. Like everywhere in the USA, Walla Walla is a melting-pot (at one time there were, I think, nineteen nations represented, everybody from Finns to Fijians, all with their own social halls, newspapers, and burial societies), but the bass-note is Scots-Irish-Welsh. So to go and live among Celts was to return to the source of that practical ingenuity, extreme physical hardiness, and crazy optimism that signalized our pioneers. And they’re still around, a type of guy (male and female) who will stop and help you change your blown tire in the snow and jury-rig your broken trailer-hitch and convoy you into town and call you ma’am the whole time. And he/she will do it for anybody, even one suspected of being an illegal alien, or a liberal. And so, my first extended stay in Scotland kind of opened my eyes: “Oh, so that’s where that comes from.” Yes: optimism, cheerfulness. It goes against the stereotype, doesn’t it? But in my (admittedly limited) experience, Scots are mostly only grim when the English are stealing their real estate. It’s the weather that’s dour.

Me: The level of “mind’s eye” detail in your writing is extraordinary. The reader can quite literally feel Alice walking out into the dark and snow on the very first page. How do you decide on the level of detail to include?

Kennedy: That’s an acute question: the level. Obviously, there are the extremes. Too little and, the reader thinks, “Where the hell are we and what’s going on?” Too much, and he/she yells, “Awright, awready! Get on with it!” But in between—hmm.

First, you wouldn’t want to state your theme, your deep purpose in writing, baldly and straight-out, because then you’d have a polemic, not a novel. So instead you need to include observations that point the reader in the right direction. For example, if you think that work is the saving of the world, then you might demonstrate with a lot of small details the good effect of steady work or a certain kind of work on one character and the bad effect of no work or no necessity for work on another.

Second, in building a character, again you don’t want to come right out and say, “X was a complete stinker.” That may be your opinion, but the reader would probably rather form his own (one of the delights of reading, after all), and besides it’s too simple to be true; humans aren’t all-one-thing right through, or over time. But you can kind of “off-shore” your development of a character by letting him interpret details that you would want to put in for narrative purposes anyway. For instance, if you want to show that your guy who’s seemingly as rough as a cob has a more complex inner life than other characters suppose, you can arrange for his take on an early snow, which is going to be a factor in what happens next, to be kind of meditative or poetic.

And then it’s the accumulation of such details that gives the character depth and roundness.

Actually, I think the trick is not to get in the reader’s way. I don’t want the reader to be conscious of me at all; I want the writing to be transparent; I want the reader to be in the story. So when, in editing, I come on something that seems to say, “Look how clever I’m being,” I generally take it out.

***********************

"Foster's own experiences as an ESL teacher and resident of the area enhance the authenticity of her debut novel, which is told from both Alice's and Domingo's perspectives with a wealth of descriptive detail and insights into social issues rooted in the realities of immigration, labor, and property law."-Booklist

***********************
Me: You get to have lunch with any writer you like, from throughout history or today. Who would you invite, and why?

Kennedy: And where? In Walla Walla, in New York, in Delhi? And who’s paying?

Okay, my two favorite living authors are Jane Smiley and Vikram Seth.

Jane Smiley writes the most entertaining domestic essays I’ve ever read. And among many splendid novels, she’s written the best horse story ever, Horse Heaven. It’s so crafty, it’s delicious. There isn’t a weak scene in it, not a line of dialogue that sounds forced or cliché. I can’t say enough about it; in fact, I can’t say anything else about it except that I wish I’d written it. Plus, she’s a midwestern girl, my kind, and I’d like to know what she’s doing with her horses right now.

Vikram Seth wrote A Suitable Boy, which I bought because I’m interested in Indian writing in English. Then I bought about six more copies and sent them to my nears and dears. Wow. First of all, it’s huge, and secondly, it gives you an idea what a truly multicultural society looks like up close. Though I don’t think that’s the real purpose of the work, just a bonus. I think A Suitable Boy is about love in its infinite variety, which “age cannot wither nor custom stale.” It’s just tremendous and I don’t know why it hasn’t been made into a film, unless it’s that a film version could not possibly do it justice.

Me: Tell us about your agent and why you two are a perfect match.

Kennedy: My agent is Janet Reid at FinePrint Literary. She’s from Bend, Oregon, which is a bit like Walla Walla: dry-side agriculture, interesting geology, and a lot of whoop-‘em-up history. But she lives in New York now, and I know she misses her horses montones.

The writer Craig Lesley brought us together. She liked my first book; that’s one thing that makes us a good match. Another is that she’s extremely well-read and very articulate, so if there’s something in a draft that she thinks should be changed, she can say exactly why. This is excellent because, although I don’t object to changing things, even quite major things, I need a rationale. ‘Cause a reason indicates a direction.

Me: Talk about editing your work. How did you know when to stop?

Kennedy: I used to think that editing would go from big to small, like in a school essay where first you read for logic and the most persuasive arrangement of ideas, and then for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Not at all. Grammar-spelling-punctuation goes on all the time, every time I read the piece, or any part of it, for any reason, and I read it a lot. For one thing, when I start work on it each day, I read back what I wrote the two days before. For another, I think of other stuff to put in, so the right place has to be found and its effect there compared with other possible locations. For a third, I sometimes sit bolt-upright in the middle of the night thinking, Holy Toledo! I’ve got So-and-so burgling a house on Monday and getting arrested for it the previous Tuesday! Or I write a phrase that sounds familiar, check back, and find I’ve used it six times already.

But that’s easy stuff, really. It’s when somebody else, like Agent Janet or the editor at Pocket Books, has a problem with something I feel is integral or central or just plain swell that I have to get right down and lay right to, as the pulling-horse people say. For example, in the first draft of All Roads Lead Me Back to You, I wanted to demonstrate the ceremonious quality of Mexican Spanish, so I translated the tú-form, the informal “you,” as the old English informal “you” which was “thou.” So, for example, Domingo would say in Spanish to Socorro, “Art thou scared, Coco?” Well, Janet and Abby Z at Pocket Books both said, “We get it. But after a while it gets in the way of the story.” Which I couldn’t quarrel with, and besides, I realized that it wasn’t a good device because when Spanish-speakers use “tú”, it doesn’t sound odd and archaic to them like “thou” does to us. But it was all through the novel, so fixing it was quite a job. Thank you, Bill Gates, for the Edit function.

I guess the short answer is that I know to stop editing when the book goes to press.

Me: Tell us about your next novel? When can your fans expect it?

Kennedy: I can say a little bit about it. It’s about seven-eighths done. The story follows some of the characters from All Roads and introduces some new ones. It contains a couple of cameos of real-life people. The horses come through okay.

Janet hasn’t seen it yet.

Me: Life-experience in the writing process: what advice can you give writers on its importance?

Kennedy: Life-experience is the raw clay, but what you make of it is something else. If it isn’t, you’re writing autobiography. Between actual history on the one hand and self-indulgent wish fulfillment on the other lies the territory where readers trust the writer to know the way. So in matters of fact, you’d better be sure, or make sure; otherwise, you look like a schmoo.

But life-experience doesn’t get imported whole into fiction very often, I’m betting; in fact, it’s kind of like a stew, with every spoonful a recombination. My friend the short-story writer M. M. Liberman told me that he once saw a cashmere overcoat left on a seat in the subway, and then later had an encounter with the Argentine Nobelist Jorge Luis Borges. The two things happened six or seven years apart, but they came together in his imagination like puzzle pieces as the crux of his wonderful story “Posala’s Coat.”

I don’t know what else to say about this except, “Never throw anything away.” I mean experiences, not notes. Well, notes either, come to think of it.

For example, my sweetheart and I eating Chinese one night last week, a slightly tipsy lady in the next booth declared, “I have this dog Emily. She’s a Chihuahua. When she was born, the vet gave up on her. I said, ‘Oh, that dog will live.’ That was three years ago.” I’m keeping this. I know it means something, but I don’t know what. I’m waiting for the next piece of the puzzle.

Me: I became quite attached to the tenor of your writing style. What authors have influenced your writing voice?

