When Barnhill's invited me to come to Winston-Salem for a book signing, I didn't know I'd be videoed reading an excerpt from Hell Swamp. I flubbed a sentence, but here it is in all its glory. Nice display of my other books behind me, I must say. Thanks for the invitation and the video, Barnhill's!
Showing posts with label NC Writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NC Writers. Show all posts
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Marvin Allan Williams: Death at Devil's Hole
We'd be fascinated to know more about you.
I'm honored to be here, Susan. Well, I didn’t start writing until I was sixty years old. The death of my long-time friend and business partner not only shocked me, but left me unemployed. My wife encouraged me to write the book I had been talking about for years. She even setup a writing place for me where I could work undisturbed.
The idea for my book came to me when I was in my hometown of Niagara Falls, New York and I visited Devil’s Hole State Park. The name conjured up an idea for a murder mystery and from that Death at Devil’s Hole was born. The story just sort of flowed out of me. I wrote the first draft without worrying about bothersome things like grammar and punctuation. I was afraid if I stopped I would never finish the book. Only when the draft was finished did I start the editing process.
How many books have you written? In what genres?
Death at Devil’s Hole is my first book. I am currently writing Death at Three Sister Islands, the second book in the Cadogan Cain Mystery series, and I am working on a mystery that takes place in the south where I have been living for the last twenty-five years.
Tell us more about Death at Devil's Hole, Marvin.
Death at Devil’s Hole is about the mass murder of ten teenagers in Devil’s Hole State Park in Niagara Falls, New York. The protagonist, Cadogan Cain is a retired Air Force veteran who returns to his hometown trying to escape twenty years of wars and bad dreams. Working as a photojournalist, he overhears a radio call on his police scanner and becomes involved in the investigation into the murders in the park.
Is it available in print, ebook, and Kindle formats?
It's available in all ebook formats and as a paperback through most online outlets, Barnes &Noble, Amazon, etc.
Can you share how you name your characters?
I name my characters based on the personality I want them to have and their family ancestry. Cadogan Cain has a Welsh ancestry and the name Cadogan can be shortened to Cad which is perfect for his personality traits. His girlfriend Angie Bianco is of Italian descent and her given name Angelina means little angel. She is petite, but possesses a fiery personality so she is a study in dichotomy based on her name.
What are your protagonist’s strengths? Flaws?
Cadogan Cain is a man who uses his sense of humor to mask the inner turmoil he feels because of the secrets he keeps. He would be considered a social drinker if the circle were made up of blue-collar toughs and rat pack throw-backs. He has a driven need to see justice done no matter the cost and he loves one woman almost to obsession.
How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
Being raised in a blue-collar family with the belief that there are no free rides in life, I learned early on to be self-sufficient. My mother taught us the difference between right and wrong and left us believing there was little room for grey areas. So yes, my upbringing has and probably always will color my writing.
You and I were very fortunate to be raised that way.
We all know how important promoting our work has become. How do you get the word out both off and online?
Promotion is something I should be doing right now, but I have never been much of a marketing person, but I guess this interview would be a good start. I will certainly play it up on my blog. I also use both Facebook and Twitter.
Marvin, I think you'll find that networking can help readers learn more about you as a person. Then if they're interested, they'll look for your books. Make it easy for them;-D
Note to visitors:
This would be another interesting topic for blog visitors to weigh in on. What draws you readers to certain blogs and authors? I'd love to have your comments in the "comments" section.
Marvin, where can folks learn more about your books and events?
I have a blog at http://marvinallanwilliams.wordpress.com/ and I can be found on both Crimespace.com and Goodreads.com. I am a bit new to all of this, so I don’t currently have events planned.
You're certainly welcome, Marvin. Now get out there and promote! Wishing you well!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Caroline Taylor: What Are Friends For?
Caroline Taylor's Debut Mystery Tackles the Question: What Are Friends For?
Press Release:
Pittsboro, NC – Award-winning author Caroline Taylor announces the release of her first P.J. Smythe mystery, What Are Friends For? (ISBN 978-1-59414-956-6), a Gale-Cengage Learning publication. An exciting detective tale, What Are Friends For? features P.J. Smythe, an Annapolis "skip tracer," who tracks down loan defaulters. Talked into posing as a novice private investigator by her wealthy friend, Alicia Todd, P.J. is forced into assuming the role of a real detective when her first client, environmentalist Vivian Remington, dies from a suspicious drug overdose. P.J. must dodge a murder charge and wend her way through the treacherous realms of Washington politics and the illegal wildlife trade while attempting to solve the mystery of Remington's death.
