Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a native Californian. As a child, I was an adequate reader, although my elementary school teachers would have been shocked to find out I am an author. I say author to separate myself from the number of writers out there, who choose to create other content than short stories, novellas, and novels. I have written about ten books, but only five have made it to publication as I write this.
I write in series because I write short novels and it takes several stories to take my heroes on their arc. The first four books are part of the Jonas Watcher Series, a 1930s detective adventure written in the style of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. My fifth book is the introduction of my first female lead character, a woman who serves at the pleasure of the Queen as a spy in Victorian England.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“M’ Lady’s Gentlemen” is the name of my latest book. It started out as a play on words where the story was about a woman having a gentleman’s gentleman. It dissolved into the first story of a spy series with a Lady whose family has always served the Crown, undercover, so to speak.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I would like to say that I sit in my den writing on the back of a beautiful naked nymph… Fantasy over. No, I just sit at my computer and write. I will outline an idea on a page and when I decide to write it I will broaden the outline and begin fleshing it in. I don’t really start writing until my first rewrite; before that, I am just telling a story. A man was born, he lived, and then he…
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The first book I actually read from the beginning was “Bambi” by Felix Salten. This is not a cartoon Disney version, but the novel. When I was older, I read Edgar Rice Burroughs; Tarzan, The Princess of Mars, Pellucidar. While Burrough was a bit stilted when it came to the dialog, he drafted heroic adventure stories better than most writers. From there I read Dashiell Hammett, Rex Stout, and Raymond Chandler.
What are you working on now?
The name of my latest book in development is “A Wee Bit of Murder”. It is the story of an Irish Police Detective in New York in the Roaring Twenties. He has been promoted/punished to Detective Inspector on Staten Island. His first case to solve in the murder of the previous Detective Inspector of Staten Island.
My son gave me the idea of a “policeman” looking into a series of killings where all is not as it seems. He gave me more details, but that would be telling, wouldn’t it?
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still working on that.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Learn grammar. Before you can break the rules, you have to know the rules. Then Write, rewrite, and rewrite again.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
See above.
What are you reading now?
My grandaughter’s English papers as I help her analyze stories.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have a dozen projects in the pipeline, more of the Jonas Watcher series, the On Her Majesty’s service, and A Celtic Cop on Staten Island series. I am working on a series of illustrated books called the Adventures of Booh and Babbott.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A book on how things work and how to build anything. The complete works of Shakespeare and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Author Websites and Profiles
Gene Poschman Website
Gene Poschman Amazon Profile
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