Kennedy: Sadly, everybody. The last author I read, always. I have to guard against this. In the course of my writing life, I’ve done bad Kipling, bad Faulkner, bad Hemingway, really terrible Katherine Anne Porter, bad David Foster Wallace, most recently bad Patrick O’Brian. A chameleon, and not a very skillful one. ( I even did a spell as Ayn Rand, which brought me out in hives; I think it was the politics more than the prose, though.) I suppose it comes of traveling around as an Army brat and needing to fit in. Explanation, not excuse.

Some voices are so attractive that you just wonder, “How does he do that?” and want to give it a try. But I emphatically do not want to write like anybody; no writer does. On the other hand, an extremely individual style calls attention to itself in a way that distracts the reader from the story: also not good. There must be a happy medium in there somewhere.

Interesting questions, Mr Morrison. Nice talking with you!

- Kennedy Foster

Walla Walla, Washington

David Brown Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:56:00 +0000

The Novel Road Interview: David Brown

Have you ever tried to count the number of people involved in the successful publication and release of a book? Let’s see… author, literary agent, editor, copyeditor, marketing, finance, the person in the big chair(publisher), plus a plethora of assistants, interns, lawyers… I missed a whole slew of positions necessary, but you get the idea. One of the positions I missed makes the difference between lines waiting in front of a bookstore to open for a book release and a book ending up as if it never existed.

All Hail the Publicity Specialist!

Public Relations is crucial to the release of any book. Publicity, Publicity, Publicity! Unless you’re Charlie Sheen, then it’s Spin, Spin and wear dark glasses.

P.R. personnel help to not just get the word out, but shape what those words should be. They corral the right media, answering questions while forming a concise message. They are social media incarnate. They are the predecessors of Twitter, their rolodexes of old the first Facebook. They live to connect the dots: Client to customer.

The Novel Road welcomes David Brown, Deputy Director of Publicity for Atria Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. He’s handled campaigns for Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, Shirley McClaine and a slew of diverse clients. He has led authors to the Bestseller lists and gone on whirlwind bus trips to get the word out.

David Brown

Me: The author and the publisher are an enormous part of the process of getting a book into being. Without publicity, a book can be merely one of many. Describe your part in the process. Do you get involved at the manuscript acceptance stage?

David: There are times an editor will ask publicity to chime in on the viability of an author or a book to garner interest in the media or review attention. Publicity is a very important ingredient in a book's overall marketing and promotional campaign but it is just that, one ingredient. Marketing, advertising, promotions, store placement (which is negotiated) and no matter what axiom says, people do sometime judge a book by its cover, so cover design is immensely important as well.

Me: Publicists and social networking. How have the many available avenues to reach out electronically helped you in your work?

David: Social networking, blogs and the like have given rise to an enormous amount of new strategies and techniques and experimentation. The specificity in which we can target readers and the depth in which we can reach fans of certain genres or enthusiasts of certain interests have greatly improved the way I can do my job. The tools technology has given us has allowed me to become better at my job.

Me: How involved do you like to see an author be in social networking their work?

David: If an author has the time and desire needed to devote to successfully interacting with their readers and colleagues through various social networks, then I am fully behind them doing it. If the author has no interest or no time to do it correctly, the worst thing I could do is to talk them into it. Unless you do it right, its not worth doing at all. Its not for everyone and it doesn't have to be.

Me: Does this ability help an author to sell their work? Do publishers pay attention to an author’s personal network when considering a book deal?

David: Publishers look at everything about an author while considering a book deal. An active social network is definitely a plus. It certainly helps galvanize readers to show up at events, review the book on sites like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com and to actively share information on the author amongst their social network.

Me: Describe the process from the first day you receive a book to promote to the day of release.

David: This varies from book to book and author to author. A typical scenario would have the publishing and publicity team develop strategies for promoting a title while the author is still writing a book. We'd begin to implement that plan in stages leading up to and through the publication. This will usually consist of putting together a comprehensive press kit, targeting markets and stores for book signing events, pitching and booking media, both national and local, on TV, radio print and online.

Me: Talk about the relationship between a publicist and an author?

David: This also varies from author to author and project to project. There are many authors that I work with on an annual basis for their releases and we have an intensely close working relationship. I even have some of their cell phone numbers programed into my phone which is an honor I don't bestow to many in my professional life.

Me: Do you involve yourself in things such as book signing or do you stick to broader, mass marketing.

David: Book signings are a very important part of campaigns for many authors. Building authors benefit from visiting stores by meeting sales people, getting to know the people on the floor and on the front lines of book sales so that hopefully when a customer comes in looking for a recommendation, the sales clerk will remember the nice moment he or she spent with that author and recommend that author's book. Big time authors benefit from book signings as way to move large amounts of books in a short period of time, the type of velocity that helps move an author up on bestseller lists. Fans of recurring authors always love meeting, hearing from and getting books signed by their favorite author. That's goodwill and creates word of mouth that can never be replicated in any other way.

Me: The publishing industry is going through an evolution. What changes do you see coming over the next few years?

David: Publishers will begin to continue to come to the realization that they no longer sell books, they sell content.

Me: How do you see the job of publicist changing?

David: The job has been changing and will continue to change in the same direction. Social networking, blogs, websites, Amazon and B&N.com reviews have blurred the line between consumer and media. The consumer is becoming and probably already is the media. We'll be working more and more in a hand to hand combat style.

Me: Talk about some of the craziest campaigns you have worked on.

David: We currently have Olympic hero Apolo Ohno on a multi-city bus tour for his book Zero Regrets. When it is all said and done, he will have visited over 50 cities and met over 20,000 people in the span of just 2 weeks! I've also worked on book written by a dog and a book written by a pimp.

***********************************************************

I'd like to thank David Brown for his time and consideration

Please visit Altria for a look at their list of incredible books.

Ken McClure Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:54:00 +0000

Just when you thought Health Insurance was the only thing to worry about when it came to a doctor visit…

It started for me with author Robin Cook’s Coma. After reading it, whenever I got a blood test, I looked for the “Ah-ha” look in the lab tech’s eyes.

The world of thriller novels found a great dimension in the Medical Thriller. Why? We rarely are exposed to FBI super agents or adolescent wizards, but we do see a doctor every once in a while. Malevolent beings that they can be with their: “You may experience a bit of discomfort” or “Well if it hurts when you do that, stop doing it”.

The subject’s ground is plentiful, as well as real in many instances. My guest is a master of the Medical Thriller. Ken McClure, with background in medical research, knows his stuff. Combining his intellect with great story lines and writing skill, he has become one of the most successful authors in his genre.

Ken, an award winning research scientist with the UK’s Medical Research Council, lives Edinburgh, the capitol city of Scotland.

May I introduce you to, author Ken McClure:

Me: Your being a research scientist in the medical field gave you a unique skill set for your novels. Talk about the moment you decided to become a novelist.

Ken: This has always been a problem question for me because I came late to writing and there was no one moment, just a set of circumstances. I had been working in Israel on a joint research project at Tel Aviv University and the change from a settled life in Scotland to the everyday experiences of life in a Middle Eastern country under constant threat had a profound effect on me. It gave me a new perspective and one which made me feel very unsettled when I got home. I needed something more than the confines of a research lab in my life. I was saying this some weeks later to a woman at a university party - someone I hadn't met before - and her parting words to me were, 'You're a writer; you just don't know it.' This came back to me in the following weeks and I quietly decided to see if she was right. I went upstairs one night and started writing a story about a medic who went to Israel and, almost from the first moment of pen hitting paper, I realised that this was something I really wanted to do. It took me two more books before I got one published but I haven't stopped since. Number twenty-three will come out in the summer of 2011.

Me: You have created an amazing assortment of characters. You’ve wrapped them well in both time and circumstance. Talk about how you created these personalities.

Ken: It's always been my fear that I'm an observer of life rather than a fully-committed participant but, as a writer, this has proved invaluable. I see and remember a lot about people and, because my life has spanned several different strata of society - starting off in a working class tenement home without hot water and moving up through various stages to comfortable middle class environs - I feel as relaxed writing about the yobs you'll find terrorising run-down housing schemes as I do describing the lifestyles and attitudes of the denizens of academe. I've met them all.

Me: Talk about how you balanced the levels of medical fact vs. fiction. How hard was it to limit the medical details you wanted to include?