Written with classic, hard-boiled "whodunit" panache by Taylor, this first P.J. Smythe adventure is a must-read for mystery lovers who crave masterful character development, outstanding story lines, compelling drama, and a smattering of humorous observations from the heroine. Suspenseful and quickly-paced, What Are Friends For introduces readers to P.J. Smythe, a young, single Washingtonian, who manages to be engaging and likable, as well as gutsy and tough. Although spirited and intelligent, P.J. is also deliciously human, and she struggles to fend off the advances of her ex-husband, Bobby Crane – as well as those of the intelligent and suave attorney, Neal Patterson – while solving her first murder case. As the web of drug-fueled political intrigue tightens and P. J. gets closer to solving her case, her own life is suddenly at risk, making What Are Friends For? the kind of thrilling and ultimately satisfying read that mystery lovers demand.
“P.J. first appeared in Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine in a story titled, “Beginner’s Lesson’s,” said Taylor. "Once she made a second appearance in an Orchard Press Mysteries story called “Growing Pains,” I knew I’d found a special heroine who deserved a full-throttle mystery series."
Formerly from Washington, D.C., Caroline Taylor is an award-winning writer and editor living in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Her short stories have appeared in The Chick Lit Review, Della Donna Magazine, The First Line, A Fly in Amber, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, The Green Silk Journal, Long Story Short, The Oddville Press, Orchard Press Mysteries, The Dan River Anthology-2009, and Workers Write! Tales from the Capitol. She is the author of Publishing the Nonprofit Annual Report: Tips, Traps, and Tricks of the Trade (Jossey-Bass, 2001) and has written extensively for Humanities Magazine and the Smithsonian Torch.
Welcome to the blog, Caroline. It's always a pleasure to interview fellow North Carolina writers.
I’d be fascinated to know more about you.
Thank you, Susan. I got off to a pretty rocky start in life. As a child, I moved from place to place, my parents often were unable to pay bills, and I was forced to drop out of high school. But I managed to pull myself together enough to finish my education—even get a master’s degree—and pursue a successful editing and writing career in Washington.
How many books have you written? In what genres?
My first book, Publishing the Nonprofit Report: Tips, Traps, and Tricks of the Trade (Jossey-Bass 2001) was easy. I’d been writing and editing nonprofit annual reports for 20 years by the time I decided I had to prove to my then boss that I was more than “a process manager.” The book won the APEX Grand Award for Excellence in Writing in 2002. My first novel, What Are Friends For?, was much harder to write—but also much more fun.
Congratulations on both.What books or authors have influenced you, Caroline?
The literary giants like Faulkner, Welty, Steinbeck, and Durrell, and contemporary authors like Brian Haig, Janet Evanovich, Alan Furst, Sue Grafton, Louis Bayard, and Michael Connelly.
Great influences, indeed.What are your writing goals?
To publish my second P.J. Smythe novel, Who’s Laughing Now?
Okay. Let's back up a second and talk about the first book. Tell us about What Are Friends For? Is it available in print, ebook, and Kindle formats?
What Are Friends For? is a fast-paced, light hearted spoof of the classic hard-boiled whodunit that explores the lengths to which Annapolis skip tracer P.J. Smythe must go to dodge a murder charge, including dipping a reluctant toe into the Washington political scene and looking into the seamy side of the illegal trade in wildlife—all while fending off the attentions of her former husband and a really desperate ex-boyfriend. I hope enough fans will persuade amazon.com to offer it in Kindle.
Can you share how you name your characters?
I wanted my lead character to have a name that could belong either to a man or a woman, so I settled for P.J. and then decided the initials had to stand for two ridiculous names. To find out what they are, read the book.
Okay. My imgination is spinning out of control. LOL.
Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?
I’m afraid I’m a bit like Anne Tyler, who has written that she does not plot but just lets her stories unfold. I have tried plotting, but it’s almost like putting myself in a straitjacket. It takes the fun out of creating vivid characters and then seeing where their needs and desires take them.
How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
At the time I wrote What Are Friends For?, I had been living in Washington, D.C., for years. I did not want to write the typical “Washington novel” with characters at “the highest levels of government.” Not many—if any—mysteries are set in Annapolis, which is small, beautiful, somewhat off the beaten (East Coast) path, and yet still in the neighborhood, as it were.
We all know how important promoting our work has become. How do you get the word out both off and online?
Through my website, http://www.carolinestories.com/, my author’s profile on amazon.com, and, most importantly, my publicist Paula Margulies, without whose efforts on my behalf no one would know about this book.
Tell us more about Who's Laughing Now?
I’m polishing up—mostly cliché hunting—the second in the P.J. Smythe series, Who’s Laughing Now? I’m also working on a novel set in the mid-1960s Midwest called The Typist, and another more contemporary novel set in Washington, D.C., called Climbing Toward the Light.
Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
Visit my website at http://www.carolinestories.com/
Caroline, it has been a pleasure to discover you. I extend my best wishes for your writing success!
Same to you, Susan.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Rose Marie DeHart's The Giveaway Girl
Rose Marie DeHart, author of The Giveaway Girl, is my guest today. She lives about an hour west of me.
It's nice to have you here, Rose Marie. Please tell us a little about yourself.
