Authorsday: Vincent Zandri

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? When, for the first time, I was woken up by my dad at six in the morning not a week after graduating from college. He shouted, “Time for work!” I nearly vomited. I thought, no one ever woke up Ernest Hemingway and told him to get to work. Work sucks.

2. How long have you been writing? Professionally for twenty-one years. But I’ve always been writing and making things up for as long as I can remember. I have two older sisters and no brothers so I was sort of an only child. 3. How did you pick the genre you write in? It picked me. I was turned on to authors like Jim Crumley and Robert B. Parker by friends of mine who loved to read but couldn’t write. When I read Dancing Bear for the first time, I knew I wanted to write like Crumley. Interestingly, I didn’t even realize he was writing in the noir and mystery genre. For a while I was reading him as just another literary guy with a real talent for plotting. Only in American do we genre-ize so much. In France and other parts of Europe, I’m just known as a “writer.” 4. Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants? The first draft is more or less a very detailed outline. At this point in the game, I’ve written so many novels that I’m pretty comfortable with making it up as I go, and allowing things to develop organically. But sometimes I end up writing myself into a corner. You just have to tie on a pair of steel cojones and write yourself back out of it. 5. What drew you to the subject of Permanence? At the time, my sister in law had moved into a big house that had an attached garage with an apartment over it. The apartment had been used as an office by a psychiatrist who carried on an affair with one of his female clients. I found that fascinating. Did they engage in their psychiatric session before they had sex? Or did they have sex first and then discuss things in the buff? We’re they in love? Or were they just getting off? Did they eventually pursue a relationship outside the office? In my novel, they do, and it turns out tragically. 6. Did you encounter any obstacles in researching it? Not really. I’d been to the places I wrote about in New York, Venice and other parts of Italy, and I was able to research a little about women and psychotic tendencies especially those that might occur immediately after giving birth. The internet was in its infancy then, so I did a lot of research over a dial-up connection that was often interrupted by my then four year old who on occasion would pick the phone up off its cradle. 7. What do you know now that you are published that you didn’t know pre-published that you wish you knew?

That publishers aren’t interested in selling books. That’s the author’s responsibility. Publishers just have a checking account and a printing press. 8. How many rejections have you received? More rejections than the procreating blood cells in my veins. 9. What was the best writing advice someone gave you? If you want to be a serious journalist you must learn to write interestingly about a teabag. That advice comes from a colleague of mine at RT, Lizette Potgeiter who is based in Kabul and one hell of a journalist. Genre: Suspense Publisher: Bear Media; 2 edition Publication Date: May 4,2012 Number of Pages: 143 Purchase Links: Amazon Synopsis: Based upon Vincent Zandri's most anthologized Pushcart Prize-nominated short story of the same title, Permanence, is the "Hitchcockian" story of Mary Kismet, a travel agent and grieving mother of a toddler who suffered an apparent accidental drowning. Now, all alone in the world, she attempts to ease the pain of her suffering by immersing herself, body and soul, into a love affair with her psychiatrist, a man haunted by his own demons. A tragic novel of obsession, dark compulsions, and madness, Permanence transports the ill-fated lovers from New York to Venice, Italy, and back again Author Bio: Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 International Bestselling Amazon Kindle author of THE INNOCENT, GODCHILD, THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT FALLS, CONCRETE PEARL and the forthcoming MOONLIGHT RISES. He is also the author of the bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL and MOONLIGHT MAFIA. Harlan Coben has described his novels as "...gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting," while the New York Post called THE INNOCENT, "Sensational...Masterful...Brilliant!" In March, April and May of 2011, he sold more than 100,000 Kindle E-Books editions of his novels, and is rapidly closing in on the 200K mark all totaled. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri's work is translated into many languages including the Dutch, Russian and Japanese. An adventurer, foreign correspondent, and freelance photo-journalist for RT, Globalspec, IBTimes and more, he divides his time between New York and Florence, Italy.

