Author Interview – Peter Cunningham

Do you find the time to read? Yes, especially since I was given a Kindle.

Last book you purchased? Tell us about it. ‘Thomas Beckett: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim’  by John Guy. Becket was made Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry II in the mid-twelfth century. It was a time of continual war between England and France. Henry refused to be ruled by Rome in matters involving taxes, laws and money; Becket opposed him and ended up being murdered in his own cathedral.

Who do you admire? Anyone who has worked hard to develop their talent.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why? “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” Book of Psalms 1   It embodies all the love I feel for the dearly departed.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world? A place called Hot Sand Cove on the south east coast of Ireland. White sand, clear warm water and coloured fish. You can only get in there by small boat—but don’t ask me exactly where it is. It’s a secret!

How has your upbringing influenced your writing? My parents always encouraged me to read and write. They expected me to write.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? I began writing short articles for the Christmas supplements of local newspapers when I was aged ten. Then I read Edgar Allan Poe and began writing ghost stories.

How long have you been writing? From age ten.

When did you first know you could be a writer? One October evening I was in Paris, walking down the Champs Elysee and, like a thunderbolt, I suddenly knew I would be a writer. I was in my thirties. Even though I’d always written, to actually be a writer was something else.

What genre are you most comfortable writing? Literary fiction, although I also enjoy writing thrillers.

What inspired you to write your first book? On a long plane journey I read a thriller by Peter James called ‘Billionaire’; when I finished it, I said to myself, ‘I can do that.’ Ten days later I’d written the first twenty thousand words of my first novel, ‘Noble Lord’.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? All the books I had read. My life to date. My struggles. I’ve always had the help of good editors and an agent.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? To find my own distinctive voice. It sometimes takes months and months to get it right. But you have to get it right—otherwise, what’s the point?

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? ‘The Sea and the Silence’ taught me that Ireland in the 1940s was a hidden world within a Europe in flames, but that love takes no heed of place or time. And that I love women, but I think I knew that already.

Do you intend to make writing a career? It is my career.

Have you developed a specific writing style? Yes. I write in a way that people now recognize.

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Genre - Historical Fiction/Historical Romance

Rating – G

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Website http://petercunninghambooks.com/

Author Interview – Lee Tidball

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? This book taught me a process for writing a novel from a screenplay, which is considerably easier than writing a novel from scratch.  A screenplay makes a perfect “extended outline” for a novel, where all your basic settings, characterizations, and dialogue are already there—they just have to be expanded on to make them read well in narrative form.

Do you intend to make writing a career?  It already is.

What is your greatest strength as a writer?  My greatest strength is screenwriting, and within that, it’s coming up with high-concept premises and dialogue, especially where the kid/family audience is concerned.  It’s very authentic.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? Certainly!

How did you come up with the title? It’s a play on words, has to do with both the setting for most of the story as well as the unique way that the main character wreaks revenge upon his enemies.

Can you tell us about your main character? Hector Chevas is a brilliant but very rough around the edges young man who ran away from his dysfunctional home when he was 12 and basically raised himself in the streets of a Big City.  He took it upon himself to protect others who ran into trouble on the streets and befriend to odd and friendless.  When he was given an apprenticeship with a world-famous architect, his life totally changed for the better, but when corrupt and cruel people in his home town cause the death of his master as well as his best friends, he carries out a murderous plot of revenge.  But his whole plan is turned upside down when he reconnects with a girl whose life he saved, and they fall in love.

How did you develop your plot and characters? I basically used the plot structure of old gothic horror novels like Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, etc., and the characters just came out of my head, one the brooding, driven Hector, the other nearly his polar opposite, the free and easy wild-child Janey.

Who designed the cover? My publisher designed the cover, with my input and approval.

Who is your publisher? Short On Time Books, a new media small press.  My publisher’s name is Karen Bryson.

Why did you choose to write this particular book?  Horror is always a good way to break into Hollywood, so my friend and I were thinking of horror concepts.  I, though, didn’t want to just write a mindless slasher script, but something with a certain amount of heart, theme, and character development, thus the more complex story, but also the bigger budget that turns Hollywood off when it comes to horror.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? It was hard to translate the action and suspense of the screenplay into novel form without getting bogged down now and then.  You want the novel to have more in it than just what’s in the screenplay—you can explore characters thoughts and emotions much better, but it does also tend to slow the story a bit.  It was hard to figure how keep things moving at some points.

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? Yes; that a screenplay serves as an excellent outline by which you can write a fine novel relatively quickly, but that care must be taken not to slow things down too much when you add novel-style elements that you can’t have in a screenplay.

Amazon bestseller - Teen/YA Literature and Fiction

“Imagine the unimaginable.”

That was the mantra of young prodigy Hector Chevas’s mentor in architectural design, Gellini. But even Gellini couldn’t imagine the horrors that his prize student and adopted son would fill Suburbia’s new Heartland Mall with to wreak revenge on those who killed Gellini and murdered Hector’s only friends. “Black Friday” was never blacker.

