Holli Castillo's Gumbo Justice

Nights in New Orleans can be as dangerous as they are steamy. Especially for a smart-mouthed, competitive Assistant District Attorney like Ryan Murphy. If the criminals she prosecutes aren't trouble enough, she has an overprotective police captain daddy and four cop brothers to contend with, as well as a possible romance with a hot detective-- or two. And then there's the small problem of a psychotic serial killer, who may or may not be trying to help her on her way to the top.


Set against the backdrop of pre-Katrina New Orleans, Gumbo Justice is the first in the Crescent City Mystery Series published by Oak Tree Press. The second, Jambalaya Justice, is scheduled for release summer, 2010.

My guest, Holli Castillo, is a Louisiana appellate public defender and former New Orleans Prosecutor. She received her JD from Loyola University School of Law, where she attended classes at night and worked days as a child support collector at the D.A.’s Office. She earned her Bachelor’s in Drama at the University of New Orleans while working at the Can Can Cabaret on Bourbon Street. The publication of Gumbo Justice was delayed for nearly a year when she was in a near-fatal collision with a drunk driver in 2008. Still recovering, she lives in New Orleans with her husband, two children, and dog.

Welcome, Holli.
When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
I have written as far back as I can remember. When I was in kindergarten, I tended to write fantasy type things, animals that could talk, princesses. In junior high I gravitated toward romance, and in high school it was all mystery. As an adult, mystery and thriller has taken over my life, although I have written a sci-fi screenplay.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
When I started writing Gumbo Justice, the story was completely different than what it turned in to. The original concept revolved more around ethical issues, i.e. what should a prosecutor do in a particular situation and why she might not do the right thing in a particular instance. It evolved away from that into a faster paced serial killer mystery. There were a lot of things I wanted readers to walk away with, but one of the biggies was that the people protecting you in the criminal justice system are sometimes scarier than the criminals. And that people in general can be flawed in ways that defy explanation and still turn out to be good people, but they can also turn in to psychotic killers, depending upon intervening factors.

Briefly tell us about Gumbo Justice.
Gumbo Justice is the first in the Crescent City Mystery series. It follows female prosecutor Ryan Murphy, a sometimes dysfunctional person but excellent attorney. She smokes, drinks, likes to party, but she's also really vulnerable for a variety of reasons she tries to hide. She has a family of cops that love her, but also tend to suffocate her, and never really quite trusts her instincts when it comes to men, usually for good reason. During the course of prosecuting cases and visiting crime scenes, she discovers a mystery, not realizing that she has already drawn the attention of a serial killer who kills defendants on cases she lost. When her life begins to go downhill because of the killer, she uses her best attribute-her brain- to help her figure out who it is to face off against him.

How do you develop characters? Setting?
Most of the characters were talking to me a while in my head before I started writing. It was hard at first to distinguish them from the other voices, but eventually I did. Ryan was easy, I wanted a strong, smart female protagonist, but one with problems, and not my-husband-cheated-on-me or I'm- too-fat or my-house-is-dirty kind of problems, but huge emotional issues that she has to keep in check just to function. Shep was easy, he's the perfect man and man of my dreams, no offense against my husband. And Monte Carlson physically sprung from an undercover detective who actually had Monte's job and got to have the tattoos and earrings, which gave me the idea. The real guy is nice and sweet and not a player like Monte, and Monte is a big strapping dude compared to the real guy, so that's where the similarity ends. So I would say I base my characters in part on what I think would make interesting people, my idea of ideals, and a little touch of real people.
The setting was easy, as I was born and raised in New Orleans, and New Orleans is the perfect location for a bunch of crime since that's the reality.

How do you determine voice in your writing?
When I was younger I used to like first person, because it's so much more personal to me. But I wanted this particular novel to be told from a few different viewpoints at different times, so I chose third person. There are also some things the protagonist doesn't know that someone else might know, and the only way to do that is with third person.

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?
I am a big believer in an outline, especially a scene outline with main plot points that need to be hit to stay on course. I do change it up, though, and add and remove scenes, but I start with an outline. When I wrote the first draft of Gumbo Justice, I didn't use any type of outline, I just had an outline of sorts in my head, and I ended up doing so much rewriting because I changed my mind too many times. Now, I always do at least a scene by scene outline.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
I think leading a fairly normal and boring life made me want to write about people with more exciting lives. Even as a prosecutor, cases were more of the same, and not as interesting as you might think. I try to make my stories as interesting and as dangerous as possible, while keeping them believable.

What are your current projects?
Right now I am working on the follow up to Gumbo Justice, Jambalaya Justice, and the third in the series, tentatively titled Chocolate City Justice. I am also writing my second screenplay.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
My website for the novel is http://www.gumbojustice.net/, and my personal website is http://www.hollicastillo.com/.
Also, I am a Facebook addict, when time allows, http://www.facebook.com/people/Holli-Herrle-Castillo/1594837203

Signed copies available at www.gumbojustice.net/pages/buy-gumbo-justice.php

available at Amazon.com and Bn.com
www.gumbojustice.net

Holli, continued success!

Icy Snow Blackstone's Bargain With Lucifer

Icy Snow Blackstone is my guest author today. Icy, please give us a brief bio.

First of all, thanks for letting me do this blog. I appreciate it. Now, to the bio! I’m a Southerner by birth although I’ve lived in various parts of the US, including the Midwest and Orange County, California. I graduated from a well-known Southern Baptist university with a degree in Fine Art and have another in Illustrative Art. I also have a son who’s a teacher and a granddaughter and grandson, ages eight and sixteen, respectively.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
I started writing when I began first grade and have been penning various fictions ever since but I didn’t begin writing seriously until 1989.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
My reasons for writing are pretty selfish, I suppose. I just wanted to tell a story, many stories, in fact. All those that were circulating inside my head and just absolutely had to come out. So I started writing them down—first by hand, then typewriter, and finally on computer. I never really intended to have any published; they were just for me and a few others to read and enjoy.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?

My latest book is called Brother Devil. About 20 years ago, I wrote a story called Bargain with Lucifer and sent it to a cousin to read. This novel was a romance, and in it, two brothers—Luc and Michel--were featured. After she read it, she said to me, “I’ve only got one question: What happened to Michel?” Bargain with Lucifer was supposed to be a one-shot, stand-alone novel but then I had to write Brother Devil to tell Michel’s story.

What’s the hook ?

Here’s the blurb to describe the story: The women of Orleans parish may have called Luc a devil and Michel an angel but now the angel is falling fast—and he’s enjoying his downward flight to the limit.

Brother Devil opens with a funeral, a funeral in which only the husband of the deceased is truly mourning. In spite of the things his dead wife did to him and his family, Michel Deveraux still loves her and tries to deny how completely cruel she was. It takes some very strong convincing from his family to make Michel admit Clarice’s manipulations but once he dies and realizes he’s no longer bound by marriage vows, he decides to make up for lost time. Michel had always been second to his big brother in everything, from his grandfather’s love to excelling in sports, and now, being successful with women is high in the list of categories. Before he knows it, he’s involved in a scandal and finding his life in danger as he goes after the one woman in Orleans parish whose brothers won’t accept a Deveraux “trifling” with their baby sister.

How do you develop characters? Setting?

In this book, the characters were more or less already set since they’d been in a previous novel. It was simply a matter of tempering them over time (the story covers 3 years), showing how the events in the first novel caused what happened in the second and how they all reacted to it. The fact that they are Southerners and Creoles also influences their reactions to events differently from how people in another part of the country would act.

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?