Authorsday - E. F. Watkins

BLOG INTERVIEW: E. F. WATKINS (book DANU’S CHILDREN)

Q. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

A. Very early. As soon as I learned to print, I started folding sheets of my father’s typing paper in half, drawing cover illustrations and trying to “write a book.” I’d print a few pages before I ran out of steam. I was always reading and always fascinated by plots and characters. I did some Nancy Drew-type books in high school that I passed around to my friends. As I remember, they were spoofs, with the girl detective doing a lot of wild James Bond stunts.



Q. How did you pick the genre you write in?

A. I guess I stared writing “paranormal thrillers” before that term was popular. In my case, it’s not just a euphemism for “horror”—I write thrillers with paranormal twists. I once read a definition of “romantic relationship suspense,” not to be confused with “romantic suspense” because one of the lovers could be the villain. So I guess I’ve written a few “paranormal romantic relationship suspense” novels (that’s a mouthful)! Oddly, they’re the kind of plots you frequently see in movies and on TV, but not so much in novels. Think Ira Levin’s books, like Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives, but with a bit more sex‘n’violence.



Q. What drew you to the subject of your latest book, Danu’s Children?

A. My mother’s family hails from northeastern Pennsylvania “coal country” and I went to college in that area. During my college years, the area was fairly blighted with many eerie elements. I could see a slag heap smoking in the distance from one of my dorm rooms, and I heard stories of houses collapsing into the earth from mine subsidence and a big church that actually slid a few feet downhill. I was just getting into horror fiction in those days, and kept thinking, “Someday I have to write about this area!” I made a few tries over the years, but only when I framed the story as a murder mystery (with a paranormal twist) did it finally come together.



Q. Describe your book.

A. In Danu’s Children, photojournalist Kevin O’Leary returns to his childhood home in northeastern Pennsylvania for the funeral of his reporter cousin, who died in a car crash. When he learns the cousin was investigating a mega-mall construction project by a supposedly corrupt developer, Kevin wonders if the “accident” was murder. He stays around to investigate and meets beautiful Megan Carey, who heads up a grassroots group determined to stop the new mall at any cost. Kevin sympathizes with Megan and her followers, until he realizes they’re a bit ruthless, themselves. They seem to believe an ancient Celtic earth god has a particular interest in their valley, and will help them bring down the mall and the developer…one way or another! Kevin soon realizes that either side could have murdered his cousin. Plus, he senses a disaster brewing that could take many more innocent lives—and he might not be able to stop it.



Q. What do you consider your strengths in terms of your writing?

A. I think I’m good at plotting and coming up with surprising, but believable, twists. And I think my characters are multi-dimensional, even the paranormal ones and the villains. I don’t like to write villains who are just evil for the hell of it—I give each one an agenda that he feels is perfectly justified.



Q. What do you consider your weakness, and what strategies do you use to overcome it?

A. Strangely enough, for the kind of thing I write, I have trouble expressing intense emotion without resorting to clichés. And since I don’t want to use clichés, I often underplay my characters’ reactions! I know this because I get feedback on it from my biweekly critique group. I have to learn not to assume that my reader knows what the character is feeling, but also to manage to convey those feelings without always falling back on pounding hearts, shallow breathing, sweaty palms, etc.! I’m learning to use a combination of internal dialogue and action, instead.



Q. What’s your favorite quote?

A. “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious—it is the source of all true art and science,” from Albert Einstein. I have that posted on the bulletin board in my home office, and I use the first half as a catch phrase in a lot of my promotion.



Q. Who is your favorite character in your book, Danu’s Children?

A. Although I have a male protagonist—my first—and in some ways he’s me filtered through a guy’s experience, Megan is the heart of the book. I see her as a visionary and a strong leader who is led astray by forces larger than herself. Originally I conceived her as my first female villain, but I liked her too much. She ended up being someone who does bad things for what even the reader might consider to be good reasons. She sees the error of her ways too late.



Q. What was the hardest scene to write?

A. Without giving too much away, the climax where all hell breaks loose. There were so many elements I had to research and keep track of, to make it realistic and still exciting!



Q. What was your favorite scene to write?

A. Probably the big May Day celebration by Megan and her followers, when Kevin realizes they are a lot more than just a political action group! I took some inspiration from Renaissance festivals, county fairs and Celtic rituals, and had a lot of fun with it.

