Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Independence, MO right around the corner from Harry Truman’s house. But, then, at the time everything there was right around the corner from Harry Truman’s house. Right now I live in Sandpoint, Idaho with my wife. With her I share a love for Golden Retrievers and maintain a healthy friendship with a neighborhood Belgian Shepherd. Every Fall I lose an argument with a local black bear over the meaning of the phrase “fair share of the apples on the backyard tree.”
I’m a freelance writer, educated in philosophy at UCLA and in physics at UC Irvine. The lure of writing soon outweighed science, though. My work has appeared on dozens of websites around the world, covering subjects as diverse as travel to London and the latest innovations in currency exchange. I have had short stories published at the award-winning sites Apollo’s Lyre and Mystericale.
My first and final love remains writing fiction. My debut novel is Cossacks In Paris, an historical adventure set in Napoleonic Europe.
I’ve written 10 novels so far, and have a few more in various stages of preparation.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent publication is “Death Is Overrated,” a mystery set in the UK. There were several influences but one of the chief ones was an old film called DOA. The protagonist is poisoned and has 48 hours before dying to discover who gave him the fatal dose. (Yes, implausible that it should be so slow-acting, but that’s Hollywood!)
I spun that idea into a scientist on a caving vacation who is accused – through mistaken identity – of killing himself. He has to prove he’s neither the victim nor the murderer. That combined with my insatiable travel bug led to the characters and plot of this romantic mystery.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The word “unusual” is just ambiguous enough that any of several answers might serve. I’m pretty workman like — I get up, breakfast, and write all day like a thousand others. I don’t do it anyplace special or in a unique way, so I’d have to say “No, not really.”
Sorry, I’d like to offer an individual eccentricity as an interesting anecdote but I haven’t a thing to offer here. 🙂
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve enjoyed a variety from E. M. Forster to Ayn Rand, from Dumas to R. F. Delderfield. Those are all, clearly, starkly different writers. I do tend to prefer British writers mostly.
Of authors of more ‛popular fiction’ I used to read a fair amount of Ian Fleming, Alistair MacLean, Ken Follett, and the like. I’ve switched to reading mostly historical fiction these days. More recently, I’ve discovered a wonderful fellow named David Bruce, who writes WWII-era military fiction.
I’m not sure I could identify just what ‛strikes me’ about any of these. I like books that have a story with admirable characters and that moves along. I generally get impatient with ‛serious’ authors who, as the saying goes, muddy their waters to make them appear deep. At the same time, superficial ‛heroic’ characters can get boring very quickly.
In popular fiction these days, at least among the successful ones, the emphasis often seems to be more on either the grim or the goofy, and neither is really my taste. For good or ill, I’m a fairly old-fashioned fellow in most of my interests.
What are you working on now?
I have a third novel in the final editing stages: “Clonmac’s Bridge.”
It’s a blend of history and mystery based on a real-life discovery.
“A maritime archaeologist raises a medieval monastery span from the mud of the River Shannon, sunken for 1200 years… and finds it perfectly preserved.
What could account for this astounding longevity? And why are his colleagues, the Irish government, the media, and the Church conspiring to prevent him learning the secret?
Griffin Clonmac will go through hell to find out.”
It should be published in a few months.
Next up, I have a 19th century medical drama of a young Irish woman who emigrates to America to become a physician, something very difficult to do at the time.
I also have a trilogy planned which is set in the Age of Discovery – that period when seafaring European explorers were just learning how to navigate to India, South America, and elsewhere. It will cover first the Venetians, then the Portuguese, and finally the Dutch — all through the adventures of the distaff half of three generations of merchants.
And I have a half-dozen others already written that need some editing work before being released — a mixture of mysteries, dramatic love stories, and others.
I plan to put out a new novel about every six months for at least the next 10 years. By then I’ll no doubt have other stories on tap.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m afraid I have no good method, much less a best one. Maybe your readers could recommend one. 🙂
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Well there is the trite but true: write every day, as many hours as you can. As importantly, I’d say: try to lead an interesting life and be a careful observer as you go. I’ve had many adventures over the years and it has helped shaped my mind and values. That can’t help but bleed into your writing.
It’s not enough to be a good writer. You must write something interesting, and to do that you have to make good selections of what to write and how. Any novel is made up of dozens of such choices. Good novels are made of good choices.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I can’t honestly say I’ve ever heard any really good advice about writing beyond the staples found in Strunk and White. That’s not arrogance; it’s just such an individual craft and no one seems to have any good guidance, such as you find in engineering, for example.
I do remember advice about film acting attributed to Spencer Tracy: Learn your lines and hit your marks. I’m not sure exactly how that would apply to writing but it’s suggestive.
What are you reading now?
Now that’s a tougher question than it might sound at first blush. Like most writers I’m a voracious reader and I’ve always got a half-dozen things in progress with bookmarks placed at various points.
I’ve been reading Thomas Madden’s Venice (a straight history). I’m also plowing through a lot of Delderfield still, having recently finished his Swann saga. The first volume of “A Horseman Riding By” is next on the list. I take ‛breaks’ by reading a chapter of Thomas Costain’s “The Black Rose” from time to time, along with a few others.
Sadly, I limit my pleasure reading these days. Most of my non-writing time is focused on research for my future novels. That runs the gamut from the relations between 14th-century Venice and the Levantine to 16th century Portuguese sailing technology to late 19th century medical practices.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m not sure I understand this question, apart from the question listed above about upcoming projects. If you mean more generally, I plan to spend as much time with my divine wife as possible and enjoy life with her.
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?
Oh, now that is a tough one. Only a few?
Well, I guess the first book should be advice on how to build and provision a good raft from materials found on a desert island.
Beyond that, I’d probably take a book on Quantum Mechanics, which I never finished learning properly. For whiling away the hours there’s a massive omnibus of Agatha Christie novels – seven in all – called Seven Deadly Sins, but that might be considered cheating, eh?
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