I imagine my techniques are the worst imaginable! I just sit down and start typing. Very linear. Beginning to end. Afterward, I may decide that something in the middle of the book would be more appropriate at the end or closer to the beginning, or that I should actually start the story in the present or after a certain event and then flashback or forward. I actually used to print out pages and cut them up and repaste them together into how I thought they should be. I still do that but now, I “cut and paste” on the computer.

Every time I start a new chapter, I go back and read the one I just finished, edit it, and then go on. That helps me keep continuity.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?

I set a lot of my romances in the South and goodness knows, that’s a place which has a great influence on what my characters do. It also helps if your editor knows something about the setting of your novels. I had one editor who was from Tasmania and admitted she knew nothing about Southerners. We went back and forth over a few things in the novel because she was looking at them from an Australian/United Kingdom point of view, and I was seeing them from the US/Southern viewpoint.

What are your current projects?

I have a couple of fantasy romances I’m tossing around. One is The King’s Swordswoman, about a woman warrior hired to protect a king’s invalid son and what happens when she believes the boy is killed while on her watch. Of course, he isn’t and many years later they meet; he knows who she is but she doesn’t recognize him. It’s a love story, so of course there’s going to be plenty of intrigue and heartbreak before the HEA.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

I have a website: http://www.icysnowblackstone.com/, Facebook and My Space pages, and a page at Author’s Central on amazon.com’s website. I also blog regularly at the Pink Fuzzy Slippers blogsite.

http://pinkfuzzyslipperwriters.blogspot.com/

Icy, thanks for a great interview. I wish you the best of sales!

T.V. Sweeney's Serpent's Tooth

Toni Sweeney was born in Georgia after the War between the States but before the Gulf War. Her writing career began during an extended convalescence following an automobile accident. Marriage, parenthood, divorce, and a variety of occupations ranging from dancer to medical transcriptionist assistant took precedent over writing for several years. She has survived hurricanes in the South, tornados and snow-covered winters in the Midwestern United States, and earthquakes, and forest fires in California.

Toni says," I’m a native-born Southerner but I currently live in the Midwest with my son who’s a math teacher. I was residing in Orange County, California but when I hit age 65, he decided I’d better “come home” so he could keep an eye on me! We’ll see…"

Toni, welcome to the blog. Tell us when did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
I’ve always loved to read and writing just naturally seemed to follow it. I’d read a story, then find myself thinking over certain parts—the beginning, the ending—and rewriting it with my own spin. Sometimes, it would be, “what if…?” or “If this had happened instead…” I loved English class, especially Composition, although I hated standing in front of the class and giving reports. I’m a terribly shy person, almost agoraphobic, and going to conventions and being in the public eye terrifies me but I do it.
Anyway, I’ve always like adventure stories—Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Roy Rogers—anything that had plenty of action and cheeky humor, and little dashes of romance, like the Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, Treasure Island. I also like mystery, thrills and chills, and the supernatural. So, I write what I like, and generally my stories have some or all of these elements in them. That’s why I like to say I don’t write romances but romans, which were the stories the wandering troubadors told, stories combining adventures, action, supernatural elements, and love.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
Most of my stories deal with the hero or heroine’s search for belonging. This is especially obvious in my Sinbad series and the Kan Ingan Archives series, and a little less so in the Chronicles of Riven the Heretic. Sinbad’s a smuggler and a very successful one but all he wants is a home and family, and once he achieves that, he discovers that he’s also become a very law-abiding, and rich, man in the process—all because of the woman he loves. Aric kan Ingan loses all for love but regains it, only to lose it again because he’s still searching for that one perfect love. Riven kan Ingan, his ancestor, tried to find acceptance by being a social climber and marrying into wealth. Instead, he fell in love with a barbarian warrior woman and ended up becoming the progenitor of a race of kings.
So, if there’s a message in my stories, it’s that everyone wants someone to belong to and sometimes that someone may not be whom they expect. Other than that, I just want people to read my stories and enjoy them.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?
Currently, I’ve got two books in the burners. Sinbad’s Pride, third in the Adventures of Sinbad series and Serpent’s Tooth, and these two books couldn’t be more different. They came from the same mother but they’re definitely fraternal twins. Sinbad’s Pride is sci-fi, set several centuries in the future, and Serpent’s Tooth is a contemporary horror novel.

What are the hooks for the books?
The Sinbad story deals with family obligations. It begins with Sinbad arranging, against his better judgment, a marriage between his infant daughter and an adult cousin—and if that doesn’t pique readers, I’ll be disappointed! It progresses from there to his realizing that coming home and becoming his grandfather’s heir involves more than he expected…namely that he’s going to have to do certain things that are politically motivated, such as taking concubines to cement relationships with their families. This is especially difficult since Sinbad loves no one but his wife and has never looked at another woman since the moment he met her—and now he’s being told he has to have not one but two other women in his life as secondary wives? Whoa! Things go downhill—or up—from there, depending on where you’re standing.
Serpent’s Tooth opens with a famous rock star contemplating suicide. The choices he made to bring him to this moment provides the story, which involves a naïve midwesterner’s corruption by Tinsel Town and his attempts at redemption.

How do you develop characters? Setting?
I have absolutely no idea! Sometimes a word or phrase or a scene just pops into my mind and I start expounding on it. I’ve always said that if I think about something for three days and can’t get it out of my head, I have to write about it. That’s generally true, although recently, I’ve hit a kind of slump. So far, I’ve managed to hold the ideas at arms-length for several months. The book I’m working on right now, The Seventh Mothman, I’ve fended off for almost two years!

LOL. That happens to me as well.
It’s been said that in sci-fi/fantasy, you can set a story wherever you want and no one can refute it and that’s so, but you still have to have a realistic basis floating around somewhere. It can’t be too fantastic or far-out or you’re going to lose your audience before you’ve even captured them. So a little believability is always needed.

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?
I Know I should, but I don’t. No outlines, no character studies. I did that with Wizard’s Wife, had an outline, extensive synopsis, a list of characters, etc. Then, I promptly lost it. It turned up again about a year ago then disappeared again. I had three chapters written but had only one in the computer, so I scrubbed it and started over and wrote the whole thing from scratch. I keep telling myself I should write all the ideas down but I’m so darned lazy, I just never do it.
Mainly, I just sit down and start pounding the keyboard. So far, I’ve worn out five computers and eight printers.

LOL. That's serious pounding.
How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
For sci-fi/fantasy? Not much. Generally the whole things is made up or based on some medieval lifestyle which I tailor to fit the story. I have a couple of books on life in Ancient Times/the Middle Ages which I consult faithfully for my novels. I used them extensively in the Chronicles/Archives series. Also, if I hear or read an interesting fact about a specific time period, I write it down for future reference. I have a notebook just for that sort of thing. For something like Serpent’s Tooth, I did use a bit of observation about kids in the ‘80’s idiolizing rock-and-roll stars, but because I was never a “teeneybopper,” I got most of my information from watching much, much earlier TV shows such as American Bandstand and Ed Sullivan, etc. I remember the night the Beatles were features and Elvis Presley, and I wove that adoration and idolatization of those singer into the story.

What are your current projects?
Sinbad’s Pride, third entry in the Adventures of Sinbad. In this one, Sinbad is in his thirties to forties (The earlier books were about his childhood and youth). It shows his changing attitude toward the things he’s always held dear as he matures, and how his love for his wife matures along with it, and also the things he has to do, sometimes against his will, because of the responsibility he now holds. It’s being published by Double Dragon Publishing.
Serpent’s Tooth covers 25 years in the life of a very successful rock star—how he was discovered, and the things he’s done that come to so appall him that he chucks it all and disappears at the height of his career. When he reappears 20 years later, he thinks he left all the unpleasantness behind but just when he’s again found happiness, the past rears its ugly—and deadly—head.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
My website is www.tonivsweeney.com. I update it weekly. I also have a newsletter, and if anyone wants to be put on the mailing list, they can send their e-mail addresses to tvsweeney@neb.rr.com. I also have a My Space, Facebook, and YouTube accounts also a blog page at amazon.com’s Author Central. I also blog of various blogging groups, such as the Pink Fuzzy Slipper Writers and The Wild Rose Press.