Author Bio:

E. F. Watkins specializes in paranormal suspense, and since 2003 has published four novels with Amber Quill Press LLC. Her first, Dance with the Dragon, received a 2004 EPPIE Award from the national organization EPIC (Electronically Published Internet Connection.) as Best Horror Novel. Next came the romantic mystery Ride a Dancing Horse (as “Eileen Watkins”). Her third book, Black Flowers, was a Finalist in the Thriller category for both the 2006 EPPIEs and the 2007 Indie Excellence Book Awards. She also has published the paranormal thrillers Paragon and Danu’s Children. Her web site is www.efwatkins.com.



Book Blurb:

Kevin O’Leary, a photojournalist, returns to his hometown of Carbonville, Pa., to investigate the death of his reporter cousin. He uncovers a war between a corrupt developer and a local activist group over the construction of a mega-mall. Kevin is attracted to Megan Carey, leader of the activists. But while the developer may be mobbed-up, Megan and her followers also claim powerful “connections” – an ancient earth god who will help them defeat the construction project. Kevin realizes either group could have killed his cousin, and fears a disaster brewing that will take more innocent lives. But can he do anything to stop it?

ExcerpTuesday - Robert Walker

I'm baaack!

And ready to begin a new week. Robert Walker has graciously shared an excerpt today form his latest Children of Salem.

Excerpt from Children of Salem
Chapter Four

…this soft-spoken, cat-padding little woman had been around Samuel Parris for more years than most of his flock. She’d come with him and his wife and child from their last known residence, Barbados, where general knowledge had him trading in his sea legs to become a trader, a businessman.
Does Tituba hold the key? She appeared to both fear and hate her master. Not the best of relations.
Jeremy had an enormous task facing him. What had drawn this former merchant of Barbados to Salem? Not the mere promise of the parsonage and its damnably small apple orchard and rickety out buildings? There had to be more.
Jeremy thought of how Parris had ordered the black woman out of her bed as if she were a detested cur. And that look the servant had shot the minister when he turned his back on her—pure, unadulterated hatred and venom.
How that venom came to be, wondered Jeremy.
A great deal could be learned—and thus reported—about a man just in the manner of how he handled those in his care, and those he called his servants, and those he called his congregation.
Jeremy had uncinched and unbridled the horse, and he now placed the saddle on a rail. He used his own bedroll to place across Dancer’s back.
“May I have it?” asked Tituba in a surprisingly resonant, deep voice that filled the small outbuilding.
“May you . . . have what?”
She pointed, her nail like a talon. “Your saddle, Massa . . . ”
“My saddle?”
“For my head rest with pillow.” She lifted her pillow.
“You miss Barbados?” he asked as he placed the saddle where she’d created a bed of hay.
“I do . . . my family all there. My baby, too.”
“You left your baby in Barbados?” Jeremy was incredulous, and he heard Parris’ warning again at the back of his head. “Don’t talk to the woman.” All the more reason to speak to her.
“Dead baby . . . dead an’-an’ buried.”
“I . . . I’m terribly sorry. I can imagine no worse torture on earth than to lose a child.”
“There can be worse.”
“Really?” Jeremiah squinted at her. “Such as?”
Her eyes met his squint. “Not never holding your child, ever.”
“I . . . I don’t understand.”
“N-Nor seeing it.”
“You never saw the child?”
“Not never no.”

"What happens in Robert Walker's novels shouldn't happen even to fictional characters." JA Konrath.

A graduate of Northwestern University, Rob Walker has published consistently since 1979 and has to date over fifty titles in print and ebook publication. Children of Salem has been his life's work, begun as his dissertation at NU for his Masters in English Education and now a Kindle Original title. His long-running critically acclaimed Instinct Series, his Edge Series, and his City Series have sold in the hundreds of thousands of copies over the years. He currently teaches at West Virginia State University and is working on a novel tentatively entitled Curse of the Titanic, a retelling of that fateful night with a wild twist that makes it a thriller. Rob lives with his writer wife, Miranda Phillips Walker and four children in Charleston, WV. His website is http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/