St. Giles Cathedral
Edinburgh

Ken: The normal course of events is that I will come across one small medical or scientific fact that I find interesting or alarming and will investigate thoroughly to make sure I'm not misunderstanding anything. If it stands up to this preliminary screening and is still interesting or alarming, I'll imagine the worst possible scenario arising from the situation, bring in fictitious characters and write the story. The facts remain facts and the fiction is strictly fiction . . . but it could happen.

I've always been very aware that people in general are not interested in science and sadly that this is quite acceptable in society. The choice for me was between accepting this and acting accordingly or attempting to 'educate the public' - a phrase I loathe and so, I suspect, does the public! Every time a hear some self-important official come out with this on TV, I want to jump up and down on his head. I always go for the former and try to keep medical/scientific detail to a bare minimum. Having said that - Damn! another phrase that I loathe - I secretly and surreptitiously make sure that anyone reading a Ken McClure book ends up knowing a little more about science than he or she did before - hopefully without realizing it.

Me: Talk about editing your work. On your first novel, how did you know when to stop before you submitted?

Ken: I remember there being an awful moment when I realized that I would never be happy with the book and the editing could and probably would go on forever if I didn't put a stop to it. Having learned this lesson, I'll go through a book twice and then submit it and let someone else do it. A good editor can be a joy to work with . . . Mind you, a bad one can be a nightmare. I've been blessed with many more good ones.

Me: Medical Thrillers have a very loyal following. I remember my first Robin Cook novel, Coma. Which authors have had an effect on your choice of genre and why?

Ken: I didn't choose the genre; it chose me. It was a case of applying the old adage, write about something you know about and, by the time I started writing, I was over fifteen years into a career in medical science.

I remember Robin Cook's COMA too, one of the best medical thrillers I've ever read. I loved it and happily it was made into an equally exciting film by Michael Crichton. My all time favourite medical novel however, is still Harry Sinclair Lewis', ARROWSMITH. I read it as a teenager and the impression it made remains with me after all these years.

Me: Talk about your agent and why the two of you are a perfect match?

University of
Edinburgh

Ken: I don't have an agent . . . that's why we're a perfect match.

Me: This question, courtesy of Jeff Hall : "I'm a shortstory-ist. Writing a novel is like a crazy long marathon, only harder. How do you maintain a clear sense of that first passion that inspired you throughout a 200K word journey?"

Ken: I don't see a novel as a marathon. For me, it's a series of short sprints. At the outset I know the beginning and end of the story but not too much about what comes in between. This leads to the continual excitement of wondering what the hell is going to happen in the next chapter. When I reach the end of a book, I go back to the beginning and edit things, making it appear that it was a seamless flow from beginning to end - an art in itself - instead of the nightmare ride down the rapids in a capsizing raft it actually was. There are parallels with the way things are done in research. Very often hunches or intuition are involved but there is no place for these things in the reporting process so, when all the results are in, the researcher has to make it appear that all experiments were carried out in a logical, progressive manner when submitting work for publication when, in reality, things may all have been done back to front.

Me: Publishing is going through an evolution right now. Talk about how this has or will affect you.

Ken: I'm very apprehensive about it all, mainly because I have no idea how it will affect me. I think my major concern however, is that I don't think publishers really know what's going on either. It's all a bit like watching an alien spacecraft land and wondering what's going to come out the door.

Me: You get to have lunch with any author, from throughout history or today. Who would it be and why?

Ken: I think it would have to be Charles Dickens, not that I'd want to discuss the stories but more a case of finding out where his understanding of human nature came from and how much his characterization was down to life experience rather than imagination. Did such an understanding lead to cynicism in later life or did he mange to retain a benevolent view of the human condition? I suspect the heroes in my books, including the Steven Dunbar series owe much to Sydney Carton in, A TALE OF TWO CITIES - flawed but with a heart in the right place and someone who'll end up doing the right thing in the end.

Me: The reviews of your work have been excellent. Lazarus Strain is a fantastic novel and Hypocrites Isle has a plot premise that provoked thought, as well as being a great read. The idea of medical research one day “discovering” their way out of business so that they temper their successes to survive… Talk about your research and how you make your plots so plausible?

Edinburgh Castle

Ken: If some plots seem plausible it's probably because they are the ones based on fact and many years working as a researcher have made me careful to check that anything I suggest might happen in a book actually could. I don't for a moment suggest that such events are likely but it's important for me to check and know that they are possible. With regard to characters appearing in the stories, I firmly believe that human nature is the driving force behind everything we do and the motivations of people working on the factory floor do not differ greatly from those whose workplace is the operating theatre or research lab. They are just dressed up differently. I don't believe that any one section of society deserves to be regarded with the hushed reverence that is often bestowed upon say, neurosurgeons or cancer researchers. They are people doing a job not saints. I get quite angry when I see researchers playing on the high regard that they know people hold them in and manipulating it to their own ends. More honesty would be welcome in medical research such as a stop to researchers announcing breakthroughs which really aren't in the terms that a a patient or man in the street might understand by the term. They do it to attract more funding but they create the impression that research is rocketing along when it actually isn't. I suspect the next generation of false impressions will come from data currently being sourced from the sequencing of the human genome. I predict a regular string of announcements to the press that this group or that group of scientists have discovered the gene responsible for this or that condition without bothering to add that medical science can do nothing about it. Instead we will get the rider, 'Hopefully within five to ten years this will lead to the development of etc etc.' We've known which gene is responsible for cystic fibrosis for over thirty years.

Me: Give me a two sentence “Hook” for “Dust to Dust”.

Ken: There is now almost overwhelming scientific evidence that Black Death, which wiped out a third of Europe's population in the fourteenth century, was not caused by bubonic plague. When a secret store of preserved plague death bodies is discovered under the floor of an ancient Scottish abbey, Dr John Motram gets his chance to discover the truth, but at a terrible cost.

New Haven Harbor
Edinburgh

Week after Week #11

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:53:00 +0000

The Interviews return on Monday with Bestselling author Gary Corby and Sean Ferrell on Tuesday

But until then, an INTERMISSION!! Imagine the sound of "The Girl from Ipanema" in the background as you run to the concession stand for Red Vines, Milk Duds and double espresso.

I know why some author's succeed and others fail. The Interviews have taught me a supreme lesson that I will pass on to you: Never stop promoting your work, EVER and honor your commitments
Peter Ginna had more full page readers in a one hour period than any other guest so far. The all round numbers winner so far? Brian Haig. I'm betting Sean Ferrell gives him a run for his money on December 14th.
Funny how the guests with the most views have people that believe in them enough to help get the word out...funny... Note to authors: make sure the people that are supposed to be helping you, actually are
Next month's guests so far: Robert Hicks, Tasha Alexander, Jeff Somers, Norb Vonnegut, Ben Greenman, Diana Pharoah Francis, Joelle Anthony, John Lescroart and agent Jeff Kleinman, editor Dave King
Starting Short Story Saturday's this week with a grreat piece by Norb Vonnegut. Interested? Submit 800 word max storys to portales55@gmail.com . I'll notify each of the worthy, who will get the page for the day.
Sunday will be a bit of a travel piece from an author friend of mine "languishing" on the sunny beaches of Bohol, Phillipines... Many may envy the talented Sarah and her husband Myk's lifestyle... Not me, nope, nope nope...bitch

Finally, what guys think a Romantic Comedy involving modern day Pirates will be like, may differ from that of a woman. It was fun building Tawna Fenske's page though... (Note to self: think over the author's right to approve page before posting)

Peter Ginna Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:51:00 +0000

artwork by Thomas Rowlandson

The Novel Road Interview : Peter Ginna - Publisher and Editorial Director, Bloomsbury Press

When I asked Peter to be a part of these interviews, I explained that he was on my "Please say yes" list. This is why:

Bloomsbury Press, which Peter founded, publishes a diverse topic list, from Anthologies to Women’s Studies and everything in between. Whether Politics, Food and Wine, Economics or Sports they maintain their primary goal above all: To publish the best serious nonfiction being written today. Peter and Bloomsbury Press focus on work that represents original research, sharp thinking, and lively writing. Their mission is to find answers to time-honored questions. Bloomsbury’s topic list holds 27 subjects and I’m sure they have no problem adding a 28th, if it’s worthy and up to their impeccable standards.

artwork by Thomas Rowlandson

Peter Ginna has worked as a book editor since 1982, beginning at Persea Books, St. Martin’s Press, and Crown Publishers. At Crown he published award-winning fiction and nonfiction, editing authors ranging from the historian Thomas Buell to Colin Dexter (creator of the bestselling Inspector Morse mysteries), Audrey Meadows, and Larry King. He edited Suze Orman’s #1 bestseller The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom.