Thanks for a fun interview, Toni.

Joselyn Vaughn's CEOs Don't Cry

Joselyn, welcome to the blog. Please give us a brief bio.

I grew up on a family farm in West Michigan and have always loved the charm and closeness of small towns. After getting married, my husband and I tried out the big city for a while and decided the pace just wasn’t for us. We moved to a small town and live there with our children and two beagles.
Before I became a stay at home mom, I worked as a librarian which kept me in close proximity to books. My favorite part of my job was buying books for the library. I got to read about all these great books coming out and pick ones that I knew our patrons would like. I miss having other people’s money to spend on books. The library’s budget was much bigger than mine.

I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I would check out stacks of books from my local library and finish them way before my mother was ready to make a return trip. I like that magic that reading brings to you. A whole other world that you can explore without having to go anywhere.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
I’ve always wanted to write, but didn’t know exactly what length or genre. A couple years ago, a friend and I were talking and the idea for the Ladies Night Out in CEOs Don’t Cry came to me. I went home for lunch (benefit of being in a small town) and wrote the first chapter. At that point I knew the story would be a romance, but it languished until I ran into W.S. Gager and we became critique partners. She helped me get the story moving and has kept my feet to the fire ever since.
Currently, I am inspired to write romance. I have several romances in my mind for future novels. When that runs out, who knows what I will try to tackle.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
My first goal was to finish a novel length project. Then my characters started talking to me. The main characters are people who need to find their own destiny. They’ve been locked by preconceptions or outside pressures into roles or paths that won’t get them to the place where their dreams come true. Through the story they will discover how they can make their dreams come true. In CEOs Don’t Cry, the Ladies Night Out are manipulative, but Leslie ultimately makes the decisions for her future.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?
CEOs Don’t Cry is the latest published book. It came out from Avalon Books in April of 2009. Courting Sparks has been contracted, but does not have a firm release date yet. They are both stand alone novels, but take place in the same community.

What’s the synopsis for the book?
After being passed over for a junior partnership and getting relegated to a branch office in the middle of nowhere, Leslie Knotts vows that she won’t let budget cuts, corporate upheaval or meddlesome ladies distract her from turning the branch around and showing she has the savvy for the upper echelons of the company.

Organizing and advertising his new construction business has been harder than Mark Schultz expected. Having his Aunt Minnie and her friends from the Ladies Night Out group throwing women in his path isn’t helping matters.

When his aunt's outrageous schemes spell trouble, Leslie and Mark team up to outsmart the Ladies. Mark introduces Leslie to his friends and she discovers genuine friendships as well as a love with Mark like she has never known. When a competing company offers her the big city partnership she has always dreamed of, will Leslie risk her future as a top executive to stay where her heart has found a home?

How do you develop characters? Setting? Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?
I usually try to write my first draft as quickly as possible. So far, all of my novels have been romances, so I use this draft to get the hero and heroine together. Subsequent drafts add complexity to the story, like more emotional content and other subplots. My critique group is fantastic at finding ways for me add more layers to each story and character. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming, but it definitely helps add to the story. About midway through my second draft, I will do some kind of outline to keep track of some of the plot lines or setting characteristics. For my WIP, I plotted the events on a calendar because I had a character with poison ivy. Once the events were on the calendar, I realized the character had the rash for two months! Ooops! I had to rearrange some events to shorten his illness. I hope he appreciates that.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
Definitely. I grew up in a small town and I like to include that flavor in my novels. Everyone knows and cares about everyone – in good ways and not-so-good ways – but there is pride in the local community. Another thing about small towns that I like is how people refer to places – the Smith house, five-mile-corner – Everyone in town knows what these are.

What are your current projects?
I am currently working on another novel involving the origination of the Ladies Night Out. It takes place about seven years before CEOs Don’t Cry, so it’s been interesting working with some of the characters at a different time in their lives. In the WIP, several characters aren’t quite the people they grow into in CEOs Don’t Cry. It is hard to show the glimmers of the confidence they have in the later book in the less mature characters in the WIP.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
I love to have people visit my website: http://joselynvaughn.com/. They can sign up for my newsletter there. They can also friend me on Facebook. I also try to pop into the chats on Writerschatroom.com when I can.

Thanks for the interview, Joselyn, and have great success with your writing endeavors.

Linton Robinson's Sweet Spot

Linton Robinson is here to discuss his latest book, Sweet Spot.

Lin, when did you start writing?
I’ve been a writer since I can remember, scribbling little stories and weirdo comics. I’ve published my own work since grade school: little hand-written, hand-distributed neighborhood newspapers…I went nuts when I got a little plastic print set with rubber type in fifth grade. I owned several publications during my twenties and publishing always came natural to me. I like working with printers, screwing around to get copy and graphics ready. I’ve had at least three skill sets extinguished by technological progress. I had a line of poetry books in Seattle in the Eighties, and for the last twenty years have self-published (often self-printed and self-stapled and self-flogged to tourists on the beach) book on Mexican slang that pays my rent and is sometimes my sole means of support. I don’t see the whole “traditional” vs. “self-publishing” dichotomy that people waste hours arguing about. I see a spectrum with true, total self-publishing on one end and J.K Rowling on the other end. Anybody interested in self-publishing, by the way, I would advise to make an early stop by a series of blog posts I wrote, read the info in the many links and definitely check “The Chart” mentioned in the first one to see what I mean about a spectrum.

I’m currently published by a couple of presses, including Adoro, which is a sort of experimental outfit that’s kind of like “being self-published by somebody else”. They are exploring ways to use POD and other means of publishing, and I’m sort of their Guinea Pig In Chief.

What kind of writing have you done?
I have written just about anything you can think of: newspaper articles, magazines, mail-order catalogs, poetry, songs, novels, ad copy, PR flack, screenplays, T-shirt slogans, billboards, short fiction, html code, online serials. I haven’t done fortune cookies yet, but would in a heartbeat if the money was right: a literary soldier of fortune should certainly do fortune cookies. I’ve gotten money for all of those types of writing and don’t really see any big distinction, like a pianist switching from classical to jazz to blues doesn’t have to go back to school or change costumes or anything.

At this point, I pretty much consider my life wasted, literarily. I spent my youth doing magazine work and short fiction too berserk to get published, writing poetry and bizarre stuff like creating an I-Ching driven poetics using valenced “molecules” of words and syllables…which made even less sense back then when there weren’t computers for it.

Now, in my sixties, I find myself finally writing novels like I always figured I would do when and if I grew up and ironically find that it’s the worst time ever to sell new novels and people don’t like signing older writers who don’t have a long self-life to cash in on. But I’ve always, my whole life as a writer, been able to come into new fields and prevail or even dominate so I’m just figuring out how to break and enter. Stay tuned.