But Hector couldn’t imagine that, in the middle of his deathly rampage, an “angel” from his past would re-appear into his life; wild-child Janey, whose life he’d saved years before, and who’d never forgotten her promise to “always love him…for reals.” But was that love strong enough now to learn the unimaginable truth; to call Hector’s “dead” soul back to life and resurrect him from his mad plunge into oblivion?

MALLED is a story filled with tragedy, terror, raw emotion, unspeakable horrors, and, above all, the awesome power of ferocious, undying love. Go for it. Get into it. Dare to “imagine the unimaginable.”

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Genre –  NeoGothic Horror / Thriller

Rating – R for violence & language

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Death’s Servant – C.J. Ellisson

Death’s Servant – C.J. Ellisson

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre – Urban Fantasy

Rating – R

4.9 (77 reviews)

Free until 31 December 2013

Jonathan Winchester has clashed with his alpha one too many times. After another argument he leaves the Manitoba pack, his only home since the werewolf attack that changed his life. He returns to his home state of Virginia to start a new life free of pack politics. Jon finds work and meets a young waitress, Raine, who appears to be a lone werewolf, too.
As their relationship progresses, Jon's embroiled in more intrigue than he bargained for and a danger bigger than he can handle. He's running scared until his own alpha tendencies surface, making him unable to leave the pretty werewolf's problems behind. The young man is desperate to save Raine--even if his efforts may lead him straight to death.
Journey along in this first prequel novel involving the favorite characters from the bestselling V V Inn series. Written at reader demand, this stand-alone story explains how the beloved Jonathan came to serve the deadly redheaded vampire, Dria.

Almost A Senior by Brenda Faye Collie

Chapter 1

“Jason, wake up” I yelled for the hundredth time. For the hundredth and one time he stirred in the bed mumbling, “Five more minutes.” He had stayed up Thursday night to watch Friday the 13th, Part Six. When I told him to cut off his new television at 12:00 am because he had an appointment with his probation officer at 9:00 am, he mumbled as the masked Jason on television cut up some poor white woman after having her screaming and running for ten minutes, “Five more minutes.” Jason was famous for his five more minutes. Mama said that he was born five days late and he’d probably be late for his own funeral. But I was determined that I wasn’t going to be late for school this morning. So, after I turned the slab bacon strips in the frying pan, I politely went into the refrigerator and took out the pitcher of cold water and threw it on him. He gave a yell which woke up Mama and I’m sure a few dead people. Mama came out of our bedroom running and screaming, “What’s the matter, Jay?” That’s what she calls him. Jay, which is short for jaybird cause he ain’t got much sense. He is nineteen and six feet two, which means he’s too old to be whining over a little cold water.

“Why you do that to him, Loresha?”

“Cause she’s crazy, Mama.” He used his pointer to circle his head.

I went into the kitchen and started beating two eggs for my breakfast. Me crazy? I didn’t steal a bucket of subway tokens from a subway station and then try to sell them outside the same station. He’s the one that has to appear in court every month to show that he’s making progress in a GED program and working for PAL as a youth aide. I go to regular school. I’m in the eleventh grade. I ain’t got to report to anyone except Mama Police.

Mama Police entered the kitchen and picked up a slice of bacon. She slammed the cabinet door after pulling down a cup. I didn’t say anything to her. I knew she didn’t want me to remind her that her job interview was at ten o’clock. I just scraped my eggs onto my plate because the look on her face said that she was not in a friendly mood. The faucet water thundered into the coffee pot.

“Why must everyone wake when you wake up, Loresha?”

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Genre – Young Adult

Rating – PG

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Website http://www.daylightbooks.net/#!

Coral Russell – Gun Running Drug Smuggling Song

Gun Running Drug Smuggling Song 

  

This is a tongue in cheek song about the U.S. mess ups when dealing with drugs.   The official sting called Fast and the Furious ALLOWED gun runners to buy guns in the U.S. They knew these people should not be purchasing guns. The guns sold had tracking numbers so technically when they were found they could be used to implicate high leaders in the cartel in crimes. At least that was the hope.   Unfortunately, whatever they were using to track the guns was lost or misplaced or simply not used. OR, as was the case, the guns weren't found until AFTER they had killed hundreds of Mexican civilians and even a U.S. Border Patrol Agent. The sting is a failure and there is no way to retrieve the guns.   The other scandal mentioned is the U.S. in the 80s allowed Sinoloa to distribute cocaine in the U.S., specifically certain areas of L.A. Several books have been written about it from a reporter and former DEA agent. They allege that it started with the Iran-Contra Scandal.   These sorts of mishaps add fuel to the fire that the US is not doing enough to stem the flood of drugs coming into the US because the money is so overwhelming, you could drown in it and it seems everyone, even law-abiding citizens, even the government, can get pulled under. Sacrifice mentions these incidents because it's a part of the history of drug trafficking through North America.  