    Prior to life at Bloomsbury Press, Peter spent several years as editorial director for trade books at Oxford University Press, where he published the Pulitzer Prize–winning works of history Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer and Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky, and the Bancroft Prize–winning In Pursuit of Equity by Alice Kessler-Harris. He also edited the New York Times bestsellers Crossroads of Freedom by James M. McPherson and Six Days of War by Michael B.Oren.

    Other authors Peter has worked with include Raymond Arsenault, Colin Calloway, David Cannadine, James Cobb, Norman Davies, Sarah Deutsch, Robert and Ellen Kaplan, Edward T. Linenthal, Lauro Martines, Caroline Murphy, James T. Patterson, Robert Utley, Jennifer Weber, and Donald Worster.

   Peter blogs about books and publishing at http://www.doctorsyntax.net/

                                                   ******************************

Me: Do you have a character, from a manuscript you have edited, that has left a mark on you?

Peter: Many, so I’ll pick one from a manuscript I’ve just published: Stephen Douglas, who lost the presidential election of 1860 to a dark-horse candidate named Abraham Lincoln. Douglas was on what we’d consider the “wrong” side of the slavery issue, and he had often acted from expediency and ambition. But when he knew he was about to lose the office he had coveted for his whole career, Douglas barnstormed the country trying to hold the Union together. He literally died trying to prevent the Civil War. The story is told Douglas Egerton’s book YEAR OF METEORS, and I found it surprisingly moving.

Me: The editor in you must have an intuition for the “special” book; the one that seems destined to huge sales or a place in literary history. Among the books you have worked with, what made your “I knew it” list?

Peter: The humbling thing about being an editor is the flip side of your question: how many of the books you know are special never achieve the sales they deserve. That’s much more common than thinking “I know it” and seeing the title on the bestseller list. But it’s exciting when you’re right. I knew David Hackett Fischer’s WASHINGTON’S CROSSING was a masterpiece when I first read it—it was brilliantly researched, wonderfully written, and thrilling to read. It became a New York Times bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for history. But I have had the same feeling about other books that never hit the jackpot that way.

Me: The editors I’ve researched, seem to stick to comfort zones when they choose a manuscript. Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone?

Peter: I’d hate to think I always publish in a “comfort zone,” because I think you should always be looking for works that challenge you and that are different from what you have done before. At the same time, it’s hard to be a good publisher for a MS you don’t know anything about or you’re not enthusiastic about. For instance, my politics are moderately liberal, but I’m always ready to publish books that make good arguments for conservative positions, or far-left ones for that matter. On the other hand, I’d never be the right editor for a book on organic gardening, because I’m not a gardener of any kind. I don’t think you should edit a book that you’d never buy in a bookstore. To publish something well, you have to know how to connect with its intended reader. So I don’t ask, “is this in my comfort zone?” I ask, “do I know who would want to read this and how I’d get them excited about it?”

Me: Publishing Non-Fiction has a higher degree of speculation (i.e. advances, deadlines) than Fiction Publishing. Is this a true statement?

Peter: To use a favorite publishing phrase: it depends. In general the advantage of publishing nonfiction is that you can identify the audience for it and have some idea how to reach that market—whether it’s organic gardeners, Obama-haters, Civil War buffs or dog lovers. You can make some guesses about the market based on how other titles have performed. In fiction, it’s much more unpredictable, with the major exception of genre fiction. Historical romances, cozy mysteries, steampunk, anything in a series –those niches help you target the readership. But for many novelists it’s hard to predict how a new work will sell, so it’s highly speculative. In general I’d say fiction is more of a guessing game for a publisher.

Me: What is Bloomsbury Press looking for right now?

Peter: That’s a question I’m always reluctant to answer, because there aren’t one or two things we’re “looking for.” We are always looking for well-written books that have something interesting and preferably original to say, on a subject of importance. I have written more about this on our website, bloomsburypress.com.

Me: I send you a 150,000-word manuscript. It’s a mess, the title is even misspelled , but you read the first page and it catches your interest. Do you send it back with a note explaining, “Spell Check”, margins and sentence fragments, or do you keep it? What state do you like to see a manuscript in before you work on it?

Peter: In all honesty, if you can’t spell the title I’m not going to read much further unless your first paragraph is stunningly brilliant. Authors who can’t achieve a baseline level of professionalism are, in my experience, extremely unlikely to write a book that can be published with success.

Me: How much author editing is too much? Where should an author stop editing before submission?

Peter: Keep editing until it’s really good, but by that I don’t mean “tinker obsessively with your MS for months.” Get feedback—candid feedback—from readers you trust. I work with a lot of scholars. In the academic world, even the most senior authors routinely show their drafts—sometimes single chapters, sometimes whole manuscripts--to other people who know their subject really well, and get their comments. It amazes me how often an author will say something like “I showed this to three readers and they all thought it was the best thing I’ve done,” and it turns out the readers are her husband, her mom and her next-door neighbor. Find some readers who aren’t afraid to tell you your script is boring, and get their comments.

Me: Freelance editors, hired by authors. The consensus with literary agents seems to be an author doesn’t need one. You would think a closer to finished manuscript would cost them less to move forward?

Peter: I don’t know which agents you have talked to, but I question that “consensus.” Most of the agents I know tell me it’s getting harder to sell anything that needs work, because editors are reluctant to take on really time-consuming projects. And I know a lot of freelance editors who are being hired by authors and agents to get their work ready to submit to publishers.

Me: I’ve written about how I think editors may be going into a “Gold Rush” market for their skills. I base this on the increasing number of fairly sloppy e-books that seem to make it onto the market. Will Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc, have to address this problem? If so, what’s your solution?

Peter: I’m not sure what problem you’re referring to. The sloppiness of e-books is often a problem not in the writing or editing, but in the conversion of print book text to e-book format. This is a matter, more or less, of proofreading, not “editing” of the kind that I do. And I think it will dwindle away as publishers learn to plan their work flow to incorporate e-books. That said, I am sure that the skill of editing manuscripts and preparing them for publication is one that will continue to be needed, in whatever format books are produced.

Me: I’ve written a post on literary agents, in an ongoing series I call “Writer’s Angst”. What would you like writers to know about the world of the editor? The Publisher?

Peter: Even though we have to say no to 95 percent (or more) of the submissions we receive, no editor was drawn into this business by the idea of turning people down. We’re always hoping that the next thing we read is going to be something that we love.

Me: Dr. Syntax is an incredible site, offering insights to both new and experienced writers. How do you find the time to blog and maintain the incredibly high standards at Bloomsbury Press, as well as have a personal life?

Peter: Thanks for all those flattering adjectives. I squeeze the blog in as best I can, and readers will probably notice that I sometimes go a long time between posts, which mostly reflects how much else is going on in my working life at any given time.

Me: You wake up one day and decide to pitch it all to write a great book. What would the subject be and who would edit it?

Peter: I have often thought I’d like to write about the history of publishing in the early 20th century, which is so often held up as a golden age. I’d love to examine how the dynamics of the industry worked. I suspect the book business in Maxwell Perkins’ day was closer to ours than we commonly believe.

Me: The Publishing Industry is facing enormous challenges in the not so distant future. A number of smaller Houses have closed, Literary Agencies are taking on fewer, if not more select clients. Paint us a picture of the Publishing Industry five years from now.

Peter: Predicting the future of publishing even two years from now is probably impossible. But I think within ten years it will look very different. E-books will be a much bigger piece of the market, but we don’t know whether they’ll be the predominant format. Conversely, retail bookstores will be many fewer in number. The shrinking of retail space is going to hurt the revenues of publishers, big publishers in particular, and we may well see more consolidation of major houses. I suspect author advances will go down on average—again I mean at the larger houses. Meanwhile I think we’ll see an increase, maybe an explosion, of alternatives to the big-house model of publishing. Smaller houses, e-book-only publishers, houses that sell books on a subscription basis as well as conventional print sales. Maybe every bookstore will have an Espresso machine printing books on demand in the front window.