Which project are you most interesting in having people see at the moment?
All of them. But seriously, Sweet Spot has a sweet little spot in the heart of my drum-beating right now. It’s a kind of unusual situation because the book has been out since spring of 2009, but hasn’t really gotten a big publicity/marketing push because it’s set in Mazatlán, Mexico and most English-readers don’t show up there to read the paper until winter. So the reviews and such are just starting, really. See samples and video and all that jazz on the Adoro Books site: http://adorobooks.com/booksweet.php

So is it a book about Mexico like your “Imaginary Lines”?
Yes and no. It’s set in “The Land of Maz” as we used to say, but it’s really a fairly typical crime/politics thriller. Or something. The main character, Mundo Carrasco, is a local baseball hero turned journalist who gets sucked into the corrupt city government because of a gorgeous, amoral “femme fatale”. So it’s really a story about what’s going there, though foreigners reading it would be seeing a lot of travelogue about Mexican scenery, Carnival, politics, and such. Somewhat like “Gorky Park”--if I can commit the sin of mentioning my work in the same breath as the amazing Martin Cruz Smith--in that it’s a local story, but most readers would find it informative about Mexico and the remarkable city of Mazatlán in particular. I guess I play up to that a bit: every chapter has a lead-in quote from “Mundo’s writing” that explains or expounds or possibly confuses issues in the chapter.

So your protagonist is a Mazatlán newspaper writer, like you were?
No, I wrote mostly for tourists, except for articles in cultural journals and A&E pages explaining American culture to Mexicans. “It’s interesting that all of these words--jazz, boogie, and rock&roll--all originally meant “sex” in the American negro dialect…” Most people, especially young people, in the world are fascinated by American music and film.

Mundo, on the other hand, is a hard-core investigative reporter who covers the most notorious beat in that area: the narcotics industry. But he’s not really a writer type, certainly not an intellectual. And not a tough guy, though he experiences some very rough treatment in Sweet Spot. He’s basically a good-natured jock with a fondness the ladies that is reciprocated. Both men and women seem to like Mundo.

Is Mundo based on you or people you know?
Well, I’ve been a journalist and a baseball player, but no: no resemblance whatsoever. There are other characters in the book who have some resemblance to those living and/or dead, however. Anybody who’s lived in Mazatlán over five years will recognize the Mayor immediately, although the real-life Mayor was impeached, not murdered in a grisly fashion. A bigwig who “owns the town” will ring bells with residents, though my portrayal of him is pretty generous compared to the reality. Anybody in downtown Maz who reads about the bayview rooftop perch Mundo calls home would immediately know where it is and who lived there. One glaring “steal from real” is Mundo’s downstairs neighbor, whose inspiration for the character would be instantly recognized. He’s a colleague and friend, but not too happy about being immortalized. I toss friends into my work, thinking they’ll be pleased, but they usually aren’t. Go figure.
Next time I’m just going to toss in all my enemies for revenge.

How do you determine voice in your writing?
Glad you asked this one. I’d say it’s the other way around. I’m a strident online critic of people I call “POV nazis” who yap about different brand names for point of view and tsk-tsk about “head-hopping” and such. One of the only workable tips I ever picked up in college was the concept of “narrative voice”. Which is the main thing writers should be aware of in this respect. Even though it’s kind of like “unconditional love” or something: hard to chase down and own; but once you hear the phrase, you’ve learned something important to keep an eye out for in relationships.

I would say that a story has a way it “wants to tell itself”. Once you find that “voice” it starts writing itself, to a degree. Without it, you bungle around in vain. Some of these are odd enough that we’re aware of them: story dictated by somebody deceased, told from the perspective of a child or deaf-mute, story told three times by three different people (“Leaving Cheyenne” by McMurtry does that in one way, “The Embezzler” by Louis Auchincloss in a different way: both masterful and highly recommended reads for anybody struggling with narrative voice of POV issues.)

On a practical level, what I’d say that means is that the writer is not using “techniques” or “tools” to “construct” that voice, but is more like a lover searching for it, open to possibilities, listening for the beat below the melody.

To give one example of this train of thought, I was talking with Ken Kesey in Seattle (and yes, NorWesterners, in the Blue Moon: where else?) and he mentioned the character of The Chief in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. Perhaps you recall the huge, silent, catatonic Indian who is witness to the whole thing without speaking. He said, “It was making me crazy, trying to get the perspective and viewpoints for this thing, and the tone of the narrative. Then The Chief popped into my mind and as soon as he was on the scene, everything just fell into place and moved forward with a sure step.”

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
I’ve lived in Latin America most of the last twenty years, most of it in Mexico. But beyond that, I was born an expatriate and peripatetic Army brat. The only place I ever got homesick for was Taiwan, my junior high years, and a great time for me. I like the Third World. I like being a minority. I like dealing in more than one language at a time. The first time I stepped off a ferryboat and was really in Mexico (Juarez and The Baja don’t count) something just hit me, a feeling like being home. It felt odd and I finally realized it was like Taipei: sidewalks clogged with little shops, peoples selling food cooked right there in the street, lots of human and animal labor instead of machines, just a different feeling that I recognized and responded to. As opposed to stepping off a boat in Havana for the first time and feeling like I was on a different planet, even though I spoke the language. I’d love to do a novel in Cuba.

What is your marketing strategy for your work?
My short term plan has been to tick people off on writer’s forums and get kicked off. My long term plan involves being a best-selling idol and making those kickers-off lick my huaraches.

Seriously, Adoro and I have been concentrating heavily on getting into libraries--which has been pretty successful--into bookstores--some success there, requiring a lot of explaining that they are available from distributors and returnable--and direct internet sales from the Adoro site as well as online retailers like Barnes and Noble.

A big factor in getting eyeballs to purchase points is the use of video “trailers”. Used aggressively: doing a video and leaving lying around on YouTube doesn’t help. I try to create videos that reflect my writer creativity, are interesting enough to be passed around and reposted: then I go put them where people will see them.

You produce your own videos?
Oh, yeah. For awhile there I was viewing writing as a distraction from my video craze. But the “bug” is in remission now. I’ve won some awards for videos, which helps spread the word. Most of them can be seen on my page: I’m particularly proud of the “Engines of Desire” and “Flesh Wounds” vids, which go beyond promotion into being artistic works in their own right. I’d strongly advise people to have a go at making their own video trailers, instead of paying somebody else to punch one out that looks just like all the rest of them. It’s not rocket science and even if you have no experience, you just might do something that gets more attention that the “cookie cutter” vids.

Can you give an example of how a writer can make a better video than a video pro?
One that comes to mind is a woman with a book she wrote for kids. She bought my manual, then wrote to me that she couldn’t afford to pay her cover artist to do more work for the video and couldn’t find any children-type artwork. I said, “What’s on your refrigerator?” She ended up scanning a bunch of crayon illustrations done by her kids, editing them together using tips from my manual, and created a very popular video. The soundtrack, made using a free program I recommended and a $20 Radio Shack microphone, was a bunch of kids singing a song from the book.

Did you write the manual you mention?
Thought you’d never ask. Yes, I have a six dollar pdf manual that helps writers with no experience make book trailers for free, using simple programs and free resources. Having an e-Book to work from is great because you can just toggle between your on-screen work and the manual. You can see the page for the “eManual” at http://adoroworks.mexipost.com/tutvideo.php

After hours of intense writing, how do you unwind?
Same as any other writer: drugs, rock and roll, mindless violence, weird sex. Oh, that and free-diving in Caribbean caves and tunnels, pursuing my unspoken personal goal to become lobster chow.

What are your current projects?
I think it’s about time to do a screenplay. And I’m thinking of one about a single mother. Sort of.
Actually, what is exciting me right now is not individual books, of which I have several in the fire, but formats and venues and methods. I’m working on online serials and have done some e-books in different forms, and looking into a podcast, and am very excited about books for iPhone and other phone apps. This is where things are heading (NOT the evil, monopolistic Kindle) and I see a lot of areas I’d like to mix it up with.
I wish this stuff had come around when I was twenty and wasting my time doing magazine articles and girly photography and felonies. It’s like there’s all this COOL STUFF coming out and I have limited energy to crawl all over it like I’d want to.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
I’d like to invite people to my website at http://linrobinson.com/
Check out my video poetry. I have a page on the Adoro site: http://adorobooks.com/author1.php

Lin, thanks for letting us take a closer look at you and your world. Best wishes on all future endeavors, and please don't become lobster chow!