Thank you, Susan. Well, I am retired from the United Methodist Foundation. My husband, Murry, is a retired Methodist minister and we live in Raleigh, NC. Since my retirement I have participated in the Lifestyle Enrichment Program with Norwegian Cruise Line as a lecturer.
How interesting! What topics?
I have presented lectures on Accessorizing With Scarves and Color Analysis.
We have enjoyed travel since our retirements. We have cruised to Alaska, Hawaii, and the Carribean. One of our travel highlights was the summer we joined Professor Stevens and her students of mystery writing from the University of Wisconsin on a tour of the British Isles. We were treated to a visit/lecture with an English mystery writer each morning of the three week tour. We heard, among others, Edward Marston, Andrew Taylor and Keith Miles.
At the conclusion of the time with the delightful students, Murry and I visited Scotland, Ireland and Paris, France. We have also toured Israel.
I have always loved books. Some of my favorite authors are Pat Conroy, Anne Rivers Siddons, John Dunning, and Nelson DeMille. I also read Patricia Cornwell (although she sometimes tells me more than I really want to know),John Grisham, Margaret Maron, and recently discovered you, Susan Whitfield. Oh, add Lee Smith and Clyde Edgerton to that list.
I was a member of Carolina Crime Writers and published the monthly newsletter for the group. Margaret Maron was a founding member of this group. We met monthy for dinner and a talk by a professional related to crime solving - law enforcement, coroners, detectives, attorneys, bail bondsmen etc. To my sorrow, CCW no longer meets. I was also a member of North Carolina Writers.
Me too.
Rose Marie, what books influenced your reading and writing?
I suppose everything I have ever read has influenced me in some manner.I always received books as gifts at Chrismas and birthdays. In my pre-teen years, I discovered a writer, Grace Livingston Hill. She churned out books as fast as I could read them and I probably read all of them. I come from a background of readers and writers. My paternal grandmother wrote poetry and religious tracts and kept a journal. I have one of her journals. My Aunt Massa Lambert kept journals, also. She taught English at Asheboro High School for over forty years. My Dad was a printer/publisher in Asheboro. William Sidney Porter (O Henry) was a distant relative of my grandmother, although I think they reserved bragging rights during his incarceration in Texas.
In my teens, I received,as a gift, a book written by Hiram Hayden, The Time is Noon. It was, probably, the first grown-up book I ever read. My older sister joined a book club and I began reading all of her books, in addition to the ones in the public library. Books have always been a large part of my life.
What are your writing goals?
After years of starting stories and rarely ever completing one, I look forward to the publication of The Giveaway Girl. I am working on a second book that is a mystery. I also have one in process about the colorful life of my Dad's youngest sister. I love books. I love words. I regret that I have waited so late in life to finally join the ranks of published authors.
What is your most rewarding experience during the writing process?
I love writing and have a computer full of ideas, a few chapters here and there. My reward is seeing the characters come alive and begin to speak.
Now, Rose Maire, tell us about The Giveaway Girl.
The Giveaway Girl came to me word by word. I had no idea where it was going. Every class I have ever taken says plot, plot, plot but I seem to just let it happen. The idea of meeting at a fast food restaurant came to my mind and I just went with it. I can't explain why I chose those names, Ashley and Scarlet. The publisher said it was too improbable but I overruled them. Here is the quote from the back cover - "Ashley Wilkes and Scarlet O'Hara meet and find love in the foothills of North Carolina. A chance encounter at a fast food restaurant is the beginning. Identifying a photograph leads Scarlet and Ashley on a journey to find the father that Scarlet never knew. The search uncovers long buried family secrets that involve the world of racing and moonshine liquor. Along the way, Ashley discovers that he is not the person he has thought himself to be. The cast of characters includes two dowager sisters, their British chauffeur, a mother on the edge of dementia, a gardener who loves crossword puzzles and a Gulf war hero. Don't miss the surprise that unfolds for Scarlet."
Do you think your writing has improved since your first attempts?
Oh, my yes! My first attempts were so long ago, I hardly remember them. In high school, a friend and I collaborated on a play that our dramatics class was prepared to present and the principal nixed it because the characters were in pajamas at a slumber party. Imagine that. I have a few short stories tucked away that never had a chance for publication.
How do you determine your voice in writing?
I usually stay with third person because it is easier. The mystery I am working on now is in first person. It is challenging, but the character speaks to me. I have come to know him.
Why did you decide to switch, Rose Marie?
When it was in the early stages, several years ago, a friend read it and asked me why I didn't write it in present tense. I decided to try it. I have 18,000 words on it and when I read through it, I see a tense change or two that I have to correct. To make it even tougher, a man is telling the story.
You can do it!
Susan, I appreciate your taking this time to help me as I enter the world of writers. Thank you so much.
You are certainly welcome, Rose Marie. Perhaps we will meet in person one day soon.
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