                            **************************************************

    I would like to thank Peter Ginna for his time and generosity of spirt for doing this interview. Time and again, I read how people in the publishing industry worry about it's future. It's time to start looking at what we have going for us, and to me, Peter is a shining example of why we will not just go on, but excel.

    Technology may challenge us, and the confusion of the world, continue to confound reason. Yet if we really truly look to us each, we will know, and our way will be found.

artwork by Thomas Rowlandson

Dale Brown Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Dale Brown

The Novel Road Interview: Dale Brown

My intention with these interviews was to find authors of note, representing the many literary genres, and ask questions that point directly to their work. When I approached Dale Brown to represent “Techno-Thrillers”, he graciously accepted.

Having read a score of his novels (Yes, he has a SCORE of novels) over the years, I began formulating questions… Guy questions? Yes, and who could blame me. I am a guy after all and Dale has earned more frequent flyer miles from flying some of the coolest aircraft ever invented, than most people have on commercial airliners.

Note to self: ask Dale if the Air Force has a Frequent Flyer program, and see if he’ll slide me a few for a B-1ride.

I had a problem though, in that Dale Brown isn’t your typical bombs-a-bursting author. If you have ever read one of his novels, you can’t help but realize Dale is actually a brilliant writer. Others in his genre can’t all make this claim. What’s more, the questions he chose to answer were about his passion for the written word, not traveling at Mach Two… Damn him!

Here’s a bit of background:

Dale Brown, a former U.S. Air Force captain, is the author of New York Times best-selling 22 action-adventure “techno-thriller” novels, making that prestigious list 15 times! His novels are published in 11 languages and distributed to over 70 countries. Worldwide sales of his novels, audiobooks and video games, are well in excess of 15 million copies. He has co-authored another eleven books in the bestselling Dreamland series, with Jim DeFelice. He is the writer and technical consultant on the Act of War PC real-time strategy game, published by Atari Interactive, as well as on the Megafortress PC flight simulator by Three-Sixty Pacific.

Dale was born in Buffalo, New York in 1956.

He graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Western European History and received an Air Force commission in 1978. He was a navigator-bombardier in the B-52G Stratofortress heavy bomber and the FB-111A supersonic medium bomber, and is the recipient of several military decorations and awards including the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Combat Crew Award, and the Marksmanship ribbon. He was a member of the first class of Air Force ROTC cadets to qualify for and complete the grueling three-week U.S. Army Airborne Infantry paratrooper-training course at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Dale is a command pilot in Angel Flight West, a group that volunteer their time, skills, and aircraft to fly needy medical patients free of charge to receive medical treatment. Dale is also a Mission Pilot in the Civil Air Patrol, which performs search and rescue, disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, surveillance, and many other missions in support of the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies. He supports a number of organizations to promote law enforcement, education, literacy, and support for military veterans and their families.

He is a Life Member of the Air Force Association, U.S. Naval Institute, and National Rifle Association. He is a multi-engine and instrument-rated private pilot and can often be found in the skies all across the United States, at the controls of his Piper Aztec-E. On the ground, Dale is a U.S. Soccer Federation referee and American Youth Soccer Organization referee instructor, and enjoys tennis and scuba diving. Dale, his wife Diane, and son Hunter live near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

“When a former pilot turns his hand

to thrillers, you can take their

authenticity for granted. His writing is

exceptional and the dialogue,

plots and characters are First-Class…

far too good to be missed” -Sunday Mirror-

“Dale Brown is the best military

adventure writer in the country”

--CLIVE CUSSLER

Me: What was the first thing you ever wrote that told you “I can do this?”

Dale: I wrote an editorial for my high school newspaper defending a so-called "crackdown" on smoking in the parking lot, and I was surprised at how many POSITIVE responses I received. Clue: Have the courage to speak your mind.

Me: You're co-writing novels with Jim DeFelice. It is becoming more and more common among established authors to co-write. Why?

Dale: Established authors do other series to keep their names on the bookshelves. But I do not subscribe to the concept of "ghost writer." Jim DeFelice is not my ghost-writer: he is an established and well-known author that writes outstanding stories that I am fortunate enough to collaborate on with him.

Me: In two sentences, describe your book or work in progress.

Dale: "A Time For Patriots" is about patriotism--good and bad. In tough economic and political times, one man's patriotism is another man's extremism--and vice-versa.

Me: How strict are you when it comes to staying true to your outline?

Dale: It never happens. The outline is just that--an outline. The story is always the master, and the story always changes. The characters have a life of their own that must be accurately and dynamically portrayed.

Me: Lunch with you and any Author you choose, from throughout history or today, and why.

Dale: Mark Twain, but NOT Samuel Clemens. Mark Twain was the fictional character come to life--Sam Clemens was the starving writer. Everyone should be exactly what they want to be, even if they have to invent them. Clemens had the guts to invent Mark Twain, and he will be immortalized because of it.

Me: You show a tremendous connection to your subject matter, as evidenced by your great stories and characters. Talk about your characters and how they came to be?

Dale: My characters serve the story, versus so-called "character-based" novels which focus on the character. Drama is about conflict, and as in real life, I want to portray how a person interacts with the situation and the story, and not the other way around.

Me: Talk about editing your first book. Also, how did you know when to stop?

Dale: I had the good fortune to listen to my first agents George and Olga Wieser, who told me that the story was good but the telling of the story was bad because I had too much technical gobbly-de-gook in it--I interrupted the story to inject more techno-stuff. The story is the master--serve the master. When you have a few books under your belt you can assert your own opinions, but in the first few books, listen to your experts.

When to stop? When you've told the story you want to tell. Your editor or agent may have opinions about breaks, holes, or questions in the story, but YOU always tell YOUR story--period.

Me: Tell us about your agent and why the match is perfect?

Dale: My agent, Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media, is a good match because he has standing and credibility in New York. He has enough clients that deals with different publishing houses and different clients interact for everyone's benefit.

But as an author, your job is to produce, not to worry about the deal-making. The great process breaks down if you don't deliver the goods. You are a writer--WRITE! Deliver the stuff you are passionate about and that the publishers want. YOUR passion is the key. Put YOUR passion down on paper. That's what the agents, editors, and publishers really want and pay for.

Me: This question, courtesy of Jeff Hall : “I'm a shortstory-ist. Writing a novel is like a crazy long marathon, only harder. How do you maintain a clear sense of that first passion that inspired you throughout a 200K word journey?”

Dale: You write whatever you are passionate and motivated to write. Military-technological-geopolitical stuff sometimes takes longer to set up, so you take the space and time to do it properly. If you can tell your story in less time and space, then do it. Again, as a novelist, you are slave to the STORY. Don't scrimp or save--tell it PROPERLY, YOUR WAY, but TELL THE STORY. Short or long, whatever, but TELL IT.

Me: You get a blank check to write about ANYTHING and it’s guaranteed to be published. What would the subject be?

Dale: There is no such thing as "guaranteed to be published," so don't be sucked into that idea. Publishers pay for personal PASSION in manuscripts, whatever it's about. You need to put your deepest, darkest, most earnest emotions into every chapter. If you are an expert in the story, you need to portray yourself as an expert. If you are a participant, you need to accurately and PERSONALLY insert yourself as the participant--EVEN IF YOU HAVE NEVER PARTICIPATED! RELEASE YOURSELF. This is FICTION! Take advantage of the freedom fiction affords you!

Me: The publishing world is changing. Share your thoughts on what you think these changes may hold for authors.

Dale: Authors had better understand that print publishing and "brick-and-mortar" bookstores are going away, and electronic publishing is the way of the world. We need to accept and plan for the advent of all-electronic distribution and presentation. It will mean that electronic publishers will dominate and determine who and what gets published, and different deals will need to be made. The author, agent, and publisher that works with and syncs with the electronic media market will dominate.