Helen Macie Osterman's Notes in a Mirror

Helen Macie Osterman lives in Homer Glen, a suburb of Chicago. She has five children and nine grandchildren. Osterman received a Bachelor of Nursing degree from Mercy Hospital-St. Xavier College and later earned a Master’s Degree from Northern Illinois University. Throughout her forty-five year nursing career, she wrote articles for both nursing and medical journals. Helen is the author of The Emma Winberry Mystery Series: The Accidental Sleuth, The Stranger in the Opera House, and Notes in a Mirror.  She is a member of American Association of University Women, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.

Helen, welcome to the blog.When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
When I had children and began telling them stories. I wrote them down and decided to do my own illustrations. Nothing came of this endeavor.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
Stories and plots simply found their way into my consciousness. I did it for fun. But, when I began the Emma Winberry cozy mystery series, I decided to instill a social problem into each book. Of course, Emma addresses these problems as well as solving the mystery.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone? If you have written both, which one do you prefer?
My latest book is Notes in a Mirror, a story of two student nurses during their three- month psychiatric rotation at a state mental hospital in 1950. This is approximately the time I did mine as a student and it was pre-tranquilizer days. Though the work is fiction, it actually portrays the care of the mentally ill at that time. I enjoy the series because my characters become like part of my family and I’m eager to know what their next adventure will be. They always tell me.

What’s the hook for the book?
The hook for Notes in a Mirror is mirror image writing. The ghost contacts my protagonist by this means.

How do you develop characters? Setting?
In Notes in a Mirror the character of Mary Lou Hammond is somewhat like I was a young girl. I accentuated her fears to increase the tension in the book. The setting is real, just as I remember it.

What are your protagonist’s strengths? Flaws?
Mary Lou grows through the three-month experience. She begins as a timid, easily influenced, young girl and becomes strong and independent at the end of the story.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
I began my life as a protected member of a close-knit family. Through years of nursing, marriage, child-rearing and divorce, I experienced many of the situations that appear in my stories.

After hours of intense writing, how do you unwind?
I unwind by attending water aerobics classes three times a week, tending to my many houseplants, playing the piano, and reading.

What are your current projects?
I am writing about a new character, an older woman living in a retirement community. Haven’t decided yet if it will become a series.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

On my web site: http://www.helenosterman.com/

Helen, continued success.

Siobhan Cunningham's Penance List

Siobhan C Cunningham was born in Surrey, educated in Berkshire and has her roots firmly planted in County Wicklow Ireland, She lives in London with her Artist daughter Scarlett Raven. www.scarlettraven.com

A former model, she was once married to acclaimed musician Raf Ravenscroft, whose stellar career included providing the saxophone solo for Gerry Rafferty'S 'Baker Street' and the Pink Floyd.

Cunningham has worked extensively in both the music and sport industries, notably for Chelsea Football Club and the management company responsible for the careers of the likes of David Beckham. After a five year stint with horseracing's elite at The Jockey Club, and 10yrs of writing in her spare time, she decided to focus on her passion for writing full time.

Having crossed the paths of two psychotic killers (thankfully unscathed), witnessed the wrath of misguided religion and the abuse of money, sex, drugs, fame and power first hand, she was drawn to write The David Trilogy of thriller novels - The Penance List, Unfinished Business and For My Sins.

The Penance List is being adapted to film, and  will be a slick, glossy Basic Instinct style movie.

Respite from the suspense of her thriller novels comes in the form of her Ginormous Joe children’s picture book series. A humorous, loving, good-wins-over-bad look at life through the eyes of a big white, fluffy, huggable, dog called Joe. Her artist daughter, Scarlett, contributed the stunning artwork.

Siobhan, you're a busy lady. When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

Babysitting my siblings; being the eldest of five children I started creating night-time stories for them from the age of 8yrs. Having three brothers, the stories had to be pretty lavatorial, crash bang wallop action humor to keep them entertained, giggling. Have been writing my current thriller series for the past 10yrs.
The Children’s picture books started as respite from the blood and gore of the thrillers, and to be able to collaborate with my artist daughter. It is good to be able to help rescue dogs groups by allocating a royalty share.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
My main goal is to entertain, drag the reader into another world, escape for a while. I worked for 8yrs in the music to film industry, so I write with film in mind. I write novels for movies.
The messages within the Thrillers:  good always wins over evil, abusers leave children alone, there is a backlash, the power of passion, women should not to take their romantic life too seriously,  and evil crosses the paths of normal people too.
The messages with the Children’s books: good always wins over evil, treat animals well,  love, care for each other, and accomplish goals.

Briefly tell us about your book(s).
25yrs ago my path crossed that of a serial rapist killer, luckily I got away unscathed, but I remember looking into his eyes and wondering how he had come to be so calm, powerful, cold, indifferent to his actions, to the carnage he caused. How had this animal been created? He looked like a clean cut, handsome mummy’s boy. He could have been a timid bank clerk or scout leader. He had a mother, a sibling a childhood, a life. How could the police not have caught him earlier? I wrote The David Trilogy about a cherubic altar boy who, due to the actions of his peers, teachers, priests, became a cruel warp of everything we hold dear. We hate him but understand him. The lead female is an honest, hardworking, normal, struggling with life, contemporary woman – evil can cross anyone’s path. Passion is powerful.

The thrillers are pretty intense to write; as respite I needed something to work on in-between each book. I had the pleasure of meeting Joe, a rescued Pyrenees Mountain Dog found dying on the streets of Dallas, he recuperated with us and inspired love, courage and laughter in our lives. I write the books in honor of him, a share of royalties goes to saving other dogs like him (SPIN Rescue). I also get to work with my talented daughter who produces the artwork in between her gallery shows (contemporary oils).

What’s the hook for the trilogy?

The power of love, passion, religion, and the carnage it can cause.

How do you develop characters? Setting?
They are based on those that have come into my life. Once I start on the basic skeletal outline the story and characters write themselves in directions I didn’t know existed. It sometimes feels as if I have been taken over by a spirit/ghost. But I guess that happens to many writers, the books write themselves.
As I write with film in mind, I have to be able to close my eyes and see, smell, feel, taste, hear the scene. I think that is why film directors like my work, they see it too.

Who’s the most unusual/most likeable character?
David is the most charming, hypnotic, addictive of characters, But I have a soft spot for one of the sub characters, a camp hairdresser, Anton de Menton, who makes us giggle with his camp antics, relaxing us amongst the fear.

Having read The Pennance List, I agree that David is hypnotic. I had to continue reading to see where this tormented character went next. He held me hostage, I suppose.
Ginormous Joe is a wonderful, huggable, arm stretching hug of a character, he brings a tear to your
eye and joy to your soul.

Do you have specific techniques to help you maintain the course of the plot?
Just reading the manuscript over and over again trying to make sure I haven’t dropped any stitches of the complicated story. Every few pages some form of action must occur, keeping the readers on their toes.