 

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Genre - Thriller

Rating – PG13

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Website http://shelf-stacker.com/

Mark LaFlamme – Curing Writer’s Block With Strawberry Shortcake

Curing Writer’s Block With Strawberry Shortcake

by Mark LaFlamme

The evening was a disaster from the start.

It was midnight and I’d just sat down to write the final chapters in my novel “The Pink Room.” I was writing in my usual spot, but the snow globe was nowhere in sight. It wasn’t on the shelf where I’d left it, it wasn’t on the desk next to my keyboard.

Catastrophe!

Panic rising, I searched the house, eventually turning to ridiculous spots like the refrigerator and the toaster oven. Astoundingly, the snow globe wasn’t there.

I woke my wife, desperate like a junkie looking for his stash.

“Code red! The snow globe is missing! I repeat …”

These are the household emergencies wives solve without waking all the way up. There was no problem here. A niece had been playing with the snow globe, a little pink number featuring Strawberry Shortcake smiling atop a piece of fruit. I was directed to the living room where I found it on the floor.

Crisis averted. Back to work.

A good therapist would have a field day with my writing ritual. I surround myself with trinkets, simple items that have come to represent various works of fiction over the years.

There’s the heavy metal cog I turned to while writing “Worumbo.” There’s the fabric flower with the demented smiling face that served as avatar for “Vegetation.” There’s a baseball, a bottle, a box shaped like a book, and a stuffed chickadee that makes realistic bird noises when you squeeze its belly.

Trinkets and treasures – stuff that would fetch a combined five dollars at a flea market and yet to me they’re priceless. Without those items, I’d freeze at the keyboard, my hands hovering over the letters, the page blank white, until someone comes to cart me away.

It’s superstition, no different than a baseball player pulling on the same crusty pair of socks before game time. I sit down to write, touch the item that represents the book du jour, and I get rolling.

And yet, it’s more than that. When I touch that slightly rusted cog – or the stuffed bird or the tiny plastic shovel that represents my fourth novel – it’s like pressing the “on” button. Once that simple act is behind me, I know it’s time to write. Permission has been granted, a few thousand words are demanded before I can leave my desk again.

As a cure for writer’s block, it’s unbeatable. “Well, I don’t feel like writing today, but I already touched the (your item here) so I better get to it. It would be bad juju not to.”

When other writers ask me how to fight back against dry spells, I advise them to get a trinket. It doesn’t have to be much – a little something out of the 99 cent bin will do. Keep it nearby, touch it when the words won’t come and bam! It’s go time.

By the time you have a few books under your belt, you’ll have an impressive collection of souvenirs to mark your time. Your writing room will look like the “win these prizes!” booth at the carnival. It’s a beautiful thing.

Get rid of the crusty socks, though. Those things are starting to reek.

Jack Carnegie has developed a head for numbers – a true savant who was just an average teenager a day before. Jack Deacon builds things, from self-propelled drones to goggles that can see through walls.

Jack Van Slyke awakes with an ability to speak a half dozen languages.Jack Gordon discovers he is a master of the martial arts, just when he needs it most.

All over the country, young men are finding that they have special skills, areas of expertise that appeared out of nowhere. They’re confused. Baffled. Maybe even dangerous.

And they’re all named Jack.

After experiencing adventures on their own, the Jacks will come together in the deserts of Arizona. There, they will set out on the quest to find out what has happened, becoming a multi-talented task force with not a single clue why.

But answers are coming – chilling revelations about their own minds and about new terrors that imperil the world. Together the Jacks will have to make a decision: drift apart and return to being careless teenagers? Or band together and fight a rising evil that threatens not just the Jacks, but the world.

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Genre – YA / Thriller

Rating – PG

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Website http://marklaflamme.com/

Pirate Trials: Hung by the Neck Until Dead by Ken Rossignol

 

Pirate Trials: Hung by the Neck Until Dead – Ken Rossignol

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre – Non Fiction

Rating – PG

2.5 (2 reviews)

Free until 31 August 2013

Second in the series of Pirate Trials from news reports of the days and actual trial documents. NOTE: This is not a pirate romance novel or a Johnny Depp adventure of fantasy and make believe, but the details and drama from first person confessions and details of the charges against real pirates. This is not Hollywood. The real words of one pirate issued to a crowd who were waiting for his execution with his admontion to others to avoid the temptations brought on by hard liquor might be a little too much for some souls.  Parental guidance is the way to go for children and some adults need to avoid the tedious drama of this non-fiction and retreat to the safe haven of romance novels with pirates who are simply "hung" and not "hanged".
Join this bloodthirsty crew of pirates on ships which includes the dying declarations of the most brutal and vicious deeds ever set upon innocent civilians and merchant ship crews. The Demon Rum is cited as the chief cause by one pirate for his awful and murderous acts. Their day of reckoning came when they faced their final day of judgement when captured in Spain.
When a crew of passengers leapt from their disguise to overpower a steamship after it left New York on a trip to Portland, Maine, the pirates claimed the ship in the name of the Confederacy, at the height of the Civil War! Learn what happened to the ship and the pirates.