                                   ***************************************

       I'd like to thank Dale for his time, taken from his busy schedule, to do this interview. He gave me a view of the great author he is, as well as his passion for the story and the written word. Authors everywhere wonder how they can become successful in the competitive world of publishing. Dale gave you the answer: Be true to the story! I, for one, am listening, because his 15 million books says he knows what he's talking about...

FLIGHT OF THE OLD DOG (1987), SILVER TOWER (1988), DAY OF THE CHEETAH (1989), HAMMERHEADS (1990), SKY MASTERS (1991), NIGHT OF THE HAWK (1992), CHAINS OF COMMAND (1993), STORMING HEAVEN (1994), SHADOWS OF STEEL (1996), FATAL TERRAIN (1997), THE TIN MAN (1998), BATTLE BORN, (1999), WARRIOR CLASS (2001), WINGS OF FIRE (2002), AIR BATTLE FORCE (2003), PLAN OF ATTACK (2004), ACT OF WAR (2005), EDGE OF BATTLE (2006), STRIKE FORCE (2007), SHADOW COMMAND (2008), ROGUE FORCES (2009), and EXECUTIVE INTENT (2010).

Robin Becker Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:47:00 +0000

Zombies! Look past age old prejudices. The blank look on a Zombie's face is merely a different way to ask for a hug...

My guest today knows her Zombies. Robin Becker, author of "Brains: A Zombie Memoir", has written a novel that transcends the stereotypical zombie-trope. Through Robin, we FINALLY have a Zombie that cares...

Robin Becker is proud to have grown up in Hackensack, New Jersey, even though she left at age 18 and never looked back. She has lived in Philadelphia, Austin, San Francisco, Baton Rouge and Kirksville, Missouri. In the spring of 1987, she lived for three months in a 1972 Volkswagen Microbus, traveling across the land like a punk-rock Jack Kerouac. In 1994, she spent nine months backpacking throughout the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In 2000, she received her MFA from LSU.

In addition to writing, Robin plays sloppy guitar and has been in a slew of girl bands

Robin currently lives in Toad Suck, Arkansas, with her husband Mark Spitzer. She enjoys cooking, fishing and teaching writing at the University of Central Arkansas.

Please welcome author and Grrrl Band rocker, Robin Becker

Robin Becker

Me: What was the first thing you ever wrote that told you “I can do this?”

Robin: The poetry I wrote in an undergraduate course in college, sophomore year. I specialized in a faux-confessional style influenced by Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Sharon Olds, and Charles Bukowski. My narrator was crazy for sex and drugs; she was slutty, self-destructive and dangerous--and she wasn't me. The people in class bought the persona, however. They thought I was the "I" of the poems and treated me accordingly. I'd totally fooled them. Ha!

Me: Give me a two sentence “Hook” that describes “Brains”.

Robin: Professor Jack Barnes is turned into a zombie during the zombie apocalypse, but he retains sentience; he can think and he can write. The book is his memoir, describing how he comes to accept and understand his new ontological state.

Me: Compared to other Zombies, Jack Barnes holds the unique ability to think. How did you set the boundary of his intellect?

Robin: Jack's intellect knows no bounds. He can think about anything and everything--and he remembers his life as a human as well. His limits are physical, not intellectual. He can't talk; he can't drive a car or play the guitar. His mind is willing, but his flesh is not. He sends the command, but the nerves have been severed. That's the source of his angst, in fact.

Me: I liked your observations in an earlier interview of an evolutional progress to the historically fixed Zombie character. Do hard core Zombie-ists have a problem with “likeable” Jack?

Robin: Some of the early reviewers weren't happy with a thinking zombie, but they were a minority. In fact, the most complaints came from posters in the comments section, people who hadn't read the book but wanted to weigh in on the rules governing zombies nevertheless. Those who actually read the book and who love zombies understand that I'm playing with the genre out of genuine affection. Jack's action are old-school Romero zombie: slow, shambling, hungry.

Me: Talk about editing your book. Also, how did you know when to stop?

Robin: I've stopped? It's over? Seriously, I knew it was ready to send to agents when I read it without making any changes. That was probably draft 15. But it went through a dozen revisions after that.

Me: “Brains” would make one hell of a movie. Give your pick for the actors for Jack and his crew.

Robin: I am absolutely horrible at this! If Brains were optioned, I would not want to work on the film because I think in words, not pictures. In my mind's eye, Jack looks like a cartoon, not a person. So maybe he could be played by that stick man on the caution signs!

Robin: Writing a novel is also like being married--sometimes the passion dies, but you still slog through every day because you're committed to the project. Some days you hate it; some days you love it; some days it bores you; others you can't wait to get it on. But every day you deal with it, look at it, commune with it. That said, if I had to choose between a book and my husband...um, I'd never have to choose so I'm not going to answer my own question. Basically, you need tenacity, some might call it stubbornness!

Shark Zombie

Me: Tell us about your agent, and why the match is perfect?

Robin: My agent is the fabulous Janet Reid! She's a great match, because she's the shark. And zombies are like sharks. They're both at the top of the food chain, acting on instinct. All animal.

Me: Lunch with you and any Author you choose, from throughout literary history or today, and why.

Robin: Walt Whitman because we'd get naked in the wilderness and experience the cosmos together. Plus I dig his beard. Actually I see Whitman every day. He's under my boot soles, in the grass. He never died because there is no death.

Me: If you ever wrote a Non-Fiction book, what would the subject be?

Robin: Rock and roll! I've been in bands since 1989--most of them loud, sloppy, irreverent, in-your-face and female. I've often thought about chronicling that experience in a memoir--and including interviews with professional and amateur grrrl rockers. But I much prefer fiction because I like to make things up.

Me: Talk about your life experience and its importance to you as an author.

Robin: I've done a lot of stuff--moved to London at 18, lived in a VW Microbus for three months and drove out west, backpacked through the Middle East and Eastern Europe for nine months--but none of it prepared me to write. Flannery O'Connor said, "Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days." I believe that. A writer needs imagination, patience and the ability to be alone and quiet for hours at a time. That's all.

Me: Give me your definition of Zombie as a metaphor.

Robin: Zombies offer great metaphorical raw material for writers and filmmakers because you can make them a symbol for most anything: consumerism, addiction, contagion, consciousness, immortality, religion, ontology, desire, death. All the big guns are contained in waking corpses. That's why zombies will never die.

Brian Haig Interview

portales55@gmail.com (Douglas Morrison) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:46:00 +0000

The best thing about these interviews was the "Sure, I'd love to do your interview" from authors, agents, editors and publishers I admire. When an author like Brian Haig says yes to an interview, it's like Christmas in November. Think of it. I get TWO Christmas'... Actually I get 32 Chistmas' - 31 interviews and one regular old Christmas. What makes it so special to interview these talented people? It's because I can't wait to see their answer to my questions. What will they be like? Will they give me half hearted answers, or worse still, will a publicist be doing the answering while the real author is in Tahiti? How will I know I'm getting the real thing? I mean, after all, Brian just released another bestseller "The Capital Game", so why would he make the time?

When you read Brian Haig's answers, you'll why. You will also know that his character Sean Drummond is alive and well and visiting The Novel Road today.

First, a little bit about this extraordinary man from his website...

        "Brian Haig spent 22 years on active duty before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1997 and going into private business. He graduated from West Point in 1975, and was commissioned an infantry lieutenant. His first posting was an infantry battalion in Germany guarding Pershing Missiles, followed by three years as an infantry company commander at Fort Carson, Colorado, before he was selected as an intern at the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, working in the Current Operations Directorate on the Lebanon peacekeeping operation.

        The Army sent him to Harvard for a master's degree and a specialty in military strategy. For the next three years he was the global strategist on the Army staff, responsible for helping formulate the regional warplan for Southwest Asia, and the global warplans against the Soviet Union, translating military requirements into the DOD budget, and advising the Army's senior leadership on global issues. After a tour in a Bradley battalion in Germany, he transferred to Seoul where he spent three years as the Special Assistant to the Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command, the commander of all American and Republic of Korea forces in Korea, where his duties included drafting a new theater warplan, and devising a new military strategy regarding North Korea for the post-Cold War era.

       His final four years on active duty were as the Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, preparing all speeches, briefings, public statements, and congressional testimonies, as well as advising the Chairman on strategic, global and Asian regional issues.