Do you have a specific writing style? Preferred POV?
I have a chatty writing style, direct and shocking. I guess that is me as a person…… shocking, no messing around with polite chat. Life is too short, get to the point.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
Totally. I need authenticity with a touch of fantasy.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve even had.
'' A masterful, dark, suspenseful, psychological thriller, expertly exploiting the tensions between the erotic and the macabre, wonderful dialogue, the characterization is phenomenal! '' - '' Intense, hard-hitting, forceful, narrative, about as powerful as anything I've seen, writing doesn't get much better than this. This book is hard to ignore, impossible to put down. ''

What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you as a writer?
A wonderful 80yr old lady neighbor had been asking to read The Penance List manuscript. I was nervous to let her as I thought it a little explicit, risqué for her very sweet Christian Miss Marple type soul. Eventually I could put her off no longer. I admitted that it was best she did not read it, it was a little x rated, I didn’t want to embarrass her. She promptly shook her head, dragged me into the garden, behind a tree and whispered into my ear that ‘what anyone does behind closed doors in their own bedroom is their own business, I have a whole library of such books in my bedroom… ‘

What are your current projects?
Completing the second book of The David Trilogy, Unfinished Business, am dreading finishing the third book For My Sins, I love my characters too much to let them go…. (Message to self; - get a life!)
In talks with film directors and producers re the adaptation of The Penance List. Fascinating learning the way film writers work, how to cut a 400 page novel to 100 page screenplay, how the Director sees each scene, what he gets about my characters and what he doesn’t get. Amazing to see.
Completing ‘Ginormous Joe’ book two, where he falls in love. Ahh!.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
http://www.sccunningham.com/

Siobhan, I wish you the best with all your writing and film endeavors. Keep us posted about their releases.


Susan Whitfield, author of The Logan Hunter Mystery Series

http://www.susanwhitfield.blogspot.com/

The Ezekiel Code Author Tenuta Discusses 2012

Welcome, Gary Val. Please give us a brief bio.
Hi Susan. First I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to do this interview! I’m a writer/artist/book-cover-designer, former contributing writer for Fate Magazine (U.S.) and Beyond Magazine (U.K.) and I’ve been a guest on numerous radio programs (including Dreamland, hosted by best selling author Whitley Strieber and The X-Zone hosted by Rob McConnell). As you might guess, from that bit of background information, I have an interest in just about everything that could be considered “paranormal” as well as cutting edge ideas from quantum physics. I’m fascinated by the mysteries surrounding many of our ancient cultures, the UFO phenomenon, synchronicity, sacred geometry, crop circles, and pretty much anything that resides outside the box or goes bump in the night.
Some readers might be interested to know about my exploration of the possibility that the English alphabet is “encoded” in such a way that it can be used in a manner similar to the system of divination known as gematria. Gematria, for those not familiar with the term, might be thought of as a kind of “sacred numerology”. That is over-simplifying it but does give you the idea that it involves numbers in combination with the alphabet. Gematria was practiced by the ancient Greek and Hebrew priests and mystics. This work, interestingly enough, provided the plot device that propels the entire story of my novel, The Ezekiel Code. The details of the work (including hundreds of examples) can be seen at http://www.secretofnine.com/.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
The writing bug bit me when I was about 12 years old. That’s when I wrote my first story. It was a science fiction piece called “The Beam From Saucer X”. It was great! Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t so great but, hey… my mom liked it.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
I didn’t really get serious about writing until around the late 80s/early 90s. I started a science fiction novel that was coming along pretty well but I stopped working on it when I was struck with an idea for a different story. That idea kept nagging at me to get it started. Once I got started I couldn’t stop although it took nearly 9 years to complete it. The result was my debut novel, The Ezekiel Code (http://www.ezekielcode.com/).
Yes, there was a message I wanted readers to grasp. The message can be summed up by a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. There is another quote that works here also. I’ve seen it attributed to Albert Einstein. It goes like this: “The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine”. In writing The Ezekiel Code I wanted to introduce readers to a wide range of ideas and concepts they may never have heard of. As one reviewer said:
“It changes you because it opens a portal to so many fascinating concepts, some of which are right before your eyes, laced throughout our lives and history, and others, which exist just beyond our general understanding, that it will keep you thinking and wondering about what it presents long after you've read it.”

What a wonderful review!

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?
The Ezekiel Code is a blend of fact and fiction based on the idea that the strange object encountered by the prophet, Ezekiel, was actually an extraterrestrial craft, or an interdimensional craft. In other words, it ain’t from around here. That idea occurred to me back in the 70s and I later learned I wasn’t the only person who noticed the similarities between Ezekiel’s descriptions of the object and some of the modern day accounts of UFO encounters. The novel is loaded with conspiracy, codes, secret societies, UFOs, ancient mysteries, the prophetic Mayan calendar end-date of 2012, alternative interpretations of Biblical events, mystifying metaphysics, good guys, bad guys, murder most foul, a touch of romance and a trace of sci-fi.
The book has been out in paperback since 2007 and was selling quite well. I recently made it available also in Kindle format. Much to my surprise and delight, within three weeks of being available on Kindle, the book hit the amazon.com “Best Seller” list in the categories of “Occult” and “Religious Fiction”.

What’s the hook for the book?
The big hook for the book is that it deals with the 2012 phenomenon, the approaching end of the ancient Mayan calendar. There has been a virtual plethora of non-fiction books about the 2012 issue published over the past few years but relatively few novels have approached that theme. Most of those few novels take the “dooms day” approach to 2012. The Ezekiel Code, however, takes a different approach. In my story the end of the Mayan calendar offers an unprecedented window of opportunity for enlightenment and an extraordinary future of the human race. There’s just one problem. Something disastrous is coming that could prevent us from ever reaching the year 2012. Discovering what it is, and how to prevent it, becomes the mission of one man while a highly placed group of conspirators are maneuvering behind the scenes to keep him from accomplishing his appointed task. Here’s a brief synopsis:
(1887 AD)

A fabled "lost scroll", scribed by the prophet Ezekiel, comes into the hands of a secret society, the Order of the New Dawn. Brother Hiram - a mystic priest of the Order - has a vision in which he sees the year 2012 (the end of the ancient Mayan calendar) as an unprecedented window of opportunity for the next step in the evolution of human consciousness. He also sees something coming that would prevent this window from opening; a catastrophic event that, if left unchecked, would seal the fate of humankind forever. He realizes the Lost Scroll and his vision of 2012 have a strange but vital connection. In an attempt to save the future he devises a coded message that he hopes will one day find it's way into the hands of someone who can prevent the greatest natural catastrophe the modern world has ever known.
(1999 AD)

Frank McClintock - a self-styled adventurer and researcher of ancient mysteries - comes into possession of the coded parchment. But an unfortunate fate awaits him and the parchment will lie hidden for another six years.
(2005 AD)

Zeke Banyon, a Catholic seminary dropout, is running a homeless shelter in the old waterfront district of Seattle. He and his assistant, Angela, unwittingly stumble upon the code and soon find themselves thrust into a world of secret societies, metaphysics, mystery, and murder. In the process of trying to understand the code – and dodging rogue Jesuit priests and the mysterious Illuminati at every turn – Banyon discovers a disturbing truth about himself and the extraordinary fate that awaits him... and us. No amount of seminary schooling could ever have prepared him for this.
2012 is coming...

The clock is ticking...

The code must be deciphered...

And only one man can save the planet...

If he can just figure out how - before it's too late.

Intriguing, indeed.
How do you develop characters? Setting?
Like many writers I have a general idea of what my main characters are like before I begin writing and then I find that their personalities evolve almost naturally as the story progresses.
As far as the setting goes, I decided to set the story of The Ezekiel Code primarily in Seattle because that’s where I was born and raised. Placing the characters and most of the action in a familiar setting helped me provide an added sense of reality to the story. The characters do, however, leave Seattle and go to a location in New York and then off to a location in the South of France, two places where I’ve never been. Their stay in New York is brief so I only had to do a little bit of research to assure my accuracy of that part of their journey. The location in France was more of a concern because it’s a key part of the story I knew that many of my readers would be familiar with it, some more so than others, but I wanted it to be accurate. It’s a small village called Rennes Le Chateau, a place of legend that has been discussed in several non-fiction books. So I contacted the author of one of those non-fiction books, a man whom I knew had actually been there to do some hands-on research. Although he was in England and didn’t know me from Adam he was kind enough to answer my questions about the location, the climate, the general terrain, and so on. With that detailed information, and a few photographs, I felt comfortable when it came time to write that part of the story.

How do you determine voice in your writing?
I think I like to keep my voice out of it, for the most part, and let the voices of the characters come through.

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?
Some writers like to establish an outline of the story before they begin writing. I didn’t do that with The Ezekiel Code. I thought I knew pretty much how the story would begin, what would happen in the middle, and how it would end. Turned out I was surprised by much of what occurred in the middle and the ending was not at all what I had envisioned. The story became much more complex than I had anticipated so I had to start keeping a legal pad next to me as I worked. I would jot down the various new ideas that were constantly coming to mind as the story progressed and I made notes about how to incorporate those ideas into the story. Another thing I hadn’t anticipated was how difficult it would be to coordinate all the events toward the end of the story as the characters found themselves in a race against the clock. Inevitably, I had to literally diagram a timeline, down to the day, the hour, the minute and the second when the big event would occur. That was probably the most difficult part of the whole thing.

What are your current projects?
I’m working on a new novel, an occult crime thriller, called “Ash: Return of the Beast”. It’s based on a little known but very curious bit of trivia concerning the infamous practitioner of occult “magick”, Aleister Crowley. An excerpt from the intriguing introduction and a short synopsis and the cover art can be seen at
www.ezekielcode.com/ashteaser.html.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
Readers can watch three video trailers for The Ezekiel Code (one of which is a visual presentation of the entire prolog from the book), and read some of the reviews and even the first 12 chapters of the book at
http://www.ezekielcode.com/. Authors who want a top quality, original, attention-grabbing book cover at an extremely reasonable price can get all the information and see samples of my work at

http://www.bookcoversandvideos.webs.com/.

Gary Val, thanks for a great interview! Continued success!

Keith Pyeatt's Horrors With Heart

My guest today is Keith Pyeatt. Keith, welcome to the blog. Please tell us about yourself.
I was a mild-mannered mechanical engineer when I designed and built a simple log cabin on the side of a mountain in rural northeastern Vermont. After two years in my isolated cabin, I began writing horror novels. After ten years, I left my engineering career behind and moved to Albuquerque to focus on writing and freelance editing. Now I've been writing novels for 14 years. I'm working on my sixth novel, and I recently had two novels published.
My novels blend genres in different proportions, but they all have a paranormal element and plenty of psychological and physical tension. I refer to my novels as "Horror with Heart" because I force my characters to look deep inside themselves and find their very best before they can save the day.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
I was a manager at an electric utility in Vermont, and my assistant challenged me to write a short story. The only requirement was that the good guys had to win. She wrote a fun and clever story, a couple pages long. A novel came gushing out of me. I wrote it on weekends and evenings in three weeks, and it's a tongue-and-cheek horror novel called Confusion. I didn't know what I was doing when I wrote it, and I've never returned to it now that I do, but it holds a special place in my heart. It hooked me on writing.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
I write to entertain. My goal is to write novels readers can't put down. I want to flash images and situations into my readers' minds so they can submerge themselves in my stories and enjoy the read. I want my readers to feel the emotions my characters experience, but I also want to evoke emotions from my readers.
There are messages in my novels, often carried by themes that play out throughout the novels. Struck carries a theme about the understated power of acceptance, for example. Two major themes play out in Dark Knowledge, one about how good and bad often can't be separated and another about how winning great prizes requires great effort.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone? If you have written both, which one do you prefer?
I had two novels published in '09. Both are stand alone novels, but I could write a sequel for either if the mood hits.
Struck is a paranormal suspense novel set in Albuquerque, a fictional pueblo, and the Anasazi ruins in Chaco Canyon. When the main character, Barry, is struck by lightning, it's more than an act of nature. It's a calling. Earth's fate is now tied to Barry's, and Barry's destiny is linked to the past.
Dark Knowledge is a paranormal thriller that might be described as Flowers for Algernon with a Dean Koontz twist. A mentally challenged man named Wesley can't resist a gift of knowledge, but it comes with a dark destiny. Now Wesley must fight to survive, piece together his heritage, and weigh the value of his soul against the fate of mankind.

What’s the hook for the book?
In Struck, the earth will lose its ability to sustain life unless our easy-going hero understands and accepts his role as warrior, joins forces with a Native American elder, and overcomes massive obstacles before the equinox.
In Dark Knowledge, Satan wants a stronger foothold on earth. Mankind's fate rests on a mentally challenged man who must fight for his life in two worlds, grasp the concept that good and evil can't always be separated, and use that concept to save his soul.

How do you develop characters? Setting?
I give my characters strengths, flaws, quirks, and room to grow. Then I start writing. They become real to me early in the first draft but may continue changing even near the end. I don't worry if their nature changes during the first draft. Making characters consistent is just one of the many things revisions are for.
For settings, I use what works for the novel. Struck is very much tied to New Mexico. The settings in Albuquerque, a Native American pueblo, and Chaco Canyon not only season the novel, the whole premise of Struck comes from New Mexico history and culture. Dark Knowledge uses very different settings, but they also help establish the mood of the novel. It's set in a group home for mentally challenged men and women and a bizarre, threatening, and ever-changing world that exists inside the main character's mind.

What are your protagonist’s strengths? Flaws?
In Struck, Barry is a kind, compassionate man. He's too easy-going for his own good, especially when faced with the challenge of saving the earth.
In Dark Knowledge, Wesley is a sweet, strong, mentally challenged man with an amazing moral compass. Poor guy has a lot to deal with and overcome in the novel. He ignores his instincts a couple times, and each time pays a price.

How do you determine voice in your writing?
I write from the characters' point of view, so much of my voice comes from them. What carries through from me is word choice and conciseness. I write tight. I also concentrate on how prose flows, and I've been thrilled to see in my reviews the term "poetic."

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?
One of my tricks is to create an in-progress outline as I write first draft. I summarize each scene after I write it. Doing so makes me focus on what happened, what was set up, and where the novel is going based on that one scene. As I progress, I can tell if I'm stagnating or stumbling ahead without proper motivation. Scenes that add little or repeat something already established stand out, and I'll either cut or refocus them in edits.
The finished outline is a big help during edits and also when it comes time to write a synopsis.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
Interesting and tough question. My environment/upbringing colored me, and I color my writing, so the question goes to the core, my core. Anyone who reads my novels learns something about me, and the personal values revealed are a result of my environment and upbringing.

Have you started any online networks or blogs to promote yourself and others?
Online promotion is important, and I'm everywhere. At least it feels that way. I also send out a short newsletter every other month (there's a sign-up form on my blog). Here are a few places I have an online presence:
 http://keithpyeatt.com/
http://keithpyeatt.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/keithpyeatt
http://www.twitter.com/keithpyeatt
http://www.freado.com/users/3981/Keith-Pyeatt
http://www.redroom.com/author/keith-pyeatt

I also have an author page at both of my publishers' websites. I have a page at Goodreads, Author's Den, Amazon, MySpace, and Manic Readers.

After hours of intense writing, how do you unwind?
I drink. Ha. Actually, physical exercise is a huge help to me. I run four or five times a week and go to the gym to work out with weights four times a week. Exercise helps me unwind and gives me time to think about what I've written. I'm known at the gym for smiling my hellos but not talking. I'm always thinking about my characters or my novels. Unless I'm people watching, noticing interesting traits that might work their way into a character.