      After he retired in the Summer of 1997, he became a Director, then President of Erickson AirCrane, manufacturer and operator of the world's largest heavy helicopter fleet, and then spent a year as President of International Business Communications, a B2B internet company for the sale of aviation parts.

      His first novel, Secret Sanction, was published in the Summer of 2001, and was a national and Washington Post bestseller. His second novel, Mortal Allies, was released in Spring 2002; his third, The Kingmaker, in January 2003; and his fourth, Private Sector, in September 2003. Secret Sanction has been optioned by Nicholas Cage and his production company for a future motion picture. He now writes full-time, and works as a Fox News Military contributor.
He has a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard, and a Masters in Government from Georgetown University. His military awards include Airborne wings and the Ranger tab, two Legions of Merit, and the Distinguished Service Medal.

     He lives very happily with his wife and four children in New Jersey."

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did!

Me: What was the first thing you ever wrote that told you "I can do this"?

Brian Haig

Brian: I wouldn't say it was anything I wrote. I read a few big bestselling books by other authors, and they were so dreadful, I said, "Hey, I think I can do better than this goombah ... or at least as badly." And the more I talk to other authors the more I learn that they shared that same experience. Of course, you have to be careful and not name the books because their book might be the one that lured you into the trade. But thinking it and actually doing it are obviously different things. Now, every time I meet a new author and they say something like, "I read all your books. Man, they were the inspiration that brought me into writing," I just smile, knowingly. Life is funny. It always comes full circle.

Me: Talk about editing your first book. When did you know to stop?

Brian: It's a little like that old joke: I love slamming my head against the wall because it feels so good when I stop. But the truth is, like most novice writers, I didn't edit that first one nearly enough. I had a strong theme, and a compelling story in mind, and I just raced through it. It took about 3 months, start to finish. Oh sure, there were a few regrettable mistakes that I missed--one character had thick, connected eyebrows that were described as perpendicular to his lips, for example. And a lot of really helpful readers made sure to bring that to my attention in emails. That, however, wasn't the big problem. The big issue is, I wasn't critical enough about things like dialogue and character development, the stuff rookie writers often get wrong.

Now, here's the thing: that first book has to be great. Don't let this scare you; though it should. First, it has to run that ugly gauntlet of agents and editors. Second, it has to flirt with your publisher so much that it entices them to spend a big gob of money on that first date--money in advances, money for marketing, cash for publicity. And then it has to convince readers to spend their kid's college education on your future books. So edit until blood runs out your forehead.

Me: Tell us about your agent and why the match is perfect.

Brian: Well, you have to understand that we met on a blind date. A friend of mine was in New York at a fancy dinner, and was seated beside a beautiful blonde lady, who, in the course of conversation, mentioned that her husband was a book agent. So my opportunistic friend mentioned that he had a friend out in Oregon who had just finished a manuscript, and being a very nice lady, she didn't throw up in his lap, but instead said, have your friend mail it to my husband and I'll make sure he looks at it. I mailed it the next day and, coincidentally, her son had just hung up his guitar after years cavorting around America with a rock band, and started work with his father. It was his first day. So this manuscript rolls in with a nasty maternal favor tag on it. And the boss of the Agency hands it to his son and probably looking somewhere between pained and guilty, and somewhat relieved, says something like, "Your wonderful mother did it again. Be sure to include a few merciful comments in the rejection letter."

Fate is funny. Anyway, Luke turned out to be all that, and a bag of chips. What makes him a great agent? The same stuff that makes a great friend, which he now happens to be. He's loyal, he's honest, he's punctual, and he's a great businessman, which is important because I'm greedy. He is brilliant and witty and charming and well-mannered, all of which is important because I'm not. After all, somebody has to be pleasant and likeable when you're meeting with publishers. Also, he's hard-wired to be well-humored and nice which is another important quality, because most writers are neurotic, insecure ninnies, and I'm not putting myself above my fellow craftsman. Writing, like beauty pageants, is putting your talent up on the block, nearly naked on full display. And while most critics are probably nice people around their families and neighbors, they change when they get a book to review: how fun it is to show the world they're smarter and more discerning than the stupid writer. The agent has to pick up the pieces afterward and say insincere yet inveterately optimistic things like, "Oh, what do they know?" or my favorite, "Let's see them write a book," as if that matters. Luke does all that more sincerely than most.

Me: You show a tremendous connection to your subject matter, as evidenced by your crisp dialogue and characters. Talk about your research.

Brian: Thank you, Doug. Actually, I've had a fairly adventurous life, so research hasn't been much of a problem, yet. I was a career army officer. I lived overseas nearly fifteen years, traveled voraciously, three tours in the Pentagon, and the Army let me do things I never even dreamed of when I was a young sprig at West Point. Afterward I was the president of two companies where I got some insight into the business world, although not expertise, which is why I am now writing books. You know what they say; those who can, do. Those who can't write about it. For further proof, read the New York Times editorial page.

So far I've been able to draw on those experiences. Also the internet is an amazing tool for facts and esoteria. Besides, it's fiction; the whole point is to make stuff up.

Me: I'm a huge fan of your novels. Sean Drummond is an incredible character. After six books with Sean, Alex Konevitch and Jack Wiley appear. How much of a gamble is it to create a new character? Did 'first novel' release nerves appear when you unveiled Alex and Jack?"

Brian: Again, Doug, thanks. That's very kind. Here's the thing. I love to write. And I particularly enjoy books that are funny, or at least witty, so that's the kind I try to write. The Drummond books are first-person. So that's one kind of writing, one kind of perspective, one kind of humor. Drummond is the congenital American wiseass I'd like to believe he's very funny, and thus, his sarcastic asides and insistent manly flaws lend personality to the plot. Third person is a very different kind of challenge. It's a totally different style, one that allows a broader perspective, and faster pacing, but also enforces a separation between the reader and the character. I really wanted to tackle it, and along comes my friend, Alex, with a real-life story just begging to be told. If you've read The Hunted, which is inspired by his true story, you know what he experienced was truly a whopper of a tale. Was I nervous or concerned about moving away from Drummond? No, I'm not all that bright. Besides I have very nice readers, like you. Then I had read so many news stories about companies profiteering and trying to rip off the Department of Defense while we're fighting two wars, that I really wanted to do a book around it. And if you've read Capitol Game, you'll understand why it had to be written in third person. So The Hunted and then Capitol Game required me to adopt a new style of writing--how to unroll a plot without losing the wittiness that I think my readers enjoy. So it's a different kind of wit. More subtle, more sly, more satirical than Drummond's corrugating tongue. Some Drummond fans didn't like it; most did.

Me: After three strong male characters, are you thinking about a strong female protagonist? If so, please describe her for us.

Brian: I have to be very careful here. One of the things reading has taught me is that real men don't write real women all that well--or vice versa. I mean, when I read a female author presenting a male protagonist, the guy just ends up too sensitive, too caring, too introspective to feel genuine; you know, like how women wish men were. Alas, that's not how the creator made us--we're pigs. Shallow pigs, actually. We love boxing and football: we think they're beautiful and graceful. We know Nicholas Sparks is a pussy. Hugh Hefner, for us, is right up there alongside Picasso and Rembrandt for them; he's an artist for Godsakes. Why can't they see that? And male writers tend to create these idealized women who are needy, a damsel always in need of a good manly rescue, the weaker, fairer, more squeamish sex. Or they go too far with opposite strokes, and create a rugged, crotch-scratching he-man trapped in heels and a short skirt. There are mysterious subtleties to each sex that tend to elude the other. That's what makes it interesting. Also dangerous. I mean, over fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, and God knows how many that stay together are suffering mutually-inflicted PTSD, which is a warning about how well we know each other.

I always try to include a female in my books. I approach it the same way I do fire. Or maybe the same way I got through two years of calculus in college; I didn't really understand it, I just regurgitated the derivative and differential formulas and prayed they fit the situation. Like throwing darts in the dark.

But would I try to build an entire novel around a woman protagonist? Sure, I'd love to. I'd also like to find the cure for cancer and the secret to world peace.

Me: This question courtesy of Jeff Hall: "I'm a short story-ist. Writing a novel is a like crazy long marathon, only harder. How do you maintain a clear sense of that first passion that inspired you throughout a lengthy word journey?"

Brian: Well, Jeff, in a word, greed. It just so happens that my selfish stingy publisher withholds the final check until I'm done.

Okay, that was a joke ... or not. In truth, I have found it harder to keep the stories as short as they are. I'm lazy, you see, and it was a huge revelation when an editor once advised me, you know it's easier for you to edit a 100,000 word transcript than a 200,000 word one. Ever since then I've kept looking for ways to be more clever, more artful, more economically concise. John Grisham is a master at this. He can tell you more about a character in a paragraph than most writers tell you in a chapter. The key is not insulting your reader. Don't tell them too much. Construct the right phrase and assume they are worldly enough to fill in the details.

I think it is impossibly hard to write a short story. So much to get done in so few words. I used to be a speechwriter and I spent far more time trying to think up a memorable one-minute toast to the prime minister of Japan than a full-blown forty minute speech for a college graduation. What I'm saying is, that short-story thing, I don't know how you do it. I really don't.

Me: You get to have lunch with any author, throughout literary history to present. Who would it be, and why?

Brian: Were I more erudite--or more out to impress you--I suppose I'd puff pompously on my pipe and suggest Henry James or Hemingway or JD Salinger. You know, someone who walked upright into the canon of literary greatness. But why lie? I know this is heretical and culturally scabby, but I think most of the famous dead guys we had to read in school wouldn't get past a modern publisher's turnstile. They were too wordy, too didactic, not clever or entertaining enough. Shakespeare and Homer and Twain are magnificent exceptions, naturally. Good writing should entertain and communicate first, and impress second. Anyway, I'm not sure any of the ones I mentioned would be fun guys to have to lunch with. Henry James invented the snobbish bore and would probably order something embarrassing and French, like fois gras, then ripple his nose when I ordered a big fat greasy cheeseburger, which, to me, is the pinnacle of Western Civilization. Hemingway had some obnoxiously disturbing manhood issues, and would probably stick me with the bill and brag to all his macho buddies about it. As for JD Salinger, I'm probably one of the phonies he railed about in his book. We did go to the same private school, the very one he wrote about running away from in Catcher in the Rye. Hell, I liked it there. I fit right in, too.

But I would like to have, not a full lunch, but two minutes with Keats, just long enough to break his nose for composing Ode to a Grecian Urn, which once caused me to get an 'F' in the eleventh grade, because not only did I not understand a word this rhymy goombah was jabbering about, I just couldn't believe that anybody wrote a poem to a kitchen pot. My paper, if I remember right, was titled Ode to an Idiot.

So I'd probably pick an amalgam, sort of like Two-face in the batman series--half Nelson DeMille and half Vince Flynn. Both are great guys and charming company. Nelson is as funny and interesting in person as his characters are in his books. Plus, he's very, very smart and generous; ie, now there's a guy who would pick up the bill. And Vince is just an all-round class act. Nobody, and I mean, nobody does more to help new writers break into the business than these two, and that says something.

And I can't get enough of their books, albeit for very different reasons. Vince is a master plotter. He has points he wants to make, large, bold points about politics and national security and he's incredibly well-read and smart as hell, and he weaves those points into his plots in immensely entertaining ways. Nelson also tackles large issues and powerful themes, but the topic of human character, human foibles and ambiguity, are more central to his books. Put the three of us together and we could have a really neat conversation about knitting and laundry detergents.

The only dilemma is how would you meld those two--horizontally or perpendicularly? Seriously, both of them would wretch if he ended up on the left. But who'd get the top and who the bottom?

It's too weird to even think about. Next subject.

Me: The publishing world is changing. Share your thoughts on what you think the future holds for authors.

Brian: About that, I'm not hopeful. The major issue is consolidation--both in the shrinking number of publishers, and in the outlets that sell books. While there are the occasional success stories about self-publishing, people also win lotteries. For the most part it is impossible to compete with the marketing clout and shelf domination of the big houses. Less publishers simply means less chances to get published. They are businesses and they want the safe thing, the sure-fired bestseller which nearly always means the same guy who made the list last year, and the year before. Nor is it necessarily their fault. The traditional routes for marketing books are drying up. Advertising costs too much money for such a low-margin business, unless the return is almost guaranteed to be enormous--in other words, a perennially huge bestselling author. The free advertising route, via book reviews in newspapers and magazines are disappearing. And the few that remain seem are an echo gallery--if Martin Amis or Margaret Atwood or Michael Chabon scribble on a napkin, reviewers all jump on it like flies on ... well, you get the point. Independent bookstores are like unicorns. Even Borders and Barnes and Noble are at risk of extinction, or at least a major hair cut. The big discount retailers are taking over the selling business and believe me, that's not good for new writers. The Walmarts and Sam's Clubs only stock maybe 20 or 30 fiction titles, not on merit, but the promise of huge sales, meaning previously bestselling writers, which is, of course, naturally self-fulfilling. And ditto for kiosk sales in airports and train stations and drug stores, where again, they stock only 20-30 titles, and naturally, they tend to be the same ones you find in Sam's Club. So if you're a new writer, without an established name, it's pretty bleak.

That's why we see more and more celebrity-authored books on the market these days. If a writer has a carry-over fanbase and a backdoor pass to Larry King and the Today show, it's worth the freight in marketing costs. It used to be that the perennial bestsellers had the courtesy to eventually die, and make room for others. But on an even more macabre note, now the publishers just hire living writers to continue the books of dead authors, which puts a really perverse twist on the phrase ghost-writers.

Incidentally, this is really weird, but I just thought I should take this opportunity to mention that Steig Larson's writing and mine are eerily alike. It's ... well, he comes to me in my dreams, and I know exactly what he wanted to write for his fourth book. Just thought I should mention it.

Me: You're going to be co-writing two books with Vince Flynn. It's becoming more and more common among established writers to co-write. Why?

Brian: The fad flows directly from what we discussed in the last question. The big bestselling authors are a brand name in themselves. Some, like Jim Patterson, are now virtually publishers unto themselves, and it's a lock--slap Jim's name on the cover, even 7 or 8 or 10 times a year, and it shoots right to the top of the list. I should hate him for his disgusting success but I know how hard he works to keep up with that kind of production. Yes, he has a brood of talented co-writers but I think his involvement in the books is a lot greater than most people suspect. And incidentally, I just read that he made $78 million last year. That's fairly motivational, don't you think?

In Vince's and my case, we think it's fun. Writing is a naturally solitary experience and it's a welcome break to have company. Vince is a friend and I really enjoy his company and admire his writing. We also 'click', if I may use that trite phrase. Vince adores the Marine Corps, but that perversity aside, we agree on most things. He told me he always wanted to start a second series, but he was worried that his Mitch Rapp series would suffer if he did, and he doesn't want to shortchange his readers. I happen to be a really, really fast writer with a lot of time on my hands.

The only unsettled issue is whose picture goes on the back cover. My position is we use his likeness and slap my name underneath it. It's a good deal for both of us, really. He gets a shorter name to sign into hotels with. I get to be tall, dark, and really handsome.

Me: Can you give me your 'must read' list

Brian: Nelson DeMille, John Grisham, John Sandford, Vince Flynn, Elmore Leonard, and Henry James on the fiction front. James is there because I sometimes have a difficult time falling asleep, and he's better than Ambien. On the nonfiction side, everything by David Halberstam who got almost everything wrong, but did so with great certainty and a fine pen; and Joseph Ellis who got in trouble for making up things about his own life, but does much better with the forefathers; and David McCullough, who must live in musty archives, but the stuff he digs out definitely is worth reading. I read the New York Times every morning so I can spit out my coffee, Time and Newsweek every week but I'm not sure why, Foreign Affairs (actually I just look at the pictures), the Economist (the best .. seriously), and The New York Review of Books, which I keep by the breakfast table as a substitute for the Heimlich Maneuver. So it's all a nice mix of pleasure and casual masochism.

****************************************************

I'd like to thank Brian Haig for his time, and above all his humor. His newest novel "The Capital Game" is currently riding the New York Times Bestseller List and long may it stay there. This book should be on everyone's "Must read" list.