What are your current projects?
I'm excited about my work in progress. It's a dark fantasy/paranormal thriller. There's a parallel world and some really dark angles to contrast the light. I've had this project on hold for too long while I market unpublished novels and promote my newly published ones, but I'm finally returning to writing first draft, and it feels good.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
Best places are my website, http://keithpyeatt.com, and my blog, http://keithpyeatt.blogspot.com. To sample my published novels, a great online venue is http://www.freado.com/users/3981/Keith-Pyeatt. There are two chapters of both published novels posted there.

Keith, continued success with your writing. Thanks for the interview.
Great interview questions, Susan. Thank you for hosting me here. It was fun.

Stelly's Human Trial

“What happens when all that remains of the world is fear, distrust and desperation?”
A scattershot group of men and women are left to fend off alien attackers who have waged a thermal war on the earth. The survivors must endure intense heat while warding off marauders, rabid animals and their own prejudices.
Daron Turner and a pregnant co-worker Regina Jackson, lead this eclectic mix of survivors: Dan, a former construction worker; gang member Melvin Hicks; Barbara, a tough-talking widow who more than holds her own with her male cohorts; and escaped prison inmates Rocks and Ray Earl. neither of whom is eager to follow orders.
The aliens desire to use the remaining children on earth for study and hybrid procreation. Daron and his cohorts must decide whether to give up or fight to protect the planet’s future: Regina’s unborn child.

Synopsis:
Human Trial is an apocalyptic tale that focuses on race, group dynamics, and the survival of the human species. A ragtag collection of Americans struggles to survive after intergalactic invaders use their advanced technology to manipulate the earth’s temperature. The thermal war leaves the earth scorched and devoid of nearly all human and animal life. The survivors, a scattershot group of humans (who dub themselves “Mulholland’s Mad Dogs”), gather in the fictional town of Stonecutter, where the stress takes a toll in the form of suicide and deadly in-fighting. As group members come and go, the consensus is that they must overcome personal prejudice to work together, to not only endure the altered climate, but ward off marauders, rabid animals and the unseen danger lurking in the nearby woods.
The night after several group members are drinking, one of them claims to have seen an UFO. He is perceived as “losing it” by the others, and after he is abducted by the aliens and returned nude, they are certain of it. Making matters worse, two group members are discovered to be manufacturing and using methamphetamine. The confrontation between them and the group results in a volatile group meeting, where racial animosity comes to a head.
The MMDs prepare for the battle, and several of them attempt to force a confrontation with the aliens, but their attack is a futile one. The aliens retaliate by putting each of the MMDs into a deep sleep—except for Daron and his newborn son, Adam. When the aliens escape with Adam, Daron goes after them and there is a final woodland showdown.

Timothy N. Stelly, Sr. is a poet, novelist, screenwriter and essayist from northern California. Human Trial is his first novel, and is the first part of an urban sci-fi trilogy. He has also written more than 350 essays for Useless-knowledge.com and e-zinearticles.com from social and political issues to film noir history. In 2006, he won first prize in the Pout-erotica poetry contest for his poem "C’mon Condi". He has contributed several poetic pieces to Oysters & Chocolate and is currently working on rewrites of his first two novel attempts, Tempest In The Stone and The Malice Of Cain, which were published by PublishAmerica. His upcoming book is a sequel, Human Trial II: Adam’s War. He is also putting the finishing touches on a crime drama, Blanket of Authority. He is a native of Northern, California, where he resides with his three youngest children -- Dante, Kimberly and Lawrence.

Welcome, Tim.
When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
I began writing around age nine, mostly humorous rhymes. My first serious effort began in high school with poetry and short plays. Now I prefer writing novels, short stories and screenplays. I became serious about this in 1999 after experiencing several personal setbacks. Writing was therapeutic. I had some notes from two novels I’d started writing in 1991 and from 1999-2003, I did my best to polish them. Since 2001, I have written more than 40 novels and 30 screenokays, most of it is what I call “hip-hop political satire,” a cross between Richard Wright and Richard Pryor.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
I simply wanted to get published the old fashioned way—with the services of a vanity publisher, or self-publishing. Now I want to continue to publish in this fashion, but I may self-publish a series of books. I am also trying to break into Hollywood. As for a message, in my writing I try to deal with issues of injustice and that old standby, good vs. evil. I think I accomplished the latter with my sci-fi book, Human Trial.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?
Human Trial is the first part of a sci-fi trilogy. The story has a simple premise in that, it argues man may not be capable of saving himself from aliens because we cannot save ourselves from the evil of other men. The characters have to overcome their fears and prejudices to not only save their group, but what remains of mankind. I’ve always believed that smaller groups—families and neighborhoods—are a microcosm of how our nation functions, and if you have dysfunctional families and neighborhoods, you will have a dysfunctional nation. Sadly, we live in a dysfunctional world, so to change it, we have to start with ourselves and those we influence. This is what the group in Human Trial seeks to do.

The story itself, centers on a scattershot group of humans who survive a thermal war launched by aliens that leaves fewer than 3,000 people left worldwide. The group os led by Daron Turner, and his pregnant co-worker (who later becomes his wife by less than traditional means), as they attempt to find out who is responsible and why. The alien’s home planet is on the brink of destruction, and the intergalactic visitors are seeking a new environment—one with a species that is genetically compatible with their own. Their ulterior motive is to breed with earth dwellers and discover an emotional-depth their own kind lack. Furthermore, they are planning for a later, and larger, battle with earth dwellers.

What’s the hook for the book?
What happens when all that remains of the world is fear, distrust and desperation?

How do you develop characters? Setting?
I try and put the reader/my characters in uncommon situations. For Human Trial this was easy: Place an eclectic mix of humanity in confined quarters where they must fend of wilding youth, rabid animals and a more powerful enemy they can’t yet see. The challenge was to hypothesize as to how these people might react, while at the same time convincing the reader to suspend their disbelief.

Who’s the most unusual/most likeable character?
The most unusual is Daron Turner. He is the leader, but he isn’t too trusting of strangers and reacts (sometimes overreacts) too quickly to dangers real and imagined. Throughout the book, however, we see him grow into a more thoughtful group leader. The most likeable character I think is Dan, a construction worker whom I tried to draw as an every man: a person who wants to fit in, follows orders and will fight ferociously for his own survival and that of the group.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
Many of my stories center of social issues, in particular racial injustice. I grew up in a town divided racially and was bussed to a high school in the heart of an all-white enclave, where blacks madder up but 10% of the student body. Over a four-year period there were three racial conflagrations that temporarily shut down the school. However, when we black students returned, we were met by a mob of people whom had graduated years before. This opened my eyes to racism, and reinforced the pronouncement of Malcolm X that racism is prevalent in the south—south of the Canadian border.”

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve even had.
"Human Trial is at once a sci-fi story, a look at the psychology of survival, and a timely cautionary tale regarding current environmental woes; our individual and collective responsibility to one another and to the planet…It is an entertaining and intricate story that can be read and enjoyed along with the likes of Mitchener, King, or Peter Straub. Stelly intuitively knows what everyday people will do to survive and how their interactions with each other will sound".—Brian Barbeito, Columnist Useless-Knowledge.com and author of Fluoride And The Electric Light Queen

Great review!

What are your current projects?
I have Human Trial II: Adam’s War finished and ready to go to the publisher, hopefully in January. I have a crime-dramas finished—Under Color Of Authority, and a zombies-in-the-hood tale, The Zombie Factor. I also have a coming of age tale set in the 70’s—my magnus opus--titled Darker Than Blue.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
E-mail me at: stellbread@yahoo.com, or visit me at http://www.myspace.com/pittwit

Tim, thanks for the interview. Continued success!

 WHERE TO BUY HUMAN TRIAL
Amazon.com, mobipocket.com, allthingsthatmatterpress.com